5 Recruitment Trends to Watch for 2024

LEAD National is looking ahead to five important recruitment trends in the skilled trades that will shape how businesses across the country navigate 2024.

  1. “The Great Resignation” Returns its Workers

The past couple of years have seen record numbers of quitting workers. This trend returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2023, marking the official end of the Great Resignation, according to 4 Corner Resources, and widening the talent pool for companies hiring over the next year.

For staffing agencies, this means more work separating the wheat from the chaff, and will make hiring practices like LEAD National’s “Mechanisms of Service Excellence” even more important for finding the perfect candidate. This process of matching the perfect skilled worker with the right client for the best price begins with a rigorous onboarding process that is integral to LEAD National’s success in navigating the return of Great Resigners.

  1. AI and Recruiters

All industries that use computers in any form will be affected by AI, and the staffing industry is no exception. As AI takes over the more time-consuming tasks like early assessments and scheduling, candidate employees will be able to tinker their résumés to catch the attention of the bot, and get a foot in the door where before they might have gone unnoticed. The dangers of this should keep recruiters on their toes: an Economist article recently pointed out how a spoof candidate was able to get selected for an interview by an AI tool boasting about a number of criminal offences, but in a format that pleased the robots.

  1. Skills Matter More than Connections

Gone are the days when you could get a job based on connections or the pedigree of your past employer. Job postings in 2024 will continue to focus more on specific skills, according to SIA, an industry analyst. As companies hire for increasingly specialized roles, workers with the right skills will be in high demand.

  1. New Hires Need More Support Than Before

According to Qualtrics, an American experience management company, new hires historically were more engaged during their first year in a new role, but in 2024 more than a third of employees who have been with a company for less than six months plan to leave in the next year.

Companies like LEAD National who focus on bringing new candidates to the job sites will need to be even more aware of the potential for early-career burn out, and has a number of support systems in place to keep new hires going strong.

  1. Employee Retention Should Continue to be a Priority

Employee retention will continue to be essential for a company’s success, even with more workers available for the same job posting as the Great Resignation ends. Reputation, continuity, and morale are all affected by whether or not an employer can retain their top talent. LEAD National will set clients up for success: the most important part of retaining great workers is making sure the employee and employer were a good match to begin with.

LEAD National focuses on placing electricians, conveyor installers, and millwright mechanics with industrial companies. Aaron and his team also regularly fill positions for commissioning technicians, electricians, field service technicians, pipefitters, machinists, and welders.  Raymond Paz, National Sales Rep-Southeast Division regularly fill positions for electricians, heavy equipment operators, welders, millwrights, HVAC/mechanical, plumbers and more!

Reach Aaron at 888-929-0213. Reach Ray at 813-459-4281.