Technology trends for talent management in 2019

Outbound hiring – The future of recruitment?

The millennial workforce today has a wide range of employment options open to each individual. As such, it is no longer sufficient for companies to wait for the right candidate to walk through the doors.

Even proactive companies that have begun reach out to passive talent pools are barely scratching the surface in the war for talent.

“Data says that humans spend 60% of their waking lives working. And for any two people to come together and collaborate on a project, work on a hobby, build a company or even a movement, they need to align beyond just tech skills. Their ideas, ethos, culture and vision should align,” shares Adil Bandukwala, Head of PR at predictive outbound hiring solutions provider, Belong.co.

Newer technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and the application of big data can help companies recruit not just top performers but people who are the right fit in an organisation, says Bandukwala.

“Today, the best candidates don’t apply. They discover new opportunities through personal and social networks, respond to companies that value them for more than their skills, and expect personalised experiences, not transactional engagement,” explains Bandukwala.

“This warrants the need for recruiters to move from the traditional inbound method of hiring to the future of recruiting – outbound hiring,” he says.

According to Bandukwala, outbound hiring fundamentally flips the inbound recruiting funnel. Instead of waiting for the best talent to wander in, outbound recruiters proactively engage the right people at the very start by using social talent data and predictive analytics.

By taking such a proactive approach, business can save recruiting hours typically wasted on marketing, filtering, and screening unqualified candidates. Outbound hiring is also more personalised, leading to higher engagement and join rates from candidates.

Social recruiting

Social media platforms are often the first stop for job seekers today trying to form an impression of their future workplace. It is thus of paramount importance that HR projects the best image of their organisation online.

“The next-generation worker wants to know what is going on within the business and to feel the connection with the organisation and the people they will work with. Social media is a great tool to facilitate this, sharing moments as they unfold and providing exclusive access through intimate online forums for a select group of employees or potential recruits,” says Khanna.

“For social recruitment and engagement programmes to be truly effective in the long run, HR needs to have well-established channels, both online and offline, to continue conversations and ensure that they bring new recruits into the fold,” he adds.

Smart spaces

Gartner has identified “smart spaces” as another top technology trend for 2019. It defines these as physical or digital environments in which humans and technology-enabled systems interact in increasingly open, connected, coordinated and intelligent ecosystems.

“Organisations are realising that top talent also require an environment that facilitates collaboration, innovation and productivity,” says Burdan.

He observes that digital workplaces are becoming physical – away from simple collaboration technologies integrated within business processes to the actual creation of smart spaces that integrate environments, people and processes. These help to eliminate silos and drive inclusion within the organisation.

“A key tenet of the creation of smart spaces is that it is ever-evolving, constantly moving toward optimisation by understanding where employees are and how they are working together. Through workplace analytics, spaces can be optimised. For example, by creating physical pods for collaboration as an alternative to underutilised amenities, an organisation may see improved collaboration and engagement,” Burdan concludes.