Employees are the biggest assets for an organisation. A proper recruitment process is crucial. Zairus Master lists what the employers are looking for in the candidate today
Employees are one the biggest assets for any organisation. They have the power to make or break your business. Therefore, hiring a correct employee is always one of the top priorities of business owners which make the recruitment process very crucial for them. A few years back hiring was a very tedious and a complex process. With the advancement in technology, there has been a paradigm shift in the recruitment model in the last ten years.
Today’s recruiters have much more options and deeper insights about the candidates than ever. Recruiters can now be more precise with their assessment that whether a person will be fit for the job or if he or she has the right skillsets for that particular profile.
Skills over degrees
As the world is changing, our workplaces are also becoming more and more dynamic. Today the recruiters are not only looking for employees who hold degrees but also have the required skills and certification for the job. These skills include not only the technical know-how but also the soft-skills like self-confidence, time-management ability etc.
This new hiring pattern has brought a significant change in the recruitment scene in the past few years. As per a recent study conducted by Shine.com, around 80 per cent of recruiters consider skills and professional certifications as the most important parameter to shortlist candidates. The study also reveals that around 50 per cent of recruiters feel that candidates with professional certifications are technically sound than the regular candidates. Another survey conducted reveals that skills and certification will be the most important factor that will affect the pay-scale of future working professionals.
Rapid technological developments are changing the demands of the job industry every year. The industry has now become so volatile that some skill sets that seemed important until last year may become irrelevant in the coming years.
As per a joint report published by industry lobbies FICCI and NASSCOM, 37 per cent of the Indian workforce will be in jobs demanding drastically different skill sets by 2022. Recruiters in future will primarily look for skills related to artificial intelligence, robotics, GST, digital marketing, big data and analytics as these areas are expected to face the maximum shortage of skilled candidates.
Candidates, who will not up-skill themselves with time, will be left behind during the hiring process. The pace at which the job industry is changing, the candidates in future will have to reskill themselves 15-20 times to survive and succeed in their career.
Diversity & Inclusion
Diverse workforce is the need of the hour. People from different genders, backgrounds, cultural beliefs, age, are changing the way organizations used to work. A few decades back, there was a time when women’s contribution at workforce was questioned, resulting in biases in their salaries. A survey was done to understand if it still holds true. What was found was that across functional areas, there is no wage disparity between men and women between five-six years and nine-10 years of work experience. Recruiters have now realised that the diverse workforce not only helps in deepening the company’s culture but it also generates more innovative and fresh ideas. Diversity and inclusion are the key planks on which the company’s principle is rooted. Diversity will also be a significant trend this year due to the social pressure that employers would be facing to create a more inclusive workforce.
AI & DA
There has been a growing demand of Big Data courses from working professionals on e-learning portals. And this trend will not be limited just to them, but recruiters also. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Analytics (DA) will have a strong foothold in the recruitment scenario this year.
AI will take over some of the most repetitive aspects of the hiring process. For example, Chatbots will respond to the frequently asked questions by the candidates, saving a large part of the recruiter's time. Recruiters are equipping themselves with DA and AI skills as it enables them to screen candidates in a more cost-effective manner before they come for a final face to face interview. Just like previous year, the traditional process will be replaced by the digital process for collecting job applications and follow-ups.
Branding & Candidate Experience
Bad experiences during the hiring process or negative hearsay about organisations always leaves a bad impression in the minds of potential employees. In the age of social media, this spreads like fire and can quickly demolish one's reputation as an employer. With brands working day and night to build their reputation, Human Resources will not lag behind in positioning their organisations as the best-place-to-work.
There has been a tremendous demand in Employer Branding Solutions from mid-size to large enterprises and this trend will continue to dominate in 2018 as well.
— The writer is the CEO of Shine.com