Innovations in Recruitment

Natalia Fridrikova
General Manager
Beagle Recruitment Company

The business environment today is such that commitment to HR is becoming an increasingly important issue necessary for any company's development. The labor market dictates its terms, and HR experts need to be dynamic and proactive in order to match it at the highest possible level.

One of the most crucial reasons for implementing new HR programs is the anticipated personnel shortage, attributed directly to the demographic collapse of the 1990s. In general we will have an aging population, with an increase in retirement age, and the load on the labor pool will grow. All these factors will result in high competition among employers for gaining young qualified personnel.

Another major problem in the modern labor market is the discrepancy between the experience and the skills of candidates and the actual business requirements. Furthermore, after graduating, young professionals have considerably high salary expectations, which do not comply with the level of their work performance. These are the typical representatives of Generation Y — according to generational theory, these are people who were born in 1984-2000.

Y's differ considerably from their precursors because they are focused on horizontal growth, giving priority to personal skills development and stimulating work activities over a long standing career. They are flexible and result- and efficiency-oriented. Today the representatives of Generation Y have begun searching for job, but companies are not ready to work with such candidates, since they require a level of customization in business activities and in the company in general, in accordance with their needs. This is a fundamental issue for HR divisions. In the view of the aforementioned issues facing the labor market, it is worth noting the major trends in professional HR approach. In pursuit of a qualified worker, those employers who are responsive, adaptable to work, flexible and promote their own benefits are always in the lead.

The first trend is speed. Continuous technological improvements result in acceleration in business and in recruitment. In the last four years, the number of the Internet users has increased fivefold. Global integration into the Internet and social networks has resulted in wider sociability and freedom. The Internet has become an important information source for recruiters. Surfing the Web, we can now rapidly gather information on targeted candidates and select those we would like to work with further. Access to information has become easier, and the speed of obtaining it has increased.

Currently, the number of social network users is 10 times those who use job sites — HeadHunter has 5 million current CVs, while Odnoklassniki.ru has registered 45 million profiles. The popularity of the Internet has resulted in a situation where job fairs have also become virtual. Moreover, job sites have developed mobile applications available to their clients and candidates.

The second trend is technological effectiveness. One efficient tool in HR responding to this trend is the development of videorecruitment. This is a new recruitment method involving video job interviews that allow for a more effective way of dealing with personnel shortage. Videorecruitment is becoming more and more vital, as foreign companies open offices in Russia and relocation develops within the country. For this reason, the demand for long-distance job interviews is growing, and speed has become a crucial issue. At this moment in time, videorecruitment needs greater investments in equipment and dedicated links, the development of video job interview guidelines and privacy protection. Thus, it is not yet widely used. But it is likely that reference offers may be created to be bought and implemented by other companies.

The third trend in recruitment and HR management is the flexibility that employers need to apply regarding their staff. The number of companies that meet their workers halfway, by allowing working from home, shifting schedules and extended leaves, has increased. Undoubtedly, all these aspects affect a company's HR brand, the development of which has been shown to be one of the trends in HR management in 2011. Today, it is not enough simply to be responsive, adaptable and flexible. It is also important to show that a company is attracting potential candidates, and keeping and motivating those who are already employed. As practice shows, today the majority of the candidates prefer a company with a well-developed HR brand regardless of compensation offered.