Recruiting is certainly more challenging in today’s economic climate.  Just a few years ago we had a definite shortage of great candidates primarily due to competitive salaries and company growth across the U.S.  In our current state of continued high unemployment, it would seem that ample qualified candidates would be available for hire.  However, reality is often different from perception.

Purple Squirrel vs.  Roadrunner.  The Purple Squirrel in the recruiting world is much like the Roadrunner from the cartoons of my youth.  They are a scarce breed, which takes extreme skill, a sense of urgency and extensive resources to locate.  Internet recruiting plays an important role in this process with today’s technically savvy candidates.  Below are just a few resources that may help you find that talented employee.

• National, local and niche job boards – still being used to find the actively searching candidates.  20% of the candidates being hired in 2011 came from job boards according to a recent survey by CareerXroads.
• Resume Databases – are a good alternative if you need to find someone quickly and can’t wait for the job board to bring to you, although it is a costly alternative.
• LinkedIn – is the world’s largest professional network and often used by recruiters to source good candidates.  4.2 billion searches were conducted in 2011.
• Associations, Free sites and Colleges – these are typically free and may not produce a high volume of candidates but do provide solid options.
• Employee Referral – 28% of the people hired in 2011 came from employee referral.  There is also extensive research that shows applicants referred by employees often have longer tenure on the job.
• Recruiting / Staffing Firms – An outside recruiter can help you leverage the work load and speed up the recruiting process.  Make sure they are treating their temps as employees.  For permanent hires, you should ensure they have solid experience hiring in your industry and job type.

Finding the right candidate when you need them is definitely a challenge in this market.  Today’s technically savvy candidates can be found in so many places: databases, job boards, social media, referrals, etc.  Moving quickly once you think you have found that purple squirrel is very important.  If the process is too time consuming and you are already overwhelmed with work, call Talis Group at 502-581-9861 for help!

                                                                                                                        Susan F. Woods

Director of Recruitment, Talis Group, Inc.