How recruitment and hiring has changed

  Posted on 05/09/2019

The evolution of recruitment – how things have changed over the years.

Pre WW2 - when many people really didn’t even need a CV – family members and friends often recommended you to employers. Word of mouth – and someone’s reputation - was probably most important in helping people find jobs.

Post WW2 saw a boom in white-collar working jobs; during the 1950s and 1960s, the first recruitment agencies were founded, to help clients gain access to a much larger talent pool. CVs then became important. Newspapers started to print job advertisements much more than they had previously.

Moving forward into the 1980s and 1990s, the invention of the fax machine came to the fore; the fax machine enabled recruitment agencies to send CVs to clients and talk through those CVs, over the telephone. This helped speed up the recruitment process.

The next major technological advancement was the Internet, and the introduction of email – now THE way that most businesses communicate with one another. Print advertisements in newspapers and magazines saw a massive decline, whilst the posting of jobs on Job Boards and websites enabled candidates to reply with the click of a button. Employers too, could search job boards and match CVs to their opportunities.

Social media is now playing a significant role too; employers and recruitment agencies now post advertisements and announcements on their social media pages, and link people back to their website, where they apply online. Social media is useful because it has the option to “go viral” – and be forwarded to friends and family, so there is more of an opportunity for a vacancy to be seen by thousands of people. Recruitment agencies utilise many social media platforms, including LinkedIn to reach out to many potential candidates.

Email marketing has also become a major player; many candidates “sign up” for alerts and when a vacancy matches their desired requirement, an email is sent to them, alerting them to a potential new opportunity. Recruitment agencies encourage thousands of candidates to sign up to their website – this gives recruitment agencies an excellent advantage as they have a wide range of candidates, all looking for their next opportunity.

In addition, mobile phone technology helps hiring managers attract the best talent; clients have taken advantage of this technology and many employers and recruitment agencies now use mobile apps to communicate with their potential candidates using “push notification” technology. With the majority of people carrying a smartphone which accesses the internet, emails are also received when people are on the move. Even the interview process has changed significantly. Technology such as Skype enables recruiters/hiring managers conduct their first stage interviews. Recruitment – where is it heading next? Let us know your thoughts…

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