Evolution or revolution? How recruitment is changing

Whether you’re a recruiter, employer or candidate, understanding how recruitment is changing is crucial for choosing the right path to success.

Today, we’ll explore the vital trends underpinning recruitment in 2019 and the important changes emerging over the horizon.

An exploration of how recruitment is changing

Here is an overview of two of the most significant ways recruitment is changing and the forces driving this evolution:

1) Digitisation of recruitment

The single biggest factor impacting on recruitment in recent times has been the advent of the digital age.

Recruiters/employers

Recruiters and employers have access to more candidates and recruitment channels than ever before.

While this tends to increase the scope of each search, digitisation has bought with it a host of segmentation options, analytics capabilities and automated tools that help to increase overall efficiency.

Some of the online techniques recruiters and employers can now leverage include:

• Using company/public data to create candidate profiles for search segmentation
• Posting listings on job boards/social media platforms that can reach thousands of relevant candidates
• Streamlining their search by automatically filtering out candidates lacking desirable attributes
• Using syndicated display advertising to put banner ads in front of targeted candidate groups
• Analysing recruitment techniques and ROI to consistently refine their recruitment processes

AI is the next big thing in recruitment. This type of technology will produce greater insights and take on many of the monotonous admin tasks recruiters carry out today.

Candidates

The digitisation of recruitment has given candidates far more options, too.

Not only can they now conveniently access a wider variety of potential job sources, they can easily find options specifically orientated towards their specific industry or niche. Candidates can now:

• Efficiently search a huge number of job boards containing thousands of vacancies
• Join mailing lists to receive an aggregated list of applicable options each day, week or month
• Find jobs/promote their professional credentials via social media platforms

LinkedIn, the most widely-used professional social media platform, now has over half a billion users and more than 10 million active job postings.

2) Changing habits and workplaces

Recruitment has also changed in order to mirror evolving professional practices and candidate preferences.

Recruiters/employers

Recruiters and employers are increasingly trying to gain a competitive edge by adopting an ‘always on’ mentality.

The depth of insight now made available to hiring agents through analytics software makes it easier for companies to develop a recruitment strategy geared towards ongoing staffing optimisation and succession planning (45% of Millennials intend to stay in their job for less than two years).

Additionally, the cost of keeping a consistent eye on the job market (via job boards/social media) is much lower than that of the time-specific, high-input recruitment campaigns of the past.

Recruiters and employers have also had to become more relational and less KPI-orientated in response to changing candidate trends, cultivating a dialogue with talent (including candidates currently in work) over a longer period of time.

Candidates

The candidates of today (especially Millennials and members of Generation Z) have completely different professional habits and motivations than those who’ve come before them.

For example, 75% of the workforce in 2019 consider themselves passive job hunters (Social Media Today); they’re currently in work, but would be willing to listen to better offers should they arise.

While many Millennials still think a high salary offer makes for an attractive employer (44%), others prioritise career progression (52%), training/development (35%) and flexible working arrangements (21%).

Lastly, candidates have become much more willing to adopt unconventional working practices, which might consist of part-time/contract/zero-hours based work rather than traditional full-time offerings.

This is just a taster of how recruitment is changing. But we can help you gain more valuable insights.

Contact our experienced recruitment team to gain the expertise you need to achieve your recruitment goals.