Does The Talent Acquisition World Need A Reset?

Another day, another announcement of recruiters being laid off.

Block just let 40% of their TA team go globally. You could say that's not shocking anymore. After all, we've seen this happening at so many other companies - Meta, X, Amazon to name a few big ones.

However, with smaller talent acquisition teams, the job market has become hyper-competitive - even for the most experienced TA professionals. For laid-off recruiters now searching, it's daunting facing so many peers looking too.

Just scrolling through my LinkedIn feed and following a number of recruitment groups on Slack and Facebook, this gets even more depressing.

The big P-word and a global economic turndown have dealt a huge shock to our talent acquisition world.

Small Teams - Unrealistic Expectations

Smaller TA teams also mean that many recruiters who still have their jobs really feel the pressure. While my team and I are super lucky at Xplor to have great leaders who support us all the way, that's really not the case for everyone else.

Asking peers, most of them say their companies demand them to source perfect candidates at impossibly fast speeds and they feel crushed between the rock and hard place of other unreasonable demands.

Though what really hasn't changed is that top talent continues to have all the leverage, so recruiters work nonstop to avoid losing them to other opportunities.

At the same time, recruiter inboxes overflow continuously with messages from candidates and hiring managers expecting quick responses. With remote and hybrid dominating work, the lines between personal and professional time have blurred over the past two years. Recruiters feel constant pressure to be "always on" and reply 24/7. KPIs focus on speed over long-term hiring success, pushing an unsustainable pace.

This pervasive urgency leads to frustration, exhaustion, burnout, and unhappiness. We have also celebrated overwork and round-the-clock availability as badges of honour in recruitment - that's not too different to the startup and tech world. But constant change also creates anxiety about keeping skills up-to-date, especially with all the talk around AI. Add economic stressors like inflation, and it's no wonder recruiters feel burnt out.

The Talent landscape has permanently changed

What does this mean for the future of recruiting? You may be surprised but I don't have a crystal ball. What I do know is that we should acknowledge the talent landscape has probably permanently changed.

I do see more and more comments saying we actually need to think "less tech, more human" again but honestly, I reckon this may be hard to achieve. That's my personal view only, though.

Saying this, Talent Leaders and organisations can still help their recruitment teams.

The biggest one for me is offering flexible, remote options so recruiters are in control of their own schedules. At Xplor, our recruitment team is fully remote and it does make a difference. I love it.

Talent Leaders also need to step in and discourage overwork by respecting time off and minimizing off-hour communications whenever they can. Keep requisition loads reasonable instead of overwhelming. And maybe this means, partnering with external agencies and getting contractors on board for a fixed time more often.

Well, and I don't know how many organisations actually do this but more should train managers to spot burnout warning signs early. Do you know any companies who practise this?

Recruiters have to prioritise their own well-being

As always, there are a lot of things you simply can't control hence you have to take it into your own hands.

What I mean is that recruiters have to prioritise their own well-being - And this is obviously always easier said than done, I know. You could start by...

• Setting boundaries and learning to say no. You come first after all.
• Taking regular breaks and step away from your laptop.
• Disconnecting completely and speaking up if your workload is too much - that's probably the hardest for us!
• Trying meditation or yoga when feeling overwhelmed. I started meditating with an app called Balance earlier this year and it's been great to reset. Headspace is another one people seem to enjoy.
• And most importantly, asking for support when needed.

Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

Well, all this leads me to the question if the current climate could also be an opportunity for positive changes in the recruitment culture (if that's a thing but I think it is)

What would it take, I hear you ask.

Maybe for starters, it's letting go of old attitudes valuing overwork and burnout in our industry. It's not a badge. If you enjoy working long hours, cool. Keep doing this as long as you know you're still taking care of yourself.

For everyone else, what changes would help you feel healthier and happier in a recruiting role?

Do you think we have a voice to demand environments where we can do our best work as recruiters while living fulfilling lives?

As always, would love to hear your thoughts and appreciate your comments on this topic.

#recruitment #talentacquisition #mentalhealth #resilience