At the end of the day, it all boils down to the people. They are the real drivers of growth and success for any organization. That's why recruitment is so crucial—it's the backbone that closely connects to every other human resources department.

But the nature of work is changing rapidly these days, and so is recruitment. 

Big or small, we’re all in the same race for talent in a shifting working world, with the rise of remote work, the booming gig economy, AI transforming the workplace, and much more. 

"The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world." - Steve Jobs

You are urged to adapt your strategic approach to recruitment and get more savvy about new methods and tools for attracting and securing top talent.

As someone who has been closely monitoring this field over the past few years and experiencing how it has evolved, in this article, I'll dive deep into the modern realities of recruitment, providing you with the knowledge and insights to stay ahead of the curve in today's ever-changing work landscape.

What Does Recruitment Look Like in 2024?

Recruitment, by definition, refers to the process of attracting, screening, selecting, and hiring qualified candidates for specific positions within an organization. 

To emphasize how important recruitment is to a business, HR guru Josh Bersin said:

“Recruiting, by its very nature, is the most important thing HR organizations do. If you aren’t finding the best, brightest, and most aligned people to join your company, all the other management and business process work will fail.” – Josh Bersin

In his recent article “The Labor Market Has Totally Changed: Are You Really Ready?,” Bersin also captures a very important insight:

“Young workers don’t expect to “become the job,” they want the job to “become them.” And given the shortage of workers in every role, this trend is just getting bigger.”

“Companies and employers live in a pool of labor: it’s the needs and expectations of people who decide what we can and should do. People are upset about inflation. They’re worried about climate change. They want CEOs to behave ethically. And they want flexible work that lets them live a joyful life.”

This shift in the labor market challenges traditional perceptions that many still hold. 

Gone are the days of hierarchies and predictive career paths. The relationship between employer and employee turns more win-win than ever, emphasizing mutual respect and collaboration. 

The more successful companies strive to be, the more agile and responsive they need to become in meeting both business needs and employee expectations, ultimately transforming into 'dynamic organizations.'

This explains why recruitment is now more about “marketing” (culture and working experience), data-driven decisions (to stay adaptive and effective), and relationship management (to become more resilient and future-ready).

What is the Recruitment Process?

The number of steps in the recruitment process can vary depending on the organization and the specific role being filled. However, a standard recruitment process typically involves:

1. Identifying Hiring Needs: This step involves analyzing the organization's current and future workforce requirements to determine the specific roles, skills, and competencies needed. It’s crucial to align any following hiring efforts with the company's strategic objectives and ensure that the right talents are acquired to drive business success.

2. Preparing Job Descriptions: Job descriptions are essential for clearly communicating the responsibilities, qualifications, and expectations for a particular role. It’s internal guidance for your recruitment teams and also materials for recruitment marketing, including job postings and job ads.

3. Candidate Sourcing: This step involves identifying and attracting potential candidates through various channels, such as job boards, career fairs, employee referrals, social media, or even recruiting agencies. You may want to enrich your talent pool by tapping into passive candidates and internal resources as best practices from experts. 

4. Screening Applications: The screening process helps narrow down the candidate pool to those who most closely match the job requirements. It involves reviewing resumes, cover letters, and other application materials to assess candidates' qualifications, skills, and fit for the role. Further assessments, such as personality tests, skills assessments, and job simulations, provide deeper insights into candidates' knowledge, abilities, and cultural fit.

5. Conducting Interviews: Interviews are a critical step in the recruitment process. Standardized interviewing guides and candidate scorecards will help you ensure consistency and fair evaluation, while text-based and asynchronous video interviewing methods can provide flexibility and efficiency for certain roles, especially for remote hiring, as Starbucks, FedEx, and Amazon starting to exploit. 

6. Background and Reference Checks: These steps are crucial to ensure no potential risks for the company and to confirm the candidate's qualifications, especially for critical positions.

7. Sending Job Offers and Securing Talents: Extending a job offer requires negotiating terms to reach a mutually beneficial agreement. Ensure your offers are competitive and maintain strong relationships with candidates throughout the hiring process.

8. Onboarding New Hires The onboarding process plays a critical role in ensuring new hires are effectively integrated into the organization and set up for success. A well-designed onboarding experience, including customized plans, pre-boarding materials, and regular check-ins, can positively impact employee engagement and retention. 

For more details on how to get better at each critical step with the right tools and best practices, check out my full guide on recruitment process.

It’s worth noting that the recruitment process is not a one-time effort but requires ongoing evaluation and flexibility to navigate through and find the right talent. As David Paffenholz, founder of PeopleGPT, said:

“By nature, it's an iterative cycle, so you might go through that cycle multiple times, depending on how many changes need to be made and whether the search is going in the right direction or if there's even the type of talent available that the hiring manager has in mind. And that last piece is actually a really interesting one, because that can often change the entire journey, even when you're quite far into it.” - David Paffenholz, founder of PeopleGPT

It’s essential to decide and align what it means to be successful with some key recruitment metrics to evaluate and optimize the process over time.

Need more guide on what and how to track your recruitment success? Check out my full guide on Recruitment Metrics in 2024 here.

Recruiting vs. Talent Acquisition: Are They Different?

Recruitment and talent acquisition are often used interchangeably—no wonder why there’s some confusion.

But in fact, they’re two different approaches to hiring. And it’s good to know them by essence, especially if you move higher in this field.

Recruiting is more of an operational process focused on filling open roles right now within a company. 

It usually involves activities like posting job ads, screening applicants, and conducting interviews to quickly find and hire candidates for specific positions. 

The main goal of recruiting is to address those short-term hiring needs and make sure vacant roles get filled promptly so business can keep running smoothly.

Talent acquisition, on the other hand, is a more strategic, long-term approach aimed at building a pipeline of skilled professionals to meet the company's future needs. 

It goes beyond just filling open roles to proactively planning for the workforce, building a strong employer brand, and nurturing relationships with potential candidates. 

This approach is all about understanding the broader talent landscape, identifying and attracting top talent, and aligning hiring efforts with the company's long-term business goals.

For a deep-dive, check out my full guide on Talent Acquisition vs. Recruitment

Recruitment Trends Shaping Talent Acquisition in 2024

As we look ahead, the recruitment landscape is poised to undergo exciting transformations, but only for those who stay ahead of the curve. 

So, let's stay informed about the key recruitment trends that will have a significant impact in the years to come:

Flexibility is Key

"The competition to hire the best will increase in the years ahead. Companies that give extra flexibility to their employees will have the edge in this area." - Bill Gates

Flexibility in work arrangements is no longer a perk, but a necessity to attract and retain top talent.

Companies are adopting hybrid work or hybrid remote work models not only broadens their talent pool by removing the geographical barriers but also see the increased satisfaction among employees.

Upskilling and Continous Learning

Upskilling and reskilling are imperative as technology evolves rapidly, as 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted in the next five years, according to  World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023. 

Investing in training programs helps your workforce adapt to the latest demanding skills, particularly with the emergence of AI, and facilitates internal mobility. In fact, many companies consider the existing workforce to be their primary source of recruitment.

This not only addresses the talent shortage but also prepares employees for future emerging roles and projects.

Talent Marketplace and Fractional Work 

The rise of talent marketplaces and fractional work models reflects a shift towards more dynamic and flexible workforce structures. This allows companies to tap into specialized skills and scale their workforce up and down as required in quick response to market demands. 

According to a Deloitte survey, 50% of Gen Zs and over a third of millennials are engaged in part- or full-time gig work, showcasing the increasing preference for flexible work arrangements.

Hence, besides gig marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr, it makes sense to build the “inside gig” of your own—a concept that WSJ Best-Selling Author Edie Goldberg introduced.

Companies like Unilever are at the forefront of this trend as successfully implement internal talent marketplaces, unlocking half a million hours of project work and significantly boosting employee satisfaction and engagement​.

Goldberg explains:

“It just so happens that I have eight semesters of advanced statistical training, and I happen to be a deep expert in research. So, I could very easily have worked on a project in this other part of the organization, but never was I ever considered for any of that work, even though the research was my first love, because I didn't work in that part of the business. But I could have had value. And when they needed to get a project done, and they perhaps didn't have anybody in my office that could do that work, they could have leveraged me.” - Edie Goldberg, WSJ Best-Selling Author 

Automation and AI

Automation, which only happens with recruiting technologies, allows recruiters to spend their valuable time on what matters most: human touch and making decisions. And AI recruiting is born to unlock a lot of technology to scale that up, enhancing efficiency and reducing bias.

One of the most powerful benefits of these innovations is the ability to connect people analytics data and scatter insights, enabling us to make smarter decisions to achieve our recruitment goals.

As David Paffenholz, founder of PeopleGPT, shares in the interview with us:

“I think the potential of AI is anywhere where there's a lot of data available, be it structured or unstructured data. That's where AI can often have an outsized impact. And recruiting is a great example of that. There's huge amounts of talent data out there. A lot of it is unused. Some of it is structured. A lot of it is unstructured. And large language models provide us with the first real opportunity to use that data effectively.”

Emerging recruiting technologies like his are developed towards what is called “human-led AI-assisted software” to amplify your recruiting efforts.

HR guru Josh Bersin advises: 

“It’s not just important to “arm up” with technology – you have to use the technology to pinpoint your hiring, build creative campaigns to attract people, and train and empower recruiters to do their jobs well.”

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

The new generation of talents will soon constitute the majority of the workforce in companies. An 2023 EY’s study proves that these talents highly value diverse, equitable, and inclusive working environments that prioritize companies with strong DEI commitments over those without.

Embracing DEI in talent management not just to please this preference but to drive better business performance and a stronger employer reputation. Data shows that DEI initiatives are attractive in recruiting top talent, enhancing employee engagement, and driving innovation.

Implementing DEI in hiring involves combining multiple elements—such as crafting inclusive job descriptions, conducting bias-free screening and interviews, offering fair job benefits like learning and development programs, and ensuring equitable rewards—to guarantee equal opportunities for all candidates.

Recruitment Strategies and Best Practices

It looks totally different, so we must act differently. Let’s explore expert-proven recruitment strategies and practices that will elevate your talent acquisition efforts in 2024:

Develop a Strong Employer Value Proposition (EVP)

Companies have more compelling answers to the question, 'Why would a talented person want to work here?' win talents because "Making a living is no longer enough. Work also has to make a life.” 

An EVP is more than just a statement; it shares the vision to employees of how they can contribute real values and thrive at your company.

“Companies’ [EVP] should focus on what workers need to thrive over the long term, balancing material offerings with opportunities to grow, connection and community, and meaning and purpose.” - Amy Edmondson, HBR

Rethink Job Descriptions and Job Ads

 Lars Schmidt, Founder of Amplify Talent, shared with us:

“We have hiring managers who are used to hiring what I call fully bait candidates. So they're looking for a role, and they have this probably poorly written, overly dense job description that they used the last time they hired that person. And they're dusting that off and saying, we need this. That's not necessarily going to be the answer.”

Traditional job descriptions will be likely to fail to attract the right people you need in 2024. Effective job descriptions should emphasize outcomes and skills rather than rigid responsibilities. 

When in the public eye, they should mirror your company's culture and values and utilize inclusive language to attract a diverse pool of candidates.

Enhance Candidate Experience

Without a deliberate focus on creating a positive candidate experience, even the most advanced recruiting strategies risk falling short of being truly human-centered.

And this does not always mean in-person conversations nowadays. Zooming out, it’s how you deliver consistent, low-friction, and enjoyable experiences for job preview, job application, and self-expression during evaluations.  

For more, check out my full guide on Best Recruitment Strategies and Practices in 2024.

Essential Recruiting Software in 2024

According to SHRM's Knowledge Center, the average US recruiter has to manage 30 to 40 open job requisitions simultaneously. And it ain’t an easy job, given the multitude of steps and volume needed to identify the ideal final hires for those open positions.

Leveraging the right recruiting software can make a significant difference in attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent. You may want to get started with:

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)

ATS are foundational for modern recruitment processes that are organized, streamlined, and automated. 

These platforms help streamline candidate sourcing, application tracking, and communication, ensuring a seamless experience for both recruiters and candidates.

Some leading ATS options include:

• Greenhouse: Known for its intuitive interface and robust analytics, Greenhouse offers a comprehensive suite of tools for end-to-end recruitment. Its strengths lie in collaborative hiring, DEI initiatives, and over 1,000 sourcing integrations​​.
• Workable: A versatile platform combining ATS and CRM capabilities, Workable excels at AI-enabled smart sourcing and bulk communication. It's ideal for managing a high volume of candidates efficiently​​.
• Lever: Lever focuses on automation and data centralization, making it a strong choice for companies needing to streamline workflows and improve candidate management. It integrates well with various third-party applications​​.

For an in-depth look at the best ATS software, check out our full guide on ATS Software.

Candidate Relationship Management (Recruitment CRM)

Recruitment CRM software is designed to help companies enhance candidate engagement and relationship building, crucial for maintaining a robust talent pool.

Top CRM choices include:

• Gem: This platform offers data-centric insights, automating outreach and centralizing candidate data from various sources. It's particularly effective for engaging both active and passive candidates​​.
• Phenom: Known for its AI-driven capabilities, Phenom excels in rediscovering past candidates and providing personalized career site experiences. It also features an AI chatbot for real-time candidate interaction​​.
• Beamery: Beamery focuses on skills-based internal mobility and external hiring, leveraging AI to generate relevant job descriptions and manage candidate pipelines effectively​​.

For a deep-dive into CRM solutions, check out our comprehensive guide on Best Recruitment CRM. 

AI Recruiting Software

With the ability to augment and elevate traditional recruitment practices, AI recruiting software has emerged as a powerful ally for forward-thinking leaders seeking to gain a competitive edge in the talent war, from preparing to screening and engagement.

Some examples of AI recruiting software are:

• Glider: Offers AI-proctored skills tests that help candidates showcase their true abilities and ensure a fair and transparent assessment experience.
• Sapia: This platform uses text-based interviews to provide a conversational candidate-friendly experience, with AI analyzing responses for key competencies​​.
• Skillate: Enhances hiring efficiency with AI-powered resume parsing, skill matching, and interview scheduling, quickly extracting and structuring data from resumes​​.
• Juicebox (PeopleGPT): Provides a ChatGPT-like experience for finding the best-fit candidates and automating personalized outreach.

For more AI-powered tools for recruitment, check out our detailed guide on Best AI Recruiting Software and Top AI HR Tools.

Employer of Record (EOR) for Global Hiring

Luckily, you don’t have to manage all the complexities of hiring in different countries alone nowadays. 

EOR services offer specialized solutions for companies that want to expand their global footprint and assemble truly remote teams from all over the world. (To better understand this global hiring solution, check out my guide on EOR meaning and its employer-of-record benefits.)

Top EOR platforms include:

• Deel: Renowned for its strong payroll solution with various methods and multi-currency options through its owned engine, Deel excels in managing employment compliance, global payroll, visa support, contractor arrangements, and more across over 100 countries.
• Papaya Global: Utilizes an aggregator model with top-notch in-country partners to ensure compliance and offers excellent customer service, making it a comprehensive solution for managing payroll and legal requirements in over 160 countries ​.
• Remote: Provides comprehensive EOR services with a user-friendly platform, owned entities in all serviced countries, and strong IP protection through a transparent two-step transfer process, ensuring compliance and efficient global hiring​.

For more, check out our top picks of Best EOR Services in 2024.

If you’re working with many freelancers and project-based members, make sure to check out our dedicated guide for the category of Contractor Management Software.

Should We Have One Recruiting Software or Many?

HR expert Josh Bersin captures the essence of this subject matter, although not directly addressing the recruitment field, with his statement: 

"We need to think about who's going to lead, what, and how we're going to assess them. Many new tools are now being developed that are oriented towards this new model [dynamic organization]. Even though companies dislike buying systems from multiple vendors, the bigger HCM and ERP vendors can't keep up with the pace. So they'll either acquire a lot of these technologies or, eventually, there'll be another generation." - Josh Bersin

The recruitment process comprises numerous steps, as you've seen above, and it can vary significantly from company to company depending on their hiring needs, long-term goals, and corresponding strategies. 

While many leading recruiting software companies strive for integrated solutions, the fact is, as of now, none encompass all aspects. 

What most companies are doing is utilizing their core recruiting software (ATS or CRM) and incorporating specialized solutions to address critical bottlenecks, such as sourcing, screening, assessment, interviewing, or even just communication.

If you're planning your recruiting tech stack, be sure to check out my comprehensive guide on Recruiting Software.

Recruiting Software for Small Business

Recruiting software isn't just a luxury for large corporations. Many vendors cater to the needs of startups and SMEs so that businesses of all sizes can leverage the technology to optimize their hiring processes and secure top talent more efficiently.

Small business presents unique challenges, such as limited resources, smaller talent pools, and the constant need to do more with less.

If you're in this segment, explore our picks for Recruiting Software for Small Business.

The Bottom Line: Recruitment in 2024

As we look ahead to 2024, one thing's crystal clear: the recruitment game is going through a massive shake-up. The way companies attract, engage, and hire talent is being totally reshaped by forces like rapid tech advancements, shifting workforce expectations, and the ever-increasing need to stay agile and resilient.

Recruiters need to stay on top of the best strategies and practices (74% are currently underperforming [hyperlink]), and having the right recruiting tech, including AI support, will be a critical enabler.

Hopefully, after going through this comprehensive guide, you'll be locked and loaded!

The talent war is fiercer as always, but becoming the employer of choice, having a future-ready workforce, and being successful at talent acquisition is still possible—if you play your cards right...!