The Evolution of Recruitment in the Digital Era

Technology has fundamentally changed the way recruiters and hiring managers do their jobs. Here are 3 ways tech is already impacting the hiring process:

Applicant tracking systems and artificial intelligence

Technology has revolutionized recruitment, profoundly changing how employers and recruiters find potential candidates. Applicant tracking systems, for example, and new AI software, is designed to help HR departments manage the massive influx of resumes they receive daily.

But, while technology can offer easy solutions, it often has a way of creating new problems in the process. AI-powered systems can do a great job sorting through candidates, but the risk is that non-traditional candidates or candidates with unusual experience that might be a very good fit could fall through the rules-based system, even one that learns and improves with ‘experience.”

While applicant tracking systems might be the most obvious way technology has impacted recruitment, it has changed far more behind the scenes.

The Big Data Renaissance

Businesses can’t get enough of big data – and it’s certainly valuable in recruitment – but it is possible to have too much data. And, considering that over $203 billion may be spent towards big data in 2020, it doesn’t look like companies will start taking a more minimalist approach anytime soon.

More data is not always a good thing if you don’t know what to do with it, according to experts. Knowledge is power, but in the wrong hands or with the inability of how to use that knowledge, it can have detrimental consequences.

Hiring a data scientist or analyst to help make sense of these massive stockpiles of information is a considerably wise strategy, as these job roles also serve to maintain the software and hardware used to collect and store the data. Otherwise, businesses run the risk of finding themselves with more data than they know what to do with, which can create more chaos and waste resources.

Reaching global talent

Technology hasn’t just made it easier to apply to jobs, it has also made it easier for businesses to find qualified candidates anywhere in the world. Recruiters can now scan job boards and professional network sites, like LinkedIn, for qualified candidates with the right skills – without the limits of geography.

According to research from Global Workplace Analytics, it’s estimated that nearly half of the US workforce holds a job that is “compatible with a least partial telework” and that 20 to 25 percent of the workforce “teleworks at some frequency.” Meanwhile, 80 to 90 percent of the US workforce says they “would like to telework at least part time” for two or three days a week.

With so many eager candidates looking to telecommute, it makes it easier for recruiters to reach out to candidates they may have overlooked due to location. And it opens a recruiter’s reach to find professionals with a specific skill set that they can’t find locally.

Recruiters are no longer limited to newspaper distribution and a file of known candidates; this means tapping into a significantly larger talent pool, a more diverse pool – both of which help the competitiveness of companies and expand their abilities to innovate and service customers.