Why companies have unfilled jobs

My fellow blogger, Cindy Kraft of CFO-Coach, was kind enough to ask me my thoughts on this topic, which she blogged about.

Her starting point was a recent SmartBrief poll, in which 72.5% of surveyed companies indicated they had unfilled openings.

My first impression on seeing the poll was that companies that are looking to hire will have unfilled job openings. Only those companies that are not hiring will not have unfilled jobs, because they are not hiring. I believe the poll would be more effective asking: "How long does it take to fill your open job positions?"

Cindy brings up a great point in saying that she believes the hiring process is broken. I agree. Many companies are not properly going about a recruitment process that works.

For a hiring process to be effective, it needs to have the following elements:

Outreach – Many companies have recognized the importance of building stronger corporate recruitment strategies, and they are doing so. However, even with these stronger tactics, organizations cannot properly reach the candidates needed. Search firms are able to fill positions because they are able to outreach to the right candidate pool. This outreach component is a necessary element to a successful search.

Sales – The company AND the job needs to be sold. Many employers make the poor assumption that the company and the job sell themselves. Potential candidates for any job need to truly understand the value of the company and job and how it fits into their life and career.

Match – Matching a candidate to a job and a company is not an easy task, yet many employers use gut feel and resume key word matching to the job description to assess appropriateness of a candidate for a job. Many companies focus on assessing the candidate for how they match the company, and not assessing how the company matches to the candidate’s needs and values.

Offer – We consistently see this area as the place where the wheels fall off. Regardless how effective the rest of the recruitment process is, being successful at the offer stage gets you the placement. The pieces necessary for a successful accepted offer need to begin at the beginning of the process, not at the end. Acceptance of an offer is much more than just about salary.

Companies wishing to ensure a more successful hiring process need to ensure they have these four elements. Using an experienced internal or external search partner can improve the process. However, it is the ultimate responsibility of the hiring authority to ensure that the process is effective.

(I would like to thank my colleague Bethany LaMorre for her valuable input in preparing this blog).