What are the key talent acquisition trends for 2023, 2024 & 2025? 🤓
We've cut through the noise in the highly competitive job market and picked out the latest talent acquisition trends to watch out for in 2023, 2024, and 2025.
2023
Flexible hybrid working patterns 🏠👨💻
Although the return to the office is shaping talent acquisition strategies this year, the fact that 64% of the global workforce would rather look for another job than return to the office full-time speaks volumes! The answer? A flexible hybrid approach to work.
Actively reducing costs, staff turnover, and absenteeism while heightening productivity and job satisfaction, flexible working options are one of the top talent acquisition trends that open the floodgates to a wider pool of talent.
Apart from stability and security, ultimately, workers seek a sense of belonging from their employer. Prioritizing hybrid working demonstrates an inclusive, employee-first approach that's highly desirable to the millennial-heavy workforce, AKA the generation that values work-life balance the most.
With many online tools available to monitor remote employee activity and productivity, there are a variety of tools to help source, recruit, and maintain workers across a range of industries, too. For example, CRM and contact center integrations are being leveraged to save agents time in the recruitment processes by automatically passing candidate data back and forth.
Boomerang employees 🪃
Not all jobs end badly! After all, did you know that nearly 20% of workers who quit their jobs during the pandemic have since returned to their old employers? 2023 is officially the year of the boomerang employee—when an employee leaves a company voluntarily and then is rehired at a later date.
Offering a variety of benefits and opportunities to savvy talent managers, especially when talent is scarce, former employees:
- Save recruitment time
- Require less effort to integrate into company culture
- Require less time to build skills and experience
- Are more satisfied and committed than new starters
- Can introduce new skills, processes, and perspectives gained outside the company
- Provide more networking and new client opportunities
- Provide valuable competitor insights
Data-driven recruitment strategies 📊
In a constantly evolving digital landscape, the days of trusting your gut instinct alone in the challenging world of recruitment are long gone. Encouraging diversity and inclusion and optimizing the process of finding the best candidates, data-driven talent acquisition is another key talent acquisition trend that can't be ignored.
Data-driven decisions can help recruiters to be more confident in their decisions. They can also improve the quality of hire, help find talent quicker, remove bias, and enhance the overall candidate experience.
Insightful recruitment metrics to monitor and track include:
- Time to hire
- Time to fill
- Source of hire
- Cost per hire
- Applicants per opening
- Pass-Through Rate (PTR)
- Quality of hire
- First-year new hire turnover
- Hiring Manager satisfaction
- Candidate job satisfaction
Combined with a strategic DE&I management plan (which we’ll explain in a minute), by uniting hard data with demographic information, recruitment professionals can effectively identify equity gaps in the hiring funnel as areas for improvement.
2024
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) 👪
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has become the lifeblood of leading, sustainable organizations across the globe and is set to feature through 2024 and the years to come. Incorporating DE&I initiatives into your recruitment strategy opens up the potential talent pool and promotes the representation and engagement of different groups of candidates for a diverse workforce.
Ways for hiring managers to promote diversity and equality in 2024 include:
- Supporting different work models e.g., hybrid/remote work models
- Inclusive job descriptions, application processes, and interviews
- Thinking out of the box with job ad placements 📦
- AI resume screening tools
- Learning and developing active listening skills
AI and Machine learning 🤖
Although only around one in four companies are currently using automation or AI to support their recruiting and hiring efforts, this is all set to change in 2024. The AI market is predicted to reach almost 300 billion U.S. dollars. Automation is set to soar, with 69% of routine work currently done by managers will be fully automated by 2024, thanks to software like a complete talent acquisition suite.
So, what’s all the hype about? AI essentially makes a workflow more efficient by reducing the time it takes to complete a task. Machine learning is an off-shoot of AI that replicates the way humans learn to solve problems accurately using data and algorithms, which steadily improves its accuracy over time.
In terms of talent acquisition, savvy recruiters will be using AI and machine learning to help scale large numbers of new candidates and take their strategies to the next level in the coming years. Examples of this include:
AI for recruitment examples 🧠
- Predictive analytics that analyze candidate data
- Chatbots to provide immediate help and support to candidates 🤖
- AI text message apps to communicate with candidates
Machine learning for recruitment examples 🧑💻
- Reviewing, writing, and placing job advertisements
- Resume screening
- Personalized candidate outreach
Prioritizing Soft Skills 💡
Ambitious talent acquisition specialists will also be focusing on well-developed soft skills when hiring in 2024. Hard skills are all about the actual abilities candidates have to do their jobs, whereas soft skills embody the characteristics needed to improve performance and foster a supportive company culture.
By prioritizing soft skills, talent acquisition specialists can help expand talent pools even further, bridge skill gaps, and bolster candidate satisfaction. The top five in-demand soft skills of the moment are:
- Good communication
- Adaptability
- Creative thinking
- Teamwork and team building
- Time management
2025
HR tech revolution 🌐
The HR tech market is projected to increase by 81% by 2025. Coupled with the energetic pace at which technology is advancing, 2025 is set to change the face of talent acquisition forever. Many areas will be steered by automation and innovation, providing more time to focus on complex tasks rather than routine ones.
To prepare for the incoming HR revolution, it’s wise to:
- Keep up-to-date with the latest HR technology
- Utilize analytics
- Become more agile when managing talent
- Stay competitive by taking the time to understand each generational quirk (Millennials, Generation Z, Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers)
- Strengthen your leadership and people skills
Emphasis on employer branding ❗
Employer branding is often forgotten but provides a great way for businesses to stand out to candidates, attract new talent, and retain existing employees.
Common employer branding strategies include:
- Encouraging employee testimonials
- Boosting employee engagement with employer branding initiatives
- Increasing traffic to the website
- Partaking in community and social causes
Security is also important to bear in mind here. Different domain providers (such as Only Domains or NameCheap) offer varying levels of cyber security to keep your candidates and staff safe, such as an encrypted SSL certificate. An encrypted SSL certificate helps prevent data theft and cyber scams, which can improve candidate and employee trust.
Employee well-being 😊
Happy employees are more productive, more engaged, and more loyal to the company. This is why well-being is a crucial element of any successful talent acquisition strategy. So, in 2025, it's time to look past the traditional criteria and take note of a candidate's state of well-being.
Some key ways to provide wellness support at work include:
- Supportive culture: Foster a workplace culture that encourages open communication, support, and empathy among team members.
- Recognition and appreciation: Recognize and appreciate employees' contributions and efforts through regular feedback and acknowledgment.
- Professional development: Offer opportunities for skill development and career advancement to promote a sense of purpose and growth.
- Clear expectations: Set clear job expectations and goals, ensuring employees understand their roles and responsibilities.
- Workload management: Monitor and manage workloads to prevent excessive stress and burnout.
- Team building activities: Organize team building events and activities to build strong relationships and camaraderie among employees…and more!
By focusing on well-being throughout the acquisition process, you’ll send a positive and persuasive message that they'll be able to thrive and grow as a valued new member of the team.
Final thoughts 💭
By embracing a flexible working environment alongside a data-driven recruitment strategy, you can prepare for any talent acquisition trends headed your way, and keep your best talent on your team!
Once you’ve acquired your talented teams, Confetti can help you retain them! Confetti has plenty of team building activities for remote and hybrid offices that support employee well-being, highlight DEI initiatives, and develop soft skills.
Contact [email protected] to book your event today!
