The allure of consolidation in Talent Acquisition (TA) technology is undeniable. At first glance, it promises a streamlined approach: one vendor, one platform, everything neatly packaged in a single solution. The prospect of simplified management and promised cost savings is tempting for many organizations.
But is consolidating the right move for your TA strategy? And, is it possible to over-consolidate?
We’ve identified 3 primary risks of over-consolidation. Here’s what you need to know to avoid these pitfalls.
Risk #1: Loss of Agility in a Dynamic Market
Over-consolidated, legacy systems are notoriously slow to evolve. They often prioritize feature parity over performance, resulting in a bloated platform that doesn't deliver results. These systems struggle to keep pace with the rapidly changing talent landscape, leaving companies ill-equipped to handle emerging challenges or capitalize on new opportunities.
In the race for talent, especially for high-volume or hard-to-fill roles, this lack of agility can be a significant disadvantage. Companies need solutions that can adapt quickly to market shifts, candidate preferences, and industry-specific recruiting needs.
The risk of losing agility in a dynamic market is real and can significantly impact your ability to attract and convert top talent. Solutions that demonstrate a track record of proactive innovation and measurable improvements in candidate conversion rates are a critical part of your business success.
When evaluating TA tech solutions, ask yourself:
Does this platform prioritize performance over feature bloat?
Can it adapt quickly to your specific hiring challenges without requiring additional resources or spend?
Risk #2: Increased Advertising Budget to Compensate for Poor Conversion
Over-consolidated TA systems often promise efficiency and cost savings, but they can lead to a false economy. Many companies find themselves spending significantly more on job advertising to compensate for the lack of candidate conversion from their all-in-one TA solution. Why? Because these systems rarely innovate to meet evolved candidate expectations. Instead, they offer the most basic candidate engagement features that simply meet the status quo and allow buyers to check a box.
For example, the standard application process that requires account creation with a password to apply. This unnecessary step only exists because it was built that way 15 years ago, and there’s been little pressure to change it. In the meantime, ecommerce has figured out how to let people enter credit cards, share home addresses, and even repeat the process in a seamless and far more secure way. The result is better conversion and better security.
This lack of innovation puts employers at risk of losing candidates to competitors who adopt best-in-class solutions to engage candidates. In the end, these employers end up spending more money on job advertising to drive more candidates to the top of their funnel to make up for the lack of engagement and conversion from their consolidated TA platform.
When assessing your potential savings by sticking with one platform, consider:
Are you truly saving money, or are you just shifting costs to increased job ad spend?
Can the same company that builds employer-facing products build the best products to engage and convert job seekers?
Risk #3: Optimizing for Mobile Without Delivering the Text-First Experience Candidates Truly Want
In today's fast-paced, mobile world, job seekers expect a seamless, responsive process. While many job boards offer easy apply buttons, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to truly engaging candidates on their mobile devices. A truly modern mobile experience is more than just a desktop experience that fits neatly in a tiny screen or an easy apply button that helps job seekers send applications with little to no intent.
It has become clear that candidates prefer text communication over email to learn about job openings and apply, yet most all-in-one TA platforms still haven’t prioritized text communications in their candidate engagement products. In fact, text messages have a 98% open rate compared to email's 20%, while most platforms still rely predominantly on reactive email campaigns to engage candidates. Many consolidated systems fail to recognize that engagement goes beyond initial interest, and fail to deliver the proactive text-first experience candidates truly want.
Without text communication, employers are missing out on the communication channel job seekers use most. This misalignment between candidate preferences and ongoing communication can lead to a slow and disengaging candidate experience resulting in missed opportunities to connect with leads, much less convert them to hires. It can be the difference between securing a great hire and losing them to a competitor.
When evaluating your platform’s engagement capabilities, ask yourself:
Does this system prioritize the candidate experience in a way that aligns with modern communication preferences?
Does an all-in-one platform provide granular insights into how different engagement methods, including text messaging, impact your recruitment funnel?
Conclusion: Over-Consolidation is Possible - Know the Risks
The journey to optimizing your talent acquisition technology is fraught with potential pitfalls of over-consolidation. The three key risks to watch out for are:
- Loss of Agility in a Dynamic Market
- Increased Job Advertising Budget to Compensate for Poor Conversion
- Optimizing for Mobile Without Delivering the Text-First Experience Candidates Truly Want
By being aware of these risks, you're already one step ahead in your quest to build a more effective, efficient, and future-proof TA tech stack. But awareness is just the beginning. To leverage technology in a way that makes your recruitment process easy and keeps you ahead of the competition, you need a partner who understands these challenges and has the solutions to overcome them.
Dalia is the leading solution for capturing and converting high-intent candidates. If you're curious about how Dalia’s intuitive, integration-free candidate conversion platform can support your talent acquisition strategy, visit us at dalia.co/demo to request a demo.
