From the drastic shift in the talent market to technological advancements in recruiting, hiring has completely evolved in the last decade. Acquiring top talent is the key to every company’s success, and increasing competition adds up to the challenges.
Fast-growing companies need a lot more than the expertise and experience in talent that they hire. This has led to the emergence of a candidate-driven market and recruitment practices need to be changed accordingly too. As a recruiter today, it is vital to keep up with the latest global trends and learnings to shape your hiring strategy.
In this blog, we will discuss the top recruiting statistics that you must learn from to be ready to deal with recruiting challenges of 2023.
What are Recruitment Statistics?
To understand the trending recruiting practices and move your hiring in the right direction, you need to learn from recruiting statistics that we are carrying into 2023.
The huge difference between the supply and demand of quality talent is a great example. Candidate behavior is changing, the primary way of sourcing talent has become outbound, and the perks attracting quality applicants have transformed too.
Without analyzing relevant data and statistics collected over the last few years, figuring out the talent market is like shooting in the dark. Let’s dive into the ins and outs of the most relevant recruiting statistics of 2022, and analyze the improvements and transformation required for recruitment success.
Why Data-Driven Hiring is Vital Today?
In today's fast-paced business world, organizations face the constant challenge of hiring the right talent. Data-driven hiring solves this at large. Here are the top 3 benefits of data-driven hiring today:
- Identify the right talent: First and foremost, data-driven hiring can help companies to identify the most suitable candidates for a particular role. By analyzing various data points, such as past work experiences, skill sets, and personality traits, organizations can make more informed hiring decisions. Companies that use data-driven insights in their hiring process are three times more likely to retain their employees.
- Eliminate Bias: Another major benefit is that it helps to reduce bias in the hiring process. Many organizations face the challenge of unconscious bias, which can lead to the exclusion of certain candidates. Data-driven hiring, on the other hand, uses a standardized approach, which is not influenced by any personal biases. This ensures that all candidates are evaluated based on their skills and experiences, rather than any irrelevant factors.
- Save costs: Furthermore, data-driven hiring also helps organizations to save time and costs in their recruitment process. By using automated tools and techniques to screen candidates, recruiters can focus on interviewing only the most suitable candidates. This can significantly reduce the time and resources spent on the recruitment process. 67% of recruiters believe that using data-driven hiring approaches can save time in the recruitment process.
Apart from making better hiring decisions, this approach also empowers recruiters to improve the recruitment process as a whole. By analyzing trends and performance data, organizations can gain insights into their recruitment process and make data-driven decisions to optimize it.
If done consistently, this leads to better hiring outcomes, improved candidate experiences, and a more efficient recruitment process.
Top 30 Recruiting Statistics to Carry into 2023 Recruitment Plans
- Shortage of Skilled Talent
- 63% of recruiters say talent shortage is their biggest problem.
- 80% of organizations say they are having difficulty filling openings due to an ongoing shortage of skills.
As a recruiter, investing in your company's employer brand and creating a positive work environment can help you attract and retain top talent. By offering flexible work arrangements, competitive salaries and benefits, and opportunities for growth and development, you can position your company as an attractive employer for job seekers.
Another effective approach is to broaden your search beyond the traditional talent pool. Instead of relying solely on applicants who have specific degrees or work experience, consider candidates who have transferable skills or who come from non-traditional backgrounds
- Candidate Sourcing Challenges
- 70% of the global workforce is made up of passive talent who aren’t actively searching for jobs, and the remaining 30% are active job seekers.
- 64% of talent teams find more high-quality candidates through sourcing than inbound applications.
To source passive candidates effectively in 2023, employers can leverage social media and professional networking platforms to reach out to potential candidates directly.
An effective way to scale your sourcing is by using data analytics and artificial intelligence to identify candidates who match the required skill set and experience. Employers can also make the best out of employee referral programs to tap into their existing talent pool and leverage their networks.
For example, a company looking for a software engineer can search for potential candidates on LinkedIn and use automated tools to reach out to them with personalized messages. They can also encourage their employees to refer their connections, offering incentives for successful referrals.
- Due to the pandemic, there has been a 105% rise in remote job offerings.
- 86% of employees want to continue working remotely at least sometimes.
Remote hiring has allowed companies to expand their candidate pool globally, increase diversity and inclusivity, and reduced costs. It has also sped up the recruitment process, as video interviews can be conducted quickly and efficiently. Soft skills like communication and collaboration have now become more critical than ever.
Recruiters can now make more informed decisions in less time.
- Email is ranked the most used (51%) and most effective (39%) channel to reach candidates.
- 73% of job seekers communicate with companies via email.
Pro-tip for recruitment emails: Firstly, the subject line should be clear, concise, and attention-grabbing, to entice candidates to open the email. It is vital to ensure your emails should be personalized and tailored to the individual candidate, highlighting why they would be a good fit for the position. Keep it to the point, focusing on the most relevant information about the job and the company.
Another crucial aspect of using email effectively is maintaining a strong follow-up process. This involves sending follow-up emails at specific intervals to remind candidates about the opportunity and reiterate the value they could bring to the company.
- 89% of talent say being contacted by their recruiter can make them accept a job offer faster.
- 81% of candidates responded that employers who continuously communicate status updates improve the candidate experience.
- Organizations that invest in a strong candidate experience improve the quality of their new hires by 70 percent.
Candidate experience can significantly impact a company's reputation, as well as its ability to attract top talent. With the rise of social media and online reviews, candidates have more opportunities than ever to share their experiences with others. A negative candidate experience can deter not only that individual but also others from applying for future positions.
Here are three tips to ensure an optimal candidate experience:
- Communicate effectively and frequently: Keep candidates informed about their application status and provide timely updates on the next steps. Use clear and concise language, and be responsive to any questions or concerns they may have.
- Streamline the application process: Simplify the application process as much as possible. Avoid long and complicated forms or excessive requests for information that are not necessary for the initial screening.
- Provide a positive and engaging interview experience: Ensure that interviews are well-organized, timely, and respectful of the candidate's time. Also, make sure that the interviewers are well-prepared, and professional, and provide a positive and engaging experience for the candidate.
- The average cost of a bad hire is 30% of that hire’s annual salary.
Pro tip: Use behavioral-based interviewing techniques. This approach involves asking candidates about past experiences and how they handled specific situations, which can provide insight into their skills, values, and work style.
For example, instead of asking a general question like, "Are you a team player?" you could ask, "Can you tell me about a time when you had to work closely with a team to achieve a goal, and what was your role in that project?" This type of question requires the candidate to provide specific details and examples, which can help you to assess whether they have the skills and qualities you are looking for in a candidate.
- 73% of millennials found their current roles through social media.
- 66% of recruiters post job openings on social media.
Social media has made it easier for recruiters to showcase their employer brand, promote job openings, and connect with candidates directly.
Candidates love social media recruiting because it allows them to learn more about potential employers and their company culture, while also providing a convenient way to search and apply for jobs.
The key to standing out as an employer on social media is to be authentic, engaging, and transparent. This involves creating content that highlights your company culture and values, responding promptly to messages and comments, and providing candidates with a clear picture of what it's like to work for your organization. This can help to build a strong employer brand and attract top talent.
- Established employer brands attract 50% more qualified applicants.
- According to 47% of recruiters, social media helps a great deal in employer branding.
A strong employer brand helps you to differentiate your organization from competitors, communicate your values and culture, and create an emotional connection with potential candidates. A strong employer brand can also help to retain current employees and reduce turnover.
One good example of a company with a strong employer brand is Google. Google has created a distinctive and highly recognizable brand that emphasizes innovation, creativity, and employee empowerment. This brand has helped Google to attract some of the most talented and sought-after professionals in the tech industry.
Requirements for a strong employer brand include a clear and compelling mission statement, a positive company culture, a commitment to employee development and growth, and transparent and effective communication with employees and candidates.
It is also important to ensure that your employer brand is consistent across all channels, including social media, job postings, and employee communications.
- Referred roles are 55% faster to hire than other means, too, and 25% more profitable.
- 45% of referral hires stay longer than four years, compared to only 25% of job board hires.
One of the easiest yet most effective ways of sourcing quality talent, employee referrals is all about leveraging existing employee networks to identify and attract potential candidates.
Referrals tend to be of higher quality and better cultural fit, and the referral process can be more efficient and cost-effective than other sourcing methods.
The future for employee referrals looks promising, as more companies are investing in referral programs and leveraging technology to streamline the process.
Referral programs are becoming more sophisticated and data-driven, and companies are experimenting with new incentives and rewards to encourage employee participation.
- 77% of job seekers consider a company’s culture before applying for a job.
- 86% of job seekers avoid companies with a bad reputation.
In 2023, company culture will continue to play a critical role in attracting quality talent. Job seekers are increasingly prioritizing workplace culture and values over traditional compensation and benefits, and companies with a strong and positive culture are more likely to attract and retain top talent.
A critical tip for companies looking to attract quality talent through their culture is to ensure that their culture is authentic and aligned with their values.
Candidates can often sense when a company's culture is inauthentic or misaligned, which can ultimately lead to disengagement and turnover. Companies must also prioritize transparency and open communication to build trust with candidates and employees.
- Job posts on LinkedIn that mention work flexibility have increased by 83% since 2019.
- Employees satisfied with their employer's time and location flexibility are 2.6 times more likely to report happiness and 2.1 times more likely to promote the company to others.
Flexible work is clearly here to stay. Not only does it provides employees with greater autonomy and work-life balance, but also benefits companies through increased productivity and employee satisfaction.
Modern recruiters should keep in mind that flexible work arrangements are increasingly becoming the norm and that offering such arrangements can be a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining top talent.
- Companies with diverse leadership teams at the top were 33% more likely to experience above-average profitability than companies with a diverse workforce only at the bottom level.
- 58% of respondents in a Glassdoor survey have said that they would not apply to companies where there is a pay gap.
Diversity and inclusion promote a workplace culture that values and respects individual differences and fosters a sense of belonging.
It has become more significant now as it can help companies to build stronger, more innovative teams and create a positive reputation for themselves.
Not to forget - companies with diverse and inclusive cultures are more likely to attract and retain top talent, and to benefit from a broader range of perspectives and ideas.
- 68% of recruiters said that investing in new recruitment tech is the best way to improve hiring performance.
- Using automation for onboarding tasks results in a 16% improvement in the retention rate for new employees.
Automation and AI in recruitment are defining the present and future of recruitment by transforming the hiring process to be more efficient, data-driven, and objective.
AI-powered recruiting tools are already being used for resume screening, candidate matching, and even video interviewing. As technology continues to evolve, it will likely play an increasingly important role in sourcing, candidate assessment, and talent management.
Not only do recruitment technologies help in streamlining the hiring processes, but enhance the candidate experience too.
Some use cases of hiring being affected by technology include candidate sourcing, engagement, skills testing, predictive analytics, and workforce planning. As technology continues to improve, it will be increasingly important for recruiters to stay informed about new tools and trends in order to remain competitive in the job market
- 44% of recruiters say they are prioritizing remote flexibility for their workforce
- Employees say they’re more productive now than they were before the pandemic (34% vs. 28%).
COVID-19 has changed recruitment at large by accelerating the adoption of remote hiring and virtual recruitment technologies. For example, a majority of companies have shifted to virtual interviewing and onboarding processes to comply with social distancing guidelines. This has opened up opportunities for companies to hire talent from anywhere in the world, and for candidates to apply for jobs they might not have considered before.
Additionally, the pandemic has also boosted employees' productivity in most cases. Remote work has allowed employees to avoid commuting and has given them more flexibility to balance work and personal responsibilities. A large number of employees globally have reported feeling more productive and engaged when working from home.
- A great onboarding process can improve new hire retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%.
- Investing in communication and engagement during the pre-boarding process can improve the onboarding experience by 83%.
As a recruiter, it is crucial to serving optimal onboarding to ensure that new hires feel connected to the company culture, understand their job responsibilities, and are set up for success.
Some pointers to keep in mind when onboarding employees in a virtual environment include:
- providing clear instructions and expectations,
- establishing regular check-ins with new hires,
- using video conferencing to facilitate face-to-face communication, and
- leveraging technology to provide training and support.
By adapting onboarding practices to meet the needs of a virtual workforce, recruiters can help new employees feel welcomed and valued, while also setting them up for success in their new roles.
How Nurturebox Can Help You Transform Your Recruitment in 2023?
Do you often get overwhelmed by the scaled-up requirements when it comes to candidate sourcing? What stops you from transforming your entire recruitment strategy by sourcing and engaging hundreds of quality passive candidates at once?
Recruiters already have more than enough on their plates and handling it all manually directly harms their productivity. The road to redemption?
Automate the repeated mundane recruiting tasks and focus on human-centric ones. Nurturebox empowers your recruitment process with comprehensive candidate sourcing and engagement automation.
That’s not all – the Chrome extension seamlessly integrates with your existing recruitment stack like ATS and enables you to source hundreds of candidates from LinkedIn within seconds. Strategic talent sourcing, engagement, and recruitment pipeline management just became a lot easier with Nurturebox. Try it now!
Amidst today’s noisy digital world, brands find it challenging to create meaningful connections with their customer base and target audience. Getting the target consumer’s attention and persuading them to buy from you gets even trickier. Hence, content marketing has become more crucial than ever for brands to attract, educate, and retain customers.
Content creation is a top priority for 80% of marketers, and there is no reason it shouldn’t be. Consistent, high-quality, and engaging content impacts your audience’s decisions through education and persuasion.
Depending on your business goals and requirements, the role of Content Marketers you hire will vary. The primary responsibilities revolve around forming consistent brand messaging and deciding upon a unique and identifiable voice, style, and pitch across various distribution channels.
From raising brand awareness to attracting a relevant audience to your website, boosting social media presence and engagement, generating leads, and building brand loyalty – content marketing drives all the growth efforts for your brand. When done effectively, it can help you:
- Build positive brand awareness
- Make your audience stick around for longer
- Get better traction on social media
- Gain more trust of your audience than ever
- Generate qualified leads
- Improve conversion rates
- Boost business visibility with SEO
- Position your brand as an authority
- Cultivate loyal brand fans
While content marketing is a broad role with numerous areas of expertise involved, it’s vital to thoroughly understand your company’s current marketing goals and the related requirements. In this blog, we will dive deep into the step-by-step approach to hiring a Content Marketer.
What is The Role of a Content Marketer?
A Content Marketer must be deeply passionate about telling your brand’s story to the world. The objective is to educate and nurture the target audience to establish brand authority using thought-leadership and drive more people to buy from you.
As a candidate is expected to be a mediator between the brand and the target audience, they are primarily responsible for planning, creating, and sharing valuable content to grow their company’s awareness and engagement to bring more business.
To be more specific, the role of a Content Marketer requires a perfect blend of creativity and attention to detail in an individual. It’s a balancing role, as they need to ensure creating content that resonates and strengthens business relationships, using strategies that position your business as authentic and problem-solving.
Take a look at the core responsibilities of a Content Marketer that most businesses expect them to take over:
- Research and Competitor Analysis: The first and foremost step to creating a content marketing strategy is effective initial research. It not only helps a Content Marketer understand the nuances of the industry through competitor analysis but also study and understand the target audience thoroughly.
- Building Content Marketing Plans: Once the competitor research and target audience analysis is done, a Content Marketer needs to work on the different plans for all the business objectives, targeted channels, segments of the audience, and the bigger marketing strategy. A content marketing plan typically consists of:
- Specific goals along with a pre-decided timeline
- Various channels to be targeted for content distribution
- Types of content to be created
- Budget for the entire staff, outsourced services, and paid promotion (Collabs and Ads)
- Creating Editorial Calendar: Creating, managing, and maintaining a content calendar is one of the most crucial responsibilities of a Content Marketer. It is a centralized visual document that enables effective collaboration among the marketing team and helps Content Marketers ensure on-time production and delivery.
- Content Creation: Once the strategy and calendar have been approved by relevant stakeholders, Content Marketers need to do the on-ground work. This task usually depends on the scale of your company and content marketing strategy. Suppose an organization already has a set of writers, then the Content Marketer doesn’t need to create content by themselves.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Producing quality content that educates your target audience and resonates with them, isn’t enough. You need to optimize your content creation to make it search engine-friendly. While most companies need a dedicated SEO specialist for keyword research and planning, Content Marketers need to closely collaborate with them and should be well-versed in the basics of SEO.
While the practices discussed above are primary responsibilities of a Content Marketer, they also need to be proactive with
- Content editing and ensuring adherence to a certain style guide
- Continous publishing and distributing content
- Measuring and analyzing performance
How to Hire a Content Marketer: Step-By-Step?
Content marketing has become the key to driving growth for businesses. Unlike a few years ago, it’s not possible now to get away with a one-person team for content marketing. You need deeply trained individuals for specialist roles.
Let’s now dive into the step-by-step approach of hiring a Content Marketer. But before you even source your first candidate, you should have a clear expectation of the skillset and experience to look out for top content marketing candidates.
Top Must-Have Skills in a Content Marketer
Apart from having relevant industry experience, a good Content Marketer must possess the following skills.
- Excellent Writing Skills
A Content Marketer’s prior skillset should be writing excellent attention-grabbing content. From long-form blog posts to website copy, ad copies, social media content, video scripts, emails, newsletters, e-books, whitepapers, and more – a Content Marketer should be able to adapt to the business’s specific requirements and create quality content.
- Audience Research
Identifying user behavior is vital for framing the story in the right direction. So a Content Marketer must know how to identify and analyze the needs and pain points to develop a buyer persona. User research can be performed through social listening, relevant communities, in-person calls with customers, analyzing sales call recordings, and more.
- Keyword Research
Creating valuable thought-leadership content isn’t enough. Researching the right set of keywords is an essential skill to further educate your target audience on the Whys, Hows and Whats of your business, and have your website rank on Google.
- Data-oriented Content
Content that’s not backed by relevant data points does not build enough trust. Experienced content marketing professionals would always prefer data over hollow claims. No doubt that only data doesn’t help a content piece succeed, but it’s essential..
- Project Management, Planning, and Publishing –
A Content Marketer is also expected to break down and analyze the pain points to turn keyword research into content ideas. So a professional must be able to identify and solve content gaps.
Further, they must know how to create a content calendar, decide the different types of content, and choose relevant platforms to publish and schedule marketing campaigns.
- Content Promotion
Creating a valuable content piece, for example - an ebook, isn’t enough. Your content marketing team needs to promote it proactively for bringing enough attention and engagement.
- Performance Analysis
Setting up goals and plans is one thing, but continuously executing, measuring, and analyzing content performance is another. A Content Marketer should always be monitoring key performance parameters to figure out the upcoming plans with the necessary updates required.
Not to forget - stakeholders and marketing heads need the performance reports regularly. So Content Marketers must be able to collect and comprehend all the data to make it worth presenting.
Step 1: Create a Candidate Persona
Let’s sort out the priorities first, and decide the type of content marketing candidates you want to recruit. From exceptional research skills to storytelling, communication skills, relationship building, audience engagement, and more capabilities must be comprehensively considered. Identify and break down the skill requirements for Content Marketers:
- What are the educational qualification criteria for the role?
- How many years and what type of work experience do you want in candidates?
- What are the specific skill sets you’re looking for?
- Which industry experience would you primarily prefer?
- Are there any tools your candidates should be hands-on with?
- What are some personality traits that will fit your company?
- Where do they look for a new job?
- What are their career and life goals?
Forming a candidate persona by answering all these questions would ensure you are not shooting in the dark while sourcing candidates. Further, it helps you determine the traits of the ideal candidate, and plan your sourcing and recruitment strategy further.
Step 2: Document the Role Requirements and Decide on Your Recruiting Process
Next step is determining your role requirements suiting primarily to organizational needs and business goals. A content marketing professional is expected to own the entire content strategy, creation, and distribution. But what about your business’s unique requirements?
You might need someone comfortable with frequently creating long-form content pieces like blogs, ebooks, or whitepapers, or creating engaging video content based on your industry trends.
Talk to various relevant stakeholders for seeking the complete detailed company requirements for the role.
Before you enter the recruitment funnel, outline your talent acquisition process. Identify various strategies, channels, and other informational insights you would need – and maintain a collaborative document.
As you update the tactics and tweak your recruitment process for meeting hiring requirements optimally – keep your document up to date.
Step 3: Prepare a Content Marketing Job Description
Once you have finalized the role requirements with respect to your current content marketing goals and team, you can start sourcing candidates. Preparing the job description is the first task you’ll need to do.
Here are the necessary components you must have in your job description:
- Job Title: The position you’re looking to fill. For example - Content Marketing Specialist or Content Marketing Manager.
- Roles & Responsibilities: An outline of the candidate’s day-to-day activities. From ideation to implementation and the impact on the organization, everything should be covered.
- Skill Requirements: Skills and abilities a candidate must have to perform the job successfully.
- Perks and Benefits: The compensation details, perks of the job, and any other benefits.
- About the Company: Why should a candidate consider working with your company?
Content Marketer Job Description Template
Role
The job of a Content Marketer is to perform competitor research, create user persona, and write plagiarism-free content for blog articles, social media, and the company website. They need to stay updated on the latest SEO techniques.
Responsibilities
- Develop, write and deliver persuasive copy for the website, email marketing campaigns, sales collateral, videos, and blogs
- Build and manage an editorial calendar; coordinate with other content crafters to ensure standards
- Measure impact and perform analysis to improve KPIs
- Include and optimize all content for SEO
- Contribute to the localization of processes and content to ensure consistency across regions
- Review and implement process changes to drive operational excellence
Requirements
- Proven content marketing, copywriting, or SEO experience
- Working knowledge of content management systems like WordPress
- A well-maintained portfolio of published articles, blogs, copy, etc
- Proven experience of working under pressure to deliver high quality output in a short span of time
- Proficiency in all Microsoft Office applications, Google Suite
- Fluency in English or any other required language
Soft Skills
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Excellent writing and editing skills
- The ability to work in a fast-paced environment
- The ability to handle multiple projects concurrently
- Strong attention to detail and the ability to multi-task projects and deliverables
Step 4: Source Candidates
Once you have the tailored job description in hand, it’s now time to do the groundwork and source candidates. Create an attractive job post to promote your job across job boards and social channels.
- Begin with what to expect from the role at your company?
- Why should candidates apply for the position?
- Highlight the growth opportunities
- State the company vision and mission
- Briefly describe the recruitment process
Prepare an impactful job post and also execute paid job ad campaigns if required. The next step would be promoting your jobs on various job boards and hiring platforms. You can leverage the following platforms for hiring Content Marketers:
- LinkedIn
- Indeed
- Instahyre
- ZipRecruiter
- Monster
- GlassDoor
- CareerBuilder
Not to forget - almost 3/4th of the workforce includes passive candidates, so you cannot miss out on passive talent sourcing as well. Reach out to qualified candidates on communities, LinkedIn, Twitter, and even Facebook to offer them suitable opportunities.
Step 5: Evaluate Candidates and Interview Shortlisted Ones
Once you have filtered candidates based on their experience and skills listed on their profile, it’s time to evaluate them deeply. Ask them to create a content strategy for your website, along with a value-adding content piece like a small blog. The topic of the article must fall within the scope of the strategy.
Interview the candidates whose profiles got shortlisted. Keep in mind the parameters covering skills, relevant experience, and personality traits of candidates.
Step 5: Make the Hire
Reach out to selected Content Marketers and communicate about the compensation.
Further, extend your offer letter to all the candidates who have been selected. In the case of passive sourcing, extend to only those who were aligned with you on the compensation and are willing to move forward.
Ensure having a deadline for the joining date and mention the necessary documents required by your recruiting team.
- Get the required documents and set up the offer agreements with candidates
- Organize an orientation session for the onboarded candidates
- Introduce them to the entire team and the marketing teams they will be working with
- Guide the new candidates about your company management tools and communication channels
- Provide candidates with forms for benefits and perks like Health Insurance.
Supercharge Your Hiring for Content Marketer with Nurturebox
Inbound candidate sourcing doesn’t work effectively anymore. Do you also find challenges in closing quality candidates through job posts even after spending on ads?
Don’t worry, passive candidate sourcing can be an optimal solution for hiring top content marketing candidates.
Nurturebox is a one-stop talent sourcing and engagement platform which is powered by automation. Here’s how you can source product managers from LinkedIn using Nurturebox:
- Install the Nurturebox Chrome plugin and sign up.
- On your LinkedIn profile, start sourcing Content Marketers with boolean searches stating the required experience from targeted locations and including other criteria
- Add the qualified candidates to your sourcing campaign pipeline with just a click
- Automate the candidate engagement through email, Whatsapp and LinkedIn direct messages for reaching out and nurturing candidates at scale.
