cover feature
“You can have the candidate that comes in with the beautiful
resume, they’ve got all the big names on their resume, all the buzz-words
and they really perform well in the interview,” says Seymour.
“They may know how to sell themselves, but they’ve jumped
around on their resume and they can’t ultimately do the job.” (He
calls them “job getters.”)
“These people have been around, they know what they’re doing
and we’ve got to be able to spot them,” said Seymour.
While it’s tough for even seasoned HR professionals to do, it
might be nearly impossible for an AI system. “While 2018 was a
year with a lot of attention for the role of artificial intelligence in
HR, I think that in 2019 we will see a greater focus on the role
of HR in artificial intelligence,” said Evert Akkerman, owner and
principal consultant at XNL HR. “I expect to see the industry
back off a bit from automation in recruitment,” said Akkerman.
“While we have various electronic tools at our disposal to filter
applications, which is especially helpful in high-volume situations,
we should never remove the human element from the recruitment
and talent management process and let software dictate decisions.”
Akkerman points out that there will always be a need for sound
judgment – and accountability for judgment calls. “Also, the spe-cific
search terms that are entered into a system can generate false
positives and false negatives,” said Akkerman. A false positive, for
example, would be a weak applicant who has studied recruiters’
jargon and knows how to optimize the number of hits a resume
generates. A false negative would be a strong candidate who hap-pens
to pick the wrong key words or someone new to the country
whose foreign designations, credentials and expertise aren’t recog-nized
by the system.
“I think the companies that are succeeding out there are using
technology to take away all the grunt work and allow themselves
to be human,” said Seymour. “I think when we’re trying to change
the direction of someone’s future and invite them into our journey
and our businesses, we need to tell stories, have balanced conver-sations,
we really need to encourage the human to work with our
humans rather than skills to work with our requirements. There’s
a very big difference between the two.”
According to a 2017 Randstad survey, 82 per cent of job seekers
say the ideal interaction with a company is one where innovative
technologies are behind the scenes and second to personal, human
interaction. “Top candidates will want to engage with decision-makers
in an organization, so they may assess their own fit,” said
Akkerman. Unresponsive, faceless bureaucracies won’t cut it. “HR
can play a key role in guarding against losing the human touch,”
said Akkerman. “Setting up electronic roadblocks and calling it
due diligence doesn’t benefit anyone. HR needs to ensure that
selection criteria are valid and that systems are dependable and
enable these to yield optimal results.”
DOING GOOD IS GOOD FOR RECRUITING
If candidates want to see the human face of a company during
recruitment, they’re also interested in learning about its humanity.
Organizations that do good in their communities – and who pro-mote
it well – are gaining an upper hand.
ACL, a Vancouver-based software company is one such orga-nization;
their technology has empowered other businesses to do
such remarkable things as stop drug cartels and expose health care
fraud. “We’re attracting a lot of Millennials, despite the fact that
we don’t have a brand name like Facebook or Amazon,” said Kathy
Enros, vice president, Talent at ACL. She said, “We’re finding a lot
of people are looking for a way to have positive impact in the local
community or in the world.”
Enros explains that the company has put a great deal of thought
into determining ACL’s story and making it clear what separates
it from other organizations. “Showing people that they can come
work for us and make a positive change in the world has been a key
differentiator for us,” said Enros. “We’re seeing a lot of traction and
a lot of our candidates reference that.”
PROFESSIONAL GROWTH (PROMOTIONS NOT REQUIRED)
Once employees are on board at ACL, Enros says there’s a strong
focus on career path, development and growth. “That’s something
IF CANDIDATES WANT TO
SEE THE HUMAN FACE
OF A COMPANY DURING
RECRUITMENT, THEY’RE
ALSO INTERESTED
IN LEARNING ABOUT
ITS HUMANITY.
SOMYOT TECHAPUWAPAT/123rf.com
As the talent shortage continues, recruiting and retaining top
talent will be a top concern for HR
HRPROFESSIONALNOW.CA ❚ DECEMBER 2018 ❚ 19
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