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Are you ready to embrace the future of remote recruiting with AI? Unlock a world of talent acquisition possibilities.

Adoption of work-from-home (WFH) models by a multitude of industries has transformed the way companies operate. Many employees prefer to work remotely as much as possible. The new era of work prioritizes flexibility and adaptability. Organizations must adapt their recruitment and hiring processes to meet the ever-evolving needs of their workforce.  
 
Nearly 30 percent of all work happened at home in January 2023, six times the rate in 2019.  
 
 
Marketing strategies 
To attract and engage top-notch talent, organizations need to harness the power of recruitment marketing strategies that are tailored to their specific needs. Leveraging programmatic technologies and conducting A/B testing of job postings, companies can identify the most effective recruitment marketing strategies that resonate with potential candidates.  
 

Chatbots 
AI-powered chatbots and other tools can streamline the recruitment process by automating tasks such as culling resumes, scheduling interviews, and answering frequently asked questions. Email and chat are key relationship-building channels for managing the candidate experience, and recruiters should ensure that these processes are mobile-friendly and accessible across a multitude of channels.  
 

Digital tools 
The shift to remote work has made it necessary for candidates to complete various tasks from home, including drug tests, skills assessments, and paperwork. Digital tools can be used to measure typing speed, internet speed, and other skills. Recruiters can ask candidates about their workstations and noise levels to ensure a positive customer experience.  
 

Automated reminders 
Integrating automated reminders with phone calls can help reduce time-to-hire and increase efficiency of the recruitment funnel. Video interviews are also an effective way to conduct face-to-face assessments and evaluations. By streamline these steps into an automated workflow, recruiters can ensure candidates move through the recruitment process quickly and efficiently.  
 
Thirty-seven percent of businesses employ AI. Organizations that leverage the latest AI technologies can optimize their recruitment processes, from recruitment marketing to digitized recruiting and hiring. By doing so, they can ensure that they are well-equipped to meet the evolving needs of their workforce and thrive in the new world of work.  

Unleash the potential of cutting-edge technology and automation to create efficient yet human-centered recruitment processes with PSG Global Solutions.

A positive candidate experience can make all the difference in high-volume recruiting, not just in terms of filing open positions quickly but also in terms of employee retention, productivity, and long-term succession planning. In fact, 49 percent of job seekers had declined a job offer due to poor experience. 
 
Although many companies may view high-volume recruiting as a race to the finish line, it’s important to remember that it’s also a relay race, where each step of the process can impact the success of the next. 

Over-automation
One of the most important ways to improve the candidate experience is to avoid over-automation. Although automation can certainly speed up the recruiting process and reduce the burden on recruiters, it can also make candidates feel like they’re just a number in a system, rather than an individual with singular skills and talents. By balancing automation with human touchpoints, such as personalized outreach and communication, companies can show candidates that they value them as individuals and are invested in finding the right fit for both parties.  

Transparency
Another key aspect of a positive candidate experience is transparency. Candidates want to know where they stand in the process and what to expect next. By providing regular updates and clear communication about the hiring timeline and process, companies can build trust with candidates and help them feel more comfortable throughout the recruiting journey. Doing so can help mitigate frustration and uncertainty, which can lead to candidate drop-off and negative feedback.  

Seamless application process
It’s important for companies to provide a seamless and user-friendly application process. By ensuring that job postings are easy to find and understand, the application process is straightforward and accessible, and candidates receive timely feedback and support when needed. Prioritizing the candidate experience at every step of the process, companies can reduce candidate drop-off rates and boost overall application volume.

Candidate
In high-volume recruiting, it can be easy to view candidates as just numbers. The truth is that investing in a positive candidate experience can actually lead to better employee retention and productivity in the long run. Seventy-two percent of candidates have shared their experience on online employer review sites such as Glassdoor.com. By treating candidates with respect and demonstrating that the company values their contributions, candidates are more likely to feel committed after they are hired. This can lead to increased employee engagement and job satisfaction, which in turn can reduce turnover rates and boost productivity.  
 
A positive candidate experience can help with long-term succession planning. By building relationships with candidates who may not be the right fit for the current role, but who have strong potential for future positions, companies can create a talent pipeline for future hiring needs. A positive candidate can help reduce recruiting costs by up to 60 percent and streamline the hiring process, while also ensuring that the company has a pool of qualified candidates to draw from in the future.  

High-volume recruiting success depends on a positive candidate experience. By balancing automation with human touchpoints, providing transparency and clear communication, and creating a seamless and user-friendly application process, companies can improve the funnel and ultimately improve employee retention, productivity, and long-term succession planning.  
 
Although it may be tempting to view high-volume recruiting as a race to the finish line, it’s important to remember that it is also a relay race where each step of the process can impact the success of the next.

There are two ways executives can view change – as a disruptive force, or as a catalyst for business growth. Each mindset results in a very different outcome, as evidenced by the events of the past year. Companies that adapted their business models quickly to accommodate the rapidly changing environment due to COVID-19 saw their efforts pay off, while those who remained static – both in their thinking and in their actions – didn’t fare well.

This is one of the themes we cover in our newest eBook, Recruiting in Uncertain Times: What to Do When You Don’t Know What’s Next. This period of business change is far from over, and the companies that come out on top will be those that truly embrace it.

What’s Next for Recruiting?

People have always been a company’s greatest asset, and the pandemic only crystalized this line of thinking. Your workforce is ultimately responsible for executing on your strategic vision and creating the customer experiences that drive your business. Your recruiting strategies make it all possible by getting the right people in the door.

There are a few lessons from 2020 to take with us into this year and beyond:

Business change is inevitable. Ensure your recruiting strategy is aligned to the needs of the business at all times. Many companies have made strategic operational moves during this COVID era of work, including manufacturers shifting production to in-demand essential items. Keep an open line of communication with executives to ensure your team is prepared to secure the talent you need to capitalize on changing market dynamics.

Execution matters. Your ability to act quickly and efficiently within the parameters of today’s restrictive environment is key. Gone are the days of determining your recruiting strategy and then spending the next year executing on it. In a fluid business environment, nothing is final. Your company’s strategy will need to shift to accommodate new trends and unpredicted events, and your recruiting strategy will need to follow suit. Expect demand to fluctuate, and be prepared to flex up and down quickly with as little business disruption as possible.

Invest wisely. Fortify and future-proof your recruiting operations with the right processes and technology. Most companies underwent significant cost-cutting initiatives in 2020 in order to rightsize their businesses. Now is the time to be strategic with your recruiting budget, investing in technology, if possible, to better weather future economic storms and operate in an online world. Consider solutions that positively impact the candidate experience and get better talent into your organization faster. 

These three lessons are just a starting point for what it will take to successfully recruit in 2021, whatever the year may bring. Download our eBook, Recruiting in Uncertain Times: What to Do When You Don’t Know What’s Next, to learn more strategies and how technology can support them, with real-world examples across industries.

To recruit and hire effectively in this environment, organizations must take advantage of innovative technology and processes that meet the unique challenges and opportunities presented by our new normal. Here’s how.

From sourcing and recruiting to training, management and retention, digitized solutions alongside process changes are crucial for supporting virtual and hybrid contact centers and work-from-home agents.

Sourcing’s goal is to find the best-fit, most qualified candidates in the shortest amount of time possible. But this can be challenging. How much time should you spend sourcing? And, once you’ve sourced a list of prospects, who should you prioritize first? Easier said than done, right?

According to Deloitte’s 2019 Global Human Capital Trends survey, more than 60% of respondents say that finding qualified talent is one of the biggest challenges in recruitment. And, nearly 90% of organizations expect the role of technology in sourcing to increase in the next three years. Organizations must consider how to continuously access talent in varying ways, including strategically leveraging technology to augment work done by recruiters.

Current techniques for sourcing can be impactful (e.g., browser extensions, plug-ins, advanced Boolean search methods, social sourcing and more), but they are also time-consuming and repetitive. With access to so many people and so much information online, cutting through the clutter to source the best-fit prospective candidates is increasingly challenging. 

Identifying tech solutions to help streamline sourcing is imperative to stay ahead of the curve in recruitment. As you consider investing in technology to optimize your sourcing process, be sure you are clear on the problems you want the solutions to solve, and how you’ll be able to measure against those. And, remember, it’s important to consider how different technologies work together and how each solution typically requires a new process design and communication and deployment plan. Once you’re ready to begin, be sure the solutions you implement include these four capabilities: 

1.Resume and CV Parsing

More than 80 percent of professionals are actively seeking or are open to learning about new job opportunities. While sourcing from such a vast pool of candidates has promise, navigating through large amounts of data presents a challenge. Resume and CV parsing, which automates the process of gathering, analyzing, and sorting resume data is one of the easiest ways to save time and create efficiencies in sourcing.

Parsing allows data — such as contact information, education, work experience, skills, awards, and certifications — to be organized, sorted, and prioritized automatically. It eliminates manual data entry and the process of skimming hundreds or thousands of resumes and instead, helps you identify the most qualified candidates based on variables that match role requirements. This capability is invaluable when sourcing for a large number of contingent workers or after collecting resume data for prospective candidates from targeted job boards or networks. 

When looking for a parsing tool, ensure that it can parse large volumes of resumes in bulk, from various formats (e.g., Word, PDF, HTML) and that it can integrate into your current applicant tracking system (ATS) — where you will likely funnel the candidates you source. 

2. Communication Automation

Communicating with potential candidates is another time-consuming task for sourcing teams. Recruiters often spend 20 hours a week on initial candidate outreach. Look for specialized applications that can be integrated into your ATS and are designed to automatically engage a list of sourced candidates via text, email, and other channels. Email and text messages can be sent on an automated schedule using customized, branded templates that add a personal touch to the communication, enhancing the candidate experience from the first touchpoint.

In addition, recruiting automation tools can autodial prospects through a VoIP system, tracking unanswered calls and connecting answered calls with top recruiters. Automation allows for improved candidate engagement by connecting with candidates quickly if they respond to a text or email showing interest in a role. 

With automated communication tools, sourcers and recruiters can increase productivity and better prioritize which candidates they should focus on to forge meaningful connections.

3. Bots for Automation

One study found that more than 50% of recruitment managers spend eight hours a week — one full workday — on manual, repetitive tasks. Another report shows that recruiters spend approximately 15 hours a week sourcing for just one role. Automating these laborious processes can reduce time and budget spent on routine tasks and help improve recruiting costs, time to hire and quality of hire. In fact, more than 80% of talent acquisition teams believe they would be more productive if they could automate sourcing altogether.

Bots are programs that automate standard tasks such as screening, scheduling or simple text-based conversations with a candidate. They can help streamline sourcing functions into an automated workflow that you manage. Identify partners that can help you automate at least 50% of your manual tasks via bots. Some organizations have automated up to 85% of their sourcing and recruiting process. 

4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning

AI-based sourcing tools are more popular than ever. The recruiting function — including AI-based sourcing, assessment, screening, interviewing, and candidate experience management — is the biggest market for AI in HR. Additionally, the venture capital and private equity markets have invested nearly $4 billion into HR tech using AI.

AI and machine learning tools deploy algorithms that help prioritize requisitions, candidate sources and interaction strategies by leveraging historical data. AI-powered platforms streamline large amounts of complex data, revealing insights about prospective candidates, market trends, and recruiting strategies. AI can improve success with passive candidates using predictive analytics. By evaluating and monitoring candidate-related data points across various online platforms, the technology pinpoints subtle triggers, such as work anniversaries or increased activity on LinkedIn, that indicate a professional is considering changing jobs and is open to new opportunities. 

Machine learning, which analyzes and learns from the data to perform tasks, leverages candidate attributes and engagement scores to automatically build a prioritized contact list of the highest potential prospects for a recruiter. 

When exploring possible sourcing solutions with AI and machine learning, consider the importance of data privacy as well as how it may initiate the redesign of your organization. Additionally, while AI can help make sourcing more equitable, if AI tools are built on historical hiring and recruiting data that measure biased decisions, they could repeat this pattern. To avoid bias, be prepared to monitor and make updates as needed.

Are you ready to build the sourcing team of tomorrow? Finding the right solutions can transform your talent acquisition efforts and produce incredible results. Each of these four functions — resume parsing, communication automation, bots, and AI — is vital for sourcing for the future. Identify what desired outcome your organization wants to achieve in each area and then seek out solutions and partners that can help you reach those goals. 

Even better, seek out a partner that combines these high-powered solutions into one cohesive system that integrates with your existing system. PSG’s Automated Candidate Engagement (ACE) solution does just that. We’ve implemented ACE across over 60% of our recruiting accounts with outstanding results. Not only has our connect rate increased by over 80%, but we are also delivering 80% more hires a month per recruiter with the new solution. Reach out to learn more.