Despite living in a time of technological wonders, there are many issues that technology tools haven’t been able to and, in fact, may never fix. The reasons why are complex, but generally speaking, can be attributed to the philosophy and approach favored by the modern technology sector. Tech companies pride themselves on increasing particular metrics like operational speed or volume, often at the expense of long-term planning or impact. As a nonprofit leader, you know the importance of forward planning, making sure your organization is prepared for the best and worst that might come. This approach should include recruiting — quite often, you aren’t going to know whether you succeeded until months or years down the line.
Because recruitment is a major challenge for many nonprofits, many have been enthusiastic to adopt and experiment with the latest tech and recruitment tools, particularly AI. However, this technology alone isn’t going to solve the ongoing nonprofit staffing shortage. Here are some of the ways nonprofits misuse technology, and what can be done about it:
Enthusiasm versus success
One of the key pitches of most technology companies, whether they be selling recruitment tools or video editing software, is that their tool is the ‘future’ of their respective industry. This attempt to build hype works to create pressure on prospective buyers to adopt the technology, even before the technology has been operated at scale, used in an extensive range of situations, or traversed other pitfalls that can take years to encounter.
Nonprofits are surprisingly eager adopters of new technology, but like any early adopter, it can be hard for them to accurately measure success. Say you integrate a recruitment platform that increases the number of people applying to your open roles ten times and makes the hiring process twice as fast, but all of the people you hire end up leaving after six months. Was this a recruitment success or failure? In the eyes of the technology company, those are impressive numbers, but not necessarily ones that lead to a mutually successful outcome.
Before adoption, it’s best to have an idea of what metrics your organization should keep track of. Because so many recruiting tools focus on volume, this has created a feedback loop of applicants mass applying without looking at individual job descriptions. This may make for some gaudy numbers that look good in a marketing presentation, but it doesn’t necessarily mean success.
New tech can create as many issues as it solves
The central conceit of most new technologies is that they allow you to increase the speed and efficiency of the hiring process, saving time and money while also connecting you with the ideal candidates. However, software has its own limitations, and it isn’t designed to fit the specifications, needs, and culture of your organization. That isn’t to say that it can’t be useful, as much as to say that you should look at technologies on a case-by-case basis and be clear on what recruiting issues you consider most urgent. You may find that having a deluge of prospective candidates can actually create more work than your team can reasonably complete, or that an automated screening process consistently filters out many qualified candidates.
New technology can also force your team to spend more and more time learning the new tools and integrations, taking time away from your organization’s mission. Because automation tools and AI can be fairly labor-intensive to learn and iterate on, bringing in a new technology platform or suite of tools can also mean you need to dedicate many person-hours to making sure your HR and recruiting specialists are confident using these tools.
Technology tools are useful, not transformative
A quick perusal of the recent media coverage of the recruiting technology space boasts headlines describing the process as “Soul-crushing”, and that some new technology is “Crushing Workers’ Dreams of Getting Hired”. Attention-grabbing hyperbole aside, there is a consensus among job seekers, recruiters, and even technology evangelists that something is broken, and in many cases, getting worse. Many blame technology, which, by automating as much of the process as possible, has removed the human component from what should be a relationship-based and collaborative process.
Each role, each organization, and each team is different, but layering endless amounts of new tech tools on top of this does not do away with this difference. Technology tools that promise to fundamentally transform the recruiting process have done just that, but by eliminating anything deemed ‘too slow’ or inefficient, they’ve also failed to account for the nuances of recruitment that are difficult to capture in an automated system.
Imagine you have two candidates, and one of them has written their application, resume, cover letter, and other documents in a way which uses the particular, automation-friendly keywords and phrases. An automated system would see them as a “better” candidate and push them higher than the other, but nothing about their actual skills, personality, or investment in the mission has been assessed. Similarly, a candidate with a less robust or system-friendly background may be filtered out, but may have many of the traits your organization prizes, and might be someone who would grow into their role with more training.
None of this is to say that these tools aren’t useful, just that they shouldn’t be seen as the end-all-be-all solution to what remains a very difficult task. Successfully using technology isn’t about plugging in different tools until you find the right one, but rather, identifying what issues you have and making sure you have a process in place that measures both the short- and long-term impact of any new technology.
501(c) Services can help you find what you need
Our organization was built to help organizations like yours identify new opportunities to be more efficient and effective at completing their mission. Whether you’re looking to improve upon what you’ve got or totally rework your approach to recruiting, we can help you free up resources and establish new ways to measure success. If you’d like to learn more about our organization, please reach out to us.
ABOUT US
For more than 40 years, 501(c) Services has been a leader in offering solutions for unemployment costs, claims management, and HR support to nonprofit organizations. Two of our most popular programs are the 501(c) Agencies Trust and 501(c) HR Services. We understand the importance of compliance and accuracy and are committed to providing our clients with customized plans that fit their needs.
Contact us today to see if your organization could benefit from our services.
Are you already working with us and need assistance with an HR or unemployment issue? Contact us here.
The information contained in this article is not a substitute for legal advice or counsel and has been pulled from multiple sources.
(Image Credit: Canva.com)
