Employer’s are facing a long-overdue reckoning, and like all reckonings, rather than reflect inward, the focus for many has been external. They’re angry at their inability to control events, and blame others for their predicament.
The blame du jour: Lazy people, who don’t want to work…
……for you.
(Never has a prepositional phrase been more important!)
Here’s four reasons why …..
You’re Disinterested and Indifferent
Consider a job applicant who is bored, disinterested, and going-through-the-motions in the interview. Even worse, what if the applicant were rude, curt, or clearly not listening? Would you hire them? Of course not.
Employers are being interviewed by labor, and they’re blowing it because many of your hiring managers simply do not know how to behave in an interview. They’re rude, disinterested, and entitled. As a result, people just don’t want to work for you. Do you blame them?
You Took Too Long
You’re bored, disinterested, and then call me three weeks (three months!) later and say now you’ve decided to hire me, and I need to call you back right away….yeah, right.
The days of “keeping your resume on file…” went out with the Selectric typewriter. It doesn’t work that way. (It really never worked that way.)
A tight labor market is like a tight housing market. Be prepared to act quickly, compromise, and pay over asking. If you can’t do that, stay out of the market until you’re serious about buying.
You Came in Under my Minimum
Too many employers tell you they can pay your asking price but really have no intention of doing so. Similar to the housing market, the idea is that once the applicants’ commit to the hiring process, they will become so “invested” in closing the deal, that they will capitulate on their original ask for compensation.
This is not the market in which to call people’s salary “bluff.”
If I tell you that I’m seeking $45/hr, you drag me through weeks of interviews only to offer me $43/hr (wink), I’m not amused or impressed with your negotiation savvy, I’m pissed.
Result: I ghost you. I tell all my friends what an asshole you are, and (possibly) post a negative Glassdoor review – permanently damaging your brand. All for the bargain price of $2 an hour. Well done.
You’re Too Far Away
If you’re in a business where I can’t work virtually, the time and distance of my commute may make any job – regardless of compensation – difficult to fill. Restaurants in expensive urban areas, or hard-to-get-to resort communities have the additional challenge of the high cost of living making it unlikely any of the help would be housed in the immediate vicinity.
Consider a commute bonus, or other ways to mitigate that expense for your employees. Otherwise, you’re going to be short-staffed, and the staff you do have will be overworked making them much more likely to quit.
Finally…
This labor shortage didn’t just happen – it’s been coming for decades – the perfect storm of Covid, bad corporate behavior, retirement/death, and ubiquitous social media has weakened the stool upon which capitalism has balanced for decades.
Historically, businesses never worried about competing against one another for talent. Now that they must complete, many simply do not know how.
If you’re still clinging to the notion that the tight labor market is about lazy millennials or enhanced unemployment benefits, and any minute we’re going to “go back” to the way it was, you’re flat-out wrong. Our world, has fundamentally changed, and if there’s one thing we know about change is that it never changes back!
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If you enjoyed this article, check out some of my my posts and podcasts on employment, interviewing, and the contingent job market. Thanks for reading!
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