Recruiting trends in 2020: 6 tactics you’ll want to sharpen up on
Business success depends on a variety of factors, and the recruiting trend landscape is no exception.
An analysis of today’s market suggests an economy shaped by several factors, including a gig economy that continues to expand, and a skills gap bemoaned by many HR professionals.
What’s shaping recruiting trends?
The unemployment rate hovers at a record low of 3.5%, a number that has steadily decreased every year since the height of the 2008 financial crisis.
By many estimates, the U.S. economy is considered at full employment. For employers, that means it’s a slow time to hire, as many positions remain unfilled because the number of jobs available exceeds the number of candidates looking for employment.
A low employment rate brings its own set of unique challenges for recruiting, and with global issues like a trade war with China and the U.K.’s expected departure from the European Union, the global economy might be in for uncertain times.
A slow time to hire means recruiters will need to compete for top talent and recruiting tactics will need to be increasingly innovative.
Here are six things we see coming in 2020:
1. Recruiting with flexibility
A competitive hiring market means offering perks to employees, including one that’s increasingly prioritized by job seekers: flexibility. According to a 2019 survey conducted by the International Workplace Group, 80% of respondents said they’d choose the job offer that came with flexibility over the one that did not. Furthermore, 85% of businesses responded that productivity actually increased in their workplace due to more flexibility.
Offering
flexibility as a job perk, i.e., allowing employees to work some time from home
and other hours at the office, can help you gain an advantage versus businesses
offering positions that do not include flexibility. Flexibility, of course, can
depend on the type of job and technology involved and is most suitable for
employees who can work remotely via their laptops.
2. Hiring outside your target market
The
shortage of workers who are traditionally qualified for specific jobs means
employers will continue to look outside their traditional target markets. This
means hiring will not necessarily be based on prior job experience, but based
on the candidate’s potential for growth and the ability to be trained on the
spot.
Employers
will also need to look for skills they think will help prospective employees
easily adapt to the responsibilities of the job — otherwise known as
transferable skills. Transferable skills can include things like dependability,
strong communication skills, organization, adaptability and leadership.
3. Video recruiting
Video has been increasingly used by organizations in their recruiting processes to convey what tasks the job entails and to showcase the organization’s culture, mission and values. Use of video can help organizations speak to prospects remotely, record interviews for feedback from other team members and assess personality traits.
4. Collaborative recruiting
Building
your business through networking and current co-worker connections is a great
tactic that can bring quality team members to your organization. An employee
referral program that provides incentives to employees who recruit people they
know can be highly beneficial to both employer and employee.
According
to a CareerBuilder study
from the early 2010s, 88% of employers surveyed rated employee referrals higher
than all other sources as the best means of generating return-on-investment.
When competition for employees is so high, finding new hires through
connections rather than job boards is a viable and compelling alternative.
5. Automation
Technology
is becoming increasingly more capable, and digging through each resume manually
is becoming a thing of the past for large organizations. Automation can help
facilitate candidate screening, interview scheduling and skills analysis.
6. Diversity hiring
In 2015, a study performed by the consulting firm McKinsey & Company found that companies with greater racial and gender diversity were 35% more likely to have financial returns higher than their respective industry medians on a national basis.
The take home
Whatever recruitment tactics organizations choose to integrate in 2020, methods will ultimately be at the mercy of the job market and the global economy.
While we can’t predict the future of the economy, we can guarantee this: Recruitment will be defined by innovation and technology — and the organizations that embrace both will have greater success at recruiting the right employees for the long haul.
The post Recruiting trends in 2020: 6 tactics you’ll want to sharpen up on appeared first on HR Morning.
