About 20 years ago, there was a pretty standard process for hiring new employees. A job seeker would usually physically visit a place of business, ask for an application, then either fill it in out there or take it home and return it with a resume, if they had one. 

If the hiring manager liked what they saw, an interview was scheduled and one was usually hired based on whether their skill set and personality matched the expectation of the hiring manager. When it came to testing candidates' skills, that was usually done on the job.

While some of that old way of thinking is still applicable, technology has brought about an entirely new, more competitive hiring process. Businesses today have many more hiring tools at their disposal to decide whether a candidate is a good fit for the position before they ever get called for an interview. This new arsenal of hiring tools has both helped and hindered the hiring process in various ways.

Removing Human Bias When Possible

As a candidate, you will have to navigate through a barrage of automated tests and screenings before a human even sees your application. These tests will assess your role-specific skills as well as your soft skills. Those HR Software solutions we see today are only paving the way to an increasingly automated hiring process.

While it is understandable that HR Software helps HR teams and hiring managers to manage seamlessly the constant flow of applicants, automated testing is not always an accurate gauge of whether an applicant is a right fit for the role. This is especially true when one considers extenuating circumstances such as job seekers’ experience with online assessments, their physical condition, etc. 

Balancing HR Tech and Human Judgement in Hiring

Companies and applicants have a lot of opportunities to achieve a good balance between utilizing technology to improve the hiring process and inadvertently making the situation worse. For instance, companies should realize that having more data is not helpful if they’re not utilizing it properly. Knowledge is power unless you don’t know what to do with it.

How can hiring managers benefit from HR Tech solutions?

Target job posts better

Big data is a great tool for this purpose. Find out exactly who your optimal employees are, where they are, and how to best reach out to them. However, the caveat to this is to also make sure that unconscious bias or unrealistic expectations don’t cloud your targeting goals.

Social media will speak greater volumes to a character than tests

There are many valid arguments on both sides of this practice. However, if you really want to get to know someone, you may gain some valuable insights into who they are by perusing their social media. As with targeting, be wise in not allowing bias or unrealistic expectations to cloud your judgment. 

Recognize which HR Software solutions benefit you and which are lacking 

The number one advice to those who work with HR tools that can potentially lead to bias is this: 

‘’ Identify the risks and do your best to mitigate them. Understand the limitations of your HR Software, as well as the value it adds to the hiring process. After all, trying to use a hammer to pound a screw into the wall is not going to net you very good results.’’

HR Software has become an integral part of the hiring process. We are now able to attract and source the best talent, give workers the flexibility to work remotely in more fields and adapt to change easier and faster than ever before. The future of HR technology in business is exciting, as long as hiring managers understand when and how to leverage it to maximize the benefits and remove bias in the hiring process.