Article · 4 minute read
By Olivia Black & Dominic Goodacre – 10th December 2024
In today’s fast-paced business environment and amidst economic volatility, Talent Acquisition teams are under immense pressure to run efficient recruitment processes and acquire the right skills.
While 2022 saw the Great Resignation, characterized by a significant movement in the talent market and high demand for software engineers and talent acquisition roles, 2024 has been marked by an unprecedented surge in job cuts across the tech industry with more than 130,000 layoffs¹. The impact has resulted in a flood of talent competing for new opportunities. In some areas, Talent Acquisition teams are experiencing record volumes of applications, even for senior-level roles.
Talent Acquisition teams face key challenges, including getting hiring managers aligned on the critical skills required for roles, identifying candidates with the right skills and making smart, timely hiring decisions.
According to a recent survey, 77% of employers report having trouble filling their roles with the right talent. While application volumes may be growing in many instances, this challenge could indicate that organizations are failing to attract the right talent to meet the role requirements. Additionally, a lack of alignment among the hiring panel on the critical skills for success in the role could be another contributing factor.
The stakes are high, as the cost of a bad hire can be significant. Accurately assessing a candidate’s potential is critical to finding the right talent, yet it remains a major hurdle for many.
This process relies on having an agreed-upon success profile for the role and utilizing powerful assessments that provide the right data against this profile. Organizations that still rely on traditional assessment methods, such as resumes and interviews, may find they are failing to provide a complete picture of a candidate’s potential. This can result in hires that do not meet the job requirements, leading to higher turnover rates and additional recruitment costs².
Without alignment on the critical skills requirements alongside the implementation of accurate, objective, and relevant assessments, bias can influence decision making in the hiring process.
Despite best efforts, unconscious biases can creep into the recruitment process, affecting decisions and potentially leading to a less diverse workforce. While many organizations strive to achieve the outcomes shown by studies indicating that more diverse teams lead to a more innovative and high-performing workforce³, without objective, data-led hiring approaches this is difficult to achieve.
Another impact is on the speed of hiring. For some Talent Acquisition teams, the challenge of reducing the time to hire is a continuous struggle. The longer a position remains unfilled, the greater the strain on existing employees, and the higher the potential loss in productivity, as well as profit if it is a revenue-generating role. On average, it takes 42 days to fill a position, but this can vary widely depending on the industry and role4. This delay can lead to candidate drop-off, and reneges.
Despite advancements in technology and recruitment strategies, many organizations still experience these impacts.
Saville Assessment’s next-generation platform, Wave Connect, is designed to address these challenges and streamline the recruitment process. By leveraging data-driven insights and scientifically-validated assessments, we help organizations make faster, smarter hiring decisions.
Wave Connect empowers hiring teams to agree on the behaviors that matter for success, which then drives the objective data insights. Using these insights, hiring teams can quickly and confidently identify the right talent and efficiently manage unpredictable volumes.
By integrating effective assessment solutions into recruitment processes, organizations can significantly reduce the pressure on Talent Acquisition teams and hiring managers. This not only streamlines selection but also enhances the accuracy and fairness of hiring decisions.
Saville’s talent analytics capabilities provide valuable insights that help recruiters make data-driven decisions in a scalable way. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of their applicant pool, organizations can refine their recruitment strategies and continuously improve the quality of their hires.
The challenges faced by HR teams involved in talent acquisition and identification are significant. However, with the right tools and strategies, these challenges can be overcome.
Get in touch for more information on Wave Connect, our next-generation platform designed to take the pressure off talent acquisition teams, distilling complex data and streamlining your processes while maintaining the necessary rigor that gives you confidence in your hiring.
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