By Emily Barnwell (Younger)

Recruitment and talent acquisition are experiencing significant transformations in response to shifting job market dynamics and the evolving expectations of candidates. To thrive in today’s globalized and highly competitive market, companies must adapt their hiring practices, according to industry experts.

“Times have changed. You just can’t hire the way you used to. It doesn’t work,” emphasized Gemma Dendurent, the co-founder of RecruitAERO, a Wichita-based consulting firm specializing in fractional aerospace recruitment with a global reach.

Together, Dendurent and her business partner, co-founder Jessica Rowe, have more than three decades of recruitment and talent acquisition experience.

They explain the traditional hiring process of posting a job online no longer yields the results it once did.

“People are looking, but they don’t want to go to the job board and get ignored. They want to feel like they are important,” Dendurent said. “They want to be nurtured. They don’t want to be treated like they are a number.”

In addition to a more personalized approach to hiring, RecruitAERO, along with other industry experts such as Deloitte, found potential employees are putting more emphasis on work-life balance, defined company culture, and diversity, equity and inclusion among other things.

RecruitAERO provided the following recruitment tips for businesses:

• Review your full-hiring process to identify shortfalls and opportunities for improvement.
• Explore internal candidates who can be trained and mentored rather than searching for the “perfect” candidate.
• Use technology to your advantage. New AI-powered tools can efficiently track, find and sort through candidates.
• Use social media to share brand messaging, network and increase company reach.
• Engage with passive candidates who may not be actively searching for new opportunities but possess desirable skills.

In addition to the recruitment tips provided above, Dendurent and Rowe said data-driven collateral available on the Greater Wichita Partnership and Choose Wichita websites are invaluable marketing tools.

“I almost did a LinkedIn post to all of my Wichita recruiters to say if you aren’t using this you all should because it really does help,” Dendurent explained.

One of the notable features on Choose Wichita is the “cost of living comparison guide,” which provides insights into Wichita’s housing and rental prices, commute times and entertainment expenses in comparison to competing cities across the country.

When it comes to affordability, particularly in terms of housing and rent, Rowe emphasized there is no comparison to the high costs often associated with coastal cities.

“Wichita is also the fourth largest city in the world for aerospace manufacturing,” said Rowe. “It’s a huge hub for aerospace, so it’s a land of opportunity.”

To learn more about the land of opportunity and other recruitment and talent resources, explore ChooseWichita.com.