Unable to find a new manufacturing job in the months since, the 53-year-old decided to “to steer away from aerospace” altogether. Instead, Murphy says, she plans to enroll in a certification program for supply chain management at Shoreline Community College.
The pandemic job market is forcing employers to make changes as well.
Although it’s not yet clear whether they will need to raise wages to fill open positions, many are already offering hiring, retention and performance bonuses as well as other incentives. Taco Time Northwest, for example, is giving each employee $120 a week toward Taco Time meals for workers and their families, and is offering flexible scheduling for employees dealing with schooling or child-care issues, Tonkin says.
Other employers are taking more dramatic steps.
Slabinski, the Robert Half district president, says some local employers are more willing to let new hires work remotely and avoid moving to the Seattle area. In the last three months especially, she says, “we’ve seen more and more companies willing to look at talent outside of the market.”
Whether that becomes the new norm after the pandemic isn’t clear. After the Great Recession, temporary measures, such as a greater reliance on contractors over full-time employees, were adopted permanently by many employers. Some recruiters think the same could happen with pandemic-related hiring strategies. Among many employers today, Slabinski says, “we’re seeing the light bulb go off ‘Hey, I could find somebody anywhere.’ “