2022 was a challenging year for recruiters. In a tight candidate-driven labor market, HR leaders and organizations needed to remain agile by adopting new strategies, casting wider nets for talent their pools, and rethinking what employees wanted from their employers.
This year, experts say some of the most pressing challenges in recruiting include the high cost of recruitment, attracting and retaining top talent, and increasing demand for specialized skills.
To get a deeper pulse on what lies ahead, we recently tapped Will Laufer, Head of Sales for Recruiting Solutions at Calendly – a software company that develops a scheduling automation platform – to find out his predictions for HR leaders in 2023.
Here’s what he had to say.
How will the role of recruiter evolve in 2023?
WL: The role of the recruiter will now include navigating an uncertain macro environment. We’re likely to see a more deliberate approach to hiring in a leaner environment. Close partnerships with hiring managers will be even more important with the need to discuss each additional open requisition.
How will a leaner hiring environment affect candidate expectations and recruiting pipelines?
WL: Recruiting is cyclical, and for the past few years we’ve been in a very high-growth labor market. Now we’re seeing the pendulum swing in the other direction, which will lead to changes in resources, budget, and the dynamics of recruiting. As we head into 2023, expect a greater focus on talent quality over spend-at-all-costs and anticipate less over-the-top hiring perks and bonuses at recruiters’ disposal to close candidates. Additionally, candidates will inevitably ask more questions about the health and profitability of the business, as well as leadership’s views on the macro environment and the impact on the company. Recruiters will need to navigate these questions and be prepared to speak to these challenging topics.
How can companies embrace the hybrid work model in 2023?
WL: With the standardization of remote/hybrid work, candidates and companies are hungry for new ways to connect and build relationships, and ultimately trust. We’ve all gotten used to using Zoom, but new technology, such as scheduling automation, will support even more personalization around assessing candidates, connecting prospective teammates, bringing a company’s culture to life digitally, and much more.
Additionally, with many interviews being conducted remotely, it is more crucial than ever for HR departments to add structure to processes including interview prep, interviewer training, debrief processes, and role kick-off to optimize a candidate’s success. These strategies lead to a more standardized and positive candidate experience and can help teams recognize and eradicate bias from their process, even when doing so remotely.
Is there a certain aspect of the hiring process that you feel recruiters need to improve in 2023?
WL: Recruiters must put a spotlight on improving the interviewer experience if they want to land more candidates. At many companies, over 50% of employees conduct interviews, so that’s a significant number of relationships and experiences for recruiters to manage. The interview process is complex and recruiting teams are often struggling to stay above water with basic tasks like scheduling, follow-ups, candidate questions and more. In our current hiring environment, we need to be mindful of employee experience as much as candidate experience, to ensure a strong internal culture around hiring and continued alignment with hiring managers. Teams should focus on what we’re asking of our interviewers, how we can best prepare and support them, and how we can celebrate their participation and contribution to our hiring process.
What is one piece of advice you’d give to recruiting departments to keep in mind as we enter a new year?
WL: Recruiting departments are having to learn how to do more with less. With leaner budgets, leaders are looking for ways to save costs without sacrificing performance. This reality is coming at a time where software and AI are more advanced than ever before, and solutions are starting to offer functionality that has never been available to recruiters. Programs like chatbots, complex scheduling platforms, and intelligent sourcing tools are moving from experimental to mainstream solutions that all efficient recruiting teams are using or considering for 2023.