Harnessing the Power of Predictive Recruiting Analytics for HR

Human resources professionals are always looking to the next competitive advantage to give them a head start on staffing trends and technologies – all to assist in their efforts to secure the best talent.

The advent of ‘Big Data’ in the Digital Age has given rise to new predictive analytical models that have been applied to ever more scenarios. Today, HR can leverage Predictive Analytics as a gauge to measure the probability of talent management, recruiting, employment and career turnover and market statistics – as a bellwether for future HR trends.

As defined by Webopedia, Predictive Analytics is ‘the practice of extracting information from existing data sets in order to determine patterns and predict future outcomes and trends.  Predictive analytics does not tell you what will happen in the future. It forecasts what might happen in the future with an acceptable level of reliability, and includes what-if scenarios and risk assessment.’

Applying this principle to recruiting is a way of becoming more effective in the hiring process. Rather than relying on paperwork and instinct, as many recruiters continue to do, leveraging data to look at trends provides for both better efficiency in the hiring process as well as better candidate quality as well. These calculations are being adopted into the hiring and retention processes of more and more recruiters and human resources professionals as the success and adoption rates continue to rise.

HR metrics used in the past were simplistic and failed to analyze past and current data to reveal patterns and trends. Predictive Analytics provide insight into metrics such as shifts in historical patterns and why they are happening, new relationships and factors in talent management, and allow firms to be more strategic in their hiring and retention practices due to the ability to be more forward-looking – with better forecasting, risk assessment and therefore better preparation.

Harnessing the power of ‘Big Data’ has become a widely accepted strategy across a variety of business spectrums including the realm of hiring in human resources. Firms are employing predictive hiring analytics to vastly improve the success rate in the acquisition of new talent, as well as retaining current employees. Companies have come to realize that understanding their employees and what drives them to seek better opportunities is crucial to their success. Leveraging analytics in hiring and retention practices help ensure that an organization maintains a competitive advantage.

As the economy continues to improve, and companies scramble to ramp up their hiring and attract new candidates, the pressure to hire quickly grows – possibly resulting in poor hires. Using advanced analytics to assist in the hiring process helps identify the right candidates for the organization – which in turn helps with lower turnover rates in the future. Even slight increases in retention can lead to a significant impact in a company’s bottom line due to gains in productivity by keeping an experienced, trained employee versus the costs of recruiting, training and ramp-up time for a new hire.

A company adopting predictive analytics practices in their handling of human resources also gains useful insights on their employee’s effectiveness by identifying who is successful in their organization – and developing a data-driven model as a framework for better hiring. By identifying a profile of successful characteristics, firms can create optimal employee profiles – and the assessment surveys to efficiently and effectively search for – and recruit these individuals.

All the data in the world in and of itself won’t ensure a firm’s success – but leveraging it to research and analyze trends, and predictably replicate positive achievements – can be invaluable to an organization’s long-term prosperity.