Who is driving who in the world of recruitment technology?

We live in a world where technology is everything. Many of us will still remember a world without it, although question how we used to function without it, but innovation still happens on an almost daily basis; consistently making our lives easier, faster. It’s no different within the recruitment industry. We started off with the life-changing ease the first applicant tracking systems brought us and yet now, just a short time later, we’re regularly using video interviewing – even considering virtual reality in some instances – as a way of streamlining processes.

But who is actually driving this change…?

Your initial thought may be towards the technologists – the people innovating, of course! But without the users, what is innovation? In a selfie-driven, smartphone world, if it’s not fast, easy and engaging, then users move onto the next thing that is and user adoption defines the success of innovation.

Recent research by Deloitte told us that 81% of people have a smartphone and 76% a laptop. If you also consider the dominance of smartphone apps – over 2million each in both Apple and Android stores – it’s no surprise that users are preferring the speed of meeting their needs through specifically designed apps over kicking a laptop to life and navigating various programs and websites to meet the same aim. And don’t even get us started on mobile-adaptive websites.

This all may not come as a surprise to you if you’re considering Generations X, Y and soon to be Z (yes; that makes us feel old too). But would you think the same about our Baby-Boomers?

We’re all busy, regardless of ‘generation’, and this clearly showed in our recent case study with Bromford, with statistics showing that even older, more senior candidates preferred to complete their video interview via their smartphone app than desktop, and in their own time away from typical office hours. This got us asking ourselves who is leading the way in recruitment technology adoption. Watching in which direction candidates go is fascinating; they appear to be shaping the evolution of their own candidate experience.

With less and less people using their phones to actually make phone calls, where will ‘candidate innovation’ take us next..?

Without giving the game away as Shine dev team beaver away…all we’ll say for now is watch this space!