Article: Open AI chatbot ChatGPT may revolutionise the way we attract and recruit talent: Mervyn Dinnen

Talent Acquisition

Open AI chatbot ChatGPT may revolutionise the way we attract and recruit talent: Mervyn Dinnen

Hear it from Mervyn Dinnen on how the emergence of ChatGPT will offer greater insights to candidates about the companies they should work for and the best opportunities available in the world of work.
Open AI chatbot ChatGPT may revolutionise the way we attract and recruit talent: Mervyn Dinnen

With over 20 years of experience and a collection of books such as Exceptional Talent and Digital Talent, author, writer, researcher and one of the most renowned HR, talent and worktech analysts, Mervyn Dinnen has helped business leaders and organisations curate and implement winning strategies to recruit and retain talent. He has been at the forefront on advising the world on the impact of emerging trends on hiring, retention, engagement, and recruitment. And through this quote, he beautifully encapsulates his beliefs, “Our people look for support and enablement to help them develop, so each organisation needs a proper overview of the skills and capabilities they have, and those they will need in future, and give their people the opportunity to develop.”

At People Matters Talent Acquisition Conference ’23, where he will be the opening keynote, he will shed light and share insights on ‘Winning Talent: Find, Recruit and Retain The People Your Business Needs’, taking us on a learning journey towards designing and delivering talent acquisition strategies that will help leaders and businesses grow. 

Ahead of the conference, the man of many talents, in an exclusive chat with us spoke about the upcoming challenges in the talent acquisition space, how OpenAI chatbot ChatGPT will revolutionise recruitment, what is it that TA leaders can do to widen their talent pool and bring in diversity and underrepresented talent, the key differentiator that takes a good organisation to greatness, and the blocks to internal mobility. 

With the changing employee expectations and preferences in the evolving world of work, let’s find out what’s in store as we look ahead into the future of talent acquisition. 

Excerpts from the interview: 

What are some of the new challenges that talent acquisition teams will face in the year 2023?

Skill shortages will intensify. Now, more than ever, talent mobility within an organisation will increasingly come under the remit of the TA team rather than HR/Talent Management. Our talent intelligence data needs to be accurate. The opportunity to learn new skills and capabilities is a key driver for candidates/employees when choosing where to work and whether to stay, so these opportunities need to be front and centre of all recruiting efforts.

By embracing more remote/flexible/hybrid approaches to work, organisations can widen their talent pool and make themselves attractive to skilled candidates who may either be based in a different location, or those who require more of a flexible arrangement with their employer. TA teams will need to be able to offer the right mix to the right candidates.

In a recruitment market when many companies are chasing the same talent, organisations will need to develop a highly personalised approach to candidate messaging and the candidate experience. Quality of interviews may well become a differentiator for the best candidates - they have to improve!

The emergence of Open AI chatbot ChatGPT may well revolutionise the way we attract and recruit and will offer candidates greater insights into what companies they like to work for, and what are the best opportunities being offered.

In your book, Exceptional Talent: How to Attract, Acquire and Retain the Very Best Employees, you have coined the term, ‘New Talent Journey’. Can you tell us what it means in today’s dynamically changing world of work? How can organisations struggling with talent retention introduce it in their recruitment process?

The expression ‘New Talent Journey’ refers to how all the previous stages in the attraction/hiring/retaining have become a single, seamless experience underpinned by technology. These are not separate parts of a process, each overseen by different stakeholders, but are part of a single digital journey. For example, the process of onboarding now effectively starts once a candidate has moved through the initial interview stage(s) rather than once a formal offer has been made and accepted. When I speak at People Matters Talent Acquisition Conference, I’ll give examples of how this seamless journey should work. 

With underrepresented talent finally coming out of hiding in the current business landscape, what are some ways in which organisations can now get access to and explore these hidden talent pools? 

There are an increasing number of membership and professional business groups and associations that are made up of underrepresented groups and TA teams should identify those that are most relevant to their sector or location, engage with them and build long term mutually beneficial relationships. Also, organisations can offer apprenticeships, internships or mentoring to people from underprivileged or underrepresented backgrounds too.

Most importantly, they need to audit the accessibility of their website and job postings, and their application and interviewing technology, to ensure that they do not exclude underrepresented groups from being interviewed or hired. Group interviews should be carefully planned so that everyone’s voice can be heard, and their skills and capabilities properly identified.

You have elaborately spoken about employee experience being one of the key differentiators in winning the talent game. But even with so many organisations developing a seamless employee experience with better rewards, flexibility, pay parity and wellness programs, there are certain experience gaps that remain. How can organisations address these potential gaps or loopholes? 

Firstly, organisations have to appreciate that the ‘employee experience’ isn’t so much something they design but is what their employees actually experience. The multitude of interactions that each employee has each day with technology, colleagues, management, support, and infrastructure shapes how they feel. We refer to these as micro-experiences and the aim is to have as many positive interactions as possible.

Increasingly, the way we support employee wellbeing, and support our people during a pending global cost of living crisis, will determine if we are seen as an organisation that is good to be a part of, that values and supports them, and one in which they can thrive.  

According to the findings from a Randstad RiseSmart Career Mobility Report, despite 73.5% of employers believing they offer their employees enough training and career development opportunities, only 53.2% of employees believe the same. Why do we see this disparity in the perception of the employee vs the employer? How can HR leaders bridge the gap and strengthen the employee-employer relationship?

Most research underlines that the number one reason people join, and stay, with an organisation is if they have the opportunity to grow, develop, learn new skills and capabilities. The blocks to internal mobility within most businesses are cultural - managers not wanting to lose their best performers, leaders who feel they need to bring in expertise from the outside rather than develop this internally. 

Whilst HR leaders may not want to hear it, it’s the Talent Acquisition team who should have oversight of talent mobility, and talent intelligence should be a partnership between them and HR. Our people look for support and enablement to help them develop, so each organisation needs a proper overview of the skills and capabilities they have, and those they will need in future, and give their people the opportunity to develop.

As an HR and talent analyst, what will be your advice to leaders, who are trying to balance tech with the human element in the talent acquisition space?

Personalisation is key. Research from the consumer space shows us that 92% expect a tailored, personalised experience and it should be no different for them when they apply for new jobs or contracts. Job applications are highly personal to the applicant and should be respected as such by the TA team, which means delivering personalised responses with actionable feedback. Key to this is the ability to tell real, relatable stories about your organisation and the opportunities you can offer.

In the end, it is easy to follow what others are doing as organisations battle it out in the war for talent. But before getting into the field, each industry, organisation and leader needs to understand what their employees and their firm needs and align the two to move ahead. To know more about the perception of leaders and their talent struggles today, get to Ritz Calton, Bengaluru on February 9 to be a part of People Matters Talent Acquisition Conference. Register now!

 

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Topics: Talent Acquisition, Leadership, #HRCommunity, #PMTAC, #TheGreatTalentWar, #ArtificialIntelligence

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