Shawnee Love   •   December 2, 2020

A snapshot in time isn’t necessarily indicative of trends or facts, so I am cautious about raising any alarms. At the same time, when one organization has a challenge, and then two and three and six more in my little circle mention the same challenge, the anecdotal information might deserve more attention despite the fact that the statistics are lagging.

I will leave that up to you to be the judge and simply report what I am hearing. Employers are struggling to find good candidates for administrative, clerical, and coordinating jobs.

It’s COVID, so it is understandable that finding people in general is difficult, but that isn’t the experience I am having. There’s no trouble finding candidates for most positions, only roles which tend to traditionally be female dominated.  E.g., office admin, clerical, bookkeeping, etc.

I have a theory about that. I think its because those positions are primarily staffed by women of childbearing age who are disproportionately impacted by responsibilities associated with family health and wellness and childcare due to COVID.

This isn’t pure speculation on my part; the UN recently came out with a study which remarked upon the additional burdens and impacts experienced by women during COVID.

The UN study went on to point out that women are the hardest hit during any crisis and COVID is no exception. Interesting research to think about although this isn’t intended to be a blog about gender equality. I just wanted to share this experience and ask what others are doing to attract workers to their jobs during these challenging times when the qualified candidate pool appears to be shrinking and stressed.

Next week we will explore the ideas shared as well as some of our own to enhance our chances to find talented new hires when you need them most.