The Future of Talent Acquisition
While many countries are now slowly either easing out lock down regulations, or removing them completely, many have started looking for some sign of stability in the new normal. Now that the Covid-19 response phase is over, and governments are open for business activities to resume, we can expect to see companies moving to hire the best talent on the market, and prepare themselves for growth.
However, Covid-19 has changed how we attract and engage talent, and we cannot expect talent acquisition to stay the same. Moving forward, talent acquisition professionals and recruitment managers will need to identify and recognise how the pandemic has changed the recruitment landscape, and, in particular, how it has affected their talent acquisition processes.
We have identified some key questions that you need to ask yourself before starting up the talent acquisition engine.
- How has Covid-19 changed our talent acquisition needs?
- What implications does this have for our talent acquisition model?
- How can we leverage technology to enhance our new model?
- How do we effectively supplement technology with human interventions, where needed?
How has Covid-19 changed our talent acquisition needs?
First, we recommend you take a step back and consider your current talent acquisition needs. Covid-19 has impacted business models across the economy, and disrupted established ways of working. This will likely have an impact on
- What roles you need to hire
- What personalities/attributes you need to effectively fill those roles
One of the big threats is to simply continue doing what you used to do back in March, without taking into account how things have changed. You risk operating off an outdated mental model, and finding yourself with retention and productivity challenges because the people you hire are no longer the ‘right’ people for your current needs.
What implications does this have for our talent acquisition model?
Talent acquisition teams seem to have a love-hate relationship with technology. While the right technology solution can greatly improve efficiency and effectiveness of the process, it is also easy to get distracted by bright shiny objects that look good, but don’t add value. Some companies may even believe that talent acquisition teams solely rely on technology for the entire recruitment process.
HR technology has been one of the hottest spaces for a number of years. For example, we have ever more powerful Applicant Tracking Systems, screening tools, video interviews, and the like. At the same time, the ability to source candidates has changed radically, for example, with social media platforms gaining an edge over traditional job boards.
However, talent acquisition professionals need to be very careful when adopting and integrating technology into their recruitment process. Technology should help you achieve your strategy, rather than driving your strategy. Sometimes people fall in love with fancy tech, and build their processes around it. This is a classic case of the tail wagging the dog.
Instead, your talent acquisition strategy should drive your technology strategy. If you need to hire contactlessly because you cannot bring people in for interviews, you need to identify technology solutions for that. If you need to work remotely, you’ll need tools that enable seamless remote collaboration across your team. Once you’ve defined the precise needs, it becomes easier to navigate the plethora of technology solutions, and find the ones that give you the most leverage.
How can we leverage technology to enhance our new model?
Talent acquisition teams seem to have a love-hate relationship with technology. While the right technology solution can greatly improve efficiency and effectiveness of the process, it is also easy to get distracted by bright shiny objects that look good, but don’t add value. Some companies may even believe that talent acquisition teams solely rely on technology for the entire recruitment process.
HR technology has been one of the hottest spaces for a number of years. For example, we have ever more powerful Applicant Tracking Systems, screening tools, video interviews, and the like. At the same time, the ability to source candidates has changed radically, for example, with social media platforms gaining an edge over traditional job boards.
However, talent acquisition professionals need to be very careful when adopting and integrating technology into their recruitment process. Technology should help you achieve your strategy, rather than driving your strategy. Sometimes people fall in love with fancy tech, and build their processes around it. This is a classic case of the tail wagging the dog.
Instead, your talent acquisition strategy should drive your technology strategy. If you need to hire contactlessly because you cannot bring people in for interviews, you need to identify technology solutions for that. If you need to work remotely, you’ll need tools that enable seamless remote collaboration across your team. Once you’ve defined the precise needs, it becomes easier to navigate the plethora of technology solutions, and find the ones that give you the most leverage.
How do we effectively supplement technology with human interventions?
While HR technology and analytics have taken giant strides, most people would still feel uncomfortable relying solely on machines to screen and select candidates. There is therefore an ongoing need to combine technology with human elements. The future talent acquisition star will likely be a well-designed ‘cyborg’ – a judicious combination of technology to enhance the human at the heart of the process.
For hiring purposes, technology can offer many advantages. Let’s say you are an accounting firm, and you need to hire a new senior accountant. A few quick and easy searches on a few job boards and other platforms will give you thousands and thousands of candidate results. By using such technology, you can ensure you have a high quantity of candidates. Screening tools such as skill tests and personality tests can help narrow down the field, screening out those who are least suitable for you. However, technology alone cannot ensure the quality of candidates.
Technology can help you collect a multitude of datapoints about each candidate, but it is not best suited to decide which candidate will be the best fit for you. This is where we need ‘cyborgs’. The recruitment process equips professionals with not just technological tools, but also the knowhow to vet, screen and ultimately select the right candidate. As counter-intuitive as it may seem, the increasing use of technology needs to be matched by an increased upskilling of the humans at the heart of the process. Otherwise, we risk recruiting becoming a black box, where even the hiring manager cannot explain why certain decisions were made.
So, what do you need to do to adjust to the future of talent acquisition?
When times are tough, it is easy to do one of two things
- You cling to the old ways of doing things, almost as a security blanket
- You throw out everything and start from scratch
Needless to say, neither of these is advisable!
If you sit down as a team and soberly work your way through the four questions we highlighted above, you will be well on your way to creating a fit-for-purpose talent acquisition process for the Covid-19 age.
Think through your updated hiring needs, and decide on the right operating model. If you plan to work with external agencies, you will also need to map out your expectations, recognizing that how they operate may also have changed post-Covid. Companies need to recognise what external agencies can do vs what you need as a company in order to succeed. Companies will need to define their expectations, and external agencies will need to provide a strategy that can meet those expectations.
You cannot live without technology, but technology alone cannot get you through the entire hiring process. It will need to be integrated into the recruitment process in partnership with humans. Successful talent acquisition uses technology appropriately to support and strengthen talent acquisition and recruitment processes.
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