(Editor’s Note: Today’s post is brought to you by our friends at iCIMS, a leading provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) talent acquisition solutions. The iCIMS Talent Platform was recognized as a 2014 Cloud Computing Excellence Award winner by Cloud Computing Magazine. Very well deserved! Enjoy the post.)
Sometimes I wonder if waiting for the “Next Big Thing” has become a new sport. Earlier this month at the HR Technology Conference, I felt like people were waiting for this clear signal of “Next Big Thing” in recruiting.
Whenever I feel that way, I have a tendency to start at the basics. Like with a definition. Even when I know the definition. It helps me focus. So, recruiting is defined as the activity of enrolling, hiring, and/or engaging a person either in an organization or as a supporter.
After three plus days of educational sessions and expo hall conversations, know what I realized? We all hold the key to the “Next Big Thing”. Instead of looking for it to happen, we need to make it happen ourselves.
- Refocus our recruiting goals and strategies. The fundamental goal of recruiting doesn’t change. It’s to hire the best people in the most effective and efficient way possible. The first part of the sentence doesn’t change. We will always be looking for the best talent. But the second part – effective and efficient – is always changing. That’s why we have to find solutions to scale our efforts. Including recruiting technology solutions as part of organizational goals sends the message that talent is a “Big” deal within the company.
- Rework the use of tools such as mobile, social and video in the recruitment process. By now, we understand that video, social and mobile are not fads or trends du jour. It doesn’t matter how much we personally use them. Our recruiting strategy must include them. HR departments have a real opportunity to usher in the “Next Big” wave of engagement with mobile recruiting, social sharing, and video interviews.
- Revise our hiring policies and practices. If we’re going to refocus our strategy and rework the tools, then it’s obvious we have to revise our policies and practices. With the help of an applicant tracking system (ATS), we can streamline the hiring process. We can also create a more collaborative hiring environment. Building high performing recruiting teams will be “Next” on the minds of senior leaders as the search for talent continues to get tougher.
- Refine the candidate experience. There’s lots of talk these days about the candidate experience – and with good reason. The candidate experience impacts the bottom-line of the organization. What candidates think of your organization impacts who applies, who gets hired, who takes care of the customer, and therefore how well the company performs. The candidate experience isn’t a “set it and forget it” strategy. Smart organizations will build talent networks to keep a constant pulse on what’s “Next” with talent.
- Redefine employment metrics and data. I had a boss who always said, “What gets measured gets done.” It’s a slight variation of the famous Peter Drucker quote. We have to make sure our methods are successful. Using data from our recruiting technology allows us to establish the metrics we will use to define success, evaluate our progress, and make adjustments as necessary. Technology takes the excuse “It’s impossible to determine those numbers.” off the table.
What’s great about this approach is we can do one of these, all of them or a combination to create the “Next Big Thing” for our organizations. If your organization already has recruitment technology in place, then it becomes a question of stepping up your game.
- Should recruiting goals be updated?
- Are we maximizing the use of our technology?
- Is the candidate experience the best it can be?
- Can our recruiting teams perform better or faster?
The “Next Big Thing” in recruiting starts with you.
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P.S. Want to see how recruiting technology can create the “Next Big Thing” for your recruiting efforts? Join me and Holly DeMuro, Hire Expectations Institute Curator at iCIMS, on Thursday, November 13 for a webinar on “Increasing Productivity Using HR Recruiting Technology”. Details and registration information can be found here.
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Ewa says
Mobile is definitely going to be the way to go, and it impacts many other points you mentioned: it streamlines the candidate experience and makes collecting metrics extremely easy. Companies which invest in the mobile now are bound to have a considerable hiring advantage.
Sharlyn Lauby says
Thanks for the comment!
Raluca Bodkin says
Regarding mobile, it’s really surprising to see that it’s still not fully here, at least not as Social Media is. I mean, if we’d all think about how many more passive candidates would be targeted if a website were responsive. Most people don’t go home to sit yet again in front of a computer screen, but take their tablet and sit in bed. And not that many people know about the “Request desktop site” option in their browser.
Sharlyn Lauby says
Totally agree. Thanks for the comment.
Patrick Hart says
This is a great article with some most excellent insight. I would like to add though, as technology evolves and companies look to become more “effective and efficient”, I have found that many recruiters are losing their personal touch. Recruiting isn’t based off of how many emails we can send each day to potential candidates our how great our ATS software might be. We have the chance to change peoples lives for better or for worse. Instead of sending mass emails, we should be picking up the phone, dialing numbers and building relationships. I am often reminded by my grand-father of how he came up in the recruiting industry without email, internet or job boards. Hand written letters, phone calls and personal relationships; these core fundamentals should never be forgotten no matter how far new technologies take us.
Sharlyn Lauby says
Thanks for the comment Patrick. I agree that the personal touch is important. For me, the personal touch can be accomplished with technology. The goal is communication. A well-written email can be more beneficial than a bad handwritten note. And the email may be the preferred communication medium for the candidate.
Delores Lyon says
Thanks for sharing this! It really is so incredible that technology can do things like streamline the recruitment process for businesses. People can post applications online, and help businesses get more applications. It would be nice if my company also had a software like this. We hire all the time, and I feel like we spend way too much time sifting through job applications!