It's been a landmark year for the job market. The Wall Street Journal recently reported there are 7.4 million unfilled jobs and only 5.8 million job seekers. That's a gap of just over 1.6 million jobs!

With this scarcity of available talent, traditional recruiting just won't get it done. Organizations must be creative and try things they haven't before to find and hire qualified candidates. One solution? Engage a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) firm. Below, three ways this engaging could help you overcome the job-to-job-candidate gap.

1. Issue: A 3.6% unemployment rate 

With the lowest unemployment rate in over five decades, there are simply less available workers. People are already employed and are not actively looking to find other roles.

How a recruitment process outsourcing partner can help:

The unemployment rate may be at a low, but people are always looking for jobs. Recruiting firms are poised to both vet the talent that is actively searching for a job, but they also have the tools to find passive job seekers, or people that may not be actively looking. The latter accounts for a massive part of the population.

In fact, there are 190 million people who can be considered latent talent, which is defined by people who are open to listening if presented with a new opportunity and people who every once in a while search for a job. RPO firms have the strategy, technology and bandwidth to acquire good hires wherever they may be hiding.

2. Issue: Employers are slow hirers

Despite an overwhelming amount of job openings, employers are still slow to fill them. Many policy makers and economists think that there is uncertainty in America's immediate future. Businesses are beginning to be wary and trying to avoid hiring for growth that may not happen.

How a recruitment process outsourcing partner can help:

RPO partners are ready to help you not only fill roles but do it in the smartest way possible. There's a difference! Employers may realize they have a growing number of responsibilities and want to fill them with as many warm bodies as possible, but recruiting firms know how to hire fewer people that can do the same amount of work—and do it well.

3. Issue: People in the market for jobs don't have the right skills for your job.

One growing sentiment is that employers think no one is qualified for open job positions. Whether it is a COO of a niche industry and no one has enough experience, or even a plumbing position for which people have stopped learning the skill, there always seems to be a reason that a job cannot be filled.

How a recruitment process outsourcing partner can help:

Though it may seem no one is the right candidate for a job, someone out there does fit your needs. It is just a matter of attracting and finding the right one. Recruitment process outsourcing firms know what employers need and know how to market jobs to attract that niche talent through digital recruitment marketing. Recruiting firms simply have more bandwidth, technology and expertise to get the right person for the job.

Right now, the job market is in an unprecedented position, but that doesn't mean companies can't adapt. The easiest way to adapt is to partner with a recruitment process outsourcing firm to take on all of challenging aspects of the job hunt away from you, giving you more time to work on your business. 

To find out how our RPO partnership may help beat these hiring issues, please reach out.