“The easiest way to solve the labor shortage problem is to ensure fast, frictionless engagement for anyone who enters the top of your recruiting funnel and continues through the hiring process — landing on your career site, starting an application, conducting an interview,” says Josh Secrest, VP Marketing & Client Advocacy, of Paradox. Josh has led talent and talent acquisition teams for some of the world’s largest and most recognizable brands.

In an exclusive interview with HR.com, Josh discusses the short-term and long-term strategies companies should adopt to address labor shortage problems. Josh emphasizes the importance of ensuring fast and frictionless engagement for candidates entering the recruiting funnel and highlights the role of conversational AI and automation in streamlining the hiring process. He also discusses the need for bigger industry-wide pushes and changes to compensation and career pathing to attract early career workers into certain industries.

Excerpts from the interview:

Q: Amidst low unemployment and skilled labor shortages, how should companies fix labor shortage problems?

Josh: There are short-term fixes and long-term fixes.  

In the short term, the easiest way to solve the problem is to ensure fast, frictionless engagement for anyone who enters the top of your recruiting funnel and continues through the hiring process — landing on your career site, starting an application, conducting an interview.

When candidate supply is low and companies are fighting labor shortages, it’s critical that they prioritize speed and simplicity — removing unnecessary barriers and getting qualified candidates through the process as quickly as is reasonably possible.

Long-term, the fixes are more complex. In some industries, there needs to be a bigger industry-wide push to attract early career workers into that industry (e.g., trucking, hospitality, healthcare, etc.). Additionally, many companies are considering changes they can make to compensation and career pathing to make the industry more attractive.
 

Q: What changes are required in the current approach to TA and sourcing to solve the talent crunch?

Josh: One change to help TA: Leverage conversational AI and automation to streamline aspects of the process. For example, offering chat or text to apply can shorten the application process from 20-30 minutes down to 2-3 minutes by requiring only the most important information upfront and removing the requirement for candidates to create a username and password (a common cause of drop-off).
 

Q: To what extent will new TA/recruitment technology help HR alleviate labor shortage challenges? Please elaborate.

Josh: Additionally, conversational AI can help automate common tasks in the hiring process — like screening for basic job requirements to ensure only qualified candidates reach the next step, and instantly scheduling interviews to cut down on the waiting time of a recruiter, recruiting coordinator, or hiring manager having to sync calendars. We have seen these simple steps reduce time-to-hire by more than 80% — and increase candidate conversion rates by more than 5x.

 
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