Resume Databases - Wrong For Nevada

Posted on March 4, 2008
Filed Under Advertising Mistakes, Employment Websites, Local Level Recruiting, Resume Searches, Socially Responsible Recruiting, War for Talent |

Today, many job boards make more money from selling resume database access than they do fulfilling their primary business role ….posting jobs. As much as resume database access may make sense in established markets, it does not make sense for Nevada.

Why do I say this? Nevada has been the fastest growing state for 20 years now.

We do not have the established, skilled and deep talent pools of mature markets. Therefore, we must recruit talent to our area, rather than recruit talent from our neighbors.

If we recruit talent from our neighbors, they in turn, must react to fill their newly created vacancies. They typically do so by recruiting talent from another neighbor, who in turn duplicates the same action (or reaction). You see where this is going……..

Wages go up. Sign-on bonuses become more prevalent. Retention levels suffer. And ultimately it hurts the entire industry and has a long term impact on the cost of labor. All along the way deteriorating the service we are delivering our customers.

And at the end of the day, the problem still exists. There is still a shortage. And employers are then paying higher wages while creating an even fiercer competitive landscape based on wages - not loyalty.

Access to local resume databases instigates this problem. Why? Because ABC company can go in and search for all resumes with DEF Company experience, just to offer them $.50 more per hour. And then DEF does the same, and so forth.

And how do those resumes get entered into the database to begin with? From applicants responding to paid job postings from ABC and DEF Companies. In essence, employers are paying to create the resume databases their neighbors are feeding from.