Understanding Connecticut’s Current Job Market

Have you tried to hire anyone lately? What was your experience? When your recruiter uses the line, “hey this guy is getting an offer from XYZ Company”, should you believe them? Yes! And here is why…

I don’t care what you’re hearing on the news. Whether we are actually in a recession or not doesn’t matter for the purpose of this information. The bottom line is that we are finding that in the State of Connecticut there is a lack of candidates for several markets. So, if you meet someone that has the qualities, skill set and personality traits to do the job for the open position, then you really should hire that candidate… and quickly before the opportunity disappears!
I smirk when I review some of the internal HR processes within an organization. By and large, those processes don’t work in the current job market here in Connecticut.

As a recruiting company the core of our process is that we spend a considerable amount of time, money and resources to farm quality candidates. In doing so, we review many resumes each week and typically bring in the quality candidates for internal processing and an initial interview. Part of our processing includes completing reference checks for the candidates as well as all the necessary leg work involved in getting a candidate prepared for a client’s review. You see, we do all of this tedious legwork before the candidate enters your organization for your own interview.

So… if a resume comes your way through us, then it is safe to say that the candidate is a quality candidate. Granted there’s more to it than this, but I must say that it hurts me when I hear a client mention something like the following, “we loved him but we really would like to see three more people to compare him to”.

Clients should realize that here are hundreds of candidates that we interview and don’t send their way. We wouldn’t be doing our jobs if that were the case. I have some recruiters that have been working for me for 10 years now and others that have been in the industry for longer than that, so needless to say they are good at determining who is good and who is not. I also know that some chemistry is very important to make a match, however in this market you need to weigh these things out.

In a typical job market we in fact try to send our clients three good candidates, however in this current market it’s hard to find one let alone three for anyone particular job. So when we send one or two to a client, they should understand that these are the “cream of the crop”.
Why take this advice and act quicker in today’s job market? Here is an example… Because the day before I had three great candidates but one just took a job, and another got an offer, however they’re not accepting the offer until they compare it to your opportunity. As you may imagine, they’re going to price around for the best offer because today candidates are in the driver’s seat. Again, a simple reflection of today’s atypical job market conditions.
It may be true that the old process of comparing 15 candidates uses to work, however in today’s market you’ll end up empty handed.

And one more thing I would like to portray to clients. Please “sell” your company and the job offer to a candidate you would like to recruit! As much as you may assume that a candidate is in need of a job and dying to work for your company, they’re NOT. Many candidates today, take their time to land the job that will be satisfying and awarding. They too have to believe in the company as much as you have to believe in them. Therefore, treat the situation accordingly.

For more advice and information, please visit http://www.jtlservices.com/

Greg Angelillo
Online Editor
JTL Services, Inc.
725 Meriden-Waterbury Turnpike
Southington, CT 06489
Phone: (860) 426-0583
FAX: (860) 628-5008

216 East Chatham Street, Suite 101
Cary, NC 27511
Phone: (919) 465-7289
FAX: (919) 465-7281