How to recruit (and how not to) in 2024

February 2nd, 2024 | Industry News

This year is likely to be a period of retrenchment. The big tech platforms and Silicon Valley companies have been forced to restructure (a nice word for reduce) and streamlining is the buzzword right now and where tech leads, most sectors follow. 2023 was also a year of conflict, with employers trying to force people to return to the workplace, and having varying degrees of success. What does this mean for the year ahead?

It’s an employer’s market

This means that any website for recruitment is likely to be swamped by applicants, many of them inappropriate. Clear quick feedback can help companies reduce this ocean of CVs to a manageable pool, and that’s where recruitment CRM software can be used to ease the demand on paid staff. Ignoring or ‘ghosting’ the bulk of applicants can be tempting … but it can rebound on the client company and on an agency too.

Harness social media

Social recruiting through networks like LinkedIn and X has become a disruptive force that smart agencies, and HR departments are using to identify good candidates. This means that job hunts are no longer a passive exercise for the client, and an active one for the candidate, but a more level playing field of talent acquisition on client side, and browsing and applying with a single click on the candidate side. This means recruitment website design needs to support easy application for vacancies rather than just shop-fronting them. But don’t be tempted to neglect the more traditional processes of recruitment – easy application processes can also lead to modern nightmares like AI generated resumes getting through the screening system. Good candidate sifting and conducting due diligence are as necessary as ever.

Know yourself as an employer

Glassdoor and Indeed have made it impossible to hide your true colours. This can be great if you’re a strong brand achieving great things with a real focus on staff training, wellbeing and satisfaction. Not so good if you’re known to talk a good talk but not walk it. Recruiting software can help you find great candidates but they’re as likely to research you as you are them. Get to know your reputation through these sites and you can improve in areas that bring you better talent – ignore your online reputation at your peril, because you can be sure your candidates will check you out!

Automate the small stuff

In employment, the small stuff can swell to fill the available space. Online recruitment software can help cut the administrative processes down to size, allowing human recruiters to focus on the elements that make good recruitment an everyday occurrence, such as using intuition, and learning more about their clients to help them make better judgements.  Don’t be tempted to rely on automation exclusively, while recruitment agency software can be a great servant, it doesn’t make such a good master – both clients and candidates value personal communication.