The Christmas break is an important time for recruiters to review how they’ve done in the past year and to look forward to that all-important future. With employment levels rising and competition for jobs becoming slightly less drastic, standing out from the crowd is going to be the name of the game in 2016 with recruiters working hard to incorporate new technology, find the high performing candidates and deliver the top notch service that many businesses are looking for. To help you stay ahead of your competition, we’ve compiled a list of what we think will be the top recruitment trends in 2016.
Measuring Performance
If recruiters are going to find the right top performers for their clients in 2016 there is going to have to be a good deal of soul searching and measuring of outcomes. That’s going not only going to involve monitoring recruitment processes but how accepted candidates perform on the job and whether they succeed, fail or move quickly onto somewhere else. Weak hires that only benefit a company for a short while are going to impact on recruitment agencies particularly now that the market is becoming more buoyant. This may well involve working closely with the hiring managers of particular customers and ensuring that bad practice is eschewed for good that produces positive outcomes.
There’s no doubt that in 2016 recruiters are going to drill down deeper into how, where, when and why they choose their best candidates.
A More Scientific Approach
There has been a much bigger push by companies to be more diverse in their employment selection over the last couple of years which has led to some opting for CVs that have no evidence of sex, age, race or gender and for interviews that are carried out, for example, by telephone or even with the panel of judges keeping the backs to the candidates. Recruitment firms are also embracing this kind of procedure which is intended to get rid of any unconscious bias on the part of the interview or selection panel.
2016 will see more initiatives such as this as mainstream employers try to follow the tech industry and force a more diverse employment profile.
Being More Innovative
Finding the people who can innovate in the workplace is going to be a key concern for many businesses. It’s no longer simply desirable to hire a steady Eddie who can come in and get the day’s work done, many posts now rely on a significant amount of project management and thought creation that can help drive the company forward. Innovators are likely to be more demanding too, wanting tweaks to the job description and package before they agree to go and work for someone. That’s something recruiters will have to learn to cope with better.
Selling Clients Better
Finding the top talent around, at the right time for businesses who need it, has always been a big issue with recruitment agencies. 2016 could well be the time for many to go back to basics and ensure that the sales and recruitment skills of their own staff are up to the mark. With more jobs out there and plenty of well qualified candidates, it’s going to come down to who finds the right people more often for the right jobs. That means selling those potential opportunities much better.
Videos That Sell
While attracting high value candidates is going to be the name of the game this year, there are plenty of opportunities for recruiters to set out their potential offers in more dramatic and eye catching ways. One solution may well be the greater use of videos in recruitment, from slick, professionally produced adverts through to staff YouTube channels that show the day to day working of a company. We are more likely to click on a video upload than to click on a link nowadays and with smartphones practically a staple of modern life, top potential candidates can be reached in much more efficient and more interesting ways.
Adding Pep to Job Descriptions
Standardised and largely boring job descriptions may have to go out of the window if you are going to attract the best candidates and taking a fresh look at how you word things is likely to be important. They’re still going to need to be accurate, as misleading ads will generally lead to disappointment and a quick, unwanted turnover, but the crux of the matter is that recruiters need to engage and bring the benefits of each job out much better than in 2016.
Companies Must be Mobile
Everyone, let’s face it, is going mobile. If a top performer is working without the use of a smartphone, then something has to be seriously wrong. The number of job seekers who use mobile devices to enable their search for the ideal position is increasing, up to almost 50% at the moment. The vital thing here is that the phone is always with them and if you want to have the best opportunity for engaging and bringing them on board, your systems need to be ultra-mobile friendly. This may well be a case of investing more money in IT infrastructure over the coming year but the expenditure will be well worth it.
Faster Working
The early bird catches the worm and nowhere is this more obvious than in the recruiting business. The top performers are hot property and if you want to get them then you have to work fast, close them down and convince them of your credentials before anyone else moves in. You may think that you are offering a candidate the best deal on the market but they are not going to wait for ever. Sometimes they are not even willing to wait a week. Top performers tend to make quick decisions and if you are delaying for any reason then it can hamper your chances of sealing the deal.
This year many recruitment agencies will be looking to speed up their processes. While this may prove difficult with a number of larger companies who have their own processes to go through, recruiters will need to impress on the need to fast track when it comes to the top candidates.
Faster working, more mobile friendly approaches, better measurement and a selection approach that meets diversity issues are all in the frame for this new year. While you may be thinking that you will get round to some of these changes in the near future, your competitors could be implementing the strategies that work right this minute.
