The continually changing landscape of employment, work, and the workforce makes this an exciting time to be operating in the world of talent. In particular, HR tech is rapidly transforming how organizations recruit, retain, and engage employees. From virtual reality to AI, the way companies interact with their workforce is ever-changing.
As the next decade approaches, here are three recruiting trends to keep your eye on in 2022 and beyond:
Communication, empathy, and soft skills are king.
Essential soft skills and adaptable characteristics are more important than ever. Deloitte reports that we are in a national skills shortage that’s predicted to grow to 29 million skills in deficit by 2030. The majority of missing skills are soft skills, with two-thirds of jobs created in the next ten years expected to rely heavily on soft skills such as communication and empathy.
A skills-focused recruiting strategy for 2022 should focus on hiring candidates who demonstrate an ability to adapt to changing roles, as well as who can thrive in flexible organizational structures. Address the soft skills deficit by using pre-hire assessments to determine a candidate’s proficiency with soft skills, as well as predict the capability to apply these skills in multiple roles.
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Thanks to technology, recruiters will focus more on strategy and less on paperwork.
Unlike previous decades, recruiters aren’t as tied to administrative tasks. This freedom allows them to engage with stakeholders, including hiring managers, candidates, and employees. In the new year, recruiters will continue to shift away from the manual processes that hinder them towards an evolved role that provides strategic insights that are vital to organizational success.
“Recruiters are able to move from reactive recruitment to proactive sourcing from internal and external talent pools…thanks to easy to use technology which facilitates an accelerated workflow,” according to one HR manager.
Thanks to technology, the recruitment experience is improving for everyone involved. Whether it’s an accelerated workflow for reviewing applications, scheduling interviews, or conducting pre-hire assessments, the process for finding and hiring the right talent will continue to improve in 2022.
An optimized recruiting strategy for 2022 should use technology to enable recruiters to put their strategic skills to use to grow and influence the organization’s approach to talent.
If soft skills are king, the need for speed is queen.
It’s an ever-changing environment—inside and outside our workplace walls. To win the war on talent, and to survive, HR must take that need for speed seriously.
“If the speed of change within our HR Department doesn’t match the urgency of change within the rest of the organization, HR will cease to exist,” writes HR thought leader Robin Schooling.
Getting top talent in the door is paramount in this environment. Evaluating, qualifying, and effectively assessing ability is one area in which recruiters and HR must address this need for speed and reduce the time wasted by interviewing and hiring unqualified candidates.
An efficient recruiting strategy for 2022 includes the use of pre-hire assessments to more quickly and objectively identify if candidates possess required traits, as well as to make the interview process more productive.
Among these recruiting trends and strategies, one thing remains the same: the desire to create a positive candidate experience that attracts the right talent to the organization. Whether it’s assessing soft skills, relieving recruiters of unnecessary manual tasks, or increasing the speed to hire, today’s recruiting teams and professionals are poised to make the most of all that 2022 has to offer.
