The combination of historically low unemployment and increasing business demand has put pressure on organizations to find ways to bring in more candidates and get them through the hiring process efficiently.
Automation has helped with this, making applying for jobs often as easy as pushing a button on an app. But with ease comes more volume. This just adds to what 52% of talent acquisition leaders say is the hardest part of recruitment: identifying the best candidates from a large applicant pool. Businesses must be ready to review of all these applicants with scalable, efficient processes that ensure a positive experience for both candidates and hiring managers.
Artificial intelligence as a recruiting solution
Companies are increasingly leveraging AI to fast-track the hiring process and reduce, or even remove entirely, the need for time-consuming tasks like manually screening resumes. Nearly all Fortune 500 companies use automation to help with hiring processes, according to CNBC, which called it the “future of employment.” And a 2017 survey conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder found that more than half of HR managers believe AI will become a regular part of human resources by 2022.
Adam Godson, Cielo’s Senior Vice President of Global Technology Solutions, points out companies are now automating tasks such as job posting, resume/application review, interview scheduling, and candidate assessment.
“Many of the subprocesses that can be automated rely on AI techniques like machine learning and natural language processing,” Godson says. “For example, intelligent resume matching with AI can be a useful way to quickly review a large volume of applicants or to quickly search through a large database for relevant matches.”
Automating such tasks frees up hiring managers to spend more time engaging directly with employees and focus on more complex, strategic tasks. These could include anything that helps keep the “human” in “human resources,” such as providing a more personalized interview experience and establishing training and mentoring programs.
Godson recommends that organizations segment job candidates based on categories such as current employment status, skills, career goals, and salary expectations. In today’s candidate-driven job market, this enables recruiters to personalize the hiring process, better connect with candidates, and ultimately find the right one for the job.
“While it can be tempting to automate things for efficiency, the best way approach it is actually to design experiences from a candidate lens,” Godson says.
One way organizations can do this is to use journey mapping, which involves creating a visual representation of a candidate’s journey. This captures all of the different interactions a job seeker has with a brand throughout the hiring process. Employers will then be able to better understand candidates’ needs, improve candidate experience, and persuade job applicants to say yes to their offers.
Godson says recruiting process automation initiatives are perfectly suited to organizations that are hiring the “same profile over and over again, and also tends to suit jobs with fewer qualifications rather than niche jobs with complex requirements that may be difficult to discern.”
Hourly hiring recruitment
These high-volume recruiting tools have proven quite effective in the area of hourly hiring, especially in helping organizations find large numbers of seasonal workers. Low unemployment rates, as well as the rise of contract and temporary work, means that candidates are able to choose the organization that gives them the best experience.
“There are a number of different options people have for hourly work,” says Greg Summers, Cielo’s Executive Vice President of High Volume RPO. “The likelihood of success in finding seasonal employees is going to be much more challenging when you consider where the unemployment numbers are and some of the other gig work people can do instead.
Regardless of the season, organizations that can find and engage talent with an easy hiring experience will be the ones that stand out among the competition.
Tierney McAffee of HRO Today contributed to this article.
