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.

But the recruitment world is in flux and has seen almost every traditional marker of “success” change in the last few years, especially in regards to what unique balance of characteristics, skills and passion makes a top performer and a high-performing team. 

Indeed, there are quite literally thousands of thought leadership pieces on what now constitutes top performance, or what bosses need to do to guarantee top performance – from the rise of soft skills to revamping agile workflows, from unlimited leave policies to de-hierarchies within work.  

But, as any storied HR pro knows, every new workplace policy, tool or metric needs a willing team to make it a reality. And in the realm of performance, being able to identify, engage and hire willing, flexible and ultimately top-performing people becomes central to success. 

So how can modern recruiters – connected more than ever to potential candidates but overwhelmed with the increasingly high-pressure demands of hiring talent – make sure they’re continuing to identify and hire the best-in-class people? 

The trick lies in leveraging what we already know works, and simply using it better.  

What are the markers of contemporary top-performing workplaces? 

In our digitally dominant new normal of hybridity, high turnover, and upward pressure on wages (not to mention stagnant growth and productivity inefficiency) the measure of effective workplace performance has to be more than simple KPI recording, value-added or profit made.

The markers of top performance within workplaces in 2023 are now well established: psychologically safe workplaces, open communication cultures, diverse workplaces, clear feedback and goal setting, and clarity of business purpose.  

These markers have developed in the wake of the pandemic, digital innovation, and the rise of Gen Z into positions of considerable influence. 

But as the markers of business success and sustainability change, so too do the requirements of and pressure on, recruiters to deliver results. Those results are the hiring of the best people for a role, and those people have to be high performers.

What are the markers of a top performer? 

A quick dive into contemporary thought leadership tells you everything you need to know about top performance in 2023.   

According to those paragons of talent identification Indeed, the traits of a top performer are: 

• Positivity
• Goal focus
• Accepts constructive criticism
• Growth-oriented
• Leadership focused
• And, can find a healthy work-life balance.

In HBR’s piece on “How to Spot — and Develop — High-Potential Talent in Your Organization”, they focus on 3 key behavioural metrics to identify top performance: 

• Cognitive quotient (CQ): how they leverage their intellect.
• Drive quotient (DQ): what motivates them and how they apply their energy.
• Emotional quotient (EQ): how they interact with those around them. 

The piece goes on to describe that while “intellect, motivations, and interpersonal style” are key markers of top performance, it’s measuring “how people use these qualities on the job…to gauge…potential, regardless of candidates’ depth of experience” that makes all the difference.  

The mechanics of an ATS, and how it tracks candidates.  

We love an ATS at Rectec. One of the reasons we do so is we intimately understand how critical an ATS is to modern hiring effectiveness, and central to that lies in an ATS’ ability to track candidates in increasingly more effective, streamlined and predictive ways.  

A basic ATS will do the grunt work of automating and highlighting specific talent within a talent network based on scanning and sorting job applications based on specific criteria such as keywords, skills, and experience. Simple.  

But more advanced Applicant Tracking Systems now deploy a range of tools to help identify top performers, and we advise any recruiting team or HR leader to consider the following elite ATS solutions as a must-have in a recruiting toolbelt: 

• Ultra-define your job requirements, criteria and keywords: the first stage to truly maximising your ATS output is by not expecting your ATS to do all the heavy lifting for you. The most effective way to do this is by utilising customisable ATS platforms that let you prioritise or rank applicant potential by giving different keywords or criteria certain values. This creates a more fluid, more personal system of talent identification based on a unique prioritisation of skills. 

• A CV isn’t perfect: by this, we mean setting up your ATS to not immediately disqualify a candidate because of a missed word, a spelling error or quirky formatting. As any effective modern recruiter knows, CVs are simple vectors for talent identification – they are not the ultimate arbiter of talent appropriateness, skill or potential. Creating processes of inclusive, rather than exclusionary, keyword vetting will help identify more quality candidates.  

• Contact keyword evolution: an ATS should never be a fixed asset, nor should the criteria you judge candidates by stay stuck for months on end. Creating a simple keyword analysis drumbeat – and fixing dates of keyword evolution into your process planning – should make sure your candidate vetting is up-to-date, fair, and ultimately competitive.  

• A self-contained employer brand ecosystem: some ATS providers can create a seamless employer brand and hiring ecosystem, bringing together sometimes disparate employing tools to create a market-leading hiring environment. This means creating career pages that include pre-vetting questionnaires, employer brand videos, glassdoor reviews, FAQs and employee testimonials, with easy-to-access application calls-to-action. 

• Don’t forget internal communication and the power of advocacy: it’s easy to think an ATS is an outward-facing talent magnet. But an ATS can also target company employees, automating new opportunity emails, and sending them directly to specific employees in an effort to leverage their contact network. Top performers tend to know top performers, so forget your internal network at your peril.  

The sheer variety and customisability of Applicant Tracking Systems means not only can applicants be contacted faster, and with more personalisation, but they are more accurately shortlisted and prioritised. In effect, the cream rises to the top. 

The bottom line. 

The true effectiveness of an ATS lies in any given company’s ability to identify their own needs, and critically analyse where maximum new hire impact can be made. 

But hiring the wrong person for a role is more often than not worse for company health than hiring no one at all, so accurate vetting is more important than ever.  

If you’re looking to identify the Best Applicant Tracking System for your business, then be sure to check out our comprehensive guide to the Best Applicant Tracking Systems (2024).

In the war for talent, an ATS is the perfect weapon – not only can the nuts and bolts of candidate contact and talent maturation be managed, but they can be leveraged to truly source, engage and pre-vet top performers.  

 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 Can an ATS help identify top performers? 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.

We’ve just performed our ​ 300,000th comparison! ​

Huge numbers at Rectec HQ, another massive milestone knocked down on our path to procurement dominance, and another step on the journey to helping as many Recruitment and HR leaders buy recruitment tech with objectivity and specificity.

To quote our Founder and CEO, Rob Green…

“What an absolutely mind blowing moment for the team. 

It’s sometimes the case that we forget just how many people our comparison service has reached. And what I’m most proud about is that the numbers keep growing. Searches are being conducted all over the world, and our reputation is, seemingly, continuing to precede us in exciting new markets.

I absolutely LOVE helping agencies and employers to find the right tech. From the day I Founded the company and now into my 4th year, I’m still encouraged and passionate about operating in this incredible little niche.

The future is looking incredibly bright. So keep watching this space for more exciting news in the future. Every milestone is another step on the path to our growth mission and vision of a technically-engaged community of recruiters, HR professionals, agency paragons and leaders in our sector.

Here’s to the next 100,000!”

For anyone reading this who hasn’t yet dived onto our comparison search platform, just head here and within 20 minutes you’ll have a personalised, hyper-customised shortlist of CRMs or ATSs for your needs.

 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 300,000 Comparisons Completed! appeared first on Rectec.

But data is increasingly becoming a major point of competitive difference when it comes to hiring success…especially when combined with active, forward-thinking leaders who are obsessed with creating data-led recruitment strategies that create better, more meaningful connections between people.

So how exactly do we use data to improve hiring decisions? 

In our view, you want to look at four key recruitment points of action:

• Understand where hiring can be improved.
• Choosing the right data metrics, and understanding how they intersect.
• Identify and invest in platforms to collect the right data.
• Aggregate and isolate this data for maximum human impact.

Understand where Hiring can be improved.

Identifying where hiring improvements can be made is a lesson in operational humility. 

Typical metrics of successful hiring practice – things like healthy time-to-hire ratio, low turnover rate, affordable and sustainable ROI-per-hire (more on that below) – require up-to-date data sets and hands-on operational follow-through to maintain

In the last few years, HR teams have battled with an incredibly stormy recruitment environment – from the Great Resignation to the Great Rebound to, now, a country-wide push for higher wages (not to mention mass public sector walkouts) via striking in light of rising prices.

Hiring health, in this context, can be tricky to measure. 

For example, if average candidate tenure within certain sectors is dropping, and turnover is rising sector-wide, how do you buck the trend? What do you need to identify to make improvements if everyone is suffering from the same problems?

Data analysis, aggregation and integration are your saviours here. 

• Data analysis and integration require aggregating your digital data metrics – your recruitment ratios, budgets, CRM feedback, hiring metrics, all the digitally-generated data that inform your hiring models – and analogue feedback from workers in real-time, involving things like exit interview information, peer reviews, performance reviews, L&D feedback, skills budgeting, training, and management training under one roof.
• The combined weight of data should give you a full, if not slightly messy, view on your company health, retention health and therefore hiring health.

To correctly aggregate and simplify this information requires company-wide buy-in, some nifty tech, agile leadership and advocacy from departments and team members to better analyse where breakdowns occur. 

Then it’s on the bosses to enact change.

Choosing the right data metrics and understanding how they intersect.

“Metrics set the parameters for the data your organisation will use to measure performance”.

Diving into the metrics of successful (or failing) hiring is your fuel for change.

The outcome of a little metric data identification and analysis should be simple – you identify which hiring metrics you need to improve. Those improvements should, in theory, lead to better hiring.

But, of course, as in all recruitment, nothing works in a vacuum. 

Every metric and outcome of analysing those metrics, and changing company policy as a result, will impact other metrics. Without adequate oversight, changing how you measure and analyse data metrics can have a cascading effect on other measurements and outcomes and so on and so forth.

So choosing the right data means mapping every data channel and understanding the company-wide impacts of that data on hiring success. 

The most typical data metric measurements to understanding hiring success are:

• Source of hire
• Time-to-hire
• Cost-per-hire 
• CV-to-interview ratio
• Interview-to-hire ratio
• Staff turnover 
• Candidate experience measurements
• Job offer acceptance rates
• Exit interview data

Our question for business leaders is always – do you know how each metric above impacts the other? Do you have the data to prove it? Can you or your team visualise their success, or identify where hiring could be improved, based on the raw data above?

Identify and invest in “platforms” to collect the right data.

Rectec prides ourselves on breaking down sometimes-complex hiring theory and tech implementation into neat, bitesize chunks. 

So here is another chunk of knowledge: we know, better than most, how important recruitment data is. 

We also know how important it is to understand the reach and effectiveness of platforms to collate and analyse that data. 

But, above all else, we know that TA teams, recruiters, HR pros and business leaders don’t have hours to spend crunching data sets – they need clear visualisation, clear line-of-sight, and “cleaned” data to quickly inform hiring strategy.

Time is money, and data is money. So get yourself a hiring platform that collates the data YOU need to improve your hiring outcomes. 

In fact, we know it’s so important we built a market-leading HR tech comparison tool and marketplace as a result!

Aggregate and isolate data for maximum human impact.

The result of having built a culture of hiring humility, of knowing your data metrics and of having a data platform that collates and displays it in a way that works for you is then isolating where change needs to occur. 

This is where leadership nous comes to the fore – you need to isolate past failings and focus on future-proofing your hiring strategy. 

Having a data-driven recruitment plan is a major part of it, but the best leaders in the business will know that data doesn’t do the hard work of consultant-led change. 

Clients still want to work with a person who has their business interests at heart, and candidates are still putting their careers in the hands of a relative professional stranger. 

So use data to improve these relationships and empower your consultants to provide better, more data-led, more empathetic services.

The bottom line.

We’re obsessed with data here at Rectec…but we also know data used without humble leadership goes nowhere.

We talk a lot about the aggregation of data and recruitment, metrics and outcomes…but in reality, how data aggregates with the human is the most important facet of a data-led recruitment strategy.

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 data to make better hiring decisions. appeared first on Rectec.

But the rapid digital transformation of many organisations’ HR functions has brought hyper-personalisation into the light, and HR tech is leading the way.

HR tech foundations.

HR tech is providing the foundation for making sure workers are better looked after, and employers have better, more personal, and more attractive perks to offer staff and potential staff in the war for talent. 

But how exactly is HR tech doing this, and are HR and recruitment software platforms really the difference between limp work perk pick-up, and a genuinely competitive benefits culture of appreciation, reward and recognition?

For this piece, we took inspiration from a detailed article from The HR Director EMPLOYERS STRUGGLING TO ADAPT BENEFITS TO CHANGING DEMANDS. 

In it, author Matt Macri-Waller, the founder and CEO of Benefex, highlights key attitudes and workplace opinions regarding modern workplace benefits, how they are changing in light of our more recent cost of living financial rollercoaster, and what employers can expect in the future from candidate work perk expectations.

“Only 13% of employees in the UK feel that their employer’s benefits provision closely aligns with their needs”.

This should be a red flag for every employer across the country.

Benefits are a multi-purpose HR weapon: some employers roll out a system of transparent reward and recognition, whilst others provide a foundation of perks to draw in talent. 

Most employers do a mix of both and most have had to change their perks culture in light of the Great Resignation and talent shortages. For those that haven’t changed, it should be a high priority to retcon benefits packages to meet the needs of today’s workers. 

How can HR tech help?

• This is where data and flexible HR software use come into play. 

• If you’re not yet weaponizing your HR data to improve workplace culture you’re working with one hand tied. But to gather the sort of game-changing, workplace-revolutionising data needed to perfect a benefit offer you need software platforms that provide granular detail on everything from employee contentment, performance management, interview feedback, exit interview feedback, peer reviews and more.

• This sort of granular performance and opinion detail provides a birds-eye view of in-work attitudes to benefits and their effectiveness as tools for hiring and retaining talent. 

“96% of HR and reward professionals report a significant shift in employee attitudes and behaviours towards benefits over the past 12 months. In particular, employees are seeking greater flexibility and personalisation in their benefits provision”.

Here we combine benefit context with rollout speed. 

The last 12 months have seen a sea-change in behaviours regarding workplace flexibility and how important it is for workers to have the option of flexible working. 

How can HR tech help?

• The rapid proliferation of remote workplace tools like Zoom, Slack, Asana and the rest was a direct result of the pandemic – but the long-term effects of digital efficiencies are only now being seen. 

• HR tech covers a massive and varied technical field, from AI-augmented talent searching and vetting to video interviewing to performance management tools. The effectiveness of flexible work – indeed, the most important aspect of ANY hiring and retention strategy going forward – must be how HR tech helps remote work, and how well embedded, usable, and relevant HR tech platforms are at pulling together remote teams.

“Employees are increasingly favouring benefits that help with their financial wellbeing and provide protection against the impact of illness and injury. Amongst the top 10 most valued are life insurance, health screenings, critical illness insurance, dental insurance, pension, private medical insurance, childcare vouchers and income protection”.

If this statistic shows us anything it’s that financial, physical and mental health are intertwined, that employers are expected to understand the intersection of money and health, and that employers are expected to help employees across both aspects. 

“65% of workers see benefits as very important for financial wellbeing – up from 53% in 2022” is the key stat here – benefits are not considered just a perk or a bonus add-on but central to financial wellbeing as a fixed salary.

How can HR tech help?

• This is where real-time data – in the form of contemporary salary guidelines, communication with workers seeking promotion, and communication of pay structures to existing and future hires – can make the most impact. 

• Hyper-personalisation plays a role here too (if organisations can manage it, of course). Hyper-personalisation of benefits means creating bespoke benefits packages that befit an employee based on their specific needs. This can be expensive and sometimes not relevant but can work wonders at teams with varying demographic, accessibility, disability and cultural requirements.

• Clearly the need is there, and employers are increasingly expected to take the lead on providing a further financial foundation for workers. 

“HR and reward professionals overwhelmingly believe that benefits…(can) help align employee values with organisational purpose (84%). Encouragingly, the research also reveals that investment in all aspects of employee experience – including benefits and wellbeing – to increase over the next 12 months”.

The benefits of well-curated benefits are clear – not only are staff better looked after and the entire employee experience is improved, alignment with organisational purpose overwhelmingly increases too. 

Benefits in this regard connect people and labour with company meaning and community placement. Workplace benefits become a vector for meaningful labour, and as any right-thinking HR leader knows the alignment of labour to purpose is hiring and talent retention gold standard.

How can HR tech help?

• HR tech can provide the digital space for this alignment to occur. This is where internal social networks, peer reviewing and remote workflows augment ideas sharing and cultural exploration online.

• But relying entirely on tech will work against HR leaders who want to raise company purpose and meaning – tech provides the means to bring people together, to align behaviours and digitise connections, and should be well-invested in. But not at the cost of in-person, tangible, real-life connection.

• To rely on HR tech to do the heavy lifting of ideating and creating community is not and should never be the intention.

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 HR tech can help improve workplace benefit perceptions and staff welfare. appeared first on Rectec.

The AI revolution is galloping along at a steady clip, and you’d be forgiven for thinking AI is on course for a complete HR industry takeover.

Advocates for HR AI dominance predict a world of work built around AI, supplemented by AI, and catered to and for AI across almost every sector, especially in workplaces. 

But AI is still formative, the platforms are still (in some cases) raw and unwieldy, and at the business end of the HR AI overhaul are people who are still learning how to utilise it without fear of losing their jobs.

The successful integration of new workplace processes and tools requires workers and leadership teams to be aligned – indeed if the history of the industrial revolution teaches us anything it’s that when change is only as effective as complete stakeholder, worker and beneficiary buy-in, ushered in by years of experience and decided through negotiation between worker and employer.

Will HR AI upset the status quo? Without a doubt. 

Effective change – the success of any HR AI product in the workplace – will require new, novel forms of management, teaching, support, welfare, and governmental oversight, not to mention new laws and regulations. This McKinsey piece does a good job of pulling apart hysteria from reality.

There is something AI practitioners and leaders are keen to overstate – unfettered, uncontrolled AI growth will make progress harder, will create insecurities where they don’t need to be any, and will upset a lot of people. 

With the right support, the right oversight and the right regulation, AI will change the world. Indeed, it already is, and that’s because the best and brightest in the industry understand that “Humanware” is central to the success of autonomous systems. 

What next for HR and recruitment AI?

Our partners at Onrec recently explored an eye-opening report from Totaljobs regarding AI and its use during the recruitment process, and we think some key points are worth diving into.

The 3 primary takeaways we want to focus on are:

• “Majority (88%) of UK workers are happy for Artificial Intelligence (AI) to be used in the hiring process but draw the line when it comes to replacing human decision-making.
• Almost three-quarters (72%) believe it should be mandatory for businesses to disclose when AI is used in the recruitment process.
• 44% of people are concerned AI will increase existing inequality and biases in the workplace with 46% believing AI will eventually make their roles ’obsolete’”.

Replacing the Human. 

As the Onrec/Totaljobs report states, the vast majority of workers are happy with AI input during the recruitment process. But understanding the practical uses of AI only goes so far. 

Recruitment is emotional, and so very, very human – the entire process of searching and finding a new job is an emotional one. The process of connecting with a new employer, learning new skills and understanding company and personal drivers is an emotional connection as much as it is professional. 

So much of our careers and time spent at work is tied to a sense of self, a sense of purpose and belonging. There is a very real fear that an AI isn’t qualified and indeed shouldn’t be trusted to make a call on something as emotionally driven as deciding whether someone has passed a job interview.

The key is linking HR AI data-crunching to human-centric decision-making. 

If HR leaders and TA progressions set the right expectations in regards to AI use – and communicate to applicants where and how AI is used to make better decisions – you’ll find an increase in positive AI sentiment…and, ideally, a more credible and successful hiring strategy.

Declare where HR AI is used.

This neatly rolls into the next point – mandatory admission of AI use. 

Rules are coming into play across a suite of AI-impacted creator sectors, especially in imaging: creators, and regulators, are mulling over how best to “watermark” AI-created images to reduce false advertisement and abuse, and maintain photographic and human-centric creative integrity.

Within recruitment, mandatory reporting of AI use adds to a sense of transparent recruitment – that of candidates in control of their destinies and recruiters in control of their hiring processes, and of every party being aware of where the automotive ends and the human begins. 

From reputation management to regulatory diligence to recruiting integrity, HR professionals need to be aware of the shifting sands of AI regulation and the reporting of AI use in the near future, if not for your own processes, then for the trust and buy-in of your candidate base. 

HR AI and a lesson in obsolescence and bias.

Predictions vary as to just how many jobs will be “lost” to AI. 

Most critics understand that AI-led change won’t be immediate, but a slow, steady, and (more than likely) inconsistent shift over years, and that virtually every sector will be impacted. But each sector will undergo a very particular change as a result of AI, some more pronounced and obvious than others.

The reasons are, of course, myriad – investment in some sectors will lead on others; regulation in some sectors may lag compared to others; some sectors may find AI is a fringe-use object of little impact, whereas others will be completely upended by it. 

But the very real fear of a great job displacement isn’t far-fetched, and one many workers are aware of. 

It’s worthwhile pointing out that we are not at the stage of AGI or super-intelligence (yet), and as such many of the data sets AI platforms are trained on are replete with inconsistencies and biases. 

AI will continue to hallucinate without oversight, and if half of your workforce are fearful of AI integration then it’s implicit that leaders teach their teams about how AI will affect their roles and what sort of L&D expectations are required of them in future. 

Give your teams the tools to improve. Don’t let them feel victimised without the ability to help themselves stay ahead of the technological curve!

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 Why “humanware” is the key to HR AI success. 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.

For some, candidate processes – the diligent movement of candidates through the recruitment funnel, the application of job application processes, paperwork, vetting and representation – stand somewhat apart from the more intangible recruitment “personality”. 

This isn’t done from a place of candidate negligence, but from a place of utility – recruitment is time-sensitive, highly regulated and candidates have a right to be protected, so well-hewn recruitment processes are prioritised at the first instance to guarantee a compliant, legally correct recruitment service.

Diligence vs Personality.

In our view, diligence and relationship building are not mutually exclusive – they can augment and support the other if applied in the right way. 

Getting that balance right takes time, experience, patience, and a unique style of candidate mastery that is both professional and approachable – and what it absolutely needs is clear lines of communication. 

Naturally, not everyone gets this balance right, so what we want to focus on today is how a common digital tool – a recruitment CRM – can be more than a process-led efficiency platform. 

They can be a catalyst to creating a candidate experience that not only meets expectations, but beats expectations. 

The Recruitment CRM basics. 

The fundamental features of a candidate relationship manager are based around digital organisation and automation such as the import of job specifications and job applications into one, easy to access software platform. This allows rapid parsing of job applicant data, and easy manual and/or automation of communication to applicants and clients during an application process.

Despite the whirlwind of technological advancement in AI, automation and employer branding over the last 6 months, these platform basics will not change because they provide a solution to a perennial recruitment issue: the impact of poor communication and poor applicant organisation on recruitment ROI.

When looking at CRM basics through the lens of candidate experience, an effective, well-utilised recruitment CRM provides applicant “workflow” clarity where previously manual processes only add an administrative burden. 

But does every CRM bring balance to the Diligence vs Personality issue? 

Or are CRM’s in the midst of an evolution that will help recruiters thread that important needle?

The CRM of the future. 

CRM providers have been pioneers of AI and automation for many years now. But with the advent of ChatGPT the AI world has changed. 

So where do CRM platforms go now we’re on the path to AGI? The answer lies not in bringing new tools into the CRM toolbox, but using AI to elevate personalisation of services and better automation of processes throughout the recruitment funnel. 

• “Combining generative AI with CRM allows companies to automate business processes better, develop more personalised communications, and provide customers with the most helpful answers to questions”.

The above quote, from an exhaustive piece by CRM Switch called What is CRM artificial intelligence and what can it do for my business? highlights how leading software providers such as HubSpot, Salesforce, Microsoft, Zoho and more are integrating AI into their products. 

From AI customers service assistants to reporting and data analysis, the rapid advancement of the AI field has put a microscope on the data CRM platforms generate, and how better to leverage that data to perfect recruitment solutions for candidates. 

It goes without saying that the recruitment CRM of the future will be a huge boon to HR pros and recruitment agencies focused on improving candidate experience.

But again the question has to be asked – do these new CRM iterations improve only digital hiring processes, or do they augment the personality behind the digital hiring platform?

Using a recruitment CRM the right way. 

Rectec’s own CRM vendors in particular are never ones to shy away from innovation. 

But every new platform feature or process tweak has to consider how it will affect the candidate experience, by rote of the central role a recruitment CRM plays in candidate comms, employer branding and application attraction.

In our view, rigorous platform testing, reviewing and constant process evolution are par for course when it comes to integrating a new CRM into your stack. 

But when it comes to the candidate experience, you need to ask yourself three critical questions:

Does your CRM effectively track candidate interactions?

• By this we mean does your CRM help you identify and address candidate pain points? Does it help communicate employer positives, and does it provide data on how and where candidates drop out of the recruitment funnel?

• This is about preparing consultants to be as agile as possible in a fast-changing, candidate-led industry, and how a CRM can help consultants personalise interactions with candidates based on both their own relationship and the shifting, data-led environment of wider applications and historical applications.

Does your recruitment CRM augment, or negatively impact, onboarding?

• Candidate experiences don’t end when they accept a job – throughout onboarding and over the first few months the best recruiters keep an eye on candidate initiation, training and cultural assimilation to make sure new hires are well placed and happy. 

• A well-chosen CRM frees up some of that time through communication automation (such as check-ins, performance reviews etc) so recruiters can focus on the human-led aspects of the role like personal integration, L&D and culture fit during onboarding.

Does your CRM allow you to focus on long-term trends?

• Helping the candidate of today should, in theory, help the candidate of tomorrow. 

• So the best recruitment CRMs in the business give recruiters access to data that helps identify long-term trends – from sentiment analysis to specific application data like geographical or demographic data – to better recruitment outcomes and improve long-term candidate experiences. 

To get a handle on some of the market-leading recruitment CRMs in the business head to our Marketplace!

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 a CRM to create a world-beating candidate experience. 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.