As companies look ahead to 2023, talent acquisition teams are planning and updating their strategies for the upcoming months. The labor force participation rate is currently at 62.2%, and there are still nearly two jobs for every available unemployed worker in the US – showcasing how competitive this hiring market still is. Hiring professionals must proactively prepare to ensure their strategies will be competitive in the recruitment space. Even with the number of job openings edging down to 10.3 million, the unemployment rate rose to 3.7%.
With that in mind, here are twenty-three recruitment marketing trends to keep an eye on when heading into 2023.
An EVP is important because it tells a candidate what they'll get in return for working for a company. This is the “so what” for potential candidates to know about the promise an organization makes for potential and existing employees. Today’s employment landscape has changed dramatically over the past few years and is continuing to do so. Hiring professionals must make their EVP clear to potential candidates. A company’s EVP should answer “WHY” candidates should work here, “WHY” they should choose an organization, etc.
Candidates have many choices for employment; why should they choose an organization over another? What compelling story does a company have to offer that will resonate with the candidates they are trying to attract?
Take a moment to reflect on the organization and ALL of the company's changes over the past three years – especially when focusing on the employer brand. Hiring professionals can have all of the best recruitment marketing strategies in the world. Still, if they don’t send candidates to a place that tells the story of why to choose an organization and what makes the company different, they could lose that candidate before the dance even begins.
Has anyone ever tried to apply for a job at the organization? It’s important for hiring professionals to put themselves in their candidates shoes – is the application finished in less than 5 minutes? If not, neither do the candidates.
Recruiters may think easy apply is only for hourly or part-time workers, but this can also apply to hard-to-fill jobs – by having candidates connect their LinkedIn profile to the application and auto-populating. At minimum, companies should establish a relationship with the candidate before making them go through the application process (see numbers 1 & 2 on how to start this). A bad application experience could deter new hires.
It is not scary as it seems, and it is proven to enhance productivity – and even save recruiters time by helping candidates get further down the funnel. Imagine a world where candidates can see a job, click on it, get all their questions answered, and schedule an interview – all with the same interaction. AI can fit into the application process and figure out the pain points.
Tip: Make sure it FITS WITH THE COMPANY’S CURRENT TECH STACK!
89% of job seekers think their mobile devices are a part of the job hunt, and 45% use their phones to search for jobs daily. This showcases that many applicants are applying on the go, so if companies do not update their recruitment strategies to be mobile-friendly, they’re missing out on a huge segment of the talent pool. By creating a mobile-friendly recruitment process, companies can open up their reach to a larger talent pool and increase application volume.
Taking a multi-channel approach is crucial. Many companies using one or two platforms often can’t figure out why they don't have applications. When asked what they’re doing for diversity, brand awareness, targeted advertising, etc., the company’s missing huge pieces in media diversification – which is critical to achieving success and accelerating applicant growth. To drive the best ROI, hiring professionals need to diversify the number of vendors they are advertising on, which can help accelerate applicant growth and lower costs.
Optimizing the company's career site is a great way to attract, acquire, and retain top talent. This site is a major touchpoint for job seekers, so it’s essential to design it to attract more visitors and convert them into applicants. Audit and update the career site to include all the information job seekers are looking for – from benefits to company culture. If candidates do not find the information they seek easily, they’ll move on to the competition. Also, include information about the company’s mission statement – this will guarantee any job seeker will walk away with knowledge about the company.
Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB efforts have been at the forefront of many hiring professionals’ minds. Taking the initiative to expand and update DEIB practices ensures companies foster an environment where individuals are respected and celebrated. Also, showing a commitment to DEIB helps improve trust, empathy, and strengthen connections. Ensure that hiring policies are up-to-date to reflect where the company is now in their process, not where they’d like to be in the future.
If a picture is worth 1,000 words, a video is worth a million! Companies are turning to recruitment videos to help their efforts. Video can be used in many ways throughout the hiring funnel and the talent acquisition process. Job seekers are interested in learning what it’s like to work for a company but also seek authenticity and transparency. Hearing from real employees about what it’s like to work for a company is a great way to attract talent. It’s also a great way to build authentic connections between job seekers and the company, which can help candidates envision themselves working there.
Recruitment marketing analytics are an essential part of showcasing the performance and effectiveness of the company’s strategies. These analytics help hiring professionals make confident, data-driven decisions based on custom insights that can help improve hiring decisions in the future. If companies want to understand their return on investment holistically, they need to ensure their tools and team are up-to-date to measure the full lifecycle of recruiting. How can hiring professionals decide where to be if they don’t have the analytics that tells them where not to be?
Be where the candidates are! If candidates are on social media (and they are), then companies need a social media strategy! Social media is a powerful tool for hiring professionals. With 81% of people admitting to being influenced by what their peers share, social media can majorly impact people’s decision-making. If recruiters aren’t taking advantage of social media for awareness and recruiting, they’re missing out on connecting with candidates online.
Following tried and true recruitment practices can be helpful, but so is out-of-the-box thinking – like meeting the candidates where they are. This can be at movie theaters, mobile ads, billboards, Snapchat, etc. Think about where the candidates the company is trying to target spend their time and be there, every time!
Taking a look at the competition can be beneficial for a company. It can help professionals understand the current frustrations of their audience, which can lead to the company discovering new opportunities for the business. It can also help understand the company’s strengths and weaknesses, so the business can pivot their strategies and products to help with the pain points. Knowing the competition can help hiring professionals market their products and services to stand out.
Candidate engagement is all about making a connection with job seekers. Engagement helps keep top talent interested and in touch with the company and is a great way to foster a positive candidate experience. Also, proactively attracting and engaging talent is essential to generating and maintaining a constant flow of candidates in the hiring funnel.
Hiring professionals need to put themselves in their ideal candidate’s shoes and audit how they might interact with the company and brand. This is helpful when understanding the entire candidate journey and what touchpoints they’ll hit. If there are any speed bumps or drop off during this process, companies know where to focus their efforts and update their strategies.
How is the company showing up on Google 4 Jobs? Are hiring professionals maximizing their employee referral program awareness? Is the career site being optimized? What about keywords and SEO? Are job titles and job descriptions updated? All of these aspects can help companies maximize the most of their recruitment efforts, and the best part is that they’re all free. Utilize everything to ensure strategies are as effective as they can be!
Want the brand to be memorable? Be consistent! If the audience is on multiple platforms, they’ll be more likely to remember the organization and trust the brand.
If there are no benchmarks in place, companies need them! Data is powerful, and can be used to build a story and affect recruitment marketing decisions. Having full visibility and an understanding of KPIs throughout the funnel is essential to hitting hiring goals. Use the CPA, CPQA, and CPH to understand the full impact of recruitment efforts to ensure hiring goals are met, which can help with time-to-fill and eliminate deficiencies in the hiring strategy.
Companies need to keep on top of these! Partnering with a platform to stay up-to-date on how the recruitment efforts are going is essential to remaining ahead in this hiring market. Also, checking up quarterly allows hiring professionals to check in on efforts and adjust strategies to ensure they hit their goals.
Conferences are a great awareness tactic and a way for hiring professionals to get out and interact with other talent acquisition professionals interested in learning what companies offer. These events are also a great opportunity to learn from others in the space about what they're up to and how it compares to what a company is doing. What a great learning experience!
Like the above, webinars are a great proactive measure to be continuously learning. The industry is fast-paced, so recruitment marketers need to ensure their knowledge, expertise, and practices are up-to-date.
Companies need to think about where their candidates are and implement the platforms they’re using into recruitment strategies. This allows hiring professionals to fish where there are plenty of fish!
With different generations in the candidate pool, making content and being on platforms each generation is on is essential. For example, Gen Z is on TikTok and Gen X is on LinkedIn – so companies need to audit all platforms and implement them into their recruitment strategies.
Be pivotable in the strategy! It’s essential to be proactive and have high-level information about the results of recruitment efforts. If something isn’t doing well, being able to accommodate and alter strategies in advance can help a company’s efforts succeed.
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