I can't figure out what's going on with the state of hiring in rental housing right now.

The apartment industry, like all U.S. businesses, continues to struggle with a shortage of employees and job candidates. That part is easy to understand. The numbers in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' JOLTS [Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey] report don't lie; we are dealing with a years-long tight labor market and persistent talent shortages. And, according to the World Bank, the share of working-age people has peaked and is declining. That means recruiting, hiring, and employee retention will continue to vex employers as the pool of potential employees gets even smaller.

Here's where the mystery comes in for me, though. Why are so many people looking for work and struggling to find it? 

We've established that the demand for talent is greater than the supply. If we have more vacant jobs than there are qualified candidates in the workforce, shouldn't it be easy for people to find work? Logic says it should. So why doesn't it feel that way to jobseekers?

I keep hearing about experienced, highly qualified multifamily professionals who are finding it extremely difficult not only to get hired, but even to get employers or recruiters to call them back. Many are feeling disillusioned and desperate because their job searches have gone on for weeks or even months without producing any promising possibilities of employment. This is not an isolated problem. I've heard this from many, many people—and conversations taking place on LinkedIn tell the same story.

I turned to Google to see if I could find any answers there. What I discovered is that this is a challenge that transcends the apartment industry. Job candidates looking for work in other fields have similar complaints. One college senior in Columbus, Ohio shared her struggle with trying to find entry-level work this past summer. Here was her experience:

"I sent out 27 job applications over the course of roughly a month — mostly retail with a few barista positions sprinkled in. Of those 27, I received requests for interviews from three. I was outright rejected from two, both barista positions. I received a job offer from only one. The other 21 employers ghosted me."

21 out of 27 employers ghosted her! How incredibly demoralizing this must have been for this candidate. It's also utterly perplexing to me. Surely many of these businesses were hiring, because almost everyone is these days. Could it be that short staffing is rendering workplaces so chaotic and overburdened that supervisors don't have time to screen job applicants—or even acknowledge them?

I'd love to know what your experiences have been. Please weigh in and tell me:

• Does your workplace have vacant positions that you're finding difficult to fill?
• Do you know of job candidates who are struggling to find work? Tell me what the specific challenges are.
• If your company is hiring, are you able to screen and reply to candidates in a reasonable amount of time?
• Got any ideas how multifamily employers can be better at filling empty seats?
• How about insights for jobseekers? Any ideas on how they can break through the deafening silence and connect with hiring leaders?

Thanks for weighing in with your perspective and experience. I'm genuinely hoping this conversation can help bring to light solutions for both multifamily employers and jobseekers. I'm convinced there is untapped talent out there; I just don't understand what's preventing employers from connecting with those eager to put their skills to work.

Sources:

• Bureau of Labor Statistics JOLTS report, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.toc.htm
• World Bank, https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/video/2015/10/07/an-important-number-the-global-population-working-age-share-peaked-and-is-declining
• Everyone's Hiring. No One's Being Hired. What's Going On? by Natalie Allton,  https://www.ndsmcobserver.com/article/2024/01/everyones-hiring-no-ones-being-hired-whats-going-on