The talent landscape is bonkers and as fierce as it has ever been. In the technology space it was not that long ago that we would only target talent from a few selected companies and we would only be targeted by a few selected companies, quite often the same list for both scenarios. Now every Tom, Dick and Harry claims to be a technology company and have the audacity of stepping across engraved industry lines to get their piece of meat. Brace yourself recruiters, fine tune your skills and sharpen your pencils coz it’s getting more complex (and enthralling) by the day.

There is no more room for complacency in the tech talent world anymore. Successful companies who were used to a plethora of top talent knocking on their door is a thing of the past. Just-in-time talent is obliterated so an equal effort to protect the people that deliver the greatest value and the ability to build intelligence on external talent landscapes has never been more important. Retention programs and RSU handcuffs are being utilised more than ever before where firms better understand the true cost of losing and replacing their prized Talents.

Recent years has been an embarrassment of start-up firms entering the talent acquisition space to try and overturn the archaic ways many companies still recruit. Research suggests if a recruiter does not recognise the names of your last 2 employers the chances of you getting an interview are almost zero. Subjectivity and bias are evidently pronounced and have been for decades. Using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) tools to better uncover relevant talent based on previous hiring decisions is an imperative and will become more widespread in just a few years. Screening, filtering and assessment software along the recruiting cycle are a must too if we are to mature as an industry which has been malnourished for ever so long.

Therefore, the role of the recruiter as it is today will become obsolete, period. Other than at the executive levels where the art will remain largely preserved, at the more volume levels a talent acquisition professional needs to invest time and effort to be closer to their businesses than they ever have. Exciting times await us in a land where candidates can secure jobs without having ever done the job. Where our ‘job match’ will be just as much about our behaviours, drivers and traits and it will be about our experiences. Cannot wait!