Broken Hiring Process to Blame for US Unemployment, Study Finds
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. CREDIT: Broken hiring process image via Shutterstock |
There are 13 million unemployed Americans, yet 3.8 million open jobs remain unfilled. Some critics attribute this imbalance to structural unemployment — a mismatch between open jobs and the skill set of workers who are apply. A new study, though, places the blame on a broken hiring process.
One indication that the process is flawed is that more than half (52 percent) of employers looking to fill a job simply give up because of the difficulty of finding the right candidate, according to a survey of more than 1,000 hiring managers and job-seekers sponsored by SmartRecruiters, a social recruiting platform.
Compounding the difficulty is the length the process itself, the survey found. More than half (55 percent) of respondents involved in hiring at their company reported that filling a vacant position typically takes longer than 60 days, and 43 percent said that open positions aren't filled within their required time frame.
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A byproduct of a flawed hiring process is that employers settle too often for candidates that just meet minimum requirements, the survey found. Almost half of the respondents reported that they had settled for a candidate that was just "good enough" because finding the right candidate took too long.
Nobody on either side of the equation is happy with the hiring process, the study results suggest. More than 60 percent of respondents, both job-seekers and employers, said that their experience with the hiring process has been unsatisfactory.
Many candidates (46 percent) have chosen not to apply for a job they were interested in because of an application process that was "too lengthy or complicated," the survey found.
Nearly half (47 percent) of people surveyed said they would be more likely to apply for a job if they could apply using an online social profile such as LinkedIn or Facebook rather than with a résumé and cover letter, and 57 percent would be interested in applying from their mobile device if that option was available.
Reach BusinessNewsDaily senior writer Ned Smith at nsmith@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @nedbsmith.We're also on Facebook & Google+.