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“People will forget the things you do, and people will forget the things you say. But people will never forget how you made them feel.” Although many variations of this quote are circulating, the praise and horror stories shared on job search sites prove how perfectly this wisdom fits in the realm of recruitment.

As employee expectations and mobility continue to soar, HR organizations realize that providing a lasting positive experience is easier said than done. Employers must decide which people they need to attract, how employer branding and recruitment messages will resonate, and how and when to reach out to potential candidates. But such goals are impossible to achieve if recruiters do not know their audience in the first place.

Created in collaboration with Oxford Economics, the SAP executive study, “4 Ways Leaders Set Themselves Apart” reported that 71% of high-performing HR organizations believe that digital transformation eases the ability to attract and retain talent. However, it’s also difficult to ignore that an overwhelming selection of talent acquisition solutions keeps recruiting separate from the rest of HR – leaving recruiters in the dark and missing out on internal talent and downstream analytics around hiring effectiveness.

Connecting recruiting to the rest of HR opens the door to the right people

When investing in a recruiting solution, businesses are not just picking a technology standout. They’re choosing a winning strategy that empowers them to critically evaluate, plan, optimize, and improve every stage of the employee experience. Unfortunately, many siloed recruiting point solutions cannot provide the visibility needed to operate so strategically.

Not sure if your siloed recruiting point solution is archaic? Here are four emerging recruiting trends that can help you decide.

  1.  . Job seekers rely on company reviews and ratings before submitting their résume

The best recruiters are often your own employees. Now more than ever, people are using third-party review and rating sites and their own network to see if a prospective employer matches their values, offers the right benefits and salary, and supports learning and professional growth – long before they apply for a job.


The best recruiters are often your own employees. Now more than ever, people are using third-party review and rating sites and their own network to see if a prospective employer matches their values, offers the right benefits and salary, and supports learning and professional growth – long before they apply for a job.

Companies must be hyper-aware of what information employees are posting on sites and social media as well as the first impressions they give potential candidates. By building strong relationships between talent acquisition, HR and the business, recruiters can see what is going on in the company that can be positively or negatively impacting employee engagement and hurting future chances of attracting the best talent. Creating a feedback loop based on reviews and creating a process for how the business should address negative reviews are becoming more and more critical.

  1. . Desired skills should include adaptability and agility to take on new responsibilities later

Companies are finding that it is more sensible to hire employees who can adapt rather than spending what is equivalent to an employee’s two-month salary and an exorbitant amount of effort to hire someone new. In fact, as the SAP executive study noted, “top 100 companies are spending more to retrain existing employees, managers, and executives” as they create new roles to support their digital transformation efforts.

While investing in your employees is always a sound strategy, it is also sensible to provide learning that is meaningful. Every new hire comes with a unique set of experiences, talents, and skills. Connecting recruiting data with learning and development applications gives corporate trainers an accurate view into each hire’s needs so they can personalize a path that will increase time to productivity, career success, and engagement – starting on day one.

  1. . Artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded in recruiting technology

To narrow the initial applicant pool, many companies have traditionally adopted solutions with artificial intelligence and machine learning. But now, we are finding that some businesses are going a step further by using these advanced digital capabilities to tackle broader problems, such as identifying bias and streamlining the hiring process.

The technology is automating not only the analysis of applicants’ résumés and backgrounds, but also eliminating bias from job descriptions and the hiring process, and predicting workplace culture fit and potential for future success and advancement. Once candidates become onboarded new hires, many companies are using the insight gained during the recruiting process to strategically retain that employee. But this cannot happen if the information remains in the recruiting solution; it must be shared across all HR applications.

  1. . We live in a relationship-driven world

Although candidate relationship management is regarded as the cornerstone of a successful talent acquisition strategy, few HR organizations have adopted a practice with a solid foundation that is focused on the entire recruiting processes. According to Kyle Lagunas, research manager of Emerging Trends in Talent Acquisition and Staffing at IDC, “The challenge is complex, equal parts technology gap, skills gap, and change management gap.”

With new innovations, recruiters can tap into data that is generated throughout the HR organization – spanning core HR processes as well as talent management and workforce analytics. This approach helps recruiters look at downstream data to make decisions, rather than siloed, “snapshot in time” data that only tells part of the story. All while the opposite is true – remaining HR areas can leverage recruiting data to develop future leaders and engage all employees with automated, transparent processes.

Data-driven insights help reshape recruiting’s value

In light of these trends, businesses have no choice but to inextricably link recruiting with the entire employee experience. Otherwise, every data point and insight gained from the first candidate contact to the official hire announcement is lost. And for HR administrators, corporate trainers, hiring managers, and executives, this is a missed opportunity for getting an inside look at how they can better engage and grow their talent.

By connecting every phase of the employee experience, businesses can overcome the high stakes associated with employee engagement, development, and job distribution. But more importantly, the leadership team has everything it needs to position the brand as an employer of choice.

About the Author

Jeff Mills
Director, Solution Management - Talent Acquisition

Jeff Mills is SAP SuccessFactors' Director of Solution Management for Talent Acquisition. Jeff has a long history in SaaS, product marketing, digital marketing, and user behavior.

About SAP SuccessFactors

SAP SuccessFactors Human Experience Management (HXM) Suite helps you completely reinvent the entire employee experience. You can shift from traditional HR transactions to engaging, end-to-end experiences, using intelligent technology to make each interaction simpler and more meaningful. And by linking employee feedback to operational data, you’ll understand what’s happening and why, so you can continuously deliver unexpectedly exceptional experiences that keep your business growing.

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