Current Hiring Trends: What to Expect in the New Year

With the economy expanding in recent years, we’ve seen companies expanding their workforces and unemployment rates at their lowest in decades. For those who are looking for a new job, the prospects of finding one couldn’t be brighter.

While hiring tactics are always evolving, especially with the introduction of new technologies, the current employment landscape (and the fact it is a candidate-driven market) has led to the development of new hiring approaches. We've outlined the current hiring trends that you will find in the new year and what they mean for you as a job hunter.

Expanding or Adjusting Hiring Criteria

With a more limited pool of available job candidates, employers want to ensure that they don’t overlook anyone who could potentially be the right fit. This means they are open to looking at candidates with non-traditional backgrounds or who may not have a college degree (if that’s not essential for their success in that role). While a great resume is still just as crucial, employers are using more interactive techniques to make hiring decisions such as asking candidates to write essays or take skills tests that assess soft skills such as verbal communication or problem-solving.

Blind Resume Screening

Diversity has become a top hiring priority for all industries. For that reason, more employers are using applicant tracking software that hides candidate information on the resume such as the candidate’s name, address, and where they went to college. By doing this, individuals who are screening resumes will only see the information that is pertinent to the hiring process.

Conducting Interviews Like an Audition

Instead of conducting standard conversational interviews, more employers are asking candidates to show them what they can do by having them give a presentation on how they would execute certain tasks (e.g. staging an event) or complete a mock project. This gives the employer some insight into how the candidate would perform the job.

Using Diverse Interview Teams

To ensure zero bias, more employers are assembling interview teams that include people of different ages, races, genders and experience. This allows for more diverse feedback on candidates from people with different expertise in different areas of the organization.  It also means that you will likely find yourself being interviewed by several people, either individually or as a group.

Targeting Social Media More for Recruiting

Social media is no longer just a source for companies seeking to get more personal information on their job candidates - it‘s now a top recruiting tool. Career-related social media sites such as LinkedIn are used to post jobs, search for candidates, and connect and create relationships with people the employer would like to have in their current or future candidate pool. That is why it’s important to have a social media profile with a professional photo and complete information on your background, experience and skills that incorporates the key words employers might search on to find you.

Speeding Up the Hiring Process

With the labor market largely candidate-driven, employers are working hard to attract top talent. That includes taking steps to improve the hiring process. More and more companies are using technology to make the process of finding, interviewing and selecting candidates move faster and more efficiently - great news to job seekers who have previously endured months of interviewing and waiting for a decision on a position. Applicant Tracking Systems quickly screen thousands of applications and resumes to find the most appropriate candidates. Video and mobile interviews have become more flexible, go-to options for first-round interviews. Various recruitment and candidate assessment tools are available that use artificial intelligence and algorithms, allowing employers to analyze as well as capture valuable job applicant data. With this data, employers can make more timely, fitting decisions throughout the hiring process and ensure that the candidate will not only be a great fit for the position, but a great employee for the organization.

Conclusion

The selection of candidates and the interview process, in particular, have become more inclusive, less biased, and less time-consuming - a huge plus for both employers and candidates. By understanding and taking advantage of these hiring trends, you can increase your chances of finding yourself on the short list of candidates for your desired position.

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