Hiring Challenges In 2023: Are You Prepared?

The last few years have seen some unprecedented challenges in the workplace and workforce. A global pandemic impacted every employment sector, as well as supply chains. Conditions brought significant changes to the workforce, such as remote work and hybrid work. Relocations away from major cities, a reaction to some quarantines, also occurred. Inflation, interest rates . . . things seem to be changing at lightning speed. So, what does this mean for hiring in 2023—and are you ready for those challenges?

• The skills gap remains. Companies lament the lack of qualified candidates. Potential hires complain that job requirements are too narrow or specific. As a reaction to that, what is your company doing to narrow that gap? Are you reaching out to non-traditional hiring sources and ideas to attract candidates?
• The Great Resignation isn’t over. Employees claim the reasons they are leaving their jobs vary between financial choices—and wanting flexibility and support from their employers. As inflation takes a toll on paychecks, financial concerns may edge upward.
• By the year 2025, over 75 percent of workers will demand hybrid or remote work due to shifting demographics in the workplace. What is your company’s stance or plan regarding hybrid work and are you willing to be flexible to attract top talent?
• One in five job candidates lament the long hiring process. Not to mention “ghosting” is common on both sides of the hiring equation. What can you do to shorten the process?
• “Quiet returning is a thing.” Inflation rates mean increasing numbers of retirees are reentering the workforce to supplement their income. “Unretirement” is a trend. Do your recruiters welcome older workers? They can bring a wealth of experience—and a desire to work. “Quiet returning” is increasing. Attitudes toward older workers are often steeped in stereotypes or falsehoods. For example, some may be leery of older workers because they think they will leave the job sooner than young workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nothing could be further from the truth. If an older worker stays around four years, they will have lasted the same as the median employee tenure. Older workers are likely to spend three times longer at a company than some of their younger counterparts.
• Compared to 2022, employers plan to hire more college grads in 2023. (In fact, almost 15 percent more.) Is your company prepared to compete for those grads?

Here are some things you can be doing to attract the best talent:

• No ghosting. In fact, communicate during the process. There are few things more frustrating for job seekers than long periods of no communication—especially after being promised an answer “soon.”
• Offer hybrid work schedules. What this will look like will vary from company to company, but at the bare minimum, you should be addressing one of the key changes the occurred during the global COVID pandemic. Remote and hybrid work did not result in lower performance—so now that your employees’ lives have been improved by flexibility, it will be hard to insist they are in the office five days a week.
• Diversity and inclusion. Roughly three-quarters of potential employees cite a commitment to a diverse workforce as important to them when choosing a job. The fact is, without it, you cannot compete in the modern workforce.

These are just a handful of strategies. The important thing is to be contemplating how you will be competitive in 2023 so that you can hire the very best people.