The Hiring Process Is Broken, What's the Solution?
Why is it so hard to find good candidates and great jobs?
The world we live in is driven by recommendations. Be it picking the next binge-worthy series or selecting the perfect meal for a cozy night in, our decisions are often shaped by well-intentioned advice. Many industries have adopted this strategy to connect with customers with the goal of enhancing the overall experience. In fact many of the platforms I use on a daily basis wether it be Spotify, Netflix, Amazon, or Twitter all offer recommendations and suggestions.
How come we don’t have something like this in the job hunting process? Considering that finding the right job is one of the most important life decisions we will make, it seems like this is a very obvious and glaring challenge in talent and recruitment.
The challenge is a two-way street. On one side we have the candidate who is subjected to a lengthy and cumbersome hiring process which takes months, requires writing personal essays, taking personality tests, and doing what can only be described as the equivalent of a full virtual TSA pat down. In fact a recent U.S. based study by Indeed found that 77% of employees say the hiring process at most companies is too slow. Then on the other hand we have the employer who is desperately trying to find the right candidate for the right job.
In other words the pain and torture is shared across the board.
This post is made possible by Indeed. If you are ready to save time and start hiring the RIGHT person faster, then I invite you to learn more and check out Indeed's Pay for Results pricing. Why spend money on something that isn't giving you the result you want?
According to the same survey, the top employer pain points include:
The time it takes to hire
Poor quality of candidates
Competition from other companies
Insufficient applicants
Lack of resources to manage the hiring process.
On the employee side the top challenges to finding a job are:
Too low pay
Not getting a response from a potential employer after submitting resume/application (79% claimed to have applied for jobs and never received feedback).
Waiting for an offer/update after having an interview
What’s staggering here is that two of these have to deal with communication which is something so basic and easy to fix that it’s almost laughable.
There's a demand and a need for a more streamlined, efficient approach which is what Indeed is focusing on and I was able to get a bit of a sneak peak.
They are leveraging an average of 140 million qualifications and preferences, voluntarily shared daily by job seekers and employers, to refine and accelerate the hiring process. The goal is to match and connect quality talent faster and more accurately than ever before.
One of the things I’ve been a big proponent of is the idea that skills are greater (more valuable) than jobs. Meaning that instead of focusing on a single job and trying to climb one career ladder, it’s far more effective to focus on the skills you have and then understanding the various jobs where those skills can be applied. The challenge is that most of us aren’t really sure where else our skills can be put to use.
Consider a fast food cashier who possesses skills including customer service, great communication, empathy, basic math, and conflict resolution. These same skills would also make for a great bank teller but the cashier isn’t aware of this potential shift they can make. A platform like Indeed can step in and highlight these roles, provide recommendations, and connect candidates with opportunities they may never have considered. This proactive approach aims to create better working opportunities for everyone involved.
This also has a lot of potential implications not just for people who want to switch companies but people within a single company who just want to switch roles.
All of this is based on three things: preferences, AI+ technology, and speed. The platform utilizes vast data points ranging from skills, licenses, certifications, to occupational specialties, pay, and more to provide quality matches. AI+ technology plays a significant role in this process. Leveraging collaborative filtering, learning to rank, logistic regression, and enhanced resume scanning techniques, Indeed delivers personalized job recommendations, making meaningful connections between employers and job seekers. This allows employers to find candidates and candidates to find employers at a much faster rate.
In a previous article I wrote about the 4 reasons why the traditional job board is dead and I’m excited to see what the new version will look like!
The world of talent and recruitment is poised for a transformation and I’m glad to see companies like Indeed leading the way. If you want to check out some of the work they are doing you can click here.
