In 2024, artificial intelligence (AI) in recruitment and HR isn’t just a concept; it’s a daily reality. Over the last few years, businesses across the UK have increasingly adopted AI technologies to streamline their hiring and HR processes, adapting to meet growing demands for talent, efficiency, and adaptability in the workforce. But how did we get here, and what does AI really bring to the table?

Early Days: Automating the Mundane

In its early days, AI in recruitment was primarily focused on automating repetitive tasks. Processes like scanning CVs and identifying keywords helped recruiters sift through applications faster than ever. This automation took off because, as anyone in HR knows, hiring takes time—especially when hundreds of applications come in for a single role. AI tools that could identify candidates with the right qualifications cut down screening time, but the technology was far from perfect. Early AI models often relied on keyword matching, meaning qualified candidates could slip through if their CV didn’t fit the exact format the algorithm expected.

This phase helped HR departments save time but didn’t always address deeper needs, like reducing unconscious bias or identifying cultural fit. Still, the groundwork was laid, and the success of early automation led to an industry-wide push to explore AI’s broader potential.

Shifting Focus: AI as a Tool for Fairer, More Inclusive Hiring

One of the most exciting developments of AI in recent years is its use in reducing bias. Despite efforts to create fair hiring processes, unconscious bias remains a reality in recruitment, and AI can help by standardising parts of the hiring journey. For instance, some tools now strip identifiable details (like names, locations, and universities) from CVs before a human recruiter sees them, focusing the process on skills and experience alone.

By 2024, companies in the UK are recognising that AI-powered tools can support fairer hiring. According to the CIPD (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development), many UK employers are adopting these solutions as part of their commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI)​. Removing bias isn’t straightforward—algorithms themselves can learn biases based on the data they’re trained on. But with oversight, companies can use AI tools that help create more equitable recruitment practices, bringing in talent purely on merit.

Real-Time Data: Insights into Talent and Workforce Trends

Beyond hiring, AI has become an invaluable tool for workforce management and planning. Today, AI-driven insights enable HR teams to monitor employee engagement, predict turnover, and even identify development needs. These insights allow organisations to be proactive, addressing issues before they escalate and making HR a strategic player in business planning.

With the rise of real-time analytics, HR teams are empowered like never before. Platforms that incorporate AI can track metrics such as employee engagement, performance trends, and even skills gaps. For example, AI can highlight trends that may indicate a lack of motivation in a department, giving HR teams time to intervene. According to the HR Analytics and Tech survey, over 70% of UK HR leaders report using AI-powered analytics to gain deeper insights into their workforce​.

AI-Powered Interviews: More than Just Video

In 2024, AI-driven interviews have moved far beyond simple video calls. Many organisations now use AI to assess candidates’ verbal and non-verbal cues during digital interviews, with algorithms evaluating responses, body language, and even facial expressions to gauge emotional intelligence and fit. This approach, however, remains controversial. While some argue it can provide an additional layer of insight, others worry about privacy, ethics, and accuracy.

The UK has been at the forefront of addressing these concerns, with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) setting strict guidelines on AI usage in recruitment. Candidates, too, are more aware than ever of their rights, questioning how their data is used and ensuring AI isn’t used to invade their privacy. Responsible use of AI in interviews is now a hot topic among HR leaders who aim to balance efficiency with ethics.

Employee Experience: Supporting Talent from Hire to Retire

AI is reshaping not only recruitment but the entire employee journey. From onboarding to professional development, AI is now a cornerstone of the employee experience. Chatbots, for example, are used in onboarding to answer new hires’ questions quickly and help them get up to speed. For ongoing development, AI can analyse employees’ skills and suggest learning resources or training to help them advance their careers.

Larger organisations are even implementing AI-driven personalisation for development paths. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, AI can assess individual strengths and areas for improvement, recommending bespoke training. This model, widely adopted in the UK, empowers employees by offering tailored opportunities, with CIPD research indicating that personalised learning boosts employee satisfaction and retention by nearly 20%.

Generative AI: Shaping the Future of HR with Creativity and Precision

2024 has seen the rise of generative AI in HR. No longer just a tool for automation, generative AI is creating entirely new content, from crafting job descriptions to drafting employee communications. With the power to adapt language for specific roles, companies are using AI to create more appealing job listings and streamline communication.

In a recent study by Deloitte, 89% of UK HR leaders expressed interest in leveraging generative AI for creative tasks, seeing it as a valuable resource to improve efficiency without sacrificing personalisation​.

Generative AI can also assist in building templates for performance reviews, diversity statements, and internal policies, ensuring consistency across the board while freeing HR teams for more strategic work.

UK Statistics: The Growth and Adoption of AI in HR

The adoption of AI in HR and recruitment in the UK is growing rapidly, with research showing that around 60% of medium to large UK businesses now use some form of AI for recruitment and workforce management.

In 2024, spending on HR tech is set to increase as organisations focus on digital transformation, investing in technologies that make them more competitive. The UK’s HR tech market, now valued at over £1 billion, is projected to expand further as AI solutions become mainstream across industries.

The Road Ahead: Challenges and Opportunities

While AI in HR has many advantages, challenges remain. Ensuring fairness, transparency, and ethical use of AI is critical, as is addressing candidates’ and employees’ privacy concerns. In the UK, regulatory frameworks are increasingly guiding AI use in HR, setting a high standard for ethical practices.

Looking ahead, we can expect AI to continue evolving. Future advancements may include better sentiment analysis, improved predictive capabilities for workforce planning, and more sophisticated virtual reality (VR) experiences for onboarding and training. As the UK’s economy remains competitive and globally connected, embracing these technologies while maintaining ethical standards will be key to success.

A Final Thought

The journey of AI in HR is ongoing, with each new development bringing fresh opportunities and considerations. For HR leaders, the balance between efficiency and humanity is paramount. The adoption of AI should be about enhancing, not replacing, the human touch.

If your organisation is ready to explore AI-driven HR solutions, start by understanding the basics, examining case studies, and speaking with experts. Ensuring your technology aligns with your values is the best way to move forward confidently in 2024 and beyond.

The post The Evolution of AI in Recruiting and HR 2024 appeared first on Rectec.

Let’s set the scene – you’re an agency head on the hunt for a new Recruitment CRM. 

What makes a CRM platform good? Is there a formula for creating, or sourcing, a communicative platform, tool or app that strikes the right balance of savvy UX and novel UI, modern design and simple usability?  

What bizarre alchemy of tech, design and content makes a digital tool impossible to ignore? And crucially, how do you know if the platform meets your needs, within your budget? 

A quick Google and you’ll find a lot of advice about what makes a digital platform, or ecosystem of platforms, simply work better than others. Some examples include: 

• Locality, big data and competitive awareness as the winning formula – MIT Sloan. 
• Flexibility and independence are key to platform success – McKinsey. 
• Interoperability with other platforms and partnerships will win the tech day – Bain. 

All good advice, of course. But each point above speaks to hiring success in the face of modern technical challenges – challenges that, if not addressed, can hamper platform adoption, and in our neck of the woods ultimately candidate attraction and hiring feasibility. 

So let’s hyperfixate on how challenges to successful Recruitment CRM implementation can manifest, and how eagle-eyed Recruitment business leaders can pre-empt those challenges to create a culture of seamless platform adoption and integration. 

What are the primary challenges when it comes to implementing a Recruitment CRM? 

We believe that recruitment agency heads should be aware of 5 primary challenges to successful Recruitment CRM adoption.  

They are: 

• Forget the end-user at your peril.  
• Integration without preparation = failure. 
• Assess the vendor roadmap and constantly strive to improve platform performance. 
• Data is your friend, not your foe. 
• Platform customisation and segmentation will elevate performance. 

Integration without preparation = failure. 

• Many, if not all, CRM vendors will take the lead when it comes to platform integration with your existing stack (more on vendor feature roadmaps and platform evolution below). 

• Successful integration takes time and user buy-in, feedback and step-by-step learning, all of which needs to be prepared for, with time set aside to commit to it.  

• Effective Recruitment CRM integration is both a technical process as much as it is a human one, so responsibility should always be taken to prioritise pre-existing user understanding, training and development pathways for all stakeholders. This will guarantee seamless platform use, better candidate communication and ultimately better hiring outcomes. 

Assess the vendor roadmap and constantly strive to improve platform and user performance. 

• Watch the roadmap! 

• This is something we could not champion more – a vital requirement for any technical lead on any implementation project is to work closely with the CRM provider, monitor their product roadmap, watch for new features, and take the time to assess the value they can add to your business. 

• In short, keep your vendor close. Try to understand the product roadmap to see how your recruitment organisation can benefit in the future.  

• This is also essential for CRM auditing purposes, as every vendor partnership should be judged on its merits and effectiveness, and if the roadmap is heading in a direction that may not be right you can spot this ahead of time and either work with your CRM provider on platform development, or consider a new path forward. 

Data is your friend, not your foe. 

• Your new Recruitment CRM is where recruiting data and hiring strategy collide.  

• To get the most out of any digital tool, especially one that is linked to your candidate base and talent pools so intimately, you need to know both how the tool works, and what successful use of that tool looks like.  

• Without a totalising, visualised idea of what success means in the context of your new Recruitment CRM, you’re working blindfolded. You need to create clear lines of performance expectation, based around how the platform works, and what it’s able to do. 

• Data analysis + strategy = the best utilisation of your new platform. 

Platform customisation and segmentation will elevate performance. 

• This is one for the project and implementation managers – approaching Recruitment CRM implementation with a one-size-fits-all mindset will simply not work.   

• You must have a critical understanding of the breadth of services and tools available from your CRM. What a particular platform offers – those USPs that differentiate it from the competition –  are the key to understanding success and are the reason why you chose a provider. 

• Success in this regard looks like this – remain as open-minded as possible to learning new ways of working. Use your new Recruitment CRM platform’s segmenting tools to build task management that elevates performance. Reduce the possibility of creating a generalist culture of surface-level platform usage and limited recruitment impact by utilising every asset available. 

Forget the end-user at your peril – training, upskilling and the push for continual improvement, 

• The simplest way to put this is that users need to understand all of a platform’s functions to really get the best out of it…but they need to do so through the lens of continual learning.  

• Upskilling isn’t a plug-and-play asset to give to staff. It requires time and effort to learn, iterate, and perfect platform performance.  

Successful Recruitment CRM adoption starts with strategy. 

As a final thought, we want to briefly open the door a little more to how recruitment business leaders should position their team to make the most of any new Recruitment CRM platform. 

A not insignificant element of any recruitment strategy lies in understanding typical recruitment or HR platform user challenges – the user pain points, the integration issues, and the recruiting dead zones – that make for rough going.

But, when these pain points are mastered, an entire operation is elevated.  

Behind every click of every screen, every candidate screening and every automated email sent to cold leads lies a clearly defined user/candidate strategy – a singular plan to engage, enthuse and drive a user/candidate into a meaningful experience with a company.  

This connection – this strategy – sits at the soul of UX.

So we especially urge users of Rectec Compare to clearly delineate their strategic needs and reasonings for buying a new Recruitment CRM before diving into our Comparison service, or engaging any vendor in a demo. Learn where those user pain points are, and plan where improvements can be made across the adoption matrix, and you’ll find the whole procurement and impletementation process runs quicker, smoother and often under budget.

The bottom line. 

If implemented well, a new Recruitment CRM can revolutionise recruiting.  

If implemented badly, without strategy, forethought, expertise and leadership, the wheels fall off. 

Within the storied halls of recruiting firms and staff agencies worldwide, the adoption of a new Recruitment CRM platform should be cause for optimism – and, to a large degree, being ahead of the challenges of new platform adoption and understanding key implentation challenges is the absolute key to success.

At Rectec we help organisations to find the best recruitment and talent acquisition technologies to suit your needs.   

From Applicant Tracking System and Recruitment CRM comparison, to vendor snapshots, and technology showcases in our unique technology marketplace, we provide fee-free tools to help you build the perfect recruitment tech stack for your business!  

The post What are the main challenges when it comes to Recruitment CRM implementation? appeared first on Rectec.

But how do humble tech platforms, most importantly an Applicant Tracking System, really help in the modern War for Talent? 

An ATS provides a scalable, customisable “eye in the sky” view of your entire applicant base, and offers a granular look at individual applicant progress, providing both recruiter, employer and employee with ample data to adjust and perfect a job or applicant search. 

The end result, if well-manicured and maintained, is a hiring process of immense personality and leadership, built on efficient use of data and applicant visibility via a one-tech solution. 

Now, this all goes to plan in a stable recruiting environment.  

But we live in an era beset by a constant battle for talent, fighting for EVP visibility and hiring sustainability in a fast-changing world.  

We live in an era of aggressive, no-holds-barred recruitment competition, and we’d make a healthy wager any HR leader reading this has seen the frequency of talent gazumping explode over the last couple of years. It truly is a War for Talent. 

So how does an ATS help you stand above the competition when talent is in high demand and short supply, and the hiring landscape is more competitive than ever? 

The definition of “The War for Talent”. 

The beauty of living and working in a pluralist, innovative, ideas-centric culture is that there are multiple ways to build a career and myriad ways to connect with and develop talent both internally and externally.  

But these systems and networks are fragile.  

Since the pandemic, we’ve played witness to the effects of one of the biggest market shocks to this system in a generation, and the results, for some, have been catastrophic – the near collapse of talent pools across the world, mass walk-outs in others, and a considerable lack of skills and training in emerging niche sectors have all caused what can only be described as the perfect candidate storm.  

So where are we now?  

Ask any HR leader to define our current recruitment present and they’d say the market is “candidate-led”. 

• “A candidate-led market is, in short, when the number of vacancies is outweighing the number of people searching for employment and as a result, the market is highly competitive, with companies battling to attract and recruit the best candidates out there”. 

Candidates in most sectors understand their skills are in high demand, and as such “control” how and where they apply themselves.  

This has set a new precedent in a new War for Talent, and this new normal has come to define modern hiring.  

In areas of high talent demand – such as Tech, Education, Healthcare and Logistics – shortages of talent, the rise of remote work and upward pressure on wages have upended years of recruiting norms, and ushered in a hyper-competitive era of recruitment and retention. 

How an Applicant Tracking System can help in the War for Talent? 

So how does the humble ATS help in this war?  

Are the tools contained within applicant management systems the arsenal to defeat the immortal enemy of hiring managers everywhere? 

We believe there are 5 key features of an ATS that can improve hiring outcomes and help in the War for Talent: 

• Hiring Costs Reduced – ATSs are hiring efficiencies made real. As they centralise applicant details, provide accurate, real-time reports and provide the basis for establishing hiring metrics, not to mention the fact they systematically improve communication and applicant transparency, they massively impact the overall costs of hiring. They also reduce the need for relying on external companies or agencies to do the legwork of sourcing, vetting and hiring staff by providing talent management structure.
• Time To Hire Improved – ATS platforms simplify the recruitment process. They make staff more efficient, they improve applicant management, they improve talent pool management and they improve consultant behaviours and organisation. The end result is faster hiring through automated services, centralised data gathering and cloud-based accessibility.
• Quality of Hire Improved – the value of an ATS lies in the work it does behind the scenes – CV parsing; data gathering; shortlisting; automated communications. The sum result of a consultant utilising these tools is, simply, better quality hiring outcomes. By effectively screening and shortlisting the best applicants from an applicant pool, a consultant can spend more time establishing rapport and relationships with the best in class, without worrying about whether any candidates have fallen through the gaps. 
• CX improvements – in a candidate-led market, the candidate experience is often a significant career choice differentiator. Tech should not and, at this stage, cannot take the lead on establishing good CX, but it can most certainly help bolster it. An ATS can subtly (and sometimes overtly) improve the things that make CX great – open communication, application transparency and the digital foundation for real, consultant-driven emotional connection between worker and employer.
• EB Improvements – all of the above points impact the overall impact of an employer brand – the DNA of a company, the brand power and placement within a market and the overall attractiveness of a place to work. ATS’ do incredible work – they streamline applications, make communication easier and quicker, and improve shortlisting and reporting of applications. The cumulative result of these small improvements is a seamless candidate application process and a brand that screams “We hire well”.

The ATS bottom line.  

In our view, your Applicant Tracking System is your biggest weapon in the War for Talent, allowing you to engage, protect and nurture talent more efficiently, and more importantly, better than your competitors.  

At the end of the day an ATS will never supersede the very human nature of talent acquisition – what it should do, however, is provide a platform that elevates expectations and performance. 

A good ATS is the landscape on which you do the hiring fighting, to mangle the metaphor even further – it sets the context and creates an indomitable culture of hiring that’s impossible to ignore, due to its efficiency, speed, personality and ease of use. 

At Rectec we help organisations to find the best recruitment and talent acquisition technologies to suit your needs.  

From Applicant Tracking System and Recruitment CRM comparison, to vendor snapshots, and technology showcases in our unique technology marketplace, we provide fee-free tools to help you build the perfect recruitment tech stack for your business! 

The post How to use an ATS to stay ahead of the competition in the war for talent.  appeared first on Rectec.

But the power of managers and business leaders to impact change where it’s most effective – in the establishment of cultures of support and data-led performance handling – cannot be overstated. 

So how exactly can managers help reduce Imposter Syndrome in work, and improve the mental and behavioural health of their people and workplace at the same time?

What is imposter syndrome?

• “Imposter syndrome (IS) is a behavioural health phenomenon described as self-doubt of intellect, skills, or accomplishments among high-achieving individuals. 

These individuals cannot internalise their success and subsequently experience pervasive feelings of self-doubt, anxiety, depression, and/or apprehension of being exposed as a fraud in their work, despite verifiable and objective evidence of their successfulness”.

In short, Imposter Syndrome is self-doubt made manifest. That manifestation can take on many iterations, from surface-level drops in confidence to more serious bouts of depression and illness. 

Crucially, Imposter Syndrome is a form of self-esteem blindness – even when confronted with proof of good work done, targets hit and promotions earned, the feeling of being a fraud persists. 

If not approached with candour and empathy, these feelings can seriously negatively affect career progression, team cohesion and productivity, not to mention team and personal morale, and individual mental health.

What are the tell-tell signs of Imposter Syndrome?

According to BetterUp, there are 7 primary signs someone is suffering from Imposter Syndrome. 

• “Self-doubt.
• Undervaluing personal contribution.
• Attributing success to external factors, rather than their own hard work.
• Sabotaging self-success by only seeing failure, thereby reducing effort and creative application.
• Setting unrealistic expectations, thereby never living up to your potential by setting goals that can never be hit.
• Continuous fear of not living up to expectations, and believing challenges can never be overcome.
• Burnout, and the complete, confused, expenditure of energy and passion in search of something that can never be found”.

An interesting further read is Very Well Mind’s Five Types of Impostor Syndrome, which summarises researcher Dr Valerie Young’s teachings on Imposter Syndrome, and her development of 5 personas that illustrates how imposter syndrome manifests. 

An example of one is:

• “The Expert – The expert feels like an imposter because they don’t know everything there is to know about a particular subject or topic, or they haven’t mastered every step in a process. Because there is more for them to learn, they don’t feel as if they’ve reached the rank of “expert.”. 

When you combine the 7 points listed above with the personal below, you can see signs of continuous fear of not living up to expectations, setting unrealistic expectations and sabotaging self-success mindsets.

Who suffers from Imposter Syndrome?

Anyone can suffer from Imposter Syndrome – despite some manifest commonalities, each person suffering from it has their own unique mixture of self-doubt and job-related negativity, and moments of self-assessment and clarity despite it. 

Referring again to the BetterUp article mentioned above, there are some universally understood causes behind “cognitive distortions” like Imposter Syndrome, such as:

• Critical family environments.
• Critical social circles and peer groups.
• A dysfunctional sense of group belonging or social exclusion.
• Introverted personalities.
• Clinical issues, such as suffering from depression or anxiety.

Leadership and Imposter Syndrome.

It comes as no surprise that for all the mental health support and wellbeing strategies you put into a workplace, the actions of leadership figures (and mentors especially) will have an outsized impact on the morale and self-esteem of workers.

HBR offer a fantastic overview of Imposter Syndrome in a two-part article series. Their second piece – End Imposter Syndrome in Your Workplace – provides hands-on guidance for leaders looking to build more supportive workplaces and communicative cultures based on positivity, results, impact and personal celebration. 

Their main points of attack are:

Pivot the language employees use to describe themselves.

• “Honest conversations about what it takes to “win” in your company culture can help your team members adjust inaccurate self-assessments. Share your own experiences of imposter syndrome and highlight the conditions that triggered that response, such as chronic underrepresentation, uncredited work efforts, and microaggressions”.

Leaders should always be aware of how their words and actions are construed, and the implications of their leadership style will be driven in large part by the standards they set for communication, feedback, active listening, and company behaviour. 

Be honest about the impact of bias.

• “Discrimination and bias shape our expectations of how leaders should look, sound, and act, making an invisible impact on seemingly neutral terms like “professionalism”.

Bias affects everyone, but through the lens of Imposter Syndrome, it can have a huge effect on the self-esteem of female workers and female workers of colour. Leaders have a unique ability – and responsibility – to assess and admit where bias makes the most impact.

Reduce biases against women of colour at work.

• “Women of colour make up 89% of the net new women-owned businesses per day, despite only comprising 39% of the total female U.S. population. Despite wide disparities in women of colour’s access to capital for these businesses, many find they would rather take the risk to escape from toxic and biased workplace cultures”.

Again, Leaders are uniquely placed to source and find solutions to biases against women of colour at work by “reinforcing their own belief in their abilities and chances of success, using phrases like, “I know you can lead this big project; I’ve seen you succeed before and I believe in you”. Make support tactile and visible!

Be data-driven and rigorous.

• “Measure employee sentiment through anonymous feedback surveys…(and) assess your organisation’s performance criteria and average time to promotion”.

If you’re finding “the last 10 promotions were largely of white men, and their average time-to-promotion is much shorter than that of women and people of colour”, then a uniquely racial flavour of Imposter Syndrome will become manifest. 

Extend that framework over any level of bias, from age to religion to gender, and you’ll find Imposter Syndrome explodes.

Quit gaslighting and listen.

• “Managers must be transparent about the organisation’s locked doors…Honesty reciprocates. Listen to your employees without doubt. It’s the work of managers to leverage their influence to open doors for their employees and keep them open for others like them”.

In short, take responsibility for supporting and listening to your team, and don’t pull the wool over their eyes in regard to how you can help them develop their career or skills. 

Sponsor and mentoring.

• “We’ve completely failed to take into account the role of all that constant reinforcement and encouragement in making men ‘confident’ and self-promoting.” Men, especially white men, learn that confidence from the reinforcement they receive in the workplace”.

It’s clear as day that many modern workplaces support and elevate men more than anyone else. So the obverse is true, too – “In environments where we receive the sponsorship we need to succeed, there’s more likelihood that we will, without expending energy determining whether and how to belong”. 

Set up accountability mechanisms for change.

• “Organisational change becomes sustainable and effective when managers at all levels are held accountable to those changes”.

The ability of leaders to beat Imposter Syndrome is the sum of their adherence to structures and cultures put in place to support and mentor workers, to reduce the impacts of bias and gaslighting, and to light a way for career growth. 

In short, they have to live and breathe the behaviours, discipline, and positive self-assessment they want to see in their senior leadership teams and in their employees. 

At Rectec we help organisations to find the best recruitment and talent acquisition technologies to suit your needs. 

From Applicant Tracking System and Recruitment CRM comparison, to vendor snapshots, and technology showcases in our unique technology marketplace, we provide fee-free tools to help you build the perfect recruitment tech stack for your business!

The post How can managers help reduce imposter syndrome at work? appeared first on Rectec.

Quick Access is an innovative new feature within our Recruitment Comparison tool, Rectec Compare, that will revolutionise how new users access our service.

Here at Rectec we’re passionate about never sitting on our hands – indeed, if our vendor partners are anything to go by tech never rests, and we always want to be able to provide the most efficient and effective service we can to our users. 

So, word to the wise for new users of Rectec Compare – if you’re in the market for a new ATS or Recruitment CRM solution, then you’ll be thrilled to know that you can now benefit from near-instant access to Rectec Compare, our award-winning recruitment tech comparison service! 

So how does Quick Access work? 

Quick Access significantly improves the speed at which agencies and employers can access Rectec Compare.  

Why is this important? Because access to Rectec Compare, which previously had taken as much as up to a week to grant, can now be provided in as little as 5 minutes, any time, any day of the year. 

It works via an enhanced Rectec Compare registration process, which takes advantage of our brand-new asynchronous video solution that’s available to any new user. 

This rapid registration process (which now also benefits from LinkedIn integration), can be completed at any time that fits your schedule, without worrying about qualification delays. 

After registering for Rectec Compare via Quick Access and following rapid review by the Rectec team, you’ll promptly receive a warm welcome to Rectec Compare, where you’ll benefit from the power of our unique comparison technology! 

Then the real fun stuff happens – following the entry of your requirements, you’ll instantly be provided with a shortlist of the best-matched solutions that the industry has to offer, each ranked in order of a precise match score. 

And it doesn’t stop there, as Rectec Compare presents a showcase for each shortlisted vendor and a powerful evaluation tool to capture and score your feedback. 

Plus, our vendor showcase provides access to company information, a company video, demo videos, clients, features, reviews, and integrations, as well as our marketplace of complementary tech solutions – helping you to build the perfect tech stack for your business. 

All this, in a matter of minutes – so what are you waiting for?  

Learn how Rectec Compare works and register now for Quick Access today! 

The post Introducing Rectec Compare “Quick Access”. appeared first on Rectec.

Indeed, when “mobile devices take up 63% of organic search visits (and) 58.16% of global web traffic originated from mobile devices” it would be negligent of website developers to ignore the rising ride of mobile-first interactions. 

But how does this impact recruitment, HR communications, candidate attraction and employer brand building?

Efficiency rules.

“50% of people say they won’t consider purchasing from a brand that has a poorly designed mobile site”. So it’s imperative company owners take mobile search and mobile purchasing very seriously.

Common marketing advice dictates that websites prioritise unfussy, uncomplex and straight-to-the-point webpages to maximise mobile dwell time.

But recruitment best practice stresses patience, trust-building and brand-focused attraction to draw in a potential candidate – so, in theory, the opposite of taking a mobile-first approach.

So can recruiters thread the needle of optimising content for mobile whilst retaining the nuance, brand weight and tactile relationship building of traditional recruitment practice?

The answer is yes, if you can guarantee your website and careers align strategically, but segment where maximum employer brand impact can be felt. 

In short, you need to make sure your careers page has its own mobile-first strategy, as the laws of mobile dominance work a little differently in the recruitment world.

Differentiate your website from your careers page.

According to app development pioneers Adjust, mobile-first strategies are good for business because of the following – they:

• Increase your customer reach.
• Build strong relationships with your users.
• Create new revenue channels for your business.
• Gain critical data insights.
• Provide a superior customer experience.

But we want to refer to the point raised above – due to the screen size and general functionality of a mobile device, certain mobile-first web page elements are designed to cut down or compromise on detail to optimise the mobile experience. 

This is known as a form of “graceful degradation”, which can be defined as “the need to have a site function across a variety of device types and screen sizes…(or) a fancy term for removing certain functionality, design elements, and content as the screen size becomes smaller”.

In essence, mobile-first sites can and often do compromise on some form of detail to make the page easy to navigate on a small screen.

But should a careers page ever compromise, and is corner-cutting right when you’re trying to competitively present your brand as somewhere amazing to work?

Careers pages and mobile-first development.

Web page designers have multiple design variables to play with, including the option to significantly change web design, flow and UX for mobile, tablet or desktop on the same site. 

However, it’s wise to understand why these elements hold up on certain devices, and why recruitment website theory dictates finding a suitable middle ground between all three.

When it comes to career sites and career pages, creating a more mobile-friendly experience should be more than simplifying page navigation or speedy downloads. 

Whilst it’s important your website loads quickly and is easy to navigate, we urge recruiters to remember that details matter and skipping a brand or employment touch point in the search for efficiency will only put off potential candidates.

We think effective, mobile-inclusive career page development is about building a culture of seamless connection between candidate and employer on a mobile device, utilising mobile-first features where speed and efficiency are of the essence, but refusing to compromise on brand presence or employment storytelling for the sake of screen space (to a degree!).

To this end, we believe there are 3 key career page factors which have to be allowed to breathe on any screen, no matter its size – employer brand, the candidate experience, and speed of hiring. Mobile-first design can help each element, but only if it’s targeted to the right parts of the site.

Employer branding and extended reach.

• Career pages cannot and should not tell a cut-price story of what it’s like to work at your company – pushing a career page too far into mobile territory runs the risk of doing this.

• However, mobile-oriented designs can help extend brand reach purely by rote of it being the most popular way to search the internet. 
• Career pages still need to communicate your brand purpose, your mission, your history, and your job vacancies with as much detail as a fully-fledged desktop careers site, so bear this in mind.
• By all means capture your candidate on jobs boards, social media or even the front page of your website with mobile-first assets and design, but when it comes to the real meat of your company you owe it to your candidates to be as instructive, and as detailed, as possible.

Candidate Experience.

• Above all else, your career page or site has to prioritise the candidate experience. But, as we indicate above, good CX is built on brand trust and communication of tangible career-related concepts like work culture, job details, and employer branding, not compromised web pages.
• However, candidates do expect efficient, simple and transparent application and recruitment processes, so recruiters need to be aware of where mobile-first strategies can help the recruitment process along.
• This is especially relevant when it comes to application processes – mobile users will clearly not complete a convoluted multi-page application form on their mobile…but they will send a simple message directly to a recruiter’s LinkedIn page, or contact email address! Make it easy and make it relevant.

Targeted speedy recruitment where it matters.

• What all this comes down to is utilising the speed and efficiency of mobile interactions for recruiting good, without compromising on job detail or brand power. 
• Recruiters need to be aware that with the majority of potential candidates doing their research and job search on a mobile device, being able to engage and convert that engagement as quickly as possible is a high priority. 
• And when one of the primary complaints of modern job seekers is that applications and recruitment take too long, taking a mobile-first approach to some elements of a career page will work to speed along that process, giving candidates the belief that this particular recruitment channel is one to trust.

At Rectec we help organisations to find the best recruitment and talent acquisition technologies to suit your needs. 

From Applicant Tracking System and Recruitment CRM comparison, to vendor snapshots, and technology showcases in our unique technology marketplace, we provide fee-free tools to help you build the perfect recruitment tech stack for your business!

The post Should you make your careers page mobile-friendly? appeared first on Rectec.

Last week, we were invited to be guests on a special webinar hosted by our vendor partners eArcu on how to convince your c-suite to invest in a best-of-breed strategy. 

We covered a lot of ground from L&D to budgeting to CX and UX strategy…and, critically, what a best-in-breed strategy looks like, and how TA leaders can position themselves in the best way possible to create meaningful change further up the management chain.

We wanted to summarise the main takeaway points from our webinar with eArcu for some quick-fire BiB strategy building!

What is a best-in-breed strategy, and what do Talent Acquisition leaders need one?

A best-in-breed strategy is simply a plan of action to achieve a goal – in this instance, we’re referring specifically to the strategy you use to acquire the best talent for your business.

At the very highest level that includes: your team, and the people you involve in hiring, the processes you follow, the technology you use, the way you present yourself as a business, and the HR policies and practices that you adopt internally.

When you start to detail out your strategy, you need to consider every element of TA, from how you define your hiring needs to how you onboard new hires, even beyond that into how you measure the effectiveness of your TA strategy.

In today’s market, it’s not just about following a TA process – there’s so much more that can be done to stay ahead of the competition, and so many innovative ways to acquire talent. A best-in-breed strategy ensures TA efforts aren’t in vain, and that companies have proven, effective methods in place to keep hiring outcomes all moving in the right direction.

Whatever BiB strategy you decide to implement, it needs to be carefully considered. So, ask yourself;

• What does your strategy need to deliver?
• What does a win look like for your business?
• Are you looking for increased output, efficiency gains, cost savings, or are you just out to hire the best talent in the market at any cost?

It’s also absolutely essential that your strategy considers candidate experience… If you don’t meet the expectation of your candidate in today’s market, you’re probably going to lose them.

What are the biggest barriers facing Talent Acquisition professionals when it comes to building a best-in-breed strategy?

In our view, TA leaders being blindsided by CIOs and CFOs, who making system consolidation decisions without consulting their teams. 

This often leaves TA with a solution that doesn’t meet their requirements. As a result, they end up having to contract with additional solution suppliers to provide the functionality they need and/or hire additional resources to make up for the lack of tech functionality and automation. 

Measuring the effectiveness of any tool is also vital. TA is rarely a quiet place in a growing business, and establishing a best-in-breed strategy in itself can also be a time-consuming task. But it’s time well spent. Essentially, if you don’t have the right tools in place to measure how effective things are then it’s going to be difficult to follow your strategy.

From your experience, how can we avoid those barriers?

TA leaders need to be proactively demonstrating the success of their strategy to the business, in order to ensure they have a seat at the table when it comes to influencing key decisions.

Review as you go – the fundamentals of TA have been the same for years, but the market moves fast. That means that you not only need to ensure that the correct strategy is implemented from the outset, but you also need to be conducting regular reviews of your strategy to ensure success.

This comes back to what I said earlier about what winning looks like for your business. If you’re looking to reduce time to hire, then you need to be measuring how long the process takes, not just from application to hire, but between every stage in the process so that you can pinpoint any issues or bottlenecks that might exist.

You also need to be making data-driven decisions, so technology plays a key role in this. It’s not just about making sure that you have the right tools in place, but also that you’re using them effectively.

How can you put in place plans to help TA teams avoid being blindsided by CIO/CTO decision making?

Our two cents is that TA leaders need to understand whether a CIO’s aim is system consolidation for efficiency, or cost saving. For CFOs, it’s most likely budgetary – but it’s always worth confirming.

• If the aim is system consolidation, will losing this functionality mean you have to integrate with another solution in order to supplement your ERP or HRIS? This would therefore mean another integration for the CIO to maintain and defeat the purpose of system consolidation.
• If the aim is budgetary, will the loss of this functionality mean you have to hire additional resources to make up the shortfall? Or will it mean you have to assign more budget to resourcing in order to get the same number of quality applicants? If so, how do the numbers stack up with the current state?

Internal relationships are essential. I’ve worked with many people in the past who see their C suite as an obstacle. In our opinion, the C suite only becomes an obstacle when they’re not getting what they need.

You may wear different hats and have different priorities, but if you view other stakeholders in the business as allies and not obstacles, and you can demonstrate your successes while building strong working relationships, then you’re far more likely to get buy-in and support when you need it.

Is there anything that TA leaders need to start doing right now to guarantee better tech stack reviews and a healthy relationship with the c-suite?

TA leaders need to be constantly on the case in defining their current strategy, based on performance and adapting to business change.

Measuring success is a key item for the weekly agenda. You need to take a magnifying glass to your entire process, and refine it at every opportunity, not just in terms of speed and efficiency, but in terms of experience and engagement as well. 

If you’re going on a journey of change, then you’re not going to succeed alone. Engage with your peers and make them feel involved in the entire process. Getting your team involved and energised about any change that you’re planning to implement, will really help you in getting the buy-in you need from your C-suite.

At Rectec we help organisations to find the best recruitment and talent acquisition technologies to suit your needs. 

From Applicant Tracking System and Recruitment CRM comparison, to vendor snapshots, and technology showcases in our unique technology marketplace, we provide fee-free tools to help you build the perfect recruitment tech stack for your business!

The post How to build a best-in-breed recruitment tech strategy – eArcu webinar recap. appeared first on Rectec.

There is a lot of noise about how AI – specifically generative AI and AI agents – is already halfway towards revolutionising how we work, how we create and how we collaborate.

From coding to customer service, from marketing to sales, NLP programmes are making immediate, critical inroads into previously human-centric operations. 

The possibilities beyond this explosion in generative AI (and the presumption that a working AGI is only around the corner) extend the horizon of what AI can do for more complex tasks, such as iterative problem solving and high-level reasoning.

So within this hysteria of disruption, where are the details around how AI will make workplaces better for everyone? 

After all, the main benefit of integrating AI into workplace processes is to reduce the mundane, automate the repetitive, and allow humans to do what humans do best – create, reason, collaborate, ideate, laterally generate ideas, build relationships and create genuine emotional connections between people, products, services and theories.

Amidst the contradictory thought pieces and think tank panics about AI, what seems to be somewhat lost in the mania is how AI can help build more equitable, fair workplaces for many millions of people who are forgotten or incapable of integrating into analogue workplaces. 

So can we create a future where AI is used for good, or are the tech naysayers right in assuming AI will only be used for illicit gains in easily manipulated industries, deep fakes, crypto-scams and hyper-capitalism?

Let’s dive into it.

Diversity, equity, and how AI can help.

According to author and Forbes contributor Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, AI will help diversity in two ways.

• “The first is to diagnose things better, telling us what truly goes on in a culture, revealing some of the hidden dynamics underlying many of the critical interactions between people at work”.
• “The second is being able to actually measure inclusion, in particular, whether someone’s demographic status or identity can predict their actual status at work”.

The analytical power of modern AI programmes “allows us to go beyond perceptions”, giving change makers and leaders insight into “biases in behaviour”. AI fills a gap between what we think is happening, and what really is happening, or what could happen, based on evidence. AI can supplement emotionally driven HR decision making with evidently based logic, which in the case of diversity hiring, network management and fair representation can only be a good thing.

Bridging this evidence/emotion gap is the only way to build HR functionality based on real, performance-driven equity, based on real-time data. That data, and the ability to parse it, is the real power behind how AI can assist in creating a representative workforce.

Of course, this doesn’t mean AI should be used on a whim – there is ample evidence that poor AI implementation can break laws and entrench biases, so oversight is key. 

It’s worth reading pieces, such as this article by Fast Company, on the pros and cons of using AI for diversity hiring practices.

Inclusivity, disability and how AI can help.

As this detailed report by Accenture titled AI for disability inclusion puts it, there are several things business leaders and AI developers both can do to help foster more inclusivity in workplaces, especially around disability access and using tech to help people work more productively.

At the very basic level it starts at the design phase. AI creators need to put “inclusive design principles in place to support “human + machine” collaboration (which is) essential to the development of fair and unbiased AI solutions”. Inclusive AI by design is the foundation of inclusive AI use. 

So what does this inclusive design look like in real life? Well, it can be a poisoned chalice but again with the right leadership and strategy AI can be a blessing. 

• “Biases often occur at the intersections of disability, race, gender, and other identities”, which means whatever and however AI is developed it has to be built around reducing bias between underrepresented and vulnerable groups, rather than exacerbating them.
• AI can help build more inclusive workplaces. For example AI platforms can provide better testing and pre-interview assessments, AI-based accessibility tools such as speech-to-text transcription and sign language into text systems, AI-driven employee feedback, AI-augmented accessible interview processes and AI-augmented language accessibility tools. 

The tools of the future can be implemented today to help those most in need of that extra layer of support.

Minority recruitment and AI. 

This piece by the Data Scientist neatly summarises how AI can help elevate minority hires in the recruitment funnel. 

But much of the theory behind diversity-focused hiring strategies – such as blind screenings and automated assessments – has been known for years. It’s how they’re evolving via AI that HR pros need to be aware of.

• The real power lies in how AI improves data-driven recruitment. AI can operate between a wide array of recruiting tools such as jobs boards, social media, applicant tracking systems and recruitment CRMs seamlessly, to better communicate in real-time with specific candidates on the nature of targeted jobs, or clients on the state of play with candidate funnels and minority talent availability. 

• AI can create more accurate predictions on candidate suitability and hiring success utilising data, and can better identify patterns in background, experience and assessment viability. 
• Coupled with in-house NLP (like ChatGPT plugins), AI becomes more than an automated extra – they become an assistant recruiter in all but name, able to seamlessly and immediately dive into entire recruiting networks to matchmake in real-time.

With the right sort of oversight (and a fixation on making sure bias-free searches are run), AI can be the diversity hiring partner every recruiter needs. 

At Rectec we help organisations to find the best recruitment and talent acquisition technologies to suit your needs. 

From Applicant Tracking System and Recruitment CRM comparison, to vendor snapshots, and technology showcases in our unique technology marketplace, we provide fee-free tools to help you build the perfect recruitment tech stack for your business!

The post How can AI be used to promote inclusive hiring practices? appeared first on Rectec.

So how do you go about creating a culture of appreciation, bracketed by solution-led leadership, that does the work of improving overall poor workplace performance without alienating your staff?

In our humble view, the answer lies in simple things – most importantly, appreciating that good and poor performance both lie in more than workflows, goals or rewards – but that your working culture is the conduit to how connected, psychologically safe and how heard your people are.

Poor performance in the post-pandemic era is, sadly, common. From under-appreciated workforces to poorly paid teams when inflation is rampant, good and poor performance is tethered to the times we live in. 

Good leaders take that knowledge and make impactful changes to reward, recognition and feedback in real time, with tangible goals set and feedback provided throughout.

So here we want to discuss how to handle poor performance without demoralising your team, and how simple changes can make a world of good for future hiring and retention of your best in class. 

Build the culture and the solutions will build themselves. 

Clarity of expectations.  

If your people can’t follow a delineated path to improvement you’ve failed in your job as a leader. 

Putting a plan in place for individuals to get back on track should be unique, targeted to the specific staff member, and bespoke in its goals and solutions. Clarity is paramount. Set clear goals, and get clear, uncomplicated rewards. Simple.

Feedback is king. 

Again, we reiterate the meandering path to improvement – don’t fixate on one goal or solution as the only fix for poor performance, but focus on iterative improvements, based on context and real-life execution. 

Providing regular feedback is the only way of doing this. It gives your staff member a clear track of their movements and a leadership-eye-view on how they’re performing in light of changes made and expectations changing. 

Create psychologically safe workplaces.

Improvements don’t happen in a vacuum.

You need to curate a culture of improvement and high performance always, across every department and every staff member. The only way to do this is by creating a workplace that values collaboration, ideas sharing, and the ability to make mistakes without fear of demonisation or abuse – a psychologically safe workplace. 

A psychologically safe workplace engenders your people in a more positive frame of work. It gives them a safe place to learn and grow, whilst sharing in the benefits of a peer group who want to succeed and a leadership team who value fair feedback and positive criticism.

Administer with accuracy and honesty.

Document progress and commit to logging solutions.

Putting pen to paper is committing to action and feedback in real time.

Not only does this give you, as a leader, oversight of performance to date, but it also shows your staff you’re fair in setting new goals and are eager to use bias-free, objective feedback as a baseline for ongoing guidance and leadership. 

As any HR pro knows, documentation means you have a paper trail for action further down the road. We love the fact managers are keen and close enough with their people to take them for a coffee to chat about business. But really good leaders always take notes.

Use tech to your advantage. 

As this is our expertise, and as our Marketplace helps people do exactly the following, it cannot be ignored that good tech in the form of performance management platforms, peer-review software, anonymous feedback forms and digital collaboration tools has made it easier than ever to support poor performers. 

But word to the wise – any HR or workforce tech needs to be targeted, well-understood and relevant to your staff management needs. 

Don’t simply build a stack for a stack’s sake – do your research, engage in demos, ask your staff for feedback on what they feel is lacking in performance management standards and find the best platform for your needs.

Lead with vision and purpose.

Be specific about the problem, and address it openly and without bias.

This is leadership 101, and we won’t hammer home the point – but it’s amazing how some business leaders are fearful of professional and fair confrontation. 

In our view, it’s easier to be critical of someone’s work when you’re specific. Generalising criticism will only result in generalist solutions. 

Constructive criticism works!

By this, we mean focus on positives and specific, targeted solutions. 

Contextualise a solution, offer a platform or a path for improvements, set positive goals and be inclusive throughout. 

Fair is fair.

Don’t bully, or patronise. Don’t demean or belittle. Yes, the best managers know when to be hard or soft when it comes to performance management, but in our view when it gets personal you’ve taken it too far. 

Be focused, entirely, on fixable performance issues and how you see them in the context of overall business performance. 

Be fair, leverage data, use feedback and make it fair!

Patience is a virtue.

You can’t build an award-winning company overnight. Products and services aren’t formed in an instant, ready to be sold on a whim. 

Progress takes time, so be patient. Allowing a reasonable amount of time to change and adapt to new goals or performance requirements is not only the right thing to do, but it also garners long-term trust and improved connection with your teams who see you being fair with feedback, and not unreasonable in your demands.

In our view, setting reasonable deadlines for improvements or feedback is wise, but don’t be too fixed! Be adaptable, and allow your people the chance to improve their workload around personalised, time-agile solutions. 

At Rectec we help organisations to find the best recruitment and talent acquisition technologies to suit your needs. 

From Applicant Tracking System and Recruitment CRM comparison, to vendor snapshots, and technology showcases in our unique technology marketplace, we provide fee-free tools to help you build the perfect recruitment tech stack for your business!

The post How to handle poor performance without demoralising your team. appeared first on Rectec.

This past week we had the pleasure of being an exhibitor once again at the Recruitment Agency Expo, at London’s ExCel Arena.

The event was a huge success – to be witness to how the wider HR industry is transforming in the wake of COVID-19 and the drive toward digital transformation is awe-inspiring, plus we got to meet more of our newer clients, announce some deeper partnerships with some of our vendors and introduce our growing company to the recruitment tech great and the good.

What we’ve found is that, as the recruitment technology world’s most agnostic and objective hub of innovation, ideas and futurism, our stand at every event becomes a little hotbed of opinions.

So what are agency folks saying about the state of recruitment in 2023, and what were industry leaders discussing during the event?

Here is a brief breakdown of what we learned at the Recruitment Agency Expo 2023.

AI is here – but step cautiously.

Naturally, much of the tech chat revolved around AI, innovations in the chatbot and comms space, programmatic marketing and NLP.

Our future is, seemingly, being written as we speak – with OpenAI, Google and Microsoft all pitching into the NLP-led space and ChatGPT soaking up so much marketing, content, comms and CX oxygen of late, it was perhaps inevitable table-talk would revolve around how the recruitment marketplace specifically is evolving and how agencies are adapting to this rapidly approaching new tech horizon.

That said, NLP is in its relative adolescence and the tech world is furtively attempting to bring unalloyed AI growth to heel. Often, novel tech advancement moves quickly, and the “impact” is hard to judge, plus platform user base can spread unevenly, resulting in demographic and geographical inconsistencies in market effectiveness.

Genuine change is hard to qualify, and the benefits at this stage of AI are theoretical, rather than meaningful. But we’re on the precipice of material, total, and generationally defining change.

Much more qualified voices than ours have already highlighted where the pitfalls of relying on NLP lie, but in our view, all this shockingly incredible tech still hasn’t yet replaced the human element of effective recruitment – feedback from agencies on how AI will affect more intangible assets like Employer Brand and Referral Networks , for example, was muted and confused.

Tech Skills Shortages remain.

This is hardly groundbreaking recruitment or HR news but skills shortages – and getting tech to help do some more of the heavy lifting of sourcing niche talent and assessing them accurately and quickly – was a major pain point for our display visitors.

Because Rectec straddles the middle ground between emerging recruitment tech and agencies looking for a stack revamp, the question of “how does this vendor or that vendor help” is difficult to answer. But it’s clear as day that recruitment agencies of all sizes and stripes are in a positive frame of mind when it comes to utilising tech to attract passive candidates, candidates in niche sectors, or candidates looking to reskill and develop in a new market.

This, we found, is a hugely positive and exciting place for the industry to be in. Tech is not feared, nor misunderstood, and the agency sector seems less dubious than ever of tech and how it can help recruitment, CX, branding, payroll and more.

Despite our scale, we’re still new!

Rectec Compare has completed hundreds of thousands of comparison searches. Our recruitment technology Marketplace grows by the week. Our products have won awards and yet we are still relatively unknown!

Events like the Recruitment Agency Expo are as much brand awareness raising as they are vendor networking events – and, like every event we’ve attended, the response from agency owners and vendors to our services was wholly positive.

This, of course, is a good problem to have. We have cornered a clear niche in the market, and our Comparison service and Marketplace complement the other and provide two key solutions to a multi-faceted problem.

We know that, as a startup, we’re facing some rough headwinds – a fast-changing industry, inflation, high employment, skills shortages and a disrupted political environment, all of which impact everyone across the recruitment landscape from candidates to business owners.

But without a doubt the Recruitment Agency Expo provided us with confidence that what we do – and how we support the hard work of recruiters and providers – is more valuable than ever.

A quick, responsive process is what you need to attract and engage the best talent.

At Rectec we help organisations to find the best Applicant Tracking System or best Recruitment CRM to suit your needs, accompanied by our unique complementary technology marketplace, to help you build the perfect recruitment tech stack for your business.

The post Seeing the future of AI in Recruitment at RAE 2023 appeared first on Rectec.