At crooton we’re always interested in the latest trends the recruitment industry has to offer, so we thought we’d take some time to pause and consider the state of recruitment in the UK right now.
Understanding current recruitment trends helps you adjust and adapt to changing conditions and keeps you at the head of the pack in the search for great talent.
It’s time to grab a cool drink and find out the six most important trends our crooton experts have noticed in the first half of 2022.
Six recruitment industry trends we’ve seen so far this year
1. Onboarding is more important than ever
Like at the start of the year, companies face an incredibly competitive recruitment market. Every hire a company makes can feel hard-won, and recruiters know they can’t take anyone for granted.
Recruiters are increasingly pushing team leaders to try to keep the talent they’ve worked so hard to attract. Great onboarding is an essential part of that effort.
Onboarding should always have been high on team leaders’ priority lists. It helps new hires become up to 70% more productive. This year, however, the benefits of retention have excited managers.
Providing a great onboarding experience helps your new start feel like part of the team and lets them be confident that they know what’s expected of them. This can increase retention by 82%.
Great recruitment encourages outstanding candidates to apply for your vacancies. Great onboarding gives them a reason to stay.
2. A shift from reactive recruitment to proactive recruitment
Being proactive is almost always a better business prospect than being reactive. This year, companies are applying this maxim to their recruitment efforts more than ever.
With such a competitive employment market, companies realise that they can’t wait for a vacancy before starting to plan their recruitment strategy.
Companies leading the charge on proactive recruitment keep a pipeline of great candidates, ready to reach out when a position becomes available. More importantly, they’re taking the time to build relationships with these potential candidates.
This pipeline might include previously unsuccessful candidates who stood out, the person posting industry-relevant content on LinkedIn, or someone you met at a careers fair asking searching questions.
Proactive recruitment can save you time, effort, and money and get you the best new employee at the same time.
3. A greater reliance on virtual recruitment
Virtual recruitment has become a part of our ‘new normal’. Both recruiters and candidates are embracing the opportunity to carry out at least some of the recruitment process without needing to meet face-to-face.
Virtual recruitment lets you dramatically expand your talent pool — especially if you’re recruiting for a fully remote role. Companies can often find outstanding talent worldwide to help fill crucial roles.
Virtual recruitment removes barriers to interviews, even if a candidate will need to relocate to accept a job full-time.
It’s not just distant candidates who benefit from increased virtual recruitment. Candidates with disabilities and neurodiverse candidates may find virtual interviews less stressful, leaving them free to give an accurate picture of their abilities.
4. Candidates want to work with people who share their values
Candidates have long known that companies are often uncomfortable if they believe that a candidate is ‘only in it for the money’. They want to know that the person they’re interviewing wants to be part of their team and adopt their mission.
This year, the tables seem to have turned. Increasingly, candidates are asking companies to show that they share their values and are looking for much more than just their monthly salary.
Younger workers, in particular, are asking questions at interviews about an organisation’s DEI efforts, salary transparency, values, and ethical framework. Importantly, they’re also expecting interviewers to have the answers.
Nearly half of companies reported that more candidates were asking about DEI than ever before. So, how can companies adjust to this trend?
The most important step companies need to take to attract great employees this year is to really up their DEI game. This means paying attention to diversity, equity, and inclusion individually and thinking about how they tie together to create a coherent strategy.
Organisations also need to be honest about where they have yet to make sufficient progress. Being honest about areas you need to improve can actually help build trust, especially if you are open to suggestions for how to go about it.
5. A candidate-driven market
It might seem strange in the face of constant news stories about a cost of living crisis and financial uncertainty, but we’re still in a candidate-driven market. There are more vacancies than qualified applicants, and candidates are often in a position to choose between competing offers.
This means that recruiters have to do more than just offer competitive salaries to find and keep great talent.
Recruiters need to move faster than ever, as great candidates are swept up by rival companies, often in as little as a week. Making important recruitment decisions at such a fast pace usually requires companies to rethink their entire recruitment process.
6. An increased risk of employee burnout
The last few years have been tough on everyone, and stress levels don’t seem to be decreasing any time soon. Employees across the board are reporting increased feelings of stress, anxiety, and burnout.
Even companies not currently looking to expand their workforce need to be aware of the risk of employee burnout. Prevention is almost always better than cure, especially when the ‘cure’ is having to recruit a new team member because your existing staff are too drained and exhausted.
Organisations with the foresight to look ahead are working hard to manage their employees’ mental and emotional wellbeing. It’s not just about gym memberships and free fruit. Workers today can benefit from various interventions to improve their quality of life.
These don’t need to be expensive or complicated. In fact, the best interventions are usually very simple. Paying for yoga and mindfulness classes is a great gimmick, but creating a company culture where no one checks their email outside work hours is far more effective long-term.
Keeping track of recruitment industry trends for you
Each sector faces subtly different recruitment challenges, but recruiters and HR managers can always benefit from a regular assessment of the overall recruitment market. Let crooton help keep you up to date with our blog where we look at all things recruitment.
Challenging recruitment conditions doesn’t mean you can’t find the talent you need to help your organisation thrive. If you’d like a little help deciding how to fulfil your recruitment needs, we’re here to help. Get in touch with the friendly experts at crooton today to discuss your recruitment strategy.