Written By: Kathy Cole, President of DK Cole Executive Search and President of NAER
We’re now in the fourth quarter, and I’m already thinking about process improvement projects, new technology tools, and other resources as we approach 2020.
On this topic, there are a few trends in recruiting that have gotten my attention lately. Artificial Intelligence is a fascinating area of technology advancement, and very large companies’ have already employed AI tools in their recruiting and hiring efforts. In case you’re not getting the marketing emails, there is now a proliferation of AI vendors claiming to provide applications to improve your recruiting outcomes. I, for one, want to know whether the results live up to the hype, and I think we should all ask:
- Will these tools contribute enough to the bottom line to make the effort worth it?
- How long before our clients are also using these tools, and does it matter?
- What is the end game of these vendors?
These are important questions to ask which I hope we’ll explore together this year. Ultimately, I believe nothing replaces human interaction, when it comes to recruiting results, and AI is not likely to be an exception. And that brings me to the next topic.
Candidate Behavior has changed significantly in recent years. I believe the continued automation of recruiting tasks that come with technology advancement, and the historically low unemployment rate, are driving these behavior changes. It’s now commonplace, at some levels, for candidates to ghost, back out of offers they’ve already accepted, or not even show up for their first day (more common in lower level positions). This is happening not only to executive search firms, and staffing companies, but it’s an even bigger problem for employers, when they hire directly. We hear this from our clients frequently. While it’s less common among senior executive and management candidates, it is important for us to understand and recognize this behavior when it’s happening. While the reasons people are doing this are too complex to discuss here, this problem highlights the need for us to maintain the personal touch in all our interactions.
Most of you are top performers in this profession, and that’s why I’m looking forward to further discussion on the trends impacting our firms and our clients. You are why I originally joined NAER, and together, I believe we make each other better. I look forward to discussing these topics and other trends as we finish out 2019. Please send your comments and/or thoughts on these topics as you wish. kcole@dkcole.com or 630-282-7747.