Even a single employee can make a big difference to a small business. The smaller the workforce, the greater the impact of a single good (or not so good) team member on productivity, morale and company culture. In this sense, attracting and retaining the right candidates is even more important for SMEs than for large companies.
But unlike large companies, SMEs often have neither their own HR teams nor relationships with recruitment agencies. They have to succeed in achieving more with fewer resources. At the same time, the job market never stands still and technological developments in particular are rapidly changing the job search and hiring process. Companies have to keep up with the latest trends in recruiting if they want to attract the best talent.
In this article, we highlight the three trends that will have the greatest impact on recruiters, talent managers, HR professionals and HR managers in SMEs over the next 12 months, and provide tips on how to optimize recruiting strategies in the changing hiring landscape.
The following questions are addressed:
Why SMEs can no longer afford to sit back and hope that the best candidates will come to them
How to find a balance between AI and human contact in the recruiting process
How to deal with the increase in AI-supported applications
Trend 1: Creative, targeted applicant searches are becoming increasingly important
Gartner's Recruiting Innovations Bullseye Trends Report 2024 draws a clear conclusion: Candidates expect companies to come to them and find them. Employers must therefore be proactive and innovative to attract the most promising talent. [1]
Yet more than two-thirds (68%) of HR leaders say their current recruitment efforts are not finding enough key talent. At the same time, two-thirds of them expect competition for candidates to increase in the short term.
68% find insufficient talent with their recruitment measures
Soon, it will no longer be enough to post job advertisements online and hope that good candidates apply. Forward-thinking companies are looking for a variety of solutions, some supported by advanced technologies, to actively find talent from previously untapped sources.
4 Strategies for SMEs to Hire Top Talent
Gartner makes the following recommendations to continue to find top talent:
1. Search outside of traditional job boards
Online job boards have been the main place for recruiting for several decades, but their days may be numbered. While they have been around for a long time and are heavily used, predictions suggest that they will not grow in importance and could lose out to other, more active recruiting solutions.
2. Find out how AI can help you find applicants
AI technologies are still in the experimental phase, but forward-thinking SMBs can get ahead of their competition by thinking about how AI can help them now and in the future. Gartner's Recruiting Innovation Survey shows that adoption of AI-powered talent acquisition is relatively low right now (ranked 14th out of 18 technologies), but at the same time, HR leaders expect it to be the most important technology in the future.
3. Tap into talent networks
Communities around specific talent or attributes have been very successful, both online and offline. These skills and diversity-focused talent networks are also important pools for SMB recruiters, especially given that 92% of HR leaders want to take a skills-led approach to talent management and 77% of recruiting leaders plan to increase their company's resources for diversity recruiting in the next 12 months.
Companies are increasingly recognizing the value of "boomerang employees" - malaysia telegram data ex-employees who have left the company and eventually return. One in ten recruiters say that the last position they filled was filled by a returning employee. Many companies invest in alumni management to maintain good relationships with former staff and to expand these networks.
Trend 2: Job seekers expect a thoughtful balance between AI and human interaction
AI is transforming the application and hiring process in companies of all sizes. Many companies have been quick to adopt AI tools, but they should be careful not to automate too many of their HR tasks.
AI in recruiting is perceived rather positively
Overall, applicants welcome the use of AI in the hiring process: According to Capterra's AI in Job Search 2024 survey*, while 65% of job seekers worldwide are positive about employers using AI in talent sourcing, assessment and application ranking, more than a third (35%) view it negatively. Given this relatively large proportion that is skeptical about AI, companies should use AI tools very carefully.
The same study also revealed the limits of AI's use in recruiting. Capterra asked how the use of AI during the application process could influence the likelihood of respondents applying for a vacant position. Factors include whether the hiring company is transparent about AI use and the data collected, whether or not humans make decisions, and whether applicants have the option to speak to a human during the process.
38% of job seekers worldwide said they would be likely to turn down a job offer if the interview and application process relied too heavily on AI.