Technology has been a boon in this fast growing world. Application of technology has also been evolving and definitely it is providing better ways of doing things today. And when it comes to the HR space, new technologies and techniques are being adopted by online recruitment agencies to make the hiring process more streamlined, efficient and simpler.
The challenges that HR faces today predominantly revolve around hiring. This stems from talent shortages to meet the growing needs of the company in a high growth economy, high attrition rates ranging from 20% to 30% across industries and even higher in BFSI and BPO, and spiraling salaries in the managerial segment.
Today almost 60% to 80% of open positions are supported by recruitment agencies. However, there is no technology platform that is available currently for them to transact online in a seamless and transparent manner. Today technical requirements are handled by functional HR teams whose clarity and understanding of those requirements itself is a big question. This problem can be solved by corporates defining their requirements in a more detailed manner.
Meanwhile, the technology solution most commonly used by HR for recruitment is the job portals. However, the reality of the job portals are that a significant portion of the candidate database is passive, hence identifying a ‘suitable’ and ‘active’ candidate from a job portal becomes extremely painful for recruiters. The job portals can be used for headhunting, which is a specialized activity typically the forte of recruitment agencies. Also, active job seekers at the mid to senior level job seekers may not prefer to take the portal route to advertise their resumes and typically interact with recruitment agencies to find a suitable position.
But technology at times may tend to cut down on the time spent in human interventions and process interactions. In such cases, the interviews become an insignificant element in the chain of highly professional recruitment process. This could be harmful. All new technology comes at a significant cost. The pressure on price performance vis-a- vis time and accuracy has always been a challenge.
Role of technology
Technological advancements like video resumes, teleconference interviews, amongst others are helping the online recruitment agencies better their recruitment process, thus making it more efficient and simpler. The technologies available today enhance preliminary screening of candidates in a big way. This way the recruitment agencies defeat the distance and gain access to a bigger pool of talent.
With the coming of technology in this space, the reach to resource has got fast and specific. Logistics has been simplified a lot. For example, earlier to fill a middle management position and in the post-screening of resume, the recruiter would have had to wait till the applicant from a distant location could make himself/herself available for interview at the location/venue preferred by the recruiter. This would in turn depend on so many factors like the applicant getting those many number of days leave from existing employer, getting the travel arrangements like rail reservations, etc. Now all this is almost passé, as a conference call could be fixed up at any time mutually convenient to both the parties. This saves time, money and energy for both the recruiter as well as the applicant.
Online databases have come of age. The recruitment firms could reach candidates through SMS and interact with them in a very short time. The interviewing techniques have as well evolved and refined. Today the interviews do not necessarily start with ‘Tell me something…’ question and end with ‘Will get back to you…’ answer. Interviewers ask for candidates’ exposures, specific function related experiences in details, psychologists become a part of the interview panel, differential aptitude and personality types are accessed before taking the recruitment decision, competency mapping tools are applied, etc. Generally, every organization applies a mix of the various tools available.
Talking about the role of technology in the hiring process, Ajit Varwandkar, Managing Director, FS Management, said, “Technological intervention has made the process more simple and streamlined. There is relatively more output per unit time input today. Better the application and use of technology, exponential improvement in performance and productivity. Technological vitality ensures that one consistently shifts focus from the ‘best’ processes to the ‘next’ processes.”
The biggest single advantage of technology is the saving of TAT (Turn Around Time). Besides, reduction in screening and interview time, from the time required to reach the right candidate to their joining lead time is reduced. This apart, the chances of reaching the right candidate has dramatically increased, which was not the case in the pre-technology era.
Source:
http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20080818/technologylife01.shtml
The challenges that HR faces today predominantly revolve around hiring. This stems from talent shortages to meet the growing needs of the company in a high growth economy, high attrition rates ranging from 20% to 30% across industries and even higher in BFSI and BPO, and spiraling salaries in the managerial segment.
Today almost 60% to 80% of open positions are supported by recruitment agencies. However, there is no technology platform that is available currently for them to transact online in a seamless and transparent manner. Today technical requirements are handled by functional HR teams whose clarity and understanding of those requirements itself is a big question. This problem can be solved by corporates defining their requirements in a more detailed manner.
Meanwhile, the technology solution most commonly used by HR for recruitment is the job portals. However, the reality of the job portals are that a significant portion of the candidate database is passive, hence identifying a ‘suitable’ and ‘active’ candidate from a job portal becomes extremely painful for recruiters. The job portals can be used for headhunting, which is a specialized activity typically the forte of recruitment agencies. Also, active job seekers at the mid to senior level job seekers may not prefer to take the portal route to advertise their resumes and typically interact with recruitment agencies to find a suitable position.
But technology at times may tend to cut down on the time spent in human interventions and process interactions. In such cases, the interviews become an insignificant element in the chain of highly professional recruitment process. This could be harmful. All new technology comes at a significant cost. The pressure on price performance vis-a- vis time and accuracy has always been a challenge.
Role of technology
Technological advancements like video resumes, teleconference interviews, amongst others are helping the online recruitment agencies better their recruitment process, thus making it more efficient and simpler. The technologies available today enhance preliminary screening of candidates in a big way. This way the recruitment agencies defeat the distance and gain access to a bigger pool of talent.
With the coming of technology in this space, the reach to resource has got fast and specific. Logistics has been simplified a lot. For example, earlier to fill a middle management position and in the post-screening of resume, the recruiter would have had to wait till the applicant from a distant location could make himself/herself available for interview at the location/venue preferred by the recruiter. This would in turn depend on so many factors like the applicant getting those many number of days leave from existing employer, getting the travel arrangements like rail reservations, etc. Now all this is almost passé, as a conference call could be fixed up at any time mutually convenient to both the parties. This saves time, money and energy for both the recruiter as well as the applicant.
Online databases have come of age. The recruitment firms could reach candidates through SMS and interact with them in a very short time. The interviewing techniques have as well evolved and refined. Today the interviews do not necessarily start with ‘Tell me something…’ question and end with ‘Will get back to you…’ answer. Interviewers ask for candidates’ exposures, specific function related experiences in details, psychologists become a part of the interview panel, differential aptitude and personality types are accessed before taking the recruitment decision, competency mapping tools are applied, etc. Generally, every organization applies a mix of the various tools available.
Talking about the role of technology in the hiring process, Ajit Varwandkar, Managing Director, FS Management, said, “Technological intervention has made the process more simple and streamlined. There is relatively more output per unit time input today. Better the application and use of technology, exponential improvement in performance and productivity. Technological vitality ensures that one consistently shifts focus from the ‘best’ processes to the ‘next’ processes.”
The biggest single advantage of technology is the saving of TAT (Turn Around Time). Besides, reduction in screening and interview time, from the time required to reach the right candidate to their joining lead time is reduced. This apart, the chances of reaching the right candidate has dramatically increased, which was not the case in the pre-technology era.
Source:
http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20080818/technologylife01.shtml
