Predictive analytics becoming more popular in recruitment

SHRM has long been keeping the pulse of the recruitment space, following trends and predicting the future direction of the industry.

Recent surveying they’ve highlighted has shown one area to be slowly, but significantly, shifting: predictive analytics.

What are predictive analytics?

Sas.com defines it as:

“The use of data, statistical algorithms and machine learning techniques to identify the likelihood of future outcomes based on historical data. The goal is to go beyond knowing what has happened to providing a best assessment of what will happen in the future.”

Ten years ago, some HR managers were experimenting with using metrics to measure the cost and impact of HR initiatives, but few HR professionals had any background in data analysis. Those that did had little support.

Now, although the number of organizations actually leveraging workforce data is still relatively low, it’s starting to see a real shift.

According to a 2015 report by Deloitte, less than 9% of respondents said their organizations had a strong team in place that could handle data analysis within HR. However, 32% of companies say they are ready to begin using predictive analytics.

What does this mean?

The use of data to assess and improve recruitment will be the biggest game-changing trend in HR over the coming years, according to SHRM.

Predictive analytics will take metrics to a new level by pinpointing whether job candidates share the same characteristics as an organization’s best-performing employees. Data will also be used to promote wellness by identifying behaviors that lead to higher illness rates or by determining which parts of the company have the best and worst accident rates.

The world is shifting towards data and HR is certainly not being left behind.