Survey of Human Resources and Recruitment Professionals Points to Positive Signs of Hiring and Labor Market Activity in the Coming Year
Chicago, IL – Jan 27, 2011 – The annual "Labor Market Barometer Report" was released today by TalentDrive, creator of the leading resume search engine TalentFilter. The report provides a comprehensive snapshot into hiring activities and strategies for 2011 by surveying thousands of Human Resource and Recruitment professionals, and showed economic improvements in many categories when compared with numbers from 2010. Below are summaries of the survey’s main findings.
Recruitment Budgets will Increase
Despite economic indicators fluctuating at the close of 2010, many analysts remained confident that hiring will pick up in 2011. Reinforcing this positive outlook, TalentDrive’s survey found that 76 percent of companies report budgets for talent acquisition will either increase or remain the same in Q1 of 2011. Last year only 44 percent of companies surveyed claimed hiring budgets were increasing, making for an overall 72 percent rise in recruitment spend from 2010 to 2011.
Further support for market stabilization was uncovered with 81 percent of those surveyed reporting they plan to spend the same or more on online postings in 2011. This is an increase of 59 percent from last year’s figures and confirms that in the coming year traditional online recruitment channels will remain a strong medium for targeting job seekers.
Biggest Recruiting Challenge
In addition to budget spend, human resource professionals were asked to name their top recruitment challenge. A majority (45 percent) of respondents indicated "efficiently filtering through resumes" is their largest problem while 64 percent said they are either indifferent or dissatisfied with the resumes they are currently finding online.
This issue can be attributed to the current over-saturation of job seekers in the market, which is making it difficult for recruiters to efficiently identify top quality candidates due to large applicant influx. The survey went on to find that companies have implemented automated recruitment technologies to help streamline these processes and combat the unmanageable amount of available resumes.
Top Recruitment Technologies
When respondents were asked to name the top recruitment technologies they use in the hiring process, 62 percent indicated either a standalone resume search engine or resume search application built into an applicant tracking system (ATS) as their number one choice for 2011. These technologies consolidate multiple online resume sources (paid job boards, free job boards and social networks) into one comprehensive candidate search.
Growing Concern Regarding Turnover
If indicators showing economic growth prove true, then undoubtedly employees who are unsatisfied with their current positions will look to move. Survey findings show that 42 percent of employers indicated concern over top employee turnover in 2011, an 11 percent increase from the respondents who said the same in 2010.
What are companies doing to solve this potential issue? A majority (42 percent) have either implemented or plan to implement comprehensive employee feedback programs to gain an honest understanding of staff opinions and anticipate problems.
Summary
This survey was distributed to more than 37,432 professionals representing F1000 Companies, Staffing Firms and independent operations. It was conducted between December 1, 2010 and January 10, 2011.
Below is a recap of the key survey findings:
• 76 percent are either increasing or keeping the same budgets for 2011 talent acquisition
• 81 percent plan to spend the same or more for online postings in 2011
• A majority (45 percent) report efficiently filtering through resumes is the top recruitment challenge
• 64 percent are indifferent or dissatisfied with the resumes they are finding online
• 62 percent listed standalone resume search engines or resume search applications integrated into ATS platforms as their top technology used in the hiring process
• 2011 marks an 11 percent increase in employers concerned over top employee turnover
• 42 percent of companies have or plan to implement employee feedback programs in 2011
"Labor market reports at the close of 2010 showed a decrease in unemployment claims and mixed results for new hires. This report offers positive indicators that recruiters and HR departments expect the market will strengthen and are allocating funds to support that prediction. Utilizing best practice technologies and strategies in the recruitment processes is important when attempting to cut costly time and operational inefficiencies. We are glad to see recruiters are still placing importance on online candidate search and Applicant Tracking technologies," said TalentDrive CEO Sean Bisceglia.
About TalentDrive:
TalentDrive is the creator of the leading online resume aggregation search engine, TalentFilter. One of the easiest to use sourcing tools on the market, TalentFilter is available exclusively through TalentDrive’s 30 API partners. These partners and access to over 450,000 global users makes us the most widely adopted resume search and candidate marketing API. TalentFilter sweeps and unifies thousands of paid and free resume databases into one location, using sophisticated matching and filtering to rank results. Integrated with more job boards than any other resume search tool, TalentDrive has been nationally recognized in The Economist, BusinessWeek, CNN Money, CNBC, Fox Business, CBS Radio, U.S. News and World Report, ERE, SI Review and one of AS A’s Top Tools of the Year for 2010. One search, one location, one technology. Thousands of sources. For more information, visit www.talentdrive.com.
