There is a renewed emphasis on relationships in global recruitment trends, which is critical in talent acquisition and moving organisations forward.
Key trends that stand out in the LinkedIn survey, include:
The quality of hires continues to be the most important performance KPI. However, only 33% of talent leaders feel that they are measuring the quality of effective hires effectively.
Interestingly enough, LinkedIn says referrals are a key source of quality hires now. Social professional networks have taken the ‘top spot’ in quality hires, and “most leaders consider employee referrals to be an essential trend”.
“Since employee referrals are starting to emerge as a long-lasting trend, there’s a huge opportunity to get ahead and strengthen programs. 39% of talent leaders rank high on using employee referrals, but only 8% truly feel “best in class”. No matter where your country is on the scale, there’s still progress to be made.”
Another trend is that of the employer brand, which has re-emerged as a top priority: “As a result, organisations are creating more proactive strategies and using more outbound channels, like online professional networks and social media.
“As organisations invest more in their employer brand, talent acquisition teams worldwide continue to share employer brand efforts with cross-functional partners. And who are they partnering with the most? Their marketing departments. A strong relationship with marketing will be key to employer brand excellence.”
Employee retention is a priority with talent acquisition leaders, however, internal hiring is not as strong a priority, so it is time to focus on internal recruiting, according to the LinkedIn research. Recruiters are also urged to maintain relationships with candidates post-hire and keep them in their long-term pipeline.
The trends that will remain dominant, are: using social professional networks to source passive candidates (39%); employer branding (38%); and employee referral programmes will gain traction in 2016 (26%).
“The common thread among all of these is the power of relationships – the relationships you have with your candidates, cross-functional partners, and employees will pave the path to talent acquisition success,” the LinkedIn study concludes.
Source: LinkedIn Talent Solutions offers a full range of recruiting solutions to help organisations of all sizes find, engage, and attract the best talent. The ‘Global Recruiting Trends 2016’ is its latest report.
