According to a new survey of 500 HR professionals by relocation services provider Allied Van Lines, 2012 is shaping up to be a huge year for corporate recruiters. Two out of three of those surveyed said they planned to conduct “moderate” or “extensive” hiring this year. For businesses with over 10,000 employees, that figure is even higher at 80 percent.
Respondents also expressed optimism about the mobility of the U.S. workforce, with only 6 percent stating that they believed workers would be unwilling to relocate. The survey data suggested that professional recruiters acknowledge the importance of offering relocation benefits, but that their employers are largely either unwilling or unable to actually offer the kind of comprehensive package that would really be an asset in attracting top non-local talent.
Seventy-two percent of the companies offered only four of the 10 relocation-related benefits listed by the survey, such as information on local schools for parents. The lack of diverse relocation incentives was identified as a major barrier to long-range recruitment.
Those businesses looking to attract the best candidates should seek to set their company apart from the competition by offering a diverse package of benefits, including relocation incentives. Opening up a recruitment search to include a greater geographical area can be vital considering that even those describing their recruiting program as “highly successful” stated that they still lose around 25 percent of their top-choice candidates.
Of course, other benefits come into play in the recruitment process as well. A February 2012 survey by the Society for Human Resource Management found that many CFOs consider the quality of a company’s healthcare benefits to be closely linked to its ability to attract talented workers.
But, whatever benefits a business offers, it still needs to make contact with people before it can hire them. And finding good workers continues to be a challenge. Companies looking to bolster their chances of finding a perfect fit should strongly consider contacting a recruitment firm.
