The future of recruitment has the goal to improve the quality and effectiveness of the hiring decisions by connecting recruiters, candidates, and companies in a seamless, instant, and scalable way. There is an expansion in Social Media and Social Recruiting Software and the correlated Employer Branding, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence, specialization of a recruiter on Strategic Recruitment Tasks, use of Assessment Hiring Technology, Hiring and Workplace Location Flexibility.

Social Media and Social Recruiting Software tops the list as the number one strategic technology investment of the future according to the study “The Future of Recruiting” carried out by Future Workplace. More than 90 % employers are using social media to hire talent today, and around the same percentage of employers state it will become a massive hire source in the next 5 years. Social and professional networks are also evaluated by job-seekers as the most useful resource in their job hunt. Social Media also speeds up the connection between stakeholders. Video resumes on career networking or social media sites will expand in order to present a candidate’s charisma, personal traits, and out of the box competence. These resumes will be uploaded on networking sites, linked to professional profiles on sites such as LinkedIn, included in online resumes stating information such as a candidate’s goals, fit, capabilities and interest in a role and an industry can brand a candidate.

The negotiating power between the employer and the employee is getting more balanced. Because of the stable job market, the number of hires will increase in the coming years and therefore almost all employers intend to continue or increase their Employer Branding efforts. Companies are attentive and dedicated to investing in their employer brand online, on social media sites, via employee referrals and reviews as well as via competitive awards such as Great Place to Work ranking the best employers of a year in a specific country. Job seekers consider the employer brand name and base their decisions for applying and accepting a role accordingly. Stakeholder experience is the number one priority in hiring. The biggest impact on an employer brand name has a long-term joblessness of ex-employees while the biggest chance is seen is employee outplacement according to the study “The Future of Recruiting”. A meager candidate experience also discourages them from purchasing goods and services from that company.

Social media allows next to candidate sourcing, employer branding also candidate data collection and merging. This Big Data driven by Artificial Intelligence will be progressively analyzed by on-demand or prebuild technology solutions and can be supplemented by resumes or by data from personal devices with full information about candidates which shall eliminate creating resumes and filling in different questionnaires every time when applying for position. The processing of enormous volumes of both structured and unstructured data sources, looking for valuable information helps identify suitable candidates. Not only pre-hire but also post-hire metrics will be extensively processed. The data sources can be integrated in enterprise and third-party systems including many leading HRIS, assessment, background check, and other HR applications.

With the help of Artificial Intelligence, the recruiter’s focus will put the recruiter back in hiring. The Strategic Recruitment Tasks; building relationships with candidates and hiring managers and the final selection carried out profoundly by the recruiter shall improve the quality of hires and the technology shall leverage building better relationships. Numerous routine tasks like scheduling interviews, video screens that replace phone screens, automated communications with applicants are already being automated and this tendency will continue growing. For these reasons recruitment support jobs will steadily diminish and strong recruitment specialist will remain on the market.

The Technology most employers wish to incorporate in their Hiring Assessment process by year 2020 is gamification and this is ranked the third by potential candidates. Potential candidates would appreciate most applications of virtual and augmented reality which are reported to be experienced the least but are also ranked the second by potential employers. Predictive Recruitment Technology has the second spot on the side on potential candidates and talent matching technology the third spot on the side of potential recruiters. Skills testing and assessments are the ones of the most commonly used recruiting technology appreciated the least by potential candidates who hope this will be replaced in the future.

Online hiring brings about Hiring Location Flexibility. Applicants save time travelling for face-to-face interviews and recruiters save time pre-screening personal contact with potential candidates. Workplace Flexibility is rated as the top benefit that will attract and retain over 70 % of potential and current employees. Other top benefits are Health & Wellness, Professional Development / Course Fee Reimbursements rated as crucial by about half of respondents in the study “The Future of Recruiting”. Companies will consider focusing on these benefits when attracting and keeping employees.

The key challenges of future recruitment are the proper leverage of technology and automation. The candidate experience matters in respect to the specific role and personality strengths. A challenge can for instance arise in the first selection step driven by Artificial Intelligence which is set against pre-defined criteria such as keywords leaving less space for personalized first step candidate assessment. This should be more objective after all but can leave a few of excellent non-standard applicants out. Paying attention to who is being hired is crucial.

Taking all into account, companies, recruiters, hiring managers and candidates who befriend and leverage technology the most will be the strongest players.