Recruiters Reeling From Big Return-To-Office Bounce

Trends born out of the strange flux of the back-to-office era have made the job of a corporate recruiter increasingly difficult. Between office anxiety, a slowdown in relocations and a competitive market for labor, those trying to find talent have had a rough go as reopening accelerates.

In many ways, the so-called great resignation — a flood of pandemic-exhausted employees reprioritizing their lives and leaving their jobs — could be seen as a great time for recruiters, who theoretically have ample talent to contact and a constant churn of positions to fill. But the demand, especially after a steep drop-off in activity last year that led many recruiters to change their own jobs, has led many to feel like they’re overwhelmed, according to a story in HR Dive. Slammed with a sharp increase in demand, many recruiters are turning to automation and tech to help make the process of finding talent more efficient.  

While pairing talent with positions, recruiters also have to navigate the changing state of the workplace. A survey of more than 1,300 workers published by Randstad found 54% of workers prefer hybrid work going forward and almost 25% have moved to a new city. Many aren’t planning to move back or move at all. 

A recent Wall Street Journal piece cited surveys by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas that found just 4.2% of job seekers relocated for work, down from 5.7% in 2019 and 9.6% in 2018. The implications of these shifts, that more workers seem content to move somewhere untethered from their office, might mean more freedom to recruit from a geographically wider talent pool, but only if company policy moves in parallel to worker preferences.