Amidst a tight labor market, employers desperate for new workers are increasingly looking to job applicants who they rejected in the past.
In most cases, they're not resorting to applicants who were at the bottom of the barrel, but rather the "silver medalist" candidates who were considered strong contenders.
A survey of 800 employers last year found that 88 percent had offered jobs to people who had previously been passed over. The prior year, only 59 percent said the same.
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Companies are not only staying in touch with rejected external candidates, but trying to engage with internal candidates who are not awarded a promotion or other position they apply for. With so many unfilled positions across the country, companies that fail to provide growth opportunities for employees run a high risk of losing workers to competitors.
Humana, for instance, assigns a personal recruiter to look after employees who are denied a requested position. For two months following the rejection, the recruiter works with the employee to identify other positions at the company that would fit their strengths.
A recruiter at Citrix, a software company with 8,000 employees, tells the Wall Street Journal that 15 percent of the firm's positions are filled with those who have been passed over during previous job applications.
Similarly, Oliver Cooke, the executive director of Selby Jennings, a recruiting firm for financial institutions, says that 10 percent of the candidates that it placed this year were previously rejected by the same firm.
The challenges companies face in recruiting and retaining quality workers also helps explain the recent uptick in wages and the increase in the number of employers who plan on boosting benefits.
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