`Providers (ARTP) in the Churchill Room in Parliament in September. Employers were telling us they were unsure what sort of recruitment technology they should be implementing, that they were being contacted by numerous companies, many of which are startups, and employers were overloaded. The Association brings the industry together for the first time to create standards. Employers then know they are working with a firm that is compliant, and that follows best practice. The National Hiring Strategy is also about influencing government. What policy changes do we need around Right to Work or referencing? How do we create the best use of technology to enable the faster, fairer and safer elements? This faster, but ethically fairer element is something we have worked on with Dr Huw Fearnall-Williams from Lancaster University Management School – one of several projects I have been a part of with the School. Bringing academia, industry and policymakers together in such a way (as we did successfully on the AI in Hiring report, and as we do through our Modernising Employment All Party Parliamentary Group) is essential for us to succeed in making all of these positive changes. There is a key intersectionality here where we can work and act, rather than talk theory and hypothesise. We can see what we have done practically, and where the effects have been. There have been impacts already through the AI report – which has influenced Lord Holmes’ AI Regulations Private Member’s Bill – and there will continue to be more. Experts like Huw give the Better Hiring Institute credibility. He is an academic who brings rigour to the process, and confidence from the people we work with that our outputs are properly developed and researched. They are not opinion. More than 10,000 employers have downloaded our collaborative AI in Hiring guide, which shows the direct impact of policy on practice. WHO BENEFITS? For work seekers, these changes and the future development are about democratising hiring, so it is much easier for them to apply. We can level the playing field by using tools like AI to enhance applications, and we can speed up the process of people getting a job. The idea of a career for life, or even a job for five years, may not be true in the future, so the ability to move quickly and flexibly is going to be important. For employers, it is about helping them find the right person – and quickly – to improve productivity. Addressing the cost of holding vacancies is huge. For employers that do this well, there is a real brand reputational benefit for them too. Then you have government. Here, you have more money into the Treasury, a boost in productivity, a reduction in the welfare bill, and a resultant reduction in our debt ratings. A good hiring system might encourage more jobs to be located here in the UK. Britain is not very attractive right now as a place to build a new factory or to base a new company. We need to act so organisations want to invest in the UK. Knowing they can get good staff quickly is a means to that end. BEST FOOT FOWARD Our role now is to be proactive and build expertise on all aspects of hiring and related policy. When we see issues emerging that we know will be a challenge for industry, we look to get ahead in those areas. We need to visualise a future hiring system that has a trusted, easy, fast way to apply with AI and other technology; a way for employers to deal with recruitment fairly and quickly; and then a way to onboard people via their digital wallet, their national ID card, their digital passport, or other digital credentials. We can do this. We have already made great progress, and the UK can be global leaders in hiring once again like we were at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 13 Keith Rosser Keith Rosser is Chair of the Better Hiring Institute, and Director of Reed Screening. He is also an Honorary Teaching Fellow at Lancaster University Management School. The Better Hiring Institute (BHI) is a not-for-profit social enterprise driving the development of a modern, agile UK labour market, accelerating economic recovery. Working closely with all the major UK industries, the BHI is driving standardisation, best practice, and digital innovation to reduce hiring times, enable portability, and improve safeguarding.
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