Recruitment Goals Talent Teams Should Set for 2024

There are dozens of highly specific recruitment goals your talent acquisition team will invariably focus on in the next year. (Even if your they don’t explicitly make them “official” recruiting and hiring KPIs.)

These include:

• Better liaising with hiring managers on crafting job descriptions tied to upcoming job openings
• Regularly assessing which sourcing channels help attract top talent that turn into strong hires
• Reducing the new-hire “failure” rate (i.e., improve your employee retention and turnover rate)
• Test out new approaches to promote open positions to ensure high-quality job seekers apply
• Address poor financial-related metrics, like cost per hire, by improving recruitment approaches

The benefits of setting recruitment goals such as these are clear. By establishing objectives that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based (i.e., SMART), TA teams can elevate performance in just about every facet of recruiting and hiring: from elevating the quality of candidate experience for each engaged prospect, to realizing a strong employer brand that boosts sourcing.

7 recruitment goals to set for the year ahead

So, what recruitment goals would your org be wise to set in the coming year? We can think of several. Here’s where we recommend your SMB recruiting staff focus their time and energy in the coming months.

1) Be open to trying a new strategy or tech solution

What worked last year for your talent team may not work anymore. Is there a new strategy or tech solution that may not have existed before? Keeping an open mind will keep you one step ahead of the other departments that maintain the status quo. In this market, that makes all the difference.

Steven Brown, Pivot Workforce

2) Fill positions based on fit for the job and culture

Even in the post-Great Resignation era, it can be difficult to keep talent for very long.

As good as a candidate may be in terms of job fit for an available position (based on their skills and experience), there is the question of whether or not a new hire will fit in with your company culture. If they don’t feel their values mesh with yours, they won’t be working for you for very long.

So, every talent team — at SMBs, not just enterprises — should be laser-focused not just on filling roles, but getting the right people who fit both the job and your company culture to taken them on. 

Jon Schneider, Recruiterie

3) Provide an outstanding recruitment experience

Pay even greater attention to offering candidates an outstanding recruitment experience. It’s crucial to implement additional checks regarding candidates’ satisfaction and, regardless of the final result, do everything to make the candidate say, “This was the best recruitment process I’ve ever had.”

Ewelina Melon, Tidio

4) Accelerate the hiring process with an ATS

As you start the new year, it’s important to set relevant and specific goals such as accelerating the hiring process at every step. To achieve this goal, it’s important to establish multiple sourcing channels to attract a wider and more diverse talent pool. Enter an advanced ATS system.

To easily manage these channels in one platform, consider using a comprehensive recruitment management system that’s already pre-linked to multiple sourcing channels.

By onboarding such an applicant tracking system, you can parse out time-consuming manual work like CV and resume screening with smart search tools and single-portal monitoring of job postings.

Suki Bajaj, Enable Business

5) Make your employer brand stand out from the crowd

Teaming up with the marketing department to further optimize and differentiate your employer brand and related messaging is essential. Why? Because a successful brand image will attract more qualified candidates. (That is, bring in a wave of candidates who care about your company’s mission.)

These folks will generally remain loyal if they’re hired. Your HR/TA function can work with marketers create a branding framework, so to speak that resonates with both those who already work for your company along with those who wish to be a part of it (i.e., active job seekers on the market).

Evan Zhao, Revela Health

6) Partner with an RPO to help with your talent sourcing

Talent acquisition teams across industries have a big task in front of them in the upcoming year. Workforce turnover is a real problem, early retirement numbers soared in the last few years, and the shrinking labor pool is a serious issue. Retention needs to be a key focus in the coming years.

Paul Breen, Strelcheck Healthcare Search

7) Diversifying sourced candidates

To source more women and people of color. Men are still sourced twice as often as women, according to our data. White candidates are reached out to seven times more often than Hispanic candidates, and 15 times more often than black candidates.

However, women and POC candidates are interested in the roles they are sourced for at the same rate, or in some cases, higher rates than white men.

This is a win for the candidates and a win for orgs in need of new perspectives and innovative thinkers. If an organization truly wants to diversify its team, it can’t wait until the later stages of the hiring process. They need to invest in increasing diversity at the very top of the pipeline.

Andres Blank, Fetcher

Need a new ATS to help execute on and achieve your recruitment goals? Speak with a JazzHR rep today to learn how our recruiting software can accelerate your SMB hiring efforts in the years ahead.