Hiring new employees has never been harder, whether a company is replacing talent it lost, or trying to expand.
An average of 4 million workers quit per month in 2021, according to a recent report by CBRE Group Inc., which is 18% above the monthly average from 2018 to 2019. Most of these people aren’t leaving the workforce. Instead they are seeking new jobs with higher pay, a better work-life balance or remote and hybrid work options.
To find employees in this environment, companies have to pay more, offer more concessions to employees and be flexible about working from home. The playbook for hiring is changing, and recruiters say companies need to adapt with those changes.
Here are three things Albany-based recruiters say companies need to do in the search for the best talent:
Salaries are higher, but it’s not just about salaries
Sean Macari of Valiant Search specializes in recruiting for the legal industry.
In 2021, Macari said firms in Albany, New York City and elsewhere realized they needed to increase salaries to get more candidates interested. Now that strategy isn’t working as well.
“What’s shifted in the last four to five months, firms are realizing they’re not able to just throw out higher compensation levels,” Macari said. “It’s a candidate’s market right now, so they’re looking at not just the highest pay day, but work from home flexibility. It’s not just from the economics standpoint but how the [firm] differentiates themselves from other places.”
