Harnessing technology in your recruitment process

Potential candidates are similar to customers in one important regard – they can be better engaged through technology.

The utilisation of innovations such as recruitment software can make a big difference in terms of efficiency through the entire process, raising productivity and effectiveness. (Click here to learn how to select the best software your business).

The Australian Public Service Commission found that organisations in the public service sector were able to extend their capabilities and therefore get more candidates through to the interview stage through the use of appropriate technology. Having a wider pool to select from will increase the likelihood that you will get the right fit for whatever role your business requires.

Here are three ways your business can integrate technology into selecting and recruiting candidates.

Mobile communication

While many companies still favour the landline to make recruitment calls, catering to the rising use of mobile use may be the way to go in the future. According to research by Deloitte, Australians check their phone twice every hour on average and 49 per cent will reach for their device within 15 minutes of waking up.

With this in mind, businesses need to carefully consider how they can communicate through this channel. Setting up a mobile-optimised website that offers all the information candidates need is a good place to start. Business may also want to consider using SMS to inform candidates about the state of their application and other job offerings in the future, due to the ease of use and speedy response rate.

Social media 

Many companies use this channel to advertise to potential candidates to great success, however the choice of site is of vital importance. A study by Adecco revealed that the only social media sites that firms had found recruitment success on were Facebook and LinkedIn. Businesses scored LinkedIn a possible 60 points out of 100 in terms of effectiveness and the larger the firm was, the more likely this platform could offer them success.

The key selling point of LinkedIn comes down to the ability to drive a two-way conversation. Candidates can better understand the values and culture of a company while firms can get a better insight into potential employees’ skills, strengths and experience.

Handling big data

In the recruitment process, collecting and analysing data from your candidates can lead to greater possibilities in term of selection. Cathy Missildine, co-founder of Intellectual Capital Consulting, believes that it can play a major role in workforce planning, as stated in a August 1 Predictive Analytics Times article.

Missildine explained that shortfalls or over-supply of labour requirements are easier to pick up through deeper analysis. Through more precise job assignment, businesses can save costs and better fulfil human capital needs for individual projects.