Current Talent Acquisition Trends You Need to Know

As a new decade enters, the war for talent rages. Companies are drawing in and hiring the most qualified people to achieve a competitive edge. Talent acquisition is moving swiftly to keep up with trends in technology, ongoing expectations, and a growing global talent pool.

Talent acquisition teams need to understand the latest talent acquisition trends shaping the future of recruiting. This is vital in building an effective strategy.

The talent setting evolved greatly since a few years ago. Finding and keeping the best hires requires keeping up with the most recent hiring and recruiting trends. Here is what companies need to know to strengthen their talent acquisition efforts at present and beyond.

Understanding Talent Acquisition and Its Current Trends

Grasping the idea talent acquisition means seeing how the hiring landscape is evolving. Companies today face new challenges in finding and recruiting top talent.
 
Changes in the workforce

• The workforce is more diverse than before.
• People are living and working longer.
• Technology is transforming jobs.

 Shifts in candidate expectations

• Candidates expect good experience. They are assessing companies as much as companies are assessing them.
• Feedback is crucial. Candidates expect updates on their application status and reasons why they did not get the offer.

Keeping up with changes in the workforce and candidate expectations ensures companies find the best talent. Building a talent acquisition strategy focused on diversity, experience, culture, feedback, and adaptability leads to hiring success. The companies that recognize these talent acquisition trends are the ones that thrive.

Here are the current talent acquisition trends companies must explore. 

Remote Hiring and Onboarding

Remote hiring and onboarding has become a key for companies to adopt in today’s world. It is one of the basic talent acquisition trends at present. Many companies transitioned to remote workforces and virtual hiring practices over the past year. Due to health and safety concerns, this becomes the new trend.

This and other talent acquisition trends are likely to continue even after the current crisis passes.
 
Sourcing Talent Remotely

To find strong talent for remote roles, companies need to cast a wide net. Using recruitment platforms and posting job openings on job sites is a good option. They can build social media presence as part of modern talent acquisition trends as well.

These are all effective ways to remotely source talent. Recruiters must focus on skills and qualities that translate well to remote work.
 
Virtual Interviewing and Assessments

Today's talent acquisition trends include virtual interviews. Phone or video calls have become the new norm for initial interviews and screening talent. This helps find out whether a talent is a good culture and role fit, even from a distance.
 
Remote Onboarding

Onboarding new remote employees requires extra effort. Companies need to ship equipment like laptops, provide thorough training and resources. They need to help new hires build connections with colleagues they may never meet in person.

Companies must assign an onboarding buddy or mentor, create interactive training modules, and schedule frequent check-ins with managers or HR. These are all useful to effectively onboard remote talent.

With current talent acquisition trends, companies can source, hire, and onboard high-quality talent from anywhere. Remote hiring and onboarding enable companies to cast a wider net, gain access to more diverse talent, and build a flexible workforce. By adopting modern talent acquisition trends, companies can thrive in the new world of remote work.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automation

AI and automation are dramatically reshaping talent acquisition. This technology is one of the most useful talent acquisition trends today. Companies are turning to AI and machine learning to improve and speed up the hiring process.
 
Chatbots for Candidate Experience

More companies are using AI-powered chatbots as one of the aspects of talent acquisition trends. This is to enhance candidate experience.

Chatbots manage initial talent interactions and provide quick responses. They guide candidates through the early stages of the application process as well. This allows recruiters to focus on more strategic tasks.

Chatbots create a seamless, user-friendly experience for candidates.
 
AI for Screening

Talent acquisition trends include using AI for screening processes.

AI tools are getting better at screening candidates. Algorithms can analyze talent profiles, resumes, cover letters, and job applications. This helps decide who will move on to the next round. They can look for key skills, experiences, education, and other factors that closely match the job needs as well. Companies are able to efficiently screen large talent pools and find the best through this.
 
Automated Scheduling

Automated scheduling is one of the latest talent acquisition trends using AI. Calendar scheduling tools equipped with AI scan candidate and recruiter calendars. AI finds optimal times for phone screens, video interviews, and in-person meetings. The back-and-forth verification process to schedule interviews is removed. It creates a smoother process for both candidates and recruiters.

AI and automation show a lot of promise for improving talent acquisition. But human judgment and interaction remain vital. These AI tools must enhance, not replace, the human elements of hiring. Recruiters are needed to assess soft skills, company culture fit, career growth potential, and other attributes that AI struggles to gauge.

With the blend of human and talent acquisition trends, companies can build an efficient and personalized hiring process. The key is finding the right balance between technology and human insight. 

Employer Branding

Employer brand refers to a company's reputation as an employer and its ability to attract top talent. Talent acquisition teams today need to focus heavily on building a strong employer brand. This makes employer branding a crucial part of current talent acquisition trends.

Focus on Company Culture

Company culture is a key factor for candidates when choosing where to work. As part of talent acquisition trends, job seekers find company culture more crucial than salary when deciding where to work. Talent acquisition teams must promote their company culture on career sites and social media by:

• Highlighting company values, mission, and purpose. Discuss how employees live the brand.
• Sharing photos and videos of company events, office spaces, employee testimonials and day-in-the-life content.
• Promoting company social responsibility efforts like diversity, inclusion, and charity partnerships.
• Featuring unique perks and benefits beyond healthcare and vacation days.

 Build Your Social Presence

Building a social media presence is a key part of talent acquisition trends. Talent acquisition teams must develop content strategies for major platforms like:

• LinkedIn: Post updates, articles, and spotlight employees. Engage by liking and commenting on updates.
• Facebook: Create a careers page to post job openings, culture, and brand content. Promote employee spotlights and events.
• Twitter: Tweet about open roles, company news, events, and career advice. Engage with followers by retweeting and replying to tweets.
• Instagram: Give an inside look at the company culture by posting photos of office spaces, employees, events and more. Add captions to bring posts to life.

Building a strong employer brand and social media presence are some of the talent acquisition trends companies must consider. This effectively helps attract top talent. By promoting company culture, values, and great experience, companies gain interest from the best talents on the market.  

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Having a workforce that embraces DEI leads to greater innovation, creativity, and business success. Promoting DEI efforts is one of the talent acquisition trends companies must not miss.
 
Focus on Inclusive Hiring Practices

To build a more diverse team, revamp hiring processes to remove biases. This is a part of talent acquisition trends that ensures attracting talent from all backgrounds.

Re-evaluate company needs. By expanding conditions and focusing on skills, companies can consider candidates with a wider range of backgrounds and experiences.
 
Offer Support Programs

As part of talent acquisition trends, companies need to foster inclusive work settings where people from all backgrounds can thrive. Ongoing diversity and inclusion training helps existing employees become more aware of their own biases and builds insight across groups.
 
Set and Measure Targets

Set concrete targets and metrics as part of current talent acquisition trends. Regularly tracking and reporting on key metrics helps keep companies accountable. It allows them to assess what is working and make advances to their strategies.

Inclusive hiring, offering support programs, and setting measurable targets are vital parts of current talent acquisition trends. Making diversity, equity, and inclusion a focus in talent acquisition strategies is a must. Companies need to shed light on these areas. These will be the key to building workplaces that tap into the abilities of people from various backgrounds.  

Skills Over Degrees

Companies must value skills and competencies over formal degrees and credentials. This is part of the current talent acquisition trends.

Recruiters know that degrees alone do not prove a candidate's ability to perform a job. Degrees are now more accessible through online programs. As a result, their value in assessing a candidate's potential has declined.

• Technical and soft skills are in high demand. Companies seek people with expertise in in-demand technical skills. At the same time, they also seek people with excellent soft skills.

• Micro-credentials verify specific skills and are a key aspect of talent acquisition trends. Short-form credentials like badges, certifications, and nano-degrees enable a talent to validate mastery of skills that match a company's needs. Recruiters view these alternate credentials as a reliable gauge of a candidate's job-readiness.

• Talent acquisition trends reveal that assessments identify skill gaps. Skills assessments, coding challenges, and project work samples give a clearer picture of a candidate's skills. Current talent acquisition trends use data from these assessments. Companies can find any skill gaps and decide how to address them.

• Internal mobility opens opportunities. When skills are the priority, companies can consider current employees with the desired skills set for new roles over external candidates. This aspect of talent acquisition trends helps boost employee retention and morale.

• Diversity improves with a skills focus. An emphasis on skills over degrees broadens the talent pool to include candidates from non-traditional backgrounds. This aspect of talent acquisition trends helps companies meet DEI goals by lowering bias in the hiring process.

A skills-based hiring approach allows companies to assess talent based on their ability to perform the duties of a role. While degrees are important, skills have become a new part of talent acquisition trends in today's dynamic job market. Smart companies know this shift and are revising their hiring practices to focus on skills assessment over credential verification. 

The demand for skilled workers is only going to intensify. Employers who adapt to changing times. They do this by tapping into data, AI, and virtual connections to build workforces ready to thrive in the future.

As the talent war heats up, companies will do well to keep these key talent acquisition trends on their radar. Staying ahead of the curve on technology, remote hiring, and employee experience are crucial to attracting top talent.

Job seekers will flock to companies offering meaningful work, learning openings, and work-life balance. For recruiters, this means getting even more creative, targeted, and relationship-focused. As talent acquisition evolves, it is a worthy investment to bank on current talent acquisition trends.