Recruiting leaders across the globe need to strengthen their talent analytics capabilities to stay ahead, according to LinkedIn’s 2015 Global Recruiting Trends report.

The report, based on 4,125 responses from talent acquisition professionals from 31 countries, found only a quarter (24%) felt their organisations were using data well to understand recruiting effectiveness and opportunities.

Against that global average, Germany, the Nordics and France sat at the bottom of the list with only 9% of respondents saying their companies were effectively harnessing data, while India was on top with 53%.

The need to harness data is set against a backdrop of an increase in hiring volume and budgets, but also competition for talent.

Alongside competition, compensation was listed as a top obstacle for attracting talent.

Competition was reported to be fiercest in Southeast Asia, the Netherlands, Canada, France and the US.

The report also found:

• Top sources of quality hires shifted – internal hires decreased while all others increased, internet job boards coming out on top. Job boards also produced the highest quantity of hires.

• Online professional networks such as LinkedIn and social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter were increasingly the most preferred channels for promoting talent brand, while company website and word-of-mouth were decreasing. 75% of global talent acquisition leaders said talent brand has a significant impact on their ability to hire great talent.

• Countries such as Canada, the US, Brazil, Spain and Mexico are heavily reliant on social and professional networks and therefore not so on staffing companies.

• China and the US lead in passive candidate sourcing where 83% and 72% of companies respectively recruit passive candidates, against a global average of 61%.

• Mobile job seeking behaviour is on the rise – more candidates are learning about job vacancies via mobile devices, as well as applying for those vacancies.

So, what did the study say about the future of recruiting? Talent leaders surveyed predicted social professional networks and better matching of candidates with jobs are set to reshape recruiting.