The talent landscape is almost unrecognisable compared to the industry I joined well over a decade ago. Then, my primary ‘tools’ were a phone and a phonebook. Later came email. It’s easy to wonder how we ever got the job done. Today, we’re asking the same question but the challenge is altogether different. It’s no longer about the limitations of available tools, instead we face a tech-driven tool explosion and the question becomes: how will talent professionals do their jobs in the digital age?
It’s the topic on the lips of every talent professional and one we recently discussed at the HRO Today Forum APAC event. We know that the industry is embracing tech and are looking to do more. But as more and more tools are released, the task of learning how to make the most of new technologies becomes more complicated by the day.
A delicate ecosystem
There are a number of existing tensions in the talent ecosystem that complicate this question further. Internally, there’s a mismatch between the experience and expectations of hiring managers and recruiters. 61% of hiring managers believe recruiters have only low to moderate understanding of the job, while 81% of recruiters believe their understanding is high or very high. What’s more, 50% of recruiters believe hiring managers need to do a better job of communicating what they’re looking for.
At the centre of all of this is - of course - the candidate. Here, the stakes for the business as a whole are even higher. 83% of candidates say they would never apply to an organisation again if they have a bad candidate experience. And the main thing candidates want? More contact. Nearly a third of candidates report that their application isn’t even acknowledged.
The impact of a bad candidate experience doesn’t just stop with the loss of individual talent. It’s connected more than ever before to the organisation’s reputation and brand as reports of negative experiences disperse rapidly through online and offline networks.
Amplify tech’s impact at every stage of the recruitment process
HR tech promises to help diffuse these tensions. While the recruitment process has often been perceived as heavy on ‘process’ and light on value-add for the organisation, targeted use of tech can help shift that perception. Making this work for your organisation’s talent strategy and budget means considering how each of the six stages of the recruitment process can be augmented by tech.
From enhanced job-profiling and engagement opportunities to gamified assessment and onboarding, there’s now a product willing to take on the grunt work at every step of the recruitment life-cycle. Talent professionals can capitalise on the automation of aspects of the process by re-focusing their energy on the critical relationships and milestones in the process, from building out the job profile with the hiring manager all the way through to seeking feedback on the successful candidate’s time to impact.
As HR functions are looking to become more agile and more attuned than ever before to business needs and the candidate experience, tech will be an invaluable partner. Even if it’s a partnership I could never have imagined I’d be part of when starting out.
You can download the slides of our presentation in the HRO Today Forum here.
