The use of Big Data and analytics has become more common and accepted in the business world, and business leaders are finding new ways in which to utilize them. Many companies have already used Big Data in marketing and advertising, but a new area has quickly emerged. Human resource departments are now using data analytics in the hiring and recruitment, essentially transforming how many businesses work.

 

 

A business’s payroll is often one of its biggest expenses, so any way that business leaders can cut costs and improve the bottom line is certainly an attractive option. They have begun turning to Big Data as a way to hire the people they think will be the best for open positions. Using what’s known as “People Analytics” enables managers to better identify workers who will not only stay with the company for a longer period of time, but ones who will thrive and enjoy their stay. In one example, Xerox was able to use Big Data to roughly double the number of employees who stayed for longer than six months at its call centers.

 

The method by which this data is collected varies from company to company. Some base their analytics simply on job applications submitted to the company. For example, if graduates from a particular university have a history of good work at the business, the data will show that and boost a fellow graduate’s chances of being hired. In a more unusual example, other companies have actually turned to video games as a hiring tool. One tiny company called Knack has applicants play two video games--Dungeon Scrawl and Wasabi Waiter--as a way to measure their creativity, persistence, and even personality. The company’s leaders say they can get enough megabytes of data from two simple games to determine someone’s leadership abilities and inventiveness.

 

As word of the usefulness of Big Data with human resource departments continues to spread, more and more companies will turn to computer systems and formulas to help determine which applicants to pursue. Advancing technology is also having a big impact, whether it be flash or Hadoop in the Cloud, allowing more companies to take advantage of these new ideas and practices. While it may still be a new field, businesses are already seeing results as they look to cut down on the costs and risks involved in hiring new workers.