To explore the Recruitment sector for IT jobs of the future, its important to understand what the present-day Recruitment sector looks like.

In the last few years applying for an IT job has changed quite dramatically but the same issues are around today as they were 5 years ago. Mostly around communication from the business to the IT candidate. Today, typically an IT job seeker will see a job on LinkedIn (Ill discuss LinkedIn in more detail shortly), they will wait for a reply, some will get a reply seeking a call, others won’t hear back. They might get an automated email from LinkedIn. That message is sent by LinkedIn using Automation – they will time it to respond in a few days also. For example, if you apply for a job in Dublin, but based in Lagos the Recruiter won’t see your CV – this is a setting we have put in place as we might not be able to sponsor). This is also evident in Indeed and most of the other job boards.

Typically, the IT job seeker will then get a phone call with a Recruiter or HR person and go into the Interview process. The interview process post Covid is largely online. Some companies are bringing back onsite interviews (certainly if the role is Hybrid or onsite). A Job seeker will do 2-3 interviews, averaging maybe 45-60 minutes each and the business will then decide.

In the IT job market, there are generally no shortage of jobs, so the candidate experience is critical for a business (If you would like to read more about this, click here) as its fair to say those sought after IT candidates will be interviewing for a number of IT jobs certainly if its in Software Engineering. So, tip number 1, give a good experience to the candidate.

Typically, the recruitment process takes around 26 days to hire (which would be from the time a job is posted to then an IT candidate accepts an offer, this would be your time to fill stat). In the US that figure is closer to 40 days on average, would be longer in the likes of Silicon Valley and New York for example.

So, the process albeit has slightly changed in structure, some of the menial tasks such as interview scheduling and rejection emails in bulk would be the main automation adopted over the last few years. There are of course some exceptions to the rules.

A great example of Automation, where AI and Machine learning play a huge part in what the future of Recruitment look like is the case study of Unilever, now this example is not focused on the IT job sector, more the large volume recruitment, this video gives a decent overview.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Efo2ebnES_U

The candidate journey has changed dramatically. As promised, lets talk about LinkedIn. Today LinkedIn is the dominant platform in the Recruitment sector that is a must for most Recruiters. LinkedIn has revolutionised Recruitment over the last 10-15 yea

I ask myself does this LinkedIn dominance for sourcing talent remain intact for the next few years. Recruitment has never been easier to find talent, the issue is it’s never been harder to engage. How will this change in the future?

 

To come back to the blog title, what are the 5 things that might change the Recruitment of the IT job market in the future?

  1. Machine Learning and AI will become more effective, areas like Robotic Processing Automation (RPA) will become better and more mainstream. You might find an IT candidate will be contacted via social media (Multiple sites) that will be way more tailored to there needs, skills, cultural wants etc. It will be way more intelligent and use the entire web to seek out the best talent.
  2. Automation will become the norm; it will be unusual if an IT candidate who applies for an IT job to speak with a human until the 2nd or 3rd round of interview. The interviews will be conducted by a bot that is AI enabled to handle the basic screening questions such as “Why are you leaving your role?” to asking about your relevant skills to “What’s your salary expectation?”. This will be followed by a tech test again via a bot. That then might prompt the first human based interview.
  3. Augmented reality might become way more common place. If meta has its way and there is mass adoption to AR. Its more then likely going to be possible to see how products and teams interact via AR. You can get real life understanding how your manager manages and what expectations are put on teams.
  4. Facebook – sticking with AR, Meta is spending billions of dollars on what is coming next, first we had the phone, then the internet and now the Metaverse. Will it take over our everyday lives. It’s a big subject, this article in Time does explore the subject in more detail. Hard to see if not playing a part in the Recruitment process in the next 5 years.
  5. Human interaction will change dramatically. Today most Recruiters will Source, Engage, Interview, offer etc. Headhunting and engagement will always remain in the hands of the human. IT candidates will eventually get fed up with the hundreds of messages and the spontaneous phone calls and meet ups will once again rain supreme. The best talent simply doesn’t respond nor read every message. So, building a network like today will increase the value of a Recruiter. But adopting new technology will also be critical.

Technology plays a major role in Recruitment today but as it enhances its important to be ready, to adapt and stay ahead of your competitors. Elwood Roberts is at the cutting edge of technology within the IT Recruitment space, we focus on the Irish and US markets currently. If you would like to know more, please click here for more details.