Technology and hiring

Employers are increasingly using technology for hiring purposes and here is what you need to do. A recent report by recruitment consultant TeamLease - The New Landscape of Hiring, reveals that employers are increasingly using technology for hiring which has led to improvements in hiring volumes, quality and speed. While these new-age hiring techniques are used across the industry, it is being practiced mostly by SMEs (45 per cent against 13 per cent of larger companies) because they have to make the most of a limited hiring budget.

The new landscape of hiring: The new hiring paradigm is based mostly on leveraging social media, analytics and machine learning for hiring purposes. When it comes to social hiring, hiring through social networks like LinkedIn has gone up from 42 per cent to 50 per cent in the last three years while for social networks like Facebook it has gone up from 32 to 45 per cent.

The popularity of hiring through social media and referrals is also on the rise. Social media referrals are among the most popular sourcing channels today at 19 per cent of total hiring. The yield from machine learning hiring is seen to be 20-25 per cent higher than manual hiring. “Machine learning is more intuitive than manual hiring and also algorithm–based job sites.

What it does is that it uses machines to constantly learn data on the potential employee and match it with skills the organisation requires in a changing environment,” says Ms. Rituparna Chakraborty, Sr. V-P & Co-founder TeamLease Services. This, along with big data and predictive analytics, helps to eliminate human biases and time limitations to match the right candidate with the right job.

What you need to do: As an employee it is essential to be well networked and be present on major social media networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter as all of these cater to a different target audience. “ One has to be very prudent in how one is using these social media platforms as you are being looked upon as a potential hire and a lot of data about you is available for employees to asses you,” says Chakraborty.

Your social media accounts should subtly highlight and display your job skills and what you are doing in terms of self development and learning. For example LinkedIn can be used to showcase your education, professional achievements and your work experience. It should focus on information you want your future employers to see. This needs to be updated on a regular basis as well with new skills you have learnt or new projects you have been a part of. It also helps if you join relevant groups and participate in conversations that relate to your industry.

Employees should also focus on referrals as that can give the job search a big impetus. Apart from building connections on professional networks it is also important to meet the right people personally, attend conferences and connect with them so that you can use their name as a referral. 

anaghpal@outlookindia.com