Recently I was asked to contribute to an article written by a leading recruitment publication, Recruitment International. The theme was Recruitment trends, and you can read the full article here. For my piece I focused on how teams are going to become increasingly remote, especially as we see advances in VR and teleoperation tools.
For many of you reading this from a non-recruitment background, I thought it would be interesting to highlight what others in our sector are predicting and how this may impact your technology teams.
7 Key Recruitment Trends for 2018
“You’ll see an increased focus on social recruiting”
Social recruiting has been around for a long while, but the point stands, both recruiters and employers have to look to new avenues in order to find the very best talent. Social media is also evolving, so as well as a sourcing tool it is important for your business to have a digital presence that projects elements of your organisation’s employment brand.
“The ball will be in the job seeker’s court”
For most of us, this is already a reality. With a drought in the talent pool the scales are tipped in the candidates’ favour, allowing them to pick and choose. Paycheques are often secondary to what a candidate is looking for. People want to know how their job will contribute to their quality of life. This includes company culture, travel, workplace flexibility, and convenient amenities. The interview experience is also no longer a one-way street, it’s a mutual size-up. Therefore, when wooing someone valuable, it is of prime importance to convey what you are looking for, and all that is being offered in return by coming on board.
“The year of action for diversity and inclusion”
We can only hope so, as highlighted in our 2017 Auckland IT Salaries Report, this definitely isn’t the case in our sector. I think this prediction is unfortunately off the mark. Our industry is behind the times in this aspect and has a duty to our community to have a hard look at how we diversify our workforce, include people of all backgrounds, and pay them what they deserve.
“Artificial Intelligence has finally come into its own”
This feels a little early. We are certainly seeing companies experiment with AI for recruitment, but like most sectors it’s still a way off at the moment. That being said, it’s something to look out for, and I look forward to seeing how it will change the way we work in the future.
“The need to deliver exceptional candidate experience”
This ties into the earlier point. Now more than ever this is essential. We’re even seeing awards dedicated to this very thing! Everything from the time it takes between interviews (read more here) or giving feedback, through to how you reject unsuitable candidates, is under the microscope.
“A shift towards prioritising soft skills”
Organisations are realising that in order to tackle disruption, soft skills are more important than ever before. I cannot stress enough how important solid communication skills now are. Things like active listening, empathy, creative thinking, coordinating with others, and team spirit, are all skills that give companies a competitive advantage when it comes to tackling disruption.
“Talking to people”
I think this was written slightly tongue in cheek, however, in reality, doing this right probably has the biggest positive impact on the quality of talent joining an organisation. We’ve definitely noticed a reverse trend of people starting to opt for a phone call or coffee rather than firing emails back and forth. We go through the self check-out at the grocery store, we go to the ATM machine instead of the bank teller; we may be in a digital age but speaking face-to-face will always make for a nicer experience, one that carries more weight. When it comes to recruitment there’s just no substitute for a personal touch.
Summary
We all know change is happening, however based on the opinions from recruiters all around the world, the reality is that the rate of change isn’t impacting the recruitment sector as quickly as some are portraying. In fact, in places we’re even seeing some areas revert back to old methods, such as using the phone! It’s certainly an exciting time, if you’re unsure how to find the very best Auckland based IT talent in this market, the team at RWA Technology People would love to help.