Stay updated on hiring insights, according to your peers. Every Friday, we post a LinkedIn poll to gain valuable insights from our followers. We appreciate your feedback, as it helps us better understand how we can place highly qualified candidates in the right positions.
This monthly blog series will recap the poll results and share our thoughts. Did you miss September’s results recap? Read the poll results here.
Explore our employer poll and candidate poll pages to learn even more hiring insights.
Hiring Insights: Active Listening is the Most-Lacked Communication Skill in Candidates
According to part 16 of our employer poll, more than 40% of you voted for active listening as the aspect of communication candidates lack the most, followed by 26% selecting verbal communication, 22% choosing written communication, and 8% picking body language.
Active listening is one of many basic non-verbal communication skills that show others you’re engaged in the conversation. Non-verbal cues like facial expressions, body movement and gestures, eye contact, and posture help confirm to the speaker that you’re listening and understanding them.
Learn how to vet candidates for basic communication skills in our blog post.
Employees Want More Hard Skills Training
In part 13 of our candidate poll series, 42% of you said you want more training in hard skills for your role, followed by a tie at 22% for soft skills and career planning/advancement training. Thirteen-percent of poll respondents voted for more one-on-one mentoring.
A recent SHRM report also supports this desire for more hard skills training. According to the 2022 SHRM survey, almost 90% of respondents said it’s important for their employer to provide hard skills training.1 Providing employees with the training they need helps them be more successful in their roles and can boost retention.
Tap into a network of professionals to find candidates with specific hard skills required for your projects. Request a free 30-minute consultation where we’ll ask you questions to get an overview of your company’s hiring needs and how we can help create a customized strategy.
Employers Expect Limited Hiring Budgets to Impact 2024 Hiring
As we prepare for the new year, we asked you what you expect your biggest hiring challenge to be in 2024. More than 40% of you said limited hiring budget, followed by 21% selecting lack of qualified talent, 19% choosing competition for top talent, and 18% voting for candidate ghosting.
Rising prices play a major role in lowered hiring budgets. According to a 2023 Resume Builder survey, these are a few ways inflation affects their ability to hire and retain top talent2:
- 57% of companies had layoffs in the last three months, and 56% plan to have layoffs in the next six months.
- 37% of companies are replacing laid off staff with contractors, and 53% of companies requested full-time staff to switch to contract.
- 34% of companies reduced compensations in the last three months.
Learn more hiring insights about how to overcome inflation’s impact on talent acquisition.
No Commute Is a Major WFH Perk for Candidates
According to our recent candidate poll, almost half of you said no commute is the biggest advantage of working from home, followed by 28% choosing flexible schedule, 17% voting for more comfortable environment, and 8% selecting less distractions.
A recent Buffer survey confirms that most employees enjoy the time-saving benefits of working from home. When asked, “What’s the biggest benefit of working remotely?,” 22% of respondents said flexibility in how I spend my time and 12% said that they have more time from eliminating their commute.3
Interested in more content about remote work? Check out the “Remote” section of our candidate blog.
Sources
1 SHRM, 2022 Workplace Learning & Development Trends, 2022.
2 Resume Builder, 1 in 5 companies are “quiet hiring” contractors to replace laid off workers," January 23, 2023.
3 Buffer, State of Remote Work 2023, 2023.
