Talent
Acquisition
2024
Trends
New tech, new talent, new tactics: experts predict 2024’s talent
acquisition trends
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How much will AI affect the talent market? Is early career hiring an undervalued advantage? Is CEO empathy the key to attracting and retaining top talent?
No individual can see the future clearly. But when we blend the expert views
of global talent leaders with comprehensive data, it becomes clearer. It’s this powerful combination of insights that fuels our annual Talent Acquisition Trends.
It’s your chance to find out what recruitment trends and talent trends you’ll
be seeing in the coming year – and your opportunity to stay ahead of them.
Here are the six biggest hiring trends you need to know about in 2024.
APAC webinar
AI for Candidates
Hiring for Skills
Empathy Regains Importance
Relocate or Resign
AI and Recruiters
Cautiously, AI and recruiters will find hiring harmony
In one of our latest studies, 82% of CEOs and senior leaders said they
expect AI to have a significant or even extreme impact on their business.
But will it be positive?
AI has a lot to offer recruiters. It speeds up processes. It writes job descriptions. It powers pre-screening video interviews and assesses
candidates to find the best matches for roles. Recruitment chatbots
can even answer candidates’ questions in real-time.
Used in the right way, AI saves money and time. It has the potential to
improve DE&I by recommending candidates who might not have the ‘traditional’ experience recruiters look for.
So far, so good. Most recruiters would say the benefits of AI outweigh
the risks. But two big risks exist.
The first is accuracy. A recent Stanford study says that generative AI tools
such as ChatGPT are becoming less accurate. 73% of leaders told us they’ll keep a close eye on their tech for signs of security issues or algorithmic bias.
The second is more fundamental. With AI taking an ever-bigger role, if
talent acquisition and talent management leaders aren’t strategic in their implementation, hiring risks losing its human touch. Recruiters are close
to getting the balance right —but will it last?
Talent acquisition trend #1
Some professional jobs will continue to call for college degrees. But
in 2024, recruiters will cast their net wider. Larger employers will woo candidates while they’re still in high school. Others will search for hires
in technical and non-traditional higher education institutions.
There are a couple of reasons for this. Finance plays a part. Entry-level hires command lower salaries than their more qualified counterparts—
making them an especially attractive choice when budgets are tight.
Finding new ideas and building an inclusive business are just as important. The wider the talent pool, the easier it’ll be for organizations
to hit their DE&I goals.
But young hires today expect more from employers - more inclusion, more balance, more compassion. We're finding a call for more empathy, emotional intelligence, and focus on mental health at work than ever before. It's on employers to step up and support their people.
It’s never too early: Doubling down on early career hiring
Early Career Hiring
In 2024, it’s your skills (not the pedigree of past employers on your resume) that count. It’s a big win for diversity, equity and inclusion. And widening the talent pool will bring big advantages to organizations, too.
With so many skills gaps to close—especially in areas such as generative AI—we expect businesses to focus on the skills they need to bring on and develop now. This will help them align to the long-term strategic direction of the organization. That includes bringing in interim hires who can upskill teams—and allowing businesses to try new roles on for size before hiring into them permanently.
A new focus on skills doesn’t just reference the technical ones.
Both technical and leadership skills will be highlighted in job postings and internal opportunities. We can expect to see more sideways moves as businesses reassign roles to unleash hidden potential in their ranks.
Recruiters will still be looking out for leadership skills, too—so
a seemingly short-term focus now doesn’t leave them with skills
gaps at the top later.
It’s not about where you’ve been, it’s what you know: hiring for skills
Hiring for Skills
Are CEOs becoming less empathetic? In a survey of 3,000 HR professionals at the start of 2023, a third said empathy was lacking at the top. And as our own research shows, that’s a big problem for any business that wants to hire and hold onto high performing people.
As those high performers move on—taking roles in organizations that give them greater work-life integration, or more freedom to share their opinions without fear, CEOs will have to make changes. By 2024, we expect CEOs to listen more to colleagues at every level in their business without judgment. That doesn’t mean they’ll stop asking teams to return to the office, but it does mean they’ll think more about the culture they create. And they’ll make more allowances for people’s personal circumstances.
Listen up or step down. Empathy regains importance at the top
Empathy Regains Importance
In 1986, 45% of Americans packed up and moved across country to follow lucrative careers. Back then, it seemed like a no-brainer. Not so today. In the first quarter of 2023, one study shows that just 2% of Americans
made similar moves.
Why the drop? Moving costs have skyrocketed. Company relocation budgets have shrunk. And many people came out of the pandemic realizing they loved working from home.
But that’s all about to change. Now most employers are asking their teams to head back to the office at least some of the time, (including the people they’d hired as remote workers) and tough choices must be made.
Either those remote workers leave and hope to find more flexibility elsewhere, or they uproot their families to move closer to workplaces
that could be hundreds of miles away.
If employers want to hire and keep hold of the best people—and see more of them in the office—they’ll need re-evaluate these relocation policies.
Relocate or resign: an impossible choice is on the rise
Relocate or Resign
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Talent acquisition trend #3
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Talent acquisition trend #5
Talent acquisition trend #6
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In 2024, it’s your skills that count. It’s a big win for diversity, equity and inclusion. And widening the talent pool will bring big advantages to organizations. With so many skills gaps to close, we expect businesses to focus on the skills they need to bring on and develop now.
”
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Discover what's next in talent acquisition for 2024. Download the comprehensive Trends Report for actionable advice.
Talent Acquisition Trends 2024
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AI and Recruiters
AI and Recruiters
AI for Candidates
Hiring for Skills
Empathy Regains
Importance
Relocate or Resign
relocation
re-evaluate
their
policies
will need to
employers
AI makes life easier for candidates, too. The days of hunting for roles and endlessly tailoring resumes and cover letters are dwindling as generative AI does the tedious work.
Candidates will also be empowered to seek fairer pay. As AI can easily compare salary ranges, candidates will be in a better position to negotiate or walk away if they’re not getting an offer that matches
the market.
Finally, when they land the role, candidates will go through a more streamlined onboarding process – thanks to the help of virtual training and chatbots on hand to answer questions.
Still, candidates should be aware of the risks of job hunting in an AI-enabled world. Scam artists have been leveraging AI to steal personal information, and we've seen worrying reports of candidates handing over their social security number, bank details and other personal details to fake AI-generated job postings. As always, candidates should be careful about the roles they apply for—and double check employer websites to make sure the opportunities are genuine.
AI is helping candidates apply themselves
AI for Candidates
Talent acquisition trend #2
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To learn more, read AI in Recruiting: Navigating Trends for 2024
To learn more, read How Candidates Can Job Search Using Artificial Intelligence
To learn more, read How to Bring in New Skills with Early Career Hiring
To learn more, read Listen Up or Step Down: Why Empathy Is
Returning to the Top
To learn more, read How to Tackle the ‘Relocate or Resign’ Talent Conundrum
To learn more, read How Candidates Can Job Search Using Artificial Intelligence