Employers Focus on Candidate Relationships in Hiring Goals

Talent acquisition teams continued to face steep challenges last year, and it shows in the numbers.

According to the GoodTime Hiring Insights Report, 60% of the HR and talent leaders surveyed said their time to hire has increased during the past year, while 50% didn’t meet their hiring goals.

This year, 46% said their primary goal in hiring is to foster authentic relationships with job seekers. More than a third, 36%, say improving candidate relationships is a main concern, but struggle to make it happen. Nearly a third, 31%, said they’ve made DEIB a priority in the past year.

Meanwhile, companies saw a 50% shortfall in terms of hiring goals , clearly feeling the pangs of the “Great Resignation.” One of their challenges: holding onto top talent. In addition, 60% of HR and talent leaders said it took longer to fill an open position in 2021 than it had in previous years.

Building Relationships

Nearly half of the managers and executives surveyed, 46%, believe establishing meaningful relationships with candidates is paramount. Their foremost candidate-centered hiring practices include flexibility in interview scheduling and demonstrating the company’s culture, mission and values.

Surprisingly, 63% of fully remote employers said “retaining top talent” was their priority, far outpacing the average of 30%. Also, 34% of fully or mostly remote organizations grappled with finding suitable candidates, but only 22% of fully or mostly in-office companies faced the same challenge. As a result, talent acquisition teams anticipate the struggle to retain the best employees and attract qualified candidates will continue into 2023.

Meanwhile, there’s diminishing concern for the state of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in the hiring process. Thirty-one percent of companies made DEIB a measurable priority in the most recent 12 months, and 38% plan to make DEIB a significant priority over the next year. While this is a 7% rise, DEIB still sits at the bottom of most priority lists, the report said. In addition, just 32% of companies said they emphasize dedication to DEIB during the hiring process.

“Companies that take a human-centered approach to talent acquisition are two times more likely to achieve financial goals,” said Ahryun Moon, CEO of GoodTime, which provides meeting management solutions. “The report findings clearly show that winning talent through outdated methods like free lunches and ping pong tables are over. Companies need to put more emphasis on cultivating the candidate relationship if they want to create impactful hires in today’s Distance Economy.”

By Jerry Bonner

Jerry Bonner - Editor and writer for RecruitingDaily. He has been a professional writer and editor for over 25 years in a variety of mediums including: journalism, copywriting, screenwriting, video game scriptwriting, comic/graphic novel writing, marketing communications, and technical writing. His work has appeared in WIRED, Ars Technica, GQ, Yahoo, Laptop Magazine, Chauffeur Driven Magazine, The Daily Intelligencer, and many others. On top of that, he spent time in the HR/recruiting field with the Camden County government.