In an attempt to attract new employees, American companies have offered longer holidays, more flexible working arrangements and the promise of at least one weekday afternoon without any meetings.
Now, in the run-up to Christmas, some are going a step further by removing the burdensome prospect of actually interviewing for a post in their organisation. For new openings at the department store Macy’s, besides the promise of competitive hourly pay, flexible schedules, and an employee discount, applicants are told that “currently this role may not require an in-person interview” and that a job offer will arrive by email.
The delivery company United Parcel Service promises that applicants for some roles will be able to finish an online application and receive an offer “in just 25 minutes”. It says that “nearly 80 per cent of positions don’t even require an interview”.
A similar effort to speed up hiring is under way at The Home Depot, a home improvement and hardware company, which now offers some roles without an interview a day after an application is filed.
“Yup,” said a commentator on Reddit, who had been through the process. “No interview just answered some questions and boom! Job offer.” Another person who said they were hired by the company in Florida claimed that the criteria “was basically: living, breathing and forming full sentences”.
After the global financial crisis, unemployment in the US reached 10 per cent and there were three job seekers for every available job. Now there are 10.1 million job vacancies and only 5.8 million people seeking employment, according to the United States Chamber of Commerce.
Since the disruptions wrought by the pandemic, more generous unemployment benefits, stimulus payments and early retirements have left fewer people participating in the workforce, and this, combined with lower immigration, has resulted in a shortage of applicants.
In the state of Vermont, there are more than two jobs for every potential job seeker, and only New York and Michigan have either equal or higher numbers of available workers than job openings.
Julia Pollak, chief economist at the job site ZipRecruiter told The Wall Street Journal: “Speed is the No 1 way companies are competing for hourly workers at the moment, especially for the holiday season.”
Source: The Times