Ecosystem 10 Part 2: Engagement Talent Acquisition Tech Trends

Talent Acquisition Technology Ecosystem Taxonomy

The Talent Acquisition Technology Ecosystem is divided into four stages. Each stage consists of verticals and each vertical consists of sub-verticals that further define and describe the current state of TA tech. While the overall structure of the Ecosystem remains unchanged, several evolutions have happened at the vertical, sub-vertical, and vendor levels. We’ve added one new vertical, one new sub-vertical, and consolidated four sub-verticals into two, reflecting the rapid pace of change, innovation, and disruption in the market today. In the first part of our Ecosystem 10, we took a deeper look at the first stage of the Ecosystem, the Source stage.

Today, we evaluate the second stage of the Ecosystem, the Engage stage. 

Join @TalentTechLabs as they dive deeper into the second stage of their #Ecosystem 10, the #Engage stage: Click To Tweet

Ecosystem 10: Engage

Key highlights and trends regarding candidate relationship management and recruitment marketing:

Given the high M&A activity in Conversational Bots and functional overlap with texting tools, we combined the category with Candidate Communication. This sub-vertical now describes technologies that use text, voice, and sometimes video to communicate with candidates across messaging apps, mobile, and other channels. Most buyers should have sufficient messaging capabilities in their CRM. However, if they want to experiment with emerging solutions in voice, companies must explore standalone options. The adoption of candidate communication tools in post-hire activities remains nascent.

We see the Candidate Relationship Management sub-vertical evolving into TA suites with two flavors: all-in-one ATS+CRM and specialized CRM. Companies across this sub-vertical are adding AI and Matching capabilities to their platforms. Many vendors have also begun expanding into Talent Management offerings, including career pathing and internal mobility.

The Recruitment Marketing Platform is potentially the next evolution of CRM, combining candidate engagement functionalities (engaging with identified candidates) with the ability to advertise to job seekers (that have not identified themselves). In practice, this typically means companies that offer CRM functionality, employer branding solutions, and a programmatic job advertising solution.

Key highlights and trends regarding employer branding:

In the Employer Brand Management sub-vertical, there is a shift towards transparency into company culture, offering unbiased information, and portraying an understanding of what it’s like to work on the team and become a part of the organization. Many large employers are looking to increase their marketing budget around their employer brand, seeing it as a way to help attract and nurture passive candidates in an extremely supply-constrained environment.

The Employer Review sub-vertical, once a disruptive business model, is now mature, with players looking for new areas of innovation and growth. We expect players to apply the model into increasingly niche areas, such as what Fairygodboss has done for women. We also foresee more community-based employer reviews, with localized employer review sites by industry. An area of growth is DE&I-focused communities, which give candidates insight into an employer’s hiring practices related to diversity and inclusion.

@TalentTechLabs breaks down the changes to the #Engage stage in the #Ecosystem 10 in their latest blog: Click To Tweet

Key highlights and trends regarding job optimization:

In the Job Post Optimization sub-vertical, AI-based text analysis is one of the areas shown to move the needle in terms of diversity impact and, in our view, is an example of good use of AI in recruiting. Many companies are now looking to leverage such technology to help Hiring Managers and recruiters write better job descriptions for a rapidly evolving set of job titles and skills profiles.

Virtual Events are a relatively new offering in the recruiting realm, driven by necessity in a now remote- and hybrid-first world. For many vendors in this category, recruiting is but one use case among many. Many recruiting platforms now offer some lightweight version of event management, and recruiting-focused vendors differentiate by their ability to drive qualified candidates to company-branded events.

In the next part of our Ecosystem report, we’ll focus on the second stage of the Ecosystem, the Select stage. 

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