WHY IS IT HARD TO FIND "GREAT" PEOPLE?

Employers, like you, have been scratching their heads and asking that same question . . . probably for hundreds of years.  The answer lies in asking yourself the RIGHT question "Are you looking in the right place?"

Many companies are STILL using job boards to attract talented people for their leadership positions. Unfortunately, job boards are usually not seen by the vast majority of your “ideal” candidates. They are seen by approximately only 5% of the workforce and they are primarily the “active” job seekers. Typically, these people are considered to be the “low hanging fruit" . .. the ones who have been terminated and are currently not working. They generally send their resumes out to several companies in the hope of landing a paycheck.

Consequently, this strategy has extremely low odds in finding and recruiting the "twenty-percenters" for your company's “critical” positions.  Many companies have worked hard to attract these people, and unfortunately, have settled for ones who were less-than-optimal.  (Has this ever happened at your company?)

As we struggle out of the current recession, the difficulty of finding the "twenty-percenters" will dramatically increase.  In the last five years, there has been a bigger, more looming reason; the demand for labor statistically has exceeded the supply.

The long-predicted labor shortage has arrived. In the two decades between 1980 and 2000, the U.S. workforce grew by 54%. From 2000 to 2020, it is predicted to grow by only 3%, due primarily to the retiring of the baby boomer generation. For those of us who are looking to hire top talent, this makes a difficult job even more difficult. Given a projected gap of 14 million skilled workers by 2020, it's only going to get harder.  This means that in the foreseeable future, for every two experienced workers that leave the workforce, only one will enter.

Not worried yet? To quote that great philosopher, Yoda, "You will be." 

THE SECRET TO FINDING "GREAT" PEOPLE

The industry’s higher talented people are usually the passive candidates. Passive candidates represent a whopping 70% of the candidate population! They are those who are currently working and are not actively pursuing external employment. Companies covet passive candidates since they are typically among the organization’s top performers.

With that said, finding and recruiting the best talent for your crucial leadership positions are difficult at best. Few companies have an effective job page on their company website and coupled with the rapid decline in the Internet job boards, it leaves the employers with few options. Identifying and finding them is usually a matter of happenstance.

So...what's the answer?  The strongest way of finding and attracting passive candidates is to develop good relationships with them.  For this to happen you have to be in their "world".   What does that mean?  Well...it can mean writing articles that interest them in their favorite trade journals or having them subscribe to your newsletter.  It can mean sending them free and helpful  information that they will value.  Of course nothing beats a face-to-face conversation with them at their trade conferences or conventions.   And the MOST important part of any relationship is following up and staying in touch.  You have to make the time commitment up front  because it takes time to develop their trust and a good relationship. 

The pay off is, when it is time for that "twenty-percenter" to move to another opportunity, he will call you first...the one he knows and trusts.  It is a "time intensive" process but studies have shown that the results are typically much better than the results from any of the other method.