Maren Hogan, Consultant, Red Branch Media

Recruiting, like marketing, has been turned sideways and inside out over the last few years. The advent of social, mobile and the changing nature of work have been subtly chipping away at the status quo and innovative technologies and philosophies (yes, philosophies) have been paving the way for new, more innovative ways of working with talent (see what I did there? instead of talent acquisition or management, it’s called foreshadowing).

Games for screening. As anyone familiar with the recruiting practices of big ups like Google knows; games, puzzles and the like have long been used to separate the wheat from the chaff, to use biblical terms. But now gamification is being taken two steps further. Screening and performance management are two new HR functions being affected by…well…fun. Just two years ago, analysts were predicting this very advent, but most were bearish on whether or not corporate America would give the go-ahead to something that appeared at best a slight productivity bump and at worst, a Gen-Y mollification. But with unlikely contenders signing on with gamification vendors, this idea is ripe and ready for organizational plucking.

Video technology in screening and recruiting. Five years ago, video resumes were making the rounds at conferences. While everyone was initially wowed by the idea, most HR pros and recruiters recognized that video resumes, for the most part, were cumbersome and stressful for both candidates and hiring managers. Add ATS integration woes and the format went on life support, while companies like HireVue, GreenJobInterview and InterviewStream focused more on the company than the candidate, building a network of companies who started to get comfortable with the idea of video interviewing and screening. Now newcomers like Wowzer, Take the Interview and Async Interview are focusing on the gaps that have widened in the last five years (due to social innovation, privacy concerns, and global corporate and SMB needs), while analysts, bloggers and practitioners focus on changing the perception about what video in hiring technology really means. The state of video today? It’s being used in the “proscenium arch” of talent functions, from replacing the phone screen to marketing new openings, highlighting company culture, and onboarding and training. Whether companies choose a homespun solution for recruitment marketing or a slick platform for screening and branding, it seems there are few areas that video can’t touch.

Rewards. Did it take a near economic collapse to convince companies that it’s not all about the benjamins? It sure seems so. While money is still listed as an important motivator, studies increasingly show that it’s not the most important thing to employees. Enter rewards and performance management, while not the same thing, have become inextricably linked in our industry lexicon and with good reason. Performance management, whose rise to blogosphere prominence may be best illustrated by down under newcomer Sonar 6, has been thankfully simplifying perf. management and measurement for the last few years, along with Kenexa and SuccessFactors (whose acquisition by SAP was the numero uno reason for industry insiders -yeah I said it- to even talk about performance management last year). In an HR Utopia, getting your performance management right should be followed by a great rewards program. DIY rewards have always been popular, but studies show that many companies are getting it wrong. Platforms like Achievers are helping organizations get better at giving their employees what they need, not only by pushing out a great platform but by building educational tools. Another spot-on innovation? Giving employees more of a say in recognition.

Mobile in recruiting and job seeking. A few years ago, applying for a job via phone seemed like a pipe dream, but thanks to strides by vendors like LinkedIn, Jobvite, LinkUp and Beyond as well as corporations like PepsiCo investing in mobile sites and applications, it’s coming closer to being a reality. When mobile was initially discussed as a viable channel for recruiters and jobseekers, analysts worried that resumes weren’t portable enough, ATS wouldn’t be able to integrate and tracking would be a nightmare but those problems are slowly and surely being resolved. Even the early musing that a generic resume could be uploaded but would still not serve jobseekers since it couldn’t be customized is being dealt with by apps like Pocket Resume. With smartphones and tablets spiking in sales over the last 24 months, mobile job application (and on the other end, post, review and interaction by recruiters and hiring managers) is a classic example of business tech influenced by the hardware we use. While mobile no doubt has more uses than simple redirect recruiting, the time jobseekers (especially passive ones!) spend on their mobile devices points to even more engagement to come.

People matter. An idea that is finally starting to permeate corporate culture. from project based roles, cultural alignment and MBTI job matching apps to work-life balance, ROWE and peer reviews, the person is more in focus that ever before, an apt change as our economy depends a little more on knowledge and a little less on lifetime career devotion. Creating environments where individuals can contribute their skills, teach, learn and mentor and then move on or shift gears has been a pipe dream for bloggers and employees alike for some time. While we’re not there yet, this is an idea whose time is coming.

Maren Hogan is the chief marketing brain at Red Branch Media, a marketing communications firm in the B2B space. Follow her on Twitter @marenhogan.