The recruiting industry is constantly evolving. The needs of candidates and clients must be taken into consideration by recruiters in order for their businesses to stay relevant. 2019 saw a number of new recruiting trends in the industry, and 2020 is shaping up to follow suit!
Here are a few of the biggest trends that effected the recruiting industry this year – and a few to look out for in the new year.
Social Media Recruiting
Social media is used by millions of people around the world on a daily basis. With so many potential candidates surfing various platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, it only makes sense for agencies to investigate the potential recruiting opportunities. The use of social media strategy combined with effective marketing techniques has catapulted recruiting agencies into the modern day. These days, the impact of social media in the recruitment process is undeniable:
- 79% of job seekers use social media during their job search
- 72 percent of job seekers use a mobile phone to find and apply for jobs
- 80% of employers say social recruiting helps them find passive candidates
2019 saw an increase in recruiters taking to various social media platforms to further their candidate search. Social media recruiting is especially useful for attracting passive candidates, or candidates that are not actively pursuing a job search. This has become so popular, that a recent survey revealed 4 out of 5 companies currently use social media to recruit passive candidates!
Improvements to the Candidate Experience
Figuring out how to attract candidates to your recruiting or staffing agency is one of the basic elements of the industry as a whole. But over the last few years, agencies have begun to take a much closer look at ways to improve the overall candidate experience. It is no longer enough to attract candidates; you have to make every step of their application and hiring process as comfortable as possible.
Agencies have focused on not only attracting candidates but creating candidate experiences that encourage positive reviews and word-of-mouth promotion. A recent statistics found that 64% of job seekers “would share negative application experiences with friends and family, and 27% would actively discourage others from applying”, so offering a smooth and easy process is more important than ever.
Also, there is no one-size-fits-all experience for candidates. The job application for someone applying for a part-time construction job is going to be different from someone applying to a full-time manager position, and so the candidate experience should differ as well.
For these reasons, making improvements to the candidate experience was one of the biggest recruiting trends this year.
Mobile Recruiting & Automation
The use of technology in recruitment has caught on over the past few years, and 2019 was no exception. Many agencies took into account how often job seekers are on their mobile devices and implemented mobile-forward recruitment marketing tactics. By leveraging mobile technology to connect and engage with potential candidates, agencies have enjoyed more reach than ever before.
Artificial Intelligence also saw a usage increase in 2019, with agencies applying it in a myriad of ways, such as intuitive ‘chatbots’ and candidate data interpretation. Some companies even went the extra mile by using artificial intelligence to conduct their interviews!
2020: Emphasis on Employer Brand
It is one thing to recruit and hire employees. It is another thing entirely to present your company as a place that candidates can see themselves working at before they even apply to the job. Placing an emphasis on your employer brand can help candidates mentally transition from job seeker to future employee: “your employer brand conveys what your company values as a workplace. It’s a promise to employees and potential employees”.
Using video, graphics, social media and so on to showcase employer brand and company culture has become very popular over the past year. Even if people that see this kind of media aren’t actively looking, they will remember stand-out employer brands when it is time for them to look for a job. We predict companies will be coming up with new and creative ways to keep this recruiting trend alive in 2020.
2020: Soft Skills
A big recruiting trend that is projected to gain more traction in the new year is recruiters being far more flexible with the candidate criteria that they are looking for. In recent years, employers have been faced with a ‘skills gap’, in which an increasing number of job seekers are seemingly underprepared or under-skilled for the workforce.
To accommodate this, many companies have begun to more frequently recruit for soft, interpersonal skills that can be applied to a professional setting rather than the hard, technical skills one might learn in their post-secondary education. Skills like attention to detail, teamwork skills and communication skills are now more valuable than ever! 2020 is likely to see a continued increase in this kind of recruiting.
2020: Video Recruiting
In a fast-paced and competitive industry, recruiters are becoming more and more open to letting technology take care of some of the more mundane aspects of their jobs. Using video in the hiring process is not a new thing – Skype interviews have been around for a few years now, which have helped accommodate the busy schedules of hiring managers and connecting them with candidates in different parts of the world.
However, video recruiting has become increasingly popular, and it shows no signs of slowing down in 2020. Recruiters have used video technology in order to eliminate unqualified candidates from the talent pool before wasting time with an in-person interview, as well as connect with hiring managers before, during and after interviews.
What other recruiting trends do you predict happening in the new year? Do you think the industry will veer towards technological advancements? Focus on candidate connection? Or something entirely out of left field? We would love to hear your thoughts: leave them in the comment section or email us directly!