What are the top priorities for your talent acquisition strategy for the year ahead?

Published in November 2024 and now in its third year, Fosway Group’s Talent Acquisition Realities research explores the very latest developments in the talent acquisition landscape – here Fosway analysts look at some of the key trends and challenges that heads of recruitment face, and that vendors would do well to address.

Quality of hire, candidate experience, external hiring and recruiting value lead talent acquisition priorities for the year ahead

 As economic pressures mount across EMEA, talent acquisition (TA) teams are under growing pressure to align their strategies with business goals of performance and profitably. In 2024, ‘quality of hire’ stands as the defining metric, with 75% of organisations prioritising it.

Tight budgets and steady economic headwinds are pushing TA functions to deliver greater value. Meanwhile, 97% of organisations continue to report skills shortages as a major challenge, bringing candidate experience and external hiring into sharp focus for the year ahead.

Internal mobility declines in recruiting priorities

Internal mobility has slumped by 20% on last year’s numbers and slipped from 3rd to 6th. How much this is a genuine long-term shift, or a hiccup is unclear.

Wider HR Interest in internal talent and opportunity marketplaces is strong, especially in the move to becoming ‘skills-based organisations’ (SBOs), but perhaps the complexities of executing SBO’s is putting a dampener on recruiting teams’ enthusiasm for internally resourcing talent pipelines. Time will tell especially as internal mobility is a top priority of overall HR strategy for the year ahead.

Only half of TA teams systematically measure the effectiveness of their hires on job performance

68% of TA teams now prioritise agreeing clear hiring timelines and securing budget approvals for over 90% of their roles. This focus on early alignment is essential to managing expectations and controlling costs in a resource-constrained environment. However, European recruiters are also dealing with a surge in applications, which makes effective and sustainable talent investment even more crucial.

This is an introductory excerpt from Talent Acquisition Realities 2024. Get the full insight and discover the most common challenges experienced by today’s TA leaders by downloading all five infographics.

What should you do next?

• How will AI affect changes in HR and talent acquisition strategy? Take part in Fosway’s strategic project for 2025: ‘AI in HR’.
• What are your vendor options as a TA leader? Browse the latest 9-Grid^TM for Talent Acquisition.

Recommended reading

• Other Fosway research related to talent acquisition or the talent lifecycle.
• Transforming Talent in the Modern Workforce – a viewpoint which discusses finding and retaining key talent.
• The 2024 Fosway 9-Grid^TM for Talent & People Success – full report which looks at trends in talent management and the people experience.

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