Fewer Heads to Hunt These Days
Post-recession, many people are reluctant to job hop, but demand is low for people out of work, say partners in a job-placement firm.
BIRMINGHAM, MI – Qualified auto-industry job prospects are in hot demand, say partners of a head-hunting firm.
Automakers and suppliers are wooing people with high skill sets, especially engineers, some of whom play hard to get.
“No end is in sight for the need for engineering talent,” says Wim van Acker of the Hunter Group, an international executive search firm.
The situation reflects improved times and contrasts with five or so years ago when a distressed auto industry trimmed its employment ranks amid plummeting sales.
People who managed to keep their jobs back then started valuing them more. That makes it tough today to persuade them to switch jobs.
“A lot of talented people are reluctant to move from their company to another,” van Acker says. “It’s now a seller’s market.”
His business partner Sherry Muir Irwin adds, “In this ultra-competitive market, companies must be the prettiest girl on the dance floor to attract top talent.”
But there’s a notable hang-up in employer hiring preferences. While the employed are highly sought after, out-of-work people are much less in demand, even if they meet specific job qualifications.
“Our clients hardly ever hire candidates who are unemployed,” van Acker says.
It’s a vicious cycle. “The fact that someone is unemployed makes them unemployable,” he says. “We see qualified talent not picked from the litter because they’ve been out of work for three months.”
A year of joblessness can make put them in an untouchable caste. “It is hard to convince clients to spend time with someone who’s unemployed,” he says. “They think that person can’t be good because they’re out of work. A lot of times, the person is highly qualified. But it’s a hard sell.”
Some companies are skeptical but not adamantly opposed to hiring the jobless.
“You sometimes wonder if someone is out of work for a while, but three to six months is understandable,” says Julie Martin, vice president-sales and marketing at auto supplier Hella.
“We’ve hired people like that and it’s worked out well,” she tells van Acker at an industry event here. He responds, “You are a rare company.”
Although job-hopping happens less these days, employment dissatisfaction is the main reason people jump from one ship to another, he says.
Dissatisfied people may not embrace a company strategy. They may perceive their employer’s growth pattern as short-term. Their commute may take too long. “Or it may simply come down to a single reason: a bad boss,” van Acker says.
Companies that manage to rope in top job prospects share certain traits, he says. Among them:
They sell themselves as offering a better work environment with a strong management team. “They present themselves as cooler,” he says.
They show discernible business growth.
They tout long-term strategy.
They are financially stable and unburdened by heavy debt.
They offer career-growth opportunities.
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