Reimagining Talent Recruitment: 5 Predictions of What’s Changing in 2021

Are you ready for more changes? So much has changed within HR hiring strategies during the pandemic, it’s easy to be overwhelmed with how radically different your work processes are compared to a year ago.

But there’s no time to sit back and relax because more change is on the horizon. It’s no secret 2021 will be heavily influenced by 2020, and those who adapt to change the quickest will have the best advantages to attract and eventually retain the top talent.

In the next article of Talent2Win, we will share talent acquisition trends for significant hiring changes in 2021 based on what happened last year. 

What is changing in the recruitment sector

1. The competition for top talent increases with remote work

Before the pandemic, 4.7 million people worked from home, according to the Census Bureau. That number has only increased. While some jobs start going back to the office, many are not.  

That is, however, excellent news for recruiters. You will no longer have to convince employees to relocate; it is no longer necessary for employees to live near the future work. We even see 100% teleworkable job offers appearing. You can now focus on finding the best employees and then recruit them for a remote job so they won’t have to wrestle with leaving a familiar city.  

On the other hand, thousands of companies will be recruiting the same types of candidates. Your team must have an updated hiring strategy to take advantage of the “new” talent pools that are out there. Working with a recruitment agency that has already built relationships with your ideal candidates takes you several steps ahead.    

2.Critical skills to the “new normal” take center stage

In a recent survey, 68 percent of HR professionals said ensuring employees had the necessary critical skills and competencies for changing businesses were the top priorities in 2021. Those initiatives scored higher than organizational design, change management, employee experience and more.  

During this time, managers are looking for candidates who can adapt to changing and difficult conditions. Good communication, creativity, thirst for learning, flexibility, resistance to stress, etc. are all popular soft skills at the moment, to the detriment of more technical skills. 

In addition, digital skills are also more essential than ever. With teleworking, workers must know how to use different digital tools in order to ensure optimal collaboration. 

These two types of skills are essential for any employer who wants to ensure that their team members will be doing a good job from home. 

You might also like: 3 Steps to Building an Effective Talent Pipeline

3. AI will dominate the recruiting process

Artificial intelligence is nothing new in talent acquisition processes, but expect it to continue to have a significant impact in 2021.  Companies and recruitment firms that have adopted it already have seen several successes thanks to automating tasks like screening candidates via chatbots, screening resumes, scheduling interviews, and other benefits.   

But AI should become even more powerful in 2021. It might even be used to conduct early parts of the interview process. Although we’ll probably have to wait until 2022 to confirm that. 

4. E-recruitment will be a new trend

We are seeing that online recruiting has become a new trend. The number of virtual applications will only increase and virtual job fairs will gain in popularity. The first contacts are often made by video and some hiring processes even take place completely virtual. 

Even if this new way of recruiting remains promising, we must nevertheless remain aware of the challenges posed by the digitization of recruitment. Make sure you are technologically up to date. Do not forget either to humanize your recruitment and remember that the candidate must be seduced by your company. Onboarding and the follow-up of the person recruited are also steps that should not be skimped virtually. 

5. Branding is more important than ever

This is an HR concept that has always been important, but today, with the health crisis, the emphasis is even more on what companies do both for employees and on a broader social level. The workers of tomorrow are looking for a company they can trust and share values with. 

Companies should be empathetic and transparent about any gaps and how they plan to fill them. It is no longer a question of having impressive offices and focusing on its numbers, but rather of investing in its role within society. 

Juan Lizarraga is the CEO of Talent2Win, a leading talent acquisition firm for USA and LATAM companies. Before that, he had a successful 25-year-long career as a Commercial Director. He spent eight years focusing solely on workforce solutions. As a dynamic leader who always keeps a win-win strategy, he insists on collaboration and finds innovative solutions with an emphasis on business results.  

At Talent2Win, we strive to align your company’s business objectives with the best Talent Acquisition strategies available. If you want to learn more about the services we offer, do not hesitate to contact us.