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Fortune 500 Need to Hire 324,000 Employees Annually Just to Keep Up With Attrition

Failure to Attract Employees Could Jeopardize Future Growth of Businesses

American businesses will need to recruit hundreds of thousands of employees in the coming year just to keep pace with attrition, says a leading recruiter, and a failure to keep up this daunting hiring pace could jeopardize some companies’ continued economic growth.

Erika Weinstein, Managing Director of Stephen-Bradford Search, points out that hiring sufficient employees in the current economy is a major challenge. “It’s easy to visualize situations where companies cannot keep up with demand for their services, or deliver products on time, or meet their earnings projections, because of an inability to attract and retain their workforce.”

“Ironically, our economy could become a victim of its own success,” says Weinstein. “Rapid growth by many businesses, along with increased mobility on the part of employees, has led to a potential workforce crisis. With a 12% annual turnover rate at the average U.S. business (according to the Bureau of National Affairs), and a total of over 27 million employees at Fortune 500 corporations (according to Fortune), these companies combined must hire 324,000 annually just to keep up with attrition. And that doesn’t begin to account for growth.

Weinstein points out that with the unemployment rate hovering around 4% and the economy continuing to grow, companies must compete for the best personnel - particularly at the executive and management levels. They must be creative and focused in their recruitment strategies and develop a work environment that is attractive to their employees.

“Lifestyle issues are increasingly important to job candidates,” Weinstein continued. “Employees are willing to work hard and demonstrate commitment to their jobs and to the success of the business, but they want to know that their dedication will be rewarded with a flexible environment that enables them to lead a balanced life.”

Weinstein also noted that:

The best candidates for senior positions have to be recruited. They are successful in their current jobs and aren’t reading help wanted ads. Businesses sometimes waste tremendous amounts of time weeding through thousands of resumes generated by classified ads in newspapers or on the Internet. They should be focused instead on defining the characteristics they need, identifying ideal candidates from around their industries and working to recruit them.

Businesses should view an interview with a recruit as a two- way street. The interview process should be used as much to excite the candidate about the company as to elicit information.

It is wise to think outside of the box when considering a candidate’s qualifications, as someone’s functional skills may be transferable across industry lines. Also, companies should focus on whether a candidate has the personality, vision and commitment to advance its goals. Does this person have the ability to roll up his or her sleeves when the company is small and become a leader as it grows?

Companies should not hesitate to hire someone who might know more than current management about certain aspects of the business. There is sometimes a natural tendency for corporate executives to hire people to work for them who have lessexperience than they do. Management should hire the best talent available, knowing that it will make the entire team stronger, and the person who hired the superstar will shine, too.

Stephen-Bradford Search, headquartered in New York City, counts among its clients leading companies in the fields of new media, financial services, advertising, publishing, entertainment and consumer products.