9 Recruitment Trends in 2022 to Take Note Of
With the vast number of technological advances in HR and the continuing effects of the pandemic on the workplace, the hiring climate is always evolving. Due to this, hiring trends are also changing a lot and certain recruitment trends in 2022 that can’t be ignored.
When thinking about your hiring needs this year, you must emphasize what you can give to employees, not just what they’ll bring to your organization. You also need to make use of HR tech and implement an effective retention strategy, among other things.
To learn more about the most prominent 2022 talent acquisition trends, read on!
9 Recruitment Trends for 2022
Automation in HR
Recruitment takes a lot of time and resources. Both companies with dedicated HR departments and those without can spend vast amounts of time and money filling job openings. To make the process more efficient, the use of HR automation is increasing. This trend is expected to continue growing throughout 2022 and beyond.
The most commonly used automation tool is applicant tracking software (ATS). By inputting the job description and a list of keywords that must be present in candidate applications, the software will pass on a shortlist of the most qualified candidates.
ATS, therefore, eliminates the time needed to read through every resume and cover letter that gets submitted. The vast majority of which will be from unqualified candidates. In addition to ATS, other automation tools are being implemented, such as interview scheduling tools.
Automating parts of the hiring process will continue to be popular in 2022.
2. Employer Branding
In the current market, you can’t expect top candidates to flock to your company just because you have a job opening. You must promote your employer brand, highlighting what you offer candidates. Asking the candidate to show what they bring to the company without promoting what you offer them is an outdated hiring method and will result in you losing out on the best applicants.
You must also keep reputation in mind, along with the brand you create and promote. If lots of customers are leaving negative reviews, if you have PR scandals, and/or former employees don’t rate you well, you’ll significantly turn off potential candidates greatly. These issues will especially turn off the most talented candidates that are in demand at multiple companies.
Ideally, you’ll create a brand that continuously appeals to people in a way that they want to work for you even when there aren’t vacancies. Then when an opening does occur, candidates will automatically apply as they’ve already been convinced that working for you is right for them.
Learn more about recruitment marketing tactics here!
3. Increased Focus on Soft Skills of Candidates
When discussing what is most important in a candidate, you’ll receive varied responses. Is culture fit more important than experience? Should more weight be put on the quality of soft skills or hard/technical skills? While this is subjective and the factors each company will care about the most will differ, one of the recruitment strategies in 2022 is focusing on the soft skills of candidates.
In fact, it's suggested that in the next few years there may be a shortage of workers with all the necessary soft skills to function well in a business environment. There was such a fixation on technical skills of a candidate previously, that employees focused on gaining degrees and additional qualifications at the expense of fine-tuning soft skills, such as problem-solving and collaboration.
Due to the importance of these skills, employers in 2022 will be shifting priorities and focusing on what soft skills the candidate brings as much, if not more, than the work experience and technical expertise they possess.
One of the notable recruitment trends in 2022 is hiring teams putting increased focus on each candidates' soft skills.
4. Continuous Recruitment and Generation of Talent Pools
Continuous Recruitment is the process of promoting your employer brand continuously throughout the year. This allows you to generate talent pools full of qualified candidates who are motivated to apply for positions as soon as they become available.
Continuous recruitment greatly reduces lead time between posting a job opening and hiring the best candidate. A point to remember, which is discussed more next, is that talent pools don’t need to be filled exclusively with external candidates.
Identifying internal candidates with potential to move up in the organization can mean that once a position opens, the new hire is practically ready to go as they are already an employee.
5. Internal Recruitment and Employee Development Tactics
As just mentioned, a recruitment trend for 2022 that should be implemented is an increased focus on internal recruitment and the development of employees you already have. The last few years have seen many employees looking for companies that take their needs and growth into account. As such, one of the top retention strategies in the current climate is implementing an employee development strategy.
This includes understanding the short and long-term goals of employees, such as skills they want to develop and positions they want to hold. You can then help them achieve those goals within your organization and add more value to your team - it’s a win-win for everyone!
These development strategies go hand-in-hand with internal recruitment that brings many benefits, including:
A reduction in the time needed to find a candidate to hire.
Less time spent onboarding and no time needed to explain company culture, policies, and the like.
An understanding of how the hire actually functions within your organization (avoiding the issue of hiring someone who looks great on paper but doesn’t end up fitting in and/or providing desired results.)
A continuous movement of employees up the hierarchy. For example, if a junior employee gets promoted internally to a senior position, an entry-level employee can then move into the junior position. This keeps employees motivated as they see that if they perform well, there is real growth potential in the company, and they don’t need to look elsewhere to get a promotion.
Focusing on improving your internal recruitment strategy in 2022 is recommended.
6. The Need for Improved Retention Strategies
While automating the hiring process can help with efficiency, the best strategy is retaining your current employees. While some employee turnover is inevitable, a vast proportion of this can be reduced if better employee-focused retention strategies are put in place. As such, another of the recruitment priorities for 2022 is improving retention techniques.
As discussed above, focusing on employee development and internal hiring is one of the best methods for reducing turnover rate. Many employees will leave to get a promotion they can’t get at their current company and/or because they don’t feel appreciated or like they can grow their skills within the current organization.
7. Recruiting via Social Media
Recruiting is essentially marketing, and it’s now a well-accepted fact that social media promotions are necessary to market your brand. So, companies also need to realize that social media is an incredibly significant platform for promoting your recruitment brand and job openings.
While LinkedIn has long been used in recruitment, it may be worth considering using other platforms, like Instagram too. There are an array of ways to use social media for recruitment, including:
Posting job openings
Recruiting
Promoting your employer brand
Offering a look at the life of your employees, etc. behind the scenes videos of how the organization runs, what events you hold, etc.
Social media will continue to be a useful recruitment tool in 2022.
8. Continuation of Virtual Hiring Processes
Working from home and conducting business virtually is here to stay, no matter what path the pandemic takes. While some organizations will return to an office or hybrid model, recruiting is an element that will remain virtual for many.
Conducting interviews via phone or video call saves a considerable amount of time. You must have a strong virtual onboarding strategy in place too, especially if planning to keep some or all of your employees working from home.
9. A Willingness to Adapt
Employers have long been the party that drives the job offer on the table. They set times to work, where to work, and the like. However, employees today, especially the most qualified, are no longer forced to take the offer on the table.
If you really want to hire the best of the best, one of the recruitment trends in 2022 to adhere to is a willingness to be flexible with what you offer during job negotiations. For example, you may tell a new hire you would prefer them to work from the office.
But enforcing this without good reason if they would rather work from home will likely lose you that candidate. Especially if your competitors are offering a hybrid model (almost proving that in-office isn't necessary for the industry you’re in.)
Flexible start and end times, overall hours, vacation time, benefits, and job tasks, factor into this as well. Ultimately, the hiring market is incredibly competitive these days and if your company wants to hire top candidates, you have to be willing to adapt your offers to make your organization the most desirable to work for.
In Conclusion
Staying on top of recruitment industry trends is incredibly important to ensure you are always implementing the best hiring methods. While industry best practices change frequently, implementing these nine recruitment trends for 2022 will allow you to be in a good position to locate some talented new employees this year.
If you want some help fine-tuning your recruitment strategy, get in touch with the team at Lynne Palmer. We have over 60 years of experience connecting top talent with organizations in the publishing and medical communications industries.