A Recrout Look Back at 2023: 5 Trends That Continue
Now that the new year is in full swing, we, like every year, take the time to briefly look ahead and consider what may be coming in the world of recruitment—including for us as an HR technology company. While we are not directly responsible for connecting people and organizations, our role is to support that process as effectively as possible and help recruiters make their work easier, more efficient, and, if possible, more enjoyable. Therefore, we need to keep an eye on developments to respond to them in a timely manner, as we have done for the past six years.
The recruitment industry is often criticized for being quite conservative and traditional compared to other departments. Whether that’s true or not, I’ll leave open—but most of the smart recruitment teams we know always keep an eye on developments and aren’t afraid to try new ideas and concepts faster than others for their own benefit. That doesn’t mean you have to test everything that comes along, but if you do nothing, you can be almost certain that nothing will happen.
And just as a carpenter tackles every problem with a hammer, we inevitably approach every challenge with technology. No matter what we think about it in the recruitment world, the prediction that “software eats the world” will not bypass us. HR technology, in general, is here to stay.
Over the past two years, recruitment and HR professionals have been forced to reinvent themselves, reorganize traditional processes, and operate primarily online to continue delivering an excellent application experience. We would like to share a few trends and developments that we believe we haven’t heard the last about.
Remote hiring
Currently, we observe several key phenomena that are driving the rapid adoption of innovative recruitment technology and recruitment platforms.
The most visible trend at the moment is so-called “remote hiring,” where traditional recruitment processes, including interviews, no longer take place offline but primarily online. The COVID-19 crisis has obviously played a major role in this. Not only during the pandemic but also due to the competition for talent, organizations are increasingly taking work-life balance and the option to work from home into account. Out of necessity, companies are also increasingly recruiting across borders to fill vacancies, which are increasingly being performed remotely. The world is getting a little smaller.
A personal approach to scarce talent, an approachable personality, assertiveness, and entrepreneurship are unmistakable qualities that recruiters will need in the coming years. However, this requires a very different kind of recruiter than those currently present in corporate recruitment during “peacetime.”
Diversity and Inclusion
Here it is again: D&I. The topic of diversity and inclusion has now shifted more strongly than before from a “nice-to-have” subject to a necessity for remaining relevant in the coming decades and maintaining the right connection with society, customers, and all other stakeholders. It’s no longer a vague side project but simply a business necessity with a clear business case.
Workplace Discrimination
This is, of course, an extremely sensitive topic within the world of corporate recruitment, but one we simply cannot ignore in 2023. The phenomenon exists, and it is our task to find a solution. The taboo will be broken in 2023, and hopefully, we can finally take real action to eliminate this issue. As far as we’re concerned (here comes the carpenter), technology will play a key role in achieving this.
Societally, the call to end workplace discrimination is growing louder from both the left and right, with quotas even being considered. Simply put, as a civilization, we can no longer afford to be unfoundedly selective. Governments are looked to for setting an example, but an increasing number of shareholders are also speaking up within the business world regarding the approach to labor market discrimination. This is an issue that cannot be ignored.
The Further Decline of Selection
We already saw this phenomenon gaining momentum in 2021, but judging by all the tools, platforms, and startups that have focused on intelligent matching over the past few years, we can expect this trend to continue strongly. As pioneers in this field, this is, of course, something that makes us very happy.
Various studies have shown that selection based on objective personality profiles helps prevent labor market discrimination and assists organizations in building a diverse and inclusive workforce. This, in turn, creates a stronger organization. Objective selection based on talent and personality traits seems almost like a no-brainer, yet we still have a long way to go.
Increased Focus on Job Marketing & Employer Branding
In the coming years, the current tight labor market is likely to persist, unless a significant downturn occurs due to the wave of bankruptcies still emerging from the COVID crisis. However, assuming the economy continues to grow, a shortage of talent will remain one of the biggest operational challenges for corporate recruitment. And I deliberately say a shortage of talent, because there are plenty of people—but where do we find all that talent? All of the trends mentioned above will likely form part of the solution, but they will not be enough.
Organizations that are able to transform their recruitment departments into powerful marketing machines will win this battle. Just like with any other product, the same applies to job openings: if no one knows about them, no one will care. You may have the best product in the world, but if a worse product has better marketing and visibility, it will outperform you.
What Can Recrout Do?
In a future blog or article, I will delve deeper into one or more specific topics. If you’d like to discuss this article or any of the trends mentioned, feel free to reach out—I’m happy to brainstorm with you. Finally, I’d like to close with a brief promotional note about Recrout and how we can help address some of the recruitment challenges, serving as a tool while keeping the recruiter firmly in the driver’s seat.
Recrout’s data-driven ATS helps recruitment departments automate candidate selection in a fully objective way, focusing primarily on suitability based on competencies and personality profiles. Our system is built on a foundation of competency-driven matching and user-friendliness.
Data-driven and objective selection not only prevents mismatches but also strengthens organizational outcomes by hiring people who are intrinsically more motivated, productive, and ultimately more successful. This approach contributes to lower turnover, reducing gaps at the front end. It also makes diversity an organic outcome, eliminating the need to rely on mandatory quotas to implement an objective selection process.
With our ATS, we also enable recruiters to immediately push the job openings they create to over 2,500 job boards worldwide. Our AI-driven Multi Job Poster integration additionally helps determine which job boards deliver the best performance.
