The best way to stay competitive in recruiting

In today’s volatile, uncertain and complex business environment, it is critical for organisations in Hong Kong to embrace new ways of thinking and working. This requires linking business strategy to talent strategy, critical to the success of talent acquisition. While tech trends such as big data and AI will continue to make the HR practitioner’s role significantly easier, it remains vital for HR professionals to continuously refine their skill sets and work with the right kind of tools. For example, tools that will provide them with critical information such as compensation analysis and supply and demand reports covering different job categories and sectors. On the flipside, as candidates become better informed about career opportunities through social media and online job information platforms, they might be inclined to change jobs more frequently. For this reason, organisations and HR practitioners should recognise and embrace this impending job-hopping trend and place more emphasis on their talent attraction and retention policies. Moreover, as millennials will represent the largest proportion of the workforce by 2025, according to a Korn Ferry study – Surprise! Millennials Are in Fact Highly Engaged in the Workplace,   organisations should start their graduate hiring processes early to secure the best talent for their organisations. HR departments should also nurture this younger source of human capital to build a pipeline of talent equipped with leadership skills. This way, organisations will be better positioned to meet their leadership requirements in the future.

University graduates have options

Just a few years ago, university graduates globally found it difficult to land that all-important first job straight after college. But we are now seeing the tide turning. Organisations are setting their sights on new college hires earlier due to intense competition. A  Korn Ferry Futurestep survey conducted in August 2017,  found that  nearly two-thirds of hiring managers believe the best time to recruit university students is during the beginning of their senior year. Creating a positive impression and securing the attention of university students before they graduate is key. Last year, close to 90% of all Hong Kong graduates, according to a jobsDB survey, secured a job within three months of leaving university, with over 40% indicating they intended to stay in the job for more than three years

AI and tech support the human recruiter

As big data and AI continue to proliferate, hiring managers are able to get the information they need to source and hire talent from a wider pool and execute the recruitment process more easily. There is a growing range of AI and technology solutions available to support sourcing, assessments, scheduling, creating accurate compensation models and following up with candidates for future opportunities. Multinationals such as, Goldman Sachs and Unilever have already started using AI systems in their recruitment processes. The systems they use can analyse word choice, tone of voice and facial movements to screen candidates. Not only has technology altered the process of the talent search, but also the interview process. This can help organisations to enhance recruitment outcomes by reducing the time spent on sifting through large numbers of applicants.

But this doesn’t mean human recruiters will become obsolete. With technology taking some of the workload off the shoulders of HR practitioners, recruiters now have more time to invest in high-value areas of delivering an outstanding candidate experience and providing meaningful advice to hiring managers. Technology has also created new platforms and media which recruiters can use to find suitable talent more effectively. Today, technology allows hiring managers and recruitment agencies to proactively seek out and speak to the “right” talent, improving hiring quality, efficiency and speed. Today, candidates want a more personal and positive candidate experience. They are used to communicating via instant messaging apps and social media. In fact, it is expected, and in many cases, to be the preferred method of communicating. Interactions via social media generally require less time and the response time is often shorter, with the result that candidates tend to enjoy a more speedy and positive experience.

This article originally appeared in the March 2018 issue of Human Resources as: Key Talent Trends Shaping the Hong Kong Recruitment Landscape. It is reproduced with permission from HKIHRM and Classified Post.

Pip Eastman

Managing Director, APAC Regional Solutions, Futurestep