From AI recruitment to Gen Z-friendly perks, the world of hiring is always changing. To snag the best candidates and convince them to stick around, you need a game plan.
To get you prepped for a whole new year of hiring, we gathered frontline insights from business owners and HR experts on what to expect next, plus their top survival tips for navigating the year ahead.
From digging deeper to find the right candidates to creating a standout employer brand in a competitive market, we’ve got the insights you need for a year of happy hiring.
Recruiting challenges for 2023:
- Snagging qualified candidates quickly
- Selecting the right candidates
- Nurturing the candidate pipeline
- Differentiating perks and benefits
- Building a strong employer brand
- Prioritizing genuine inclusion
- Bridging the skills gap
- Providing mobility in an uncertain market
- Attracting Gen Z candidates
Recruiting Challenge #1. Snagging qualified candidates quickly
If you’re like most folks who wear the hiring hat, you’ve probably already felt the sting of this one.
According to Arthur Worsley, former McKinsey consultant and founder of The Art of Living, even top recruiters can expect to have an even tougher time recruiting and hiring the right potential candidates to apply in 2023.
“Research shows that the most qualified candidates are usually snatched up within 10 days of being in the market, indicating how competitive it is to attract such candidates.”
As an employer, not only do you need to act fast, you also need to do one better than the competition in this talent shortage season.
“More often than not, quality candidates are usually considering more than one offer at the same time. We should also expect to see more poaching of employees from other companies this coming year as the competition for quality talent continues to heat up,” Arthur explains.
The way he sees it, if you want to attract and retain top talent, now is the time to get serious about winning the attention of qualified candidate audiences.
“One of the best ways to do this is by maintaining a strong employer brand with a healthy reputation. 70% of high quality candidates will refrain from applying to a company that has a bad reputation.”
Recruiting Challenge #2. Looking beyond the obvious to select the right candidates
Lisa Richards, CEO and creator of the Candida Diet, predicts that even with a great HR tech stack, finding the right candidates for your open roles will remain a challenge.
She believes that HR experts not only need to spruce up their job descriptions to reel in qualified candidates — they also need to dig deeper when screening.
“HR needs to look beyond the obvious when assessing a candidate’s compatibility, and should train their software to do the same.”
In 2023, her advice is to focus on honing in your process for selecting and screening top applicants to find those that truly are the right fit.
“For instance, HR teams should always look out for a proactive mindset, cultural fit, and opportunity inclination when determining whether a candidate is the right person for the job. It's also critical that HR learns how to develop the right screening questions for each role to help optimize the candidate selection process.”
Recruiting Challenge #3. Not ghosting your pipeline
As an employer, when you decide not to hire a candidate, that’s usually the end of it.
But experts like Roza Szafranek, CEO of HR Hints, believe neglecting your candidate pipeline presents a major Recruiting Challenge moving into 2023.
Roza has noticed what she describes as a “lack of feedback and communication to people with whom we no longer want to talk about employment,” and according to her, something has to give.
“Today, up to 90 percent of people do not receive feedback, and this will continue as HR departments become smaller and smaller due to planned hiring freezes.”
Her advice? Instead of letting an unselected candidate slip through the cracks, follow up and keep them in your candidate pool a spart of your recruiting strategy. By keeping an open channel of communication, you may be able to re-engage them for a future position.
“It will be very important to help streamline and speed up the process of rejecting candidates, which will also take into account the transfer of feedback,” Roza predicts.
Recruiting Challenge #4. Differentiating perks and benefits
According to Daisy Taylor, HR manager at Absolute Digital Media, the biggest obstacle for hiring managers in 2023 is competition for people and skills.
As businesses get back on their feet, everyone’s trying to snap up desirable hires. So how can you help your company compete?
“Offer unique perks and benefits that make you stand out from your competition.”
According to on-the-ground HR practitioners like Daisy, your employee perks and benefits don't have to be expensive or complicated. But they do need to deliver real value.
“Think outside the box and offer staff what they actually want, not just what a company says on the tin. At Absolute Digital Media we provide an extensive private health care package for all employees and the opportunity to work from anywhere in Europe. These are perks and benefits that we know our employees and future employees want.”
Recruiting Challenge #5. Polishing your employer brand 🥇
“Building a strong employer brand is critical to draw more candidates and keep them interested.”
Maximilian Wühr, Forbes 30 under 30 founder and Co-founder of car subscription-provider FINN is another big believer in the power of a strong employer brand.
But how should you go about jumping on this recruitment trend? According to Max:
“All touchpoints of recruitment should reflect branding so candidates understand exactly who you are and why they should want to work for you.”
From your job ads to social media to your offer letters, everything should be working for (never against) your reputation as an employer.
“Polish everything from your careers portal to employee testimonials and more. Share branding content on your socials or create a separate account for your recruitment efforts, and personalize your communications, so candidates feel valued.”
By putting a polished and personal touch on every part of the process, candidates will feel like they can really get to know your brand and build a connection long before the interview.
Recruiting Challenge #6. Prioritizing genuine inclusion
According to Geoff Cudd, founder of Don't Do It Yourself, attitudes towards mental health and work-life balance may make hiring more challenging. The good news is, our businesses and employees will both be better for it.
“Quiet quitting and the great resignation may also become more prevalent as employees prioritize their mental health and overall satisfaction with their job.”
He believes company culture needs to evolve hand-in-hand with changing employee preferences, which also includes expectations around equity in the workplace.
“In terms of diversity and inclusion, companies will need to focus on creating a truly inclusive environment, not just in terms of race and gender but also in terms of neurodiversity, disability, sexual orientation, and other underrepresented groups,” Geoff notes.
In recent years, many businesses have doubled down on their workplace diversity initiatives. And now is not the time to stop.
“Closing the gap between diversity hiring goals and actual representation will require targeted recruitment efforts and a strong emphasis on creating an inclusive workplace culture. They will also need to address the impact of unconscious bias in the hiring and promotion process to ensure fair opportunities for all candidates,” he explains.
Taking the necessary steps to mitigate bias and level the playing field not only benefits candidates and employees, it improves the whole organization.
Recruiting Challenge #7. Bridging the skills gap
Jim Holzer, Managing Partner at Drake Star Partners, is an M&A/tech advisor and an experienced HR tech expert.
According to him, the skills gap is one of the major problems brewing in 2023.
“The overall number of open positions far exceeds the number of available candidates, and a skills gap is making it even more difficult to find the right talent that will stay in a job.”
As a tech evangelist, it’s no surprise Jim believes that having the right tools can give you a sharper competitive edge in building a workforce with all the right skills.
“Digital recruiting tools involving AI, data, and people analytics will ease the various pain points behind finding and selecting candidates that are the best fit,” he explains. “Ensuring that HR and corporate culture extend into employee retention and satisfaction also helps eliminate the churn. HR technology should be used to identify skills gaps and take advantage of remote learning to bolster employee capabilities.”
Recruiting Challenge #8. Providing mobility in an uncertain job market
According to Raluca Jamault-Otelea, Talent Acquisition Director at global upskilling platform 360Learning, companies looking to hire need to keep mobility in mind.
“The high level of unemployment and hiring freezes we currently see on the market will lead to the rise of internal mobility and the gig economy,” Raluca explains.
“Candidates are no longer thinking of career growth in traditional terms due to an uncertain job market.”
Raluca believes that employees are increasingly moving into one of two core career trajectories:
- Other areas within their current organization, signaling a growing internal mobility trend.
- Gig work — e.g. freelancing, short term gigs, contract gigs — which has been especially appealing to Gen Z.
In 2023, HR professionals and hiring teams will need to get creative about developing career progression strategies that fit the modern workforce.
Recruiting Challenge #9. Zeroing in on Gen Z
“As the number of Gen Z workers increases in 2023, employers will need to alter their hiring practices if they want to draw in this new talent,” says David Bitton, co-founder and CMO at DoorLoop.
“Gen Zers are skilled in technology and were raised in a quick-paced, internet-focused atmosphere. They are digital natives who anticipate a workplace where digital collaboration and connectivity are standar.”
So what do businesses need to do to get these up-and-comers on their side?
“Businesses will need to upgrade their tech infrastructure to meet this standard. One strategy here is to change workplace communications and training to be digital-first.”
But going digital-first doesn’t just mean using laptops and video conferencing software. It extends all the way to the application process.
“Gen Zers…favor an application process that is entirely digital, mobile-first, and simple to follow. This must be performed successfully because a poor applicant experience can have long-lasting effects.”
Geoff even shares a few ideas on where to start when digitizing your recruitment process:
- “Use AI chatbots to arrange interviews and to give candidates pre-written answers to frequently asked questions.”
- “Think about using interview software that enables applicants to record responses and submit them online.”
- “Ensure you have mobile integration software capabilities so applicants can quickly apply from their phones.”
With the right applicant tracking system, you can automate all of the above (and more!), while freeing up more time to connect with your best candidates.
Meet every Recruiting Challenge with a plan
At Breezy, we've seen hiring managers navigate many a shift in the talent market.
If we've learned anything it's that, with the right plan in place, every Recruiting Challenge can become an opportunity. We built Breezy to provide growing companies with end-to-end recruiting software that helps you attract and hire great employees with less effort — no matter what's happening in the world around you.
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