Only 40% of job seekers are confident that they will find the right job in 2024. That means 60% of job seekers are settling for a role that’s not necessarily the job they want. Why? Here’s what’s changed in recruiting: 

World events, patterns, and outcomes over the last few years have completely disrupted the recruitment space as we know it. The labor market has fundamentally shifted for both job seekers and businesses – creating new demands for adaptability, a desire for alternative skillsets, and a critical need to add unique value and fill gaps in the job market like never before. 

New trends and technologies have emerged, along with an uncertain world and job market. The recruitment industry has experienced hiring freezes, mass layoffs, and the new world of ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence, and a large group of job seekers have unique standards and priorities for their next role. These changes come with new demands and new skills for both businesses and job seekers to stay relevant. 

Businesses are Asking: 

• Where do we even begin our recruiting efforts? 

• How can we define business and hiring goals when the market is constantly fluctuating? 

• How can we navigate the hiring funnel to equally serve our business and a job seeker without favoring one over the other? 

JobTarget and Nexxt partnered together to answer these questions. 

1. Start with data: Establish your hiring goals and business needs. 

What’s your version of success? There’s never been a more critical time to review and implement data into your recruitment strategy. According to ATS leader Lever, the talent organizations that don’t embrace data moving forward will continue to have difficulty sourcing talent, nurturing job seekers, and hiring the top candidates in an efficient, predictable manner. 

Consistent, data-driven talent acquisition and recruiting strategies will become table stakes. 

• Research the roles that you have hired well in. 

• Research the roles that you have yet to find the right candidates for. 

• Finally, research the roles that aren’t even on your radar yet. Because soon enough, they probably will be. And when they are, you’ll already have a talent mapping strategy at play. 

Ask yourself: What skill sets are critical to successful business outcomes and hiring goals? 

Because of uncertain market fluctuations, unique and niche skill sets have become necessary for innovation, relevance, and future-proofing. Your recruiters and business leaders need to learn what skills to hire before they can even write a successful job advertisement. 

Start with your internal data, competitor data, and skills data to establish data-led hiring goals and business needs for the year. 

Because the market is in a season of fluctuation, consistently reviewing these hiring strategies and goals and performing a business retrospective every quarter or even after each hire may become critical. 

How JobTarget Can Help: 

Access to job market data can give you a critical advantage in your recruiting. 

With JobTarget Intelligence, you can hire more efficiently with detailed, personalized reports that inform a data-driven recruitment strategy and attract top talent. 
 
Get the one-pager here.  

2. Strategize your job ad: How to write a winning job advertisement 
 

Crafting a compelling job ad is essential to capturing the right job seeker’s attention and converting them as an applicant. 

We need to re-build our hiring criteria and post jobs that job seekers can relate to, see themselves in, and get excited about. Recruiters and businesses forget that job seekers must choose them instead of the other way around. 

There are many unique perspectives on how to write a good job advertisement. Don’t make it harder on yourself. 

Start here: Focus on your audience! 

After you have completed your hiring criteria research, you can create a persona-focused, relevant, industry-related job title. 

A short, targeted job title allows job sites and search engines to deliver the most relevant search results to job seekers, which will improve your performance in job advertising. 

Your job description should be short enough to be easily reviewed but detailed enough that a job seeker understands the nature of the work when reading it. 

Include both hard AND soft skills. Soft skills are now in the driver’s seat. 

Even the tone of the job ad matters. Make sure it keeps the job seeker focused and allows them to picture themselves in the role. 
Include salary information. Many states are starting to require this in their regulations, but more importantly, job seekers want transparency and accurate information. That alone increases conversion rates. 
What about you as an organization makes you special? Include it! That could be the game-changer that persuades a candidate to apply. 

Moving Forward with Confidence 

The disruption caused by recent global events and shifting market dynamics emphasizes the importance of adapting to new trends and technologies to succeed in today's job market. If you're ready to navigate these complexities and ensure that your recruitment efforts align with the evolving needs of businesses and job seekers, look no further than the comprehensive guide "A Full-Funnel Approach to Recruitment: Job Advertising Meets the Candidate Experience." This guide, developed by the collaboration between JobTarget and Nexxt, offers invaluable insights into establishing data-driven hiring goals, crafting compelling job advertisements, and leveraging JobTarget Intelligence for a strategic recruitment strategy. 

Don't miss out on the opportunity to optimize your recruitment strategies and enhance the candidate experience. Download the full guide here!