Recruitment: how to adapt to tomorrow’s world?

To anticipate the recruitment challenges of tomorrow with new technologies, economic trends, societal changes and evolutions in the HR professions, it is essential to develop solid adaptation strategies.

Find in this article, the keys to adapt as a recruiter and remain effective in a constantly changing environment.

HR Strategy

Expert HR consultant SQORUS

The pre-crisis and post-crisis worlds are not the same. We saw this during the financial crisis of 2008, or during the health crisis of 2020. The impacts on the job market are inevitable, as shown in the chart below from APEC.

About ten years ago, with the acceleration of Web 2.0, we witnessed changes in recruitment practices (publication of job offers, job boards, etc.) with new approaches in the hands of recruiters, thanks to HR solutions called ATS (Application Tracking System).

Until then, recruiters faced several difficulties: managing a huge mass of CVs, reducing the recruitment time… These difficulties have not totally disappeared, but the tools have still had a positive impact for recruiters.

However, beyond the APEC report, which mentions recruitment difficulties for the year 2022, we note an unprecedented change in the job market the number of resignations is increasing (“Great resignation”).

This particular situation is only the result of the upheavals in the labor market over the last two years, marked by “Stop & Go”, hiring freezes, layoffs… These consequences are interesting to analyze from different angles. In particular, the fact that candidates have changed, and that recruiters must naturally adapt accordingly.

I was invited to a HR morning dedicated to recruiters at the end of 2022 on the theme “Candidates are changing and you?” hosted by MyRHLine. This one mentioned several changes: for some job offers where the recruiter received more than 20 CVs on average, he will now have to be satisfied with half of them. Candidates discuss or negotiate their working conditions and remuneration at the first interview, they are more interested in the values of the company they are applying for to ensure that they are aligned with it…

Unquestionably, the balance of power has been rebalanced between candidate and recruiter, and this will become, in my opinion, “the norm in the future of recruitment”! There will be no turning back, and the companies that maintain their positions will draw the consequences.

The candidate/prospect must be considered as a “potential employee” in a “Customer” approach from the first contact, and not wait until he/she becomes an employee in the company.

But let’s get back to the main topic of this article. How should the Recruiter adapt in a constantly changing world?

How should human resources adapt to change?

To answer this question in a methodical way, even if there is no turnkey solution, it is advisable to imagine recruitment differently by putting yourself in the shoes of a candidate.

Por Alain Fournier, Director of Recruitment and Diversity at the BPCE Group, the paradigm has changed: “It used to be that recruiters could just post ads and wait for applications to come in, but those days are gone. We can no longer be static with the candidates. From now on, they are the ones who expect companies to come and meet them and promote their project. They only apply if they are convinced that the company will meet their expectations“. It is therefore clear that upstream of the employee experience, HR teams must invest in the candidate experience.

Candidates are researching your company, be prepared! It is up to you to attract them by having a “Market” approach: “95% of candidates find out about a company before applying” (Stepstone)

In an increasingly digitalized world, enhancing your employer brand (re)becomes the real key issue when recruiting and even more so in a context of war for talent. The recruiter has to innovate and change his strategy/posture, and several techniques exist to help him in this sense…

The employee experience is becoming an increasingly important part of corporate strategy, as companies become more aware of their influence on employee engagement. If you are interested in this topic, we wrote an article on the perception gap that can exist between HR and employees in the employee experience.

What strategy should you adopt to keep up with all these changes in recruitment?

Inbound recruitment

In reality, the recruiter is already practicing marketing when he or she publishes an ad on a job board or when he or she shares information on the career site. But it must go one step further by applying known and recognized marketing techniques such as inbound marketing: the inbound Recruitment is to attract potential candidates to feed its pool, or targeted profiles corresponding to a need, by setting up adapted strategies: “93% of companies that have adopted inbound marketing have seen real positive impacts on their conversion rate” (HubSpot).

This step having been conclusive, you were able to either attract his intention, his curiosity or confirm his interest to join your company. The candidate applies and enters a new “candidate experience“.

At this stage, it should be simple from the start, with clear steps and an intuitive user interface. A lengthy application process can quickly discourage the candidate from going through with the application.

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Meet the candidate for an interview with a “human” approach

I had surveyed a sample of recruiters via LinkedIn in late 2022, and observed that the recruiter should spend about 80% of the interview time with the candidate. In my interactions with recruiters, one shared a successful new approach: “At the beginning of the interview, I put the candidate’s resume aside and asked him to introduce himself. This created an atmosphere of exchange and trust“.

As Alexandre Pachulski, co-founder of Talensoft (acquired by Cegid) in his comments: “Recruitment requires more than ever that we focus on people rather than on resumes“. If you are interested in the subject, we have written an article about it: Human Centric.

Profiling in interviews

There are several methods and techniques to which the recruiters call upon for Without making comparisons between them, I was nevertheless struck by an assessment technique practiced live during the HR morning mentioned above, namely that of profiling: “We all do behavioral profiling on a daily basis with those around us. What if we could do the same thing in interviews by paying more attention to the non-verbal communication of the candidates?” Arnaud Bochurberg, teacher in psychosociology of communication.

Indeed, the decision to hire is made after the interview. However, recruiters are not trained to analyze a candidate’s personality. The DISC (Dominant, Influential, Stable and Conforming) and the MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) are two assessment tools that provide indicators on a candidate’s personality and behavior.

Their use would allow us to match the candidate’s profile with that of the recruiting team. It is also a good exercise that allows the candidate to discover his or her profile traits, and as explained by the company WeSuggest: “If a candidate can express himself freely on his qualities during the interview, it’s good… but if he or she can learn more about himself or herself, it’s even better!”

Finally, instead of asking the candidate questions such as: how do you see yourself in the next 2 to 5 years, it would be relevant to present a business plan in which the candidate can be involved over time and then explain his or her role in the organization.

Offer innovative onboarding that is true to the employer brand

Recruitment doesn’t end with the signature, it’s time for onboarding with an “innovative” approach that is true to the employee brand!

For HR teams, the day the employee arrives may seem like an ordinary day to welcome (again) a new employee to the company. But for the candidate, this is a special day! He has spoken so enthusiastically about it to his friends and family, like a new adventure that is beginning… So how can we make sure that the onboarding is successful?

As a continuation of the candidate and employee experience, employee onboarding should reflect your employer brand, through which you have attracted the prospect and succeeded in converting them. This is the logical next step in the recruitment process. Indeed, the employer must be faithful to its identity and to the external image it has sold upstream, at the risk of seeing its employer brand damaged and its onboarding fail, and thus its recruitment.

“50% of employees say they are ready to quit within the first month of employment” (A survey conducted for Robert Half). Poor reception was cited as a reason for dissatisfaction by 29.9%.

Onboarding is the final touch to confirm your recruitment and playing the innovation card can help you stand out on this decisive stage.

Several companies have understood this, like the marketing agency Element three, which has chosen to develop a unique “Welcome pack”. It includes: a personalized welcome note from their CEO, a vintage keychain featuring the key to the building, and a list of fun challenges that the new hire must complete over the next 4 weeks.

Conclusion on the recruitment of tomorrow

In conclusion, the recruiter and in general the HR function must continue to innovate, to (re)thinking about new approaches
as it has been able to demonstrate during the crisis, in order to adapt with agility to a world that is constantly changing.

The year 2023 is off to a strong start with that technological revolution everyone is talking about, ChatGPT, and that’s just the beginning… So how will recruiters approach it? What are the risks and opportunities that this new technology can bring to recruiters? So many questions that we can raise and that recruiters are already starting to talk about on social networks….

On this subject, SQORUS, a consulting firm specialized in digital transformation of HR, Finance and IT functions, can help you with your recruitment, HR innovation, data or AI issues. Do not hesitate to contact us to discuss with our experts.