Top 5 Recruitment Trends for 2019

The hiring landscape is forever changing and evolving, as a result, every year provides unique challenges and opportunities. Consequently, it’s time to review the key trends throughout 2018 and the recruitment trends that will transform the industry this year.

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2018 in review

2018 saw a drop in the national unemployment rate, which hovered at around 4-4.2% over the year. This was beneficial for job seekers, however caused some issues for employers, including facing a candidate short market and increased competition. The year also saw a skills shortage and a decrease in the number of CVs being posted. Moreover, Brexit also caused a decrease in available job seekers, as there was a drop in the number of people migrating from the EU.

“Unemployment was at its lowest rate for over 40 years in 2018”

The low unemployment rate was also beneficial to those currently employed, as pay growth rose to 3.1%.

Moreover, the main recruitment challenges businesses faced in 2018, in order of importance were:

• A lack of relevant talent
• Targeting passive candidates
• No time to search for CVs
• Not enough resources
• Lack of time to spend screening candidates

 

Key insights from 2018:

• The most in-demand industry throughout the year was the IT sector. Due to the growing number of jobs, and interest in areas like artificial intelligence, machine learning, cybersecurity, app development etc., the sector is in high demand.

• Job boards are still the most popular place to find roles – with 94% of jobs being posted on job boards, 5% on recruitment websites and 1% on social media.
  

  “With 8.5 million visitors on average per job board and a combined database of 27 million candidates (Reed, Stepstone and CV-Library), job boards are the number one source of candidates.”

• The majority of new jobs tend to be posted during the week on Monday through Friday, with Wednesday and Thursday being the most active days. Not coincidently, these are the days when candidates are most active in terms of applications.

 

Top Recruitment Trends for 2019

 

Candidate Driven Market

As a result of the low unemployment rate and the current uncertainty in the market due to Brexit, employers need to be able to sell themselves to candidates. Now more than ever, employers need to demonstrate the value of joining their organisation and put in the effort to acquire top talent.

“86% of recruiters and 62% of employers feel the labour market is candidate-driven.”

 

Social recruiting

Social media has revolutionised most industries and although the adoption in recruitment has been slower, the power of social recruiting is becoming more and more evident. Companies will begin to harness this and increase the use of social media to promote and share jobs. A recent survey conducted by CV-Library found that 83.3% of UK hiring professionals believe that one piece of technology that will play a major part in recruitment in the year ahead is social media.

 

Improving Employer Branding

Businesses are looking to future-proof their hiring efforts by focusing on employer branding. Not only does positive employer branding increase awareness of the business itself, but more importantly assists in attracting top talent. According to LinkedIn, more than 75% of job seekers research a company’s reputation and employer brand before applying for a job. Candidates are prioritising work-life balance and job satisfaction by doing meaningful work. Businesses should be considering candidates needs and wants and reflecting that in their employer branding.

 

Improving the candidate experience

Organisations are increasingly competing for talent. They are recognising that increased competition for talent means more pressure to keep candidates engaged throughout the hiring process. They understand that they need to move quickly and overall create a positive experience for all candidates that apply.

“78% of candidates say the overall candidate experience is an indicator of how a company values its people.”

 

Diversity and inclusion

Diversity and inclusion (D&I) is all about empowering people by respecting and embracing what makes them different. D&I in the workplace, more specifically enabling every candidate and employee equal opportunities and entitlements, is essential. Ultimately, it involves creating a workplace where everyone feels as though they can be themselves, in an environment where they can thrive and succeed, without being isolated or discriminated against.

 

Author: Melanie Beckham

References:
Recruitment Trends, Annual Overview – WaveTrackR 2019
Recruitment trends for 2019 – CV-Library
The 28 Employer Branding Statistics Your Company Must Know – Everyone Social
Recruitment Statistics 2018: Trends & Insights in Hiring Talented Candidates

 

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Tags: Employers, Recruiting, Recruitment Trends Categories: Employer, HR, Reward