The Global HR & Recruitment services industry is currently worth $772.1bn, is your recruitment strategy in line with this growing industry or has it fallen behind?
The recruitment industry and technology are changing at a rapid pace; recruitment isn’t just about hiring the likeliest candidate for the next position, but rather finding a successful recruitment strategy that is flexible enough to encompass current needs and future foresight. It’s about finding the right candidate for the company, who will be able to do the job, fit in with the team and culture, and stay with the company long-term.
The future of recruitment: Trends to look out for.
A recent study indicated, that years of experience and references are the least predictive way of assessing a candidate’s ability to do their job, as a candidate’s CV, can’t indicate who the best person for the job is, because it is not asking the right questions. Cognitive ability tests, structured interviews, and a site-specific/ work sample test (testing skills and knowledge on specific work-related practical tasks) will ensure the best result. Former Google’s head of human resources, Laszlo Bock says: “Resumes are terrible. It doesn’t capture the whole person. At best, they tell you what someone has done in the past and not what they’re capable of doing in the future.” Current recruitment and hiring don’t focus on any future capabilities.
There is a way to prepare your company for the way you hire for the future, even with uncertain economics and the rapid changing of roles, job titles, and responsibilities that may not even exist. The advantage of the future of recruitment will be focused on the framework you build that will change your talent acquisition and recruiting strategy going forward.
The recruitment process is changing rapidly, with more and more companies relying on AI and automation to help them with the hiring process. Now take a step back and consider the changes you would like to see in your recruitment, as these are the future recruitment trends:
1) Technology-driven recruitment processes:
The traditional way of recruiting has changed, and face-to-face interactions are no longer an integral part of the process. Companies are now able to streamline their current practices and provide room for future trends to ensure their hiring process is more efficient and effective. Current talent acquisition technology has sped up the process to connect with a candidate through different social network platforms (Careers 24, LinkedIn, Indeed, etc.). These platforms are a new way of recruiting through career boards of candidates, as there is an unlimited pool of skills and candidates and is a new way of reaching out to job seekers.
Technology within the recruitment industry can accelerate and facilitate business, by increasing the accuracy of the selection and procedure and in return saving time and money. Algorithms for creating a job listing will ensure that the best skill set for the company is matched and bias will be eliminated. Statistics have indicated that words like “enforcement” and “exhaustive” are likely to attract more men, whereas phrases like ‘transparent’ and ‘in touch with’ are more likely to attract women to apply for job listings. Data shows that about 60% of managers will decide on a candidate within 15 minutes, whereas more-experienced managers take even less time. Artificial Intelligence (AI) makes other assessments and will find people with profiles and skills people would normally overlook.
Chat-bots can ensure that using AI algorithms, a basic conversation can take place. These bots can be programmed to analyse key terms and initiate interactions with candidates, by asking them a set of predefined questions, which based on answers, recruiters can get a quality set of candidates.
Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) can sort through thousands of resumes and highlights the top candidate, helping the recruiter to narrow the talent pool. Data Management Processing (DMP) makes use of cookies to track visitors to your career page. This will enable a company to gauge candidate demographics. ATS is also used to store resumes of potential candidates. and conduct quick searches. An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software system that helps recruiters and staffing companies search through large databases of candidates based on their skills and soft skills. ATS systems typically use keywords, job titles, work experience, education history, and other criteria to help efficiently find qualified candidates. To do this effectively, the ATS needs to have a large enough sample of potential candidates. To have a good sample size, the ATS typically must be free, easy to use, and well-trafficked.
The future of recruitment is not just about finding the best candidate. It’s about finding the best candidate for your company culture. The future of recruitment is about understanding the individual and their needs to find a perfect match for both parties. AI technology can help recruiters find candidates with specific skills, interests, and personality traits to fill a role. AI tools can also be used to analyse how well an applicant matches the company culture and even predict whether they will stay with the company for a long time.
Video Interviews, after COVID, are nothing new, but video interviews can be of great benefit for the company as companies are using them to leverage facial and recognition technology for screening candidates. AI monitors the speech pattern, facial tips, and body language of the candidate, determining stress levels, and confidence, and improving performance tracking. Along with personality and skills tests, companies adopting this technology will be able to sort candidates whose personalities best match the company’s profile and culture.
The advantages are:
- Using technology tools to assist in selecting a talent pool, bias is eliminated, and more-objective hiring is ensured.
- ATS helps streamline the process, saving time and money.
- Using the correct wording (AI-generated) in job listings will ensure neutral language is used, as it can predict what words to be excluded to avoid bias.
- Beforehand screening and personality and trait test, ensures an increased insight into the candidate’s behaviour styles and abilities to adapt, to ensure a better culture fit and is aligned with the company’s recruitment strategy.
- Overall increased efficiency within the recruitment process by atomization.
- The ability to compare job seekers to be benchmarked with the top performers in certain positions within the company.
- Through video interviews, body language, stress levels, and other factors regarding the candidate can be analysed and compared to ensure the best-suited candidate is chosen.
Companies are slowly starting to focus on skills-based hiring and specific skills and competency requirements for jobs, rather than looking only at a candidate’s credentials. This expands the talent pool and allows internal employees the opportunity to be more visible within the company.
2) Global Recruiting:
A study from Deloitte indicated that there will be a huge skills gap between 2008 and 2028, which may leave more than 2 million jobs unfilled. At the beginning of May 2022, Careers24 had 11 805 available vacancies. This is one of many recruitment sites. Global recruitment will ensure that the best talent is recruited and with options like remote or hybrid working spaces, as the location in most positions is no longer an issue.
Widening your recruitment means that the company will have access to a vast pool of candidates and will enable the company to choose the best fit for the position. Something to keep in mind when following this approach is the effect it might have on your pay scale due to the location of the potential candidate.
3) Diversity and candidate’s expectations as focus points:
Now, more than ever companies are focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion. This can be done by including a new member focusing on diversity or it can be a part of the hiring strategy. To indicate the seriousness of candidates regarding this point, a study indicated that 52% of potential candidates indicated that they would be reluctant to accept an offer they got through the recruiting process without meeting any diverse employees.
What potential candidates are expecting:
Candidates must not only possess educational status but also have the right soft skillset for the position. As the millennial generation is most of the workforce, it has been indicated that they look for a working environment where they have creative freedom, to have a space where they can think and act.
Their work must be a safe place where more respectful workplace culture is intact. 80% of employees indicated that they prefer to work for a company that has the same value set as their own. Furthermore, transparency must be encouraged between the company and the employee as too much red tape- undisclosed information agreements indicate a lack of trust.
Employee well-being isn’t an employee benefit anymore but rather an employer’s opportunity to support/ negotiate a package that will support employees in all aspects of their personal lives, that includes emotional, social, and career wellness, especially during and after the pandemic. Research conducted by Paychex and Future Workplace, among 603 full-time workers found that 62% of employees stated that well-being benefits as a key factor when deciding to apply for a new job, or when considering new job offers.
What is your future?
The harsh reality is that employers are currently still using an old-school mind-set when it comes to hiring people, as they only take into account the CV of the candidate and not the candidate’s potential. In the future, the recruitment process for candidates will be a lot more efficient. AI will take over the resume screening and employers will be able to filter out candidates based on their skillsets. The application process would also become a lot more streamlined with AI-generated applications from candidates. that meet the hiring requirements. Businesses will be able to save time and resources by using AI to find candidates that are a good fit for their company positions.
Technology will further change the way people get hired, future trends must be embraced because a company will fail to adapt and grow it will stay behind. A great vision without great people is irrelevant. The future of recruitment is the door to ensure getting great people. The more a company can meet (or exceed) any potential candidate’s expectations, the more likely the company would be to attract the best people.
