With Effective Synergy To Better Hires | Big Data and Talent Acquisition

We can define talent acquisition as a process that applies Human Resource Management (HRM) techniques to search for candidates capable of filling the gap in a company. Contrary to the traditional hiring process, talent acquisition primarily focuses on the strategic goals of hiring an applicant.

Moreover, it is also different from the usual hiring method as it basically focuses towards applicant’s talent and skills instead of their academic performance and obtained certificates. This strategic approach helps talent acquisition professionals select the best candidates that meet the specific requirements for the given position.

On the contrary, there are also the financial aspects of recruiting that go into hiring, onboarding, inducting, training, and offboarding a candidate, all of which put financial weight on the company. Therefore, talent acquisition experts tend to find cost-effective methods for talent recruitment and this is where data comes into play.

Thanks to the growing influence of big data in HRM talent acquisition professionals can now make better hiring decisions based on scientific data and methods. Now, both large and small-scale businesses apply big data tools to track candidates, analyze their talent and skills, and even forecast future hires.

Big data proved to be a great turning point for talent acquisition professionals as it brings together new regulations in the hiring procedure. The analytics tools now shift their role from making a hire to making a strategic hire.

In 2018, big data was positioned as best hiring method by 50% of the professionals, according to Global Recruiting Trends survey. In addition, big data plays an important role in talent acquisition as it increases the retention of employee by 56%. Also, skill gaps are better determined, as reported by 50% of the recruiters, and 50% of the hiring professionals mentioned that they made better offers.

It was also revealed that 45% of the experts were better able to understand the candidates’ needs, whereas 41% of the candidates gave better performance in the workforce planning. Also 69% of the talent professionals believe that big data can greatly improve their job.

Why Big Companies Rely On Big Data For Talent Acquisition?

Large companies gain better insight into the job market, applicants’ behavior, and other key factors that influence the hiring decisions, thanks to big data. Here is a list of some large companies that use big data in their recruitment process:

IBM used consulting firm Kenexa to gain access to data of 40 million employees which included data of workers at every level, from job applicants to managers. This helped the IBM to identify the best possible personality traits to look in a salesperson, only to determine that being persistent is the most valuable trait in a salesperson.

Xerox managed to cut down the turnover of employees by 20% using a pilot program that detected hard data on candidates’ behaviors. This helped the company to find a pattern of specific traits in candidates who were more likely to stay in the company. One of the common factors that had a great impact on company’s recruitment decisions was the proximity of applicant’s residence to the workplace.

Juniper Networks used LinkedIn analytics to keep track on the professional path of their best employees and note where they continue their career after leaving their company. They then developed strategies using the acquired information which helped them retain their employees.

Following the example of big companies, it is about time that small and medium-size companies started using big data for talent acquisition. Here are some techniques for big data usage that are applied by companies of all sizes for drawing talented applicants based on their skills and personality traits:

Systematize the Human Resource (HR) Affairs

Talent acquisition is a multilayered job that includes execution of various tasks at different levels. Talent acquisition professionals work in data-driven environments, hand in hand with AI for execution of daily tasks.

Data-enabled systems and processes help synchronize candidates’ application status, filter the candidates, track the applications, onboard new hires, and make future decisions based on the data of former employees, all of which makes the job easier and less time-consuming.

Use Predictive Analytics for Better Hiring Decisions

The decision-making process is a significant part of the recruitment so if you want to make better decisions, you should have a comprehensive understanding about the situation in hand. Being part of the recruitment team, you need to have all the required data to assess the human capital in your company along with the finances.

Big data can help you detect the skill gap in your company, analyze current market trends, track the financial KPIs of hiring, and demographic traits. This data is important for determining the hiring quota of future hires, make a financial planning beforehand, and identify the key talents and skills to look for in candidates.

Avoid last moment hiring

Having the right data enables you to make timely recruitment decisions, avoiding the risk of making rushed decisions. Predictive analytics helps you make recruitment decisions based on company’s strategic goals and objectives rather than at the eleventh hour.

Imagine you are a clothing vendor and want to expand your team by hiring a fashion designer. You may find it more practical to not hire a team member in the off-season but delay your creative process in the long run, since the future of your work is not predictable given the market fluctuations.

However, the data-driven recruitment process enables you to predict the future demands of your business and keep a close eye on the job market trends. Then, when the time comes, you won’t panic and make rushed recruitment decisions that don’t match your business’ objective.

Find great insights on social media

Talent acquisition professionals have a challenging task to hunt down the right people for the job who have the right skills and talent to meet job’s requirements. This is where social media steps in, being the doorway for talent pursuit.

Big data helps businesses learn everything about the search behavior of promising candidates. Online job portals like Talent Bin utilize the hard data present on social networks to learn about prospecting candidates based on the information available on their profile. This data helps target the right candidates for the specific job opening.

Post job ads targeting a specific group of people

Nowadays, many companies build talent networks to engage potential applicants by using the available analytics of the talent community which attracts candidates to the job advertisement.

Imagine that you work in the financial sector and you rely on your LinkedIn profile network to find marketing-related jobs just by publishing job ads related to marketing- related openings to target specific individuals. Chances are the hiring will result in a well-suited candidate who can deliver you work according to your requirements.

Conclusion

Big data has unlocked a whole new level for talent hunters to attract promising candidates based on strategic goals such as skills gap, financial factors, and demographic metrics trending on the job market. The emerging big data methods and resources significantly facilitated the selection process of hiring potential candidates. Given the huge impact of big data in today’s corporate culture, the future looks very promising for talent acquisition professionals.

Originally published at blog.sales.rocks on December 27, 2018.