So hey, let’s talk about slime molds. Sure it’s relevant, and besides, we’ll get to HR in a second.
According to research revealed this month, scientists in Japan grew a single-celled slime mold and placed it in a case that mimicked the layout of Tokyo. In order to monitor the mold’s behavior, these scientists took 36 pieces of oat flakes (to represent Tokyo and its surrounding towns) and placed them in the case. As the scientists expected, the mold grew long circular tubes to reach the pieces of food. A mere 26 hours later, not only had the mold developed an efficient network for getting all of the food, but the grid was starting to look very familiar. In fact, when transposed on a map of the current Japanese railway, the rail and the mold networks were extraordinarily similar. What people had taken years to develop, a mold had figured out in a little over a day.
Sometimes this happens. In a desire to remove inefficiencies, people test out their processes. And, when a solution needs to be implemented, oftentimes, the organically grown one is the best.
With quickly-developing technology, it’s sometimes easy to forget that the best solutions we use today are often those "basic" ones. When you’re looking at talent management, some providers host many bells and whistles, while others focus on their "basic" tools. Either way, each company must inevitably decide what kind of talent management system they want. Is it the old staples or the new-school features? The trick is to figure out what works for you (and what doesn’t): Networking events? Video job postings? Employee Referrals?
This is why we here at iCIMS like configurability in our applicant tracking software. We stress it. If you’re hiring candidates or managing your current employees, you’ve got to have the ability to test out different tools in the system in order to see which work. In the end, the talent management program should be very user-friendly.
For example, we let our clients take advantage of the Talent Platform’s configurability by doing some things for free that other providers usually charge for: we offer unlimited custom fields, workflow settings, screening questions, a robust searching tool and much more. This lets you use a piece of HRIS technology, that’s based on your needs, wants, and preferences, without having to manage your source code.
So keep experimenting and do what works; if a brainless slime can do it, so can you.
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