Once upon a time, recruiters posted jobs on the local drugstore bulletin board or in a city newspaper. Since then, online job boards have evolved with the internet and social media. Again and again, recruiters have been forced to develop new strategies to find employees.
Examining the past few years alone provides clear evidence of the substantial changes recruiters experience year to year. The Covid-19 pandemic required recruiters to shift largely to Zoom interviews and quickly bolster their online sourcing techniques.
In a candidate’s market, recruiters must be on the top of their game to ensure roles are filled. … [+]
Later, as businesses tried moving employees back into the office, recruiters were surprised to discover a large preference for remote work. In 2021, 47.8 million Americans left their jobs. The Great Resignation was officially underway and recruiters were left with countless jobs to fill as retention numbers plummeted.
Time and time again, recruiters have stepped up to the challenge of these changing times and revitalized their recruitment techniques. The question is, how are they doing it?
Embrace Change
As the recruiting landscape continues to change, recruiters have been required to master adaptability. According to Blackmere Consulting’s CEO, Domini Clark, “Old dogs who can’t learn new tricks will not flourish in this environment. The better you understand and adapt to the changing dynamics in the talent market, the more likely you will attract, engage and hire top candidates.”
With drastic changes occurring in society, candidates are looking for new qualities in the positions they consider. Recruiters have to be able to match people to the best roles for their desires, which takes flexibility on their part.
“Some recruiters continue to run their businesses with a pre-2020 mindset. But it’s simply no use to pretend that the pandemic of the past few years hasn’t resulted in a lot of soul searching,” says Jayce Grayye, CEO of Jayce Grayye Consulting & Recruiting. “Qualified, highly desirable job seekers have become far less willing to accept positions that do not match up with a desired work-life balance.”
Stay Current with Tech
As comfortable as recruiters have to be with change, they must also be willing to learn. Specifically, new technologies require recruiters to continuously keep their platforms and workflows updated.
In 2021, Jobvite conducted a study on over 800 American recruiting professionals. It concluded that in order to compete for talent in a candidate’s market, employers have to improve process efficiency. In fact, recruiters are using automation and artificial intelligence software to source, screen, schedule, and chat with candidates more so than the previous year.
“It’s no longer enough to post a job and hope for the best,” writes Josh Siler, CEO of HiringThing. “It’s vital to reassess your recruiting technology needs against your current tools to identify areas you can innovate or upgrade. Ensuring you have the right technology in place can help streamline the hiring process and potentially give you a professional advantage.”
Understand Your Talent Pool
As wonderful as technology is, purchasing the most recent recruiting tools will do very little for recruiters if they don’t first understand what job seekers want. As obvious as this sounds, it can be difficult for recruiters to not act in self-interest. However, focusing on the candidate will ultimately protect a recruiter’s reputation, whether a job candidate accepts an offer or not.
One way that recruiters can stay focused on the needs of job candidates is by collecting and analyzing data related to job seekers.
“Leveraging talent market analytics has been instrumental in informing and influencing go-to-market and location strategies, as well as managing hiring cycle time expectations,” said Britton Bloch, Navy Federal’s Vice President of Talent Acquisition Strategy and Head of Recruiting. “From a branding perspective, analytics inform managers on the geo-targeted talent attraction campaigns.”
Eric Friedman is the Founder and CEO of eSkill, a global company that offers skills testing and behavioral assessments. Friedman has helped launch five different startups and also understands the importance of data in recruitment.
“As the digital revolution continues, recruiting and hiring will become more data-driven,” Friedman wrote. “Companies will continue to prioritize data analysis and in-depth insights about prospective candidates. Companies should look to leverage data, automate redundant processes, reduce the workload on human resource staff, and demonstrate how the organization can streamline its evaluation protocols.”
The one thing recruiters can count on, data or no data, is that the needs of job seekers will constantly change. Finding ways to adapt, continuously learn, and analyze relevant data are all methods that will keep recruiters confident and effective in their efforts to find the best job candidates in their current talent market.