6 Recruitment Trends You Can't Ignore in 2015 As employers plan to hire more employees, they should be mindful of these hiring undercurrents and developments.
By Heather R. Huhman Edited by Dan Bova
Our biggest sale — Get unlimited access to Entrepreneur.com at an unbeatable price. Use code SAVE50 at checkout.*
Claim Offer*Offer only available to new subscribers
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
For example, 49 percent of 450 financial professionals surveyed in November expect their companies to increase hiring next year, according to the 2015 Association for Financial Professionals Business Outlook.
As employers plan to hire more employees, they should be mindful of the following trends:
Related: With Latest Jobs Report Beating Forecasts, Fed May Raise Interest Rates
1. Focus on retention.
The Conference Board, a New York-based research group, discovered 52.3 percent of 1,673 Americans surveyed in June are unhappy at work.
Unhappy workers typically leave their jobs to explore new opportunities in an improved economy. So employers should find new ways to retain and recruit talent.
Last year, 73 percent of some 600 U.S. employees surveyed were satisfied with their co-worker relationships (6 percent less than in 2012), according to the Society for Human Resource Management's "Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement" report. Just 70 percent of employees said they were satisfied with their relationships with their supervisor (a 5 percent drop from 2012).
In a survey of 1,039 millennials by Elance-oDesk released in October, nearly 80 percent of the respondents said they would like to quit their regular job to work for themselves.
Employers should identify why some individuals might want to work independently and use this data to improve their workplace.
To boost retention and recruitment, identify top performers who could potentially leave and find out how to keep these employees fulfilled. In addition, forecast potential turnover rates to be prepared.
2. Offer competitive wages.
Research released by Michigan State University in October revealed that 37 percent of 5,700 employers surveyed said they plan to increase salaries of entry-level workers 3 percent to 5 percent next year.
Compensation ranked as most important job satisfaction factor for U.S. employees, according to the Society for Human Resource Management report last year.
Research how much competing employers pay their employees. Use this information to create a budget to pay employees fairly for their skills and dedication.
Related: The Top 10 Companies to Work For in 2015
3. Develop a compelling employer brand.
Employer branding can help with recruiting efforts. Fifty-six percent of 4,125 global talent leaders in 31 countries surveyed for LinkedIn's 2015 Global Recruiting Trends said they believe cultivating their employer brand is a top priority.
Create a compelling employer brand by designing a company career website for job seekers outlining the organization's values, culture, accomplishments and benefits. Employers can also enhance their company's image on social-media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook and engage with prospective employees online.
4. Plan for generational shifts.
The U.S. Census Bureau confirms for me in a phone interview that 3.4 million people will turn 65 in 2015.
Knowing that 9 out of 10 individuals who are age 65 and older receive Social Security benefits, according to the Social Security Administration, it's quite possible a lot of these individuals will choose to retire next year.
Some 2.8 million people received new Social Security benefits in 2013, 2.7 million in 2012 and 2.6 million in 2011. So it seems that the number of people retiring each year is on the rise.
For example, the Social Security Administration expects 33 percent of the its own workforce, including 48 percent of its supervisors, to be eligible to retire in 2015.
As more baby boomers retire and millennials enter leadership roles, employers will need to find ways to transfer valuable skills to younger staffers. In addition, HR departments will need to develop strategies to train and motivate millennials.
5. Prepare for the gig workforce.
According to a study of more than 5,000 American freelancers released in August by the Freelancers Union and Elance-oDesk, 34 percent of the U.S. workforce -- or 53 million people -- is now working as freelancers.
This is a significant rise from the tally in 2004 of the contingent workforce by the federal General Accountability Office, which found about 42.6 million American workers were freelancers.
Employers might want to hire more freelancers and contract workers in the near future.
Freelance employees can fill talent shortages within an organization. When hiring freelancers, create a flexible work environment and don't expect each person to agree to full-time contracts. Develop guidelines for hiring freelancers and how they'll be managed.
6. Solidify a mobile recruitment strategy.
In Jobvite's Social Recruiting Survey released in August, nearly 70 percent of 1,855 recruiters surveyed said they expected more competitive hiring over the next 12 months. And 73 percent of the recruiters surveyed said they plan to invest more in mobile recruiting to address this trend.
Create a mobile career site that lets job seekers apply for jobs directly from a mobile device. Hiring managers will probably want to use mobile recruitment so that they can post jobs on the go and create postings that can be easily shared on social media and readily responded to.
What hiring trends are you preparing for in 2015?
