From self-driving cars to high-tech smart phones, automated technology is promising to make our lives easier. In the business world, the automation of tasks can provide significant reductions in time, cost, and error.
The staffing world is no exception. There are a multitude of technological solutions designed to improve all manners of the recruiting process. But as these capabilities continue to improve, where does that leave the staffing world, and what does the future look like for staffing and recruiting in general?
STAFFING GROWTH BY 2020
After seven years on the road to recovery, the economy is still healing from the Great Recession. Although lost jobs have been regained, there are more people unemployed than there are jobs, and fewer people are looking for work. Staffing employment trends have historically coincided with economic growth, and suggested that solid growth in overall employment would soon follow; instead, during this recovery, there have been erratic shifts in economic growth and weak overall employment growth.
And, at least until the next economic downturn occurs, the staffing and recruiting industry is forecasted to continue growing faster than the economy and overall employment – creating an abundance of temporary, contract, and permanent employment opportunities for job seekers.
A CONTINGENT WORKFORCE
Today, roughly 10% of the workforce is contingent and by 2020, many in the industry estimate between 15% and 25% of the workforce will be contingent, as more and more companies recognize the benefits of a flexible workforce.
As organizations make efforts to be more agile and to quickly respond to change in order to be more competitive, they turn to the contingent workforce to have on-demand access to professionals and experts.
Companies are hiring around new staffing models that better address the work preferences of the American workforce and are seeing positive results. Professionals are motivated to gain new work experience and try a different career path, which has led to many positive life changes.
INDUSTRIES EXPECTED TO GROW
Health Care/Social Assistance Professional Services, Including Staffing Construction Financial Institutions
INDUSTRIES EXPECTED TO DECLINE
Manufacturing Information Sector Federal Government
HOW DO WE GROW WITH THE INDUSTRY?
In order to grow with the industry, staffing must utilize technology – including Internet job boards and resume databases – to solve problems, and focus on accommodating the contingent workforce.
Staffing must also nix the “traditional staffing model.” Traditional temporary staffing and direct-hire services no longer command the premiums they once did. It’s not that these services lack value; it’s that there are too many firms offering the same services to the same employers.
Staffing must also work to accommodate veterans who face the difficult transition to the civilian workforce. 53% of veterans face a period of unemployment within 15 months of separation and 95% of veterans would rather work than use their full allocation (26 weeks) of unemployment benefits. Through the Transition Assistance Program (TAP), staffing companies can connect to the valuable veterans ready to enter the job market.
THE GOOD NEWS: STAFFING COMPANIES SOLVE PROBLEMS!
The staffing industry is expected to create 424,800 new jobs by 2024. This is a result of an expected increase in the demand for staffing services. Temporary staffing in particular continues to grow, meaning business owners continue to be open to using more independent contractors and other temp workers to accommodate today's changing workplace.