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In the past few years, there has been a growing trend among employers to post purple squirrel vacancies on platforms like LinkedIn in order to find out exactly what they are looking for, which may be one reason behind increased job openings.
“These are purple squirrel vacancies,” said Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller. “They’re not real.”
The Fed’s latest move to tighten financial conditions has only strengthened their case for doing so, with Waller noting that if long-term job listings are increasing the number of available positions then there may be less demand than expected. This would make it possible to reduce vacancies without shifting unemployment rates up or down too drastically – though still very close either way thanks in part due an ongoing fear over steep increases paralyzing markets or causing recession.
The Goldman Sachs analysis found that two-thirds of listings were posted in the past 90 days, a higher rate than before the pandemic. However ,this may not be good news for those who are looking to find work as employers fill monthly vacancies at an all time low in March.
“That’s not because companies are getting pickier,” said Julia Pollak, chief economist of ZipRecruiter. “On the contrary, many are reducing experience and education requirements.”
“It’s because despite reducing requirements, employers are still not finding enough interested, qualified people per vacancy,” she added. “Many employers are making offers to multiple candidates and seeing them all reject the offers for other opportunities because they’re being outbid.”
Employers are becoming more selective about who they hire after a year of experimenting with less qualified candidates due to worker shortage, which may explain the slower and frustrating hiring process, according to New York executive recruiter Patricia Lenkov.
With the pandemic taking its toll on employers, it’s no surprise that they are struggling to backfill positions. Other companies have yet to clear their job ads and fill those vacancies left by employees who quit during the difficult time period.
With a tight labor market, it will be more difficult for employers to lure in purple squirrels. Joe Mullings of The Mullings Group warns that while they still have an advantage over job seekers today, the uphill battle may get even steeper soon enough.
“Candidly, the best people are usually not out looking for jobs, and they are not responding blindly to job ads or sending their resumes to HR,” said Mullings.
