For many organizations, 2022 is a year to achieve some normalization and redirection in their workplaces. Companies have adjusted or reconstructed their business models from the harsh lessons they learned in the last two years.
Pandemic conditions exposed employment vulnerabilities and inequities in the workforce, dramatically affecting recruitment strategies. Talent recruitment is no longer as easy as a quick post on a social media job board. EHS candidates have greater expectations when considering future employment. It is a job seeker’s market, and recruiters and hiring managers must be highly skilled to procure the talent that will assist businesses in the comeback they are targeting.
The pandemic has driven people to abandon or rethink their career paths. This trend has created a skills gap in the job opportunities and the individuals qualified to fill them. With more openings than properly skilled candidates, companies are finding competition for attracting the right job applicants extremely stiff. Successful organizations must be proactive to secure the best and brightest EHS talent possible.
Staying up to date with these top EHS hiring trends of 2022 will help you attract the high-quality candidates you need to move your business forward:
1. Early Engagement: Engaging EHS candidates early is an up-and-coming trend for successful hiring managers. Early engagement used to be a tool reserved for higher-level management and executive positions where the candidates were few. Now, the shortage is across the entire spectrum of the workforce. Even lower-level positions require more effort and creativity to fill than in previous job markets.
It’s now common practice for hiring managers to communicate with applicants early and frequently along the recruitment path. Establishing a relationship with candidates encourages them to choose your organization over another. While this trend is born out of the current market situation, look for its success to set it as a new standard in recruitment.
2. Screening tools can be helpful or misleading. Job posting websites have keyword search engines that approve or eliminate candidates based on keyword or phrase searches. Thus, if an EHS candidate does not articulate their qualifications in such a way to ‘please’ the search engine, the hiring manager may never even see the candidate’s application. Automating the review of a resume can be fairly ineffective as a talent screening tool. Additionally, unless a hiring manager is a skilled interviewer, an interview alone may not give an accurate picture of an individual’s skill level.
Skill tests have been standardized for many occupations and available for decades. These tests allow objective and effective evaluation of someone’s suitability for a position and can quickly point out someone who is not qualified.
While EHS job skills are key, so is behavioral compatibility, i.e., the ability to work in teams, meet stressful deadlines, take constructive criticism, etc. These assessments explore an applicant’s motivation and work ethic, for example.
3. Remote work options provided an enticement in recruitment previous to the pandemic but catapulted when many individuals were mandated to do so. Once acclimated to the home/work option, workers realized savings in transportation and clothing costs, less weather and illness interruptions, and more ease in achieving a work-life balance. This increases the talent pool, as previously, a position may have required too much time away from home or involved an extended commute.
4. Diversity and inclusion are no longer buzzwords or simple attempts at presenting compliance with anti-discrimination laws. Recruiting and maintaining a culturally diverse workforce promotes creativity and innovation, and positively affects the bottom line. Recruiters now employ evaluation tools that were created to eliminate the bias that was previously embedded in recruiting processes.
Following these trends is key to the economic recovery that businesses are targeting over the next 12 months.
Navigating the new generation of EHS talent acquisition can be challenging. Working with a recruiting firm like Aarcher Talent will help you stay on top of these ever-evolving hiring trends.
Whether you’re trying to fill a permanent position or add specific skill sets for temporary projects, we offer a series of recruiting solutions, including permanent placement, temp-to-hire, and contracted staff services. Contact us to learn more about our services and how we can help you find the right candidates.
Resources:
10 EHS Trends to Watch in 2022, John Niemoller, Perillon.com.
Hiring and Recruitment Trends to Expect in 2022, Eric Friedman, Forbes.