What are recruiting best practices? 5 hot topics in hiring and recruiting.

2024 has been marked by the rise of both trends and threats in hiring and recruiting, and those organizations who choose to take action will be able to turn high quality applicants to company talents who drive organizational goals. 

Check out these 5 hot trends in recruitment and see what you can use to transform your organization. 

• Which trend will create a significant impact on your organization? 
• Which trend aligns with your company strength and gives you an advantage if you work on them? 
• Which trend puts your company goals at risk if they are not acted upon? 

Trend #1: Career paths are shifting. 

Older employees’ career paths meant working for 1 or 2 companies for one’s whole employment life and retiring at 60 or 65. There is a shift now to a more personalized career. In fact, a research by Pew in 2023 showed that in the US, 19% of Americans in their 65s still choose to hold a job, almost double the number of those who worked in their 60s, and they are earning much more than they did compared to decades ago. 

In addition, Americans are more open to shifting industries in the middle of their career or shifting to more flexible and project-based work. 

Lastly, recruiters are seeing career breaks becoming more common. Career breaks are any length of time from 2 months onwards where people leave their job, take their time with their personal life. Some people learn new skills , travel, fulfill caregiving responsibilities, or deal with major life events during a career break, without a job waiting for them when they get back.  

Recruiters and hiring teams are learning to deal with this shift in career paths in order to accommodate talent. Some companies have started to make things easier for employees who took career breaks return to the company. Others have started looking past tenure, but hire based on expertise.

Trend #2: More employee-welfare protection as Employee Value Proposition (EVP) 

Events outside the organization have made a huge impact on workplace and employee condition, so more companies are making their offers to employees (EVP) as unique and as caring as possible. 

• Climate change protection. Companies now have plans to help employees when possible climate change events like natural disasters occur. These include giving them shelter, energy and other necessities. Some also cover paid time off (PTO)  or subsidies. 
• Mental health promotion. More companies now sponsor activities and services that encourage good mental health practices. 

Trend #3: Pay transparency. 

Human resource concerns in the past decades have pushed for more pay transparency. In fact, new laws introduced in 2022 across many countries including the US, the UK, Canada and Germany have started to implement these policies that make access to pay information, disclosure of individual pay information, and advertising pay information on job postings a requirement. 

In addition, these laws protect employees from being required to disclose their pay history, and from being discriminated against through unfair pay gaps. 

Trend #4: AI as an opportunity for the workforce. 

Worries that AI is expected to replace many of the workforce in the next decade are seen in the news, but the trend now shows that generative AI is actually changing job descriptions, but not replacing humans.

Modern organizations and their hiring will now look for employees with balanced technical skills and leadership skills like collaboration, communication and conflict-resolution. 

HR can now provide training on work processes using technology, technology adoption and soft skills training. 

Trend #5: The entrance of Generation Z into the workforce. 

Generation Zs now comprise the junior roles in organizations. HR and recruitment practices are adapting to the new trends that work for this generation to attract young talent. This is a group that is comfortable with virtual and fast-paced hiring methods. 

As the job market and its demands, and world circumstances  are changing,  recruiters have a strategic role to play in pushing for new but effective methods in hiring. 

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