How to Future-Proof Your Recruitment Team in 2019 -1/3

September 12th 2018

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For decades, employers have relied heavily on the easy-to-manage, 360-degree recruitment model. In some cases, the task of hiring top performers was handed over to an already busy HR professional or recruitment team. While this recruitment model may have been hectic at times, it was still quite successful at hiring quality candidates.

Today, the reality is starting to set in for many employers. The days of simply posting a job online, updating the company career page, or hiring an in-house sourcer and then sitting back and watch the application pour in are over. These recruitment tactics are no longer effective at attracting quality candidates. In an age where 7 out of 10 jobs are hard to fill, companies find themselves increasing recruitment costs without realizing tangible results. More and more companies are realizing that simply advertising a job for a candidate is no longer enough. Employers must anticipate and meet candidates’ needs as a part of a deeper, more enduring and interactive candidate engagement process. To future-proof recruitment efforts, employers must take the necessary steps to move forward into the new digital age of recruitment if they hope to continue hiring high-quality candidates in 2019.

 

The Imperative: Making a case for future-proof recruitment teams

As industry needs change and the job market shifts, recruiters must be flexible enough to adjust quickly to the changing skills and roles within the recruitment process. Future recruitment success will depend on recruiters understanding the dynamics of the changing job market, multigenerational hiring and on their ability to adjust in order to meet the new and emerging business needs. This will change the way recruitment operates and how companies build their internal recruitment structure.

Three main elements that are driving and accelerating change in the recruitment industry, including:

 

1. Empowered Candidates:

The shift to a candidate-driven job market has empowered candidates to want and expect more. This is especially true of passive candidates, who have high expectations of what a personalized candidate experience looks like. These candidates are already internet-savvy and they have come to expect a certain level of engagement throughout the purchasing decision. This customer-centric expectation has transferred over into the recruitment industry. The current candidate experience oftentimes falls short of candidates’ expectations. Most companies aren’t fully aware that recruitment is no longer a post and pray activity, but rather a full-grown digital marketing role driven by technology.

2. Impact of disruptive technologies on today’s business landscape:

Technology has advanced exponentially faster than most people ever thought possible. In order to survive well into the future, companies must consistently evaluate and transform their business models. Jobs, as we know them, will not continue forever. Companies must adjust to emerging technology. Creating new roles and finding candidates that have adaptive interpersonal and human intelligence skills and are willing to keep learning to meet the ongoing changes in the marketplace. This will mean that recruitment teams need to look beyond the job posting alone. Future-proof recruitment models need to have a clear perspective of the industry market changes, how to position recruitment within the industry framework, and how to attract and engage prospective candidates-groups with adaptive soft skills sets for the company.

3. The only thing that is constant is change:

The recruitment industry is changing rapidly, companies must be agile enough to shift their hiring strategies to meet these changes. This could require adjusting how they operate, what roles are needed within the recruitment team, and what skills are needed not just to survive, but to thrive in new economies. This means that recruitment cannot be reactive silo projects. Instead, companies must take a proactive approach that actively drives business outcomes.

Future-Proof Your Recruitment Team in 2019

 

New and Emerging Roles in Recruitment in 2019

Depending on standard recruitment tactics like placing a job ad or hopping on LinkedIn isn’t a future-proof recruitment role. In fact, these recruitment strategies alone already are proving to be ineffective at attracting top talent. Future roles in recruitment are certain to incorporate both emerging technology and data-driven insights. Your future recruitment team members must have the experience and knowledge needed to analyze industries, skill sets, and candidate behaviors. As the new recruitment roles advance, three core specialization will emerge, including:

 

1. Candidate Engagement

Your recruitment team must have the skills needed to manage and engage with candidate communities already known to your company.  Such as those in your prospective candidate database or ATS platform. High-level engagement is necessary to guide candidates effectively through the recruitment funnel.

2. Recruitment Marketing

Recruitment is shifting into a marketing role and recruitment teams must have strong knowledge and experience in candidate behavior. As well as the ability to develop and use candidate personas to create targeted messaging campaigns and recruitment channel strategies.

3. Technical Skills

Tech-driven recruitment roles that can code and embed AI initiatives and know how to collaborate with the more specialized recruitment marketing roles will create agile recruitment frameworks that can help develop “minimum viable roles” for new or hybrid position in the company and provide creative more out-of-the-box ways to connect with the new passive seeking communities. People working in these tech-driven roles must have the ability to collect data, test and analyze systems and algorithms quickly to make immediate necessary adjustments.

It’s easy to see that the future-proof recruitment team is not a one-person job. The idea that one in-house recruiter can have the necessary skills to advance your company into the future is no longer realistic. Instead, your recruitment team must comprise of those with various specialties.

Now is the time for employers to take steps to future-proof their recruitment team or risk being left behind. It’s crucial for employers to develop a candidate-centric recruitment strategy to reach top talent candidates and entice them to apply. Learn more about the fundamental elements of a future-proof recruitment team and solutions for remaining competitive in today’s ever-changing job market in part 2 and part 3.

Written by: Sushila Ramkisoensing


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