Putting People First: Part One in a Three-Part Series on Implementing Recruitment Technology

Digital technology and talent acquisition go together like avocado and toast. Recruiters who once got by with a phone, a fax machine and a letter opener now enthuse about their AI-powered tech stack that can assess CVs, answer candidate queries, schedule interviews and so on. 

I understand. I love recruitment technology too. Our goal at Page Outsourcing is to change people's lives for the better, and a powerful tech stack can be instrumental in helping teams reach their potential. 

But I've also seen how recruitment technology can land awkwardly — or at least, not live up to its billing. Today's market has exploded with thousands of recruitment tech providers, with new players entering all the time. Many of them are happy to give the impression they have a plug-and-play solution or a convenient add on to an HCM platform that will resolve all your recruitment problems and drive hiring effectiveness to dizzying new heights. 

Recruitment tech won't work miracles 

Reality check: Talent acquisition technology can do everything it's advertised to do — find more candidates, use data to generate actionable insights, free up recruiters to focus more on the critical human touchpoints etc. — but only if key players throughout an organisation commit themselves fully to understanding and harnessing its power. Regard recruitment tech as some kind of siloed black box that sits in a corner of HR and the return on your investment will almost certainly disappoint. 

So, let's talk about what you need to do to make your recruitment tech stack pay for itself — and then some. In future posts, I'll talk more about the technology itself and how to optimise your processes. But let's start with what matters most: people. Here are three tips for getting your team on board. 

Don’t overwhelm people 

If you’re an HR or talent acquisition leader who’s just blown their recruitment budget on a shiny new tech stack, you’ll be tempted to press every button on day one.  

Resist this urge. Push users and line managers too hard and you risk overwhelming them. This is the last thing you need when you’re trying to encourage adoption since many team members may end up blaming the technology itself when the main problem was over-eagerness or needing to refine and optimise the process. 

Instead, take a leaf from the "Agile" book. Ramp up slowly and in a step-by-step iterative way, learning as you go. It’s better to have all relevant stakeholders using one or two elements of your talent acquisition technology than to have a handful of people committed to the system while the rest ignore it. 

Make sure everyone is invested in the system’s success 

Recruiting top talent is so critical to a modern company’s success that it can cause emotions to run high and tensions to develop. Some line managers think that talented professionals grow on trees and that all recruiters have to do is shake the branches. For their part, many recruiters can feel under-rewarded and overworked. 

Talent acquisition technology can help relieve some of these tensions and get everyone rowing in the same direction. But that will only happen if senior managers champion and mandate the use of the tech without overselling and raising expectations 

I’ve heard plenty of executives talk about how they’re going to reward or recognise people depending on their use (or non-use) of recruitment technology. But in my experience, only a few follow through on these promises. If there are no consequences for ignoring the system, no rewards for using it well and no celebration of small wins you are unlikely to achieve the adoption levels and process improvements you’re hoping for.  

Encourage feedback — and act on it 

You may think this final tip goes without saying but it’s amazing how many leaders ignore it. 

Listen to your people when they talk about their experiences (good and bad) with your recruitment technology stack. Use what you learn to draw up best practices, optimise processes and adapt the technology. And if a system isn’t speeding up the hiring process or increasing quality of hire, look at how people and leaders are engaging with the technology before discounting it. 

In my next post, I want to move from people to processes. How do you establish clarity around your goals and expected outcomes? Why does standardisation matter? How do you keep users active and engaged?  

In the meantime, please leave a comment or drop me a line if you’d like to rave — or vent — about your recruitment tech stack. And if you’d like to learn more about Page Outsourcing’s technology solutions, send me a message today!