Here’s what Headhunters are Looking for in 2022

Headhunting – from a recruitment point of view – tends to be thought of as something that only happens in high-powered companies in the USA, but this is a trend that has hopped across the Atlantic. Head-hunting is, at heart, recruiting, but it tends to be aimed at management positions and above, with fewer applicants, more detailed interviews, and often, playing a long game when it comes to matching the perfect position with its ideal candidate. Here are some emerging trends that headhunters such as those at eagleheadhunters.co.uk have already noticed during the first quarter of 2022.

More Diversity

Clients are actively working against unconscious bias, and looking for greater diversity in their applicants. Candidates must still hold the requisite qualifications that will enable them to do the job, and in fact, standards might be higher as employers are now using tools like anonymised CVs which strip out any attractive personality quirks that can sometimes disguise a lack of necessary skills!

There is a fine balance to be found, however – someone who began life as a refugee or living in severe poverty, might not appear as polished on paper as someone who has had every advantage handed to them, despite the fact that they have worked much harder and overcome so many more obstacles along the way. Care must be taken to ensure that opportunities for diversity are announced, and candidates such as these given the chance to explain apparent discrepancies in their CVs.

Mental Health Managers

Just as the 80s and 90s saw a sudden upsurge in the creation of health and safety officers, so too are the 2020s being seen as the year of mental health management. Instead of simply allowing stressed and drained staff to be signed off until they have recovered, companies are actively working to understand what, in a company, is causing mental health issues, and putting remedies into place. Sometimes these can include extra flexibility for someone who has the responsibility for an older relative, city breaks or spa days for workers who have stepped up and put in long hard hours to get the company through a difficult patch, or even meals out as a company, during working hours to ensure that everyone can attend. These semi-social occasions work amazingly well to getpeople talking and more relaxed with one another: and this new ease can transform the working environment in pleasing ways.

Flexible Working Arrangements

Working from home is, at last, an accepted part of life, with WFH offers skyrocketing from less that 20% of companies – and then only for certain, specialist, staff – to over 65%. Obviously health workers, retail workers, and many council employees amongst many others cannot work from home due to the nature of the job. But companies which can offer work from home, are doing so with far greater enthusiasm than before, especially now that many of their workers are practised at working from home: they have the equipment, their productivity was not negatively impacted (many people work more productively when they have some control over their hours of work), and management too can work from home. The world seems to be settling into a hybrid system of one or two days in the office balanced by three or four at home: and this trend looks set to stay. Few people enjoyed the isolation of working entirely from home, and many now do not want to go back to a full time nine-to-five office grind.

It’s Likely to Be an Employee’s Market

With the recent shake-up of the world’s economy and ways of working: the Great Resignation in the UK was not as pronounced as that in the USA, but many people quit toxic jobs, finding more amenable jobs in the same field, or took the chance to retrain entirely: new positions as Diversity Officers and Mental Health Managers are springing up – the balance has tipped in favour of hard-working employees. As long as you can add value to a company, you are more likely now to be able to get the job of your dreams. Why not reach out to a headhunter and see what you can do for each other?