Recruiting Trends Every Job Candidate Should Know About

September 21, 2021
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Has it been five or ten years since you last searched for a new job? The longer it has been, the more you’ll notice, it’s a brave new world for job candidates in 2021. Here, we take a look at the most important trends affecting job hunters that are accelerating as we head into 2022 and beyond:

Better Candidate Experience

Nearly 60% of job seekers have had a poor candidate experience, and 72% have shared their experience on online employer review sites such as Glassdoor.com (LinkedIn). Primarily because of social media, a poor candidate experience is now a liability in hiring, and we’re seeing major improvements from top DFW employers.

Among the changes you can expect to see are shorter online applications, better employment websites, quicker response times, shorter interview cycles, and better communication throughout the process, especially for preferred candidates. Recruitment communication software expedites and often automates emails so that you know where you stand. All of these improvements are helping companies to win over the younger generations who are most likely to research companies’ candidate and employee experiences online.

Diversity Hiring

Despite a stronger emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace, globally 56% of employers have not, nor are they planning to update their DEI strategies. Locally, DFW employers are at the vanguard of change, fortunately, and DEI is a top priority. Why are things changing here? It isn’t just the ‘ wokeness’ of today’s more diverse recruiters and hiring managers who are responsible for creating this change. Study after study has shown that diverse and inclusive workplaces, with paths (and role models) to leadership for minorities, result in better performing organizations and greater employee satisfaction and retention.

Contingent Hiring

With the economic chaos caused by the pandemic, many employers have sought out contingent workers for short-term or project-based assignments, rather than committing to full-time employees. But this is no short-term change. We have been seeing a long-term trend toward a gig economy with more professionals preferring an independent contracting, on-call, or freelance relationship with their employers. We are also seeing more and more professionals with high educational attainment preferring these types of employment.

Skill Assessment Software

According to SHRM, 82% of companies use some form of pre-employment test to assess candidates’ skills and competencies. In DFW, many organizations are using skill assessment software to test or assess through questions the skill sets of job candidates. These include both hard and soft skills. Predictive analytics and candidate matching technologies have given companies the data they need to know the exact skill sets that are associated with their best performing employees, and they use that information to match prospective employees according to their skill sets. Using skill assessment software has also been correlated to greater employee engagement, performance, retention, and leadership development.

If you’re looking for a new position in 2021 or are planning on starting a job search in 2022, which of these trends do you think will help most in your career advancement objectives? Share your thoughts with us on Facebook!