Innovations in Recruiting Technology- Past, Present and Future

When LinkedIn was acquired by Microsoft in 2016, it took everyone by surprise. Microsoft was considered the last name that would be interested in a digital media company whose sole focus was connecting talent and providing talent solutions to recruiters. But the acquisition did happen, and if we are to believe the statement of LinkedIn Chief Executive Jeff Weiner, LinkedIn’s graph can now be interwoven through the entire Microsoft Suit of Products like Outlook, Windows, Skype amongst others. Future will tell how this will fare for both LinkedIn and Microsoft, but recruitment industry got a big boost with the entry of the tech giant.

2017 has continued to remain significant for the recruitment industry as we already witnessed the launch of Google Hire and rumors of Facebook also entering the recruitment space were also doing the rounds although nothing concrete came out of it. The recruitment industry is at a critical juncture as we witness the highest-profile companies in the world making grand entrance in the world of recruitment. It would be silly to assume that decision makers at Microsoft or Google do not have a long-term strategy and a well thought out plan for their products in recruitment.

The recruitment technology space is lucrative and has an investment potential of billions. It is now for us to wait and watch how these firms, which are known for disrupting trends and making an ever lasting impact on every industry, will affect the incumbents of the recruitment space and everyone else – right from investors to service providers, recruiters to job seekers.

(Also Read: Disruptive HR Practices in 2018: What is changing for HR?)

Innovation in recruitment industry

The below framework visualizes the important shifts across three distinct durations of innovation. This is a generalized framework which fails to register thousands of startups that haven’t had that much of an impact. However, it does provide an overall view of innovation in recruitment space over the past 20 years.

Moving from ATS to RMS

Though a bit slow on exploring the possibilities of technology, progress has been made in terms of using tools for finding and tracking candidates. The Applicant Tracking System, with its ability to digitally store candidate CVs, emerged as game changer during 1990s. It saved a lot of heartburn for recruiters and protected them from lawsuits through infusing more consistency in hiring practices. However, the earlier versions of ATS did little for increasing the efficiency of recruiters and focused more on compliance.

This has changed in the past few years. There has been continuous improvement in the ATS with more features being added. The ATS 1.0 was a unique software installed locally on the customer’s server and focused on enterprises. Taleo was the biggest name back then. It was soon replaced by a new “web-first” version ATS 2.0 in the early 2000s and new players like Jobvite gained considerable spotlight and market share. This was also the period when enterprise companies like Oracle took the first step towards building full suites of HR software.

However, we are still behind time to witness a true revolution. Most companies and staffing agencies still use their manual expertise or outdated tools for tracking potential candidates for vacant positions. These tools lack the capability of posting job ads to job boards and different social media platform. The ATS is indeed a beneficial tool, but working with them demands a lot of manual dexterity, for instance, searching for right candidate using keyword research. According to the latest insights from Alexander Mann Solutions, the new age Applicant Tracking System must progress from basic tracking to managing all processes right from sourcing to on-boarding and beyond.

This is where Recruitment Management Systems come into picture. Also known as the ‘wave of ATS 3.0’ we now see a whole new breed of HR software, also sometimes known as RMS or Recruitment Management System taking over the mantle. This new breed of software is mobile-first, user-friendly, feature rich, cloud-only and open to integrations. In fact, the development of RMS is one of the bigger highlights of the $14-plus billion marketplace for HR software and platforms.

How the ATS 3.0/RMS is different from previous versions?

While the traditional ATS is heavily process driven, the RMS incorporates all elements that HR heads are now seeking. It is in fact a one stop solution for all your hiring needs. From having features like resume parsing and social media monitoring to post-hire tracking and candidate tracking capabilities, a RMS can do all this and much more. A good RMS not only takes care of all four stages of recruitment process that includes advertising jobs, receiving applications, screening applications and final selection but also can be used for performance appraisals, talent forecasting and employee management once the candidate is hired. These Recruitment Management Systems have advanced communication capabilities allowing HR managers to email, SMS or even tweet to potential hires. Moreover, all this happens in the cloud, which has its own immense benefit.

(Also Read: What are the benefits of Cloud Computing for Human Resources?)

Selecting the right recruitment software

The selection of recruitment software is not an easy process owing to its importance to talent acquisition or staffing firm or a recruiting department. There can be huge repercussions on recruiter’s performance and productivity, not to forget the impact it will have on the candidate experience. Hence, it helps to ask certain questions so as to arrive at a definite conclusion.

1) What to look for while buying a recruitment management system?

2) What type of organization you are? Are you a consultant, a SME, startup or a large organization working in diverse sectors? The needs of each are different and require a different type of solution.

3) What are your key areas of improvement?

If this is your first encounter with HR software, it will help to define the pain-points of your human resource department which are affecting your business. The innovation that we call RMS is a tremendous tool for connecting prospects to right work opportunities.

(Also Read: How to Choose the Right Recruiting Software for Your Business?)