The only absolute certainty is that there is no going back to the way things were pre-pandemic. The old normal is gone, even if there are no definitive indications yet of what the new normal will be. 

Not an easy time, you might think, to be making predictions for the next 12 months. But there is sense to be made in all this uncertainty. Armed with our hard-won talent market intel and on-the-ground observations from our seasoned consultants, we have some valuable insights to share.

Here’s the EWS view on where the talent market is heading in 2024… and what smart recruiters need to do to be prepared.

The global economy in 2024

Macroeconomic forecasting has become something of a fool’s errand in recent years. The world economy has been disrupted by an unprecedented sequence of black swan events, all while the climate emergency makes ever-more-urgent demands for new economic thinking. However, optimism is now coalescing around core factors like growth, inflation and employment. 

Goldman Sachs Research, which predicted the global economy’s outperformance against expectations in 2023, is even more positive about the prospects for 2024. Income growth, cooling inflation, a robust job market, room for Central Banks to reduce interest rates – it’s not for nothing that their report is titled The Hard Part Is Over. 

The OECD predicts more uneven growth but a similar picture around interest rates and continuing low unemployment rates. 

Specifically in the talent space, Recruitics forecasts cooling labour markets, although cautions of a persisting gap between supply and demand. 

So where does this leave recruiters? We’re viewing the answer as a shift from wait-and-see mode to planning mode. Irrespective of the precise trajectory of the market in 2024, it’s highly likely that growth is stabilising and an uptick in investment is on the horizon. 

That gap between supply and demand won’t be closing any time soon. So when the time does come to start hiring again, the successful recruiters will be the best prepared. 

“This isn’t the time to be reactive. We know a fundamental change is coming and there will be a point relatively soon when you will be hiring more than you have been. The best way to be ahead of that is to start early. Invest in talent pipelining, invest in talent mapping. Ultimately, the busier you are now, the better positioned you’ll be when the boom does come.”

Darren Hornigold, EWS Director

Emerging talent trends for 2024

We’re seeing some significant new trends emerging, with other recent trends solidifying, falling back or balancing out. These are converging to reshape the talent landscape for 2024 – and every one of them should be on your strategic radar right now.

1. The end of The Great Resignation? 

As our Global Delivery Leader Ken Craig notes, all signs are that The Great Resignation is itself quietly quitting. 

“Workers quitting or job-hopping spiked in 2021-22 but post-pandemic, this looks to have peaked. Through 2023, we’ve seen ever-stronger emphasis on candidates who haven’t jumped from job to job. And this dampening in demand has also seen wages start to balance out after a period of inflated growth. Things are looking a lot more sustainable on that front now.”

This is one big relief for talent teams, but no reason yet to take your eye off the retention ball. 

Ken cautions that “employees want evidence they’re in a company that wants them long term. Many of our clients are investing heavily in learning & development – both upskilling and reskilling – to design career progression paths to retain top talent. This is a key employer brand pillar and one that vastly improves employee engagement.”

2. The Great Retirement gathers pace

As Strategic Dimensions puts it, “the 2020s is the decade during which the challenge of an ageing population shifts from being tomorrow’s problem to today’s.” Almost half-way through, with the Covid-accelerated rise in workers retiring early, this is a workforce trend that cannot be ignored.

There is vast intellectual capital locked up in all those Baby Boomers, and increasingly Gen X executives, on the verge of retirement. Without a clear view of where to find the next generation of exec-level talent, The Great Retirement will be anything but great for organisational futures.

EWS Director Darren Hornigold proposes a clear strategic solution. “The more people analytics you use, the more you understand the ebb and flow of your workforce and the wider talent market. So you know you’re going to have a 10% loss of ‘grey’ intellectual capital over the next five years. How are you going to manage that effectively without a talent pipeline?” 

3. The Great Reprioritisation: Rise of the selective candidate

We are seeing an intrinsic shift in what candidates are prioritising in their career decision-making. So fundamental is this shift, we’ve coined an entirely new category of candidates. Where we previously demarcated active and passive candidates, we now speak more and more of selective candidates.

These are candidates who are only open to exploring new opportunities if they fit certain criteria, typically around working pattern, culture and non-compensatory benefits. Crucially, even for roles where there’s a good competency fit, if these criteria aren’t met, selective candidates are saying ‘no’ far sooner.

Darren explains: “Traditionally, our model was to target passive candidates. But now we’re having a completely different type of engagement. Candidates can be active for two or three conversations, and then very quickly they’re turned off because it doesn’t quite fit with what they want in their life. For selective candidates, what matters to you is a holistic thing rather than a job title”.

This poses a major new challenge for recruiters, one that will only grow with the rise of the selective candidate. It’s no longer enough to have a big name, an attractive role and a great compensation package. 

As Darren puts it, “now you need to factor in all kinds of intangible variables. Can they work from home? What are their long-term incentives? What are you doing about wellbeing? What’s in the office fridge? Do you have a ping pong table? It’s a different landscape with a far greater need for more nuanced qualification.”

Navigating that landscape, then, requires an equally nuanced mindset. This is partly an employer branding challenge. Ken is finding that “an organisation’s perception in the market is becoming increasingly important, with green and sustainable practices particularly high on candidate agendas. You can no longer rely on the company name. It’s about changing the go-to-market narrative.”

Another crucial mindset shift for talent acquisition teams is from prioritising identification to focusing resources on candidate engagement. Which leads us neatly on to our final trend…

4. The sweet spot between AI and HI

The exponential growth of AI recruitment tools continues apace, particularly in managing job applicants. We’re going to see more and more ChatGPT-written job descriptions, chatbot-answered application questions and interview questions generated by AI tech analysing job descriptions and applications.

Yet with the rise of the selective candidate, the demand for human intelligence at the front end of the recruitment process will become greater than ever. AI tech undoubtedly has the potential to 10x our work in candidate identification. But in the increasingly critical engagement phase, it’s another story altogether, as Darren explains.

“With selective candidates, it’s no longer binary qualification. Say you’re looking for a Marketing Director on the U.S. West Coast with a B2B background, some B2C and 8+ years’ experience. You have three key essentials and there’s a good chance AI will improve our ability to map out that market. What it can’t do is ask the question about the grey areas, the intangibles. It can’t engage on a human level. And unless you’re willing to risk the quality of your candidate experience, that person-to-person element is essential.”

How talent acquisition teams are preparing for 2024

Hiring is going to be back on the agenda in 2024, even if our crystal ball doesn’t allow us to put an exact timeline on it. But when investment starts flowing again and the new war for talent does break out, you’ll win by having put in the groundwork early.  

We know that in-demand skills are already scarce and competition for that talent is only set to rise more sharply. Factor in the advent of the selective candidate and the pressures of the Great Retirement, and the smart money is on the horizon-scanners, not the shoegazers.

As ever, EWS is here to help you take a more strategic view of talent acquisition. We’re experts in talent mapping, so we can apply a laser focus to the talent markets you want to understand. And our pipelining prowess will help you build proactive talent pools, ready to be dipped into when the time is right. 

When that moment comes, you can rely on us to seamlessly search for and engage the best candidates, attending to their deeper priorities as well as their career aspirations and salary expectations. 

With that in mind, perhaps we have one final recommendation for the year ahead. In 2024, choose a talent partner that’s in it for the long term.

“The talent landscape is changing and hiring priorities are in flux. In this market, a true partner is one that can adapt easily to map out the road ahead. They will know your business, your competitors and your market. They’ll understand your culture and the types of people you want to attract. And crucially, they can give you the insights and intel to shape your hiring around your strategy.”

Emma Watson, EWS Managing Director

The post The EWS View: Top Talent Trends For 2024 appeared first on EWS.

Why?

The better your job description, the higher quality of candidates you’ll reach. When you hire superb senior level talent, they become catalysts for company-wide growth. The work they do generates positive ripples for years to come.

Plus, it helps you avoid candidates that are the wrong fit, which saves a lot of time. (And it also helps keep your employer brand consistent with your company culture!)

So, how do you get started? Here are our actionable tips on how to write engaging and effective job descriptions, so you can bring the best possible senior level talent to your organisation.

The Key? Avoid Discouraging A Potential Amazing Fit

Many companies don’t realise that their job descriptions discourage potential great candidates.

The way to avoid this? Qualify people based on positive traits rather than disqualifying them based on requirements. You’ll have a much better chance of attracting diverse and excellent senior level talent.

Here are some things to keep an eye on when writing your job descriptions:

Go Easy on Superlatives

It might be tempting to describe your ideal candidate as “world-class,” a “rockstar,” or the “best of the best.” But, there’s a hidden drawback to this, according to Research by the National Center for Women & Information Technology. The study shows that superlatives can actually discourage qualified people from applying.

This is because many people, especially women and minorities, are socialised not to “toot their own horn.” They don’t feel comfortable claiming they are the “best of the best,” but they may actually be ideal for the role.

Use Gender Neutral Language

The language you use matters! Anyone reading your job description should be able to see themselves reflected in it. Always use gender-neutral job titles and examples. If you use pictures and graphics, make sure they reflect a diverse range of people.

There’s even a free app you can use to help you gauge the gender balance in the language of your job description. (It’s based on a study about how certain words discourage women from applying.)

Focus on What Their Skills Will Achieve

When you’re looking for the right candidate, it’s about what they can do. So, focus on the results you’d like to see rather than degrees, experience or credentials. (Unless of course, you’re hiring for a role where a degree is a requirement.)

By focusing on skills rather than requirements, you also attract senior level candidates who are are more diverse. Women are unlikely to apply for a position unless they meet 100 percent of the requirements. Meanwhile, men will apply if they meet only 60 percent of the requirements. (Read about the research study here.)

Why You Should Write Success Profiles, Not Job Descriptions

In a previous blog post, we suggested writing a “Success Profile” rather than a job description. It includes 6-8 core performance objectives a person needs to achieve in the role to be successful.

This defines the job through outputs and achievements, rather than qualifications and experiences. A Success Profile attracts better, more diverse candidates because it focuses on the value delivered to your company.

When you define results rather than duties, there’s no need to list an arbitrary set of requirements. The right candidate doesn’t need 10 years of experience, or a degree. They simply need to be able to complete the goals you’ve laid out. This, of course, opens up the potential candidate pool. You’re selecting in qualified candidates rather than filtering them out. Plus, it begins the conversation on a positive, inclusive note.

For an example of a traditional-style Job Description re-written as a Success Profile, take a look at this blog post. This shift in perspective applies to any role, in any industry. (In fact, if you can’t define 6-8 core performance results, you might ask yourself why you’re hiring for the role in the first place.)

Top Tier Passive Talent Can Afford to Be Choosy

High quality senior level talent is always in demand. Those with valuable skills know they’ll always have opportunities available to them. To attract them you’ll need to highlight how the role will serve them as well as the other way around.

This starts with being clear about the salary, perks and benefits you are offering, of course. This saves time for everyone, because it filters out anyone who’s not a good fit. In a 2018 Glassdoor study, salary was the top factor in what candidates looked for in job ads.

But these are not the only important factors. Experienced talent also wants to join a strong, established work culture. They want to work with a company whose values align with theirs. So, make sure you’ve highlighted those values in the job description.

Also, these individuals know the value of mentorship and lifelong learning. They are looking for somewhere they can develop their skills, progress and grow. So, be sure to mention any opportunities you offer for professional development.

The Power of a Well-Written Job Description

A quality job description is a powerful magnet to attract senior level candidates who share your company values.

Think about how you can align with their goals and skills and draw people who really care about the work – and have the know-how to make it happen.

It’s a fundamental shift in mindset for your hiring process. But, it will make a huge difference in the quality of talent you attract to your organisation. These individuals have the potential to deliver value for years to come, so it’s worth getting it right!

If you’ve enjoyed this, please pass it along to someone else who might find it valuable.

The post Will Your Job Descriptions Attract In-Demand Senior Level Candidates? appeared first on EWS.

What Millennials Want

A recent Gallup report How Millennials Want to Work and Live got us thinking about this topic. It includes some illuminating findings about how millennials perceive, approach and manage their careers. Here’s a snapshot:

1. Millennials aren’t very engaged at work. Just 29% feel ‘emotionally and behaviourally connected’ in their jobs. As Gallup puts it, “The millennial workforce is predominantly ‘checked out’ – not putting energy or passion into their jobs.”
2. They’re on the lookout for new jobs. 60% are open to a new job opportunity and 36% say they’ll look for “a job with a different organization in the next 12 months if the job market improves.”
3. They’re looking for growth opportunities. Millennial candidates are more likely than older demographics to choose a job for learning and growth prospects. They tend to see their current role as a stepping stone.

Interesting stuff indeed. But what really caught our eye was the report’s US bias. It got us wondering: Can an entire generation be homogenised by a single-market report? And more pertinently, should you bet your hiring strategies for the next decade on it?

We wouldn’t, especially in light of a slightly older but (to us) more revealing study conducted by INSEAD’s Emerging Markets Institute, Universum and the HEAD Foundation.

Millennial Preferences Around the World

‘Millennials: Understanding a Misunderstood Generation’ surveyed 16,637 millennials across Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North America. And it revealed massive variations across regions, in career aspirations and priorities, preferred management style and work-life balance among other things.

Here’s the graphic that really stands out for us.

In the first instance, it’s worth noting that the desire to become a leader itself varies considerably by culture. 40% of all respondents rated it ‘very important’, but that masks the gulf between 8% in Japan and 63% in India. Already, Gallup’s third finding above begins to look a little suspect when viewed through a global lens.

Even assuming leadership opportunities are a key factor for millennials, the graph clearly shows the need to dig deeper to effectively plan how to attract and nurture leaders-in-waiting in the global talent market. For instance: emphasise a role’s potential for influence in Africa and millennials should flock to you; do the same in the Middle East and you won’t see quality applicants for dust. And unless you’re recruiting in Asia-Pacific, Latin America or Western Europe, don’t even think of mentioning that old recruitment staple: ‘challenging work’!

Conclusion

Limit your horizons when targeting millennials, and you risk misdirecting your hiring resources… or missing out on the best talent altogether. Rarely has a global perspective been more important in recruitment.

Those in the know, share. If you think your network would find inspiration in this post, we’ve made it really easy for you to tell them using the LinkedIn Share button below.

The post Is The Way You View Millennials Harming Your Talent Strategy? appeared first on EWS.

But how do we do it?

There’s the obvious: Being dedicated, working hard, taking risks, continuously improving, etc. But are there other factors that can get us ahead?

We’ve done some research into the topic and discovered that it can help to see success as a habit. Or rather a collection of habits. In other words, one of the best ways to be a successful person is to emulate successful people. And where better to start than by emulating what they do day in and day out?

Here are five habits of successful people that you should consider adopting today.

1. Get enough sleep

It might be hard to believe that magnates and moguls sleep at all, but they do! When Forbes surveyed the sleep habits of 21 successful people, they found that most (32%) slept five to six hours a night. If you really want to emulate these individuals, the majority go to bed at 23:00 and wake up at 5:00.

2. Exercise

The saying “sound body, sound mind” is popular for a reason! You need to put your all into achieving your ambitions, and you can’t function at 100% without  regular exercise. One Inc. article found that 70% of successful business individuals exercise daily – mostly early in the morning.

Need more motivation? John Ratey, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School, said that “exercise is the single best thing you can do for your brain in terms of mood, memory, and learning.”

3. Have a good work-life balance

Just because you want to be successful doesn’t mean you have to work all the time. Finding the right work-life balance will help you destress, recharge and put your career into perspective. The downtime will also give you time to reflect on what you’ve done and plan where you want to take your career next.

It can also boost your productivity. A Corporate Executive Board survey of 50,000 global workers found those who believe they have a good work-life balance work 21% harder than those who don’t. (Incidentally, if you want the complete formula for job satisfaction, this forensic Cleverism dissection of the topic is definitely worth a read.)

4. Plan ahead

Success doesn’t happen by accident. Make the effort to clearly map out how you want to spend your time at work. Prioritise important tasks and make sure you allocate enough time for them. This can also go hand-in-hand with goal setting; set yearly, quarterly and even monthly goals, and create a weekly plan that will help you reach them.

Setting goals is shown to boost both motivation and achievement. In the Harvard Initiative for Learning and Teaching paper “Setting Goals: Who, Why, How?”, author Selen Turkay notes that “setting goals increases motivation. In fact, goals and motivation are so intertwined that many definitions of motivation incorporate goals.” She goes on to explain that “setting goals increases achievement. Hundreds of correlational and experimental studies show evidence that setting goals increase success rate in various settings.”

5. Network

Some of the best opportunities come from connecting with others. By ensuring you’re always putting yourself out there and meeting new people, you’ll begin to create a network that will take you to the next rung on the professional ladder. According to a ProMatch, 80% of today’s jobs are landed through networking.

What’s more, if your path to success involves working for a dream employer, it pays to start building your relationship with them early. Even if you’re not ready to join right now, you could be establishing and sustaining fruitful connections until the right role comes along in the future.

Conclusion

By adopting these habits, you’ll be one step closer to reaching your professional goals and becoming an industry leader. Of course, these tips alone won’t get you there, but allied to the right mindset and ambition, they can act as a solid foundation on which you can begin to build your empire!

Those in the know, share. If you think your network would find inspiration in this post, we’ve made it really easy for you to tell them using the LinkedIn Share button below.

The post 5 Habits of Successful People You Should Adopt appeared first on EWS.

Finding a genuinely effective way to measure hire quality is the recruiter’s holy grail.

LinkedIn’s Global Recruiting Trends 2016 report ranks quality of hire (QoH) as “the most valuable performance KPI.”

Yet the report also reveals that most people are only measuring QoH after a new recruit has been brought on board:

• 50% measure QoH through new hire performance evaluation
• 49% measure QoH through turnover or retention statistics
• 43% measure QoH through hiring manager satisfaction

But isn’t that too late? Yes, it shows how well they’re performing in the job they’re doing, but what about the job they were hired for?

There is a strong argument that the most effective way to measure QoH is to make your candidate selection metrics a fundamental part of the process.

Here is that argument in four simple steps.

1. Focus on performance-based hiring

Typically, recruiters hire candidates based on skills, qualifications and past experience. But actually, hiring specifically based on a candidate’s past performance gives you richer insights into their relevant accomplishments for your role.

This shift in focus enables you to align your predicted and actual measures of QoH, which in turn helps hiring managers to assess actual performance directly and meaningfully. The bad news? It requires an overhaul of the hiring process. Keep reading to learn how!

2. Rethink your job descriptions

Traditional job descriptions read something like this:

• This is who we are
• This is the position we’re looking to fill
• This is the experience you must have
• These are the skills and qualifications we’d like you to have

The problem here is that although qualified candidates may tick every box on your list, they may still not be the best person for your job. Why? Because you’re not asking them for the most germane performance-based information.

When you rethink your job descriptions, replacing your big shopping list of qualifications and experience with a honed list of key performance objectives, you’re recruiting for the very factors you can subsequently assess for QoH. You’re planning for excellence, not just measuring it.

Lou Adler, CEO of the Adler Group, recommends using six to eight key performance objectives to describe the job, including the sub-tasks for these main objectives. For time-sensitive objectives, include what you expect applicants to accomplish within a certain time frame.

3. Ask for samples of past work

Don’t just list the skills required of a candidate. Go a step further and state how those skills will be put to work.

For example, instead of “strong writing skills” include something like “strong writing skills to be used for monthly reports to your direct manager and quarterly reports to the executive team.” And ask for samples of similar reports the candidate has written. As Adler notes, obtaining samples of applicants’ work “makes the pre-hire quality assessment straight-forward.”

4. Use a talent scorecard

The Adler Group has created a Quality of Hire Talent Scorecard which can be used during the interview to accurately predict QoH. It compares past performance with the performance objectives you’ve outlined in your job description and provides you with a cumulative score predicting QoH.

You can also use the same scorecard to assess post-hire QoH.

Conclusion

Performance-based hiring is a big shift in ethos, but one that can pay huge dividends. In place of a vanity presentation lauding the effectiveness and ROI of your hiring process, you’ll be able to improve your process by interrogating differences between predicted and actual QoH.

Interviews become more consistent, job requirements become more tangible, and culture fit can become a vital component of the process.

With such a finely-honed (and continually improving) selection process, you begin every search for new talent knowing your system is proven to ensure quality of hire.

Those in the know, share. If you think your network would find inspiration in this post, we’ve made it really easy for you to tell them using the LinkedIn Share button below.

The post How Early is Too Early to Start Measuring Quality of Hire? appeared first on EWS.

To recap: for every individual prowling the job boards for their next position, there are 3 people happily getting on with their current job. Yet 85% of these so-called passive candidates are open to hearing about new opportunities.

So purely as a numbers game, reaching out to passive candidates makes a lot of sense. But there are more strategic reasons to focus your talent resources on engaging and recruiting them as well.

In a nutshell, passive candidates enrich your pool of available talent and often make better hires. Here’s why:

They have integrity

An active jobseeker is seeking a way out or step up. Who’s to say your role is the one they’re going to settle in? Passive candidates, meanwhile, are focused first and foremost on the job they’re in. If it takes a lot to prise them from it, that’s a great indicator of their loyalty (not a quality you’d necessarily associate with candidates who treat every new job as a springboard).

Their motivations are transparent

Job applications are a breeding ground for evasion, exaggeration and embellishment. It’s human nature. If we want to be the standout applicant, we’ll do what it takes to stand out… maybe inflating a little leadership experience here or puffing up major project involvement there. But with passive candidates, you’re making the approach, so there’s really no need for them to go overboard trying to impress you. Your relationship is forged in mutual trust and respect. Chances are that’s how it will continue after they join.

They’ll choose you for the right reasons

If your passive candidate is content in their current job, they’ll make a dispassionate decision about whether yours is a good long-term move. If your active jobseeker is desperate to get away from a job they dislike, you’re basically the next passing ship. They may be keen to jump on board; doesn’t mean they’re interested in the destination.

You aren’t in a bun fight for them

What happens when you find out your preferred applicant has offers from 2 competitors? You end up in a bidding war that could see you pay over the odds to secure their talents. Whereas if you’re the only suitor, yours is the only offer they’re negotiating on. So you’re more likely to get a loyal, honest, considerate, top-quality hire for less!

They won’t forget you in a hurry

You have no guarantees that any passive talent you approach will say yes right away. And while that’s an issue for your current vacancy, it’s no bad thing for your long-term talent planning. Any candidate you successfully engage now will remember you in the future. Building those relationships is the secret of any successful talent pipeline (something else we know a bit about).

Using this logic, more and more companies globally are directly sourcing and nurturing the candidates they want to hire, rather than hoping good people stumble across their vacancy online. And they’re reaping the benefits in the quality of their subsequent hires.

The next question is how you switch those wonderful passive candidates on to your role. Luckily, we provided the answers in a previous post. Read it here.

The post Why Sourcing Passive Candidates Is Smarter Than Settling For Active Job Seekers appeared first on EWS.