4 Predicted recruitment trends in South Africa for 2014

Followers of Nostradamus might disagree with me, but you can’t really predict the future. One thing that you can do though is predict trends for commerce, retail, the internet, fashion, advertising, television, music and even recruitment, based on current and recent events and improvements in technology.

Let’s say that a group of geeks develop a new social media website or service (which has the potential to be more appealing to people than Facebook or Twitter). Chances are that you could make calculated predictions about the impact that this new service will have on the internet and social media landscape in the next year based on increased popularity, word of mouth and various other contributing factors, but you can’t predict that an egg will evolve into a chicken based on no research at all, that’s just ridiculous.

Today I’m featuring 4 predicted recruitment trends in South Africa for 2014. I’m hoping that you’ll find my assessment interesting and informative.

An individual’s digital footprint will become more important: If you don’t know what a digital footprint is yet, make sure that you find out before the end of the day. In short, it’s basically a presentation of an individual in the digital and social media space. It’s important for job seekers to keep this clean if they want to find a job and it’s very useful for recruiters / employers when they’re looking for the right candidate.

More than three-quarters of recruiters are already checking potential candidates’ Facebook, Twitter  and other social media profiles before they think of hiring them or inviting them for an interview. Are you going to hire someone who projects a clean image of themselves online or someone who projects themselves as a party animal? The importance of digital footprints in recruitment will definitely become more important in 2014.

Mobile Recruitment will become more prominent: Many job portals (including Job Mail) have already embraced the mobile recruitment space in South Africa. Think about it this way: There’s about 10 million internet users in the country. Not many people have access to a computer or laptop, but almost every one in our country has a cellphone.

Recruiters / employers sometimes forget that the majority of people who access the internet in South Africa do it from their phones. If you were a job seeker who doesn’t have access to a computer do you think you’ll pay money that you don’t really have to use a computer in an internet café, or would you rather load airtime on your phone and browse and search the web for jobs you’re qualified and able to do for a fraction of the price? Mobile data in South Africa isn’t the cheapest in the world, but it’s still cheaper than getting an ADSL connection at home. I’m predicting that mobile recruitment will become even more prominent in 2014.

Personal branding will become a more deciding factor for employing a candidate: If you’re not looking at a potential candidate’s personal brand then you have not been doing recruitment right in the last year. Every individual can be seen as their own personal brand ambassador. Chances are that if a candidate has put in a lot of effort into building their personal brand (like creating an impressive video CV) they might just be the person you have been looking for.

Personal branding displays dedication, passion for what they do and a whole lot of useful things that might get you to utter those words that are music to a job seekers ears: “You’re hired!”. I’m predicting that recruiters will see personal branding (combined with a clean digital footprint) as a deciding factor to hire candidates in 2014.

Increased importance of social integration: More and more people are applying for positions at companies that their friends say that they should work for. The fact remains that recommendations from friends carry weight online and in real life. It’s important that like individuals, companies should also have a clean digital footprint online.

If you project a positive, professional and fun image on your websites and social media profiles, chances are that you’ll attract more consumers and the right brand of potential employees. So, make sure you at least have a Facebook page and Twitter profile for your company and if you have a website, make sure that you have a careers section for vacant positions. Social integration is already very important for every business, but it’s importance will increase in 2014.

Well, there you have it, 4 predicted recruitment trends in South Africa for 2014. Do you agree or disagree with me? Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Feedback is appreciated and welcome on the Job Mail Blog.

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