Earlier this week, TAtech held its first-ever all-digital North American Conference (proudly sponsored by PandoLogic). Due to global safety restrictions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers at TAtech knew the show would go on just on a more intimate and digital scale. Organizers and sponsors alike came together to give the industry at least some semblance of normalcy. Conference attendees were treated to some of the best in the HR and Talent Acquisition field providing their thoughts on some hot topics all from the comfort of their own homes. Here are the 4 main takeaways from the TAtech North American Digital Conference, starting with…

Getting People Back To Work

The topic on everyone’s minds was obviously the circumstances that led to the event being held digitally: the COVID-19 pandemic. Its impact has been felt far and wide in major ways. One of the most obvious has been the staggering unemployment numbers. Most attendees at the event were concerned with getting people across the country back to work.

In the Human Resources space, everyone’s first concern is always the people. They’re what keep businesses running and for many in the industry, they’re why HR professionals do what they do. It’s clear the pain that stems from this global crisis was felt during one of many surveys conducted. When prompted with the question, “What step should employers take first to prepare for post-COVID-19 recovery?” 46% of attendees agreed that contacting laid off or furloughed employees should be the very first step.

The Importance Of Candidate Experience

One of the first panels during the event discussed the impact of technology has had on the candidate experience. HR and TA professionals from some of the top companies were there to offer their experience when it comes to using cutting edge tech to supplement their hiring efforts. Sadia Ayaz, Director or Organizational and Talent Development for Waste Management framed it best, “The biggest problem for a company the size of Waste Management, we realize the war on talent is very real…You truly have to get ahead of the competition in terms of candidate experience.” Ayaz offered some case study data wherein, Waste Management would lose highly qualified candidates before the interviewing phase because their original process dragged on for days, meanwhile, their competition was scooping up their talent left and right.

To finally combat this, Waste Management implemented tech that would decrease the timeline from applicant to hire. They were able to reduce what would normally be a process over several days to one that would occur in several hours, thereby increasing their hires and reaching their goals. This would in turn become a running theme woven throughout the conference. Qualified and interested candidates can be hard to come by, but through technology anything is possible.

Core Values Are More Than Just A Poster

During this time of work from home and quarantine, company culture has taken somewhat of a back seat. The hustle and bustle of work-life has slowed down for some and really we’re all just trying to keep the lights on. But that doesn’t mean culture shouldn’t be a thing anymore. If anything, it’s times like this that demands company culture be at the forefront of thought within an organization. It’s the company culture that drives the way forward to successful post-pandemic reentry and eases the minds of employees; knowing their employer has their back no matter the circumstances. Core values and the impact they have on the company collective was so passionately discussed during Kathy Auld’s, Pontoon Solutions’ Director of ATS/CRM Technologies, presentation.

“Core values shouldn’t just be a poster on a wall, it should be woven into the fabric of your organization,” said Auld during her 15-minute presentation. It’s mission-critical to be aware of the culture of your organization as it exists within departments to keep your great hires around for a long time. You work so hard vetting and onboarding new talent, you would be doing yourself a disservice to not prioritize their experience once they’re in. Having an employee happy through the recruiting funnel and beyond is the balancing act that HR manages so impeccably. Now is not the time to lose that focus, but rather plan and improve upon it.

Programmatic and AI Technology Is A Game Changer

What ties all of these topics together? The need for automation, programmatic and AI technologies to assist teams no matter their size. In every session, keynote speakers and panelists raved about the HR tech their companies were using to improve their processes. Ayaz and Auld both noted in their presentations and discussions that their processes would be lost without the help of some manner of tech. In Ayaz’s case, she discussed automation as a primary driver of their reduced time to hire.

Automation has, unsurprisingly, become a huge driving force behind the growth of many companies. From the top of the funnel, all the way through to the new hire, automation, and programmatic technology have certainly made the largest impact. AI and programmatic tech helps crunch and spin data, automates scheduling, candidate outreach, interview feedback, or any other areas that may be slowing down your time to hire.