The last 10 years in recruitment

We’ve been reminiscing here at DNA. It was ten years ago that we opened our doors for business and wow, what a difference. It’s incredible how much technology has changed things. Smartphones, tablets, social networking, WiFi, the Internet of Things, E-Commerce, wearable technology and Artificial Intelligence have all made the world a very different place. In fact, technology has completely changed the landscape of our industry.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE JOB BOARD

Back in the day, job boards were few and far between and consisted of lists of vacancies, that job seekers had to spend hours trawling through. Today, there’s a huge volume out there, from large sites that have become household names to niche boards recruiting for specialist expertise. They’re user-friendly, enabling job seekers to actively search key words so that they easily find relevant roles for their skill set and tailored search alerts mean the right roles literally drop into a prospective employer’s inbox.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Take yourself back to 2008, Facebook was trailblazing a path, but only really with university students looking to connect and re-connect with friends, Twitter was just starting out and most people had never even heard of a hashtag. Growth was explosive; by 2012 more than 100 million users posted 340 million tweets a day. Fast forward again to now and social media is everywhere; it’s become an ingrained part of our life and with teenagers spending nine hours a day on it, it’s not going anywhere. It’s there in every part of our lives, including job hunting. According to Jobvite’s 2016 Job Seeker Nation Study, 67% of job seekers use Facebook to find jobs.

It’s not just job seekers searching for roles that use social media. Recruiters use it to source potential employees; it’s a two-way street. It’s being used to check out potential candidates and whether they might be the right fit for a role. Consequently, an individual’s online presence is hugely important; it’s like a shop window into their life, in the same way a website and social media is a shop window for a brand. Integrity is key and there have been many lessons learned over the last ten years, on what and what NOT to share on social media.

LINKING-IN

The days of stuffing envelopes with CVs are long gone for job-seekers. Today, it’s all about your network and building relationships with the right people. It’s now possible to become actively involved in communities in your industry, so it’s no surprise that recruiters use these pools of talent to find their perfect match.

It’s a huge plus for the recruitment industry, as well as hiring managers. The ability to connect and engage with a candidate in advance of any interview offer means the recruiter can provide a higher quality group of candidates to the employer, helping to isolate the perfect candidate in a shorter space of time.

AI IN RECRUITMENT

Applicant tracking systems and AI software can help recruiters to manage the influx of CVs they receive, so are hugely valuable. The down-side is that non-traditional or candidates with unusual experience that could have been a good fit can fall through the net, which relies on specific key words and rules. So, thankfully, there will always be a place for the humble human to spot that talent, for the time being, at least.

SMART TECHNOLOGY AND ITS GLOBAL REACH

Accessing job opportunities abroad has become the norm, thanks to the internet. Time differences are really no longer an issue thanks to the internet and technology. A skype call from home to the US office at 6.30am before heading into the London office for a Board meeting is now just how people do business. Likewise, our continued connectivity means that recruiters and candidates are always able to look for new roles, across the world, whatever time of the day; there’s no longer a traditional 9-5 work day. Travel is significantly easier too. Thanks to an ‘office’ now consisting of a phone and laptop, you can work anywhere, taking your office with you.

So, ten years has seen a huge amount of change. We now operate in a hugely fast-paced world where technology has created fluidity, connectivity and a new level of engagement. Let’s see what the next 10 years brings…