Know the ropes: harnessing the right trends to make you a smarter talent leader
By practice, senior leadership processes are tough to crack and even tougher to change. Welcome to the methodical thought-process of a CXO. If you're going to drive change and impact when it comes to recruitment marketing, you must present a level of findings and metrics that touches what the c-suite deeply cares about: people, top line revenue, expense reduction, employee productivity, even more revenue and innovation. You hit on all of these points and you will have ears perked in seconds -- not minutes, hours, days or weeks.
As talent leaders begin dipping their toes into the uncharted territories of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the cloudy territories that are recruitment marketing analytics it becomes obvious that these are two gateways that need exploration and understanding. On the AI side of the pie we should be approaching this new technology of doing as a way to compliment processes and free up your employee's time in order to hire the best talent fit. On the Analytics side of the pie we should be leveraging the data that teaches us, even guides us to make better decisions that lead to higher employee productivity and revenue intake.
Metrics and automation should go hand-in-hand - a dual, complementary package of process and measurement. Today's blog will take a deep dive into these two trends and get into the weeds on how these two trends are symbiotic and most importantly, how you navigate these trends to build the right processes to win the war for top talent.
Artificial intelligence as the key driver of technology adoration, appreciation, and adoption
The concept of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been softly knocking on the doors of talent leaders for the past couple of years and most recently, started causing quite a stir as organizations continue to evaluate new methodologies to advance recruitment efforts into the future. Key recruitment players rely on automation to streamline processes but the question of where technology ends and humans begin has been a line that frankly, is being blurred by the rise of change and innovation. In a candidate-owned marketplace, talent leaders are becoming progressively more dependent on smart software that frees up recruiters to focus on the human element of recruiting ie: talking to candidates, getting to know them, identifying the best fit for them.
Today, AI shouldn't be something that is feared, but embraced as a key value proposition to eliminate the cumbersome recruitment processes that still exist.
John MacIntyre, professor of Adaptive Technology and Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences at the University of Sunderland, has studied disruptive technology for years. In Personnel Today, he explains AI provides a way to augment, rather than replace decision making. "AI-based systems are great for specific tasks such as recognizing patterns in data," he said. "But, unlike humans, they are unable to intelligently interpret that data, combine it with other information and make decisions on that basis."
Market research, analytics, and reporting numbers are your best friend
For a company that hires a fair amount of employees on a regular basis, data that measures the success and failure of its talent efforts is essential for modern talent acquisition leaders. But not just any data will do: comprehensive metrics "omni-data," a feature found in the best recruitment marketing solutions offer a statistical glimpse into every phase from initial sourcing to employee hire and potentially beyond. For example:
- Leverage specific market research to develop a full scope of understanding on how such industry insights and best practices support fresh approaches to talent acquisition.
- Gather data on how candidates are learning about your company, where else they might be applying, and which channels they are preferring to level set your brand and see where there is room for improvement.
- Invest in advanced analytics. Specific data will pinpoint the quality of candidates you are attracting, who applies and who doesn't, and where in the process applicants are most likely to drop out, giving your organization granular detail to make smarter decisions around process, operations, tools, and services.
- Report on hires after they are onboarded: How long did they stay with the company? Which channels resulted in the most long-term success? Take true data and learnings and fine-tune operations.
Again, talent acquisition must go beyond being just good at recruiting, talent leaders must become researchers and marketers as well. Doing so will produce the data that will drive their goals, which in turn will produce more data that will shape future goals, and so on. It also will allow you to refocus on what's working and what isn't, and re-calibrate efforts accordingly. Analytics reveal which strategies can be further optimized and which should be refined or replaced so that you are budgeting for success, not failure.
Surely you have seen indicators of all six of these recruitment trends.
