In November 2024 the Senior VP Talent Transformation and a team of specialists at Korn Ferry penned their predictions for hiring trends into 2025. Some of them might be predictable. Others less so. Today we will be focusing on what recruitment trends you need to watch in 2025. And why.
According to Korn Ferry these are the hiring trends to focus on in 2025. AI, Skills focus, Office habits, the usual suspects. The report is thorough, Korn Ferry asked 400 Talent Acquisition professionals from across the world. These are the themes they came up with. And some comments to help give these trends context.
Find out what 400 Talent Acquisition professionals from across the world see as Trends in Recruitment in 2025. #Trends #Hiring #Talent #Recruitment https://t.co/urKfyMBBY7 pic.twitter.com/d2dDCo6YNP
— Digital Startup (@digitalstartup5) January 2, 2025Artificial Intelligence and Recruitment
According to Korn Ferry, 67% of respondents to the company’s survey see increased Artificial Intelligence usage as a top talent acquisition trend for 2025. There is a growing concern about inaccuracies in large language models. They also worry about how personal the candidate experience will be in the future should AI be ‘over-used’.
In 2022 the BBC released a documentary about a fake design agency. It was so convincing that it hired hundreds of people on commission only. Something that got these workers into debt. It goes without saying that they were never paid.
This is the insane story of how people from all over the world were hired to work for a seemingly glamorous and successful design agency… but the whole thing was fake. #Jobfished #Scam https://t.co/eVy4IjRxnk pic.twitter.com/leRBQ1xHwu
— Digital Startup (@digitalstartup5) January 2, 2025This story came out before the eruption of AI in late 2023. Imagine how this story would have turned out with the AI tools prevalent today?
In other news, recruiters like Nolan Recruitment in the UK have been mirrored by scammers too, to offer fake job opportunities and gain personal data from candidates.
AI can be used for good. But, as talent professionals have pointed out, there are hidden pitfalls. Pitfalls that could come back to haunt those of us who are unprepared in 2025. And we need to
Critical Skills and Prioritizing Them
Korn Ferry believes that “when hiring for skills, start by focusing on roles that will drive the greatest business transformation, and then identify which skills are needed for these positions.”
There is also a lot of discussion about ‘critical skills’. These aren’t just about how to use generative AI or apply design thinking. It’s much more. Soft skills like teamwork and communication might seem like critical skills. Especially if you think of Gen Z employees. They could also be skills that Gen Z don’t like to have… like making phone calls.
In late 2023 an education think-tank revealed six essential employment skills anticipated to be most in-demand by employers in 2035. The skills needed are:
Communication
Collaboration
Problem-solving
Organising, Planning and Prioritizing
Creative Thinking
Information Literacy skills
The creators of the study highlighted that the need for these skills was partially dictated by the types of new jobs that will be appearing on the market between 2020 and 2035. About 90% of these new jobs will be professional and associate professional occupations, such as scientists and engineers.
Learning & Development’s Increasing Importance in Employee Retention
People often overlook how L&D is a distinct function within Human Resources. Not only that but many people are not clear as to what L&D teams do. In November 2024 the CIPD in the UK published a story on the topic.
In the story it highlights how skills are a key focus for development. The story underlines how this is echoed in the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report and McKinsey’s The State of Organizations 2023: Ten Shifts Transforming Organizations.
The story highlighted the CIPD’s Learning at Work 2023 report where learning practitioners ranked skills shortages as a priority. Only concerns about growth, cost reduction, and productivity had a greater priority for learning professionals.
When L&D practitioners were asked about their personal work priorities, addressing skills gaps was the top focus.#Learning #Development #Humanresources #trends https://t.co/s9to9VtwaJ pic.twitter.com/paTJrra5YC
— Digital Startup (@digitalstartup5) January 2, 2025According to Korn Ferry Learning & Development needs to be a core element of a company’s talent strategy into 2025. Korn Ferry’s survey found that 67% of employees would stick with a company if offered opportunities for advancement and upskilling – even if they hated their job…
Even if they hate their job. That’s quite something. Especially for HR and recruiters to consider.
Employee Value Propositions take on Increased Significance
One of the first things that you can find online today related to Employee Value Propositions or EVPs is how it summarises the total value employees receive in exchange for their work. This includes learning opportunities and any benefits like private healthcare, or these days wellness support.
Others, like Reed Talent Solutions, believe that “an EVP is essentially what an organisation stands for, requires and offers an employee.” The leading recruitment firm have given some suggestions for what a good EVP will achieve:
Boost brand awareness
Improve attraction
Bolster greater retention
Increase productivity
EVPs are also about company values. Top talents can be picky, they will look at things like this. And they will demand examples. Values, and the general EVP needs to be a priority. 45% of people that were surveyed by Korn Ferry believe that integrating cultural values is key to talent attraction in 2025
Work From Home or Not?
It keeps coming back like a bad smell. The topic of hybrid working. Working from home. Returning to the office. We have had so many stories on this topic. Korn Ferry calls the trend “Hybrid 360” and believes that it is one of the most important trends in your talent acquisition strategy.
The leading recruiter believes that Hybrid 260 is all about inclusion and flexibility – letting people work how they want. Not forcing them to be how it was in old fashioned times. The more flexibility an organisation offers, the better its chances of building an engaged, motivated, and loyal workforce.
Korn Ferry’s survey respondents suggested that hybrid is here to stay. 76% of respondents agreed. Hybrid isn’t a trend just for today. It will be here for a while. As will be the leading employers, who are and continue to be flexible.
Trends are something we ALL must monitor. But, if you want to discuss it with our team, you can talk to the specialists at Verita HR who are all kept up-to-date on the most important trends to affect the Polish and global job markets. And they would love to discuss it with you.
Verita HR offers services including RPO | Permanent Recruitment | Outsourcing | Media Services
#EmployeeValueProposition #ArtificialIntelligence #Hybrid #Learning #Employees #VeritaHR #Poland #Development #Talent #Strategy
