#Trending in Recruiting
open presents and eat with family predict what might happen next year in recruiting. At their essence, predictions are simply educated guesses, a quick glance at what could happen based on what we saw in the past year. Analysts keep their ears to the ground hoping that they can pinpoint the coming surge of technology or service offering. Sometimes they’re wrong, sometimes they’re right, but what analyzing the posts they churn out starting at the end of November tells us is… who’s spending the most on PR.
If you don’t have time to read all the posts, don’t fret. Over a plate of piping hot leftover mashed potatoes and amidst the virtual confetti of Black Friday receipts, I’ve done it for you. You’re welcome.
When it comes to consumer apps/services and integration, Sarah White puts them at the top of her predictions list, arguing strongly that the consumerization of technology within the enterprise will ultimately lead to an increased need for better and tighter integrations from all avenues of HR and Recruiting technologies. According to White, the ATS will serve as the core technology or multiple plug and play products. Her nod to predictive or proactive sourcing also came mid-2012 and is being confirmed by several other analysts.
John Sullivan comes out with a flurry of predictions regarding everything from mobile to workforce planning, and while they all seem likely to happen, improve or be remarked upon in 2013, it’s tough to pick the standouts. He does make one very specific prediction though, that LinkedIn will become #1 and dominate social media. It’s an interesting mountain on which to plant a flag, but he has deemed the professional network the “primary recruiting tool for attracting non-active prospects. The use of Twitter for recruiting will continue to grow, while Facebook will begin to wane in the recruiting space…” Sullivan also gives a thumbs up to Glassdoor.
While white calls for the ATS to be the hub of future recruitment efforts, Matthew Jeffries states that the traditional ATS has come to an end, and possibly the entire industry of recruitment has as well… in his piece titled Recruitment 5.0. It’s a shaky premise and one that has been predicted before, although to be fair, in the same breath he says:
Recruiting gets back to basics and focuses on building relationships. Included in this is a focus on personalization/humanization and dominating/driving communications.
So perhaps like many analysts, Jeffries is simply calling for a drastic overhaul of the profession given the plethora of new tools, emerging technologies, augmented services and workforce cultural shifts. But I’m just spitballing.
Kyle Lagunas at Software Advice offers fewer predictions and more substance with his actual reviews of… software! He demos and points out the highs and lows of companies like Entelo, Wowzer, SilkRoad, CultureAmp and more. His breakdown of new technologies entering the market is invaluable to HR buyers. While predictions are useful from a broad perspective, being able to narrow the focus to tools that do a very specific task within the talent acquisition function is tremendously helpful.
Finally, here is a quick list of some things that have been predicted every year since 2008 and therefore, according to my internal rules, do not count as predictions but more like super obvious trends that have their own conferences and everything: mobile, gamification, employee engagement, workforce planning, recruitment marketing, cultural innovation (you can put anything with a -tion suffix in this category actually).
What I’d love to hear is what tools YOU are using? What do you see as a trend in recruiting or HR from your office in Ohio or Maine? What are your thoughts on global trends? Local ones? Looking back on 2012 have you noticed a shift, that while barely perceptible at the time, is visible en masse? Shout it out in the comments.