In the column ‘Women in Tech’, three leading women in the world of recruitment technology tell their story. What do they think the future of tech in recruitment will look like? In this second article, Anna Ott has the floor.
What do you do in recruitment technology?
“I’m both an HR practitioner and as much as an HR Tech enthusiast and therefore look at the market in e.g. recruitment technology from buyers but also advisors perspective. I work with founders of HR Tech startups and help them grow their businesses and align their strategy.”
What influenced you to pursue a career in recruitment (technology)?
“When I started my HR career it was in tech startups – and since then I was drawn by the innovation and curiosity around it. 20 years ago, when I started, HR was not at all as interesting as it is now. Specifically, the scarcity of talent everywhere has ‘forced’ more HR people to utilize technology to their service. Alongside a change in mindset on how we perceive candidates and employees and treat them differently now. This is an amazing time to be in HR!”
How big is the role of tech in recruitment?
“An increasingly large part of recruitment is supported now by technology – from discovering to selecting to re-engaging and onboarding talent. I think we see a market that offers features, products, and platforms for all parts of the candidate journey. Yet I also see that pioneers in that field have optimized everything they can and it will continue to be difficult to recruit talent given the scarcity of talent everywhere. So we should not rely on tech alone to solve all issues – and consider these tools more to augment and automate our work.”
What are according to you the biggest challenges recruiters face today?
“Luckily with the help of technology and skills in sourcing, we’re getting better in discovering talent. Yet we still have a hard time winning them over for our organizations – the talent expectations & demands in some markets, e.g. the startup industry, have risen. Technology will only build a funnel – the hard part is creating interesting jobs, attractive career paths and meaningful relationships with organizations and their culture. This is something tech will only offer limited guidance with.”
Which opportunities do you see in recruitment technology?
“A lot – as despite some early adopting companies, there are still a lot of companies in the SME segment that have still room to optimize their talent acquisition thru technology. So the outlook is still good – despite the long and enduring sales cycles we face in selling HR Technology B2B.”
How do you see recruitment in 5 years?
“More velocity through automation, more personalization in the conversations, more re-engaging of talent pools and less transactional processes.”
In the first article, Elin Öberg Mårtenzon had the floor: “The future of recruitment can’t flourish without tech”
