Recruiting is starting to become more difficult as more candidates are leaving their jobs seeking other opportunities according to a recent Wall Street Journal article.

In February, the number of employees voluntarily quitting surpassed the number being fired or discharged for the first time since October 2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Before February, the BLS had recorded more layoffs than resignations for 15 straight months, the first such streak since the bureau started tracking the data a decade ago. Since the BLS began tracking the data, the average number of people voluntarily leaving their jobs per month has been about 2.7 million. But since October 2008, the average number dropped to as low as 1.72 million. In March, it was about 1.87 million.

And recent sentiment indicates that the number of employees quitting could continue to grow in the coming months. In a poll conducted by human-resources consultant Right Management at the end of 2009, 60% of workers said they intended to leave their jobs when the market got better. “The research is fairly alarming,” says Michael Haid, senior vice president of global solutions for Right Management. “The churn for companies could be very costly.”

Adecco Group, a world-wide staffing firm based in Zurich, has seen several of its clients ask for candidates for key positions after employees made surprise departures, says Vice President Rich Thompson. Although so far there haven’t been widespread departures, Mr. Thompson says his company is readying itself for large-scale changes within the next few months. “We’re preparing for a massive reshuffling of talent at all job levels in all industries,” he says, noting that the recession earlier this decade was so short and shallow that the turnover this time around is likely to be much greater.

Recruiters and human-resource experts say the increase in employees giving notice is a product of two forces. First, the natural turnover of employees leaving to advance their careers didn’t occur during the recession because jobs were so scarce. This created a backlog of workers waiting for better times to make a move to better jobs. The median monthly voluntary turnover rate in 2009 was 0.5%, half of the rate in 2008, according to the Bureau of National Affairs, a specialized news publisher for professionals.

During the recession, even if they heard of an opening, employees were reluctant to switch employers, says Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. “The idea of moving when the world was already in uncertainty was quite scary,” he says. But those hang-ups are disappearing, and employees are becoming more receptive to recruiter calls and beginning to tap their networks again for signs of opportunities, he says.

Another factor making it harder for companies to retain employees is the effect of the heavy cost-cutting and downsizing during the downturn on workers’ morale. A survey conducted last summer for the Conference Board, a management research organization, found that the drivers of the drop in job fulfillment included less satisfaction with wages and less interest in work. In 2009, 34.6% of workers were satisfied with their wages, down more than seven percentage points from 1987. About 51% in 2009 said they were interested in work, down 19 percentage points from 1987.

“Employees feel disengaged with their jobs, which is going to lead to a lot of churn as we come out of the recession,” says Brett Good, a district president of Southern California for Robert Half International, an executive recruiting firm.

Mr. Good, who worked for Robert Half in the San Francisco Bay Area earlier this decade,says his company saw a “tremendous amount” of departures from technology companies that needed to be refilled when the dot-com recession ended. Already, Mr. Good says he’s received calls from executives who nine months ago felt trapped because of economic conditions and didn’t want to lose sure-thing positions, but now feel they’re able to move on. “They feel like ‘a bird in the hand’ isn’t good enough anymore,” he says.

An increase in turnover can be costly for companies. It typically costs a company about half of the position’s annual salary to recruit a person for that job, but the cost can run up to several times that if the position requires rare skills, says Right Management’s Mr. Haid. Convincing employees to stay might not be cheap either. Nearly 5,400 members of TheLadders.com, a job board for positions that pay $100,000 or more, responded to an April survey that asked how much more money it would take to convince them to stay if they wanted to leave. More than 20% said it would take a raise of more than $25,000. In all, about 50% of respondents said it would take more than $15,000.

To re-engage employees, Robert Half International is advising clients to hold town hall meetings and one-on-one sessions with employees to hear grievances and try to rekindle interest in the company among workers, Mr. Good says. Some clients had made broad-based cuts in departments based solely on salary or without regard to employee tenure, damaging the trust of the employees who survived, Mr. Good says.

Florida Hospital Flagler, an 850-employee hospital in northern Florida, faced a 30% turnover rate in 2008, almost double the average for area hospitals, says Alyson Parker, director of human resources. That dipped to 20% in 2009 as the economy suppressed voluntary departures, but the hospital still spent $3 million in 2009 on covering open positions, and finding and training new employees. The average search for a new nurse, for example, costs the hospital between $52,000 and $60,000, Ms. Parker says. This year, the hospital implemented regular town hall and department meetings, and one-on-one “stay” interviews for employees to air grievances and give ways to improve the work environment. So far, the measures have helped the hospital to lower its turnover rate by about 2 percentage points. “We’re trying to catch people before they even start looking for a new job, which will become even more important as the economy improves and more opportunities at competitors open up,” Ms. Parker says.

Human-resource managers often have trouble getting resources from top management until employees actually start to leave, says Mr. Cappelli. In the late 1990s, companies that were losing employees started to offer concierge services, discounted lunches, and hiring bonuses in a mad scramble to keep employees and recruit new ones, a trend Mr. Cappelli says could come back if the job market continues to improve. But this time around, Mr. Cappelli says companies might try to deal with more nuanced employee requests, such as lowering stress at work, improving work-life balance, and creating more opportunities for career advancement within the company.

For some employees, it might be too late. Dice.com, a job board for tech professionals, asked members what could persuade them to stay in their jobs if they found another opportunity. More than 57% of the 1,273 surveyed said nothing could persuade them to stay. Of those who said they could be persuaded, 42% said they wanted a higher salary and 11% wanted a promotion.

To commemorate the passage of Memorial Day and the great sacrifices our armed forces have made to make our country great and free, I have just released my 12th and final commandment of recruiting. Please go to http://www.strategicsearch.com/technical-recruiting-tips/ and click on 12th (below) to view.

I created these twelve commandments of recruiting to better assist you with your technical recruitment and placement needs. As a technical headhunter with over 23 years of staffing experience, I have filled hundreds of technical jobs worldwide for such clients as ITW, Intermatic and Wrigley Company.

These twelve share some of my technical recruiting expertise in hopes of facilitating your hiring process. Though every job, employment situation and staffing circumstance is different, these recruiting tips will universally apply to a wide range of jobs and employment opportunities.

The final of these complimentary twelve commandments is entitled, “Be realistic.” The caveat is many companies demand unrealistic employment requirements. As a result, countless positions go unfilled for long periods of time! Instead, I recommend focusing in on only the 2-3 most important job criteria.

I hope you found this tip helpful and please come back and refer to this and the other eleven commandments of recruiting at your convenience.

Please go to http://www.strategicsearch.com/technical-recruiting-tips/ and click on 11th (below) to view his month’s technical recruiting tip, which is phone screen first.

The key is you can gain a lot of information from a properly structured phone interview. This can save you a lot of time and money in the interview process. For example, it can prevent you from spending thousands to fly the wrong person in. Furthermore, it can save the precious hours of your executive’s time to interview this erroneous job candidate. So remember to phone screen first!

Though the employment picture remains bleak, technical recruiting is showing signs of recovery. As one of the panelists at a Fuqua School of Business (Duke University) event last Wednesday, I learned firsthand from some attendees that several major management consulting firms are aggressively recruiting specialized talent. This puts a premium on innovative methods to surface key technical candidates for unique job openings. To that end, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) techniques, that many web marketers have employed religiously for the last few years to drive more sales of their products and services, are now being employed for recruiting efforts. One SEO technique paying dividends is listing on local search directories. I recently interviewed three local search experts to gain their insights.

Andrew Shotland founder of Local SEO Guide (www.localseoguide.com) was fascinated by the amount of attention local search has garnered over the last six months. To uncover optimum directories for your niche and ensure that job seekers can find you he suggested, “You need to (first) go to Google, plug in all the search terms that are relevant to your business and see what sites come up. (The caveat is) If the local directories are not listed on the first page for your search terms, then they are irrelevant to you.” Therefore, the first step is to find those directories that are ranked well for your key search terms on Google. “The next step is to claim your profile. Go to Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/) find your profile, update your profile and add descriptions to ensure that your profile is correctly targeting those keywords that are relevant to your target audience. It’s no longer enough to just have your website rank highly, you need to also ensure that your company’s local directory page ranks highly as well,” said Mr. Shotland.

Some of the best general local directories are:

1. http://www.yelp.com

2. http://www.yellowpages.com

3. http://www.superpages.com

4. http://chicago.citysearch.com

5. http://www.dexknows.com

However, depending upon your niche you may want to uncover and list on more specialized local directories.  Doing so will take a lot of work, but will also pay you multiple benefits including:

1. Promoting your company to key candidates that you seek.

2. Driving potential employees more quickly to your site based upon your niche.

3. Driving more customers to your business.

Consultant Steve Espinosa (http://stephenespinosa.com/) added, “The best thing your company can do is take control of your listing. Correct any data that is inaccurate and add data that is relevant.” He also shared that there are three major data sources that distribute local listing data to the other independent local directories:

1. http://www.localeze.com

2. http://www.infousa.com

3. www.acxiom.com

Mike Belasco President of seOverflow (www.seoverflow.com) added that small companies that have not taken advantage of local directories have several resources that can assist them:

Our Blog: http://www.seoverflow.com/blog

Get Listed http://getlisted.org/index.aspx

Get Listed Local University http://getlisted.org/university/

Our Media Page: http://www.seoverflow.com/media.html

Our Events Page: http://www.seoverflow.com/events.html

Local Related Blog Posts

http://www.seoverflow.com/blog/local-seo/new-google-guidelines-checklist/

http://www.seoverflow.com/blog/local-seo/citations-and-local-search/

http://www.seoverflow.com/blog/seoverflow/mike-belasco-wins-2010-semmy-for-analytics/

http://www.seoverflow.com/blog/call-tracking/roll-your-own-phone-call-tracking-program-it-is-easy/

http://www.seoverflow.com/blog/seoverflow/planet-ocean-announces-local-search-expert-mary-bowling/

Presentations

http://www.seoverflow.com/blog/ses2009/mike-belascos-slides-from-ses-chicago-local-search-summit/

http://www.seoverflow.com/blog/seoverflow/soar-with-local-seo-presentation-slides/

The bottom line is recruiting key technical personnel is becoming increasingly more difficult. Especially with staffing accelerating at many companies, one SEO technique that can be helpful is listing in appropriate local directories. This will provide you with the dual benefit of attracting both desired candidates and customers. The caveat is more companies are discovering this pathway. Therefore, you need to act quickly in order to tap into this valuable resource.

Many hiring companies constantly espouse the need to recruit the best and brightest possible candidates for their open positions. However, few pay much attention to cultivating and nurturing that talent. Instead, Duke’s win yesterday as 2010 men’s NCAA basketball champion proves that it is not enough to just recruit the best. Once you have that top talent in place, you need to offer them the latitude and opportunity to succeed.

To prove my point, please wind the clock back to 1980, which was Mike Krzyzewski’s first year at Duke. It was also my first year at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business MBA program. Then Duke athletic director Tom Butters had recently recruited Coach Krzyzewski from Army to replace Bill Foster who had 27-7, 22-8 and 24-9 finishes in his last three seasons including the runner-up to Kentucky as NCAA champion in 1978. Therefore, most at Duke were extremely unhappy with Coach K’s 17-13 and 10-17 finishes in his first two seasons. In fact, things got so bad that when he had a lecture, I was one of only a handful of students to attend. Furthermore, most were calling for his ouster (and that of Mr. Butters if he didn’t cooperate). Luckily Tom Butters stuck to his convictions, was patient and offered a lot of support and latitude to Coach K. The rest is history.

He is now only the third coach in NCAA history to win four national championships. The only others in that elite group are John Wooden of UCLA and Adolph Rupp of Kentucky. Furthermore, in his 30 seasons at Duke he has taken the Blue Devils to 11 Final Fours and 8 championship game appearances. In today’s era of reduced scholarships and increased scrutiny these accomplishments may even exceed John Wooden’s achievements. Add to that the tough academic standards of Duke and he may be the best coach of all time!

Contrast this with what most hiring managers do. They offer little in the way of development for their prized pupils. Furthermore, they are quick to “pull the trigger” and fire that talent on the first misstep. Instead they should take a page out of Tom Butters book at Duke and be patient and offer a lot of support for their top recruits. The result may be the next Mike Krzyzewski on your payroll!

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced yesterday that manufacturing created 17,000 new jobs in March. For the three months of this year, this sector has now created 45,000 net new jobs. As a result, some technical jobs are getting harder to fill due to a lack of talent. Therefore, I recommend using the internet to better investigate candidates. Please go to http://www.strategicsearch.com/technical-recruiting-tips/ and click on 10TH (below) to learn more.

The key is a lot of candidate information exists on the Internet especially on social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn. Therefore, you need to dig deep.

Keyword research is one of the fundamentals of successful SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEM (Search Engine Marketing or Pay Per Click) campaigns. Proper keywords help web pages rank higher with search engines, which assists marketers in better attracting customers. Hiring companies can adopt these techniques to better recruit candidates for their staffing needs.

Choosing the right keywords is all about identifying whom your target audience is, what their expectations are in finding you and what words they will input into search engines to find you. It is not about what you think are the best keywords. Instead, it is about what your target audience will actually be using. Therefore, you need to penetrate the minds of the searcher to uncover what keywords they will likely choose in their process of finding you.

“Unfortunately, most people guess at what keywords they should be known for, which leads to them not being found,” says keyword expert Ron Jones, president of Symetri (http://www.symetri.com) during our recent interview. “Instead you should do some research to identify what key terms people may be using to find you and then design your content (e.g. help wanted ads) using those keywords. This will enhance your ability to make a connection between the searcher (e.g. job seeker) and yourself.”

There are many tools one can use to determine optimum keywords for your target audience. They include free tools such as Google Keyword Tool (https://adwords.google.com). They also include paid tools include WordStream (http://www.wordstream.com), Keyword Discovery (http://www.keyworddiscovery.com) and Wordtracker (http://www.wordtracker.com). “Most paid tools allow you to do some free searching. However, the $50 to 70 (you will spend for one month’s usage of Keyword Discovery) will be money well spent because it will also help you better qualify candidates. If I am looking for someone with a very specific background, I can perform some keyword research to identify the right keywords that are most relevant for that type of person. Then those job seekers who have that desired talent are more apt to uncover and approach my company. The rule-of-thumb is the more specific and relevant your job descriptions are using the proper keywords, the more likely it is that you will make a connection with the talent you seek. Also, using proper keywords will help you better filter out those who do not fit your requirements. One caution is there is no one keyword tool that does it all. Instead, I recommend using several tools together,” shares Mr. Jones.

The next question you may have is how often should you perform keyword research. Mr. Jones recommends once a year. However, if you have a major change in your industry (e.g. new product introduction) you should perform it more quickly. “The key is if you are in the R&D (research and development) phase, keyword research can also be a great tool for developing new product names. Then if you can integrate the results into your new product name, this can help you both: a) generate optimum new product names and b) help your customers to better find you per your new names, says Mr. Jones.

Finally, it is very important to apply keyword research to your recruiting campaigns in order to meet candidate expectations. “When someone uses any search engine, they start off with an expectation. If they then uncover an ad or search result, that represents their expectations, then they are likely to click on it. If they click on that destination (e.g. your blog or website), it is important that destination delivers on that expectation. Therefore, the final destination also has to be rich with the same keywords that began the process so that there is relevance from the beginning of the process to the end,” mentioned Mr. Jones.

Manufacturers and technology companies are seeing increased signs of an economic recovery. For example, the Federal Reserve stated recently that industrial production rose in January for the seventh straight month! As a result, many technical positions are becoming increasingly more difficult to recruit despite the 9.7% unemployment rate. This includes scientists, engineers and IT professionals. This requires an even more thorough screening process to avoid recruiting mistakes. As a result, I recommend taking an investigative approach to interviewing. Please go to http://www.strategicsearch.com/technical-recruiting-tips/ and click on 9th (below) to view my recently released 9th Commandment Of Recruiting video for more details.

Certain positions are becoming scarcer due to increased demand. As a result, I recommend becoming even more thorough in your interviewing process to separate the wheat from the chaff. You should include four investigative checks including criminal records, civil records (e.g. bankruptcies), educational verification and detailed reference checks. This is the case because past behavior is the greatest predictor of future performance. As a result, you need to dig deep to uncover hidden problems and find the best possible candidates for your needs.

Yesterday I attended the 2010 Chicago Auto Show with my brother Mark and nephew Eli. All three of us were intrigued by the size of the crowd. Every row was packed with patrons eager to view the new automobile models. This was evidence that: a) America’s appetite for cars is alive and well despite the recession and b) the Obama administration’s three bets on our national pastime have been successful.

First, the bailouts of the Big 3 have shown recent promise. For example, December auto sales rose almost 15%. Furthermore, many executives are predicting a gradual recovery this year.

Second, the indirect incentives to buyers (e.g. Cash for Clunker’s program) drove many on the sidelines to quickly purchase.

Finally and most importantly, selective investments in new technologies have shown a lot of promise. For example, the administration provided almost $500 million to Fisker Motors to build a gas/electric hybrid that can plug into your home outlet! One of the two on display was the 2010 Fisker Karma, which was widely admired by attendees. Truly amazing was how a smartly priced, high performance sports car could compete against its gas-guzzling brethren. Ingenuity is alive and well!

To truly appreciate the investment in Fisker and it’s potential for other such investments, one needs to view the history of this remarkable man. Henrik Fisker has designed some of the most amazing cars including: 1) BMW Z8 2) Aston Marin DB9 and 3) Aston Martin V8 Vantage. He is known for designs that are fresh as well as classic. Therefore, his winning pedigree helped him secure a $528.7 million U.S. Department of Energy loan despite being only a two-year-old company. The Obama administration should follow the same game plan with other successful small business owners.

Statistics from the Small Business Administration (SBA) show that almost 64% of the net new jobs created over the last 15 years were produced by small companies. Fisker is only one example of how a nimble, entrepreneurial company can quickly produce new jobs and technologies. However, there are many others with such promise. Small nanotechnology, alternative energy and even conventional manufacturing companies all are well positioned to pull our economy out of the malaise. Now President Obama should apply the same formula to other key, small companies instead of focusing most of his efforts and American’s money on what Big Brother should do directly.

This year’s Super Bowl was a very exciting game. Despite the final 31-17 score, the outcome was uncertain until Tracy Porter’s late 4th quarter, 74-yard interception return for a touchdown. However, beyond the scope of the actual game, several lessons can be learned for successful recruiting.

Constructing a winning organization whether in sports or in business involves taking calculated risks. In the case of New Orleans, when they signed Drew Brees away from San Diego four years ago, his future was uncertain. Coming off rotary-cuff surgery scared away many potential suitors, including his former team the Chargers and the Miami Dolphins. They questioned whether he would ever perform at a high level again. Instead, the Saints thoroughly investigated him and gambled a six-year, $60 million contract including $10 million guaranteed. This paid off major dividends over the last four years as he has led all NFL quarterbacks with: 1) 18,298 passing yards 2) 1572 completions and 3) 122 touchdown passes (tied for first).

Also, during the height of the carnage of Hurricane Katrina, many questioned whether the Saints would even stay in New Orleans. A move to San Antonio was certain. Instead, owner Tom Benson gambled and kept the team at its birthplace.

Lastly, during the actual game, Saints coach Sean Payton gambled at several critical times. First, towards the end of the 2^nd quarter, he elected to “go for it” on 4^th down instead of kicking an easy field goal. Unfortunately, that decision failed. Undeterred he gambled again to start the 3^rd quarter with the first onside kick attempted outside of the 4^th quarter in Super Bowl history. This gamble paid off and set the tone for a seismic shift in the game’s fortunes.

In recruiting key personnel for your organization, you can learn from both the gambles and thorough investigations of the Saints. For example, when you have an opening, don’t just overlook someone with one black mark on their records (e.g. bankruptcy). Instead, take your time to thoroughly investigate and gamble on someone who otherwise has the credentials to lead your organization to “Super Bowl” greatness. Also, avoid candidates who look good on paper, but may not bring the team aspects you need. It takes a lot of due diligence during your staffing process to “separate the wheat from the chaff.” However, look no further than the Saints and their thorough investigation of Mr. Brees, which helped carry them to football nirvana.