Can we still recruit “old-school” in the digital age ?

August 21, 2019

dématérialisation financière

Today, there is a real paradox between the difficulties candidates have in finding a job and the difficulties companies have in recruiting. These are undergoing many transformations and the HR function has never been more important to their success.

Recruitment is therefore becoming more strategic than ever and requires human resources to implement the actions and tools necessary to select the ideal candidate. At a time when the share of digital technology in the economy is increasing, technologies that promote collaboration internally and with candidates, data analysis, dematerialization and recruitment process management are becoming essential for companies’ competitiveness.

Increasingly strategic recruitment for companies

In Europe, more than 30% of permanent contracts are terminated within one year of a candidate being hired. In addition to the costs incurred in the recruitment process, its failure has consequences in terms of loss of income and even on the morale of other employees. A 2012 Manpower study put forward a figure of up to €600K on the average cost of a failed recruitment for an executive (including severance pay and missed opportunities). The improvement of its process becomes essential!

According to a 2018 CareerBuilder study, 93% of employers say that automating recruitment saves time and improves efficiency. While digital technology is transforming the HR function, it makes it possible to automate tasks (posting job offers, receiving applications, sorting, automatic integration of CVs, sending e-mails) and thus to focus on missions that offer more challenges and high added value. Finally, automation allows a better control of these management costs (optimization of sourcing costs and automatic application management, for example).

Recruitment also has a marketing dimension. By 2020, the “Millenials” will represent 50% of the working population and the new generations want to break with traditional recruitment methods that they consider archaic. Today, more than 60% of HR decision-makers see digital technology as a way of responding to the challenge of their integration.

On the method side, the HR function must be inspired by modern recruitment techniques such as BtoC with the use of geolocation, social networks, without forgetting multi-media (smartphones, tablets, etc.) The candidate experience becomes a means for the company to work on its employer brand and to occupy a strong position in a job market that is subject to strong competition on certain positions.

Finally, digital is a major asset for recruiting talent internally. The management of the latter is already a major concern for HRDs. Faced with this talent shortage, particularly in certain sectors, it is becoming essential to exploit internal talent. This is now the case for 95% of HR decision-makers.

Digital technology is transforming the recruiter’s job

The recruiter’s profession is constantly evolving. For more than 20 years, the democratization of the web, online job boards and electronic CVs have revisited the role of the web. Today, CVs come in all formats and everywhere online on job sites or professional social networks: candidates become brands.

While companies have computerized their recruitment processes using dedicated HR solutions, they must also take into account changes and equip themselves with the tools necessary to meet candidates’ expectations. The HR function’s recruitment actions must involve technologies that support the analysis, dematerialization and management of the recruitment process from mobile terminals. Digital technology also makes it possible to promote collaboration between the recruiter, the manager and the HRD, i.e. all the parties involved in the recruitment process.

Digital includes a number of practices to be implemented. As a whole, the process must integrate digital as much as possible, from the conversion of documents into digital format to electronic signature. There is still a lot of room for improvement in this area (currently 30%). Digital technology also makes it possible to create new practices, particularly with the growing number of smartphones and tablets in companies.

Digital also makes it possible to move on to predictive recruitment. A number of indicators are already used by recruiters to assess their performance: time, cost, sourcing efficiency, candidate satisfaction. In the age of big data, it is essential for the HR function to acquire solutions that provide a fresh perspective. Massive data analysis optimizes the recruiter’s work by allowing them to:

  • Ensure reliable decision-making based on verified data
  • Anticipate recruitment needs through analysis and detection of potential
  • Improve the targeting of candidate sources with semantic search capabilities and automate upstream searches
  • Focus on the soft skills of candidates and find the right talents

The success of a recruitment is a long-term process

The recruitment process does not end when the new employee signs the employment contract. It is understood over the entire cycle from its entry to the exit of the company. Starting with its integration. It is a question of providing the candidate with all the logistical, informational, organisational and corporate elements he needs to be operational quickly.

Digital technology offers real opportunities in this field thanks to social and collaborative technologies in particular. An HR portal provides new recruits with easy access to all integration documents. Recruitment remains an investment in human capital. It is also essential to be able to follow the evolution of an employee throughout his professional career in the company.