At the start of this year, we made some bold predictions for 2024. We didn’t do too badly, although we didn’t get it perfect. As before, making predictions for the next 12 months in the recruitment sector is a hopeless task, destined to fail…
So, we thought we’d do it again!
“Greenwashing” is a Thing of the Past
For those not in the know; greenwashing is a phrase used for PR and marketing campaigns that deceptively persuade the public that products, goals, or policies are environmentally friendly.
For too long companies have been boasting about their dedication to Mother Earth with vague and often unprovable contributions. 2025 will be the year that nonsense ends! Businesses will need to provide concrete proof and legitimate data on reducing their carbon footprint or helping the environment if they want to boast about their green contributions.
Overblown Hiring Processes
The Autumn budget announced a rise in National Insurance Contributions (you can learn more about that in our previous blog). It’ll soon be more expensive to hire staff, meaning companies will be pressured to be more selective. This sounds like a positive thing on paper but as we’ve already seen over the years, it can lead to onboarding overkill.
It’s not too uncommon to have a three-stage interview process with a competency task that takes months to complete for junior roles. This has devastating cultural drawbacks, being particularly exhausting for candidates, especially if they go through the whole process all to be rejected and back at square one.
Flexible Policies Will be a Major Selling Point
It was only a couple of years ago, when most companies worked on a hybrid or remote basis due to the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic (don’t worry, we won’t get into that can of worms in this blog). Since then, however, we’ve seen aggressive return-to-office policies, most notably Amazon which was not in anybody’s good books for the way they treated staff during the pandemic.
Every poll, every survey, every opinion form comes back with the same results. The majority of office employees want to work on a hybrid and flexible basis. Companies who offer this as a benefit will likely have more access to talent.
Anti-AI Sentiment
You knew AI had to pop up somewhere on this list! It has already been widely adopted with 3 in 10 employers using AI to recruit candidates in 2023. Most would lean towards embracing AI as an automation tool but not us. We’re Simple! Recruitment is a people-focused industry and 2025 will be the year where we stand up and refuse to automate every point of the application process.
The anti-human chatbots are gaining momentum at too high a speed to not have some level of cultural backlash. 2025 will be the year when businesses and employees alike will openly converse about the ethical drawbacks of outsourcing all our business needs to AI… And don’t even get us started on the Tesla robot army!
The Rise of Job Shares
According to the recent Autumn budget announcement, the government will focus on skill-based hiring. This will give workers the opportunity to gain valuable experience whilst simultaneously learning new skills. This is a flexible and appealing option for both employers and workers. It will be a key selling point come 2025.
A Final Thought
Do you agree with our bold predictions? Whatever 2025 brings, you won’t need to navigate the challenging waters of recruitment alone. Get in contact with a member of the team today on 01761 235741.
