Top performing employees are vital for the success of any organization and companies are under constant pressure to find the right talent, at the lowest cost. Innovative recruitment techniques and technologies are emerging almost every day, and any company can find the high quality talent by employing right tools and strategies. Hiring budgets and volumes in the recruitment industry are perfectly poised for the upward swing this year, and talent acquisition leaders are getting ready to scale their operations. Recruiting leaders are getting smart, and are using data driven technique to find the top talent. Some of the recruitment trends for 2015 are:

Digitization
The explosive growth in internet and use of social media has made the world smaller, and more transparent. What eBook did to paperback, digitization is doing to resume/CV. For recruiters and hiring organizations, it has become much easier to find the candidates, and gather more professional and personal information about them.

In 2015, the traditional resume will fade away to some extent, and writing will be more on the digital wall. The static profiles in resume will be replaced by dynamic content which is maintained online. Candidates are using several URLs for controlling and sharing what they have done, what they are capable of doing, and showcase their talent, capabilities and knowledge via blogs and other channels. Additionally, 2015 will witness a more candidate-friendly and human approach for applicant tracking as compared to relying on algorithms and keywords to match skills and experience. Mobile-optimized format, machine learning adaptive algorithms, Big data etc. all are becoming an integral part of hiring trends in 2015.

The cliché “Who you know is more important than what you know” is seeing a turnaround as well. Digitization makes it much easier to find “what you know”, and Internet is changing the old networking concepts. The first-hand contacts and networks are still important, however, the relationships and introduction are moving online.

Flexible Staffing
Another emerging recruitment trend is the gradual shift towards a more distributed labor model, which is flexible, and can respond to the changing business requirements. To improve the hiring process and quality by lowering cost and maximizing time utilization, employers are collaborating with temporary staffing firms to find talented and skilled workforce. This helps them find the right talent, and stay productive. Before committing resources to the new hires, employers can hire through staffing firm on a trial basis to ensure a good fit not only for the job, but also for their own organization. Skilled and professional flexible staffing solutions firms can help employers save money and time in the long run. These firms can be used to hire highly skilled individuals capable of handling critical projects in virtually every industry as these firms have broad networks, and extensive database of resume from skilled local professionals. Flexible staffing firms can conduct the initial screening, interviews and reference checks on behalf of the employer. Employers that staff flexibly by employing a mix of temporary and flexible professionals will be able to navigate well through both good and turbulent times.

Additionally, there are lots of other costs associated with hiring permanent employees, such as health benefits, compensation insurance, and unemployment taxes. These additional expenses and the complexity of hiring will lead to increased usage of flexible staffing arrangements that help organizations quickly fill in vacant positions, without the obligations associated with full-time employment. Some of the major advantages of flexible staffing solutions are:

• Reduced Cost
• Reduced Vulnerability
• Increased Job Satisfaction
• Better Resource Allocation
• Evaluating Potentials
• Wider Choices
• Avoid Burning Out

Using Talent pool for passive hiring
People with right capabilities and skills stay high in demand, but low in supply, and stiff competition stays the biggest challenge to hiring. Hence, recruiters are using the talent pool reports to quantify the supply and demand for the right skill set. There are vast majority of professionals who identify themselves as passive candidates, and can be a top recruitment source for several talent acquisition leaders. 2015 will see a leap towards closing the gap between active and passive candidates. Recruiting passive talent requires different set of skills, and recruiters must be trained in finding the right channels to source candidates, crafting personalized messages, and presenting the opportunities in the organization as a much more than just a pay raise.

Talent Brand
A step forward for the organizations in the year 2015 will be proper funding in recruitment, and measuring their talent brand, which is the public, social version of the company brand. The research shows that if a company has a strong talent brand, the turnover rates can be lowered by 28% and cost per hire can be reduced by 50%. Strong talent brand in place also significantly increases the ability to hire good talent. The companies will have to benchmark their talent brand budgets against other human resource investments to fund the talent brand as per their priorities. Employees can be leveraged as the talent brand ambassadors.

2015 is going to be a competitive year for hiring professionals, and tapping into the key recruitment trends will ensure that they can keep up with the hiring demands and competition. There is no lagging behind this year.