Top Trends in HR Technology for 2024: What Recruiters Need to Know

While all automakers displayed their recent innovations during the most prominent automotive show in Belgium, the Brussels Motor Show, Volvo stole the show with the first vehicle capable of hiring its own technicians. The company used the car’s technology to conduct the interviews. They could test applicants’ technical and social skills and provide fair assessments of each one by using AI. Later, the HR managers at Volvo were sent these applications for additional interviews. Moreover, besides generating 300% more price requests, all the 200 vacancies at the company were filled. 

Technology is becoming an inseparable part of our lives with each advancing day. Technology has inundated varied domains, from solving minute issues using simple devices such as calculators to assisting in the most complicated tasks like lifesaving surgeries. While it aims to make work easier, utilizing it efficiently requires a proper understanding of the same. The HR sector across the globe is not left untouched by the advent of technology. Hiring candidates is no longer the traditional time-consuming procedure. Rather, technological advancements have created new trends in recruitment processes that are specially designed and adapted to suit organizational needs.

To develop an understanding of how to steadfastly progress on the path of technological revolution in the HR domain, we must first understand the framework around it and the existing infrastructure. Understanding the needs, importance, and tools available sets the right tone.

10 latest technological trends that a recruiter must imbibe in their practice:

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

AI is a tool that can be tailored to suit various HR-related processes, one of them being recruiting candidates. It can screen candidates on various parameters, from a suitably crafted resume to analyzing a candidate’s answers and gestures during an interview, acting as an unbiased tool to facilitate the recruitment process. For example, AI is used by platforms like Greenhouse and Lever to automate applicant tracking, resume screening, and candidate ranking according to predetermined standards. Faster evaluations are made possible by resume parsing software like Sovren and Textkernel, which extract essential information from resumes. AI is used by candidate sourcing platforms, such as LinkedIn Recruiter, to find passive candidates. Platforms for video interviews, such as HireVue, evaluate candidates based on their personality and communication abilities. Ultimately, predictive analytics platforms such as Visier, which forecast workforce trends, aid data-driven decision-making. These illustrations show how AI is improving hiring procedures and increasing their effectiveness.

2. Virtual Reality (VR)

What better way to assess a candidate’s capabilities than analyzing their perspective of different real-life scenarios? Virtual Reality may facilitate such a process by providing a simulated environment. Recruiters may use VR to design different scenarios and judge a candidate’s skills and the practicality of the theoretical claims on their resume. Virtual Reality (VR) tools are transforming the hiring process by providing candidates with immersive experiences that help evaluate their suitability for roles more accurately. Through interactive simulations, job seekers can explore various roles on platforms such as VirtualJobShadow.com, which provide a realistic overview of the work environment and responsibilities. Another illustration is Strivr, which offers virtual reality training experiences to help applicants hone particular skills needed for the position.

3. Data Analysis

Data-based decision-making is more reliable and rational than decisions guided by one’s biases and intuitions. Data analysis helps recruiters compare candidates based on organizational requirements and find the best fit—various analytical tools such as SPSS. Excel, Qlik and Power BI will facilitate the process. For instance, analyzing the organization’s employee data to determine if a particular department is lacking due to insufficient workforce leads to hiring more workforce. This will help the recruiters hire the best talent and retain and manage them efficiently to utilize each person’s skills optimally. Data-driven analytics are provided by platforms such as LinkedIn Talent Insights to assist recruiters in locating talent pools, monitoring market trends, and making well-informed hiring decisions. Additionally, companies can optimize their hiring strategies and enhance overall recruitment outcomes by using predictive analytics tools like Visier and PredictiveHire, which use data analysis to forecast candidate success, retention rates, and workforce trends. By providing recruiters with practical insights, these data analysis tools enable them to make more strategic and well-informed decisions throughout the hiring process.

4. Remote Work

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged global systems, remote working has become more popular than ever. It is not only in favour of the employee, considering their comfort, but also beneficial for the employer. It saves both the parties’ costs, such as transportation costs to the employee and office expenses to the employer. Recruiters must thus channel their recruitment processes to hire the best talent suitable to meet the latest needs of the corporate world. With the help of collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams and Slack, remote teams can collaborate effectively and communicate more easily.

5. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Tools

Having a diverse workforce is a pressing need for every organization now. Technology helps recruiters evade any personal bias in the hiring process and create a perfect mix of candidates from diverse backgrounds. By identifying biased language in job descriptions and offering inclusive substitutes, technologies like Textio assist employers in drawing in a more diverse candidate pool. Platforms for blind recruitment, like GapJumpers, anonymize candidate profiles in order to reduce unconscious prejudice during the screening procedure.

6. Blockchain for Background Verification

Blockchain technology facilitates secure data compilation. It is most beneficial to conduct background checks on candidates to ensure that only genuine applicants are recruited and to avoid future compliance issues. Employers can swiftly and securely verify candidate credentials, certifications, and employment history using blockchain-powered platforms like Workday Credentials, which produce irreversible data records. This eliminates the need for outside verification services. Another illustration is TrueProfile.io, which offers employers a decentralized and reliable source of truth during the hiring process by using blockchain technology to authenticate and store documents like employment records, licences, and diplomas.

7. Chatbots for Candidate Engagement

Chatbots facilitate quick answers to frequently asked queries and can be specifically designed to help resolve the applicants’ queries on the hiring portal. This saves the recruiter from personally catering to the general queries of the applicants multiple times. Throughout the hiring process, Mya, an AI-powered chatbot, interacts with candidates to answer questions, set up interviews, and provide updates on the status of their applications. Similarly, Olivia by Paradox communicates with applicants through text messages, helping them with application processes, getting their input, and assisting them with hiring. Ultimately, these chatbots increase candidate satisfaction and recruitment efficiency by automating repetitive tasks, speeding up response times, and offering a seamless candidate experience.

8. Personalization and Customization

Platforms may be customized depending on the role being hired for, suiting the necessity of the organization. From designing specific assessment tests to formulating stimulation-based assessments, recruiting the best candidates through customized platforms is being widely implemented by organizations. Platform platforms such as Phenom People use AI algorithms to personalize content and job recommendations based on candidate profiles and behaviour, increasing engagement and conversion rates.

9. Skills-Based Hiring Platforms

In a highly competitive world, one’s skills differentiate them from the crowd. Highly specialized tasks require specifically skilled personnel since a jack of all trades is a master of none. Thus, recruiters must acquaint themselves with hiring skilled employees best suited to the job requirements. Thanks to platforms like HackerRank, which provides coding challenges and assessments to evaluate candidates’ technical abilities, employers can find top talent based on merit rather than pedigree. Similarly, Pymetrics measures candidates’ cognitive and soft skills through neuroscience-based games and assessments, offering insights into their fit for particular roles.

10. Automation of Routine Tasks

Employing technology to perform the tedious backend tasks routine to recruiters leaves more time for them to focus on critical strategic decisions, increasing their efficiency. Recruiters save time and effort using platforms like Workday Recruiting, which automates job posting across multiple channels, applicant tracking, and interview scheduling. Furthermore, by integrating with recruiters’ calendars and enabling candidates to reserve available time slots, applications like Calendly and Doodle automate the scheduling of interviews and do away with the need for back-and-forth email correspondence.

Utilizing various platforms designed for the same can help adopt the latest trends. Multiple platforms use complex technologies and algorithms to identify the best talent for any role. These platforms employ integrated processes to simplify otherwise time-consuming processes and generate results that can be analyzed by the recruiter for decision-making purposes.

5 popular tools that facilitate recruiters in hiring the best talent:

1. IMocha

The world’s most extensive skills assessment software, iMocha, facilitates screening candidates based on specific skill requirements. Its AI-Logic Box facilitates the intricate analysis of an applicant’s skills and assesses their suitability to the organization’s culture.

2. CVViZ

The application enables quick screening of multiple resumes based on specific skill sets, thus eliminating recruiters’ need to individually analyze them and identify the best suit. While the system selects resumes that best align with the job-specific requirements, it helps shorten the recruitment process.

3. Jobma

This platform helps eliminate issues recruiters face in aligning interview schedules to their feasibility. It provides the facility to access recorded interviews based on predetermined question sets. This also helps eliminate probable bias in recruiting a candidate during personal interviews.

4. Zoho Corporation

The platform facilitates tracking, sourcing, and recruiting candidates. Its ATS and CRM tools facilitate scalability and customization, providing organizations with candidates most suited to their specific requirements. The platform also collaborates with other online service providers to increase the reach of the recruiters accessing it.

5. TalentRecruit

This cloud-based platform facilitates sourcing candidates and analyzes multiple applications to meet organizational needs. The cloud-based AI facility enables tracking and screening a large pool of candidates.

Benefits of adopting the latest trends in the recruitment process: 

1. Elimination of lengthy, time-consuming initial processes like screening multiple resumes:

HR departments can use cutting-edge tools and software to eliminate laborious and time-consuming jobs like going through piles of resumes individually. Automated resume screening systems use advanced algorithms and machine learning capabilities to swiftly scan and sort through many resumes, identifying the best candidates based on the organization’s predetermined standards and requirements. They assess the resume’s eligibility based on specific keywords. This guarantees a more impartial and consistent method of evaluating candidates while saving significant time and resources.

2. Better storage and analysis of data

Efficient data analysis and storage are essential for promoting rational decision-making and facilitating efficient workforce management. Organizations can centralize and arrange a plethora of employee data, from training records and compensation details to demographics and performance metrics, securely and efficiently with the help of advanced human resource information systems (HRIS) and data analytics platforms. Further, they can gain insights into trends, patterns, and correlations that guide talent acquisition plans and employee development programmes, thus fostering strategic workforce planning. Predictive analytics tools can also be used to foresee future trends and obstacles, help in proactive decision-making, and reduce risk.

3. Doing away with time differences causing communication gaps facilitates smooth communication:

Overcoming the obstacles presented by time differences is essential for promoting seamless communication and collaboration in modern workplaces where teams are frequently dispersed across different time zones. By combining digital communication tools like instant messaging, video conferencing, and collaborative workspaces, HR professionals can set up virtual meeting spaces that allow team geographically spread members to engage in real-time. Utilizing shared calendars and automated scheduling tools facilitates coordinating events and meetings across time zones, thus guaranteeing that all individuals participate effectively.

4. Ensuring unbiased assessment by eliminating any personal bias and heuristics of the recruiter:

Ensuring impartial evaluation is crucial in Human Resources to encourage equity, diversity, and inclusion during the hiring process and in the organizational culture at large. HR departments can promote a more equitable and merit-based candidate evaluation approach by proactively eliminating recruiters’ personal biases and heuristics through technology. Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms and advanced applicant tracking systems (ATS) are made to objectively evaluate a candidate’s background, education, and work history. HR departments can reduce the possibility of bias and heuristics in hiring by adopting technology-driven solutions. This will help them create more diverse and productive teams that accurately represent the skills and perspectives of today’s workforce.

5. Evading the possibilities of human error that reduces efficiency:

Advanced HR software and platforms expedite repetitive tasks while guaranteeing compliance and accuracy in data management by establishing standardized procedures and validation checks. Furthermore, predictive analytics and decision support systems that foresee possible errors before they happen are made possible by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms, enabling HR professionals to take proactive steps to address problems and optimize results.

6. Rational decision-making with the help of data-driven results:

Technology-enabled data analytics offer HR departments helpful intelligence that enables them to make educated, logical decisions based on empirical evidence rather than intuition or guesswork, covering everything from talent acquisition and retention to performance management and workforce planning. Organizations can improve their agility, competitiveness, and overall effectiveness in managing their most valuable asset – their people – by implementing technology-driven data analytics in HR processes.

7. Uniformity in the selection process by putting all the candidates go through the same selection process:

Ensuring consistency in the selection process is essential in human resources to support equity, openness, and equal chances for all applicants. HR departments can ensure that all candidates undergo the same evaluation criteria and procedures by standardizing and automating the selection process through technology. By establishing predetermined criteria and evaluation metrics, the technology guarantees that every candidate gets evaluated impartially based on their experiences, skills, and qualifications—against subjective opinions or personal biases. HR departments can reduce the possibility of prejudice, advance equity, and ultimately find the most competent applicants who most closely match the requirements and culture of the company by putting all candidates through the same selection process with technology-driven solutions.

8. Cost efficiency:

HR departments can save money on operating expenses by automating repetitive tasks like time tracking, benefits administration, and payroll processing. These tasks primarily involve manual labour and administrative overheads. Self-service features that enable employees to handle their HR-related tasks are made possible by advanced HR software and platforms, which lessen the workload for HR staff, thus eliminating the need for additional resources. HR departments can optimize staffing levels, training investments, and talent acquisition strategies through data-driven decision-making by identifying inefficiencies and areas for improvement. This approach ultimately reduces costs while optimizing organizational performance and profitability.

9. Pooling a wide variety of applications from different sources, thus providing better exposure:

HR departments can aggregate various job applications from various sources, giving candidates greater exposure to job opportunities and improving the organization’s capacity to draw in diverse talent pools by leveraging advanced applicant tracking systems (ATS) and recruitment platforms. By using technology to aggregate applications from different sources, recruiters may broaden their reach, boost candidate exposure, and ultimately find the best candidates for their organization’s needs.

Conclusion

To conclude, with the latest technological trends changing organizational dynamics, recruitment processes must also be tailored to meet organizational objectives. Technology in the form of artificial intelligence cannot eliminate human involvement, but when used efficiently, it can help increase productivity. Thus, adopting the latest advancements and trends becomes routine to generate the best outcomes in a dynamic scenario.