Changing Trends in Rec Reqs

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Posted April 8, 2019

As a boutique recruitment company that specialises in finding world-class office personnel, we keep a sharp eye out for changing recruitment trends. Knowing how requirements are changing for roles that range from office support to high-tech executive accounting will give you the edge on your competition, whether you’re an employer or a candidate. Here are 3 changing trends in recruitment requirements that look to make an impact on your workplace over the next few years.

1.Job-Specific Skills-Based Hiring on the Rise

Even high-tech companies now prioritise skills over degrees, says the India Times’ Gwyn D’Mello in her March 2019 feature on Apple CEO Tim Cook. In fact, more than half of Apple’s 2018 hires, she points out, were people without a four-year university degree.

Tech roles, such as coding, often don’t require a diploma but rather superb skills in performing the task the role requires. Although several office positions, such as a qualified accounting role, do require a bachelor’s degree or diploma—others, such as accounting support, do not.

Whether the role requires a diploma or not, D’Mello points out, boosting your skills is a sure stepping-stone to success. Human resources researcher Tom Redman agrees. As role requirements–continue to evolve, a wealth of experience in job-specific skills in payroll and other office tasks will become the new recruitment paradigm, says Redman.

2.Soft Skills Requirements Are Changing

As companies evolve through the years to meet the demands of their customers, so do the soft skill sets they need new hires to have. Not only do they have to possess competence in the tasks they need to perform, but they need soft skills—interpersonal and process skills—to manage their time and communicate more effectively.

Key soft skills that are in hot demand with employers today include project management experience, business partnership experience, and process improvement in their previous role. With many businesses moving away from the top-down model of management, which was popular 20 years ago, management and leadership skills are important for all roles in a company.

3.Openness to Change

In previous generations, businesses often valued stability in their processes. Today’s workplaces, though, require agility—a willingness to change. With the rise of new technologies, processes, and leadership structures comes the need for new hires to not only be adaptable, but also to lead any needed changes.

Since most companies are growing and changing, their new staff must be open to the kinds of growth and evolution that keeps pace with the company’s growth. Transformation and change leadership, therefore–as well as the ability to dig into a challenge and take it on—are what today’s employers need in a candidate.

Candidates who are adaptable, trustworthy, competent, collaborative, enthusiastic, decisive, resilient—and who communicate well—will find a good fit with any workplace. This, rather than a carbon-copy approach to hiring, should be the wave of recruitment’s future.

To discuss what are the latest trends and buzzwords for recruitment in 2020, why not give us a call or drop us a line—we’d love to chat!