Over the past year, my colleagues and I have worked with numerous companies and based on our needs and experiences, there have been some changes in the way top talent is recruited and hired. Here are five trends that we have seen emerging:
1. Video conferencing is becoming more prevalent. Human resources, as well as the hiring departments, are making video interviewing a standard part of a job search. We attribute this to technological advances, reduced budgets and convenience. Utilizing video conferencing allows face to face interaction, while reducing travel time and costs. It also allows for multiple interviews to be scheduled consecutively, regardless of candidate location.
2. Companies are now mapping their future talent pool. Companies are always hiring, but are beginning to see the value in continually recruiting and staying in touch with “A” players. Aside from keeping up with top people, it reduces the getting into a situation where a “B” or even “C” player is desperately hired. The growing demand and rapidly changing landscape are making it more important to find the talent capable of maximizing your competitive edge.
3. Culture-fitting candidates are growing in importance. You may have heard that “people are hired for skills, but fired for fit.” Well, it’s truer now. Consequently, matching a candidate with an organization’s working environment or “culture” has become an essential part of the interview and selection process. Since each company is unique in their culture, each candidate’s personality must be recognized and fit within a company. This has become as important as fitting individual job skill sets.
4. Mobile platforms play an integral role. The workforce is increasingly expecting communications to be delivered through various mobile methods. Texting, emailing and even tweeting are invaluable tools in reaching the brightest minds. Because everyone is always on, mobile recruiting is presenting a tremendous opportunity for employers to engage and stay connected with the next generation of talent. At the very least, companies need to ensure their job boards are mobile-friendly.
5. The interview and job offer process has been shortened. Access to jobs and people has increased, creating more competition for top candidates. This created a landscape where candidates expect to know their status shortly after interviewing. The perception has caused many companies to lose out on good people. It has made it increasingly important to reduce hurdles to hiring, such as bureaucracy and politics in the process. Having the whole process mapped out before the first interview allows companies to remain agile and keep momentum while pursuing people.
Resources for Job Seekers
Looking for a new job? Check out our Jobs (www.targetcw.com/jobs) page, review our Strategies for Getting a Great Job (text hyperlink to article) and make sure your resume is a clean reflection of what you can bring to an employer, good luck!!
About the Author, Debbie M. Duguay: 25 years of corporate and contingency recruiting experience provide Debbie a unique understanding of the staffing industry. She began her recruiting career in 1988 successfully recruiting primarily for accounting/finance and sales/marketing positions for a diverse collection of corporations, and was recognized for her ability to find exceptional candidates for the most specialized and hard-to-fill positions. In 1998, she opened a staffing agency, and for five years she and her staff successfully served the recruiting needs of corporations throughout the nation. Debbie Duguay merged her search firm with a global recruiting corporation in 2003, and was ranked the “#2 Recruiter in the Nation for 2006”, before joining the incredible TargetCW recruiting team.
The goal of the Act is to level the playing field for companies who abide by the laws for classifying Independent Contractors (ICs) and those companies who use loopholes to mis-classify workers and avoid paying taxes and providing benefits to misclassified workers.