Data is empowering business leaders to make better hiring decisions.
by Tierney McAfee
With a historically low unemployment rate, organizations with high volume recruiting targets and outdated hiring processes are experiencing challenges finding the right talent. This means speed in hiring is more important than ever, especially when it comes to engaging hourly employees, says Adam Godson, vice president of global technology solutions for Cielo, a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) partner. New advances in technology are helping organizations get the right number of candidates at the right time and keeping those candidates engaged.
“Automation has been a huge help in solving the time and effort constraints around hourly hiring,” Godson explains. “Hourly hiring moves at a different speed and scale that is perfectly suited to technology enhancement. The problem is often that companies are under-resourced and don’t have the people to process a big hiring push because the work is so manual. By automating a lot of the work, companies can hire better people faster.”
Cielo’s solution for high volume hiring offers a large footprint for finding talent and provides a simple application process to empower those candidates to engage.
“The combination of those two things has led our clients to feel the ‘doors spinning’ with qualified candidates that they didn’t believe were even out there,” Godson says.
Godson provides a success story: One organization was paying millions of dollars in overtime because they couldn’t find additional staff to complete current projects. After deploying Cielo’s High Volume RPO solution, within three months, the organization reduced their overtime by 47 percent.
And automation doesn’t necessarily mean impersonal. In fact, Godson says technology can empower managers to make their own decisions validated by data.
“When hiring managers talk about selection, we often find that their decision heuristics aren’t particularly structured, yet they deeply value the ability to make their own decisions,” he says.
Cielo’s rating systems brings clarity to the hiring process. The platform rates interviewees on a scale of 1 to 10 based on how well-suited they are for the job. This number takes into account how close a person lives to the role and the match of validated assessments against the job criteria.
“From there, the manager can make decisions, but the simple act of giving a score to things that we know make a difference can help support them in making good decisions,” Godson says.
Automation can offer new conveniences for job candidates as well. A more efficient application process and the ability to communicate more easily with their potential employers are making a big difference. Godson says candidates can apply in five minutes from their phones instead of spending 30 minutes navigating old approaches. Lines of communication also keeps talent engaged.
“We took a bold step and put a phone number to call on every job posting and in every email communication that goes out to candidates,” Godson says. “We also text candidates reminders for interviews or when there is something else to do.”
Godson is finding that most candidates choose to text, but by giving them a choice, automation is providing a positive candidate experience.