pageup_10 hiring_trends_for_2023
15 min read

2022 brought with it a major shift in the talent market. Job vacancies increased, and applications fell significantly. Jobseekers became empowered. Employers had to work harder to attract great people. Now, in a candidate’s market, the best recruiters are re-evaluating their talent strategies to start on the right foot and attract great talent in 2023. 

Before we break down the specific trends, it’s important to provide some context. Here’s a quick look at the current state of recruitment.

 

An unstable economy

The economy has become increasingly uncertain, and businesses are tightening their belts in response. But, just because the economy is slowing down, that doesn’t mean there’s fewer jobs to fill. Patterns are emerging that indicate the hiring rollercoaster isn’t over. Unemployment rates are the lowest they’ve been in years, and for every company that is going through layoffs, new jobs are being created elsewhere. 

 

The Great Resignation continues

Around the globe, talent shortages are at a 10-year high. By 2030, it’s predicted more than 85 million jobs could go unfilled because there aren’t enough skilled people to fill them. Meanwhile, the Great Resignation continues, with 40% of the global workforce considering leaving their current employer within the next year. People are job-hopping to keep up with rising costs of living, and pivoting to different industries in search of flexibility and work-life balance.

 

A generational shift in the workforce

Once the largest generation of workers, baby boomers are now leaving the workforce in droves. In the aftermath of the pandemic, many baby boomers brought forward retirement plans, and this mass exodus has impacted the pools of available talent. 

With Gen X a smaller group, Millennials now make up the largest working cohort, while Gen Z enters the workforce. This gradual “changing of the guard” not only means less available workers overall, it also means a shift is happening in the workplace —a shift in communication styles, values and drivers. Companies need to adapt their EVPs and employer brand to capture younger generations’ interest. 

Long story short: the hiring market is changing. But the good news is that with a solid plan, the right tools and knowledge of how to navigate these challenges, your hiring team can come out ahead in 2023. It’s time to get creative: prioritiseprioritize candidate experience, employer branding and alternative sourcing channels. It’s no longer enough to sit back and expect candidates to find you: every organisationorganization has to be proactively recruiting if they want to find great people to fill open roles. 

HR teams need to overhaul their hiring practices and adapt to the new world of work. As we head into 2023, there’s one key takeaway: traditional recruiting approaches won’t cut it. Here are the 10 recruitment trends you need to know to successfully hire in 2023.

2023 Recruitment Trend 1: Recruiters think like marketers

In a tough talent market, savvy recruiters need to think like marketers.

Perhaps the biggest shift in 2023 will be the way we think about recruiting. Talent teams can no longer afford to think like traditional “HR” teams. In order to attract talent, successful recruitment teams have turned to using marketing strategies to proactively draw  applicants in. 

Recruitment marketing allows you to attract, engage, nurture and convince great jobseekers to apply for a role or express interest in your organisationorganization. It’s about using all the tools at your disposal: careers sites, social media, employee stories, job ads, employer branding, SEO and automation to deliver a personalisedpersonalized experience that paints a compelling picture of life at your company. 

In a nutshell, recruitment marketing shows jobseekers why they should want to work for you —which allows you to attract more applicants and build a strong pipeline of talent. Instead of “going fishing” every time you have an open role, you’ve got a shortlist of qualified candidates at the ready. What’s more, it allows you to segment talent into separate nurture pools to target specific cohorts with tailored communication.

This is a new world for many HR teams. Creating content and building website landing pages isn’t what most people think of when they consider pursuing a career in HR. But, with competition for talent at an all-time high, exploring new ways of doing things is the path to winning candidates. 

Content plays a major role in recruitment marketing. Jobseekers needs vary widely across industries and demographics. By taking a targeted approach, hiring teams can create content to that speaks directly to their key talent segments. With targeted calls-to-action to drive jobseekers to hit ‘apply’, talent teams can use content to build out pipelines for their hard-to-fill roles.

Once you’ve got your content, focus then turns to distribution. With the explosive growth in user-generated content and apps like TikTok, companies need to adapt their communication strategies to meet jobseekers where they are. Gen Z and millennials in particular are heavy users of social media for careers research —so posting a job ad on a job board might not produce the applications you’re after. But a short-form video, featuring your employees sharing why it’s great to work for your company? Much more compelling to that audience. 

Recruitment marketing boils down to showing the right message, to the right people, at the right time, in the right place —and presenting a cohesive picture of your employer brand across all channels. This is a huge shift away from traditional hiring strategies, but it works. And, there are plenty of tools available to help you execute your strategy easily and without increasing your workload.

Using recruitment marketing, Sportsbet was able to see the following results: 

400%

increase in referrals

550

applications via careers site

-13

days reduction in time

1/2

halved agency spent in 6 months

 

They achieved this by using recruitment marketing strategies:

  • Building an on-brand, engaging careers site
  • Driving traffic back to their site via social media 
  • Targeted CTA’s
  • Employee ambassadors and employee-generated content
  • CustomisedCustomized landing pages that speak to each talent segment
  • Content that showcases their EVP and resonates with individual talent groups

In 2023, the hiring teams that succeed will use recruitment marketing strategies to boost their talent pipelining strategy, with targeted messaging across multiple channels.

Do:

Think outside the box. Break down your key talent segments and think about what really matters to them, and construct your content and EVP messaging around that.

Use Targeted calls to action and customisedcustomized landing pages for specific talent segments (engineers, data scientists, referral networks, alumni or ex-employees) on your careers site.

Create a pipeline of talent, and use recruitment marketing tools to nurture jobseekers through your recruitment funnel.

Use your careers site as a hub for all your recruitment marketing activity. That way, you can track what’s working, and what’s not and fine-tune your strategy.

 

Don’t:

Post an ad to a job board and call it a day.

Rely on manual processes to build your talent pipeline —it’s resource-intensive and often delivers a poor candidate experience.

Be generic. In 2023, it’s about standing out from the crowd. Today’s jobseeker asks “Why should I want to work for you?” With 75% of talent not actively looking for a job, it’s up to your recruitment marketing efforts to convince them that your organisationorganization is a great fit for them.

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