The new year is approaching, and that means it’s time to revisit your recruiting strategy. Which tactics are worth your time and money, and which should you pass up?

Recruiting professionals are expected to do more with less, so you need to find the best places to invest your budget, to secure top talent in the new year. Here are some of the top recruiting trends for 2016, to get the most for your money:

Pre-hire assessments

You’ve found the perfect candidate. Their resume is awesome, their personality shines in the interview, and the whole team feels positive vibes. You bring them on board, but after a few months, they’re not performing as well as you expected them to. What gives?

Although you can learn a lot about a candidate from their resume and interview, you can’t always accurately predict how they will do on the job. But pre-hire assessments can.

Pre-hire assessments are one of the fastest growing recruiting trends because they save organizations time and money. In fact, research released by Aberdeen in May found businesses that use pre-hire assessments are 36 percent more likely to be satisfied with their new hire. Investing in pre-hire assessments can better determine candidates’ strengths and weaknesses. Understanding the practical skills of candidates can help you select the person who will perform the best in the role before their first day.

Referral programs

When looking for talent, what’s your first move? You’re using online resources, of course, but before you head for your computer, you need to be asking employees and colleagues if they know anyone who is right for the role.

That’s because even with all the recruiting tools and apps available, referrals are still the top source for quality candidates. According to a survey conducted by Jobvite, 78 percent of recruiters said they find their best quality candidates through referrals. In addition, a survey conducted by LinkedIn found that more talent leaders reported referral programs as a top source of hire when compared with last year, and 26 percent consider employee referral programs to be among the long-lasting recruiting trends.

You may already be asking employees to refer their friends, but do you have a formal program? Is it effective? In the new year, invest in setting up a program or analyzing the one you have in place. In the LinkedIn survey, just eight percent of respondents said their referral program was “best in class.” Spend time and resources to strengthen the program, to bring in the best talent.

Employer branding

You’ve heard it before -- your employer brand matters. But it’s not just hype. Although employer branding has been buzzing around for some time, it’s shaping up to be one of the most important recruiting trends in 2016.

After all, the LinkedIn survey found that 59 percent of employers anticipate they invested more in employer branding in 2015, compared with 2014. In addition, employer branding is becoming a bigger part of organizational goals, and everyone is getting involved. In the survey, 47 percent of respondents said they share or contribute to employer branding with the marketing department.

Current employees are getting in on the branding action, as well. In a recent 2015 Hinge Research Institute and Social Media Today survey, high growth firms, those with revenue growth greater than 20 percent, were more than twice as likely to have an employee advocacy program. In addition, 79.1 percent of respondents whose company had such a program reported increased brand visibility, while 65 percent saw improved brand recognition.

Encourage current employees to become brand ambassadors and work with other teams to take your employer branding efforts to the next level. Invest in social media campaigns targeting job seekers, company culture videos, and other employer branding efforts to attract the best talent in the new year.

Proven talent sources

Recruiting trends aren’t universal -- some strategies will be better for you organization than others. As 2015 comes to an end, analyze your tactics and talent sources. Which were the most effective? Which brought in the best hires?

Determine which sources worked best for your company this year and invest in them again in 2016. Your best source for talent could be LinkedIn, targeted job boards, Twitter, or your mobile career site.

Whatever that proven source of talent is, find ways to strengthen the strategy to bring in even more top talent in the new year. You might need to spruce up your job posts, post social media messages at more strategic times, or improve the user experience. Take your most effective strategies from this year and build on them in 2016.

In the new year, invest in the recruiting trends that will find and attract the best talent and reach your other 2016 goals. Analyze strategies to find the ones that will give you the best bang for your buck.  

Which recruiting trends do you have your eyes set on for 2016? Let us know in the comments below!

Robyn Melhuish is the Communications Manager at MedReps.com, a job board which gives members access to the most sought after medical sales jobs and pharmaceutical sales jobs on the Web. Connect with Robyn and MedReps.com on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.