How disruptive technologies are transforming HR arena

  By EMMANUEL MUTUMA

The recruitment industry has completely evolved over the past 20 years. New technologies have transformed the way employers recruit and manage talent. From paper CVs to job boards, applicant
tracking systems and online assessments, a lot has changed over the years.

While advancements in technology have offered some solutions to challenges that employers faced a decade ago, the industry is ever-evolving and recruiters today are dealing with new challenges when hiring the best talent. It cannot be gainsaid that all top companies struggle to get their workforce planning correct, not knowing when to ‘buy, borrow, build or bind’ the skill.

This can be very costly, from time, money and emotional perspectives. Studies show that a wrong hire, rushed recruitment, or the exit of a high-performing employee costs an organisation three times the annual salary of that position on average. This is a terrifying expense. Recruiters must, therefore, ensure that their companies attract the right talent and that they have succession plans for all levels.

Before the internet and social media took over, job listings were posted in newspapers. The reach of these postings, however, was limited. The recruiters in many instances had to settle for less qualified people to fill open roles. As technology advanced, the recruitment and selection process not only allowed job seekers more options to find careers, they enabled companies to streamline their hiring processes.

Thanks to technology, organisations now receive hundreds, sometimes thousands of resumes daily through various platforms. This being a golden era where technology solutions are taking the HR professional to an entirely new level, massive improvisation in HR technology and modernised workforce solutions have come in handy to provide desirable employee experiences and improve sustainable performance.

This emerging need for high-quality digital HR experience has created true disruption to a domain that has been relatively stable for decades. It has, in turn, created tremendous pressure on organisations and HR leaders to improve business performance through innovation. However, it is also true that harnessing technology without investing in other parts of the HR functions, cannot result in optimum business results.

It is perhaps in recognition of this reality that saw BrigherMonday introduce a new solution called ‘BestMatch’, designed to make the process of finding the best candidates more efficient for human resource professionals, business heads and entrepreneurs looking to hire quality talent.

The tool uses a mix of HR experts and automated matching algorithm to sort and rank candidates that best match the criteria an employer is looking for in a role. The mix ensures that science and experience are combined effectively for recruiters to get the very best out of the candidates that have applied for the role. This saves time for employers, and for those that are not too tech-savvy, to ensure they can get access to the best matching candidates efficiently.

BrighterMonday also recently held a workshop with topflight HR professionals dubbed ‘Talking Talent’. During the workshop, in which over 50 HR experts and top business professionals attended, human resource management strategies that help organisations to plan for the right hire, identify, develop and retain top-performing talent and position teams for a smooth succession, were examined.

An emerging trend that came up is, there are behavioural traits in an individual, beyond the technical skills or qualifications listed on a CV, that can help recruiters identify top performers and high potentials. A clear and strategic growth plan should be put in place to nurture, train and position for succession.

Another encouraging statistic that stuck out was that succession planning is being practised at the top level in Kenyan companies although not in as many organisations as would be desirable.

That implies that there is a need to encourage and grow this trend in all economic sectors to ensure that whenever high performers leave, a skills gap is not felt in the form of lowered business performance.

There also lies an opportunity to turn data into conversations, and with it, create development plans for organisations that will encourage and drive succession planning.

The writer is the CEO BrighterMonday Kenya.