Talent Talk Cafe - Tuesday, October 21st: Does location trump job choice and candidate selection?

Join Talent Talk Cafe this Tuesday at 12 pm PT / 3 pm ET for a conversation on job LOCATION and candidate choice.

The unemployment rate as of September was 6.1%. A year ago it was 4.7% so finding talent should be a lot easier...yes? Or, maybe not! How much of a role does job location play in finding and placing the best candidate?

Whether your a corporate or agency recruiter how significantly does location impede placing the best candidate? How much does job location influence the decision to pursue or not pursue an opportunity? Is this more of an issue today, even in a "tough job market", then it used to be? And, how often do you find your company or client is interested in placing the BEST candidate rather than holding to a mandate of being "on-site"?

Take a look at this article by Richard Florida which delves into industry clustering.

Then, take a look at these two maps displaying concentration of talent and industries:

Watch for exciting news later today on a new and expanded Talent Talk Cafe format - lots of new voices and topics coming your way!

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Permalink Reply by Sara on October 21, 2008 at 12:51pm

The maps are extremely interesting, I will be visiting that website soon.

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Permalink Reply by Sandy Lambert on October 21, 2008 at 12:57pm

Thank you for the in fo, The map is very informative

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Permalink Reply by Todd Noebel on October 21, 2008 at 1:52pm

Job location still plays a significant role in both finding and placing the best candidate. Someone may well be spot on for a role, but unwilling to move to, or live in, the place where the role is located.

I have personally experienced the impact of role location in my own career. Twice I have declined to move into final stages with a career opportunity on the basis of location. The role was right, the company was right, the people were right, but the location, in both situations, was not within the profile of desired places to live for my family and me.

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Permalink Reply by Maureen Sharib on October 21, 2008 at 2:33pm

There was a very short chat last week that touched on this subject -visit it here.

And then there was this this past week...

"...the median time for job searches conducted by those winning positions grew from 3.6 months in the second quarter to 4.4 months in the third quarter of 2008. Also, it found that 13.4% of job seekers relocated to take new positions in the third quarter of 2008. While this is up from a first quarter figure of 8.9%, it is still lower than the percentage of job seekers (15%-16%) who relocated in 2006 and part of 2007. As layoffs increase and the US economy worsens the percentage of people willing to relocate for new positions will likely increase even as home prices continue to fall. Unfortunately, some job seekers may find themselves trapped (despite a willingness to relocate) because of an inability to sell their homes. Put simply, this may be one of the toughest job markets in recent history."
Read more here.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff on October 21, 2008 at 3:34pm

I think locations are a definite influence on the quality of candidates you can recruit.

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Permalink Reply by Susan Burns on October 22, 2008 at 6:03pm

One of the topics that came up on Tuesday's Chat was the estimated of US gov employees eligible for retirement by 2010. Here's an interesting tidbit from a WSJ article with an outlook for 2016 - less than 8 years away:

"The federal government, in particular, is boosting campus recruiting ahead of anticipated worker shortages. By 2016, nearly 61% of current full-time government employees will be eligible for retirement, according to U.S. Office of Personnel Management." Full article here.