Recruiting Trends to Look for in 2024

Description: It's time to explore the latest trends shaping the hiring landscape in 2024, and we're sitting down with MRA Recruiting Business Partner Lead, Katie Kestly, to do just that! With more than ten years working in recruiting, Katie has seen a number of recruiting trends come and go. Join us as we discuss the innovative strategies and technologies that are redefining the way organizations attract, assess, and retain top talent in the rapidly evolving job market of 2024. 

Resources:

MRA's Recruiting Services 

Recruiting Toolkit 

MRA Membership 

About MRA 

Let's Connect:

Guest Bio - Katie Kestly 

Guest LinkedIn Profile - Katie Kestly 

Host Bio - Sophie Boler 

Host LinkedIn Profile - Sophie Boler 

Transcript:

Transcripts are computer generated -- not 100% accurate word-for-word.

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:21:03
Unknown
Hello everybody and welcome to 30 minute Thrive, your go to podcast for anything and everything HR powered by MRA, the Management Association. Looking to stay on top of the ever changing world of HR? MRA has got you covered. We'll be the first to tell you what's hot and what's not. I'm your host, Sophie Boler, and we are so glad you're here.

00:00:21:05 - 00:00:47:03
Unknown
Now it's time to thrive. Well, hello everybody, and welcome to this episode of 30 Minute Thrive. We're here and talking with Katie Kestly today, MRA's lead recruiting, business partner, partner and subject matter expert on the topic for today. So with more than ten years of working and recruiting, Katie, I know you've seen a number of recruiting trends come and go, so I'm kind of excited to talk about trends that you'll be seeing in 2024.

00:00:47:09 - 00:01:17:17
Unknown
Yeah, but today we're going to like I said, we're going to be talking about those recruiting trends that you need to be aware of and start planning for for 2024. So according to a Recruiter Flow blog, some of the top ten trends for recruiting in 2024 will be hybrid work model, proactive candidate engagement, use of recruiting automation, diversity and inclusion, branding, data centric recruiting and list goes on, but we'll cover those in the rest of the podcast.

00:01:17:19 - 00:01:42:10
Unknown
So Katie, let's talk about some of these trends and starting out with number one on the list that is hybrid work. So are our employees really still looking for hybrid work? yeah, absolutely. That's one of the biggest challenges right now is just, you know, to work from home, to not work from home. And it's something that companies are really kind of having that hard time trying to identify where are we going to go with this?

00:01:42:11 - 00:02:09:17
Unknown
But yes, absolutely, hybrid work is here to stay. So how can an employee really still recruit top talent if they're not going to offer hybrid work? Yeah, that's a really great question. And a lot of companies run into this and I think that the the biggest thing for organizations or the biggest thing for candidates is the number one primary motivator for candidates wanting to work from home is to have that flexibility.

00:02:09:19 - 00:02:31:23
Unknown
So if organizations are able to highlight what they can offer in terms of flexibility, that's something that will make them stand out if they're not offering that hybrid policy. So, for example, a lot of organizations are getting creative with their schedules, so they're doing core days in the office or core hours that they have to be in the office.

00:02:31:23 - 00:02:52:17
Unknown
So for core days, whether it's your group or groups and Monday one, Friday, Tuesday, Thursday and even core hours. So maybe they'll do you have to be in the office from 9 to 3. So that gives them more of that flexible schedule if they want to work, come in at seven and leave at three or even if they prefer more of a 9 to 5.

00:02:52:17 - 00:03:16:09
Unknown
So really highlighting that flexibility of what they can offer. If they can't offer the hybrid. Yeah, absolutely. I was just talking on and podcasts earlier this morning about hybrid work schedules and I had an example of a friend who was at a hybrid company and now they just moved to fully in-person and a lot of people quit because of that.

00:03:16:10 - 00:03:40:20
Unknown
So I guess that leads to the next question. Is hybrid really a critical no or no go offer? I would say do you think? Yeah. I mean, personally, I like the having the flexibility. I like coming into the office. I think for candidates in the market today, just when I reach out to candidates on LinkedIn, it's the first question I get is, is this remote?

00:03:40:20 - 00:03:58:24
Unknown
I'm only looking for remote or what is the hybrid policy? I even have gotten to the point now on to my email messages saying we offer a hybrid schedule. This is what it looks like. So I would say it's critical and I think a lot of organizations are adapting and adapting to this new work model. No, I totally agree with that.

00:03:59:00 - 00:04:24:24
Unknown
Yeah, it's good to know. Yeah. So I'm also curious what is meant by proactive candidate engagement as that's another item on the list. So can you give any examples of what it really means and any examples of good proactive candidate engagement? Yeah, so proactive candidate engagement essentially is just staying on top of hiring demand. So a big bulk of what recruiters do is sourcing candidates.

00:04:24:24 - 00:04:45:09
Unknown
So creating those connections with them, trying to get them to sync up with the recs that they're working on. But say, maybe a recruiter doesn't have a full plate at the time, but they see a skill set over and over again. That's where what it means by proactive engagement, making sure you're staying ahead of those hiring demands and just kind of building that pipeline or building that network.

00:04:45:09 - 00:05:08:12
Unknown
If you will. So an example of that is just simply networking. Recruiters have LinkedIn recruiter seeds where they can build those pipelines of of candidates now, or I should say pipeline, but network of candidates. So I think an example of that is just kind of from a networking perspective. But I think in terms of being having that candidate engagement, you want to be tasteful with.

00:05:08:17 - 00:05:27:19
Unknown
You don't want to just be like, Hey, what's up? How how's it going? How are you? It's moreso, Hey, I see you're an engineer in this skill set. We've seen this skill set regularly, kind of giving them that whiff. I'm like, What's in it for them? Sharing some market data and things like that. So absolutely having those meaningful conversations.

00:05:27:19 - 00:05:52:19
Unknown
Yeah, that's a good point. We also talked a lot about Canada experience overall on the podcast, so I'm curious to know what organizations are doing to enhance the candidate experience as part of their recruitment strategy for 2024. Yeah, that's a really good question. I think the candidate experience has been a hot topic for recruiters for quite some time now.

00:05:52:19 - 00:06:17:24
Unknown
You know, you want to make sure that the candidates are well taken care of, and I think companies are doing a lot of different things to help implement that. You hear a lot of like high tech, high touch. So incorporating technology into the forefront of the applicant tracking system process, whatever it may be. Another thing that candidates excuse me that recruiters are doing as they're doing more of like a fast reply when the application comes in.

00:06:17:24 - 00:06:43:16
Unknown
So as soon as the application comes in, they're connecting with them, saying, Hey, thanks for applying. I would love to schedule a phone screen with you or schedule the interview with you. It really shows that you have that interest there. Yeah, the last thing that I've seen organizations doing is focusing more on pre-boarding. So before the candidates are coming in for their first day, they're assigning them a buddy, if you will, or they call it like a warm welcome approach.

00:06:43:16 - 00:07:01:15
Unknown
So they either, you know, assign them to a coworker, the recruiter, or the hiring manager or whatever it may be, and it kind of stays with them, you know, every step of the way before their first day. So they kind of have that more sense of belonging when they, you know, feel you know, when you start a new job, it's it's wild.

00:07:01:17 - 00:07:26:11
Unknown
You don't know where you're going, what you're doing. So it's more welcome to. Yeah, no, I could see how that would better the whole candidate experience. And you also mentioned technology in there. So another item on her was is recruiting automation. So are we really talking about technology here or even the use of artificial intelligence? Yes, we are.

00:07:26:13 - 00:07:55:07
Unknown
We are. We are. AI is everywhere. It's it's a part of the recruiting process. And it's not necessarily to replace recruiters. It's to make us better, to make us faster, to make us more efficient. So we have to deliver to our members to our customers, to our candidates. So when you think of recruiting from start to finish, from, you know, putting the job out there, sourcing the candidates, contacting the candidates, sorting the candidates, AI plays a part into every piece of those.

00:07:55:07 - 00:08:19:04
Unknown
And it's really just to make us more efficient and effective. So there's things like auto generated, personalized outreach messages, auto generated search strings based on requirements. So you have technologies and tools where you can enter in a job or enter in a job description and it will auto populate candidates to you that you can reach out to. And then lastly, it helps.

00:08:19:04 - 00:08:38:21
Unknown
There's different like add ins with different applicant tracking systems where it can help prioritize the candidates that have come into the rack and maybe which ones are a fit or are not a fit. So and some of the ones that we've explored here internally too, it's like German German hire viewer, the two that really stand out and say to stay, yeah, that's half of my mind.

00:08:38:21 - 00:09:00:16
Unknown
But yeah, I love how you said that AI is not meant to like take over. Your job is going to help you because I feel like I've heard a lot, like AI is going to take over my job. Yeah, they're taking over everything, so. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I totally agree that it's just there as a tool and you can use it to make your job more efficient, right?

00:09:00:18 - 00:09:25:08
Unknown
So diversity and inclusion was also named as a top trend for 2024. How can employers really incorporate the AI into their recruiting? Yeah, that's a really great question and I feel like this has been a big buzz for recruiting and just organizations as a whole. And obviously a lot of it stems into the beginning stages of recruiting, so I can touch every step in the recruiting process.

00:09:25:08 - 00:09:54:16
Unknown
So whether it's creating gender neutral job ads, placing the said job on diverse boards because there's a lot that are specific to different diverse organizations, you can target diverse talent pools and when you're sourcing candidates as well, partnering with local diversity partners and doing different like blind hiring methods, things like that. So you're not you know, you're focusing on it, but you're not focusing on it.

00:09:54:16 - 00:10:18:09
Unknown
Yeah. So and I've seen some other organizations, too, to draw more attention to their diverse recruiting efforts, do more of like a Happy blank day on LinkedIn. Yeah, I'd say social media, but things like Happy like Day of the Dead or things like that, just to show that they're having that drawn towards more desire for diversity in their workforce.

00:10:18:09 - 00:10:43:07
Unknown
Yeah, absolutely. And you just listed a bunch of great and steps that people can take even now right after the podcast. So we'll all link some resources to to help with that. Absolutely. The next one is branding for recruitment. And I love this one, obviously because I'm on the marketing team. So tell us more about why an organization's brand is so important in the recruitment process.

00:10:43:07 - 00:11:03:16
Unknown
Yeah, absolutely. Well, marketing and recruiting go hand in hand. Like sometimes I like to play like I'm a marketing person, but I'm really not. I'm just I like to marry the person and the candidate and everyone to where they need to go. But the main goal for branding for an organization and recruiting is just how can you differentiate, differentiate yourself?

00:11:03:18 - 00:11:21:03
Unknown
How can you have that strong and input employer brand? It's very critical and it's to highlight that within the recruitment process. So again, a lot of what recruiters do is that active candidate outreach to get, you know, maybe you have a job posted, you don't have any applicants. So how am I going to attract people to this job?

00:11:21:03 - 00:11:41:08
Unknown
So when I'm reaching out to candidates personally, I always like to make sure my emails are fun, They're light and getting the point to what they want to know. Okay, yes, schedule and compensation. But if I can leverage other social media platforms and that's what a lot of companies are doing where they can highlight their culture, their values, what makes them unique.

00:11:41:10 - 00:12:03:21
Unknown
I was actually working with one organization where they have create they created a slew of day in the life videos. So when I was recruiting for those particular skill sets and maybe the candidates didn't know exactly what a day in the life looked like, I would enter that link into my email message. So the candidate could get a better feel and physically see what a day in the life looked like.

00:12:03:23 - 00:12:26:19
Unknown
So great idea. Yeah. So that's a lot of what branding and how it kind of falls into recruitment. Yeah, I feel like recruiters have to be more creative than ever now because I don't know, there's just so many different aspects that you could write be original on and everyone wants to say, Come to us because we have hybrid work, but everyone's going to say that.

00:12:26:21 - 00:12:47:12
Unknown
So like, like you said, what makes you stand stand out and stand apart? Yeah. So as the job market becomes more competitive, what strategies are employers adopting to attract and retain top talent? I think, you know, the biggest thing that employers are doing to adopt and attract and retain the top talent is they're looking at the market too.

00:12:47:14 - 00:13:06:21
Unknown
So they're looking at the market, seeing what the competition is doing, what the competition is paying, what they're putting out there, and they're making those adjustments and they're being very mindful of that. I think a lot of what we've talked about before here is they're also meeting their employees where they're at and kind of seeing what the benefits are.

00:13:06:21 - 00:13:34:11
Unknown
That would be a benefit to them, because a benefit for me is ever been a benefit to you. So I know a lot of organizations are doing a paid or unpaid elder care daycare or child care reimbursement and also embracing a long term work from home policy and offering those flexibility. So how about some of the skills and qualities that recruiters are really prioritizing in 2024 as the job market continues to evolve?

00:13:34:11 - 00:13:56:07
Unknown
Yeah, the market's pretty saturated right now in terms of candidates and people looking for work. So I think one of the main skills and qualities that they're prioritizing is culture fit. I think, you know, everyone was so hot to trot and hot to hire a few years back. And I think they've they've learned their lesson that at the end of the day, we got to make sure we have the right culture fed.

00:13:56:07 - 00:14:33:12
Unknown
So we're having, you know, these individuals longer term. Another thing they're looking to do is increase the skills of their recruiting team. So having them, you know, adopt different technology use are different skills trainings, factoring in AI as well. And then I think last but not least, kind of what we mentioned earlier is that too much meaning the employees, where they're at the meeting, the candidates where they're at in terms of communication, I was recently recruiting for a slew of interns and I was like, Hey, this is my first time recruiting Gen Z, and I know they want short, sweet to the point.

00:14:33:12 - 00:14:59:13
Unknown
So how what is my message going to be to them? So what I ended up doing was I put together a sourcing and mail that said, Hey, I have an internship, here's the company, here's the location, here's the pay. Are you interested? Ed If so, book a time on my calendar. And I sent them a link because it was all easy to do on their phones and things like that, I got zero responses, but nine candidates scheduled phone screens for me and they all showed up to their phone screen.

00:14:59:13 - 00:15:25:03
Unknown
Really? Yeah. So a big thing is of really just meeting people where they're at and where they need to be in terms of communication skills and things like that. So those would be, in my opinion, the key skills now. Yeah, those are great examples and great things always keep in mind. Yeah, well kind of wrapping up here and looking ahead at the same time, what challenges do you really anticipate recruiters will face in the coming year?

00:15:25:05 - 00:15:46:09
Unknown
And do you have any advice that you can kind of leave us with today to help navigate some of these challenges? Yeah, I think the biggest challenge for the upcoming year for recruiting is just going to be the job market itself. I think it's it's ever changing right now. Like I started last week with two active positions and now my plate is nearly full.

00:15:46:09 - 00:16:06:18
Unknown
So it's just it's ever changing again, for better or for worse. And I don't think anyone really knows the predictability for next year. So I think that's going to be the biggest challenge. My advice on that is as a recruiter, as an employee, as a supervisor, anyone in the workforce internally or externally, communication and having those clear expectations.

00:16:06:20 - 00:16:30:00
Unknown
And I think too, from a recruiter standpoint, the advice would be gaining the trust from candidates and building the relationship. You know, you there like I said, the market is very saturated right now. So, you know, you if you ghost candidates, you know, just follow up with candidates because if someone has a bad experience, yeah, they're going to LinkedIn and they're going to post about it.

00:16:30:00 - 00:16:50:11
Unknown
So you want to make sure that you're you're ensuring that you're genuinely there to help because as a recruiter, you're there to help the candidate, you're there to help the organization, and you really just want to make sure you're gaining that trust from the candidates. That would be my, my, my biggest one advice. That is great advice. And so thank you.

00:16:50:13 - 00:17:12:10
Unknown
Well, it sounds like recruiters definitely have their hands full this year and next year, but I want to thank you for coming on the podcast and sharing your experience and expertise with us today. We're curious to know what you're doing to get ready for recruiting in 2024, so feel free to leave a comment below for a chance to win one of MRA's new swag items on the podcast.

00:17:12:12 - 00:17:31:18
Unknown
And if you liked our chat and topic today, don't forget to share out this episode and consider joining MRA if you aren't a member already. We have all the resources you need in the show Notes below, including resources on this topic. Otherwise, thank you so much for tuning in today and thanks for joining us. Katie. Thank you. And we'll see you next week.

00:17:31:20 - 00:17:52:22
Unknown
And that wraps up our content for this episode. Be sure to reference the show notes where you can sign them to connect. For more podcast updates, check out other MRA episodes on your favorite podcast platform. And as always, make sure to follow MRA's 30 minutes THRIVE so you don't miss out. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next Wednesday to carry on the conversation.