The Labor Department reported on Friday that the last two months of jobs numbers have been very strong. Many economists and recruiting professionals, who feel that the U.S. economy is growing, also confirmed this!
As a result, employers need to be more vigilant in their technical and engineering recruiting practices. One recommendation is to: phone screen first to save time, money and reduce hiring mistakes.
An Increasing War For Technical And Engineering Talent Recruiters Necessitates Streamlining Recruitment Practices!
Because demand far exceeds supply for most key R&D, engineering, scientific, IT, technical and manufacturing positions, recruiters need to be a lot more vigilant in their recruitment practices. One tool our technical recruiters and engineering recruiters recommend is to Phone Screen First. Please view our short video on this subject and click #11 below.
This recommendation is based upon the fact that you can gain a lot of useful information from a properly structured phone interview. This can save you a lot of time and money during the interview process including saving you thousands of dollars from flying the wrong person in to interview. This can also save your key executive’s precious time by avoiding interviewing an erroneous job candidate. Therefore, remember to phone screen first!
Supporting Evidence #1: Employment And Wages Are Increasing
Our recruiting recommendations and findings are supported by three key pieces of evidence. First, Friday’s Labor Department report that U.S. nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 255,000 jobs last month. Combined with strong employment figures the previous month (June) results in the best two-month stretch of hiring so far this year!
Additionally, private sector wages matched their strongest annual pace of growth in seven years. Finally, more Americans entered the labor force during the month with the jobless rate held steady 4.9%.
The Labor Department also revised previous jobs numbers to show that U.S. employers’ added a lot more jobs than previously reported. As a result, so far in 2016, employment gains have averaged 186,000 a month. Though this is down from the 229,000 a month average in 2015, it is still very strong and coincides with what my engineering and technical recruiters have been reporting for the past few months. Namely, demand for key technical and engineering talent far exceeds the supply!
Supporting Evidence #2: Several Economists Reporting Strong Signs For The U.S. Economy
Chief economist at M Science, Steve Blitz, said, “The economy is expanding, not as fast this data would suggest, but fast enough to employ more people every month and thereby add to total consumer income.”
Deputy chief U.S. macro strategist at TD Securities, Millan Mulraine, shared, “The July labor market report was exceptionally strong, and the warts were few and far between,”
Additionally, chief economist at RSM, Joseph Brusuelas, mentioned, “This data will surely get the attention of policy makers at the Federal Reserve who likely will begin to talk openly about a possible December rate hike.”
Supporting Evidence #3: Labor Trends Are Improving!
Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers rose by 8 cents, or 0.3%, from June to July to $25.69. From a year earlier, average hourly earnings were up 2.6%, outpacing inflation.
The labor-force participation rate rose to 62.8% in July from 62.7% in June. The consumer-price index increased 1.1% in June from a year earlier. Also, the average workweek last month rose 0.1 hour to 34.5 hours, which also should put more money in consumers’ pockets.
These figures also justify the need to be more vigilant in your recruitment practices. With shortages of key workers (esp. technical and engineering talent) and increases in wages, the costs of making a recruitment error are rising!
There Will Be Major Political Ramifications For Employment
Especially for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton her potential election is strongly tied to President Barack Obama ’s record, which includes recovery from the 2007-09 recessions but also the slowest expansion since at least World War II.
Stephen Miller, a senior policy adviser for Republican nominee Donald Trump, also echoed this who said, “The latest GDP figures are evidence of a shockingly weak recovery.”
In Conclusion: More Thorough Phone Screening Can Streamline Your Recruiting Process!
Jobs figures over the past two months from the Labor Department confirm what our engineering recruitment and technical recruitment teams have been reporting for several months now. Namely, demand for key R&D, scientific, IT, technical, engineering and manufacturing talent far exceeds supply.
As a result, employers need to employ increased phone screening to more thoroughly interview prospective candidates and reduce costly recruiting errors.
