The Recruiting Industry Embraces Big Data

The term “gut feel” already has a quaint air about it.  It may be not be around much longer.

Striking advances in Big Data and algorithms are rapidly pushing aside the traditional process of candidate search and evaluation with its reliance on intuition and human assessment.

The final interview round conducted by one or more skilled and experienced interviewers is still the ultimate approval but the whole process of getting to that point is changing — has changed.

This year, for example, we can expect to see data able to classify profiles and workforces based on cultural fit, competencies, quality and other dimensions.  In other words, the ability to convert available candidates into a pool of qualified, available talkent.

Consider that in two years, PepsiCo and other Big Data users will be able to fine-tune how salary will influence the expected number of applicants.

Know the Best Channel

Consider that in five years, corporate recruiters will be able to assess and compare the cost per hire and expected time to hire; recruitment feasibility; appeal of the vacancy post text; the best recruitment channel and media; competitiveness of salary and benefits; number of available candidates in the talent pool.

Consider that soon after that you may be able to scan a candidate name and know immediately if he/she is available and interested.

This is the future of Big Data in the recruiting business,  the way Geert-Jan Waasdorp of Rotterdam sees it. He heads up the Intelligence Group,  a research agency specialized in recruitment marketing data and insights that has been analyzing the global labour market since 2003.

Waasdorp has just published  IG’s latest findings in a white paper titled Big Data & Recruitment.

As he points out, the options he discusses in the document already exist as single-source or stand-alone options within a system.  The next big advance will be to integrate these into a predictive tool that will permit a recruiter to, say, increase the salary offer 10% and see the expected reaction.

You can download the White Paper here or from the link above.

Let’s hear your comments on the impact of Big Data on recruiting and whether it can enhance the quality of the workforce and not just make it easier to pull together.