Recruitment Trends to Look Out For in 2022

December 9, 2021

 

iCIMS Staff

6 min read

The recruitment world has drastically changed over the past year. With many people having been furloughed or made redundant, they are now looking at other career paths. Interviews are being conducted remotely and competition for talent is fiercer than ever, so standing out from the crowd is vital when you’re trying to recruit in-demand talent.

Today, recruiters are looking for new ways to recruit, especially through the use of social media and recruitment technology solutions. Diversity and inclusion are also more important than ever, as it is a ‘must have’ and not a ‘nice to have’.

As 2021 draws to a close and we look ahead to the new year, we thought we would share some trends to look out for.

1. The Great Resignation

One of the biggest changes that we’ve seen in the world of recruitment is the shift to a candidate-driven market. There are more available jobs than there are candidates and so those applying for jobs have far more options and are able to leverage more on salary and benefits. With so many companies competing for the same top talent, recruiters and talent acquisition teams need to work hard to stand out from the competition. To get ahead of the competition you must engage with top talent before you’re ready to hire them, nurturing a burgeoning relationship and delivering differentiated experiences. Traditional recruitment approaches and tools do not work.

An increase in the desire for flexibility is one major reason why employees are leaving their jobs. In the current market, it’s important to offer employees that flexibility they so crave.

Streamlining recruitment processes will be vital in helping employers to attract and retain talent. For example, ask yourself if your application is inclusive to everyone or does it contain fields that could raise flags of potential bias? Candidates are putting a company’s inclusion and diversity practices high in their list of employer criteria.

Another way of streamlining your recruitment processes is by using recruitment technology. In 2022, we expect many companies will likely look at new approaches such as marketing automation software to help them automate a lot of everyday recruitment tasks which enables them to be far more productive and reduce time to hire by 50%.

2. Marketing Automation as an Anti-Ghosting Software

One of the biggest pain points many TA teams are facing right now is ghosting. There are so many companies competing for the same talent that you need to be able to stand out in a crowd. You need to let candidates know that they are desired and wanted.

Nurturing talent through the use of marketing automation software, you can automate all of the engagement with candidates and then be alerted when someone looks at your job description, or does something else meaningful. This allows your recruiters to contact those highly-engaged candidates promptly. It’s like that old saying, “if you’re not fast, you’re last.”

You need to treat people how you would want to be treated. Recruiters have ghosted candidates many times, and probably still do it now – maybe even without realising because they are overwhelmed with tasks. Have you ever applied for a job and then had zero response? Now the tables have turned and candidates are ghosting recruiters who reach out telling them about roles they are hiring for.

Even if they’re not the perfect fit for the current role you’re hiring for, they might be a great fit in the future so continuing to nurture them is a great way to stay at the forefront of their minds.

3. Employer Branding

2021 was an important year for employer branding, even more so than it was pre-pandemic. With competition for talent growing by the day, employers realised that having a strong employer brand was a critical recruiting and retention strategy this year.

It’s not as simple as saying your company is a ‘great place to work’ any more, and in 2022 we expect to see a lot of companies developing their employee value proposition  (EVP). They will need to get across exactly what makes them unique and stand out from other companies in the competition for in-demand talent.

Existing employees are a good place to start. They are your most powerful source of recruitment marketing and play a key role in helping to attract talent. Candidates are more likely to trust what your employees are saying than what the company is saying.

Another great way to boost your employer brand is being able to understand what’s driving the most candidate engagement. Some candidates will prefer one method of outreach to another. Some candidates might want to learn more about the hiring manager’s objectives, and some might be more interested in what the office looks like or the benefits on offer.

Once you know what is performing best and you can see how individual channels, formats and subjects are driving the most demand, you have incredible insights which will help you improve every single week. You can do this through the use of a marketing automation platform such as Candidate.ID or CandidateHub.

4. Social Recruiting

According to a 2021 study by CareerArc, 92% of employers said they use social networks to find talent. Social media ranks ahead of ads, employee referrals and even job boards.

Social recruiting is a great way to reach passive candidates who are scrolling through social media feeds. Many millennials spend their time on social media so what better way to reach them!

It’s also a good way to save you time and money. Sponsored postings on job boards are expensive and you can’t guarantee that you’ll reach candidates that are a fit to the role you have posted.

Social media is also a great place for candidates to find additional content and information about your company. Chances are, if they’ve seen the job posting, then they’re also looking at your company page which means they are engaged with your content and making them a stronger candidate.

Social media sharing is now possible on the Candidate.ID platform. Recruiters can share trackable links straight from the platform straight to their social media channels. Posting on social media is also another way to strengthen your employer brand. Skilled candidates have lots of employment opportunities, and having a strong employer brand makes your company stand out from the rest.

5. Diversity and Inclusion are now a must have

Diversity and Inclusion is a major issue in the workplace today and was a top priority for recruiters throughout 2021. So much importance is put on ensuring an organisation is made up of different ages, cultures and backgrounds. Establishing a diverse workforce has already been proven as beneficial, encouraging collaboration, enhanced team creativity, faster problem-solving and greater employee engagement. Yet, Korn Ferry found that only 32% of companies are purposely creating diverse and inclusive teams to drive performance.

Businesses are realising that diversity and inclusion is not just a feel-good initiative, but it’s now a ‘must have’. So, how can you incorporate DEI into your recruitment strategy?

• It’s important to think beyond the usual search terms to include age, disability, neurodiversity, or consider dropping the requirement of a university degree.
• Set up a diverse hiring team. This will bring unique perspectives to vetting and interviews, and help candidates feel more comfortable.
• Write inclusive job descriptions by using gender neutral language and keep an eye out for wording that may alienate applicants.
• Generate diverse talent pipelines using marketing automation software. A pipeline of hire-ready, diverse candidates requires time, skills and capability and above all the right approach to be effective. With Candidate.ID, you can roll out the red carpet to potential candidates with the most sophisticated, personalised nurture experience available in recruitment. Candidate.ID is also connected to WhatsApp so it’s a great way to reach out to candidates who prefer that to email. Recruiters can be alerted through our platform if a candidate does something meaningful like view the job description. This allows recruiters to follow up with candidates quickly, using an engagement method they know the candidate prefers.

Hiring for diverse candidates should be a no-brainer but can still be difficult for many companies. It’s a long-term investment with huge benefits for your company. Diversity isn’t just about gender, age or race, it’s also about experience, qualifications, views and beliefs. If you can explore all these different aspects with your talent pipeline, you will build a strong and diverse group for the future.

Conclusion

The job market remains incredibly competitive for employers, and we expect that to be the same in 2022. With more competition in today’s global market, it pays for companies to consider the use of marketing automation tools to help them in the quest to find top talent.

Candidate.ID is the only product in recruitment which shows your recruiters which candidates are cold, warm and ‘hire-ready’ in real-time and which are the closest match to your job description. This allows you to save time and money, while hiring 50% faster.

Transform your talent acquisition strategy with marketing automation

Want to know more about how you can discover which candidates are cold, warm and ‘hire-ready’? Download our ebook here.