Top 9 Recruiting Trends In 2022 To Find Talented Employees

Updated 15 March 2023

Organisations can refine their recruitment techniques to attract highly skilled employees who can make positive contributions. Some organisations may use social media to attract talent, while others may rely on internal or project-based recruitment. Understanding the various recruitment trends that are prevailing in 2022 can allow you to help an organisation streamline its hiring process.

In this article, we list nine of the top recruitment trends for 2022 and define how they can help an organisation experience a successful hiring process.

9 Recruitment Trends

Here are nine recruitment trends to help you find and retain talented employees for an organisation:

1. Proactivity instead of reactivity

One of the most prevalent trends in recruitment is proactivity instead of reactivity. Companies are attempting to make their recruitment strategies proactive so that they can attract employees before they ever need them. This strategy is a wise departure from the reactive approach to recruitment. When an organisation has a reactive approach, it may not be able to fill vacant positions efficiently. Instead, recruiters can actively look for qualified candidates who can meet the requirements of specific positions. Then, the recruiters can choose suitable employees before the company's hiring needs even become apparent.

2. Creating a persuasive candidate experience

Another emerging recruitment strategy is to emphasise the potential candidate's experience. A company can implement this strategy by making good first impressions with the candidates it interviews. This initiative can begin as early as the candidate's first interaction with an organisation's career page on its website. A company can dedicate resources to building a comprehensive career page on its website. This website can provide the most current information that is available, and it can connect all potential candidates to relevant opportunities within the organisation.

It is also important to inform candidates of the benefits that the company offers. Try to emphasise the benefits beyond pay. Potential employees want to know that the company appreciates its staff, so you can highlight perks like a company's benefits packages, performance incentive programmes and organisational values and culture.

3. Remote working

Recruiters often try to attract employees by featuring the opportunity for remote work as one of the main benefits of joining the company's staff. Remote work is often beneficial for organisations, as it can reduce overhead costs and instances of staff absences. Instead of focusing on these organisational benefits, a company may try to emphasise the individual benefits. For example, remote work is appealing to employees because it allows them to work for prominent organisations without needing to relocate.

Other benefits of remote work that recruiters highlight include the opportunity to work with diverse team members and the ability to complete their assigned tasks from the comfort of their own homes. Some organisations may emphasise their innovation. They may discuss the advancement opportunities that are available to employees because of the increased productivity that remote work allows. They may also explain the collaboration tools and software that make the remote work their employees complete possible.

4. Social media recruiting

Some companies are beginning to use social media as a primary recruitment strategy. With the increasing number of social media users and heightened mobile usage, this strategy is a natural technique to implement in 2022. When companies use social media to advertise open job positions, potential candidates can interact with the postings when they are out in public or relaxing at home and using their mobile devices. Recruiters can capture and maintain potential candidates' interest in the available position with graphics, videos or short posts with enticing text.

Recruiters can also use specific strategies on social media to optimise their reach. For example, they can use hashtags to target users who are searching for specific positions. They may also use localisation features so that users can find companies that are hiring in their location in case the position demands in-person meetings or collaboration.

5. Emphasising soft skills

Another trend that is emerging in companies' recruitment processes is an emphasis on soft skills. While organisations tend to consider soft skills on a broad level, companies are starting to prioritise them more. This technique is even prevailing in industries that require advanced technical knowledge, like the information technology (IT) and manufacturing industries.

Recruiters may assess potential candidates' soft skills like time management, persuasion, adaptability, creativity and collaboration. They may study candidates' behavioural patterns during interviews and how they react to hypothetical ethical dilemmas. Recruiters may also assess how a candidate interacts with others and interacts with authority figures by having them speak with current employees to discuss the scope of the open position.

6. Recruiting with artificial intelligence (AI) methods

Screening candidates can often be time-consuming for an organisation, so many companies are completing certain recruiting tasks with AI methods. AI methods allow for greater automation, which allows companies to save time and dedicate staff resources to completing more urgent tasks. For example, a company may implement a chatbot as part of its recruiting process. The chatbot can communicate with potential candidates using natural language processing (NLP) tools.

This kind of technology can minimise biases that recruiters may have and show unintentionally. This technology may also screen candidates and eliminate ones from the selection pool that do not meet the basic requirements that the open position demands. It is important to note that some AI technologies may adopt human biases, so it is essential to use technologies that their creators have developed with algorithms that abide by anti-bias standards.

7. Emphasising internal recruitment

Companies are beginning to rely on internal recruitment as a way to locate talented employees for higher-level positions. When current employees have the opportunity to advance with a company, they may feel more respected and may remain with the organisation for longer. Retaining the same employees can help a company lower its recruiting and training costs, as it can work on expanding an existing employee's skills rather than teaching someone an entirely new set of organisational values and procedures.

8. Preferring project-based hiring

Although project-based recruiting is not a brand-new strategy, it is helpful for companies that need talented individuals for specific projects. Instead of seeking an employee who assumes a full-time position with a company and accepts a broad range of responsibilities, companies can hire employees on an as-needed basis. By implementing this method, companies can locate employees who have expertise in their desired area. Employees may appreciate this method of recruiting because it lets them have flexibility with the roles they accept.

When an employee accepts a position via project-based hiring, they work on their assigned project until their project expires. The organisation may hire the same employee to complete additional projects. The company may also choose to hire different contractors so that they can continue a pattern of avoiding the acquisition of additional costs. It can also access a grant range of expertise if it chooses to hire multiple contractors within a specific period.

9. Implementing predictive analytics

While some employers might base their interactions largely on candidates' personalities and interview answers, others may implement predictive analytics. Predictive analytics offer specific details about candidates so that employers can locate the ideal employee to fill a position. Some metrics that predictive analytics may cover include a candidate's connections to other people in the industry and education credentials.

Predictive analytics offers profound insight so that employers can determine which candidates are and are not searching for new job opportunities. It may consider data from previous months and years to locate prospective candidates. This method is ideal for companies that are searching for the best talent with the most qualifications in their industry.