Finding right person for the job harder than ever for recruiters

You would think that a recruiter's job would be easier than ever right now. Resumes from overqualified candidates coming in by the dozens. Job seekers eager to get back to work. Well, think again!

With 10% of the country looking for work and resumes flooding in, recruiters and human resource professionals are working harder than ever. According to some estimates, an open position that used to bring in 50 resumes is now bringing in as many as 250. Many job seekers are applying for several positions with the same company, just hoping to land one of them. That means more time spent weeding out resumes that don't meet the requirements of the job opening and more time weeding out resumes from applicants that have already applied for, and interviewed for, several other positions.

Another problem; many of the applicants don't even want the position they are applying for. They are just hoping to land a job, any job, to help pay the bills and get them by until they can find the right job. So now recruiters are faced with the task of determining if an applicant is even interested in the position. Some applicants have applied for so many positions, that when a recruiter calls them to schedule an interview, they don't even remember applying for that particular position.

Combine this with the fact that many companies trimmed their HR staff during the recession. Recruiters were already overwhelmed with their extra job duties. Now they are really overwhelmed! The end result? Finding the right person for the job is harder than ever for recruiters and human resource professionals.