We recently released the 2021 Recruiter Nation Report, where over 800 recruiters were surveyed about their challenges, priorities, and wins in the current job market. It was no surprise to hear that companies are struggling to find qualified candidates to fill roles left empty by “The Great Resignation,” but talent acquisition (TA) teams have found that agility is the key to recruiting success in today’s market.
Our robust report dives into all the data from recruiters, but if you’re looking for the top take-aways for company leaders like yourself, look no further. We’ve compiled our top priorities for business leaders to improve their recruiting in 2022.
Agility saves companies time, money, and top talent
Companies everywhere have ramped up their hiring to try and get back to early- and pre-2020 staffing levels, but they’re having trouble finding the right people. A new set of candidate expectations has taken over the market, and they will continue to evolve rapidly. TA leaders have seen that by adopting an agile recruiting strategy, they can better adapt to changes in the market like growing candidate expectations, shortage of qualified workers, and even economic downturn.
Agility has become the new key ingredient in successful recruiting strategies. It allows teams to evaluate their hiring process at all steps to find areas of improvement and keeps teams ready to adjust to changes in the market. Agile recruiting helps TA teams in crucial ways like:
- Analyze and optimize recruiting processes
- Evaluate and improve on key recruiting metrics like quality-of-hire and time-to-hire
- Shorten the hiring process to fill roles quicker with qualified talent
- Easily adjust to the changing job market to meet candidates where they are
Remote work flexibility is still king for candidates and employees
Early into the remote work revolution, many companies weren’t sure about the benefits of allowing their employees to work remotely or even how long they would offer it as an option. But today, it’s a necessity for any organization looking to attract and retain quality employees. Remote flexibility has improved employee satisfaction, and companies are keeping it around as a perk. During times of high turnover and losing talent to competitors, business leaders are seeing that this expectation isn’t going away and those that don’t adapt will lose employees to their competition.
Workers have adjusted to the remote or hybrid work style, and they won’t be giving it up any time soon. What happens to companies that don’t offer this to their employees? 60% of recruiters reported they believe their organization will lose employees if they don’t transition to a hybrid, remote-first, or fully remote workplace.
Leaders are ramping up recruiting budgets
After more than a year of uncertainty around hiring activity in the market topped with a Great Resignation of employees, most recruiting teams are recruiting rapidly to fill roles going into 2022. Business leaders are ramping up investment in recruiting areas like AI and automation, recruitment marketing, and candidate experience to improve the quality of candidates coming through the door.
It was encouraging to hear that 64% of recruiters reported that they expected budgets to increase in the next 6-12 months. TA and business leaders reported that these recruiting areas would see the biggest shift in additional budget compared to last year:
- Outside recruiters/recruiting agencies
- Internal hires
- Direct applications
- Social media
The main area that recruiters are dedicating budget to in 2022 is social media recruiting (51%) followed by LinkedIn (39%) and employee referrals (37%). While fewer recruiters are focusing budgets on employee referrals compared to years past (41% in 2017), it will continue to be important for recruiting top talent.
Champion DE&I initiatives
We know that we’re not the first people to tell you this, but the job market has changed forever in the past 18+ months. Candidate expectations continue to increase, and the companies that adapt are winning the best talent. Things like remote work flexibility, flexibility for working parents, employee benefits, and focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are at the top of the priority list for candidates in the next year.
A huge priority that has only increased for candidates in the last year is the company’s commitment to DEI. In fact, 49% of recruiters reported that candidates inquired about an organization’s DEI initiatives (up 16% from 2020). And a whopping 68% of recruiters believe that diversity hiring will be a priority for TA professionals in the next year. Companies that invest in DEI will win the best talent in today’s candidate-driven market.
Final Thoughts
Looking to learn more about the 2021 Recruiter Nation Report? Download it here or dive into the report by reading some takeaways in Top Priorities for Talent Acquisition Leaders in 2022 and 4 Recruiting Trends to Watch for in 2022. Keep up to date on the latest in talent acquisition by subscribing to our blog and resource library!
