Hiring and Recruiting Trends of 2022

by | Jun 16, 2022 | HR Trends

Businesses everywhere are looking to come back from the last two years of uncertainty. Even companies that have handled the pandemic relatively well are facing another looming challenge in 2022 — the struggle to find and retain top talent.  You hear time and time again about how difficult it is to attract quality employees in today’s market and even harder to keep them on board after the hire.  There are several reasons that contribute to this growing problem, however two reasons that are most notable are the pandemic and an ever-widening skills gap. The skills gap is an essential mismatch between the abilities required to fill vacant positions and the prospective employees’ skills.  

In response, we have seen the emergence of several highly effective recruiting trends. Companies that leverage these hiring trends will have a good chance of rebounding over the next two years.

Proactively Engage Candidates Early

Engaging candidates early has long been a trend when filling C-suite executive vacancies, however it was rarely used when hiring for entry-level positions. Now we see a shift to HR staff reaching out to applicants early and often during the hiring process. The idea is to build a relationship with these candidates to drive them to pursue employment with their organization instead of competitors. Passive recruiting no longer works as it once did. This means hiring is taking up more and more time for HR teams that are already short staffed. Some companies may consider hiring an in-house recruiter if one can be found or an outside firm to assist with quality talent recruitment.

Premier Workforce Solutions has a full suite of recruiting services available. We have an extensive network of professionals and are uniquely positioned with strong relationships across multiple industries to help recruit and place top talent.

Use Advanced Screening Tools

The use of skills tests has been around for a while but not as widely utilized as they are today.  These tests can help shorten the hiring process which has become more essential as companies are racing to offer employment opportunities to quality candidates before they find a position elsewhere.  These skills tests also help to rule out underqualified candidates.

Some businesses are also implementing behavioral assessments as part of their screening process to provide insight into an applicant’s core attributes, such as having a strong work ethic and motivation.

Offer Remote Work

The pandemic radically accelerated the transition to remote and hybrid work and brought a renewed focus on the employee experience. Offering remote work benefits can be a key deciding factor for candidates that have received multiple offers. In addition, remote work can increase employee morale and satisfaction which is more important than ever as businesses strive to retain existing talent and prevent turnover.

Rethink the Recruiter Experience

Recruiting and hiring has become more data driven. Companies will continue to prioritize data analysis and in-depth insights about prospective candidates. To reduce the workload on human resource staff and demonstrate how the organization can streamline its evaluation protocols, companies should focus on outside firms that offer analytics or internal software automation or possibly a combination of both.  Hiring a full-time recruiter in house can be costly, while utilizing an outside recruiting firm gives you access to a pool of already vetted candidates.

Perfect the Candidate Experience

Get back to basics in your hiring process, make sure each person who applies receives a response. Bring transparency back to the hiring process: post the salary, benefits, PTO and office setting requirements up front. Make sure it’s easy for candidates to apply- don’t have them attach their resume and then fill out all the information again via forms or online. Streamline the interview process to cut back on unnecessary steps.  First impressions are being formed through the candidate experience.