Just returned from a three day executive recruiter conference in New Orleans. The damage of Hurricane Katrina is still very evident in parts of the city. The conference, consisting of top recruiters from across the United States, was one of the best conferences I've attended because it was devoted to real life situations occurring in the marketplace. It's interesting that the same things we're witnessing in the multi family property management market, in terms of the market being "candidate centric", holds true for most every other industry. In spite of the press indicating there is not a labor shortage, the fact is there is a major problem in most areas. The baby boomers are getting older and starting to retire, but the gap of available skilled and trained employees to take their place is widening.

What does this mean for our clients? First, if they don't have programs in place to keep their talented employees, they are in trouble. Retention programs are essential to an organizations' ability to maintain any kind of competitive edge. Another impact of the candidate-centric environment is that candidates have more and more choices.

So if you are a hiring manager, a couple of recommendations… you'll need to really understand the value proposition of your company and sell its benefits to your candidate. Secondly, when you make that employment offer, if you don't sufficiently cover counter offers with your new hire and get commitments, you are flirting with disaster. Thirdly, even after your new candidate begins working for you, realize that the former company is likely continuing to contact your employee to try to entice them to return. The point is…you must develop an effective on boarding program to completely get and keep your new employee on board for the duration.