4 Hiring Trends Every Job Seeker Needs to Know

Mark Carrel;BigStock

As a career counselor, it’s your job to keep your job seekers up to date on the hiring trends they need to know to land a job. 

To take advantage of the current job market, inform job seekers about these four important hiring trends:

1. The evolution of social recruiting

Social media is one of those hiring trends that’s been around for years. It’s nothing new. But social media is increasingly becoming more important to recruiters and job seekers alike. 

In fact, according to Jobvite’s 2018 Recruiter Nation Survey, 47% of recruiters said social media is their top investment for growing an employer brand. 

Social recruiting is evolving, becoming more sophisticated, and taking on greater significance. Hiding unsavory social media profiles, instead of crafting a well-rounded online presence, won’t cut it anymore. Recruiters are beginning to use social media in new ways to identify and select top candidates. 

For example, recruiters in Jobvite’s Recruiter Nation Survey say they use social media to analyze a candidate’s engagement in local or national organization groups (60%), see examples of written or design work (58%), and check mutual connections (36%). 

The survey also found that recruiters are looking out for negative candidate traits and qualities. When they’re digging around on social media, they’re aware of references to marijuana (58%), political rants (47%), spelling and grammar mistakes (43%), and pictures of alcohol consumption (42%). 

As social recruiting becomes increasingly intelligent, job candidates will need to spend more time managing their social profiles and communicating through social platforms to find more opportunities. 

2. The move to mobile hiring

The power of mobile is allowing job seekers to look for jobs at any time, any place. Jobvite’s 2020 Job Seeker Nation Report revealed 18% of job seekers apply solely from a mobile device, and 29% use a combination of both mobile and desktop.

Recruiters are hopping on board, using mobile options to connect with candidates. In fact, in Jobvite’s 2018 Recruiter Nation Study, 43% of recruiters say they’ve used texting to reach out to candidates or current applicants. 

Job seekers must prepare for all communication hiring trends. Recruiters may connect with them through traditional phone calls, emails, text messages, and social media. Remind job seekers their favorite devices are powerful job search tools that make the process easier and more convenient for themselves and employers. 

3. The rise of the part-time workforce

More employers are looking for freelancers and part-time workers to fill their talent needs to cut salary and benefits costs. A 2019 study by TrueBlue and Emsi project temporary employment will grow to more than 3.2 million jobs by 2025, an increase of nearly 254,000 jobs (8.5 percent) from 2019.

Although most job seekers are looking for full-time, permanent positions, they shouldn’t turn their noses up at these opportunities. Short-term positions can help professionals keep their skills fresh, provide them with networking opportunities, and offer a flexible schedule. 

Advise job seekers to have an open mind about freelancing and temporary positions, and remind them that the opportunities may help them find a more permanent role down the road. 

4. The referral reliance

Recruiters are flooded with applications, resumes, and emails from potential employees each day, and they don’t have time to consider each job seeker. To identify the best candidates, recruiters turn to those they know or those who know someone they know.

As a result, making connections with industry professionals should be a habit for job seekers. But they need to take it one step further and leverage their network. Reaching out to people in their network is a critical part of the job search, and those who fail to do so can easily get lost in a sea of similar candidates. 

Although job seekers may feel shy about asking their connections for referrals, it is necessary for today’s job search.