5 recruitment trends you need to know about in 2022

The recruitment market has changed drastically over the last few years. Covid-19 has reshaped hiring practises for companies all across the world, and many businesses are struggling to fill their vacancies in the post-pandemic landscape. 

However, understanding what’s driving current recruitment practises will help you retain your current workforce, and improve your chances of hiring quality candidates in the future. Without further ado, here are our predictions for the top recruitment trends for 2022.

Candidate driven market

The Great Resignation is making headlines in HR at the moment, and for good reason. According to Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index, 41 per cent of people are likely to consider leaving their jobs within the next year. As the economy recovers from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, in many industries there are now more jobs available than there are qualified candidates to fill them. With employers desperately looking to fill their vacancies, the power is now in the hands of job seekers.

This means that recruiters need to work smarter, and more creatively, to stand out from their competitors. You need to keep an ear to the ground to stay up-to-date with what your target candidates want from an employer – and you might find candidates playing hardball with topics such as salary expectations and flexible work arrangements. To find out what else job seekers are looking for in 2022, check out our blog post with 5 essential things to include in your job adverts here!

Focus on employee retention

You might find yourself saving time and money on recruitment by promoting one of your current employees, instead of waiting for external candidates to come to you. There are several other advantages to this strategy; for example, according to LinkedIn’s “Workplace Learning Report 2021”, businesses with high internal mobility have twice the average length of tenure as those with low mobility — 5.4 and 2.9 years respectively. 

By supporting your current employees in their career development with promotion opportunities, your company can experience many positive knock-on effects, such as improved morale and productivity. At the end of the day, people want to feel valued at work – and what better way to provide this feeling than by improving promotion opportunities?

Right now, your employees are probably thinking about their careers and their professional goals for the future – and in this current candidate-driven recruitment market, their thoughts might be wandering towards the option of jumping ship. Replacing your existing team members can put a delay on your recovery and growth plans, so focusing on retention strategies such as internal recruitment should be a priority for your business in 2022.

Employer branding is everything

If you decide to focus on bringing new talent into your company, your employer branding needs to be top quality. Hearing that your company is ‘a great place to work’ will mean nothing to a candidate if you don’t have the evidence to back this up and help you stand out from the competition.

Now is the time to focus on your EVP (employer value proposition), and take a deep dive into what company culture, mission, and values are. Not only will this help you identify what makes you unique, but it will help you decide what kind of candidate would thrive in your team. Having a strong employer brand can have a significant impact on the success of your recruitment, such as reducing employee turnover by up to 69%. If you haven’t taken this seriously before, you should now. 

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are must-haves

Diversity, equity and inclusion (or DE&I for short) has been a hot topic in HR for the last few years. Having fair representation in the workplace has gone from being a ‘nice-to-have’ for jobseekers, to an essential element to consider when looking for a new job – and the evidence shows that this isn’t just a fad. In fact, findings from McKinsey’s “Diversity Wins” report has found that businesses with more diverse executive teams, both in regards to gender and ethnicity, are more likely to have above-average profitability. From a business perspective, having diversity amongst your team is key to success.

The number of job seekers who are asking about DE&I commitments and initiatives in companies is steadily increasing every year. In fact, AmazingHiring reports that 49% of recruiters have experienced candidates turning down an interview or a job offer because of the lack of diversity in the workplace. Therefore, Diversity and inclusion strategies in recruitment have been on the rise, and these will only continue to grow in importance in 2022. Many in-house recruiters opt to use diversity recruitment software to improve this process.

Remote recruitment processes

The pandemic completely changed how many businesses carry out their recruitment. In a 2020 Talview survey about remote hiring, 80% of respondents said that they had moved their entire recruitment process online. Although the worst of the pandemic is now (hopefully) past us, many companies are still following practises such as remote or hybrid working, and this continues to be seen in recruitment too. 

Although remote work isn’t without its challenges, many businesses have seen several positives come out of the situation. For example, without the limit of geographical distance, recruiters have access to a wider talent pool, which means more qualified candidates are available.

Many jobseekers are now seeking opportunities for partially or fully remote work, so companies that refuse to go along with this might find themselves receiving less applications. Therefore, we expect to see the remote hiring trend to continue into 2022, and perhaps it might even be here to stay for good. 

Recruitment made easy with TalentSpa

We hope this post has helped you identify the must-know recruitment trends for 2022, and you now feel confident in building your hiring strategies for the year ahead – but if you’re having trouble filling your vacancies, we can help!

At TalentSpa, we’ll help you find the right hire for your company, with dedicated support from day one of your hiring process. Call us today on 020 3982 7600 to find out how we can help you achieve your recruiting goals in 2022, learn more about our recruitment software or visit our website for more information here!