Employer Driven Market vs. Candidate Driven Market

By Brian Pho | July 20, 2021 | Employer Articles, Industry Trends, Job Seekers

Share this Post:

Throughout the pandemic, I am finding it harder to recruit quality candidates for my clients. Recently, I have found that obtaining, evaluating and assessing a qualified job order to work on is not the problem. By browsing LinkedIN and Indeed, there are many solid career opportunities within the manufacturing space. Everything from a Production Supervisor to a Plant Manager. In 2021, there are at least 3-5 Plant Manager or Operations Management roles where employers are currently hiring.

Bottom Line: Finding a solid career opportunity for a recruiter to work on is not the problem. In 2021, there are many opportunities out there where recruiters can sink their much valued time to work on. This leads us to our next question that we should be asking:

Why are all these jobs remaining unfilled for months? What is happening internally at the company that causes these jobs to remain unfilled for months on end?

employer driven market vs candidate driver market

1. 2021 Has Transitioned Towards A Candidate Driven Market

In post pandemic, candidates have choice. Every qualified candidate on the market looking for a role at this time has at least 3-4 different job offers that they are considering at any given time. In my experience, when I was recruiting for a Technical Field Service Technician in Montreal, QC, my candidate told me he had received a total of 9 job offers from different companies. The war for talent is real. Not only does the potential company have to compete against multiple job offers, but counter-offers in 2021 are also very real. When I network with other recruiters, the amount of job offers being made and candidates turning down our offers have increased by 50%.

We are no longer in a employer driven market.


Brian Pho, Campbell Morden’s manufacturing recruiter with more than 10+ years of experience, would love to connect with you! If you want to advance your career, Brian can help!


2. Your Recruitment Cycle Is Way Too Long

Stretching out a recruitment cycle to last 3-4 months for an unfilled position is not the right thing to do. Remember, candidates are constantly being bombarded with multiple job offers at any given time. If you are hesitant to pull the trigger (or make a firm decision), your competitors aren’t. It should take 2-3 interviews in order to assess if a candidate is right for your role. This might be the reason why you are losing out on the top candidates.

3. Strong First Impressions

If you find that the candidate is qualified for the role you are currently hiring, then you should make a strong first impression when presenting your job offer. Negotiating on salary, signing bonuses and too much back and forth (between the candidate and potential company) will cause the candidate to re-think the position and if they want to commit to your new company.

Remember, the candidate is also evaluating you (as a company) as much as the hiring manager is assessing the candidate. Start off strong, make a good impression and pay well! Through my networking and preliminary interviewing, candidates always tell me that “Money is not the motivating factor in making a change“. However, when it comes down to offer negotiation, financials and lifestyle play a key part in the decision making process.

In 2021, we have transitioned into a market where the candidate has full control of the recruitment process. Quality candidates disappear within days if companies don’t act quickly. 10 years ago, candidates would have been happy just to receive one job offer. In today’s time, expect every candidate to receive 4-5 different job offers.

We have truly transitioned to a candidate driven market instead of an employer driven market.

We have candidates ready to be interviewed and start working as soon as possible. Get in contact with us to start the process.

Share this Post: