Posted

In the spring of 2020, the opposite of a candidate market the employers market has arrived and could be here to stay for the next few years or longer.

Before we get into reasons on why to hire candidates in an employers market we will first look at the differences in each type of market and the employment trends over the past 20 years.

What is an Employer-driven Market?

An employer-driven market is where there are more qualified candidates than job openings available. As an economy shrinks and unemployment rises demand for jobs increases resulting in scarcity. This type of job market is the result of the law of supply and demand.

Employers are at an advantage when negotiating pay and benefits with candidates in this type of environment.

What is a Candidate-Driven Market?

A candidate-driven market is a market where there are more jobs than qualified candidates available to fill the job openings resulting in scarcity. As unemployment decreases and an economy grows demand for qualified job candidates increases the result of the law supply and demand.

Job seekers are at an advantage when negotiating pay and benefits in this type of employment market.

As shown in the table above from the U.S. Bureau of labor and statistics over the past 5 years, the United States had been in a candidate’s market, wages were increasing and candidate scarcity was a daily struggle to overcome for employers and recruiters alike.

The United States is now currently in an employer-driven market due to unemployment numbers going up to 14.7% because of mass layoffs, COVID-19, and general economic uncertainty.

As the US has shifted to an employers market now is the time to hire available job seekers as the quality of available candidates has increased.

The graph below covers the last 20 years of employment numbers from the U.S. Bureau of labor and statistics. Unemployment is at its all-time high in the year 2020 compared to the downward trend that had been occurring over the last 10 years.

As we move to an employers market this is a great time to hire top talent as mass layoffs have flooded the talent pool with highly talented job seekers who have greater flexibility on the compensation needed to accept a job offer.

As an employer, if you still need work completed and sent out the door but feel uneasy about bringing on a long term employee you should consider contract staffing to fill short term related workloads.

Being a company in an employer’s market, there is no better time to hire top talent for short term or long term work.

What is contract staffing?

Contract staffing is when an employer engages a staffing agency to provide a candidate for completing a short term assignment generally between one month and a year at a rate billed per hour on a weekly basis. The staffing agency covers all costs associated with hiring a temporary employee.

7 Reasons to hire a contractor in an Employer-driven market

1.  Save time on searching and screening candidates

With the current economic uncertainty, you need to focus on your business not read and screen hundreds of resumes for short term work.

Using a technical staffing agency will save you time and money by handling this for you.

2.  Hiring a contractor lowers your business liability

The contractor working at your facility is an employee of the staffing agency.

The staffing agency is responsible for paying the candidate and taking out payroll taxes, providing workers compensation insurance, general liability insurance, and is responsible for other issues that may occur.

3. Bring a contractor on for short term work

As an employer, if you have a short term project using a staffing agency gives you the ability to bring a contract employee on for the short term to complete a project.

The contractor knows the work will only last a few months so there are no hard feelings when the position wraps up.

4. Hiring a contractor lowers your overall costs

When using a staffing agency to bring on a temporary employee you do not have to worry about any long term costs associated with the worker.

You simply pay an hourly billing rate from which the contractor is paid and the staffing agency’s costs are covered as well. You are not responsible for sick pay, vacation pay, holiday pay, payroll costs, health insurance, 401k contributions, or any insurance-related costs.

5. Reduce stress on your current staff

Using a contractor can reduce stress on your current team and alleviate pain points in your workflows.

By bringing on a highly skilled contractor you can complete the project on time and be a hero to your employees.

6. Save time on training

Bring on a skilled contract employee with experience from a staffing agency saves you time on training the worker as they already have the necessary skills to complete the project.

7. Hire a better caliber of talent

During times of economic uncertainty, and layoffs the availability of quality talent increases giving an employer the opportunity to hire superior skilled talent at a more economic price.

Ready to staff that short term project? Ask about our engineering staffing services or IT staffing services today.

Ready To Hire?    Contact Us