The past two years have been a period of cultural ferment for organizations as they embraced the idea of remote work–an incidental of the impact of Covid-19. In this article, we shed more light on hiring trends to watch out for in the job market in 2022 and measures to take for an effective hiring strategy.
Photo credit: rawpixel.com
Society is undergoing rapid change that is precipitated by ever-improving methods, techniques, processes, and systems with which to address our ever-dynamic challenges and increasing needs.
This glut for improvement lends itself to every industry and facet of society. And as such, it is imperative to be consistent with the changing times.
If you’re able to successfully ride every new wave and even vaguely, foresee the coming hiring trends and possibilities as an employer, you are in a better position to leverage the best tools to hire the best talent for every role.
And if you’re a job seeker, you’d learn about hiring techniques adopted by employers to sift through a raft of candidates—giving yourself a leg up in the race for the coveted position. You’d also be well up on “hot” skills required to facilitate growth in your career.
In addition, as a hiring manager, you should keep an eye out for updates in the hiring process and new technologies to adopt for enhanced talent acquisition. That said, below are the top hiring trends to look out for in the year 2022.
Hiring trends to watch out for in the job market in 2022
1. The rise of data-driven recruiting
Today’s talent acquisition leaders are the ones who ensure their teams have both data-driven mindsets as well as the requisite technology that enables their organization to execute data-driven recruiting and talent acquisition strategies.
That is, the use of real-time analytics and insights — from growth metrics and offer acceptance rates to the quality and cost of new hires including candidate feedback scores.
This would help in the short term (craft automated processes to reduce manual work and improve in critical areas) and long term (routinely attract, engage and hire the best talent).
Organizations that don’t embrace data in 2022 will continue to have difficulty in sourcing talent, nurturing job seekers, and hiring top candidates in an efficient, predictable manner.
Without data guiding your team’s efforts, they will only find it more difficult to keep up with data-driven organizations that can better collaborate and bolster key recruiting and hiring metrics.
2. The increasing importance of automated nurturing
One key facet of data-driven recruiting and talent acquisition (as well as the talent relationship lifecycle) is candidate nurturing.
Manually emailing prospects is time- and labor-intensive. It’s also an outdated, ineffective, and unsustainable approach to building relationships with prospective hires and moving them through the recruitment funnel.
In 2022 and beyond, automated nurturing is what will both eliminate the needless complexity and inefficiency of manual communications and ensure you provide a personalized touch with your team’s candidate outreach.
The best nurture programs balance creativity with persistence. They are also tested and optimized regularly (monthly or quarterly) to ensure each successive nurture campaign improves on the previous one.
A personalized, intelligent nurturing will be the biggest key to providing a premier candidate experience.
3. The growing need to prioritize internal mobility
Rather than just looking into the external candidate pool when trying to find talent. Many companies are now identifying skills, experiences, and qualifications from internal and external sources to find the right fit for open positions.
Especially at these times when it’s increasingly harder to find top talent to fill certain roles, companies must focus on retaining their existing employees. That means they need to create clear career paths for their workforce to entice them to stay. Whether it’s offering stipends for certifications (e.g., analytics/data literacy, graphic design, management) or conducting in-house training (i.e., mentorship programs).
Business leaders must offer plentiful opportunities for employees to grow their skill sets so they enhance their ability to move up within the organization.
Sourcing new talent via job boards, social media, and other channels and hiring top-tier candidates discovered via those avenues is obviously central to any modern and successful talent acquisition strategy. But the many pros of prioritizing internal mobility can’t be ignored by executives any longer.
4. Increased focus on diversity and inclusion
In 2022, companies could be building on the sense of belonging they created during the pandemic to further refine their DEI (Diversity, Equality and Inclusion) programs.
And given the highly competitive labor market, companies will relax many of their assessment criteria and be ever-more inclusive in their hiring.
Creating equity and inclusion–promoting more women into management roles could be of paramount importance. And also re-framing business as an inclusive, supportive place to work.
Workplaces that prioritize hiring employees of diverse backgrounds and inclusion have proven statistically to be happier, safer, and more productive.
5. A shift to hybrid employees
The uncertainty of Covid-19 has kept a lot of companies from moving back into the office. Some have created a hybrid environment allowing employees to work both remotely and in the office a couple of days a week.
Many businesses are continuing to hire for remote or hybrid work. Hiring virtually allows employers to access a larger talent pool and attract more potential candidates to apply with the incentive of increased flexibility.
6. An effort to improve workers’ well-being
Burnout is real. To make matters worse, employee well-being was the area CEOs said their brands struggled with most amid the pandemic. In 2022, leaders must address it head-on (if they haven’t already).
This burnout has hit recruiters, talent acquisition specialists, and human resources pros especially hard over the last couple of years.
On top of trying to achieve lofty hiring objectives, those working in talent acquisition and HR have had to adjust to big changes like fully remote interviewing cycles and staying in sync with fellow team members.
Thus, it’s no surprise a focus on mental health and wellness—and being flexible to employees’ needs as it pertains to workers’ personal well-being—is one of the hiring trends for most companies that want to thrive today.
7. Companies will need to re-architect their HR technology
If you’re still running old survey systems or haven’t yet adopted a continuous listening strategy, now is the time to do it. Crowdsourcing and employee listening platforms are now essential. Without them, you’re flying blind.
And, as we learned from the pandemic, employees want to trust that you’re listening. Trust, the most highly valued element of employee experience, is built around your ability to listen.
This shift in technology is a big topic for the year ahead.
8. Building HR skills and capabilities will be non-negotiable
Among all the changes coming in 2022 and beyond, the biggest of all is that HR itself is now a design profession in which every HR professional regularly consults, designs, listens and adapts.
HR teams and individual professionals must stay up to date, as organizations with great HR capabilities out-hire, out-perform, and out-innovate their peers.
9. Pay and rewards will get a refresh
Equitable and fair pay is among the greatest drivers of employee satisfaction. Organizations would have to do more in areas of pay equity, transparency of the process, and fairness in reward and recognition.
In fact, if you want to win the war for talent in 2022, fair pay may be one of your biggest techniques.
Companies with a lot of hourly workers—now increasingly realize that people want access to the money they earned as soon as they earned it. And it breaks open the old way of processing payroll biweekly with on-demand pay.
In closing
Employees are the gems of every organization. So it is the company’s responsibility to keep them happy by providing a conducive working environment.
In addition to providing tools and fostering strategic partnerships and collaborations internally and otherwise, that would enable employees to effectively discharge their responsibilities.
Implementing the trends and recommendations above would allow organizations to remain competitive, infuse greater efficiency in recruitment, and be a compelling destination for job seekers.
