CEO Today Magazine May 2018 Edition

www.ceotodaymagazine.com 20 SPECIAL FEATURES Bringing the Human Back into Human Resources A lot of time and effort goes into finding, scheduling and on boarding candidates when it comes to filling in a job vacancy. Recruiting now goes beyond picking up a telephone and calling an endless number of people all day on an ad hoc basis. It’s requires a strategic approach which takes into consideration the candidate’s experience, the brand’s image and how to leverage data across traditional and modern recruitment channels. James Waite, Head of Technology for Gibbs Hybrid, discusses how automation and AI are transforming the future of HR. It is not a secret that every aspect of business has been touched by digital – from sales & marketing to finance – and so HR is no different. Trying to find the right candidate for the job is not an easy task and recruiters are turning to technology to simplify the process to generate leads and build talent pools. A HR professional can spend as much as 60 – 70% of their time scrolling through job boards, on LinkedIn and on phone calls trying to scope out potential candidates for jobs. This task becomes even more time- intensive in hard-to-fill roles. Artificial Intelligence is changing how recruiters do their jobs – from saving time to ensuring a better success rate. According to IBM’s 2017 survey of 6,000 executives, 66 percent of CEOs believe cognitive computing can drive significant value in HR and 54 percent of HR executives believe it will affect key roles in the HR organisation. Reducing the time and effort spent on finding the right talent for the job allows businesses to redirect their focus on fulfilling their strategic and operative objectives to stay competitive. Candidates don’t want to wait endlessly to find out whether they were successful or not. The candidates’ experience, shaped by brands has an impact on the level of motivation driving candidates to apply and accept. People want to apply to places that have a big name – think of the big brands like Facebook, Amazon and Google etc. 66% of people who recently changed jobs were aware of the company they joined before applying, with most job seekers reading at least 6 reviews before forming an opinion of a company. Recruiters need to treat applicants like customers and create a brand image and a candidate experience which will motivate them to apply there. A company’s online presence across social media, including Glassdoors as well as their own website all play a part in forming AI & Automation James Waite