Future of Recruitment
Looking at most Industries, the Digital Disruption is real and has transformed traditional Industries and Businesses significantly:
Uber takes over Cabs, Print Advertisement is pretty much a Thing from the Past and with more digitally related jobs on the rise 9-5 hardly exists anymore.
But whilst so many Customer Experiences are now so much better and seem so much more seem less, the Question is:
Where is the Evolution in Recruitment?
The Pain Points of finding the perfect Candidate are still the same: Companies need to hire new Talent but of course can't think of anyone suitable Top of their Mind. So they post an Ad on various Career Sites and hope to find them through one of those Job Boards. This actually might be the only slight improvement the Industry has seen – going from a once a Week Paper Ad to a Digital Ad that can be targeted to the relevant Talent group.
Issue however still is that qualified Talents are usually happily employed and not looking for a new role, hence are not looking on Job Boards either. Having said that, 75% of Professionals are open to Opportunities but how would they know about them if they don’t check out Job Boards? Yes, the Struggle is a vicious circle and is real.
This is usually the Point when Agency Recruiters come into play as they are expected to have the magic Book with the ready to Candidate who fit the Brief and Culture perfectly and are ready to jump Ship. Let me tell you now once and for all – there is no such thing as a Black Book with ready to go Candidates) for the thought after Hire.
Don’t get me wrong - they certainly do have a great Network of Potentials and know what’s going on in the Industry as Networking, Connecting & Screening is their Bread & Butter as well as the Ability to consult with the Candidate that this Job is the right move for them in their Career and close the Deal.
However, this Service comes with a Price (for a good reason though) – it takes Time and Effort, a ton of Rejection and being ignored even more often to build up this glorified Database and Network, Knowledge and Skillset which can’t be studied like most other Professions but just learned on the Tools.
With the Lack of Talents especially in up and coming Industries and Professions, the Power shift from Employer to Employee is getting more and more visible and still, not enough Attention is paid to improve the Candidate Experience.
This often just means small Changes as Lack of Communication and not knowing where the Hire Process is at are the biggest Pain points for Candidates. However, these can be fixed fairly easily, like by sending Notifications of not having been successful for this particular Role, continuous Communication afterwards to keep in touch for future Opportunities, updates on Company Projects, News and Achievements to stay Top of Mind to also maybe get referred to the unsuccessful Candidate’s Network and so on.
Whilst there is Talk and Development about Artificial Intelligence and Predictive Analytics in Recruitment to judge whether a Candidate will perform in a future, not yet existing role and all those other fancy and sophisticated Attempts to change the Process, we should start with the Basics: building a Relationship with future and current Staff on a Level that is authentic and resonates.
All this requires is being on Channels where they are, providing compelling Content that engages with Messages that are relevant to them.
Social Recruitment is often considered as the Answer to all those Issues and whilst it can be, it often gets confused with simply posting a Job Ad on Facebook … well, that is quite off the mark.
Being Social means taking Part in a Conversation that already happens.
Doing it in an authentic, transparent and relevant Way is what will change the traditional Approach of just Cold Calling and Poaching.
So be honest with yourself - is your Team still recruiting like it’s 1990?