Today’s unemployment rate of 9% came despite gains of 244,000 non-farm jobs in April. After falling 1% over the past 4 months, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported a .2% jump to 9%. However, many sectors showed job gains including manufacturing (+29,000 jobs), health care (+37,000 jobs), leisure and hospitality (+46,000), retail (+57,000) and mining (+11,000). The culprit may be the throngs of unemployed workers who, had previously given up looking and were thus not counted by the BLS figures, have started to search for work again. As a result, companies, which have not considered hiring in almost two years, have started to aggressively recruit again!
Despite the jump to 9% I have noticed many of our clients starting to hire again. Unfortunately, many recently hired or promoted managers lack the recruiting acumen necessary to successfully complete an effective staffing assignment. As a result, many hiring mistakes will be made in the upcoming months. That is one reason for an enormous, recent spike in our consulting assignments to advise companies on their recruiting practices. One useful tool is our 12 Commandments of Recruiting. Please go to http://www.strategicsearch.com/technical-recruiting-tips/ to view. These can be very helpful for novices to increase their recruiting efficiencies.
