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As we approach the EOFY, organisations may be looking to overhaul their hiring processes. It’s no secret that industries are struggling to attract top talent, so investing time and resources into recruitment is crucial.
Talent acquisition (TA) is one area of the business that can drive performance. Rich Lewis-Jones, SmartRecruiters’ APAC vice-president, highlighted the significance of the talent acquisition function.
“Eighty-seven per cent of recruiting professionals say talent acquisition has become a more strategic function over the past year. So, it’s great to see that talent acquisition, despite the layoffs, despite the consolidation of talent acquisition teams, businesses and talent teams are starting to see themselves viewed as a strategic talent function,” said Mr Lewis-Jones.
“Quite frankly, talent in any business keeps the lights on. So, without people, you’re not driving revenue.”
Hand in hand with the hiring process is agility. With the landscape of recruitment constantly changing, it’s worthwhile investing time into improving the adaptability of teams. Preparing employees for any situation can help to get through challenges that arise.
“Seventy-seven per cent [of employers] feel that their strategy is more focused on agility this year ... The trends of hiring and the challenges that are coming at people are changing constantly,” Mr Lewis-Jones explained.
“The ability to be able to make changes and adapt on the fly … is going to not only please talent because they can move quickly, but also please the C-suite, because they’re not just going to be increasing the overall spend.”
Influencing each of these trends is data. Organisations that can utilise data to their advantage and implement metrics into hiring will be better able to keep ahead of emerging recruitment shifts.
Mr Lewis-Jones continued: “[There is a] big focus on data-driven hiring. I think people are realising that data is the new oil and the impact that it can have.”
Compounding these themes is the investment in technology. Many organisations are opting for programs like artificial intelligence (AI) hiring and automation to streamline their approaches. This can make talent attraction much easier, as the candidate experience can be improved.
“The overarching thing we’re seeing is investing quite heavily into talent attraction. So, using AI and automation to drive personalisation, which is increasing conversions. So, people are really starting to think not only about how far they can open up the top of funnel to attract talent, but what they’re doing when they capture them, and then being able to track that as a source of attribution,” Mr Lewis-Jones said.
The transcript of this podcast episode, when quoted above, was slightly edited for publishing purposes. The full audio conversation with Rich Lewis-Jones on 31 May is below, and the original podcast article can be found here.
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The practice of actively seeking, locating, and employing people for a certain position or career in a corporation is known as recruitment.
Jack Campbell
Jack is the editor at HR Leader.
