How did each sourcing channel perform? What was the acceptance ratio? What was the cost of hire?

Did you realize that 100 percent of all current recruiting metrics are historical and backward looking? Incorporating future-metrics is one of the new demands in this ever-challenging space of hiring. While most organizations, some gingerly, have embraced the new mantras like digital hiring, employer branding and more sophisticated data analytics, they still need to paddle even more furiously to ride the wave of change without toppling into the talent-search rapids.

For starters, data analytics have lifted the cloche on a bigger menu. The additional activities include analysis of competitor talent pools to find candidates with the right skills and potential to join the organization, tracking passive targets, and calculating ROI based on form of employment. The ask of the future is a whole-person analysis of candidate: not just skills but the competencies, experiences, traits and drivers. 

The focus will be on equipping the recruiter with data (s)he can trust aiding a smoother  applicant tracking and shortlisting, with cloud-based storage facilitating more complex manoeuvres.

Then, there is candidate experience. The quintessential recruiter can no longer be the harried, dishevelled chicken-without-a-head making sundry announcements to candidates in the interview-waiting lounge. There is, increasingly a more compelling case for the recruiter to become a suave, informed and charming ambassador of the organization. In addition, organizations need to open their doors, maybe through a virtual walkthrough to give their targets a visual feel of the workplace. Do you recall the iconic ‘We also make steel’ Tata Steel advertisement of the nineties? The bottom-line is that we need to maintain and market our brands actively.

For instance, there is a huge habit and trust shift. Till some years back, companies handed out smart brochures and built jazzy websites to showcase their work environment. Today, candidates are relying on their own research, most of which is conducted online.  The levels are evening up – there needs to be a shared ownership between employers and employees to create an alluring brand. 

Social media is becoming more relevant. More than 25 percent of all candidates are using social media as their primary tool for job searching. And, as more and more hyper connected digital natives enter the workforce, it becomes imperative that recruiters not just use social media, but also leverage it to the maximum. Did you know that seven out of ten 18-34 year olds report have reported having found their previous job through social media? And, nearly 50% of all employee referrals this year have come in through social media? A social media hiring strategy drives results, is mainstream, and here to stay.  

And that is why the HR and the Marketing departments need to align. Maybe have implants in each other’s function. A consolidated brand strategy will thus emerge.

Are you consciously preparing for the generational shift? As more baby boomers retire and millennials enter the job market, what exactly are the issues you’d be dealing with? Do table them on a regular basis and make a conscious strategy.

The ‘top three’ hunting grounds however, are passé. There are new players in the social media space that are becoming relevant. It’s not just a large database-anchored hiring partner that you’d need. You’d probably, need to create your own bouquet of boutique, specialized, regional players.  To attract today’s heavily mobile audience, reaching them over wearable technology and providing  “one-click apply” button options will be key. In terms of mindset, it will mean increased efforts in keeping recently-rejected candidates warm in addition to netting others to fill the pipeline.

Another huge differentiator in sifting talent will be the judicious use of assessment tools. Are you following the new trends in assessment science? For instance, the use of gamification: the candidates play an online game, and as they do so, they reveal significant stuff about their traits and preferences. By the time the game have concluded, the engine at the back-end throws up a culture-values fit report! Then, there are psychometric tools. Psychometric testing is now used by over 80% of the Fortune 500 companies in the USA and by over 75% of the Times Top 100 companies in the UK.

Yes, all you superheroes out there – get yourselves the new cape which will give you these additional superpowers to win the war for talent. Make sure you train yourselves in new techniques remote hiring, designing and using trait-assessment tests, being effective brand-ambassadors, using mobile recruiting and discovering breakthroughs in arriving at quality of hire. 

The great talent, as they say, will follow.