As the world business evolves, so does the process with which we recruit and hire new employees. We’ve put together a list of our must know hiring trends for 2020 to help you stay ahead of the curve and anticipate how the evolution of hiring will impact your business.
#1 Candidate Experience is Critical
We’ve experienced one of the longest periods of economic growth in recent years and that means more jobs are available to our workforce.
It also means that candidates have the luxury of being more selective before accepting or even applying for a position. As such, the candidate experience has moved to the top of the priorities list for many recruiters and HR professionals.
The candidate experience pertains to their perception of the company throughout the entire hiring process, from first impression to final hire and beyond. It impacts their attitude, behavior, and general feeling during the hiring process.
If you’re looking for the perfect candidate for your position, the better the experience they have during the hiring process, the more likely they are to decide they want to work for your company.
After all, hiring is a two way street. You’ll need to make a good impression on your top candidates to see them through to your open position.
As you might imagine, a poor experience can deter the best qualified candidates and leave you to select from those less qualified and more desperate for the job.
Here are some powerful stats to get you thinking about your candidate experience:
- A positive recruitment experience can motivate 97% of candidates to refer to other candidates.
- A negative hiring experience can result in over half of candidates deciding not to purchase a company’s products or services.
- Virgin Media measured that poor candidate experience costs them as much as $5.4 million a year.
How to Create a Positive Candidate Experience
There are several ways to improve the candidate experience during the hiring process and we urge you to strongly consider making this one of your top priorities. It ‘s one of our top 2020 hiring trends for a reason.
Understand the candidate’s hiring journey
The journey of each candidate will be different based on the position you’re filling, where and how you make initial contact (did they apply or were they recruited?), and the unique qualities of the candidate.
Work to understand their individual wants and needs during your interactions with them and work to communicate with them clearly and openly about how you can meet them (or if you can at all).
Communicate clearly and openly about expectations
Often times the hiring process is viewed as a one way street. The employer has a job opportunity and the candidate is responsible for determining whether or not they are qualified enough to apply, research and understand the company to see if they’re a good fit, and so on.
Instead, make sure the candidate fully understands what they’re applying for. Have clear and easy to understand job descriptions prepared for each of your positions so that you can attract the people best suited for the job. Don’t leave room for confusion.
Furthermore, be sure to schedule time for open dialogue and questions during the interview process. Make the candidate feel comfortable to get clear on anything that they still need information on and ensure they understand what is expected of them.
Give them clear and concise details about the company to help them evaluate whether or not they’re a good fit. Describe your company culture, goals, and values and you’ll find that many candidates will be able to self-qualify (or unqualify) themselves for the position, making the entire process more efficient.
Maintain Engagement Throughout the Hiring Process
In an age where candidates are attached to technology 24 hours a day, engagement is easier than ever. But you have to put in the extra effort to reach candidates where they are.
Use social media, texts, emails, and other technologies available to you (HR automation software, for instance) to keep candidates engaged in the hiring process.
For example, send an automatic reply to all new applicants via email, text, or social messenger so they hear from you immediately. That initial contact will set the perfect first impression, especially if you craft a friendly, fun, and professional message to send out.
#2 Company Culture Will Be a Major Selling Point
Our next item in the list of Hiring Trends for 2020 is culture. In this decade a strong and clearly communicated company culture is no longer an option.
Thanks to social media and platforms like Glassdoor, candidates can easily see behind the curtain and understand what it’s really like to work for your company.
A strong and positive company culture is a MAJOR asset when it comes to hiring. As our societal evolution continues towards prioritizing happiness and life experience over material wealth or even stability, candidates are more careful than ever not to step into a position that will detract from their quality of life.
After all, we spend a considerable amount of our time at work and how we feel about our work very closely relates to how we feel in other areas of our lives.
Workplace culture can improve a wide variety of areas in your business, including:
Make your culture transparent.
Create a company culture page for your website or dedicate a large section of your about us page to communicating what it’s like to work there. Include things like your company values and goals but dive deeper.
Do you host events, lunches, or pay for special training for your employees? Is your company set up to promote internally hiring and growth opportunities. Is your senior leadership amazing? Make sure that’s clearly promoted on your website with photos and videos.
Share those same elements on your social media platforms as well. Not only will it attract the right types of candidates to your jobs, but your customers and potential customers will feel better about working with a company that takes great care of it’s people.
Get your people to share their experiences on Glassdoor so prospective candidates can get a taste of their real-world experiences too. These days some find it difficult to believe what a company is telling them about their culture but testimonials from real employees can help them understand what life would really be like as a part of your organization.
Word about culture gets out. You might have heard the horror stories about the conditions Amazon workers are subject to and the immense pressure the work under. You’ve likely also heard about the incredible culture in organization’s like Google where employees are given access to incredible amenities.
Culture can have a dramatic impact on the talent you’re able to attract and keep, which can have an immense impact on your business and your bottom line.
Looking Ahead
We’re very excited about what lies in store for 2020 and beyond. We have a longer list of 2020 hiring trends that we’ll be sharing over the coming weeks. The two trends listed above are some of the most important and certainly topics that you should prioritize as you move into this new decade. Be sure to look for upcoming articles on this topic in the near future.