Recruitment Trends For 2017

The start of a New Year provides a clean slate and the chance to move forward in life. This is great for many firms who are determined to improve their status or make real changes that will impact on their standing. It is also the time of year to look forward and many firms want to know what trends are likely to be present during the year. When it comes to recruitment, being aware of expected trends and behaviour is a smart move because this will enable firms to behave in the manner that market leaders are expected to behave in.

LinkedIn released their Global Recruiting Trends 2017 report and it contained a number of interesting points for recruitment in the months ahead.

One interesting topic is how most firms will look to find new employees. The findings, which involved close to 4,000 corporate talent acquisition leaders in over 30 countries, suggested the following strategies when it comes to recruitment:

•   48% of respondents intend to use employee referrals
•   46% of respondents intend to use online portals and third-party recruiters

•   40% of respondents intend to use social media sites

Clearly most firms will look to use more than option when looking for new employees, so these three areas look to be the most popular avenues for bringing new employees in. There is a lot to be said for asking current employees for assistance because you would hope that current team members have the firm’s best wishes at heart. When the company prospers, all employees can benefit so they should be looking to make recommendations that will improve a firm.

Firms cannot rely on employee recommendations alone

However, most employees don’t know the attributes a firm is looking for in certain roles and there is the fact that an employee may be blinded to the true skills or capabilities of the people they are referring. If an employee is referring a friend, a family member or partner, they are likely to have a very positive opinion of them, an opinion which may not be reflected in the workplace.

Asking employees for recommendations or asking the current team to spread the word about vacancies is a good starting point in hiring new people but solely using this strategy will leave a company exposed in the long run.

The report also pointed out three emerging trends that they believe will be important in 2017 for recruitment:

•   Recruiting more diverse candidates
•   Assessing soft skills
•   Utilising new and innovative interview tools

The mention of soft skills is likely to be a big factor as firms look beyond the technical skills and capabilities of a candidate. There is a need to create a positive energy and atmosphere in the workplace and this means bringing in the right people for the right roles.

This doesn’t mean that everyone must be really nice and get on, it means finding people with personalities who work well but who can do what has to be done in the workplace. Ideally you want a harmonious workplace but when tough decisions have to be made, you also need people who can call the shots. Finding the right people is a great starting point to building a strong team.

January 2017 Author : 2XL Recruitment Solutions part of 2XL Media Solutions