How Big Data Is Changing the Job Market

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Today, big data is changing the nature of virtually every industry. Recruitment and hiring processes are no exception. Big data has had a significant impact on the way candidates look for jobs, as well as on how employers make hiring decisions. Here are some of the ways in which big data has changed the job market:

Transparency

For job applicants, big data is especially useful when it comes to company transparency. For instance, consider the company CareerLabs, founded by Van Horne. As stated in an article on Fast Company, CareerLabs “layers in data on companies’ financial health and growth prospects, compensation, health care, career progression, culture, and management, among other criteria, to show candidates as full a picture of the business and its staff as possible.” The company collates data about company culture, past and present employees, political preferences, management styles, and much more.

This gives candidates unprecedented transparency into the inner workings of a company, allowing them to gauge whether they would fit in. According to Horne, big data prevents a candidate from choosing a job that isn’t really right for them. “Job seekers are planning to join what they think is a unicorn,” he says, “but instead might be joining a ‘unicorpse’ where the environment is unhealthy.” The use of big data in decision-making significantly reduces this likelihood.

Resume Building

Only 2% of applicants get an interview. Basically, this means that a candidate has to grab a recruiter’s attention as quickly as possible. To do so, a candidate needs to know exactly what an employer is looking for and tailor his or her resume to those requirements.

Here’s where big data comes in handy. Candidates can use big data and analytics to learn about company culture and improve their search based on their findings. Scouring employment databases and job sites that have large data sets can help candidates compile a resume that is likely to stand out.

Big data also aids candidates in finding major selling points for their target companies. This can, in‌ ‌turn, be used in their resume summary. The summary is often the first thing recruiters look at, so using big data to one’s advantage is crucial in this regard.

Predictive Hiring

From a company’s standpoint, big data allows for predictive hiring. Organizations can use data management and data governance to set and evaluate hiring goals. Using a combination of these in the recruiting process, businesses can mitigate the risk of poor hiring practices.

Today, many analytics tools exist to measure candidates on various factors, like personality traits and cognitive capabilities. These are ranked in accordance with key performance indicators that a company deems essential for success.

In an article on using big data in hiring, experts at SHRM write, “Vendors market their big data tools as predictive algorithms that will allow their clients to hire the right people by using data that maps the applicant’s profile onto the company’s available openings.” Based on the findings, companies can weed out candidates that are least likely to succeed. By using the insights gleaned from big data, recruiters are more likely to realize better matches between company and candidate. In turn, the hiring process becomes more streamlined.

Efficiency in Numbers

In today’s world, competition is at an all-time high, and employers need to go through thousands of applications to find the right candidate. Using data and analytics is one of the best ways to screen applicants in a timely manner. Machine matching speeds up the process for both candidates and companies, as machines can process large amounts of data and make sound recommendations in a fraction of the time it would take humans.

Thus, big data allows organizations to accommodate a larger candidate pool and not miss on high-potential candidates due to lack of human oversight. Subsequently, employers have more time to scope out applicants and are not limited by location, giving them access to a borderless applicant pool. This is especially important for companies that engage in offshore outsourcing — a strategy that has been proven to save money, widen the talent pool, and increase diversity.

These are just a few of the ways big data is impacting the job market. Ultimately, big data is key to making talent acquisition and retention more efficient. In time, as analytics software becomes more advanced, big data is sure to play an even more central role in both, the job searching and hiring processes.

About the Author

Magnolia Potter is a muggle from the Pacific Northwest who writes from time to time. She covers a variety of topics and prefers not to settle on just one. When Magnolia’s not writing, you can find her in the outdoors or curled up with a good book and a mug of butterbeer. She is still waiting for her Hogwarts acceptance letter. You can chat with her on Twitter @MuggleMagnolia.

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Comments

  1. hi magnolia, this article is a great guide to students aspire to build their career in Big data. Big Data Analytics is in the frontiers of IT. Big Data Analytics has become crucial as it aids in improving business, decision makings and providing the biggest edge over the competitors. Thanks for writing this.

  2. Frank Quintana says

    Your article is too naive. Recruitment companies, in conjunction with the ignorance of human resources, are responsible for the large artificial talent gap.

  3. A lot of applicants were not even given a chance for an interview. Their potential will be wasted. Glad this post revealed something, that is to excel and be good to their resumes. Once an employer catches their attention by your resume it would be a great chance for you as an applicant to proceed in an interview. Thanks a lot for this.

  4. Christiana Peter says

    Data is powerful.