Producing Candidate Separation through Recruiting Technology

Introduction

With millions of potential employment candidates leveraging the Internet to search for jobs (Borstorff et al, 2006) and a massive global economic recession providing increasing availability to otherwise gainfully employed professionals, it is staggering to think that employers cannot find qualified candidates. In 2009, the Department of Homeland Security touted a shortage of candidates for 1,000 security-related positions despite the ever-growing numbers of Americans graduating from college with Information Technology or security focused credentials. Searching through job sites in the later part of 2009 resulted in 255,000+ information security jobs at Indeed, 22,000+ at HotJobs, over 5,000 (limit) at Monster, nationally and internationally. In October of 2009, the number of Americans without a job topped 15,000,000. While these levels did not approach those of the 1930 depression, 25% of the population, they should provide a more qualified candidate pool than ever before in recent history, but the numbers do not match.

While the focus here is not directly on the recession, it does reflect the significant lack of positions filled during this recession. Normally, economies affect all employment environments, which normally serve the general direction of growth; increased GDP creates jobs that require more candidates. This reveals three trends that deserve further attention: shifts in recruiting, shifts in job searching, and IT utilization. The number of postings remains plentiful despite a purported lack of positions through the media. The national media also declares a lack of qualified candidates to fill key Information Technology positions, but local coverage reports countless highly educated, skilled IT workers remain unemployed. Why such a discrepancy?

IT positions remain open because IT candidates cannot be appropriately qualified through current methods. Rapidly advancing technologies require rapidly adopting recruiters, but this creates a catch-22 scenario: focus on learning new technologies and recruiters identify better candidates, locate more candidates and there is little time to adopt new technologies. Candidates remain on the outside of this conundrum with highly sought after skills, but unable to adequately demonstrate their wares. A more accurate skill assessment method will more accurately identify high demand skills, providing employers with a more focused appraisal tool that aligns with internal specifications instead of relying on 2-page buckshot of job listings.

The number of global candidates is growing, but claims of weak qualifications or poorly drafted resumes that do not appropriately reflect skills or experience leave many positions open. Filling high skill positions is not limited to the rank and file, executives now find their work as highly scrutinized as ever before, perhaps due to the technological infusion of the 1990’s that drove gainful increases in productivity. This chapter will look at a technical process to correct what should be the simplest hiring task, entry to mid-level positions that will better position candidates to find long-term, better-suited careers that will provide more valuable, synergistic employment to position the States, again, as the leading nation moving toward a more service-based professional society.

Executive recruiting discussions will encapsulate current, successful methods unrelated to the mid- to entry-level solutions based on inherent tacit skill requirements that differ greatly from explicit, measurable individual contributor skills and will be isolated to better current methods of C-level hiring.