You and I have said this a thousand times. We have talked about it in the bar, coffee shop, office and train. We meet at conferences and talk about it. Occasionally we get up on stage in front of an audience and try and do something about it.

The industry we are in still has some way to go until we can be taken seriously. For all our talk there is no thought leadership from talent acquisition in organisations today, our role is about execution and the sooner we get our heads around that the better it will be for all of us.

When we talk we know that the recruitment industry is overdue for a major overhaul. And to be clear I don’t just mean that we should be creating glossy websites, exciting brand delivery programmes (although we should), instead we need to get our heads around what it means to be a candidate, to walk in their shoes, experience their journey.

Talent acquisition teams or more specifically the organisations they work for have become complacent, expecting candidates to walk in and want a job without any heavy lifting. The recruiter’s job is done. But candidates have choices, competitors, job board, job board aggregators that show them the choices they have from the privacy of their own homes, or bus journey mobile. If we were selling books or music, cars or houses even the customer can click and purchase in minutes.

Couldn’t recruitment be a little more like this?

Employers are losing out because we don’t have a consistent means to keep a candidate loyal. It is my belief that we just don’t know enough about candidate behaviours to keep them loyal and engaged. In the main employers, when pushed, would say it is because they don’t have the data to be able to make decisions. I’m not sure that is true though. Your average ATS collects tons of data, throw in a decent website that tracks source, time spent etc. and you can start to build a far more effective picture of what is actually going on with the candidate. That data increases dramatically once you have them on the phone or they have come to see you.

The data we collect just isn’t connected enough to mean something.

With the corporate talk of Big Data, the need to analyse things to bits, when do we think that will happen in the recruitment industry? Specifically when will corporate recruitment functions have the investment needed that will enable them to understand how to effectively engage with potential candidates, where to actually find them whilst creating a ‘bespoke’ candidate journey that gets the best out of the candidate and the employer see what they are getting. As a candidate I want to be told what my next move should be and why, help me manage my career by using the big data that I have at my disposal. If I can help a candidate achieve more from their career can you imagine how loyal they will be?

So… discuss… I don’t have the answer…

This blog will also appear in linkedin.

About

I have a background in executive search and selection, headhunting and senior level recruitment combined with people and business management experiences. My focus has always been on the IT services, technology and management consultancy sectors on a permanent and interim basis where I have developed a personal portfolio that covers areas such as EVP, social recruitment and the successful creation of talent pools as well the management and leadership of corporate talent acquisition teams.

I am an avid blogger, writer, public speaker and traveller of trains across the UK.

In addition I am available from June 2014 for permanent or interim roles – uk.linkedin.com/in/martindangerfield/ for more details.

Follow me here or twitter @MDangerfield, have a look at my blog www.martindangerfield.com/blog.