5 major innovations in recruitment

Since the health crisis, we have seen an acceleration in the digitization of business processes and an improvement in HR practices. This has been accompanied by innovations to reinvent the way the company operates, in particular the way it recruits tomorrow’s talent in a struggling market.

Human Resources are now a playground for innovation. Indeed, the market for HR solutions offering dedicated recruitment modules, and in particular the ATS (Application Tracking System) market, has seen continuous growth over the last 10 years, with new applications appearing every year.

So first we wanted to share with you 5 innovative companies/startups to follow in the next few years:

• YAGGO which, within 3 days, provides a personalized and sympathetic response to unsuccessful applicants, including advice on how to optimize their CVs.

• I’m not a CV/Ergho which aims to bridge the gap between companies and candidates. On the company side, we come and observe the position to be filled in order to discern the needs in terms of know-how and interpersonal skills required. On the candidate’s side, no CV but a thorough description of all their experiences (professional and private). But we can also cite other examples of platforms like Maki and Jobfirst

• Goshaba, a solution for assessing soft skills in the recruitment process

• HRflowi.ai which uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to structure, enrich and evaluate candidate data

• Hollo which wants to halve recruitment costs in the pre-qualification phase thanks to AI.

But beyond these HR technological innovations, the recruiter’s profession is tending to change and renew itself to meet the new constraints of the job market and the expectations of candidates.

We have therefore selected 5 innovative methods that aim to change the lines of traditional recruitment in 2023, and most likely in the next 5 years.

To anticipate the recruitment challenges of tomorrow, it is essential to develop solid adaptation strategies. If you’re interested in this subject, we’ve written an article on the keys to adapting as a recruiter.

The job offer with salary to better recruit

Displaying the salary in job offers is not common in French recruitment. Remuneration and money in general remain a taboo in French society. However, a recent study carried out on young people between the ages of 25 and 35, puts salary back in 2ᵉ position, after work atmosphere, as a criterion of attractiveness to candidates.

It is true that we are still very far from the generalization of this practice. However, some companies and recruitment professionals are beginning to experiment with it.

The Indeed job board will no longer publish job offers that do not specify a salary.

” Starting this month, we’re going to ask all companies to publish salaries that correspond to job offers, which is something a number of companies don’t like to do,” Matthieu Eloy, Indeed France’s managing director, told BFM Business in September 2022.

Another example of a company approaching the point differently is SHINE, which has decided in 2019 to make the salary grid public, displaying the right salary according to market trades and based on employees’ impact on the company.

Note that this same logic was launched back in 2017 by scale-up Alan.

Among the positive points of this practice:

• Consider the “fit” between candidate and company rather than the salary;
• Reducing job seekers’ freedom to bargain;
• Know as an employee, the compensation of new hires;
• Promote a corporate culture of openness and equity.

The debate within the company is therefore open! All that remains is for you to consider its relevance to your organization and your business.

The 4-day week

This measure is not new: the first French companies adopted it in the 90s, after the passage of a law designed to promote employment through the reduction and reorganization of working hours.

In the wake of the health crisis, the subject is back on the agenda in discussions between companies and governments.

Examples include Spain, Belgium and, more recently, the UK, where hundreds of companies have been experimenting with a 4-day week.

The results of the latter? Companies and employees alike are largely convinced, because on the one hand, good economic results are announced (e.g. 35% increase in sales), and on the other, benefits are observed for employee health (e.g. 57% drop in resignations, less absenteeism and improved mental health).

To go further, here is a list of 10 companies that have experimented with the 4-day week:

nc : not communicated at this time

The philosophy behind the 4-day week is to work less to work better, it attracts young and old alike, who are looking to establish a better work/life balance. In the IFOP-Cadremploi barometer, we note that 65% of executives dream of working in a company that would practice the 4-day week (without loss of salary of course).

Note that according to a June 2022 Robert Half survey, 35% of employers are considering experimenting with a 4-day week in 2023!

This new way of organizing work has a huge impact on recruitment, employer brand, digital transformation,work environment and hiring processes. It also responds to growing needs in terms of well-being at work, skills management and talent management.

In short, the 4-day week opens new perspectives in the world of recruitment and human resources management. This is not just a trend, but a real transformation that will shape the future of work.

The escape game for recruiting

We’ve been hearing about gamification of the recruitment process for a few years now, but the tool is still attracting companies: Pôle emploi and the Union des industries et des métiers de la métallurgie launched on January 13, 2023 an innovative method for successfully recruiting in a sector experiencing a labor shortage!

The aim is to design a game tailored to customer needs and an evaluation grid for the observers. It is above all, a human activity that completes the process. The aim of the game is to find out whether the candidate will be recruited or not.

In December 2022, the McDonald’s group and the Startévo training center tested the method. They wanted to recruit 5 young people on work-study contracts to manage a team, set up a space game and solve puzzles.

This method was used to identify the qualities and skills of the candidates and to evaluate them according to an adapted technical sheet. It is true that this type of recruitment process is not adapted to all positions and sectors of activity, especially for the more technical professions. But it can be a source of inspiration for recruiters.

A recruiter at Lidl shares her experience with escape games in recruitment: ” We detect a lot of things that you can’t read on a resume. This is really interesting! “

This new approach to recruitment highlights the constant evolution of practices and tools used by recruitment professionals.

In short, the escape game is an innovative tool for recruitment, offering a unique experience and allowing you to explore aspects of candidates that are not apparent in a simple CV. It is therefore essential for human resources professionals to stay on top of new methods and tools to optimize their recruitment strategies.

Recruiting without a CV

I had already dedicated in 2022 a very detailed article on this practice. Today, it is clear that CV-free recruitment is gaining ground in France. The jenesuispasunCV platform, and others such as Maki, are actively involved in its deployment.

However, the path to its generalization is a bit complicated. Indeed, on the one hand, you would have to go through the recruitment process without a cover letter. On the other hand, the majority of HR solutions sold by major publishers have historically based their architectures on CV analysis, but today’s and tomorrow’s functionalities are and will be designed around Artificial Intelligence, and will essentially process data obtained via CVs.

SMEs, for their part, are well advised to consider this innovative method, which will undoubtedly be less costly than setting up an ATS, and which will considerably reduce the time it takes recruiters to analyze CVs.

For large companies, opting for CV-free recruitment will not compete with or replace the crucial role of an HRIS (or an ATS), but will allow recruiters who are struggling to hire to expand their sourcing pools, this time based on candidates’ skills.

This innovative approach to recruitment highlights the evolution of practices and the emergence of new tools within human resources functions and recruitment firms. It is part of a change management approach designed to ensure a better match between candidates’ skills and companies’ needs.

Recruitment has become a real headache for companies in 2023. The challenges are numerous: attracting candidates, converting them and retaining them in a constantly changing environment. If you’re interested in this topic, we’ve written an article on HR trends for 2023-2025.

Anonymous recruitment

Known as ” Blind Recruitment “, anonymous recruitment is a concept born in the United States. It was first used in 1970 by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, to diversify their almost all-white male teams.

By definition, anonymous recruitment consists in anonymizing the personal information of candidates (name, first name, age, gender…) which can consciously or unconsciously impact a hiring decision. In France, the idea is not new either, and was even included in the Equal Opportunities Act passed in May 2006.

However, discrimination is still a reality. In 2019, a CNRS study revealed significant discrimination of people based on their origins. The researchers found that North African applicants, for example, received 20% fewer responses than French applicants.

From a technological point of view, certain HRIS solutions, mainly from American publishers, are natively equipped to implement this recruitment practice (for example, Oracle HCM via its ORC module – Oracle Recruiting Cloud).

However, as part of the projects I’ve carried out to help French and international HR departments deploy ATS (Application Tracking Systems), anonymous recruitment was not one of the topics discussed in the workshops.

Nevertheless, this practice has its advantages:

• Encourage a diversity of profiles, especially those that are atypical;
• Matching the company’s needs with the candidate’s skills;
• Strongly reduce discrimination for applicants.

While anonymous recruitment is often prescribed as a quick fix for diversity, there can be limitations. This won’t work, for example, if the company doesn’t already have a diverse pool of applicants… You have to take the subject seriously and across the board, with a whole recruitment approach in terms of diversity.

Moreover, this recruitment method only works in the pre-selection phase, because once in a face-to-face interview, biases may resurface.

But it can work: Oxylio, a company specializing in the used car trade, has been implementing a proactive policy of anonymous recruitment for several years now, in order to diversify its teams. The result? 70% of salespeople come from a non-automotive sector.

Conclusion on major innovations in recruitment

To conclude, the field of recruitment, which has no limits (notably regulatory), can easily innovate in its practices and processes. This leaves HR tech players with an unlimited field of technological innovation, which is not always easy to navigate.

SQORUS, a Council specialized in the digital transformation of HR, Finance and IT functions, can help you with your recruitment and HR innovation issues. Do not hesitate to contact us to discuss this with our experts.

See also our feature on "HR strategy management tools".

• What are the key issues facing HR departments today?
• Organization, talent management, recruitment: priority HR projects?
• Human resources management: what HR strategies for the future?
• Best practices to manage your HR strategy in an optimal way
• The different HR management tools to carry out your HR strategy
• HRIS software: the different areas of intervention for the HR function
• How to convince your management to invest in an HRIS tool?
• Is it necessary to be accompanied in the management of an HR strategy?
• What indicators should be defined to measure the performance of an HR strategy?
• HR strategy: how to achieve effective HR reporting?
• Who should drive HR projects in the company?
• Setting up a working group for an HR project: who should be involved?