While the autumn season signals the beginning of cozy weather, pumpkin spice lattes and the holiday season, it can also bring some not-so-great things, like busy schedules and stress. It’s during this time of year that college recruiting kicks into high gear, open enrollment takes place and year-end goals need to be met. Between all of that activity, you might find yourself struggling to keep up with the latest news coming from the world of recruiting and HR.
To make it easier on you, we’ve highlighted some of the most interesting, buzzworthy and timely recruiting- and HR-related stories and blog posts from the last month. Read on for a high-level summary, and click on the links to dig in further!
1. Unemployment Rate Hits Lowest Level Since 1969 in September
To say that we’re in a hot labor market right now would be in an understatement. Nine years into the post-Great Recession economic recovery, unemployment has dropped to its lowest rate in more than 40 years: 3.7 percent. Industries with the highest job gains included healthcare, transportation and warehousing, construction and manufacturing, while industries like retail, leisure and hospitality and motor vehicles and parts manufacturing all lost jobs. While that’s good news for the American people, it does make your job as a recruiter tougher — and it’s not likely to change anytime soon.
“With good news in most economic indicators today, it’s likely the economy will continue its march forward through the remainder of 2018,” said Glassdoor Chief Economist Dr. Andrew Chamberlain.
[Related: How to Recruit Competitive Candidates in a Job Seeker’s Market]
2. Local Pay Reports: Pay Growth Tops 2.6 Percent in September
Amazon’s not the only company paying their workers more — in order to lure job seekers to their open roles in the midst of a tight labor market, more employers are offering higher salaries. Wage increases were particularly strong in San Francisco and New York, and among lower-wage roles like Maintenance Worker, Bank Teller and Pharmacy Technician. The takeaway? If you haven’t yet researched how your offers stack up to the competition, it’s high time you did so — Glassdoor’s Know Your Worth™ and Salaries tools can help you understand the market value of your roles. You can also get creative with your benefits package to help draw candidates in.
3. Uber CEO: We Want to Give All Drivers Insurance, Benefits
Speaking of getting creative with benefits, Uber recently announced that they’re in the process of exploring potentially providing their drivers with benefits like health insurance and parental leave — a true testament to the fact that hiring challenges are affecting every field, not just specialized or technical roles. If Uber follows through, it could usher in a fundamental shift in the way companies work with third-party contractors.
4. How Women of Color Get to Senior Management
It’s no secret that companies struggle to attract and retain diverse talent. But as the population of the country becomes more and more diverse — by some estimates, minorities will make up a majority of the United States population as soon as 2045 — employers who aren’t proactive about fostering an inclusive environment are increasingly at a disadvantage. But what does it take to increase minority representation in the workplace, especially at the highest levels? To answer this question, Cindy Pace, contributing writer for Harvard Business Review, conducted a case study that followed 23 women of color at Fortune 500 companies. What she found was that the women of color most likely to rise through the ranks had leadership ambitions, seized the opportunities available to them, pursued management challenges and identified mentors to help them along the way. Companies hoping to foster more diversity can educate managers on the hurdles women of color encounter, open up the floor for difficult conversations and provide opportunities like mentoring and shadowing programs.
[Related: Facebook’s Head of Diversity: "There Should Be a Diverse Candidate for Every Open Role"]
5. How to Maintain a Good Candidate Experience During Seasonal Hiring
With the holiday season just around the corner, many employers, especially in the retail and warehousing/transportation industries, find themselves struggling to fill additional seasonal roles. But don’t make the mistake of putting candidate experience on the backburner while you attempt to hire large volumes of people quickly — even if it’s limited to one season, a decline in candidate experience can follow you year-round. In order to balance speed with quality, HR Dive recommends that employers provide candidates with plenty of information, automate processes when possible and maintain a human tone in their communications.
6. Employees Are Quitting Over Long Commutes, But Remote Work Could Keep Them Around
If you live a significant distance from home, the thought of quitting your job has likely crossed your mind during your morning commute a couple of times. But new research from Robert Half suggests that this happens more often than you might think — in a survey of 2,800+ workers ages 18 and up, over one in five commuters (23 percent) said that they had quit a job because of a bad commute. Aside from rethinking where you open that next office, Tech Republic suggests that employers hoping to reduce the rate of commute-related turnover embrace solutions like remote work and flexible scheduling.
7. The Biggest Frustration for Job Seekers Is…
From time-consuming applications to unresponsive recruiters, searching for a job is often a frustrating experience. But according to a new survey from Glassdoor, the number one pet peeve job seekers have is when a posted job lacks sufficient information on compensation. Recruiters canceling or postponing interviews was another point of contention. While companies often justify withholding detailed salary information or making the occasional scheduling error, make no mistake — relatively minor mistakes like these can have a significant impact on your employer brand and, in turn, your ability to hire the best talent.
Tell us: Which HR/recruiting reads did you enjoy this month?
