Emerging technologies are streamlining the recruitment process.
The improved economy has translated to an increase in job openings. According to LinkedIn, 56 percent of talent acquisition leaders say their hiring volume will increase in 2017. These gains have created a candidate-driven market, making it harder for recruiters to compete for talent. Many companies are hoping that emerging tech can enhance the hiring process. In fact, Deloitte's 2017 Human Capital Trends Report asserts that "the accelerating pace of technology offers a dizzying array of new solutions" that can assist talent acquisition.
But how big of a role can technology really play in recruitment? Quite a bit, actually. A 2017 survey from CareerBuilder reports that 72 percent of employers expect to automate several elements of recruitment within the next 10 years. Nearly one-third of the 1,010 talent acquisition and HR professionals responding to the survey said they plan to automate the centralization of candidate profiles (31 percent), interview scheduling (30 percent), and search of third-party resume databases (29 percent). Another 27 percent expect technology to aid how they request candidate feedback from hiring managers, and one in five anticipates that emerging tech will help automate continuous candidate engagement.
All that illustrates the growing reliance on applicant tracking systems (ATS), which are used by all sizes of organizations to sift through large volumes of job applicants. If you're familiar with customer relationship management tools, ATSs are a close comparison. Here's how they work: A resume runs through a parser that assigns meaning to the content by scanning for specific words and phrases. Just like a search engine, systems rank applicants by keywords (skills, job positions) and filters (location, education). Candidates are then mathematically scored for potential fit.
CareerBuilder also found that 37 percent of companies plan to automate how they archive candidate applications—organizing and saving resumes to search through for future job openings. That is to assist with what ATS Ideal calls "talent rediscovery." Hiring managers receive more than 250 applications on average for high-volume roles, says Ideal, but 65 percent of those resumes are completely ignored or neglected once the position has been filled. Based on sheer volume, recruiters are sitting on a gold mine of potential candidates in their ATSs. So, even if an application wasn't the right fit for a certain position, they can query the system later and pull up an application for a different position. Some of those even might be candidates for which organizations already have paid to source and spent time screening.
Social media also plays an integral role in scouting potential applicants. Forty-three percent of respondents in the SHRM study said that they use social media to screen candidates, and 44 percent agree that a candidate's social media profile can provide information about work-related performance. In addition, more than a third (36 percent) has disqualified a candidate because of information found on a public social media profile.
Along with social media, mobile recruiting is gaining momentum, with more hiring managers demanding mobile functionality from ATSs and other recruiting technologies. According to LinkedIn, 72 percent of active candidates have visited a company's mobile site to learn about career opportunities, and 45 percent of candidates have applied to a job via a mobile application. Yet SHRM finds that fewer than one in four career websites or job postings is optimized for mobile users, and only 36 percent have a mobile-enabled job application. Also, a mere 21 percent of companies use technology specifically designed for mobile recruiting. Clearly, there is opportunity on this front to engage more candidates.
Finally, technology is helping organizations shift their focus from checking credentials to confirming skills during the hiring process. Deloitte finds that more than a quarter (29 percent) of the global business leaders it surveyed are using games and simulations to attract and assess potential candidates. For instance, many organizations are turning to job simulation software, which can improve hiring by giving candidates tasks they would do on the job.
Savvy recruiters need to embrace new talent acquisition technologies. But that doesn't diminish the human element in the recruiting process. Deloitte reminds hiring managers that as technologies take over some of the basic, time-consuming tasks of sourcing and evaluating candidates, they can "add value by building psychological and emotional connections with candidates and constantly strengthening the employment brand."
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