Recruitment Trends 2024

The year bygone had indeed brought in a substantial shift in mindset and way of working for Recruiters and Human Resources professionals alike. Companies across the industry, barring a few niche sectors went through widespread workforce reductions and enacted hiring freezes. The Wall Street Journal reported about the impact on Recruiters, “While other areas within tech organizations saw headcount reduced by 10% to 20%, companies downsized 50% of tech recruiters”

Over the next 12 months, 61% of companies are expected to increase investment in this function. The investment outlook for 2024 shows that more than half of the budget increase will be allocated towards a host of in-trend aspects, like AI-powered recruiting tools, followed by DEI initiatives (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, the new Avatar of D&I), Candidate Relationship Management, Applicant Tracking Systems, Career Sites, Sourcing Technologies, Job boards, Customized auto Offers and the like.

Trend Forecast For 2024

Significantly, five key trends w.r.t Human Resources Professionals/ People Leaders are likely to shape the industry

a) Intentionality Regarding Hybrid Work

The office should be a magnet, not a mandate,” Francine Katsoudas, executive Vice President and Chief people, policy, and Purpose officer of Cisco, said in a video interview. The roles of HR Professionals and People leaders will continue to morph into that of event planners to draw workers to the office in an intentional way

b) Up-skilling & Re-skilling

“There was a time when learning was perceived to be ended their formal schooling” Katsoudas stated about past workforce education and training. “What we know now is that continual re-skilling and upskilling is necessary as technology continues to advance and requisite skills evolve. Add in the emergence of AI, and we know that new skills will be needed not just by potential talent, but for existing talent to adapt and succeed in the workplace too.”

c) Automation

An artificial intelligence report by Eightfold found that 92% of HR leaders plan to ramp up their use of automation in at least one area of talent acquisition and people management. Companies will enhance their HR operations by adopting AI to source talent, manage employee records, process payroll, administer employee benefits, oversee employee performance and productivity, screen resumés of candidates and track applicants, onboard new talent and offboard the leaving staff.

d) Predictive Analytics and Data-Driven Human Resources Function

People analytics and data-driven HR practices enable employers to make more informed decisions about their workforce. Organizations will see an uptick in using tools that predict the likelihood of a candidate accepting a job offer. HR and people leaders will also draw insights from productivity metrics, turnover rate tracking and talent management platform data.

e) DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion)

A majority of HR decision-makers (75%) stated that their company would prioritize diversity hiring, according to the Jobvite data. In EY’s Belonging Barometer 3.0, 63% of Gen-Z workers reported they would choose a company that prioritizes DEI over one that doesn’t. This figure is noteworthy as Zoomers will comprise 30% of the labor force by 2025. Moreover, with the ascension of AI, DEI will play a vital role in mitigating biases in hiring algorithms. When we look at the whole year 2023, there’s still an 8.6% drop in job opportunities. So, recovery is happening, but it’s slow, let us look at the upcoming trends in multiple Industries

Job trends that will rule the 2024 Hiring season

Domain Dynamics in 2024 : Insights into Diverse Professional Fields