How was technology revolutionized recruitment?
1. A new way of thinking
Technology provides a ‘new way of thinking’. Past ‘traditional methods‘ no longer seem relevant or appropriate as they once were. Recruiters see things differently, how can they maximize their time? What are the best ways to communicate with clients and candidates? There must be more simple and efficient ways to streamline the hiring process.
2. Social sourcing
Social media is difficult to escape in 2020. With its explosion in popularity, comes a new age of recruitment. Hiring teams will scour LinkedIn in search of their next potential recruit. As well as using other platforms to ‘pre-screen’ candidates to get a real insight into who they are outside of work.Although this is without controversy. Many have questioned how fair is it to base a persons job prospects on a perceived portrayal of their social media image?
3. Powerful contribution to eliminating bias
Many recruitment organisations who use hiring technology, such as AI, and automated initiatives for candidate screening/matching, are taking that first step in removing bias. These types of software develop algorithms designed to consider candidates who fit the job description. All other external influences (irrelevant to the role) are not used to influence hiring decisions.
This means factors a job seeker cannot control won’t impact their job chances, leading to a more fair and diverse workplace.
4. Interview anywhere, anytime.
The beauty of technology is that it encourages flexibility. It makes ease of previously structural processes, such as the interview stage. Video interviewing is ideal for scheduling set questions and enables candidates to access the interview, record their responses and submit when ready.
5. Making use of candidate data
There are many hours spent scrolling through a large database of candidates, looking for the perfect job match. Something all recruiters have experienced on a day to day basis. It’s time-consuming and all too often the ‘perfect’ candidate doesn’t even exist. Whereas new technological initiates dig deep into the database and automatically bring up results that match the job requirements. This even works for past candidates or those who have been previously rejected. Giving life to the term ‘keep on file’.
6. Communication increasingly important
Communication is key for positive candidate experience. Which according to Glass-door can result in a 70% improvement in the quality of hire for those organisations who decide to invest in a strong candidate experience.
Technology has the capability to provide effective communication outlets. That allows for the ease and flow of continual conversation. From instant messaging, video calls, to chatbots. All are relevant in keeping candidates engaged and will help minimize the risk of candidate drop out.
7. Data-driven decisions
With technology comes data. The difference between a successful recruiter and a not so successful one, is how they can interpret this said data. For high-volume recruitment, this is extremely relevant. It’s easy to look at the data for one candidate but what about for hundreds?
Take for example, candidate screening technology. This type of software filters out job applications and ranks based on their skills and experience. It is then the recruiter’s job to make use of these data-backed suggestions and determine which candidate will progress further.
8. Job advertising
The way candidates are searching for jobs has changed with technological advances. Lots of job seekers use their smartphone device to find a job and will use social media in their quest. Therefore a recruiter needs to ensure their role advertisement strategy is social-savvy. Post on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and even Instagram – to widen the search and target even passive candidates.
9. Candidate management
Candidates can drop out during any point in the recruitment process. On a small scale this is easier to manage and unearth issues because usually, this will be only a minority. However for high volume hiring its much more difficult to pinpoint the exact issue, due to the sheer number of different applications falling at different stages.
There are recruitment solutions available that provide statistics and info-graphics on the hiring process. Where do candidates spend the most time, which stage left the highest amount of dropouts? When a recruiter knows this information they can make changes to their current strategy and improve for the future.
10. Redefining employer brand
Strong brand perception can win new clients, maintain current relationships and appeal to a wide variety of different candidates, who trust the agency to help find them a job. Building a brand requires patience, persistence and trust. There are different inbound marketing techniques that are extremely effective in helping achieve this. Content creation, blogs, social media, resources and leveraging SEO – are all key components in creating attraction and a technically advanced recruitment marketing strategy.
Conversely, negativity can spread like wildfire. Unhappy reviewers can ensure their voice is heard, potentially globally. Glassdoor, Google reviews and social media can all damage a brand’s online perception.
Its how a recruitment agency learns to deal and resolve the issue that will really define their future successes.
