Global trends in the recruitment of professional services

19 Mar 2015

With an influx of tech-savvy Generation Y candidates entering the professional workplace, specialised recruitment has found itself in the online domain.

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From employer branding to building a talent network, creating a positive candidate experience, to trends in candidate assessments, technology is a key and vital component of the recruiter's toolkit.

According to the MD of Kelly Professional Assignments, Ryan Proksch, this is a trend that will only intensify throughout 2015.

"Previously, the role of recruitment was often primarily administrative and the role was centred on handling applications. Nowadays, the route to securing strong candidates is so diverse that the modern recruiter must develop expertise in multiple areas," said Proksch.

Whilst Millennials will ultimately dictate the evolution of technology in human resources as we know it, Proksch believes that recruiters of today need to acquire and refine the way they work, including:

Using technology to determine fit as this will become critical;

Embracing social media, digital technology and online video hiring;

Using video and crowdsourcing, as this will impact on HR technologies, and recruiters need to be prepared;

Honing a strategic view - the HR function will be forced to grow into to a highly strategic organisation; and

Monitoring social performance - a shift will ultimately be experienced toward social performance; in addition, social capabilities will be integrated into all recruitment platforms. While more advancement in technology will occur, the focus on people will prevail.

Raising positive brand awareness among candidates

Proksch added that a company's value proposition and branding will make the real recruiting difference going forward: "Nothing is more likely to be listened to, believed and passed along to others than a great story that illustrates what it is like to work at a particular organisation.

"Stories can be spread in articles, in person, and during presentations. Employees can help 'get the word out' by answering questions, providing key company culture insights at conferences or through an informal or formalised employee referral programme, or via social media platforms. This ensures that employees are providing specialised and customised information regarding the company's value proposition. An ideal approach is to use a variety of channels and platforms, and to be interactive. The key is to find the right channel or platform that resonates most with the appropriate target audiences."

Building a talent network

Technology will continue to be at the centre of building talent networks in 2015.Proksch recommends making your company's careers page a 'go-to destination' and he said: "Launching an online talent community means creating a space where interested individuals can learn more about your organisation. Turn your careers page into a one-stop shop of information about your company, its culture and its employees. Include facts about your company, video testimonials from current employees on life at your organisation or the application process, photos that reflect the company culture, as well as social tools that drive conversation and interaction amongst community members and administrators."

Proksch is also clear that specific audiences should be targeted within the talent community: "If you work with a large organisation that has several departments, it's a good idea to break your networks into niche communities when building talent. At Kelly Professional Assignments we create separate discussions for engineers and marketers, by way of example, but steer general questions about the company to the whole group. In this way, we keep our mission in the forefront, but nurture smaller groups of talent to learn more about their strengths and answer profession-specific questions."

Stay connected

"The progress toward increasingly intelligent and deep levels of connectivity cannot be overstated. The ability of data to drive useful connections with others who share the same interests and the ability to share information across relationships is rapidly gaining traction," said Proksch.

Indeed, with it now being possible to use personal preferences, connections and interests to provide meaningful insights into almost everything, by using tools such as the Facebook social graph search, 2015 is the year to stay connected. "While far from perfect, the insights offered via social technology have so much to offer when it comes to helping people efficiently and effectively find relevant jobs," concluded Proksch.