78% of recruiters find their best quality candidates through referrals.
Recruiting is fundamental to the health and success of all businesses today. Finding, nurturing, and hiring the right talent is now a dynamic, diversified process, requiring recruiters to tap into social networks, analytics, mobile, and beyond.
This year’s study examines trends, challenges, and opportunities faced by recruiters nationwide. It reveals a fiercely competitive job market and the multifaceted approach that recruiters are taking to fill their companies with quality talent.
Recruiters are facing an increasingly demanding and competitive talent market
Today’s dynamic recruiter uses every tool available to connect with job seekers
To recruit and retain the perfect fit, recruiters must prioritize relationships
incentive for new candidates, over perks like free snacks or casual dress code. Quality still comes first
To support the demands of modern business, recruiters must be as dynamic as the tools they use.
Here’s a snapshot of recruiting today, from introduction to onboarding.
Recruiters find candidates from various places, but referrals remain the most effective source of quality hires.
95% of recruiters anticipate the hunt for talent to remain or get more competitive in the next 12 months.
Over a quarter of companies anticipate hiring 100+ people in the next 12 months.
This percentage skyrockets for fast-growth industries:
56% of recruiters are hurting for skilled or qualified candidates.
Internal bottlenecks have a real impact on hiring efficiency. Recruiters cite these as top challenges:
The dynamic recruiter works with their team to keep the talent pipeline full.
78% of recruiters find their best quality candidates through referrals. This is up from 60% in 2014. In the next year, 41% of recruiters plan to invest more in referrals.
Recruiters use these employee incentives to help keep referrals coming in and the candidate pipeline full:
More than a quarter of recruiters say that lack of brand awareness is one of the biggest challenges they face in attracting top talent.
Recruiters are getting creative about how they evaluate job seekers.
96% of recruiters still count on face-to-face interviews, and 93% rely on resumes. But status quo assessments are not enough — recruiters are diving deeper to understand candidates. Creative examples include:
Online networks are chock-full of precious data, both personal and professional. Recruiters are digging deep to uncover what really matters.
Over the past year, 68% of recruiters have noticed that candidates are more likely to negotiate their salaries.
Fundamentals are most effective at enticing new candidates.
Over the next year, recruiters are aiming for improvement in a few key metrics: