4 important recruitment stats for 2023 - and what to do about them!

1 - Candidates want remote or flexible working
2 - What are Generation Z looking for in the workplace?
3 - Accessibility is a great way to reach candidates
4 - Shorter application forms will reduce candidate drop-off
5 - The key takeaways

Jobtrain is unique in that we’re an Applicant Tracking System provider with a built-in Talent Intelligence Unit. Our team of data and HR experts offer consultancy to those clients who are looking for specialist support. Our solutions process hundreds of thousands of vacancies and millions of applications per annum, and this has provided our Talent Intelligence Unit access to a huge amount of data.

When they’re not hard at work on data-based consultancy, they’re creating free guides and market reports available to everyone – you can find them here.

Brought to you by our Talent Intelligence Unit, the purpose of our latest Job Market Report is to share insights into recruitment activity in the last 6 months of 2022. This Market Report utilises a sample of 35,000 vacancies and 8,500 surveyed candidates across 18 industry sectors. It also includes expanded survey content, capturing further insight into candidate attitudes and generation identifiers.

So what has our Talent Intelligence Unit learned this time? Here are 5 important recruitment stats for 2023 (and what to do about them!)

Candidates want remote or flexible working

54% of candidates have said that flexible working is very important or somewhat important when looking for a job. The post-pandemic world had made a lot of workers realise that a healthy work/life balance is key to their health, and a desire for remote working is growing every year. In 2021, this number was 48%!

It’s not just jobseekers thinking about flexible working either. In the second half of 2022, a survey by iCompario looked at what benefits were most likely to tempt workers away from their employer – and 56% of responses mentioned remote working!

But what are employers doing? Is flexible working still on the table when a job advert goes live?

It seems so! Office-based jobs decreased 3% in the second half of the year, with more employers embracing remote or hybrid working. However, according to data from LinkedIn, 11% of new job postings were for remote roles, down from 15.8% at the end of 2021.

What are Generation Z looking for from the workplace?

With employers fighting for scarce resource, it’s compelling that 75% of candidates said they’d take the job with a significant work/life balance over the 25% who says that pay was what mattered most. This number was consistent across Generation Y, Millennials, and Generation Z.

Gen Z and millennial workers were revealed as the age groups most likely to switch employers or leave the workforce over the next 12 months, with wanting a fulfilling job (68%) being a key reason. Quiet quitting is one of the terms of 2022 and refers to someone consciously doing the minimum.

But what makes them disengage in the first place?

Gen Z candidates, according to Employment 4 Students, crave variety and flexibility and like a ‘side-hustle’. 72% prioritise flexible working when job seeking.

Gen Y “millennials” (who will make up 75% of the global workforce by 2025) are known as job shoppers and hoppers. A Harvard Business Review survey found most have promotion and growth opportunities as top of their shopping list. Flexible working arrangements was also right up there.

Accessibility is a great way to reach more candidates

An Employer’s policies and practices with regards to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion continues to be a growing influence on candidates. In fact, it’s an important factor to over 90% of them!

Increasingly, our clients are seeing the value of participating (and advertising the fact) in schemes and accreditations such as the Disability Confident or Athena Swann. They are supporting this with technology and processes, for example providing onscreen accessibility support or anonymous shortlisting.

With reference to Accessibility, The British Dyslexia Association estimates up to 10% of UK adults have dyslexia to some degree. The WHO estimates 2.2 billion people globally has a visual impairment. Jobtrain offers an accessibility toolbar as part of Recite to help with this.

Shorter application forms will reduce candidate drop-off

Given the sheer number of vacancies in the UK compared to candidates, more than ever candidates will favour a slick, mobile-friendly application process.

Especially if you’re working in a sector that has a revolving door – like Care, a sector we specialise in – lengthy application forms should be consigned to the past. The technology is out there to speed up your recruitment funnel, like Screening Questions, CV parsing and two-stage application processes!

Two-thirds of the application forms we assessed took under 30 minutes, and from them, half were under 5 minutes! Make sure to try out your own application forms and time yourself!

How long did it take for you to complete your application?

60+ minutes – 19%

45 minutes – 9%

30 minutes – 15%

15 minutes – 28%

5 minutes – 29%

From this breakdown, we saw that 48% of candidates strongly agreed that the content asked of them for an application form was relevant and easy to give.

What are the takeaways for HR professionals?

Our Talent Intelligence Unit pulled together a lot of interesting information, we’ve barely scratched the surface here – and if you want to see a full breakdown, you can download the full report for free here!

But here are some of the key takeaways.

• Understand what appeals to GenZs and Millennials versus Generation X and Y.
• Segment your advertising to focus on the right messaging for each generation.
• Don’t underestimate the power of video in your job adverts – they could give you a competitive edge!
• Keep candidates in your live funnel and in talent pools.
• For those who have registered as warm and engaged, provide timely (but not annoying) contact.
• Don’t have the resource to undertake these takeaways? Our Talent Intelligence team can provide support and expertise with all of this!