Why is it so difficult to fill your Temporary/Contract vacancy?
You are faced with the following dilemma …. the pressure is on and you need to complete a project or maybe someone on your team is leaving or you need to manage holidays or maternity cover and you are finding it challenging to easily source someone to cover this short-term situation.
You ask yourself “Why is this happening?” as you did not have this level of difficulty when you faced a similar situation 2 or 3 years ago?
The primary reason for this is the reality that we are almost back to full employment in Ireland with the unemployment rate for February 2019 now at just 5.6%.
This means that there are almost 2.28 million people working in Ireland at present and it represents a dramatic decrease in unemployment over the past 7 years from a peak rate of 15.1% in February 2012.
And while you may have read extensively about Generation X / Y / Z and their desire to move jobs frequently etc, the reality is that while Contingent Employment (ie Temporary/Contract/Freelance Employment is also known as “Contingent Employment” and refers to any employment relationship that is non-permanent) increased to over 10% of the Total Employment figure between 2011 – 2013, Contingent Employment has now fallen back to pre-recession levels of 8%-9% since late 2016 according to an ESRI Report in 2018.
To compound matters further and looking to the future, the projections outlined in this ESRI Report shows that the share of Contingent Employment within the Total Employment figure will rise by just 1% … from 9% in 2016 to 10% by 2025.
So what does this mean for you and your situation as a Hiring Manager?
The good news is that we know one of the big attractions of Temporary / Contract vacancies is that individuals place a much higher weighting on the opportunity to gain experience relative to the lack of job security (this is also backed up by findings by the ESRI).
So one practical step that you could take to increase the number of applicants for your vacancy is to ensure that, when you are completing the Job Description, you do not go through the motions of just listing all the responsibilities for the position … you ensure that you also list all the benefits that the successful applicant for the position will enjoy by undertaking your Temporary/Contract vacancy.
(Sources:
https://www.esri.ie/publications/measuring-contingent-employment-in-ireland)
https://pdf.cso.ie/www/pdf/20190306110004_Monthly_Unemployment_February_2019_full.pdf)
https://www.cso.ie/en/statistics/labourmarket/principalstatistics/seasonallyadjustedstandardisedunemploymentratessur/)
BDO Recruitment specialises in sourcing candidates for permanent and temporary positions across the disciplines of Accounting and Finance, Executive Appointments, and Support Staff.
Contact Donal at dhanrahan@bdo.ie
Or contact us