Many hiring professionals agree that today's talent landscape is more competitive than ever. The U.S. Department of Commerce announced in January of 2023 that unemployment rates were at their lowest levels in 54 years. Historically, such low unemployment has made it difficult for employers to find qualified candidates.
However, as if that wasn't challenging enough, the U.S. faces persistent labor shortages. The number of available jobs is outpacing the number of unemployed workers by 1.7 million, assuming that everyone who doesn't have a job is actively looking for one. It's no wonder that 44% of hiring professionals cite talent acquisition (TA) as their most common challenge and that nearly a quarter say it's their most challenging.
As such, it's clear that recruitment marketing professionals need new tools for attracting top talent. For most, the future of effective TA will lie in the hands of technology. In 2024 and beyond, the emergence of artificial intelligence, programmatic advertising, one-click application solutions, and other innovative solutions shows that TA technology has become a critical pillar for candidate engagement and operational efficiency.
The stakes are high when it comes to TA, but finding the right technology stack and aligning it with a greater organizational strategy is possible. Below is everything hiring professionals need to know to attract and build trust with candidates, create efficient processes, and achieve long-term TA success.
It's essential for hiring professionals to understand that the intent of the TA process is more than just finding someone to fill an open role in the organization. It's about forming a solid strategy to source and attract talent and curating robust candidate pools to ensure the workforce has the drive and skill to push the organization toward its goals.
For these reasons, hiring professionals must see the transformative potential of TA technology and understand how it can shift TA itself from a purely administrative function to a strategic powerhouse. With the help of the right TA tech, hiring professionals can meet the demands of a new generation of talent, from social media job ads that reach candidates right where they are to mobile job applications that take just minutes to complete.
In selecting the right tools and applications for the job, hiring professionals must ensure that their TA strategy and the technology that will support it align with their overarching organizational objectives. Doing so will, in turn, also ensure that they pursue and attract suitable candidates with the mindsets and skill sets they need to move the business closer to achieving its goals.
Finally, hiring professionals must deliberate about keeping people at the center of technology-related decisions, an essential factor in driving TA success. For example, a clunky applicant tracking system (ATS) that requires applicants to fill in details that are already on their resumes often does nothing but frustrate potential candidates. One-click apply solutions, on the other hand, honor users' time by making it easier for them to respond to job ads.
One large technology company known for its intuitive systems has faced widespread complaints about its TA technology (or lack thereof). Though this tech giant is known for being on the cutting edge of consumer technology development, a single Google search shows that the same cannot be said of its TA strategies. Many candidates find the hiring process excruciatingly slow, often pulled into long back-and-forth email conversations to schedule an interview instead of using a centralized calendar or scheduling platform.
Prospects have also complained about being asked to attend remote interviews via the WebEx platform, which can sometimes be plagued with issues. One candidate, in particular, complained that they couldn't see the interviewer during the call and that the interview had to be rescheduled. They, like many other candidates, eventually took a job with another company as a result.
These two instances illustrate how ineffective TA technology can lead to the loss of top talent and potentially tarnish a company's brand. While these issues may not threaten a company's global standing, they can impact the business internally and make it unnecessarily challenging to attract top talent.
Adopting the right technology is one of many pressing issues affecting hiring professionals. Assuming a need for a specific technology without understanding the underlying problem can also be an issue. For example, launching a recruitment site will only automatically help companies attract talent if they're advertising in the right places.
Additionally, it is essential to avoid the belief that technology will automatically work without a well-defined strategy. Posting job ads on social media is just one example of this. Without understanding its target audience and members' needs, a company's job ads will likely be passed over in favor of those with more targeted messaging.
Furthermore, hiring professionals must consider long-term value before considering user adoption for success. Investing in an ATS, for instance, may get a company some job applications. However, if the system inconveniences candidates with long required responses or too many questions that take too long to complete, highly qualified and desirable candidates may decide to look elsewhere.
When selecting TA technology, hiring professionals must also consider how it will impact the company on an operational level and how it can affect employee morale. If the selected platforms make it difficult for the rest of the hiring team to find and hire the right candidates, teams across the organization may end up with new hires who lack the skills to get the job done or are otherwise not the right fit.
Such outcomes can hinder the organization from reaching its strategic goals and fulfilling its mission. Additionally, they can impact the team's feelings about their jobs, adding stress to their workday and possibly leading to employee burnout. With that in mind, TA technology that helps hiring professionals attract suitable candidates is critical to organizational success on many levels.
In addition to finding the right TA technology, hiring professionals must also ensure that it's implemented correctly to ensure success. To that end, there are several best practices to remember when hiring professionals consider adopting TA technology or adjusting their current technology stack.
First, hiring professionals must thoroughly plan for technology adoption. Before spending a single dime, they must consider how the tech can help their company meet its business objectives. They must also choose technology partners that align with the company's vision and provide solutions that fit the overall strategy.
At the same time, feasibility studies should be conducted to ensure the technology will fit well with current processes. These can be as simple as running a demo version of the software for a few weeks to test it out. Such an approach will also help hiring professionals proactively identify and mitigate risks with the technology and avoid potential pitfalls it may present.
Additionally, hiring professionals must ensure that diverse voices are involved in the decision-making process and that the technology can meet everyone's needs. It must be a manageable burden to those it is meant to help, or it may hinder adoption or lead to other operational issues.
Finally, hiring professionals should remember to design for change, adopting agile methodologies to allow for flexibility and iterative improvements. It's okay if the implementation isn't perfect immediately; those who have done the planning phase well will be able to adapt processes along the way. Continuous monitoring through ongoing feedback mechanisms can help hire professionals and their teams to track progress and make necessary adjustments.
With the hiring landscape growing more competitive daily, getting TA right in 2024 and beyond is imperative for any company that expects to reach its goals. For those organizations on the hunt for the right technology stack, they cannot leave the legwork behind.
Instead, they must take a strategic approach to TA technology, ensuring that the platforms they choose are aligned with company goals, effectively address the underlying issues in the talent acquisition process, and meet the needs of everyone on the team. All of these aspects, in turn, will pave the way for growth, engagement, and success over the long term.
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Don’t leave your organization’s success to chance. Ensure your TA technology drives growth, engagement, and long-term success.
Recruitics is ready to help you align your tech strategy with your business goals and keep your people at the center of every decision. Contact us today.
