Firms using analytics to identify best fits and shortlist quality candidates
An organisation’s ability to identify, attract, and recruit the right talent when and where needed is the foundation for success. Getting the right quality talent, on time, has traditionally been an uphill task.
Organisations typically turn to job sites, referrals, and head hunters to source candidates. The first method does not usually help when it comes to identifying the right fit and usually brings in candidates ‘actively looking for a job.’ Employee referrals and head hunting give better results – as they are most likely to engage ‘passive candidates’ who are a good fit. However, these are time consuming methods and come at a higher cost. A study by Aon Hewitt, conducted in 2015, showed that the time to fill a mid-level position ranges from 30 to 60 days, and is more than 60 days for senior level hires for a majority of companies.
Organisations are, therefore, under pressure to look for new and innovative means of sourcing the right candidates. The urgency is even more pressing today, as the traditional methods are not only costly and time consuming, but they also fall short in engaging the ‘millennial generation.’ According to a study by the Hay Group, millennials are key to the sourcing strategy of organisations, as they are expected to constitute 75% of the workforce of the future by 2025. The millennials are ‘digital natives’ - tech savvy and always online, and the traditional recruitment methods do not intersect with the digital presence of this generation.
To gain a competitive edge in light of these changing dynamics, organisations are increasingly embracing digital and social media in their recruitment strategies. As is true for almost every industry and function, digital is radically disrupting recruitment. The key question facing organisations today is: ‘How do we best embrace digital to re-imagine recruitment and stay ahead of the game?’
Sourcing talent: Social media makes access to talent easier and also provides a rich repository of information on potential candidates. This information can be readily accessed and analysed to draw actionable insights. Companies are using non-traditional sourcing routes like posting jobs through tweets, sending details of job openings to their customers and organising technology competitions. By using social media platforms, not only can companies reach millions of candidates, they can also build in a level of personalisation that is not possible with the traditional sourcing tools. The personal touch enables deeper engagement with the talent pool, becoming a key differentiator for the industry leaders in a market characterised by talent crunch.
Shortlisting candidates: The digital disruption does not stop at sourcing. Talent professionals are leveraging data science and analytics to carry out targeted candidate shortlisting. Data science utilises candidate profile demographics and adaptive algorithms to match jobs with candidates, identify best fits and shortlist potential high quality candidates.
Data science has the potential of drastically reducing the number of candidates who need to be evaluated for a role - consequently cutting down on time to fill, and at the same time achieving high candidate quality.
Identifying the right fit: The traditional tool for identifying the ‘right fit’ is the job interview. This is time and cost intensive, and does not provide a high degree of confidence in the candidate’s ability to perform. Many organisations are now moving to gamification based talent spotting solutions. A gamification approach utilises elements of game play to build real life work context in interactive games within which a candidate’s skills are assessed. When applied to organisational settings, this application of gamification is also called ‘serious games.’
What’s next? As digital transforms recruitment processes and lightens the administrative burden, the HR teams will be able to focus more on strategic imperatives. This will also call for new roles and organisation structures which allow the HR organisation to work seamlessly with other functions such as marketing, analytics and IT to drive digital recruitment.
Hindustan Times New Delhi, 12th July 2016
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