The world is now home to nearly three billion “smart” devices that are capable of streaming and transferring data. Those devices produced 4.4 zettabytes of data in 2015, and that number is expected to soar beyond 40 yearly zettabytes within the next five years. You could store the content of more than 200 billion DVDs in a single zettabyte, and you may send more than that from your personal devices alone within the next year or two. In this technological age, it’s important to adopt new tech to score top talent.
Where is all of this data coming from? It comes from the text messages that most people are now using for instant communication. When you check your email from your cellphone at lunch or send out a group message to your team when plans change at the last minute, you’re contributing to the massive field of data swirling around the world. More businesses are also using data to communicate with colleagues, partners and clients in remote locations, producing more data with every video conference and every document shared.
The fast exchange of data has changed how many businesses operate, and it should change how you attract new employees. Like a game show contestant thinking fast with their hand hovering over the buzzer, you need to act fast to hire the most talented candidates before a competitor steps in to meet their needs first. There are a couple of ways that you can do this regardless of your company’s size or industry. The best companies move fast to score top talent.
1. Give your recruiting patterns an overhaul
Hiring the best talent requires you to first separate the leading candidates from an enormous pool of job seekers. Once you identify someone as top talent, you need to act quickly when verifying references and following other formalities that may stand between the initial interview and an official employment offer.
Technology now makes it possible to reach the most qualified candidates in little time, and the process of checking off those formalities can often be automated. The question is whether your recruiters have the resources and knowledge that they need to utilize that technology in the most efficient manner, to score top talent.
For instance, companies are using social sites like LinkedIn more than ever. It’s not just about blasting the job boards with wordy ads. In many cases, simple tweaks like including the right SEO keywords in your website content and job ads could make a big difference in how fast you stumble upon the most ideal candidates.
You don’t want to cut out checks and balances that allow you to make smart recruitment decisions, but you can look at every step of your process and ask an important question: How can we do this faster? When searching through resumes, applications and databases, there’s an alternate question that you should ask: How can we refine our search parameters so that we isolate the best talent in less time? It all comes down to tighter results that require less manual sifting.
2. Use automated systems so that no candidate is left “on read”
If there’s one thing that today’s tech-savvy young adults hate, it’s when someone reads their text message but doesn’t respond. This is known as being left “on read,” and it’s a form of electronic disrespect that could ruin friendships in high school. It’s also a subtle sign of disinterest that you can easily send to talented job candidates unknowingly.
Whenever a candidate goes unacknowledged, you’re sending the same message as an unanswered text. Walk through the candidate experience as it relates to your recruiting process, starting with the moment they submit a resume or reach out for more information. Are there points where some candidates are left to wonder what’s happening on your end? Change that so that all candidates are acknowledged and are aware of what might happen next. This is the key to score top talent.
3. Keep Your Eye on the Wheel
The processes and resources that you need to maximize speed in your recruitment process already exist. They’re working for many of your competitors, so you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. What you must do is keep an eye on that wheel because it is always turning.
Score Top Talent
Embrace the social networks, data aggregators and automated systems that are in place to make recruiting more efficient today, and then act fast when new technological advances are introduced. Your ability to transition with speed will help you score top talent.