I had the opportunity to speak with Tara Sinclair Senior Fellow, Indeed's Hiring Labs at HR Tech. She gave me some valuable insight into factors employers need to consider when hiring.

What should employers be analyzing or monitoring?

TS: So many things..and that’s the interesting feature of the world that we are in right now. We have shifted dramatically from a world where we had very few indicators that came in with a long lag and now all of a sudden we are inundated with data. The hardest part is figuring out which of the pieces employers should be tracking (ie typical keywords) as it depends and differs for each role. This is where the new style of HR professionals would be very successful if they can identify that particular piece of information that they need to be tracking. If you start phrasing questions in a way where you ask your candidate's pertinent questions, Indeed’s data can help you sort through what you're looking for in an employee.

What are major changes that employers can expect moving forward?

TS: Any time we are trying to forecast future trends, we need to include relevant caveats.  We might be using past performance to predict future performance but in the world, we are currently living, that might not be the ideal approach because things are changing so dramatically.

My favorite recruiting consideration to point out is for employers to pay attention to demographics. Even though people don’t want to be put into generational type boxes, these categories are required to have a very clear demographic depiction of our labor market. We have this large older group of valued workers who are starting to think about retiring, and we want to do something to keep them engaged and have more flexibility with their time. There’s another generation in the middle that includes all these young people who are starting to grow their careers. Their demographics give us a lot of insight to forecast what job seekers are going to be looking for. It’s vital to also know what your competitors are doing and what kinds of jobs they will be offering, but it’s also really important to know the strengths and skills of the talent. A lot of these factors are unpredictable but the demographic components can be the reliable constants.

What are some key things that employers need to know?

TS: Job seekers don’t speak the same language as employers and employers tend to forget that. We all have an internal lingo that we use but testing job seekers on that lingo as a screening component may be setting the bar too high. In this case, you might be missing out on high-quality talent who if you used more traditional language in your job descriptions, job titles, and early communications might be more effective with potential job seekers that can make a huge difference. Remembering that people are human first and not just a resume is very key. After that, you can apply the technology when appropriate.

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Keep in mind
Timing matters to job seekers and to employers. If you catch the right talent but at the wrong time, it’s not the right fit. We have been doing a lot of exploration when job seekers are looking for jobs but it’s also important to gather this information to help in retention. Every time you employ candidates, there might be a turn in the labor market and you need to then focus on retaining your people.