Top recruitment marketing trends for 2023

December 14, 2022

 

iCIMS Staff

4 min read

With the labor market in flux as we end 2022, recruitment marketing has been a big topic of conversation in recruiting circles. But just how important will it be going forward? And can it solve challenges recruiting teams had in 2022… and will likely face again in 2023?

I dug into the data and talked with experts at iCIMS about everything recruitment marketing, including how it’s changing and what trends to expect in the new year.

Here’s what they told me.

Candidates will continue to prioritize remote and hybrid work

In 2022, recruiting teams and business leaders across the globe learned how to drive business growth while encouraging a flexible approach to work. This year, 63% of job seekers said that a top factor when considering a job offer was whether the role was hybrid, remote or in-person. In other words, if you aren’t encouraging a flexible work approach, your employer brand could be suffering.

Remote work has led to further globalization, as the job market is no longer restricted to your local area. Candidates are applying for jobs across the world, and organizations seeing employees leave for opportunities that offer higher salaries, a better quality of life and more flexibility. Employee retention has been a major theme of 2022, with 20% of employers prioritizing internal mobility to help retain existing employees. This past year has seen recruiters switch their attention from recruiting new talent to engaging existing employees.

Diversity hiring remains top of mind for employers and job seekers

In today’s workplace, 78% of job seekers and employees say that diversity is an important factor when considering a job offer. A diverse and inclusive workforce is no longer an option for employers; it’s a requirement – and building a strong employer brand is a big part of this.

The recruiting tools your team uses every day should help with recruitment marketing. But did you know that 50% of HR professionals are concerned that their HR technology isn’t helping them meet DEI targets?

Here’s where marketing automation technology can help. By tracking candidate engagement across your company’s digital footprint, you know what content your candidates are engaging with most. This insight helps your team tailor messaging (based on what your candidates have interacted in this past), so you can hyper-target best-fit candidates with what they want to see.

In fact, The Open University used iCIMS Marketing Automation to drive diversity hiring across university disciplines. According to its own data, The Open University saw a 35% increase in Black, Asian, and minority ethnic individuals (BAME) year on year from 20% to 27%.

“Over the past ten years working in recruitment, I’ve witnessed the number of employers prioritizing diversity hiring increase every year, and 2023 looks to be no different. I think often it can be hard for recruiters to know where to start,” says Stephen McGrath, clients solutions manager at iCIMS.

”Recruiters ask me, ‘How can we continue hitting our recruitment quotas and encourage diverse applicants at the same time?’ Recruitment marketing really is the answer, and our customers are seeing the role of automation in this.”

More recruiting teams will embrace marketing automation to snag top talent faster

In 2022, the average role took 41 days to fill. Yet top candidates are only on the market for 10 days. Long processes and laborious recruitment strategies mean organizations are missing out on top talent. Competition for talent is fierce, and recruiters need a new approach to help cut time to hire.

Using engagement scoring and trackable links, marketing automation lets you know which candidates are interested in your employer brand. By notifying recruiters the second a candidate hits the hire-ready threshold, you know exactly which candidates are cold, warm and hire-ready. There’s no need to spend your valuable human time cold-calling candidates to find out who’s interested in a role.

A world-leading corporation has been using automation within its talent acquisition strategy to turn its vast pool of candidates into a defined pipeline of in-demand talent. Filtering candidates on a real-time engagement score allows our customer to significantly cut time to hire and time to shortlist.

“The relationship between the employer and the employee has changed since the pandemic. Candidates hold more power than ever, and recruiters need to act fast to secure the best talent,” says Adam Gordon, VP of recruitment marketing automation at iCIMS

“TA leaders across the globe are realizing the true benefits of marketing automation technology, using it to cut time to hire in half and double the number of hires per recruiter. 2023 is set to be a big year for marketing automation in talent acquisition.”

Perfecting entry-level recruiting will help ease talent shortages

The competition for labor is intensifying, and organizations across the globe are taking steps to bridge gaps in acute skills shortages. How? Through the early careers market. As a new generation of talent enters the workforce, business leaders are realizing the benefits of attracting and engaging entry-level talent.

Marketing automation plays a pivotal role in this, helping recruiters automate candidate nurture at scale. Not only are our customers seeing the potential of recruitment marketing automation, we’re using it internally to nurture early careers talent. A recent iCIMS early careers campaign received an average open rate of 81% with 130 new form fills.

“As TA leaders shift their attention towards entry-level hiring, the way we attract and engage talent is changing. Younger candidates consume content in a different way to previous generations and we need to be aware of that,” says Priya Wilson, customer success manager at iCIMS.

“With over half of HR professionals recruiting more entry level talent than last year, I think we will see much more of a mindset shift towards early careers hiring in 2023 – candidate nurture is the way forward!”

The future of recruitment marketing is here

With more attention placed on recruitment marketing than ever, we are excited to find out what 2023 has in store.

Find out more about recruitment marketing automation and how it can solve your talent acquisition obstacles with these little-known use cases for recruitment marketing automation.