Digital recruiting technologies have become quintessential components in a modern HR’s arsenal. From tools that help HRs source good candidates to those that fast-track the onboarding process – to stay competitive, HRs have to embrace the growing role of technology in recruitment. What has brought this shift of outlook towards hiring and concerned recruitment technology? There are two main reasons:
- There is an increase in digital savviness among the current demographic of job seekers. Candidates now prefer to engage with organizations digitally for their hiring process.
- Potential candidates are now being bombarded with job offers on apps and platforms they frequently use. The chances for competing offers are higher than ever.
In this blog post, we discuss why legacy recruitment processes need the boot and three emerging technologies that should replace them.
What are the shortcomings of legacy hiring processes?
Legacy HR systems are no longer compatible with the mood of job seekers. Candidates now expect a quick turnaround time with their applications and assessment. Therefore, companies that use traditional hiring processes are often left wanting. We elaborate on the three primary reasons for this state of affairs.
Lengthy job application forms have become outdated
The application form is the first interaction of the candidate with your organization. Repetitive, long, or complicated forms can deter candidates from submitting their information. But in a bid to get maximum information for shortlisting, companies that use the traditional job application process, often have applicants fill out lengthy forms.
However, present-day job applicants find it tedious to spend time filling up their details, especially if they are applying for multiple jobs. This is a reason why LinkedIn’s Easy Apply feature, has seen a rise in popularity. It is estimated that 35–45% of job seekers get a job application with Easy Apply.
Therefore, make the application short and to the point without compromising on the data required to make an informed decision. Wherever possible, use digital recruiting tools to provide auto-fill options and resume parsing. Also, ensure your applications are mobile-friendly as the majority of applicants today conduct a job search on their mobile devices.
Slow resume screening
Resume screening done slowly can delay reaching out to the candidate with further steps. This leaves the candidate open to competing job offers. In some cases, if the team takes too long to respond to the candidate, there is a risk of them becoming frustrated or disinterested. This may even lead to sharing their negative candidate experiences with others.
One of the reasons for the slow screening process is manually reviewing each applicant — even the unfit ones. This can be solved by having an updated digital recruiting strategy that focuses on using digital tools for resume shortlisting. Doing this will makes sure that good candidates do not slip through the cracks, without HRs having to spend a lot of time on profile evaluation.
Manual reference checks
Reference checking is a mandatory part of the hiring process. But if done manually, HR teams have to communicate with the given reference via back-and-forth emails. This is always a high resource-intensive exercise that requires the time of multiple HR team numbers.
By leveraging digital recruitment technology, many parts of the process can be automated and sped up considerably. Automating the process will also allow candidates to provide their references with required surveys, which can be completed within an agreed timeline.
Top three tools to create a robust digital recruiting strategy
Digital recruitment tools automate the hiring process by using emerging technologies, like artificial intelligence and machine learning. They allow HR professionals to eliminate manual tasks, such as posting job advertisements, screening candidate applications, conducting pre-screening interviews, and sourcing the best applicants from across the world.
These tools can also automate candidate communications, manage applicant data, and create excellent collaboration opportunities in your organization. In a nutshell, using new recruitment technology increases the speed and accuracy of finding qualified applicants while keeping the candidates in the pipeline engaged throughout the hiring process. Below, we highlight three such tools that work best for modern recruitment needs.
AI-enabled virtual assistants
AI-powered virtual assistants play a crucial role in making the recruitment process easier while improving the candidate experience. When coupled with a whole suite of AI-powered services, virtual assistants are one of the most valuable digital recruiting tools.
The virtual assistants analyze the candidate’s application and identify common patterns to come up with a response — just like a recruiter does. They use natural language processing (NLP) to communicate with candidates using conversational text messages. They can also conduct pre-screening interviews by asking multiple-choice and open-ended questions. Once an applicant passes the pre-screening test, the virtual assistant can automatically schedule the applicant’s interview with the recruiter — saving HRs hours in their week. Plus, candidates do not have to wait for status updates.
Video interviewing tools
Video interviews aren’t a new trend. But the recent shift to remote work due to the pandemic has cemented video interviews as a vital part of the digital recruiting strategy. Not only do they simplify the hiring process, but they also provide a positive experience to candidates.
With video interviewing tools, recruiters can also conduct face-to-face video interviews with job applicants irrespective of their location. They are also cost-efficient as they reduce the overall hiring costs.
Many companies have also started incorporating automated video interviews for the first round of screening. This makes it easy for the HRs to do an initial screening according to their availability. The experience is also great for the candidate, as it removes the uncertainty of whether they would be able to showcase their talent or not.
Video interview tools also make it easy for recruiters to collaborate with different stakeholders by enabling them to leave comments regarding the interview, as well as rate candidates. These tools can also analyze an applicant’s facial expressions, speech patterns, moods, and personality traits.
Employee onboarding tools
Employee onboarding is a crucial part of a new hire’s journey. It grooms and engages the new team member, so they become productive members of the company. However, the employee onboarding process needs to go digital, just like other aspects of recruitment.
With effective onboarding software, HR professionals can streamline the overall process and simplify hiring in the best possible way. From assisting new employees with paperwork to helping them with training videos — it can help recruiters provide the best hiring experience while tracking the employee’s progress.
How does new recruiting technology help the talent acquisition team?
The competition to get the best talent is tougher than ever. Talented employees have an array of options when it comes to jobs, and in a bid to get the best talent, companies are open to going above and beyond industry standards. In this scenario, emerging technologies like AI are a great boon for the talent acquisition team. Here are some ways in which new recruiting technology is helping the hiring team.
Programmatic job advertising
Programmatic job advertising is the process of purchasing, pacing, and optimizing job ads using technology rather than by actual people. It harnesses the browsing data of your candidates and targets the ideal demographic across the web.
It also uses complex algorithms to show the right ad at the right time, based on the probability applicants will positively engage with the listing. This prevents organizations from overspending their budget on creating wrong ads that might target no one or the wrong audience.
Automated candidate sourcing
Finding top-quality talent is one of the biggest challenges of the hiring process. To overcome this, organizations can now use artificial intelligence, big data, and HR predictive analysis to automate their sourcing process.
This new recruiting technology helps identify the right candidates for the job on different platforms (job boards, career sites, social media, etc.) based on experience, skills, performance, tenure, and turnover rates. Additionally, it can send personalized messages to candidates in the pipeline to keep them engaged.
Applicant rediscovery
Good candidates are often shelved in the hiring process. Reasons include clashes in joining windows or disconnect in expectations. If opportunity and requirements allow, reengaging with these ideal applicants is a great way to optimize the hiring process. They already know the company and have already shown interest in the organization.
Recruitment technologies can rediscover talent from the existing candidate pool and allow you to get in touch with them. This can prevent you from spending a lot of time and money on getting fresh candidates on the register.
Remote hiring
Hiring remote workers has become non-optional after the pandemic. In a survey, 60% of respondents preferred hybrid working models, while 32% want to work remotely full-time. However, organizations have to face many challenges when hiring remote workers, such as facilitating easy assessment, conducting face-to-face interviews, overwhelming onboarding processes, and so on.
The process can be greatly simplified by using AI-powered recruitment tools that can streamline the overall process. For example, a pre-employment assessment tool can assess an applicant’s personality, skills, and organizational fit. Once selected the new hire can be provided with a seamless onboarding experience using AI-powered onboarding tools.
Employee referrals
Employee referral programs are one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways to get that top talent through the door. Referred new employees are often a better organizational fit, and are more likely to remain in the company for longer.
HRs can use AI-powered employee referral tools in the recruitment process to identify the best fit in an employee’s network. It can also be used to automatically engage with the applicant and the employee who referred them.
Diversity hiring
Diversity hiring is becoming a hot topic in today’s talent landscape. A diverse workforce not only improves innovation and creativity but also boosts employee happiness, productivity, and retention. It also increases your workforce’s skill-set, talents, and experiences.
However, with diversity hiring comes unconscious bias among employees — which isn’t always easy to ignore. This is where AI-driven recruitment solutions and a robust digital recruiting strategy can help HR professionals hire a diverse workforce while eliminating bias and discrimination.
Summing Up
In today’s recruitment landscape, finding top-notch talent without the right technology is difficult. Delaying embracing new recruitment technologies will set back the organization’s goals by years. HR professionals must invest in new-age smart recruitment technologies to improve communication capabilities, boost the productivity of recruiters, and supercharge hiring efficiency.
