Welcome to our newest series: Best of 2019. The New Year is a few short weeks away, ending the 2010's decade. Just like anything else in our world, the business-world is full of revolving trends that come and go just as the seasons. It's often hard to keep up with the changing trends, knowing when one is relevant or obsolete. Knowing when something is trending or on the way out can make or break your business and it's important as a career-focused individual to really be on the ball. At ApplicantOne, recruiting is a huge part of what we do so it's important for us to keep up with the recruiting trends to stay relevant and allow our recruiters to also be one step ahead. As we reflect on 2019 and prepare for 2020, let's reminisce on some of the best recruiting trends of the year and also keep an eye out for might be popular into the New Year!

• Recruitment Marketing-You may be asking yourself, “what is recruitment marketing?” That’s okay, we’re here to help. Recruitment marketing is a recruiting trend we noticed across multiple sites and sources as a huge trend to keep an eye on throughout this year and into next. On a simple level, recruitment marketing is a way to recruit candidates by specifying your requirements to meet that individuals needs. This is similar to outbound recruiting where you must do some extra work to get that candidate that could really add something to your company. This is also a great way for both recruiting and marketing to work together where they might not otherwise. Be sure to maintain strategic elements when you use recruitment marketing to ensure the targeted individuals apply to the positions you need filled. Read more about Recruitment Marketing here.

• Artificial Intelligence-Yep, artificial intelligence made this list too! It really shouldn’t come as a shock to hear that a major trend across the board from HR to Recruiting is Artificial Intelligence. In fact, at ApplicantOne, we use Artificial Intelligence to help both you as the client and our in-house recruiters. Learn more about how we use AI here. AI can be a recruiter’s life-saver with the conveniences it can provide such as automated candidate sourcing, matching, and more. It also allows recruiters to focus on the important details of the hiring process and not the nitty-gritty. Want to hear our stance on AI in recruiting? Check out our blog on the subject.

• Diversity Hiring- Applicants care whether or not your workplace is diverse. It's important to consider broadening your diversity within the workplace to attract everyone. According to HRMorning, companies with greater racial and gender diversity were 35% more likely to have financial returns higher than their respective industry medians on a national basis.

• Holistic Hiring- If you're a loyal blog reader, this should sound familiar! Recently we wrote about hiring holistically and we think it's a definite trend of 2019 and one that you should also keep an eye on into 2020. Read all about holistic hiring here.

• Culture-Based Hiring- By now you're probably sick of us talking about company culture... but it must be talked about. Relevance...duh. By now if you haven't caught on, you need to. Candidates are actively seeking culture-based companies where they are transparent with their company-wide culture. It's important to be upfront and honest about this part though. Don't market a laid-back culture if your office is cut-throat. Instead, market as such! Believe it or not, candidates aren't scared of a cut-throat environment, they're scared of dishonest employers...

• Hiring "Gen Z"- As more and more young professionals enter the workplace, it's important as a hiring manager or even as a recruiter to keep them as an option and not write them off as being 'too green'. If the potential is there (see point about potential not perfection below), give the candidate a chance. You never know which candidate will be the next Bill Gates or Elon Musk...wink wink.

• Remote Work- Remote work is a recruiting trend that 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.

• Inbound and Outbound Recruiting Tactics-When recruiting, using any and all relatable tactics to find that awesome candidate is key. In most recruiting firms or departments, outbound recruiting is the norm with recruiters outwardly sourcing candidates for the respective roles. However, while this is a positive way to recruit potential candidates, it also limits the candidate pool. Check out what RecruitLoop has to say about inbound recruiting: “inbound strategy [recruiting] is more about creating and building relationships with the candidates over a long time. In the inbound recruiting process, the recruiter or the company uses different digital marketing strategies to engage the group of passive and active job seekers. Switch from outbound and engage and attract more candidates.” By expanding to inbound recruiting as well as outbound, the number of potential candidates increases thereby allowing a variety of job-seekers to choose from throughout the hiring process.

• Hiring those with Future Proof Soft Skills- This trend is great because it combines two relevant trends into one common point of interest. 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. Harver.com came up with this trend and it’s one we can’t stress enough now that it’s on our radar! 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. Check out harver.com’s article on the topic.

• Hire for Potential NOT Perfection- This one might be a tough pill to swallow, but it’s important nonetheless. If you’re unable to find that stand-out candidate, reconsider how you’re hiring. Monster calls the perfect candidate the “unicorn” because it simply does not exist. Searching for perfection can be a losing battle more times than not especially when it comes to hyper-specific requirements and skills needed. Reconsider your non-negotiables, are they really deal breakers? Wouldn’t a person with outstanding potential eventually perform to the standards of a “perfect” hire? Monster believes that “a candidate might be a “hire for potential” [if their resume] include[s] a history of developing new skills, even if they’re not relevant to the job you’re hiring for; being up-to-date in advances in their field, even if they don’t apply to yours, and performing well in problem-solving interview scenarios where they’re tasked with coming up with creative solutions to some of your most common problems.” Oftentimes recruiters leave many jobs unfilled due to the lofty standards that companies set for their job postings. It’s important to be detailed and know what you want, but leave the rigidity and closed-mindedness at the door. Your next great hire could be right around the corner, full of potential!

• Employer Branding- When researching 2019 trends, a major trend across the board is employer branding. But what does this mean? As an employer or company, it's important to have a brand and an established one at that. Read more about employer branding here. Also, for even more on employer branding, including a deep dive into what it means, check out Recruitment.com’s blog on the subject. There they mention the importance, how to improve, and even give examples of companies doing employer branding properly. Check it out!

Trends to Look Out for in 2020

Keep an eye on these potential trends coming up in 2020. They may seem familiar...

• Candidate Experience

• Soft Skills

• Employer Branding