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The past year was a strange one for many recruiters, who reported both an abundance of candidates for open roles and not enough qualified candidates to fill those positions.
At the same time job seekers claimed they couldn’t get the attention of employers looking to hire, fewer people quit their jobs and job openings fell, among other signs of a sluggish hiring environment.
But recruiters’ stress levels in 2024 remained about the same as the year before and much less fraught than the immediate post-pandemic years, according to Employ Inc.’s annual Recruiter NationReport.
Employ is a talent acquisition software and services company in Denver and the parent company of JazzHR, Jobvite, Lever, and NXTThing RPO. The Recruiter Nation Report is based on an analysis of recruiting data from over 22,000 Employ customers and a survey of 1,200 talent acquisition professionals conducted by Zogby Analytics in September 2024.
Similar to the findings from 2023, a little over half of recruiters (54%) find their job more stressful today than the year before, but that number had been as high as 65% in 2022. And, looking forward, fewer recruiters believe that hiring in 2025 will be as challenging compared to previous years, with 92% saying they are optimistic about hiring in 2025.
That optimism could be because of findings that show employers have made efforts to improve the hiring process. These efforts include incorporating artificial intelligence and automation technology into the process and providing what candidates are looking for, such as increased salary offers and flexible work arrangements, said Stephanie Manzelli, chief human resources officer at Employ. “The net is that the more flexible the hiring process, the less stressful it is for hiring teams, which ultimately increases productivity,” she said.
“I think there is a belief among talent acquisition professionals that hiring will be turned back on in 2025, after a pullback on hiring the last couple of years when business leaders were worried about the economy,” said Tim Sackett, SHRM-SCP, a recruiting industry veteran and author of The Talent Fix, Vol. 2 (SHRM, 2024).
Josh Rock, talent acquisition manager at Nuss Truck Group in Rochester, Minn., is betting on the pace of hiring picking up. “An improved jobs market will lead to a revitalization in hiring, and companies will get back into growth mode,” he said.
Some employers will feel the pinch of having dismantled their recruitment teams in 2023 and 2024, he added.
Specifically, Rock will be looking to hire diesel mechanics, a hard-to-fill occupation. “We expect to see a surge of hiring for diesel mechanics and a resurgence of truck salespeople as well,” he said. “It has taken a long time for the truck manufacturing supply chain to catch up, and we are primed for a boost in truck sales.”
Erin Stevens, SHRM-CP, senior talent acquisition specialist at Fortune Brands Innovations in Deerfield, Ill., said she’s cautiously optimistic about hiring this year. “Recruiting tends to be cyclical. The beginning of the year comes with new budgets, and people are excited to spend money. It’s always go, go, go. New roles come open and recruiters are excited to fill those roles,” she said.
Stevens reflected on hiring in 2024, describing it as up and down. “The last half of the year was rough. There were a lot of unknowns. I feel like a lot of businesses were waiting for the presidential election to be decided.”
According to the Employ survey, the most significant recruiting challenges businesses faced as 2024 wound down included competition for talent from other employers, not enough people to fill open positions, and too many candidates applying for open positions.
Respondents also indicated that not being able to offer remote or hybrid work, poor communication from candidates in the hiring process, and not being able to compete on salary requirements were top challenges their companies faced when hiring.
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