Tap Into These 4 Hiring Trends to Achieve Your Goals These are the biggest trends reshaping hiring.
By Raj Mukherjee •
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There's no doubt about it: 2021 was a challenging year for recruiting. The last few months of the year were particularly difficult, according to 79% of employers surveyed by Indeed. That feeling is further confirmed by data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that the "quits" rate rose while the hires rate barely changed late last year.
Despite an apparent stalemate in the face-off between eager employers and non-committal job seekers, hiring remains a top priority in the new year for businesses of all sizes. To achieve hiring goals in this new era, the following are some of the biggest trends reshaping hiring.
1. Look to automation to manage time-consuming processes
Recent research shows that 91% of business leaders have had to take on additional tasks and responsibilities to keep businesses afloat during the hiring shortage. This is particularly true for small and medium-sized businesses whose owners are already likely to be wearing many hats to keep their business running and may have limited time and resources to help them with their hiring needs.
One way they can get time back is by using automated tools to reduce the time spent on the many steps that typically go into hiring a new employee — reading resumes, screening job candidates, scheduling interviews and candidate outreach. By leveraging automation, employers can offset manual recruiting tasks and get back time to focus on connecting with potential employees and growing their companies.
2. Employ skills-based hiring
Sometimes a candidate's past work experience may not appear to be exactly in line with what you're looking for. Some may have a different degree than you expect or none at all. Yet, sometimes these candidates can still be a good fit for a job — maybe even better than someone who checks all the "traditional" boxes.
That's where skills-based hiring comes into play. It helps you avoid overlooking great talent who can come from outside a traditional path. By adding skills tests into the hiring process, employers can quickly and easily identify talent with the skills for the job.
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3. Support hybrid hiring with virtual interviews
Now that remote work is becoming a permanent offering for many employers and a way to stand out to candidates, business owners should consider ways to support not just hybrid work when hiring. By incorporating both virtual interviews, employers can get candidates into the interview an average of 20% faster than in-person interviews on Indeed. And besides decreasing time to hire, there are many other benefits to employers who conduct hiring virtually. For example, eight in ten employers say their company has received more job applicants than before and 77% cite an improved candidate experience.
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4. Offer benefits that support candidates' lifestyles
In a sea of job postings, businesses need ways to stand out from the crowd. From the job seeker's perspective, one of the most attractive things about independent businesses is the ability to cater to employees individually. Smaller firms can mold their corporate culture more directly and deliberately to attract talent.
In the current environment, a vast majority of employers (96%) report that adding new perks and benefits has positively affected their ability to attract talent. Benefits such as wellness days, tuition reimbursement, flexible hours and pet-friendly offices are all in the mix. Many of these ideas aren't costly, but they must be authentic to your corporate values and attitudes.
By offering benefits that resonate with the types of employees you want to attract and highlight them at the beginning of candidate interactions — in job postings and other employer branding materials — employers can capture attention quickly.
Speed and flexibility are the foundations of today's hiring trends. The mismatch in hiring urgency between employers and job seekers means that swift adaption can gain a competitive edge. Technology can help business owners save time at every step of the hiring process, from screening to interviewing candidates. That time can be invested in creative ways to inspire and connect with employees.
