7 Candidate Screening and Recruitment Trends You’ll See In 2022

What candidate screening and recruitment trends should your company focus on in 2022?

To help you plan how to approach the candidate screening process, we asked HR/recruiting professionals and business leaders this question and they delivered their best insights. From increasing employee referrals to rescreening models, there are several trends to expect in the coming year.

Increase in Employee Referrals

Employee referrals and employee referral incentives are likely to be on the rise in 2022. Labor shortages and an abundance of open roles have given candidates an upper hand in the hiring process. Referrals can facilitate stronger connections between applicants and employers. The referring employee, who has an intimate knowledge of the company’s inner workings, vouches that the candidate is a good fit for the role and the company culture, and this vote of confidence can ease the burden on recruiters to screen. At the same time, the referring employee assures the applicant of a positive working environment, and since there are social ties involved, the candidate is less likely to ghost the employer.

Michael Alexis, TeamBuilding

Include More Work Assignments

Candidate screening may soon involve a lot of application assignments. Interviewers are asking more and more candidates to complete mini projects and assignments in order to assess candidates’ work experience and implementation. It is a quicker way to see if the candidate would work well with your company and if the work matches your business’s work ethic.

Olivia Young, Conscious Items

Adopt New Psychometric Assessments

With the rising number of job seekers and an aging workforce, many companies are adopting newer screening methods like psychometric assessments. Psychometrics assesses personality traits such as extroversion or introversion to better understand how candidates will perform at work under pressure while also considering what they can offer a business down the road – their potential growth trajectory.

Saskia Ketz, Mojomox

Create Better Contingent and Rescreening Models

The pandemic has created a large temporary workforce, both in remote and traditional workplaces. In fact, contingent hiring increased by 32% during the pandemic and, although some companies intended to only hire temporarily, many are using contingent hiring as a way of screening for permanent positions.

Rescreening will also pick up. Rescreening consists of periodic evaluations of performance and even background checks. In fact, 12% of companies will run annual background checks, up 3% from the previous year.

Cody Candee, Bounce

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Implement Better Ways to Verify Identity

With remote work becoming a mainstay of the new business model, identity verification picked up speed in 2021 and will continue to trend in the new year. Hiring, in many cases, has become a process where candidates are taken through the onboarding process and given responsibilities without ever meeting their employer. This created new challenges in confirming an employee’s identity.

In a study by the HR Institute, 72% of businesses say they would like to implement a form of identity verification. The pandemic only exacerbated identity verification issues, as now many businesses are being required to confirm vaccinations or comply with other Covid-19 protocols. As companies race to find new and affordable ways to simplify the process and make it less expensive, identity verification is a trend that will continue to rise in 2022.

Adelle Archer, Eterneva

Leverage the Power of AI

The implementation of AI in the screening process helps automate time-intensive tasks, which reduces the time it takes to hire. The algorithm employed by AI can also reduce inherent bias as it depends only on resumes and interviews that are made available to it for assessment. This leaves less room for hidden biases that creep into human decision-making. Furthermore, automation leads to increased accuracy due to its ability to store vast amounts of data centrally, allowing employers to create highly targeted job descriptions easily.

Sam Santa, Zeitholz

Have More Accurate and Timely Data

Data quality is king, and it is more important than ever for the selection process to have accurate and timely data, especially given the ever-changing nature of the competitive landscape. Organizations who have relied on one or two sources of data, often employee referrals, will look to become more data-driven to ensure they are hiring the right people. Data quality may not be the sexiest topic, but it will be a key component to building a successful candidate screening program as we move forward in the new decade.

Ben Miller, Focus On Digital

If you’re considering a new background screening vendor in the coming year, think of InfoMart. 

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About Tammy Cohen

Tammy Cohen, an industry pioneer and expert in identity and employment screening, founded InfoMart 30 years ago. Deemed the “Queen of Screen,” she’s been a force behind industry-leading innovations. She was most recently the first-to-market with a fully compliant sanctions search, as well as a suite of identity services that modernizes talent onboarding. Tammy revolutionized the screening industry when she stepped into the field, developing the first client-facing application and a due diligence criminal search that has since become standard for all background screening companies. Cohen has received national awards and honors for her business and civic involvement, including Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Top 25 Women-Owned Firms in Atlanta, Enterprising Women Magazine’s Enterprising Women of the Year award, the YWCA of Northwest Georgia’s Kathryn Woods Racial Justice Award, and a commendation in the 152nd Congressional Record.

About InfoMart

InfoMart has been revolutionizing the global background and identity screening industry for 30 years, providing businesses the information they need to make informed hiring decisions. They develop innovative technology that modernizes talent onboarding, including a first-to-market biometric identity authentication application and a verified sanctions search. The WBENC-certified company is a founding member of the Professional Background Screening Association, and they have achieved PBSA accreditation in recognition of their consistent business practices and commitment to compliance with the FCRA. The company is dedicated to customer service, speed, and accuracy, and it has been recognized for its success, workplace culture, and corporate citizenship with over 45 industry awards. To Get the Whole Story on InfoMart, please visit www.InfoMart-USA.com, follow @InfoMartUSA, or call (770) 984-2727.