The biggest challenge everyone perceives this year is going to be finding the right fit for the spot. But the real problem is going to keep being responsive to candidates, new and old. There are going to be people coming up on a year's out of work, and there are fresh people getting let go or looking for a new position.
The balance of showing empathy to one’s situation along with being responsive are the two ways I plan to ensure we overcome the challenges. There are going to be more candidates and more positions but the market will still be heavy candidate availability.
The Responsiveness of a recruitment individual is key to keeping a good relationship with people about potential openings and showing true empathy towards each person’s unique situation. Help. The better you are at these two key points will allow you to build your network of active and passive candidates which in turn will help you fill more spots with qualified candidates. Take that call from a professional who was laid off a year ago, they know people the simple fact that you have kept in touch and provided an ear to talk to will pay off in the end.

My biggest issue if finding qualified B2B sales talent in some of the smaller western markets (e.g. Roswell, NM) that we publish in. Haven't found much on the job boards which is disappointing as our average reps make over $75k a year...

There IS great talent out there! The challenge is convincing the hiring managers that a candidate, although over-qualified, may be their better choice. Yes, some folks will post for anything! Yes, some will want more $$. But, there are great candidates, willing to take a pay reduction AND stay with an organization. They know it's difficult to find a job and it takes time! Don't put everyone in the same basket! Hey, I'm a recruiter, but I'm also looking for work - I'm on BOTH sides of the fence!

You would think that with this high unemployment, there would be a plethora of qualified candidates out there. Not the case. I can think of a couple reasons for this. #1 - the good ones are not looking and are staying put while riding this recession out. #2 - they are really comfortable on their entitlement unemployment benefits and COBRA subsidies.

What is really frustrating is how many desperate unqualified candidates apply and the amount of paper those of us in recruiting see when we run an ad. For now, we will ride this out and wait for the right people. Sounds simple but short of paying 10's of thousands of dollars for recruiters to steal good people away from employers, it's really the only option right now.

Our biggest challenge is handling the fluctuations from operational needs and keeping the quality of the candidates high. Being an international co, we are adjusting to the demands inside and outside the US- the geographic demands create a need for different strategies in different places. Keeps us on our toes!

One of the biggest challenges we face today is recruitment process analysis – the mandate to focus on immediacy and speed of the recruitment process in a ever-shifting economic crisis. Our challenge is to have the process be flexible, adaptive and responsive to the immediate requirements of the corporation, but those needs may change every few months because of the financial status of a company. We try and put into pace recruitment measures that are flexible, while still being cost effective and timely.

Our biggest hurdle is that we are transferring work to another state and will need to place 30 employees in other jobs at this location when the work leaves. We are recruiting in the other work areas right now, but cannot let employees tranfer yet.

My biggest challenge is finding the needle in the haystack. I use a multi prong recruitment approach, using social media and Careerbuilder outreaches which result in large candidate pools. From there, it's weeding, sorting and screening! Candidates are so much more savvy with their resume and interviewing skills that I have to probe better with competency based questions and best fit scenarios. The whole process is labor intensive but I need to be able to ultimately answer 3 key questions: Can they do the job, Will they do the job, and How do they fit into the organization.

The challenge we are facing is sifting through the volumes of resumes we are receiving from candidates ranging from entry level to senior executives. In the past, our resume submissions were more focused to the candidates needs, looking for a specific position to fit their career path. In today's world, we have senior sales reps applying for entry level trainee roles. We are really trying to determine who needs a job versus who wants a job. I thought having such a diverse candidate pool from an experience persepctive would "point us in the right direction", but it has really just watered down our talent pool.

My biggest recruitment challenge is that I'm trying to fill more and more global positions in Australia, South America, and Southeast Asia. I'm trying to do this while based in the U.S. and between the language barriers, time zone changes, and my overall lack of knowledge of employment law in these other countries, it's pretty challenging! We don't have any HR people based in those locations. It has been a good learning experience though.

Our challenge will be balancing the necessity through 2010 to keep people/benefit costs down while remaining competitive for retaining workers, or replacing talent that finds increasing opportuntiy in the marketplace. We have to represent ourselves as a place with opportunity at a time of reduced salries and a frozen 401k match. We will do this by selling the experience the employee can gain and being part of a leading/growing company in our industry. We will see if we are successful...

One of my toughest recruiting challenges is finding qualified candidates. What I am finding is that some of the most qualified candidates are already working or living out of state. I also run into candidates that if they have the work experience they don't have the required education, but if they have the education they are lacking the work experience and these challenges make it difficult if you have a position to be filled immediately. This year I hope to tackle the working employees by making sure that finding a new job is in their best interest. The out of state candidates I will make sure that they are aware that the position is in this local area and I am only interviewing candidates in a 30 mile radius. As for the education without work history, I hope I can use their student internship or clinicals as work experience. As for the work experience without education,I would focus on the highlights of their goals, achievements, and accomplishments.

Our biggest challenge is competing with unemployment. Now that benefits are extended to over a year, people are either getting lazy and sitting back collecting benefits or taking benefits and working under the table to supplement the income. We are addressing this issue by counseling candidates and how this will affect their resume and chances for a position in the future.

The long bitterly cold winter is one of our biggest challenges.

Our biggest challenge is the same one that we have faced for years -- recruiting and retaining entry level staff (dining services, housekeeping, nurse aides)who are dependable and committed.

The biggest challenge everyone perceives this year is going to be finding the right fit for the spot. But the real problem is going to keep being responsive to candidates, new and old. There are going to be people coming up on a year's out of work, and there are fresh people getting let go or looking for a new position.
The balance of showing empathy to one’s situation along with being responsive are the two ways I plan to ensure we overcome the challenges. There are going to be more candidates and more positions but the market will still be heavy candidate availability.
The Responsiveness of a recruitment individual is key to keeping a good relationship with people about potential openings and showing true empathy towards each person’s unique situation. Help. The better you are at these two key points will allow you to build your network of active and passive candidates which in turn will help you fill more spots with qualified candidates. Take that call from a professional who was laid off a year ago, they know people the simple fact that you have kept in touch and provided an ear to talk to will pay off in the end.

Our challenge is finding people that want a career, not just a paycheck.
Our B2B sales is challenging due to the cutbacks in all deciplines for companies, and potential career candidates are aware of this.

Our biggest challenge is finding talent with the right skill sets that are actively job searching. A lot of the positions we recruit for are for highly competitive skill sets!

My biggest issue if finding qualified B2B sales talent in some of the smaller western markets (e.g. Roswell, NM) that we publish in. Haven't found much on the job boards which is disappointing as our average reps make over $75k a year...

My biggest challenge is getting a lot of applicants who do not read the job descriptions. With the economy the way it is anyone and everyone applies for jobs regardless of title or description. The solution is to implement more detailed or very specific screening questions to help weed some of them out.

There IS great talent out there! The challenge is convincing the hiring managers that a candidate, although over-qualified, may be their better choice. Yes, some folks will post for anything! Yes, some will want more $$. But, there are great candidates, willing to take a pay reduction AND stay with an organization. They know it's difficult to find a job and it takes time! Don't put everyone in the same basket! Hey, I'm a recruiter, but I'm also looking for work - I'm on BOTH sides of the fence!

Our biggest challenge lies with our salary packages or lack there of. We do not have a competitive compensation package due to cutting costs and limited department budgets. The company is rebounding, growing and performing well and we offer less money than the market provides. It is the proverbial recruitment challenge!!

Our biggest recruitment challenge is the overwhelming response they we have been receiving for any position we have available.
For a recent IT position I received over 800 resumes.
You have to ask yourself whether you want a candidate who is overqualified and based on necessity, and the length of their search is willing to take a huge pay cut.
Overall hiring has never been easier but I have to worry about all these people walking out the door if the economy ever rebounds.

Our biggest "recruitment" challenge is actually employee retention. As the economy improves, we don't want to lose our top performers and have to engage in major recruiting efforts. So, we implemented an employee recognition program in 2010, whose goal is improve employee morale, engagement and retention.

You would think that with this high unemployment, there would be a plethora of qualified candidates out there. Not the case. I can think of a couple reasons for this. #1 - the good ones are not looking and are staying put while riding this recession out. #2 - they are really comfortable on their entitlement unemployment benefits and COBRA subsidies.

What is really frustrating is how many desperate unqualified candidates apply and the amount of paper those of us in recruiting see when we run an ad. For now, we will ride this out and wait for the right people. Sounds simple but short of paying 10's of thousands of dollars for recruiters to steal good people away from employers, it's really the only option right now.

Our biggest challenge is handling the fluctuations from operational needs and keeping the quality of the candidates high. Being an international co, we are adjusting to the demands inside and outside the US- the geographic demands create a need for different strategies in different places. Keeps us on our toes!

Our biggest challenge will be spending the time to look through the increased volume of resumes received so that we can find the right candidates. It's great to have lots of choices, but the burden of time spent on this can be tough to manage.

One of the biggest challenges we face today is recruitment process analysis – the mandate to focus on immediacy and speed of the recruitment process in a ever-shifting economic crisis. Our challenge is to have the process be flexible, adaptive and responsive to the immediate requirements of the corporation, but those needs may change every few months because of the financial status of a company. We try and put into pace recruitment measures that are flexible, while still being cost effective and timely.

Our biggest hurdle is that we are transferring work to another state and will need to place 30 employees in other jobs at this location when the work leaves. We are recruiting in the other work areas right now, but cannot let employees tranfer yet.

Our biggest challenge is recruiting for specialty skill set in the Health Care Industry. Supply and demand....I am currently recruiting a 'Principal Investigator' (Medical Doctors in NY)for a Clinical Research position with growth potential and flexibility for fulltimeor part time, however it has been a challenge. I am reviewing specific Psychiatric publications since the regular recruiting avenues were not successful.

My biggest challenge is finding the needle in the haystack. I use a multi prong recruitment approach, using social media and Careerbuilder outreaches which result in large candidate pools. From there, it's weeding, sorting and screening! Candidates are so much more savvy with their resume and interviewing skills that I have to probe better with competency based questions and best fit scenarios. The whole process is labor intensive but I need to be able to ultimately answer 3 key questions: Can they do the job, Will they do the job, and How do they fit into the organization.

Our biggest challenge in 2010 continues to be the need to hire experienced, qualified candidates into our geographic location. We are in an economic bubble where the housing market was largely unaffected by the downturn in the economy. We also have the lowest unemployment in our state and the highest median wages to offer. Sounds like we should have no problem recruiting talented employees right?
Our rural location is a major factor in candidate relocation decisions, add to this a stable and limited availability housing market and you can see some of our problem.
I am working to change relocation benefits for professional hires and partnering with the local chamber of commerce to build more affordable rental housing. Our candidate marketing emphasizes the stability of our company and strong industry position in the current economy.

Our biggest challenges for 2010 would have to be weeding through ALL the applicants struggling to find people that actually fit the profile of individuals we are seeking to hire. There are so many people out of work, that they are applying to anything and everything in hopes of the chance of just finding work. It's difficult to have to tell someone that they have not the experience or credentials we need. I want to hire everyone that shows the inititive of finding a GOOD job. But unfortunately, we cannot hire just anyone. Hence the reason we use Careerbuilder as it allows us to ask all the right questions from the get go. I cannot do alot to change the economy right now, but when I have a candidate ,that with the proper credentials could be an excellent choice, I will refer them to where to apply to receive the training and check back with us.

The challenge we are facing is sifting through the volumes of resumes we are receiving from candidates ranging from entry level to senior executives. In the past, our resume submissions were more focused to the candidates needs, looking for a specific position to fit their career path. In today's world, we have senior sales reps applying for entry level trainee roles. We are really trying to determine who needs a job versus who wants a job. I thought having such a diverse candidate pool from an experience persepctive would "point us in the right direction", but it has really just watered down our talent pool.

My biggest recruitment challenge is that I'm trying to fill more and more global positions in Australia, South America, and Southeast Asia. I'm trying to do this while based in the U.S. and between the language barriers, time zone changes, and my overall lack of knowledge of employment law in these other countries, it's pretty challenging! We don't have any HR people based in those locations. It has been a good learning experience though.

Our challenge will be balancing the necessity through 2010 to keep people/benefit costs down while remaining competitive for retaining workers, or replacing talent that finds increasing opportuntiy in the marketplace. We have to represent ourselves as a place with opportunity at a time of reduced salries and a frozen 401k match. We will do this by selling the experience the employee can gain and being part of a leading/growing company in our industry. We will see if we are successful...

One of my toughest recruiting challenges is finding qualified candidates. What I am finding is that some of the most qualified candidates are already working or living out of state. I also run into candidates that if they have the work experience they don't have the required education, but if they have the education they are lacking the work experience and these challenges make it difficult if you have a position to be filled immediately. This year I hope to tackle the working employees by making sure that finding a new job is in their best interest. The out of state candidates I will make sure that they are aware that the position is in this local area and I am only interviewing candidates in a 30 mile radius. As for the education without work history, I hope I can use their student internship or clinicals as work experience. As for the work experience without education,I would focus on the highlights of their goals, achievements, and accomplishments.

Our challenge is to ensure that we are hiring the proper candidate. We must ensure to hire candidates that have RECENT employment history and candidates that we have received positiove references from. With employers constantly battling the unemployment market we need to ensure that we don not allow the challenges to be felt by our clients.

Our biggest challenge is finding candidates that are the "perfect fit" for our clients. We see that the candidate shortage has already begun, client demands and expectations vs what is really available out there do not coincide. We are constantly educating our clients about the market and what we are doing for them.

Our biggest challenge is competing with unemployment. Now that benefits are extended to over a year, people are either getting lazy and sitting back collecting benefits or taking benefits and working under the table to supplement the income. We are addressing this issue by counseling candidates and how this will affect their resume and chances for a position in the future.