Recruitment is going to the bots! Or is it?
Let’s break down the biggest trend in recruitment technology and demonstrate why what hiring needs is actually a little more humanity.
Candidate experience suffers for the sake of convenience
When applicant tracking systems first hit the market at the end of the 90s, hiring managers raved about them. By 2015, three-quarters of hiring managers owned them, according to Capterra.
Finally, they all thought, an end to poring over countless applications. Using natural language processing, these tools screen resumes and cover letters by scanning them for keywords and pinpointing candidates that best match the interests of the employers.
Yet for all the good they do for hiring managers, even the latest systems have been a bane to job seekers everywhere. Best-case scenario, applicants spend an irritatingly long time plugging information into a web page that’s already available on their resumes and cover letters. Worst-case scenario, they give up halfway through because of glitchy, unfriendly interfaces.
“3 out of 5 candidates experience problems when applying through an ATS.”
One talent acquisition survey – conducted by a recruitment tech provider, no less – found that 3 out of 5 candidates experienced tech-related problems when applying to jobs through such software. Hiring managers with ATS end up frustrating potential talent or pushing them away altogether.
Hiring for all the wrong reasons
Real talk: Is your company interested in bright individuals with years of experience and relevant skill sets? Or are you looking for people who can parrot jargon and cheat their way to the top of your candidate lists?
Hiring businesses that use applicant tracking systems aren’t as slick as they think they are. Most candidates know about these systems: how they work, what they look for and how to game them.
So if your organization tells your ATS it’s looking for an action-oriented thought leader that can delegate tasks, identify opportunities, communicate effectively and drive change, that’s exactly what you’ll get. Literally. You’ll get a bunch of people who shoehorned those buzzwords into their applications to steal your attention, perhaps away from more viable candidates.
Frankly, what are the chances these candidates are worthy of your consideration? And even if they are, why would you want to torture them with your application portal? Is that how you really want to recruit?
Recruitment agencies are people helping people hire people
Make no mistake: recruitment is difficult to manage solo. But instead of trying to get a robot to impersonate a human hiring process, contact EBC Associates and ask our recruitment specialists how we can bring a little personality back to your recruitment efforts.
Leveraging cross-industry experience and the latest recruitment technology (not one or the other), we evaluate candidates based on more than just keywords. Our clients receive researched lists of qualified leads and a negotiation partner once they narrow down their prospects. Reach out to learn more.
