Big Data, Better Hiring: 10 Ways HR Can Use Analytics To Find The Perfect Employee Posted on : Jan 18 - 2019

Hiring practices form the foundation of any new influx of employees into your company. The methods and best practices used to guide hiring also impact who you hire and why. As such, companies are always on the lookout for new ways to find ever better candidates who align with the company ethos and brand. Enter: workforce analytics and big data.

Recent best practices of using analytics and big data applications throughout the hiring process have reshaped how many companies are finding their potential employees. Yet, what exactly are those HR methods and how can a company best utilize them? To help shed some light on that subject, 10 members of Forbes Human Resources Council share the HR hiring practices they’re most anticipating in regard to big data and analytics.

1. Attract More Diverse Teams

This hasn't been cracked yet, but if we can find a way to hire based on the skills that make someone successful and remove the ability to exclude candidates based on a bias, or gut feel, we can make better hiring decisions. We should then get more diverse teams and have more successful businesses as a result. - Karla Reffold, BeecherMadden

2. Determine What Engagement Drivers Affect Productivity

Each year, billions of dollars are lost in productivity due to employee disengagement. HR can leverage big data to determine what is driving employee engagement and what is hindering it. Through the use of employee surveys covering topics such as management style, goal achievement and culture, HR can learn where to focus its attention in order to re-engage employees and reduce turnover. - John Feldmann, Insperity

3. Drive Better Conversation Quality

As a people management platform, we are very focused on the manager and employee relationship and helping our customers to do the same. We poll about conversation quality after every check-in we do and adjust our check-in strategy slightly based on feedback. Data helps us prioritize our work. - Rachel Ernst, Reflektive

4. Become Predictive About Bad Hires

I look forward to HR teams utilizing analytics to predict candidate fit based on big data consisting of candidate skills, experience and behaviors. Avoiding bad hires prevents negative impacts to company culture, workforce productivity, client satisfaction and even organizational innovation, not to mention substantial costs related to recruitment, salary, benefits and training. - Dr. Timothy J. Giardino, Cantata Health, LLC View More