11 Dominant Recruitment Trends You Need to Know in 2023

Over the last few years, there have been monumental changes towards a candidate-driven job market catalyzed by the pandemic and shifting employee expectations.

To find the best talent, you’ll need to take steps to stand out from your competitors. That means assessing your hiring pipeline to ensure you stay on top of the latest recruitment trends to ensure your processes are optimized for candidates.

Here are 11 dominant future trends in recruitment to be aware of in 2023.

1. Candidate experience is key

Delivering a compelling candidate experience is crucial in today’s market. This relates to how potential recruits perceive and live through your organization’s recruitment process.

There are several steps you can take to create the ultimate candidate experience, such as ensuring that the hiring process is easy, maintaining excellent communication and offering flexible interview options.

If you offer a poor hiring experience, this can lead to substantial costs to your business and damage your reputation moving forward.

2. Employer branding

In today’s competitive market, staying on top of your employer branding plays a key role in attracting the best candidates.

A company’s employer brand is determined by its reputation and popularity as an employer, as well as the employee value proposition that it offers. Ensuring your approach is focused on integrating employee engagement with your branding is key to attracting candidates expediently and retaining them once they’re onboard.

To stay accountable and on track, you can use employer branding metrics like candidate quality, cost per hire and employee experience to understand how your company is perceived by candidates.

Learn more: Become an Employer Branding Hero: Overcoming These 5 Common Challenges

3. Remote and hybrid work are here to stay

Since the pandemic, many companies have recognized the benefits remote work offers and have decided to embrace this kind of work environment. Today, 74% of US companies use or plan to implement a hybrid work model.

Recruiters have realized that remote work flexibility is a key incentive for job seekers and many won’t consider a role if they’re required to be in the office full-time. In addition to facilitating a better work-life balance, the demand for remote and hybrid work is also driven by inflation and the rising cost of fuel leading to large expenses for commuters.

The acceleration of remote and hybrid work not only offers benefits for the workforce but for companies as well. Reduced office space costs and increased employee satisfaction are just a few of these.

4. Employee well-being and mental health

Organizations are emphasizing the importance of employee well-being and mental health in the workplace.

In 2023, we can expect to see this trend continue, with HR teams leveraging tools that help to identify red flags and support employee well-being including employee assistance programs (EAPs), mental health apps, employee therapy programs and more.

Furthermore, selecting mental health champions can help to raise awareness and educate teams about the importance of mental well-being in the workplace.

Learn more: We Know Employee Mental Health Matters, But How Can We Improve It?

5. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

One of the latest trends in recruitment set to gain traction in 2023 is DEI. Employees are more aware than ever before about the potential of workplace discrimination, so it’s important to have the right practices and procedures in place to ensure recruitment personnel don’t ask the wrong questions during the hiring process.

When employees and employers have access to the right training, the impact of DEI can be seen across the organization and leads to a number of benefits, such as a strong employer brand, higher employee satisfaction and engagement, as well as reduced turnover.

6. Increased use of analytics

Data analytics tools are used to help HR teams make hiring decisions based on information gleaned from applicant tracking software, recruitment marketing platforms and other sources. HR analytics empowers hiring personnel to gain insights into their recruitment strategies and to use this information to identify areas for improvement, evaluate skills gaps and increase retention.

Learn more: Cream of the Crop: How Talent Analytics Can Fill Your Leadership Gaps

7. Social recruiting

It’s estimated there will be six billion social media users by 2027. The ubiquitous nature and accessibility of social media has led to it becoming a powerful hiring channel. There are many examples of companies that have mastered social recruiting, such as McKinsey, which uses its social platforms to showcase what it’s like to work at the company.

Social recruiting enables HR teams to find, connect and engage with candidates where they already spend their time. Some of the main benefits of social recruiting include that you can expand your reach and reduce the cost of hiring, as posting job ads on your profiles is generally free.

8. Employers hiring for soft skills

There’s a widening skills gap across the US, which is why recruiters will be increasingly focused on hiring for soft skills moving forward. Soft skills include collaboration, communication and problem solving. Many jobs will be fully automated in the coming years, but soft skills continue to be essential as they shape the way we work and interact with others in the workplace.

9. Advances in AI technology

Artificial intelligence (AI) is being leveraged to improve the role of HR professionals (rather than replace them) in tasks such as screening and selecting candidates.

Machine learning used in AI applications can minimize biases to allow for fairer, improved candidate selection and therefore promote diversity in the workplace.

Ensuring an objective recruitment process can be challenging. However, AI technology can be leveraged to reduce the impact of different types of biases that impact the hiring process, as well as gain valuable insights into candidates to help HR teams make the right decisions.

10. Use of recruiting automation

HR automation tools are being adopted by recruiters to remove inefficiencies and streamline the hiring process. These solutions can be used to find, attract and convert candidates to qualified applications. Some key benefits of recruiting automation software include:

• Help in finding the best candidates
• Reduce time to hire
• Enhance the candidate experience

11. Gamification

Gamification can be implemented at various stages in the recruitment process, from hiring and onboarding, to employee training. It involves using game theory and design to offer a more engaging experience to candidates.

Examples include using reward systems, leaderboards, quizzes or hackathons to boost employee participation, enhance productivity and motivate candidates throughout the hiring process.

Learn more: 5 Ways You Can Use Gamification to Create Awesome Learning Experiences