Talent Relationship Management, Explained: A Guide for Recruiters
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Talent acquisition pros and recruiting experts continue to face significant hiring challenges within the tight labor market. Record-level turnover and job openings have led to increased competition for talent, high recruiting costs, and a considerable candidate gap for employers.
In July 2022 alone, U.S. employers added 528,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.5%, matching its 50-year low prior to the start of the pandemic. The number of unemployed workers also decreased to 5.7 million, down from 5.9 million in June.
Labor market and recruiting experts agree that this tight market will not be short-lived. In addition to millions of job openings, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the labor shortfall will continue through at least 2030.
- With the latest labor market data in mind, Employ is pleased to announce findings from its newest Quarterly Insights Report, Staying the Course In a Challenging Labor Market.
This report brings together the depth and breadth of Employ’s proprietary recruiting data, recent market research, industry data and trends, and talent acquisition expertise to provide actionable insights that help organizations make more informed decisions and deliver more predictable hiring results.
Employ’s holistic database features nearly 500 million candidate records, leading to greater recruiting insights for customers and organizations of all sizes.
Key data at-a-glance
Employ’s new report features the recent sentiments of 1,202 recruiting and HR decision-makers based on an online survey of the current talent acquisition climate conducted in June 2022.
Here is just a small sampling of data presented in the report:
- 85% of organizations report their average time to hire is four weeks or less, with 32% of respondents indicating they are filling roles in under two weeks.
- 81% of talent acquisition professionals indicate that attracting top talent has become more challenging over the past year, with 33% stating that it has been very challenging.
- 65% of recruiters say their job is more stressful today than a year ago. Of those who say this, 51% cite the lack of talent to fill open roles and competition from other employers is to blame.
- 63% of HR decision-makers say their current volume of hiring is greater than last year’s volume.
- 69% of practitioners believe that attracting and hiring talent will be challenging for the remainder of 2022, with not enough quality candidates as the top reason, according to 58% of respondents.
- 62% of respondents say their top recruiting priority right now is increasing the quality of hire.
(View the entire collection of insights by downloading the Employ Quarterly Insights Report.)
Recruiting roadblocks in a tight labor market
As presented in the Employ report, one of the biggest struggles that recruiters face is considerable competition for the supply of available talent.
This challenge is requiring companies to adapt their recruiting approach and tailor their hiring processes to the needs of candidates.
Not only should organizations focus on compensation and benefits, but they must also ensure they work more quickly to decrease time to hire. Hiring is a race for talent. Competing on speed is one of the single most important areas recruiting organizations should seek to improve.
- According to Employ survey data, the average time to hire is under two weeks for 32% of respondents and between three-to-four weeks for 53% of respondents.
This means that within 30 days of posting a requisition, more than eight in 10 recruiters expect to have their open positions filled. And 48% of recruiters say time to hire is shorter today than it was just one year ago.
More than two-thirds of respondents have decreased hiring speed by encouraging faster feedback from internal hiring teams and cutting the time required for screening interviews.
Similarly, for organizations that have not cut time to hire, recruiters recognize their biggest opportunities to do so are in screening interviews (51%), interviewing with the hiring manager and team (45%), and the offer process (28%).
Taking a long-term perspective in a tight labor market
The labor market is primed to continue making it challenging for organizations to find enough of the right talent. More than 60% of recruiters stated improving the quality of hire is their top priority right now.
- This means businesses should optimize talent acquisition initiatives that will make it easier to compete in a complex hiring landscape for the long term.
Rather than dwelling on a short-term view of economic ebbs and flows, companies should adopt a recruiting approach that focuses on processes, people, and technology.
How can organizations do this?:
- Identify ways to optimize the recruiting process. Leverage data-driven insights and analytics that inform where bottlenecks exist in the recruiting process and uncover opportunities to speed time to hire and boost the quality of candidates. By keeping a clear pulse on the talent pipeline, companies will have insights into where the recruiting process can be improved.
- Deliver positive experiences for key stakeholders. Take care to invest in the needs of hiring managers, recruiters, and candidates, and deliver positive experiences for this recruiting trifecta. Work to shorten feedback loops, improve communication and collaboration, and engage each stakeholder more deeply within the hiring process.
- Leverage purpose-built recruitment technology. Adopt holistic talent acquisition technology tailored-made for the organization’s complexity, size, and need. By investing in technology that matches the recruiting need, companies can ensure they are more competitive to connect with the right talent and streamline their processes.
By contrast, some companies remain focused on economic headwinds.
Whether it’s laying off a portion of their talent acquisition teams, slowing their hiring, pausing the investment in recruitment software, or even consolidating their specialized recruitment technology into larger enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, organizations that take a short-term perspective will be more subject to the ups and downs of the shifting market.
Instead, by focusing on specific talent acquisition needs within the business, companies can better weather the storm and work to improve their recruiting outcomes.
Employ benchmark data indicates that leveraging a purpose-built recruitment technology solution can speed time to hire by 27%, lower candidate acquisition costs by 30%, and increase referral hiring by 18%.
Making recruiting more effective in a tight labor market
Understanding what can make recruiters more effective and where efficiencies can be gained in the hiring process is essential to recognizing how practitioners cope each day.
The latest Employ data depicts how much pressure recruiters are under in today’s market.
- In fact, 65% of recruiters say their job is more stressful today than it was a year ago.
With no end in sight to these challenging circumstances, organizations large and small would do well to take note. Companies have entered a new phase in recruiting.
Whether this means businesses are experiencing the Golden Age of Talent Acquisition, as some analysts have called it, or a new and better version of what the function has been previously, companies that ignore shifting market conditions will get left behind.
The insights available in this article are only a starting point. For more data, key takeaways, and actionable insights, download the full Employ Quarterly Insights Report here.
