Dive Brief:
- CareerBuilder interviewed the CCO of Textkernel, Gerard Mulder, to discuss the top staffing trends right now. High on the list: understanding big data, automation and mobile.
- Some of the biggest challenges HR pros face concerning staffing right now include skills shortages, margins that refuse to rise and differentiation via tech to find the best candidates.
- Candidate experience is also key to strong recruitment, Mulder noted. Creating a strong experience involves mobile accessibility, efficient technology and candidate relevance – essentially, personalizing the interactions you have with candidates and using good tech to open doors.
Dive Insight:
Data was a key point in the talk with CareerBuilder.
“The whole staffing business is more and more data-driven. Or better said, we’re building up more and more data, but with limited capability of actually using it,” Mulder said. Only 10-15% of recruiters start their sourcing by using an internal database, partly because searching these databases has become onerous and irrelevant. New technology and strategies can ease that pain, he noted.
Concerning challenges, good technology is both a blessing and a curse. Tech can help recruiters find the right candidate and address challenges with candidates and clients. But when good tech becomes so “easy and mainstream,” Mulder said, it can be harder for staffing firms to use tech to differentiate themselves. For this reason, these firms can be ousted in favor of companies opting to move recruitment in-house. The surviving and thriving staffing firms will be able to “provide an additional level of service” compared to those moving in-house.