The Pros and Cons of Recruiting Technology

The emergence and evolution of digital technology has transformed the way recruiters discover, engage, and acquire talent. According to Human Resources Today, 86% of recruiters rely on recruiting software or applicant-tracking technology to find the best leads and for recruiting process management.

Modern applicant-tracking systems come packed with a multitude of advanced features, and can be easily integrated with recruiting chatbots and other automation tools. However, even in its most advanced incarnation, recruiting technology is far from perfect and can actually add more time to the process while screening out more suitable candidates. If used correctly within the context of an overall recruiting process, it can be useful for both recruiters and applicants alike. But if used by itself with no plan, it can misdirect your recruiting efforts.

How Recruiting Technology Has Evolved Over the Years

Recruiting technology has been around since the 1990s and has evolved significantly within the past two decades. For instance, today’s applicant-tracking systems can post openings, sift through and store job applications, create and grade profiles of applicants, and more. Other types of software—chatbots, for instance—can manage communications with applicants.

Recruiting Technology: The Pros

Time and Money Savings

Perhaps the most significant benefit of recruiting technology is that it saves time, and therefore money. When software is handling processes such as job postings, application storage, and scanning resumes, recruiters can focus their energy on further screening candidates to see whether they’re a cultural fit for the organization. This makes recruiting significantly more efficient.

Enhanced Efficiency

When we look at measuring the efficiency of the recruiting process, we look at quality, time, and costs. Recruiting technology impacts all three. While we’ve discussed the latter two in the paragraph above, software also enhances recruiting quality by enabling recruiters to search databases of applicants according to particular criteria. This way, they can spend more time analyzing qualifications rather than sifting through resumes.

Boosting Applicant Engagement

Engaging applicants has always been one of the most challenging aspects of recruiting. However, that is now changing with the emergence of chatbots. They have revolutionized how recruiters interact with applicants, keeping the latter engaged throughout the entire process of recruiting.

Recruiting Technology: The Cons

For all its benefits, recruiting technology does have its limitations and drawbacks—even with advancements that have come in the form of big data, machine learning, and AI. Here are a few notable ones.

Reliability and Accuracy Issues

Perhaps the most notable limitation of applicant tracking systems is that nonstandard formatting options can easily confuse them. For instance, some of these systems are flummoxed by an unusual style of bullet points in applications.

Partiality to Formulaic Resumes

An applicant may be from an atypical professional background but may still be a perfect fit for a position. But that decision can be made only by a human recruiter. With an applicant-tracking system in place, however, the chances of such a resume passing through are slim to none. This has a significant impact on the diversity of the hires.

The Best Use of Recruiting Technology

Brookwoods Group leverages advanced recruiting technology to help with tracking and communications, but leaves all the important THINKING and ASSESSING to our experienced recruiters. No technology or algorithm can add as much value to the recruiting process as a great professional. They can leverage relationships to find candidates, help a hiring manager hone in on the most important candidate criteria, dig into a nicely framed resume to discover a candidate’s real talents, skills and knowledge; interpret the results of interviews and background checks; and make a perfect between a great candidate and a wonderful opportunity.

 

Brookwoods Group is one of Houston’s leading professional recruiting and executive search firms. We have provided staffing and recruiting solutions to organizations in Houston, San Antonio, and Austin since 1998. Contact us today for more information.