Short answer: What are the most important recruiting trends in Austria?
The most important recruiting trends today include employee centricity, active sourcing, social recruiting, video recruiting, diversity and inclusion, and a growing focus on employee retention.
To attract qualified talent, companies must actively approach candidates, strengthen their employer brand and increasingly treat recruiting like marketing.
Recruiting 2.0: How Recruitment Has Changed
A job advertisement in the local newspaper, a recruiting booth at a career fair and two roll-ups – this is what a recruiting strategy might have looked like a decade ago. Today, the recruiting landscape has changed significantly. Traditional measures such as newspaper ads are losing relevance, while digital channels, social media and targeted recruitment strategies are becoming increasingly important.
At the same time, the competition for qualified professionals is intensifying. Companies must therefore rethink their recruiting strategies.
Modern recruitment increasingly relies on:
- strong employer branding
- proactive candidate outreach
- targeted digital recruiting channels
- content tailored to candidate expectations
Below we outline the most important recruiting trends shaping the future of HR.
Which Recruiting Trends Are Most Important Today?
The most important HR Trends in Austria
The labor market has changed and so have candidate expectations.
ome of the most important recruiting trends today include:
- Employee centricity
- Active sourcing
- Social recruiting
- Video recruiting
- Diversity and inclusion
- Retention-focused HR strategies
These trends are increasingly shaping recruitment strategies across organizations.
Employee Centricity: Focus on employees
A stronger focus on the candidate experience
The labor market has increasingly become a candidate-driven market in Austria. This means that skilled professionals often have the opportunity to choose between multiple employers.In 2022, the job market will be determined by the candidates, i.e. applicants can now choose which company they want to work for. "Post & pray", i.e. advertising vacancies and waiting for feedback, was yesterday.
In addition, the focus is increasingly on employees. This also includes potential applicants who come into contact with a company at various touchpoints - keyword "employee centricity".
The Create People Advantage 2021 Report by the renowned Boston Consulting Group shows that employee orientation and "people management" are becoming increasingly important. In the survey, 85% of respondents said that focusing on employee needs and expectations is the key success factor in the competition for talent—the highest level of consensus in the entire study.
People management begins - as the name suggests - with the first contact with a future employee. This takes place at the latest at the beginning of the employee lifecycle during recruiting. Recruiting therefore becomes the first step in successful people management.
Post & Pray in Recruiting is definitely over
The most important trends is active sourcing
In order to even get into the position of being able to talk to applicants, recruiters have to create an attractive employer brand and inspire people for the company. The first touchpoints along the employee journey are no longer random. Post & Pray is over - passive becomes active.
This overarching trend brings with it various small, exciting approaches. Recruiting via social media is the best known: headhunters actively search for candidates who fit the job profile via platforms such as LinkedIn, but also Facebook, WhatsApp or Instagram. The term active sourcing is often used in this context. Similar to social recruiting, employees are actively sought. Among other things, CV databases are used that make large amounts of applicant data accessible for a fee.
Recruiters actively search for suitable candidates through platforms such as:
- professional networks
- CV databases
- industry communities
One of the most important trends is active sourcing.
For many companies, however, active sourcing is a resource hog, because the search for suitable candidates is time-consuming and causes high personnel costs. In addition, small companies in particular often lack the knowledge of how to approach candidates professionally.
Does this sound familiar to you? Then let us support you! Benefit from our close-knit candidate network and dedicate yourself to your core business while we find the right experts and specialists for your company.
Another Human reswsource trend in Austria is performance recruiting. Here, recruiters act in a similar way to B2C marketing and address a target group holistically. Is wastage inevitable? Not quite: smart targeting ensures that the right target group is addressed with the right words, images and videos. As in marketing, the content is geared to the needs and pain points of the target group.
Performance Recruiting and Social Recruiting
Another major trend is performance recruiting in Austria
Companies increasingly approach recruiting as a data-driven marketing activity, using targeted campaigns to reach potential candidates.
Popular channels include:
- messaging platforms
- company career pages, like Kununu
With targeted content and smart audience targeting, companies can reach the right candidates with the right message.
Video Recruiting: Visual Content Matters
Showcase your workplace culture and provide realistic insights
Recruiting is becoming increasingly visual and authentic. Video content allows companies to showcase their workplace culture and provide realistic insights into the organization. Especially in social recruiting, a lot works via moving images. "A picture is worth a thousand words" - the saying is as old as time, but it is also true in recruiting. The umpteenth written job advertisement, whether online or offline, is no longer enough to sweep an applicant off his or her feet.
Recruiting videos can highlight:
- daily work environments
- employee experiences
- team dynamics
- company culture
Text out, video in - why not? Recruiting videos are becoming more and more important. More emotions can be conveyed through images, and at the same time the success of TikTok shows which content format keeps users glued to their screens.
Authenticity is key
With a video shoot, you can present your company in an authentic way, show everyday situations and let both superiors and employees speak. The important thing is: no actors and no imposed, unreal scripts! Authenticity wins. Candidates expect real insights rather than scripted corporate messaging.
Actions speak louder than words. Our recruiting and headhunting company is based on five values that have not only shaped the development of the company, but are still lived out every day.
YouTube Channel | Schulmeister
Diversity and Inclusion in Recruitment
DEI is no longer a "nice-to-have"
Honesty and authenticity are other keywords for the next recruiting trend. While until a few years ago, diversity and inclusion were secondary issues for applicants, the tide has now turned. Diversity and inclusion have become essential components of modern recruiting strategies in Austria.
Candidates increasingly expect organizations to demonstrate:
- openness to diversity
- inclusive workplace culture
- equal opportunities
Today, potential employees expect an open company that represents their values, is ready for new things and does not exclude anyone. Here, too, it is important to be honest: Using pictures of various groups of people in recruiting, none of whom work in the company? A no-go. However, diversity should not only be communicated, it must also be genuinely practiced. Measures such as inclusive hiring practices or accessible job descriptions can significantly improve employer attractiveness.
Diversity and inclusion can only be promoted if they are actually practiced within the organisation. Barrier-free access or "language level A2" - this means that a company is also open to people who do not speak a language perfectly - are points that applicants perceive positively in job advertisements or recruiting videos.
Recruiting goes international – if at all
It's also clear that this doesn't always work out, or that dozens of new employees are often desperately sought. At the same time, looking abroad is becoming increasingly interesting for recruiters. A study by the Institute of Industrial Sciences has determined that there is a shortage of around 25,000 skilled workers in the booming IT sector in Austria.
It is difficult to fill these positions regionally to nationally. So why not look beyond national borders? Internationals bring - despite the higher effort in recruiting - different perspectives and casually contribute to a more diverse community.
By the way, we at Schulmeister are very familiar with all these challenges because the search for qualified employees in IT is our daily business. We will find the best IT experts for your company within a short time - want to bet?
To address this challenge, many companies are expanding their recruiting strategies internationally. International talent can bring:
- new perspectives
- additional expertise
- cultural diversity
However, international recruiting also requires additional resources and planning. By the way, we at Schulmeister are very familiar with all these challenges because the search for qualified employees in IT is our daily business. We will find the best IT experts for your company within a short time - want to bet?
There are many recruiting trends - but one of them seems at first glance as if it had mistakenly found its way into the numerous lists. We are talking about the trend of not recruiting. You have read correctly: Recruiting costs are going through the roof - a factor that should not be underestimated in view of the fact that the length of employment is tending to become shorter and shorter.
In order to convince Generation Y and Z employees to stay with the company as long as possible, employee retention is becoming an increasingly important issue. "Retention first" is the magic phrase here.
The Role of Recruiters Is Changing
Recruiters become ambassadors of the employer brand
With all the recruiting trends mentioned above, it is true that recruiters are becoming more and more involved in the external image of a company. Applicants scrutinise their counterparts very closely during interviews and meetings and weigh up whether the organisation suits them or not. Recruiters today play a much more visible role in representing the organization. They are often the first personal point of contact between candidates and the company.
As a result, recruiters increasingly act as ambassadors of the employer brand.
In addition to recruiting expertise, skills such as communication, empathy and advisory competence are becoming increasingly important. The recruiter plays a sales role. Despite standardisation and digitalisation, there are numerous personal conversations between the two "parties". Recruiters then have to convince their new potential colleagues - in the past it was the other way round.
Recruiting Is Becoming More Proactive and Candidate-Centric
Recruiting 2.0, 3.0 or 4.0: there are numerous terms for the developments of new approaches that have grown in recent years, becoming more and more established and taking the place of the usual. Lip service to diversity and equality is no longer enough, and at the same time recruiting is becoming more and more active. Recruiting has evolved significantly in recent years.
To attract the right talent, companies in Austria must:
- proactively engage with candidates
- strengthen their employer brand
- use digital recruiting channels
- focus on the candidate experience
Organizations that treat recruiting as a strategic function will be more successful in attracting and retaining talent. Whatever you want to call current recruiting trends, they are changing the work of recruiters noticeably. Without taking into account new media, new channels and a stronger focus on the needs of applicants, your recruiting will no longer be successful today.
Frequently Asked Questions About Recruiting Trends
What are the most important recruiting trends?
Key recruiting trends include active sourcing, social recruiting, video recruiting, employee centricity and a stronger focus on employee retention.
Why is recruiting changing so quickly?
Factors such as talent shortages, digital platforms and changing candidate expectations are transforming recruitment strategies across industries.
What does active sourcing mean in recruiting?
Active sourcing refers to proactively identifying and contacting potential candidates through platforms such as LinkedIn, CV databases and professional networks.
Why is employer branding important for recruiting?
A strong employer brand helps companies attract qualified candidates and differentiate themselves in a competitive labor market.
Need Support With Recruiting in Austria?
Competition for qualified professionals is increasing. As a specialized recruitment consultancy firm in Austria for more than 20 years, we help companies find highly qualified professionals and leaders in finance, IT and engineering.
![[Translate to English:] Team Psychologische Sicherheit Arbeit 3 business Frauen](/fileadmin/user_upload/schulmeister-psychologische-sicherheit-team-pexels-olia_danilevich-8145352.png)
