Recruiting Trends

Recruiting Trends

Cierra Barnard

Bellevue University
Recruiting Trends

For this week’s essay, the four recruiting trends that caught my eye were social recruiting,

recruitment marketing, employer branding, and talent pools. Mainly because I feel like these four

recruiting trends are so different from each other, and yet are some of the most used trends to this

day when recruiting new job candidates. Especially social recruiting, with the rise of technology

today, I feel these four trends are the most popular based on what I believe are today's trends

when recruiting fresh candidates.

I know a bit about two trends because I’ve heard of them before, but I was not familiar

with the other two trends until after doing research for this assignment. The trends I am

somewhat familiar with are social recruiting and talent pools. I only know about talent pools

because I have known a few places that use talent pools to fill in small positions that need to be

filled in. Usually, from what I’ve been told, talent pools are typically temporary positions at first,

and then they can be offered full-time positions. Essentially, it allows the company to test out an

employee and vice versa for the employee/candidate.

Social Recruiting

Social recruiting is the process of advertising jobs, recruiting candidates, and connecting

with potential employees through social media platforms. According to a study done in 2021 by

CareerArc, 92% of employers said they use social media networks to find new talent. For many

companies nowadays, social media is the go-to option for finding new employee candidates.

The history of social recruiting dates back to 1995, when the first internet forums began.

Then, it evolved into LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter from 2002 to 2006. After that was Jobvite

in 2008, and then Branchout in 2010. Nowadays, I have seen Instagram and TikTok be used as

ways to recruit new employee candidates. I have noticed that TikTok has been a big booster of
Recruiting Trends

the social media recruiting trend. I’ll casually scroll through the app and open a job listing or

opportunity. Not only that, TikTok has helped introduce brands to new audiences by utilizing the

TikTok shop and giving out affiliation codes.

Social media marketing aims to reach candidates who never would have thought to apply

for these companies and find new talent. Not only is this form of recruiting more effective than

traditional recruiting in terms of reaching audiences, but it is also cost-effective because you

don’t have to pay on a cost-per-click basis for a single applicant. Instead, this type of recruitment

focuses on getting the job postings in front of the right people through a robust social strategy.

Using social media as a recruiting trend helps employers reach audiences they may have

never contacted without using these platforms. I know that for me, I never would’ve thought to

try and apply for Amazon or Microsoft. Without TikTok, I never would have thought there were

entry-level jobs for these companies because they are not easy to find on their websites. Also, I

have come across company names I had never heard of before I found a TikTok video or

Instagram reel advertising them.

Recruitment Marketing

From the articles I read this week, recruitment marketing is a strategy that allows you to

attract, engage, nurture, and convert candidates by showing them content that convinces them to

hit ‘apply.’ In other words, recruitment marketing helps companies use strategies like job

advertisements, social media, career sites, employee-generated content, proactive outreach, and

targeted communication to attract top talent.

The history of recruitment marketing has been going on for as long as we’ve been able to

make signs to advertise for services. It has just evolved to keep up with the latest trends. Today,
Recruiting Trends

the leading recruitment marketing tactic is social media marketing. With how attached our

generation and the next generation are to our phones and online, the best way to reach an

audience, I feel, would be through social media.

This particular practice, like the description says this form of recruiting is a type of

marketing used to target a specific kind of candidate, “the perfect candidate.” This type of

strategy can utilize any form of advertising to get their job listing to reach the correct; some of

these tactics include search engine optimization, employee-generated content, and social media

marketing.

Employer Branding

Employer branding is the perception and reputation of the company among the current

employees and job seekers. Employee branding is a set of strategies and tactics you use to build

the brand and its reputation actively. Employer branding has been around for decades.

This is important because no matter what, your company will always have a reputation,

with or without the company's involvement. This practice gives control back to the company; not

all the control ends up back in the hands of the company, but it does give them enough to control

the company's narrative and negate any negative news or press. This type of control can help to

boost a company's reputation.

Using this strategy is beneficial because an employer's brand/reputation will always exist,

with or without your involvement. Taking an active part in building a brand’s reputation matters

– 50% of work candidates say they wouldn’t work at a company with a bad reputation, even if it

were a pay raise.

Talent Pools
Recruiting Trends

The concept of a talent pool has existed for centuries, with employers traditionally

relying on their current employees to recommend suitable replacements. The personnel

departments were established in the 19th century to help companies facilitate the recruitment

process, and then, by the 20th century, job boards had been developed. Based on the article I

found, this type of practice is to source high-quality personnel quickly while keeping overheads

to a minimum.

This practice lets companies take advantage of its scalability. Companies can quickly

search through potential candidates to find the best match for their requirements without entirely

investing in long-term recruitment or training costs. These types of candidates can be from a

recruitment agency, or the company can have its database that has built enough of a talent pool to

pull candidates with specific skills and talents.

After revisiting the job posting, Hilton relies heavily on company branding, social

recruiting, and the recruitment market. It derives most of its employees based on its reputation as

a place of work, with it being inclusive and diverse. LinkedIn is also a form of talent pool

recruitment, so because the job posting is on LinkedIn, it falls under social and talent pool

recruitment.

In conclusion, the best practices for recruiting the best possible candidates will be a

mixture of my chosen practices. Social media is such a fantastic tool to use currently when

recruiting employee candidates for the future. This generation is so hooked to their phones that

they use mediums such as TikTok and Instagram to advertise their company and give people a

feel for what it’s like to work for that company and if they would like to work for it.
Recruiting Trends

References

Ashworth, A. (2017, January 28). The evolution of social recruitment. Undercover Recruiter.
https://theundercoverrecruiter.com/social-recruitment-timeline/

Bourke, C. (2023, November 1). The Ultimate Guide to Recruitment Marketing. Avature.
https://www.avature.net/blogs/the-ultimate-guide-to-recruitment-marketing/

Hill, C. (2023, October 26). Employer branding for retention and recruitment. Sprout Social.
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/employer-branding-strategy/

Ku, D. (2022, October 6). Social Recruiting: Everything you need to know for 2023. PostBeyond.
https://www.postbeyond.com/blog/social-recruiting/

SThree. (n.d.). What is a talent pool?: Glossary. https://www.sthree.com/en-gb/glossary/t/talent-

pool/#:~:text=History%20of%20talent%20pools,recommend%20suitable%20replacements
%20as%20needed

The evolution of Recruitment Marketing. WilsonHCG. (n.d.-a).

https://www.wilsonhcg.com/blog/employer-branding-the-evolution-of-recruitment-
marketing

Zojceska, A. (2021, November 5). Fifteen new recruiting trends you should implement in 2021.
Blog. https://www.talentlyft.com/en/blog/article/87/15-new-recruiting-trends-you-should-
implement-in-2021

https://www.pageuppeople.com/resource/recruitment-marketing-everything-you-need-to-know-
to-get-started/

https://www.indeed.com/viewjob?from=app-tracker-post_apply-
appcard&hl=en&jk=bed89d6252e1cce7&tk=1hk6pfucr20hh000