The Top Hiring Trends of 2022 and How to Manage Them 

As the new year begins, talent acquisition and recruitment teams worldwide plan their respective strategies for the next 12 months. As the recruitment world shifts, there are forces at play that are reshaping the face of hiring. These include:  

Shift in power from employers to candidates: Candidates are now increasingly calling the shots about when and how they work. They want flexibility and freedom over full-time contracts. Work/life balance and autonomy are also important, as is employee and candidate experience.  

A rise in remote work: Remote work means the talent pool has globalized, allowing organizations to hire in more than just the specific locations where they have offices. This expanded global talent pool means companies will need to engage candidates with remote work in mind, using tools that create better candidate–and employee–experiences.  

Diversity, equity, and inclusion: In 2022, there’s no room for bias or exclusion in hiring. Processes will need to change to ensure all candidates are treated fairly and have the same opportunities.  

The Great Resignation adds to these shifts. People leaving their jobs in droves creates additional challenges – all the more reason companies need to adapt and future-proof their hiring strategies or risk getting left behind. Here’s how to manage the challenges of these trends that will shape how recruiting and hiring are done moving forward.  

Understand the why behind your hiring strategies.  

Why are you hiring who you’re hiring? Seems like a simple question, but it’s much broader.  

• What are the business goals associated with the roles?  
• Why have you chosen the job requirements you’ve chosen for those roles?  
• What profile has been successful in those roles? 
• How might assumptions about those roles have filtered into the hiring process?
  

Knowing why will allow you to better understand what types of candidates you need, how to attract them, and make changes to help add the necessary talent to your organization. This is especially important because of the shift in power from employers to candidates and from the standpoint of diversity, equity, and inclusion.  

Increased importance of A.I.  

The shift in power from employers to candidates elevates the importance of the candidate experience. Silence from a recruiter can be the kiss of death for the employer-candidate relationship.  

Manually contacting prospects is time and labor-intensive. It’s also an outdated and unsustainable approach to building relationships and moving potential hires through your recruitment funnel.  

Successful organizations will use automated A.I. messaging that’s intuitive enough to create a meaningful conversation with potential candidates and employees while also collecting important data like basic details, communication preferences, and interest in future positions.  

Diversity, equity & inclusion are must-haves  

If you’re not already thinking about ways to create diversity, equity, and inclusion in your hiring and recruitment strategies, it’s imperative to start having conversations around these ideas implement them in your organization’s growth.  

Diversity in the workplace means that the workforce includes employees of different races, backgrounds, genders, skills, etc. Diversity has been proven to make communities and workplaces more productive, tolerant, and welcoming.  

On the other hand, inclusion refers to “the organizational effort and practices in which all individuals are socially accepted and welcomed. This includes equal access to opportunities, resources, and the ability to contribute fully to the organization’s success.  

Wondering how increasing your D&I efforts can benefit your organization? Consider this: Ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely to yield higher revenue, while gender-diverse companies are 15% more likely to yield higher revenue (McKinsey). 

Broadening your talent pool through employer branding and talent communities while communicating with candidates efficiently and effectively makes for a relatively easy first step. Consider your careers site and how you’re reaching candidates: . 

Create transparency on your careers site.  Dedicate a landing page on your careers site to let candidates know this initiative is important to your company mission.   

Leverage text messaging as a primary mode of communication. Many candidates may appreciate being reached where they are – via text on their mobile phones – rather than via email. Implement a compliance text messaging strategy on your careers site through your application or talent community registration process to stay connected.   

A focus on talent networks  

Hiring managers and recruiters who find themselves looking for new ways to find more qualified candidates may succeed in focusing on talent networks. These talent networks are an internal ecosystem of candidates, fans, employees, alumni, and even customers. They are one of the best ways to generate qualified leads for your search. Recruiters can nurture candidates by keeping them engaged and involved with your company through updates about job opportunities, events, projects, and other important information.  

By consistently engaging with your talent network, you can access a pool of candidates ready for employment at much quicker turnaround times.  

Employer branding is critical  

Employer branding was important before the pandemic, but within the last 12 months it has become a critical recruiting and retention strategy for companies vying for top talent. The more a candidate knows about your company, mission, culture, people, and purpose – and if the impression is positive – the more likely they are to apply for a job and continue working at your organization. In fact, a strong employer brand can lead to a 28% reduction in turnover and a 50% reduction in cost per hire. With company information at a candidate’s fingertips, they’re able to determine if your organization is a good fit for them, which in turn, means a better fit for your organization. 

Embrace change to stay ahead  

Changes in recruiting are inevitable – especially changes that are a direct result of the pandemic. Understanding the current trends positions your organization to take challenges head-on, recruit the best talent, and stay ahead in 2022.  

Our mission at Loop is to empower our clients to identify, recruit and retain top talent globally with innovative recruitment marketing and relationship management solutions. Reach out to start a conversation! We can help you tackle your hiring and recruiting goals in 2022 and beyond.