Technology, especially the use of advanced business networking tools, in combination with state-of-the-art Internet marketing techniques, are fundamentally changing the face of recruiting as we once knew it. Surprisingly, most major U.S. corporations are still moving too slowly to take full advantage of these important changes. Worse, many are actually fighting or are oblivious to these changes.



As you know, we’re now working with a number of major recruiting and technology companies to help shape the form of future technologies and recruiting processes circa 2015-2020, particularly Jobs2Web and LinkedIn. While some important trends are emerging, it’s very clear that most U.S.-based companies are still trapped in the past. Here’s a quick survey on what it takes to hire the best passive candidates. This will provide some quick insight on how advanced your company is in hiring top talent, and if it’s on the right trajectory or not.



While some of the following points are broad projections, most are reasonable extrapolations of current trends.



The Future of Recruiting 2015-2020: Six Key Major Trends to Consider

1. 1. Category-based hiring will replace individual job requisitions. Rather than drive candidates to individual requisitions, jobs will be posted by groups or projects (i.e., sales, engineering, operations, product launch, etc.) regardless of level. From these “hubs” candidates will be automatically matched with potential opportunities that best meet their capabilities and interests. Specific requisitions will be written after a candidate is selected. The legal issues associated with this shift are now being identified and addressed.



2. 2. Candidates will be hired based on their ability to successfully perform in comparable environments and cultures, rather than on their absolute level of skills and experience. Current requisition-based hiring is fundamentally flawed. For one thing, having or not having the skills and experiences described predicts neither success nor failure. Worse, top people, even those with the skills and experience described, won’t apply since they’re looking for career moves, not lateral transfers. Job profiles that define successful performance rather than list skills and experiences can eliminate this problem. These performance-based job descriptions, aka performance profiles, have been shown to increase assessment accuracy, improve on-the-job performance, and reduce turnover. This is an important trend to consider from a performance management and organizational development standpoint.



3. 3. Integrated workforce planning will drive the recruiting and hiring process. Workforce plans will be automatically generated during the business planning process and updated constantly based on actual operating performance. These plans will generate job requirements by category and automatically match the best prospects in a company’s internal and extended talent network.



4. 4. 360° talent networking will become the primary external candidate sourcing process. As everyone in the workforce becomes connected by one degree of separation with everyone else, it will be easy to instantly match potential prospects with open opportunities. Dynamic talent communities will allow companies to focus their sourcing and recruiting efforts on pre-qualified prospects. The results: maximize quality of hire, minimize cost, and move to a just-in-time hiring environment that best balances candidate supply with demand. Implementing PERP programs is the first step in this movement.



5. 5. The hiring manager self-serve recruiting model will change the role of corporate recruiting. As search and automated matching tools become more prevalent, hiring managers will be able to personally handle the bulk of their own recruiting efforts. This will change the role of the corporate recruiter and the corporate recruiting department. As part of this, tools and training will be pushed to hiring managers to enable them to define the work, conduct the assessment, recruit the candidate, and negotiate an offer. We provide the core interviewing and recruiting training for hiring managers as part of our Performance-based Hiring training programs. Check this out if you’d like to see how this can accelerate the trend to a self-service model like the one predicted.



6. 6. Work will be customized to meet individual and demographic needs. As matching technology improves, it will be easier to accommodate the job and career needs of an aging and shifting workforce. Emphasis on project-based work will allow for more contingent workers, with career-based opportunities provided to those with the potential and desire to grow with, and lead, the company.

While these predictions are somewhat speculative, current technologies and trends suggest that something comparable is more likely to occur than not. The key is for company leaders to assess the validity of the on-going trends, quickly identify potential problems and roadblocks within their own organizations, take immediate action to address critical issues, and begin pilot programs to assess the value of different approaches. We offer a quick online audit to see where your company is on the recruiting technology adoption front.

As seen by the rate of adoption of tools like LinkedIn and Jobs2Web, most companies are reluctant to change quickly, holding onto past practices with the hope that modest incremental changes will suffice. This strategy is likely to exacerbate the problem. Fundamental process changes in how top talent is found, recruited, and hired will be required to take full advantage of these and other emerging technological advances.