Recruitment’s never been easy. And despite the emergence of different technologies and methodologies over the years – which undoubtedly make growing your team simpler and faster than it used to be – there’s still a whole host of challenges that recruiters and employers must face.

At Solutions Driven, we’ve seen them all. In fact, we highlighted many of them in depth in our recent whitepaper, “Key Hiring Trends We’re Seeing in 2024.” And that’s precisely why we dedicate our time to helping our clients to thrive regardless of what’s thrown at them. Using a blend of our industry expertise and sector knowledge, we partner with organisations of all sizes to ensure they’ve strategies in place to overcome barriers and remain future-fit.

In this blog we’ll look at some of the largest recruitment challenges of 2024. But more importantly, we’ll reveal strategies for combating them.

What Are the Major Hiring Challenges of 2024?

Through working closely with our clients, analysing vast datasets (both internal and market-wide), and collating our recent whitepaper we’ve uncovered what we feel are the top recruitment challenges of 2024. They are:

Inefficient Hiring Pipelines: Inefficiency in hiring pipeline processes is one of the biggest challenges organisations face. Consider that, according to our data, the average recruitment process now requires six touchpoints with candidates compared to just three and a half in 2020. Yet stats also show that interview processes completed within 18 working days significantly enhance retention and satisfaction. Engaging with candidates more but within tighter timescales is important – but no easy feat.  

Outdated Candidate Requirements: If you’re set on hiring people with very specific requirements in mind (such as a particular degree or certain number of years’ industry experience) you’re making the process of attracting great talent much more difficult. We’ve seen companies essentially cutting themselves off from candidates with the skills they desperately need – especially when it comes to new and evolving skill sets – which results in skills gaps and unfilled roles.

Lack of Post Hire Quality Measurement: In today’s data-driven world, collating information so that you can continuously improve is vital. And that includes measuring the quality of your hires. Yes, it’s challenging, but without processes in place to measure and track the quality of new hires, it’s far harder to plan for future recruitment drives and understand the impact of your hiring efforts and tactics.

Volatile Business Landscapes: The past few years have been unstable. From the pandemic and inflation rates to Brexit and unrest in Ukraine, many businesses are still feeling the effects and are scaling up or down due to a mix of external factors. This creates a risk of over-hiring and/or over-hiring, especially in talent acquisition teams making it hard to forecast, build talent pools, and manage hiring requirements accurately. 

Traditional Woking Models: The COVID-19 pandemic marked the end of traditional working models and proved that remote working options were not only viable, but often preferred. However, despite this shift in preferences we still see businesses that are unwilling to offer, for a variety of reasons, remote and/or hybrid working arrangements. For businesses without remote working policies and practices in place, this creates a real challenge as organisations are unable to attract and retain talent – particularly Gen Z candidates.

Strategies to Overcome These Hiring Challenges

Can you relate to any of the above challenges? If so, you’re not alone. The good news is, there are strategies you can put in place to overcome them. Here are our some of our tried and tested methods:

Use AI to Streamline Hiring Processes: Not using AI? You’re missing out! AI can streamline the creation of up-to-date job specs and will automate repetitive, mundane tasks. From calendar scheduling to personalised candidate comms, AI is freeing up more and more time for hiring managers so they can focus on engaging with candidates more effectively. AI has been proven to enhance overall productivity and efficiency in the recruitment process, so it’s a great tactic for improving yours too.

Build A Skills Based Workforce: Emphasising the skills you need, rather than experience or qualifications, is becoming more and more popular. 55% of companies eliminated bachelor’s degree requirements in 2023. And 70% say they did so to create a more diverse workforce. Companies are finding they’re able to expand their talent pools and better bridge skills gaps by shifting their focus away from very specific sector experience. By looking for relevant skills instead, they’re significantly increasing the number of viable candidates. 

Use New Technologies to Measure Hiring Quality: If you’re not already measuring new hires’ performance, team fit, and productivity it’s time to start. Benchmarking is vital for continuously improving your recruitment processes. Remember AI is playing an increasingly substantial role in this area and can provide you with better data and analysis tools. 

Consider Strategic Partnerships for Flexibility: To stay ahead it’s essential to be adaptable. Whether you’re navigating market changes, or needing to scale up or down, lots of organisations are finding solutions like embedded recruitment are offering them the flexibility they need – all without the need to expand their existing teams or break the budget! 

Embrace Flexible & Modern Models: We fully understand that remote or even hybrid models aren’t practical in every sector and role. But if a job can be carried out remotely and you’re able to offer that flexibility to your employees, make sure you’re shouting about it. Flexible working arrangements are important to the majority of workers in 2024, and you’ll be more attractive to both employees and potential employees. As the Generation Z workforce grows, remote models, entrepreneurship and autonomy will all become increasingly important in order to remain an employer of choice.

There’s no one quick fix to adapting to the recruitment challenges of 2024. Every organisation will have different hurdles, different experiences, and different needs. But the key is to measure the success of your processes and to be ready to adapt to the continuously changing hiring market. 

For even deeper insights into these strategies and more, download our Key Hiring Trends We’re Seeing in 2024 whitepaper. It’ll provide you with the knowledge and tools needed to develop a strong, focussed recruitment strategy for 2024 and beyond. Also, as experts in recruitment, Solutions Driven are always here to support and advise on your individual hiring challenges. Contact us today for an initial chat.