Getting hiring right is essential for business bottom lines, but successful talent acquisition is a tricky art.

According to a survey of 300+ business leaders by Paradox and Harvard Business Review, 91% agree that successful recruitment is necessary for long-term business success – but just 28% get it right.

This is primarily because of how time-consuming and inefficient the processes are.

JKL Advisors’ founder Jeffrey Lackey, former vice-president of talent acquisition at CVS, shared: “Many hiring managers are bogged down with so many administrative responsibilities like paperwork and scheduling that it takes away from where they could be having more of an impact— like spending more time with people or on strategy.”

It is time for organizations, and particularly HR teams, to abandon legacy viewpoints and technologies.

Instead, there is an urgent need to really embrace modern technology that makes their lives easier, rather than adding more to HR leaders’ plate.

HBR found that 83% of leaders believe that the tools that a company uses for talent acquisition have a substantial impact – but only 26% currently have a modern talent acquisition platform.

The report stated: “Respondents whose organizations use a more modern tech stack for talent acquisition are at least 11 percentage points more likely than those with an outdated tech stack to be satisfied with every area of the talent acquisition process.”

The ROI of AI and automation

The modern technologies that are having the greatest impact on organizations’ ability to hire are AI and automation.

HBR’s research found that 97% of the organizations that had automated some steps of their recruiting process reported that the automation had been “valuable”.

“Automation gives us the ability to eliminate the administrivia that goes into recruiting so we can refocus the human relationship on human-related issues,” added Lackey.

But the reason why 37% of organizations are yet to automate any areas of their talent acquisition processes is cost, difficulty making the business case and uncertainty around which tools to use.

So, what must HR leaders do to overcome these challenges, and reap the rewards?

HBR and Paradox suggested seven steps to success. Listen, use data, consider the organization’s readiness for change, figure out the best (and most urgent) use cases.

Then HR needs to find the right tech partner, really focus in on the business outcomes and identify who in the team will own the new technology.

Getting this right is more than just a priority, it is a necessity.

This year at UNLEASH World, AI is taking center stage. Industry luminaries like Josh Bersin and Anika Grant will be sharing their insights, and you can’t afford to miss out – grab your tickets now!