Competition for experienced talent is a top hiring challenge for U.S. companies, according to the 2013 HireRight Employment Screening Benchmarking Report released today.

Sixty-nine percent of survey respondents expect to increase hiring in 2013, in line with 2012 results of 71 percent. However, 30 percent expect their workforce size to increase only 1 percent to 4 percent. Half of respondents expect to fill some of these positions with contingent workers, which is also in line with 2012 findings.

The top-five business challenges were:

1. Finding, retaining, developing quality talent: 52 percent
2. Regulatory changes and compliance: 33 percent
3. Revenue growth: 32 percent
4. Creating/sustaining competitive advantages: 26 percent
5. Cost containment: 23 percent

Competition for quality talent has companies turning to metrics to evaluate the success of their hiring programs and to improve the hiring experience for their applicants. Seventy-one percent of companies surveyed took definitive steps to improve their applicants’ hiring experience in 2012 and another 9 percent plan to do so in 2013.

Irvine, Calif.-based HireRight provides pre-employment background checks.