Practical assignments are a key part of some companies’ recruitment processes, while others consider them misleading, unnecessarily demanding or even a waste of candidates’ time. So when does a work sample test genuinely improve hiring decisions, and when can it become counterproductive?

The fundamental purpose of a practical recruitment task is straightforward: it should provide employers with a realistic picture of a candidate’s professional abilities, accuracy and approach to work.

At the same time, a well-designed assignment can also benefit candidates.

It gives them an opportunity to experience the type of work they would be expected to perform and assess whether the position actually matches their expectations.

In principle, therefore, a carefully designed work sample can provide useful information to both sides.

In practice, however, employers can still make the wrong hiring decision after using an assessment — while potentially losing strong candidates who decide that the task demands too much time or does not fairly represent the job.

The key question is therefore not simply whether to use work sample tests in recruitment, but when, how and for which positions they genuinely add value.

The position itself should determine whether a test is useful

Aliz Hornyák, Country HR Director at Alstom Hungary Kft., believes practical assignments can be particularly useful for some positions while being much less suitable for others.

At Alstom, for example, practical assessments are currently used for welders and locksmiths.

These jobs involve clearly demonstrable practical skills that can be assessed through a relatively short exercise using transparent and objective criteria.

In these situations, the connection between the task and the actual work is direct.

The candidate demonstrates a skill they would genuinely use in the role, and the employer can evaluate the result against clearly defined standards.

White-collar roles can be much harder to reproduce in a test

Hornyák sees a different challenge with many white-collar positions.

Performance in these roles may depend on:

• several interconnected tasks;
• company-specific knowledge;
• collaboration with colleagues;
• access to internal systems and information;
• decision-making over a longer period;
• individual working style and interpersonal qualities.

A short recruitment assignment may therefore capture only a small part of what determines success in the actual role.

It provides a snapshot rather than a complete picture.

A practical test should not be treated as absolute proof

Even when the task itself is relevant, the result can be influenced by circumstances that have little to do with the candidate’s actual professional ability.

According to Hornyák, these can include:

• the amount of time the candidate has available;
• access to appropriate equipment;
• the candidate’s current workload;
• stress during the assessment.

For this reason, a test result should ideally be interpreted alongside other evidence rather than becoming the sole basis for a hiring decision.

That broader evaluation can include interviews, references and, where appropriate, feedback collected during the probationary period.

Not every company uses assignments in the same way

Ágnes Lovas, Senior IT Recruitment Consultant at Vision Recruitment, sees considerable variation between organisations.

In her experience, practical assignments can be particularly important for smaller companies where the contribution of each individual employee may have a significant effect on organisational performance.

Larger multinational organisations, where responsibilities are distributed across broader teams and processes, may be less likely to rely on them.

However, company size is only one factor.

The industry and the nature of the position are often more important.

Some professions lend themselves more naturally to work samples

Assignments can be more useful in roles where the quality of a tangible output is central to performance.

Lovas highlights areas such as:

• marketing;
• Business Intelligence;
• certain visual or creative positions;
• some technical and IT roles.

They have also traditionally been common in technology recruitment, although Lovas observes that their use has been declining in some IT recruitment processes.

The first question should be: do we really need it?

From a headhunter’s perspective, one important responsibility is helping the employer determine whether an assessment is necessary at all.

The existence of a practical test should not simply be accepted because it has always been part of the process.

Recruiters and hiring managers should ask:

• What exactly are we trying to measure?
• Can the task reliably measure it?
• Will the result meaningfully influence the hiring decision?
• Could the same information be obtained more efficiently?
• How much time are we asking candidates to invest?

If there is no clear answer to these questions, another assessment method may be more appropriate.

There may be better alternatives

Lovas points out that previous work can sometimes provide a more realistic picture than a newly created assignment.

Depending on confidentiality and data-protection requirements, candidates may be able to share or adapt an earlier piece of work.

This can offer several advantages.

The candidate does not need to spend several additional hours creating something purely for a recruitment process, while the employer can review an output that reflects real professional work.

Potential alternatives to a take-home assignment may include:

• a portfolio;
• an anonymised previous project;
• a discussion of a completed case;
• a structured technical interview;
• a shorter live exercise;
• a detailed walkthrough of previous work.

The assessment should match the actual job

One of the most common mistakes is creating an assignment that measures something only loosely connected with the role.

Hornyák warns against trying to test too many capabilities simultaneously or expecting company-specific knowledge that an external candidate could not reasonably possess.

A useful assessment should focus on the essence of the position.

If the job primarily requires analysis, the task should test relevant analytical capability.

If communication is critical, the assessment should create an opportunity to evaluate communication.

The closer the exercise is to the real work, the more useful the result is likely to be.

Time investment is one of the most important limits

For many candidates, the biggest problem is not the idea of demonstrating their ability.

It is the amount of unpaid personal time required.

White-collar professionals are often participating in recruitment processes while working full time.

A substantial take-home assignment may therefore need to be completed:

• in the evening;
• at weekends;
• alongside family responsibilities;
• while preparing for other interviews.

If the assignment becomes too demanding, the employer may inadvertently measure how much free time a candidate has rather than how capable they are professionally.

Candidate reactions are mixed

Hornyák observes that some candidates genuinely appreciate practical assessments.

They see them as an opportunity to demonstrate their skills in a more tangible way than a traditional interview allows.

The task can also provide useful insight into the future position.

For these candidates, the exercise itself may make the opportunity more engaging.

Others experience it primarily as an additional burden.

This is particularly true when the assignment requires substantial preparation and must be completed outside working hours.

Vision Recruitment sees a slightly more negative tendency

Based on Vision Recruitment’s experience in white-collar recruitment, Lovas describes candidate attitudes as generally somewhat negative towards work sample assignments.

Some candidates consider them a significant inconvenience, particularly when the required time investment is high.

This creates a real recruitment risk.

Strong candidates may simply withdraw rather than complete the exercise.

Every extra recruitment stage creates potential candidate drop-off

An employer may reasonably believe that another assessment will improve hiring accuracy.

But every additional stage also creates another opportunity for candidates to leave the process.

This is especially important when strong professionals are participating in several recruitment processes at once.

They may compare:

• the time investment required;
• the number of interview rounds;
• how quickly employers respond;
• the quality of communication;
• whether assessments feel reasonable.

A lengthy test may therefore make one opportunity less attractive than another before compensation or job content even becomes decisive.

The timing of the task matters

If employers decide that an assignment is genuinely necessary, they should also consider when to introduce it.

Giving a substantial task to every initial applicant can create unnecessary work for both candidates and evaluators.

In many cases, it may be more reasonable to use the assessment later in the process, once basic suitability and mutual interest have already been established.

This means only candidates with a realistic chance of progressing need to invest the additional time.

Clear expectations are essential

Lovas emphasises that employers need to communicate concrete requirements before candidates begin the assignment.

They should understand:

• what they are expected to produce;
• how long the task should reasonably take;
• the deadline;
• which tools they may use;
• whether AI tools are permitted;
• how the result will be evaluated.

Ambiguous instructions create unnecessary uncertainty and can make the result harder to compare fairly.

The evaluation criteria should be defined in advance

Hornyák stresses the importance of using predetermined evaluation criteria.

The assessment should not become a situation in which one interviewer simply “likes” one candidate’s work more than another’s without being able to explain why.

Transparent criteria help employers evaluate consistently and help candidates feel that the process is professional and fair.

Relevant criteria might include:

• accuracy;
• quality;
• reasoning;
• structure;
• professional judgement;
• creativity where relevant;
• communication of the solution.

Feedback may be even more important than the assignment itself

Both experts highlight feedback as one of the most important parts of the process.

The greatest source of frustration is often not completing the task, but investing substantial time and then receiving a generic rejection — or no meaningful explanation at all.

If a candidate spends several hours demonstrating their abilities, the organisation should ideally acknowledge that investment with useful professional feedback.

A good rejection can still create a positive candidate experience

Lovas recommends providing concrete feedback from the professional hiring manager wherever possible.

This might address questions such as:

• What did the candidate do particularly well?
• Which areas could be improved?
• What was missing compared with the requirements of the position?
• What could help them perform better in a similar assessment in the future?

Constructive feedback can turn an unsuccessful recruitment outcome into a useful professional experience.

Poor feedback can damage the employer brand

The opposite is also true.

A candidate who dedicates significant personal time to an assessment and then receives no meaningful response may leave with a much more negative impression of the company.

This can affect:

• future applications;
• recommendations to other professionals;
• online employer reputation;
• the organisation’s wider employer brand.

The experience matters even when the candidate is not hired.

The assignment should not resemble unpaid client work

Employers should also consider whether a task asks candidates to produce something unusually extensive or commercially useful to the organisation.

A recruitment assessment should primarily test capability.

It should not feel as though candidates are being asked to complete substantial real-world work without compensation simply to remain in the selection process.

Keeping exercises hypothetical, limited in scope and clearly focused on assessment can help maintain appropriate boundaries.

Work sample tests should complement, not replace, professional judgement

No single assessment method can provide a complete picture of a candidate.

A strong recruitment process may combine several sources of information, including:

• structured interviews;
• professional experience;
• previous projects;
• references;
• short practical exercises;
• candidate motivation.

The objective is not to accumulate as many assessment stages as possible.

It is to collect enough relevant evidence to make a well-informed decision.

When can a practical assignment genuinely help?

Work sample tests in recruitment can add value when:

• the task directly reflects the real responsibilities of the position;
• the required time investment is proportionate;
• the employer knows exactly what it wants to measure;
• evaluation criteria are objective and defined in advance;
• the candidate receives clear instructions;
• the task contributes meaningfully to the final decision;
• the employer provides useful feedback afterwards.

When should employers reconsider using one?

A practical task may be counterproductive when:

• it takes several hours without a clear justification;
• it measures skills that are not central to the role;
• it requires knowledge only an existing employee could possess;
• the same information could be obtained from previous work;
• evaluation is highly subjective;
• every applicant receives the task before basic screening;
• the employer cannot provide meaningful feedback.

A good assessment respects both recruitment quality and candidate time

The debate around practical assignments is not simply about whether they are good or bad.

Their value depends on design, relevance, timing and execution.

A concise, realistic task with transparent evaluation can provide information that is difficult to obtain from an interview alone.

A lengthy or poorly designed assignment can do the opposite: discourage strong candidates, extend the process and damage the candidate experience.

The right question is not “Do we use a test?”

Instead, employers should ask:

“What information do we still need in order to make a good hiring decision, and what is the fairest and most efficient way to obtain it?”

Sometimes the answer will be a practical work sample.

In other cases, a portfolio, structured interview or detailed discussion of previous work may provide better evidence with considerably less burden on the candidate.

The strongest recruitment processes recognise that assessment quality and candidate experience are not opposing objectives.

When work sample tests in recruitment are relevant, proportionate and transparently evaluated, they can support both. When they are introduced simply as another hurdle in an already lengthy selection process, they may ultimately cost employers some of the very candidates they hoped to identify.

Source: Behaviour – HR Magazine

The concept of user experience, or UX, originally emerged in the technology sector and described how simple and intuitive an application or online service was to use. Over time, the meaning expanded to cover almost every interaction between a service provider and its users. Recruitment is no exception: candidates also experience a journey, and the quality of that journey can significantly influence how they perceive both the vacancy and the employer.

UX in recruitment

In an increasingly competitive labour market, the experience candidates have during recruitment is becoming an important part of successful hiring.

Candidate experience in recruitment covers every interaction a professional has with an employer or recruitment partner, including:

• job advertisements;
• career websites and digital application platforms;
• communication with recruiters;
• interviews and assessments;
• the speed and transparency of feedback;
• the level of personal attention candidates receive.

“When candidates have a positive experience, it can increase the number of applicants while also strengthening the company’s reputation and employer brand,” explains Ágnes Lovas, Senior HR Consultant at Vision Recruitment.

The candidate experience starts before the application

Making recruitment more user-friendly begins with providing candidates with accurate and relevant information.

Traditional job advertisements normally contain the essential details of a position, such as:

• main responsibilities;
• experience requirements;
• professional expectations;
• location;
• basic employment conditions.

For many candidates, however, these details are not enough to decide whether an opportunity genuinely suits them.

They may also want to know:

• How flexible is the organisation?
• What happens if an employee needs to stay at home with a sick child?
• Does the company promote managers internally?
• What does career progression look like?
• Does the organisation expect rapid career advancement or encourage long-term stability?
• How seriously does the employer take work-life balance?

These questions can be just as important as the formal job description.

Communicate company culture before candidates apply

Lovas argues that candidates benefit when employers communicate their values and vision from the very beginning of the recruitment journey.

This allows professionals to identify which opportunities are genuinely relevant to them before investing time in an application.

The employer benefits too.

If candidates understand the working environment, expectations and company culture in advance, fewer unsuitable applicants enter the recruitment process.

This can reduce the workload of recruiters and hiring managers while making the overall selection process faster.

More information can improve recruitment efficiency

Transparency is sometimes treated mainly as a candidate benefit.

In reality, it can improve efficiency for both sides.

A candidate who knows what to expect is better positioned to make an informed decision about whether to continue with the opportunity.

An employer therefore spends less time interviewing people whose priorities are fundamentally incompatible with the role or organisation.

This is one reason detailed, realistic recruitment communication can be more effective than simply trying to make every vacancy sound as attractive as possible.

Candidates should not have to search for basic information

Once someone decides to participate in the recruitment process, important information should ideally be easy to access.

Candidates should not need to repeatedly contact the recruiter or search across several websites to understand what happens next.

Providing information proactively can help candidates feel that they are being treated as clients of the recruitment process rather than simply as CVs moving through a system.

As Lovas explains, this can reinforce the feeling that the recruiter is working not only for the employer, but also supporting the candidate.

Good preparation can improve interview performance

Clear communication becomes particularly important before interviews and assessments.

Candidates should understand:

• what stages the recruitment process contains;
• what the employer expects at each stage;
• whether there will be a technical assessment;
• how they should prepare;
• which tools or equipment may be required.

Even relatively small pieces of information can materially improve the candidate experience.

Practical information can make a major difference

Lovas recalls recruitment processes where candidate preparation had a significant effect on results.

In one case, a large number of candidates had initially been rejected because they used artificial intelligence during an assessment where its use was not permitted.

Once candidates were clearly warned about this requirement in advance, significantly more progressed successfully to the next stage.

The lesson was straightforward: if a requirement matters, candidates need to know about it before the assessment begins.

Technical interviews need practical preparation too

The same principle applies to technical assessments.

For example, candidates completing live coding exercises may benefit from being told in advance to prepare:

• two screens where appropriate;
• their usual keyboard;
• the required software;
• a suitable technical environment.

These details may seem minor, but they allow the candidate to focus on demonstrating professional ability instead of solving avoidable logistical problems.

Reduce unnecessary interview stress

Job interviews are stressful for many candidates even when they are highly experienced.

Employers and recruiters can reduce uncertainty by sharing basic information beforehand.

For example:

• How many interviewers will participate?
• Who will they be?
• How long will the interview take?
• Will there be technical questions?
• Will there be an assessment?
• What are the next stages?

Knowing these details allows candidates to enter the interview with greater confidence.

It also creates a more professional impression of the organisation.

The goal is not to make interviews easier

Improving the candidate experience does not mean removing meaningful assessment or giving candidates answers in advance.

The objective is to create a fair environment in which candidates understand what is expected of them.

This allows employers to evaluate professional ability rather than a candidate’s ability to guess how an unfamiliar recruitment process works.

Key steps for improving the recruitment experience

• Create transparent and attractive job advertisements. Explain not only responsibilities and requirements, but also the company culture and why the position matters.
• Simplify the application process. Reduce unnecessary administration and use intuitive online forms, integrations and autofill where appropriate.
• Communicate transparently. Explain each recruitment stage, provide timely updates and give feedback even when the candidate is unsuccessful where possible.
• Make interviews less stressful. Share practical details in advance, prepare interviewers properly and use structured interviews.
• Personalise the experience. Understand individual candidate priorities and maintain direct communication throughout the process.
• Collect feedback and improve continuously. Candidate feedback can reveal unnecessary friction and help refine future recruitment processes.

An unsuccessful application can still provide value

A positive candidate experience does not require every recruitment process to end with a job offer.

An unsuccessful candidate can still leave the process feeling that their time was respected and that they learned something valuable.

Lovas notes that throughout her career she has interviewed many IT professionals who viewed technical assessments not only as obstacles to employment but also as professional challenges.

For these candidates, constructive feedback after an unsuccessful assessment can be particularly valuable.

Feedback can improve a candidate’s next application

Useful feedback can help candidates understand:

• which skills need further development;
• where their interview performance could improve;
• what was missing from the technical assessment;
• which areas they should prepare differently next time.

A candidate who receives meaningful feedback may therefore leave an unsuccessful process better prepared for their next opportunity.

That experience can also influence how they remember the recruiter and employer.

Rejection is part of the employer brand

Most candidates entering a recruitment process will not ultimately receive the job.

That makes rejection one of the most common candidate interactions an employer has.

How that rejection is handled can therefore have a significant effect on reputation.

A candidate who receives respectful communication and useful feedback may still speak positively about the organisation.

Someone who receives no response at all may remember the employer very differently.

Reducing uncertainty is one of the biggest improvements recruiters can make

For candidates, a pleasant recruitment process often means a fast and smooth one.

However, delays cannot always be avoided.

The recruiter may be waiting for:

• internal approval;
• a hiring-manager decision;
• another interview;
• budget confirmation;
• a decision-maker returning from a business trip;
• other circumstances outside the recruitment team’s control.

In these situations, communication becomes even more important.

Silence creates more frustration than delay

A delayed recruitment process does not automatically create a poor candidate experience.

A candidate who understands why the process is taking longer may be willing to wait.

A candidate who hears nothing for several weeks has no way of knowing whether:

• they are still being considered;
• another candidate has been selected;
• the position has been cancelled;
• the company has simply forgotten to respond.

This uncertainty can encourage candidates to withdraw or prioritise other opportunities.

Regular updates help candidates manage their options

When recruiters explain why a decision has been delayed, candidates can make better decisions about their other opportunities.

Even a short update confirming that the recruitment process remains active can significantly reduce uncertainty.

The candidate does not necessarily need a final answer immediately.

They need to understand where they currently stand.

Information should flow in both directions

Transparency is equally valuable for employers and recruiters.

Recruiters need to understand what is happening elsewhere in the candidate’s job search.

Useful information includes:

• whether the candidate is involved in other recruitment processes;
• how advanced those applications are;
• whether another offer is expected;
• what the candidate’s decision deadline may be.

This information can sometimes determine whether a recruitment process ultimately ends in an accepted offer.

A company cannot move quickly if it does not know the candidate’s timeline

Imagine that a company is planning to make a decision next week, but the preferred candidate expects another offer tomorrow.

If nobody knows about that competing process, the employer may lose the candidate simply because its internal schedule was too slow.

Open communication gives recruiters the opportunity to warn hiring managers when faster action is required.

Personalisation matters

Candidates do not all want the same things from a job.

Some prioritise:

• salary;
• home office;
• technical challenge;
• career progression;
• work-life balance;
• management responsibility;
• international projects.

Understanding these motivations allows recruiters to provide information that is genuinely relevant to the individual.

This makes the experience more useful than a standardised process in which every candidate receives exactly the same message.

Recruiters can act as guides through the process

A specialist recruiter or headhunter can play an important role in improving candidate experience in recruitment.

The recruiter can help candidates understand:

• the employer;
• the vacancy;
• the interview process;
• the expectations of the hiring manager;
• the likely timeline;
• the next steps.

This additional support becomes especially valuable in demanding technical recruitment processes.

Candidate experience also improves recruitment outcomes

A positive recruitment experience is not merely about being polite to applicants.

It can influence measurable recruitment outcomes.

Better information may reduce unsuitable applications.

Interview preparation may improve assessment completion.

Faster communication may reduce candidate withdrawals.

Better relationships may increase offer acceptance.

Candidate experience can therefore be considered part of recruitment effectiveness rather than simply an HR communication issue.

The recruitment process is part of the employer brand

A candidate’s first substantial experience with an organisation may be the recruitment process itself.

That means interviews, emails, response times and recruiter behaviour all communicate something about the company.

If the recruitment process is:

• organised;
• transparent;
• respectful;
• responsive;
• personal;

candidates may reasonably expect the wider organisation to operate similarly.

A chaotic recruitment process can create the opposite impression.

Candidate UX should be continuously improved

Just as companies optimise digital products based on user behaviour and feedback, recruitment processes can also be reviewed and improved.

Employers can examine:

• where candidates withdraw;
• which stages take too long;
• which instructions create confusion;
• what candidates say about interviews;
• how long feedback takes;
• why offers are rejected.

These insights can reveal practical changes capable of improving both candidate satisfaction and recruitment performance.

Job searching does not have to be an unnecessarily negative experience

Searching for a new job will almost always involve some uncertainty and stress.

Recruiters cannot eliminate every difficult element from the process.

They can, however, make sure candidates understand what is happening and what is expected of them.

As Lovas summarises, both recruitment providers and corporate HR teams can do a great deal to improve the experience of IT professionals and other candidates.

Without support, recruitment can become extremely stressful for the “users” of the process.

With continuous guidance and transparent communication, HR professionals can influence not only whether the recruitment ends successfully, but also how candidates remember the entire journey.

That is ultimately the purpose of strong candidate experience in recruitment: making a demanding process more transparent, respectful and useful for everyone involved.

Source: ITBUSINESS

Hungary’s Shared Service Centre and Business Services sector has developed into an important part of the economy. As the industry moves beyond traditional support functions towards higher-value regional and global services, expectations towards employees are changing as well. Strong language skills remain highly valuable, but increasingly they are only one part of a much broader skill set.

Hungary has built a strong position in the SSC and BSC sector within Central and Eastern Europe, but maintaining that position increasingly depends on the availability of qualified professionals with the right combination of skills.

Business service centres are evolving.

Many organisations that originally focused on relatively standardised support activities are gradually taking responsibility for:

• regional and global processes;
• complex business operations;
• data and analytics;
• automation;
• IT services;
• higher-value decision support.

This transformation is reshaping the SSC skills and competencies employers are looking for.

Language skills remain essential

Despite rapid technological development, foreign-language capability continues to be one of the most important requirements in many SSC and BSC positions.

Vivien Jécsi, HR Leader at Genpact, emphasises that even as chatbots and automated systems become increasingly sophisticated, communication with customers and colleagues across different cultures still requires human understanding.

Multilingual employees can provide something technology alone cannot easily replace: contextual communication and cultural awareness.

This remains particularly important in roles involving:

• customer service;
• finance;
• procurement;
• HR;
• sales support;
• international business operations.

Language knowledge matters at every seniority level

Ágnes Lovas, Senior HR Consultant at Vision Recruitment, similarly confirms that there continues to be strong demand for professionals with foreign-language skills in both entry-level and senior SSC/BSC positions.

The value of language skills increases further when combined with specialist professional expertise.

For example, a candidate who speaks several languages and also understands finance, procurement, engineering or technology can become significantly more attractive to employers.

ERP knowledge is becoming increasingly important

Language skills alone are no longer enough for many roles.

Lovas highlights the increasing importance of experience with enterprise resource planning and other corporate business systems.

For some positions, familiarity with these systems is no longer simply an advantage.

Its absence may significantly reduce a candidate’s chances of progressing in the recruitment process.

Employees who understand how complex corporate processes are supported by technology can generally adapt more quickly to large international organisations.

Technical and engineering knowledge is gaining value

The changing structure of the SSC/BSC sector has also increased demand for technical professionals.

According to Lovas, employers have shown growing interest in candidates with electrical engineering backgrounds, as well as professionals supporting manufacturing-related functions.

At the same time, business service centres increasingly require IT professionals in areas including:

• IT operations;
• software development;
• data management;
• automation;
• cloud technologies;
• digital transformation.

This reflects the sector’s shift away from purely administrative support towards increasingly technology-intensive work.

Digitalisation and AI are transforming SSC careers

The pandemic accelerated digitalisation and automation throughout the business services sector.

As organisations became more dependent on digital processes, employees increasingly needed to work confidently with advanced technologies.

Jécsi notes that this creates a challenge because digital capability does not always develop as quickly as the technologies companies introduce.

Employees are increasingly expected to use AI and analytics tools to process large datasets and turn information into useful business insights.

Data analytics is becoming a core business capability

Tools such as Power BI and Tableau illustrate how business-service roles are changing.

Employees are no longer expected merely to process information.

They may increasingly need to:

• analyse data;
• identify trends;
• visualise results;
• draw business conclusions;
• support management decisions.

The combination of data analytics and artificial intelligence can further increase the value of these capabilities.

AI is also becoming part of internal business processes

In the original article, Jécsi described several AI-supported tools used within Genpact.

These included internal solutions designed to support employee feedback, customer service and HR information.

Examples included an employee-satisfaction chatbot, an AI-supported customer-service tool and an HR assistant providing information about policies, benefits and internal HR processes.

These examples demonstrate that AI in the SSC/BSC environment is not restricted to one specialist department.

It can increasingly become part of everyday business operations.

Automation is particularly relevant to high-volume processes

Shared Service Centres often manage large numbers of repetitive administrative transactions.

This makes automation especially valuable.

According to Lovas, automation can help:

• reduce manual errors;
• improve efficiency;
• standardise processes;
• free employees from repetitive work.

As routine tasks become more automated, the value of employees increasingly comes from work requiring interpretation, problem-solving and professional judgement.

Cloud-based working supports scalability

Cloud technologies are another increasingly important part of daily operations.

They allow international organisations to create systems that are more scalable, flexible and potentially more cost-efficient.

For employees, this means familiarity with cloud-based working environments can become increasingly relevant across a wide range of functions rather than remaining exclusively an IT skill.

Qualifications are no longer the only thing employers evaluate

Rapid technological development has also increased the importance of soft skills.

In some roles, employers may consider adaptability, problem-solving and learning ability at least as important as a candidate’s formal qualification.

This does not mean degrees and professional knowledge are irrelevant.

Rather, employers increasingly recognise that technical knowledge alone may become outdated if an employee cannot adapt when processes, technologies or organisational structures change.

Change has become part of everyday SSC work

Lovas highlights how frequently business service organisations restructure their operations.

Processes may move between countries.

New functions may arrive from other locations.

Working arrangements may change.

Artificial intelligence may transform how existing tasks are performed.

Employees therefore need to remain comfortable in environments where change is continuous rather than exceptional.

Adaptability is becoming a core SSC competency

The ability to adjust quickly is particularly valuable when organisations:

• introduce new technologies;
• move processes between locations;
• reorganise teams;
• redesign workflows;
• change working models;
• create new functions.

Employees who can learn new processes and remain effective during transition may have a significant advantage.

Continuous learning is essential

“Continuous learning and openness are the key to everything,” Jécsi explains.

The reason is simple: technical expertise that is highly valuable today may need to be updated significantly within only a few years.

Professionals who want to remain competitive need to keep developing their knowledge throughout their careers.

This includes both technical and interpersonal capabilities.

A growth mindset helps employees adapt

Jécsi also emphasises the importance of a growth-oriented mindset.

Employees need to be willing to:

• learn from mistakes;
• develop new skills;
• experiment with new technology;
• accept changing responsibilities;
• respond constructively to feedback.

This becomes particularly important as business service centres take responsibility for more strategic and higher-value activities.

Problem-solving is becoming more valuable

When routine processes are increasingly automated, employees spend more time handling situations that cannot be solved through a predefined workflow.

They need to identify problems, understand their causes and develop effective solutions.

This makes structured problem-solving an increasingly important SSC skill.

Critical thinking complements AI

The growing use of artificial intelligence makes critical thinking more important, not less.

AI tools can provide information, identify patterns and generate recommendations.

Employees still need to evaluate whether those outputs are relevant, reliable and appropriate for the actual business situation.

The valuable professional is therefore not simply someone who can use an AI tool.

It is someone who can interpret its output intelligently.

Employees increasingly need to understand the business behind the process

As SSCs evolve into BSCs and global service organisations, employees are expected to understand more than the individual task assigned to them.

They increasingly need to understand:

• the wider business objective;
• how their process affects other departments;
• customer expectations;
• the financial or operational consequences of decisions.

This broader business perspective is particularly important in higher-value and strategic functions.

Project-management skills are gaining importance

As organisations move towards faster and more dynamic ways of working, project-management capability becomes increasingly valuable.

Jécsi highlights knowledge of methodologies such as Agile and Lean.

These approaches can help employees manage:

• cross-functional projects;
• process improvement;
• automation initiatives;
• organisational transformation;
• new technology implementation.

Process optimisation is becoming a specialist skill

Automation is not simply about applying technology to an existing workflow.

Organisations first need to understand whether the process itself can be improved.

Employees working with automation may therefore need to:

• analyse existing workflows;
• identify unnecessary steps;
• redesign processes;
• select suitable automation opportunities;
• measure the results.

This makes process optimisation a valuable capability in the evolving business services sector.

Learning platforms can help organisations close the skills gap

Employers also have an important role in supporting continuous development.

In the original article, Jécsi describes Genpact’s internal Genome learning platform, which provides personalised learning opportunities across areas ranging from soft skills and storytelling to digital capabilities and generative AI.

This type of learning infrastructure helps organisations continuously develop existing employees rather than relying exclusively on external recruitment whenever new skills become necessary.

Soft skills become more important as technical work becomes automated

One of the paradoxes of automation is that the more technology takes over repetitive tasks, the more valuable distinctly human capabilities can become.

These include:

• communication;
• critical thinking;
• creativity;
• adaptability;
• collaboration;
• problem-solving;
• cultural understanding.

Technology can support these activities, but it does not automatically replace them.

The strongest candidates combine several skill groups

For many SSC/BSC positions, the ideal profile is no longer defined by one isolated competency.

Employers increasingly value combinations such as:

• foreign languages + finance;
• languages + ERP expertise;
• engineering + business knowledge;
• data analysis + communication;
• IT + process understanding;
• AI capability + critical thinking.

These combinations can significantly increase a candidate’s market value.

What are the most important SSC skills and competencies?

Based on the trends discussed in the original article, some of the most valuable capabilities include:

• foreign-language skills – particularly in international customer and business operations;
• ERP and business-system knowledge – increasingly important across corporate functions;
• digital literacy – confidence with technology and digital workflows;
• data analytics – the ability to turn information into business insight;
• AI literacy – understanding how to use AI tools effectively and critically;
• adaptability – responding successfully to continuous organisational change;
• problem-solving – handling situations that cannot be automated;
• critical thinking – evaluating information and making sound decisions;
• project management – particularly in transformation and process-improvement environments;
• continuous learning – maintaining relevant skills in a rapidly changing market.

Language skills open the door, but they may no longer be enough

Foreign-language capability remains one of the defining advantages of many professionals working in the business services sector.

However, as SSCs evolve into increasingly sophisticated BSC and global-service operations, employers require considerably more.

The strongest candidates increasingly combine language capability with technical, analytical and interpersonal skills.

The future belongs to professionals who keep their skills current

The transformation of the business services sector means there is no permanent list of skills guaranteed to remain sufficient throughout an entire career.

Technology will continue to change processes.

AI will reshape individual tasks.

Some activities will become automated, while new and more complex roles will appear.

For professionals, remaining competitive therefore depends increasingly on the willingness to continue learning.

For employers, the challenge is not only finding candidates with the right SSC skills and competencies today, but also creating an environment where employees can continue developing the capabilities they will need tomorrow.

Source: Behaviour HR Magazine

Technological development, the Covid pandemic and rapidly changing labour-market conditions have transformed recruitment strategies. Finding the right white-collar candidate from an increasingly limited talent pool has become significantly more challenging. How long should companies wait for the ideal candidate? When does it make sense to involve an external recruitment partner? And which is ultimately more expensive: using a headhunter or leaving an important position vacant for months?

The labour market has changed the rules of recruitment considerably in recent years.

Technological development, remote working and changing candidate expectations mean employers can no longer rely exclusively on publishing a vacancy and waiting for applications to arrive.

“A well-written job advertisement and a neatly organised Excel spreadsheet used to be enough. Today, recruitment requires a much more marketing-oriented, data-driven and proactive approach,” explains Zoltán Vass, Head of Talent Acquisition at Roche.

This is particularly true in the white-collar market, where strong professionals may have several opportunities available and often have little reason to actively search for another job.

Recruitment therefore increasingly requires:

• proactive sourcing;
• strong employer branding;
• fast decision-making;
• candidate relationship management;
• data-driven recruitment;
• a clear understanding of candidate motivation.

Remote work transformed recruitment

Ágnes Lovas, Senior HR Consultant at Vision Recruitment, also highlights how the pandemic accelerated the transition towards remote and hybrid working.

Traditional office-based positions became more flexible and, in many cases, less dependent on location.

Recruitment processes changed accordingly.

Virtual interviews and online onboarding became widely used, while candidates increasingly started evaluating employers according to factors that went beyond salary and job content.

Important considerations now frequently include:

• employee wellbeing;
• health-related benefits;
• work-life balance;
• flexibility;
• home office;
• sustainability;
• company culture.

Recruiters therefore need to understand the complete employee proposition rather than simply communicate the responsibilities of the vacancy.

What if the perfect candidate never arrives?

Highly specialised positions remain particularly difficult to fill because the number of qualified and available professionals can be extremely limited.

In these situations, companies sometimes make the mistake of waiting too long for a candidate who matches every requirement perfectly.

Vass argues that employers can respond in two important ways.

First, they can build a talent pipeline before a vacancy becomes urgent.

This means identifying and maintaining relationships with potentially relevant professionals even when the company does not immediately need to hire them.

Second, employers can introduce greater flexibility into their requirements.

This might include:

• reskilling candidates;
• allowing partial remote work;
• placing greater emphasis on transferable skills;
• reconsidering whether every technical requirement is genuinely essential.

Do not lose strong candidates while waiting for perfection

One of the greatest recruitment risks is rejecting strong candidates because they are not a perfect match on paper.

An employer may spend months waiting for someone who meets 100% of the original specification while losing candidates capable of performing the role successfully after a relatively short learning period.

The better question may therefore be:

Which requirements are essential from day one, and which can realistically be developed?

This distinction can significantly expand the available talent pool.

Recruitment speed directly affects hiring success

The length of a white-collar recruitment process can vary considerably.

According to Lovas, factors influencing the timeline include:

• the number of interview rounds;
• whether interviews are online or in person;
• the number of candidates involved;
• the availability of the hiring manager;
• internal approval processes;
• the speed of offer approval.

A process can therefore take anything from around a week to several months.

However, one principle remains consistent:

the faster a strong candidate reaches the offer stage, the greater the likelihood of successful acceptance.

Strong candidates rarely wait indefinitely

Highly qualified professionals may be involved in several recruitment processes simultaneously.

Even passive candidates who were originally approached by a recruiter can quickly become active once they decide they are open to changing jobs.

A slow employer therefore risks losing candidates to competitors that are able to make decisions faster.

Delays can be particularly damaging when they occur between interview stages without clear communication.

Candidates may interpret long silence as:

• lack of interest;
• organisational inefficiency;
• uncertainty about the role;
• poor internal communication.

Recruitment speed therefore influences not only operational efficiency but also employer reputation.

When should a company involve a headhunter?

Some white-collar positions become so difficult to fill that continuing the same recruitment method produces diminishing returns.

If a vacancy has been advertised repeatedly without generating suitable applicants, this can be a sign that the search needs a different approach.

According to Lovas, involving a specialist headhunting firm can significantly accelerate recruitment and help employers fill positions that have remained open for a long time.

A headhunter does considerably more than simply forward CVs.

A specialist recruitment consultant can provide:

• talent-market insight;
• direct candidate sourcing;
• recruitment strategy recommendations;
• candidate communication;
• process coordination;
• salary-market feedback;
• support during negotiations.

External recruiters provide market intelligence as well as candidates

Experienced headhunters work continuously within specific talent markets.

This gives them visibility into questions employers may find difficult to answer internally, such as:

• How many realistic candidates exist?
• Which companies employ the relevant professionals?
• What salaries are candidates currently expecting?
• How attractive is the vacancy compared with competing opportunities?
• Which requirements are restricting the candidate pool unnecessarily?

This information can help employers refine the search before spending additional months pursuing a profile that may be unrealistic.

The best candidates may never apply to a job advertisement

This is one of the most important differences between traditional recruitment and headhunting.

A company advertising a vacancy generally reaches professionals who are actively looking for another job.

A headhunter also approaches passive candidates — professionals who are currently employed and may not have considered changing roles.

These candidates can represent a substantial part of the relevant talent market, particularly in highly specialised areas.

Direct search starts with understanding where the right talent works

When beginning a new assignment, an experienced headhunter does not only define the candidate profile.

They also map the organisations where suitable professionals are likely to work.

The candidate’s previous employers can provide useful context because different organisational environments develop different capabilities.

Experience from a startup, SME or multinational organisation may produce very different:

• working styles;
• decision-making habits;
• levels of independence;
• process knowledge;
• professional skills.

Understanding these differences helps recruiters identify which backgrounds are most likely to translate successfully into the client organisation.

Headhunters increasingly act as strategic partners

Vass similarly argues that the role of specialist recruitment firms has become more important.

A strong headhunter should provide genuine market insight and contribute to the search strategy rather than merely sending candidate profiles.

They may also have access to passive professionals who would never respond to a public vacancy.

This makes external recruitment particularly relevant when the available active candidate pool is too small.

Which costs more: a headhunter or an empty position?

External recruitment has an obvious and visible cost.

A vacant position also has a cost, but it is often much harder to see.

Depending on the role, a long-term vacancy can create:

• lost productivity;
• delayed projects;
• lost revenue;
• additional overtime;
• management workload;
• pressure on existing employees;
• lower customer-service capacity.

For critical specialist or leadership positions, these indirect costs can become substantial.

When comparing internal recruitment with specialist headhunting, employers should therefore consider the total cost of vacancy rather than looking only at the recruitment fee.

Time-to-hire has a business impact

A six-month search for a critical professional may appear inexpensive if the recruitment budget remains low.

However, if that position would have generated revenue, completed projects or reduced pressure on other employees, the business cost can be far greater than the visible recruitment expenditure.

This means recruitment performance should ideally be evaluated through several indicators, including:

• time to hire;
• quality of hire;
• offer-acceptance rate;
• cost of vacancy;
• retention after hiring.

Candidate motivation needs to be examined carefully

Another challenge in white-collar recruitment is determining how seriously a candidate is considering a job change.

Not every applicant or potential candidate is equally committed to moving.

Some professionals may be:

• genuinely ready for a new challenge;
• testing their market value;
• curious about available salaries;
• seeking leverage for a counteroffer;
• simply exploring future possibilities.

It is rarely possible to identify motivation with complete certainty.

However, experienced recruiters can significantly reduce uncertainty through detailed conversations.

Good questions reveal genuine motivation

According to Vass, understanding a candidate’s motivation is one of the most important skills in white-collar recruitment.

Useful questions may include:

“What is motivating you to consider changing jobs?”

“What would an ideal next career step look like for you?”

Other useful areas to explore include:

• what the candidate likes about their current position;
• what they would change;
• their long-term career goals;
• their salary expectations;
• their preferred working model;
• which factors would cause them to reject an offer.

Counteroffers should be discussed before they happen

If candidates are strongly connected to their current employer, there is always a possibility that resignation will trigger a counteroffer.

Recruiters can help candidates consider this scenario before reaching the final stages of a recruitment process.

Useful questions include:

• Would you stay if your current employer increased your salary?
• Are your reasons for leaving primarily financial?
• What would your current company need to change for you to remain?
• Would those changes solve the original problem?

Discussing these issues early can reduce late-stage withdrawals.

Candidate relationships are built on trust

Vass emphasises that continuous relationship building is essential.

Candidates communicate more honestly when they feel they are being treated as professional partners rather than simply as profiles to be placed into vacancies.

This is particularly important in headhunting, where professionals often have little initial intention of changing jobs.

The recruiter must understand their motivations before presenting a credible argument for why the new opportunity may be worth considering.

Recruitment increasingly resembles marketing

A modern white-collar recruitment strategy shares many characteristics with marketing.

Employers need to:

• identify the right target audience;
• understand what motivates them;
• develop a compelling message;
• choose the right communication channels;
• build awareness and trust;
• measure which methods generate results.

A job advertisement is therefore only one communication channel within a much broader recruitment strategy.

Employer branding matters before the vacancy is published

A company with a strong reputation has an advantage before recruitment even begins.

Candidates may already know:

• what the company does;
• what its culture is like;
• whether employees recommend it;
• how flexible its working model is;
• what career opportunities it provides.

This familiarity can make both direct applications and headhunter approaches more effective.

An unknown or poorly perceived employer may need to invest significantly more effort in convincing candidates to enter the process.

A shorter recruitment process does not mean lower-quality selection

Speed should not be confused with carelessness.

An efficient recruitment process can still include rigorous professional assessment.

The objective is to eliminate unnecessary delays rather than meaningful evaluation.

For example, employers can improve speed by:

• combining interview rounds where appropriate;
• using virtual interviews;
• agreeing decision criteria before starting the search;
• keeping hiring managers available;
• pre-approving salary ranges;
• shortening internal offer approval.

These changes can significantly reduce time to hire without compromising hiring quality.

Recruitment strategy should reflect the difficulty of the vacancy

Not every position needs a headhunter.

A role generating a healthy number of relevant applications may be filled efficiently by an internal recruitment team.

External specialist support becomes more valuable when:

• the role has remained open for a long time;
• qualified applications are extremely limited;
• the relevant candidates are mostly passive;
• the search requires confidential handling;
• specialist market knowledge is needed;
• the cost of vacancy is high.

Waiting can sometimes be the most expensive strategy

Companies understandably want to control recruitment costs.

But reducing visible expenditure does not necessarily reduce total business cost.

If an organisation spends months searching unsuccessfully while the vacancy continues to affect productivity, an apparently inexpensive recruitment approach may become extremely costly.

The decision about when to involve an external partner should therefore consider business impact as well as recruitment fees.

Recruitment has become more strategic than ever

The labour market described in the original article demonstrates why a well-written vacancy alone is no longer enough.

Modern white-collar recruitment requires a combination of:

• speed;
• proactive sourcing;
• market knowledge;
• employer branding;
• candidate relationship management;
• flexibility;
• realistic expectations.

Technology can support many of these activities, but successful recruitment still depends heavily on understanding people.

The strongest recruitment strategy reaches beyond active applicants

The most suitable professional for a vacancy may never see the job advertisement.

They may already be working successfully elsewhere, not browsing job portals and not actively considering a change.

This is where proactive recruitment and direct headhunting become particularly valuable.

A strong white-collar recruitment strategy does not simply wait for candidates to appear.

It identifies where the relevant talent is, understands what would motivate those professionals to move and creates a recruitment process fast and compelling enough to convert interest into an accepted offer.

For employers, the real question is therefore no longer whether a vacancy has been advertised effectively.

It is whether the entire recruitment strategy is capable of reaching and convincing the people the company actually needs.

Source: Behaviour HR Magazine