Technology is the way of life practically for everyone in all industries. In the field of recruitment, the impact of technology and the data it captures is becoming more pronounced in terms of enhancing the hiring experience for both the candidates and the hiring teams.
The labor market has become largely candidate-driven, which means that recruiters and companies are working harder to attract top talent. According to current recruitment stats, on average businesses use up to 24 recruiting technologies to help improve their hiring process.
Current Trends in Recruitment Technology
Technology and the data we capture from it has opened up new possibilities for recruiters and hiring managers to reach candidates. It is to these ends that recruiters need to incorporate technology in their hiring strategies.
Use digital assets to speed up the recruitment process
The prevalence of technology has created higher levels of expectations from jobseekers who want a fast, straightforward application process. If you haven’t noticed yet, talent acquisition has become more like a marketer’s game for HR and recruitment professionals. It attempts to build a strong employer brand and a fun corporate culture, and then actively promote them on social media and other online platforms.
With each day that hiring proves to be a drag, recruiters are more likely to lose the best candidates to other firms, while companies end up spending more of their resources than what is necessary.
To counteract this, here are some ideas to help you accelerate the hiring process using a digitally-driven approach.
Conduct video or mobile interviews
First-round video or mobile interviews offer flexible options for recruiters and job applicants alike since they help eliminate chances of delays in schedule and lengthy hours preparing for a face-to-face meet. Data says more than 60 percent of companies are now using video interviews for their hiring.
Create employer branding videos
Among various recruitment trends related to company branding, this one needs to be explored more for its potential in increasing the response rate to job postings from roughly 12 to 34 percent. Corporate videos published on a company’s careers website enables candidates to get to know more about the company, its culture, and job offerings all in one place.
Choose your ATS well
An ATS is a great help for recruiters and employers to sort through thousands of applications submitted to them, and with more and more people on mobile and social platforms, you need your ATS to be capable of leveraging these channels. When leveraging your ATS, consider your organization's needs; i.e. accessing your candidates’ social media profile on LinkedIn, for example.
Implement a technology-driven approach to improve hiring quality and efficiency
Technology has many salient features in itself, among which are its collaborative nature and its preponderance to data-driven analysis. These two attributes find great favor with hiring managers and recruiters when it comes to finding the candidate with the best fit for a particular role or company as well as employee retention.
Use data to find the "best" candidate
For one, when firms use technology to collaborate with one another, they are deemed to be “best in class” for making it easy for their recruitment teams to manage the hiring process – from assessing candidates to exchanging feedback and making hiring recommendations.
Analyze employee trends
Companies are also relying on technology to give them analytical data and insights in monitoring employee performance or tracking sources of hire so they can target the right candidates on the right channels.
Eliminate bias
Lately, however, the role of technology in preventing bias from marring the recruitment process for candidates has also come to light. As a backgrounder, Harvard University designed the so-called Implicit Association Tests to check on people’s bias, which may be unconscious at times, against others. The same test has been utilized by a global media outfit to increase awareness about diversity in the workplace and how it should be celebrated rather than avoided.
Since bias appears to be a natural tendency among humans, the idea is for recruiters to use machine learning or artificial intelligence technologies to reduce human judgment in the selection of candidates. For example, software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is being hailed in the HR sphere because it provides recruiters a candidate matching system that automatically tracks work performance alone, with no room for subjective, unfair, or emotional bias against the applicant.
Technology is seen as something that can help HR practitioners realize their own personal bias and enable them to take countermeasures. No less than Microsoft is raising the bar in campaigning for equal employment opportunities, choosing to recruit candidates with autism as coders as part of an experimental hiring program. The tech giant’s overall strategy was to immerse the apprentices in an engaging, less structured work environment using tools that were apt for their pace and style of learning.
These examples demonstrate how by using technology or the right recruitment software, organizations, specifically HR, talent acquisition or recruiters, can discover brand-new ways to connect with talent.
About the Author: With an eye for detail and attitude towards excellence, Edward Page has proven himself to be ThisWay Global’s guide in recruitment technology. As a Business Development head, he leads a team to keep on pushing the envelope when it comes to using technology for recruitment—a hiring process that focuses on diversity and less on the bias. With a full grasp of ThisWay Global’s Match-ic technology, he’s willing to set foot in opportunities for the organization’s growth and development.