The fast-changing world of apps, social media, video technologies, games and VR is having a dramatic impact on HR processes. Today, you can have attractive advertisements on social media, create micro sites for engaging potential candidates with videos, show case testimonials and relevant job information that goes much beyond the info on the old, tired career sites. You can engage candidates with chat bots, have a video-enabled smart, mobile screening session that lasts only 3-4 minutes with all the information you need for filtering. Provide assessments and tests to gauge fit, have them play games that predict competencies. It is definitely a much superior talent experience. Some companies even started to experiment with VR. Why not provide a pair of VR goggles on your on-boarding experience? Imagine the fun and engagement when you put on VR goggles to see your future office before your first day of work. Cool!
Not so cool when you look at the numbers, though. According to Korn Ferry Institute’s Talent Forecast report, less than 50 per cent are taking advantage of recruitment technologies such as applicant tracking systems, video interviewing, or online assessment tools.
These are not good numbers of adapting new technologies especially when you consider the fact that among the 50 per cent that claim they use digital new technologies, 46 per cent use video screening only. Thus, only half of the half is embracing a more holistic approach to adapting digital. I am not a math genius but even I can see that there is some serious resistance to change on part of HR teams.
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Going into details of the why HR teams are resisting the new technology is beyond the scope of a blog, never mind that it would probably be a pretty boring blog after all. But what I can share is 5 myths that I see on the field that can help you make a better decision about digital.
Candidates want “Human Touch”
No, they don’t. They want a quick, easy process with timely updates. HR has a blanket answer to conducting unnecessary on-site interviews arguing that candidates prefer a human touch, but the definition of human touch is not an interview with an HR person. “Touch” means having a continuous engagement and communication process. A one-off face-to-face encounter in a stressful job interview does not cut it. Digital tools enable automatic, timely and quick engagement. This is valuable.
Digital is for fancy talent experience
Although digital experience is fancier and superior on the candidate side, digital also means data. Very valuable, otherwise lost data for the HR teams. Every digital process is a standardized way of creating candidate, and process KPI data that can be stored, managed, modeled and used for intelligent decision making. You cannot measure how a CV print out worked for you but you can measure the effectiveness of your screening questions in the variance of a candidate’s three month sales bonus performance. D in digital is for DATA.
Upgrading an ATS is too costly and lengthy
Most cloud firms charge a low monthly subscription fee and the cloud software minimizes the need for lengthy IT implementation. The providers have gone a long way from the old ATS systems that require huge IT projects. Instead of re purchasing an ATS, you can upgrade your current ATS with digital providers within a one week turnaround.
All-in-one Solution : Mobile Career sites
Beware! 64 per cent of candidates are looking for jobs online but only 16 per cent of companies have a mobile application process.
Just transforming your existing career site into mobile friendly view is not actually offering a mobile application. Holding your phone for 35 minutes to complete a single job application to answer a gazillion questions on your background is not really a mobile process. Few will like it, less will complete.
Truly mobile means a quick, easy, user friendly application that only gathers the critical few relevant data that predicts success in that particular position. It also means that ideally the rest of the process should be mobile as well including the interviews, tests and assessments.
Social Media recruitment = Job Posting
Posting a job on LinkedIn and Facebook is a good start but not very much different from putting a poster on the shop window of a crowded street. Just as no one that would not walk across that particular window would not see your job post, no one but your already existing followers on social media would view your posts. That is it. Posting and doing nothing else, is a very limited way of using social media and digital. The power of social media is in the abilities of digital marketing and engagement. Even a small budget will go a long way with smart advertising, A/B testing and a powerful landing page, indeed a much longer way than the poster on your (digital) window.
Cagatay is a Human Resources and Organization Development professional with more than 20 years of experience both as a manager in and as an external consultant to several Fortune 500 companies in USA, Canada and Turkey.
He specializes in organizational structure, strategic planning, talent management and workforce planning. He is the consultant and technical specialist for HR domain.
Prior to the Peoplise; company he owned was consulting enterprise HR teams. As a professional; he worked for Deloitte Turkey as Director of HR, for Toyota Turkey as Director of HR
and Ford Motor Company as North American, Regional Workforce Readiness Manager.
Cagatay holds a MSc Degree from the Master or Organization Development program at Bowling Green State University. He holds a BSc degree in Political Science and Public Administration from the Middle East Technical University.
He served as a member of the State of Illinois Workforce Investment Board and Employment Committee of The Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD).
He is also the author of two fictional novels.
- Cagatay Guney
- Cagatay Guney
- Cagatay Guney
