As leaders in the recruiting and HR tech space, we surveyed and consulted our data to see what recruiting trends forward-thinking organizations and professionals should keep top-of-mind when beginning to build your 2024-25 recruiting strategy.
If you want a guide for doing a full recruiting deep-dive, check out our interactive Guide to Increasing Your Applicant Traffic.
Too often, recruiting decisions come down to “gut feelings,” which, let’s be honest, often means “who I liked better,” which often means “who reminded me most of me,” which not only builds a homogenous workforce but could easily lead to blindspots and bad hires. Bad hires are costly.
Forward-thinking organizations that want recruiting to drive company success must embrace data-driven recruiting. Luckily, today that’s easier than ever.
Data-driven recruiting is making objective hiring decisions based on various data sources. It approaches recruiting strategically rather than emotionally or based on oft-outdated, often arbitrary best practices that haven’t been sufficiently interrogated for our current hiring climate. Data can help you streamline your hiring process, determine your ideal candidates, and make informed, uniform hiring decisions across the board. Some additional benefits of data-driven recruiting include:
You can start fostering data-driven recruiting by:
Data-driven recruiting is technology-driven recruiting. The right technology can help you streamline and standardize your recruiting and collect the data you need to evolve hiring at your organization further. The most important technology you can adopt to make your hiring data-driven is an applicant tracking system (ATS), recruiting software that automates, streamlines, and standardizes the hiring process.
Always remember that data isn’t foolproof—the people setting metrics and collecting the data need to be intentional. Harvard Business School conducted a survey and found that 88% of executives were aware their HR tools reject qualified candidates. Why is that? Because no one bothered to use the technology correctly, which we covered in our blog, Applicant Tracking Systems Aren’t Excluding Job Applicants—People Are.
Almost two-thirds of workers admit the pandemic has drastically shifted their priorities and what they want out of work—82% said it’s essential their workplace has a vital mission and purpose. 76% of job seekers want to work somewhere that values DEI.
It’s ironic, then, that despite the want from job seekers (not to mention that DEI initiatives are good for business), 76% of companies have no meaningful DEI goals. While those stats are concerning, organizations realize the discrepancy and have jumped into action. Every Fortune 500 company has dedicated DEI initiatives outlined on their websites, and 49% of those have a dedicated DEI leader.
Meaningful, company-wide DEI starts with recruiting, the first stage of the HR lifecycle. In 2023, we’ll see more and more hiring professionals and stakeholders prioritizing ways recruiting can help foster increases in company-wide DEI.
How can companies infuse meaningful DEI into their recruiting?
Purposeful DEI recruiting is a worthwhile cause but nuanced, strategic work. That’s why we’ve created the HiringThing Guide to DEI Recruiting to help you get started.
Automation often gets a bad rap when it comes to workplace talk—it’s associated with “stealing jobs,” but the reality is that it makes many jobs more manageable. It’s especially valuable in streamlining recruiting and letting those involved in the process focus on strategic rather than repetitive administrative tasks.
Companies are looking to streamline the workday and cut costs, and if automation can do that, why not embrace it? Many organizations have already automated large portions of their hiring, and we predict that not only will that trend continue to tick upward, but companies that haven’t done so will find themselves left behind if they don’t start. Hiring software like applicant tracking systems can take automate mundane and repetitive tasks and ensure hiring stakeholders can focus on the meat of the process by:
Automation is only scary if you’re letting it fully control your hiring. That’s why we used the term “deliberate” automation. Use automation to strengthen your hiring process and let your hiring teams and stakeholders concentrate on having meaningful conversations with your next potential superstar hires.
The American Psychological Association has found that nearly 3 in 5 employees reported negative impacts of work-related stress in the wake of the pandemic and that $500 billion is lost annually due to workplace stress. Workplaces are contending with just how expensive workplace stress is and being forced to switch from the be-grateful-for-your-job approach to the we’re-lucky-to-have-you mentality. Being people-centric is a considerable focus, which extends to recruiting and hiring job candidates who’ve never had more choices regarding where they apply and what they’ll put up with during the recruiting process.
How can recruiting be more people-forward?
That’s just a start. We’ve created The HiringThing Guide to Increasing Your Applicant Traffic, which challenges workplaces to reassess and audit their hiring process to be more people-centric.
Deloitte found that 76% of executives rated internal mobility as necessary to their organization. Yet, too many employers are so focused on finding their next workplace superstar externally that they often overlook the breadth of talent at their company.
With more job openings than candidates, internal mobility is more important than ever. It’s also something job seekers want!
Internal mobility is also smart for employers. Why not promote and hire from a team who knows your product and is passionate about your brand? A culture of internal mobility promotes workplace engagement, productivity, and retention.
You can foster internal mobility by:
Many companies are also focusing on leadership and managerial training—too often individuals are promoted internally to managerial roles without sufficient training on how to lead or manage.
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 HR technology and service providers to offer hiring and onboarding to their clients. Approachable and adaptable, the HiringThing HR platform empowers anyone, anywhere to build their dream team.