Leading enterprise organizations are turning talent acquisition software with new intent above maintaining a competitive edge in their industry. The long-term goal? Resilience in the face of unpredictability.
HR leaders are in a unique position in the wake of COVID-19. The unpredictable past year forced many organizations to quickly pivot in response to frequent global changes. Both admin and strategic tasks changed as workplaces went remote.
HR leaders are primed in a good position for technology investment as the global economy slowly recovers. The pandemic applied initial pressure to digitally transform HR processes and that momentum isn’t slowing down.
To keep a seat at the table, HR leaders need to continue demonstrating their department as a strategic function that impacts the entire organization – through their people.
The changing perception of HR in 2021
One of the greatest shifts of the past year has been the understanding that Human Resources can implement meaningful change for people in an organization. Sage Intacct’s report Changing perceptions and expectations of HR reported that 72% of HR leaders also say the crisis has helped them demonstrate both their value and increased understanding of HR’s role.
Seen as the people management department, the majority of HR leaders felt the C-suite was previously unclear on the value their department brought to the overall organization.
Many people still view HR as being more process-driven team rather than strategic direction for a company.
One of HR’s main significant impacts is seen through their talent pipeline. People are what make the difference in an organization, bring innovative ideas, and help develop leading enterprises.
During the shift to remote work during the pandemic, leading HR teams have been able to expand their use of AI hiring technology as they virtually grow their workforce. In order to keep discovering best fit candidates, companies will need to rethink methods of screening and vetting to truly commit to forming a representative workforce.
Three important 2021 recruiting trends
Here are three key 2021 recruiting trends that are important to your organization’s post-pandemic rebound and how talent acquisition software can help.
1. Turning intelligent insights into talent strategy
How can AI help innovate your recruitment process? Talent acquisition software helps HR teams make more efficient and fair talent decisions, as well as reducing the load of administrative tasks to make time for meaningful strategic work.
AI-enabled teams are more effective at gaining insights from data for strategic initiatives. Data is an invaluable resource, but connecting the dots can often be a time-consuming and complex task. AI for recruiting software can identify qualified candidates with an algorithm that learns from the wealth of information already stored in your ATS.
These could include reduces company attrition with more accurate hires, reducing time-to-fill with automated workflows, and more proactive rediscovery of quality candidates from the past.
According to LinkedIn Insights:
- 67% of recruiters and hiring managers say AI saves them time.
- 47% report it reduces human bias in the hiring process.
- 31% believe it delivers better candidate matches.
Without time spent screening resumes, recruiters can better focus on building meaningful relationships with qualified candidates and higher value strategic work.
AI steps in to screen thousands of resumes and intelligently grade applicant qualifications to build a shortlist of your organization’s ideal candidates. With this shortlist, recruiters can better develop pipeline in sync with company needs. Building a more accurate and diverse pipeline would be a game-changer for global organizations with high volume hiring needs.
2. Candidate experience is increasingly important
The current state of candidate experience across Fortune 500 companies is not meeting candidate expectations. In the ever-competitive job market which has expanded exponentially further in the era of remote work, finding the best candidates and keeping them engaged is even more critical.
Phenom’s 2021 State of Candidate Experience benchmark report “chatbots that answer questions and present relevant jobs have been found to double candidate leads and increase job apply rates.”
The global leader in talent experience management found the majority of companies are not leveraging automation and AI to improve the candidate journey. This is surprising, even with the digital revolution accelerated by the pandemic and shift in candidate expectations.
You may be asking, how does AI bring personalization to the candidate experience? It seems counterintuitive that machine learning provides better personalization than a human.
AI can provide tailored recommendations on career pages for the best job openings. Recruitment chatbots ask applicants a series of questions to gather more qualifying information and better build out their application. AI-powered chatbots also increase the conversion rate on career sites, adding even more potential applicants to the ATS for instantaneous screening and matching.
Chatbots and automated emails also serve as touchpoints for eager candidates who are looking for any sign of how their application is progressing. Talent acquisition systems can automatically trigger assessments and coordinate scheduling for further interviews, serving both the candidate and recruiter by automatically progressing the acquisition process.
On the recruiter’s end, AI-based talent acquisition software helps improve their productivity and leave time for more personalized contact with shortlisted candidates.
3. Diversifying your recruitment strategy
Diversity and inclusion in the workplace are now an organizational imperative, especially after the events of 2020 with direct calls to action to major corporations. Employees now expect results and progress reports addressing systemic issues within their company.
Many of these cycles of discrimination are results of unconscious bias, which requires more than internal DEI training. HR leaders are rethinking their talent acquisition strategy, with a clear focus on increasing the diversity of their workforce.
Increase the fairness of your hiring decisions by starting with a more balanced talent pool. AI tools help reduce bias in every step of the recruitment process, starting off with blind screening of applicants that focuses on the candidate’s qualifications, experience, and skills.
Hiring remotely also offers the opportunity to cast a wider talent net and hire talent outside of your immediate geographic area. Companies are now hiring talent from a range of backgrounds who bring new expertise and fresh perspectives to their teams.
Leading organizations will always leverage cutting-edge technology to attract, engage, and retain the best talent. After the events of 2020, it’s clear the most agile and innovative companies are the ones who can stay ahead of the curve.
Reach out to me today to talk more about how AI-based talent acquisition software fits into your technology stack and your post-pandemic talent strategy.