According to both recent market data and anecdotal data from my recruiting friends, the employment market may have bottomed out. It now seems likely that recruiting will start to pick up again within the coming months. I am of the opinion that this “Great Recession” has fundamentally changed the behavior in which companies recruit – and it does not bode well for either corporate or search firm recruiters.
Many people I know seem to think that as the economy gets better, companies will not only go back to recruiting as usual, but they will start a frantic pace of hiring to make up for the deep people cuts made during the past year. After all, here in the US we tend to have short-term memory loss. For example, remember last year when gas prices pushed $5 a gallon? The tiny Smart Car was flying out of auto showrooms. Now that gas is under $3 a gallon, Smart Cars are just sitting there. Some think that this historical behavior will translate to recruiting as Corporate America rekindles their recruiting programs. I am not so convinced.
I am guessing that in the coming months, the number of open positions in many companies will slowly start to climb. But will this increase in recruiter workload be balanced by a proportional increase in recruiting resources? Probably not.
Whether we like it or not, “management” generally views the HR function as one giant cost center – now under constant scrutiny to be reduced, off-shored and downsized. Even the most progressive companies tend to look at HR as a necessary evil and as those of us in recruiting already know, recruiting is the bastard function within HR – overworked, underfunded and generally, underappreciated.
Search firm recruiters are likely to be just as impacted long term by the “Great Recession” as their corporate recruiting counterparts. Companies are likely to readjust how they think about hiring new external talent – thinking twice (perhaps 3 times) before they decide to replace a fired or departing executive. All corporate budgets are now under constant review and even the most confident hiring manager will think carefully before spending $150K on that retained executive search.
Some folks have already proved this to be the case. Recently, I chatted with one of my old recruiting buddies. She is working for a top tech company and told me she is recruiting for over 30 executive positions. Q4 2009 was her busiest recruiting quarter. She went on to tell me, however, that their recruiting budgets have been severely cut and current workloads are crushing for her and all of her recruiting colleagues. When I was at Microsoft – granted 6 years ago – we had what seemed to be unlimited recruiting resources. It seems even the most profitable of companies are reluctant to unloosen already tightened budgets.
The Great Recession will hopefully soon be over. The affects of it, I’m afraid, may last a very long time. Companies will adjust how they go about acquiring the “best” possible talent and, recruiters will ultimately have to adjust as well.