Here Are 3 Hiring Trends That LinkedIn Says You MUST Know

We speak to LinkedIn to identify hiring trends happening right now in the job market.

"Historically, talent acquisition and retention haven’t been at the forefront of the executive agenda, but that’s rapidly changing," Dan Shapero, vice president of Talent Solutions at LinkedIn, tells us. "Companies increasingly realize that talent is their greatest competitive differentiator — arguably even more so than their products and services."

Here are the three biggest trends according to Linkedin:

1. Passive Candidate Recruitment

At any given time, 70 percent of your colleagues are looking for a job, but "smart companies realize that to hire the best and brightest, they must target candidates not actively looking for new jobs," Shapero says. These are the passive jobseekers and it's a lot easier to find them now because of LinkedIn and other professional networking sites.

"To win with these 'passive' candidates, [companies] must market their jobs the same way they market their products and services." Employers can identify these passive jobseekers by paying attention to who's following their companies on social media networks and identifying people who are most active in their LinkedIn communities, sharing content, consistently building their network and updating their profiles.

In the past, the best talent went unnoticed, but now, even those who aren't actively looking for new jobs can be prospects for relevant job openings.

2. Talent Branding

It's easier to find the right people if you have a strong brand and companies can actually reduce hiring costs by 20 percent because they don't have to try as hard to get candidates to work for them. Furthermore, it also reduces cost per hire by 50 percent and lowers turnover rates by 28 percent.

Smart employers should create "About Us" and career pages that gives jobseekers some insight into what it would be like to work there. These pages should also be regularly updated with videos, photos and employee spotlights to improve talent branding.

3. Internal Hiring

Companies are looking at their existing workforce now more than ever to promote talent. This is because when you find good employees, they are not only concerned about getting the job done, they're also focused on their own careers and if you're not willing to help them grow their careers, they will go elsewhere.

Aside from looking for talent to join their team, companies are looking internally to hire, meaning that they will "mine their existing workforce to identify high performers that are qualified for new job openings."

Competition is stringent and hiring the wrong person for the job can cost companies money that they could be spending in other areas to help them get ahead. In the technological era, not only do jobseekers need to make themselves attractive to employers, companies also need to strategize ways to attain and retain talent.