
The recruitment industry is forever buzzing with activity. Recruitment trends are influenced by several factors like new market trends, evolving skill requirements, changing pay scales, and changing laws and regulations. Among these trends, the adoption of technology for improving recruitment outcomes has been a constant factor over the decades. The future of the recruiting industry lies in the widespread adoption of digital recruitment trends.
With the whole world embracing the digital revolution, the recruitment industry has joined the bandwagon! The majority of the new trends in hiring are aligned with digital technology. From applicant tracking systems (ATS) to pre-employment skill assessment software to automated employee onboarding – digital technology is the key. To ride on the digital recruitment wave, hiring teams need to stay updated on the current recruiting trends. How do you stay current with hiring trends? We have compiled the top 15 recruitment trends for 2023 for your reference.
The COVID Pandemic Influence on Hiring Trends
The hiring trends for 2023 have been compiled based on the observations made in the past year about the way the recruitment industry made a comeback from the pandemic-induced changes. Several hiring parameters and methods have undergone a sea of change during the pandemic. Parameters like time and cost to hire had gone up drastically due to the lack of personal interaction between the recruitment team. Now, over 2 years into the pandemic, hiring managers have adapted well to virtual technology to meet candidates safely, expand their sourcing pool, and create a more efficient hiring process.
A 2021 HireVue survey on global hiring trends reveals how hiring managers have transformed their hiring practices during the pandemic and the unique role that technology has played in improving the hiring experience. A key finding of the survey is that hiring managers want to spend more time engaging with candidates and less time screening candidates and other admin work. The main focus is on prioritizing and speeding up the hiring experience and sourcing diverse talent. This is where pre-employment skill assessments come into the picture.
Pre-employment skill assessment software has altered the way candidates are screened. Using pre-employment skill assessment tools like SkillRobo has simplified the hiring process and rendered it more effective than manual hiring methods. These assessments can be customized according to the role for which you are hiring candidates. Psychometric assessments, situational assessments, job-related skill assessments, domain knowledge assessments, behavioral tendency assessments, and cognitive ability assessments are the main types of evaluations included in candidate screening tools.
Top 20 Recruiting Trends for 2023
The pandemic has been an eye-opener for the hiring leadership to revisit their hiring strategies and methods. Archaic hiring methods were not able to withstand the radically different hiring needs during the pandemic. During the pandemic, the focus was more on remote hiring practices. By now most of the organizations that have weathered the pandemic are facing new challenges in finding and retaining top talent in their organizations. The hiring trends for 2023 are not radically different from recruiting strategies in 2021. However, the new trends in recruitment for 2023 focus on speed, efficiency, diversity, and candidate engagement. Factors that contribute to this growing problem are ever-widening skill gaps and pandemic-related issues. The skill gap arises due to the mismatch between the abilities required to fill vacant positions and prospective employee’s skills. The good news is that these challenges have paved the way for highly effective new trends in hiring.
Most of these trends represent methods or systems that are already in use but have not been explored fully. These sparingly used methods or systems are now breaking into the mainstream because companies of all sizes compete for a limited resource pool of skilled professionals across all industries. Organizations that optimize their recruitment practices by leveraging modern recruitment trends have a good chance of winning a competitive edge.
Here are the top 15 hiring trends for 2023 that recruitment teams must watch out for
#1 Proactive Candidate Engagement –
Focusing on proactively engaging candidates is among the top recruitment industry trends in 2023. This is one of the most unusual emerging talent acquisition trends in 2023. The main focus in hiring is on proactively engaging candidates for all types of roles across industries. This has been a long-standing practice for filling C-suite executive positions, but relatively new for other types of job positions/roles. Proactive candidate engagement is required to overcome the ineffectiveness of passive recruiting. Reaching out to prospective hires early is an attempt to build a relationship with candidates during the hiring process. Positive engagement of candidates ensures that they pursue employment with their organization instead of competitors. This is one of the new trends in talent acquisition that hiring teams need to pursue seriously.
#2 – Using Advanced Candidate Screening Tools –
Candidate screening is the most important and the most time-consuming process in the recruitment cycle. Manual screening of candidates eats up a substantial amount of time for hiring managers and the entire team. This is where pre-employment skill assessment software comes in handy. These assessments combine skill-based evaluations with personality tests to ensure comprehensive candidate evaluation. While such assessments have been around for decades, there are organizations that still rely on resumes and interviews for candidate screening. Although these methods have their own merits, they do not provide quantifiable results about candidate performance, skills, and abilities.
Pre-employment skill assessments like SkillRobo are an important part of recruiting trends and talent tech. Skill assessments allow employers to screen candidates more effectively and speed up the hiring process. Streamlining the hiring process has become essential as companies are competing to offer employment opportunities to top talent. Candidate screening tools are also useful for eliminating underqualified individuals. Including behavioral assessments in pre-employment skill assessments help the hiring team gain insights into the core attributes of the applicants.
Answers to questions like – Is the candidate the right fit for the company’s work culture? Is the candidate motivated enough to work well in the assigned role? can be derived from these assessments.
#3- Remote work model for attracting employees –
The pandemic has accelerated the transition from in-person to remote and hybrid work models. Organizations that offer flexible working models are preferred by prospective employees. Offering a hybrid or flexible work model is a fast catching up trend that focuses on employee experience. Although the transition from an in-person work model to a hybrid model has not been all that rosy, many organizations have found that remote work offers significant benefits to the company and its employees. According to a State of Remote Work 2020 survey, 98% of employees prefer the remote working model. Not just for new hires, providing the remote work option for existing employees also improves employee engagement significantly.
Some organizations offer remote work options or the hybrid work model to candidates to woo them into accepting their job offer. From the candidate’s perspective, remote working eliminates the daily commute to work. For some roles, the work-from option could be the key deciding factor especially when the candidate has multiple employment offers. Remote work can increase employee morale and satisfaction. Organizations looking to hire and retain skilled and competent employees must consider making remote work option part of their job offer.
#4 – E-Presenteeism at Work –
This trend is an outcome of the adoption of work-from-home employee policies by organizations. E-presenteeism is among the recruitment industry trends related to remote work. A recent survey showed that 4 out 5 HR managers think that working remotely is encouraging Epresenteeism. Epresenteeism causes employees to feel that they should be online and available for work during office hours. E-presenteeism is nothing but presenteeism but just that it applies to people working remotely. E-presenteeism occurs when an employee turns in for work despite being ill just to be productive or regularly works beyond their contracted hours.
The most probable reason for this growing trend is that workers feel that they need to prove to their bosses that they are productive and worthy of keeping their job. The increasing trend of remote working has erased the line between work time and personal time, which in turn affects work-life balance. E-presenteeism has also resulted in employee burnout and depression. This triggers another hiring industry trend that focuses on tackling the issue of over-connectedness and availability. The HR department must focus on introducing programs and systems that will encourage work-life balance while being productive. Having these systems and checks in place ensures that employees are not overworked or overwhelmed.
#5 – Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the HR Strategy –
One of the top trends in talent acquisition is the inclusion of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the HR strategy. This trend may not be new in the hiring space but it will continue to be a hot trend in 2023. According to a survey by the World Bank, workplace gender equality is one of the values that can help the Global Economy to reach up to 120 trillion pounds. Gender and ethnic workplace diversity can increase profitability by up to 33%. In 2023, companies will go beyond statistics and surface DE&I policies. This new trend will tackle systemic inequalities and discriminatory systems.
#6 – Emergence of Employer Branding –
One of the top recruitment marketing trends is the emerging importance of employer branding. Organizations that excel in their branding strategy are able to attract talent during the hiring process. Excellent employer branding rewards companies with 50% more qualified applicants and reduced hiring costs per candidate. A company’s reputation and popularity Employer branding strategies are becoming more crucial in creating a robust and attractive employer brand. More than 75% of job seekers research employer brands and reputations before they apply for job postings. 50% of surveyed job seekers have said that they wouldn’t work for a company with a bad reputation. The effect of an employer’s brand is real and compelling. A robust talent brand helps in creating a dynamic workforce and influences the brand’s success. A powerful employer brand is crucial to attracting and retaining the best talents. The employer’s brand must have a good EVP to seal the deal for long-term employee retention. Successful building of top-notch work teams relies on a robust employer brand.
#7 – Increasing HR Automation –
One of the reliable trends in talent acquisition that has stood the test of time and has been around for decades now is automating the talent acquisition process. According to Career Builder, around 72% of employers predict that elements of talent acquisition will be automated within the next decade. Integrating HR automation allows companies to cut down hiring costs by up to 17% and HR staff hours by 26%. Although automation and other digital recruitment trends have been around for a while, the new class of HR automation tools transcends those of earlier generations.
Automation vendors are now offering integrated HR platforms that combine different recruitment models, HRIS, recruitment marketing tools, and applicant tracking software. HR automation tools are increasingly used by recruiters in their tasks to find, attract, engage, nurture, and convert applicants to hires. More businesses automating their recruitment practices and integrating with tools like HRIS and ATS are the new recruitment trends for 2023. Top HR automation software includes BambooHR, Submittable, Workday, and SmartRecruiters.
#8 – Data-driven recruiting and HR Analytics –
The use of data-driven metrics is one of the top recruiting trends. These tools can be used in framing effective HR strategies and hiring plans based on data. Technology tools like ATS and recruitment marketing platforms provide actionable data for HR teams. HR analytics enables users to gain insights into which areas of recruitment strategies are functioning well or otherwise. It also helps the hiring teams to evaluate skill gaps and improve employee retention. Identification of improvement areas using data analytics enables the team to make appropriate changes for improvement.
The proper use of HR analytics has been proven to enhance key hiring metrics like quality of hire, cost-to-hire, and time-to-hire. Businesses are turning to data-driven recruiting to drive their overall talent lifecycle. HR analytics can be further optimized when integrated with efficient talent management software. HR teams use analytics to improve their recruitment strategy continuously via skill gap analysis, workforce planning, assessment, engagement, and retention.
#9 – Employee well-being and mental health checks –
the pandemic has affected the mental health and well-being of employees. Remote working has put work-life balance into jeopardy. Working from home makes it difficult for employees to work within usual work hours. Their work timings invariably extend beyond the 8-hour work window. The year 2021 was only the beginning of evaluating and implementing mental health policies in organizations. The year 2023 will further explore various methods to ensure employee well-being. There will be a rise in the use of employee well-being apps, surveys, and training, which makes it one of the principal recruiting best practices for 2023.
#10 – Organizations Focus on Soft Skills During Hiring –
According to a Deloitte Survey, the US job market is experiencing a widespread skills deficit and it is expected to deepen further to a shortage of 29 million skills by 2030. Out of these skills, soft skills are the ones that are lacking across industries. Thus, the ongoing recruiting trend in the requirement arena will be focused on soft skills. Having soft skills like team collaboration, communication, and problem-solving are required for performing well in any job. Candidates with technical skills alone cannot perform well in their jobs without these soft skills. Recruiters will shift their focus to soft skills in 2023. Most hiring and firing decisions boil down to the soft skills of candidates. The shortage of soft skills makes up most of today’s skill gap. Soft skills are essential for addressing the demands of the current workplace.
#11 – Creating and Maintaining Talent Pools –
Proper utilization of talent pools could be the winning recruitment strategy for your organization. Dynamic organizations are now turning to their own talent pools to hire the best talents today. This is among the new recruitment trends that recruitment teams are using to curb talent recruitment concerns brought about by COVID-19. To survive in a highly competitive market landscape, businesses must search from multiple sources to address their skills shortage. The best way is internal and external talent pools. Searching in external talent pools is the first step that recruitment managers take to address skill gaps. To tackle today’s ballooning skills deficit, businesses need to search within their workplaces too. Although talent pools have been used by recruiters for a long time now, it is only now that they are using them to their advantage. Building and nurturing internal talent pools help cut down recruitment costs, shorten the time-to-hire, and identify candidates for future requirements.
#12 – AI-powered Head Hunting –
Artificial intelligence has penetrated the hiring environment to improve the effectiveness of executive search trends. Recruitment vendors and HR managers have been using AI-driven hiring methods to improve hiring outcomes. AI technology can improve hiring outcomes, but cannot replace recruiters. Automation of the hiring process using AI is among the leading industry hiring trends. Screening 100s of candidate profiles within a short duration in an objective manner is possible with this technology. Candidate screening tools can screen candidates without any biases. Building an AI-based hiring process can be done using robust machine learning programming. These tools require candidate data, NLP, and pattern recognition software for gaining valuable insights into candidate profiles/capabilities. AI technology is becoming essential to the entire recruitment industry. In addition to using AI technology for candidate screening, it can also be used for new hire monitoring and candidate onboarding.
#13 – Use of Social media for sourcing candidates –
Social recruitment is one of the most popular recruitment trends today. This strategy focuses on various ways to use social networks for finding, attracting, and hiring talent. Social media provides extensive and easy access to candidate profiles and presents a one-to-one engagement opportunity for recruiters. Personalized hiring experience makes candidates feel more valued and cared for. During the Covid pandemic, job-seekers turned to social media to stay informed and connected, and for recruiters to find the right talent. A BetterTeam survey in 2021 revealed that 94% of recruiters are on social media to post jobs and network with their extensive community. Companies that do not leverage social media for sourcing candidates are losing out on the competition. With the appropriate social media management software, you can derive maximum advantage out of social recruiting.
#14 – Using the new Hiring Candidate relationship management –
One of the top recruitment trends is candidate relationship management (CRM). CRM in recruitment was specifically created to tackle one of the most serious problems in HR talent attraction. To stay afloat with new recruitment trends that are candidate-driven, HR professionals need to adopt this strategic approach because 90%. CRM is found to be effective at all 3 levels – existing candidates, previous candidates, and potential candidates. Recruitment marketing tools are extensively being used for implementing recruitment marketing methods. These tools can be used by HR professionals to implement CRM strategies in a candidate-centric approach.
#15 – Rise of the Proactive Recruiter –
Modern recruiters are empowered with efficient technological tools and domain knowledge to engage better with candidates and colleagues. Strategic recruiters look for prospective candidates from both internal and external talent pools. Not only filling job vacancies, the role of a recruiter has evolved into that of facilitating career development and internal resource mobility as well.
There is no denying that technology has a major role to play in the future of the recruiting industry. The top recruitment trends for 2023 emphasize the importance of using technology to enhance hiring outcomes. Including pre-employment skill assessment tools like SkillRobo in the hiring process not only speeds up the hiring process but also enables efficient and objective hiring of candidates.
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