Perfect Match
Reading time: approx. 25 min. PERFECT MATCH
The future of human resource management will be fundamentally different: Human resources is being transformed into human relations, and companies are competing for talented individuals. The use of digital assistants and artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize recruiting is becoming increasingly important for both sides of the process. But can AI really take care of HR? Does it offer enough of a human touch?
CHAPTER 1 – A new colleague at the touch of a button
CHAPTER 2 – Can an algorithm be a talent scout?
CHAPTER 3 – The standard of the future
CHAPTER 4 – The new role of the recruiter
CHAPTER 5 – Digital natives like to communicate digitally
CHAPTER 6 – Why “e-recruiting” is the future
CHAPTER 7 – Getting to the top faster
CHAPTER 8 – An equal footing with candidates
CHAPTER 9 – The recruiter becomes talent manager
CHAPTER 10 – Focusing on people
CHAPTER 11 – Are algorithms less discriminatory?
CHAPTER 12 – People and mindset
CHAPTER 1 – A new colleague at the touch of a button
CHAPTER 2 – Can an algorithm be a talent scout?
CHAPTER 3 – The standard of the future
CHAPTER 4 – The new role of the recruiter
CHAPTER 5 – Digital natives like to communicate digitally
CHAPTER 6 – Why “e-recruiting” is the future
CHAPTER 7 – Getting to the top faster
CHAPTER 8 – An equal footing with candidates
CHAPTER 9 – The recruiter becomes talent manager
CHAPTER 10 – Focusing on people
CHAPTER 11 – Are algorithms less discriminatory?
CHAPTER 12 – People and mindset
A NEW COLLEAGUE AT THE TOUCH OF A BUTTONAll it takes is a few clicks to recruit new employees. At his freshly renovated office in the northern outskirts of Munich, startup founder Sören Gunia scrolls through his database of star talents from all over the world. He is looking for candidates for a research project that his company Motius is conducting for an automotive group. Gunia, 27, who studied computer science, is looking for programmers and developers who have mastered the latest frameworks and know several programming languages. The project must move fast. The future doesn’t wait – and neither does the competition. The customer expects the first prototype in just a few weeks.
Founded five years ago, tech startup Motius employs around 40 members of staff from nine nations. In addition to its in-house talent pool, the company has access to a community of 800 top tech experts, including computer scientists, programmers, young engineers and Ph.D. students. The average age is 26 years and the majority of these experts are men. At the offices belonging to the young startup – which counts companies like Allianz and BMW among its customers – they sit behind their laptops, solder computer innards or tinker with a new interface.These are the talented newcomers that companies all over the world are scrambling to entice through their doors. They are highly trained, fresh out of university and passionate about the future. Most have permanent jobs but Motius has also recruited another 60 colleagues from its hand-picked community for its temporary projects. To achieve this, the “Motees,” as they call themselves, developed their own recruiting software that locates talented individuals and compares them with the relevant requirements before issuing a request. If the request is accepted, a contract can be signed with just a few clicks. With this approach, it is generally possible to pull together a project team within two weeks.
Can an algorithm be a talent scout?
CAN AN ALGORITHM BE A TALENT SCOUT?It’s no real surprise that Motius is just as innovative when it comes to talent management as it is when producing its prototypes week after week. The Motees are representing a paradigm shift in human resource management. The concepts of digitalization and automation are set to fundamentally change the field of human resources in the next few years. According to the latest study of recruiting trends conducted by the University of Bamberg, three quarters of the top 1000 companies in Germany have already laid out the welcome mat for digitalization in the HR segment. Every tenth company is already using a job recommendation system to refer candidates to interesting job opportunities, as well as talent recommender tools designed to alert companies about talented individuals. “The use of IT will continue to grow since it offers advantages to both sides,” explains Jakob Wirth, author of the recruiting trends study. “Algorithms bring candidates companies together faster.”
The standard of the future
THE STANDARD OF THE FUTURE: COMPANIES APPLY FOR CANDIDATESIn numerous job segments – such as the IT sector, the care sector or in the field of automated mobility – the specialist market has already dried up. The effects of full employment and demographics will dramatically increase this shortage of talent in the years ahead. For recruiters, but especially for companies, this means a shift in the balance of power: Now they are the ones who must apply for the top talent. “The reverse application process is increasingly becoming the norm. In future, the conventional recruiting process will therefore no longer work,” says Andreas Dittes, founder and CEO of Talentwunder.
This Berlin-based startup searches around 80 international career networks like LinkedIn for suitable talent on behalf of companies. By indexing relevant and sometimes also subject-specific platforms, approximately 1.8 billion potential candidate profiles are currently being evaluated for a given role – from heart valve specialists to java managers, from geriatric care nurses to software developers. Companies like Deutsche Bahn, Ergo and Swisscom rely on matching technology from Talentwunder, and the number of customers is growing.“Finding and attracting the right employees has become a matter of survival for many companies,” observes Dittes.
Flirting, courting, canvassing
FLIRTING, COURTING, CANVASSING – THE NEW ROLE OF THE RECRUITERDittes has started talking about a war for talent and of the “red ocean” – the sea of potential high performers in which fierce competition for star candidates has already stained the waters blood red. These are warlike images that certainly only apply for specific occupational fields. However, they are indicative of the general sense of emergency experienced by many recruitment consultants who have suddenly found themselves the ones having to do the advertising and courting. “Search technologies help to locate potentially appropriate candidates that you might not have found otherwise,” says Dittes with conviction. But this is only the first step. The second is skillful contact.
”I recommend a bit of light flirtation,” says Dittes conspiratorially. “You can’t just come barreling around the corner with the job offer as soon as you make contact – that would be too clumsy. Start by praising their profile, invite them to join the network, suggest a prospective contact, remember their birthday. In the end, recruiting is all about managing relationships. The digital tools are just an aid.”
In the case of the global personnel service provider Randstad (approximately 600,000 employees worldwide in 2017), the digital tools have already significantly accelerated the application process. The temping agency receives an average of 300,000 applications every year in Germany alone. “Matching is our core business,” explains Stephan Reiche, Manager of Marketing Technology at Randstad Germany. The key objective here, of course, is to guide applicants swiftly and purposefully into vacant positions and appropriate client assignments.Since 2016, Randstad has operated an “Automatic Pre-Matching” (APM) system to achieve this. Self-teaching software automatically reads CVs and compares them with vacant positions. Relevant terms are classified by the AI. Semantic synonyms for titles and skills are automatically detected and added. “APM is a major milestone for us,” says Reiche.
“In the past, we were searching through CVs manually. Now we can do this in a fraction of the time at the touch of a button, while also taking external career networks into account.” According to Reiche, the vast recruitment market can now operate much more punctually and effectively. In the time Randstad has been using intelligent matching software, the number of job placements has increased significantly. Is this where the future is heading? “We want to use technology and automation wherever they can reasonably provide support and lighten the load for people to create room to breathe,” says Reiche. “After all, the match itself is made by the consultant in a face-to-face discussion. Tech and touch – that is our motto.”
Digital natives like to communicate digitally
DIGITAL NATIVES LIKE TO COMMUNICATE DIGITALLY – WITH EMPLOYERS TOOThis new approach is perfect for the tech-savvy generation of millennials who communicate and consume content digitally as a matter of course, and who expect this behavior to also extend seamlessly to their job search.
“The candidate experience – i.e., the candidate’s experience throughout the recruiting process – determines the attractiveness of a company,” says Recruiting Analyst Jakob Wirth from the University of Bamberg. “It is therefore a decisive factor in whether an offer is accepted or refused.” Almost half of candidates are currently using a job-recommender system; six out of ten candidates are in favor of their use by more companies. “The most common criticism that candidates share today is that the wait for a response from a potential employer is too long,” says Wirth. “In an era of speedy communication, this is no longer acceptable for many.”
On average, candidates wait between 13 and 18 days before receiving a reply to an application. This is too long, Wirth believes – and he’s not the only one. “Some much sought-after candidates will lose patience after just three days. And this phenomenon will continue to get worse.” He believes that algorithms and automated communications systems are the solution. “These tools will soon dramatically shorten the time to hire,” says Wirth.By 2025, will applicant bots be talking to company bots? “Hopefully not,” says Talentwunder boss, Dittes. “But everything will be geared toward providing the best possible service to applicants and to facilitating job changes. Artificial intelligence will be a lot of help in this respect.”
Why “e-recruiting” is the future
WHY “E-RECRUITING” IS THE FUTURE “By 2025, companies will probably be where today’s young applicants – who are growing up and living in the digital world – already are,” says Mathias Heese, CEO of Berlin-based HR tech company Softgarden, which offers tailor-made e-recruiting solutions for companies. Around 700 customers, including advertising agency Serviceplan, furniture store Höffner and fittings manufacturer Grohe, use tools tailored to their needs that include a multi-posting function, a recommendation manager, onboarding tools and all kinds of other options, up to and including company apps with an integrated appointment finder and a tracking function for potential applicants.
“The candidate is king and always will be,” says Heese. “The victors in the war for talent will be those who succeed in optimizing and accelerating the recruiting processes for the benefit of applicants.” Heese predicts that e-recruiting will be the norm for local HR departments in ten years’ time. This is also due to the fact that data-driven tools are getting a little bit smarter every day. “Today it’s still a question of faith. But that was also true for the first PDFs ten years ago, when personnel managers still insisted on the good old application folder. I am surprised to see those things still being sold in stationery shops.”
Getting to the top faster
GETTING TO THE TOP FASTER – HOW A MEDIUM-SIZED COMPANY DIGITALIZED ITS HR DEPARTMENTAt the Schindler elevator company in Switzerland, paper applications are more or less a thing of the past. To optimize the candidate experience, the medium-sized company (with 60,000 employees) has been using cloud-based recruiting software from SAP called Success Factors since the beginning of the year, which has massively accelerated the application process. A new vacancy – perhaps for an elevator technician – is entered into the system by the respective manager, and after approval by HR the job is automatically posted in all relevant job exchanges and applicant channels, sometimes even on the same day. “We can direct it anywhere with just a few clicks,” says Niko Wels, Head of Human Resources in Germany.
“We wanted to be faster and more efficient because that’s what the future is all about,” says Wels. Accelerating the process seems to have been successful. The average application process has been shortened by up to 50% – this is also thanks to the software having access to the company’s own global transparent talent pool, which is continuously expanded. The intention is to have a vacancy already filled no later than four weeks after it is posted. “It’s an ambitious goal; one that requires all parties involved, including the manager, to work together,” explains Wels, who would like to further digitalize HR processes such as staff development and talent management. Chat bots and robotic recruiting are the only logical next steps. Wels’ expectations are the same as many personnel managers: If robotic colleagues can take care of time-consuming admin tasks, recruiters will have more time for their actual jobs: interacting with applicants. “In the future, the recruiting process must be managed even more firmly from the candidates’ perspective,” Wels believes. “Coaching, engagement and presence are crucial. I must interact with my people in person to hear, understand and be a good partner to them. I have to ask myself what the benefit is to them as a candidate.”
An equal footing with candidates
AN EQUAL FOOTING WITH CANDIDATES – THE BENEFITS OF ALTRUISMFor Munich-based tech startup Motius, the principle of being on an equal footing has been part of its identity from the beginning. Flat hierarchies, maximum flexibility, trust-based working hours, employee participation – for Motees, these ideals are all part of what they experience in their day-to-day work. Is this enough to attract talent? Or do businesses need to rethink their approach?
Acting on this conviction, Motius helps employees on their individual “talent journey.” Sören Gunia and his cofounders advise their colleagues on their potential next career steps – not only within their own company, but also at other companies.
ACCESS TO:
– Inno-Shots: speed brainstorming sessions
– Inno-Brotzeit: sparing sessions as informal breakfasts
– Team building events
– Exclusive reports about new tech and industries
– ELU: Periodic sessions to discover ans learn new tech
– Inno-Shots: speed brainstorming sessions
– Inno-Brotzeit: sparing sessions as informal breakfasts
– Team building events
– Exclusive reports about new tech and industries
– ELU: Periodic sessions to discover ans learn new tech
ACCESS TO:
– Hands-on experience with new cutting-edge technologies in exciting industries
– Collaboration with cool, smart and motivated team members
– Participation on MotiusBuilidng initiatives by taking responsibility for strategic tasks
– Hands-on experience with new cutting-edge technologies in exciting industries
– Collaboration with cool, smart and motivated team members
– Participation on MotiusBuilidng initiatives by taking responsibility for strategic tasks
ACCESS TO:
– Experience in modern management technique
– Higher authority and engagement in MotiusBuilding initiatives
– Coaching
– Experience in modern management technique
– Higher authority and engagement in MotiusBuilding initiatives
– Coaching
ACCESS TO:
– A time and money budget for personal development to develop new technical, methodical and other skills
– Full access to all community events
– The "coffee-buddy" mentorship program
– Higher authority and engagement in MotiusBuilding initiatives
– A time and money budget for personal development to develop new technical, methodical and other skills
– Full access to all community events
– The "coffee-buddy" mentorship program
– Higher authority and engagement in MotiusBuilding initiatives
ACCESS TO:
– Full empowerment in picking the technology they choose to push and make an impact with
– Valuable access to intimate details of the future to different industries around the world and the opportunity to influence them
– Full empowerment in picking the technology they choose to push and make an impact with
– Valuable access to intimate details of the future to different industries around the world and the opportunity to influence them
ACCESS TO:
– A time and money budget to develop technical know-how
– A variety of use-cases and problems to apply and develop the specific technical experience
– Full access to all community events
– The "coffee-buddy" mentorship program
– A time and money budget to develop technical know-how
– A variety of use-cases and problems to apply and develop the specific technical experience
– Full access to all community events
– The "coffee-buddy" mentorship program
ACCESS TO:
– Full empowerment in leadership of the Technical Center of Competency
– The chance to scale up innovative products and solutions to bring them to the real world
– Full empowerment in leadership of the Technical Center of Competency
– The chance to scale up innovative products and solutions to bring them to the real world
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ACCESS TO:
– Inno-Shots: speed brainstorming sessions
– Inno-Brotzeit: sparing sessions as informal breakfasts
– Team building events
– Exclusive reports about new tech and industries
– ELU: Periodic sessions to discover ans learn new tech
ACCESS TO:
– Hands-on experience with new cutting-edge technologies in exciting industries
– Collaboration with cool, smart and motivated team members
– Participation on MotiusBuilidng initiatives by taking responsibility for strategic tasks
ACCESS TO:
– Experience in modern management technique
– Higher authority and engagement in MotiusBuilding initiatives
– Coaching
ACCESS TO:
– A time and money budget for personal development to develop new technical, methodical and other skills
– Full access to all community events
– The "coffee-buddy" mentorship program
– Higher authority and engagement in MotiusBuilding initiatives
ACCESS TO:
– Full empowerment in picking the technology they choose to push and make an impact with
– Valuable access to intimate details of the future to different industries around the world and the opportunity to influence them
ACCESS TO:
– A time and money budget to develop technical know-how
– A variety of use-cases and problems to apply and develop the specific technical experience
– Full access to all community events
– The "coffee-buddy" mentorship program
ACCESS TO:
– Full empowerment in leadership of the Technical Center of Competency
– The chance to scale up innovative products and solutions to bring them to the real world
The corporate culture at the young startup also includes the freedom for employees to spend every second Friday tinkering in the Munich “MakerSpace” – a high-tech workshop in Garching near Munich, financed by UnternehmerTUM, a subsidiary of TU Munich, in cooperation with companies such as BMW and MunichRe. Numerous successful startups have been born in this 1500-square-meter talent pool on the northern outskirts of the city. The bosses at Motius also lived right next door during the company’s first year. Whether it’s a laser cutter or a human-sized 3D printer, a machine workshop or electrical processing – this is where the future is tinkered with and where ideas become prototypes and short runs.
The recruiter becomes talent manager
THE RECRUITER BECOMES TALENT MANAGERSelf-fulfillment and a sense of purpose in the workplace – for the future generation, this is more important than for all the generations before it. “In the next few years, recruiters will increasingly take on the responsibilities of a career coach – someone who advises candidates where they can profit from the value they add,” says Sarah Aigner, HR Recruiting, Senior Professional at MHP.
Anticipating this change in identity, nobody talks about the “Human Resources” department at MHP but rather about the “People & Communication” cluster. When dealing with candidates – the number of MHP staff members is currently growing at an annual rate of around 20% – communication takes place on an equal footing and in line with the “one-face principle.” Candidates are not passed around, but ideally always have a single recruiter as their point of contact. Even the term “recruiting” is up for debate: “That term is too brief for our area of responsibility and it does not correspond to the requirements of the future,” Aigner believes. “We actually see ourselves increasingly as individual talent managers and “perspective givers” for prospective team members who are enterprising and enthusiastic about technology.”
Focusing on people
FOCUSING ON PEOPLERecruiting is now about moving away from the crowd in order to address individuals. In the end, or rather, in the future, everything will revolve around candidates as individuals. Regardless of whether they are contacted personally, or – as in the case of the Fresenius Group – by personalized software. The global health giant (with 270,000 employees) has personalized its career pages since 2015. People interested in a role at the company can log into “My Fresenius” to see jobs that are tailored to the profile and individual interests that prospective candidates set up for themselves.
“People are becoming more individual – that’s what makes social media platforms such as Instagram so successful,” explains Sebastian Jäger, Head of HR Marketing at Fresenius, talking about the company’s personalized approach. “Good employees can choose jobs – they don’t have time to click through a variety of jobs. We want to proactively offer interested candidates and applicants content that is tailored to their personal needs and interests.”And this has been successfully achieved: Since the introduction of “My Fresenius,” the Group has recorded a significant increase in page views and received a higher number of applications. Other companies are now following suit, reports Jäger. Is this the new world of recruiting à la Amazon? Will we soon see “Candidates who applied to this job also applied to…” on job advertisements? “I think this will become more common – as far as is reasonable within the framework of data protection,” explains HR Manager Jäger. “The customized candidate journey is coming soon.”
Are algorithms less discriminatory?
ARE ALGORITHMS LESS DISCRIMINATORY? Why can’t companies use the digital footprint that every user generates online to address people as individuals? This has in fact already been happening for a long time – matching technologies do nothing else. At IBM, for example, the company’s own career coaching-app recommends training courses and workshops for employees on the basis of recommendations from other colleagues who have taken (and enjoyed) similar ones. Self-teaching HR systems could further refine this individualization – and even support companies in the event of a cultural shift.
“There are no all-inclusive tools. An algorithm must always be job and company-specific,” explains Sven Semet, who, as a Thought Leader Watson Talent at IBM, is anticipating the digital future of human resource management like few others. “As a recruiter, I have to work closely with the AI to strengthen and train the algorithms. I can even communicate my diversity strategy to the AI.”“Using artificial intelligence presents a chance to increase diversity,” says Recruiting Analyst Jakob Wirth from the University of Bamberg with conviction. “The software doesn’t care about a person’s skin color or nationality. Unless it is programmed selectively.”
It goes without saying that no recruiter wants to deliberately discriminate – but the unconscious mindset also plays a role in selection. Anyone who speaks with personnel strategists will hear again and again that German companies must be more open to diversity. And in fact, they must: In the face of a sometimes dramatic lack of applicants, companies must increasingly rely on international applicants. Talentwunder boss Andreas Dittes has a story about a German company in desperate need of software developers that enticed an entire group of Spanish experts to Karlsruhe. Because these new colleagues could speak hardly any German and very little English, it built its own Spanish developer department. “This is still the exception,” explains Dittes. “Soon, it could be a normal part of human resource management.”
“Diversity enriches and promotes creativity,” agrees Stephan Anpalagan, Management Consultant in the field of People & Performance at MHP. Both elements are becoming ever more important for a company to position itself as an attractive employer and because recruiting and employer branding are now closely interlinked. “Nobody comes to a company simply because it has a chic digital applicant management system.” More important than all digital recruiting tools is whether a company stands for corporate social responsibility, sustainability and an open, transparent culture. “Corporate culture,” says Anpalagan, “trumps everything.”
People and mindset
PEOPLE AND MINDSETAt Motius in Munich this modern mantra is completely natural. The best experiences are achieved with diverse teams.
In their own way, the Munich Motees are anticipating the future of recruiting: AI-based technologies will make the application process more precise, individual and significantly faster – to the benefit of both sides. Recruiters will gradually become career advisors who accompany each individual on their talent journey. But in the end, the people and the mindset of a company determine whether there is a spark between a candidate and the company. Perhaps more so than ever.
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PERFECT MATCH
A NEW COLLEAGUE AT THE TOUCH OF A BUTTON
CAN AN ALGORITHM BE A TALENT SCOUT?
THE STANDARD OF THE FUTURE: COMPANIES APPLY FOR CANDIDATES
FLIRTING, COURTING, CANVASSING – THE NEW ROLE OF THE RECRUITER
DIGITAL NATIVES LIKE TO COMMUNICATE DIGITALLY – WITH EMPLOYERS TOO
WHY “E-RECRUITING” IS THE FUTURE
GETTING TO THE TOP FASTER – HOW A MEDIUM-SIZED COMPANY DIGITALIZED ITS HR DEPARTMENT
AN EQUAL FOOTING WITH CANDIDATES – THE BENEFITS OF ALTRUISM
THE RECRUITER BECOMES TALENT MANAGER
FOCUSING ON PEOPLE
ARE ALGORITHMS LESS DISCRIMINATORY?
PEOPLE AND MINDSET
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