Part
01
of one
Part
01
What are the top ten trends in the talent acquisition /recruitment market
Hi there, and thanks for your question on the top 10 trends in the recruiting and talent acquisition market. In short, I analyzed a multitude of resources from authoritative experts and large recruiters' surveys in order to build an answer for you. Some top resources that helped to answer this question include Deloitte, Society of Human Resource Management and LinkedIn Talent Solutions. Below is a deep dive into my research methodology and overall findings.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
I decided to abide by publications that are written by experts in the field of recruiting/talent acquisition as well as to investigate large professional questionnaires. Although there are literally hundreds of articles on the Internet that discuss recruiting trends, I only focused on highly respected analysts, established industry publications or comprehensive surveys for this answer, in order to truly establish what are the "top" trends. Indeed, there were various recent expert publications that outlined the top trends, including LinkedIn Talent Solutions' Global Recruiting Trends 2017. That survey included 4,000 corporate talent acquisition executives from 35 countries. For thoroughness, I am concisely listing the respected resources that were used to compile this answer:
• LinkedIn Talent Solutions' Global Recruiting Trends 2017
• Deloitte
• ERE Media (a respected recruiting technology company)
• The Society of Human Resource Management
• The Recruiter Nation survey, published by Jobvite
• Recruiting Trends survey, published the Entelo
• Resource Solutions (a respected recruiting industry company)
• HRDive (HR trade journal)
---
TOP TRENDS IN RECRUITING/TALENT ACQUISITION:
1) Using Big Data to Find the Best Candidates
--Using big data to find the best job candidates is the number one trend, especially of large companies. The ERE survey found that the right big data can even improve the time to hire and reduce the cost per hire. Accordingly, the HR groups may be working more closely with their IT, Finance and Business Intelligence departments in order to use the best big data to their advantage. The Recruiting Trends survey, likewise, agrees with the value of the right data. They state that employers are now analyzing metrics like click-through rates and reply rates of candidates in order to then properly tweak outreach tactics.
2) Recruiting a Talent Pool That Is More Diverse
--Many companies are trying to recruit a more diverse set of new employees. Diverse not only means ethnicity and gender, but can mean background, such as the college that a candidate attended. The executives polled by the LinkedIn survey and the Recruiting Trends survey believe that this manner of hiring may differentiate them from many of their competitors and may even increase engagement levels within their companies. SHRM believes that the value of the given college that a person attended is not as valued as it once was. The trend now is for recruiting professionals to broaden their views of what types of employment and academic backgrounds are acceptable for recruitment, especially in light of an expected shortfall of 85 million qualified personnel by 2020, according to a McKinsey study.
3) Focusing More on Soft Skills of the Talent Pool
--Although hard skills like having a degree in accounting or earning a certificate in computer coding are important, increasing numbers of recruiters are focusing more on soft skills or interpersonal skills of their applicants. The Jobvite survey found that communication skills and enthusiasm, for example, are now highly valued by recruiters when considering the hiring process. Resource Solutions calls this concept "meritocratic recruitment" and describes it as prioritizing a candidate's abilities over his or her experience. In fact, such companies as Google and LinkedIn have overtly stated that they are now hiring people by talent over experience.
4) Usage of Innovative Interviewing/Sourcing Tools
--Automated solutions for interviewing/sourcing are increasingly being introduced to recruiters. The right technology, for instance, could help to deter human bias in applicant selection. Sourcing software is now even intuitive, according to SHRM.
Such advanced technologies as artificial intelligence, machine learning, predictive analytics, video interviewing and general automation will improve the accuracy, ease and quickness of recruiting. Deloitte even notes that chatbots, games and simulations are now being deployed to guide candidates through the employment application.
5) Employer Branding/Crafting a Company Mission is a Key Goal
--Creating a quality culture that attracts and keeps employees is a highly desired aim for recruiting executives. Many prospective employees actually search such websites as Glassdoor in order to examine the positive/negative culture of a company, for instance. The ERE survey especially highlights the importance of fostering an engaged workforce at a company that is correctly, clearly branded because there has been an increase of middle managers leaving companies. Lack of engagement is noted as the main cause for the loss of staff. The Jobvite survey, likewise, supports the importance of "culture" in recruiting talent. In their survey, 51% of the recruiters stated they planned to work on their company's culture in order to attract more candidates.
6) Personalization or Even Hyper-Personalization of the Candidate Experience
--A high quality candidate experience appears to be a top desire for employers and of candidates, themselves. The Recruiting Trends poll stated that sophisticated technologies and social media strategies can help to make the application and employment process the most pleasant and streamlined as possible. For example, a personalized greeting through a social media outlet may be more welcome to a candidate than an automated, cookie-cutter E-mail greeting. Even passive candidates may be especially attracted to a personalized experience.
7) More Acknowledgement and Focus on the Gig/Freelance Employee
--SHRM notes that the on-demand workforce will see increasing interest by the recruitment industry. Since more companies are seeking flex workers, they will ask recruiters to vet these candidates. Thus, recruiting professionals must be versed on what aspects of the work environment are desirous by the freelance worker. Resource Solutions' whitepaper also agrees that the gig economy will be experienced by many recruiters throughout multiple industries.
8) Mobile "One Click" Employment Process Is Increasingly of Interest By Applicants
--The whitepaper by Resource Solutions indicates that Millennials are increasingly demanding mobile based solutions for applying to jobs. They cited an important quote by Karen Cariss, the CEO and co-founder of PageUp: “The Millennials have the convenience of mobile in all aspects of their life, then why not for their careers? They will go to the employer who provides that convenience.” Jobvite actually contends that employers are not excelling at mobile technologies enough and are possibly disappointing potential applicants.
9) Social Media Interaction Will Permeate Throughout the Recruiting Process
--ERE Media writes that recruiters will become "social media mavens" because this communication vehicle is so important to applicants. Jobvite found that 59% of job seekers researched their prospective employers on social media. LinkedIn is also incredibly important to recruiting personnel in examining candidates, with 87% finding this tool effective, according to Jobvite. HRDve interviewed recruiting experts and found that 2017 will be the year that both internal and external recruitment teams will begin investing heavily in social media interaction. Marketing teams, which are seasoned experts in social media, may actually partner with recruiters in order to make their social media access seamless and the most beneficial.
10) Enhancing and Expanding Talent Pipelines/Networks
--Deloitte reported that expanding the talent pipeline is so important that firms are partnering with employee marketplaces and even candidate crowdsourcing platforms in order to access top talent. In fact, according to Jobvite, 57% of employers are now building their own talent networks. SHRM even states that employers are now even making connections with relevant high schools so that the schools may become a promising employee candidate conduit.
---
To wrap it up, various technological and economic/social trends are apparent in the recruiting/talent acquisition market. The overarching themes encompass expanding the recruitment pool of candidates and increasing the speed and accuracy of recruiting workflows.
I hope this information is helpful to you. Thanks for using Wonder! Let us know if you need any other questions answered.