3 Recruitment Challenges to Tackle in 2022

The pandemic which hit us in late 2019 has caused a lot of change in the recruitment industry. Covid-19 forced the world to close their business doors for most of 2020, which saw employees work from home. Even though there is a bit of normalcy returning to the world, the labor market, employers, and employees have gone through immerse changes. The changes all point to one thing in 2022. There will be challenges facing recruiters and employers. The article explores some challenges recruiters will have to tackle stepping into 2022.

A Re-evaluating Market

The pandemic, for many people, was a time to re-assess their lives. What did they want to do with their lives? Were they happy with their jobs? Did they want to continue working for their present organization or take another pathway? The pandemic taught people there was more to life than work. 

Workers reflected this statement when the great resignation took place. During the pandemic, many people who were out of jobs learned new skills. Some realized they wanted to start a business, while others resigned because of poor working conditions. The combination of this and other factors caused employers to lose their employees and form one of the biggest unemployment rates in US history, reports The Wall Street Journal. The irony of the employment rate in the US is, there are over 5.9 million jobs available, but employers can’t find the people to fill them. This suggests that those in the labor market are selective about the jobs they pick.

So how do we overcome this challenge?

• Change the Way you Hire: The truth is, the new candidate-driven market is here to stay. A report by KornFerry says that by 2030, 85 million jobs could go unfilled, and companies worldwide stand a chance of losing unrealized annual revenue of 8.5 trillion dollars.

The reason for this varies from low birth rates in countries like Japan and many European countries to more unconventional, like Gen Z deciding to create a path for themselves through one form of self-employment or another. 

Companies must adjust their hiring techniques, processes, and procedures. If recruiters want to attract the best talents today, they need to make the recruitment process candidate-friendly from the first engagement until the onboarding stage. This can be done by using the right tool when sourcing and communicating with the candidates. 

Candidates will assess the company to determine if they are a good fit during the recruitment process. You can shorten the length of the recruitment process, offer more practical case studies to applicants, and not just look at their CVs alone. 

• Hiring From Within: This suggestion may seem like a straightforward decision, but AMA (American Management Association) research shows most firms don’t look at this as their first option and would instead recruit from outside. Although the same survey reports, employees are not as loyal as five years ago, and this report may be because of employers not favoring hiring from within, to begin with. 

Hiring internally is 1.7 times cheaper than hiring from outside. A recruiter or hiring manager should look within first to see if your company has the talent or skill set before going out to hire a recruit.

• Offering Internships: An internship is a great way to get to know a potential employee before extending an offer to the individual. An internship is also perfect to build strong relationships with reputable universities. You can find rough diamonds there that need little guidance, and increase your list of talent pools. This method, if executed properly, can guarantee a stream of candidates for future roles.

Keeping Talent

A problem that is already brewing and set to continue in 2022 is retaining your best employees. On average, losing an exemplary employee can cost you up to 213% of the employee’s annual salary equivalent. More skilled employees are demanding better working conditions, the addition of remote work into their contracts, a higher salary, better benefits in their package, and family time. 

They can demand all this because of the current need for highly skilled workers, especially in this current environment. How can you counter this challenge?

• Reward Outstanding Achievements: It’s all too prevalent in the workplace when an employee does something remarkable, and the only gratitude they get is a pat on the back. An employee can bring in millions worth in business, and the person passed on for a deserving promotion. Employers have to understand that rewarding their employees makes them feel valued by the organization. 

It also improves self-confidence, decreases frustration, and makes them work harder. The rewards themselves don’t have to be something too grand; an extended holiday, a seat to the person’s favorite sports event, a spar spot, or a dinner with a company’s executive. A reward is something the employee values, not necessarily always money. Although, money will go nicely with any gift given.

• Recognize Talent: This point is like the first one, but slightly different. It’s the practice of recognizing the input or work of an employee over a period. An example of recognizing talent is promoting a staff when due, increase in bonus or packages or publicly making their efforts known to other employees of the organization. The aim is to make the person feel seen by the company, to give them a reason to stay when the time to decide arises to make sure they don’t feel like slaves when working for the company.

• Come to a compromise: Negotiating salary, benefits packages, and working terms can be challenging. Accept the industry has changed, and being lenient with the remuneration packages and employment conditions is a must. Most people who can work from home will want this in their contract. Compromising some days in the week or month will benefit your company in the long run. 

Some employees will also want improvement in their health plans or other additional clauses. If they discuss, it means you can negotiate with them. So don’t be afraid to push a little and see where they stop you. Doing this will reflect well on the company as one able to adapt to the changing industry norms and improve the brand name with the employees.

• Improve Company Culture: A good company culture keeps your best talent in the company. The company culture factors how the company is being run, how the company treats employees, the organizational policies, the goals, and the vision. If you want to keep your top talents, then the company’s culture has to be suitable for them. We will say, it’s possible to have a striving company culture, but it doesn’t suit some employees. It’s okay to let an employee go if that is the case.

COVID-19

The virus is still a problem for recruiters. Reports suggest up to 4 million Americans fear the Covid-19 virus and have not returned to the workplace. This fear doesn’t look to go away soon because of the new Omicron strain of the virus discovered first in South Africa but now met in parts of Europe and America. 

Prospectus candidates who can choose (non-essential workers) to stay away from physical workplaces will do that. Those who can work remotely will probably want to remain remote employees for the foreseeable future. Although there is a vaccine campaign in America and parts of the world, some are still skeptical about taking the vaccine. CDC estimates 131 million Americans, or 39.2%, have still not taken the vaccine, posing a threat to recruitment in 2022. How can companies solve this?

• Take the initiative: Some companies have mandated all their employees to take the vaccine for safety reasons. Although, this has led to some pushback from some.

• Work Remote: It’s not a stretch to say we live in a digitalized world, and working from home is not farfetched. We have already proven it to be highly successful during the lockdown. And it will be effective after it. Hiring remotely will also be an excellent solution, as you now have access to millions of people worldwide.

Final Words

We deem 2022 to be another rough year for recruiters and employers alike when recruiting. The current recruitment market may not favor employers or recruiters, but they can take steps to make it bearable. One of the critical features of a remarkable recruiter is adapting to new market problems, so we believe this content will serve you well.