Written by HRCap, Inc.
February 7, 2024
A 2022 study of middle-market businesses in the United States identified that a combined 58% of business leaders found it extremely challenging to hire talent, and 44% attribute this challenge to the after-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Modern recruitment challenges have only deepened across the globe. In 2023, an all-time high of 77% of businesses worldwide reported difficulty in filling positions, representing a sharp increase from 2014 (36% of businesses).
Though various factors contribute to recruitment difficulties, we have identified five of the most prominent recruiting challenges businesses will continue to face in 2024 and need to overcome to win the talent war.
5 Rising Modern Recruitment Challenges
1. Navigating the Talent Shortage
According to a ManpowerGroup 2024 study, 75% of employers are currently experiencing talent shortages around the world. A Korn Ferry study predicts that by 2030, this trend will continue. As demand for skilled workers outpaces the talent pool, a global talent shortage of more than 85.2 million people will result in about $8.5 trillion in unrealized annual revenues.
This persisting talent gap will not only affect employers but will inevitably take a toll on the current workforce as they take on increased workloads and experience burnout and low morale.
2. Targeting Passive Candidates
With the growing lack of active candidates in the current market, employers attempt to tap into the passive candidates market, which consists of those who are not actively looking or applying for jobs. Passive candidates are highly sought after not only because they are most likely high-performers with the necessary skills to fill talent gaps but they also make up a majority of the global workforce (70%). Though they are prevalent, some companies report facing challenges when recruiting passive candidates.
Since passive candidates are not actively looking for a different position and may feel satisfied in their current situations, companies must focus on creating a far more compelling proposition that persuades them to even consider switching jobs. In addition, not all companies are up-to-date with current labor market trends, desirable benefits, and demographic motivations to properly attract passive candidates.
3. Attracting the Right Candidates
As vital as it is to actively reach out to passive candidates, employers must also have a plan to attract, hire, and retain the right talent. In The Predictive Index 2022 report, as many as 82% of companies needed help with talent acquisition and retention over the past 12 months. One critical factor is that more than half of responding executives admit they don’t have a recruitment strategy in place. Companies that lack a strategic recruiting approach will fail to search for top talent to fill their talent needs.
4. Securing a Positive Candidate Experience
Having a positive candidate experience is an essential part of the recruitment process. The candidate experience is a job seeker's perception of a company’s recruitment cycle, including the ways in which an employer posts a job opening or even how a recruiter establishes and maintains a line of communication and trust with them through the process of recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and onboarding.
However, companies face difficulties with maintaining a positive candidate experience. Due to a poor interview experience and companies ghosting their candidates, 49% of job seekers declined a job offer and 28% of candidates said they left a negative review online after their experience. Consequently, negative reviews can cause 50% of job seekers to not apply to the company after reading those reviews on employer review sites like Glassdoor and JobSage.
5. Conducting Collaborative Recruitment
Traditional recruitment is a top-down process, meaning hiring managers control much of the hiring process. Consequently, this burdens recruiters who take on an overwhelming number of tasks. As a result, 65% of recruiters reported that their jobs were more stressful in 2023, and 63% of talent acquisition professionals shared that the hiring volume was higher in 2023 than the previous year.
Only a few companies employ a collaborative recruitment approach, in which not all hiring executives are fully committed to prioritizing the urgency and criticality of timely and effective hiring processes. Even with a supportive hiring team, collaborative recruiting has its own unique set of challenges, including training to streamline the interview process, handling complex processes, managing interview feedback, scheduling around the team’s availability, and maintaining interview consistency and focus.
Top 5 Recruiting Strategies for 2024
Our SVP, Head of Americas & Chief Marketing Officer, Stella H. Kim, will share 5 winning strategies to address these ongoing recruitment challenges.
The training will be on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, from 2-3PM ET (11AM-12PM PT), and will be open to the public and free of cost. Stella will provide her recruiting expertise, data-driven thought leadership, and proven solutions from her advisory with 1000+ organizations across the globe. The curriculum design will be in English, and the delivery will be in both English & Korean.
Sources: HRCap, CareerPlug, The Predictive Index, LinkedIn, Korn Ferry, ManpowerGroup, RSM, US LLP
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