Is Software Going to Replace Recruiters?

Politics, economy, virtual office, work/life balance, rewards, low unemployment, etc., these are but a few things that are impacting recruiting efforts in the beginning of this year.

We need to talk about the elephant in the room without a doubt! How do you truthfully match what you consider an ideal candidate to the myriad of resumes you receive?

I believe, if you are using one of the automated resume selection tools, ranking candidates and delivering resumes to your inbox on a scale, you may be missing out. It has been my personal experience that these services, while helping filter and reduce the workload to manageable levels for recruiters, can and do filter out more than viable candidates. Yes, they claim to have formulas and algorithms that through experience have had ample success and, at the risk of sounding antiquated, all this is true however the human element is lost in this transaction.

We measure, we test personality traits and skills, we do background checks and so forth to determine if a candidate has an alignment with our company and our culture. Can they succeed in our environment? Will we satisfy their career goals and keep them engaged? The classic, are they a fit? No amount of programming can determine these things as efficiently as a human can, particularly one that is tuned to the company culture and direction. How can you program that into 0’s and 1’s (binary code for those wondering!).

And then comes the overqualified! That is a term that I have come to really develop a rash every time I hear it. And I will give you my example here. I have held positions such as Regional Director and National Director always leading my teams from the front and in the field as I needed to be connected to what was happening where it mattered, in front of a client. Before deciding to join Xpand Staffing, I, like many, ventured to seek employment after I separated from my last job and was surprised at either the lack of replies or the actual replies I got. See, I was looking for a sales position, larger in scope than just a city, because I craved the field. The biggest concern I received was if I would be able to make the transition from manager to just sales. I truly wondered about that one since that is exactly what I did.

You know what floored me though, except for 1, and this one was a comp issue, not one set up a face to face or even a phone interview.

And here comes the biggest elephant in the room… are you biased in your recruiting if a candidate has 20 plus years of experience? Does this trigger an automatic mental response of age and retirement? Even if you feel you don’t, the fact is we are all guilty at some point of these thoughts. Is this just a stop gap until retirement age? How close are they? I have talked to many professionals who at one point or another have seen themselves rejected on paper, the quintessential nothing on the other line response, and their feelings are that it is an age based bias. Please note here I am not saying discrimination, none of us as recruiters would do that, it is just a bias. Do a litmus test and count how many 50 and over you or your company has hired in the last 90 days for a position other than executive.

Their loss my gain for this is how I came to be a partner at Xpand Staffing and while we are an emerging Woman and Minority owned company, we bring years of experience and tech savviness to the table.