Technology and the Great Resignation

As pandemic concerns ebb and flow employers are finding themselves operating in a labor market that is tighter than they’ve ever seen. Complicating the issue for many companies relying on blue collar workers is the need to staff with local talent that must work physically in the workplace or with the company’s customers.

Blue collar talent is in high demand more than ever before. Tapping into that talent requires creativity, agility, and the ability to put hiring on a fast track to avoid losing out to other companies that are also seeking this talent.

That’s no small task. But technology can help—in recruiting, in onboarding, and in training and upskilling employees to ensure they have the information and knowledge they need to hit the ground running. Technology offers opportunities for just-in-time training and access to on-the-job information, standard operating procedures, and more.

Blue Collar Workers in Short Supply

Even before the pandemic and its impact on the workforce, The Conference Board reported that the US labor market was already very tight. Further, they said: “What is less known is that the labor market is tighter for blue-collar and manual services jobs than for the highly educated white-collar jobs.” That, they said, was in sharp contrast to trends that had been in place for decades.

Harvard Business Review also recently reported that pinning the cause of the Great Resignation on the pandemic is “overblown.” They say: “what we are living through is not just short-term turbulence provoked by the pandemic but rather the continuation of a long-term trend.

Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee are experiencing unemployment rates significantly below normal—even when compared with rates from one year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), with Georgia’s unemployment rate at 3.1%, Tennessee at 3.2%, and Kentucky at 3.9%. It’s a downward trend that is expected to continue.

To combat this trend, companies must find, onboard, train—and retain—workers. Technology can help.

The Role of Technology for Hiring, Onboarding and Training Talent

Many HR functions are labor intensive, repetitive, and time-consuming. That’s certainly true when it comes to the talent acquisition process. Finding, evaluating, interviewing, testing and hiring employees involves a number of steps and, often, a number of people. It should come as no surprise, then, that companies are increasingly turning to technology to help minimize the work—and shorten the timeframe—for hiring.

That’s a must-do during the Great Resignation. Companies simply don’t have the time to take the time to manually perform the processes involved in hiring, onboarding, and training staff. They also can’t afford to have any delays in the hiring process. Today’s employees have ample options and opportunities for employment.

Digitizing the hiring process offers a number of benefits for employers:

Technology doesn’t cost—it pays. That’s certainly true when it comes to the critical hiring process, especially now as all types of companies struggle to attract and retain talent.

Gojob’s AI-driven technology solutions mean better and faster access to the talent you need to operate efficiently and effectively in a changing world. We’ll find the best candidate for your job offer in 24 minutes. And we can pre-test and onboard employees—and offer access to training and upskilling resources available anytime from anywhere.

The world is changing. Technology in the blue collar recruitment world is game changing. Learn more.