The disruption of the pandemic shows no sign of slowing as we are well into the new decade. The last two years have drastically impacted the recruitment industry forever! Recruiters face severe talent shortages and engage in talent wars to find and attract candidates. Recruiting people in the right roles will be a significant challenge for businesses, with our clients stating this as their top business concern in 2022. For the convenience of reading, the article is divided into two parts. Part I and Part II together capture the trends for 2022, where the organization could easily find the top five to focus on.

For some recruiters, hiring freezes have meant work has come to a standstill. For others, urgent and unplanned, high-volume staffing needs have ratcheted hiring up to a frenzied pace. For most, the move to remote work, ghosting, and long notice period coupled with the global pandemic has meant an industry upheaval unlike any we've seen in modern history. Companies need to hire and keep good employees, and trends will showcase that. 

So, it is essential for the Talent Acquisition team to understand what recruiting will look like in 2022 and beyond?

Part I

1) Candidate-driven market

2) Rise of proactive recruiting

3) Hiring for soft skills

4) The quality of recruits is more important than ever

5) Development of internal talent pools

6) Reliance on social recruiting, increased investment in social media, employee referral programs, and job boards

7) Competition and persistent skills shortages pose an ongoing challenge 

8) Achieve staffing success in 2022 with help from the recruiting experts 

9) More organizations adopt diversity hiring goals

10) Remote recruiting will remain popular 

Part II

11) Pivot to virtual recruiting

12) More candidates express interest in mental health benefits

13) The emergence of employer branding

14) Catering to employee experience and focusing on retention

15) Longer notice periods

16) Recruiters find new ways to use AI and data-driven recruitment

17) Reaching passive candidates is more important than ever

18) Use of talent assessment tools

19) Bolder EVPs

20) More selective applications

What are Recruitment Trends?

As the world continues to change, recruitment and selection trends also adapt. What has changed are the recruitment trends. We studied the reports from HR Profiling Solutions, 4Corner Resources, Indeed, Monster, McLean & Co., Lever, and many others on hiring trends in 2022. How we source and evaluate candidates has changed rapidly over the last few decades. Let's see how innovation and recent recruitment trends will shape 2022

Candidate-driven market

The hot job market means employers struggle to find and hire great talent. The candidates now hold all the power, and there are more open positions than candidates. It means that candidates choose and aren’t ready to opt for the first available position. A better offer means candidates are prepared to change jobs at a higher frequency, so recruiters need to work harder than ever for their clients.

Rise of Proactive Recruiting

Proactive recruitment focuses on identifying, engaging, and attracting potential candidates ahead of recruitment needs. Proactive recruitment will be a massive recruitment and selection trend.

Hiring for Soft Skills

Soft skills are strong drivers of productivity, cooperation, and communication. They are also much more challenging to recruit for than hard skills which can be taught. The quality of recruits is more critical than ever. Improving the quality of their hires is one of the most important goals for many organizations. 

Development of Internal Talent Pools

Hiring outside of the company was previously a significant recruitment trend. However, as the great resignation and talent shortage looms, businesses turn to internal staff recruitment. The creation of internal talent pools is proving to be a very successful recruitment trend. Reliance on Social Recruiting, Increased investment in social media, employee referral programs, and job boards. Social recruiting relies on social networks to find, attract, and hire candidates. A social media platform LinkedIn was the most prominent platform of focus. Recruiters will prioritize spending in 2022 on employee referral programs and job boards. The current employees are incentivized to refer someone they know for a role.

Competition and persistent skills shortages pose an ongoing challenge. Too many jobs, but too few suitable candidates – that’s the biggest staffing woe among recruiters heading into 2022. Massive companies like Facebook, Amazon, and FedEx have spent most of the past year hiring in unprecedented numbers in response to soaring pandemic-related demand. Achieve Staffing Success in 2022 With Help from the Recruiting Experts. From new technology to shifting social trends, the staffing landscape is evolving more rapidly than ever. Do you have the infrastructure in place to keep up?

Stay ahead of the hiring curve by enlisting our team of dedicated professionals for your 2022 staffing needs. More organizations adopt diversity hiring goals. It’s a topic of growing interest for candidates, too. More and more applicants are asking about diversity and inclusion initiatives than they did in the previous year. Prioritizing diversity hiring can help you stay competitive, especially in fields like tech, where they struggle to win top talent has become ultra-fierce in recent months. Diversity and inclusion strategies in recruitment have been on the rise and will continue to become more prevalent in 2022. Remote recruiting will remain popular. It should come as no surprise that interviewing isn’t remotely the same as a year ago. The video interviews will be the default interview mode moving forward.