HireVue Global Trends Report: The State of Hiring 2023

Last year’s Global Trends Report, focused on ways talent leaders could get more candidates through their doors after months of battling vast employee resignations. Since then the job market has continued to baffle the world’s leading economic minds as headlines about hiring freezes and open jobs conflict (there are still 1.8 available jobs1 for every unemployed person).

To take a deeper dive into how organizations navigated the nuances of hiring this year, we asked nearly 4000 HR professionals in the U.S., the U.K., and Australia how they’ve addressed economic uncertainty, talent shortages, and DEI&B. We also surveyed candidates for their perspective view of what’s working and what isn’t..

This year’s top trends for talent leaders are:

• Target candidate skills > education and experience
• Technology continues to automate tedious tasks
• Employee retention remains a top hiring strategy

Trend 1: Target candidate skills > education and experience

Nearly half (48%) of the leaders surveyed adopted a skills-first approach to talent acquisition, forgoing educational and past work experience unless they’re actually relevant to the job at hand. Respondents are also targeting historically overlooked workers by paying more attention to:

• Internal candidates (44%)
• Diverse employees (45%)
• Mature aged workers (41%)
• Interns and undergrad workers (32%)

Key takeaway: Skills assessments empower you to find the right fit fast

Considering candidates who don't just fit your open role today, but can grow with you in the future, will serve talent teams well in the years to come. This all begins with identifying job competencies directly related to success in a role, then implementing pre-hire assessments that can measure for fit beyond the resume.

Trend 2: Technology continues to automate tedious tasks

30% of talent leaders report increasing their spending on technology in the last year. Here’s how talent leaders are using technology to up their talent game:

• Virtual interviews 70%
• Standardized assessments 58%
• Job matching technologies 53%
• Automation 46%
• Chatbots or text 40%
• AI 38%
• Game-based assessments 32%

Key takeaway: Leverage multiple hiring tools for best results

Employers see the best results when they combine multiple hiring technologies. Consider layering solutions like conversational AI and video interviewing to give candidates the flexibility and communication they need at every stage of the process. Various tools should help deliver a quick, seamless experience for both candidate and recruiter.

Trend 3: Employee retention remains a top hiring strategy

Over the past year employees were still leaving their jobs at higher-than-usual rates. In fact, 50% of respondents said resignations were even higher at their company than they had been the year before. Faced with a competitive market where quality candidates are still hard to find, and reduced hiring resources in some industries, employers have started to look inward:

• 48% of employers prioritized internal mobility
• 41% have invested in learning and development and 27% have invested in tuition reimbursement
• 45% added employee recognition programs
• 58% increased employee compensation

Key takeaway: Keep quality talent by leveraging assessments throughout

Employers can use skill assessments to measure an employee’s fit for an internal role in under 30 minutes. With quick and engaging video questions and game-based assessments, employers can measure willingness to learn, job-specific knowledge, problem solving, dependability, and so much more.

What candidates are saying

We asked 1,000+ U.S. candidates how the economy is affecting their job-search decisions. While some answers aligned with the HR leaders, some did not. Here are three key takeaways.

Leveraging internal mobility is the way to go

HR professionals are looking internally for talent. And candidates, prioritizing long-term career advancement, are on board. Nearly 2 in 3 people said they are willing to transition job roles within their current organization.

Greater job stability tops candidates’ list of desired job attributes

Despite talent leaders reporting that employee turnover only increased last year, 63% of candidates say the current economic landscape has impacted their job search, while 2 in 3 have no plans to leave their current job in the near future.

Candidates value DEI&B initiatives

Half of respondents say they would be more likely to apply for a job at a company with a strong DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) initiative.

For a full copy of the report that includes in-depth takeaways and richer data, download The State of Hiring 2023.