The history of recruitment is as old human settlement maybearound 5500 years ago. During those days there were only a few professions like hunters and gatherers. Recruitment was conducted for these hunters and gatherers.”
As the time goes by the technological evolution has change a lot about the recruitment and its processes.”
What is Recruitment?
Recruiting is nothing but the process of generating a pool of qualified candidates for a job. It is a process that involves actively finding candidates for the vacant post and attracting new employees to apply for it.
Similarly, the selection is the process of selecting the best candidates from a pool of candidates and extending an offer of employment to them and onboarding is the process of integrating a new employee into a company’s culture and providing them with the tools and information they need to become a productive member of the team.
What is Recruitment Process?
The process of finding or hiring the best talent either from within the organization or outside the organization for job openings is called the recruitment process. According to Edwin. B. Flippo, recruitment is a process of searching for the prospective candidate and stimulating them to apply for jobs in an organisation.
What are recruitment needs?
Due to various reasons,the need for recruitment arises.
(i) Unexpected vacancies: Death, illness, accidents, and family emergencies can leave unexpected vacancies.
(ii) Anticipated vacancies: Changes due to trends, retirement, and internal promotions allow employerstoanticipate what positions will soon become available.
(iii) Deliberate changes: Restructuring and organisational changes will alter jobs and company needs. Consistent recruitment allows companies to fill their needs quickly and easily.
All about Smart Recruitment
Now we are in the age of modern technology where everything in our life is becoming smart.
As we know that recruitment is always a tedious process for many organizations because everyday recruiters are flooded with thousands of resumes for various jobs advertised. So, it’s really difficult to maintain the quality of the process. We know that this is the Era of IT where almost all aspect of our life is getting transferred into the ‘SMART ‘way such as smartphones, smart payment, smart city, smart parking,etc. So, why not recruitment, after all, it is all about transforming the activities into a blend of cutting-edge technology and making life easier for recruiters and candidates.
What is Smart Recruitment?
Smart recruitment is an updated, upgraded version of recruitment. For example, the basic processes of talent gap analysis, sourcing, screening, selection, and onboarding are still as relevant today as they were half a century back. However, the inner workings of these stages have changed considerably.
Smart recruitment is an idea of attracting and keeping the right talent for the required in a company.
How to measure the performance of Smart Recruitment process?
In a Smart Recruitment process, it is required to measure the performance of every stage. So that one can identify bottlenecks and eliminate them. There aredifferent kinds of performance measuring items to evaluate recruitment productivity.
- Time to fill: The number of days between getting the approval for a job vacancy and the acceptance of an offer by a candidate.
- Time to hire: The days between, when a candidate is approached and when they accept the position
- Offer acceptance rate: % age of candidates who accepted job offers with respect to total job offers given.
- Selection ratio: The number of hired candidates compared to the total number of candidates evaluated
- Cost per Hire: The total cost invested in the entire recruitment process divided by the number of hires
- Sourcing channel performances: Measured by conversions per channel. Such as job boards, social media, external recruiters, etc
Applicant Tracking Systems(ATS)
Applicant tracking tools (ATS) are smart business tools used to automate the entire recruitment process. At the same time, an applicant tracking tool allows recruiters to track every aspect of the process including candidate profiles. Using an applicant tracking system helps to manage all the data about job candidates including their resumes, interviewer’s feedback, and other information. Other than that, applicant tracking systems can reduce costs per hire by automating repetitive hiring tasks. Such as sending emails, collecting interview feedback, etc.
1. ATS is a type of HR software that manages the application process digitally.
2. It is a digitalization of all applications, allowing HR professionals to replace traditional pen-and-paper.
3. Applicant tracking systems (ATS) are common for organizations that have embraced digital HR.
4. An applicant tracking system (ATS) collects candidate information in a database and coordinates variousapplication materials with identifying information at each step of the hiring process.
5. An ATS automates resumescreening by highlighting resumes, cover letters and other application materials containing or omitting relevant keywords.
Working of ATS:
Recruitment CRMs(Candidate Relationship Management):
Recruitment CRM is essentially a talent pool of all candidates that one has engaged with or sourced in the past so these candidates can be active or passive previous applicants or previously sourced for past job openings. While an applicant tracking system (ATS) monitors & manages the application process, recruitment CRMs operate as a sort of ecosystem where information about applicants (past and present, active, and passive) resides.
When a position needs to be filled, an HR professional can turn to the records within the recruitment CRM to proactively seek an individual who might be able to fit the role. The result enables HR to become less reactive, more proactive, and better able to act as a strategic partner alongside other departments within an organization.
ATS and CRM both are valuable tools to effectively manage both the candidate pipeline and the talent pool.
What is the difference between an ATS and a recruitment CRM?
The recruitment CRM is a complete consolidation of all the candidates in the database easily available to contact when the right job openings come along. And ATS is designed for the process of tracking and managing all the candidates for a job opening.
SMART Technologies used for recruitment:
Integrating technology into the candidate screening or assessment process has numerous advantages.
1. The power of artificial intelligence (AI) in Recruitment: AI recruiting is the process of using AI to automate time-consuming, repetitive tasks while offering personalization and data insights throughout the hiring process. Recruiting AI enables talent acquisition teams to discover passive candidates and unlock datadriven insights that guide decisionmaking and better outcomes, such as quality of hire. AI recruitment tools can help deliver the right jobs to the right talent, the right talent to the right recruiters and ultimately, build the right teams for the company. The Al-based candidate skills assessments determine whether the applicant is a good fit for the job and the culture based on the applicant’s performance.
2. Recruitment through chatbots: Chatbots (or digital assistants) are certainly nothing new, but lately, these AI-automated software robots are getting smarter and smarter while improving the candidate experience. The bots are gaining increasingly better capabilities around job recruiting tasks like answering job seekers’ questions, pre-screening candidates, scheduling interviews, and more. It is very useful for global companies, where chatbots are always available for international candidates, regardless of geographic location and time zone. With the help of chatbots, candidates receive instant assistance in real-time. Other than that, they guide the candidate in providing the most relevant information. Especially chatbots are always ready to answer candidate questions at any time saving both candidates’ and the recruiter’s time.
3. Recruitment through Blockchain: The blockchainis completely decentralized and fully transparent. Blockchain technology is revolutionizing recruitment agencies’ and employers’views and considering potential candidates. Therefore, with this level of blockchain security, it can be relied upon for maintaining the integrity of data, such as the employment background or academic credentials of the candidates.
4. Recruitment through VIRTUAL REALITY (VR): Virtual reality can be very useful while evaluating candidates’ performance. A recruiter can build a real-world working environment virtually and ask candidates to explain how they would handle the various situation. Basically, the candidates will be asked to demonstrate theirwork andmake decisions under the pressure. Especially in remote hiring, this will become useful to filter practical skilful candidates easily. Which will be helpful when attracting top talent.
5. Use of (AR) Augmented Reality for Recruitment: AR creates objects that are overlaid in reality to create an enhanced version that can be easily manipulated. By adding 3D computergenerated objects, the user can experience a new immersive reality that engages the senses and provides both the recruiter and the recruit with a streamlined hiring process.
Using AR in recruitment allows potential employees to try and use the company’s expensive products and other resources remotely and safely. AR can be used in the hiring process to help the company hire the right candidate for the job. Simulating the work environment is one of the perks of using AR in recruitment.
6. The use of Mobile recruiting applications: The Recruitment tools which are mobile-compatible make it easier for candidates to apply from their phones, letting one capture a broader range of interested professionals in the relevant field. Mobile Recruiting refers to the process of finding active and passive candidates with mobile career pages, and mobile job ads. Mobile recruiting offers two major advantages. First, it allows the recruiters and hirings teams to manage the process from anywhere they can use a mobile device. Scheduling written tests, interviews, providing feedback, communication with the candidates, and more can be completed remotely, rather than anchoring these tasks to the office. Second, it allows the hiring team to reach candidates remotely and through their mobile devices.
7. Psychological test in Indian Railways/ Metro Railways: The work in railways is categorised into four categories: active jobs, low-strain jobs, passive jobs, and high-strain jobs.Every individual is unique, and they differ in physical and psychological makeup. Certain categories like ALP, Motorman and Train operator, psychomotor capabilities and cognitive attributes, personality characteristics (especially for the job of ASMs, Customer Relation Assistants, and Section Controllers) who deal with the public and later become independent supervisors and become the face of Indian Railways and Mass Rapid Transport Systems) are to be tested in addition to their educational qualification.
Nowadays, the emotional quotient is tested in addition to the IQ, to see if the candidate selected is self-confident, self-awareness, relation management, and able to handle difficult emotional experiences. The importance of the Emotional intelligence test is to see the ability to understand, manage emotions in a positive way to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, and overcome challenges and defuse conflict which will help to perform efficiently. Psychology has four basic goals in regard to human behavior.
To describe, explain, predict & change behavior and mental processes.
The aptitude tests have been designed for various jobs in critical safety categories. Test batteries, consisting of five-six tests, prescribed for the job are given. The Psycho-Technology on Railways consists of the tests such as Aptitude tests, Personality tests, Cognitive tests, and Psycho-motor tests. Every job requires a certain set of qualities and skills for the performance of that job which in turn is deduced from detailed scientific job analysis.
CONCLUSION:
The changes in technology will make huge impact on the way we hire. We have to prepare ourselves to witness and embrace the changes the future of recruitment has in store.
Today, recruiters have access to a global talent pool and can engage candidates better. Smarter recruitment strategies have positively impacted the cost to hire, time to hire, and the quality of hires and demand a shift in focus and a drive-in impetus. The fact that AI is advancing and occupying more and more space in our daily lives is nothing new; it is present from the time our cell phone rings up in the morning to wake us up and permeates the rest of our day, whether at home, on the street, or at work.
Recruitment technology has already established itself as a necessary precondition and plays a significant role in recruitment. Organizations are utilizing advanced recruitment technologies to increase the efficiency of the hiring process in response to today’s competitive market demands. Recruitment assessment tools facilitate collecting, collating, and communicating information with candidates, expediting the recruitment process.
Views expressed by: Sanjay Kumar, Chairman, Railway Recruitment Board, Thiruvananthapuram.
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