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The Top Four Investments in Talent Acquisition Technology

A dark picture with someones palms lit up with different data and graphics displayed above it.

The number one question I get asked by corporations and solution providers is “what is the hottest talent acquisition technology right now?” It’s not an easy question to answer.  It never has been. What may seem hot is not always what drives efficiency and success. And more often than not, hot fades away. Companies need to think about what brings value to their existing processes and what will improve how they operate and the overall experience of candidates, hiring managers and recruiters.

Talent acquisition buyers are making more strategic decisions around their technology. They are listening to their peers, questioning their existing providers and looking for partners. We asked companies in our 2016 Hire, Engage and Retain survey what investments they will be making this year and below is what they had to say (this data does not include the ATS market). Many of these solutions are not necessarily the “hottest” new technology but rather solutions that companies believe will help them recruit better and provide a positive experience.

  • Background Screening: Although it’s considered a tactical area of recruitment, background screening can have a dramatic impact on a company’s overall recruitment strategy. Organizations that make a strategic investment in these solutions are able to expand their global reach, improve the candidate experience, and strengthen the quality of hires.
  • Pre-Hire Assessments: Pre-hire assessments encompass the tools and technology that enable organizations to evaluate if a candidate has the right skills and behaviors to perform a job. Today, companies of every size are providing objectivity to the hiring process by leveraging a variety of pre-hire assessments consistently throughout their organizations, from executive-level positions to front-line workers.
  • Recruitment Marketing Platform: Often referred to as the “pre-applicant platform”, this solution includes capabilities that maintain the employer brand, foster candidate relationships and enhance messaging and communication efforts. Companies are investing in stand-alone solutions as well as some of the more innovative talent acquisition systems.
  • Employee Referral Tools: Companies are looking at solutions that can automate the employee referral process. Often these tools can make sure that referrals get in the hands of hiring managers and recruiters and provide employees with the confidence and information they need to make referrals.

The talent acquisition technology landscape is changing rapidly and there is no shortage of innovation. Companies in the process of evaluating what technology they need should consider solutions that will align with their processes and drive business outcomes.

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Ericsson: A Lesson in Employer Branding

Shadows of business people with colorful speech bubbles above their heads

Despite its’ recent popularity, employer branding is still fairly immature. In fact, less than half of companies we surveyed are investing in employer branding this year. Companies understand it is important but often do not know where to start or what role technology can play in attracting talent. And for those companies investing in employer branding tools, only 55% are satisfied with their providers.

How can companies improve their employer branding efforts? How can they find more value in their strategies and technology options? Last week, I attended HCI’s Talent Acquisition conference and learned a thing or two about employer branding from the Head of Talent Acquisition at Ericsson.

Several years ago, Ericsson transformed from a telecommunications company to an ICT and software services provider. Not only, did it need to think about how it would represent the new business in the marketplace but also, how it would attract talent. At the time, employer branding was not aligned with any corporate communications and lacked an element of story-telling. Ericsson needed to find a way to make the company more exciting to candidates and communicate why someone would want to work there.

Below is what they decided to change:

  1. Encourage Employee Advocacy: With 120,000 employees and 100 nationalities, Ericsson recognized that not every individual would be brand ambassadors, but everyone should have the right messages and tools to be able to talk about the brand in the same way. Ericsson developed an App that gives employees an opportunity to fully understand what their employer brand is and talk about the exciting things that the company is doing.
  2. Invest in Social: By moving to Social Chorus (an employee engagement app), employees have the ability to build their personal brands within the company and share those messages externally. With this tool, Ericsson’s employees were sharing the brand 4 to 5 times more. LinkedIn Elevate also provides a powerful platform for Ericsson. Since running the pilot, the company had 24,000 job shares that they had not seen before.
  3. Target Candidates: Ericsson is able to leverage technology to create a personal and human experience for candidates and employees. It targets talent by skills, jobs, and diversity. It leverages various strategies for each of these groups. For example, it created a “Women in Tech” Quiz that captures information and engages with women about their careers. It also provided a great deal of support for the UN’s “HE for SHE” campaign and had its male employees participate. For Black History Month, Ericsson highlighted a number of its employees as well as African Americans outside of the company that have achieved success in STEM careers.
  4. Disrupt the Conversation: In an effort to stay relevant and reach candidates on a different level, Ericsson would disrupt Twitter conversations about popular TV shows and get involved with the conversation. Ericsson also invited girls to be guest bloggers on its career blog to promote Girls in ICT and Girls in STEM.

We hear so many presentations about why employer branding is important but few about how companies are strengthening their efforts. Overall, Ericsson achieved success by being innovative, empowering employees to participate, and leveraging technology in a more human way.

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Recruitment Marketing: It’s Time to Start Paying Attention

employee holding a tablet with eight different candidates with the center one larger than the rest

If you thought recruitment marketing was just a passing trend, you might want to think again. Companies are restructuring their talent acquisition functions and investing in technology to improve the way they attract, nurture and engage talent. A recruitment marketing platform handles everything on the front end of recruitment or to put it bluntly, everything your ATS does not do. It involves all the activities that connect a brand to the right person at the right time and with the right communication and messaging. It has become a recognized category in talent acquisition technology- one that is responsible for improving the candidate experience, quality of hires, and overall recruitment efficiency.

If you don’t believe me, you might want to take a look at SmashFly, a leading recruitment marketing platform that raised $22 million in Series B funding today led by Bessemer Venture Partners (an investor in Cornerstone OnDemand and LinkedIn). This company is the real deal. Not only have they gained recognition as a leading talent acquisition provider but they have also had tremendous success by tripling the number of net new customers (mid-market and enterprise) in 2015.

Recruitment marketing matters and below are a few reasons why:

  • The 2016 Candidate: Today’s candidates are smarter about what they want and what to look for in a future employer. And they need to be engaged early. Candidates are diving deeper into career sites, social media and sites like Glassdoor to get a clear picture of an organization before making a connection. In fact, according to the 2015 CandE Research Report, 76% of candidates surveyed conduct their own research and due diligence in their job search.
  • The Talent Acquisition Trifecta: At a basic level, the recruitment technology market is powered by three major systems: A Recruitment Marketing Platform, An Applicant Tracking System and an Onboarding System. Companies need solutions to help attract and engage talent, move candidates through the recruitment process and onboard new hires. Recruitment marketing is a critical part of this journey.
  • The Modern Recruiter: Marketing departments spend energy and resources trying to understand their buyer. They identify, nurture and engage buyers in a way that builds a long-term relationship. Why wouldn’t recruiting do the same for candidates? Furthermore, most organizations invest in technology to understand and engage the behaviors, motivators, challenges and preferences of buyers. Why wouldn’t recruiters want this same technology to support how they interact with candidates? A recruitment marketing platform takes talent acquisition to the next level by allowing companies to better understand and target talent while strengthening their brand.

Congratulations to SmashFly on this exciting announcement! As we launch our latest survey, we would love to hear what you think about talent acquisition and the recruitment marketing space.

 

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