We advise our clients that being strategic in talent acquisition requires them to look forward and identify what's looming with regard to hiring trends and opportunities. With that in mind, here are eight recruiting trends we see emerging in the plastics industry.
- Increased demand for leaders: Due to continued globalization and the demand for top skills and management experience, companies will develop leaders at a greater rate. Firms will need professionals with global exposure, corporate acumen and cultural understanding.
- Growing importance of soft skills: Firms are requiring more from candidates than academics, knowledge and experience. They are looking for the right set of "soft skills," a collection of personality traits, positive attributes, communication and competencies that enhance an employee's relationship and performance on the job.
- Beefed-up workforce: Companies are workforce-planning and trying to appeal to a new generation of workers through internship programs and increased college recruiting efforts.
- Making the most of people networks: Hiring managers see great value in leveraging the collective intelligence and collaborative effectiveness of people networks. The power of networking is in relationship building.
- Evolution of mobile recruitment: Mobile recruiting, or the ability to reach out to prospective talent on a mobile device, is the most effective way hiring managers can keep in touch with job seekers anytime and anywhere.
- Increased use of remote connectivity: Allowing top performers to work from wherever they want makes recruiting and talent management easier.
- Hiring military veterans: A significant network of U.S. employers are on a mission to find, hire and accommodate military veterans, who possess business-friendly skills employers look for, including leadership, performance under pressure, teamwork, respect for procedures, and integrity.
- Widespread use of video and Skype interviews: Live video and Skype will move from being experimental to becoming standard, especially for initial interviews because they are easy to organize, cost-effective, time-efficient and beneficial as initial evaluations.
It will be interesting to watch these trends as they unfold and how more candidate-focused the plastics industry will become.
Peterson is a managing partner with Direct Recruiters Inc. of Solon, Ohio, and specializes in locating talent for companies within the plastics industry.
