The last 18 months have been difficult for both recruiters and job seekers. When the pandemic started, most employees started working from home. Most workers faced problems initially working in a home setup. However, it was quite difficult for the talent acquisition teams. For them, the complete work process changed. Things are improving now, and we are moving into a new year.
New Trends in Recruitment
Let us see what new recruitment trends have come recently and what we can expect in the future.
1. Virtual hiring –
When the pandemic came, virtual hiring became a necessity. However, companies realize that virtual hiring helps them save a lot of costs. Also, the hiring process is much quicker compared to the traditional hiring process.
Second, with virtual hiring, companies can recruit talent from various geographical locations. They can choose the best talent across the country. Hence, off-late, you would have seen even those companies whose offices have opened are still hiring virtually. Given the advantages, it is surely one trend that is going to stay for long.
According to an SHRM article by Roy Maurer in February 2021, 70 percent of respondents to the LinkedIn survey say, in the same way, that a hybrid workforce of onsite and remote employees will become more normalized, a hiring process that combines virtual and in-person processes will become increasingly standard due to the associated cost and time savings.
Ryan Healy, president, and co-founder of Brazen a virtual hiring event platform, said virtual recruiting in 2020 helped organizations streamline recruiting processes, improve diversity hiring and hire better talent by reaching across geographic barriers.
2. The market will be driven by candidates –
For the first time in a very long time, there are more available jobs than the candidates. Not for every industry but some industries. As a result, the applicant holds the power of choosing the employer. For example, in the IT industry, an employee working on good technology has 4 to 6 offers before joining a company. For this reason, recruiters have to work hard to attract top talents and then finally make them join the organization.
Most IT companies now offer joining bonuses to employers to make them join. It is in trend now. This also helps them to hire dedicated programmers. Along with it, sourcing tactics, imaginative employer brand communication, and data-driven recruitment marketing is and will continue to trend.
3. Retention –
As we mentioned above, the market is driven by candidates now. Depending on seniority, the cost of replacing an employee can range from 30% to 150% of their annual salary, making employee churn one of the most significant drains on a company’s finances.
Recruiters are finding it hard to hire new employees. Hence, the new trend has started - to retain as many employers as possible. Companies are realizing that it is not only difficult to hire new talent but also new talent comes at a much higher package.
Hence, retention is a better strategy for recruiters, given the current market condition. Never before companies have put in so much effort to retain employees. The trend is likely to continue.
4. Longer notice period –
A few years back, when the talent was easily available, companies, especially the growing ones were fine keeping a short notice period. Even those with a long notice period were ready to let go of employees for a bargain.
However, the latest trend suggests that most companies are keeping a long notice period for new employees. This is also because they believe that a long notice period ensures enough time for employees for work transition. Also, the bargain to reduce the notice period is going away.
5. Data-Driven Recruitment –
Recruiters have started focusing on data-driven recruitments. They are doing digital campaigns to get insights into the talent pool and potential candidates. Recruiters are using insights from different tools to develop intelligent recruitment strategies and gain a competitive edge. More such data analytics tools for recruiters are coming into the market and they are being used.
6. Targeting passive Candidates –
Over the years, recruiters only engage with candidates whose profiles they receive through various channels. The new trend suggests that now, recruiters have started approaching passive candidates. It means they are also reaching those who are not actively looking for a job change. With the limited number of possibilities for the growing tech businesses, this trend is likely to continue and grow next year.
7. Diversity and Inclusion –
HR leaders have now started focusing on Diversity and Inclusion. It translates directly into the recruitment process and talent acquisition. Data shows that businesses having a diverse workforce and inclusive workplace have better profitability and productivity.
Recruiters are looking to boost the diversity of their workforces and at the same time make them inclusive. To make it happen, they are identifying and bringing a wider diversity of candidates into the talent pool during the initial filtering step.
8. Use of Technology –
One of the trending and fastest-growing areas in the recruitment process today is the use of technologies like Artificial Intelligence. AI improves the way talent is sourced, identified, and engaged. The recruitment tools include smart talent platforms like Eighthold AU, chatbots, and Natural Language Processing (NLP) capabilities.
AI is helping to remove bias from candidate identification, selection, and hiring. Hence, it supports the above point of diversity and inclusion also. AI is trending in recruitment because it adds value and automation to the process. Also, make the process at lightning speed.
9. Focus on Internal Hiring –
The biggest challenge for large companies is to retain talent. Internal hiring gives them the option to increase the chances of retaining top talent. They can move a talented employee from one unit to another (doing better) and offer him better compensation. There are other advantages to the process which companies are seeing.
It brings in more engagement, hiring cost is significantly lower compared to normal hiring, and even the process is much faster. The onboarding process is almost nil in internal hiring. It is expected companies will continue to move from static jobs towards cross-functional work dictated by changing business needs.
10. Social Recruiting –
Recruiting with LinkedIn is old news. The new trend is that recruiters are broadening their scope and working on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to find high-quality candidates. Even the research data suggest that recruitment activities on social media platform are likely to grow.
For example, Instagram as a platform for recruiting has grown from 18% in 2017 to 37% in 2021. Some big names are leveraging Instagram in creative ways and letting them know they are looking for engineers and developers. With a large following on their profile, isn't it the easiest way to attract talent?
Conclusion
The world has changed drastically since the pandemic, and businesses are finding ways to adapt to it. The recruitment process has changed, and it continues to evolve with every passing quarter. It is shifting at a lightning speed - from the virtual hiring process to expanding to how you view your talent view. Most of the trends we covered are here to stay and evolve with time.
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