As a talent acquisition (TA) professional, having a robust talent pool will make your life easier when trying to find that purple squirrel, but having the technology in place to find top talent is equally as crucial. Are you up to speed on the latest trends in recruiting automation and technology?
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Google Hire Is Out
Sadly, you can cross Google Hire off your list of recruiting tools. Google announced in late August that the platform would be going away on September 1, 2020. Google Hire is a job board-style site similar to Indeed and CareerBuilder.
According to Mariella Moon, an Associate Editor for Engadget, “Google launched Hire merely two years ago, in an effort to make the hiring process easier for small to mid-sized businesses.” However, Google is now turning its attention to other resources in the Google Cloud portfolio.
Moon suggests that the site has an active user base, as Google isn’t sunsetting the platform until late 2020, saying, “the company will allow users to continue using it at no additional cost if their contract expires before that date. Further, Google will no longer charge users for standard usage after their next bill.”
Users of the platform can continue using the site until September 1, 2020, but don’t expect any new features or improvements. “The tech giant promises to keep the service running smoothly until its last day, but it will no longer roll out any new features over the next year,” Moon adds.
Indeed Is Now the Job Board of Choice
Indeed, a job board used by jobseekers and TA professionals, is dominating the hiring market. According to new research released by Breezy HR, a recruiting platform and applicant tracking system, Indeed “is the leading candidate job site in total offers, hires, and the average time to hire.”
The research reveals that 15% of total hires are initiated through Indeed, whereas all other job sites account for less than 3% each. Breezy HR’s research also shows that Indeed and ZipRecruiter average the least amount of time to hire; however, it notes that Indeed applicants have a higher conversion rate. The report also shows that the leading sources of hire are Indeed and companies’ career sites.
“Sourcing for potential employees is not a new concept, but it has definitely changed over the years. Our goal is to make hiring human, and that means putting the focus on being proactive instead of reactive,” says Darren Bounds, CEO of Breezy HR, in a press release announcing the findings. “Finding top-quality talent before you need it can help companies recruit in the top talent pool. This report shows that leveraging a candidate sourcing site helps to speed up and optimize the entire hiring process before it is too late.”
Expert Advice on Automation
While Breezy HR’s research highlights the growing popularity of job boards in the recruiting process, one expert is advising that employers keep the recruiting process personal in the wake of new technologies and automation.
As we know, staffing agencies must cultivate and maintain good relationships between recruiters and jobseekers, hiring managers and candidates, and staffing executives and their client stakeholders. Where can technology like automation fit into such a personal, human-focused industry?
“In most industries, the talent shortage has now become a talent crisis,” says Anna Burke, Vice President of Marketing at Catalytic, in an e-mail to HR Daily Advisor. “There are more open positions than there are qualified people to fill them, and staffing firms are tasked with helping their clients find the talent they need to keep their businesses going. The administrative burden on staffing employees—from recruiters to branch managers to back-office operations—can be crippling.”
“There is no replacement for time in this all-hands-on-deck environment, but automation technology can give some of it back,” Burke says. “By automating manual processes within branch operations like recruitment, time card management, and client communications, TA professionals can focus on value-added work like building client and candidate relationships and identifying new strategies to find and engage talent.”
As we know, the candidate experience—and now, the employee experience—is vital to attracting and retaining talent, and by automating minor tasks, you’re freeing up your employees’ time to provide a memorable experience across the entire employee life cycle. Burke also explains how automation shouldn’t just be limited to the TA function.
“Automation can also help back-office functions within a staffing firm drive process efficiencies that can strengthen the bottom line, critical in this highly commoditized industry. HR can use automation for tasks related to onboarding, engagement surveys, benefits enrollment, and more so the team can focus on improving the employee experience,” she adds. “Finance and Accounting teams can automate areas of financial reporting, invoicing, and contract management to focus on more strategic initiatives that can actually create a competitive advantage.”
As technology continues to evolve, so must your workforce in order to keep up. While job boards are a great way to get the position out there, having TA pros who are unburdened by monotonous tasks and who have the ability to provide a great experience will get you those purple squirrels in no time.