“New Year New Me” is a phrase we often hear. We approach many aspects of our lives with a new sense of purpose and perspective in the new year, feeling refreshed and reinvigorated, and when we think about this in the context of careers and work we often jump to new roles and career changes. But for those of us in recruitment, this is an ideal time to take this energy and direct it to reinvigorating and reassessing our approach to talent acquisition. As businesses take the time to review and refocus their strategies and goals, we are afforded an opportunity to ensure that our talent acquisition practices are also updated and in line with the current market and hiring trends.
Job Descriptions
Transparency is a key theme here: be upfront about salary ranges, benefits, and company culture to attract candidates who align with your values and expectations. This also includes transparency with flexible working policies; the post-pandemic landscape includes a host of options on offer, from hybrid or remote working to four day weeks. To remain competitive, be transparent about what you offer and be prepared to say why. If you offer hybrid, how many days in the office vs from home? If you don’t offer any remote working options, explain why and showcase any alternative benefits that offer work-life balance, like flexible hours or compressed workweeks.
There is also a renewed emphasis on skills and outcomes, on highlighting the skills and abilities needed for a role and viewing through the lens of skills based hiring, rather than a laundry list of years of experience. Focusing on the outcomes and the impact that a candidate can have, and their role’s contribution to the organisation’s goals, will appeal to the candidates who value purpose and making a difference.
Employer branding
A strong employer brand is important, now more than ever. In this digital age candidates are well versed in doing their research on prospective employers, whether checking social media, testimonials or other platforms like Glassdoor.com. Employer reviews are researched in the same way you might scan through reviews on Trustpilot.com or Amazon.co.uk, before making a purchase. If you’re looking to attract top talent. this means ensuring that your organisation has a great reputation online, and the chatter is positive!
Interview processes
Taking a candidate-centric approach remains a top way to attract excellent candidates, including interview processes that focus on providing positive candidate experiences. This also includes offering virtual or hybrid interview formats, utilising video conferencing tools for initial screenings and interviews, implementing skills based assessments to evaluate candidates’ practical abilities without bias, and providing diversity and inclusion training to interviewers to ensure a fair and positive interview experience. Transparency is again an important element here – transparency with interview timelines, with feedback and with deadlines for decisions being made.
Culture
Company culture has become an important element for candidates, when assessing prospective employers, and it’s important for employers to understand this when trying to attract top talent.
This means clearly defining and communicating your organisation’s values, mission and desired workplace culture. This means ensuring job descriptions, employer branding and recruitment messaging all align with the organisation’s culture to attract candidates with shared values. This means a commitment to diversity and inclusion, expressly communicating a commitment to the same and creating inclusive recruitment processes that welcome individuals from all backgrounds.
Other strategies to highlight workplace culture include featuring employee success stories and testimonials in recruiting materials, sharing policies that support work-life balance and a healthy work environment, showcasing benefits such as wellness programs and mental health support, and outlining development opportunities for professional growth and continuous learning on the job, training programs, mentorship initiatives, leadership development programs and recognition mechanisms within the organisation.
Whilst there are many more elements to consider, in addition to the above-mentioned, by staying attuned to these hiring trends and incorporating them into talent acquisition practices, organizations can better attract, engage, and retain top talent in an ever-evolving job market.