Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Is technology putting recruitment out of business?

I stumbled across an article on LinkedIn that announced the death of recruitment. In this digital age do we, as recruitment agency or headhunter, still have a future or is technology going to put us out of business?


Let’s face it, the world of attracting talent has changed dramatically over the last decades. A Rolodex containing phone numbers of who’s who in business used to be our main asset, now the world has opened and even the most famous CEO is only a few clicks away.
Boolean searches provide within minutes a list of the most appropriate candidates, e-mail addresses are readily available and interviews through Skype have become common practice, so what is the added value a headhunter can still bring?

Technical skills are no longer the key to success. Now, even more than ever, the cultural fit between employer and employee is crucial to a successful hire. It is here that we can make the difference.
Our added value does not lay in the identification of a pool of candidates but in the identification of the right candidate. It is time that we put focus on the human aspects of recruitment. After all, what is more personal in a professional life than the choice of a new employer?

Does this mean that we have to go back to the wining and dining from the eighties? No, but it is time that we team up with both clients and candidates, time that we start thinking long term and build authentic relationships, using all new technologies that are available. It is exactly there that we can make the difference: knowing the ways of working of our clients, the leadership style of the hiring managers and the unique traits that make someone successful in that specific environment. If we combine this with expert knowledge on how to engage into a conversation with potential candidates and a solid knowledge of who our candidates really are, their values and aspirations, their strengths and weaknesses then I believe that we still have a bright future ahead.

Recruitment in the future will not be around massive databases but around building business partnerships with clients and investing in creating a pool of talent that could be the right candidate at a certain point in time. It will be around jointly communicating an employer brand and being a matchmaker with the right talent, not for a specific position but for the right fit, both from a client and a candidate perspective.

As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts, comments and ideas.

I look forward to hearing from you,
Isabel

Through a personalised and tailor-made approach, Ingenium Executive Search aspires to assist you in attracting the right talent that matches the DNA of your company

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