What will be the top talent trends in the label and narrow web workplace over the next year?

As an executive recruiter for the label industry, I see a strong growth trend making our Industry hot. That means the need for top performers and executive talent will be highly competitive and great candidates will find themselves in positions of strength.

From my perspective, these are the six talent acquisition and retention trends to watch in 2015:

1. Executive Leadership is on the Market:  With a growing economy comes M&A activity and an increase in leadership changes at the top of organizations in the labeling industry. With these changes companies take new directions, create new visions and not everyone will be on board. As a result, we’ve seen a significant increase in high level executives looking for their next challenge. If you’ve made a significant change recently, take time to communicate with your executive leadership team and make sure that everyone is ready to move forward together.

2. Counteroffers on the Rise: With more job openings and career opportunities in 2014 than we’ve seen in the past six years, hiring managers and HR executives are expressing concerns over losing top performers. As a result, many employers have increased their use of counteroffers. Counteroffers may come in the form of a salary increase, additional company benefits or a promotion, and is a last ditch effort to retain top talent rather than lose them to a competitor or bear the expense of replacing them.

3. Succession Planning is a Priority: Succession planning is on the minds of companies as more baby boomers start to retire. The concern is that there’s no one to pick up where they left off. In addition, the loss of boomers is creating a leadership shortage. According to USA Today, one way organizations will form a succession plan is to pay retirees for their help and expertise to train and mentor up and comers. These seasoned workers have experience and a tremendous amount of knowledge to share.

4. Mobile Job Search Skyrockets: According to Forbes, 83% of job seekers use a mobile device to find job openings and 45% of job seekers have applied for a position on their mobile device. These numbers will only continue to rise at a quick pace. Yet, only 20% of Fortune 500 companies have a mobile friendly career page or site. Companies will have to up their game and optimize their websites and possibly create a mobile app in order to appear to the job seeker.

5. Heavy Recruitment Using Social Media: Organizations have discovered that the best way to attract top talent and build a pipeline of candidates is to be visible and actively build their employer brand every day through social media platforms. In 2015, we’ll see more companies post blogs, latest news, industry trends, stories about their company culture, and what it’s like to work at their organizations. They will also experiment more with social media tools to find out what mix works best for the people they’re trying to engage.

6. Talent Poaching: Aggressive recruitment of your superstars is nothing new but with today’s continuous advancements in technology and its wide reach through multiple platforms including social media, you can’t stop it, even if it’s happening on company time. Combining this wide reach with current surges in growth and hiring, it becomes open season on your best employees. Your only defense is to bolster your employee retention programs. Give your team a better future with our company than they would have elsewhere.


Dan Miller is an Executive Recruiter with Direct Recruiters Inc., in Cleveland, OH, USA. He leads the expansion of DRI’s Labels and Narrow Web practice area. To contact Dan Miller: 440-996-0868, [email protected] or visit the DRI website at http://www.directrecruiters.com/practice-areas/labels-industry/.