Staffing your workplace with cool and talented people? One-hundred percent, yes.
But attracting, recruiting, and hiring new employees—outside of eating up a ton of time and resources—is, well, getting kind of expensive. Or, more accurately, paying them is.
When you compare the job market to the housing market today, it’s easy to see why so many people—whether they’re employers or home buyers—are paying higher prices for the best results. Here’s how.
Salaries have gone up, but the talent pool has shrunk. This means that employers must expect to pay higher salaries to new hires, and, what’s more, they’ll have fewer high-quality candidates to choose from in the process. Finding the perfect job candidate is hard enough, but once you find them, you’ve got to reel them in with the most lucrative offer.
On the flipside, high-quality job candidates understand their value in the job market. And what do we always tell job seekers, each other, and ourselves when it comes to work? “Know your worth.” Well, savvy job seekers know this better than anyone, and they’re leveraging their skill sets and experience to negotiate the best possible salaries for themselves. Why shouldn’t they?
It’s simple supply and demand, and job seekers are benefitting from a sweet spot in an otherwise dismal landscape.
The problem this poses to employers, of course, is two-fold:
1 – Speed kills.
Employers no longer have the luxury of hemming or hawing during the hiring process. Indecisiveness is simply not an option. If you have the opportunity to hire a high-quality candidate, you’ve got to act as quickly as possible. Yes, doing your due diligence is a must. But the longer you wait, the more likely you are to lose out on that highly coveted job candidate. Assume your candidate has at least one other opportunity, if not a handful of others, so you’ll want to move swiftly yet efficiently.
2 – Money talks.
The almighty dollar rules (for most people and businesses, anyway). And even though there are many factors that could differentiate one employer from another (benefits, culture, location, etc.), what is usually the biggest motivator of all? Money. You should never spend outside of your means, but if you want to play, you’ve got to play, so to speak. Make sure you communicate with your job candidate, be as transparent as possible, and be willing to negotiate—if they’re worth it, that is.
Here’s the point: The last thing you want to do is let “the one” get away. Is saving a few thousand dollars in salary really worth settling for a lesser job performance? No. Like it or not, the answer to 99 out of 100 questions is almost always the same: Money.
Does any of this sound familiar?
If you’re trying to buy a home, it does. In 2021, the average price of a home in the U.S. was $392,000, which was up 28.52% from the average price of $305,000 in 2020. So, prices are going up, and guess what—the number of available homes to purchase is going down, too. In fact, there’s never been such a severe shortage of homes in the U.S. Supply and demand strikes again!
You can guess what happens next, right? Potential homebuyers are being forced to pay well over the asking price for a home if they want to seal the deal and make it their own. Consider these fast facts:
80% of millennials are willing to pay over asking price.
1 in 6 millennials would bid $100,000 over asking price
46% of millennials said they’d expect to max out their budget when buying a home
We think you get the point, but let’s hammer home the analogy here:
Employers are just like home buyers
Finding a high-quality candidate is like finding the perfect home
When you see an opportunity to hire (or buy) you’ve got to do it quickly
Employers, like home buyers, should expect to pay up or lose out
If you can’t afford it, expect to make some compromises with what you get
Okay, now what?
As an employer, you’ve got to make a million business decisions a day. Let us help you make one of those decisions a whole lot easier. As a top-tier provider of talent solutions specifically for startups like yours, we can build a bridge between your business and the best job candidates in town or online.
