Is there a best practice when using AI in hiring for telecommunications roles?
Our director of business development, Diego, actually has a Bachelors in Telecommunications Engineering. We’ve been working with companies in the space for years. Hiring can be tricky in telcom because there are dozens of potential roles, from strategic in-HQ operatives all the way to field service reps. How do you make sure you’re maximizing your hiring process?
First: know the trends
Customer experience is a huge trend in telecommunications for 2019 and beyond. Consumers have more choice, but also more devices — and those devices are increasingly connected. They want to go with a provider who gets that and who meets their needs when those needs arise. Blame Amazon if you want, but we increasingly all live in an “on-demand economy,” and telecommunications is not an exception to that. With the rise of 5G tech too, we’re getting closer to a reality of Internet of Things fully at scale, as well as virtual reality and other tech. Consider this too: 37% of respondents in a 2018 Deloitte survey on telecom now have unlimited data plans. Merely a year before, that was 25%. There’s an insatiable appetite for mobile data, and that’s going to drive new revenue streams in the industry.
Second: know the roles
As you look at your business and where it’s headed, know the roles you need. Deloitte has actually predicted 370,000 new telecommunications jobs may come open in the next five years, including:
- Telecom engineers
- Installers
- Repairers
- Customer service/experience
- Project managers
- Data analysts
- Data scientists
- Telecommunications specialists
Job role is crucially important to a well-functioning organization, so get that right. Know what you need and know what fair market compensation in your area for said role is. Once you know the roles, it’s time for the fun stuff: hiring!
Third: hiring in telecom
First up: yes, we sell recruiting software, so we’re obviously going to tell you to use recruiting software. But in reality, you absolutely positively need to use recruiting software. Tech is a force multiplier. It allows you to scale what you’re trying to do.
Some ideas:
- Use AI for screening to make finding and winnowing candidates easier. With AI software, you can screen every single candidate. You can also grade candidates in real-time, which is also not normative. That grading process happens within your existing ATS.
- Use chatbots to communicate more effectively with candidates, because lack of effective communication is usually how the best people drop from your hiring process.
- Use candidate rediscovery to find the “old gold” of your ATS: qualified candidates from previous open roles who didn’t quite make the cut then, but could be a great fit now. That saves you time and money.
Telecom’s future is bright
5G is going to be huge. It could be industry-redefining, and revenue may well flow freely. If there is a recession in the next 24-36 months, analysts have predicted top young talent may exit from conventional “tech unicorns,” who often lack a stable path to profit, and into industries with more conventional recurring revenue. Hello, telecommunications!
If you’re about to get an influx of A-Players wanting to work with you, make sure your hiring processes are operational. Hiring at scale works best with a combination of recruiting software, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.