3 Trends in the Future of Recruiting Technology You Need to Be Aware Of

The future of recruiting technology is coming faster than you think. HR managers are already starting to adapt to emerging demographic trends in the workforce, like Australia’s ageing population. AI-assisted recruitment technology, meanwhile, is being used increasingly to make recruitment processes more efficient. And, as our workplaces become more and more dominated by technology, the skills demanded of employees are going to change. 

That means an increased emphasis on learning and development across the board. Each of these trends presents challenges and opportunities for organisations. How well HR departments engage with them in their hiring will make a significant impact on organisational success. 

AI-assisted recruiting

AI is already starting to make its mark in the field of recruitment. A 2022 Australian Government survey showed that 23% of public services agencies had used AI recruitment tools in the past 12 months. The global AI recruitment market itself is expected to be worth almost a trillion US dollars by 2029, according to Maximise Market Research agency. It’s not hard to see why – recruitment is a process ripe for automation, and we can only expect more of it in the future.‘We all know that up to 75% of applications – even more – are unqualified, and do not fit the job brief’. So suggests SmartAI, a firm helping to design AI recruitment tools. The impact of this on the workload of HR managers is hardly surprising. Indeed, according to a survey conducted by AI recruitment company Ideal, 52% of talent acquisition leaders say the hardest part of recruitment is identifying the right candidates from a large applicant pool. 

AI can already assist in this regard, by scanning applicants’ resumes to ensure they meet minimum educational and experience requirements and are not missing other key criteria like professional references. Removing obviously unsuitable candidates will take a huge burden off the shoulders of HR managers. We can also expect AI to assist when it comes to managing the interview process. They could fulfil functions like automated communications and interview scheduling, and analysis of candidate data to present holistic candidate profiles to recruiters.

All this means the future of recruiting will be far more efficient, with companies able to make faster, smarter decisions on candidates. Clearly, companies that utilise AI tools most effectively in their recruitment processes will gain an edge over their competition when it comes to securing talent. 

Risks of AI

Of course, the effectiveness of AI depends very much on how it is used. Hopes that AI recruitment would help to reduce bias have been tempered by experience which shows it can actually do the opposite. Analyst Miranda Bogen suggests in the Harvard Business Review that if designers of AI recruitment tools do not, ‘proactively build and test their tools with that goal [of reducing bias] in mind, the technology will at best struggle to fulfil that promise – and, at worst, undermine it’. There are plenty of things that can be done to ensure the technology is fit for purpose. The same Australian Government survey provided guidance for using AI-assisted recruitment tools which suggests, among other things, conducting rigorous research when choosing the AI technology provider, ensuring you have in-house technical expertise for operating it, and educating your hiring staff on the risks of bias. 

The changing workforce 

HR managers will be glad for the time saved by AI tools. They will need to consider the massive demographic changes underway in the Australian workforce and the ways in which they will affect the future of recruiting.

Ageing population

To start with, Australians are getting older. The percentage of Australians above the age of 65 is only expected to increase from its current 16%, reaching 20% over the next 40 years, according to government statistics. Yet, as PWC’s 2022 Demographic Megatrends report argues, ‘most organisations do not have a strategy to attract, engage or retain [mature-age] employees’. 

Workers with disabilities

The same is true of workers with disabilities, who total some 2.2 million Australians of working age, as per the Australian Network on Disability. Yet government reporting shows that these Australians are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as those without a disability. Between the two of them, older Australians and Australians with disabilities represent large pools of untapped talent. HR managers looking to the challenges of the future would be wise to think of them.

The skills shortage

Broadening your talent pool can only be a good thing, as the skills crisis in Australia looks set to only grow larger. Data from the National Skills Commission shows that the number of skilled occupations experiencing labour shortages has nearly doubled from 2021 to 2022. Besides the shortage of current skills, it is clear that evolving technology will lead to totally new skills being required in the future. As Amanda McIntyre, Consulting Partner at PWC, argues, we all ‘face a future career in which the nature of work will change significantly. It’s important to understand the key skills employees in both the private and public sectors will need in the future’.

Hiring for learning and development

In order to meet this challenge, HR leaders will need to focus on building a culture that supports learning and development. Ensuring your employees have access to opportunities for professional growth can help you retain your talent, which will be more important than ever to meet the skills challenges of the future.

However, it will be just as important to ensure successful candidates are those with a proven track record of upskilling on the job. They will be the ones most likely to benefit from training programs offered by companies, only 13% of which are currently leaders in learning and development, according to a Deakin University report. 

Facing the future of recruiting

The future of recruiting follows – logically – the future trend of the workforce at large. HR managers will need to stay on the front foot to proactively engage with emerging technologies like AI-supported recruiting. At the same time, they will need to broaden their horizons to adapt to the changing demographic landscape of the Australian workforce. Finally, they will need to ensure that both their organisational programs and their hiring criteria fully embrace the dynamic need for learning and development that the evolving skills shortage requires. Keeping these trends in mind, organisations can feel well-prepared to meet the challenges of the future.