We are living in an increasingly connected world with incredible opportunities, tools and technologies to transform the work that gives us meaning. The growth in new-model companies presents challenges that excite the millennial and might frustrate the traditional leaders.
Our friends at the Institute of the Future in Palo Alto say, “In ten years, today’s 11-year-olds will be entering the workforce. Today’s 18-year-olds will be taking on positions of leadership in our largest institutions. What’s waiting for them when they get there? What will they expect? What does their experience of the world today tell us about how they’ll reshape our society (and our careers) tomorrow?”
Our team would like to thank you for your friendship, connections and participation in learning this year. We thought it would be fun to share our insights looking back and also looking ahead to 2025.
Kate Kjeell, Recruiting Practice Leader (SBCo team member since 2000):
Greatest takeaway/lesson/aha moment of 2015 for you/SBCo?
Personalization of the recruiting message. Top talent wants an opportunity that speaks to them and piques their interest to learn more.
What do you think will be the biggest trend in recruiting in 2016?
As the competition for talent heats up in a rebounding job market, the need to differentiate your job will be critical. Your message, inmail, job postings will need to stand out in light of growing demand for talent. Recruiting is now at the intersection of sales and marketing and needs to leverage the same approach in terms of content generation, analytics, talent networks, social and mobile recruiting.
What will recruiting be like in 2025?
I don’t think we will be recruiting for Spacley’s Sprockets and driving our flying cars. (Ala The Jetson’s) I do think that the nature of recruiting will change to be a marketplace where people advertise their skills and accept bids similar to eBay. We are seeing glimmers of this with the growing flexible, free-agent workforce. Virtual workers and technology platforms enable visibility to interesting work across the globe.
Lisa Sutherland, Recruiting Consultant (SBCo team member since 2001):
Greatest takeaway/lesson/aha moment of 2015 for you/SBCo?
The greatest takeaway for me this year was learning from hiring managers who are assessing talent in entirely different ways. It is more about potential this year. With such hot demand leadership capabilities, it has been critical to be consultative and partner with our HR clients. This means refinin strategies real time.
What do you think will be the biggest trend in recruiting in 2016?
I see “grow from within” as the competitive advantage in our healthcare clients. Many key positions have a limited supply of experienced candidates. Developing internal talent and conducting career conversations signals the high performer that you are invested in them. They expect this.
What will recruiting be like in 2025?
Recruiting in 2025 will be 4-5 generations working together and integrating those different styles into the workplace. There are already more women in the workplace by then we will see progress in tech companies and Boards.
Nicole Peguero, Recruiting Consultant (SBCo team member since 2014):
Greatest takeaway/lesson/aha moment of 2015 for you/SBCo?
Recruiting processes are still a two way street with the edge towards the employee or worker. Not everyone wants to be an employee today. The importance of reputation and brand is alive and well as future talent is faced with significantly more opportunities than a year ago. It is a competitive talent driven market for sure.
What do you think will be the biggest trend in recruiting in 2016?
Retaining the talent you have invested in will be the number one challenge for multi- dimensional generations at work.
What will recruiting be like in 2025?
The majority of workers will shift to mostly millennials. Employers will need to play close attention to what this demographic desires. They look at work, life, career through different lens. Purpose driven, collaborative culture and flexible work arrangements will rule. What will your company do to remain talent competitive in 2025 and beyond?
Corey Protzman, Marketing, Learning Events, Sourcing Coordinator (SBCo team member since 2013):
Greatest takeaway/lesson/aha moment of 2015 for you/SBCo?
HR is at a pivotal point in its life cycle. As the economy continues to recover and new organizations sprout up across the world, the demand on “human capital” leaders is in constant flux. There is no longer a cookie cutter approach to HR/recruiting.
What do you think will be the biggest trend in recruiting in 2016?
Personalized messaging for active, passive, and future candidates. No one is/will be biting on the generic job description anymore because of the downpour of information individual’s process daily. It will not be about adding to the downpour, but standing out from it.
What will recruiting be like in 2025?
Recruiting won’t be just an HR initiative in 2025. Every person in an organization will be a brand/job ambassador and candidates will be motivated to make a change by individuals empowering a company not generic, umbrella company- wide messaging. The best talent ambassadors will understand personalization and networks
Our Final Thoughts...
Do you recall the first few moments of 2015? If that is tough, how about going back to 2000? The journey has been exciting, unpredictable, and tragic at times, but filled with change on every front in the human capital arena. Our focus shifted from retention to engagement; from big data to brain science and from innovation to de-constructing work.
As we look ahead to 2025 our journey will demand navigating beyond a world of employment. John Boudreau boldly states that the non-employment work arrangement will leverage us into project based, crowd sourcing, and free lancing like never before. One of our clients recently said, “future workers will just say no to traditional modes of work” and we need to be ready for that now.
What will the rites of passage be that young workers and enlightened business leaders take as they adapt to the shifting needs and opportunities of the future? There will be new stories and perspectives that reframe how we work, where we work, and coordinate across the globe.
As we reach the end of the year, we plan to take a moment to reflect on the lessons learned, the challenges ahead and greet the New Year with hope, resilience and a search for good. We wish you the same and more.