The advancement in technology, once famous for creating jobs, is going to eliminate a lot of employment due to increased automation at the workplace. The HR is aiming to become the strategic partner and help organizations achieve its long-term goals. The organizations are emphasizing on talent analytics and artificial intelligence to hire the best-fit candidates.
The emphasis is on a nimbler organizational structure that can quickly adapt to the changes in the external environments and maintain the competitive advantage in the long-term. Since recruiters play a crucial role in fueling the organization by hiring the right talent, they need to upgrade their skills to stay relevant in the changing workplace.
Here are five skills that any recruiter must learn or upgrade today:
Emotional Quotient (EQ)
The EQ measures the emotional intelligence of a person. In the modern day workplace, the EQ plays a more crucial role than the IQ in the overall development of an individual. Being emotionally intelligent is important not just for recruiters but anyone who is willing to move the corporate ladder faster.
However, the recruiters will be unable to carry out their day-to- day activities efficiently without being emotionally intelligent and stable. When the AI (Artificial Intelligence) will do a lot of work, the success of individuals will depend on their negotiation skills, leadership abilities, etc. The EQ is the most basic requirement to acquire these skills.
Selling Skills
Even today, having selling ability is the minimum requirement to become an effective recruiter. The importance of selling will only grow in the future.
There is a significant change in all the functions of business. The job roles are changing fast. The need for hiring people with niche skills is growing. According to a survey by PwC, the lack of skilled talent and high unemployment rate is giving the sleepless nights to the CEOs. In future, the talent conundrum is only going to grow. Recruiters with better selling skills will play a crucial role in meeting the talent need of organizations.
Listening Skills
Listening is an essential element of overall communication skills. The recruiters must be excellent listeners. Irrespective of advancement in technology, this skill will always be relevant. Recruiters with better listening skills will carefully listen to both –the clients as well as the candidates. This will enable them to ask right questions and find out the perfect match. The algorithms based on machine learning may claim to find perfect skill match for vacant job positions. However, only recruiters will be able to evaluate the cultural compatibility and other non-technical aspects of a job role and find a suitable candidate.
Data Science
Data crunching is going to be an important part of recruiters’ job description. Organizations are relying on advanced analytics and software to hire, retain and manage high performers. The ability to use the existing data to comprehend the traits of successful future hires will be a great value addition to the recruiters’ profile. They will not only hire the best candidates but also find the ones who turns out to be a great asset to their clients. With the advent of Internet of Things, the big data will play a significant role in hiring decisions. Thus, learning Data Science is critical to stay relevant when automation and the IoT become a reality in the workplace.
Understanding of Technology
The recruiters need to have an in-depth understanding of technology and its usage. Today, most of the recruiters try to understand the overview of technology or a programming language which helps them in hiring suitable candidates. But this level of knowledge will not be enough for future. Of course, recruiters don’t need to be a programmer to hire great talent. However, since software and hardware will perform a lot of tasks, the recruiters must be in a position to recommend the tools which can be used to do a particular job. It will help the clients or organizations understand when to use a tool and when to hire a new employee.
The recruiter must also understand the social media and digital technologies and embrace them to grow their personal brands. In short, they must make friends with technology and stay updated on the latest development in workplace technologies.
Concluding words
What is new today becomes outdated in just a few years. Thus, the recruiters must develop a habit of lifelong learning so that they can continually upgrade their skills. The skills mentioned above are crucial for modern recruiters to survive and thrive in the next few years. However, you must keep an eye on latest development and stay updated to stay relevant in the constantly shifting workplace.
Adela Belin is a private educator and a writer at Writers Per Hour. She shares her teaching experience with colleagues, students, and writers. Feel free to contact Adela on G+.