Wow, it’s crazy that it’s already the second week of January and that things are already back in full swing. Today, we’re sharing another blog from our January series: New Year, New Decade, New Trends and we’re talking all about brand new trends we expect to see this new year, 2020. Yes - we know we just talked on and on about trends for weeks in last months series but those were trends of the past (for the most part) and now it’s time to look towards the future. Here are our picks for 2020 Trends You Should ExpeWow, it’s crazy that it’s already the second week of January and that things are already back in full swing. Today, we’re sharing another blog from our January series: New Year, New Decade, New Trends and we’re talking all about brand new trends we expect to see this new year, 2020. Yes - we know we just talked on and on about trends for weeks in last months series but those were trends of the past (for the most part) and now it’s time to look towards the future. Here are our picks for 2020 Trends You Should Expect this Year.

Recruiting

The first crop of new trends we’re going to dissect comes from recruiting. Recruiters are a huge part of the hiring process and assist both those hiring and those being hired. Recruiting trends seem to remain pretty stagnate to those trends we saw last year, however, there are many new trends that Recruiters can expect to see as the year rolls on. Take a look:

• Candidate Experience- You’ll notice this trend in recruiting is a trend that recurs in various other forms throughout most industries and that is the candidate experience. Industries are focusing on those they’re serving and the quality of their experience with the company. As a Recruiter, the focus for years has been on the client which tends to leave the candidate to the wayside. In 2020, consider finding a balance between the two. Just as much as the client is important to your job, so too is the candidate. The client has no success (and neither do you) if the candidates aren’t there. They go hand in hand and should both be treated equally and as a priority. By keeping the candidates happy and taken care of it also reflects positively on you as a recruiter if these candidates are passed along to your clients with glowing reviews. Here’s what Ideal has to say on the Candidate Experience: “A positive candidate experience rests on job seekers feeling like their time has been respected and that they have been communicated with transparency and clarity, regardless of outcome. This means that even if the candidate isn’t hired for the job, a positive candidate experience is important. Because the vast majority of candidates are not going to be hired, how “non-hires” perceive your recruiting process may carry the most weight in terms of your employer brand and reputation. In fact, even after an unsuccessful interview, 67% would re-apply for a position at an organization if they have a positive candidate experience.” Are you understanding the importance, yet? It’s crucial for your business and you as an employee that your candidate experience is top-notch.

• Soft Skills- Hiring for those ‘soft skills’ is a trend we’ve been observing for some time now and is one we definitely expect to grow in abundance in the new year. In our previous blog from December titled: Staffing and Recruiting Trends We Loved, we spoke on what soft skills are. Here’s what we had to say: “When hiring, it is wise to consider a candidate with long lasting potential so you’re not sending out severance packages every 6-12 months. While hiring for longevity may be an obvious trend, soft-skills may not. What are soft-skills you ask? Basically, they’re personality based skills that every individual has that vary from candidate to candidate. Soft skills range from critical thinking to creativity. These are skills that will outlast more trendy skills such as something web based because soft skills stand the test of time whereas a lot of computer programs and softwares could be dated in ten years time.

• Diversity Hiring- It should not come as a shock that diversity hiring is on our list. Diversity hiring should have been implemented as a norm at companies years ago, but the sad truth of the matter is this is not yet a universal reality. In our HR Trends blog we published last month, we touched on Diversity Hiring as something to look out for in 2020 and we weren't lying. Here’s what that blog said: “ diverse workplace is relatively new when you consider the newness of equality in terms of women in the workplace, racial equality, etc. While we seem to be moving in the right direction, it’s not something that everyone is entirely satisfied with and will continue to (hopefully) grow. Consider expanding the diversity of your office in 2020. It improves company culture and will also allow for a generous pool of potential for your workplace when you expand past your stereotypical businessman.”

• Mobile Job Search- This next trend is one we found during our research that we honestly weren’t expecting to see. However, when you think about it, it actually makes a lot of sense. The way we are these days, we do everything on our phones so it’s really no surprise that we would also be applying to jobs on our phones too. Because of this, it’s crucial that companies have mobile search options to help expand their candidate pool. Check out what Glassdoor has to say on the subject: “...mobile job seekers encounter multiple barriers to entry in the application process. Most companies have not yet created a truly mobile-first experience, and as a result, companies are turning high-quality candidates off of their organization. In fact, mobile users complete only about 22 percent of applications they start versus 47 percent on desktop. And when the median time to complete a job application on mobile is 10.5 minutes compared to just 5.9 minutes for desktop users, it’s no wonder. If you don’t want to lose out on top talent, you’ll want to make a mobile-friendly application process a top priority. Don’t worry, though — even small steps toward improving your mobile job search experience can reap serious rewards. Things like creating a mobile-optimized version of your career site and leveraging Glassdoor’s “Easy Apply” feature, which helps mobile users apply to jobs in just a few short clicks, resulting in a much more mobile-friendly experience.”

Human Resources

If you read our trends blogs from last month then you remember how important HR trends are to the business world and how they so directly affect most industries. The trends that grow popular in HR have a trickle affect and will seep into the trends of everyone whether you’re a Marketing professional or a Sales professional - So pay attention to these trends!

• Holistic HR- If you remember one of our blogs a few posts back, you may remember us talking about something called holistic recruiting. Well, HR has ‘holistic’ trends now too! According to HRTrend there are a few determining factors that contribute to a holistic HR department and they are:

  • Using advanced technologies and being human centric

  • Adding value to all stakeholders, not only management

  • Combining intuition and thorough analytics

  • Internal and external focus

  • Strategic and operational

  • Short-term and long-term

  • Action-oriented and reflective (fast and slow)

• Adaptive Systems- Another repeat trend (we told you many trends will be rolling over into the New Year. We mentioned this one on very recent blog of ours called The Best HR Trends of 2019! Basically, an adaptive system is a system that adapts to its environment. For example, most airlines ask how you prefer communication. Once you select that channel of communication, it’s saved in their system and from there on out - you only receive messages via email. A more simple example is when you check-out from a drug store and they ask you how you want your receipt. While it doesn’t auto save what you want every time, it adapts every single time to any myriad of options you may select. This is a huge trend we expect to see in 2020 with HR in staffing/recruiting with the automation of adaptive systems for clients and candidates.

• Activism- Activism...an interesting trend for HR but it’s relevant, trust us and it’s necessary too. HR professionals should be activists and advocated for their co-workers and their company and they should always stand up and do the right thing. They should also focus on actively trying to solve outward problems too - not just those that are company-centric. HRTrend listed this as another trend to expect to see this year and they said this: “Many organizations are still very inwardly focused. The key question is more “How can we solve our problems?” than “how can we solve problems in our society?”. Taking ownership of your corporate social responsibility can be more than offering employees the opportunity to do good on one day per year. Research by Povaddo showed that more than half of those working in America’s largest companies feel that corporate America needs to play a more active role in addressing important societal issues. There are enough issues to tackle. Employees are willing to contribute. HR can play an important role in facilitating and stimulating corporate/employee activism.

Marketing

Marketing trends are unique in the frequency of their evolution. They are always ebbing and flowing and changing and going in and out of style that it’s really hard to pinpoint set trends that will stick for months on end. For the purpose of this blog though we feel as though we have a pretty decent understanding of what the marketing trends appear to be at this point in time. Check them out and always be on the lookout for what’s trending in this industry.

• Video- A major trend we saw this past year and a trend we expect to continue to see is the use of videos. Videos have been proven to be more effective as it’s more eye catching and allows for visuals as opposed to a simple photo or infographic. HubSpot’s Blog says: “Video has absolutely dominated social. According to a recent HubSpot Research report, four of the top six channels on which global consumers watch video are social channels. Why is this important? If you aren't creating video, you're likely falling behind. But don't fret. For most videos, the more simple and raw it is, the more authentic the content seems … and that's what really matters to your audience. Better yet, video production is more cost-effective than ever — you can shoot in high-quality, 4K video with your smartphone.”

• Employee Engagement- If you remember another recent blog of ours we spoke about employees as advocates for your company brand: “your employees should be advocates for your brand, your product, and your company as a whole. They’re your best advertisement! Promote this sort of advocacy within the workplace through social messaging - especially LinkedIn and you’re sure to see gradual growth within your social following as well as employee engagement!” Why does employees as advocates matter here? Well, it’s all apart of their engagement! If your employees aren’t engaging whether it’s with content you’re creating or they’re just not interested, it may be because they never got the chance to really advocate or speak up. Keeping employees engaged keeps them happy so keep your radar on for any employees that may be looking for a marketing outlet - the chances of them being receptive are high if you ask...

• Customer Retention, Loyalty, and Advocacy- Much like you would want your employees or co-workers to advocate for your brand, you also want your customers to advocate too! They’re perhaps your biggest advocate as they are the ones dealing with you, using your product, and spending money. What does this mean for you? It means you need to make sure your relationships with ALL paying customers are glowing. You don’t want those negative reviews, dropped clients, unpaid bills, or negativity anywhere near your business. We found this trend from a blog by the Marketing Insider Group. Here’s what they say about this popular trend: “Recurring customers are more valuable than new customers. Studies have found that it costs five times as much to attract a new customer as it does to keep a new one, so it’s definitely worth putting in the effort to keep your customers happy. Loyal customers also help to increase the reputation and awareness of your brand as they’ll talk about your company and products with their friends and family. Happy customers make great (and free!) brand ambassadors and influencers. Many of the above-mentioned trends and technology can be helpful for increasing customer retention rates. Personalization, for example, is certainly expected from your existing customers if not your new ones, and it gets easier to personalize communications the more interactions someone has with your brand.”

Sales

Sales trends are tricky just like marketing. They’re always changing because the way people sell is always changing. Just like with any other industry, you must be adaptable and willing to succeed.

• OmniChannel Experience- In any successful company, sales and marketing share a symbiotic relationship working towards a common goal. It takes some time to get to a place where both departments work together in tandem but it should be a goal and should be something to consider, especially going into 2020. Collaborating with the marketing department allows for what’s known as an “Omni-Channel Experience”. Think of this as a strategy to better customer experience by an intentional orchestration of two departments working together as one. Companies with an Omni-Channel Experience or Strategy provide a fully integrated experience for clients which helps with retention, sales, and client satisfaction. If your marketing and sales departments aren’t utilizing each other yet, maybe it’s time to start! It’s never too late.

• Social Selling- This next trend may be one that’s difficult for those career-salesmen with 20+ years of experience and that is social selling. While building those relationships and maintaining authenticity is vital, many find success through social selling. It’s basically exactly as it sounds - selling/connecting with clients/prospects through social accounts such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and even Pinterest. According to HubSpot, “the use of social media in sales allows salespeople to delight their prospects rather than interrupt their daily lives with cold calls and hard sells, eventually converting them into loyal customers.'' So, the next time you have a prospect, consider connecting with them on LinkedIn or following them on Twitter. It’s clear that clients want that relationship, so start building one before you pitch cold and see if it improves your numbers!

Trends Across the Board

This next list of trends are those that go past one singular industry and are trending in an overlap across multiple industries! And, shocker, they’re all trends we’ve already seen in 2019! Last year did a really great job of laying the foundation for many of these trends to be fully set into motion. This is why so many of them are still trending into the new year.

• AI- Just like with anything in business these days, artificial intelligence is a major trend you’ll want to take part in to stay relevant. The whole goal of AI in business is to take away some of the grunt-work that workers do on a daily basis. For example, sales employees can implement AI into their daily lives to help take-over those redundant tasks such as finding leads, sorting leads, monitoring orders, etc. As much as people are concerned with AI taking over, it’s something that should be put to rest and embraced to better assist you throughout your daily life as a business professional.

• CRM- This year at ApplicantOne we began integrating HubSpot as our CRM of choice and haven’t looked back since. It’s improved our Sales and Marketing efforts and we’ve only just begun. If you’re new to marketing you may be wondering “what is a CRM?” To put it simply, CRM stands for: Customer Relationship Management. This software/system allows for easier interactions between a company and its clients/customers, both current and potential. For example, our CRM, HubSpot is a full stack of software for marketing, sales, and customer service with a CRM at its core. CRMs also allow for a more omnichannel strategy as it brings together Marketing and Sales in a way that allows them to work more in unison as one department rather than two differing departments operating on two different planes.

• Culture- Today, office culture is a huge factor and benefit for a lot of people searching for jobs. That same HRDrive article lists this as number 5 on their list of 10 saying that today, “consumers are value-driven”, meaning job seekers and those looking for business opportunities are aware of who or what the company is associated with. It matters to them, and it should matter to you too! On an incredibly basic level, HRDrive says “people want to align with companies that share their values.” Employees are spending more time with their co-workers than they are with their families, it makes sense to want to find an office culture that fits and feels right for them. If an employee can work in a trusting environment, they can flourish and work to the best of their ability.

• Remote Work - If you’re on the fence about remote work, you may want to reconsider. With the rise of an insane amount of technological advancement, remote work has become more and more feasible and, for some, just makes sense! Remote work was deemed important by one of our in-house recruiters, Nathan Lewis. He says, “more and more candidates are asking about the possibility of working remotely. Candidates can actually get more work done from home without distractions from busy office environments. While this is a curiosity of most candidates, it is mandatory for many and that number continues to rise.” He experiences questions about remote work from candidates on a daily basis. If you don’t already offer some sort of remote-work, maybe you should start to keep up with the changing trends. Plus, looking at remote employees, expands your candidate pool to a whole new group of candidates that could be an awesome fit! If you haven’t considered remote work, you may want to by the end of the year as it’s only going to become more and more abundant!

What new trends do you expect to see this year? Let us know! We’re always keeping our eyes peeled for new trends.