(The trends may change but the basics remain the same.)

Are you confused and overwhelmed by the number of coming business trends that you’re supposed to be aware of these days? If so, you’re not alone.

A Google search for the “biggest trends in recruiting” returns results for almost 5 and a half million articles. I didn’t read them all but it quickly became clear that there’s a lot of opinion out there about what employers need to watch out for when recruiting in 2017. The articles cite all kinds of things to watch out for in 2017 and most of them offer numbered lists of the big changes to come such as:

• The Top Three Recruiting Trends of 2017
• 5 Game Changing Recruiting Trends
• The Top Recruiting and HR Trends Every Talent Pro Needs To Know 

Forbes offered the ever-popular and ubiquitous 10 list of 10 Workplace Trends You'll See In 2017 and there’s even a list of 13 Recruitment Trends You MUST Know for 2017.

Much of this is pure noise and little more than mere opinion. How many trends are coming? Is it 3, 5, 7, 10, 13 or more? Do any of these people actually know what they’re talking about? Which trends, if any, will actually affect your organization? How will you know when it happens, and what will you do about it when it does?

History is filled ‘experts’ whose predictions turned out to be completely wrong; amongst them Einstein, IBM and Margaret Thatcher. Therefore, may I make a suggestion? Ignore all the experts. (Except for me!)

Trends will come and go but people remain the same.

Let me say that again.  People don’t change.

At the end of the day, hiring, promoting and retaining dependable, reliable individuals with strong talents, good work ethics and interpersonal skills will always matter more than whatever Millennial, ‘Future Shock’ or cultural trend is currently in play. Employees still want fair treatment, job security, pleasant working environments, appropriate remuneration, opportunities for advancement and to be a part of something that they can be proud of. Employers still need honest, skilled, dependable, conscientious, motivated workers. There’s nothing new here, so don’t allow the next big thing to make you lose sight of the basics.

No matter what big new thing is coming down the pipe it’s important to continue to focus on what has always been important. At the end of the day, it’s important to find and hire the best employees one can obtain. Finding them is the tricky part because references are often unreliable and interviews and resumes only reveal so much. Identifying the winners from other people’s rejects has always been a challenge for employers.

Luckily there are thousands of highly effective, accurate and reliable skills, aptitude and personality tests available to help employers separate the wheat from the chaff. The best way to do this is to test your short-listed candidates for the skills, aptitudes and fit that you’re looking for.

Ensuring that your applicants can do what they say they can do is critical and there are tests available for everything under the sun from basic entry-level skills to job-specific assessments to higher powered leadership, team building, development and 360-degree tests. Employers who rely only up on behavioural interviews, resumes, references and the same-old they’ve always used are missing out on identifying the people who really ‘have it’ and risk hiring those who simply present well. Unless someone’s an idiot they’re not going to sit in an interview and tell you what undesirable traits they have and everyone will claim to be great at whatever skills you’re asking them about.

The only way for you to know for sure is to assess people’s skills in a way that allows you to qualify them and compare them to other candidates. Whether you’re hiring from outside, promoting from within or trying to identify training needs, there’s a test out there with your name on it. 

Firms like Creative Organizational Design have over 2000 titles available and can provide the right assessment solution for practically every need. It doesn’t matter if you’re a manufacturer, a retail organization, a pawnshop or a Fortune 500. Tests can (and should) be used by everyone who’s hiring. Making a bad hiring decision usually ends up costing you many times over what the cost of pre-screening would have – and you have to start all over to recruit, screen and then train that person’s replacement. Wouldn’t it be easier to just get it right the first time?

We can help you do exactly that! Visit us online and check out the vast array of options that are available to you and which you’re probably not yet taking advantage of. We’re eager to show you what a difference a good assessment can make to your Human Resources efforts.

References:

What Employers Will Worry About in 2017

Why Retention Will Be The Biggest Talent Challence of 2017

Problem Employees

Top Toughest HR Questions Asked And Asnwered

5 Talent Acquisition Topics Every Recruiter Needs To Know 2017

Recruitment Trends

7 More Fascinating Employee Engagement Trends For 2017


Creative Organizational Design has 100s of assessment tools designed to help employers screen out other people's rejects, assess skills, aptitude, attitude and 'fit' within an organization. For more information about the options available and help selecting the best tools for your needs please contact us. David Towler is President of Creative Organizational Design, a firm offering nearly 40 years of expertise specializing in employee assessments and which has over 2000 different product titles available. Please send comments about this article to dtowler@creativeorgdesign.com. For more information, please contact us.