Sometimes we have to screen hundreds of candidates. It would definitely be faster and more effective to use AI for this. We would be able to quickly search through a vast range of sources, send suitable profiles an automated message and have the submitted résumés analyzed. We would end up with a handful of filtered candidates who we could then invite for an interview. That’s the ideal scenario.
Recruiting is moving in the direction of automation in many respects. For BESTMINDS, that is a technical advancement that is useful to an extent, but does not necessarily help us in the final selection. We are looking for specialists and managerial experts for highly discerning customers in demanding industries. An automated system is simply not yet capable of competing with a person who has in-depth expertise in a given field. The recruitment consultants at BESTMINDS are experts with many years of experience in their industries who select suitable candidates based on their personal, interpersonal/social and professional qualities and abilities. Only the right combination of these qualities and abilities can ensure success for our customers and candidates as well as us ourselves. Preset keywords often have an error rate that is too high to be useful in this setting, meaning that someone who could have been the perfect candidate might slip through the cracks.
I always keep an eye on current and developing trends. For instance, the younger the candidates are, the more important work-life balance is for them. This will continue to be the case in the future, and recruitment consultants will have to respond with an open mind in order to balance out their own experience and any age difference. Otherwise, they risk not quite being on the same page as candidates.
Big data, augmented analytics and cybersecurity are also important topics for us. A major current issue in recruitment consulting is the EU-GDPR legislation. But the subject that has impacted us the most this year is the digitization of communication. The COVID-19 pandemic has put us to the test and shown us the extent to which we have already arrived in the digital age. We were able to continue our work remotely from our homes without any major disruption, although we did have to get used to certain changes such as conducting interviews via videochat. This afforded us a little insight into areas where we can and should make our processes more digital.
We are always open to meeting new people who would be a good fit for the BESTMINDS team so that we can cover greater territory in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Last year, we welcomed senior partners Michael Splitt and Peter Majer to our team, and we are generally open to further new partnerships. Above all else, we are interested in new recruitment consultants who complement our team in terms of both personality and professional qualifications. Anyone who is interested in working with us is always welcome to contact us to arrange a non-binding discussion.
I am always excited to see BESTMINDS continue to develop and improve. This could include searching for outstanding candidates on behalf of new customers, welcoming senior partners for new locations, or integrating new trends into our workflow. But what I am most excited about is forging and maintaining new relationships with candidates, customers and partners on a personal level. That has always been my motivation, and the aspect of the job that I most enjoy. Hopefully this will remain the case in the future, too. Then I would happily stick around for another 100 years.
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