The workforce is never constant. Demographic shifts, economic changes and evolving company needs made the fluidity of the workforce difficult to navigate, even before COVID-19 changed the landscape of the workplace.
In a new Lighthouse Research & Advisory report, Hiring is more Critical Than Ever: How Employers and Candidates are Evolving in the Current Market, HR professionals outlined some of the trends they sees driving hiring practices as well as some of the challenges it will have to overcome in an evolving market.
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Employers are looking at technology to help them solve the biggest talent challenges. In fact, In the last 12 months, 8 in 10 employers said that hiring has risen to the level of a business challenge, not just an HR or talent priority
Solving that problem can occur in a variety of ways, including:
- Hire more recruiters
- Leverage outside service providers/partners
- Adjust processes to be more candidate-friendly
- Adjust compensation rates
- Utilize new hiring technology
Across the board, companies are looking at talent acquisition budgets, headcount, technology usage and even service partners with an average increase in one or more areas of 2022 budget and investment. For example, the report says nearly 70% of companies are increasing their functional budget, about 65% are bolstering their team headcount, more than 70% are increasing their technology usage and 60% will increase service partner budgets.
According to George Rogers, Chief Culture Officer at Lighthouse Research & Advisory, "Employers must consider how different opinions, experiences, and values can work together to achieve a common goal. Workers today don't just want the biggest paycheck. They want a company that recognizes and appreciates the unique value they bring."
Business leaders who use inclusive hiring tools can help to paint that picture effectively during the hiring process, and recruitment-marketing platforms enable them to share that message far and wide.
Technology isn't the only answer to the problems at hand, but it can help talent teams to scale up more quickly, create more consistent experiences, and deliver seamless candidate journeys that convert well, says the report.
Both hiring processes and compensation are not examined often enough. While a significant portion of employers (more than 4 in 10) have evaluated the effectiveness of their hiring process in the last six months, the majority of employers haven't looked closely at the effectiveness of their hiring approach in more than half a year
In terms of recruiting metrics, high performing companies are less likely to be using time to fill, which low performers use as their primary metric. High performers' number one metric is quality of hire, which they use 25% more often than other organizations. They are also 63% more likely to be using candidate satisfaction as a measure of success.
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