Is recency bias hijacking recruitment outcomes?

The way we hire isn't working.

Not because of lack of effort, but because of outdated thinking and poor strategy.

4 in 10 Australian employers face persistent recruitment challenges.

Tenure is on a downward trend and turnover is holding tight at 16 to 20%.

Competition for talent isn't going away.

On average, it takes 44 days to fill a vacant role.

If we always do what we've always done . . . well, you know the rest.

Is it time for a new mindset? To be adaptive and avoid recency bias?

This is one of the key themes and priority areas for leaders in 2025, according to the latest World Economic Forum.

An adaptive mindset — being open to new perspectives and ways of doing things — is excellent advice for our rapidly changing world.

If you're responsible for recruitment, it’s easy to keep doing what’s familiar—posting on job boards, relying on the same hiring process, focusing on traditional qualifications and same-sector experience — because perhaps that's what worked in the past.

But things have changed. The market has shifted.

Here's what leading global research and advisory firm Gartner recommends people leaders focus on in 2025:

• develop a strong understanding of the talent market

• assess job design against candidate priorities

• evaluate employer brand strength and job design against competitors'

• market jobs and your EVP effectively (to reduce time to fill and attract the right people)

• invest in sourcing and branding

• analyse employee sentiment.

2025 will be the year savvy leaders and hiring teams adapt and update their talent strategy to meet modern workforce challenges.

Forward-thinking employers will reimagine their recruitment approach and get better results.

They will forget the traditional mindset that says employers 'acquire' talent.

It's time to flip the script. When you're hiring, you're not acquiring talent. In fact, you're not the buyer at all.

You're the seller. The consumer is the talent you're trying to attract.

This modern, marketing-led approach delivers:

• Better engagement: 8X more applications

• Increased talent pool: 5X more qualified, engaged talent in 1-2 weeks

• Faster time to hire: From briefing to signed contract 48% faster than average.

Modern recruitment is marketing. Let's adapt to the new world and hire with an attraction mindset.

Read more about this in my book!