Insights for Talent Acquisition
The role of talent acquisition and recruitment is evolving, and AI and tech can provide the solutions.
A candidate-rich market, strict budgeting, skills shortages and near record-level applications. In a landscape where securing and retaining the right talent has never been more crucial, Australian businesses are battling major challenges when it comes to building and maintaining their talent pools.
At SEEK’s recent CoLab event, Australia’s top Talent Acquisition (TA) leaders, together with experts in People & Culture, AI, Economics and Data discussed the biggest challenges facing the industry and potential solutions in the near and long term. The following outlines some of the findings from the event.
For a full outline of the discussions and insights discussed at this year's event, read the report here.
Some of the top challenges being experienced by TA teams were identified as:
The rise of AI application programs driving up application levels and causing verification challenges
Defining ‘quality’ and removing bias in hiring
Hiring and managing the multi-generation workforce
SEEK experts dive into these issues with their recommendations on how to navigate the TA process in the current high-volume, resource-short market, noting that technology can tackle many of these problems, but not all.
Managing Candidate Volume
Applications per job ad have more than doubled in the past two years, and with tightening budgets, and fewer resources, many TA teams (77%) are looking to AI to support and streamline processes.
While AI won’t manage key components of the hiring process such as interviewing and decision making without significant human intervention, there are some elements where AI can be of great support to hirers, even in these early adoption stages, says Carolyn Bennett, Director of AI Product at SEEK.
“At SEEK our algorithms can assess the quality of a candidate’s application based on your job ad and estimate the number of high fit candidates you are likely to receive, so that you can resource accordingly.”
A major contention for many candidates lies in hirer communication, or lack thereof, and this is something that hirers should be proactively engaging with AI to solve, according Bennett.
“We know that it’s the number one pain point for candidates, and there really is no excuse for hirers to put off responding or, even worse, ghost candidates, regardless of how many applications are received.
“AI and automated processes can cut down the busy-work of scheduling interviews, prompting next steps and keeping candidates in the loop throughout the process. It’s a clear value-add, particularly when application levels are so high.”
Human Verification
Currently 35% of all resumes received via SEEK have been written by AI, but the number is growing quickly. While not inherently bad, this raises considerations around candidate authenticity.
The need to verify the accuracy of claims made, or even that applicants are genuinely and purposefully applying on their own behalf, requires more time and often more one-on-one candidate interactions – adding steps to the hiring process.
For some hirers, reverting to face-to-face testing is the best short-term solution, though is certainly not the most efficient, and it does not solve for the first-round shortlisting stages of the process.
Credential verification platforms such as SEEK Pass allow candidates to securely verify and share key credentials, such as work rights, qualifications, licenses and employment, during the application process. This enables hirers to rely on trustworthy, pre-verified data when making shortlisting decisions, helping reduce the burden of early-stage screening.
“AI can create impressive applications fast – but can’t guarantee they’re true,” says Xavier Russo, General Manager, SEEK Pass.
“That’s why verified credentials are becoming essential. They help hirers quickly spot genuine, qualified candidates and make faster, more confident hiring decisions.”
Quality Hiring: The Measurement Challenge
Many businesses struggle to objectively define and measure what constitutes a "quality hire" before recruitment begins. This can perpetuate bias in the selection process and hamper efforts to improve recruitment outcomes through data-driven approaches in the longer term.
“Understanding what quality looks like depends very much on the outcomes a business is seeking, the critical capabilities and behavioural traits required for the role and team,” says Suzie Custerson, Director of Talent Acquisition at SEEK.
“But if not defined at the outset, it can be left open to individual bias. We need to shift the dialogue to profile-based hiring.
“At SEEK we have embedded tools that can assess what a ‘high-fit’ would look like based on your job ad, backed by millions of hirer insights. They can surface incredibly accurate estimates of the high-fit candidate pool and make recommendations. But only the hirer will have the added context of culture and team make-up to ensure a high-fit aligns with a ‘best fit’ in any business.”
The multi-generation workforce
As the proportion of eligible Gen Z workers grows, attracting and engaging the younger generation alongside their more experienced counterparts is forcing hirers to reassess their processes.
Over half (51%) of businesses say the biggest challenge when hiring Gen Z is making sure they can offer an attractive level of work-life balance. Following this are the challenges of managing career growth expectations, not being flexible with overtime and going above and beyond.
More broadly, the difficulty is in managing these expectations among the wider workforce who may have different motivations, says Ukari Warmann, Director, HR Business Partnering at SEEK.
“In decades past a common approach was to encourage assimilation from the newest workers,” says Warman, “but Gen Z are now entering workplaces where everyone is still figuring out how hybrid works.
“Gen Z’s strong career aspirations and hunger for purpose means we must reimagine how we incentivise and manage all talent, starting by understanding worker needs and then balancing practices that work for everyone.”