We all know that technology can be used extensively during the hiring process – to engage with potential workers, build talent communities, interview prospects, and more. The possibilities are endless, but what’s the best way to harness technology and win today’s war for talent? Here are eight things employers should reconsider about the way your business uses technology when recruiting:
Be smart about the smartphone
These days, making a website truly mobile friendly means viewing the entire experience through a smartphone user’s perspective. If users have to click dozens of times to navigate or pinch and zoom to view it, or respond to dozens of questions, candidates will more than likely drop out.
Furthermore, bringing the entire application process onto a mobile device may not work as well as focusing on a key aspect of the candidate journey. That’s why savvy HR professionals replicate and view the experience for themselves on their smartphones, to make sure it’s as seamless as possible.
Look beyond traditional HR platforms and applications
While job board and professional social media applications are useful, there’s a new kid on the block – a series of emerging technologies that combine social media with recruitment. Take Work4 as an example. By combining data on an indivduals education and work experience with behavioural information on the things they’ve shared, read, watched or liked, they can target ads for open position – reaching candidates who are not actively looking.
Also, remember that it’s easier to meet jobseekers where they already are, rather than insist they try something new. This is the strategy behind the recent use of WhatsApp and Viber for recruiting. Although not designed specifically for recruiting, these apps are used by millions of people. They can be very effective for reaching Millennials and the coming Gen Z, in particular.
Get quantity and quality
If you enable jobseekers to seamlessly search and apply for your open positions on their mobile phone, you’ll see an increase in the number of applications you receive. That’s great – but technology can do so much more than that. Not only can it increase quantity – but it can increase quality too.
In the future, new technologies will leverage an organisation’s big data on their most successful employees, using natural language processing and machine learning. By feeding this information back into the mix, the technology will create a customised screening tool that identifies candidates with the highest likelihood of success.
Do not rely solely on video interviewing if diversity is a priority
Certain demographics are uncomfortable with video interviews. That means it’s important that employers carefully consider how they use technology during the interview process, to ensure everyone’s on a level playing field.
From both the candidate’s and the hiring manager’s perspective, video makes it much harder to look a person in the eye during an interview. Giving candidates a few options on how the interview can be conducted will allow them to exert more control over the process, gain confidence and shine.
Be part of the solution
If your organisation does choose to harness video interviewing, be sure to give all candidates hints and tips on how to succeed. Empower them, by offering video tutorials on how set the stage, perform their best, and use the technology. You could place these on your company website, or send them directly to the candidate through text, email or a phone call.
An alternative way to use video is to ask candidates to record a clip of themselves outlining why they’re ideal for the role. This will give them the chance review, troubleshoot and re-record as many times as they need, until they’re comfortable with the finished result.
Use technology to build employer brand
These days, it’s quite straightforward to obtain metrics on the success of online advertising campaigns. So, during the hiring process, organisations often evaluate the effectiveness of a given channel purely based cost-per-applicant. While this is valuable, it’s important not to forget the value that technology can add in broadening the reach of the organisation’s brand message.
From Facebook career pages that synchronise with the company’s career website, to creating video content for various platforms. HR recruiting technologies can be used to bring corporate values to live and show what it’s really life to work. In particular, ‘A Day in the Life’ videos of real employees can convey far more about what it’s like to work at an organisation than even the most eloquent of job description.
Let a bot be a bot
Organisations are increasingly using artificial intelligence during the early part of the hiring process, to have preliminary conversations with prospective candidates through a chatbot. It’s an attractive progression for organisations that seek a responsive, low-cost means of answering and asking questions of candidates. But it comes with risks attached.
Your chatbot needs to be schooled in the language, values and concepts that are important for your organisation. This will mean it’s able to represent your company in the most appropriate way. At the same time, you also need to be open and transparent that you’re using a bot. Honesty is the best policy. A chatbot masquerading as a human being is sure to undermine the employer’s brand and credibility.
Avoid the shiny object; hire an expert
Technology changes at lightning speed. By the time you finish investigating and evaluating all the recruiting technologies that are available to you, chances are that a new crop of options will be available. Choosing wisely is essential.
Working with an innovation expert can help a company identify the best tools for achieving their business goals. They can ensure they seamlessly integrate with your existing technology platforms; and optimise how they’re utilised and embedded in your organisation. Even experts agree that it may require a process of trial and error — a series of small, quick and inexpensive failures that can ultimately produce the best results.
How employers use technology at every stage of the recruitment life cycle sends a powerful message to today’s candidates. Those companies that proactively respond to candidates’ technological preferences, rather than fight then, will ultimately win the war on talent. Find out more about what candidates need, want and expect from technology during the hiring process. Download our whitepaper – Swipe Right: Candidate Technology Preferences During the Job Search
