Difficulty in hiring right talent is the highest in over a decade: Survey

Moneycontrol News

Finding the right talent with the matching skillsets is the most critical challenge according to about 42 percent of the employers surveyed by global talent solutions firm KellyOCG. About 55 percent of survey respondents comprising 522 companies across the globe (including India) believe that digital innovation for recruiting will be the new normal.

The report titled, ‘Digital Recruiting: Disruption by Design, And Not Default’ also reiterated the global talent shortages have hit their highest level in a decade.

The survey found that 40 percent of employers worldwide reported greater difficulty hiring the right people which is at the highest level in the last 10 years.

“While employers are grappling with talent shortage, there are more passive job seekers than ever before. This situation is driving organisations to adopt digital processes. Interestingly, while many organizations are in the early stages of recruiting automation, some are already on the cutting edge,” said Francis Padamadan, Country Director, KellyOCG India.

Nearly 40 percent of survey respondents described their organisation’s recruiting function as either experimental or innovative. Padamadan added that the the survey showed that such vanguard organizations or innovators experience fewer hiring challenges than organizations with more traditional approaches.

Employers are using technologies like Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to gather applications electronically; candidate relationship management (CRM) system to enhance candidate experience, artificial intelligence (AI) and backend automation. The survey said that one in five organizations intend using AI and automation in the next two years, the report said.

Further, as one-third of job seekers worldwide have searched for a job through their mobile devices, mobile-based ATS is also becoming an essential technology for organisations.

The digital adoption is also being boosted by enhanced candidate experience. More than a third of survey respondents (38 percent) said they had not heard any complaints from candidates regarding their digital adoption. In fact, 47 percent of vanguard organisations say they see an increase in the number of applications and candidate satisfaction.

“By delegating low-level tactical work to machines, recruiters gain time for more meaningful conversations with identified high-potential candidates, giving them the personal attention they deserve,” added Padamadan. As the survey showed, 77 percent of job applicants prefer human interaction during their job hunt.

Also, chatbots are playing a major role in tactical work like recruiting concierge, bot-run interview prep class, talent community management and responses to candidates. Another technology which has found large-scale adoption is live digital interviewing. Here, 46 percent of those surveyed say they will use live digital interviewing in the next few years.