The past year left a drastic impact on the human resources and recruitment industry. As hiring practices shift to fit a post-pandemic world, it’s become apparent that the recruitment landscape isn’t going to stop changing any time soon. 2021 brought no shortage of new challenges and opportunities to the table: virtual recruitment practices, talent shortages, a changing market, and evolving technologies.
Developing a concrete action plan to update your recruiting process should be the biggest new year priority for any talent acquisition team. It’s time to update your practices to adapt to the new normal. If you don’t, you could find yourself falling behind your competitors. Now that open positions vastly outnumber job applicants, you’ll need to do more and go further to attract the best talent to your company.
With this in mind, let’s take a look at the top recruitment trends for 2022 — and how your human resources team can stay ahead of the curve to attract the best candidates.
The Pivot To Virtual Recruitment
While many companies have already started returning to the office in 2021, it’s become clear that virtual recruitment is here to stay. It may have started as a pandemic necessity, but many employers are realizing the benefits that come with virtual recruitment:
A larger talent pool
A more efficient screening process
Greater flexibility for employees
No geographical limit for interviews
Quicker and more seamless interviews
In many cases, candidates have come to expect and embrace the remote interviewing process. Keeping up with virtual recruitment processes can help your brand feel up-to-date and relevant with the times. It also saves the time and resources that come with the traditional in-person interview.
That being said, the remote nature of this process means it’s more important than ever to keep your candidates engaged and invested. When a candidate starts up a relationship with their potential employer, it takes a lot of their time and attention. Without the in-person connection, you run the risk of losing qualified talent.
An ATS software can help keep your pipeline of candidates in the loop. Applicant tracking technology can facilitate a more streamlined candidate experience, as well as send personalized messages to candidates to re-engage them throughout the stages of recruiting.
The Ongoing “Great Resignation”
What’s now known as “The Great Resignation” cascaded across the country in 2020 and 2021. An increasing number of people across the country are leaving their jobs in record numbers, and we can expect to continue to see these numbers rise into 2022.
What’s driving this mass migration? Due to pandemic pressures, many employees are feeling burned out and overworked. As more people begin to resign, the pressures only grow on employees left handling understaffed workplaces.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, an estimated 4.4 million people walked away from their job in September of 2021 alone. In the same month, however, there were 10 million new jobs posted nationwide. The demand for qualified workers is higher than the supply, which means that it’s easier than ever for dissatisfied workers to walk away. If they feel pushed to the breaking point by their employers, they can leave for better opportunities with improved benefits.
As companies adjust their recruiting practices, it’s critical to make retaining workers a top priority. It’s never been more important to build trust with your employees, offer them opportunities for career growth, and allow for flexibility in the workplace.
The Rise of a Candidate-Driven Market
Now that there’s a short supply of qualified workers and millions more open positions, candidates have all the power.
In 2022, you can expect to see the rise of a candidate-driven market, where each candidate has more options for employment than they’ve had in a long time. This means that they have more leverage to demand more from their workplace, from salary benefits to quality of life on the job. This also means that recruiters will have to work harder to stand out and attract in-demand talent. And once those candidates are through the door, they’ll have to work harder to retain them.
What exactly are employees looking for? There are a lot of factors that go into winning the race for qualified candidates, but many job seekers are demanding more from their potential employers, including:
A clear and strong value system. More than ever, candidates want to see companies with a strong set of values that aligns with theirs. Make sure your values are clear — and that your policies, including how you treat employees, reflect those values.
A stronger commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusivity. During the job search process, candidates continue to seek more information about a company’s priorities when it comes to diversity and inclusion. About 49% of recruiters say that candidates asked about their initiatives — a 16% increase from 2020.
Benefits and advantages. Candidates are expecting more in terms of benefits and advantages, including medical coverage and dental coverage. Other factors can go into the quality of life at a job, including work-from-home flexibility.
Honesty and transparency. Job seekers appreciate transparency about what their job entails, including duties, requirements, and benefits. Be clear up-front about your expectations and what you can offer.
More favorable salary negotiations. Along with the benefits, many job seekers are looking for higher salaries — and they’re not afraid to ask for it. About 73% of recruiters report that candidates are negotiating higher salaries, which is up 20% from 2020.
The Emergence of Employer Branding
Now that the hiring power is in the hands of the candidates, they can afford to be much more selective over the jobs they apply for — as well as the offers they end up accepting. They’re willing to wait as long as it takes to find the perfect job. It has to align with their career goals and have the right company culture that suits their work ethic. Above all, the brand has to excite them.
To attract the right candidates and keep those in your Applicant Pool engaged with your brand, employers will need to invest more time into building and improving their employer value proposition. This means using your vacancies as an opportunity to advertise what makes your company unique and desirable. Potential candidates will look at employee referrals on Glassdoor and check out your social media accounts like LinkedIn. Focusing on employee well-being and satisfaction, providing more opportunities for career development, prioritizing a diverse workforce, and building a more authentic and trustworthy brand can all help attract your ideal candidate.
The Focus on Diversity and Inclusivity
Speaking of employer branding and values, 2022 is continuing the focus on diversity and inclusion. Diversity is one of the top features that candidates are looking for. For companies, Diversity Recruiting needs to be more than just a phrase. It should be a deeper commitment to inclusivity that is reflected in hiring practices. This means assessing talent within the organization and prioritizing diversity within the workplace community.
Keep in mind that bias may not always be outwardly visible. Even if a company actively strives for diversity and inclusion, there may be subtle ways in which discrimination is reinforced in their hiring. For example, the unconscious bias an interviewer carries with them into the interview room may affect which candidate they see as more professional or qualified.
Even before a candidate applies, bias can come into play. One study found that using masculine-coded words in a job description — assert, dominance, logic, self-confident, etc. — can actually deter women from applying to those jobs. These masculine job descriptions subtly sent the message to women that they weren’t the right fit for this role, nor were they welcome at the company.
To truly make strides towards diversity and inclusion, it’s time to take an even closer look at your hiring practices. Some solutions companies are implementing include:
Applying blind recruitment methods
Casting a wider net to explore new candidate sources
Hosting female-only, BIPOC-only or disability-friendly career days
Lowering the barriers to entry to allow candidates from untraditional background
Offering a work sample test to get an objective sense of their skills
Rewording job openings to avoid subtle biased messaging
Running unconscious bias workshops for all employees involved in the recruitment process
Standardizing the interview process and questions
While you want to compete with other companies who are also seeking in-demand talent, these diversity recruiting strategies can also help you find out-of-the-box job seekers that other companies have overlooked. By levelling the playing field, you could unlock new employees that haven’t been given the platform to truly succeed.
The Reliance on Automation and AI
In 2022, it’s clear that automation will be the key to recruitment success. Today’s hiring managers are focusing on a more data-driven mindset, as well as the technology to execute more effective recruiting strategies.
That means using automation, AI, and applicant tracking system software can reduce workload and make the recruiting process more strategic. These tools can delegate tasks and automate more repetitive, manual tasks, allowing staff to focus their energy on more pressing matters. During moments of high volume hiring, the need to intelligently automate the workflow will only grow stronger.
Automation can handle time-consuming tasks like:
Automatically ranking and grading candidates based on resumes
Eliminating scheduling errors to improve the candidate experience
Keeping candidates engaged by sending automatic and consistent updates throughout the hiring process
Reducing hiring bias when selecting candidates to interview
Screening applicant resumes to find the most qualified candidates
Streamlining the onboarding process by automatically introducing a newly hired applicant to the team, getting them started on training, and welcoming them to the company
A data-driven strategy also means using real-time insights and analytics to improve the recruitment process. By looking at growth metrics, acceptance rates, demographics, candidate feedback scores, and more, AI software tools can help recruiters stay up to date on their hiring strategies. Staying up to date can routinely attract and engage the best talent possible.
Now that data and tech are becoming the norm in 2022, companies that don’t take advantage of these tools may continue to struggle when sourcing talent, nurturing candidates, and converting job seekers to dedicated employees.
The Importance of Improving Workplace Well-Being
Mental health and well-being will continue to be a point of focus for businesses. Employee burnout isn’t just real — it’s on the rise. A report from Indeed found that 52% of employees report feeling burned out at their job.
Workers of all ages and in all industries are experiencing the impact of work-related stress and mental health challenges. And this can pose a major challenge for organizations. Not only does it contribute to employee turnover, but workers are prioritizing their mental well-being more and more. If they don’t get the sense that your company will put their mental health first, they may turn to a better opportunity.
A focus on mental health and wellness — as well as being accommodating to workers’ needs — is essential for candidate attraction — as well as retention — in the post-pandemic world. In your job description and company values, highlighting the emotional wellbeing of your employees will make it clear to potential candidates where your priorities lie.
If you have them, put a spotlight on programs to improve mental health. For example, flexible working accommodations, mental health coverage in your insurance plan, easy access to mental health resources, and workshops on emotional resilience. Even small ways you can show your support for mental health can make a difference, like meditation rooms and yoga classes.
Recruitment Processes for 2022 You Need To Know
As the world continues to change, for better or for worse, recruitment trends will change with it. To keep up with the future of recruitment, it’s time to fine-tune your talent strategies.
With a few simple upgrades to your hiring process, you can draw in quality employees that will stick with your company for the long run. The more you invest in your hiring practices, the more you’ll get out of your new hires. If you treat them well and offer them what they need to commit to the position, your company will reap the rewards.
Are you ready to get your office fully staffed to start 2022? Let us help you get there. With Oleeo, intelligent automation can deal with:
- workflows
- job postings
- competency filtering
- interviews
- job offers
- background checks
- the candidate nurturing process
At Oleeo, we’re here to help you recruit the top talent up to 50% faster and increase diversity by 60%. Learn more about Oleeo’s recruitment software or schedule a demo today.
