What does ‘Big Data’ really mean for the agency recruiter?

This is a guest post from Tim Parker who is Sales & Marketing Manager at yu:talent.

Having recently made the transition from the world of recruitment into the world of CRM technology, I came across the phrase ‘Big Data’ for the first time recently. For whatever reason, this had previously slipped under my radar, but given that I now work for a company where we principally support the management of data, I concluded that this was something I’d better learn about.

What became apparent fairly quickly was
1) there was a lot of talk about big data.
2) a lot of people think it will shape the future of recruitment.
3) an accurate definition of big data seemed somewhat elusive.

Then I came across this excellent piece by Glen Cathey.

In summary Glen points out that Big Data is often confused with the actual analysis (and challenge in doing so) of very large data sets. The actual definition of what constitutes big data is measured in the 3 Vs – Volume, Velocity and Variety. So in a recruitment context, it might be that a data correlation is found between two variables which previously seemed unrelated or important. The importance of big data is in being able to identify these previously unseen correlations and make positive use of them. In this respect, he furthermore points out that asking the right questions of the data is also a critical component.

I then imagined myself back in the recruitment agency arena and how I would feel reading about big data being the future of recruitment. Overwhelmed and overlooked probably sums it up best.

However, I then took a step back to review what all this actually meant in practice for the agency recruiter. My conclusion was ‘not a lot’. I’m aware I may be sticking my head above the parapet here (but I’m also always ready to admit when I’m wrong if proved so in the future).

I can certainly see where ‘big data’ in its true sense will be very useful to large hiring organisations looking to analyse staff retention, attrition, cultural fit, etc. I do not dispute its value in this sense and can see how this could be used fine tune their requirement list and assessment tools.

The result of this however, should be that the organisation is able to establish an accurate brief for themselves and their third party recruiters as to what they are actually looking for. At this point big data has done its job and no longer takes a major role in fulfilling the brief.

As an agency recruiter, the importance is not the size of the data but the data itself. What should be presented to you and interrogated by you is a finely tuned piece of information in the shape of a job specification for an individual role. It is ‘critical data’ not ‘big data’ that matters at this point.

Data quality is what is paramount for a recruitment consultant. Having the right data (job spec) and then asking the right questions of it in turn leads to a consultant to seek out the correct corresponding data (candidate) which they present following a suitable data interrogation (interview).

It might be that the candidate falls into a demographic of social media user which has proven to be of greater retention within organisation x, but do they want the job is a far more critical piece of information at this stage in the process. For a recruiter, the primary skill is investigating and asking the right questions. This skill and the ability to evaluate the answers from both a critical and instinctive point of view is what results in a successful placement.

So for a consultant to be successful, everything truly rests on ability to obtain, match, store and deploy critical data. A weak link in this chain causes weak links within the pipeline.

How this needle point accurate data is stored and deployed is also critical. It’s not going to do you any good scribbled on a note in a drawer you have subsequently forgotten. You need to manage your data well as it is your weaponry to be deployed in your success. You need to have a full inventory and to be able to sort through it quickly. Finding, storing and using the right data, regardless of size is the route to your success.

As a wise person (possibly) once said – it’s not size but what you do with it that matters.