Job ad exchanges are known for their reach – turning every stone to find the candidates you need. But in a downturn, priorities change and you often find yourself candidate rich. In fact, oftentimes you are getting more candidates that you know what to do with. Why would you ever want to throw gasoline on this fire?
Hiring in a downturn is just as hard as in a very low unemployment market – the challenges are just different. At this time, the unemployment market is very different from what we saw in 2008-2010. This time, unemployment has come from very specific industries and the elimination of many low- to no-skill positions.
As of the end of April, we have about 14.7% unemployment, but we still have 85.3% employment. And while companies have cut their job postings by 50%, while not enough to cover everyone who has recently become unemployed, there are still more than 1.1 million open jobs on the market today. The hiring market doesn’t stop – it just slows and evolves. Within those available jobs, we are still faced with the same challenges: hard to fill positions don’t suddenly become easy because the market shifted; they are hard to fill because certain skills, often essential to your business, are limited.
Finding those hard to find candidates requires strategy – and just like in a low unemployment market you have to look under many, many rocks to find those key hires. A job ad exchange allows you to do something you can’t do with a traditional job board: expand your reach for maximum coverage and create limitations on total candidates and the amount you spend. But, most importantly, a job ad exchange set up for quality will hone in on the sources in the market which are able to find the candidates that you would consider quality.
Armed with maximum reach, total control, and focus on quality, a job ad exchange will help you identify those candidates you need to keep your business moving forward no matter the economic environment.
To learn more about how a job ad exchange can change your recruiting practices, read our latest white paper: “What Is a Job Ad Exchange.”
