Automation: Who’s really killing candidate experience? | @GlennNetworks on The #SocialRecruiting Show

In 2018, automation has become one of the most popular buzzwords throughout sourcing, recruiting, and HR.

Everyone talks about automating this or using a machine. People want things done faster. What they aren’t discussing is how to do it well or when to use a human instead of a machine. Ultimately, it’s a fine line between faster and failing the candidate experience. This was the topic of our last show of the year with guest, Talent Acquisition Project Manager, Glenn Martin.

Glenn’s positive experiences with automation came first hand when he created an assessment framework that helped select 30 women from a group of 200 for an intensive coding course. Without any degree or experience requirements, it was more important than ever to assess beyond skills.

“I actually had to identify individuals based on creativity, a sense of commerciality and values. You want to know that you’re going to understand them beyond obviously why they’re motivated to apply for a job or a course.”

“We were ultimately trying to assess soft skills so we simply asked them to come back with ways of enhancing and creating a greater customer experience when individuals landed on that particular page.” Automation alone wasn’t the right tool to identify those skills. Glenn really needed the human touch to improve the interview outcomes and candidate experience.

Candidate Experience Killer: 100% Automation

Glenn shared that story to warn against a completely automated approach. In fact, he recommends you second guess any automation in the interview experience.

“It’s about rapport building and interaction with somebody sitting in front of you.”

Even digitising those experiences has caused a negative impact according to Glenn’s most recent State of the Interview research. In early feedback from companies who have completely automated their systems up to the assessment, they saw a significant dropout rate (one that was even higher in females than males) because people simply didn’t like the format.

If you want to learn more about Glenn’s research on interviews, watch the replay below 👇🏻