When reviewing and developing your annual talent acquisition strategy, your budget and specific role and team needs likely influence your hiring decision-making the most.
But, don’t forget to account for workforce trends in your talent planning. Keeping up with them can inform your company’s efforts to more effectively attract and retain talent.
5 workforce trends that will affect your talent attraction and retention efforts in 2024
There are likely some work trends you are likely well aware of and your leadership and human resources management teams have already accounted for in your strategic planning.
Some popular examples include the:
- Continual rise of hybrid working models and employee preference for remote work
- Focus on employee experience and work-life balance to boost worker satisfaction
- Use of learning and development programs for internal mobility and career pathing
- Need to regularly optimize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts and initiatives
- Ongoing analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on work and the workforce
For the sake of this blog post, we’ve highlighted five specific recruiting-related workforce trends that may not be on your radar, but are critical to keep top of mind in 2024.
1) Labor market tightness will persist to start 2024
There is no crystal ball that can say when the economy and job market will stabilize. However, many signs point to continued economic and labor market volatility to start 2024.
That means budgets will continue to be tightened, or even cut, at some employers. And that means hiring will remain paused for many companies.
Employ CEO Pete Lamson told HrTech Cube the best way for employers to deal with the down market is to “adapt to the rapidly changing circumstances with highly deliberate plans.”
That includes giving talent acquisition “a solution that addresses its [recruiting and hiring] needs and complexity to deliver powerful results,” even amid down periods, Pete added.
2) Hiring conditions will normalize, as 2024 progresses
Uncertain conditions “can make it difficult for employers to know how they should respond in this difficult talent landscape,” the 2023 Employ Recruiter Nation Report noted.
And yet, “talent acquisition and hiring teams must forge ahead and retain a positive outlook toward the future,” the report continued.
There was certainly reason for pessimism for human resources and talent teams in 2023, mostly due to external factors that impacted their hiring efforts.
Today, though, many recruiters and HR professionals seem more optimistic about a relative return to normalcy with their hiring strategies in 2024.
The Recruiter Nation Report found 86% of HR decision-makers and talent practitioners are positive about what the future of recruiting and hiring holds in 2024. This compares to just 8% of HR and TA pros who said they think unfavorable conditions will carry over into the new year.
The Employ Recruiter Nation Report found 86% of HR decision-makers and talent practitioners are positive about what the future of recruiting and hiring holds. This compares to just 8% of HR and TA pros who said they think unfavorable conditions will carry over into 2024.
3) Former skeptics (finally) embrace AI technology
Artificial intelligence has dominated the conversation in the business community since ChatGPT’s emergence in late 2022. Don’t expect that conversation to go away in 2024.
Dion Love, Vice President of Advisory for Gartner’s HR practice, noted only 5% of human resources leaders said their HR teams have started to use generative AI in their day-to-day.
However, more CHROs and TA leaders who were previously skeptical about AI now realize the technology can actually help their HR generalists and recruiters streamline their work.
An increasingly popular AI use case is to eliminate hiring bias.
Many recruiters now use AI tools to conduct blind resume reviews to ensure a fair recruiting process for all candidates and enhance their organizations’ diversity hiring efforts.
“The technology focuses on recognizing candidate qualifications to filter through top talent,” Restaurant Clicks CEO Brian Nagele shared for the Recruiter Nation Report. “This removes human involvement in applicant selections, at least for the initial round of interviews.”
4) Employers of all sizes will upgrade their TA tech
Ask any talent acquisition or HR leader for their software wish list, and you’ll see many helpful solutions, including emerging technologies with AI functionality built in that can automate key workflows, eliminate manual tasks, and provide insights into their recruiting and hiring efforts.
But, AI technology is just one must-have capability for TA leaders.
Nearly three in five (59%) HR decision-makers said they planned to invest more in AI in 2024, the Recruiter Nation Report found. What’s more, 48% also intend to get candidate relationship management (CRM) software, while 47% will buy new applicant tracking systems (ATS).
“Gaining knowledge on new technologies, new sourcing tools, and new data sources will pay tremendous dividends in 2024,” said NXTThing RPO Founder Terry Terhark.
“The pressure on the labor markets will return, so anything that a company can do now to be better prepared and to have new tools and techniques in place will be worth the investment.”
5) Recruiting and HR will increase their use of data
On top of the strong investment in ATS and CRM software, the Employ Recruiter Nation Report found 24% of HR decision-makers will increase investment in reporting and analytics, too.
Data will continue to drive the hiring strategies for many employers in 2024.
And many of these companies will use their ATS and CRM solutions — or, in the case of Lever customers, our unified ATS + CRM — to execute and optimize their talent strategies.
KnowBe4 CHRO Ani Banerjee wrote for HR Executive that having technology that houses both candidate data and people analytics and connects talent acquisition and human resources systems “isn’t just ‘nice to have.’” It’s “increasingly ‘need to have’” for employers.
Expect more companies to adjust their TA tech stacks and ensure their hiring teams have accessible, actionable analytics to strengthen their data-driven recruiting in 2024.
The importance of leveraging data was reinforced by a talent acquisition director in the Employ Recruiter Nation Report, who noted “robust analytics that we can pull from our ATS allow us to make data-driven decisions.”
Learn how Lever recruiting software can elevate your talent acquisition effectiveness in the year ahead. Schedule a demo of our ATS + CRM solution with our team today.
