As we move into 2014, it can be tempting to simply carrying on doing things the way we did them in 2013, but the truth is that hiring and talent management is becoming technology led. This means that new hiring technologies are emerging which are empowering hiring functions and allowing them to move into directions they could only have dreamed of before.

It no longer makes sense for hiring teams to sit around in the dark working in efficient, dis-empowered ways when they can draw back the curtains and take advantage of a range of empowering talent attraction technologies.

Of course, there are so many technologies on the market, it can be hard to know where to start, but I reckon that there are 3 must have hiring technologies that recruiters shouldn't be without in 2014 and you can see my list below.

1. Video Interviewing Technology. Rigid, face to face interview schedules are out, and flexible interview structures, combining out of hours interviews, phone interviews and video interviews are in. Flexible interviewing is required to engage with today's time pressurized, top talent. Virtual interviewing technologies like HireVue and TakeTheInterview, to name a few, are crucial technologies for hiring as they enable you to deliver professional, branded, and well stage managed video interviews. Many of you may say that you can do this with skype (which is free), but doing it DIY with skype can look very amateurish and make you appear less credible, and so in order to convey a professional image I think that companies should now be using a professional, paid for virtual interview service.

2. Employee Referral Technology. Studies from CareerXRoads, Jobvite and countless other sources tell us that the most effective way to find talent these days is not jobs boards, but through word of mouth and employee referrals. The idea of employee referrals is not new, but it has been cumbersome to implement in the past, which is why it hasn't been widely adopted. But, all that has changed now; there are a range of Employee referral technologies on the market such as: gooodjob and Zao, which enable you to quickly set up and administer an employee referral program. Many of them have inbuilt motivational systems comprising of awards, badges and league tables (known as gamification), which help to motivate staff to refer talent. This has to be one of the top 3 must have hiring technologies of 2014, given the explosion of social media and smart-phone usage.

3. Recruiting Software. Yes, of course, this has been around for a long time, but recruiting software has often been seen as the preserve of rich corporates and large business due to the complicated annual contracts and high prices that used to be attached to hiring software. This has all changed now as there are plenty of cloud recruitment software providers on the market which are free or affordable and operate on a flexible subscription basis. This means that companies of any size can and should be making use of hiring software. It can not only save you time, it can automate much of the candidate relationship management process (e.g. acknowledgement emails etc..) meaning that you can create a much more positive candidate experience with minimal effort. And these days, you simply can't afford to have a negative candidate experience during hiring, that is, if you want to attract the cream of top talent in an extremely discerning marketplace.

Good Luck in 2014...