5 Hiring Trends For 2023 in the European Market

Do you wish to be able to hire people successfully in 2023?

Then it's not only a matter of having the right group of internal recruiters; it's also a matter of how the process is structured.

The European recruiting industry has changed dramatically in the last few years. Some of these shifts have been gradual, while others have been sudden. The most significant changes have been brought about by technological advancement, which has ultimately impacted the employment process.

With little signs of slowing down, this turmoil is projected to continue for the foreseeable future, resulting in new hiring patterns. The majority of these significant recruiting trends are already in place, and they have a significant impact on the European market.

With all of these changes taking effect, businesses and job agencies are under increased pressure to find top-tier talent. Even if you stayed in your current position, your job as a recruiter would not be the same in five years. You will have to adapt by learning new skills, resources, and measurements.

In this article, we'll look at five of the most recent hiring trends in the European market for 2023.

Let’s dive in, shall we?_‍

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_{#1: Focus on Employer Branding}

As our first recruitment trend, let's look at the growing importance of employer branding for job seekers.

A recent Glassdoor survey found that 92% of workers would consider moving jobs for the same compensation if the new firm had a good reputation. That reveals a lot, especially about how the workplace is changing.

Prospective applicants' priorities today are substantially different from those of prospects 10 years ago.

To stand out to contemporary job seekers, it is beneficial for companies to communicate more about their brand and culture in their job descriptions, such as diversity and inclusion, well-being, upskilling, and flexible work alternatives.

With this in mind it is important to acknowledge that candidate experience is also employer branding. Therefore, reach out messages, email subject lines, email sequences, are key to good employer branding as well as other marketing strategies.

One thing we currently need to keep in mind regarding employer branding are the massive layoffs.

Keeping a strong employer brand after massive layoffs can be challenging, but transparency and communication are key. Communicating clearly with employees and external stakeholders about the reasons for the layoffs and the company's plan for the future can help to maintain trust and build understanding.

Additionally, taking steps to ensure remaining employees feel valued and supported, such as offering opportunities for professional development and fostering a positive work culture, can help attract and retain top talent.

Practical tips:‍

• Examine all company social media accounts to gain a better understanding of the factors influencing your employer brand.

• Invest on recruitment marketing initiatives like recruiting videos, social media content, and employee referral programmes.

• Create and organize your candidate experience starting from reach out messages.

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#2: Quality Over Quantity

A data analysis of the job market in the major European economies for 2022 suggests a dramatic fall in hiring.

In 2023, your hiring strategy should be focused on identifying competent employees with the appropriate skills for your organisation. The overriding concept will be to make every employee count.

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“There will be a general theme of making every hire count; Hiring managers will be facing a new reality. You’re not going to get seven hires this year to add to your team - you’re going to get two, so really think strategically about what talent you need.”
John Vlastelica, CEO, Recruiting Toolbox

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Businesses are already transitioning to a skills-based hiring method, finding candidates with a wider range of talents, and reducing the risk of poor hires.

Rather than selecting experts and confining them to a certain field, candidate screening will favour skilled generalists who can handle greater and broader tasks.

In that case, proof of proficiency will be associated with hiring top-tier employees.

Skills assessments can help hiring managers swiftly sort out the first wave of applicants and identify the most promising ones.

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Practical tips:

• Keep job descriptions brief; instead, focus on critical technical and soft skills.

• Develop a skills-based candidate shortlisting approach to identify the finest candidates.

• Assess the quality of new hires using known measures such as time-to-productivity.

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#3: Using recruitment technology to build quality talent pools

According to Thrive My Way, 94% of recruiters say technology has positively impacted their hiring process and helped them manage and increase their pool of suitable candidates.

Additionally, in 2023 and beyond, talent acquisition teams will have a broader function than simply locating qualified candidates. As recruiting teams bear the brunt of tech layoffs, the demand for exceptional talent sourcing will soar. Because there will be fewer workers on the task, automation will be required.

The issue could be saved if talent pools are strategically developed. For example, rather than approaching each new post as a separate project, recruiters would be better served by categorising possible applicants into distinct talent pools, such as those organised by seniority, region, or skill type.

Creating a talent pool of qualified applicants may assist hiring teams in shortening the hiring process. By skipping the basic candidate screening, businesses can hire candidates for newly opened positions faster than usual.
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Practical suggestions:

• Do some research to find the right tools to ensure that your recruitment software supports talent pooling. Check out Ashby is great new tool in the market that positions itself as an all-in-one platform.

• Engage and encourage qualified prospects to stay interested.

• Make proactive contact with candidates in your database before making any new openings public.

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#4: Improving the Hiring Process with AI and Automation

Recruitment technology helps optimise the hiring process and automates time-consuming tasks such as candidate screening, shortlisting, and the first round of interviews.

Another Another way that technology is improving recruitment is through artificial intelligence (AI) like ChatGPT, a chatbot technology capable of producing human-like language, making it suitable for recruiting, talent acquisition, and sourcing.

ChatGPT is already being used to improved hiring efficiency and candidate experience, by helping to create job descriptions, send outreach emails to candidates, and evaluate top candidates.

Aside from ChatGPT, AI technology is already used in applicant sourcing, resume screening, and scheduling, for example, and it holds a lot of potential in terms of enabling recruiters to reduce the impact of bias on the hiring process.

Asynchronous video interviews are another fantastic example of employing technology to improve and accelerate the hiring process. Using skills tests to screen applicants is one of the top employment trends. You may establish specific parameters, immediately exclude unsuitable candidates, and save time.

While it is not wholly new, artificial intelligence in recruiting will continue to change the way jobs are filled on a daily basis.

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Practical suggestions:

• Examine the time-consuming tasks to see if they can be automated.
• Examine the things on your shopping list (automated feedback, reference check, resume screening, etc). AI may be utilised to assist with some of these responsibilities.

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And finally… 

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#5: Data-Driven Recruiting

When it comes to popular recruiting trends, data-driven hiring is one of the most effective trends an organisation can use.

It promises HR professionals a number of benefits, ranging from improved hire quality to more aggressive recruiting. When your hiring process is digitalized, you can begin hiring based on data. Using data-driven hiring methods, such as online skills evaluations, can help you speed up the hiring process and make better judgements.

Another perk of data-driven recruiting is that it further contributes to reducing the impact of bias as stakeholders’ decision-making becomes more objective and less intuitive.

Predictive analytics, or data, are also used by today's leading talent acquisition teams in headcount planning to foresee the company's future employment needs and plan for any big changes in the recruiting market.

Niels van der Heijden was a panelist on our Talking Talent event on December 2022 - Don’t Lose Your Head(count): Slow Hiring in 2023.
Click here to listen to the entire panel.

Practical suggestions:

• Choose the metrics you want to track and make a note of the data sources.
• Create a recruitment dashboard to keep track of your efforts.
• To improve the quality of your talent pipeline, improve the objectivity of your candidate selection and screening procedures.

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SUMMARY

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Technological advancements are already having a significant impact on the recruitment process. To prevent falling behind, startups and scale-ups can adapt and begin applying the trends mentioned above.

Regardless of how much technology influences the hiring process, we must also consider the human factor. Applicants want to engage with people because interpersonal contact is still an essential part of the recruiting process.

Even if technology takes a more dominant role in the process now much more than before, recruiters should still provide that human touchpoint when it comes to answering candidates’ questions and helping them understand what to expect from the process, company, and role.

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Does your company need help with sourcing or hiring? Our team can work with you to find the best solution. You can learn more about Acelr8's services here.

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