The golden rule of hiring right in today’s context is, that, there are no golden rules. Derived from the existing state of hyper disruptive technology of today, is the business driver being’ ‘continual change’ itself. What is assumed here, as a necessary adjunct is, that the shelf life of technology and its derived business processes and systems, is too short. Hence, the shelf life of any strategy/ technique by default, if not design, is even shorter.
The overarching ‘technique’ of talent hiring as such, if any, will have to be robust and agile enough to be adapted, upgraded, modified and changed as per the super dynamic contextual granularity. Understandably, this is true of any domain, across business segment. Any technique of talent hiring will have to amongst others, take into account the above context for it to be relevant and successful.
As such, the following six broad elements / techniques need to be incorporated in today’s hiring process:
- The new talent:
Access and hire only those adept at future skills (as much as the current ones),who are able to adapt to the digitally advanced ‘work’ and ‘work-place’ requirements. This ‘new talent’ alone, would stay relevant for the future organizational need.
- Identification tools/techniques of the Talent:
Using appropriate and evolved assessment tools measuring digital attitude, empathy and people cum process agility, become absolutely essential at the first level scrutiny itself, lest your hires become redundant no sooner they are hired.
A good technique would be necessarily to rely less on transactional number based hiring but be high on ‘Quality’, of hires, sub serving amongst others, the new and futuristic competencies, if the process has to be sustainable. Assumption here would be existence of a mature level of competency framework adapted to the business outcomes in the given organization.
- Infusing high level of advanced frontier technology:
A necessary element of hiring process will have to be a high degree of infusion and integration of technology. Sophisticated tools and technologies based on and/ or using artificial intelligence and machine learning, could be useful in handling large segments/ geographies simultaneously to handle the filtration/ segregation process with speed (simultaneously too), efficacy (with subtle intelligence including cognitive ones), and probity (transparency and fairness).
This can be extended to the initial round of virtual interviews as much as real ones later, to aid and assist human decision making, thereby enhancing the quality of decision making itself (removing amongst others, certain human biases itself). This would also help in transforming the candidates experiential journey, apart from enriching the Employer brand ( which in turn would lead to better attraction and possibly retention as well).
Infusion of high level of advanced technology will also possibly soon be the only possible way to reach out to the rare and gradually thinning pool of global talent from a widespread Global candidate pool. Digital technology, as such, will soon cease to be merely a ‘good to have’ technique to a ‘must have’ one.
As such, it will not just be a part of the tool/ technique or a process alone but transform itself into a ‘stand alone’ Customer / Brand Value Proposition as a differentiating and a hypervalue creator in itself.
4. Customer centric approach :
An important aspect in our recruitment strategy today would be to have a ‘customer centric’ mindset towards the prospective candidates. This approach should get conceptualised, enunciated and strategically executed across the process right from the way we source, sort and select candidates. Ethical use of artificial intelligence would anyways ensure this, provided it is systemically institutionally infused and incorporated across the process value chain. Respect for talent, ensuring sensitivities towards diversity and inclusion, protecting issues of privacy will go a long way in both attracting and then retaining talent. After all, in today’s Business context, Ethical/ transparent Governance counts a lot in increasing, amongst others, the engagement quotient of the employees. The ‘new talent’ is by definition having a digital mindset (substantial numbers are ‘digital natives’ and the remining to survive will have to be digital immigrants by default to succeed) wherein, forward looking and progressive humane cultural practices are a rub-off of a democratised work context.
- Balanced blend of using the print, electronic and the referral route:
We generally need to hold ourselves from going over board with any one single approach. Also, in the talent search space, we should remember that the basic human disposition is for him or her to feel the personal despite all the impersonal intrusions of technology. Taking these two facts in mind we would be required to have a blended approach in using the appropriate medium and keeping the process as personal as possible. Here, truly speaking its less of a ‘prescribed approach’ which will work but more of a contextual/ appropriate approach which shall hold good.
- An organic covenant:
Last, but not the least, we should remember that hiring being the first stage in the life cycle management process of an employee, it should be robust enough to act as a strong foundation of an edifice which it should sustain overtime. Promises made should be kept in both the letter as also the spirit. After all, it is not a mere mechanical process but the start of creating an organic bond between an organization and a new entrant.
Human instincts/bonds/relationships can only have a human approach.