It’s always important to find out where your organisation stands in comparison to your competitors, both locally and in a global setting. A recent multi-national study by LinkedIn surveyed close to 4,000 talent assessment and acquisition specialists at a management level or higher, with the goal of capturing their top priorities, concerns and focus areas for 2017.

This report provides a snapshot of the study’s most important findings. These data-driven insights will help you as an HR professional, manager or employee to gain an oversight of the latest trends, and to apply these effectively to your own business.

The Top Challenges That Recruiters Face

The top concern of talent acquisition specialists and recruiters worldwide is the competition for scarce talent, with large companies having more spending power in their HR departments and salary pools to attract the best employees.

Together with this challenge is the concern that hiring budgets are just not sufficient. 35% of respondents feel that budget limitations are one of their biggest challenges for 2017.

With 23% of respondents feeling that high turnover is a challenge, talent retention needs to become an area of focus to reduce further strain on the recruiting budget.

Employer branding is still crucial

83% of respondents state that employer branding has a massive impact on the success of their recruitment strategy, and will continue to affect their ability to attract top talent. However 9% of the sample stated that no one is working on this in their organisation, and 13% stated that one person is working on it part time.

When asked in a different LinkedIn survey what their biggest deciding factors are for accepting a job, candidates ranked company culture first, salary and benefits second and the vision of the organisation third, further demonstrating the importance of an effective employer branding strategy.

Trends for 2017 and beyond

When adopting a longer-term focus, talent acquisition specialists felt that five areas would shape the future of recruitment in years to come.

Diversity in the workplace, and recruiting more diverse candidates around the world.

The need for more widespread usage of talent assessment tools, including soft skills assessments.

The use of more innovative interview methods and tools.

A move to talent analytics and big data to drive decision making.

Embracing the company mission and vision to differentiate an organisation from its competitors.