Competition for talent remains tight in today’s uncertain hiring landscape, with the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS) report sharing that job openings have increased to 10.7 million. And while talks of a recession and hiring slowdown dominate the narrative, employers will continue to experience challenges in attracting and hiring high-quality candidates for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, new data from Employ Inc., compiled from employer and jobseeker activity across its 18,000 customers, can help companies and talent acquisition professionals overcome today’s evolving and unprecedented labor market.
Focus On What Workers Want
Recruiters must first understand what resonates most with candidates today and implement those organizational changes within the workplace. For instance, it’s no secret workers desire remote and hybrid work environments. Employ data found that in the past year, 48% of recruiters have experienced candidates’ turning down an interview or a job offer due to a lack of flexibility or remote work options in their workplace. Furthermore, workers also want to be compensated fairly, which is why 69% of recruiters believe wages for new hires will continue to increase over the next year.
Invest in Technology
Business and talent leaders must provide recruiters with the tools and resources necessary to compete in a fierce labor market. With access to technology that automates tasks and streamlines processes, recruiters can spend more time connecting and building relationships with prospective candidates.
That’s why 63% of HR decision-makers plan to increase recruiting technology spending over the next year. Understanding where the competition plans to expand its recruitment technology investments is critical. According to the same report, investments are expected to go toward career sites, job boards, sourcing, and upgrading applicant tracking systems (ATSs) and candidate relationship management (CRM) tools.
Adopting purpose-built recruitment technology tailored to an organization’s complexity, size, and needs is also important to help recruiters find, attract, and onboard talent quicker. Employ data reveals that hiring speeds have increased by 8% over the past year, and 85% of talent acquisition professionals report their average time to hire is 4 weeks or less. If it’s taking a month or longer to hire a new employee, it’s time to invest in technologies that source candidates quicker, like recruitment automation tools. These save time in all stages of the hiring process and win top talent over competitors.
Take Chances On Candidates
Tapped-out candidate pools and burnt-out recruiters have led talent teams to change hiring strategies, including removing requirements in job descriptions. Instead of requiring specific industry experience, more recruiters are focusing on soft skills when sourcing candidates to widen their pool of diversified talent. As a result, more recruiters are taking chances on different types of candidates, as confirmed by new Employ data.
Recruiters still need to be thorough when screening and interviewing applicants. But focusing less on gaps in résumés and a lack of industry experience in hiring workers can bring new perspectives to the company. When evaluating candidates with different experience levels, ask the right questions during the interview to ensure their background is transferable to the skills needed for the open role.
Companies of all sizes today will continue to grapple with an increasingly complex and unpredictable labor market primed to be challenging for the foreseeable future. But rather than dwelling on a short-term view of economic ebbs and flows, implement a long-term recruiting approach focused on people, processes, and technology. And consider organizational changes that align with worker preferences to help ensure open roles are attractive to prospective candidates, making it easier to source and hire top talent. Taking this approach will make it easier to compete and hit recruiting benchmarks no matter the outlook of the hiring landscape.
Allie Kelly serves as Chief Marketing Officer of Employ Inc., a provider of recruiting and talent acquisition solutions. Kelly oversees the shared services marketing organization for the JazzHR, Lever, Jobvite, and NXTThing RPO brands. In her role, she leads the brand transformation of the business that aligns marketing, product, and sales to deliver an exceptional customer experience while driving record revenue and customer growth. As a customer-centric marketing leader with core strengths in transformational change and growth-stage leadership, Kelly has spent the last 19 years driving scalable, sustainable growth for business-to-business and business-to-consumer companies.