Technology alone won’t bring about digital transformation of recruitment; we need group therapy and a major shift in mentality.
Written By: Basil Fateen
Four years ago, I walked into a battlefield.
Prior to starting HireHunt, my work revolved around coming up with solutions to different problems and building the software to make it happen.
So when I decided to step out and start my own business, the most recurring piece of advice I received was to find a real problem to solve.
And oh boy, did I find one.
It was a problem so complex and fascinating that it lured me in, like a blue light attracting a fly. It’s now years later and I’m still mesmerized by the enticing glow as it electrocutes me again and again. Hey that smells great, is someone cooking something? Oh, that’s me.
HireHunt came armed with a different approach, advanced technologies and an outsider’s mindset.
Naturally, I expected that there would be opposing forces to what we were doing.
I expected to be in a western style shoot-out with the traditional job-boards. What I discovered was a royal rumble in a clown car at a traveling circus.
This tragic ‘comedy of errors’ stars the HR department, hiring managers, job-seekers, the Upper management executives and recruitment software vendors.
It’s my humble opinion that addressing the issues plaguing these relationships is the final key to catalyzing the full digital transformation of HR that is so desperately needed.
Until then, the technology is ready and waiting.
1- Hiring Manager vs. HR Team
Like a spark in a womb, it begins with the job requisition request from a hiring manager.
In no time, that cute little spark will become a dashing employee in a suit (or pantsuit) who comes late and spends their time looking busy while they’re actually looking for their ‘next opportunity’ online. Aww. They grow up so fast.
But that spark is sometimes doomed from the start, because the hiring manager and internal HR team are at odds and start off on the wrong foot.
Inability to articulate who can do the job and what skills they need to have is the first major friction point. Sometimes they may fall back on a similar job description with little insight into the conflicting and absurd requirements and perhaps the train-wreck it caused when used in previous job posts because they’re not even tracking that data.
So the hiring manager puts pressure on the HR who may not understand the role as well as they do and will inevitably send irrelevant candidates their way and start the ping pong game of approved/rejected email threads that everyone loves so much.
The HR feels the manager is being unreasonable with their expectations and the manager will feel the HR is not doing their job by providing great candidates for the role. The more time passes, the more lost revenue for the manager, the more stressed he gets, the more snide he becomes with communication and feedback and the more the HR becomes unwilling to exert effort for the vacancy and starts praying for the manager to develop arthritis. And so on.
Solution: reduce unnecessary communication problems, time lost, objectivity and bias from the initial shortlisting process and allow the hiring manager to access talents directly with HR monitoring and facilitating.
2- Job-seeker vs. Employer
This one is pretty straightforward.
Who here can really say that when they start applying they are embarking on a positive experience and hear back soon with relevant feedback after applying? And which hiring manager is not whining about ‘shortage of talents’?
Most of the time it’s a frustrating nightmare for everyone involved.
Putting applicants through a long strenuous process where they are inputting the same things over and over (which are already in their CV usually) or solving mind-bending psychometrics when you have no intent on even reviewing them because you hire by referrals mainly? Or you only hire from select universities? That’s pretty cold.
Accepting interviews and then not showing up without even an excuse? That’s borderline evil.
For a more comprehensive breakdown watch this:
Solution: there must be a system of accountability in the job-hunting process. Everything positive you do should transfer and help you move forward, without bias. Abusers (both applicants and employers) should be warned and then flagged publicly.
3- HR vs. Upper Management
The HR department is under more pressure than ever to achieve so much, yet they are usually the most ill-equipped department without the necessary tools, budgets and resources to meet their targets.
When there is not a strong HR C-suite leader representing the best interests of the department, they are trapped in a web of under-appreciation and consistent feeling of underperforming.
Solution: The biggest shift that can happen here is for the upper management to understand that HR should be a strategic department, not an administrative one. So provide them with the tools that handle the time consuming administrative tasks so they can focus on the high impact strategic ones that will ultimately impact everything from the revenue to the reduced turnover and quality of hire.
4- HR manager vs. The Recruitment Team
I once demoed HireHunt for the manager of a manger bank, who after seeing all the levels of automation snidely exclaimed, “Wel bahayem dol ana me3ayenhom leh?” (And so what do I do with those mules out there?) He was referring to his recruitment team.
It was hard not to reply ‘you won’t need as many mules’. But the reality is, I was thinking that this guy was a major mule. If he viewed his team in this fashion, then you can imagine the cycle of abuse that occurs and why every person who comes in for an interview will end up hating this company before even working there.
Solution: when automations can enable the team to be more effective and the data/reports is presented accurately the HR manager to streamline the entire process then efficiency increases drastically.
Go from a mentality of sheep-herder herding sheep to a maestro leading an orchestra.
5- HR vs. Recruitment Platforms
That’s right. As someone who started a recruitment software startup I can tell you with certainty that the trust between organizations and the people who sell them software solutions is severely eroded.
Why? Because so many “solutions” are full of crap and have promised them the world and then under-delivered.
Traditional job boards claim they have “millions of CVs” yet they know that most of them are outdated and irrelevant and only a small fraction will hire from them. Often they take part in the bias instead of countering it, because that’s how they make money.
The “smart AI powered solutions” claim that they can replace recruiters entirely and they can know candidates better than they know themselves. Nonsense. Most of these solutions don’t even use AI.
So in the middle of all these con artists and opportunists, any new B2B software claims will be met with a high degree of skepticism. The more grandiose the claim, the more skeptical they will be.
At the same time, I can’t tell you how often I see HR leaders get on stages and talk about ‘Digital Transformation’, yet when it comes time for them to try a new technology they get agitated and make excuses.
Solution: There will be a lot said for authenticity in product, sales and marketing in the coming phase to differentiate the innovators from the scammers. User experience should be at the core of the product, not the features and smart technology. Stop hiding behind ‘contact us for demo’ and let organizations really test your solution so they can know if you are the real deal. Software vendors need to make it easy for organizations to use the software, not just be impressed in the demo. Transparency and real success stories based on quantitative results is the only way to earn back the trust.
There will never be a one-size-fits-all solution to recruitment. Just like there will never be one solution for “medicine” or “good health”. It’s a complex ecosystem that requires true collaboration between all parties and technologies. I believe the digital transformation of how talents and opportunities connect will be one of the major inflection points in our current age that will have a massively positive domino effect on society at large.
At HireHunt, we’re focused on continuously innovating our online solutions to be a force pushing this transformation forward, supported by our hyper-realistic, anti-inspirational online content. Now screening applications in 9 global markets and with millions of views, so far so good, but the real transformation of mentality is just getting started.
Until then, join me. I’m heading towards this amazing blue light.