Recruiting-Trends 2021

Last year was bespattered with challenges, the pandemic being the toughest one. Such changes revolutionized recruiting processes everywhere as well as human resource management. Home office, flexible working hours and digital recruiting are now part of a “new normality”. What are the expected changes in 2021? The trends that will rule over recruiting process this year can be found in our Outlook section.

 

Digital application process

In 2021, all application processes will be digital. In order to find the right candidate, companies are increasingly relying on Big Data, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality. This means artificial intelligences will search for suitable candidates and chatbots will be used for the initial interviewing for selection process. Recruiters, with the help of Big Data, may assess the likelihood of a candidate to remain loyal to the team and how well the candidate can adapt to a company’s culture.

 

Recruiting in social media

To find the perfect match between the company's needs and the candidate's skills, more and more companies are now searching for new employees on social media. Currently, 85% of employers are actively searching for suitable candidates on social media. Platforms like LinkedIn are a good example. Competition on these sites has risen and therefore posting jobs adds and be visible is no longer enough. Building relationships with the selected users and developing emotional bonds between the users and the company has become essential.

 

The new approach: diversity and soft skills

Recently, diversity and soft skills have acquired greater importance in the 2021 application process. The Covid-19 crisis have shown employers that skills such as strong communication and adaptability are essential for a functional team. Also, recruiters praise the way in which candidates manage problem solving and tackling and regard this skill as an added value. Recruiters are focusing more on diversity when filling new positions. This means that applicants with innovative and creative ideas, motivated to push the company forward are most preferable. Employers are more and more focused on ethnic diversity and taking in a broad variety of generations.

 

Digital On-boarding

At the moment, meeting with colleagues at the office or after work is not a possibility. For this reason, online onboarding for new employees is becoming a way to go. For such purpose, employers are promoting online events, games, and internal social media. In this way, new employees will have access to proper training courses but most importantly, will be acquainted with the company culture as well as with colleagues so that they will feel connected to the company.

 

Mental health care and employee well-being strengthening measures.

Until recently, speaking about mental disorders was a taboo in private and professional environments. The Covid-19 pandemic and the entailed restrictions blew the lid off mental disorders. Currently, employers should pay close attention to their employees’ emotional health and should be prepared to make free assistance hotlines, online meditation, and mindfulness courses available. In addition to this, more and more employers are setting specific timetables to reply to e-mails, text messages or phone calls so that employees could have regulated working hours and leisure time while working from home.

 

As a business owner, what do you think about digital recruiting? What are the challenges found in this context? If you are willing to share your experiences with us, please contact us by email or log in to our website. As recruiting consultants and experts, in Acensblue we can help you find the right candidates for your open positions.