How Recruiting Is Being Disrupted, And Why You Should Care

Leading companies’ methods for finding talent follow a typical routine: invest in several college and university programs, sponsor various events and conferences, and expect applicants to come running to your door. This may have worked in the past, but now that Millennials are a large percentage of job seekers, this model needs to change, and in certain industries, it already has.

The “informational interview” that many of us have either attended or conducted is no longer a reliable way to find the best talent. The future is much more comprehensive – it’s about accessing and engaging talent in new ways.

A recent Deloitte study calls this change, the “open talent economy — a collaborative, transparent, technology-enabled, rapid-cycle way of doing business.” Much like the way the film industry operates, the future of talent acquisition is one in which employers and potential hires will now find each other on a playing field that is more level and open than ever in history.

So what does this look like? There are several companies leading the way to the future of talent acquisition. Look at Glassdoor, a website that has completely disrupted how potential hires find information about employers. Glassdoor.com provides an inside look at organizations; one that cannot be controlled by traditional employers. You search for jobs on the site, see real-life salary details for any job within the company, and are exposed to reviews from the company’s employees. This article in Forbes covers one writer’s personal experience with Glassdoor and how she could have better utilized it before approaching the COO of a big company.

Other interesting examples are GitHub and StackOverflow.  Both were originally designed as places to share coding, but after attracting so many users, they evolved into leading job platforms in which engaged users could be invited to apply for jobs by companies like Apple and Google.  Github also has a rating system that allows the community to star work they think is useful, offering a peer-to-peer recommendation system of quality candidates.

Then there’s CodinGame, a website where programmers play and solve puzzles to improve their skills. Eventually, it became a place for both job hunting and recruiting. Programmers now get to practice their skills while demonstrating their abilities to potential employers. On the other hand, employers get an inside look into exactly what job candidates are worth, well beyond what their resume and portfolio might reveal.

So what are some key actions to take to prepare for the workplace of the future?

Here are three ideas to make smarter hires through the “open talent economy:”

1. Build a “community engagement” plan to better connect with the next generation of talent. Sites like Quora, Github and Stackoverflow don’t just offer jobs to the next generation – they actually build relationships with them and create a community. By engaging with the next generation of talent, your company is better able to learn what skills they already possess and what their needs and wants are in a new job. How do you start? Designate current employees to answer questions on Quora, serving as “detectives” to find subject matter experts in areas critical to your business needs.

2. Host a challenge for the next generation of talent to help you solve real business challenges. Problem solving networks like InnoCentive do a great job of this. InnoCentive crowdsources innovation solutions from smart solvers all across the planet, creating an accelerated form of R&D made up of brilliant freelancers. Utilize these fresh, eager brains to solve challenges in ways you may have never thought possible before.  Sometimes, by asking outside talent to solve specific problems, you may find someone who wouldn’t have been hired during the traditional recruiting processes.

3. Build an open learning network for potential hires to share and educate with you on your industry topic. Communities like MOOC, EDx, Khan Academy and Coursera are great, but they’re not the only way to educate. Your company can create an open platform, just like TEDx, to share and allow content to be developed by anyone. This can be easily governed and moderated in a way that creates great benefits for your business.

Times have changed and if you want to find top talent, you have to be creative. The best talent often comes from non-traditional places. Whether you engage in a crowdsourcing site like InnoCentive or a rating site like GitHub, it’s important to embrace the new models of talent acquisition that are leading the way.

This article was written by Erica Dhawan from Forbes and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. SmartRecruiters is the hiring success platform to find and hire great people.