Across businesses and industries, planning for 2022 has been underway for a while now. However, even with the holidays nearly past us, there’s still time to think about how you can make sure you build the most effective HR recruitment and talent acquisition strategy for 2022 and beyond.
As it stands, the labor market in the United States and most other world economies are in the most flux we’ve seen for at least the past ten years. While jobless claims are lower than we’ve seen in decades, millions of workers are quitting their jobs and looking for new opportunities. The power is openly shifting towards workers, requiring employers and recruitment marketers to adjust accordingly.
Against that backdrop, it’s time to build a recruitment strategy that clearly accounts for the needs of your current employees and prospective applicants. Understanding what they’re looking for can help you better plan to attract and retain talent.
One of those components is placing a heavier emphasis on January to bolster your recruitment communications. Firing on all cylinders during the first month of the year may just be the difference in recruiting the talent you need to drive your organization forward. These five reasons show just how important it is to recruit around the new year.
1. Take advantage of holiday breaks
It can be tough to take time away from work. In fact, 2018 reported that American workers forfeited more than 700 million unused vacation days. Furthermore, when American workers do decide to take time off, they prefer the winter months around holidays such as Hanukkah, Christmas, and the New Year.
More time off, of course, means more time on personal laptops, phones, and tablet devices. While people are relaxing with their families, they may also be actively browsing for a change in career or new job opportunity. This holiday break is the one time you have the chance to reach almost every person in America through largely the same channels. Especially once Christmas marketing campaigns run their course, creating a recruitment marketing campaign around this time can result in immense benefits.
2. Align your recruitment marketing with New Year’s resolutions
New Year’s resolutions are all the rage once the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve. Thirty-one percent of Americans made New Year’s Resolutions for 2021, and the country expects to see even more going into 2022.
As you might expect, the most popular New Year’s resolutions tend to revolve around fitness, exercise, and losing weight. However, career-oriented resolutions also tend to rank highly, including the following:
- 44% of respondents wanted to save more money
- 21% of respondents wanted to pursue a new career ambition
- 18% of respondents wanted a work-from-home opportunity to spend more time with their families
The New Year is a vital time during which potential applicants are most motivated to act on new urges. Reach out to them while they’ve got their engines running.
3. Strategically plan your recruitment marketing
The outcomes of strategic planning can widely differ. But frequently, they come with at least some organizational changes.
Hiring new talent, then, becomes a natural next step. Waiting until the planning is done, but not waiting so long that the tactical matters enter the equation once again, can pay off in the long-run. By focusing on recruitment in January, you can ensure that your hiring strategy and talent acquisition lines up with your strategic planning process to benefit everyone involved.
4. Keep up with the competition
As it turns out, starting off the year strong with new job postings and recruitment tactics is not a novel idea. In fact, plenty of career advice for job applicants includes the recommendation to apply to new jobs in January or February. This can pay off for a few reasons, including the following:
- Hiring managers have likely just received their recruitment budget for the year, and will actively look to spend it on high-quality applicants
- More companies recognize potential shortages in their department and want to fill them as soon as possible
- Much of the hiring activity was likely delayed during the holidays, meaning that managers are trying to fill a backlog in addition to their new open positions
Combine all of these factors, and you get a hiring market that is off the charts. Chances are that most other organizations in your industry, and even your niche, are looking for the same candidates that you are. Amping up your recruitment marketing strategy means potentially seeing some of the best applicants flocking to your organization instead of your competitors.
5. Get new hires up to speed in Q1
Finally, it’s important to consider the downstream implication of hiring as early as possible into the new year. Hiring and onboarding applicants is the vital next step once you’ve gotten their attention.
Generally, it takes just over 40 days to hire a new employee. However, that timeline can differ significantly based on the industry. For example, here are some onboarding numbers across a variety of fields:
- Construction: 12 days
- Leisure and hospitality: 20-22 days
- Wholesale and retail: 25 days
- Professional and business services: 25 days
- Education: 30 days
- Government: 40 days
- Health services: 50 days
The earlier in the new year you can recruit for open positions, the earlier your new hires can get onboard and make an impact for your business.
Ready to jumpstart your recruitment marketing for 2022?
The earlier you execute your 2022 recruitment marketing strategy, the better off your organization will be. From attracting more high-quality applicants to keeping up with your competition, the benefits of an early start are clear.
Not sure where to start? We’ve written extensively about recruitment-related topics like company culture and employer branding, both of which can go a long way towards attracting the right candidates for your open positions. Understanding what candidates look for in a company matters just as much.
If you’re ready to get started, we can help. Our Job Previews software is an innovative and immersive way to attract candidates and present your organization in an interactive way.
Ready to start the conversation and jumpstart your 2022 recruitment marketing? Contact us today to learn about potential options for a Concept3D partnership.
