We feel pretty confident that you’ll agree with our assessment that 2022 was a bumpy restart to the post-pandemic business world. The reopening ‘celebration’ included plenty of false starts, lackluster results, and, quite frankly, not the enthusiasm we thought it would bring. Add to this an economy in flux and employers’ anxiety over running their business is not much less compared to 2020. And that includes recruitment.

2022 required some creative hiring practices, and 2023 will require even more. The workforce simply has more expectations than employers are accustomed to, even in the uncertain economic environment. Employers need to respond to this if they expect to stay relevant in their industry and the importance of relevancy is critical to success at the moment (in fact, that’s unlikely to change).

Let’s take a look at the recruiting trends that will help your company attract great talent this year.

Recruiting practices that hit the mark

1. Hire from within. Reskilling or upskilling current staff is an excellent way to not only get the right person for the job but it also does wonders for employee morale and motivation.
2. Market the job. This isn’t as obvious as it sounds. Rather than simply posting the position onto a job board and waiting for applicants, put effort into advertising the opening along with your company’s culture. Treat prospective candidates as prospective customers.
3. Be realistic about pay expectations (AKA offer a desirable salary). Can’t stress this enough. If you want great talent, you have to pay for it.
4. Offer flexible work hours and location. Hybrid work (office part of the week, home the rest) is not going anywhere. Neither is the necessity for flexible work hours, such as starting later in the day, or splitting daily work hours in order to accommodate family obligations. It’s a good idea to pilot saying yes to these requests. Ask yourself, if the work is getting done, do we really need to stick to 9-5?
5. But, be mindful of e-presenteeism. This is the phenomenon of remote workers thinking they need to be available after work hours. This is not healthy. Be sure to discourage over-connectedness with remote staff (firstly, by unplugging afterhours yourself). So if the job offers remote work, include the company’s stance on work-life balance in the description.
6. Have employee-centric programs already in place. Have you been pondering a revamp of your current wellness program? Having systems like wellness and DEI in place before beginning the hiring process is critical for attracting new talent, not to mention keeping current staff on board.   
7. Involve current team in hiring. Not only will this tactic ensure that the right person for the job is brought on, it’s also a great way to showcase comradery and collaboration to your prospect pool, a genuinely enticing perk in any role.
8. Use your network. Starting with your current employees. Request that they ask around for leads and possibly do some advertising on their own social pages. Offer a referral bonus such as cash or a PTO day if they bring in a new hire. Often the best talent is right under our noses if we just give it a little thought.
9. Make it easy to apply! We can’t stress this enough. A complicated application process (let’s rethink making applicants create accounts) is such a turn-off even if the job sounds promising. Don’t lose talented applicants by taking too much of their time.

One last thing before we go: your HR department is an excellent tool for establishing creative and competitive hiring solutions. Are you acting as your own HR dept and ready to relinquish that responsibility? Eos HR is here for you! If you’re looking for an HR department that can meet the demands of the modern workplace, give us a call. We’re a team of HR professionals helping small businesses succeed in this exciting, yet challenging professional environment.  Schedule a free consultation today to learn more.