The Most In-Demand Skills for Recruiters in 2023
Over the last few years, talent acquisition professionals have had to constantly invent, and reinvent, how they do their jobs, whether it’s adapting to a hybrid workforce, embracing DEI into hiring practices, or navigating the dynamics of a global talent shortage.
In such a fast-evolving environment, keeping your skills polished, and acquiring completely new ones, is essential to your job. So, LinkedIn has identified the 10 most in-demand skills for recruiters. And LinkedIn Learning has, for each skill, unlocked a course to help recruiters learn or polish it.
The 10 most in-demand skills for recruiters:
1. Human Resources
Despite the massive strides in AI, the bread and butter of talent acquisition is, and always will be, people. Connecting with them, coaching them, managing their career journeys. If you’re a recruiter in 2023, you’re doing a lot of this virtually. From holding career fairs in the metaverse to evaluating remote candidate profiles to reframing the compensation conversation, the basic skill set of HR professionals is constantly evolving. To stay relevant in your job, you have to evolve with it.
Reskill/upskill: Virtual Recruiting with Stacey Gordon
2. Communication
Because so much talent acquisition happens virtually, effective communication has never been more important. InMail outreach, Zoom presentations, candidate callbacks, email check-ins — on any given day, recruiters are asked to juggle a million different messages transmitted over multiple channels. Taking time to brush up on the basics (like effective listening), as well as to learn the latest tools and platforms, will set you up for future success.
Reskill/upskill: Communication Foundations with Brenda Bailey-Hughes
3. Management
Managers today are expected to lead their teams through unforeseen challenges, but also demonstrate empathy, integrity, transparency, and inclusivity to help inspire — and retain — a fidgety workforce. On top of that, managers who lead teams of recruiters need to know how, amid economic uncertainty that’s particularly troubling for those in TA, to keep their teams motivated, focused, and engaged.
Reskill/upskill: Be the Manager People Won’t Leave with Laurie Ruettimann
4. Sales
Mastering the ABCs — Always Be Closing — will always be the most important skill in sales. The best recruiters know how to see through the eyes of their candidates, anticipate their needs, and offer practical solutions that result in a signed offer letter. They know because it’s a skill that can be learned. Creating a culture of closing starts in the classroom.
Reskill/upskill: Sales Foundations with Jeff Bloomfield
5. Customer Service
Is recruitment a sales industry or service industry? It’s an age-old question, and a debate for another time. One thing is certain, though: Recruiters today need to form winning relationships with their candidates, and that requires high-level customer service chops. Understanding how to be of assistance, when to own a problem, and how to give feedback can build loyalty with your clients and, ultimately, contribute to the success of your organization.
Reskill/upskill: Customer Service Foundations with Jeff Toister
6. Leadership
In today’s values-driven workplace, employees demand more from their leaders than a strong vision and the drive to pursue it. They crave a human approach that’s as focused on the well-being of workers as it is the bottom line. They want a leader who connects, inspires, and adapts to the shifting demands of the marketplace and the workplace. Identifying those qualities in a candidate can change the course of a company. Developing them in yourself can change the course of your life.
Reskill/upskill: Human Leadership with Erica Keswin
7. Training
The windowless conference room. The corny icebreakers. The never-ending carousel of data-heavy slides. Let’s face it: Employee training sessions need a makeover. Which is why more and more companies are looking to hire recruiters with the technical skills to pump out engaging presentations. The latest video editing techniques paired with a foundation in visual storytelling can help you transform a yawn-inducing training into an engaging and entertaining experience. Setting clear expectations and adding post-training evaluations will boost the likelihood of a successful learning experience.
Reskill/upskill: Turning Boring Presentations into Engaging Training with Video with Rob Glass
8. Hiring
The lifeblood of talent acquisition, hiring is more like a super-skill in that it’s made up of other key skills, such as communication, marketing, and customer service. The top recruiters — that is, the ones who hire the most high-quality workers — are adept at creating communication strategies that broaden their pipelines and pull talent from all over the world. To be skilled at hiring in 2023 is to wear many hats, and wear them well.
Reskill/upskill: HR Recruiting Communication Strategies to Attract and Retain Top Talent with David Oates
9. Marketing
One of the most misunderstood terms in business, “marketing” can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. But at its core is the ability to tell clear, compelling stories — a skill that’s all too often ignored by recruitment teams. Effective storytelling helps you grab attention and influence decisions, even big decisions, such as should I work for your company? Or should I continue working for your company? Learning how and when to tell impactful recruitment and retention stories can be the difference between landing top talent and standing around holding loose threads.
Reskill/upskill: Storytelling for Recruiting and Employee Retention with Paul Smith
10. Social Media
If you don’t think social media has changed the TA game, you’re not paying attention. Data shows that 70% of hiring managers have had success placing candidates through social media, and 84% of companies are using it in their recruitment process. That includes everything from candidate outreach to background checks to skills assessment — in other words, the building blocks of talent acquisition.
Simply put: Staying dialed into the latest tools and platforms — as well as the consumer protection laws that serve as their guardrails — is key to maintaining an effective digital recruiting strategy. Falling behind is falling out of the game.
Reskill/upskill: Hire Better, Hire Faster with Social Media and Digital Platforms with Laurie Ruettimann
Methodology: The most in-demand skills for recruiters were determined by looking at skills that are most sought after based on six months of data (April to October 2022) from employers, hirers, and job-posters on LinkedIn. Demand is measured by identifying skills possessed by members who were hired or InMailed, as well as the skills listed in paid job postings.
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