Hiring Trends in 2018: What You Need to Know as an Employer

A popular annual hiring forecast has surfaced and shows interesting predictions for 2018. The national study shows that 44% of employers plan to hire full-time, permanent employees in 2018 and 51% will hire temporary employees.

They have also found that 45% of managers currently have jobs they cannot fill because they can’t find qualified talent. Additionally, a staggering 40% of workers are planning to change jobs in 2018.

Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder explains it by saying “More job creation, higher voluntary employee turnover and intensified competition for talent will be the main themes surrounding employment in 2018. There is a perfect storm happening in the U.S. labor market. Low unemployment paired with lagging labor force participation and a growing skills gap is making it very difficult for businesses to find qualified candidates – and this is for all types of roles. If employers want to remain competitive, they are going to have to look to new talent pools and significantly increase their investment in training workers to build up the skills they require.” 

So, how do you recruit and retain the most qualified, talented candidates? According to the study, these are the trends to look out for this year:

1. Hiring for Potential – 66% of employers said they will train and hire workers who may not have all the skills they need but have potential; 44% of all employers plan to train low-skill workers who don’t have experience in their field and hire them for higher-skill jobs.
2. Capturing New Talent Early – 64% of employers plan to hire recent college graduates this year.
3. Re-hiring workers – 39% plan to hire former employees in 2018.
4. Boosting Compensation – 30% will increase starting salaries for new employees by 5% or more while 36% will do the same for existing staff. 
5. Importing Talent – 23% of employers are planning to hire workers from other countries to work in the U.S.