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September 07, 2006
Hiring Managers Say Recruiting is Getting Harder

The results of an annual survey reveal that finding qualified candidates is getting more difficult for hiring managers. Fifty-five percent of hiring managers said it was "difficult" or "very difficult" to find qualified candidates for jobs 12 months ago, but 81% report that it is just as or more challenging today as it was a year ago. Meanwhile, 82% of respondents believe recruiting will become even more challenging another 12 months from now.

More than half (52%) of respondents cite a shortage of qualified workers as the primary cause behind the challenge of finding qualified workers, up from the 47% of respondents who believed it was the primary cause in 2005. Twenty-one percent of hiring managers think that their firm's inability to offer competitive compensation is the primary reason they are having recruiting difficulties, while 8% think it's their firm's inability to offer career advancement opportunities.

The Employment Dynamic and Growth Expectations Report, developed by Robert Half International and CareerBuilder.com, also asked the 1,000 hiring managers who took the survey to answer questions about its challenges and practices in the areas of compensation and retention. Among the highlights of these findings:

  • Thirty-seven percent say the most challenging job level to fill is that of professional/technical staff members, far and away the most popular response, with administrative/clerical staff (16%) a distant second
  • Not surprisingly given this statistic, hiring managers would be most willing to increase compensation in order to attract/retain talent for professional/technical staff members (36%). At the opposite end of the spectrum, only 5% of hiring managers would be most willing to increase compensation for senior management positions (CEOs, CFOS, CIOs, VPs).
  • Thirty-eight percent say that they anticipate increasing compensation levels for job offers in the next 12 months, up from 33% who anticipated making such increases in last year's survey. Fifty-four percent didn't anticipate making any changes in compensation levels for job offers.
  • While only 30% of hiring managers report that their firm has instituted policies/programs aimed at increasing staff retention rates in the last 12 months, this figure is up from 23% from last year's survey.
  • The most popular measures being taken to increase retention are: offering salary increases (20%); providing bonuses (20%, and notably, up from 12% in 2005); and allowing flexible work schedules (20%).