sofIt’s no secret that the world of work has changed – but the fact of the matter is, recruitment, largely, remains stuck in stasis, with many employers failing to adopt the tools and technologies today that will be required to compete for – and win – top talent tomorrow.

While new systems and software can seem scary, the good news is that these tools can actually help handle some of the most manual and monotonous parts of the hiring process, like sifting through stacks of seemingly identical resumes and generic cover letters, freeing them so that they can focus on finding, engaging and attracting the best and the brightest candidates available.

As technology continues to advance and become even more omnipresent in our everyday lives, it’s up to recruiters to create scalable, sustainable strategies to reach today’s candidates in real time, all the time, no matter where in the world of work they happen to work. Because if you aren’t keeping pace, chances are, you’re already losing the competition for great candidates to those employers who aren’t stuck in the staffing stone age.

Modern Times: 5 Recruiting Technology Trends Every Employer Needs To Know

download (1)If you’re still relying on spreadsheets and a mostly manual hiring process that focuses on paperwork more than people, here are 5 hiring tools you can use to keep up with the times – and the competition.

1. Video Resumes

Employers aren’t the only ones trying to stand out from the increasingly cutthroat and competitive labor market; candidates increasingly are experimenting with new ways to get noticed beyond simply shooting resume after resume into an ATS and hoping to get a phone call.

Increasingly, this means reinventing the idea of a ‘resume’ altogether, and we’re not talking about switching to colored fonts, fancy card stock or unconventional formatting. We’re talking video.

The rise of video resumes might not be replacing the traditional paper based documents any time soon, but these do offer an ideal way to go beyond simply listing skills and experience to really showcase their soft skills and speak to culture fit, too. Many candidates, frustrated by the relative unresponsiveness of recruiters, often think that if only they could somehow get at least a look, they’d see what they’re really missing out on.

Well, now any candidate can get a look – and present themselves as more attractive potential hires by leveraging video to create a picture worth a thousand resumes. The good news for recruiters is that video resumes make assessing candidates easier for them, too – a rare example of a recruiting win-win.

2. Professional Networks

Yeah, social recruiting has become pretty passe by now, but professional networks have recently taken a center stage in today’s talent acquisition process. These networks, LinkedIn being the most prominent example, are currently the fastest growing  global source of hire, increasing 73 percent over the past 4 years alone.

This speaks to their increasing efficacy and mainstream adoption as a core component of the modern job search for candidates and employers alike.

While the most prominent social platforms like Facebook and Twitter can help recruiters and employers learn more about a candidate’s personality, professionalism and presentation style, professional networks were created primarily to connect job seekers with recruiters, employers and third party agencies, and have features and functions designed to facilitate that end goal not found on more traditional social networks. These features include the ability to apply directly for jobs or share referrals to their onsite social connections. These platforms present a powerful way to target and engage top talent while building a magnetic employer brand (and pipeline) for future hiring needs.

If you’re not making the most out of professional networks, you’re missing out on one of today’s most valuable recruiting resources – so make sure that this is one tool that’s always part of your toolbox.

3. Video Interviews

Video interviewing has seen a dramatic rise in adoption by employers, and not just for those looking for remote workers or considering candidates in different markets or regions. Video interviewing now offers both the ability to have a two way conversation between employers and employees as well as the chance to have candidates respond to preset questions that allow recruiters and hiring managers to screen whenever or wherever they want.
This one way video interviewing capability, at least, gives recruiters the chance to improve efficiency and increase their chances that no great candidates slip through the cracks by providing a powerful new way to watch up to watch up to 10 video interviews in the time it takes to perform a single phone screen. When it comes to productivity hacks, this one’s a no brainer.
Whether conducting one way interviews at your convenience or utilize video for live interviews, this emerging medium can assist employers in assessing not only a candidate’s body language and nonverbal cues sent when responding to certain questions, but also their overall presentation style, presence and professionalism, too. No more unpleasant in-person interviewing surprises is one outcome every recruiter should be eager to start seeing.
Video helps ensure that what you see, at least during the screening and selection process, is truly what you get when a candidate shows up on site.
4. Mobile Recruiting
Many of us are so glued to our mobile devices that they’ve more or less morphed into extensions of our bodies, an appendage that’s omnipresent no matter where we are or what we’re doing. In fact, those “Gen Y” workers recruiters seem so concerned with – the 18-36 year old demographic – check their smart phones an average of 43 times per day. With so much time spent basking in the glow of our mobile screens, it’s crucial that employers make sure they’re able to reach candidates there, too, and not have hiring remain chained to a desktop.
Not only are more job seekers using mobile devices to search for or browse job postings and career content, but they’re also increasingly demanding the ability to apply for those jobs on the go, too. Given this trend, it’s important to optimize your online career sites and employer branding initiatives specifically for these devices, creating a seamless and painless user experience for mobile users. Adopting mobile recruiting not only creates convenience and conversions, but improves candidate experience, too.
If you’re still not sure whether or not your hiring process is built for mobile, try applying for one of your open positions on a mobile device – and if you can’t, it’s probably time to start looking at new systems and solutions, stat. Even if you can’t bring in a new platform, social networks like LinkedIn or Google Plus offer open APIs that allow for easy integration with existing ATS and HCM systems, creating an easy way to make job postings mobile optimized and more likely to get found by those passive candidates who might not even know they’re looking – yet.
5. Big Data and Analytics Solutions
Big data is making big waves, and big changes to the business of hiring and the recruiting industry in general. That’s because these concepts represent a powerful approach for adopting analytics to find better talent faster than ever before by provide insights and information to help recruiters recruit smarter.
Rather than spend your time manually reviewing a ton of resumes and dispositioning them one at a time, employers are increasingly adopting matching tools and technologies with specialized algorithms designed to search for and stack rank the most qualified candidates among the often hundreds of resumes flooding in for every open position. These programs leverage more than just resumes for generating results, though, and many incorporate a broad range of candidate related data, such as social profiles or automated assessment tools – to filter by skills and qualifications, too.
Big data allows recruiters to eliminate guess work and eliminate waste throughout the hiring process, from cutting down on paperwork to preempting poor hiring decisions by filtering out all but the most highly qualified candidates.
Sure, most of these sound like buzzwords, but that’s because they truly are a sign of the times – and if you’re stuck in the past, you’d better start adopting these technologies today, or lose out in the future war for tomorrow’s talent.
tolan-300x300About the Author: Josh Tolan is the CEO of Spark Hirea video interview solution used by more than 2,000 companies across the globe.
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By Josh Tolan

Josh Tolan is the CEO of Spark Hire, a video interview solution used by more than 4,000 companies across the globe.