#375 Recruiting and technology - how much automation is necessary and helpful today?

#375 Recruiting and technology - how much automation is necessary and helpful today?

Approaches, possibilities, limits

Recruiting must be successful.

This doctrine is often stated today, although recruiting should be managed as a process alongside day-to-day business. Some organisations have already professionalised this wholly or partially. However, business processes are often characterised by manual methods, steps, and a person-dependent approach.

How much automation in recruiting is possible and makes sense?

Status Quo

If you do everything yourself, you are one hundred percent certain to be ineffective and inefficient. Moreover, depending on the number of applications and positions, it is no longer feasible to manage applicants manually. It is, therefore, necessary to check which steps can be automated and supported meaningfully and targeted, either partially or fully, using tools.

Ten aspects

Ten aspects are briefly highlighted in the following, which you can and must also check for yourself.

1) Job postings: these must be fully automated. Multiposters have long been standard in every industry. If you are not using them, you are more than ten years behind market developments and need immediate, urgent, professional help to introduce and maintain minimum standards.

2) Pre-interview assessments: you can automate a lot here. With providers like Retorio, you can conduct data protection-compliant and AI-supported (often first-round) interviews without needing humans. Providers such as Test Gorilla offer you a wide range of options in terms of tests and a broad selection of reliable procedures.

3) CV evaluation: checking formal requirements can be fully automated. The testing of other aspects needs to be analysed in detail to see if and how support can be provided.

4) Candidate engagement: Although software can help here, the human element plays a major role in communication, especially with highly sought-after candidates. If you take care of the person applying, they will usually take care of you, too. Reciprocity is required without ignoring technical options.

5) Interview scheduling: scheduling can be fully automated using tools. Only in the case of very volatile calendars, usually for interviews at a very high management level, does it make sense to use a different scheduling method.

6) Interview: You can be supported here with online tools, and AI can offer very good summaries and more, but a human component will always be necessary. It is also crucial that everyone involved has been professionally trained for interviews (no, the free or cheap online class from a random internet person does not count as professional training).

7) Background check/checking references: This can be done entirely by external companies or tools. Please note that very cheap solutions, in particular, often do not carry out sufficient checks.

8) Contract offer and onboarding: please use digital tools here. The days of paper contracts are over (hopefully for you too). Keep in regular contact. In addition to online tools, you can also use physical aspects such as welcome packages for onboarding.

9) Data analytics: most steps of data analysis can be automated. Please always ensure that the amount of data is representative to derive decisions from it. Too small or unrepresentative a quantity of data can lead to incorrect, poor, unsustainable and, in the worst case, harmful choices and consequences for the organisation and the people involved. These aspects also apply in particular to using artificial intelligence (AI). AI trained with bad data will significantly worsen your organisation's situation and manifest any shortcomings. Pay particular attention to the sustainability of decisions here.

10) Lessons learnt: This step cannot be automated. Take time for the positive and negative learning moments in your organisation to improve the overall direction and future results. A half-day in-house is an option, but a two-day offsite with a social event in the evening will show much better results.

(More on the factors mentioned in this week's podcast; links below).

Implementation

Implementation is where these projects regularly run into problems. Be aware that implementing these steps requires a reasonable budget. Time, personnel and money must be made available. Especially when using AI, a learning curve will still be noticeable at the beginning, even in live operation. It is therefore important to take calculated risks here. Automation almost never replaces a person here, but rather helps people to finally be able to dedicate themselves to the tasks properly and in a timely manner and to fulfil those tasks in the right way.

 ---

 More on this topic in this week's podcast: Apple Podcasts / Spotify

Is excellent leadership important to you?

Let's have a chat: NB@NB-Networks.com

Contact: Niels Brabandt on LinkedIn

Website: www.NB-Networks.biz

Niels Brabandt is an expert in sustainable leadership with more than 20 years of experience in practice and science.

Niels Brabandt: Professional Training, Speaking, Coaching, Consulting, Mentoring, Project & Interim Management. Event host, MC, moderator.