7 Key Trends In Recruitment

With AI causing major disruption and Gen Z coming of age, 2025 is set to be an exciting year for recruiters. Here are seven of the key trends to watch out for.

Recruitment in 2024 is a completely different beast to how it was in 2019. In just five years, the talent acquisition landscape has completely changed. Generative AI has become a viable option for hiring, the workforce has become more diverse and with different needs, and hybrid work has become the norm.

However, things are still changing; and changing fast. Both HR professionals recruiting for their own businesses and recruiters hiring for their clients will need to stay on top of the ways the market is changing in order to ensure they find success. Here are seven of the trends we expect to see as 2024 ends and 2025 begins:

C-Suite Definitions: What Will Careers Look Like In 2024-2025

Before looking at how to recruit, it’s important to understand what the job market will look like by the end of 2025. While we’ve been on the cusp of a career revolution for years, it looks likely that big changes are coming to the way businesses work with their employees in the coming year.

Trend #1: Jobs everywhere will be restructured

The recent 2024 Global Talent Trends report from Mercer surveyed almost 2,000 HR leaders and found that 45 percent are planning on redesigning their career models, while 41 percent are planning to deconstruct existing jobs into sets of tasks so they can be reconfigured. That’s a large portion of all careers that could be set to change completely in 2025. Many things have spurred this on, but AI is one of the biggest culprits as many businesses believe embracing the tech is key to their success.

Trend #2: Careers will increasingly be international

Mercer also found that 40 percent of HR professionals were planning to move roles overseas, with 34 percent having already done this. This was true around the world, with professionals from 17 different geographies surveyed. With 75 percent of all employers reporting difficulty in filling roles in 2024 – up from 54 percent in 2019 – it’s no wonder businesses are no longer able to rely on local talent pools. Finding the right employees will mean looking across borders as we move into 2025.

The biggest talent acquisition challenges in 2024-2025

With the above in mind, what challenges do businesses have to prepare for in the world of talent acquisition? The two main issues once again are to do with a changing workforce, both in terms of its demographics and how its members want to work.

Trend #3: Businesses will need to cater to Gen Z

2025 is the year in which Gen Z truly takes over. Born between the late 90s and early 2010s, this demographic will make up 27 percent of the global workforce and a third of the population in 2025. This will make them the most populous generation, and they have some very specific needs for employers. Gen Z employees are less hierarchical and more likely to expect change, while hoping to make a difference in the world. Employers may have to alter the way their businesses operate in order to attract Gen Z talent.

Trend #4: More and more jobs will become flexible

It’s been fought over for years, but data from LinkedIn shows that forcing employees into the office actively harms recruitment efforts. Half of talent acquisition professionals agree that fully in-office jobs have fewer applicants, a smaller talent pool and increased competition. In contrast, 77 percent agreed that flexible hybrid roles lead to more applicants, larger talent pools and an improved employer brand. The challenge is for recruiters and HR professionals to pitch this to CEOs and encourage more flexible roles.

How will AI affect talent acquisition in 2024-2025?

Throughout this article, AI has been the elephant in the room. In many ways, it is responsible for some of the above trends, especially when it comes to shaking up the way jobs work. So what does the technology have in store for talent acquisition in 2025?

Trend #5: AI skills will become crucial for both employees and recruiters

Already, a quarter of organisations have implemented generative AI in some form into their recruitment processes. This is likely to increase to half of all organisations by the end of 2025. However, currently less than 15 percent of those organisations have a training policy in place for using AI effectively. Given how important the technology will be to the business world, it is crucial that employees and recruiters be upskilled to use it properly.

Trend #6: A growing backlash against AI

There’s no denying that generative AI could make recruitment much more efficient and effective. However, there are some downsides as well. When candidates are surveyed, 68 percent agree they want a human to be involved with decision-making when it comes to hiring. While it’s likely the technology will be capable of making hiring decisions by itself relatively soon, relying solely on it could put candidates off applying and damage your employer brand.

What will make talent acquisition successful in 2024-2025?

There is one major key to success for talent acquisition as we move into 2025, and that’s to stop thinking about qualifications. That might seem counter-intuitive, but skills-based recruiting looks set to be the future of talent acquisition.

Trend #7: Talent acquisition will become more skills-based

In the next five years, nearly a quarter of current roles will no longer exist, while 44 percent of workers’ core skills will have been disrupted or changed in some way. This means degrees, qualifications and even prior work experience will hold less meaning to recruiters. Instead, skills are going to need to be the main focus for recruiters who wish to be successful in 2025.

From AI to remote work, employment in 2025 is set to look a lot different to previous years. Keeping on top of these trends will be one of the key ways recruiters and HR professionals will be able to find success and future-proof their organisations, as the world of talent acquisition continues to change.