4 Hiring Trends You Must Keep Up With to Attract Top Candidates

After a stressful 2020 and 2021, many companies are reevaluating their talent acquisition and recruiting strategies for 2022. Keeping up-to-date with current recruitment and hiring trends is an essential part of standing out in a competitive market and achieving successful growth.

In a world impacted by a global pandemic, an effective recruitment and retention strategy is more critical than ever. Let's take a look at some key hiring trends that will help you recruit and retain top talent.

1. Remote Work

Due to COVID-19, companies transitioned to remote work early in 2020. Now that things have calmed down, many businesses are still allowing their employees to work from home. Some jobs offer full remote work options. Others implement a hybrid system, where employees come to the office on certain days of the week and work from home on other days.

In a FlexJobs survey, 65 percent of respondents say that they prefer to work from home post-pandemic. Rethink your work-from-home policies to keep up with this important hiring trend. Make sure you clearly communicate these options. They might be the deciding factor for your top candidates. Also, keep in mind that methods for recruiting remote workers are different from recruiting candidates for traditional employment.

2. Work/Life Balance

Here's a noteworthy stat:

• 66 percent of full-time employees in America don't have work-life balance. And a whopping 60 percent of those employees blame their bosses for lack of work-life balance.

More and more employees are beginning to value the amount of time they spend outside of work. Families want greater control and choices in determining how to balance work, family, and other responsibilities.

The pandemic has had a significant impact on mental health. Without a work-life balance, some employees have an even harder time coping with stress. This makes achieving work-life balance a crucial hiring trend for jobseekers.

Further, different generations value work-life balance more than others. As children, Boomers grew up in the post-war world. So to them, financial stability is more important than work-life balance.

Conversely, generation Xers, children of parents who lack work-life balance, prioritize it. Millennials, who grew up in a time of financial insecurity are looking for jobs that honor work-life balance. About 50 percent of workers are now considered Millennials. Yet, companies struggle to recruit and retain them.

Around 48 percent of Americans are rethinking their current employment situation post-pandemic. According to a survey by Prudential, the large global financial services giant, 25 percent of workers say that compensation, work-life balance, and lack of growth opportunities are top priorities when switching jobs.

Now, more than ever, companies need to realize that traditional ways of working exist because of convention, not necessity. Offering more flexible employment options should be a key component of your recruitment strategy.

3. Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a game changer in staffing and acquisition. AI automates certain recruitment tasks, which helps you streamline the hiring process.

AI can also help your HR department identify top prospects and improve response times. If you're not implementing AI into your recruitment strategy, you should seriously consider it. It can make your recruitment efforts more efficient and a lot faster.

4. Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion in the workplace have been key topics of discussion for many years. However, several U.S. events that occurred in 2020 have pushed it back to the forefront. As a result, companies have implemented better hiring practices. Employers are realizing that more diverse workplaces perform better overall.

To attract candidates that value diversity in the workplace, change the way you write and advertise job postings. For example, focus on the language you're using and target specific communities.

Need help recruiting top talent? All Staffed Up can help. Contact us today to learn more!