Exclusive Trusted Magazine Q&A with Eman Alalawi, Human Resources Professional and Legal Specialist
What are the most significant trends shaping talent acquisition today? How have these trends affected our traditional methods?
The recruitment process has changed a lot in the past three years. From the pandemic effect to the great resignation, talent acquisition has undergone several changes.
The year 2023 is expected to be slightly different for the recruitment sector. It is projected that 96 million jobs will be created this year.
But this year also brings many new challenges for recruiters. For instance, 70% of people are planning to change their careers.
Moreover, many people want to work independently or change their careers. Aside from this, most business organizations always have trouble with the talent management system.
So, to hire talented employees in 2023, you must follow the latest talent acquisition trends.
Trend #1. Virtual Recruitment Will Bloom
Virtual recruitment came into existence during the pandemic. It involves virtual candidate screening, interviews, and the boarding process. Despite many companies opening their offices, the virtual recruitment trend will not go anywhere else in 2023. 70% of talent professionals say that virtual recruitment will be a common way to hire people in the next few years.
Therefore, you must prepare your organization to deal with virtual recruitment challenges. For example, get all the essential digital recruitment software like video conferencing, resume parsing tools, ATS, etc. In addition to tools for hiring, you also need tools for remote work so that employees can work from different places. For example, you can get software like time tracking, customer relationship management, scheduling, and so on.
You must also make an onboarding and hiring policy for people who work remotely. This will help your talent managers find qualified people to hire remotely.
Trend #2. Candidates’ Experience Is Paramount
Because of the pandemic, 2021 was named the year of employee experience, and this has kept going. It sped up the need for employee listening programs and the creation of an experience that helps people find a good balance between work and life. It gives employees a positive experience that encourages them to stay after the pandemic. So, it’s important to make sure that the candidate experience is easy and lets people quickly apply for jobs.
Recruiters must use different tactics to improve the candidate experience in 2023. For example, they can start candidate sourcing programs to make the organization a hub for talented people. They can also improve the recruitment process and reduce onboarding time. Companies will get a lot of praise from job seekers if they keep them in the loop during the different stages of hiring. The better the experience companies create for their potential candidates, the more talented people they can acquire.
Trend #3. Better Collaboration Between Talent Acquisition and Management Teams
It’s pointless to make a great hire if that person isn’t going to stick around for long. So, talent acquisition and management teams should work together more in the future, from the first step of hiring to career development and handing off the job.
Recruiters and talent managers can work together to make the employee lifecycle better and give professionals better career paths. It also helps professionals get the training and growth they need to do well in their jobs.
Employers can make it easier for teams to work together by investing in cloud-based talent platforms that let recruiters and managers share, capture, and use data about talent. It can also give employees a better experience and make it easier for them to move around within the company.
Trend #4. Personalized Hiring
One bad hire can cost 30% of first-year employees’ salaries. It can also waste your company’s resources by scheduling interviews and training new employees. Therefore, a personalized hiring process is something that you will notice in the coming year. Before bringing someone on board, recruiters will find out more about their personal lives. In addition, it can help them understand whether they are fit for the company culture.
However, small companies don’t have big recruitment teams. As a result, they have limited resources to personalize their recruitment process. Because of this, a lot of small and medium-sized businesses hire outside recruitment agencies to help them find good employees. The benefit of this trend is that companies can focus on candidate development rather than looking for the right fit in the market. Moreover, recruitment agencies have a wide pool of talented people, which can speed up the hiring process.
For instance, at Apollo Technical, we help companies connect with the right engineers after understanding their requirements.
Trend #5. More Emphasis on Cultural Diversity
Global business leaders recognize that a diverse workforce fosters innovation, creativity, and higher profitability. However, only one out of every three recruiters currently tracks candidate diversity. Diversity metrics like the gender or race of candidates who are found, interviewed, or hired aren’t used very often today. However, this ratio will change in 2023.
Clients are increasingly investing in diversity and inclusion initiatives. So, recruitment firms must focus on putting in place new tools for evaluating candidates that are meant to get rid of bias in the hiring process.
Trend #6. More Data in Recruitment
The use of data in recruiting is not a novel idea. Recruiters have long used data to help them make decisions. What is changing, however, is the use of advanced technology to make hiring decisions more precise. Because of this, the focus has shifted from a candidate’s grades or experience to their overall personality.
Tactical metrics like the time to hire, the number of candidates per hire, and the rate at which an offer is accepted will continue to be important for keeping track of what your recruiters are doing right now.
But in the future, hiring will be based on strategic metrics that measure the business results of the team’s work, not just what they do. It can help develop an analytical recruitment plan because creating a talent strategy is just as important as putting it into action.
Trend #7. Contract Workers Are In Demand
Rather than relying solely on full-time employee (FTE) hires, the new hiring trends show that businesses are increasingly turning to contract employment to scale operations. An interim employee approach has several advantages. First, interim or contract workers are highly skilled and mission-oriented. In addition, they adapt to new work environments faster than FTE. They can also bring the unique diversity and experiences required for specific projects. It also helps to fill roles when an employee is on leave or while the company is looking for a permanent employee.
Trend #8. Build Work-life Integration
Millions of professionals have long aspired to achieve work-life balance. However, in recent years, remote work has made it even more challenging to tune out the day-to-day demands of the job when not on the clock. As a result, many employees have begun to take a different approach, replacing the traditional 9-to-5 schedule with a more flexible one.
In 2023, candidates will look for companies that encourage work-life integration, such as the ability to work while taking care of personal responsibilities. Suppose an employee prefers working a few hours in the morning, taking an afternoon break to pick up kids, then returning to work in the evening. As a result of this trend, managers must watch out for the productivity and efficiency of individual employees. Instead of focusing on how many hours they have worked in a day. Performance must be measured based on work quality, not work hours.
Trend #9. Welcome Boomerang Employees
At a time when business was booming, many professionals decided to retire early. And many took the bold step of changing jobs—or even professions. With an uncertain economy, many retired professionals are knocking on their former employers’ doors as they realize the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
Companies can benefit from this by bringing back former workers, called “boomerang employees,” who know the company well and have skills that have been proven to work. Organizations will begin to put more effort into the offboarding process in 2023, maintaining professional relationships with employees who leave and ensuring those employees know the door is always open if they choose to leave.
Trend #10. Re-evaluate Your Talent Acquisition for 2023
If your workforce strategy was successful last year, there is no guarantee it will work again, especially in such a volatile economy. To really understand what will be needed in the coming year, talent managers need to be more deliberate in how they plan for demand. They can do this by breaking down silos and working with business leaders from across functions.
Also, AI and predictive analytics will be used more in forecasting to help figure out the right roles, skills, and locations for the new business environment. Recruiting trends show that hiring will slow down as employers start to make decisions with longer-term effects instead of hiring people on the spot. And if the market falls in 2023, businesses will be forced to take action.
So, talent-acquiring managers must examine the market and redesign their talent-acquisition policies accordingly.
Recruiters—Be Ready for the New Year!
Many new and old talent acquisition trends will be seen in 2023. For example, there will be more need for contract workers, and some people who have already retired may come back to work. With the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning, recruitment automation will reach a new level.
So, talent acquisition teams should make sure they have the right tools and technologies ready for the next wave of hiring in 2023.
How has technology changed the way we source and recruit talent? How are AI and machine learning being leveraged in talent acquisition?
While every organization has a website to help them achieve their talent acquisition goals, many organizations rely on applicant tracking systems (ATS) to track and inventory all the resumes and applications they receive. Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are now a core component of the best ATS systems, and they can dramatically enhance their performance. AI technologies today are not only helping professional recruiters to more accurately identify the best candidate, but also helping recruiters identify the best candidates in a fraction of the amount of time it would ordinarily take using traditional processes.
For example, one of the most time-consuming elements of talent acquisition is the time it takes for a recruiter to sift through a pile of resumes for a given position when they know that a large amount of the resumes will be from less-than-optimal candidates. This is where the connection between AI and talent acquisition takes place - AI technologies can step in to provide, in seconds, what may have taken days for a recruiter to complete only a few years earlier.
The rapid adoption of AI-powered HR technologies is expected to continue because of how effective these technologies are proving to be in enhancing levels of productivity and improving the results of your talent acquisition strategies.
How important is employer branding in talent acquisition? What strategies are you employing to enhance your employer brand?
Efficient talent acquisition proves to be one of the most effective ways to gain a competitive advantage for your brand. But in a quest to achieve a seamless talent acquisition process, you might want to view one of the pivotal factors candidates consider at first sight.
Talent acquisition is affected by your employer's brand. The employer brand is considered a crucial factor in attracting and retaining top candidates.
Every company shows concern for how its brand is perceived by customers. And just the way maintaining a good company image is important to attract customers, employer branding is crucial as it focuses on the perspective potential employees have towards the company. Employer branding so to say is a type of marketing strategy, not necessarily to attract customers for sales of goods or services, but which aims at talent acquisition of potential employees. Businesses can harness the benefits of a good employer brand for talent acquisition. It is easier to attract top talents to fill vacant positions when you have a good employer brand. Employer brands can come in a variety of strategies. For example, a company that promotes an image and highlights closing the gender pay gap automatically sends a message of inclusivity for all genders. As an HR professional, marketing your company to cultivate the perception as a great place to work is one of your goals. Let’s discuss ways you can use employer branding for talent acquisition and retention.
Boost your web presence
HR working to build a strong employer online presence for easy talent acquisition"
You will be surprised by the impact you can make when you invest in boosting your company’s web presence. Your website, social media channels, and other online resources are all useful in developing a good employer brand. Social media posts will be a good mix of different types of content. Engagements with social media audiences create awareness about your company. For example, creating content about your recruiting practices and goals of the company informs candidates about your brand before they even apply for a specific position.
Craft company values
Companies evolve outside of their initial view and it can be challenging to project a consistent image. Strong company values help to ensure that both customers and job seekers know what your company stands for. Employees can help project company values when they feel they are making a contribution to the growth of the company and not just working for a salary. One way to keep company values is to make sure it comes out in everything you do.
Get employee feedback
To improve talent acquisition and bring in new employees, you need to step back and understand what your existing employees think of the company or brand. This can be useful for improving your company's weaknesses, so make sure to welcome both positive and negative feedback. Feedback requests from employees will also sustain a safe line of communication among your team. For honest reviews, you might consider using an anonymous survey. When employees see improvements based on their feedback, they feel heard. As a result, this will project a better employee brand in the course of future talent acquisition. Creating a dynamic and collaborative environment for your employees plays an important role in your brand. This will contribute to positive work culture and help you attract more top talent.
Monitor what people are saying
Your online presence and engagement level can help you monitor what people are saying about your brand. Good reviews on your brand are commendable and spirit-lifting, but you should also expect a couple of bad reviews. This can help you strengthen your approach toward improving your employer's brand and attracting new talent through more efficient talent acquisition strategies.
