In a technology driven world, it’s easy to get swept up in what digital tools can enable us to do, especially when it comes to recruitment, highlights Dean Sadler. But in all this talk of efficiency, streamlining and automation, are we forgetting one crucial thing – the humans in human resources?
People management and human resources should have people at its core. But when it comes to recruitment and management it can be forgotten. We’ve become swept up in tools and technology that we forget that rather than fall in love with the solution, we need to focus on the human beings it helps. A combination of smart tech and real people can have the strongest results.
This can help us face some of the biggest challenges in recruitment and retention right now.
The prevalence of ghosting
The End Ghosting research showed just how prevalent ghosting is, and its impact. It damages candidates’ self-confidence and leaves them with negative feelings about themselves and the recruiting brand. A huge 65% of applicants have been ghosted by a prospective employer part way through the recruitment process and 94 percent of ghosted applicants retain negative thoughts or feelings towards the employer brand. This doesn’t only affect brand perception, but mental health. Almost all (86%) of ghosted applicants are left feeling down or depressed and 43% of ghosted applicants take several weeks or even months to move on from the experience. If they are left feeling low, their productivity and ability to perform will drop, so no one wins.
Tech enables recruitment teams to streamline processes and manage relationships, so that no one slips through the cracks and gets ghosted or forgotten. An effective database management tool means that HR and talent acquisition teams can keep on top of applications, invites for interview, acceptance and rejection.
The risk of bias
Stop The Bias research showed how age, disability, gender, parenthood and even accent are considered to be being used against people, and over three quarters don’t believe diversity data is being used for their benefit. We need to recognise people for their value, not just attributes. One way to do this is anonymised applications that retract identifying data such as age, gender or location. In fact in the research 8 out of 10 respondents felt that processes would be fairer if recruitment remained anonymous.
It’s also crucial to really interrogate job descriptions. Terms such as ‘ambitious’ and ‘bold’ have been associated with being more attractive to those who identify as male, compared to job descriptions that speak about ‘nurturing’ or ‘supportive’ which see more females applying. Lots of software and tools exist to help you identify gendered language. In general men are more confident applying for roles where they don’t meet all of the requirements than women, so ask yourself what genuinely is critical to the role (years of experience, a qualification) and what is more down to the fact that it’s what you have always done.
Tech allows data to be gathered, enabling clear analysis of how to grow and develop – such as what is being done to reach equality, diversity and inclusion targets. It’s often said that you can’t change what you can’t measure, and in this case it’s absolutely true. It’s important we use the resources available to us to remove unconscious bias from the process and give everyone a fair chance, be that through anonymised applications, through skills based assessments or other tools.
Employee engagement
The media is all talk of ‘quiet quitting’ and this could be driven by a lack of clarity over job roles and a feeling of appreciation. Proper onboarding from the start with clearly defined job roles and targets means that people have better understanding of why they are there and how their role fits into bigger picture plans. Tech can provide a good mechanism for employee feedback and discussion so that everyone knows what their job role is, developmental areas and progression against targets.
Strain on our teams
It’s not just employees. Most recently, Tribepad surveyed over 500 in-house recruiters and the State of the Sector report shows how talent acquisition professionals are feeling the pressure. Only one in three say stress levels are manageable, and 5% say tech isn’t up to scratch.
HR teams are faring in a world of one click applications and candidate driven market, demonstrating how we need to support our people and teams to do great work. Burnout is a worry, and only a third of HR professionals say their stress levels are manageable. A big driver of this one click applications, resulting in ‘applicant spam’ and unqualified and experienced candidates.
But tech, when used the right way, can actually support us with a people first approach and empower recruitment professionals and hiring managers to deliver even better results. Tech systems can reduce administrative and repetitive tasks so that more time can be spent on strategic work and personal support to help candidate and employee experience. It can also make the process more efficient and help accelerate time to hire – as slow time to hire doesn’t help anyone, and causes stress on both sides.
Why technology?
The way we’ve been recruiting for decades isn’t right for the modern world. But we don’t need to be swayed by shiny new tools and forget that at the end of the day, all of work is about the people. People need to be at the centre of human capital management, from candidate to employee, recruitment to retention. Tech can help us achieve just that.
__
Dean Sadler is CEO of Tribepad.
After travelling the globe and working as a bus driver, Dean started a PhD in computing before joining a startup called Plusnet. He wrote the billing and CRM platform, became CIO and helped grow the business from a handful of employees to over 700, through IPO then exiting via a sale to BT. Pondering life after Plusnet, Dean was looking for a real world problem which could be addressed by artificial intelligence and hit on the recruitment industry as being ripe for disruption. And so TribePad was born, where he is CEO.
Recent Comments on Stories