Recruitment trends for 2024
Net Talent
Specialist recruitment consultancy focusing on technology, digital and data roles across Scotland, the UK and beyond.
According to the Office for National Statistics UK , from September to November 2023, there were 949,000 vacancies, showing a reduction of 45,000. Despite these shifts, the total number of vacancies still exceeds pre-pandemic levels.
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What will be new in recruitment for 2024?
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2024 will be an era of proactive rather than reactive recruitment. Creating and managing talent pipelines even before job vacancies materialize will be a salient feature. Recruiters and employers, both will engage in skill-based candidate sourcing that they expect to be of need to the business in the future.
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Key points:
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1 - Gen Z entering the workforce:
Gen Z will enter the workforce in junior-level roles. The major drift they will bring into the recruitment business is – speed, they will expect everything to be virtual and fast-paced. Outdated recruitment methods will be a major turn-off for them. So, recruitment and staffing agencies will have to gear up accordingly. Recruitment automation, mobile-optimized application processes, and candidate engagement at each step of the hiring stage will become a necessity.
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2 - Preparing Workforce for Generative AI and Automation:
In a recent IBM report based on a survey of 3,000 global C-suite executives, the transformative impact of generative AI and automation on the workforce emerges as a dominant theme. To prepare for this transformative landscape, IBM recommends a future-focused approach involving redesigning work processes, substantial investment in talent development alongside technology adoption, a skills-centric workforce strategy, and empowering employees to pursue meaningful and skill-enhancing tasks as automation becomes prevalent.
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3 - Proactive candidate engagement:
In a LinkedIn survey, 84 % of recruiters said that engaging passive candidates is becoming important in lower and middle-level roles and for bringing top talent into the funnel. That’s where storytelling and personalizing your approach can make a big difference. Rather than simply entering data correctly, recruiters will also need to leverage data-driven insights to drive decisions. And instead of executing orders, recruiters will also need to advise business leaders and hiring managers — that means pushing back and setting the strategy, not just following it.
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4 - Use of Recruiting Automation:
2024 will witness more recruiting and staffing firms turning to automation to simplify repetitive tasks and reduce admin work. In a survey done on 2848 recruiting professionals, most agreed that investing in better recruiting tools and technology is the best way to improve recruiter performance. With recruitment automation solutions, you can parse resumes, manage candidate and client pipelines, post jobs on multiple job boards simultaneously, and much more.
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5 - Data-Centric Recruiting:
The use of data in recruiting is in no way a new concept. For a long time, recruiters have used data to help make decisions. But what’s evolving is the use of advanced technology to make hiring decisions more precise. This has led to a change in focus from grades or experience to the candidate’s overall personality. Tactical metrics —like time to fill, candidates per hire, or offer acceptance rate—will still be important to track your recruiters’ immediate actions. However, future recruiting will revolve more around strategic metrics that measure the business outcomes of the team’s efforts—not just the actions they take. Developing a client’s talent strategy will be just as important as executing it.
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6 - Diversity and inclusion
According to research by Eagle Hill Consulting, fifty-three percent of U.S. workers say diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is a key factor when considering a company for employment. A company’s DEI efforts are substantially more important for younger workers, with Gen Z at 77 percent and Millennials at 63 percent. Due to increased inclination of candidates towards diversity and inclusion, more and more companies are increasingly investing more in diversity and inclusion efforts. So, recruitment agencies will have to focus on deploying innovative candidate evaluation tools designed to eliminate bias in recruiting and hiring.
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7 - Branding
Employer branding is extremely important, and it will only become more so. It’s vital that you position yourself as a company that cares about its recruiters’ and other employees’ well-being and development. Even if you have a team of 3-4 people, it’s time to make it a priority; the potential recruiters in 2024 will expect their well-being to be a focus.
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“As the new year approaches, businesses are becoming increasingly reliant on automated time-saving processes. As such, recruitment in 2024 will likely centre around technology that streamlines the often-lengthy journey from listing a job, through to an application being received, right through to onboarding.” commented Alastair Brown, Chief Technology Officer, BrightHR. “Instead of sifting through piles of CVs, a platform where all roles and applicants are listed in a central hub where they can be viewed, managed, and edited, that allows for simple and accurate tracking of applicant’ journeys through the process will be utilised.”
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“Artificial Intelligence will turbocharge both the way people look for jobs and the way recruiters and employers identify and reach the best candidates. On the jobseeker side, we’re likely to see candidates delegate more of the legwork of applying for roles to AI. Many are already using generative AI to research employers, draft cover letters and fine-tune their CV, but in 2024 more will be tempted to use tools like LazyApply to fire off scores, or even hundreds, of applications to advertised vacancies.” Said Ben Keighley, Founder, Socially Recruited.
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“This year we’ve witnessed a decline in employers looking for hybrid and remote working. I anticipate that most firms will continue this shift towards predominantly office-based work in 2024. Undoubtedly, AI is poised to take the next leap forward in recruitment technology in 2024. Together with machine learning, it will significantly enhance candidate sourcing and screening, automating tasks such as scheduling interviews and conducting compliance checks. Moreover, ‘blind CV screening’ is likely to become commonplace – a shift that will routinely utilise AI to remove personal information from CVs before they reach hiring managers, thereby reducing or eliminating unconscious bias.” Commented Rob Scott, Managing Director, Aaron Wallis.
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