As the holiday season begins and the end of 2014 draws near, many recruiting organizations are fast and furiously planning to ensure their hiring programs are prepared for 2015. Everything from budgets, headcount, technology, to methods for attracting talent are in play... and there's a lot to consider! To help cut through the noise, LinkedIn just released their 4th annual "2015 Global Recruiting Trends" report - 2015 edition. Their global survey of 4,125 TA decision makers revealed these are the top of mind trends:

  1. Sourcing: How are forecasted candidate needs being addressed and where are hires coming from?
  2. Talent Brand: How effective is the employer brand and what channels best drive awareness to the brand?
  3. Data & Metrics: What metrics are being used to track recruiting performance and how is data being used to improve quality of hire?

That these are the "hot topic" issues keeping leaders up at night are not surprising.... They're areas that have big financial impact to the organization. Think about it: every day a position remains vacant costs the company - in productivity, in market reputation, and hard recruitment costs. So it makes sense to ensure that there's a plan in place to care for them. What was a little surprising was the widening gap between hiring budget and hiring volume. While the amount of money earmarked for recruiting did increase by 15%, for the 2nd year in a row hiring volume outpaced allocated budget. What does this mean for recruiting leaders and budget holders in 2015? The "do less with more" expectation will continue to be the status quo... making prudent program and investments in these areas even more critical.

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Sourcing and Source of Hire

When it comes to "sourcing," those in our industry typically think of social recruiting, for which just 6 out of 10 companies currently have dedicated headcount. In this case, it refers to source of hire. Where do the candidates hired actually come from... particularly the ones that weren't actively looking? LinkedIn reports passive talent now account for 75% of professionals worldwide. That statistic that doesn't quite jive with the Career CrossRoads "2014 Source of Hire" report, which reports 60.7% of candidates come from combined 'active sources' (referrals, career site, job boards, and 3rd party agencies). The LI report shows that job boards account for the largest source of hire in terms of quantity; whereas Career CrossRoads named internal mobility programs as the reigning source for filling roles. These conflicting stats do not necessarily mean either report is wrong. What it highlights is the lack of tracking surrounding source of hire. In fact, Career CrossRoads' report revealed 77% of organizations rely on candidate self-identification of source, using drop-down menus within the job application. This is a faulty method of source identification, as it relies on accurate accounting/recollection from candidates, lack of ability to cite multiple sources (which means you can't track source influence) and results in "guesstimates" from the recruiting team as to the SOH effectiveness of each channel. Many recruiting professionals give their teams a "pass" using justifications such as "we're not marketing; we are busy filling jobs." While that's true, this is another area where HR/recruitment intersects with marketing - and they've been tracking traffic sources for years now. In fact, the existence and ease of access to Google Analytics leaves little room for these kinds of excuses. It may require partnering with your marketing department or I.T. team to get your digital tracking set-up; but it's worth doing. After all, if "you can measure it, you can improve it." The good news is that 64% of global talent leaders recognize the deficiency in tracking SOH and subsequent channel ROI, which hopefully will make it easier to implement a more modern, accurate tracking program.

Employer Brand and Recruitment Marketing: The "Talent Brand"

While mobile could have been added to sourcing (as it was in LinkedIn's report), the mobile behaviors of candidates is part of a larger societal shift to the "second screen" that, if ignored by employers, can impact how talent perceives the brand. Arguably, if a company isn't up to the mobile challenge and refuses to invest in things such as optimized career sites and job advertisements, what does that say about them as an employer? About the work experience? Currently 38% of candidates learn about career opportunities via mobile devices, up 18% over last year - a trend that's only expected to grow. Does candidate perception of a company as an employer - or the "employer brand" - really matter? It does, for a variety of reasons; but here's the one that's likely to resonate the most with your C-Suite: money. A strong employer brand reduces Cost of Hire (COH) by over 50%, while reducing churn by nearly 30%. While more leaders are putting their money where their mouths are in terms of allocating resources for investment into a well-defined employer brand, there's still nearly a 20% gap between saying it's important and actually making it a priority- potentially costing organizations pounds tomorrow in the effort to save pennies today. It is also interesting to note less than half surveyed reported they believed those responsible for the talent brand had enough resources to allow them to create and properly care for it. 56% of global talent leaders say building a better employer brand is a top priority their respective organizations for 2015; so expect to see an increased focus on true campaign development, complete with culture marketing and more targeted content marketing by talent group. Additionally, an effort to improve workforce marketing is expected, particularly in employee advocacy. It's important to note that won't be driven solely by HR/recruitment; this is another area that marketing has a keen eye on. Not only are employees an excellent source of hire in terms of referrals, and can spread the brand message in a far more believable way than the company can; but they drive business as well.

What are the trends and areas your program will be focused on improving in 2015?

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