Five recruitment predictions to anticipate in 2023

The last few years have been turbulent for the recruitment sector, and this trend is set to continue as the sector faces a backdrop of a recession, low unemployment rates and the continuing skills shortage. Talent attraction and retention strategies are the top concern for UK businesses, as they adapt to changing work dynamics. What will 2023 bring?  We have outlined our five recruitment predictions that we anticipate will dominate in 2023 and reflect on how recruiters could be adopting them to give their agencies the best chance of succeeding in challenging times.

Positive candidate experience 

Recruitment is now a two-way street. The candidate dialogue has shifted from ‘Am I a good fit for this company’ towards ‘Is this company a good fit for me’. The rising demand for skilled professionals, coupled with increased employee bargaining power means that recruiters must look to optimise their recruitment process if they are to successfully place candidates.

To attract the best talent, recruiters will be focussing on ensuring their recruitment process is the best it can be.  Below we have outlined the key areas that recruiters will need to focus to increase their chance of success: 

• Automate CV screening and virtual hiring to speed up the application process
• A multichannel recruitment process
• Transparency regarding the hiring process, salary and working conditions
• Highlight the client’s business culture and values to ensure a good match with the candidate
• Active and personalised communication during the hiring process
• Actively seek feedback from applicants to feedback to clients but also to continually improve the process

Employer branding is increasingly more important

The recruitment sector relies on UK businesses to recognise the increasing importance of employer branding and the impact it has on the recruitment process.  Employers need to look beyond a competitive salary and benefits package. An employer’s perceived reputation and popularity are important factors used by prospective candidates to evaluate a company. A strong employer brand attracts top candidates, shortens the time it takes to hire, and increases acceptance rates, thus, lowering the overall cost per hire. In today's competitive job market, businesses must differentiate themselves from other employers through developing a strong EVP (employee value proposition). Prior to applying, candidates thoroughly research the employer brand and reputation, with 84% of candidates rating the employer brand as highly important in their decision-making process (TalentNow,2022).   

Outlined below are areas that recruiters should challenge their clients to articulate to support the process:  

• A compelling brand story that aligns with the values of the top talent you are looking to hire
• Define the EVP and effectively communicate it throughout the recruitment process
• Promote the channels they use to demonstrate their employer brand in action

We predict that employers will be increasing their focus on softer skills in 2023 - leadership, communication and problem solving.  In contrast to hard skills, soft skills are highly transferable across roles and vital for the increasingly virtual workplaces. According to a recent LinkedIn report, 61% of professionals view soft skills as equally as important as technical hard skills. 

Hybrid work model

The pandemic served as a catalyst for the growing trend in hybrid workplaces, and as people have grown accustomed to flexible working conditions, it appears this trend is here to stay. In 2022, job hunters were actively filtering for hybrid roles as their non-negotiables. Workers are empowered by the hybrid-work model, which promotes autonomy and allows for greater work-life balance. This flexible work model is crucial for attracting and retaining top employees, especially in times of talent shortages. Furthermore, it removes the traditional geographical restrictions, providing recruiters and their clients with access to a larger talent pool.

Growth of intelligent recruitment automation

Automated technology will continue to make waves in 2023.  Its ability to pervade the online space, enabling recruiters to identify and access a wider and larger talent pool, brings not only efficiencies in the front-end recruitment process but ultimately will reduce the overall cost to hire, promising a positive return on investment. 

A few benefits of how intelligent automation can enhance the recruitment process:

• Candidate sourcing

Intelligent sourcing leverages AI to scan data online for candidates that match your target candidate profile and deliver automated vacancy alerts through communications (e.g., emails, text etc). 

• Resume screening

Manual resume screening is possibly one of the most time-consuming tasks carried out by talent acquisition teams. Implementing intelligent screening helps significantly speed up the screening process and mitigates the risk of a bad hire through an efficient but thorough decision-making process. 

• Pre hiring assessments

Automated pre-hiring assessments helps mitigate the threat of hiring biases interfering with the candidate selection process. These assessments focus on assessing relevant candidate characteristics and skills and ranking them based on their suitability to the role. 

• Communication

Intelligent applications can be leveraged to automate accurate responses to candidate queries. This helps significantly bridge the communication gap and offloads responsibility from HR staff who would typically be responsible for this task.