
Recruiting and hiring the best candidates available continues to be a key component of organizational success. If you are analyzing and fine-tuning your hiring process, a review of the some of the major recruitment trends in 2019 may be helpful.
Michelle Cordy of HR management firm Strategic HR Inc.(Nine Recruiting Trends in 2019) advises employers to be prepared for a continued tight labor market in 2019. Although numbers have varied slightly over the last several months, there is a continuing trend towards more job openings than available talent to fill them. As a result, many companies will need to shift how they approach their recruiting and retention efforts in order to remain competitive.
As a consequence of the tight labor market, many candidates now seem to have more power in the job search process, according to Kristina Martic (15 New Recruiting Trends You Should Implement in 2019). In this increasingly candidate-driven job market, finding and hiring ideal job applicants, especially those with in-demand skills, is becoming more challenging, expensive and time-consuming. This shift in the recruiting paradigm to a more candidate-focused process is impacting hiring and driving current recruitment trends, including:
Employer Branding
Employer branding refers to an organization’s reputation and value proposition as an employer, as opposed to its brand reputation and value proposition to customers. Research by LinkedIn has shown that more than 75% of job seekers research a company’s reputation and employer brand before applying, and job seekers are strongly influenced by online reviews. Many potential candidates will use Glassdoor and Google reviews to get an insider’s view of work life at your company. Companies with a bad reputation not only struggle to attract candidates, but also struggle to retain employees.
Recruitment Marketing
Recruitment marketing, also referred to as inbound recruiting, refers to the strategy of finding, attracting, engaging and nurturing talent before they apply for a job. In this pre-applicant phase of recruiting, you would promote the value of working for your company using marketing methods traditionally employed to promote your products or services. The strategy is to proactively and continually attract the best candidates with the goal to influence them to choose you as their next employer.
Focusing on the Candidate Experience
The candidate experience encompasses the current, past and potential future candidates’ overall perception of your company, based on their experience during the recruiting process, from sourcing and screening to interviewing, hiring and onboarding. Many of today’s job seekers have high expectations for the job application process to be fast, efficient, easy and mobile-friendly. Open and timely communication throughout the selection process is critical to ensuring that you keep your optimal candidates engaged in your process and don’t lose them to a competitor. Candidates who have a positive experience will more likely accept your job offer, reapply in the future if they don’t land the current opening and refer others to your company.
Employee Referral Programs
Employee referral programs are one of the most productive ways of hiring talent and filling open positions. Research from LinkedIn has shown that referred employees take the lowest number of days to hire and onboard:
- Career site – 55 days
- Job boards – 39 days
- Referred – 29 days
If you need help to set up an employee referral program or retool your current program, see A Guide for Setting Up an Employee Referral Program.
Leveraging Your Website and Social Media
Social media (i.e., LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.) and a well-designed career website will continue to be valuable tools in 2019. Job seekers today expect companies to have a defined, dynamic and engaging employment brand, and the onus is on the employer to capture the attention of job seekers. According to a 2018 Jobvite Recruiter Nation Survey, the top investments for growing an employer brand are:
- Social media (47%)
- Company career website (21%)
- Marketing and advertising (12%)
To get the attention of candidates, you should showcase what makes your organization unique and attractive as a workplace. Research has shown that incorporating video that captures the work environment perspective directly from your employees is one of the most powerful communication tools. You can also use social media to attract new talent by posting your current job openings.
Using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
An applicant tracking system is a software application that enables the electronic handling of recruitment needs. An ATS can be implemented or accessed online on an enterprise or small business level, depending on the needs of the company, and there is also free and open source ATS software available. An ATS will help streamline, simplify and automate your hiring process, making it faster and more efficient.
Talent Sourcing
Proactive talent sourcing has become a must-have recruitment strategy. LinkedIn research has shown that only about 36% of potential candidates are job seekers. However, more than 90% of them are interested in hearing about new job opportunities. LinkedIn and other career websites allow you to search for good candidates and send them messages regarding your company and/or job openings.
Strategic Alignment
Recruiting and hiring should be aligned with your overall business strategy. Identifying your company’s future needs and goals can help make your recruiting more strategic by identifying current and future skills gaps. Based on the results, you can plan your recruiting efforts to support business growth.
Google’s Role in Recruiting
Google for Jobs has opened the door to a whole new way for candidates to look for jobs by searching for jobs through organic Google searches. A job seeker can search for marketing jobs near me, which will return a list of job opportunities at their fingertips. It’s been estimated that more than 70% of job seekers start their job search on Google. Click here if you want to ensure that your jobs are being indexed on Google for Jobs.
The year ahead looks to be interesting and challenging for recruiting, but if your company can incorporate some of the latest trends, you will be poised for a successful year.