Growing trends in recruitment
Growing trends in recruitment showcase how the internet and artificial intelligence are shaping the recruitment industry and the future of employment.
The internet and artificial intelligence have proven to save recruiters time and money from the moment a job becomes vacant all the way through the successful candidate’s first day of work. The tedious and time-consuming tasks that once forced recruiters into overtime are now swift and painless. This technological shift has sparked new and growing trends in recruitment of which everyone in the field should be aware.
1. Outside hiring
According to the Harvard Business Review, the way we find and recruit new talent has dramatically changed over the last 40 years. From the 1940s through the ‘70s, job seekers approached the employer to enquire about job openings. Now, it is the other way around, and the employer finds the job seeker.
Furthermore, until the early 1980s, 90% of employers filled vacant job positions by promoting current employees. These days, less than 30% of recruiters rely on this tactic, and everyone else attracts outside talent using data-driven social recruitment marketing. This brings us to the next major trend: Data-driven recruitment marketing.
2. Recruitment marketing
Until shortly after the turn of the century, jobseekers found jobs by reading their local newspaper, looking at their local café’s bulletin board, or by word of mouth. Now, social media makes it easier than ever for recruiters to grab attention from potential candidates by sharing targeted posts on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Firms with business pages create paid posts, targeting specific interests, qualities, locations, and more that describe their ideal candidate. This is trendy method is known as data-driven social recruitment, or recruitment marketing.
The downside of this growing recruitment trend is that, in many cases, recruiters attract too many applicants. On the other hand, some recruiters use data-driven social recruitment to advertise a position well before it is vacant. That way, they know who to approach when it is time to hire.
3. Automating inefficient admin tasks
If you have been a recruiter for 10 years or so, you have probably blocked a few things out of memory. Do you remember all the losing games of phone tag to schedule interviews or to manually check references? Or all the times you rolled your eyes when hearing the words, “I can’t make it on Tuesday, can we reschedule?”
Fortunately, those woes are history. Today, recruiters use interview scheduling software such as Picktime.com and Goodtime.io that make it easy to schedule and reschedule interviews for a time that is convenient for everyone.
4. Pre-screening candidates through interactive testing
In a 2017 paper called “Discretion in Hiring” Mitchell Hoffman, Lisa B Kahn, and Danielle Li found that skill test results are highly indicative of how well a candidate performs once hired. However, at the time of publication, employers and managers often ignored test results and followed their gut instead. This, according to the authors, is a mistake as test results are a much better indicator than the biased judgment of a human recruiter.
At the time of that article’s publication, skill tests were still somewhat primitive. But skill testing software has dramatically improved over the last few years, offering an accessible, easy, fair, and cost-effective way for businesses of all sizes to test candidate skills, aptitude, personality, and even cultural fit. Noughties era tests such as eSkill have grown more robust, and with new tools such as HireSelect frequently entering the scene, it appears there is a growing demand for streamlined skills tests.
5. Streamlined reference checks
From cold calls to human error and bias, reference checks used to be a long, drawn out headache. Now, online reference checking tools like Jointl make reference checks swift and painless for everyone involved. Jointl allows to conduct unlimited reference checks on 3 candidates per month for free and gives nonprofits an unlimited allowance.
Jointl is truly a one-in-a-kind software for checking references. It provides pre-made but customizable survey templates you can send out to all references in one click. Then, once the survey is returned, it analyzes the subjective material and converts it into objective, unbiased data that it then uses to rank and score your candidates based on their skill level.
6. Social media checks
Many recruiters find that social media checks are the cherry on top of the reference checking process. As more recruiters check their candidates’ social media accounts to screen for a tainted past, candidates also refurbish their profiles to ensure they are recruiter-friendly.
7. Diversity in the workplace
Diversity in the workplace is a growing trend in most multicultural societies. In fact, according to the Washington Post, in 2019, people of color, especially women, got hired in larger numbers than white people did. This new trend of fairness is due to a variety of factors including a changing applicant pool, improvements in training accessibility, and a shift in cultural attitudes. Perhaps we can also attribute this recent tick in diverse hiring to technology, such as online reference checking tools that rank candidates for you and prevent discrimination. While humans are capable of making biased decisions, technology such as Jointl and eSkill allow us to bypass that tendency and hire better talent.
8. Great results
The technological trends we have discussed allow recruiters to make fewer mistakes and make better, faster hiring decisions, leading to great results for the company for which they are recruiting.
As we have discussed, recruiters who use skills test to screen their candidates end up hiring the right talent. Those who check references online with programs like Jointl no longer struggle to find the right talent. In fact, with the tools we have gone over, it is harder than ever to not hire the right talent.
9. Positive candidate experience
Of course, a better experience for recruiters means a smoother experience for candidates and their references. From streamlined interview scheduling to automated reference checks, job seekers and recruiters have less to worry about in terms of human error and time consumption. Job seekers now expect the process to continue to go smoothly, so it is crucial for recruiters, and software developers, to keep up the momentum.
10. Better employee experience
After recruiters create their applicant pools, complete their online reference checks, and schedule interviews, the fun does not stop. Businesses use a range of tools such as Clear Company and Slack bots ChiefOnboarding and Icebreakers help new hires adjust to their new job.
Any businessperson knows that feedback is crucial for a productive team and healthy culture. It used to be difficult to gather honest and relevant feedback from people who did not want to speak harshly of their colleagues. However, businesses now have tools such as Officevibe and 15Five which make it easy for employees to give each other, and the company, candid and constructive feedback.
Attendance is another issue that used to be a nightmare for HR departments. Now, they use tools such as Deputy to effectively manage employee attendance, sick days, and vacations.
Conclusion
With the world of technology growing in sophistication every day, be sure to stay tuned for new updates on growing trends in recruitment. It is essential to keep track of them to continue providing the best experience for your applicants and their references. After all, if you do not stay current with these trends, your competitors will!