Why Every Company Should Have a Strategy for Keeping Up with Hiring Trends

The economic downturn from 2007 to 2008 brought radical shifts in hiring trends. In fact, the only predictable thing about such trends is that they are unpredictable—at least for the foreseeable future. Companies must have strategies in place to keep up with hiring trends, and here’s why.

Helps Companies Stay Competitive
Companies should continuously strive to innovate and improve. They cannot do that if they stay stagnant and if they are unaware that their competitors have turned to flex staffing or are open to telecommuting or have suddenly ramped up job posts for certain types of tech engineers. Analyzing hiring trends keeps companies on top of the pulse of the economy and gives them the flexibility to adjust quickly.

Provides Openings for Employee Collaboration and Teamwork
As companies and hiring trends change, so do the roles employees are expected to fulfill. For example, a change in hiring trends may indicate that a company needs to retrain a certain employee or that it must adjust a certain practice. Using data and solid rationale helps open up avenues for communication and collaboration with employees. It makes them more likely to be enthusiastic about changes.

Easy And Complements Other Operations
Companies should review and update their business plans and standard operating practices at regular intervals, anyway. Including hiring trends in the process expends only a little extra work and is worth the investment. The basic process is to look at other businesses in the field, who they are hiring, common themes in job ads and why. Internally, companies need to look at applicant sourcing (where a company gets its job candidates), initial screening methods, interview and decision processes, and the offer and on-boarding processes.

However, companies can incorporate the review of hiring trends as more of an ongoing process by testing new methods with some or all positions they fill. For example, a company can post two ads for the same position but with separate wording to see which type of ad attracts better candidates.

Image Source : Stuart Miles