Employers Have Unique Needs As Well

Jewish Community Services, Baltimore

Recession, lay-offs, bankruptcy, foreclosure. The news has focused mainly on unemployed workers and the challenges they face in paying bills, maintaining their homes, and balancing precarious financial situations, while looking for work. But most people don’t realize that in this economy, employers are also facing special challenges.

Jewish Community Services Career Services Employment Specialists often get calls from employers like this one: "I just listed a position on Craig's List and I have received 200 resumes in the last half hour. Yet none of these candidates has the qualifications and experience I am looking for." With many free employment listing and social networking services available, like Craig’s List, Luach, Proaging, Facebook and Linked In, employers should have access to a wide assortment of resumes and networking resources to enable them to choose highly qualified candidates for their advertised positions. But instead, employers are feeling overwhelmed. Who has the time or wants to spend the effort and money involved in recruiting and screening applicants? As one frustrated employer put it, "Trying to find a qualified candidate is like looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack."

Some of the challenges employers are facing in today's market include:

• Sifting through an avalanche of resumes from job applicants whose experience and qualifications do not match the advertised employment opportunity
• Becoming do-it-yourselfers due to shrinking recruiting budgets for headhunter firms
• Calling an applicant who might be a good match, but not being able to connect with him or her to conduct a telephone interview
• Reaching the applicant and finding that he or she is not a good match.

Here are some steps that business owners, companies and headhunters can take to assist them in their professional recruiting and staffing:

• List job openings online with Jewish Community Services. There is no cost to the employer and JCS Employment Specialists will pre-screen potential candidates, referring only those who meet the specific qualifications of the job. At www.jcsbaltimore.org/employers, employers can list job openings any time, day or night, and view select profiles and resumes of individuals from various fields—entry level to executive—who are currently seeking employment.
• Announce your open positions on a listserve that caters to the particular job category or professional field. Many corporate employers and recruiters are finding potential candidates on LinkedIn, through networking groups, and on message boards geared for that particular career industry.
• Submit employment opportunities to career centers at local colleges and universities to target potential candidates in an entry level field.
• Post part time, temporary and professional positions on local internet bulletin boards, such as Luach.com, for better chances of finding interested candidates in a defined geographic area.

Employers have many responsibilities and challenges. Hiring is just one part of their portfolio. With resources stretched thin, the high costs of classified ads, and the precious time and effort it takes to weed through the mountain of responses, employers today need a more targeted and cost-effective approach to recruitment. The good news is that more resources and options are available today to help employers find the right match.