Sorry, Nobody Wants Your Job
Got an old job opening?
Our firm has carved out a niche performing very difficult searches that other firms, often larger ones, have either turned down or abandoned. Truth be told, this is how we grew – by doing the searches nobody else wanted. We ate the dog food people gave us, and often in rural and sparsely populated places. When you start a new business, you start with no customers, so you really can’t turn down any business. Still, there is a limit. We will be honest and shoot a company straight if the company or hiring manager has a job nobody wants. Below are three common reasons we see when companies can’t fill a position.
1. Low compensation
When this occurs, it is usually at a small or midsize company, but the big boys get out of step here too. One scenario is when a long-time 20+ year manager decides to retire – the company has no clue what market compensation is now because they have not had to think about it since 2002. Another situation we see this happen is with rural companies or niche companies with low turnover – the current employees don’t often leave because there are not many other options. The most stressful situation is companies in distress or companies that don’t have the profitability to pay market compensation. We will be honest with you and provide an assessment of what we think the necessary compensation is to fill the position.
2. Too many requirements
If a company is demanding a Big 4 CPA, and the closest Big 4 office is more than two hours away, this combined with the requirement of an in-person role may cause us to say, “…thank you for considering working with us but no thank you.” This especially occurs if the company is unwilling to relax on the requirements. (If the business owner or hiring manager is arrogant or belligerent, then there is a 100% likelihood we will not work the search.) Requiring a degree when more than half of the candidates currently perform the role without one is another potentially unnecessary challenge. This is a toughie. However, not considering visa or foreign candidates (especially TN visa candidates), shrinks small pools of candidates to even smaller pools.
3. Reputation
Not much we can do for you here. If the company has a bad rep for poor employee relations, layoffs, low pay, lack of responsiveness, or not being a good corporate citizen, then the first step is to acknowledge it. The next step is to address it. Do we have a new management team in place? New ownership? New strategy? Targeted candidates may not believe it, but we need messaging to try and address potential candidate bias.
Conclusion
It’s frustrating when companies struggle to fill open positions in a timely manner. Take a step back and honestly assess why the vacancy isn’t being filled. This is important. If a company is posting jobs but hearing nothing but crickets or attracting unqualified candidates, there are steps that can be taken to address the issue and improve the situation.
