Recruitment and Digital Technologies

5 min.

The modern world is unimaginable without digital technologies. They speed up communication, connect individuals and groups across the globe, and allow for personalized mass outreach and easier identification of people.

What impact does this have on the recruitment profession?

Not long ago, I felt that the recruitment profession would have to change, adopt new technologies, implement modern chatbots, deploy artificial intelligence for market searches, and communicate digitally in real-time with candidates and hiring managers.

However, I recently realized that this is, as is often the case, just one side of the coin. Less qualified work can be handled by machines today or in the near future. Many professions no longer need to be selected in person (often there isn't much choice), a phone call, Skype, sending a test, or filling out items is enough... and it works.

New or Old Direction?

Increasingly, I perceive an opposite trend to digitalization: personal (in the real world) care and real communication. The more qualified the candidate, the more in demand they are in the market, the more offers are waiting for them somewhere... and these individuals are overwhelmed by these offers. What I believe works is ordinary human contact again, a phone call, and a shared coffee or lunch. The recruiter and the candidate have the chance to pause for at least 60-90 minutes, get to know each other, and find common ground and possible goals.

The mere fact that they often travel a long distance to meet, get to know each other in a restaurant or café, talk not only about work but also about life, mood, and family... This gives personal acquaintance a completely different dimension, one that the younger generation, captivated by speed and digital technologies, does not know. Here, a bond is formed between both personalities, an irreplaceable trust and quality on which both can build in the subsequent process.

Two Trends?

Transactional Recruitment – Represented by a large number of positions filled, their typicality, and primarily the volume of processed or relevant candidates. Digital technologies can be increasingly deployed for such projects and are useful here. These technologies often complement or replace the work of inexperienced recruiters (so-called CV forwarders). The advantage of such projects is the relatively low demand for recruiter qualification and personality.

Custom Recruitment – Projects such as direct search, executive search, etc., characterized by the uniqueness of the project and a limited pool of suitable candidates. Here, mistakes or misunderstandings cannot be allowed. Candidates and clients value and expect the recruiter to be personally present and, most importantly, a mature person, a partner with years of experience not only in recruitment but also in other fields. Even here, digital technologies can be useful, but the added value relies on the recruiter's personality, maturity, and experience, not on the volume of candidates.

Do you have experience with digital technologies in recruitment? Do you use any good tools? Share with us.

And do you have experience with the personal care of an experienced and mature recruiter with broad industry experience, or do you miss it? Share that too.

Pavel Plachý is the founder of Flow-r Executive Search. He began his career in business intelligence, working for both Czech and multinational companies in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the United Kingdom. He has also held international top management roles, leading teams in three countries with a total of more than 700 employees.

In 2008, he founded his own company focused on finding strategic candidates and, since then, he and his colleagues have been dedicated to executive search. They find top managers and strategic experts for their clients.

more about Pavel