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Resource Type: Thought Leadership

February 28, 2023

Layoffs: What’s really going on?

Carter Bradley


Layoffs have been making headlines for a couple months now, which reasonably leaves employees, job seekers, and recruiting teams uneasy. Any layoff is unwanted, unfortunate, and sometimes crippling. But, how widespread are they really?

Our TalentScope and Labor Market Monitor data paint a slightly more nuanced picture of the job market than headlines might suggest. The tech industry has contracted, but the job market overall has expanded. More, industries that have shown recent periods of growth continue to expand much more than tech is contracting. Even more, 2022 saw the fewest layoffs of any year in the last decade.

So, what’s really going on? If the job market is growing, why are we reading about layoffs constantly?

The answer may lie more in who is laying off employees than how many employees are laid off. The tech industry has represented the pinnacle of American employment for over a decade. They are the most desirable jobs. They pay well. They are always growing. To see those is unsettling. It is abnormal. And, thus, it is headline worthy.

And, in a larger sense, this tech contraction adds to a broader trend. Through the 2010s, candidates were focused on finding their ‘dream job,’ their work family, and purpose. Over time, a global pandemic, ongoing news of layoffs, and economic uncertainty (among other things) have in some ways crushed the employer utopian dream. Instead, candidates are more concerned with job – and subsequently, financial – stability.

Advice for employers: Treat candidates and current employees as if the market were still tight – because it still is, and employees will recognize that again soon. The way you respond to economic uncertainty today will continue to impact your employer brand, reputation, and ability to recruit talent for years to come.

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February 02, 2023

New Year, Back to Normal? Not so fast.

Carter Bradley


After years of flux, companies are beginning to settle back into what feels more normal. While we may not find ourselves using the word “unprecedented” quite as often, Talent Acquisition is not suddenly simple.

With nearly two open positions for every one hire and an ever-expanding scope of complex expectations placed on Talent Acquisition and University Recruiting leaders, they are stretched incredibly thin. To be successful, their teams must break down silos, so recruiters are empowered to be and are leveraged as true strategic talent advisors, instead of just requisition fillers.

The dynamic shift from tactical to strategic allows recruiting efforts to be aligned through every step of the process, from the Head of TA to the hiring managers, recruiters, and candidates. A team of strategic talent advisors can consistently adapt and innovate as candidates and recruiting evolve, as opposed to relying on a post and pray model.

But, make no mistake – this dynamic shift is less about major transformation and more about perfecting the fundamentals to create a solid, sustainable foundation.  It’s more important than ever, as demand for top talent increases and supply decreases with no sign of slowing down.

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December 22, 2022

What’s the most interesting thing in recruiting right now?

Carter Bradley


 

Transcription:

What is the most interesting thing happening in recruiting right now? So, the most interesting thing I am seeing in recruiting right now is this perplexing paradox between the objective competitiveness of the recruiting market and the subjective feel that the recruiting market is uncompetitive right now or should be uncompetitive right now. Now, this might be best exemplified through a little bit of a story.

So, a couple months ago, right when we started seeing a lot of tech companies doing really unfortunate layoffs that hit a lot of the industry, a lot of recruiting leaders in other industries at companies that were still hiring saw this and thought, “Huh, that’s interesting. Why don’t we do some focused, targeted outreach to those tech employees that might have lost their jobs in a very targeted, concerted way?”

They thought, “This is fantastic. We’re still hiring. We usually have great and very real jobs that we can reach out to them about.” So they mobilized sourcing teams. They started doing outreach. But, what was the result? What came of this? What came of it from a lot of employers was almost no responses from people who might have just lost their jobs. And this was really perplexing for a lot of leaders. They were thinking, “We’ve got great real jobs, we’ve got great jobs, we’re reaching out to people who just lost their jobs. Why in the world are we not just getting a disproportionate overflow of responses?”

We don’t have concrete data on this as to why this dynamic popped up. But I do have a strong theory, and my theory is that just because these employees lost their jobs does not mean that they lowered their standards. In other words, they weren’t just looking for a job even though they just lost a job. Rather, they were still in the mindset that they were looking for the right job. And they weren’t going to rush to take a job in the interim.

This is reflective of the broader recruiting environment that we are seeing and that we are feeling right now. There is this theory, this feeling, that because a lot of the headlines focus on layoffs and on contractions and different specific pockets of the industry, there’s this feeling that the recruiting market should be much easier right now. It’s like the recruiting leaders saying these people just got laid off from their jobs, so we should be getting an influx of responses. But the truth is actually very different because there’s actually something like 1.7 open jobs right nor for every candidate that might be looking for a job.

In other words, the recruiting market is still extremely competitive. So, that’s the most interesting thing that I’m seeing in recruiting right now is this perplexing paradox because this subjective feel that the recruiting market should be less competitive right now and the objective reality that it is actually still very, very tight.

 

 

 

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December 21, 2022

2022 was a year of paradoxes for Talent Acquisition leaders.

Carter Bradley


Employees quit their jobs in droves, while TA leaders faced pressure to start cutting positions. Candidates gained (close to) unprecedented buying power, while headlines focused on layoffs and recessionary precautions. And, most recently, recruiting has maintained extreme levels of competitiveness. Employee burnout and productivity losses became endemic, while inflated salaries went on the rise. Needless to say, it has not been an easy year to be a talent leader.

Our job is to help recruiting leaders with theirs. To that end, we study job candidates and map emerging trends to help leaders navigate the constantly shifting landscape of Talent Acquisition. Through quarterly employer benchmarking, monthly candidate pulses, strategic studies, macro tools, advisory services, and more, we studied everything critical to recruiting leaders: economic uncertainty, labor market competition, internal mobility, retention, quiet quitting, the Great Resignation, among others. The inputs and outputs were substantial:

  • 10,000+ Candidates Surveyed
  • 200+ Employers Studied 
  • 250+ Custom Inquiries Answered 
  • 60+ Studies Published 

We’re looking to 2023. But before jumping forward, we thought it worth reflecting, once again, on just how privileged we feel to serve TA leaders in their hardest work.

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December 21, 2022

University Recruiting is hard and this year was no exception.

Carter Bradley


University Recruiting had to pivot more in the last two years than almost any other industry. The pandemic sent everything virtual. The Great Resignation and other trends created a candidate’s market. Competition skyrocketed despite whispers of an upcoming recession. The residual impacts of COVID-19, a growing focus on DEI, and uncertain returns to campus added pressure to recruiting teams already under stress.

We’ve tracked these challenges over the course of the year to pinpoint underlying trends driving forward this new era of UR. Through quarterly employer benchmarking, monthly student pulses, and strategic studies, we dug into everything from economic uncertainty to the Great Resignation, return to in-person recruiting, reneges, timeline tension, and more. The inputs and outputs were substantial:

  • 15,000 Students Surveyed
  • 200+ Employers Studied 
  • 250+ Custom Inquiries Answered 
  • 60+ Studies Published 

We’re looking to 2023. But before jumping forward, we thought it worth reflecting, once again, on just how privileged we feel to serve UR leaders in their hardest work.

Start acting on candidate insights in real time.

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