Love at first sight with the perfect candidate thanks to recruitment matching
What if we told you that the concept of matching isn't exclusive to dating sites?
Technologies for bringing together two profiles that seem to match are of great interest in the world of work, especially when it comes to triggering love at first sight between a company and a job candidate 💘. This is known as matching in recruitment.
Powered by artificial intelligence, this process makes it easier for organisations to unearth the rare pearl, the one with exactly the skills they're looking for, from among the mass of CVs received. Interesting, isn't it?
What is recruitment matching? Why is it essential for companies? What tools should be deployed to implement it?
Find out more. 🤔💡
What is recruitment matching?
Definition of matching in recruitment
The word matchingis often used to describe an affinity between two elements.
Matching in recruitment therefore defines a process consisting of identifying the most interesting applications based on their compliance with precise, predefined criteria. The systems used then assign a score to each of them, to help recruiters draw up an initial shortlist of talent before moving on to interviews.
Identifying the right profiles is generally based on the following components:
- technical skills
- soft skills
- professional experience
- level of education
- geographical location,
- other specific criteria such as possession of a particular driving licence.
CV matching is made possible thanks to the support of technology, in particular software (ATS and HRIS) augmented by artificial intelligence.
💡 To wit: what is affinity matching in all this? This concept, which we're hearing more and more about, refers to a method that goes beyond the traditional approach, since it's based on compatibility in terms of culture and values. The algorithms focus particularly on soft skills.
Use cases
Matching can be used for all types of recruitment, as it promises significant efficiency gains.
However, HR and recruiters are particularly keen to use it in the following two situations:
- ⌛ They need to hire new staff urgently. Matching technologies save precious time in sorting through applications. This speeds up the entire recruitment process.
- 🔍 They're looking for a very specific skill. There's no need to sift through dozens and dozens of CVs to find THE rare skill that's absolutely essential for the job.
What's the point of CV matching?
The benefits for recruiters...
Companies derive three main benefits from CV matching in recruitment:
- Saving time. Thanks to automation tools, there's no need to go through CVs one by one. Saving time is therefore the main advantage of a recruitment matching system, especially if you have to deal with a large volume of applications.
- Reliability of matching. The human brain is neither infallible nor impartial. Algorithms are more effective at finding the rare pearl... provided they are correctly configured.
- Writing better job offers. By analysing the profiles in your talent pool, you can find out which wording is used most often by candidates (for job titles, for example), and at the same time write clearer descriptions that rank better in search engines.
... and for the recruit!
As far as candidates are concerned, matching in recruitment also has many advantages.
- Less discrimination. The use of algorithms reduces discriminatory bias thanks to an objective assessment that is not influenced by prejudice, even unconscious prejudice (age prejudice, for example).
- More opportunities. Matching broadens candidates' horizons to include positions they might not otherwise have considered. Once their data has been entered into a computer system, their profile can be matched with vacancies for which they did not initially apply.
The limits of matching in recruitment
And where does the human element fit into all this? 🤔
This is where many experts see the limits of matching in recruitment. And with good reason, this highly pragmatic technology doesn't always know how to highlight the more atypical profiles, those who don't fully match the predefined criteria (non-linear career paths, etc.). And yet they often bring a great deal of value to a company!
What's more, some quality candidates can slip under the radar of the algorithms because they have omitted to mention certain skills, or because of a simple typing error in their CV.
That's why the matching tool should be used as a support in your recruitment process, but don't trust it 100%! Only you can apply this nuance, which technology currently lacks.
How do you make an effective HR match? 4 best practices
Matching in recruitment requires the use of IT solutions that deploy increasingly intelligent algorithms.
However, to fully exploit the capabilities of these platforms, you need to follow certain best practices. 👉
- ✅ Establish your sourcing strategy. It is essential to have a solid sourcing strategy, with the aim of attracting potential candidates and building the talent pool that will be used for matching.
- ✅ Define your selection criteria. You need to identify precisely the criteria that will be used to sort through your CVs, and then prioritise them. Which are absolutely essential to the job and which are a bonus?
💡 Don't hesitate to get in touch with the relevant departments to understand exactly what is expected, especially when recruiting a technical profile (IT recruitment, for example). - ✅ Have high-quality data. Always work with structured and up-to-date data, to avoid matching errors due to obsolete or incorrect information.
- Maintain your talent pool. To improve your HR matching, maintain an active talent pool. This means maintaining relationships with potential candidates, even if they are not hired, to encourage them to update their data.
Recruitment matching tools
They've been mentioned throughout this article, but what are the famous tools capable of matching in recruitment?
The two main technologies used are :
- ATS (Applicant Tracking System) software. These are recruitment management solutions that enable job vacancies to be advertised and applications to be collected and processed in an organised fashion. It is therefore quite natural that they include CV matching algorithms among their functions.
- HRIS (Human Resources Information Systems). These platforms centralise and automate HR management. More generalist in nature, they comprise a number of building blocks (HR Core, time and activity management, GPEC, etc.), often including a dedicated recruitment module.
🛠️ If you're looking for a specific example of software, here are a few:
- Softy: this ATS streamlines your entire recruitment process by intelligently organising your campaigns and applications within a single interface. Softy includes a matching algorithm to identify the profiles that best match your multiple criteria. The solution also optimises all monitoring of selection progress, using clear processing statuses.
- Zoho Recruit. This recruitment platform, aimed at SMEs, automates the recruitment process from A to Z. Thanks to its database, you can centralise all the CVs in one place. You can then use advanced artificial intelligence to identify the most suitable candidates for the job. These analyse the content of the applications, then rate and rank them according to how well they match the job requirements.
What can we learn from matching in recruitment?
At a time when the digitalisation of recruitment is leading to an increase in the piles of CVs on HR desks, application matching is changing the game. While it promises to save you precious time, above all it helps you to find the rare pearl, all the more so if you are looking for a very specific talent.
To take advantage of these benefits, you need to rely on the right technologies, specifically ATS and HRIS software.
But be careful not to rely solely on matching algorithms. There's nothing like a human brain to complete the selection process and make sure you don't miss out on a profile that may be atypical, but is so promising!
Article translated from French