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It’s always good to take a second to slow down, look around, and see where the hiring landscape is at any given moment. It’s something we encourage every business to do from time to time. However, if you find yourself too busy or in need of guidance, fear not, for here at HiringThing, we like to publicly assess hiring each quarter and see what insights we glean. This post is our 2023 Q2 hiring snapshot (see 2023’s Q1 insights if you’re inclined).
In this Q2 hiring snapshot, we’ll look at:
- Hiring in the Headlines: What trends and insights are dominating headlines
- Hiring Data: What can data tell us about today’s hiring
- Businesses Can Meet Today’s Hiring Challenges Head On: Some practical tips to keep hiring competitive!
Q2 Hiring in the Headlines
Editor’s Note: Keep in mind as we go through Q2 hiring headlines that newspapers and magazines are a business, and for better or worse, clickbait sells. Things are often not as dire or transcendent as a headline suggests.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics Numbers
You can check out our Q1 2023 State of Hiring Snapshot to see Q1’s numbers in their entirety, if you wish for a refresh.
The unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage points to 3.7% in May, and unemployed persons rose by 440,000 to 6.1 million. The unemployment rate has ranged from 3.4% to 3.7% since March 2022. May’s numbers show that all in all, things have been more or less steady.
In June, little changed, with the unemployment rate being 3.6% and the number of unemployed persons being approximately 6 million persons. However, it was announced that the labor force participation rate for people aged 25-54 was the highest in May 2023 since January of 2007.
People are hiring too! ADP released a report just before the BLS released their June numbers, sharing that approximately 497,000 new jobs were created in June, the biggest monthly rise in open jobs since July 2022. From an industry standpoint, leisure and hospitality led with 232,00 new hires, 97,000 in construction, and 90,000 in transportation.
"Quiet Hiring" Arrives on the Scene
In our Q1 snapshot, we surmised that “quiet quitting” was never really a thing, but that doesn’t mean the publications responsible for headlines and buzzwords will stop trying to make “quiet hiring” a thing. The difference? We see some value here.
With economic uncertainty all around us and a competitive job market, many organizations are putting more of an emphasis on hiring internally, which makes a lot of sense for our current state. Internal hiring and promotion rewards outstanding employees, which keeps them engaged and helps with retention.
AI is Transforming Hiring
SMRM is covering how, by and large, HR is all in on AI to help streamline and strengthen hiring. However, a disconnect exists between those hiring and those looking for jobs. Pew Research found that 62% of people think AI will significantly impact hiring, but only 16% of job seekers feel like they’ll be more helped than hurt by AI advances.
Workplace Changes Battle the Status Quo
A recent study on what remote work can do to our bodies made us roll our collective eyes. This “model” shows a remote worker with hunched back, sunken eyes, and a generally unwell demeanor It’s in stark contrast to our fully remote team, many of whom use the extra time they have from working remotely to rock climb, hike, practice yoga, and travel.
It’s worth noting that this particular study was conducted by a furniture company, no doubt wanting to sell some ergonomic desk chairs, but it was widely picked up and covered. We’ve noticed a spate of headlines challenging many people-centric workplace changes spurned on by the pandemic. It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out, as a sort of old vs. new guard tete-a-tete seems to be happening. We like this Bloomberg headline much more: Pay Remote Workers Less? Companies Should Think Twice.
Job Hunting is Frustrating Job Seekers
Along the same lines, many companies prioritized the job candidate experience during post-pandemic hiring challenges when job seekers had the power by making it quicker, easier, and strength-based. Now that companies are playing it a bit safer with recession fears, some seem to be falling back into old habits. We’re seeing this being covered in workplace content, such as this Time piece titled Why Looking for a Job is Getting More Miserable.
Q1 Hiring by the Charts
Let’s look at the data obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and handily tracked and charted by the Federal Reserve of St. Louis’ Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED).
Labor Force Participation Remains Steady
While the workforce participation rate isn’t back to pre-pandemic levels, it’s more or less been steady for about a year now. We’ve fully acclimated to this new normal. People who want to work are working. Those who don’t aren’t. It’s up to employers to engage and retain the working population in meaningful ways.
Hiring Steadily Declines
While this was a hiring boom last year, businesses are being more strategic now with hires due to economic concerns. Hiring isn’t doing any drastic tumbles but has been slowly and steadily declining this year. Companies looking for employment should use that to their advantage.
*Editor's Note: This has been a downward trend, but June's numbers jumped up. We'll keep a close note of what happens in July/Q3.
Quitting is Down, Layoffs are Steady
The big tech layoffs that dominated the news cycle at the end of last year were significantly lower than the beginning of the year, as companies wait to see what the economy brings. And speaking of economic uncertainty, quitting has certainly dropped for now.
Job Postings on Indeed Continue Falling
There has been a steady decline in employees posting jobs on Indeed—FRED tracks Indeed since it’s the world’s most popular job board since 2021. While Indeed is the most popular job board, and this does mirror hiring trends, this could also mean more people are taking advantage of other job boards (including niche job boards that specialize in specific industries), as well as advertising on social media (or as suggested above, doing more internal hiring).
How Businesses Can Meet Our Current Hiring Challenges
Prioritize the Candidate Experience
Probably the biggest advice we can give you after combing through Q2 data and trends is to prioritize the candidate experience. Keep your hiring people-centric and make your hiring process as simple and efficient as possible. Doing this will ensure you get more candidates finishing your applications, and will strengthen your employer brand, which in turn, helps increase your applicant traffic.
Hire With a Growth Mentality in Mind
The “Quiet Hiring” trend is a nice reminder to hire with a growth mentality. What does that mean? Hire for potential. Think about what a candidate could bring to your organization in the future, not just tomorrow. Hiring with a growth mindset in mind means you can more likely promote from within, strengthening your organization and making room for future superstar hires.
Great Talent is Hired Fast
This is a repeat from our Q1 snapshot, but it remains critical, especially considering how many employers are starting to slide regarding candidate experience—today’s job candidates want a fast hire!
Slow, tedious hiring processes are detrimental to a strong hiring strategy. Did you know 92% of job candidates who apply to jobs online don’t finish their application due to length or complexity? We have a guide for shortening the application and ensuring candidates complete them.
Approach AI With a Partner Mindset—Keep Hiring Human
Here at HiringThing, we’re approaching AI as a strategic partner, not something that will take our jobs or do all our work for us. Adopting and telegraphing that mindset to potential hires can help set you up for success.
We love this passage from a Harvard Business Review article titled AI Should Augment Human Intelligence, Not Replace It:
The question of whether AI will replace human workers assumes that AI and humans have the same qualities and abilities — but, in reality, they don’t. AI-based machines are fast, more accurate, and consistently rational, but they aren’t intuitive, emotional, or culturally sensitive. And, it’s exactly these abilities that humans possess and make us effective.
As the article's title suggests, AI should augment our experience, not replace it. Read more about our approach to hiring AI in our blog HiringThing Wants to Keep Your Hiring Human.
About HiringThing
HiringThing is a modern recruiting and employee onboarding platform as a service that creates seamless talent experiences. Our white label solutions and open API enable technology and service providers to offer hiring and onboarding to their clients. Approachable and adaptable, the platform empowers anyone, anywhere to build their dream team.
