Recruitment automation is changing the way employers recruit, evaluate, and hire talent and creating a quicker, more data-driven, and more applicant-friendly hiring process. Employers’ futures will not include the replacement of recruiters; rather, the use of recruitment automation will allow recruiters to focus on strategy, relationships, and quality of hire while removing mundane, time-consuming tasks.
What Recruitment Automation Means Today
Recruitment automation involves managing all repetitive hiring processes through technology and systems that work automatically. The majority of automated recruiting activities include sourcing candidates, screening applicants, scheduling interviews, communicating with applicants, etc. For many employers who had to go through a lot of CVs and e-mails manually, now have integrated tools to ease their processes and keep all their candidate information in one place.
There are literally dozens of technologies that can help the process of recruitment automation; modern applicant tracking software, chatbots, and connectivity to job boards and professional networking sites will all ensure greater consistency in the candidate experience, much higher degrees of transparency through the whole hiring pipeline, and better collaboration among the hiring team.
Key Technologies Shaping the Future
Advances in AI, predictive analytics, and smarter integrations will be the driving force behind the next evolution in recruiting automation. Intelligent matching engines will quickly suggest qualified candidates based on the needs of your organisation and the qualifications of each applicant.
Furthermore, AI tools can help screen CVs and applications at scale without sacrificing the nuance often found in applicant information.
As these recruitment tools continue to evolve, they will also become considerably more “proactive”. For example, the systems will identify trends within the marketplace and note positions that are expected to be difficult to fill due to their speciality or low number of qualified individuals.
The systems will then also be able to make recommendations regarding how best to find potential candidates before an urgent need arises. In time, the recruitment software will act more like an advisor or consultant, rather than just a database listing what is available.
In the future, recruitment tools will be closely linked to HR and business systems, as opposed to being used separately. By connecting recruiting tools to performance management, employee training and development, and workforce planning, employers will be able to track a candidate from initial contact throughout their entire career with an organisation.
There will then be a 360-degree view of the job applicant’s life cycle and where they fall within each category, and employers can determine which hiring channels contribute to optimal employee performance and which areas can be automated for improved effectiveness.
Better Candidate Experience at Scale
Future recruitment automation will greatly benefit candidate experience due to the large number of applications. By sending out automated acknowledgements, status updates on their application process, and reminders of upcoming interviews, candidates will always know where they stand in the hiring process so that they do not feel lost or have any confusion, while simultaneously making it easier for HR teams to manage candidate relationships by taking a lot of the administrative load off them.
Additionally, candidates will have more opportunities to receive personal messages from recruiters. Using dynamic e-mail flows and self-service interview scheduling tools will allow candidates to have more control and clarity throughout the entire recruitment process.
Automation also allows employers to treat all candidates with respect and open communication regarding their application status, even if they were not selected, which helps maintain a strong brand identity over time.
Data-Driven Hiring Decisions
Recruitment will be revolutionised by improved measurement, control, and optimisation through automation and the use of technology. Data available to employers through the use of technology and automated processes will enable them to track their hiring process from the volume of time to hire based upon efficient sourcing effectiveness (efficiency) through conversion rates (success rates at each stage) of the hiring process, and the early performance of newly hired employees. The use of this data will allow employers to adjust recruitment strategies, maximise budgets toward successful sources of candidates, and refine their job postings accordingly.
Further, predictive analytics will allow employers to forecast anticipated hiring based on company growth, turnover rate,s and skills gaps over time. Predictive analytics will assist in preparing employers to provide for strategic workforce planning and reduce late-stage hiring (i.e., last-minute hiring, etc.).
Balancing Automation with Human Judgment
The recruitment process will always remain a responsible human activity, even though there will be rapid advances in technology that automate various tasks (sorting resumes, scheduling interviews, etc.). However, humans will be responsible for many important recruitment responsibilities, such as overseeing/participating in interviews, evaluating cultural fit, and making the final decision.
Therefore, the future of recruitment automation lies in creating a balance between technology and humans in recruiting efforts. Successful employers will use technology to complement/reinforce recruitment personnel, rather than to replace them. They will train their hiring personnel to interpret data, ask better questions, and develop superior relationships with candidates by utilising/implementing automated support systems.
The emergence of “automation literacy” will become an essential competency amongst HR and hiring managers, as this will allow them to gain insight into/understand trends and digital dashboards through automation. As digitalisation grows in the workplace, there will be a demand for individuals with an understanding of how to leverage the advantages of automation in the form of using a digital dashboard to visualise their data and subsequently make informed decisions based on the information collected.
Teams will benefit from upskilling their workforce to develop knowledge/integrate tech-based solutions into the organisation, which would lead to reduced reliance on algorithms, increased protection against bias, and the continued use of tech-based solutions that remain aligned with the organisation’s mission and long-term human resource strategy.
How 6 Pence Supports the Future of Automated Recruitment
The trend of recruitment automation continuing to become advanced in the future will cause many companies to partner with organisations that have expertise in pairing technology, processes, and an understanding of the local marketplace. 6 Pence is optimally placed within that evolution, since we are committed to combining cutting-edge sourcing technologies with an in-depth understanding of the local labour force & labour law compliance.
Organisations that employ a partnership model with 6 Pence will be able to improve the effectiveness of their sourcing and screening methods, as well as lessen the administrative burden on existing internal HR staff, all while continuing to provide an experience that allows potential candidates to see that they still receive human attention during the hiring process.
The use of our partnership model enables organisations to hire more quickly and more intelligently by allowing HR professionals to concentrate their time and efforts on developing strategies and increasing their companies’ growth, rather than focusing on manual HR processes.
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