An evolution in recruitment on the move and up in the cloud

Whether it was the cloud, social media or mobile, technology continued to change the way recruiters do their jobs throughout 2011. So what developments will most impact the industry during 2012? We ask seven visonaries across the recruiting spectrum

David Johnston, 4MAT, corporate web consultant

“There are two areas that I see as key for 2012. The first is mobile. In reality the recruitment world has still to maximise mobile. The adoption of mobile specific websites and apps has been much slower than retail and other online businesses. The 4MAT survey of over 50 sites’ traffic between 2010-11 reflects this, and 2012 will see recruiters and direct employers push to catch up.

“The second is content and the importance of using technology to manage this. Brand trust is paramount. A key way to achieve this is through relevant content to create a personal user experience, to engage with the visitor and reinforce employer brand, through the channels of their choice. Regular irrelevant content can lose this trust in a very short space of time. This content will need to have dual uses: being engaging and of interest to drive traffic and visibility through social media, but also with an eye on search engine optimisation to help build rankings. Content is king as without it technology is just that — technology with little or no interest.”

Dan Martin, managing director, Broadbean

“If this year was the year that social media started to move from buzz word to genuine utility, I believe this coming year will see forward thinking recruiters embedding social media (including professional networking) activities into core recruitment channels. Online profiles will enable talent pools to be kept up to date and relevant, as well as bringing significant enhancements to the effectiveness of employee referral schemes.

“The number of candidate sources has never been so high, but this brings about its own challenges. To get value from the data that is available, the onus really falls on the recruiter to develop strong and engaged candidate networks, and the clever use of recruitment technology will be vital to streamline this activity.”

Colin Minto, head of resourcing, G4S

“2012 is going to be the year of the candidate experience, therefore technologies that can support the provision of a rich and engaging experience will be the focus of corporate recruiters.

“Community-based career centres, where jobseekers can connect and continually interact with hiring managers and existing employees of an organisation in conversational forums and groups, will be commonplace. Advanced corporate employer usage of these platforms will see niche external talent pools forming around internal job type stakeholders to support employers to identify top talent ahead of the need to advertise.

“CV parsing to enable candidates to register rich profiles with corporate career centres and semantic matching to continually, and more importantly, accurately match candidates to vacant opportunities will not be exclusive to recruiters, and job boards as employers continue to seize control of recruiting directly.”

Wendy McDougall, CEO, Firefish

“Mobile applications and social media have been at the heart of recruitment in 2011, and of course I expect that to continue into 2012. If recruiters want to make the most of this technology though, they’re going to have to start thinking like online marketers.

“Good search engine optimisation to draw in more candidates, ads that act as enticing landing pages and analytics to decide which online actions are and aren’t working. The recruiters who can get to grips with these marketing basics will be well placed to get the best results out of the integrated recruitment technology available in 2012.”

Tom Mason, managing director EMEA, AllegisTalent2

“In 2012 the widespread adoption of Web 2.0 will mean communication and information once limited and restricted will continue to be numerous and more dispersed.

“Millions of users have created digital identities and selforganised into online communities, building a social map of their life. It will be more important than ever to understand your key candidate demographics, determine where they congregate online, establish what their core interests are and deliver an employment brand that the right users will connect with.

“With the plethora of recruitment technologies used throughout Web 2.0 and most only addressing segments of this process, it will also be vital to find the right combination of technologies that deliver an integrated end-to-end recruitment solution.

“The combination of technologies will require a process that breaks out of the active candidate pool, identifies and attracts passive candidates, and seamlessly carries the candidate through the recruitment process.

“The key will be to use technologies that create a bond to the social map of millions. From this connection companies will begin to build talent communities, a strong employer brand, qualified talent pipelines and vibrant social networks.”

Andy Lord, managing director, ReThink Recruitment

“The whole world seems to have gone cloud mad — it’s in every magazine you read, every billboard you pass and is spreading like hot cakes across some of the major retail stores. Lots of our staff are interested in understanding how money can be made out of the cloud, and I see more and more CVs with people claiming to be ‘fully utilising the cloud to gain efficiencies’.

“Cloud computing is here to stay; having applications hosted isn’t a new thing but imagining a world where every single application is hosted or is available to buy on-demand is sure to ruffle a few feathers. The big ticket licence sales guys are seeing their lumpy revenues being replaced by small, longterm increments and the guys with the crystal balls are dreaming what would make a perfect application, hosted and paid for only when it is needed.”

Richard Hamilton, marketing director, Guru Careers

“Pondering this question over my breakfast, it made me realise that 2012 could well be about the rise in remote working, with improved mobile access, cloud services and changes in employer attitudes all playing a part.

“Positive and progressive thinking also manifests itself in how candidates apply for jobs. Infographics, augmented reality and social media profiles are now all commonplace, so perhaps the true technological advancements in 2012 will be made harnessing this candidate information more effectively.”

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