The Top Trends in Recruitment Technology for 2017 Such lackluster developments of the recent past are certain to trickle down to the year 2017 and therefore, the first half of this year looks like a mixed bag.

The year 2016 witnessed colossal changes in terms of business, social and political landscape, not only in India but globally. However, internationally, events such as US elections and Brexit and national events such as demonetization and GST bill haven't really been able to shake the resolve of industry stakeholders in their march towards technological innovation, automation and the consolidation of the startup space. Despite the economic slowdown experienced in 2016 post demonetization, we saw some fascinating technological innovation, which not only impacted the recruitment sector positively, but are projected to grow big in the year 2017.

Additionally sluggish economic conditions, leaving business owners and employers uninspired, haven't fully impacted their determination to expand and their intentions to hire more people. Nevertheless, this tenacity at present is faced with barriers like shortage of permanent workers with the right skills.

Such lackluster developments of the recent past are certain to trickle down to the year 2017 and therefore, the first half of this year looks like a mixed bag. This directly impacts the hiring season and the majorly impacted segments would be FMCG and Automobiles, which is anticipated to slow down. However, the predominant IT sector is relatively a little hopeful and expects to see a marginal increase, along with pharmaceutical sector that expects hiring big, while telecom and BFSI are likely to have pockets for robust hiring. Amid this economic and hiring mayhem, there is one segment that deserves special mention i.e. e-commerce. The rapidly growing e-commerce segment is projected to grow in the long run. Adding to the recruitment insights for this year, mid-size and small players in e-commerce have better growth and hiring plans as compared to their bigger counterparts.

On the other hand, bringing to the fore the operational limitations countered by several organizations in the country, it is believed that a lot of such places are operating with limited resources and are highly relying on temporary workers to meet targets. Given the current climatic conditions in the recruitment segment, let's take a look at how recruitment approaches and technology will be harnessed to support employers.

With such advances at the background, recruitment is going to be a complex problem to solve and recruiter still haven't zeroed on a process that ascertains benefits for a company. Even if few recruiter fashion a feasible way around, replicating the process across multiple companies in varied segments is not possible.

Nonetheless, as the saying goes "Necessity is the mother of invention", these challenges also bring in newer avenues for innovation. While some these innovation could be focused on reaching out to inaccessible candidates, while others try to improve the efficiency of recruitment process. Making allowance for the current scenario, there are certain trends which will be prevalent this year:

Social Recruitment: Thriving on the reach and popularity of social media, many recruiters are going the social media way to attract top talents. Having realized that it is important for recruiters to evolve with job seekers, they understand the passive aggressive way of looking out for jobs. This works best for top talents, as they do not want to be seen hunting for jobs on job portals and neither do they want their existing employers to be in the know of their job plans.

Building relationship with top talents: Ensued by social media way of hiring, getting closer to candidates and building meaningful relationship with them are emerging trends. This is a slow and continuous process of creating a talent pool, by focusing on prospective candidates, even those that aren't looking for a career move but still like to be in the know of potential organizations for jobs. This trend is more likely to transform the way organizations communicate with potential candidates. Potential candidates will more likely be treated as new customers and employers will be focused on gaining these customers.

Marketplaces: In order to meet the human resource requirements in manpower heavy industries, many employers associate with consultants to expand their reach. Owing to such practices new trends have developed and recruitment marketplaces are such trends that help employers manage and run this process effectively.

Artificial Intelligence: Given the lack of proper process, Job market is always in disparity in terms of demand and supply and amidst this chaos, the right candidates either get lost or go unnoticed. Counteracting such inadequacies and to get hold of the most appropriate bio data, employers have started experimenting with new age artificial intelligence platforms. A major chunk of talent acquisition leaders believe that sifting through a pool of applicants to identify the right candidates is the toughest part of the recruitment process. Artificial Intelligence of social data to predict candidate suitability and Chatbots to help automate the recruitment process are being used effectively not only to recruit but engage more efficiently.

Pay Per task platforms: With the new age Gig economy on the rise, companies today are also looking for people for short term tasks and offer instant rewards. While the salaried long term employment models might not feel the heat just yet, industry after industry are being disrupted by gig economy.

With these hiring trends emerging slowly and steadily, sectors which will actively hire are banks and broking firms in a bid to build large digital banking and financial research teams, resulting in hiring related areas. While some MNCs will be laying off employees, Payment banks, e-wallet and fintech companies are likely to witness 3-5 fold business growth, creating opportunities in the job market.