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It is no secret that the candidate experience is getting a little automated these days. The human experience, for example reaching out to the candidate in different steps of the screening and hiring process, have been always done through personal contact, be it in person, on the phone or through an email.

Now recruiting technologies are in the works that are capable of sending out automated messages to update curious candidates and where they are in the hiring process. As time and technologies are changing recruiters, HR and managers are adapting to new ways, but also sprucing up their old gimmicks.

 

Going Digital

With the move toward computer recruiting systems and big data, algorithms will also allow recruiters to search through a large number of applicants they receive for any given position and find specific experience to fit the mold.

There is a constant bout of tug of war between what is going well now and what could be different and more efficient but before you get too worried this is not happening anytime soon. There is a lot of work that needs to be done with the technology.

However, technology will require HR and recruiters to be more calculated. In a report for the Society of Human Resource Management, William Tincup, a recruiting technology expert said that, “humans will still need to do the more qualitative stuff.” He also thinks that, “The technology will free recruiters to spend more qualitative time with candidates and hiring managers. Robots will not strategize, not for a long time.”

“It’s important to note that the future of AI is based on the tool getting smarter over time as more people interact with it. “The first years will not be that great,” Tincup said. “But it will get smarter via the users’ behavior. There is no ceiling for knowledge. The technology will take data, put it together and keep learning. But it will not displace recruiters.

 

Keeping it Old School

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Online job finding sites like Indeed and CareerBuilder allow the job seeker to plug in their resume.

Rishi Thussu, CEO at EvenRank claimed in a 42Hire post that, “Recruitment consultants will go out of business. Business managers and teams will take direct control of hiring. They know best the kind of profile and cultural fit that works for them. Recruitment will be driven entirely by technology and algorithms but the human touch will continue to be an important enabler in facilitating this process.”

But my questions is – will managers at these businesses have the time that recruiters take to find the best fit?

I for one think that the human experience in hiring is extremely important. I would much prefer initial contact so that I could learn about the company’s culture and any other intel from a third-party source who has been there and talked with instead of only having information from a job posting online or having a brief interview with a hiring manager – it’s just not engaging.

Recruiters are essentially selling a company to a potential employee. While it could take a little longer, the progress ensures a good fit for a company and even the candidate.

HR specialist, Yen Tran suggests that a recruiter walk a mile in their shoes of the candidate regarding their experience and how they want to be treated or employed in a 42Hire article.

She says that “recruiters need to have a marketer mindset and consider candidates as your target customers.”

 

Skills versus Education

Recent conflict among recruiters hiring on candidates now falls to the skills candidates have acquired along with the time and job experience they have received which are now preferred over the education that candidates are receiving for the respected job or field.

Filters can also be placed on postings to defer recruiters from spending extra time on searching through spam and people that don’t have the requirements or qualifications it takes to do the job according to their work history.

With intelligence technologies computers and software can now sift through applications and find matches based on algorithms we are moving away from where recruiters are seeking out candidates for a job, now the algorithms will allow the job to find the candidate with postings and filters instilled.

 

Referral based hiring

Not only is it cheap, referral based hiring allows recruiters to skip the sourcing and prescreening steps allowing potential employees to get in directly with client companies. Referrals that are qualified but also engaged and active with the help of a recruiter certainly have an advantage over passive candidates that have been idle in the talent network.

Using referred candidates also has many other benefits to the workplace. Upon starting them at a workplace these referred employees continually prove to have better longevity, success and job knowledge upon starting somewhere new.

 

The solution?

For now, it is to find the best fit for the company whether it be from the picture-perfect resume, someone with a stellar attitude and education or a referral from someone else at the company. There is no right or wrong way in how you decide to recruit but there are ways that will save you money and time in the end and that is also up to you. With the evolution of time, there will also be the evolution in recruiting technologies, strategies and recruiter-candidate reactions so make sure that it is genuine and any work done is done so with intent.

Recruiting 05.09.17