Going into the new year, you’re probably considering different recruitment techniques to help move the dial for your company in 2024. Looking back at the last few years, there’s been a shift in the importance of employer branding, smart inbound recruitment, improving the candidate experience, and using big data and AI to find the right candidate.
As the technology needed to streamline these modern recruiting techniques becomes more sophisticated, expect each trend to become more prominent this year.
But, while modern and technology-driven recruitment methods are definite game changers, you should never forget about the tried and tested traditional techniques for hiring candidates. Consider these modern recruiting techniques as a second layer to your overall strategy.
To get you geared up for 2024, we’ve compiled a list of what we think are some of the most important recruitment methods to have in your hiring arsenal and add to your recruitment strategy plan.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that we’re in the middle of a massive demographic shift in the working world. Here are just a few of the major workforce trends that recruiters will be expected to address going forward:
- More and more Baby Boomers are retiring, leaving a skill and experience gap in management and executive roles.
- Gen Z and Millennials are now joining the workforce.
- However, there are still not enough Millennial and Gen Z workers to replace all retiring Baby Boomers.
- A rising gig economy, where more and more people will work as freelancers or on short-term contracts.
- There has been a continued shift in many industries towards automation and remote working.
As a result of these trends, recruiters can expect continued and increased competition for top talent and a stronger emphasis on talent management and succession planning – and their recruitment strategies this year should reflect that reality.
1. Develop a company culture that attracts top talent
The first and perhaps most important traditional recruiting technique you should invest in is creating and nurturing a positive company culture that people want to be a part of. Spending time and resources on attracting the best talent means little if your company culture falls short of your employees’ expectations.
While company culture isn’t usually considered a “recruitment technique,” having a strong company identity goes a long way in pitching yourself to candidates. If you’re a company that’s lucky enough to have a strong culture already, then be sure to promote that fact throughout your recruitment strategy. If your company culture is weak, consider ways to work with people throughout your organization to improve this critical business element.
2. Recruit and develop talent internally
Recruitment is typically considered an external exercise, but perhaps the best way to guarantee you find the right person for a role is to promote someone from within your organization. Hiring internally is a valuable recruitment strategy because it guarantees you fill vacant positions with people who understand your company, its culture, and what is expected of them.
Additionally, recruiting internally shows employees throughout your organization that you’re committed to their progression and growth. A strong talent management program that focuses on development, succession planning, and upward movement is a great way to show employees and candidates that there’s a future for them at the company.
3. Launch an employee referral program
Employee referral programs are a common recruiting technique in many companies and are a powerful way to harness your colleague’s industry contacts. These programs encourage employees to help fill vacant positions at the company by recommending qualified candidates and vouching for their skills and experience. This can drastically speed up the screening process of vacant roles and allow you to tap into candidate pools you may not otherwise have access to.
A referral program should offer incentives and recognition for successful hires. Typically, the human resources department will create a short document, shared internally, that clearly explains how the referral program works, what employees get out of it, and how to get started.
4. Reform your interviewing process
Interviewing candidates is perhaps the most widely used and, often, the most poorly executed recruitment method. It’s so common that many recruiters may rarely give a second thought to their list of canned interview questions. But, as most modern recruiters know, reading a generic list of questions to every candidate does not give you a full picture of your potential hire. It also creates a terrible experience for your applicants.
If you haven’t done so already, look at your interview process and ask yourself a few questions: Do you spend the time needed to get to know your candidates? Are you asking the right questions to help make your decision? Are you tailoring your interview questions for each position?
If the answer to these questions is “no,” it might be time to reform your interviewing process.
5. Hire a company that specializes in Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)
While best practice recruitment methods are ideal, many companies don’t have the resources to execute them consistently at a high level. If you work for a smaller company or don’t have enough resources to find, screen, and hire the best talent possible, then you might want to consider hiring a company that specializes in Recruitment Process Outsourcing.
RPOs are companies you can hire monthly or yearly to manage your entire recruiting strategy. While traditional recruitment agencies will typically only source their own candidates for your vacancy, RPOs work with you and your existing channels to find the best prospects available. They manage the full recruitment strategy and process, including writing job descriptions, screening candidates, working with hiring managers to find the right fit, and improving your employer branding. RPOs are a far more cost-effective means of recruiting talent than agencies because they do not charge flat rates based on hiring salary, and you also have continual access to all prospects you contact, even after your contract with the RPO is complete.
6. Data-driven recruitment
As companies increasingly adopt different technology platforms to help streamline their hiring processes, data-driven recruitment will help drive smarter strategies for finding and screening candidates. These platforms allow recruiters to manage candidate data securely, ad platforms, screening practices, onboarding, and talent management.
In 2021, companies should take a deep dive into their recruitment data and help them find insights into how they can adapt, improve, and streamline their recruitment strategy going forward. This is a top recruitment method for teams looking to adapt and thrive in the future to embrace and add to your recruitment strategy plan in 2021.
7. Invest in Artificial Intelligence
Like with data, artificial intelligence (AI) recruitment is also expected to take off this year. AI can be used to find efficiencies in your recruitment process by automating the most repetitive and tedious parts. For example, AI scanners can review cover letters and CVs to help find the highest potential applicants. AI can also be used to analyze old job descriptions to create the most effective ones possible in the future.
Additionally, companies can use AI in chatbots to reach out to candidates, set up interview times, and so on. As AI and big data become more ingrained into the working world, their impacts on recruitment methods will continue to evolve.
8. Mobile-first recruitment strategy
With most Millennials already in the workforce and Gen Z quickly following suit, a mobile-first recruitment strategy should be at the top of your priorities in 2021. The newer generation of job applicants expects your candidate experience to be mobile-friendly. From the job advertisement to the application portal and all the way to the end of the screening process, you should ensure that candidates can complete each step easily on a mobile device. Luckily, many websites and recruiting apps can help make this a reality.
9. Strong employer branding
With the increasing popularity of employer review websites like Glassdoor and the tendency for candidates to review a company’s reputation and culture before applying, employer branding is quickly becoming a popular recruitment method. The goal here is to position your company as a great workplace.
This can be accomplished using a customized career section, employee testimonials, profiles, an active Glassdoor or Instagram page that provides insights into what it’s like to work for you, and any other technique to put your best foot forward. Creating and managing your employer brand will help show candidates why they want to work for you before they even interview.
10. Strategic recruitment marketing
Like employer branding, recruitment marketing is designed to position and advertise your company most efficiently and strategically. Recruitment marketing refers to a variety of strategies that an organization uses to find, attract, and nurture prospects before they apply for a job.
The most common recruitment marketing techniques include creating targeted audience profiles, customized content, and marketing materials, a careers website, job advertising, social media, candidate lead capturing and nurturing, and data collection. Taken as a whole, these recruiting techniques help create a measurable candidate funnel that you can harness to fill your vacant positions.
11. Improved video interviewing and screening
Video interviewing is a great recruiting technique to improve your candidate experience and eliminate geographic constraints. The old tradition of dragging every candidate into the office is a bit archaic when considering the quality of video conferencing and interviewing platforms today.
In addition to formal interviews using video chat, you can ask candidates to submit video cover letters, CVs, or pre-screening tests using a feature like Video Answers. This lets you get a feel for the candidate’s personality much more efficiently than in-person talks and allows you to interview candidates from anywhere in the world.
12. Invest in an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are a must-have tool for any serious recruitment strategy plan, and this trend will continue into the future. An ATS gives recruiters a wealth of easily accessible candidate information that can be used at every stage of the recruitment process.
Your ATS should be the central platform for your broader recruitment strategy and talent management programs. By funneling all applicant data through an ATS, recruiters can quickly push candidates through the funnel and pull insights from previous recruitment campaigns to guide future ones.
If you don’t have an ATS yet, this should be your number one recruitment technique to implement for 2021.
13. Focus on passive candidates and talent pipelines
As we’ve mentioned repeatedly in this post, finding and attracting top talent will continue to be an issue this year and beyond, especially for highly sought-after technical roles. Many recruiters are tapping into passive candidates to fill future vacancies to combat this. This recruitment technique aims to actively communicate with qualified professionals in your industry who may be interested in switching companies.
This recruitment method requires you to continually find and reach out to potential candidates in hopes that one day they will be interested in hearing more about your company. Luckily, platforms like ATS’ can help you keep track of these passive candidates so you can strike when the time is right.
14. Develop targeted job descriptions
If you’ve been scouring job sites lately, you’ve likely noticed a rise in more abstract or open-ended job descriptions. These job ads are written less formally and speak more to the type of person they seek rather than specific skills or experience.
This recruitment tactic encourages candidates to apply, even if they may not have the exact credentials typically needed for that job. Many times, a candidate may have the perfect personality and ambition for a certain role but will not apply because of the strict requirements outlined in the job description. Writing open-ended descriptions is a great way to ensure these potential golden nuggets aren’t missed.
15. Test your own guerilla recruiting
The last recruitment technique to consider adopting in 2024 is guerilla recruiting. Or, putting your guerrilla marketing hat on and thinking of radical ways to connect with qualified candidates and beat the tight competition. This can include finding places in real life or on the web where your candidates gather and marketing your roles directly to them in unexpected and creative ways.
Recruitment strategy plan for the future
Be creative, and don’t be afraid to think outside of the box when it comes to changing up your recruitment methods. Look at your selection strategies and recruitment processes critically. And look beyond your own environment; innovative recruitment methods may be sitting right under your nose. Standing out from the rest of the crowd will go a long way toward securing the best talent in 2024!