M AK I N G S EN S E O F TH E M A ZE: TALENT ACQ U I S IT I O N TEC H N O LOG I ES

E X E C U T I V E B R I E F

Katherine Jones, Ph.D. Mercer Select Intel l igence

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3 HIGHLIGHTS• Confusion reigns from the overabundance of talent acquisition products on the market.

• New social, web and mobile apps touch every part of the recruit-to-hire process.

• Clarify the talent acquisition analytics you want before vendor evaluation.

YOUR BRIEFING IN 3…2…1…

2 TAKEAWAYS• Plan for integration needs when selecting new talent acquisition solutions.

• New solutions are mobile first: consider these in the context of your total corporate mobile strategy.

1 ACTION• Articulate your hiring management technology needs carefully and learn what solutions address them.

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Finding talent, which used to be addressed through “post and pray,” has been elevated to a science that includes use of social networks, social search, job board aggregators, candidate relationship management tools, and many more. Many of these technologies are recent additions to a market that in the past was dominated by applicant tracking systems (ATS) providers; many of these newcomers are creating fresh and sometimes novel market categories. New products appear on the market almost daily, lending confusion to an already crowded array of products that source, engage, screen, and manage the hiring of job candidates. Now add contingent workers to the mix: 40% of Americans are expected to be freelancers by 2020 — that constitutes 60 million people. In this new era of the freelance economy, innovative mobile tools are needed to locate that often-elusive talent: crowdsourcing, e-staffing, and recruiter and labour marketplace products bring ease to engaging those workers.

FIRST COMES LOVE

Only in the past decade has the language of recruiting changed to the language of courting: the wooing of the passive or active job seeker sometimes long before a position is open or long before a currently employed worker is thinking about a career change. Accelerated by the shortage of skilled talent, especially in locales such as Silicon Valley, shrewd recruiters engage in “conversations” with known experts, often identified through social media. This has led to the concept of early relationship-building as a core recruiting principle. These solutions lead to the ability to both conduct meaningful conversations online and to track interactions with potential and current candidates. In addition, the concept of continual relationship building during the hiring cycle, post-sourcing, has become increasingly critical.

MAKEOVER SOMETIMES REQUIRED

The proliferation of social platforms and the unfettered access to global data prove the culprit here. Today’s companies have to be transparent with their rewards and recognition programmes, values, career paths, and organisational structures. As a byproduct of this forced transparency, companies are leveraging employer branding tools to proactively create and promote their employee value propositions (EVP).

Providers that focus on brand creation and management help companies define, articulate, present, and promote their employer brand through social platforms, job boards, and more. Recruiters cannot ignore the fact that employees increasingly cite an employer’s reputation as a major influencer in deciding where to work.

Technology ties all this together: solutions support employer brand creation and corporate brand management to help the candidate relationship management process, fostering the creation of a picture of the “authentic self” of the company.

Companies report that the better they are able to articulate their authentic employer brand and their EVP, the higher their candidate conversions.

Competition for skilled talent is hot — and increasingly challenging across the globe. Solutions — often from young innovative companies

— hit the market almost daily it seems, but how are recruiters, hiring managers, and HR professionals looking for new software solutions to ascertain which solutions make sense for them?

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NEW RECRUITING MODELS LEAD TO PRODUCT INNOVATION

New web-based models for hiring are blossoming. The innovative applications supporting these models are often proving more flexible as a way of seeking work for candidates, and less expensive for hiring companies.

Crowdsourced recruiting platforms, as just one example, provide support for task-based services or scoped work projects. The concept allows the employer to state the budget requirements and avoids the need to search out the desired talent independently. Employers share tasks and let individuals create and submit their own unique solutions from which the employer selects the winning solutions.

PLANNING YOUR TALENT ACQUISITION TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY

KEY AREAS

Recruiting marketplaces are another example. In the same way that labour marketplaces rely on a candidate talent pool, a recruiting marketplace relies on a pool of recruiters. The goal is not to hire the recruiter but, rather, to use this pool to search for hard-to-find talent among the recruiters’ own talent pools or contacts. As a concept, these marketplaces provide an employer with a host of recruiters at its disposal without having to employ them on staff. These platforms potentially have pools of many independent recruiters. Some of these platforms allow employers to hire a recruiter per hour or to crowdsource the recruiting effort so that many recruiters can work on the same job, ideally reducing time to fill.

Are you making optimal use of social networks to locate passive talent?

Is your company’s presence on social media compelling to potential candidates?

Have you evaluated your sources to determine which yield the top performers and the comparative costs?

Does your technology support the management of both traditional and contingent hires? Does it support your global hiring agenda?

Do your hiring management technologies provide the analytics you need for good decision making?

Is the portrayal of your brand consistent across your candidate-facing sites?

Does your external branding present an authentic picture of your culture and work ethic?

Source: The Buyer’s Guide to Talent Acquisition Technology: A guide to innovative recruiting and hiring solutions, Mercer, 2016.

Are your criteria for new employee selection consistent across your enterprise?

Have you evaluated your screening mechanisms for possible unconscious bias which might limit diversity?

Evaluate Your Employment Brand

Review Your Sourcing Practices

Screening and Selecting

Hiring Management

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FOR MORE INFORMATION

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MSI partnered with Talent Tech Labs to develop a taxonomy of talent acquisition solutions, highlighting newer market entrants in terms of their innovation and their market viability. In this report we provide a definition of the primary categories into which today’s talent acquisition technologies fall. We include an overview of the most common features and functions of the product areas, and for some areas, try to present an indication of the applicable revenue models. Representative providers within each category — sourcing, engaging, selection, and hiring — are also included.

We love to hear from our members. If you have any questions about this brief or MSI in general, please contact us at info@selectintel.mercer.com.

MSI Members can access the The Buyer’s Guide to Talent Acquisition Technology: A guide to innovative recruiting and hiring solutions. The report is available to purchase for nonmembers.

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APPENDIX

VENDOR LISTING

The talent acquisition solution providers mentioned in this report are included below, with their corporate contact information. This is not meant to be an inclusive list of all providers in this very broad area of technology. Rather, the basis for inclusion in the taxonomy, based on Talent Tech Labs Ecosystem analysis is twofold: that the companies were innovative (offering something new to the marketplace) and that they were or had the potential to be influential, that is, they have the ability to sustain their market presence, based on such criteria as their technology, their funding levels, numbers of current clients, and their management teams. Established solution providers are included as they were also mentioned within this report.

ADPAEVYAFTERCOLLEGE

ALLNURSES

AMAZINGHIRING

AMAZON MECHANICALTURK

ANGELLIST

APPCAST

APPLOI

ARTICSHORES

ASKFORTASK

ASSESSMENT INNOVATION

ASSURED LABOUR

ASYNC

AVATURE

A

BBEAMERY

BEANSPROCK

BEELINE

BLUESKY

BOON

BOUNTYJOBS

BRAZEN

BREEZY

BRIGHTMOVE

BROADBEAN

BULLHORN

BURNINGGLASS

CCAREER ARC

CAREERBLISS

CAREERBUILDER

CAREERLEAF

CAREERS 2.0

CAREERSUSHI

CATS

CERIDIAN

CHECKSTER

CHEQUED.COM

CHOOZERJOBS

CLEARFIT

CLINCH

CLOSERIQ

COACHMARKET

CODEEVAL

CODER.PROXY

CODILITY

COLLEGE RECRUITER

CONNECTCUBED

CONNECTIFIER

CORNERJOB

CORNERSTONE ONDEMAND

CROWDFLOWER

DDAXTRA

DESIGNCROWD

DICE

DOCDELTA

DRIBBBLE

EEGRABBER

EMPLOYYD

ENRECRUIT

ENTELO

EQUEST

ERECRUIT

ETEKI

EXECTHREAD

FFACEBOOK

FAIRYGODBOSS

FAMA

SAP FIELDGLASS

FIVERR

FREELANCER

FYRE

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GGAPJUMPERS

GETHIRED.COM

GIGWALK

GILD

GITHUB

GLASSDOOR

GLG

GOGOHIRE

GOWORKABIT

GRADBERRY

GREAT HIRES

GREEN JOBINTERVIEW

GREENHOUSE

GURU

HHACKERRANK

HALOGEN

HARRI

HEALTHSTREET

HERO

HIREABILITY

HIREART

HIRECANVAS

HIRED

HIREDSCORE

HIRE-INTELLIGENCE

HIRENETICS

HIRENURSES.COM

HIREVUE

HIRING-HUB.COM

HIRINGSOLVED

HOLLAROO

HONEIT

HOURLYNERD

HP HUMANPREDICTIONS

HYR

IBM

ICIMS

INDEED

INFIDO

INHERSIGHT

INNOVATE CV

INTERNSHIPRATINGS.COM

INTERVIEWED

INTERVIEWJET

INTERVIEWSTREAM

IQNAVIGATOR

JJABATALKS

JANE

JAZZ (PREVIOUSLY THE RESUMATOR)

JOB HUK

JOBALINE.COM

JOBANDTALENT

JOBBLISS

JOBBOARD.IO

JOBBOOK

JOBCAST

JOBDIVA

JOBFOX

JOBHUK

JOBON

JOBRAPIDO

JOBS2CAREERS

JOBSCIENCE

JOBSCORE

JOBSSY.COM

JOBSUITORS

JOBTARGET

JOBVITE

JOBVOTING

JOBYLON

JOZII

I KKNOZEN

LLATERAL.LY

LEGALHERO

LENSA

LEOFORCE

LEVER

LINKEDIN

LIQUIDTALENT

LOOKSHARP

LOOP

LUNCHCRUIT

MMAJIO

MASTERBRANCH

MATCHPOINT CAREERS

MBA&COMPANY

MBO PARTNERS

MERCER PEOPLEPRO

MERCERMATCH

MINDSUMO

MOBOLT

MONSTER

MONTAGE

MYSTERYAPPLICANT

OONBOARDIQ

ONFORCE

ONGIG

ONRECRUIT

GOOD&CO

OPUS

ORACLE

OUTMATCH

OYSTIR

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SALARY.COM

SAP SUCCESSFACTORS

SAVVY

SCHEDULETHING

SEEK

SHIFTGIG

SHORTLIST

SILKROAD

SKILLSTREAM

SKILLSURVEY

SL8Z

SMARTERER

SMARTRECRUITERS

SMASHFLY

SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE

SOVREN

SPARKHIRE

STACKOVERFLOW

STARTMONDAY

STARTUPCVS

STERLINGBACKCHECK

SWITCH IDEA

SWOOP

SYMPHONYTALENT

P

Q

PATHMOTION

PEOPLEPERHOUR

PERSONA LABS

PLUM

PROGOW

PROJEKTWERK

PROVADE

PROVEN

PYMETRICS

QANDIDATE.COM

QUESOCIAL

QWALIFY

RRATEDLY

RCHILLI

REALMATCH

RECROUP

RECRUITER

RECRUITERBOX

RECRUITICS

RECRUITIFI

RECRUITLOOP

REED.CO.UK

REPPIFY

RESCHEDGE

RIIPEN

ROIKOI

ROLEPOINT

S TTALEMETRY

TALENT CIRCLES

TALENT ROVER

TALENTBIN

TALENTBREW

TALENTHOOK

TALENTRON

TALENTROOSTER

TALSONA

TAPFRAME

TASKRABBIT

TEAMFIT

TESTTRACKS

TEXTIO

TEXTKERNEL

TEXTRECRUIT

THE LADDERS

THEJOBPOST

THEMUSE

THUZIO

TOPTAL

TREATINGS

TRUEABILITY

TTI

TWAGO

TWITTER

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UULTIMATE SOFTWARE

UNDERDOG.IO

UNIVERSITYBEYOND

UNIVERSUM

UNTAPT

UPWORK

US.JOBS

VVAULT

VBENCH

VCV

VETTERY

WWAYUP (PREVIOUSLY CAMPUSJOB)

WELLHIRE

WEPOW

WERKLY

WHITETRUFFLE

WHOLI

WITTYPARROT

WONOLO

WORKABLE

WORKDAY

WORKMARKET

WORKPOP

WORKSHAPE.IO

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ZAO

ZEROCHAOS

ZERPLY

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ZOOPPA

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