Until recently, the staffing world has seen slow technology growth and adoption compared to other industries. But the last year has seen marked change, with a flood of new technology solutions reshaping how we build and operate our contingent labor programs and how we look at the workforce holistically.
In my last article [1], I discussed the evolution of the VMS as well as its use, where artificial intelligence is taking programs, and how technology is reshaping the role of the recruiter. Here, I cover how technology will affect the résumé itself as well as how candidates’ work experience will be conveyed. The article also explores other means hiring organizations will have to determine a candidate’s proper fit.
The résumé of tomorrow. Similar to how the recruiter function will change, other traditional components of the staffing process are likely to change as well, including the résumé. While there has always been active debate about the right formatting and information to include in your résumé, this process is flawed and has opportunity for improvement through technology. One challenge with résumés is that they can be a flat representation of candidates and can misrepresent their talents, abilities, style and approaches. These factors are key in establishing a diverse work group and often rely on the subjective review of a résumé by a recruiter to determine fit.
We may even leave résumé review to an engagement manager, who may know the work to be done but may not be effectively trained as a “hiring” manager. In the future, a résumé might be replaced or augmented with public profile information that can be assessed through the candidate’s interactions with social media and any other public domain information. This information could help determine personality type, abilities, leadership style and other traits that may be lost in a traditional résumé.
At the same time, programs and companies need to ensure that unconscious biases don’t leak through, putting the programs and companies at risk of discrimination lawsuits. Discrimination during hiring is to the result of bias, a human trait. Even subconsciously, humans can inject biases they don’t know they even have. Well-designed AI could help companies overcome such bias in their hiring processes.
Much like the evolution of a recruiter, this change won’t happen overnight. However, expect to start seeing some of these additional data elements taking more priority in the decision-making process than items like education and previous experience.
Résumé validation. Another challenge with a résumé is accuracy. These documents rely on the candidates themselves to provide a truthful and accurate representation of their work experiences. By having candidates produce a first-person narrative of their previous roles, we get a subjective view of that experience from their perspective. This information is hard to validate beyond the objective material like employer/education, dates and title. Luckily, there is another technology that is positioned to help replace not just the résumé, but also the background check process — blockchain, which is finding its place in the staffing ecosystem by providing a more objective, stable and accurate set of previous credentials without the subjective bias.
This concept repositions the responsibility of employment and education verification on the resource by having the candidate gather and store these credentials on a digital keychain. This keychain can then be provided to the employers during the hiring process, similar to a résumé, so they can validate quickly and easily the objective details of the candidate. This also removes the need for the employer to complete independent screenings themselves.
With the combination of a candidate’s public profile information and their validated blockchain credentials, an employer now has the right information to determine the appropriate fit for a worker without a lengthy résumé review and possibly without an interview.
While there are organizations that have fully automated some of their processes and integrated some of these advanced technology concepts, it will be some time before we see a fully optimized sourcing and engagement process that effectively and intuitively connects the right talent to the right business need. This scenario is not far off but will require a willingness for buyers to take a nontraditional approach to engaging labor. These approaches will take time to advance and adopt and I encourage everyone to keep an eye out for the technology solutions that are positioned to provide the best solutions to your problems and challenge you to reject the status quo.