HR Trends to Look out for in 2018

By: Ankur Manchanda, Founder, GreenThumbs

Attempts towards hiring automation have been visible for a while now and will become more pronounced in the coming year. The field of talent assessments, an integral part of modern HR practices, is witnessing a major flux too.

Predictive Analytics

The flavor of the season for talent assessments seems to be predictive analytics and machine learning. More and more companies are banking heavily on data driven technology to allow them to make more accurate hiring decisions. The rationale driving this trend is that as machines are fed large amounts of data on personality and performance of current (and past) employees, the machines become intelligent enough to predict the chances of success of a specific individual in a specific role. Some of the progressive companies have also started using talent analytics to predict the flight risk, i.e. the risk of an employee leaving the company soon.

Gamification

Another way companies are trying to leverage latest technologies is through gamification. Gamified assessments involve playing neuroscience or psychology-based games to measure personality traits. It makes the whole assessment process more fun and markedly improves the candidate experience. For example, Unilever, has been in the news for using a combination of artificial intelligence and gamification for graduate hiring. It was found that applications to jobs doubled within the first 90 days of their posting and the acceptance rate of offers went up from 64% to 82%. The overall process was rated an average of 4.1 out of 5.0, based on the 25,000 applicants who took a survey.

Assessment guided interviews

Even with all the technological advances no current assessment tool is advanced enough to be the sole criterion for selection and this is not likely to change anytime soon. So face-to-face interviews will continue to be the mainstay of recruitment and selection. However, the typical resume-interview-assessment sequence is likely to get an overhaul, simply because it is not delivering the expected ROI.

The new process is likely to be built around pre-interview assessments which save time and deliver information that can be used to conduct better interviews. In fact, scientifically created assessments like OPQ, Thomas or the Psyft Personality Assessment are supplemented with detailed interview guides which if used correctly, can help interviewers use their time better during an interview by helping them ask the right kind of questions and immensely improve the decision-making process.

2018 could well be the year that finally sees the death of the CV. The assessments of the future are data driven, quick and fun and optimized for mobile devices. Exciting times indeed!