1. Survey says:
Candidates Command
the Driver’s Seat
It’s a job seekers’ market, but hiring managers haven’t fully
adjusted to the change, with 40% of them taking almost a
month to make an offer, only to find out in many cases that
their candidate is turning them down.
Better than 8 in 10 of the MRINetwork recruiters
participating in the semi-annual MRINetwork Recruiter
Sentiment Study said today’s employment market is
candidate-driven, a 25 point jump from the 2012 study.
That means the professional, executive and managerial
candidates who are the majority of those recruited by
MRI franchise offices can be more demanding when it
comes to the nature of the work they want, the
companies they’re willing to work for, and the
compensation and benefits they’ll accept.
In the MRI survey last fall, recruiters said 42% of their
candidates who got an offer turned it down. In the current
survey, recruiters reported that in almost a third (31%) of the
turndowns, the reason is another offer. In yet another sign of
the changing nature of the market, 26% said the candidates
are rejecting offers because the comp and benefits aren’t
what they expected. And current employers are fighting to
hang on to top talent; 16% of the candidates accept
counteroffers.
According to the survey, one recruiter, commenting on the
hiring situation, said, “Candidates have more options than
they have had in years. Yet clients still want to give low-ball
offers.” Another noted, “Some clients are still not adjusting to
this market change, and as a result are dragging the process
along and losing good candidates.”
VOLUMEVIIIISSUE8August1,2014
© 2014 Management Recruiters International, Inc. An Equal Opportunity Employer
A few surveys back, recruiters were far more balanced in
who they thought was driving the market. In the 2011
survey 54% of the respondents saw a candidate-driven
labor market vs. 46% who saw it the other way.
Now, with the economy adding jobs at a pace
unseen since before the recession, and an
unemployment rate for the college-educated at
3.3%, there’s little doubt about the nature of the
market. What’s more, the evidence is that the
hiring environment is only going to continue to
get more challenging for many types of
professional and mid- to senior-level positions
A recent CareerBuilder forecast predicted that nearly half
of all companies would be adding headcount during the
second half of this year. The Conference Board’s
Employment Trends Index likewise points to strong
hiring. Now, 47% of MRI’s recruiters in the survey, say
newly created positions are the primary reason for the
job orders they have coming in.
Second to that are vacancies caused by resignations,
prompting MRI to conclude, “Employment continues to
accelerate and candidates are more willing to change
jobs as a result of growing confidence in the job market.
Employee fears regarding changing employers during
the recession have subsided.”
Call me to help you attract the impact player
What is an impact player? Ctrl-Click Video
Source: Department of Labor
Submitted by: Joe Cianciolo, Senior Account Manager
Management Recruiters of Cleveland-Southwest
>Experts in Global Search
(330) 273-4300 ext. 109
JoeCC@MRCSW.com

2. Despite fewer gains than have been posted in
earlier months of the year, July's Employment
Situation report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS) still showed strong growth.
According to the BLS, U.S. employers
added 209,000 workers over the month.
While the previous two months saw a
greater job increase - 217,000 in May and
288,000 in June - the report still made July
the sixth straight month of job gains over
200,000.
Predictions made ahead of the BLS survey
anticipated faster growth than actually
occurred. The private sector jobs report from
Automatic Data Processing forecasted
218,000 new positions for the month.
Typically, the BLS report shows more growth
than the ADP report, since it comprises more
employers. The two reports rarely agree in
their estimates.
Economists had
been expecting the
report to show
more new jobs, as
well. A poll from
Reuters found a
prediction of
233,000 new hires.
While there may
actually be more
growth than the
first release
showed, it is
unlikely that levels
will match the
predictions, even
after revisions.
That said, May and
June's reports saw
revised estimates
that added a total
of 15,000 jobs to
first predictions.
The country's
unemployment rate
also edged up
slightly in July,
from
6.1 percent to 6.2 percent. Although
higher than last month, the unemployment rate
is still the second-lowest of any month this
year, and is 1.1 percent below last July's rate.
According to The New York Times, many
economists viewed the slight rise in
unemployment as a modestly positive sign, in
part because more people reported they were
looking for work, suggesting that many of them
were starting to see greater job opportunities.
The concurrent rise in the labor participation
rate seems to support that notion as the figure
increased from 62.8 percent, where it had
been since April, to 62.9 percent.
The largest gains were found in the
professional and business services sector,
which added 47,000 positions, bringing its
over-the-year hiring to 648,000. Job growth in
temporary help services changed little over the
month.
Healthcare employment experienced minimal
change in July, with growth
of over 21,000 in
ambulatory healthcare
services largely offset by
cuts in a total of 13,000
hospital and nursing care
staff.
Manufacturing jobs were
also in abundance, gaining
28,000 compared to the
12-month average of
12,000.
Construction continued its
steady hiring trend, adding
22,000 jobs.
Growth in the retail industry
remained strong, with
27,000 new positions
added over the month.
The past year has seen
nearly 300,000 jobs added
to the sector.
Employment in the
information sector changed
little, gaining around 2,000
jobs, following last month’s addition of around
10,000.
Employment Situation Report July 2014