As the workplace and way we work evolves, so too will the way we go about finding jobs. Automation is the latest ‘threat’ that promises to remove recruiters. New platforms are regularly popping up claiming to have eliminated the need for third parties in recruitment.

Algorithms that match the perfect candidate to a role for the on-demand generation. It sounds great. Aside from the fact it reduces recruitment to a very two dimensional process. Fill a vacancy with a paper candidate and remove the middle man. Recruitment is about relationships, networking and negotiations… and is uniquely human. Automation is there to improve the processes of recruiters, not remove them. Anything that reduces the time to fill and improves the quality of hire should be embraced. Technology might not remove recruiters but it will force them to change the way they recruit in the future.

Recruiting to the on-demand generation

Smartphones have now overtaken desktop browsing as the preferred choice for job seekers. The recruitment process needs to accommodate its marketing and application process to job searching on-the-go. Everything needs to be responsive. The content needs to be digestible and the experience needs to be increasingly visual. It’s about streamlining the journey and keeping people engaged. Application forms and gated processes are barriers that candidates increasingly avoid. Agencies need to consider where, when and how people are searching for jobs and build their strategies back from this.

Migration away from LinkedIn

After the internet and job boards, the arrival of LinkedIn marked a seminal point in recruitment. It might be difficult to imagine a successor to LinkedIn but Google and Facebook’s recent move into the space could offer an insight. Still in its beta version, Google Hire will arrive with a potential candidate base to surpass LinkedIn’s 467m users. LinkedIn may boast two new users a second but this pales in comparison to the 2.3million searches that are pushed through Google every second. Outside of the big three tech giants specialist talent tends to occupy the more niche platforms related to their profession. Stack, GitHub, Dribble, and the countless other communities that are less populated by recruiters.

Going social 

A social presence will no longer be an afterthought for recruitment agencies. Dedicated strategies need to engage with the talent out there. Managing multiple social channels, drawing a visual story on Instagram and using video content to reach tomorrow’s job seekers.

What engages with audiences differs with each social channel. Recruitment brands need multiple voices and faces in the social space.

Tech fluency

Technology is making recruitment far more efficient. For those that aren’t embracing technology they will be left behind. Take contract recruitment and how cloud management platforms have streamlined the process. Those that aren’t using them are dedicating their core sales time, or paying for others to manage the process. It comes back to the automated platforms and technology that’ enabling agencies to be more efficient recruiters.

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At its heart, the core principles of recruitment will remain the same. About relationships and people. However, the future of recruitment will use technology to bring those people together faster.