Understanding challenges to talent recruitment today, especially with new-age recruitment technologies garnering the spotlight with big data, analytics and talent mapping being the industry grapevine, we at HR in Asia caught up on an interesting conversation with James Galvin, Founder of TalentDash to know about the talent acquisition trends for the future.
One of the greatest barriers to hiring candidates who fit into the culture is hiring too quickly–recruiters rush to get talent on board first, to fill what is considered to be a critical vacancy, and then worry about how they fit in culturally, later.
Besides understanding the qualifications and experiences required to fill a role, recruiters need to consider the talent’s personality and core values, and whether that aligns with the company’s value system. Qualities such as the ability to collaborate, being flexible, and a keenness to learn are critical capabilities to take into account.
James Galvin, Founder of TalentDash
TalentDash consolidates information about jobseekers, based on the preferences and search parameters users upload on the platform. The search parameters are robust, and can be targeted or broad as necessary to round up candidates that fit the job scope and preferences.
This ranges from things like experience and education, to more innovative search criteria, such as specific competencies based on industry, and the ability to choose – or avoid – talent from, or with experience from specific companies.
So, if you want to narrow your search to only include former Google employees, the platform can do that. The data compiled is then presented with candidate information laid out in easy-to-understand visuals within five working days.
I have been in the HR and staffing technology space for many years, and it became increasingly apparent that recruiters and employers utilised outdated sourcing methods, or spent too much time on manual tasks that could have been automated or outsourced. Data drives better decision making, and that’s what we are doing with TalentDash.
I think too often there is still a tendency for HR professionals to be too passive in their sourcing strategies. While we are all acutely aware of the issues of a tight labour market, it doesn’t seem to stop businesses from posting standard vacancies on job boards or LinkedIn and simply waiting for candidates to respond.
This might work for bigger businesses with strong employer branding, but it doesn’t work for the vast majority. Ensuring your sourcing strategy is active is key: sell the company, not just the job through effective employer branding; create brand advocates by putting in place a rewarding referral programme with current staff; be social (and not just your marketing team, but get all members of staff looped in on your social media strategy), and invest in effective technology to help you source and find key talent.
It pays to get creative with the use of non-traditional media, too. YouTube channels and podcasts can be a great way to get in front of a new pool of potential candidates – plus it engages talent in a fun way, while allowing you to share your ideas and values.
Anything that allows you to add value and shows that you care about the industry you work is worthwhile. Keep your content fresh with clear calls to action to engage job seekers.
See: Increasing Importance of Infusing Technology with HR Functions
Talent mapping is the use of data and search optimisation to rank, map out and visualise the talent pool for a specific job.
With the information customised by recruiters’ own search criteria and preferences, data about the best candidates are presented, to help them make informed hiring decisions in the shortest span of time.
Talent mapping, with the help of big data, is definitely the next step in recruitment technology. In today’s new world of recruitment, it’s no longer enough to simply post job ads and wait for the talent to come along.
Targeting talent through social platforms like LinkedIn, and perhaps even through a recruitment agency can work, but this would take phenomenal amount of energy and resources, without clear guarantee on the effectiveness.
With talent mapping, recruiters can determine their candidate needs well in advance and develop a strategic plan for hiring long-term. This includes filling any skill gaps, bolstering the team for sudden changes in the workplace, or just simply having suitable talent in mind for the future. All of these, when prepared ahead of time, can save companies the trouble and time in future.
There are three key features in TalentDash that users need to be aware of, namely the Company Map, the Location Map and the Job Title Map.
Company Map
The Company Map provides employers with a clear overview of where their ideal candidates are working currently. This table shows the top 20 companies that have the highest number of matching candidates, and the various shades of the boxes indicate the varying quality of matches, namely bullseye, great or recommended!
The Location Map
The Location Map provides employers with a bird’s eye view of the spread of talent around the world – depending on the user’s search parameters. This function comes in handy for sectors that often face a shortage of qualified talent, giving employers the option to outsource their talent.
JobTitle Heatmap
Different companies may give different job titles for the same role, however having different titles does not mean the candidate isn’t the right fit for the job.
This feature provides employers with a list of job titles that can be assigned to the same role across different companies, allowing recruiters to refine their job ads by using the most relevant or specific job titles in their posting.
Employers first need to be on top of the ever-changing business environment. This means they need to fully understand the type of skillsets required for the business, and possess that keen sense to identify skills that will be needed for the workplace in future, in order to maintain growth momentum.
This is a must-have, not a good-to-have. Understanding the talent pool internally and externally would help employers make effective decisions about the next steps in recruitment. Are there any skill gaps that need to be addressed? If so, what’s the best way forward?
This is also where TalentDash can come in, to provide employers with an overview of the talent availability in local markets and across the world. The wideness of the search parameters can be altered according to users’ preferences.
If there isn’t a strong pipeline of talent locally, employers could either look abroad for talent or look into alternative options such as upskilling existing employees to close the skill gap.
TalentDash will help teams hire independently, thus saving on the cost of using agencies. Additionally, we expect to see an increase in the quality of hires by using TalentDash, because of an informed decision-making process conducted based of the data that we provide.
What was once considered to be a supplementary aspect of a business has today evolved into the backbone of every business. Companies want the greatest return from their HR investment, but often fall prey to the mistake of thinking their job is done, once they get talent through the door.
You’re not going to see RoI on your hiring strategy if you don’t continue to invest in your assets (people) long-term.
The data-driven approach in recruitment is probably the greatest driver in HR technology right now, and I do not see this going away anytime soon.
There will likely be more innovation in this aspect in time to come, and this would include greater targeting accuracies and new ways to retrieve and understand candidate data, which would help recruiters make more informed hiring decisions easily.
I also wholeheartedly believe that, HR technology can bridge the distance between recruiters and jobseekers, by making job search and hiring a more effective process with the help of digital advancements.
Image credit: Uconn Today
