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96.2% of New Recruiting Tech Innovation is Useless

Ok… I made up that statistic, but the sentiment is 100% true.

I just got done reading another blog about new technology that is going to revolutionize the recruiting industry in 2018. While I love technology and innovation, I think the vast majority of recruiting teams don’t need something new. Not yet at least.

In my experience, the primary operational issues recruiting teams face are usually related to unclear processes, unused or misused features with their current tech, and/or lack of data integrity. No system can deliver value without these three fundamentals in place.

You don’t have to get to a state of heavenly automation and efficiency before adding new technology, but focusing on the basics will give you outsized rewards in 2018.

Most firms I work with already have some variation of the following technology:

  • SaaS-based CRM/ATS (Salesforce, Bullhorn, JobDiva, etc.)

  • Social Media (LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, etc.)

  • Job Boards (Indeed, Monster, specialty boards, etc.)

  • Chat-based collaboration (Slack, G-Chat, Chatter, etc.)

  • Collaborative Document Management via Google Docs or Office 365

  • Video calling (Skype, Hangouts, Webex, etc.)

  • Task Management (Evernote, Trello, Onenote, etc.)

  • Marketing Automation (Mailgun, Constant Contact, Pardot, etc.)

Lack of innovation and technology is usually not the problem. The problem (and opportunity) is usually much more mundane.

So, what would I suggest for 2018? Take a moment to reflect on the following questions and then take action:

  • What current issues cause daily stress for your team? Is there a process or technology issue behind that stress? What would it take to fix?

  • What application or system isn’t working the way you thought it would when you implemented it? What needs to change? What’s the impact?

  • Where are your biggest data gaps? Did you lose a bunch of data when you moved to a new CRM/ATS a year ago? Do you have a ton of duplicate entries in your system? Are you not able to find candidates for roles in your own system?

  • Are there ways to integrate the current tools with each other?

Do you want 96.2% of new innovation to be useful for your team?

Make 2018 the year of solidifying your bases and leveraging the tools you already own. Then, once you do that, innovate to your heart's content!