When it comes to talent trends, everyone has an opinion. It can be hard to get a sense of what’s a fad and what’s useful information to bring into your talent management strategy. Ever wish you could go out and ask your peers what’s really going on? Don’t worry, this year McQuaig decided to do that for you.

As part of our ongoing blog series on the 2018 McQuaig Global Talent Report, we wanted to take a higher level view of the information gathered from 500 talent professionals across the globe. Instead of digging into what high or low performing companies are doing specifically, which was explored in past blogs, let’s look across all the data collected in the report to highlight any trends, for better or worse, that can help us build a better talent management strategy.

Let’s start with a few definitions. For the sake of the report, and this blog series, companies are sorted into three tiers based on their responses. High performer companies are defined as those who have had an easier time hiring than they did a year ago, moderate performers have seen no change in the past year, and low performers have more trouble hiring now than they did in 2017. To see a full list of all 16 areas of talent management explored within the report, please download your free copy here.

Time to dive in. What insights can we mine from what other companies are already doing?

Candidate feedback

This has certainly been a hot topic in the talent industry as we’ve debated the importance of the candidate experience and the value having a positive experience can bring to employers. We all know it makes sense to try and put your best foot forward with new potential hires but how many company walk the talk? Across the board, this seems to be an area organizations struggle with. Feedback about their stage in the hiring process is the number 1 thing candidates look for. But it turns out, few companies are providing it. High performer companies report they update candidates at every step of the process 50% of the time. Doesn’t sound great, does it? And when compared to moderate and low performers who both report only doing this 31% of the time, it paints a clear disconnect between what candidates need in their application process and what companies at all levels are providing.

Interview Style

There are many ways to handle an interview. Some professionals wing it, saying it creates a more “authentic” experience. Others have taken to walking new recruits through the company instead of conducting the interview in an office. And some even ask challenging riddles or brainteasers to see how people react when put on the spot. So what common themes can we derive about interviewing best practices? Looks like the most popular interview style is behaviour-based interviewing with 85% of high performers opting for this model (moderate performers come in at 81% and low performers at 77%). The least preferred style of interviewing is unstructured interviews, with an average of 48% across all companies reporting they’d consider using it. So when it comes to interviews, ditch the spontaneity and pre-plan what questions to ask and when.  

ATS Usage

It often seems like everyone uses an ATS (applicant tracking system) these days. They certainly help compile and track candidates as they move through the various steps of the application and interviewing process. So is everyone really hiring this way? Turns out, only about half actually are. High performing companies reported using an ATS 53% of the time compared to moderate performers at 49% and low performers leading this particular area at 59%. Do you use an ATS when you need to hire?

Pro Tip: Download the full report to see what professionals are saying about all 16 talent topics

Culture Fit

At one time, hiring someone based on how well that person fit into a team, and not necessarily on how impressive their resume was, would have seemed backwards. Now, its practically an imperative for the modern hiring manager. But what importance do companies place on this issue? When looking at hiring for traits other than skill, hiring for culture fit, or hiring for long term potential, all three tiers of companies agree that culture fit is their main concern. 100% of high performing companies report prioritizing this, with moderate and low companies weighing in at 98% and 85% respectively. Next time you’re checking out that killer resume, remember some skills matter more than experience.

Unconscious Recruitment Bias

There’s been a lot of buzz lately about unconscious bias and what that could be doing to your recruitment process. If your talent acquisition program is unknowingly stacked against certain candidates, you might be missing out on amazing employees without even realizing it. To see if companies were actively working to correct this problem, we wanted to know how many organizations provided training to their hiring managers about avoiding unconscious bias. Turns out, this is an area that needs more attention across the board. Only 33% of high performing companies provide this sort of training. Moderate performers actually lead the pack in this area with 38% providing training and low performers bring up the rear at 26%.

Read more:  Check out these tips on how to fight recruiter bias

When it comes to creating a strong talent management plan, make sure you aren’t working inside a bubble. By sharing information and insights across different companies, and even different countries, we can become more confident that we’re staying on top of shifting talent trends and are setting our organizations up for hiring success. Learning from what other’s are already doing helps us avoid certain pitfalls and mistakes in our own positions. Whether you are leveraging your peer network, resources like the 2018 McQuaig Global Talent Report, or doing some good old fashioned Google research, don’t build your talent strategy alone. The more we learn as an industry, and the more we share as a community, can benefit us all when it comes to building the right talent program and hiring the right people.

If you are curious about the full 2018 McQuaig Global Talent Report and the 16 areas of talent management it explores in far more detail, please below to download your free copy.

Want more? Check out the other blog posts in this series:

1. 5 insights from the 2018 McQuaig Global Talent Report

2. When it comes to talent management, what do high performing companies do well?

3. When it comes to hiring with assessments, are you ahead of the curve?