Recruiting Future with Matt Alder

Whenever we talk about recruiting automation, there is always a persistent narrative in favor of retaining the human touch in some way, shape, or form. While technology now enables us to interact in increasingly conversational ways, there's still an irreplaceable quality in human-to-human, face-to-face dialogue that no machine or video can fully replicate.

So, how can we enhance the effectiveness of our conversations in both professional and personal settings? And could asking more powerful, thoughtful questions lead to better hiring outcomes? 

My guest this week is Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Topaz Adizes, founder of experience design studio The Skin Deep. Having conducted over 1,200 filmed conversations exploring human connection, Topaz has gained profound insights into what makes questions transformative. In our discussion, he shares what his work has taught him about crafting questions that break down barriers and foster authentic dialogue—lessons that can help us all engage more meaningfully in the workplace and beyond.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Lessons learned from filming 1,200 conversations

• How conversations build relationships

• Avoiding power plays and making a safe space for conversation

• The importance of well-constructed questions

• Curiosity and openness in job interviews

• The power of bringing unrelated concepts together

• Connective questions

• Listening versus speaking

• Can AI write effective questions?

• The differences between face-to-face and virtual conversations

• What's the future of workplace conversations?

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I know that many of you would agree that we are now beyond saturation point with the hype around AI in TA. It's clear that one way or another, gen AI is going to become ubiquitous in the software that we use. So, rather than discussing it as a topic on its own, we need to look carefully at the current and future impact on TA in terms of use cases, innovation, and the potential to rethink hiring.

So what are the proven use cases for AI right now, where are we missing opportunities, and how will things develop in the short term?

My guest this week is Mark Chaffey, Co-Founder and CEO of Hackajob. We discuss current AI use cases and lessons TA can learn from Gen AI's impact on software engineering.

In the interview, we discuss:

• The current state of the tech hiring market

• Concerns over developing early career talent

• The impact of AI on software engineering

• AI isn't just about automation. It's about being ten times better.

• Why AI will always match better than humans

• The role of TA

• The hype cycle

• Critical questions to ask vendors

• Data governance and integration

• What will things be like in both the short and long-term future?

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One of the pandemic's legacies is the opening of genuinely global markets for talent. The trend of moving work to people, rather than people to work, is set to grow as effectively tapping into international talent pools can offer a huge competitive advantage for the employers that get it right. At the same time, though, recruiting globally can be daunting, with companies having to negotiate the previously unfamiliar cultural, financial, and legal complexities.

My guest this week is Jonathan Romley, founder and CEO of Lundy. Jonathan shares his extensive experience in mapping out international hiring plans and highlights why he sees the globalization of talent as a huge strategic opportunity for talent acquisition.

In the interview, we discuss:

• The shifting global workforce landscape

• Why global hiring is a strategic opportunity for Talent Acquisition

• Understanding the business case

• Assessing whether a role should be based in another country

• Strategy roles versus execution roles

• The vital importance of research

• The disruptive force of AI

• Trust and the candidate experience

• What will TA look like in five years time?

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Talent Acquisition appears to be facing the perfect storm. The volume of inbound applications is increasing at unprecedented levels; however, at the same time, budgets are being reduced, and TA teams are getting smaller. On top of that, hiring for specialist talent is getting harder with remote work, making talent markets truly global and increasing competition for the hardest-to-find skills.

So, how can TA Leaders navigate these disruptive waters? AI is often positioned as a magic solution, but cutting through the cacophony of marketing noise it generates is a real challenge.

My guest this week is Steve Bartel, Founder and CEO of Gem. Steve offers us insights and advice from the perspective of a vendor building solutions to the challenges TA teams face. As well as talking about the trends that matter and the long-term impact of AI, he also shares some valuable advice on properly assessing potential AI solutions and avoiding some of the common pitfalls currently out there.

In the interview, we discuss:

• The challenges TA faces

• Noise versus signal

• What are the real game-changing trends?

• Single vendor versus point solutions

• Navigating the Gen AI revolution as a vendor

• The long term impact of AI on Talent Acquisition

• The AI hype cycle

• Ranking and matching

• Delivering an exceptional candidate experience

• What should buyers be aware of

• Recruiting Nirvana

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Round up is the monthly show on The Recruiting Future Podcast channel that highlights episodes you may have missed and gives you my take on some of the key learnings from the guests.

Episodes mentioned in this Round Up:

Ep 644: AI, Innovation & HR Tech

Ep 645: Recruiting Nirvana

Ep 646: Skills Intelligence

Ep 647: Attributes

Ep 648: Unstoppable Transformation

Ep 649: Building A Personalized Candidate Experience

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I've done a lot of research this year around the move to skills-based hiring and skills-based organizations. Having spoken to a large number of employers on this journey, it is very clear that success is predicated on looking at skills strategically, holistically, and in the context of both business and personal growth.

Ultimately, employers need to think fundamentally differently about talent and reflect this new thinking in talent acquisition, talent mobility, and talent development.

My guests this week have just published an excellent book encouraging CEOs to embrace this new mindset to build the adaptable, skilled workforce they need in a way that doesn't undermine personal growth and champions the employee experience.

The book is called "The Talent-Fueled Enterprise," and it was great to be able to speak to all three of its authors, Mike Ohata, Larry Durham, and Eric Dingler, who between them have 85 years combined experience in leading talent at Fortune 15 companies.

In the interview, we discuss:

• The current most common talent challenges

• The tension between people growth and business growth

• Shifting from tech skills to Skills, Attributes and Experience

• Skilling for human potential

• Building teams for growth, adaptability, and empathy

• Rethinking Talent Acquisition

• Becoming a skills-based organization

• The vital importance of talent mobility

• Employee experience

• The impact of AI

• What will work look like in 5 years time?

You can get 30% off The Talent-Fueled Enterprise by following this link and using the code Recruiting24

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Improving the candidate experience has been a perpetual goal in recruiting. Despite the best intentions, the improvement process's effectiveness still ebbs and flows with the changes in supply and demand in the labor market. However, are things finally about to change?

Ever since the exponential acceleration in the development of AI, I've been excited about the possibility of technology delivering a genuinely personalized candidate experience at scale.

So, what does this vision look like? Which elements are already possible, and what do TA leaders need to do to make it a reality?

My guest this week is Don Tomlinson, CTO at Daxtra. In our conversation, Don gives us a refreshingly pragmatic view of the AI use cases that can combine to build a personalized candidate experience and highlights pitfalls and dangers to be aware of.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Using AI to diversify talent pools

• Taking out the background noise

• Personalizing the candidate's experience in real-time

• Bespoke communication at scale

• Automatically tailoring the hiring process to individual circumstances.

• Transparency

• The dangers of losing the human touch

• Efficiencies, investment, and ROI

• Build vs Buy, Core Vs Complementary

• AI self-auditing to improve strategy and process

• What will the future look like?

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In the last few weeks, many established software vendors have launched AI-augmented products, helping us move past the hype and get a much more hands-on view of what AI means for Talent Acquisition.

There are still a massive amount of unknowns, but it is evident that AI is a chief catalyst in what is now an unstoppable transformation of TA and the broader talent function. AI and automation fundamentally alter the speed and scale at which TA can operate, constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible.

So, what does this mean for TA leaders and practitioners right now? How prepared are organizations for this level of transformation, and how can TA raise its game to drive more value for the organization?

This week, my guests are Dr. Swathi Palasamudram, Enterprise Business Architect at Bosch, and Nazim Ünlü, Global People and Organization Lead at Novartis, in two interviews recorded at the Smartrecruiters Hiring Success event in Amsterdam in September. Swathi and Nazim shared insights that reveal why the transformation of talent acquisition is truly unstoppable—and how TA leaders can harness this momentum to not only keep pace but lead the way.

In the interviews, we discuss:

• Fear, Adaptability, and the critical importance of strategic thinking

• Current AI use cases.

• How AI can raise the value of TA to the business

• Regional variations in AI adoption

• Retaining the vital human element of TA and HR

• Data literacy

• Building a personalized candidate experience

• The difference between Automation (efficiency through technology) and AI (insights and decision-making)

• Advice for TA Leaders

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Soft Skills, Hard Skills, Attributes, Traits, Competencies—these words sometimes get used interchangeably when we talk about assessment and team building. As the momentum around skills-based hiring increases, it is important to know what we really mean when we talk about skills generically and how exactly we are measuring someone's ability to do a particular role.

My guest this week is Rich Diviney, founder of The Attributes. Rich is a former Commanding Officer in the US Navy SEALs, where he was responsible for assessing and selecting the elite of the elite for the famous SEAL Team Six.

He now speaks and writes about the use of attributes in team building and hiring. We had a fantastic discussion about the difference between skills and attributes in the context of hiring and development. We also discuss my somewhat surprising results from taking Rich's attributes test. 

In the interview, we discuss:

• Identifying the elite of the elite for SEAL Team Six

• The difference between attributes and skills

• Understanding how people react in times of stress, challenge, and uncertainty

• How do you measure and assess attributes?

• Are soft skills and attributes the same thing?

• Can you develop attributes?

• The difference between perseverance, resilience, and tenacity

• What are companies getting wrong when it comes to skills and hiring?

• The "Dream Team Paradox"

• When AI takes over skills, attributes become even more critical.

• What does the future look like for hiring and managing talent?

You can get 15% of The Attributes Assessment by using the code RECRUITING15

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Skills-based organizations and skills-based hiring have been some of the hottest topics of the year. While it is hard to find anyone who disagrees that this way of thinking about talent strategies has enormous benefits, there is still much debate about some of the practicalities around strategy and implementation.

I spoke to two genuine HR thought leaders in my fourth and final set of interviews recorded at this year's HR Technology Conference. Heather Jerrehain, VP of Product Management - Employee Workflows at Service Now, and Mike Bollinger, Global VP of Strategic Initiative at Cornerstone on Demand

Both shared their thoughts and insights on the power of skills, the journey towards skills-based organizations, and their sense of what the future might look like.

In the interviews, we discuss:

• The impact of AI on jobs, work, and skills

• How AI is revolutionizing skills analysis and intelligence

• Using data from the hiring process to get a fuller picture of a person's skills

• The power of skills-based mobility

• Advice on building skills-based strategies

• How to get started

• The importance of not overcomplicating the process

• What types of organizations are already successfully implementing skills-based strategies

• Soft skills versus hard skills

• Skills development and the value for employees

• Integrating technology into skills-based hiring and development.

• What will things look like in five years' time?

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