Talent acquisition technology trends

Authored by Bhawna Bist, Swati Garnaik, and Rudy Komaravolu

Talent Acquisition (TA) technology advancements are no longer just about matching a resume to a job description; they're about creating hyper-personalized experiences for candidates, redefining the way candidate analysis is done, and scaling efficiencies like never before. The four emerging trends below aren’t solely focused on technology, but rather how those technologies are evolving to address the changing ways organizations identify, interact with, assess, hire, and onboard talent.

Trend 1: Embracing GenAI in recruiting and acquisition 

Generative AI is a subset of AI focused on the ability of machines to create outputs across various modalities (e.g., text, images, audio, code, voice, video) that would have previously taken human skill and expertise to create. Gen AI offers three core capabilities – Generation, Summarization, and Intelligent search, which enable value plays that span across the Talent Acquisition Lifecycle. Highlighting a few examples.

Generation – Creation of new original content across media types (e.g., text, audio, picture). This capability helps create job postings, significantly reducing the time to write, post, and hire. It can also enable the creation of highly personalized outreach and social media materials to target desired talent.

Summarization - Extraction of requested or valuable information from data, and presentation in a concise manner.  This capability enables the synthesis of labor market data and candidate insights to inform intake meetings, as well as summarize interview notes to highlight key information and recommendations to improve hiring decisions.

Intelligent Search – Utilizes semantic context of queries to provide more accurate and relevant results to improve search algorithms. This capability further enhances the experience of finding internal talent with desired skills to accelerate internal hiring and mobility.

• What’s changed?  The integration of GenAI into TA technologies has enabled hyper-personalization of candidate experience, and automated tasks to drive productivity and impact time-to-hire.
• Why this trend matters: Based on Deloitte’s ‘State of AI in the Enterprise Report: Now Decides Next¹, where nearly 2800 AI-savvy business and technology leaders were surveyed directly who are involved in piloting or implementing gen AI at major organizations around the world, 91% of business leaders expect their productivity to increase due to GenAI. This will continue to further increase as more TA Technologies embed Gen AI capabilities.

Trend 2: Accelerating the shift to skills-based hiring

By placing human and specialized skills at the forefront of talent strategy, skills-based TA enables organizations to tap into a broader and more diverse candidate pool. Traditional hiring methods, which focus on degrees and job titles, often overlook candidates who have acquired relevant skills through non-traditional means. Skills-based hiring recognizes the value of these non-traditional experiences, helping organizations find talented individuals they might otherwise miss. Furthermore, as roles evolve due to technological advancements, the specific skills required for a job become more important than a candidate's previous job titles or educational background.

• What’s changed? TA technologies are constantly adding new features to enable skills-based hiring, including enhanced job-matching capabilities based on skills, soft-skill analysis tools for video interviewing platforms, and skills-based assessments for functional roles. These changes signify a shift in the hiring approach and underscore the need to evaluate new skills-based functionalities ahead of the anticipated future shift in skills-based hiring.
• Why this trend matters: The shift to skills-based hiring is quickly gaining mainstream: 89% of surveyed executives and HR leaders² plan on moving toward becoming a skills-based organization and most (90%) are actively experimenting with skills-based approaches now.

Trend 3: Rise of assessment intelligence platforms

Assessment intelligence platforms use a range of tools to measure a candidate's skills, abilities, and cultural fit to make smarter hiring decisions. These intelligence platforms create a more personalized candidate experience based on insights about the candidate’s skills and profile. By leveraging data post-assessment to support hiring decisions, these platforms can reduce hiring errors, saving time and money. 

• What’s changed? The introduction of AI into these solutions provides additional capabilities for reviewing candidates’ skills, interests, and their potential fit for open roles. As demand for skills-based hiring increases, assessment intelligence tools can offer a better potential to capture skill competency compared to traditional qualifications reviews.
• Why this trend matters: Improved natural language processing technologies and introduction of AI into assessment intelligence platforms is allowing platforms to better recognize soft skills³, assess candidate problem-solving and decision-making skills without direct engagement⁴ and assist in informed hiring decisions.

Trend 4: Transforming high-volume hiring

High-volume hiring differs from traditional hiring due to the sheer number of candidates hired for a role. With fierce competition for such roles, speed to hire without compromising the experience is key. Organizations likely need a streamlined talent acquisition process, from job postings to onboarding, to quickly fill the talent gap and facilitate new hires' contribution to organizational goals.

• What's changed? Evolving TA technologies and software, focused on frontline hiring, are empowering organizations to meet their high-volume hiring needs more efficiently and effectively. These solutions can offer quick job postings, location-enabled job searches, text-to-apply features, automated scheduling, instant screening, and accelerated offer management.
• Why this trend matters: According to a recent study⁵, 75% of frontline workers (including hiring managers and recruiters) spend most of their time at work using technology. But the technology they use often doesn’t support their needs with 60% of this population being unsatisfied with the technology provided by their employers, with 56% saying they had to use their own technology to better perform their work. Leveraging tools geared towards high volume hiring that increase speed to hire with experience in mind will be critical to addressing the root causes of the problem.

The opportunity for leaders

Leaders who proactively understand and implement TA technologies can usher in a new era of talent acquisition—where candidates have a seamless recruitment journey, applicants transition to employees effectively, and organizations are confidently equipped to tackle their biggest talent challenges.

Authors:

• Bhawna Bist
• Swati Garnaik
• Rudy Komaravolu

Contributors:

• Derina Adamczak
• Melissa Morse 

Sources

¹ https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/consulting/us-state-of-gen-ai-report.pdf

² https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/topics/talent/organizational-skill-based-hiring.html

³ https:/action.deloitte.com/insight/2601/how-tech-and-skills-focus-can-help-you-better-land-talent

⁴ https://action.deloitte.com/insight/3814/robust-skill-sets-demand-holistic-assessments

⁵ https://www.emcap.com/technology-for-the-deskless-workforce-2020/