Top 6 Recruitment Skills for 2021 & How You Can Master Them

Recruiting new teammates is an essential part of the company’s growth and of HR. It incorporates everything from accurately identifying a hiring need to successfully filling a position and onboarding new hires. Recruiters are in charge of attracting, interviewing, selecting, and welcoming candidates to the firm. To do so, every recruiter needs a particular skill set. Before we proceed with the fresh recruitment skills for 2021, some key traits for every recruiter include: 

With the continuously evolving market and numerous global occurrences reshaping recruitment as we know it, new trends and requirements are about to emerge. The list of top 6 recruitment skills for 2021 you should learn involves a slight switch in recruiters’ focus. Here’s the ultimate recruiting skills checklist for the year ahead of us.

The List of Essential Recruitment Skills

Being a recruiter comes with a great deal of responsibility. To become a recruitment specialist implies adopting, developing, and adjusting certain abilities and masteries.

The most important recruitment skills every great staffing expert must learn are:

• Marketing skills
• Attention to detail
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Organization and time-management skills
• Multitasking
• Prioritizing
• Teamwork
• Tech skills

The last one is particularly significant for present-day hiring necessities and for the years to come. Technical skills for recruiters are becoming mandatory. And while checking out the list of the top 6 recruitment skills for 2021, we’ll mention some of the trends and tendencies in the tech industry.

Top 6 Recruitment Skills for 2021

We faced some changes in 2020 that will permanently alter the business sphere as we once knew it. New necessary recruiting skills are merely the logical response to the global reshuffling going on.
So, given the circumstances that require quick adaptation, hot trends in recruiting & must-have skills for 2021 include:

Remote Work & Related Recruitment Skills for 2021

Tech recruiters know that the vast majority of their top candidates inarguably enjoy remote work. However, this employment type is nowadays more of a necessity (rather than a benefit). With everyone everywhere advocating remote positions, it is only reasonable to assume that the recruiter’s skillset will be required to match the situation and respond adequately to it.

Remote Interviews

One of the crucial skills for 2021 every recruiter need to refine will unquestionably be the ability to conduct remote interviews. The interview strategy has moved to the virtual world. Recruiters will be urged to learn about various online platforms that will enable them to interview job applicants efficiently. Remote work related abilities are at the top of the list of new modifications in recruiters’ roles and responsibilities. They will affect everything regarding the hiring process.

Much like with typical onsite job interviews, setting up an online interview process (that doesn’t suck) means:

• Careful preparation
• Personalization
• Company and industry knowledge
• Excellent communication skills
• Thoroughness (while remaining concise)
• Proper time-management skills

Other key recruitment skills could involve familiarity with one or more of these communication platforms:

• Zoom
• GoogleMeets
• Skype
• GoToMeeting
• VidCruiter
• Spark Hire

In addition to it, recruiters should use interview scheduling tools like Calendly and should use an ATS to track their candidates’ progress through the pipeline. Even though the usage of some HR software and similar tools goes way back and can’t be labeled as a super-hot invention, this type of knowledge should be regularly amplified and adjusted to the remote working conditions.

Obtaining New Tech Knowledge

Tech recruiters are bound to relive the infamous turbulent LinkedIn-based relationship with their candidates. Tech talent often feels like their fellow recruiters lack some relevant hard-skills. Or, at least — in some basic understanding of the terms. That being said, tech knowledge should become a basic item on the list of recruitment skills for 2021.

The predictions this year’s tech trends and tendencies suggest that employers and tech talent will be focused on these areas:

• Cloud computing
• Cybersecurity
• AI and Machine learning
• Data science
• IoT

So, if you’re an aspiring tech recruiter and you’re reading this, you’re probably wondering — how on Earth should I learn about these in the next few months?
The key tech recruitment skills only contain bits and pieces of information regarding these complex topics. What you should do to grow your skillset is to read often & stay up to date.
Develop a curious mind and a healthy, uninterrupted learning habit.

Embracing Innovation in Recruitment Strategies

When we say “innovation,” it most likely sounds like more tech stuff recruiters will have to learn. However, innovation in recruitment strategies doesn’t solely apply to the purely technical aspects of it.

It’s more about building fresh and efficient recruiting tactics. Old ways of enticing talent are far behind. Welcome to the futuristic recruitment present.

Brace Yourselves — AI is coming

Fine, you’ve got us — we’ll start by mentioning more tech stuff recruiters should get familiar with. AI represents the revolution itself, and it has undoubtedly revolutionized recruitment. So, there’s no big surprise when we add AI to the list of vital skills that enable smooth hiring.
Before we merge Spielberg’s vision with every other take on the topic IMDb has offered, let’s make one thing clear — recruiters can, should, and will use AI only as their sidekick.
Why should we focus on this domain?

Take your time and explore the possibilities.

Non-tech Recruitment Skills for 2021 That Will Boost Your Strategies

Building an efficient recruitment strategy was always a tricky business. There are several aspects you must count on to make it work. Still, some tested practices are here to stay.

And this is what you should learn about right now:

• The first step is to create your candidate persona; once you’ve established who you’re looking for, adjust your approach (starting with your pitch)
• With pretty much everyone working remotely, you will need to reorganize the list of benefits you offer
• Work-life balance and mutual support matters more than ever
• Diversity and inclusion are becoming more relevant for the company culture
• Remote jobs imply the need for better soft skills (in both recruiters and prospective candidates)

The insights on these areas will help you reach your targets.

Developing strong leadership skills

Developing and refining leadership abilities makes it into the top 6 recruitment skills you should master.

Leadership skills connected to successful recruitment imply:

You don’t need to officially become a leader to put these valuable recruitment traits to good use. Practice these capabilities daily, and you’ll see the results in no time.

Enhancing Candidate Experience

Those who aim big should always keep the candidate experience in mind.

To obtain astonishing results, you should:

• Make sure you’re understanding and meeting the actual hiring need
• Master the writing of clear and precise job descriptions
• Learn how to ease the application process
• Boost your communication skills
• Check-in with candidates regularly
• Extend your company knowledge and industry knowledge
• Learn about your competition
• Learn how to ask for feedback (and how to receive it)
• Practice active listening
• Perfect your approach in the interviews
• Learn about the properly structured interview (while remaining open for adjustments; practice adaptability)
• Learn as much as possible about employer branding and its influence on recruitment

This qualities and actions will set your company apart from its competitors and help it build lasting relationships with the applicants. Boosting your recruitment skills related to enhancing candidate experience should be among your top priorities.

Keeping Track of the Data

The foundation of the HR universe lies in data. Obtaining (and improving) your recruitment skills that will enable you to make data-driven decisions will work like magic. Your analytical skills will need brushing up. Here’s what you should know.

Recruitment Metrics

Knowledge of hiring metrics represents the very peak of your to-learn checklist.

Essential recruitment metrics you ought to master & track are:

• source of hire
• time to hire
• how long a job has been open
• offer acceptance rate
• cost per hire
• quality of hire
• vacancy cost

Once predictive analytics step into your hiring game, you’ll be opening the doors to qualified candidates and embracing new recruitment trends.

Get Ready for the Future: Master the Top 6 Recruitment Skills for 2021 & Enjoy the Outcomes

With the entire business world migrating from traditional operating methods into the online territory, we need to modify our ways and knowledge. Recruiters will have more on their agenda than ever before. Still, once they grasp the essential recruitment skills for 2021, their achievements will be undisputable.

What else does the future of recruitment hold? Find out.