14% more recruiters added AI to their recruiting skills in 2023 compared to the year prior. Gen AI is fundamentally transforming how we work, it’s becoming integral to all industries, all verticals. No exaggeration, it seems to be having an even bigger impact than WWW or Smartphones had back when they first arrived. But Gen AI is not the only thing disrupting how we work. There are other variables involved-
- First, the workforce is more connected than ever (thanks to LinkedIn, TikTok, and Meta), and of course more informed. Thus candidate’s expectations and demands are soaring north. More candidates now demand work-life balance, remote and flexible work times, growth opportunities, and whatnot. All justified though.
- Second, the budget is tight, not just for the recruitment team, but for almost every department— all thanks to the global geopolitical uncertainties and the macroeconomic situation, which is certainly not stable. Because of the unpredictability, sometimes companies are staffing up, and other times it could be a layoff cycle. Today, in board meetings the leadership may announce a budget crunch, and the day after they may ask you to put up a big “We’re Hiring” billboard on the busiest roads.
It’s a complete whirlwind.
Guess who is bearing the brunt of all this? Of course, recruiters! And to deal with this, you need to keep upgrading your recruiter skills.
Read this insight to discover the top recruiter skills you need to have in 2024 to be a great talent acquisition specialist.
1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Traditionally, recruiters have played wait-and-watch when it came to embracing technology or new trends. However, with AI, it is different. It doesn’t matter who you are, you have to be in the arena or your competitors will outcompete you. As a recruiter, learn to leverage AI, and enhance your hiring productivity.
Elite talent acquisition specialists are adding AI to their recruiter skills arsenal.
- 62% of recruiters are optimistic about the use of AI in recruitment.
- 27% of hiring specialists already use Gen AI.
Yes, there could be a faction who believes that AI can take away recruitment jobs, and replace recruiters, but as far as we know, AI is not going to replace those who continuously upskills; not anytime soon unless AI becomes sentient. So, go on and sharpen your AI recruiting skills.
AI is not going to replace those who continuously upskills; not anytime soon unless AI becomes sentient.
- Start with learning an AI tool built for recruiters. It could be something as simple as an AI job description generator.
- Next, try to understand how AI works, and how you may use it ethically in your day-to-day recruiting tasks.
- Finally, learn how to use AI to match candidates to job roles. For this, you would need to explore AI resume screening tools (Say 'Hi,' to Skima AI).
2. Creative Sourcing & Recruitment Skills
NJ Transit enjoyed a 60% spike in resumes, aka applicants when they started leveraging social recruiting. They are not the only ones mastering creative recruitment skills. Companies big and small alike are thinking out of the box, and are experimenting with creative recruiting ideas to find their purple squirrels. Enterprises are relying on in-house ambassadors to strengthen their employer branding to source top talent. Often, all this is organic.
For example,
- Marvin Li, an engineer at Linkedin, strapped a camera atop his head and recorded his entire day at work. The video performed well and kept 60% of the audience hooked for the entire video duration, which is a really impressive number.
- Netflix employees did something similar with “We are Netflix” podcasts, wherein they interviewed internal employees and discussed what it is like to be at Netflix.
Employee-generated content is often more authentic and sets clear expectations for job seekers or aspirants looking to work at a company. Not to mention, they are a great contribution to employer branding.
The point being made is that you have to stand out to win top talent. Creativity is a non-negotiable top recruiter skill in 2024. Think creatively, and tap into everything that you have at your disposal. From co-optation and referrals to VR, creative video ads, in-house culture ambassadors, and gamification of the job application process...use everything! If you’re a recruiter, you need to let the creativity flow unhindered and not be afraid of failure if you want to build an effective talent pipeline. Unleash your A-game to be a talent magnet.
3. Agility & Adaptability
HR in its entirety is becoming more cross-functional.
With AI getting integrated into the HR tech stack, the line distinguishing different roles will become more blurred. And the Venn intersection of the overlapping responsibilities of different HR roles may grow bigger.
As a modern recruiter, you are expected to be good at context-switching and to adapt quickly to emerging job market conditions. Sometimes, you can be interviewing a veteran for a customer success role in the US, and the next hour you might be looking for a social media marketer in Germany. This could be very real if you’re employed in the staffing & recruitment industry. And agility is one of the key recruiter skills In 2024 that will help you perform better under such conditions.
In short, assess how would you rate yourself in terms of agility, and work on it if you spot room for improvement.
54% of HR managers admit that they struggle to perform workforce analytics.
Have you ever thought if a human resource team can do efficient talent planning without insight into the workforce? Barely possible. But candidates' expectations are on the rise. In fact, 63% of employees quit their jobs because they had no clarity about their career growth prospects at their organization. Besides, your competitors are vying to snag top talent (even those who are already at your organization). Your ability to sense the gravity of the situation, your ability to prioritize tasks, and your quick decision-making skills will help you tackle all the recruitment challenges. In short, agility is the recruiter skill, mastering which can make you an elite TA specialist.
4. Technical Skills For Recruiters
58% of HR managers report that talent management software they use does not gel with each other.
Don't you think this could limit an HR team's productivity? Your adroitness with AI recruiting tools can prove to be a mettle. It could be a heck of a recruiter skill to possess. Not many recruiters are sound with talent acquisition software. You can easily master some to stand out from the crowd.
- Get familiar with popular & niche job boards.
- Play with applicant tracking systems, resume screening tools, interview scheduling software, applicant assessment automation, candidate communication, and engagement automation tech.
- Lastly, if your recruitment tech stack has tools with analytics built into it, learn to use that to present the insights to the top leadership.
Mastering the technical skills can boost your productivity and may reduce cost per hire when harnessed right.
Also, master tools like ChatGPT & GeminiAI. Mostly, they are used as AI job description generation tools. However, they can also be used for generating Boolean search strings. Recruiters can use Boolean search for advanced search on platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google. Maybe, even in your ATS, if it supports Boolean searches.
Boolean strings help you refine your search, and get better results compared to what you would have got otherwise. Adding Boolean search to your recruitment skills could be a great decision. It will help you supercharge your talent-sourcing strategies.
5. Effective Communication, Negotiation, and Interviewing Recruiter Skills
Did you know that 89% of hiring failures stem from a poor cultural fit?
But this could be avoided if you work on your interviewing skills.
Asking the right questions to candidates can reveal a lot about their personality.
Ask them hypothetical situational questions that reveal key behavioural aspects like delegation, collaboration, problem-solving, decision-making, ethical inclination, integrity, and a ton of other aspects.
As a recruiter, you have to work a lot on reading between the lines if you want to maximize closing quality hires.
In general, to supercharge your recruitment skills, work on your communication prowess.
Most of the time you, recruiters, are the first person a candidate speaks to or meets, and hence the onus is upon you to keep your organization in good light. At first, nothing else but you’re the employer brand. Thus, your communication skills can be pivotal in closing a top talent. To a large extent, it would depend on how persuasive you are.
For instance, how good you’re at writing LinkedIn InMails when reaching out to candidates. Do you make use of LinkedIn InMails best practices? If not, you must. Because they may help improve the candidate response rate.
On a high level, how good you’re at sensing and overcoming candidates’ apprehensions, and how good you’re at resolving any conflict or confusion during the recruitment process decides whether you will throw your fist in the air expressing a win, or clutch your finger tight mourning the missed opportunity.
Besides, when it comes to discussing salary, your negotiation skills can come in handy too. The more you practise negotiation, the better you get at it.
6. Networking Skills
Recruiting is no longer a desk job—at least, not 100%. You have to be networking all the time and forge genuine connections with diverse talent to continually grow your talent pool. If you aspire to be a top recruiter, you need to be a power-networker and connector. Good communication can contribute to your networking skills. Yes, networking is a tough nut to crack, but you can hone this just like any other recruiter's skills.
You can utilize social media and in-person industry events to build an extensive network of talent.
You can tap into this network when needed, and help your organization or clients find the perfect talent for the open vacancies. But a pertinent question could be, “How do you sharpen your networking skills as a recruiter?”
First and foremost, be very good at storytelling. Craft interesting and genuine stories, and master delivering them with chasm to hook the audience, and strike a connection with the masses. Otherwise, gaining access to passive candidates who might not be actively seeking new opportunities is tough. Or, it won’t be scalable. So, mould yourself into an influencer personality.
Networking prowess turns casual conversations into lasting professional relationships, which can further convert into golden recruitment opportunities.
Building and nurturing these relationships can lead to faster, more effective placements and a steady stream of referrals, keeping your talent pipeline ever healthy and diverse.
To Sum It Up
Those were our top 6 picks for recruiter skills to build or improve in 2024. There could be so much more on the list— leadership, collaboration, delegation, persistence, legal, compliance, regulatory awareness, DEI & culture advocacy, empathy…and the list can go on and on.
However, we did not want this insight to be a reading marathon for you. Anyway, going forward, we believe AI will further rise in prominence, especially in the recruitment industry.
So, it might be a good idea to brush up your recruitment skills arsenal, sharpen some older skills, and add some new ones, and you’ll be all good to rock the recruitment domain. To get started here are two recruiting tools for you to add to your recruitment stack-
It’s an AI-laded tool that helps you screen resumes and evaluate how fit a candidate would be for a job role, by vetting the data points in the candidate’s resume up against the roles & responsibilities defined in your job post.
Skima AI Job Description Generator
It’s a simple and intuitive tool to generate AI job descriptions, with customization and editing features.
Go play with the above tools, add them to your recruitment profile, and up your recruiting game. If you like this blog and would like more hiring & recruiting insights, subscribe to the Skima AI blog, or follow us on LinkedIn.
Happy Recruiting!
