Attracting suitable talent in the era of new tech disruption

The recruitment industry has completely evolved over the past 20 years.

New technologies have transformed the way employers recruit and manage talent. From paper CVs to job boards, applicant tracking and e-assessments, a lot has changed over the years.

While new technology offers some solutions to challenges that employers faced a decade ago, the industry is ever-evolving and recruiters today are dealing with new challenges when hiring the best talent.

It cannot be gainsaid that all top companies struggle to get their workforce planning correct, not knowing when to ‘buy, borrow, build or bind’ the skill.

This can be very costly, from time, money and emotional perspectives.

Studies show that a wrong hire, rushed recruitment, or the exit of a high-performing employee costs an organisation three times the annual salary of that position on average.

This is a terrifying expense. Recruiters must, therefore, ensure that their companies attract the right talent and that they have succession plans for all levels.

Before the internet and social media took over, job listings were posted in newspapers. The reach of these postings, however, was limited.

The recruiters in many instances had to settle for less qualified people to fill open roles.

As technology advanced, the recruitment and selection process not only allowed job seekers more options to find careers, they enabled companies to streamline their hiring processes.

Thanks to technology, organisations now receive hundreds, sometimes thousands of resumes daily through various platforms.

This being a golden era where technology solutions are taking the HR professional to an entirely new level, massive improvisation in HR technology and modernised workforce solutions have come in handy to provide desirable employee experiences and improve sustainable performance.

This need for high-quality digital HR experience has created true disruption to a domain that has been relatively stable for decades.

It has, in turn, piled pressure on organisations and HR leaders to improve business performance through innovation.

However, it is also true that harnessing technology without investing in other parts of the HR functions cannot result in optimum business results.

It is perhaps in recognition of this reality that BrigherMonday introduced a new solution called ‘BestMatch’, designed to make the process of finding the best candidates more efficient.

The tool uses a mix of HR experts and automated matching algorithms to sort and rank candidates that best match the criteria an employer is looking for in a role.

The mix ensures that science and experience are combined effectively for recruiters to get the very best out of the candidates that have applied for the role.

This saves time for employers, and for those that are not too tech-savvy, to ensure they can get access to the best candidates efficiently.

BrighterMonday also recently held an HR workshop dubbed ‘Talking Talent’.

During the workshop, which more than 50 HR and business experts attended, strategies that help organisations to plan for the right hire, identify, develop and retain talent and position teams for a smooth succession, were examined.

An emerging trend that came up is, there are behavioural traits in an individual, beyond the skills or qualifications on a CV, that can help recruiters identify top performers and high potentials.

There is also an opportunity to turn data into conversations, and with it, create development plans that will spur and drive succession planning.

Mutuma is the CEO at BrighterMonday Kenya