Using Big Data to Find and Recruit Better Talent

The task of recruiting and retaining the best talent presents an ongoing challenge for every HR team. Recruiters can make use of big data to find and hire candidates, making more informed decisions while saving time and money.

What Is Big Data?

Big data, as the name suggests, involves data, and large amounts of it. Data is being gathered by digital devices all the time. Every website, social media exchange, sensor, mobile device and digital system presents data that reveals trends about the people that use those digital devices and the environment in which they live and work. If the first stage of big data is collecting vast amounts of data, then the second and most important stage is processing and analyzing that data to be able to draw meaningful conclusions.

Using Big Data In Recruiting:

With the digitization of CVs and applications, data is becoming more readily available in the recruitment process. Add to this the fact that candidates share further data digitally via professional social media accounts, and suddenly the data pool becomes significant and worth exploring. It is most useful to organize this wealth of data to reveal trends in the data that signal whether one candidate might be more suitable than another for a particular role.

For instance, one factor that influences a candidates suitability is their willingness to change from their current job. After all, recruiters will not wish to pursue a particular candidate if the likelihood that they will accept the job is very slim. Therefore, recruiters can collect and process data, such as the frequency with which a particular candidate searches job sites, or the frequency that the candidate updates their LinkedIn profile, in order to establish which candidates are sufficiently likely to want to change jobs. By using big data, the recruiter in this example is able to save precious time by contacting only a handful of suitable willing candidates rather than a larger group containing many unwilling candidates.

Using Big Data In Retention:

Even when recruiters have succeeded in attracting and employing productive and valuable employees, a new problem emerges; how to keep them. Fortunately, big data can be useful in this instance also. Workforce analytics programs are capable of gathering a range of data on employees’ working habits to establish what makes for a productive and happy workforce.

Researchers from Sociometric Solutions and MIT gathered data in a Bank of America call center and found that certain employees were more productive when they were able to take breaks with each other, as they were able to let of steam and share tips about customer service. By changing the break schedules to reflect this, the bank saw a 15 percent increase in productivity and a 28 percent decrease in employee turnover.

Using Big Data In Talent Management:

Data can be of great value when managing talent, as well as when acquiring and retaining it. One particular area within talent management where big data is essential is in training and developing existing talent. When embarking on a training program, the more data that can be gathered and processed regarding the returns on investment for that training the better. The data might reveal a knowledge gap for a single employee, or even a skill shortage across a whole department.

What’s more, by digitizing the training and development systems, the HR team does not need to invest a significant amount of additional time or effort into gaining insights from the data. More advanced systems that make use of big data are able to automatically adapt training methods to best suit the needs of each individual employee, as well as provide reports to the HR team pertaining to the performance of employees as a result of training and development.