IT Recruiters Must Adapt to a New Job Market 

As we move into 2021, IT recruiters will need to adapt to an ever-changing job market as we move forward. 

2020 was a tough year for a lot of businesses, but the IT industry actually got to flex its innovative muscles. With the pandemic affecting businesses around the world, IT departments needed to find creative ways to allow employees to work remotely. What ended up happening was shocking! Many businesses discovered that certain jobs experienced very little drop in productivity. As we move into 2021, IT recruiters will need to adapt to an ever-changing job market as we move forward.  

With that being said, IT recruitment wasn’t quite as clear-cut and presented more of a challenge. Virtual recruiting technologies hit the spotlight and rocked the foundation of the recruitment world. In many ways, this was a blessing for top businesses. They were forced to improve their recruitment processes on the fly but these changes are going to benefit them for years to come!  

Now it’s time to take a closer look at some valuable tips that IT recruiters need to keep their eyes on.   

#1: Language Processing Technology will Continue to Grow 

One of the fastest-growing trends in 2020 will continue its momentum throughout 2021. A technology that started in the customer service world has been adapted by top IT recruitment firms. Language processing technology utilizes groundbreaking AI to screen potential employees.  

One of the most time-consuming tasks in job recruitment is screening applicants. Natural language processing (NLP) technology can now do this automatically and filters in the best candidates. I know that some people look down on chatbots but when they are used properly, they are extremely powerful tools.  

Make sure that a chatbot is limited to very few questions and that all human bias is removed. Remember, this is just one of the many filters that will be used to go through applications.  

Recruiters are starting to combine NLP with voice recognition to provide analytical insight into interviews too.  

#2: More Companies are Turning to Remote Work 

2020 taught us all a valuable lesson. Companies have discovered that a lot of their tasks can be done remotely, which is quite appealing to employees. However, the downside is that only individuals who are highly motivated will be efficient when working from home.  

What does this have to do with recruiting? Businesses are now able to increase their talent pool because they gain access to potential talent from all over the country rather than being limited by geography. While there is still quite a bit of growth needed for this to become a common practice, top companies that have been forced to open the door to remote employees are finding it to be quite efficient.  

I fully expect companies to realign some of their practices to keep this trend going.  

#3: Social Media Recruiting Continues to Grow 

Recruiters have already started to dig their heels deep into the social media world and we don’t expect that to stop. In fact, it’s expected to become a more pronounced step in the recruitment process. More people than ever are on social media so recruiters are finding it a great place to not only find talent, but to research potential candidates.  

We’ll see recruiters ramp up their social media presence with hashtags, videos, and job marketing.  

#4: Predictive Analytics is Used to Vet Job Candidates 

We already see a variety of recruitment technology focusing on identifying top talent to recruiters with the goal of identifying the best matches for a job opening. But we will see it move even further by providing automated insights into applicants without the need for countless hours of painstaking research.  

For instance, if 500 applications were submitted for a job opening, then this technology would go through all 500 applications and look for specific metrics.  Then it would filter in applications that are deemed as qualified. Instead of having to manually go through 500 applications, a hiring agent would only need to review 100 or 150 of them.  

#5: Top Companies will Continue to Adopt a Diverse Hiring Approach 

Diverse teams have been proven time and time again to perform at a higher level. As a result, it’s no surprise that companies are starting to focus resources into developing diverse teams. The reason is simple though. Teams built around individuals with different perspectives are more likely to come up with innovative and creative solutions.  

Recruiters must be able to adapt job postings to attract a diverse population. This will require them to reshape the language and challenge the status quo.  

#6: Employer Branding Becomes More Important than Ever 

Top talent is quite picky about the company they work with. Businesses are thus finding it necessary to create an employer branding strategy to attract top talent. In fact, this might be the most important part of the entire recruitment process now. Employers must make their vision and mission clear to job applicants.  

This study proves the importance of employer branding, showing that 75% of job applicants research a company’s vision and mission before applying for a job. Since the top candidates in the IT industry have a lot of companies to choose from, companies that fail to properly brand themselves are going to be ignored by these people.  

#7: Company Culture is Another Huge Factor 

A company’s culture must match the promises made in their employer branding strategy. Remote work has made it much more challenging for businesses to adopt a culture. As we transition forward, organizations will have to find innovative ways of sharing their values, mission, and overall vision with their employees. These steps are crucial to creating a healthy company culture.  

It all begins in the hiring process by building a culture from the ground up – from the hiring process, through training, and all of the way until that employee leaves the company.  

#8: Businesses Must Improve the Quality of New Hires 

Recruiters use innovative systems to greatly improve the quality of new hires. This is the first step to building a profitable and successful business. Just like a good dish is only as good as its ingredients, a healthy company is only as good as its employees.  

Don’t let AI technology scare you. It will improve insights into potential job candidates and automatically analyze applications based on a pre-determined series of metrics. Hard skills must take a backseat to overall job performance. Just because a candidate has a superior skillset doesn’t necessarily make them a good fit for your specific company. An employee who has the skills necessary to complete the job while also fitting in with your entire team would be much better. Of course, if you can find someone who fits your culture and possesses a deep skillset, then that’s just icing on the cake!  

IT Recruiting is a Constantly Changing Landscape That’s Difficult to Keep up With 

The fact is that IT recruiters are able to manage this ever-changing landscape because it’s part of their core focus. Trying to recruit in-house can get messy very quickly. Companies want to focus on their core mission. Having to pull resources away from their focus can stunt growth and end up costing more in the long-term. Not to mention the high employee turnover rate that comes with hiring the wrong candidates.  

It’s usually a good idea to partner with an IT recruiting company whose primary mission is to find top talent. They already have the systems in place and the experience to tap into the best talent in the job pool.