As the digital economy expands its reach and influence, more and more industries are feeling its transformative impact.
The world of recruitment and talent acquisition knows this impact all too well. Immense changes throughout recruitment have been taking place for the past few years.
Recruitment used to be defined by a culture of bulk emails and non-specific job boards, an age of “spray and pray,” if you will.
The introduction of web 1.0 and platforms like LinkedIn meant little care was put into the recruitment process. The heady rush of casting a wide net to quantify talent acquisition resulted in the loss of valuable interpersonal skills.
The maturation of digital technology has led to a paradigm shift. Today’s workplace is defined by increased connectivity and global mobility. This has changed not only how leadership views their workforce, but also how recruiters manage their recruitment processes.
Hiring has become immensely competitive.
This increasingly competitive job market has encouraged candidates, giving them a larger platform to advertise their skill sets to the highest bidder — or in some cases, the companies that best reflect their culture.
Technology’s frenetic pace means many recruiters must work harder to stay current. Simply managing the rapid advancement in recruitment technology is a job in itself. So, we’ve done the hard work for you.
Below, we outline the latest innovations in recruitment technology.
1. Social recruitment
There is no denying the power of social. What once served as a simple news sharing platform has transformed into an integral aspect of recruitment in the digital age. Today, recruiters are turning to social media to diversify their candidate pool and attract top talent.
While social recruitment currently serves to complement traditional recruitment processes, in time, social recruitment will become the norm. But to effectively employ social media as a recruitment tool requires careful planning and research.
Once you’ve defined your objectives and your target audience, choose your platforms carefully.
Each channel is served by certain demographics. Visual channels like Instagram are more suited for creatives like graphic designers, whereas Twitter has a large database of IT and tech professionals.
It’s also important to leverage social data to assess a candidate’s fit. Tools like Google Alerts and Radian6 allow you to monitor candidates to determine their fit for an opportunity.
Hashtags are also a great way to recruit campaigns and find candidates for open positions. Using a unique and memorable hashtag will allow you to specifically promote clients and make it easy for candidates to find your job openings.
2. Predictive analytics
A key component in many industries, recruitment included, predictive analytics is helping talent acquisition teams to make more data-driven decisions. As the future becomes more machine-driven, so will recruitment.
Predictive analytics addresses many issues that currently plague the recruitment process. Namely, the inherent biases, inaccurate assessment of shortlisted candidates, and sourcing.
Predictive analytics optimizes hiring models, creating for smarter processes that have a significant impact on the speed of hiring, the ability to collate the large data of volume coming in, and the quality of hire.
Analytics enables recruiters to source candidates more efficiently and effectively. With increased global mobility comes a greater need for cultural intelligence. Predictive analytics eliminates inherent biases from current hiring processes to overcome discrimination.
This allows recruiters to monitor where improvements can be made to address diversity and inclusion.
3. Artificial Intelligence
Considered a buzzword for many years, today, AI or artificial intelligence has transformed into a technological marvel across every domain.
In recruitment, AI is playing a vital role. It offers numerous services, leveraging the science of machine learning to automate recruitment processes in a smarter, more efficient way.
Recruiters are under constant pressure to improve quality of hire, contain costs, and deliver value and volumes to clients in a more efficient and effective manner. AI software programs and tools address these constraints.
Integrating AI into every level of talent acquisition allows recruiters to focus on what’s really important: fostering genuine relationships with top quality talent.
Key software programs that can provide a positive ROI include applications like Beamery, HiredScore, Randrr, and mRoads. Chatbots, another AI-assisted program, is also fast becoming an important tool to aid in speeding up the hiring process.
Each application mentioned is designed to aid in talent acquisition, creating candidate insights that enhance the candidate experience.
Similar to predictive analytics, AI applications can help recruiters save on time, money, and resources while preventing the possibility of a bad hire or inherent biases.
4. Marketplaces
A recent trend in talent acquisition, recruitment marketplaces like RecruitLoop serve as platforms for employers looking to connect with recruiters.
Unlike conventional recruitment channels, recruitment marketplaces make it possible to work with the right recruiter to fill open positions.
Supported by machine learning, marketplace dynamics offer a data-driven process that results in
Recruitment marketplaces are also a most cost-effective approach to filling particular jobs thanks to reduced administrative requirements, vendor management, and competitive placement fees.
For recruiters, marketplaces address the numerous inconvenient recruitment systems that they must manage.
Rather than managing job boards, background check vendors, core recruitment systems (think ATS), and candidate assessment across various platforms, a recruitment marketplace centralizes this tech menagerie into one manageable platform.
By turning to a centralized platform, recruiters can still effectively address the complexities and competitiveness of talent acquisition without the integration pains. A centralized ecosystem increases productivity, reduces costs, and extends reach.
5. Gig economy
The introduction of the sharing economy has given rise to the gig economy. Empowered by the opportunity to freelance, more and more professionals are saying goodbye to the traditional career path and turning to a more gig-based lifestyle.
This rise in freelancing has created a war for talent as recruiters scramble to adopt new recruitment technology to keep pace with demand.
Recruiters will need to reframe their thinking when seeking out candidates in the new gig economy. The increasing rise of remote candidates will require recruiters to find a new approach to technology.
Cloud platforms, social media integration, mobile-compatible strategies, and Skype interviews or VR video conferencing are all key components of accommodating a more remote workforce.
With skill shortages driving a more diversified workforce overseas and towards the gig economy, recruiters must increasingly augment their recruitment approach with technology that benefits both recruiters and freelancers alike.
Recruitment marketing software is another opportunity for recruiters to manage and attract talent in the gig economy. By using a multi-channel approach that’s socially and mobile compatible, recruiters can engage and nurture candidates regardless of geography.
A brave new world
As evidenced by the technological trends presented, the traditional recruitment process may be nearing its end.
Despite the rise of AI-assisted software, mobile and socially integrated platforms, data-driven decision making, and analytics-focused results, talent acquisition will always have a need for human operators.
While the world of work continues to rapidly evolve thanks to the maturity of digital technology, the future of recruitment will continue to remain human. Recruiters are still the main catalyst for driving candidates towards the best roles.
But by keeping a pulse on the latest technological trends and upskilling with recruitment training courses, recruiters can augment their skills and knowledge.
This allows recruiters to remain relevant and to enhance their ability to attract top talent, extend their reach, and become more effective at managing these new technological processes.
Author
Caitlin Mazur
Caitlin Mazur is a freelance writer at Zippia where she has written 140+ articles that have reached over 1 mil viewers as of June 2023. Caitlin is passionate about helping Zippia’s readers land the jobs of their dreams by offering content that discusses job-seeking advice based on experience and extensive research.
