Top Hiring Trends in 2022

One of my clients asked me “What’s happening in employment land? What’s new with hiring? What is one major pain point that all employers are feeling?” Those are big questions, and much has changed since the pandemic struck. We are now in a completely different hiring landscape and for many, this is uncharted territory. How are you planning to navigate it?

It’s time to re-evaluate your hiring strategies

My first recommendation is – don’t go chasing the hiring platform such as ZipRecruiter as the be-all hiring solution. It’s how you present to your audiences within certain platforms that will determine your curb appeal to different audiences.

No one wants to work for a job description. 

When people are looking for their next position, and they have ample choices, why should they pick your company? It’s time to look beyond hiring platform for answers.

Here are some ideas to optimize your hiring techniques and get the best possible candidate:

  1. When faced with hiring problems, people naturally tend to focus on the hiring platform as the solution. When employers don’t get results right away, they simply change platforms. It’s not wrong to change platforms if you’re not getting results, but there are other important factors to maximize your odds of finding your next great hire.
  2. Employer Branding – Most job posters will simply copy/paste their job description – or some variation of that. Authentic Employer Branding is your most important element. This might demonstrate the tone of your company. Focus more on human connection and less on a formalized process and approach. Shift your focus to company culture. You’re trying to start a conversation and you want people to be interested in what you do. Don’t be shy about your work, its challenges and what you stand for. People are drawn to standards. Those that aren’t drawn to yours….it might be disappointing that you’re not getting a ton of applicants – but if the bad fits don’t apply…that’s a win also.
  3. When you have published a new ad, give your ad time to be reviewed, perhaps a week or two. If you are not seeing the results as soon as you expect, then it may be time to try a new listing platform.
  4. If you are having difficulty writing for your audience, don’t feel bad. This is a professional skills set and talent and many people struggle to write copy. If you don’t feel your content to attract new talent is hitting the mark, hire a professional. Self-promotion can be most challenging.

Here’s what I have also noticed – Since COVID has altered hiring patterns in completely new and different ways, in both blue or white collar jobs, we’re successfully helping clients find good people using this aforementioned approach. We’re seeing fewer applicants but the quality of those few is generally higher than we saw before COVID. It’s a similar philosophy that we use with all our HR fundamentals and strategic work. The goal is clarity, defining what you need, what’s important to you, and helping employees and customers answer the question of “Why they should work with you.

What we do doesn’t involve the ideal template or handbook etc. We use good tools then apply our approach to translate your values and standards into an HR solution that helps you succeed – without putting you through an extreme makeover.

If you are struggling with some of these hiring issues, please reach out to me directly and let’s have a conversation. We can discuss how to craft this to be bespoke to your company and get a better shot at the talent that will be a good fit for your firm.

I look forward to speaking with you.

Tom