Job Recruiters Overlook Qualified Applicants

Many businesses continue to have a hard time finding qualified candidates for high-skilled jobs in technology, engineering, health care and various other fields. That coupled with companies not wanting to create new jobs due to economic doubt, keeps unemployment high.

A survey from job search engine Beyond.com says that part of the reason for high unemployment rates is the problem of poor communication. The survey found that this keeps human resource officials from finding qualified candidates.

Job descriptions tend to be either too unclear or too specific, making it difficult for HR staff to decide whether applicants are qualified or not. This results in staffers disqualifying those who may actually be highly qualified for positions.

Rich Milgram, CEO of Beyond.com, told USA Today that staffers are not quite sure what hiring managers really want.

"There's a gap in posting and relaying the information," says Milgram.

He says that recruiters often seek people who meet every last requirement listed by the hiring manager, leaving a very small amount of people who fit the exact description.

Another issue that was found was that employers tend to do specific keyword searches that sift out qualified candidates who just may not have those exact keywords attached to their profiles.

Beyond.com found that companies looking to hire truck drivers tend to type in "commercial driver's license," giving them access to only 1,200 resumes, opposed to the 12,800 resumes for truck drivers who just may not have placed these specific keywords in their profiles.

According Beyond.com's recent online survey, over a quarter of 1,700 job seekers reported that their biggest frustration was job descriptions with little detail and the fact that they knew more about the job qualifications than the recruiters.

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