Technology can greatly reduce costs and time taken thereby allowing recruiters to become more efficient and quality-focused, says Balaji Ganesh, CEO, Adrenalin eSystems Limited

Owing to recent economic events, recruiting organisations are facing greater challenges compared to the scenario a couple of years back. After the economic downturn, jobs became scarce and there are more candidates vying for fewer jobs. With a large number of equally qualified applicants to choose from, the quantum of work for a recruiter has increased manifold. The bar on quality is rising, thereby making recruiting processes more complex and demanding.

Q. What are the primary challenges a recruiter faces during the recruitment process?

The typical recruitment lifecycle involves identifying the talent pool, posting a job opening, receiving applications, and selection through tests and interviews. In case of hiring for senior positions, the processes are even more rigorous and time intensive, involving additional costs of travel and accommodation.

The complexity of assessments has increased, through new shortlisting mechanisms such as psychometric tests. Given the current economic environment, recruiters have to identify potential talent from a bigger candidate pool, shortlist best-fit talent from a large number of applications, manage logistics and schedules, and conduct the paperwork needed to complete the process.

Q. What are the key areas of cost and time investment in the recruiting process?

There are multiple parts of the recruiting process that involve significant investment of cost and time. They can be classified under scheduling, sourcing, logistics, and paperwork management.

Scheduling involves matching calendars of the interviewer and candidates and finalising timeslots for written rounds and in-person or telephonic interviews. While managing schedules, in itself, is a complicated task, what makes scheduling even more complex are unplanned changes and alterations.

Motivating passive candidates to apply for a job opportunity is also a big challenge for recruiters as the rules of engagement for passive candidates are much different from the ones for active candidates.

Logistics management is also an area that needs significant investment of time and cost for a hiring organisation. Added to that, managing logistics becomes more complicated if the candidates and interviewers are based out of different cities.
For multi-location recruitments and candidate sourcing, the recruiter typically manages the entire logistical lifecycle of the process, starting from schedule mapping, travel bookings, food and accommodation. Travel and logistics form a significant part of the time and cost involved in a recruitment process.

Lastly, a recruiter is also responsible for managing the paperwork formalities in the process that involves, among other things, creating and disbursing offer letters to selected candidates.

Q. What challenges does a recruiter face with existing recruiting technologies?

Organisations can reduce logistics costs and optimize productivity to a great extent through the use of a virtual talent acquisition infrastructure. Many candidates, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India, do not have access to the essential infrastructure for video conferencing. For a company that wants to be an equal opportunity employer, reaching candidates in remote locations is not possible through such conferencing facilities which are available mainly in Tier 1 cities. Though there was a shift from video conference to internet based live video interviewing, it has its own set of limitations. Internet based live video interviewing has key essential requirements, such as a web camera, good internet connectivity, and voice infrastructure.

Most organisations streamline the applicant tracking and paperwork management as part of the process, through recruiting platforms. A recruiter, however, has to manage a number of technology platforms, including the HRMS, internal and external portals, partner portals, talent assessment software, and other niche products such as college and university management software

Q. How can a recruiter overcome technology challenges to make the recruiting process more efficient and inexpensive?

While technology can greatly reduce cost and time from the recruitment process, an organisation should be judicious with the selection of the right technology. While choosing a technology, an organisation needs to identify challenges in the recruitment process and find the right technology to address them. The HR technology landscape is witnessing a transformation and service companies are launching technology products that address these inefficiencies.

Adrenalin eSystems has tried to address these challenges through its soon to be launched recruitment platform, HR-ATM (Any Time Manpower). It is a kiosk, similar to a banking ATM machine that serves as a one-stop integrated shop for the recruitment lifecycle.

Through the HR ATM, candidates can search for jobs, apply for advertised positions, and appear in job interviews and receive the offer, all from the same location. The ATM also provides options for a candidate to appear in written tests in real-time. The ATM eliminates costs in the scheduling and logistics parts of the recruitment process.

For a recruiter, the ATM integrates with all internal recruiting platforms, and also with external social media and job portals. It allows for the creation and administration of customised tests, such as psychometric tests. The platform will be particularly helpful for organisations in reaching out to candidates in remote locations. Lastly, the technology also administers the paperwork management component of the recruiting process by providing features to print offer letters on the go. Such a technology, that provides an end to end integrated talent acquisition infrastructure therefore, can greatly eliminate the time and cost components of a recruitment process, allowing a recruiter to invest more time in quality and efficiency.