b'STR AIGHT FROM THE EXPERTSJim HopesManaging Partner The Center for Sales StrategyUnemployment is High:Why is it Hard to Find Good Talent? B y the time we got to AprilButafunnythinghappenedopen jobs than before the pan-2020,mostbusinessesalongthewaybymid-summer.demic jolt to the economy. How wereinastateofshockManagers who were certain theyis this possible?fromthepandemiclockdownswould have no hiring needs for andtheeconomicfalloutthatthe balance of the year sudden- Why finding good ensued.Revenuedeclineswerely found themselves with open-in uncharted territory, and com- ings. Some lost salespeople duetalent is still so panies quickly built plans to re- to changing personal issues, likedifficult:duce expenses through person- spousalemploymentchanges, nelcuts,whichtransformedathat allowed working from any- Think about the process de-6.3% unemployment rate in Jan- where, kids to be homeschooled,scribed in the first paragraph uary to 14.7% in June, the high- or simply hanging it up becausehere.SalesManagers,when est since 1948. Most companiesthe sell-from-home environmentfaced with having to cut staff immediately cut new hiring plansin a very uncertain economy wassize, developed a priority list for sales, and many reduced theirjusttoomuchtohandle.Now,whichmeansthebestper-sales forces by 10-20%, all withinyouwouldthinkwithalltheformers stayed and the weak-60 days. Too often, shell shockedsalespeople and sales managersestweretoldgoodbye.So, Sales Managers stopped recruit- sentpacking,findingreplace- while the pool of candidates ing and focused rather on whomentswouldbeprettyeasy,istheoreticallylarger,the theyfelttheyhadtokeepandright?Well,ithasntbeen,andpooloftop-performingcan-who they could do without. we have seen longer periods fordidates is not.30'