Putting in place the right recruiting technology for your business requires knowing your goals for talent acquisition and your overall recruiting complexity — both now and in the future. In response to the Great Resignation, companies are re-looking at their budgets for recruiting technology and planning to invest like never before. According to Aptitude Research, more than two-thirds of companies increased their investment in talent acquisition technology in 2021, with that number likely to jump to 73% in 2022.
Understanding what talent acquisition success looks like in relation to your technology investment means having insight into three critical areas — the changing talent acquisition landscape, your current needs for hiring, and your future recruiting needs. And while each organization’s journey is unique, knowing the transformative role that talent acquisition technology can play is vital to how you plan to move forward. Let’s dig into these three key areas that you should consider when evaluating your own needs for recruiting technology.
#1: The Changing Talent Acquisition Landscape
The talent technology landscape is more complex than ever before. And at the same time, companies are understanding — perhaps for the first time — how important talent acquisition technology is in attracting the right talent to drive business results. One estimate puts the total talent acquisition technology and services market at $140.7 billion for 2022.
Within the market itself, talent technology providers are innovating rapidly, with solutions across the spectrum ranging from conversational AI to programmatic job advertising. WorkTech indicates that 2021 reached a record with VC investment of nearly $18 billion in new workforce technology. It’s clearly an exciting time in talent acquisition with the industry thriving.
But what does this mean for the future? With so many new providers and so many new categories constantly introduced in the market, the landscape is rapidly changing. And the pace of change is accelerating. From an organizational perspective, it is difficult to keep up with all the solutions offered, know who the major players are, and identify who you should partner with.
According to Aptitude Research, “companies are using, on average, ten or more providers to support their recruitment needs, and many of these solutions are not providing value. Companies are quickly embracing new systems, and the result is an unmanageable and disparate TA technology stack.” This approach has led to too many point solutions, where integration is challenging, and adoption is even more dismal. In fact, just three percent of organizations leverage their full ATS functionality and only two percent use capabilities within recruitment marketing platforms, according to Aptitude Research.
Looking ahead, companies will seek to work with talent acquisition providers that offer holistic, end-to-end solutions and a spectrum of recruiting technology. Consolidation will likely continue throughout the industry as companies recognize they must offer organizations of all sizes unmatched talent acquisition at scale.
#2: Your Current Recruiting Needs
Organizations today are recruiting in the most competitive and difficult hiring environment in history. For companies trying to attract and hire top talent, they are encountering stiff challenges like they have never experience before. As workers leave their jobs in record numbers — whether they are exploring a new career, feeling the effects of burnout, or looking for new opportunities through internal mobility, it’s clear that a new normal of work and recruiting has arrived.
The supply of jobs today is clearly greater than the demand for work, and LinkedIn indicates that the “share of remote roles are attracting more than twice the share of jobs views and 2.5 times the share of applications when compared to on-site job postings.” What all of this adds up to is a tight labor market where companies must be savvy in their ability to overcome these roadblocks.
Talent acquisition success today really does depend on the resiliency of recruiting teams to find talent fast and adapt to changing market conditions. The latest Aptitude Research report indicates that organizations today are “looking at providers to improve time to fill, increase recruiter productivity, and improve overall decision-making in talent acquisition technology.” The right recruiting technology can do this for your business.
Ultimately, the reality of recruiting today should focus on speed and flexibility. The 2021 Recruiter Nation Report emphasizes that agility is the new essential ingredient in successful recruiting. According to the report findings, 78% of recruiters’ priorities have shifted during the last year and 40% said recruiting budgets have increased. This means hiring teams have been empowered to reimagine recruiting processes and become more adaptable to labor market trends.
Talent acquisition technology should also consider the experiences of not just candidates, but also recruiters and hiring managers. Again according to Aptitude Research, as companies seek to rapidly transform their companies with new technology, they have overlooked the recruiter experience. In fact, while “one in three companies are looking to replace their TA technology this year,” just “32% of companies state that recruiters help influence their technology decisions.” Moreover, the same study found that 50% of recruiters would leave their current company for another organization if it had better technology.
Talent acquisition technology today must consider the experiences of those individuals looking for talent day-in and day-out for your organization and should validate the experiences of recruiters. It is essential to understand what is important to recruiters and to help them automate, streamline, and reduce the manual requirements of their jobs — like sourcing and scheduling. Because when recruiters are supported with the right technology, they will be more effective in their jobs and make the talent acquisition function more successful in meeting your overall objectives as well.
#3: Your Future Recruiting Needs
While the talent market now is unlike anything seen previously, organizations must also take a long-term view of their recruiting needs and understand the scalability of solutions for the future. Look for talent acquisition providers with technology that can grow and evolve with your business as your needs change.
If you are serious about transforming your talent function, you need to think beyond where you are now and look for talent acquisition offerings that can scale for any level of recruiting complexity. This means no matter the size of your business, you can have access to the most innovative set of end-to-end recruiting solutions and services — all the way from small-and medium-size businesses to the enterprise-level.
Evaluating talent acquisition technology for the future should take into consideration the breadth and depth of offerings provided. End-to-end solution providers have a tremendous advantage over point solutions because they centralize and streamline the recruiting technology stack. And they empower companies to attract and hire talent like never before, seamlessly integrating to other HR solutions and services, and ensuring the best experience for recruiters, hiring managers, talent acquisition teams, leadership, IT, and of course, candidates.
Remember, looking for future-proofed talent acquisition technology means finding capabilities and functionality that is intuitive for all users, solves your greatest challenges, spans the recruiting lifecycle, and delivers measurable outcomes for your business.
Move Your Talent Acquisition Technology Forward
The fluctuations in hiring over the past several years have demonstrated that change is the constant in recruiting. Finding the right talent acquisition technology requires companies to recognize where the market is, where it is headed, and how they want to get there. Perhaps more, it requires businesses of all sizes to look for a partner that can take them where they need to go.
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