In the past several years we’ve seen a significant shift in the job market and labor force, and predictions for 2023 suggest that the Great Resignation will extend into the foreseeable future. In fact, the unemployment rate is projected to reach almost 4.5 percent in 2023 and about 900,000 jobs could be lost in the first half of the year.
There are several factors that explain this projected state of unemployment, including a tight US labor market, understaffing, expected declining participation, and an aging workforce. On top of that, the recession is projected to be short and the demand for workers may increase again in the second half of 2023. Once the US economy starts growing again, severe labor shortages could soon reappear. Here are five important trends recruitment professionals should keep in mind as the year progresses.
According to Talent Lyft, the employer brand is the position of a company’s reputation and popularity from a potential employee’s perspective and describes the company’s values. Employer branding does not only speak to potential employees, but also existing ones.
Strong employer branding results in higher-quality talent and more satisfied employees, as well as longer employee retention. In fact, 83% of employers say that employer branding plays a significant role in their ability to hire talent and can positively contribute to a candidate’s interview experience. On the retention side, 83% of employees say they would leave their current positions if they were to receive an offer from a company with a better reputation.
This is where recruitment marketing plays a key role — in other words, applying marketing tactics to showcase your employer brand in places such as your career site, email campaigns, social media, and any other avenue that increases brand awareness.
Talent organizations that don’t embrace the power of data in 2023 (and beyond) will continue to have difficulty sourcing talent, nurturing job seekers, and hiring top candidates in an efficient, predictable manner.
With the mass amounts of data companies now have access to, recruiters and hiring teams no longer need to guess whether or not their hiring methods are effective. Instead, they can use software and analytics tools to inform their hiring decisions and create functional hiring plans. Data-driven recruiting also allows companies to identify which recruiting avenues bring in the most qualified candidates, determine the most effective stages of the hiring process, and make any necessary adjustments to the recruiting process that may be falling short.
Automating recruitment helps improve the process from end to end. It simplifies and adds consistency to recruitment, improves the productivity of the HR team and saves time by eliminating manual processes, and optimizes data collection. Additionally, it can help to identify more qualified candidates quickly.
For example, Circa’s AI recruitment tool sources from a database of 169 million candidates to instantly provide you with 300 candidates ranked based on how well their skills match your job requirements. Our Diversity Sourcing powered by ThisWay Global allows you to recruit authentically, remove job description bias, and amplify your recruiting outreach.
Proactive recruiting is all about sourcing and attracting qualified candidates before hiring demand is critical. This includes utilizing a variety of avenues like job boards, career fairs, local community-based organizations, universities and colleges, and more to ensure you are reaching diverse candidates. This allows companies to establish relationships and create interest around employment opportunities even before positions become available.
After, expanding the avenues for outreach to candidates, a few steps that are key in the proactive recruitment process include creating an ideal candidate profile, engaging with your ideal candidates in a personalized manner, nurturing a conversation with potential candidates by staying in touch, and keeping them informed of the recruitment process. When the time comes to convert, the process will already be well in the works thanks to proactive recruiting.
Long before job seekers apply or connect with a company, they are educating themselves on the organization’s inclusivity and diversity (or lack thereof). Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has grown in importance not only for job seekers, but also for employee satisfaction and retention.
DEI has also evolved significantly in its definition. For example, employers and recruitment teams should go beyond race and gender in their DEI initiatives. Other forms of diversity include culture, age, disability, sexual identity, and more. And with that, employers should be sure that every stage of the employee lifecycle (job postings, sourcing, hiring, onboarding, etc.) is focused around a candidates qualifications and skill sets rather than any facets of their identity.
It’s important to make sure you are expanding your reach with different avenues, including leveraging state workforce agencies (such as Local Veterans Employment Representative (LVER), Disabled Veteran Outreach Program (DVOP), Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), One-Stop Career Centers, State Job Banks), community-based organizations, and diverse colleges and universities.
Reach out to us today to see how Circa can help accelerate your success towards building more diverse, innovative, and high-performing teams.
