5 Ways Tech Can Help you Hire Top Talent
Regardless of your industry, a capable and engaged team is central to your business' success, and usually an organizational priority. Finding the right people, however, isn't an easy feat, especially in the contemporary workforce that features four generations—Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z—each displaying its own distinct characteristics when it comes to looking for and assessing job opportunities.
Fortunately, technological innovation now makes it possible for businesses to connect with, evaluate, and understand today's workforce in ways that can help them score top candidates. Here are five ways you can use technology to land the employees you're looking for.
1. Recruitment videos
Though recruitment videos are nothing new to the HR landscape, they have enjoyed a dramatic makeover in the digital age. Cliché, prescribed interviews of employees sharing what they enjoy about the company have given way to more authentic—and often brief—accounts that highlight a company's everyday vibe and its core tenets.
Recruitment videos don't need to be lengthy to connect with candidates in engaging, energized ways. Zendesk,[1] a San Francisco-based customer service software company, captured its quirky yet sharp-minded culture for prospective applicants in a four-minute video; while a clever interactive video from Deloitte[2] presented candidates a series of multiple-choice scenarios to assess fit.
2. Go geek
Analytics is changing everything from marketing strategies to professional sports, so why shouldn't it factor into your HR operations, too? Indeed, the term “people analytics”—the practice of applying data to people decisions—has caught on in HR circles.
A growing number of software companies offer tools designed to help businesses make better decisions about hiring, promotions, compensation, and much more. Digging into areas such as demographics, education, experience, and workplace, leaders can gain a better understanding of their workforce and identify the common elements of top performers—then recruit and hire with those characteristics in mind.
3. Check your employees' pulse
About 95% of managers are not satisfied with their organization's performance management processes, while 90% of HR pros also discount the accuracy of their company's performance reviews.[3] One reason for the disconnect? The annual performance review, which some consider a dinosaur in the digital age, remains commonplace.
Employers can leverage technology such as feedback apps and anonymous social networking tools to stay connected to their workforce. These tools can provide your business a more current, relevant look at staff engagement and help you build a more responsive, inspired workplace, which can uplift recruitment and retention efforts.
4. Issue a digital challenge
Challenges are an inevitable part of the business environment and employers want candidates to embrace challenges, not cower from them. While presenting creative puzzles and scenarios is a longstanding HR practice, technology allows for even more complex, lively challenges that can provide employers insight on a candidate's persistence, intelligence, and makeup.
In looking for new digitally adept talent, communications and advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi created a mobile app that challenged creatives to submit an idea, which would then be vetted by the company's Mobile Creative Director. The challenge doubled the firm's typical applicant pool and also provided telling insight into each candidate's abilities.[4]
5. Up your online game
Make no mistake, prospective employees are evaluating your business, scouring the internet for insights and perspective. They want to see an organization that is cutting-edge, fun, and successful—not disconnected and uninspired.
Your business can use online channels such as blogs and social networks to spotlight the operation's standing as a marketplace or industry leader, its spirited culture, or its connection to goodwill causes. Make sure, though, that the online outlets you control are handled professionally and updated regularly.
Furthermore, recognize that current employees on social media can serve as powerful brand ambassadors, so don't dissuade them from sharing—just encourage them to do so responsibly.
Embrace technology in recruiting
Technology can be a powerful tool in your arsenal when it comes to landing the right team members. From YouTube to Big Data, technology can play an important role in helping your business build its human capital. And with more engaged and talented employees in the fold, your business is on its way to heightened performance.
[1] Zendesk, This Is Zendesk
[2] Deloitte, Interactive Recruiting Video
[4] YouTube, Saatchi & Saatchi: Mobile Creative Director App
