TheCareerGrid

Welcome to the new year!

2024 flew by us and I think its safe to say 2025 will be the same.

As the year rolls through, so to do talent trends, so it’s important to ensure that recruiters and organisations keep their fingers on the pulse for current trends and future predictions, but also that they follow what aligns with their businesses and industries in particular. Don’t just hop on and off a trend, hoping for the best. Invest in your strategies.

To be efficient in retaining and attracting the best talent for your industry, we are required to fully understand the business and the type of talent that is best for YOUR business.

Now, lets jump into some 2025 general talent trends predictions:

1. CVs are OUT – I know, I know, I have been saying this for a few years. 23/24 saw a shift in hiring strategies and it has really set the scene for resumes being outdated. I believe towards the end of 2025, we will see this shift more clearly, where industry’s remove the need for the traditional resume, being replaced with skills based assessments and talent profiles. Why do I feel so strongly about this? Because I see talent matching as any other type of matching. For example,  when looking for a potential partner you ask about their experiences, their insights, their likes and dislikes, needs and wants, their future visions, then you assess whether there is a match. You don’t necessarily get this from a resume in the career world. 
2. Talent Pipelines / Passive Search Number 1 Strategy – As candidate pools become narrow, the post and pray strategy is more of a miss than a hit, and its time to be more proactive. Recruiters will need to really hone in on their interpersonal and communication skills and keep in contact with talent. Get to know your candidates so you can envision them in their next assignment and find better matches to roles. This allows for better retention, happier candidates and clients, and faster filling of roles. Tip: don’t forget about internal pipelines.
3. The Podcast Advertisement – The technological era keeps on giving, and its provided a full blown information era. Just like you get your news very differently these days, I think this year/next year we will see podcasters start to advertise companies and their vacancies. I can’t wait to see how this works, but I can just feel it coming. Don’t be surprised when you see a booming podcast that rates each workforce (if its not already here).
4. The MVP is your EVP – The next generation is well and truly in the workforce and their demands are very different. Deloitte’s 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey found that 86% of Gen Z and 89% of Millennials say a sense of purpose at work is very or somewhat important to their job satisfaction and well-being. Companies that lead with purpose will attract top talent, so it is important that potential candidates understand who you are, what you do, and what you stand for. If you truly have a valuable EVP, don’t be shy to showcase this. Employee testimonials, days in the life of etc, will attract the new generation of talent, people are more visual today.
5. The Champion Employee / Ambassador – Similar to your EVP but more personal. Champion employees are your workplace influencers. Why would someone think about working for you? Because someone they respect is influencing their next move.
6. Professional Development Non-Negotiable – this doesn’t always mean promotions. As the new generations take over, we have a generation retiring. Succession planning is key in this next decade. Mentoring, coaching and shadowing needs to be on the rise. There is a whole lot of corporate knowledge that needs to be passed on; don’t let it get lost in transition/translation. Up and coming talent will appreciate the sentiment of coaching them into lateral roles to broaden their experience, or even promotional opportunities in the future. This will retain your talent to a degree. This needs to be taken more seriously and fully embedded in your business as BAU.
7. Change Management Focus – we can’t ignore the rate of change in our lives, let alone our workforce. You must have a solid change management strategy that is generic enough to cover most basis and allows for easy transition of specific purposes. Why is this a talent prediction? Because good talent hates bad management. You will lose good talent when a change has not been coordinated correctly. Tip: its not only about internal change. Don’t forget external factors that affect your business or industry, you need to plan for everything to ensure your workforce can remain efficient, engaged, and satisfied.
8. The AI Evolution –  Of course, this is no surprise. What will be a surprise is the rate of how AI evolves. It will seem like once you have the hang of one version, another appears. The key in the talent space will be to stay on the roller coaster and find what suits you for now and later. If you have the means, build your own AI and make sure its adaptable to ride the waves with you. Be open, curious and most important, be prepared. Hire talent that is curious about AI, they will be with you on the trial and error journey.
9. Recruitment Tech Revolution – Something will change this year. Innovative recruitment tech is on the rise, especially with AI booming, so its more than likely some game changing tech is approaching in the hiring space. Lets keep a close eye on this. I’m especially excited for solid recruitment tech in talent analytics. Everyone needs this to understand their markets, predict their own trends, and create/choose the right strategies.
10. An Employer’s Market – Maybe for now. Cost of living crisis means that talent is likely to stay put at the moment. If there is a shift, it can easily flip back to being a candidate market. This is again why it is so important to keep aware of internal and external factors. Everything affects your business.

It’s time to think of the workforce in the same way we think about current interest rates. Every month is different, and lots of factors infiltrate the market.

Think about your appearance as a business, why are you attractive, why do you seem to be ‘failing’ so often, why is your turnover so high, why have performance management cases doubled in 12 months?

What are your predictions for 2025?

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