Only seven more weeks until the HR Technology Conference, I am finalizing my presentation and thinking through the constant change in our industry. Over the past year, one trend that has emerged is the increased investment in hiring experience platforms (interviewing and assessment). This category has exploded over the past few years- partly because of the push for remote work and the need to reduce bias and improve decision-making. Companies spend millions of dollars on recruitment marketing and EVP strategies and often neglect interviews. Our latest interview study found that 1 in 2 companies lost quality talent due to poor interview processes.
Providers such as Modern Hire, HireVue, and Outmatch helped to define this category by offering a suite of solutions (through some acquisitions) that include everything from first interview to assessment to offer. Some of these providers are even expanding into onboarding. But, over the past few years, this category has been growing as companies recognize hiring decisions will not come from an ATS. Providers such as Sapia, Humanly, Wedge, CodeSignal, Talview, and Vervoe provide companies with interviewing and assessment solutions that improve experience, quality, and efficiency. Paradox (through the acquisition of Traitify) offers capabilities to schedule interviews and provide a validated, candidate-friendly assessment all through conversational AI.
Although every provider seems to call the interview to assessment offering something different, hiring experience is a category to watch.
Here are a few trends I will cover:
One in four candidates drops off at the interview stage. Companies that improve candidate engagement and the application process will still see candidates drop off if hiring is a negative experience. Companies must provide consistency, transparency, and fairness throughout the hiring process to ensure that candidates are not dropping off at this stage. Delays and poor communication can result in companies losing quality talent. Aptitude Research found that 52% of companies have an interview process that lasts four to six weeks.
Companies do not trust the data to inform hiring. Companies are dissatisfied with their data’s quality, accuracy, and integrity. One reason is that companies are not starting with the right data and rely solely on resumes or candidate profiles to inform decisions. Fifty-seven percent (57%) do not have the data they need to decide on talent. They need a consistent process and quality data to gain deeper insights into candidates and make smarter, confident, and bias-free talent decisions. Data to drive hiring decisions will come from interviewing and assessment providers.
Companies use too many systems: Most companies leverage multiple solutions to support hiring activities, and 62% use two or more assessment providers. These systems provide different experiences and data management. Companies cannot make decisions on talent when they do not have consistent data to support those decisions.
The ATS is not enough. Companies are looking outside of their ATS for hiring support. Traditional recruitment technology focuses on compliance and applicant workflow. It does not always support hiring activities. As a result, companies invest in several solutions to support hiring or rely on a manual process to make hiring and selection decisions. Companies identified lack of integration, issues with data quality, and lack of candidate insights as the top frustrations with technology that supports hiring.
Companies are relying on interview and assessment data more this year. Companies are using interview and assessment data to inform decisions more in 2022 than in 2020. Unfortunately, this data is often inconsistent or only available for some candidates. Companies rely less on the resume as the primary data source but must continue to draw deeper insights and more consistent data.
AI is changing hiring. AI is fundamentally changing every aspect of HR, and there is growing curiosity and appetite to understand it. According to Aptitude Research, 63% of companies are investing or planning to invest in AI solutions this year, compared to 42% in 2020.AI can play a critical role in helping companies use data to inform decision-making and even humanize the process. Recruiters and candidates are becoming more comfortable using AI in talent acquisition and the impact on hiring.
As companies look at their TA tech stack, hiring experience platforms are becoming a core investment area along with an ATS and CRM. I look forward to meeting with some of these providers at the HR Technology Conference.
