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Market is known to be dominated by employers. After 26 years, we are experiencing once more the peak of unemployment. So the questions arise whether filling up a position should be a problem and thinking about retaining an employee should be an issue where in fact there are lines of candidates waiting to be hired.

In an article in BusinessWeek, it was stated that amidst the global recession where there are about 13 million people unemployed, still approximately 3 million jobs that are actively being filled by employers but yet unable to do so. Imagine the number of vacant jobs which is greater than Mississippi’s entire population. So the question is do employers really have control over the steering wheel?

Other people think that the job openings are the type of jobs that most Americans doesn’t want to engaged to because of its lower level of position. But in fact, it is not!

A CEO of a publicly traded company expressed his concern over the VP of Sales and Marketing of his company who is having difficulty to fill some essential sales positions that are vacant for months now. Though we cannot determine the exact reasons why the VP is having difficulty in hiring for the available positions, yet we can infer on some, based on the business type. Since the company is an international company, he doesn’t need an ordinary employee but an employee with a very specific skill in the market. He needs productive employees who have the “talent” in the field. With the qualifications the employer is looking for, there could be a limited pool of candidates where to hire employees that you will consider as valuable.

The world and our life just continue to turn. There might be a time that it will no longer be an employer’s market but an employee’s market. So, try to understand all the lessons that you can obtain from the above situation and follow these guides on how to retain the talent that you have and be prepared for the turning of the wheel.

Your employees should be considered like fine antiques- treat your employees as how you treat your expensive furniture. Think as if nothing can replace your employees. By doing a great job of hiring, this wouldn’t be difficult to do.

Endorse your talent- give proper credit to whom it is due. By telling to the customer the name of the employee who fixed their problem instead of telling that it is the company who did it and if you do it in front of the employee, surely it will give the employee motivation to work even better.

Listening more than talking- a communication is a two way process. It is not a healthy relationship if you are the only one who do the talking. Whenever you ask a question, wait until you get a respond. Learn to listen to your employees and to respond accordingly.

Ask only on the things you want to know and are prepared to act upon- there are companies who have done several surveys in the employees for the past years and have observed that the response rate has been dismal lately. Most of the time, it is because the questions that are being asked are the same questions that the employees have already answered. Unfortunately, they ignore the answers that they acquire. If you are obtaining input from your employees, try to use it, if you do not have the intention of doing so, then it might be better not to ask anymore.