Hiring top talent requires strategy and precision in today’s talent wars. McKinsey estimates that by 2020 there will be a global shortage of approximately 85 million qualified workers.
Workers who develop their skills to keep up with the demands of our emerging high-tech world will be at a premium. At the same time, the hiring process is undergoing a seismic shift as it moves to include AI, automation and transforms into a customer service mindset with trust as the cornerstone.
In our networked, diverse and fast-paced world, the hiring process needs to transition from a recruiting model to a human capital development model. The new model integrates coaching into the process and goes beyond a simple transaction model of placing talent in a position.
Human capital developers build relationships, help to identify high potentials, coach talent and work with companies to develop their leadership pipeline over time.
AI in hiring
Utilizing AI to find talent will become a major part of the recruitment process. AI will identify matches based on a summary of all available digital data to create a 360 profile. As AI takes on the heavy lifting, the main role of the recruiter is to develop and maintain relationships with talent. Trust is essential here. In our emerging high-tech world, the value of recruiters lies in their ability to build and maintain relationships through high levels of emotional intelligence and strong interpersonal relationships with their teams and candidates.
Develop the right pipeline
Unicorn talent is typically a passive market and companies need to identify potential talent attributes and skills for their vision before hiring to develop a pipeline. Successful hiring requires developing relationships, an excellent understanding of the client requirements and true resonance with the vision, then selectively reaching out to candidates identified as a potential cultural fit. The process requires identifying talent, networking with them on social and establishing trust as well as credibility. It’s an opportunity to assess soft skills including the interpersonal skills critical to succeed today.
Candidate Experience
The talent we work with every day are customers, and we only have to Google to see candidates are rarely treated with that level of respect. The more recruiters can adapt the perspective of providing a servant leader mindset, the more effective they will be in their work. Reviewing the end-to-end customer experience is vital for recruiters and their companies to be successful.
Selection Process
Recruiters need to focus on selective conversion rather than accumulating a ton of resumes. Recruiting, now more than ever, is about understanding candidate and client perspectives in a very genuine way – and that means being extraordinarily great at relationships. Talent needs to feel represented and that recruiters are advocating for their best interests. It’s about making one-on-one connections and treating talent as humans on their career journey, rather than a target number to reach a quota.
The recruiter brand
Talent is charged with developing their own brand to attract opportunities, and so too, recruiters must carefully evaluate their brand. How you show up internally with your hiring manager, your team, the talent you approach and represent and the company you represent speaks volumes about your brand.
With technology as the aid to deliver the best talent to your company; work out how you are going to work on your development to change the way our industry is talked about.
About the author: Caroline Stokes, founder of FORWARD is an executive headhunter, coach and EQ trainer for innovation leaders. www.theforward.co
