iHire has published its 2021 State of Online Recruiting Report, an inside look at the most prevalent challenges, opportunities, and trends in the talent acquisition space. This is the company’s third annual report, and showcases the results of iHire’s survey of 6,370 US employers and job seekers from 57 industries. The full report can be found at https://go.ihire.com/cbgjn.
Key themes found in iHire’s 2021 State of Online Recruiting report include:
- Hiring is back in action. After a tumultuous 2020, companies are hiring fast and furiously – 86.2 per cent of employers surveyed indicated that they are currently hiring, a 13.4 per cent uptick from last year’s report. In addition, 66.6 per cent of employers said they increased hiring within the past year, and just 20.6 per cent expressed concern with limited hiring budgets in the next 12 months.
- Employers are (still) experiencing a talent shortage. Despite the 5.9 per cent US unemployment rate and potentially deep talent pools, 73.9 per cent of employers cited “too few qualified candidates” among their most significant online recruiting challenges. Similarly, 77.0 per cent anticipate a shortage of qualified applicants throughout the coming year. For perspective, 2021 marks the third straight year that survey respondents struggled with candidate quality above any other hiring challenge.
- Job board usage is up. 58.9 per cent of employers said they increased their reliance on job boards and online recruiting platforms in the past year. Further, 49.6 per cent said they do most of their recruiting through job boards, and 23.4 per cent said they do all their recruiting through job boards. However, employers are also leveraging referrals (used by 70.6 per cent of respondents), social media (57.0 per cent), and their websites (50.2 per cent) to source talent.
- Applicant-employer communication is lagging. 46.8 per cent of employers said that “unresponsive candidates” (not hearing back from applicants after reaching out) is a top online recruiting pain point. On the other hand, 48.8 per cent of job seekers said the same about employers – they are frustrated with applying for jobs and receiving no response. Moving forward, both parties will need to commit to communicating with one another and say “no” to ghosting if they want to find the right hires and the right opportunities.
- Employers and job seekers digress on the future of remote work. Despite remote work taking centre stage since March of 2020, just a quarter (25.5 per cent) of employers said they expect to see continued candidate interest in remote work in the coming year. However, job seeker responses suggest no shortage of “work-from-home” interest and opportunities: Only 16.5 per cent of job seekers said they struggle to find remote work when searching for jobs online, and a mere 19.2 per cent foresee difficulty finding remote work in the next 12 months.
“Economic recovery is underway as businesses rebuild from COVID-19, but our research suggests that companies are still experiencing a shortage of qualified talent – although 9.5 million Americans are unemployed,” said Steve Flook, iHire’s President and CEO. “At the same time, we’re undergoing one of the greatest periods of disruption in how and where work gets done. With a triple-whammy of unemployment, remote work, and the rise in professionals contemplating career changes, recruiters and job seekers need guidance now more than ever.”
