Check out iCIMS' latest blog post from iCIMS blogger Holly DeMuro.

Any employee who has gone through the dramatic economic downturn that began in 2008 knows, for the last few years, the mantra has been, “keep your head down, keep working, and be glad you have a job.” During this period, employers instituted round after round of layoffs and the remaining employees continued to absorb more work with no pay increase. This has led to workplaces across the globe being filled with staffers who are not engaged or actively disengaged, frustrated, overworked, underpaid, and prime to make a move. Now, combine that powder-keg work climate with recent statistics and projected trends for economic growth, and businesses may be in for an explosive disruption in talent acquisition and retention plans. 

According to all indicators, competition is heating up for skilled labor and salaries are on the rise. Couple that with recent findings from Glassdoor that one in three employees indicate they have plans to look for a new job, and the writing is on the wall; we could be headed for one of the fiercest, most competitive job markets ever.  Given the pent up demand for new hires, employers will be scrambling to find, filter, communicate with, and onboard the best talent to support their strategic business objectives. This is why we at iCIMS are taking steps to improve the candidate experience and have dubbed 2014 “The Year of the Candidate.”

To support our candidate-friendly vision, iCIMS is “putting its money where its mouth is.” From a technology perspective, iCIMS has developed candidate-friendly features such as social apply capabilities that allow candidates to apply using their social media profile, like LinkedIn, in order to minimize data entry. Understanding that job seekers are increasingly mobile, iCIMS developed amazing mobile career portals that allow job seekers to apply for a job from anywhere, anytime. To support this mobile experience, candidates can also quickly and easily upload their resume from their Google Drive or Drop Box accounts, then iCIMS automated parsing capabilities draw pertinent information from the candidates uploaded resume to auto-populate the candidate’s profile, again reducing candidate’s data entry.

But, we did not stop there! We have now re-launched iCIMS Hire Expectations Institute (HEI), a thought leadership website dedicated to education and innovation in talent acquisition. This completely revamped website offers the latest information about industry trends, new tools, and best practices to help employers get to know the candidates, hire the right candidates, and create a great candidate experience. Best of all, for the first time, iCIMS Hire Expectations Institute will also cater to job seekers. For job seekers, the Hire Expectation Institute will provide a single source for resources that help job seekers get to know the recruiters, develop professionally, and leverage modern technology to enhance their job search.

Talent acquisition has become the most dynamic aspects of Human Capital Management (HCM). When we talk about talent acquisition today, we use words that didn’t even exist just a few years ago: mobile, SEO, video, social media, gamification, and talent networks. As competition continues to heat up, savvy, innovative organizations need to keep up with evolving trends and job seekers need to be prepared with the best ways to leverage these modern technologies. The Hire Expectations Institute is the best tool to help employers and job seekers stay ahead of the technological curve.

For more information check out our press release about the new and improved Hire Expectations Institute.