Employers tend to be inundated with applications when a new vacancy opens up, meaning it can be difficult for them to select, screen and be sure that they are recruiting the best talent possible.
Businesses are now using data to create shortlists from hundreds of applicants by using traceable behaviour trends, using specific pieces of information about our daily, hourly and even minute-by-minute behaviour.
How your computer is being used, phone logs, social network accounts, when your keycard was used to go from department to department, are all actions that are generating data about movement across the workspace.
Creating a benchmark
Any organisation that is established will already possess employees who are already successful, who fit the idea of the business and have a high level of performance to match. Every day they generate hundreds of bits of data about how they have achieved such levels of success.
One way of ensuring efficient recruitment is to use computers to number crunch and assess the traits of outstanding people already within the company, before comparing them to the shortlist of potential new recruits.
At KPMG, a large accountancy group, they have built a model which takes into account 10,000 different data points generated by just one individual. They can then review data generated by previous employees and compare it with the other results – ‘who achieved a promotion?’ ‘What level was there performance at?’ etc.
One dimensional
Data can add another layer to the recruitment process; one dimensional applications and CVs will be supplemented with social media data, department profiling, online assessments and past hiring success and failure data to accurately assess a candidate’s chance of success.
There looks set to be a flurry of cloud based software solutions that will aim to look after big data for recruiters, early adopters have already put themselves in a position to reap the rewards. However, not all companies will have the capabilities to gather or interpret such large amounts of data, so many must work within their limits to get the best results.
If you’re an employer looking to attract the best graduate talent, find out how Discovery graduates can help.
