INTERVIEW AND
SELECTION TRENDS

One of the most recent trends that have emerged in the talent acquisition and recruitment area is remote interviewing. It has become a necessity for hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic, where work-from-home orders have been put in place and candidates are unable or unwilling to travel by air for long-distance interviews. Employers are planning to conduct alternative plans.

Diversity and inclusion is another area of growing focus for HR leaders that translates directly into the talent acquisition and recruitment process. Statistics show that businesses with a diverse workforce and inclusive workplace have better productivity and profitability. Many organizations are looking to boost the diversity of their workforces -- in addition to making them more inclusive -- and recruiters are responsible for identifying and bringing a wider diversity of candidates into the talent pool.

The use of analytics across talent acquisition processes helps deliver data-driven decision-making and insights to identify areas of strength and weakness, as well as help reduce the cost of talent acquisition practices, identify problems and blockages in the process, and fill vacant roles more quickly. Additionally, talent analytics can prove the effectiveness and ROI of your recruiting software investments.

The pandemic made 2020 the year of the employee experience. It accelerated the need for employee listening programs and developing an experience that maintains the health and well-being of employees, promotes positive work-life balance as well as gives them the positive experience during the pandemic that will encourage them to stay after the pandemic is over. 

Over the past few years, there has been an upward trend in using contingent workers and creating a hiring process expressly for them. The talent acquisition process is different for contingent workers than it is for full-time employees, and organizations need to be set up to seek out, recruit and process these types of hires. A vendor management system can be a useful tool for managing the procurement of contingent workers, but organizations should also be prepared to use their career sites and social media effectively.

AI is trending because the technologies can do a tremendous amount of heavy lifting at high speed, while simultaneously adding value and automation to the talent acquisition processes. The technology can source, screen, sort, and rank candidates to create a pipeline of qualified candidates that are likely to succeed in vacant positions, based on the skills and potential gleaned from the candidate.