If you hear the word modern (or modernize) and automatically equate that to tech, this blog is for you.
Yes, technology is crucial to future-forward processes. But it’s not the only important facet—especially when it comes to your recruiting strategy.
Remaining agile and competitive in today’s market requires a truly modern hiring approach—one that takes into account how candidates and recruiters prefer to interact (and work!) and what it looks like to hire in 2025.
This includes embracing next-gen tech. But it also includes changing how you approach candidate outreach, interviewing techniques, evaluation of skills fit, job requirements, flexible work, and more.
As importantly, it means re-embracing the human touch to truly connect with talent.
7 Strategies for Modernizing Your Hiring Process
If you look up the word modern, you’ll find several similar meanings:
- “Relating to the present or recent times”
- “Designed and made using the most recent ideas and methods”
- “Up-to-date and not old”
- “Contemporary”
Each of these definitions is particularly fitting to the state of hiring this year.
Being up-to-date with your hiring methods can give you the edge to fill jobs faster, secure top talent before the competition, and earn a reputation for creating a better candidate experience.
After all: when you can hone your search, streamline candidate steps, and improve recruiter-candidate communication, instances of ghosting, no-shows, and mismatches diminish. In their place is greater recruiting success that positively impacts company performance and sets your organization up to thrive well past 2025.
Here are seven ways you can update your hiring process to best meet the job search realities of modern (and future) times, whether you’re recruiting for direct hire or contract positions:
- Re-focus on the candidate experience. Evaluate your hiring process as if you were applying for your own job posting. Does it lend itself to clarity, open lines of communication, and process flexibility? If the answer is no to any one of these, it’s time to make adjustments. Ensure a regular communication cadence, even if the status is “nothing has changed,” this includes pre-interview level-setting and post-interview follow-up. And align with candidate preferences of phone call, email, text, job board, LinkedIn, etc. Your approach should strive to meet candidates where they are today.
- Be “soft” on skills consideration. As new roles evolve at break-neck speed, and existing roles shift to envelop new responsibilities, skills-first hiring has become the best approach to filling niche and high-demand positions. But that doesn’t mean just looking at technical or measurable “hard” skills. Those are crucial, especially for technical roles. However, “soft” skills—the character traits and interpersonal abilities that define how well a person interacts with others–are also important. Skills like adaptability, creative problem solving, teamwork, and calmness under pressure, are vital to success in modern roles.
- Adopt and integrate AI recruiting tools. Tech tools specifically designed to support recruiting, including the latest AI advancements, can streamline inefficiencies and improve the hiring process for recruiters and candidates alike. Organizations that lag behind in adoption risk falling further behind with each market shift. But that doesn’t mean hastily adopting the latest “shiny solution.” Evaluate how it makes sense to integrate AI into your specific workflow and tech stack. And be sure your existing tech stack itself is integrated—layering AI on top of disparate job boards, CRMs, ATSs, and other tools would negate its benefits.
- Don’t just collect data. Use it. Compared to just five years ago, you collect a greater amount of data in your pursuit of great talent. Not just about the job seekers themselves, but about overarching behaviors and market shifts that signal where the tide is turning. Today, data is vital for benchmarking KPIs. Modern processes require you to embrace the goldmine of information at your fingertips to extract insights about talent trends, changing hiring conditions, and more. Then use what you uncover to drive data-based decisions and support future success.
- Change your interviewing style. The way people hire has drastically shifted in recent years—and the way you interview should adjust to follow suit. Some jobs emphasize skills predominantly, others require considering generational work style differences, and still others prioritize where work is physically done. All this should factor into the interviewing techniques you use. If emerging AI skills are critical to your open position, pivot from questions that focus on education to those that highlight practical experience. If certain soft skills are important to a role, ask how candidates put those skills to use in everyday life. Being flexible in how you interview helps you uncover the best-fit talent for the position.
- Reimagine your job postings. Candidates must ensure their CVs and resumes meet modern expectations and the rules of modern systems. So, it makes sense that the job postings used to attract today’s candidates should also follow modern standards. What does that mean? Shy away from posting descriptions that are paragraphs or pages long. To avoid unintentionally narrowing your candidate pool, stop requiring specific years of experience when existing or transferrable skills are more important. And embrace transparency by including salary and location requirements—it will save candidates and recruiters from pursuing poor-fit matches.
- Keep your candidate pool full. Today’s hiring market moves fast. It’s tempting for companies to focus on filling immediate hiring needs at the cost of maintaining and nurturing a strong candidate pool over time. But by building long-term relationships with “warm” or “cold” candidates, engaging with them regularly, and keeping them interested in your organization, you set yourself up to capitalize on a wider and deeper talent pool, especially when filling unexpected, time-sensitive job openings.
The Human Element in Hiring—It’s Modern and Matters More Than Ever
If it’s true that everything old is new again, then nothing is more modern than a personal touch.
Candidates appreciate the efficiency and time savings of recruiting tools, platforms, and apps: one-click job applications, virtual interviews, and instant chatbot responses make it faster and easier to search for jobs anytime, from anywhere.
But at the same time, an overabundance of tech-centric, impersonal interactions can leave them feeling disengaged and like a faceless applicant in the crowd. Today’s job seekers are finding a new appreciation for personal engagement and the opportunity to interact with an actual human.
As you work to modernize your hiring strategy, consider the small, but meaningful ways you can include personalization in the process:
- Revisit hand-written notes/letters as ways to update, connect, or merely say thank you.
- Add actual phone calls into your workflow to replace automated texts or emails, especially at the onset or end of a candidate engagement.
- Ensure tech used in your hiring process serves to enhance what recruiters do. It should strengthen their abilities, so their very human capabilities and talent can shine.
A Final Word: Advice for Adopting Modern Hiring Practices
I admit, change is difficult. It can be hard to let go of a process that’s been ‘done that way’ for years or to shift from a mindset that ‘making candidates jump through hoops’ lands the best talent. But the reality is that many companies are competing against you for the same limited talent supply. It’s no longer optional to stand out from the crowd. – Kirt Kreutzer
Here’s our advice for making positive changes that allow you to achieve your hiring goals:
Analyze your existing process.
Compared to competitors and leading industry companies.
Put the candidate first.
Seek advice and feedback from candidates, partners, and peers.
Stay true to your needs.
Set the bar high, but in a way that eliminates unnecessary steps.
Let HR/People Operations lead the way.
Hiring managers and teams will follow suit.
Constantly fine-tune and adjust.
What works today may not work next year.
Have clear hiring objectives.
If a candidate checks the boxes, move forward with them.
Be decisive.
Don’t “waffle” and lose out on great talent.
Monitor social sentiment.
If your company gains a reputation for bad hiring processes, candidates won’t apply.
Modernizing your hiring strategy is about bringing what you use to do your job, and the process by which you use it, into the future. By embracing a modern approach, you can position yourself to more competitively and economically attract and retain talent for years to come.
Cypress offers an array of services and resources designed to refine and optimize your recruitment practices. Meet with our team of experts to learn how you can start on the road to modernization today.
