The landscape of recruitment is constantly evolving, driven by changing trends, technological advancements, and shifting societal values. In this article, we will take a look at the main drivers of change and explore some of the challenges facing recruitment consultants today.
At Oliver King Consulting we have our fingers on the pulse, monitoring new trends and changes in the recruitment industry. We will work with you to make sure that any negative aspects of your recruitment process are eliminated, ensuring the best candidate experience. We get to know your business and team inside out, building a recruitment process unique to your business. So if you need help with recruitment, contact us or book an appointment so we can discuss your requirements.
Recruitment and technology
Just as in other professions, recruitment has been affected by the advance of technology. The process of recruitment, from posting the position initially to finding the right candidate for the role used to be time-consuming and complicated. In the past, recruitment was more of a manual process. Jobs were advertised on company notice boards, in newspapers or industry magazines, and posted on cards in the window of the local Job Centre. Job seekers had to complete an application form, or send in a paper CV. They may not hear back from their prospective employer for weeks, or even months if a large number of candidates applied.
An alternative was to hold open days, which were more suited to a recruitment drive for a number of vacancies rather than a few, but these were costly for companies to advertise, organise and man, sometimes bringing parts of the business to a grinding halt. Job fairs still exist today, where a number of employers and the local council come together to try to boost employment in the area.
But now, although the process of application, interview and offer is still fundamentally the same, technology has driven the evolution of recruitment. Individual jobs have higher numbers of applicants and the whole process is speeded up. Today, the majority of our lives are conducted online, and the recruitment process has had to adapt to this online revolution. Technology is used throughout the process, from the initial posting of the position, right through to the offer itself. New methods have evolved for advertising positions, finding suitable candidates, assessing skills and interviewing those lucky enough to reach the shortlist.
Advertising a role
Long gone are the days of writing an advertisement for a local or national newspaper. Advertising has moved online to attract a wider pool of suitable candidates for the lowest cost to a business.
Job search engines e.g. Indeed. They find vacancies for job seekers by using algorithms to crawl thousands of websites, from job boards to recruiter websites, and then list the results. They work in a similar way to Google searches.
Job boards, for example, Totaljobs. Recruiters or employers post vacancies on the site. Prospective candidates can also upload their own CVs, which gives recruiters the opportunity to find high-calibre candidates who may not be actively seeking a new position and therefore not responding directly to job postings.
Online newspapers and industry magazines have replaced their paper versions, so the whole process is speeded up.
Social media. Social media platforms have enormous reach, with Facebook alone attracting almost two and a quarter billion users. LinkedIn is a platform for professionals and therefore is a popular choice for both prospective employers and candidates.
Finding the right candidate
Because of the enormous reach of social media, applications are not limited to the locality of a company. Indeed, they can come from anywhere in the world because all it takes is an internet connection to be able to apply for any open role. The lasting effect of the pandemic on working practices, especially working from home, means that the geographical limitations of having to work from company premises have been eliminated. This has completely opened up the job market and given recruiters a wider choice of candidates than ever, simply because workers don’t have to live in close proximity to their office premises.
However, this also has a downside. Recruiters are flooded with applications, and a bigger pool does not necessarily result in a higher calibre of candidates. Because job seekers can easily find out more about their prospective employer, they can tailor their application to suit the values of the company as well as the requirements of the role, making selection more difficult. Therefore, one of the biggest changes in the recruitment industry has been in candidate selection. This used to be a process of elimination by comparing qualifications, skills and experience listed on a paper application form or CV. AI can go through more job seekers in less time, with a complete lack of bias. It simply matches applications against a specific set of criteria to find the best fit for the role on paper. However, where AI falls down is in finding the right person with shared ethics and values of a company. This is important in today’s recruitment landscape where companies are working hard to improve their recruitment process for diversity, equality and inclusion.
Applicants are now using smartphones for their job applications. From the initial search to pushing the button to apply for a position, the convenience of a mobile phone is changing the recruitment landscape as recruiters have had to adapt their processes to ensure a streamlined candidate experience through mobile technology.
The pandemic has also changed job interview methods. Face-to-face interviews are being replaced by remote solutions like Skype, Zoom, Microsoft Teams or even Google Meet. In an interview with The Telegraph, Maggie Hulce, senior vice president at Indeed explains how the company had to react quickly during the pandemic, working with the NHS to hire nurses and other staff. One of the major changes was virtual interviewing, which started through necessity because of lockdown rules, but has continued since because it is both quicker and easier than face-to-face interviewing. She also highlights the change from sifting through CVs or application forms to using screener questions. Both of these changes in recruitment methods have streamlined parts of the process, speeding it up for both sides.
Employee expectation changes
Professions change over time as they adapt to new working practices, evolving technologies and societal shifts in perception and expectation. As new generations join the job market their perceptions of work may be different from their predecessors, affecting change in the recruitment industry. The ‘millennial mindset’ has been one such driver, with the recruitment process having to adapt and evolve to meet the expectations of this new generation hitting the job market.
Because of their familiarity with the internet and the convenience of smartphones – having everything they need at their fingertips – millennials are very aware of the benefits of the internet. Rather than having a job for life, or a more traditional career trajectory, if a position is not fulfilling or meeting their needs, they simply move on to something else. This has led to new ways of thinking about recruitment like the employer brand, making a business more attractive to candidates by aligning values and vision. We examined this concept in our article ‘Taking a human approach to Recruitment.’ The candidate experience has become more important, as many job seekers will simply move on to apply elsewhere if their experience of the recruitment process is too slow and impersonal.
Flexible working is at the top of the agenda for this generation so offering a competitive salary is just not enough to attract a high calibre of candidates to the role. Employers have had to think outside the ‘pay and benefits’ box to include extras in their job offer, such as flexible and remote working, gym memberships, days off for charity work etc. Employee expectations have evolved as the societal perspective of what constitutes a job has shifted, and the landscape of work has had to adapt to accommodate these changes. Eploy has written an interesting article about how the recruitment process has changed over time.
The future of recruitment
So, what does the future hold for the recruitment industry? Although it evolved quickly out of necessity during the pandemic, automated processes are here to stay, streamlining, speeding up and simplifying the recruitment process. This is especially beneficial in the early stages, as repetitive tasks can be automated, leaving the recruiter more time to communicate with candidates. Some recruiters already use automation or AI for tasks such as:
- Job posting
- Advertising vacant roles
- Interview scheduling
- Confirming receipt of applications
- Notifying unsuccessful candidates
- Candidate screening
- Matching criteria
According to an article in The Telegraph, a recruiter uses on average 24 different digital tools, and this trend is set to grow as the process becomes even more streamlined, reducing the time taken from posting to hiring, which currently stands at 90 days for skilled workers. The process itself will become even more efficient and effective, as well as responsive from a candidate’s perspective. By replacing the first interview stage with online screening, recruiters can save both time and money drilling down to candidates that are the best match. The quicker this happens, the more communication with the right candidates will be highlighted, leading to a richer candidate experience, while the recruiter spends the most time on what really matters, focusing on the candidates who best match the role and the company’s values.
The candidate experience is already part of the recruitment process, but because it is about their behaviour and feelings during the recruitment process, it is helping to improve it. A positive candidate experience can also bring benefits to the prospective employer through word of mouth on social media.
As AI has been used more extensively in the screening process, it has brought to the fore the need to eliminate unconscious bias from the recruitment process, relying instead on matching data. This will only increase in importance as diversity, equality and inclusion remain high on the agenda. But it is important to remember that AI is here to help and enhance the recruitment process, not to take it over completely. The human element is still very necessary, but if is it focused in the right areas, there are benefits for both recruiters and candidates. The evolution of recruitment will not stop. It will continue to adapt and evolve according to the needs of the market, employers and candidates. At Oliver King Consulting, we work with you to make sure that your process keeps pace with changes in the recruitment industry. If you are thinking of hiring or need help from an experienced recruitment consultant to put an effective and streamlined recruitment process in place, contact us to find out how we can help you to achieve it.
