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live — on social channels, for instance — are having
a tremendous impact on attraction strategies.
Companies such as McDonald's are already using
SnapChat to engage younger workers on mobile
devices. Others such as Facebook, Pinterest and
Twitter increasingly use video content to capture users'
attention on platforms candidates already use in their
personal lives.
Some employers such as Unilever are leveraging video
game technology to assess prospective workers.
In 2016, the company launched a program that
uses mobile games to determine the fit of new
graduates. Using video interviewing as part of its
approach, Unilever hopes the initiative will help
streamline the processing of 250,000 graduate
applications each year.
Automating talent acquisition will be a focus for many
developers in the future. Robotics and AI are already
emerging as important tools to aid both recruiters
and candidates. Among the promising technologies
are Wade & Wendy, which employs chat-based AI
to learn about a worker beyond what's on his or
her resume. Evolving recruitment marketing tools
further strengthen talent engagement. Online job fair
platforms, such as Brazen, connect many candidates to
an employer and provide real-time chat abilities.
While many see these tools as something that makes
the process less personalized (58% of human capital
leaders we surveyed say online recruiting takes
away the people side of the business), in truth, these
technologies allow talent acquisition specialists to
become more efficient and connected to candidates,
creating a more personalized experience.
a long journey.
Talent management tools have come a long way in
their functionality. Technologies such as applicant
tracking systems (ATS), vendor management systems
(VMS) and candidate relationship management (CRM)
platforms have evolved rapidly over recent years and
are on converging paths. Today, many remain distinct
and separate, but some vendors are already morphing
functionalities together into a total talent management
suite. This is a welcomed development for enterprises
everywhere because, until recently, the contingent
workforce and full-time equivalent employee base
were managed separately, making it difficult for
human capital leaders to achieve a holistic view of
talent. As the market moves toward an integrated
talent mindset, the convergence of these critical
technologies will enable visibility of all the resources
an organization utilizes.
For some employers — typically small and mid-sized
businesses — justifying the spend for enterprise
recruiting systems is difficult, so these businesses
often manage their candidates or contingent workers
through an ad hoc system or in an Excel worksheet.
As new entrants emerge in the market — especially those
that facilitate a blended solution model — the economics
of investing in a platform have become more affordable.
This has enabled even companies with more modest
hiring needs to deploy a commercial solution.
The migration to cloud-based enterprise platforms
has been one milestone in the evolution of talent
management technology, but cutting-edge
development today is less focused on the method
of delivery and more on the services and benefits
provided. Organizations are seeking tools that
free up their workers to focus on critical, strategic
activities rather than transactional, laborious tasks.
For example, software that automates sourcing
and screening enables recruiters to become job
marketers instead of just sourcers. The result is a
more personalized relationship with candidates.
Technologies that engage candidates where they
