The biggest challenge with recruiting today isn't the massive amounts of information flooding the recruiting gates. It's not even the growing bytes of data amassing in the virtual cloud. One of the hardest facets of using big data in the recruitment space is using the data to aid in the process, and ultimately, to maintain relationships with candidates that don't fall apart.

Big Data Helps Find the Candidates

This data provides real value to companies, according to 82% of organizations. It helps to streamline all of the aggregated talent information to find the set of candidates that could be the best fit for the role. You know the skills requirements and personality prerequisites that deem a candidate fit for the position. Once you’ve found these candidates it’s paramount that the recruiter maintains relationships with them in order to uphold the standard of employer branding. After all, candidate communication is essential to identifying candidates who are deeply interested in the position, and developing the long-term relationships necessary throughout the recruiting process.

Get to Know the Talent Pool

Big data is becoming increasingly complex, but proper analysis of the data will allow recruiters to build more meaningful relationships with candidates and help to nurture that connection. Lisa Rowan, Vice President of Human Resources at IDC, said:

“There is more data available [about] the qualities of individuals that are successful in the company, so there is a desire to replicate that. It’s about more insight into what you would call a ‘success profile’ than you used to have.”

Big data is useful in collecting a pool of candidates qualified for the position, yes; however, it can also help recruiters analyze candidates against current employees in order to determine gaps in the workforce. By understanding the current workers, recruiters will be more likely to find what appeals to candidates with similar traits, thus making it easier to engage the talent pool. However deep the bench may be with candidates, understand the current team to better assess company needs in the future.

Stay Ahead of the Game

Internal recruiters often have to deal with numerous different systems to track all of the information necessary to the recruitment process. The problem is that this can inhibit the team’s use of valuable time, manually taking all of this information from the ATS, external job boards, the career site, etc. These programs don’t interact automatically, so the job of producing reports is left to be manually completed by the recruiter. It’s a rather common problem, as 65% of HR professionals mark the lack of critical data and analytics as one of the biggest problems when they don’t have an automated integrated system at their disposal for HR-related tasks. 

Streamline Information

Big Data Analytic products ease the wasted time by gathering all of this information so it no longer has to be completed by hand. It takes the data from multiple sources so recruiters can tell a more complete candidate story. Unfortunately, only 14% of HR departments use data analytics platforms to mine through candidate files. There’s an increasing need to pursue systems that can help recruiters find the candidates they need quicker and with less money. Mark Feffer (@mfeffer), President of Tramp Steamer Media, said:

“As more businesses turn to analytics to aid their decision-making, HR is feeling increased pressure to leverage big data in ways that impact everything from time to hire to training budgets.”

Without the proper tools to analyze and aggregate all of the candidate information, there would be little time to understand how big data can aid recruiters to build relationships with candidates. Delineating what that relationship entails is up to the recruiter.

Bio: Kelly Robinson

Kelly Robinson is the founder and CEO of Broadbean Technology, a sourcing and recruiting technology company. Broadbean Technology has created a strong global presence with offices in the US, Europe and Australia The company remains true to the core fundamentals of its inception: “Keep it light and fun while getting the job done!” Kelly writes about leadership and culture, as well as reducing friction in the candidate experience.