9 Hiring & Recruiting Trends for 2024

The job market is always changing. As a small business owner or HR professional, it’s vital you stay on top of the latest hiring and recruiting trends.

While change has always been a thing, it certainly feels like the market is moving at an accelerated pace. The pandemic has certainly sped up the changing face of the recruitment industry, and introduced new technological and economical factors that have had their own impact.

In this post, we’re going to look at some of the most important recruiting trends to be aware of 2024. Keep reading to learn more.

Key Hiring Trends in Today’s Job Market

From the rise of remote work, to a clear switch to a candidate-driven market, the hiring process in today is vastly different to that of a few years ago.

The nine trends we’re going to talk about in this post are a clear sign of how the recruitment process is changing. Organizations that fail to adapt are going to struggle, while those that do will be able to build stronger teams and find recruiting talent much easier.

Here are the most notable and latest recruiting trends in today’s talent acquisition market:

Now let’s look a little deeper at each one.

Remote hiring

Possibly the clearest new recruiting trend is remote hiring.

Remote work is booming. The pandemic was obviously a big driver – at its highest point, 69% of US employees were working remotely in 2020.

While many people have returned to the office, projections say that, by 2025, over 36 million Americans will be working from home.

We may be seeing an end (or at least a big reduction) to location-based hiring. Companies won’t be limited to their geographic locations when it comes to hiring new employees.

Recruiting remote workers will allow companies to access a wider talent pool, along with finding more affordable hires from lower cost of living areas.

At the very least, you can expect more video interviewing and fewer in-person interviews, which may result in a large number of candidates that a company can screen in a short time.

Diversity & inclusion

Diversity, equity and inclusion are hugely important today. It’s a non-negotiable part of running a business. Companies have to be open to hiring people of all characteristics and backgrounds, and giving fair opportunities to all.

Data from McKinsey shows that more diverse companies (in terms of gender and ethnicity) perform better financially than those on the other end of the diversity scale. This just goes to show the impact of incorporating diversity in your hiring process.

You’ll want to ensure there are no biases, conscious or unconscious, in your candidate screening and hiring procedures, and make sure prospective employees know that this is a priority for your business. By doing so, you’ll avoid any potential PR fallout on your brand, while making your job opportunities more enticing to the most talented job seekers out there.

Candidate-driven recruitment

Most of the world right now is in a candidate-driven market. That means that the job seekers hold all the cards. There are more talented employees looking for new opportunities, meaning companies have to compete with each other to fill job vacancies with good people.

The result is a change in the way talent acquisition works. Instead of posting vacant positions on job boards, and sitting back and waiting for potential candidates to come forward, the company needs to go directly to the job seeker.

Recruiters need to sell the opportunity, more so than the candidate selling themselves. The top talent is likely to be choosing between multiple similar openings, so it’s on the company to sell the opportunity.

Companies will need to be more competitive in terms of salary, employee benefits like PTO, and working conditions.

Employee retention will also be a big focus, as this market makes it easy for employees to jump ship for a better opportunity.

An emphasis on flexibility

We’re moving further and further away from strict, rigid working conditions, and more in the way of flexibility.

Employees want flexibility in their jobs, and employers want flexibility from their employees. It’s a two-way street.

On the employee side, they want the ability to work where they want, and when they want. They don’t want to be shackled down to a sterile office from 9 to 5.

And employers want a similar thing. They want employees to be flexible to take on different tasks and roles within the company, as well as having the ability to adapt to the changing face of many industries today.

Data-driven recruiting

We’re living in the information age. You can get data on anything, and an increasing number of sectors are using data to make decisions.

Data is free from bias, free from human error, and reveals a lot of key insights that aren’t always visible upfront.

HR platforms and new technology, such as artificial intelligence, can lead to a more efficient recruiting process, and improvements to recruiting strategy that help you stay competitive in this changing market.

Social media recruiting

Social media is a ubiquitous part of our culture. As such, you can expect more hiring managers to go to social media as part of their recruitment process.

You can use social media to reach potential new candidates, and streamline the entire process by using it as a communication channel.

It’s also a great way to attract people who are already familiar with your brand, and therefore may be more excited to be a part of your company.

In time, this may even extend to the metaverse. Think VR trade fairs and conferences, meetings, interviews, events and more taking place in the virtual space.

Collaborative hiring

Another thing that hiring managers are realizing is that, in a market like today’s, you can’t do it alone.

Companies are inviting their employees to help in the recruiting process, through initiatives like employee referral programs, incentivizing them to help find new, talented, qualified candidates.

Some even make use of their audience to help find new talent. A brand might put out a call to their email list or social media audience, for example, to help find their next hire. Creative recruiting trends like this are likely to be a hallmark of the industry in the coming years.

Recruitment marketing

Another recruitment strategy that’s becoming commonplace today is the rise of “recruitment marketing”.

This means running your candidate search like you do your marketing. Finding your next hire is not a lot different than finding a new user or client. The same practices used in marketing can therefore be used for recruitment.

This is a side-effect of the candidate-driven market we’re in. Finding that perfect hire is becoming harder, and more valuable. Thus, you’re seeing companies put more resources and strategy into it than ever before.

Gig economy & independent contractors

Finally, we have to talk about the rise of the gig economy.

A rising number of people are choosing to reject the traditional employment model, instead choosing to work as freelancers or independent contractors. In some fields more than others – an estimated 42% of tech workers are freelancers or equivalent.

This allows them more flexibility, and the ability to jump around to more attractive projects easier. It also means they’re not tied down to poor working conditions.

Gig workers can also prove attractive to companies, who don’t have to worry about the long-term cost of having someone on the payroll, and can hire staff on a per-project basis.

Of course, there is still going to be the desire (on both sides) for stability. Many employees want a stable job, while certain roles in a company require regular staff over gig workers. But the gig economy is here to stay, and we’ll see recruiting trends adapt to reflect that.

Final Thoughts

Compare any company’s hiring procedures today to those of ten years ago, and you’re likely to see huge differences.

The way we use technology in recruitment, the increased value placed on diversity and inclusion, and the kind of priorities prospective employees have, are just a few things that have changed massively.

Today’s trends veer heavily towards flexibility – whether it’s remote work, flexible working conditions, or the increase in gig workers.

If you’re involved in recruitment, you’ll need to be aware of these latest recruiting trends. By doing so, you’ll position yourself to capture the best people in the talent acquisition market, and build the best team you can in today’s conditions.