A recent survey done of over 700 HR professionals across the U.S. and Canada produced some interesting observations on the state of recruiting. We have distilled this report to highlight some of the most important metrics and trends.

Hiring Activity

Hiring for 2017 compared to 2016 is increasing across the U.S., Canada and globally.

• 55% of recruiting teams are planning for increases
• 37% expect activity to stay the same
• 7% say hiring will decrease

Success metrics

Talent leaders are focused on the length of time new hires stay at the company, the satisfaction of the hiring managers, and the time it takes to fill a job requisition: Each has a lasting impact on the business.

Hiring Priorities

The highest priority roles for hiring across the 700 companies surveyed are Operations, Sales, and Information Technology. Those are followed by Engineering and Business Development.

Company branding

81% of talent leaders agreed that employer brand has a vital impact on their ability to recruit the top talent. Employer branding includes culture, values and company reputation.

What’s ahead

The 5 top trends that HR professionals say will shape recruiting in the near future:

• assessing soft skills
• recruiting more diverse candidates
• developing innovative interviewing tools
• using candidate relationship management tools
• featuring company mission as a differentiator