The job market has constantly fluctuated since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, the National Association of Manufacturers reports that, even though the industry recouped 63% of jobs lost from the pandemic, there were still 570,000 positions left vacant after 2020. This shift in the job market and the rise of work-from-home and hybrid work environments has changed the way staffing agency services recruit.
Change in the industry isn’t bad; this just means that businesses and candidates alike need to adapt. With a recruiter on your side, you’ll be updated on all the latest developments in recruiting and staffing. Let’s take a look at a few of the factors that are changing the hiring and staffing processes for businesses in a variety of industries.
The Need for Recruiting and Staffing Agencies
By using an external, professional team to hire, your company is a step ahead of your competitors. Recruiters who have experience hiring for hybrid or work-from-home environments are difficult to beat in the recruiting game. Other companies might try to hire with their internal HR departments, but that’s often ineffective. Professional recruiters have experience identifying the right candidates for a position, especially when it comes to staffing a hybrid environment. It can be difficult to find a candidate you can rely on right off the bat to work from their home, even if they’re coming into the office a few days a week.
The top staffing agencies have gathered experience in understanding the hybrid work environment over the past few years. This is partly due to their own hybrid environments forming. This familiarity has also come from seeing candidates through the hiring process day in and day out. Recruiters see the perspective of the candidate and the employer, giving them insight that each side is missing! They also understand how to properly market positions, highlighting the benefits of a flexible work schedule while still being clear about the expectations of the open position.
The Normalization of WFH Benefits
Recruiters, businesses, and job seekers alike know that work-from-home benefits are more commonplace than they’ve ever been before. According to Forbes, 12.7% of full-time employees work from home, while 28.2% work in a hybrid environment. This is a major pull for candidates. Having a hybrid environment allows employees to balance their lives with ease; they can take their children to school, prepare dinner, or work out right after work. Allowing employees to work from home, even one day a week, also promotes trust in the workplace. When employees know that their employers trust them, it can ease tension and loosen boundaries that have separated managers and direct reports in the past. Candidates know these benefits are out there, and they want to take advantage. It’s important to highlight whatever benefits you have to offer, so work with a recruiting and staffing agency to build a complete profile of your open position.
If your business is not in a place to support a hybrid environment, using a recruiter can help bridge the gap between competitors who can. It’s important to talk about the other benefits that your workplace has to offer. You can also talk with your staffing agency about the benefits of working in the office, which have been forgotten in some industries. These staffing professionals can help you craft your posting, including any necessary videos and materials that can help attract candidates. Take advantage of their expertise to help you build an excellent and qualified team.
The Use of Technology in Recruitment
In-person recruiting doesn’t usually take place until the final stages of an interview process anymore, especially for C-suite positions. It’s been reported that the candidate application rate rises by 34% when a job post includes a video. Content production and social media presence are more important than ever for businesses and recruiters. It can be difficult to keep up with your social media, especially if you don’t have an internal marketing team. By working with a recruiter, you’re gaining access to their book of available, qualified candidates gathered from LinkedIn and professional conferences.
AI-based job boards that use tracking systems have also affected the recruiting and staffing process. While technologies like these can assist recruitment efforts, they are more useful as support systems to weed out candidates who are underqualified for the available positions. With hybrid work available, it also creates room for candidates who aren’t local to the business, or at least have not yet moved to the area. In the past, recruiters might have only seen candidates who can make an easy commute! Now, those boundaries have been broken and the right candidate can be sourced from across the country.
What Happens Next?
So, what is the future of recruitment going to look like? How can recruiters prepare for new candidates? The online space will be just as important as it is right now. This is why recruiters keep their LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and Facebook platforms active. Mobile-friendly applications are important, as well. As many industries start to use AI and streamline their processes, the qualified candidate pool will start to shrink. You don’t want your candidate pool to be limited by a lack of mobile access. In the future, AI will become more and more useful as a supportive tool for recruiters to weed through applications.
As with all industries, the professionals are the most up-to-date on best practices. In fact, according to EDX Enterprise, 74% of U.S. companies are underperforming when it comes to hiring. Without an understanding of the newest hiring tactics, you’ll end up wasting time on candidates who don’t have the experience you need in your position. Take the time, instead, to find a long-term solution to your hiring by talking to one of the best staffing agencies that specialize in your industry.
If you’re wondering how headhunters help businesses staff, reach out to us at Kane Partners. It’s a complex industry that we can help you navigate through. We have the recruiting and staffing resources to craft and complete your workforce.
