In this era of cloud-based software, it has never been easier to trial new tools in the talent acquisition process. Often forgotten by early adopters in the race to acquire the latest bright and shiny innovation is whether it actually adds value to your recruitment process. Do your candidates love to chat with bots? Are you using video interviews and artificial intelligence (AI) with the right cohort, or at the right time? Perhaps you only use 20% of the functionality of that amazing Applicant Tracking System (ATS) you were sold.
For many organisations, talent technology is an area of significant spend. If you are a set and forgetter, then now might be a good time to review your talent tech stack and understand if it is fit for purpose, fully optimised, and, most importantly, adding value.
Focus on candidate experience
In the current climate, it is essential that you treat every person that applies to your company with care and respect. It’s not just about managing your employer brand - it’s the right thing to do (and always has been). Your technology can help with this, from acknowledging every application, to reminding your team to provide timely feedback and updates on the hiring process.
Start by mapping your candidate journey, analysing each step a candidate takes from initial awareness of your brand or job opportunity to successfully onboarded and performing in their new role. Then consider your talent objectives and analyse whether your talent technology is enabling you to meet those objectives at each step of the process.
Optimise and streamline your process
To help review your talent tech, get hiring manager and candidate feedback and dive into your data for proof of value. For example, has your video interview technology reduced time to hire or improved quality of hire? Has using AI improved understanding of what a role requires such that it has increased new hire retention? Within core technology such as your ATS, is your process efficient and intuitive, keeping your candidates, HR, and hiring managers supported and informed?
Often, issues with ATS’ can be solved with simple tweaks. By better aligning your technology with your recruitment process, improving your communication templates, or working on smoother integrations with your assessment and verification technology and HR systems, an ATS can quickly move from a clunky source of irritation to a streamlined and useful tool.
Have the tough conversations with talent tech partners
There are many, many technology options in the talent space - it’s a vibrant start-up community of specialist providers promising to amplify your employer brand, give you access to diverse candidates, position you as an employer of choice, and make better hiring decisions. But are they delivering?
If you are being made promises on access to female candidates, ask for proof of this - that might be evidence of database growth and engagement, or you may want to look at how many applicants or clicks throughs that sourcing channel is delivering and if they are high quality. Is your new assessment technology improving retention or quality of hire, do candidates respond positively or negatively to it? Has implementing that new chatbot increased engagement and reduced follow-up calls to your team, or are your candidates dropping out of your pipeline?
While we all want to support and trial emerging technology, we also need to be sure it is adding value. Now is a good time to diagnose issues and talk to your tech partners about how (or if) they can be solved.
Create a technology roadmap for 2021 - and stick to it!
Identify where your technology stack needs improvement and retire those products that are not positively impacting your recruitment process and outcomes. Depending on the size and scope of your function, you may realise significant savings.
If you’d like more detail or ideas on specific areas to focus on, you can check out this article: Get Your HR Tech In Order
As part of our COVID-19 customer support, Harrier Talent Solutions is offering free Talent Health Checks with our Talent Consulting experts. You can book time with one of our consultants to get under the hood of a specific piece of technology or take a holistic look at your current tech stack to help you achieve greater efficiency. Click here to find out more.
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