Josh Tolan
New technologies continue to change every facet of the way we do business, including how we identify, recruit and hire the best people. Thanks to the latest tech innovations, today’s recruiting and hiring process has developed far beyond the traditional job boards and sit-down interviews of yesterday.
The onslaught of social media has made it easier to identify and connect with potential candidates. (If you say you don’t check job candidates out on social media, you’re lying.) Smartphones made it easy to recruit and interview on the go. Popular video chat platforms paved the way for video interviews.
In short, today’s hiring process has evolved to include employers, hiring managers, recruiters and job candidates — with tech as the middleman.
As technology advances, so will the way we interview and hire employees. Which brings us to the future of job interviews. Let’s take a look at how some of today’s emerging technologies will shape tomorrow’s job interview.
The Sound of Intellect
The skills gap is growing. It might be yesterday’s news, but it still affects today’s hiring process. In fact, ManpowerGroup’s ninth annual Talent Shortage Survey revealed that nearly 40 percent of employers globally reported having difficulty filling jobs — the highest percentage in seven years. As it becomes harder to find qualified candidates, employers will need to step up their hiring game. Today, it’s predictive analytics. Tomorrow, it’ll be voice analytics.
A new study by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business discovered that people found job candidates more appealing when they heard their pitch versus when they read it — even though it was the same pitch.
“In addition to communicating the contents of one’s mind, like specific thoughts and beliefs, a person’s speech conveys their fundamental capacity to think — the capacity for reasoning, thoughtfulness, and intellect,” said Chicago Booth professor Nicholas Epley.
As a result, companies are already beginning to develop various apps, software, and algorithms designed to screen job candidates and evaluate their potential fit for a role or company based on their voice.
One such company is Jobaline, which uses voice profiling to gauge a person’s likeability and charm. Beyond Verbal’s Moodie app performs much in the same way by analyzing voice to determine emotion.
While these voice profiling tools are still in an experimental stage when it comes to hiring, they could be largely beneficial for customer service or sales roles where an employee’s voice takes center stage.
The Internet of Things
The “Internet of Things” (IoT) is a phrase that’s been reverberating throughout the tech world as of late. From wearables to smart cars to self-sufficient appliances, anything that can be connected, will be connected. In fact, according to Gartner, there will be nearly 26 billion IoT devices by 2020.
So what impact will the Internet of Things have on the future of recruiting and hiring? For starters, more IoT devices means more data and analytics when it comes to identifying potential job candidates. And more data and analytics means a more effective recruiting and hiring process that leads to better hires.
Not to mention, it could also keep you from being late to meet job prospects — or adjust your schedule, as Mani Zarrehparvar, president of mobility technology firm Visage Mobile, shared:
“I’m imagining I walk out of my front door with my device. My device locks the door behind me. It starts my car. It pays for my coffee at Starbucks. It knows that when I get in my car and I say I’m going to Starbucks, it has my order waiting for me when I get there. It recognizes that I’m late for a meeting and changes my meeting because it knows — by my location — that I’m not going to be at the office in time to be there for my video conference meeting and it changes it to a voice call.”
The Star Wars Fan’s Dream
The advancement of video technology in the interview process has allowed us to visually connect with job candidates — whenever, wherever. With six in 10 hiring managers conducting job interviews via video, video interviews are on the rise. But how much further can we go with virtual interaction, when it comes to tomorrow’s job interview?
Star Wars fans, rejoice: 3D holographic technology is here. While it’s not yet available to consumers, it’s no longer just the stuff of science fiction. And it won’t be long before 3D holographic technology will allow interviewers to interact with 3D holographic projections of candidates.
In fact, it’s already being done. The infamous founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, used hologram technology to appear for an interview at The Nantucket Project just last year. This month, world-renowned physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking made a virtual appearance at the Sydney Opera House to give a lecture.
While we may be a ways away from interviewing job candidates via holographic projections, Star Wars 3D hologram technology is well on its way to becoming a future reality.
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