Seemingly overnight, the global pandemic changed how, when, and where we work. Now we have seemingly almost emerged from the pandemic. employers are facing another challenge: one of the tightest talent markets in history.

Between the Great Resignation, shifting employee demands, growing skills gaps, and heightened safety protocols, employers have more hurdles to overcome than ever before when attracting and retaining the best talent. With some calling the current job market the Second War for Talent, HR professionals and hiring managers have their work cut out for them.

In late 2019, Xpert HR reported almost 30 percent of HR leaders designated recruiting and hiring as their “most critical coverage.” Further, this 2019 survey found “of those who reported recruiting and hiring needs, 51% are ‘extremely challenged’ in finding high-quality candidates—more than twice the number (22%) from just two years ago.” And that was before the global pandemic hit.

Now, as we’re facing this new normal of work, it’s more critical than ever for organizations to attract and retain top talent. From re-hiring employees laid off during the pandemic to backfilling positions and confronting a widening skills gap, recruiters must align their recruitment strategies with the day's needs.

For example, we’re seeing more signing bonuses and counteroffers than ever before with companies attempting to attract qualified employees. Other employers now offer richer benefits packages, including on-site childcare, tuition assistance, enhanced wellness and mental health benefits, and robust health plans.

Keep reading to learn about three effective and efficient recruitment strategies you can use to attract (and retain) talent in today’s job market. Then let us know which of these strategies are successful for your own recruiting.

Strategy #1: Showcase Your DEIB Strategies

Studies have shown that when organizations embrace diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), they enjoy “increased revenue, greater readiness for innovation and improved retention.”

However, developing and showcasing DEIB strategies are more than check-box to-do items, so just counting women or minorities on your payroll does not really count as a strategy. According to Great Place to Work, “[i]t is about weaving genuine inclusion into the fabric of your organization – that is, not just having diverse people, but ensuring they’re involved, empowered and trusted within the business.”

There’s also a strong business case for DEIB, including its “power to attract the best talent and build high-performing teams,” especially since your DEIB efforts will be important to a lot of the job candidates you’ll interview.

For younger worker job candidates (millennials and GenZ), “diversity and inclusion in the workplace aren’t a preference. They’re a requirement.” With millennials currently serving as the largest generation in the workplace, showcasing your DEIB strategies isn’t just a nice-to-have. It can directly impact your efforts to attract and retain top talent.

Strategy #2: Upskill and Reskill Your Team

According to Gartner, “HR leaders are finding it increasingly difficult to quickly find and develop talent with the most in-demand skills, yet 58% of the workforce needs new skills to get their jobs done.”

Further, Gartner notes that the total number of needed skills for a single job has increased 10% each year since 2017. Plus listen to this—“One in three skills in an average 2017 job posting in IT, finance or sales are already obsolete.”

Employers have a choice when confronting the ever-widening skills gap.  Upskill or reskill your team or hire the skills you need. Narrowing the skills gap for your existing team can boost your retention significantly.

Further, word will get around you’re investing in your employees, making you more competitive on the recruiting front as well. In a 2021 study, PwC found “expanded benefits such as career growth and upskilling opportunities” for workers searching for new opportunities are a big drawcard. And consider the preferences and demands of younger workers. Gen Z, for example, demands continued learning and professional development from employers. 

To reskill or upskill your employees, you first need to know two things:  What skills you need and what skills your employees have.  Once you’ve established that baseline, you can incorporate specialized training, coaching, and on-the-job mentoring to increase your team’s skills.

Create career paths for employees, giving them something to work towards. Bear in mind, however, that in today’s workplace, “career paths will need to be more fluid and unrestricted by traditional roles and skills requirements.”

It's also worth remembering that “upskilling is not simply a matter of teaching people how to use a new device. That device may be obsolete by next year. The upskilling experience involves learning how to think, act and thrive in a digital world that is sustainable over time,” according to PwC.

Strategy #3: Stay Flexible

Flexibility has been rising in importance to job seekers over the past several years. However, the pandemic skyrocketed flexibility to the top of the list.

The pandemic showed employers and employees that remote work was not only possible but more productive than work previously done on-site. WFH has other benefits as well, such as reduced commutes to the office, a reduced carbon footprint, money saved, increased job satisfaction, and more time for exercise.

It didn’t take long for both employees and employers to realize these benefits. However, some employers are slower than others to embrace these benefits, as they hang on to pre-pandemic working methods. For companies not offering some level of flexibility, they’ll lose their competitive edge (perhaps altogether) when it comes to recruiting top talent.

In a recent Harvard Business Review study, researchers found that 59% of knowledge workers globally reported that flexibility was more important than salary and benefits. Fifty-nine percent also stated that “they would not work for a company that required them to come into a physical office five days per week.”

However, 61% said they would prefer to have the choice to work at home or the office when needed, but “the flexibility they want is conditional upon their ability to exercise it in a way that best fits them. In other words, it’s conditional upon autonomy.”

When creating your recruitment strategies, be sure to feature flexible work schedules or full-time remote options transparently. Doing so can not only attract top talent but also retain them.

How Can Crossover Help?

By teaming up with experts in the remote job space like Crossover, you can boost your recruitment practices while finding and hiring the best of the best. Where many job platforms focus on short-term remote gigs, Crossover matches the world’s most talented professionals with 100% fully remote long-term careers.

We help place top talent in software engineering, software architecture and design, product management, sales, finance, executive leadership, and more. To ensure transparency for all job seekers, we post pay and compensation within each job description, and we also make sure our candidates receive equal pay for equal work.

To ensure we only work with the top one percent of talent globally, we put all candidates through a series of steps, such as cognitive aptitude tests and proving real-world skills. Our innovative recruiting strategies allow us to place top talent in your fully remote positions.

To learn more about finding the best global talent, contact Crossover today.

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