7 minute read
Employers are tired of lengthy recruitment processes and handling mountains of C.V.s. Moreover, the job-seekers have different priorities and demands from companies. The future recruitment agents must merge these dynamics and come up with solutions that offers respite to both of the players.
Algorithms and AI
as gatekeepers
The recruitment process of the future will make use of digital infrastructure to efficiently manage the large amounts of data and candidates’ information. While there is a significant digital footprint already, companies are yet to fully exploit the advantages of machine learning and big-data analytics for hiring purposes. Besides the obvious advantages of efficiency and cost-reduction, the analytical tools will also help in eliminating human bias in the process. At the end of the filtration, only candidates who better serve the needs and requirements of the job will reach the interview stage. Companies recognize the importance of integrating technology to improve their recruitment processes. According to the Recruitment Marketing Index 2017, 70% of the surveyed companies had plans to invest in technology related to recruitment. Companies like Gild, Textio, Entelo, and GapJumpers are already using smart technologies for recruitment with traditional search firms like Korn Ferry the following suit.
This landscape revamps the traditional recruitment agency into a ‘digital hiring solution’ service providing software and machine based assistance. The companies of the future will seek the services of firms like NextHire to get them the best candidates. NextHire uses biometric data to ‘predict’ which candidate would be best in line with a predefined criterion. The shortlisting of the candidates is a result of an algorithmic analysis of their internet presence, online and behavioral assessments, webcam interviewing and big-data analysis. This way the company by doing most of the work already reduces the time, money and energy companies would otherwise devote to recruiting. Another company, TalentPool, founded by ex-PwC employees, collaborates on the same format by collecting a pool of CVs from numerous resources which are then filtered by their in-house filtering technology, matching them to employers who demand their skills. Till last year, the company ended up shortlisting a quarter of a million candidates for 300 employees in its two-year run.
Personal branding –
edging out the competition
The popularity of the software and AI does not mean that recruitment in the future will be based solely on machine-based analytics. While the algorithms succeed to filter the best candidates, the choice of the right candidate comes about out of human interaction. Companies and recruitment firms, instead of relying solely on the data, must use it to develop a more personal image of the candidates to recognize their potential better. With that in mind, candidates and those seeking jobs must also invest into showcasing themselves to edge away from competing for potential hires. Companies like IKIGUIDE offer such services. The company offers ‘personal branding services’ to improve the profiling of job-seekers and entrepreneurs. By standing out from the other candidates and better showcasing the skills and talents, the candidates have better chances at securing job offers. Better branding provides a degree of credibility in one’s potential, according to Tyra Bank, who taught a course on personal branding at Stanford earlier this year. In the course, students were made to recognize how important personal branding helped in attracting opportunities well-suited to aspirations, while also providing a competitive and valuable advantage against other players in the field.
‘Marketing’ oneself is nothing new. However, the emphasis of ‘branding’ is a significant innovation in this practice. The trend which is gaining momentum given its usage in unconventional interviewing practices like video based job applications offers insight on the new dynamics of the recruitment process. Instead of branding the company alone, the candidates too must invest in branding themselves to shine out. This future of such engagements hence will not be a robotic assembly of workers but a scenario where the personal trademarks will be highlighted and individuality appreciated.
The new attractions
in the gig economy
Marley Dominguez, CEO of Haystack Job Search, Inc. believes that the companies should be innovative in their approach when appealing to job-seekers amongst the millennials. This comes about especially due to the rising trend amongst the Gen Y to seek more ‘part-time’ jobs after work. People ‘need more money than they are being paid’ per futurist Faith Popcorn and hence want to work with many different companies at a time rather than just one. And this trend is obvious in statistics as well. According to McKinsey [&] Company, there are more than 162 million ‘independent workers’ in the US and EU-15 alone. Recruiters must come to terms with these new dynamics of the ‘gig economy’ and shape the process of hiring to suit their requirements better. This includes a swifter, less complicated recruitment process that does not demand too much time and effort from potential candidates. Moreover, companies seeking these candidates must offer a wide variety of on work perk as well as long-term traditional perks. Finally, companies need to be more flexible with their employees regarding engagements with other companies, using motivation and HR practices to ‘lure’ their energies back to their prescribed tasks.
Replacing recruiting
with recrutainment
The recruitment process of the future will ensure that the best candidates are hired. This choice will come about through an intelligent and elaborate system of analysis and assessments. To make the process more engaging to potential hires, and to best gauge them, behavioral experts are using innovative tools to screen hires. One such tool is the use of games in assessment tests. Professor Allen Huffcutt from Bradley University, while pointing out the issues with conventional recruitment methods where candidates can pre-plan answers, insists that ‘recruitainment’ is the way forward. By gamifying the recruitment process, quizzes, challenges, and quests can be shaped to check the candidates for behavioral and professional competencies. The games can be designed using neuroscience, psychology and behavioral economics so highlight the cognitive and emotional traits of the candidates. This, in turn, can give the recruiters a better understanding how the candidates will handle situations and how they will serve in their roles within the companies. This process can be employed early in the process so that only candidates with required abilities move forward. This is especially important when checking potential candidates for emotional intelligence which is now a major benchmark for recruiting. A survey by CareerBuilder found that 71% of 2662 U.S. hiring managers interviewed chose emotionally intelligent candidates over those with higher IQ when hiring.
Artic Shores, a recruitment agency offers companies games-based psychometrics which, they contest, helps candidates to reveal their strengths and potential to their employers fully. The games can be played on all platforms and require no previous knowledge on special subjects. This way, the candidate is not a victim to nervousness or information overload and can truly highlight themselves and their traits. Moreover, the games can also be designed to be more informative, making the candidates more aware of company culture and requirements and motivating and preparing them better for their interviews. Some of the companies who have already used gamification in their recruitment processes include firms like KPMG, Marriot, and Uber. The US army has a game as well to prepare potential soldiers on the environment and career opportunities the candidates would engage in. PwC also used gamification in their recruitment process, and per their own studies, there was a 190% growth in job candidates with 78% of the candidates who had completed the games were highly motivated to work at PwC.
