Recruiting and hiring trends for the new year
Despite economic pressures, the U.S. recorded over 9.5 million job openings each month of 2023, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. While certain companies remain cautious about their staffing efforts, others recognize the need for expanding their workforce in the upcoming year.
For companies aiming to gain a competitive edge in their hiring strategy, here are three expert tips to consider for 2024.
Evaluate the skills of your current workforce
As you plan for the future of your business, you might see that you need more workers to handle the workload. It’s not always just about hiring more people. In some cases, more about finding individuals with the exact skills and expertise your company needs.
Even before you begin the staffing process, here are three important tasks to complete:
- Evaluate the skills and expertise of your current workforce
- Assess the training needs of your current workforce
- Forecast which workers may retire or move on in the upcoming year
This process aims to determine where you have staffing gaps and how you can supplement your workforce with part-time or temporary workers.
Explore the use of new staffing technology
Mobile apps and similar tools can simplify the connection between businesses and workers. In fact, job seekers are using new technology to power their job search more than ever before. Job applications submitted via mobile devices now surpass those submitted via desktop by nearly 2 to 1, according to an Appcast analysis.
Hiring experts expect this trend to continue into 2024 and beyond. Using these tools can give your company an advantage in your recruiting efforts by offering faster access to active job seekers.
Take advantage of flexible staffing solutions
In an uncertain economic environment, many companies are aiming to cut their costs while maintain productivity. One of the best ways to do this is with flexible staffing — for example, bringing on part-time or temporary workers. This approach allows companies to assess their abilities and culture fit within the organization before making a long-term commitment.
When crafting a staffing plan, you should also consider the time required to advertise job openings, conduct interviews and onboard candidates for each role. It can often be beneficial to seek outside support for your staffing efforts.
How a staffing agency can support your 2024 staffing goals
The average time to hire an employee is now taking 44 days, an all-time high, according to a 2023 report. As a result, companies are actively seeking methods to speed up their hiring processes. Partnering with a temp service or a staffing agency gives them further support in these efforts.
There has been a growing trend in recent years for companies across various industries to use staffing agencies more frequently. Over 19,000 staffing agencies are currently in operation in the U.S., according to Staffing Industry Analysts. These agencies offer a number of benefits, including greater access to active job seekers, temporary or flexible staffing solutions, and recruiting expertise.
Staffing solutions made easy with PeopleReady
If you need support for your staffing efforts, partner with PeopleReady. We can provide access to workers with a variety of skills and experience.
Our local teams in 600-plus communities offer staffing solutions for many different industries, including retail staffing, manufacturing staffing, event staffing, construction staffing and more. Plus, you can use our staffing app, JobStack, to access our staffing solutions 24/7.
