Recuritment & RelatedHow technology is transforming the workforce!May 6, 2020How technology is transforming the workforce! from Raghav Poojary How technology is transforming the workforce! from Raghav Poojary HOW TECHNOLOGY IS TRANSFORMING THE WORKFORCE! By Raghav Poojary Head of HR Technology and Process Automation FirstMeridian Business Services Presenter Profile – Raghav Poojary Head of HR Technology and Process Automation FirstMeridian Business Services Specializations HR Technology & Process Automation | Tech Transformation Consulting | Tech Enabled RPO & Managed Service Programs 2 Summary Subject matter expert with more than 17 years of experience in setting up and operating HR Tech CoE within the people business covering RPO, HR Consulting and Staffing Business Operations. Had worked with companies like Merit Trac, Skill Assure, CareerNet, Adecco, PeopleStrong and Quess Corp in the past. Linked-in Profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/raghavpoojary/ Website http://www.raghavpoojary.com/ 5 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce 5 Trends Shaping the Future of Work! 35 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce Global Mobile Workforce by 2022 42.5% By 2022, 1.87 billion people will be mobile employees, comprising 42.5% of the total global workforce Work from anywhere Stay connected with people and information anytime, anywhere, on any device Hire the best talent regardless of location Onboard top candidates who aren’t willing to relocate Business hours are when you are most productive Open-ended schedule offering flexibility in work timings Mobility – Key Impact Areas 4 Impact! The way we manage people and projects will change – project management methods will emerge as must have skills and also increase in demand for collaboration tools. 5 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce Key Technologies Changing the Way We Work Big Data Blockchain AI/ML/NLP Robotic Process Automation Collaboration Platforms Cloud Computing Edge Computing Internet of Things VR/AR Cybersecurity 55 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce “In the future of work, Technology is the Central Nervous System of the organization that enables everything to function.” 65 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce A QUICK DIVE INTO THE RECRUITMENT & HR INDUSTRY 75 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce The Recruitment Industry in India 85 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce Recruitment Industry TYPES OF SERVICES • Temp Staffing • Permanent Recruitment • Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) • Professional Staffing • SOW-Based or Project Hiring • Managed Services • Master Services Provider • HR Tech Recruitment Industry TOP TECH TRENDS • An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to Automate End-to-End Recruitment • Mobile-Friendly Career Sites and Digital Onboarding Apps to Attract Millennials & Gen Z • AI & Machine Learning to Automate Sourcing • Analytics and Algorithms to Digitize Recruitment Practices • Chatbots with Natural Language Processing (for Improved Candidate Experience) Recruitment Industry KEY FOCUS AREAS • Candidate Supply Chain • Candidate Experience • Speed & Quality of Hire • Service Automation • Recruitment Team Productivity • Employee Engagement • Employee Benefits • Client Servicing • Compliance • Vendor Management 95 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce TRANSACTION TO TRANSFORMATION DIGITIZING END-TO-END HR & RECRUITMENT PROCESSES 5 MAY 2020 10How Technology is Transforming the Workforce Process Mapping of Staffing Operations Process Sales & Marketing Contracts Demand Mgmt. Sourcing/ Processing Offer/ Onboarding Operations/ Resource Mgmt. Payroll & Billing Compliance People Sales Team Legal Team Account Management Team Sourcing Team & Operations Team Onboarding Team Client Servicing Team Payroll Team & Account Team Compliance & Legal Team System Sales CRM ERP ATS Job Portals, Social Media, Reference, Market Place Mobile App Based Technologies Bot Based Attendance Collection Client Portal, Payrolling tools EPFO Portal, eKYC, 115 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce Setting Up of PMO Team for Tech Deployment and Adoption at Staffing Companies 12 PHASE 1 CURRENT STATE ANALYSIS PHASE 2 PMO DESIGN PHASE 3 PMO DEPLOYMENT PHASE 4 PMO MAINTENANCE • Processes & tools • Methodologies • Org structures • Roles & responsibilities • Stakeholder analysis • PMO functions • Key Competencies • Areas of responsibilities • Training plan • Resource plan • IT infra • Implement processes & methodologies • Communications • Change management • Performance monitoring • Steady state operations • Handover to operations • Post-go live support Communications&OrganisationalChangeManagement 5 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce Pool Question Do you see increase in Project Management practices being implemented post COVID to handle work from home teams? If Yes then to what percentage? a) Increase by 10% b) Increase by 20% c) Increase by 30% d) Increase by 40% + 135 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce Building Blocks of Staffing Business Colleagues The internal workforce, consisting of all the departments and teams across the organization Partners & Government Bodies Freelance recruiters, vendor agencies, suppliers of software, L&D service providers, government regulatory bodies like EPFO, Income Tax Department, etc. Customers Small, Medium and large-sized businesses looking to scale their workforce up through Staffing, Recruitment, HR Tech & Managed Services Candidates Freshers, experienced, mid-management and leadership level professionals seeking job/career opportunities 5 MAY 2020 14How Technology is Transforming the Workforce Candidate/Associate Experience – Bot-Enabled Job Search & Application Management – Digital KYC & Onboarding – Mobile Attendance – Career Services Platform – Employee Self-Service Candidate Supply Chain – Job Portal (Web & Mobile) – Campus Placement Portal – Freelancer/Sub Vendor Network Portal/App – Market Place – Talent Stock Exchange Digitization of Staffing Process – For Candidates 155 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce The Power of Candidate Experience 165 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce Digitization of Staffing Process – For Customers Customer Experience To Manage Demand, Candidate Shortlisting, Video Interviews, Assessments, Leaves and Attendance, Invoice Approvals, Helpdesk etc. HR Tech Integrated Services – Demographic-Focused Candidate Sourcing Platform – L&D Platform – Employee Benefits Platform – Master Services Program Tech-Enabled Services – Payroll Management – Statutory & Regulatory Compliance – Geo-Tagged Attendance Tracking – Analytics/Reporting Platform with BI & Dashboards – Managed Services Program 175 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce Digitization of Staffing Process – For Colleagues Service Automation End to ERP to manage Demand, Sourcing, Offers, Candidate onboarding, attendance management, payroll, invoicing, collections and Candidate exit management. Productivity Tools – Sales CRM – ATS – Performance Apps – Recruiter App – Freelance Recruiter App Internal Employee Engagement – HRIS – Rewards & Benefits – L&D Tool – Health & Wellness – Tax & Money Mgmt. Tools 185 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce ADOPTION OF NEW- AGE TECH IN HR 195 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce “79% agree that chatbots will be an important interface to deliver quick, real-time answers to candidate or employee queries” 20 Chatbots in Recruitment 5 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce 21 Pool Question Do you prefer BOT handling your personal hiring for next job you apply? a) Yes b) No c) May be 5 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce Blockchain in HR 225 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce Applications of Blockchain in HR Employee Data Security and Access • Decentralized data storage • Restricted access through tokenized permission Background Checks • Access and verify work and academic history, etc. • Eliminate chances of fraudulent applications Smart Contracts for Gig Workforce • Auto-release payments upon task completion • Protect businesses from fraudulent invoicing 235 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce THE WORLD OF JOBS WILL CHANGE IN THE COMING YEARS 245 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce What Makes Gig Economy the Hottest Trend in India? 255 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce Gig Workforce is Trending • Unconventional Approach to Work by Millennials • The Rise of Start-Up Culture • Growing Demand for Contractual Workforce by MNCs • Introduction of Blockchain Payment System • Rise of Freelancing Platforms 265 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce Uberized Recruitment – Rating-Based Hiring of Workforce 275 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce Uberized Recruitment is in Demand 28 • Immediate deployment of flexi staff • Review and select candidate profiles (using client ratings and experience summary) • Last-minute hiring requests • Payroll and administration of flexi staff taken care by vendor • Rate the staff and add their profiles to favourites 5 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce Post-COVID Era in Employment and Workforce Building (1 of 2) 29 Borderless Workspaces • Remote working will be the new normal • Lesser members at office • Digital workspaces to become a hot trend globally • Programs managed remotely with Project Management Standards Latest News 75% of 4.5 lakh TCS employees to permanently work from home by 2025 5 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce Post-COVID Era in Employment and Workforce Building (2 of 2) 30 Changes in Work Culture • New ways to measure employee productivity; which will be outcome-driven not time spent • Redefinition of project management standards • Adoption of Enterprise Learning to pick up pace • Leadership skills will evolve to manage a New Breed of workers • Newer strategies to instill a sense of belonging within remote workers • Elements of TEAM, TRUST and TRANSPARENCY will take the centerstage • Need for leaner operational models 5 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce 31 Pool Question What Percentage of your team/company will be allowed to work from anywhere post COVID come back? a) 20% b) 30% c) 40% d) 50% + 5 MAY 2020How Technology is Transforming the Workforce... Read more...Recruitment and HR Tech – The Game Changer for Staffing Companies’ Value PropositionApril 29, 2020Recruitment and HR Tech – The Game Changer for Staffing Companies’ Value Proposition Humans are the driving force behind the rise and fall of every business, every industry. Recruitment and HR-Tech is a colossal market globally, growing big by the year and estimated to be worth $30 Billion by 2025, according to a report by Grand View Research Inc. With constantly changing industry trends and continually evolving technologies, workforce management is today a hurricane of a challenge to master and perfect. Most organisations are outsourcing staffing and HR-related functions to subject matter experts in the HR space, who add value in managing them and setting benchmarks. Owing to this growing need, leading players in the HR Outsourcing industry are trying innovative means to transform key HR processes, automating them, minimizing manual intervention in routine tasks, eliminating redundancy and cutting operational costs. HR Tech Adoption in India by Staffing Service Providers We are seeing a strong push for Recruitment and HR Tech adoption in India, with industry leaders in the Staffing and HR space embracing many tech solutions (integrated ERPs and CRMs as well as Point Solutions that target specific functions), bringing operational efficiency to business processes. Leading staffing service providers have accelerated their HR tech adoption rate to enhance their value proposition to their clients and offer them a competitive edge in their business. From demand management, sourcing, assessments, interviews, selection and offer – to documentation, onboarding, attendance, payroll, invoicing, compliance and employee self-service – they are streamlining the end-to-end Staffing function with tech tools. A Sierra-Cedar Report revealed that 70% organisations in the APAC region will spend more on HR tech, although they are lagging compared to companies in the US and Europe. Furthermore, adoption of mobile HR technology is no longer an emerging trend, with over 50% companies already using them. HR Tech Tools to Adopt for Your Staffing Business Demand Management: As an aggregator of demands from various clients across industries, it’s important to create a centralised platform where these demands can be created, stored, allocated and tracked. Add to that a mobile app for recruiters, vendors and managers to manage demands and drives on the move. Sourcing: As the nature of demands vary with clients, industries and expertise sought, staffing companies should build a strong sourcing engine to operate 24/7, parsing and mapping profiles to open requirements, while building a solid candidate database. Power it with AI & ML to rank these profiles and recommend them for future requirements. For general staffing, which requires a multi-pronged approach with recruiters on the ground sourcing talent, a Mobile app for field recruiters would streamline the sourcing process. Screening: IVR-Based Interest Check: Manually calling candidates to check their interest in the job can be tedious, especially when hiring in volume. An IVR-based interest screening tool can come handy. Automated IVR calls can screen out candidates who’re uninterested, cutting down the time and effort spent in shortlisting profiles. Assessments: An assessed candidate is more valuable than a manually evaluated resume. Having a psychometric/aptitude/skill-check assessment to filter quality profiles will prove as a differentiator among other service providers. Interview Management: Rather than scheduling and tracking interviews manually through emails and excel sheets, it’s a best practice to have a centralised tool to create and schedule interviews and manage the candidate line-up. Offer Management: Gone are the days when offers had to be manually created, where tracking the offer release and candidate’s acknowledgement time consuming and subject to misses. An integrated offer management module would generate templated offers and release them to candidates on a click of a button. Subsequently, push notifications can be sent to probe candidate’s acknowledgement. Digital Onboarding: Documentation during onboarding is tedious and often requires a lot of paperwork and manual intervention. A digital onboarding tool can be used to collect and store the candidates’ documents and personal info on to a central database, which can automate Aadhaar Verification, KYC and BG Verification. Attendance Management: Biometric-based attendance may prove efficient for cases where the employee reports to the same location. But for staff who tend to be on the move (such as salespersons, security personnel, delivery personnel, etc.) having a GPS-enabled mobile attendance app can ensure accuracy and authenticity of attendance data. The same input can then be pushed to a payroll engine. Leaves and approvals would also be an integral part of this tool. Payroll Management: Having a full-fledged payroll module as part of the ERP will streamline payroll management. It will act as a centralised platform for tax management (investment declaration & flexi-benefit management), to access payslips from anywhere, anytime and to automate salary and reimbursement reports. Invoice & Collection: Integrating an OCR component to automate data entry of vendor invoices in system-preferred format and having smart bots to dispatch invoices and send out collection reminders would greatly reduce the time and effort put into such non-value-adding process steps. Complete Employee Self-Service Tool: A great way to boost candidate/employee experience is to deploy an employee self-service tool that will give them all-round support throughout their stay in the company. A self-service tool can encompass a range of features, including leaves, reimbursements, access to view and download offer/appointment letters, Payslips, PF, ESIC, Insurance, and contract extensions and appraisals. A bot-based helpdesk as part of the tool will ensure grievance redressal. Employee Engagement: In a recent survey by PwC’s Consumer Intelligence Series, 71% of the respondents say employee engagement is critical to achieving overall organisational success. Benefit portals can be great engagement tools and will provide access to a marketplace with offers, rewards, discounts, cashbacks and benefits. Integrating one of these tools into an HRMS would be a great value add, and such services come with no associated costs for both, the service provider as well as the client. Conclusion – Deploying the Right HR-Tech Solution! Leveraging tech can help staffing organisations achieve operational efficiency across the spectrum of functions, including recruitment, employee engagement, workforce management, payroll, compliance and analytics. When carefully implemented, HR tech tools can help to: Streamline Staffing and HRO processes Establish a Centre of Excellence across departments Improve statutory and regulatory compliance standards Build a centralised database with controlled access Set up a real-time analytics and reporting engine to offer actionable insights Reduce costs, effort and time, adding value to customer service These are just a few of the many benefits of implementing tech within staffing companies. But a thorough analysis is critical to ensuring positive impact to the client’s business. Deploying a bulk of tech tools won’t necessarily bring them operational efficiency; instead Staffing and HR service providers must evaluate the pain points of the client’s business and design an HR tech deployment strategy backed by data-based fact check. All the key stakeholders must collaborate to build a business case and define clear outcomes with an estimated ROI. As a preferred staffing partner, your goal is not only to help your client achieve operational efficiency, but also to evolve the client’s HR department from being an administrative division to becoming a centre of excellence whose strategies align with the company’s business goals. And that is the value-add every staffing/HR-tech service provider must aim to deliver to their clients.... Read more...Top Considerations Before Adopting Point Solution Based Tech ToolsFebruary 17, 2020Many ERP-based systems tend to manage end-to-end recruitment and HR process effectively. Yet, we are witnessing a global trend post-2017 towards ‘point solutions’ in HR tech. These platforms focus on one specific area of the HR process, such as candidate sourcing, video interview, assessments, candidate engagement, onboarding, and so on. New-age point solutions can be easily integrated with HR platforms, enabling companies with a variety of highly specialised tools that match their needs. Here’s an illustration of the various point solutions available in the market that are digitising key recruitment and HR processes worldwide. Some notable advantages of point solutions: Flexibility: Point solutions offer a lot of flexibility in terms of customisations, unlike ERPs, which are generally built around a “one-size-fits-all” model. Anytime, anywhere integration: Point solutions can be integrated with your existing systems across several branch locations. Pocket-friendly: These are available in packages where you can select only the features and modules that align with your processes, making them relatively inexpensive. Best-of-breed solution for a specific department: Point solutions effectively address the technological gaps and needs of a specific function/department and incorporate centralisation and digitisation. These come with deep functionality features and can be effectively aligned with every step of the business process and practice. Expertise of a specialised technology partner: With deep technological expertise, point solutions help to optimise specific HR processes with quick benchmarking and standardisation. Point Solutions can be customised, and hence, one module can be maintained without affecting the other modules. Like two sides of the same coin, the advantages of point solutions also come with disadvantages. For instance, these work very well for small to medium-sized companies, where there aren’t highly complex and elaborate operational business models. Point solutions are designed to bring functional and technological expertise to specific departments, with an added focus on streamlining specific business processes. However, in MNCs with large-scale operations, point solutions prove to be inefficient and resource-consuming. Let’s take a look at some of the downsides of point solutions. Disadvantages of point solutions Seamless data integration with other tools is a challenge. If you happen to integrate multiple point solutions with multiple processes within your business, managing multiple systems and vendors will prove to be both time-consuming and resource-draining. Comprehensive understanding of all the features and functionalities of point solution-based technology tools requires thorough end-user training. Multiple parties must coordinate, and several training sessions need to be organised. Also, regular refresher training will also be needed. Adopting many point solution-based tech tools to automate your HR processes could result in a complex ecosystem of standalone technologies integrated together. Troubleshooting problems and technical glitches prove to be difficult with point solutions, since these are tailored to suit specific business needs, and it takes more time and effort to correct certain problems without affecting other functionalities. Designed for individual HR processes, point solutions fail to provide a 360-degree view of customer interactions across touchpoints. Deploying several point solutions will prove burdensome for the IT team in terms of providing support and maintenance. Point solution for one department/function will not benefit the organisation as a whole. It will be challenging to manage and adapt to the constant updates of their UI/UX and data models. Since every vendor will charge for their tools separately, the total cost of ownership (TCO) may increase dramatically. Are ERP-based platforms the way of the future? ERPs are built for streamlining end-to-end processes. When integrated into a business process, ERPs make for a centralised platform that brings consistency to all the processes throughout the spectrum of the operational structure. While this looks like a simple way to go about digitising end-to-end operations, these platforms are rigid and can’t be customised thoroughly, unlike point solutions. Hence, implementing ERP-based technology in your business might need you to change certain processes in order to map to the ERP tool’s functionality, instead of vice-versa. Moreover, change management in such a scale will dramatically increase the spend, time, and effort throughout the tool adoption process. Implementing an ERP-based platform gives you the following benefits: Provides a 360-degree view of data across departments There is a single technology partner, unlike in the case of point-based solutions Requires fewer integrations, resulting in lower implementation and training costs Lower maintenance costs due to a single technology stack. The ability to innovate and adapt to changing market trends as the tool evolves over time and releases technology updates to ensure that your operational model fits into the new-age order The total cost of ownership is lower with improved end-to-end business processes. Conclusion Choosing between ERPs and point solutions depends on the size of your business and also on the complexity of the operational structure. If the business’s scale of operations is small, point solutions may well be your go-to technology solution, bringing deep functional expertise to specific business processes that you feel must be optimised. The bigger and more complex the organisational structure and the operational model, a simpler solution, such as an ERP, will prove beneficial for digitising end-to-end operations, although the platform is rigid and not customisable to a large extent. Lastly, analyse the gaps in the operational structure of your organisation and evaluate the relevance of all modules in the ERP (for both the present and the future) before you decide.,/p> Raghav Poojary is a subject matter expert with more than 16 years of experience in full life of recruiting covering RPO, consulting, technology transformation, and business operations. He has worked with companies like Merit Trac, Pratian Technologies, CareerNet, Adecco, PeopleStrong and Quess Corp in the past. Currently, Raghav is VP – Business Operations and Process Automation at First Meridian. Source : https://humancapitalonline.com/learningdevelopment/details/722/top-considerations-before-adopting-point-solution-based-tech-tools... Read more...Using design thinking principles to solve recruitment problemsJanuary 15, 2020If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” – Albert Einstein I can closely relate to the above statement made by the creator of “the world’s most famous equation”. We live in an era where most of us are so enthusiastic about finding solutions that we tend to disregard the importance of deeply analysing the problem statement before jumping to conclusions. Fear is a major obstacle, and not discovering new ways to break stereotypes is the biggest mistake we all commit. While most orthodox recruitment theories are still put to practice with proven results, could there be another way, a better approach to solving recruiting problems? I’ve been going through a lot of contextual notes on Design Thinking and how it is solving some of the most complex real-world problems in a structured way; I am thinking why not apply some design thinking principles to solve some of the most pressing and persistent problems in the recruitment space? First, let me put across the concept in a quick illustration and pick up a real-time use case to solve it by applying Design Thinking principles. Now that we know the design thinking approach, let’s run a use case using the design thinking methodology to solve a simple, yet a persistent problem all recruitment agencies are facing today: Identifying an opportunity: Let’s consider a problem statement, one that is a real pain for every business within the world of recruitment solutions – sourcing of candidates for niche job profiles. Scope the project: Now that we’ve identified the problem, we need to define the scope and what we aim to achieve by the end of the project – this will be the starting point of our design thinking process. Scope/Project Need: Identifying and creating a supply chain of candidates for niche profile Program Objectives: Create a sustainable channels and models, Identification of Job roles, create domains expertise, define methods of sourcing Draft your design brief: Identifying and creation of long-term sustainable channels – be it online or offline, your aim is to ensure the engine runs continuously to attract talents to match the job roles. Have a dedicated team to work on specific skills. What is? Make Your Plans Review all the existing methods of candidate sourcing – online portals, offline ads, referral network, hackathons, social media, etc. Identify the channels that can be used as a sustained channel for sourcing niche job profiles; for ex., hackathons, tech community groups discussion forums, new HR tech, webinars, learning forums, etc. Look out for additional inputs to attract, assess and promote jobs Do Your Research Identify the tenure and use of the technology and the domain where it is used How many companies are using these skills? Map the skills and salary against the industry benchmarks Can you benefit from your available resource pool? What will be the career progression? Identify and define the career progression of the niche job role; use this information to market your capabilities for the particular requirement Identify Insights How is the job role positioned in the market? What are the key selling points you would share with the candidates to attract their interest? Interview the Hiring Manager to identify the critical areas Establish Design Criteria Market benchmarking Supply source Key Matrix of evaluating What If? Brainstorm ideas Create a mind map and then evaluate the best model of sourcing that will lead to attraction Define the delivery engine for the sourcing model Develop Concepts Project based hiring Contract Hiring Outbound sourcing Hackathon Create Some Napkin Pitches Work along with the Hiring Manager and the Talent Acquisition team to define the hiring process What Wows? Surface Some Key Assumptions Talent benchmarking Sourcing model Make a Prototype Build and test the delivery models as suggested earlier What Works? Get Feedback from Stakeholders Test the solution with different teams, business managers Run Your Learning Launches Make note of findings and refine the approach Design on the Ramp Launch the most successful model post refinement Conclusion Now, applying design thinking concepts for developing successful delivery models in recruitment can consume a bit of time and effort, because ours is a servicing sector. While most TA teams tend to brainstorm occasionally to refine and continually improve their delivery models, they overlook some key factors defining the experience of the team members, candidates as well as the end customer. A lot of research must go into solving recruiting problems effectively using design thinking. And for these reasons, I recommend that you invest enough time and effort, and may even hire an expert to apply this methodology to your recruitment practice. Source : https://www.peoplematters.in/blog/hr-technology/using-design-thinking-principles-to-solve-recruitment-problems-24334... Read more...Chatbots– How future of hiring will change in India?February 27, 2018Five million questions answered, 800% return on investment, 25% increased booking, and 30% more revenue has been recorded by Chabot’s implementation in Transport industry. Robotic Process Automation is providing a path-breaking solution to change the course of how business is done! It’s time for people-oriented recruitment industry to shift the gears. According to a survey done by Careerbuilder.com, more than 67% of the candidates had a positive impression of companies that kept them updated through the application process. Now, it’s a humongous task for recruiters to be able to provide constant updates to all the candidates. They barely have time to personally reject applications while they’re busy sourcing candidates, and almost 75% of the applicants never hear back from the recruiters. This is where bots can change the candidate experience and take it new level! But what exactly do we mean by a chatbot? A chatbot, simply put, is a software system or an application designed to perform automated tasks that are simple and repetitive. Chatbots make use of a combination of Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to mimic conversations with people and interact with them to extract and give out limited, yet very relevant and useful information. How are chatbots contributing to the evolution of recruitment? Chatbots have been around for over 15 years now, but it’s a new trendsetter in recruitment. Today, recruiting chatbots can perform a range of functions, including resume parsing and asking relevant questions to narrow down the number of candidates for screening, making chatbots an effective means to pre-screen candidates. They can also complement or even replace the traditional job application process. Instead of having the candidates fill out lengthy forms, chatbots can be used to extract the same information from a text conversation. A SmashFly report had recorded a whopping 74% of candidates who dropped off without completing the job applications. Chatbots can come handy in such situations and prompt the candidates to finish their applications or collect the remaining information through an automated chat. Now, coming to the big question – Can chatbots change the recruiting scenario in India? Each year, approximately 10 to 12 million new workers are ready to be added to India’s workforce, and the major focus in candidate sourcing is towards the younger generation, who we all know are an impatient lot that is ever-craving for information on their fingertips. While reducing the time to hire is a growing priority in India, improving the candidate experience is equally critical to keep the candidates engaged throughout the recruitment process and preventing them becoming disinterested. But how can a recruiter manage to keep a very large group of candidates he/she has sourced informed and engaged while focusing on improving the speed of hiring and sourcing conversion rates? Using chatbots to interact with job applicants could simplify the tasks of recruiters in India to a significant extent. Chatbots can come to the recruiters’ rescue and answer simple candidate queries, such as the application status or basic questions about the company culture, policies, job details, etc. This saves a considerable amount of time as well as adds to better candidate experience. Besides, bots can also schedule meetings, engage with candidates and act as personal workforce assistants to recruiters. Now, let me quickly list out some of the notable pros and cons of using chatbots in recruitment. PROS OF USING CHATBOTS Does the job 24/7 Responds immediately to any query Smart, automated workflow saves a lot of time and money Can handle queries from multiple candidates simultaneously Builds the HR brand by keeping the candidates engaged throughout the recruitment process Chatbots can be integrated with Messenger, Slacks, SMS, etc. CONS OF USING CHATBOTS Scripted conversations take away the human touch Chatbots may not comprehend all types of queries, to begin with. A constant data analysis is required to ensure quires are answered correctly Information shared by the bots may not be 100% accurate and often the responses can come across as too vague or unspecific Technology integration to existing tools is a challenge to be resolved Judging by the stats and the trends observed globally, a right mix of human touch complemented by a chatbot to automate repetitive tasks is the ideal way to go about improving candidate xperience as well as optimizing the recruitment process, from parsing resumes to pre-screening, to candidate engagement until and post-selection. Chatbots are taking the recruiting world by storm, and India is no exception. So, what’s stopping you from integrating them into your hiring process right now?... Read more...Candidate Sourcing 2018 – Tracking the TrendsFebruary 13, 2018Candidate Sourcing 2018 – Tracking the Trends With big players exploring new avenues, we can expect sourcing to take a sweepingly different shape in the very near future. 2017 was an exciting year in the recruitment industry, with staffing companies worldwide targeting their focus towards integrating AI and automation solutions, improving workplace diversity and setting a benchmark for candidate experience in recruiting. But what brought us here isn’t enough to take us further, considering the trends that set off in the last two years. Sourcing is undoubtedly the most effective means of finding the right candidate. With the key findings of Mettl’s SOTA 2018 report predicting a talent shortage in Unique Skill Requirement by 58% and Mid to Senior-Level positions by 73%, we need to be adequately prepared to drift through the changes and challenges 2018 will bring in terms of candidate sourcing. New sourcing trends are setting off, and existing strategies will need to be reassessed. A radical advancement in the job search industry is that Facebook and Google have also stepped into the recruitment scene. Many companies have already set up their company pages and are posting jobs, which attracts a fair bit of candidates, but not so much as LinkedIn. But with FB launching a Jobs tab with an Apply Now button (which is in testing), candidates can apply for jobs directly within FB. It’s only likely that users will find FB more relevant than LinkedIn, as most of them would be spending more time on FB. On the other hand, with Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn, we can expect added features within the MS Office environment, which would allow recruiters searching a JD within the MS Office environment to get any connections of suggested/prospective candidates with any existing employee within the company. The MS Office Bot will also continue extracting candidate profiles for active job vacancies when the recruiter is not active or is logged out, so the recruiter can review those profiles when he/she logs back in. The Bot may also initiate automated conversations with the candidate to assess whether those candidates are interested. Now, let’s take Google’s latest venture, Cloud Jobs API (launched in Nov 2016), a machine learning service that aims to significantly enhance the candidate sourcing process. Cloud Jobs API comprehends the nuances of job-related keywords and maps to jobseekers’ preferences. I am not going into the details of machine learning’s role in Cloud Jobs API, but in short, it involves detection of occupations and skillsets in jobseekers’ queries, extracting the skillsets from job postings and mapping these relational models, which would result in both, jobseekers finding job postings that match their requirements as well as recruiters getting the most relevant candidate profiles for processing. What about the classic Indian job boards that have gotten us this far? There are over a hundred job boards in India, including several new, industry-specific sourcing engines like Hacker Earth, Glider.ai, etc. and innovative startups like Co-Cubes and Babajobs, which haven’t yet reached the popularity level of Naukri, Monster, Indeed, Shine, Timesjobs, etc. But with big players exploring new avenues, we can expect sourcing to take a sweepingly different shape in the very near future. Specifically, I couldn’t find any announcements pertaining to the future evolution of Indian job boards; it’s only fair to assume they are coming up with innovative features to improve their engines and contribute to improving the overall recruitment process, both from the recruiter’s and the candidate’s perspective. At this rate of competition, and with finding the right candidate becoming increasingly hard today, these job sites will have to come up with interesting, new features that would bring significant improvements to sourcing and recruitment and thus prevent the existing trends and means from fading away. Quick changes for better sourcing; Make the best use of the available AI and Machine learning based tools for sourcing and screening. Start using community boards and put an effort to extend your reach on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Monitor Glassdoor and other review sites for reviews of your company; comment on bad reviews to clarify any misunderstandings – though this won’t directly affect candidate sourcing, it will surely help to gather goodwill and jobseekers’ trust. Use plenty of job boards and juggle between them, based on industry-specific requirements; don’t hesitate to explore start-ups and emerging job boards. Stay tuned for more announcements from Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn and for innovations existing job boards may bring to the table. Source : https://www.peoplematters.in/article/talent-acquisition/candidate-sourcing-2018-tracking-the-trends-17435... Read more... Technology & RelatedAre fitness band worth all the hype?May 15, 2017Fitness and weight loss seems to trending as conversation starter topics these days. Just walk into any social gathering and you’ll find that the talk invariably veers towards someone’s weight loss or weight gain and not to forget the umpteen number of unsolicited advices that are likely to follow. It’s also hard to ignore on the fitness bands people sport on their wrists these days and their claims of how the bands helped them lose weight or stay fit. So, you decide to give in to the latest fitness fad and buy one for yourself. But wait, is it worth all the hype surrounding it? Let’s check out some facts first. Fitness bands are wearable tracking devices that monitor your fitness activity such as number of steps you take in a day, heart rate, calories burned, calorie intake and sleep patterns to name a few. The bands are gaining popularity as they can be paired with a smartphone and allow users to track their activity at their fingertips. Their online platforms also throw in challenges and encourage them with virtual rewards for reaching their target. The most popular fitness bands in the Indian market are Fitbit, Xiomi Mi band, Garmin, Goqii, and Fitgen. It’s interesting to see Fastrack jumping in the bandwagon recently. The price range could vary from as little as INR 950 to as high as INR 20,000. As per recent reports: 21% of the population uses wearable fitness trackers. Total shipment volumes reached 19.7 million units in 1Q16, an increase of 67.2% from the 11.8 million units shipped in 1Q15. 5% of the population is keen on purchasing a fitness band than a smart watch Wearing a basic fitness trackers can increase a user’s activity levels by 30 percent! Pros: Seeing the numbers on their trackers motivates people to significantly increase their activity levels The ability to monitor personalized goals is an added plus Helps people watch their diet and regulate it. Posting their activities on social media and being appreciated could boost their morale and help connect with fitness enthusiasts having similar goals or weight issues Cons People are wary of sharing personal information for privacy and security issues The gadgets may not really show accurate information thereby throwing your fitness goals off the gear The trackers are incapable of measuring all kinds of fitness activities Thanks to evolving technologies, the gadgets could become outdated in no time! In case you are still wondering if you want to go for it, go ahead and purchase one if you are confident and making the best use of it. Choose a band that offers the features you are most likely to use instead of going by the hype of the sales pitch. My Final Two Cents: Fitness bands are designed to make life better, they can help you monitor your activity and motivate you but can’t really exercise for you. Change starts with in YOU!... Read more... 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