Why Technology and Data Are No Silver Bullet for Boosting Recruitment Performance

It’s a daily ritual that I know I share with many of my fellow network, and that is trying to keep abreast of the latest news and thinking in relation to talent management and optimising your internal recruitment function. It seems (well to me anyway) that the news feeds on LinkedIn and the tweets and blogs from the brightest people on the planet in this space are all essentially saying the same thing.
 
Whilst I whole-heartedly agree with their comments around the key themes of technology and data, social networks and the convergence of talent and recruitment, I am left wondering whether we have forgotten about some of the more fundamental aspects when considering ways to improve an internal recruitment function.
 

 
The big themes around data, social etc in my view are all ways for an organisation to approach recruitment from a holistic perspective by leveraging all their available tools. But what about:

• The HR Toolkit that supports that employee lifecycle;
• How is talent management “positioned” versus other HR activities such as employee relations; and;
• The capability of the internal recruiters?

 
For all the innovation and investment around sourcing, can the same be said for working with Hiring Managers to reduce their focus on hiring on technical skills, or an aligned performance management framework which actively supports organisational competencies as opposed to straight outputs?
 
In my experience the majority of organisations have a talent management process, focused on identifying top and emerging talent. From a risk perspective it generally only relates to individuals deemed to be in “critical” positions. What progress have we made to raise the risk profile around talent management holistically? So often I only see a major industrial relations dispute or payroll catastrophe as the only HR risks that make the organisational risk register.
Central to a high performing internal recruitment function are the internal recruiters themselves. What investment have and should we be making in these teams? Building skills beyond foundational competencies (relationship management, sourcing etc.) has to be the focus given the challenges they face and activities they must now enable.
 

The old cliché of “getting the house in order” in my view still stands to ensure organisations are well-placed to succeed in this evolving world characterised by technology, data, and social networks. Solutions to improving your internal recruitment performance are often closer than you think and will go a long way towards delivering the goal of a holistic approach.
 

If you want to keep up with changes in talent management, don’t miss out on this year’s Sourcing Social Talent event in November. Join global leaders in sourcing, including Shannon Pritchett, Chris Hoyt, Bill Boorman and Martin Warren, who will be travelling to Sydney, Melbourne or Auckland to distill the art and science of being a modern day sourcer. Register for the event now.