Have we seen the bottom, and are we past the hiring slowdown?

I Recruit in a niche market now, (Software Development for Non-Profits), but searching for .Net Developers in Baltimore, Maryland is not niche! I have been actively searching for 2-1/2 days and only have 3 interested Applicants! I have used Internal notices to my 100 co-workers - asking for referrals; I have posted on my blog, a few niche boards, and my company website; I have Tweeted the job opportunity repeatedly, put the word out on LinkedIn and Facebook; and still the trickle in of qualified and interested candidates is v-e-r-y s-l-o-w!
Are other Recruiters experiencing the same? It seems that the employed are not moving and the qualified candidate pool has begun to dry up.

Your thoughts?

Please share your Recruiting experiences since the Holidays.....

Thanks!

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on January 6, 2010 at 2:20pm

Hi Harvey. Have you considered using an agency?

#funny

It's pretty tight for the the skill sets my clients are looking for as well. It's been this way for me since last summer.

Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Harvey Clay on January 6, 2010 at 4:56pm

Hi Jerry.
I do engage with Agencies from time to time if we have a Temp or Temp to Hire need. :-)
I know I don't have the best ATS or inventory system for Applicants, but I was getting many more Applicants per job throughout the summer and right up to the Holidays.
Harvey

Jerry Albright said:

Hi Harvey. Have you considered using an agency?

#funny

It's pretty tight for the the skill sets my clients are looking for as well. It's been this way for me since last summer.

Good luck!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by pam claughton on January 7, 2010 at 5:32am

Hi Harvey,

It started picking up for us in September, and oddly enough, really kicked in mid-December, which is almost always a dead time. We're busier now than we have been at any time in 2009, so yes, I think the market has turned in the right direction. More companies are hiring and are working with agencies on their openings, which is what we like to see. :)

~Pam

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Permalink Reply by Craig Silverman on January 7, 2010 at 12:36pm

The market is moving but in my opinion it is far from hot. Some niche markets are tight on talent in some geographies but for the most part you can find people. Unemployment is still high, layoffs are still happening. You may want to tap into a consultant as .Net is heavy in contractors, try Dice or partnering with an agency who focuses on this niche. Exposure on social networks is good and growing but still not making up a as big a slice of the "closes" in the recruiting pie when you look at it from the perspective of # of placements for staffing agencies vs. job boards, resume databases, and referrals.

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Permalink Reply by Harvey Clay on January 7, 2010 at 1:35pm

Hi Craig.
Thanks for the Reply.
I am working on 2 open positions. One is a Temp to Perm, so I am working with Agencies. The other is a Direct Hire and I have this one out to all my favorite Networks, etc. After 3-1/2 days I have 4 interested Applicants and 2 interviews. This is a much lower number than I was getting throughout 2009.
I am thankful for the 2 who made it to the interview stage, but am worried if the hiring for .Net is this tight now, what is it going to be like when the economy finally turns around? We may be in for a shortage of qualified candidates like we experienced post 9/11 and again around 2004.
All the best to you,
Harvey

Craig Silverman said:

The market is moving but in my opinion it is far from hot. Some niche markets are tight on talent in some geographies but for the most part you can find people. Unemployment is still high, layoffs are still happening. You may want to tap into a consultant as .Net is heavy in contractors, try Dice or partnering with an agency who focuses on this niche. Exposure on social networks is good and growing but still not making up a as big a slice of the "closes" in the recruiting pie when you look at it from the perspective of # of placements for staffing agencies vs. job boards, resume databases, and referrals.

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Permalink Reply by Craig Silverman on January 7, 2010 at 2:11pm

Don't be worried about a shortage of talent. A talent war is what we in the recruiting business dream of. When supply of talent is high and demand is low we are all freaking out and poor. When the demand goes through the roof and the talent market gets tight we see our fees going up, time to hire gets shorter, and in general it's a major party going on in the recruiting business that we don;t want to ever stop... If .Net for example gets hard to fill with increased demand then companies will have to pay more in salary, offer sign-on bonuses and other incentives including higher fees to recruiters to get people to move and recruiters will have to actually get out there and headhunt by proactively calling into target firms to recruit talent away from their current positions... :)

Harvey Clay said:

Hi Craig.
Thanks for the Reply.
I am working on 2 open positions. One is a Temp to Perm, so I am working with Agencies. The other is a Direct Hire and I have this one out to all my favorite Networks, etc. After 3-1/2 days I have 4 interested Applicants and 2 interviews. This is a much lower number than I was getting throughout 2009.
I am thankful for the 2 who made it to the interview stage, but am worried if the hiring for .Net is this tight now, what is it going to be like when the economy finally turns around? We may be in for a shortage of qualified candidates like we experienced post 9/11 and again around 2004.
All the best to you,
Harvey

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Permalink Reply by Mike Hard on April 14, 2010 at 10:20am

Harvey

I tend to agree with Craig and Pam. I have seen an upturn but I wouldn't say it's a cascade, more like a flow that keeps getting stronger with every month. Dec and Jan were super strong which seems to be that there was decent demand, the market took a breather in Feb (it sucked for us but granted it was short), but then since then March and April have been really good and no end in sight.

IT was dead as doornails about a year ago and in past 5-6 months is one of the more popular postings on bountyjobs so I think you're right about the demand picking up, altho it's coming from a very deep hole. we tend to see it come in niches - in healhcare, in online media, etc.