Recruiting and hiring are highly competitive fields, and those parties on both sides of the transaction have a vested interest in getting ahead. Companies are eager to beat out their competitors by hiring the best possible people, and meanwhile, job hopefuls are looking to do everything they can to find the ideal positions. They want more money, better benefits and so on.

Both sides are facing a challenge, but fortunately, they can both find solutions in the same way – they can rely more heavily on business intelligence to help them make key decisions.

The bottom line is that the growing “big data” trend is one that can help everyone in the workforce. Companies can tap into more information on all the talented people out there, and individuals can explore the depths of the Internet for knowledge about available jobs. Information is easier to come by than ever.

According to VentureBeat, the sheer volume of data out there today is staggering. The news source recently reported on research from IBM which shows a total of 2.5 exabytes – that’s 2.5 quintillion bytes – being created by the world’s population daily. Even if only an infinitesimal fraction of that information is relevant in HR, it’s still a tremendous boon to the workforce collectively.

Sandeep Chand, an expert on the growth of software as a service in talent acquisition, told the news source that a major deciding factor for the future of HR will be companies’ ability to sift through all the information out there.

“What are recruitment technology companies doing today in preparation for big data?” Chand asked. “‘Garbage in, garbage out’ is a common phrase that can also apply to big data. In preparation for the encroaching days when data will get bigger, businesses must focus their provisional efforts on streamlining processes and associating data collections so that data is unduplicated and normalized.”

3 Ways Big Data Can Help With Recruiting

Filtering through the “big data” to find the most relevant nuggets is vital. Here are three major ways it can help.

Helping candidates find jobs
There are countless resources out there to help individuals find the right jobs, ranging from job boards to specialized websites and agencies. Which position is the best fit? It’s often difficult to discern the truth, but advanced BI tools can help job seekers do their due diligence and find the best opportunities out there.

Filling openings for recruiters
On the recruiting side, it’s never easy to choose the best applicant for a job simply on paper, but data can help companies find some key trends. What colleges and universities produce the best talent? What job skills are most relevant? BI can uncover secrets about how businesses find the best people.

Empowering companies against the competition
Everyone’s looking for the best possible talent these days – the figurative “war” is on. Having the smartest recruiters is one way to beat out the competition, but in 2014 and beyond, having the best BI tools may prove just as important. Whichever company mines for the most relevant data will be in prime position to come out ahead.