For the last eight months, we’ve been subjected to an onslaught of consistently bad news. The Covid-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented health crisis, which swiftly turned into an economic and job-loss crisis. Politics seeped into all aspects of life, creating tensions between family and friends.

From the start of 2020, it feels as if we’ve ricocheted from one problem to an even worse situation—without any respite. Over 65 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits since the virus outbreak tore through the country. Millions more are either underemployed, have been thrusted into the gig economy, accepted jobs beneath their level—just to have health insurance—and older workers were forced into early retirement due to their inability to procure a suitable job.

Nevertheless, there’s hope on the horizon. Election Day is past us. The anger and rancor will slowly subside and life will get back to much-deserved normalcy. Despite all of the doomsayers, America’s future is still bright and exciting. I’ve spoken with a large number of recruiters who generously shared their time and insights with me. They offered their firsthand experience of the current job market and predictions for what will happen in the last quarter of 2020 and beginning of 2021.

Recruiters are the canaries in the coal mine. They’re aware of what’s happening in the job market before anyone else. Their profession calls for them to constantly communicate with job seekers, corporate managers, executives, human resources and talent acquisition professionals. Recruiters have their hands on the pulse of the market. Here is the first installment of a series of pieces, in which top experienced recruiters share their insights. Many of them will make you feel better about the job market and the future.

Rob Dromgoole is the senior director of recruiting at the Choctaw Nation’s massive and fast-growing casino and resort, located in Durant, Oklahoma. The Choctaw Nation runs a large organization that employees more than 10,000 workers.

At the start of the pandemic, the casino and resort and its 15 other properties shut down. Unlike other large corporations, instead of enacting widespread layoffs and furloughs, the company kept its 10,000 workers on the payroll. The casino and resort reopened in late May.

The surrounding area in Oklahoma boasts low unemployment and Dromgoole is responsible for leading a team that hires workers for 700-plus open job requisitions. These roles are in hospitality, food, beverage and healthcare. The Choctaw Nation offers competitive benefits including medical, dental and a matching 401(k).

“We are expanding and planning a new 1,000-room casino project as the population continues to increase in its neighboring area, North Texas,” said Dromgoole.

As the U.S. battles a resurgence of Covid-19 cases, Dromgoole points out, “Our rate of infection is under 3%.” The Nation’s management calls for mandatory masks for all of its employees. It has taken proactive measures to ensure the safety of its guests and staff, including limiting room capacity and size of meetings and requiring all of its guests to wear masks.

The casino resort doesn’t currently have live events, similar to the rest of the country and will abstain until the pandemic is under control. However, the bars and restaurants are open with limited occupancy. Dromgoole has plans to hire thousands of people over time. “This year we anticipate 5,000 hires,” he happily reports.

Colin H. Mincy is the chief people officer at Human Rights Watch. He left a successful career on Wall Street to find a more purposeful calling. The nonprofit is one of the world’s leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. Its mission is to focus attention on violations of human rights, giving a voice to the downtrodden and holding oppressors accountable for their crimes. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has tenaciously worked to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.

However, the sweeping global virus outbreak has not helped the organization’s mission. Nonprofits, like Human Rights Watch, rely heavily upon donations for funding. Money is raised through in-person events, galas, dinners and meetings with big donors and philanthropists. In a time of self-distancing, these venues have been largely closed off.

Fortunately, Mincy says that the organization is staying strong. “Our web activity and social media are higher than it’s ever been,” he proudly proclaims. According to Mincy, while the donations may be down, there’s an ever-increasing interest in the organization’s cause.

Despite challenges, Human Rights Watch is still hiring. Cognizant of the current decrease in funding, Mincy said, “We’re being very strategic about hiring.”

Due to recent tragic events, such as the killing of George Floyd, Mincy—like many people—feels troubled. He lamented, “We’re just as divisive and divided as before.” However, internally at Human Rights Watch, he said, “Our own people are trying to be productive and effective.” He said, “We just rolled out a diversity and inclusion plan and we’re trying to help from the inside to take care of our people.”

Hiring is not as prevalent as last year and the nonprofit had to put a freeze on many roles. Mincy is focusing on positions that have “pragmatic impact” and is acting “proactively smart” about hiring. “We ask questions like, ‘What’s the strategic impact?’” There are a lot of internal promotions to help fill the open roles.

“The pandemic has impacted our mission and the work we do.” However, Mincy is confident that the organization can accomplish its goals. “Our brand has been strong to sustain us.”

Having given the interview before Election Day, Mincy commented, “The election heavily impacts our mission. It depends who is in the White House. If Biden wins, there will be a reliance on science and carefully reopening.”

Mincy’s tenacious, saying about the organization’s mission, “People’s lives depend upon our work. If we stop, the wrong people will take advantage. We are a little overstretched, but really focused. We have not stopped delivering, [despite all of the challenges].”

Benjamin Mena is the founder and managing partner of Select Source Solutions, a search firm that works with companies that are changing and protecting the world. He provides data science, cybersecurity, technology and an array of talent for companies that have contracts with the federal government.

Federal contract spending in fiscal 2019 reached $594 billion. Major companies, particularly defense and aircraft makers, such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, General Dynamics and Raytheon, are some of the largest government contractors.

Recently, the $10 billion cloud-computing Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) contract was awarded to Microsoft from the U.S. Department of Defense. Think of all of the clandestine technology, telecommunications, jet fighters, armaments and intelligence officers—based all over the world—maintaining national security.

Mena is in the business of recruiting people to work at companies that procure these types of contracts. With billion-dollar awards, defense industry companies need to hire quickly. Since the assignments are often secret and involve great risk if information is leaked out, due to the nature of the work, candidates must have security clearance, which only a small number of people have. It’s mission critical to ensure that the people hired are above reproach and won’t steal secrets or jeopardize the program.

Once a contract is given out, the company may need software engineers, IT, cybersecurity, finance, human resources and other talent. These jobs usually span anywhere from five to 10 years. It’s a challenging business. Some companies offer bids that are too low, so it’s hard to find the right people.

The roles can be very specific. They may need people to maintain intelligence communication software that’s so specialized that only a few people who had a full year of army training could make the cut. For instance, Mena said, “You need this person to keep the [security agencies’] intel software up and running.” The risks are great with serious attendant consequences. “If those jobs don’t get filled, people may die,” he warned. Mena places software engineers and developers with security clearance—people who “keep America safe.” He deals with high-tech roles and has an added challenge, due to secrecy and safety issues. Mena said, at times, “We can’t tell what they’ll be doing, about the locations and what they’ll do.”

According to Mena, as you can imagine, a lot of things went on hold during the beginning of the pandemic. When the CARES Act was passed, it helped restart the hiring. The stimulus bill allowed government contracting companies to continue billing their government clients for the off weeks, thus keeping their employees paid close to their full salaries. They had “A” and “B” teams working one week on and one week off, but fortunately paid full-time.

This is more than a job, it’s a mission for Mena and his team. Over the years, they’ve “hired special forces teams.” These are the men and women you read about that help intel officers and U.S. Marshals track down child traffickers.

The jobs these people do have a huge impact on the U.S. and the rest of the world. A bad engineer that builds a faulty missile could have disastrous consequences, as “one of our troops could not come out of it and horrible injuries may result from bad engineering.” According to Mena, “When intel systems break down, specialized information to troops in the battlefield is not getting to the people and puts them in harm’s way.”

There has always been talk of major cost overruns and waste in this space. However, Mena looks at the bigger picture. The men and women he finds jobs for are dedicated to protecting and serving our country. They’re making sure that we’re kept safe from our enemies and bad actors. We take our freedoms for granted, but it’s due to people who are ensuring that our banks are not hacked by cyberterrorists.

Mena points out, “Every election cycle, the budgets change, but they still require people.” He predicts that a Biden presidency would see a “spike” around green energy and investments that will spur hiring in this space.

Virginia “Ginny” Clarke is a successful corporate executive. She holds a high-visibility and demanding role at Google, overseeing three main areas, including serving as the director of leadership staffing—placing senior-level executives in nontech leadership positions, diversity hiring initiatives and internal mobility of Googlers looking to advance their careers within the online search giant.

If that’s not enough, Clarke is also a career expert, author of Career Mapping: Charting Your Course in the New World of Work and keynote speaker—sharing her wisdom and insights both within and outside of the company.

Clarke leads about 20-plus recruiters and support staff. Her department’s activity is strong and the recruiters are busy. Interestingly, half of the jobs are in nontech roles, such as finance, sales, legal and human resources. “I focus on the leadership side—director level and up.” Google is a high-profile brand, which warrants a lot of interest from job seekers who desire to work at the company.

However, Clarke notes, “At the beginning of the shutdown, we saw a lot of candidates pulling out.” She said that they were concerned about leaving, as “they didn’t want to abandon their team” and didn’t feel comfortable “deserting” the people that depended on them—in the midst of a difficult time period. Rather than feeling bad that she didn’t onboard the talent, Clarke was empathetic stating, “That’s what a real leader would do.” As the pandemic wore on, “I’m hearing less of this now,” she said.

Clarke leads internal mobility, which is a program designed for senior-level executives who are looking for new opportunities at Google. This is an unadvertised referral-type program at Google, in which human resources and senior managers keep their eyes open for employees who exhibit special talents that could be enhanced by finding new internal opportunities for them to advance their careers and contribute to the organization. Her team will partner with the candidates and help navigate and prepare them for making the move. It’s a telling sign that the company cares for its people and works hard at helping them advance internally.

Clarke is also responsible for diversity hiring. Her team identifies, searches and supplies underrepresented talent. Strong outreach is part of doing great search work, she says. The company’s goal is to find and evaluate the largest diverse set of candidates. Clarke empowers her team to “push back on hiring manager clients” and ask them to be open-minded and assess their competencies. “Hiring managers want what they want,” said Clarke. However, she tells them you can’t say you want to increase diversity, but only want to hire your friend or someone you’re comfortable with.

To find diverse talent, the company posts its positions externally to reach a large potential pool of qualified and diverse applicants. The recruiters engage in outreach and building relationships to develop a solid pipeline. She acknowledges that it is a delicate balancing act between external and internal candidates, but affirms, “There will be competition, which is a good thing.”

We sometimes take for granted our great companies. Within a timespan of only 20-plus years, Google has become one of the largest, most respected and transformative organizations in modern history. It’s a tribute to American ingenuity, creativeness and business acumen. Clarke exemplifies leadership by ensuring that she and her team source, interview and hire the best talent available to keep improving Google.

In a time when many Americans feel that their best days are behind them and America’s future is bleak, these stories shine light on what makes this nation great. In a rural part of Oklahoma, the Choctaw Tribe is thriving, hiring and can’t keep up with demand. Human Rights Watch continues to aggressively uphold their mission to defend people in need, despite a drop in funding. Although there’s been heated arguments over politics, our country is doing it’s best to keep Americans and our allies safe and secure. Companies, like Google, are increasing their efforts to hire diverse talent, while also ensuring upward mobility.

Source: Forbes