Talent attraction in the recruitment future

September 7th, 2021 | Industry News

Almost every country and business sector in the world is still experiencing the seismic shift to working from home caused by the pandemic. While SAAS recruitment agencies have had the jump on high street based recruiters when it comes to adjusting to recruiting within, and for, industries that haven’t decided their own future shape yet, there’s still much to be learned. For the first time, candidates are ‘ghosting’ employment offers. It’s not clear why this is happening, although recruitment CRM software shows that it’s happening at the latest possible stage in the process – candidates are going right up to the job offer point before simply disappearing and never responding to emails/texts/messages. Partly it may be that people want the reassurance that they are still valuable to potential employers, partly it’s simply due to the fact that, like online dating, the risk of dropping out feels much lower if all the engagement has been online. Some of the reason though, is that it’s undoubtedly a candidate’s market. Anybody with a relevant skill set is free to shop around and see what’s out there, and window shopping doesn’t mean people are in the market to buy… just that they’re amusing themselves with a look at the landscape.

So how to turn window-shoppers into buyers? Well, as thousands of businesses have found in the past year, digital engagement is crucial. Re-examining hiring practices in light of most people being, and wanting to be, online is essential. Getting the correct members of staff involved in recruitment matters too, especially when you’re considering ‘non-traditional’ candidates. Recruitment management software can be an ideal route to discovering those ‘non-classic’ candidates but unless they see themselves reflected in a company’s social media profile, they won’t find it an attractive prospect. That means not only having peer input to hiring strategies, but also having an inclusive and sensitive media presence. Shutterstock imagery doesn’t cut it in the digital hiring arena!

And the digital recruitment marketplace is booming – expected to grow by $3 billion in the USA alone in the next five years. This means that while digital recruitment is definitely the future of effective hiring, different foundations need to be built to attract the best talent. Recruitment software helps, but recognising the demands of the new marketplace, accepting hybrid working that allows people to spend some, or all, of their work time at home, and engaging with potential candidates with transferable but non-classic skills are all going to be hallmarks of successful hiring strategies.