I recently did a LinkedIn poll to get people's thoughts on which technology out of Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, IoT and Virtual Reality would have the biggest impact on peoples lives in the future.
The poll was not specifically geared towards the recruitment industry, but as a tech recruiter and someone that has real interest in innovation and technology, I thought it would be interesting to write an article on how these 4 technologies could impact the recruitment sector.
As you will see, some of them are already starting to drive change in the way we identify and attract talent.
Blockchain:
So let’s start with Blockchain, a word that is on everyone’s lips but a technology that is widely undervalued. For most people, they hear blockchain and instantly think cryptocurrency. No doubt crypto has brought blockchain technology onto a lot of people’s radar, but the technology itself has an almost endless number of possible applications, including within the recruitment industry.
Simply put, the blockchain is a digital system of recording information in a way that makes it almost impossible to change, tamper with or hack. So how can this be applied to the recruitment sector you may be thinking?
One of the key areas where blockchain technology could be used in the recruitment industry is by creating a “digital work passport” which would be unique to each user, securely stored on the blockchain. This could have a verified version of your CV, references, educational certificates, psychometric and technical tests within it, accessed instantly.
Think of vaccine passports, but for work. Instant access to up to date, verifiable information.
The benefits are huge. It would mean you as a recruiter don’t have to wait around for the candidates updated CV, and the references are already done at the start of the process.
For the candidate, they don’t have to keep sending their information to different places, they merely grant access to it. How frustrating, and time consuming can it be for job seekers if they are required to do technical tests for all the companies they are interviewing with? In theory, a verified digital work passport should give companies all the information they need at the start of the process, saving a huge amount of time for all involved.
In addition, work contracts can be issued in an instant as the blockchain could also securely hold all your key contracting information (Passport number, payroll details, e-signature etc).
All this means a more efficient and streamlined recruitment process which is fundamentally why we like to use technology, right? To make our lives easier!
I am a firm believer in the potential of blockchain technology and think it will have a massive impact on how our data is stored and accessed in the future.
Artificial intelligence:
As you can see from the poll AI was the clear winner, with half of the respondents thinking it will have the biggest impact on our lives. I think it is fair to say that AI is such a diverse technology, it has so many potential uses that can have a massive impact on every single element of our lives, including in the work place.
First things first, robots replacing you as a recruiter is far away!
That said, I’ve come across some recruiters that would be more easily replaced than others! But joking aside, AI is some distance from being able to replace the human element, which is so important in the world of recruitment.
I want to keep this somewhat concise, so I will focus on some of the AI based tools that are already starting to be used within the industry.
Automation is such a key area for all businesses, by replacing a previously time-consuming task with a system or bot, you free up the employee to use their time more effectively. Many of you will be familiar with Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology, which is exactly this. These bots can be deployed to automate tasks such as interview feedback emails, ad response and even more complex tasks like adding candidate data and storing it within the ATS, even arranging interviews with candidates!
There are already automation tools for LinkedIn, which will manage your connection requests and messaging. Not too far away will be the possibility of bots sourcing candidates and interacting with them via live chat (Chatbots). There will always be the worry that this will eventually replace recruiters, as to be honest, a lot of poor recruiters don’t do too much more than sit on LinkedIn sending messages all day anyway.
But for the skilled recruiters, this type of technology should be embraced as it will give you more time to do what you do best, build relationships and add real, consultative value in areas that robots are nowhere close to being able to replicate.
Looking deeper into the potential of harnessing the power of AI, we can look at making use of the huge amounts of data available to recruiters. ATS systems have records spanning 10, 15 or even 20 years in some cases, with multiple datapoints on the candidate’s application history, interview feedback, interview no shows, references, counteroffer acceptances etc.
By using machine learning algorithms, it would be possible to have AI tools assist in predicting outcomes, ultimately allowing us to match candidates more accurately to the right clients, allowing us to manage our pipelines better.
IoT
IoT or Internet of Things is the connectivity of physical objects online, communicating with each other for information gathering and remote-control purposes.
When I originally did the poll, it was not specifically for the recruitment industry, but asking about life in general. The application of IoT within the recruitment industry is somewhat less obvious, but still integral to the modern-day recruiter.
In the recruitment industry we all use technology to make our lives easier, store data and automate certain processes. All the best modern-day recruiters fully utilise their ATS system, the market leading ones all being cloud based with both web and mobile applications.
This 24/7 connectivity of different platforms and devices is at the core of what IoT is about. While not strictly “smart devices”, I would argue the core principle is still at play here.
From a business perspective, a modern-day office would have many “smart devices”. Applications that can control lighting, air conditioning, security systems and “Alexa” style voice assistants. These devices are just the tip of the iceberg with many more exciting possibilities on the horizon.
While not unique to recruitment companies, these are all things that will become more prevalent in our office spaces, helping us to be more productive in the workspace and ultimately save costs to the bottom line.
VR / Augmented Reality
Along with AI, Virtual Reality is the technology I feel has the largest potential impact for recruiters
VR and AI will be integrated to provide an immersive recruitment process in the future. There is a huge amount of scope to add a virtual section to the interview process, a virtual interview with a robot who can do a skills-based assessment, perhaps?
How about a virtual office tour? Put on a VR headset and suddenly you’re in the offices of a company that have offered you a role on the other side of the world. A programmed reality where you can walk around, check out the views from the window and even meet a few of the staff along the way. As someone that moved countries for work, I would have loved this type of technology.
Moving on from this we have the Metaverse, something that more and more companies are investing in. Facebook recently changed its company name to Meta, really demonstrating their belief in this technology.
The Metaverse is an alternate, virtual reality where you are represented by an avatar which takes the place of your physical body. You can meet people from anywhere in the world, in the same virtual world.
The adoption of this technology is widespread and Facebook, sorry Meta, are not the only big boys on the scene. Samsung have recently held a recruitment fair in the Metaverse, on a platform called Gathertown. Jobseekers logging on with their avatars and meeting Samsung staff in a virtual environment to consider career opportunities.
PWC have their own Metaverse environment, Virtual Park, where they have reached a wide pool of candidates in a virtual setting (https://www.pwc.co.uk/careers/student-careers/undergraduate-graduate-careers/ourevents/virtual-park.html)
The potential for this is huge, and the benefits obvious. Firstly, it attracts “Gen Z” who are going to be drawn to organisations pushing this type of technology. Secondly, it gives you access to a much wider pool of candidates, without the logistics of everyone having to travel to the same location, it allows you to tap into an infinitely wider pool. And finally, one thing that the recent pandemic has shown, people enjoy the flexibility of being able to work from anywhere and online interviews have become the norm. Surely the Metaverse takes this to a whole new level of interaction?
I know it sounds very farfetched, but so was the idea 30 years ago of having a device in your pocket that can do all the things that smart phones can do today. Technology is moving fast and the companies that embrace it will be the ones that attract the best talent for years to come.