The 5 Problems that Keep CEOs Up at Night

The 5 Problems that Keep CEOs Up at Night

Originally published by Industry Week 

 Ten years ago, we surveyed manufacturing CEOs to determine what kept them up at night. Coming on the heels of the Great Recession, concerns about another economic downturn were naturally top of mind. Worries about supply chain challenges—in the aftermath of the first significant global supply chain disruption and the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of March 2011—were second. 

We informally surveyed CEOs again this October to gauge their current pain points. Following is a snapshot of top-ranked concerns facing U.S. manufacturing leaders toward the end of 2021.

  1. Talent recruitment and retention. No surprise here—unless you were expecting No. 1 to be supply chain disruptions. What was once a concern is now a crisis. Not only were there almost 900,000 job openings in manufacturing in the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report, or about 9% of all private openings, but more than 300,000 manufacturing employees quit their jobs each month this summer. The Great Resignation is altering the global work landscape. On top of the struggle to attract younger workers—those with STEM skills and a general interest in mechanical and technical careers—manufacturers now have to deal with changing generational perceptions of work overall. Millennials and Gen Z are predicted to make up 30% of total employment by 2030.   

     

  2. Global supply chain disruptions. Hiccups in the production and distribution of materials, components and products have become the norm with the rise of global value chains. But today’s crisis, of course, is no hiccup: Jammed ports and supply bottlenecks have been the rule rather than the exception for a year. IHS Markit says that suppliers’ delivery times in the United States and the EU have hit record lengths due to surging demand. Consumer spending on durable goods is up more than 20% in the past year, and widespread supply constraints, including component and labor shortages, exacerbate the issue. In fact, shipping prices from China are up 400% since last year, and wait times for ocean freight up 45%. While some analysts believe that as COVID recedes, capacity constraints and labor shortages will also diminish, IHS Markit says the crunch could last for another 12 months—if not longer.
  3. Commodity and raw material prices. At the heart of much of today’s supply challenge is the shortage of commodities and raw materials, which have driven producer prices up dramatically. It’s hard for manufacturers to plan for growth in the face of unrelenting price spikes. The Federal Reserve’s Global Price Index for All Commodities stands at 167, the highest level in seven years. Moreover, Bloomberg’s index on raw-material spot prices is at a 10-year high. Oil prices are at their highest level since 2014, while according to the Fed, iron and steel prices are at their highest levels ever on the producer price index. Like so many other challenges, this one is not expected to resolve itself any time soon.
  4. Cyber threats. There is one dramatic difference between our CEO survey of 2011 and 2021: rapidly rising concern over cyber-attacks, especially regarding ransomware and malware, that can lead to equipment sabotage and system shutdowns. The Internet of Things has proven to be a dual-edged sword: Networking with the outside world means exposing yourself to the outside world. According to Statista Research and Analysis, there are 10 billion interconnected devices in the world today, which will climb to more than 25 billion by 2030. At least 4 billion are in use across all industries as well as government. This means unless manufacturers turn the clock back to 1990—restricting their employees’ access to email and cell phones and canceling plans to create smart factories and supply chains—their systems are at risk.
  5. General economic and global volatility. Economies across the globe are slowing considerably as the impact of the continuing pandemic (which wave is it now?) continues to plague businesses and consumers worldwide. On top of supply chain disruptions and labor shortages, there’s the specter of inflation. The federal government’s Consumer Price Index for All Urban consumers (CPI-U) is up 5.4% year over year, and according to the United Nations, global food prices are up 33% in the last 12 months. Adjusted for inflation and annualized, food prices around the world are at their highest level since 1960.

And yet … according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, after declining 5% in 2020, corporate profits were up 5% in the first quarter and more than 10% in the second quarter of 2021. Not too shabby considering the growing list of business concerns.   

Stephen Gold is president and CEO, Manufacturers Alliance

Webinar: Reactivating Passive Candidates

Webinar: Reactivating Passive Candidates

Overview

Many employers are experiencing a labor shortage. The previously inexhaustible pools of active candidates have been drying up. Now is the time for many of them to tap into their reserves to reactivate passive candidates.

Mike and Ric will talk about tapping into employers’ hidden market of previous applicants and reactivating passive candidates. Life happens and  the timing might not have been right when they first applied, but right now could be the right time! Refresh your talent pipeline and spark new interest in your previous applicants to fill your current openings.

Our Moderators

Mike Seidle is a serial entrepreneur and software developer with deep experience in HR Tech. Mike heads up product operations and product development for PivotCX. He brings over 30 years of experience in marketing, software development, product and user experience design, and a proven track record of leading technology-driven teams.

Ric Basso has over 30 years of professional sales management experience, 13 of which have been in the HR Tech space as one of the first 50 employees at Monster.com. As Vice President of Business Development, Ric is a passionate sales and partnerships leader with the personal mission of bringing people together to advance their lives.

 

3 Ways to Accelerate Recruiting

3 Ways to Accelerate Recruiting

 

 

 

 Do you require a full 10+ step job application before you engage with a candidate? If so, you may be missing many of the best candidates. Why?

No one wants to sign a prenuptial on the first date.

Here’s another way to look at it:

Would your sales department require a full credit application before you talk to a potential buyer?No, of course they wouldn’t. They would first present the product they’re selling and sell its benefits. 

Why is it that most companies require such long job applications first?

20 Years of Bad Habits

Companies are still using grossly long job applications because we’ve gotten used to a long-term employer’s market. We got used to posting a job and getting 100 or more applications. Inundated with such a large applicant pool, we biased our hiring processes to screen out everyone who wasn’t an exact match.  

Better Recruiting Habits

The recruiting landscape has changed drastically in the past years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in October 2021 there were only 0.7 job seekers per job opening. Now that there’s less than one available job seeker per open job, maybe it’s time to rethink how we engage with job seekers. Here are 3 things our most successful customers do:

1. Apply Faster

The fastest applications only need 3 fields: a name, a phone number, and an email address. It’s better to collect the bare minimum contact information to get the candidate talking as soon as possible with a recruiter rather than put them off with long form applications which should be reserved until after an actual job offer.

2. Engage Faster

Our most successful employers are responding to job seeker interest in less than 2-4 hours. A year ago, you could wait 2-4 days and still find quality candidates. If you want to get the best people, go even faster and respond in minutes.

3. Talk to Job Seekers

Have a human-to-human conversation with applicants as quickly as possible. If you are having people fill out long applications online and are only talking to the candidates you are interested in, your competition is eating your lunch. Most job seekers have basic questions they need answered to determine if they want to apply. Sometimes it is about benefits, sometimes it is about compensation, sometimes it is about requirements — most often it’s about something you don’t expect — and it takes a person to answer the question.

At PivotCX our candidate advocate team talks to every job seeker within minutes of every inquiry. Our team is answering job seeker questions, getting a complete profile and making sure there’s a good fit, and then referring candidates to our client companies who are then engaging with the applicants to complete the hiring process. 

Think Different

Times have changed. Jobs used to be scarce. Now applicants are. Regardless of how we got here, the new reality is there is less than one job seeker available for each open job in the US. 

It’s time to start treating job seekers like they are scarce — because they are.

Find out: PivotCX helps your company respond with a live person in seconds to candidate inquiries. 

    Want to learn more about how PivotCX can improve your applicant flow? Request a demo.

    PivotCX Campaigns

    PivotCX Campaigns

    At PivotCX, we are constantly striving to provide valuable product features. Our new PivotCX Campaigns feature offers our clients the ability to reach candidates with timely text messages. 

    PivotCX Campaigns can vary from a single message blast to a series of timed messages to engage candidates when ready to speak with our candidate advocates or directly with a recruiter from your company. 

    With a tight job market, it is imperative to learn how to reach job seekers quickly. However, speed of contact is not enough. To differentiate you from the many other employment options applicants have right now, PivotCX offers the best of both worlds: speed and human-to-human connection in recruiting.