Heightened algorithmic decision making will speed up placement.

Algorithms already make better financial lending decisions than people. <link> The rise of well-fed, data-based analysis will come into its own in evaluating talent. It will have a notable impact on erasing confirmation and cognitive bias. Using algorithms eliminates the ‘gut instinct’ in making a hiring decision. Data sets will determine key performance markers for roles. This will enable faster talent evaluation and rejection. Companies will process candidates more efficiently, and provide better candidate care.

On-demand and contingent will overwhelm conservative organisations.

Smart devices and wifi access have rendered the flexible working debate over. Now, flexible working will involve more exposure to new approaches. Expect off-site co-working spaces within organisations and tech carpooling to share digital resources. A renewed focus on disengaging to manage ‘deep work’ and on remote managing will feature . Companies struggling with this problem will be outclassed – and outbid – in the talent-for-hire market.

Thickening data collection will provide greater complexity of viable data for analysis.

Predictive analytics will produce amplified workforce planning. Organisations are able to track and manipulate more employee data than ever before. Determining correlative data sets will help in more accurate workforce planning. Companies will apply the processes that underpin predictive consumer behaviour to employees. The resulting data means better workforce planning and transparent employee engagement. Which allows talent managers to more accurately forecast burnout, disengagement and potential trouble.

Live two-way communication will raise the bar online.

Social channels are narrowing focus on two feature sets. Live video is already a drawcard. Rapid two-way engagement is almost an expectation. Combining a rich content experience with immediate responsiveness is a natural extension. Device-led, seamless video conferencing is already abundant. Evolving this into a communal experience offers many benefits. Faster inductions, group interviews and easier information sessions are among them.

Chatbots will invade candidate care.

Chatbots already have a big presence in the HR space. As more and more organisations experiment, they will extend into candidate care. Using a polite, brand-aligned and AI-powered voice to manage candidate interactions makes sense. And the technology to build, launch and maintain them is extensively available. Using chat-bots forces brands to cement tone, which is long overdue in some cases. The consistency is overdue and welcome.

The balance of reputation control power will continue to favour candidates.

Employee reviews are here to stay. Glassdoor, Indeed and SEEK were the first wave. It’s likely that platforms that empower consumers to review suppliers will expand. Expect the ‘Yelp’ for recruiters model to include internal talent teams. Expect ‘celebrity’ emerging champions of the wronged candidate to appear. Poor performers will have little camouflage in a consumer-led digital market.

Recruitment agencies will swing back to a human-centric strategic partner interface.

As the grunt work is transitioned to machine led digital execution, people will come to the fore. Recruiters will have to shift to a relationship-driven approach to winning business. They’ll need to become partners, bridging the gap between agency and in-house faultlessly. With tech-driven insight, they’ll focus on human relationships as stock in trade.

Employer brand-driven social channels will merge into ‘islands of purpose’.

An overabundance of quirky ways to engage talent will dwindle. The core strategic platforms will emerge as true-to-life talent hubs. The marketing side of the employer brand will push proven ROI over novelty factors. Companies will put technology in the back room and push great, emotive content to the front. Teams will deliver more variety and a better narrative. In turn, this will influence employee experience debate in public.

Google For Jobs will change the game for candidates.

Well, this is happening. Google For Jobs will shift the balance of power significantly. Easy to use, familiar to use for most and combining great technologies, it’s going to have an impact. How quickly will Australian companies adopt it? Those that don’t attempt to integrate with Google’s ethos face marginalisation and obsolescence.