What is one candidate screening trend that is on the rise for 2022?

2022 trends for candidate screening 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.

One of the most popular and emerging trends in 2022 candidate screening is blockchain. The technology will help organizations keep track records on each applicant, providing valuable information to decision-makers that can be used for making decisions about new hires or promotions more quickly than ever before possible!

The implementation of AI in the screening process helps automate time-intensive tasks, which helps reduce the hiring time. The algorithm employed by AI does not have an inherent bias as it depends only on resumes and interviews that are made available to it for assessment. This leaves no room for hidden biases that creep into human decision-making under certain circumstances. 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.

Gone are the days when the recruiter had an advantage and was allowed to choose. The world is facing a huge skill shortage. The collapsing supply chain network is its proof. Now, candidates have an upper hand and are the decision-makers. Candidates are rejecting lucrative offers just because they aren’t offered work-hour flexibilities, workplace diversity, and better remuneration. Job seekers are longer compromising. They are negotiating salaries and putting forward their demands without hesitation. Pandemic has made things worse as around 60% of organizations have confirmed that they are dealing with a talent shortage. So, make sure that the job offer is candidate-focused; not organization focused if talent shortage is not what you want to face.

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 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.

Although pre-screening a candidate is common, there is a trend that based on the combination of two models, contingent hiring and re-screening. The pandemic has created a large temporary workforce, both in the remote and traditional workplace models. However, contingent hiring increased by 32% during the pandemic, and although some companies intent began solely to temporarily hire, many are using contingent hiring as a lead into rescreening for permanent positions. 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. These methods are often used as a precursor to offering a full time position to someone under the contingent model, or even as part of a probationary period. As the effects of the pandemic continue, contingent hiring and rescreening are trends that will continue well into the future.

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.

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.

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.

Experience is still important, however, finding like-skilled candidates is becoming a greater trend in screening candidates. While finding someone who has served in a position previously to fit into that same role with your business is desired, it is also less likely to be found. Therefore, screening is now focused on finding those who have the ability to be trained to fit into a role. Currently, there are 10.4 million jobs open with less than 8.4 million workers to fill them. With the shortage of candidates and the amount of companies competing for them, employers are changing their screening from finding applicable experience to applicable skills. As remote and freelance work continue to grow, this is a trend that will likely continue well into the future.

Staff retention will be a strong focus for many organizations and HR professionals in 2022. Pre-employment screening is a standard part of most businesses' screening process, but there is still a lack of periodic checks on workers in sectors ungoverned by certain laws and regulations, giving rise to the risk of legal, financial, and reputational damage. With this priority on employee retention, periodic checks will not only trend in 2022 but will become a normal part of screening procedures for many businesses.

One of the rising candidate screening trends for 2022 is more in-depth phone interviews. If you want to get a good idea of a candidate during a phone interview, avoid stock questions that they may have a rehearsed answer for. Try to ask questions that show they have to think about the answer as they are delivering it. This will help give you a better understanding of them as a candidate. You can tell if an answer is rehearsed if they are able to immediately start answering your question without hesitation. If an answer is not rehearsed, they will need to pause at times in order to collect their thoughts. These kinds of questions will also help you avoid repeating the same kind of questions, which will hopefully provide more robust answers into who the candidate is and how their background might be a good fit for the role.

One candidate screening trend that is on the rise for 2022 is case studies and take home assessments. With so many companies hiring remotely, it is more important than ever to get a feel for the candidates work ethic and skills by issuing a take home assessment or case study. These are becoming more and more common and are on the rise for 2022. They are a great chance for the candidate to get an idea of what the job would be like and are great for the employer to get a feel of what type of employee this candidate would be.

Regardless of whether you're dealing with a remote or hybrid team, applicant tracking systems can be beneficial in keeping a track of prospective candidates and existing employees. These ATS platforms hold a digital record of all the vital information about an employee and with the right integration, you can automate the screening process with just a few clicks of a button. In doing so, you get access to valuable data that can contribute to the success of your background checks and develop customizable reports by drawing out the information you need.

A hot trend among talent acquisition teams heading into 2022 is leveraging pre-employment assessments at the outset of the hiring process to filter out candidates that lack the necessary hard skills. Pre-employment assessments are one of the easiest, cheapest and most efficient ways an organization can get a clearer picture of a candidate without having to outlay time or money through interviews. And part of the reason why these tools are finally getting the attention they deserve is that affordable software programs have started to emerge that make these assessments flexible, highly customizable, and easily administered. By spending time on the frontend crafting an intelligently designed pre-employment assessment and having a candidate spend 10 minutes on it at the time they submit their app, you can instantly weed out those who lack the skills necessary for the job or simply have a wavering interest.

The applicant screening trend that will be on the rise in 2022 is the use of video interviewing. Candidates will be expected to upload a short video instead of submitting a resume. Recruiters say it is becoming more common for hiring managers to receive cover letters with links to the applicants' videos so they can see who they'll be talking with.

In 2022, companies will be making diversity and inclusion a priority in their hiring process. Recruiters will be screening candidates for diversity. Companies want a well-rounded workforce with different voices and ideas included. In order to ensure their applicant pool is diverse, businesses will be utilizing AI to remove the unconscious bias that many companies have.

It's a candidate-driven market. In order to find, screen, schedule, and chat with candidates, recruiters will increasingly use artificial intelligence tools during critical stages of the hiring process. Automation tools, such as automated texting, will dominate hiring. You may not believe it, but these tools are a proven way to engage and communicate with candidates.

While background screening helps identify any red flags that organizations should look out for, periodic re-screening takes this effort forward. Annual and semi-annual screening of employees ensures that they are complying with the standards and expectations that were agreed upon, upholding the company morals. Monitoring employee efforts furthermore adds to an organization's security and reduces the emergence of liabilities like unlawful activities, particularly in job roles of a sensitive nature.

One candidate screening trend that is on the rise for 2022 is checking references. Because so many jobs are remote going into 2022, it becomes even more important to hire the right person for the job. You need someone who is responsible and accountable and the best way to figure this out is to check someone's references. Checking references can give you a good idea of what type of employee this person has been in the past and what you can expect from this person if they were to be hired at your organization. Screen your candidates by checking references to be sure there aren't any red flags you need to be aware of.