No one could have predicted the challenges we would face in 2020. It evoked a lot of changes for the recruitment industry and some of these changes are here to stay. We, at Generations Recruitment, tried to identify these to give you an overview of the important changes. Keep on reading to find out our prediction of the main recruitment trends in 2021.

In 2021 we will need to deal with a Hybrid Job Market. Baby Boomers will reach their retirement age and leave the job market but at the same time the Corona-crisis caused a lot of turnover by struggling companies. Therefore, we will have many people looking for a job and many open vacancies. The tricky part will be matching the right people to the right job. To do this, a lot of people in the job market will need to be reskilled. To convince these people of a job in another domain, recruiters will need to show them what this job looks like in reality. Traditional hiring combined with reskilling will generate 2 types of people on the job market, hence it is called the Hybrid Job Market.

To deal with this evolving job market, a lot of companies will start using talent pipelines again. Especially in 2021, where competitors are always on the lookout for great talent as well, constantly having qualified people in their database will ensure them of a fast candidate search. The importance of soft skills will grow as well. Communication, problem-solving and collaboration become non-negotiable in 2021. People no longer only need to have the desired technical skills. They also need a set of cross-sectoral skills such as new media literacy, virtual collaboration, responsive and proactive thinking… [2]

Just as the recruitment industry got used to millennials, Gen Z will be entering the job market in 2021. They have their own aspirations, demands, way of working and ideas about jobs or the world in general. They are known to value diversity and inclusion even more than other generations. Consequently, employees will no longer accept small cultural diversity initiatives without any weight attached to them. Instead they are looking for integrated initiatives that make an impact, such as diverse hiring panels. Over the past 5 years there was already a big increase worldwide in diversity & inclusion roles and in 2021 this trend is likely to continue.  [1] [2] [6]

Another thing this generation is known for is their media literacy as they grew up surrounded by internet and technology. Therefore it is important for companies to pay attention to their online presence. Most of the time before applying for a job, the candidate will look up the company online. Harshly said: if your branding is off, you will lose candidates. Social media recruiting is also a logical step for the recruitment industry and this trend will continue to grow in 2021. But it’s no longer enough to simply advertise vacancies on LinkedIn, proactive engagement with candidates through social media is the way forward. Also platforms like Instagram and Tik Tok are gaining popularity when targeting recent graduates. [3] [4]