The era in which we currently live has been called a number of things, from the fourth industrial revolution to the information age to the Holocene Epoch of the Quaternary Period in the Cenozoic Era–well, that last one not as much, but technically speaking that’s our era.
A description we’ll likely begin to hear more of is that this is the era of the candidate (or rise of the individual, as Josh Bersin said during his keynote at 2018 Total Rewards Conference), though if you’re a talent-acquisitions leader you may have been saying this for a while now. According to a report from Montage, 99 percent of 102 talent-acquisitions leaders (director-level or above) rated “the candidate experience” as a priority in their current roles. Other top concerns included diversity and inclusion and predicating future performance.
Thanks to record-low unemployment, TA leaders are constantly modifying and improving hiring processes to remain competitive and attractive to job candidates. In the era of the candidate, these leaders can’t miss a beat or else they’ll lose out on top talent.
“As a technology company purpose-built to handle the complexities of global enterprise hiring, we have unique insight into the priorities, perspectives and challenges of these organizations,” said Kurt Heikkinen, president and CEO of Montage. “The data from our survey affirmed what we’ve been hearing from our clients: improving the candidate experience, accelerating the hiring process and the data to make smarter hiring decisions are critical to success.”
One trend we’ll likely see more of is using recruiting technology to improve the candidate experience. This can range from automating the process of responding to applicants with AI or using machine learning to filter through applicant’s resumes.
Currently, half of the survey respondents said that AI is widely accepted as a concept in recruiting, 46 percent said that they have considered using AI to automate their recruiting processes and 51 percent said they are confident in using machine learning to help inform their hiring decisions.
Heikkinen said Montage has shared the results of its 2018 report with a group of its most strategic clients at innovation forums held in Chicago and New York over the past month.
“Our clients are leaders in their industry and understand what it takes to win the war for talent,” he said. “These forums give our clients the opportunity to learn from one another and share best practices. The research data coupled with these forums enhances our ability to identify emerging trends and innovate–so we can continue to remain a trusted partner to our clients.”
