The last 12 months have placed an even greater pressure on organisations to be more agile in their processes than ever before, and talent acquisition (TA) is no exception. The technology driving TA is moving quickly, and with that, TA has an opportunity to be different: to deliver at the speed of the current market, instead of lagging behind.
Investing in a flexible, future-forward HR tech infrastructure, one that allows for easy connections and data flow will be crucial in the coming months and years. This is why now is the time to evaluate whether your TA technology is working for you.
The right TA technology can significantly improve processes across your organisation’s talent acquisition function; allowing you to pinpoint precisely where the talent is and move that talent into your business with speed. It can also add a great deal of value to your HR team: enhancing both the hiring manager and candidate experience and aiding your DE&I strategy.
Change can be difficult, as can securing funding for new technologies, but understanding how to approach conversations about a tech-enabled talent acquisition process will help you to secure backing to evolve your delivery model.
One area that all too many TA strategies fail to meet expectations on, is that of adequately catering for the nuances of the APAC region: leading to poor adoption, and unsatisfactory return on investment (ROI). If you want your global talent acquisition technology to work for you, ensuring impact in APAC is critical.
Intelligent Automation in Talent Acquisition
One of the biggest trends to hit talent acquisition in recent times is intelligent automation (IA). With this, we are seeing consolidation of some of the larger players in the technology space, particularly around core applicant tracking systems and candidate management products.
Products are expanding their footprint, with more choice than ever before; the once ground-breaking video interview, by modest example, has evolved intelligently into video interviewing complete with on-demand scheduling.
From the somewhat daunting array of cutting-edge technology available in the realm of talent attraction, we are seeing digitalisation take centre stage. And it is a welcome and necessary change.; so long as organisations use it wisely.
For intelligent automation to be truly effective in boosting the impact and ROI of TA strategies, it is crucial to link all automation efforts to business processes and outcomes. It is also critical that the human element is not lost. In screening and communications, for example, the right balance of automation and human engagement could help ignite a candidate’s passion for an organisation; create a commitment to show up for their interview and improve the probability of them accepting a job offer.
Where automation can really make an impact is in executing non-human tasks: in moving data, and in management of workflows; anywhere that faster and more efficient processes can free up TA and hiring manager time to speak directly to candidates.
Shaping the consumer journey
The stakeholder experience is more important than ever before. Websites are back to being important as desktops are now more widely used because of remote and home- based working, and well deployed TA tech offers users the chance to choose their recruitment experience – making the process as automated as they wish it to be.
Transparency and access are also big news here: through these digital advances, hiring managers have access to real-time data, while candidates have control over their data and visibility as to where they are in the recruitment process.
Talent attraction technology is giving candidates more decisions over what they would like their experience to be, allowing them to feel more engaged in the process. As for the APAC regions, TA tech is enabling multi-language translation. But that cannot be where it ends.
It is a pain-point universally acknowledged that APAC countries are not always consulted prior to the selection of global talent platforms. As a result, these platforms are rarely configured to suit local needs; entirely counterintuitive for a system designed to improve and evolve the hiring process.
Many of these tools and technologies originate in the West, and so fail to apply in a local context – leading to low adoption rates from APAC regions and, in turn, poor ROI. Which makes it harder to secure future financial backing for the latest round of technologies. It is a cycle that urgently needs breaking.
There is a new breed of global talent platforms that allow organisations to configure for specific cases per country. For these to be effective, however, it’s essential that when identifying hiring problems and pain points, the conversation is a global one, had in consultation with each region in which a company operates.
Ensuring successful global adoption
For global implementation to be successful you need the right resources: expertise covering all regions that TA tech will be deployed in. And not just subject matter experts. We are talking project managers, legal teams, sponsors, marketing professionals. And if you do not have access to in-region tech resource, it’s time to bring in local external expertise.
All countries have different requirements, and when you understand what those requirements are, you can design solutions to support those differences. Where regional nuances are concerned, one size really does not fit all when it comes to talent attraction.
In a recent webinar run by Cielo on implementing TA tech in the APAC regions, Kumar Bhaya, VP of Client Services for APAC spoke of how countries within the region often get the ‘budget version’ of change management. His advice? Do not let it be an afterthought. He called for better training initiatives and impact assessments from companies looking to introduce global talent platforms.
To drive return on investment and ensure complete adoption it is essential to manage change from the very beginning, on a global scale. This must go beyond a few emails and e-learning sessions. When it comes to global deployment, ‘Go Live’ should not be the end point: the best buy-in comes when local champions are allocated to continually improve processes.
Tapping into the nuances and geo-political factors of the APAC region is critical. Compliance regulations differ vastly around the globe, data hosting in particular. It is essential to understand where you are operating, involve your legal teams, and identify vendors who can host data in these locations.
Scott Allan, Director of Talent Tech Solutions went on to comment that there are also monumental differences in candidate behaviour, and expectations around candidate experience. If you are hiring in China, for example, utilising ‘WeChat’ is non-negotiable. Candidates may be unlikely to respond to email, so making sure your TA process is mobile enabled is a must. There is also an expectation around speed. If you are not able to move quickly, you are going to lose talent.
Candidates, particularly in APAC countries, expect a consumer-grade experience. Your TA processes must be designed for speed and efficiency. Use automation to drive this wherever possible and use your people to nurture the relationships.
Where assessments are concerned, once again these need to be fast, consumer-grade and more visual. Instantaneous feedback, complete with invitations to schedule an interview right away is vital. Leave an APAC candidate waiting for a few days and consider them lost.
Modern-day talent acquisition technology can completely revolutionise your approach to both local and international hiring when deployed correctly, but you have got to make it count. Take the right steps, meet the right needs, and never overlook crucial cultural nuances.
The future truly is global.
Choosing the right global partner
With over 2,000 TA tech solutions on the market, any organisation with a global presence should be looking to partner with a vendor who is there for the long-term. A vendor with the resources to be agile, and to bring a roadmap to life.
Cielo has global capability, with complete local insight. Operating across 103 countries, and speaking 39 languages, our Recruitment Process Outsourcing solutions make global talent attraction easy.
To find out more, get in touch today.
