Four disruptive trends and how business can adapt

Each year, businesses are faced with new technologies and trends in the marketplace that can offer substantial rewards if integrated effectively within their strategies.
However, determining if technology integration and trend information should be adapted into current business strategies is a key initial step for any business.
Building your brand and leveraging technology
Candidates that are looking for employment are using social media, technology and brand perception to research companies more than ever. As candidates research companies, they are looking not only for what the company is saying about themselves, but for what others that have worked for and with the company have to say about the culture.
Using social media and technology avenues to connect with candidates who might not be actively looking for a new position can assist companies that are engaging in passive recruiting strategies.
Sharing targeted information on social media and other technology platforms about company culture, industry recognition/awards and other pertinent company information can help entice passive recruits to move to a more active state.
Companies that have adapted to technology, who have promoted their own brands through social media, mobile accessibility and who incorporate hiring data and trends into their hiring processes are in a positive position when it comes to attracting and retaining the most talented candidates available.
Make connections
For marketers, making a connection via relationship marketing is one of the biggest trends for 2016 and beyond. Consumers have evolved marketing consumption to the point where the expectation is the delivery of personalized content and offers to their smartphones or email on a near instantaneous schedule to build personal connections to the brand.
Companies and staffing agencies that successfully adapt by making connections with interested candidates through engagement can build a society of brand advocates and loyalists. Engaging these candidates can not only build brand awareness, but can also add significant results in extending the reach of your company through organic relationship building.
The power of data 
In today’s business environment, data is everywhere. Data from mobile, data from websites, data from social media, data from recruitment software tools, data from seemingly everywhere and every source.
For many companies, the problem is related less to the lack of data, but more from finding ways to effectively use the overwhelming amount of data that they have to make recommendations and build their own strategies.
Being able to wrangle the amount of data that is available is critically important for staffing companies to be able to deliver clients relevant, actionable candidates and results.
As staffing companies continue to hire more temporary and contract employees to fill positions, the ability to adapt from standard reporting and tracking methods to detailed analysis of trends, patterns and predictions for client needs will determine which companies are best suited for long-term success.
Pay equity trends
In 2015, seven states in the United States enacted legislation to promote equal pay between men and women. As more and more states look to legislate gender pay equity, businesses that are not actively engaged in ensuring pay equity could face disruption in their ongoing opportunities for growth.
Businesses that highlight their compliance with pay equity for the benefit of all their employees can find exceptional value related to reputation management and social media recognition.
In addition, a business that engages in compliance with pay equity standards can indicate to current employees and potential candidates that they are valued as important members of the success of the business overall.
Business history is filled with the concept of disruptive trends; from the printing press to the assembly line, personal computers to the smartphone revolution, the state of business is constantly disrupted by new technologies, new ideologies and new methods of reaching customers.
For the staffing industry, these disruptive changes have resulted in wide-scale shifts in how candidates are reached and recruited, the understanding and interpretation of candidate expectations for potential employers and the importance of the concept of brand as it relates to the image presented to candidates.

Businesses that can adapt and change to embrace and leverage disruptive trends to their own advantage will have the best opportunity to succeed, regardless of their area of focus.

Jason Leverant is president and COO of AtWork Group, a national staffing franchiser with more than 93 franchise and company-owned locations.
Resources