Technology is a key tool for hiring, enabling recognition of the best candidates, streamlining the process and helping to refine the way that matches are made. The combination of new technology and increasingly sophisticated hiring strategies has started to revolutionize the way that we recruit. Even the challenges of a global pandemic have not stopped this momentum – in fact, the increased use of tech in recruitment as a result of Covid-19 has served to drive an even faster pace. This, together with a need to think outside the box where recruitment is concerned has created a new hiring landscape – these are the three major trends defining that landscape and transforming the recruitment process today.
Predictive analytics. Data analytics has an increasingly important role to play in recruitment and a lot to offer when it comes to ensuring that the best matches are being achieved. A range of different criteria, from education to past experience, can be used to help drill down from thousands of applications to find the right people. Employers have the potential for much greater insight into whether someone is going to be a great hire thanks to predictive analytics and recommender systems. This could not only make hiring much more efficient but also reduce the risk of a bad match and the associated costs that can be generated by having to repeat the process again. Recommender systems that employ predictive analytics can reveal a lot, such as whether candidates are actively looking for opportunities, and create selective lists of individuals who would be a great fit for an available role.
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Natural language processing (NLP). NLP is an element of artificial intelligence that focuses on the way that computers and humans interact using the natural language. It’s a field that is constantly developing and which has the potential to transform the way that we approach hiring and the outcomes that we can achieve. NLP instruments can take the time consuming process of manually reviewing applications out of human hands, speeding this up and making it much more efficient as well as improving the potential to find the best options. Where this is combined with voice recognition it can be used to evaluate interviews. Plus, it has great potential with respect to communicating with candidates and delivering customized contact when used with chatbot tech.
Acquisition-driven hires. This is also known as “acqui-hires” and involves acquiring a business with a view to getting access to its employees, as opposed to control over its products or services. This is a fairly dramatic method of talent acquisition but one that can be incredibly effective. Those choosing to go down this route for the purposes of recruitment need to have some fairly robust measures in place to ensure effective cultural integration takes place in the aftermath of this kind of large scale talent acquisition.
The way in which we approach recruitment is changing, fast. The impact of technology such as NLP and predictive analytics obviously has a big role to play but so too does outside-the-box risk taking such as making acqui-hires.