It’s a very exciting time as we see Talent Acquisition strive to meet in an integrated way with Talent Management and then integrating it with an even more meaningful tie-in to Organizational Performance and Development that provides a direct correlation to a company’s bottom-line.

As we see this convergence and consolidation take place I end up asking myself some very basic questions.

While each of these major organizations have selected those companies they believe are “best in breed”, will they actually all be able to perform as effectively on one base platform as they had individually? Will the sum really be greater than its parts? Or will the combined solution be watered down in order to have their disparate systems integrated?

Will the offering they provide to employers be modular (a la carte) or will you have to purchase the entire end-to-end solution? Seems like it will be very expensive if that is the case.

How long will it take to bring this converged product to market? One year? Five years? Somewhere in-between? Longer?

Is there a place for small-to-medium sized businesses in all of this? Or have they been priced out?

Will the candidate experience be made more engaging, authentic, and personal through this convergence of automation or will it become more machine driven?

Is gamification over-rated? At the very least I think the term has now been greatly over-used. I attended a recent conference, mRec, a week ago where the inside joke on the Twitter stream was “Every time someone says the word ‘gamification’ a unicorn dies”. Perhaps, the focus should be leveraging technology tools to have a more meaningful and efficient conversation between candidate and employer that develops a productive relationship rather than a machine driven process such as a game (at least within the context of engagement)?

Thanks again for your article. I guess everything that rises must converge.

Mike

Unless you’re part of the “Fabulous 5%” or have an in-demand skill, I just don’t see this as happening. When is the last time the VP of Staffing at an employer-of-choice was fired for overseeing a grossly dysfunctional hiring process that disheartened, depressed, or annoyed the 50-100 people who weren’t hired for every one that was? As long as we have high-un/underemployment, the vast majority of job-seekers can be treated like dirt, and if they don’t like it, there are plenty more much better than they are who WILL like it (or at least TAKE it).

No Cheers,

Keith

Anyway, like it or not these algorithms are here to stay and will only become more prominent. Why? because they work and can save companies millions. The caution is to know when to use them and how.