Only six weeks until the HR Technology Conference, and one trend that we have focused on over the past two years is high-volume hiring. We found that 65% of companies have high-volume recruitment needs today. And this percentage continues to increase. Unfortunately, high volume is one area most traditional ATS systems fail to address. Instead, they focus on professional hiring and ignore the experience, capabilities, and solutions needed to attract, recruit, and hire this forgotten workforce. For example, in our high-volume research this year, only 27% of companies know if their hourly workers have transportation to an interview. Only 33% know if candidates have access to a laptop. Yet, most solutions do not consider the unique needs of these candidates.
High-volume companies must find quality talent while managing hundreds, or even thousands, of applicants. Unlike traditional corporate hiring, high-volume needs are extremely time-sensitive with speed-defining success. Over the past year, high-volume hiring intensified as many companies were forced to reduce time to fill from several weeks to several days. The experience needs to be simple, frictionless, and mobile-first.
Fortunately, some technology providers are focused on improving high-volume recruiting – this is where we see most of the disruption in talent acquisition. Paradox is one provider that offers a completely reimagined experience for high-volume candidates. Through conversational AI, it provides an alternative to an ATS. It allows companies to advertise jobs, engage with talent, offers a simple apply process, screen candidates, schedule interviews, assess candidates, and initiate onboarding all through a single, mobile-first experience. Paradox is also hosting a career site for companies, including McDonald’s.
AMS Hourly, Fountain, and TalentReef also offer a better alternative for high-volume hiring needs and include end-to-end capabilities from recruitment marketing to onboarding.
Text recruiting is another way that companies are improving high volume hiring. Candidate behavior has changed since the pandemic and 62% of candidates are using their mobile device more this year than last. Hourly candidates want to be able to use one device to communicate with company, and text meets the needs of the mobile-only mindset by providing faster response and personalized engagement in real-time. Providers like Emissary offer simple end-to-end text recruiting solutions that integrate with ATS providers.
Programmatic job advertising is another TA technology category that improves high-volume recruiting. It streamlines and automates advertising of jobs and provides visibility into how companies should spend their advertising dollars- a huge expense for high-volume industries. It saves hiring teams time, reduces costs, and helps to target the right talent. Some of the leading providers include Appcast, Joveo, and Pandologic.
And, there is even a HRMS focused on high-volume that will be at HR Tech...Harri.
These are just a few of the providers improving high-volume hiring. Here are a few trends impacting high-volume recruiting:
“High Volume” Is a Broad Category: The greatest confusion around high-volume recruitment is the definition. Companies often consider a narrow definition of high-volume recruitment limited to hourly or gig workers. For example, one in three companies defines “high volume” as hourly recruitment. The reality is that high-volume hiring is broader and impacts 65% of companies. It includes any company filling over 1,000 positions in a short period of time. As hiring ramps up this year, this study found that companies in various industries (including aerospace and defense, financial services, technology, and healthcare) identified high-volume needs.
A Traditional ATS Is Not Enough: Sixty-five percent (65%) of companies with high-volume recruitment needs are not satisfied with their current ATS. Most traditional ATS systems are designed for corporate hiring and lack capabilities to support high-volume recruitment such as programmatic advertising, scheduling, or communication. High-volume recruitment technology must be simple, intuitive, and mobile responsive. Eighty-two percent (82%) of companies with high-volume hiring needs are increasing their investment in technology this year.
Quality Is as Important as Efficiency: Companies face pressure to fill high-volume positions as quickly as possible. As a result, efficiency becomes the priority for many organizations with high-volume needs. They want to improve and streamline the talent acquisition process to reduce time to fill. Despite this focus on efficiency, 61% of companies stated that quality of hire is the most critical metric for success. Companies must ensure they are engaging and hiring the right talent as they focus on improving the time it takes to fill positions.
High volume is a critical topic in talent acquisition, especially as companies prepare for more change next year. I look forward to learning more about how companies tackle their challenges and new technology providers in this space.
