Artificial intelligence has been one of the most dominant trends in the recruitment industry in recent years.

Since embedding automation and technological advancement into staffing, organisations today can screen candidates faster, communicate with them more efficiently, and even reduce unconscious bias from the hiring process.

But what comes next? How will technology impact the future of recruitment?

Well if trends are anything to go by, the next step will be talent intelligence - the process of using technology, data and insights to inform every part of an organisation’s hiring strategy.

What is talent intelligence and why is it important?

Talent intelligence is not a step towards greater technological control, but rather it is an emphasis on hiring managers to get back to the fundamentally human part of recruitment - using experience and instinct to hire and retain the best people - empowered through technology.

No matter what sector they are a part of, it will be essential for hiring managers to understand what talent intelligence is, and how businesses can harness it to remain competitive, and become a leader in recruitment.

Talent intelligence presents opportunities such as:

• Staying ahead of recruitment trends that affect the jobs market
• Giving time back to staff involved in the hiring process
• Contributing to a forward-thinking, future-looking recruitment strategy

However, there are also challenges, and these include:

• Managing the costs of accessing the best insight tools
• Ensuring candidate information and trend data is private and safe from breach, both locally and internationally
• Establishing how talent intelligence is used during periods of significant organisational change or restructure

What does talent intelligence look like?

Talent intelligence will allow hiring managers to make better hiring decisions from a wide range of available information that is harnessed through technology. This could be alerting businesses to competitive hiring threats, trends in future talent, or identifying urgent hiring needs far in advance.

At its core, talent intelligence is about making smarter recruitment decisions that will strengthen an organisation and prepare it for the future. Whether it’s analysing where top candidates in the technology industry come from, or determining the key drivers of engagement for millennials in the finance sector, talent intelligence will assist organisations to utilise job search functions confidently and make hiring decisions that are sustainable.

How to prepare for talent intelligence

When technology radically changes the workplace, people can inevitably fret over job security.

However, while technology will undoubtedly play a part in the recruitment process for the foreseeable future, what talent intelligence reaffirms is the need for human experience and instinct to not only balance the hiring decision with technology, but also to remain an essential and fundamental part of discovering talent.

Put simply, talent intelligence is at its best when it’s used by people. That way, technology and insights are used in ways that suit an organisation’s needs, bringing direction and purpose to data.

As such for the future, hiring managers will play a critical role in applying human experience to insights generated by technology. To do this effectively, hiring manager should ensure they have:

• A profound knowledge of workplace culture and an understanding of the type of candidates that will adapt to, and complement that culture
• An understanding of an organisation’s goals and values and what makes these attractive to prospective employees
• An ability to look for and assess soft skills in candidates that technology may not have visibility over
• Seeing where insights can be used more holistically on projects happening across an organisation

Talent intelligence will greatly simplify and innovate the information that hiring managers have access to when it comes to making the hiring decision, allowing them to devote greater time and resources to the onboarding and retention of future talent.

Learn from Robert Half’s expert recruiters so you can build a talented team of employees or advance your career. Operating in over 300 locations worldwide, our recruitment firm in Brisbane can provide you with assistance where and when you need it.