Recruiting Future with Matt Alder - What's Next For Talent Acquisition, HR & Hiring?

TA Leaders are under tremendous pressure as we move through 2023. Many are dealing with acute talent shortages, others have to downsize their team, and everyone is attempting to make sense of the implications of rapidly advancing AI technology. Whilst the immediate pressure can drive a focus on short term thinking, there is a massive opportunity for the TA Leaders who take a longer term view to reposition Talent Acquisition within their organization strategically.

So what is the opportunity here, which other business functions can we model from, and what practical steps do TA Leaders need to take? My guest this week is Graeme Paxton, Founder and CEO of Caraffi. Carraffi is on a mission to make talent the engine room of everyone's organization, and Graeme has a vast amount of experience in helping TA Leaders think strategically.

In the interview, we discuss:

The current state of the market

• The strategic opportunity in challenging times

• Changing where TA sits in the organization

• Breaking the cycle

• When hiring volume decreases, the importance of hiring increases

• Shortage in critical skillsets

• What TA can learn from the strategic evolution of Marketing

• The three questions that keep CEOs up at night

• Aligning metrics with the business balance sheet

• How to measure the business impact of TA

• From transactional service to business driver

• Understanding the vision of your business to identify future critical skillsets

• How far in the future should TA Leaders be planning?

• Can TA Leaders be the CEOs of the future?

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The early careers labour market is evolving. The pandemic severely impacted internships, hybrid working is changing graduate recruitment, and many employers are reviewing their entry requirements to cast a broader net for talent.

My guest this week is Dr Charlie Ball, Head of Labour Market Intelligence at Jisc. Charlie is one of the UK's leading experts on Graduate employment with deep insights to share on current market trends that are applicable globally. A must-listen for anyone involved with interns, graduates and college recruiting. 

In the interview, we discuss:

• How the early careers labour market has evolved in the last three years

• The long term consequences of the pandemic's impact on internships and work experience

• Hybrid working and accredited apprenticeships

• The changing link between person, place and employment

• Why this recession is different for the labour market

• Why are employers dropping or lowering entry requirements?

• What does the future look like?

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The current evolution of TA is not just an outward facing exercise. New thinking around internal mobility, skills, culture and experience means that the lines between Talent Acquisition, Talent Management and Learning & Development are starting to blur. So what can we learn from the employers proactively working to break down these silos?

My guest this week is Debby Clement, VP of Talent at Pax8. Pax8 have a massive focus on a quality experience for both candidates and employees and has reinvented its TA strategy to reflect this. Debby has a lot of insight to share on the importance of removing internal silos and having a holistic approach to talent.

In the interview, we discuss:

• The talent challenges of a fast growing organization

• The Big Tech layoffs in context and why it is still tough to recruit the right people

• Building a new recruiting model

• Heart and whole person values

• TA as the umbilical cord going through the whole business

• Job descriptions tell, and job adverts sell.

• Knitting together Talent Acquisition, Talent Management and L&D

• The Wardley Mapping concept

• The unintended consequences of silos in HR

• People Analytics

• The role of technology and AI

• What does the TA team of the future look like

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I always find it encouraging to see many employers focusing on social mobility to diversify their workforces. However, much more needs doing, and some seismic shifts are required to broaden the narrow definition of talent many industries use to recruit. 

My guest this week is Phoebe Anderson, Executive Director at ATLAS Fellows. ATLAS is a not-for-profit organization with the goal of transforming the finance industry by opening doors for under-resourced young people to access life-changing careers. Phoebe advocates for changing entrenched recruiting practices and challenging the narrow definition of talent endemic in the finance industry. 

In the interview, we discuss:

• Why a zip code shouldn't dictate a life trajectory

• Breaking down barriers

• The importance of engaging with High School students

• Scholarship, internship, mentorship, and membership

• What employers need to do to be more inclusive

• Changing the narrow definition of talent

• Skills and knowledge are teachable.

• ATLAS' advice to employers and their plans for the future.

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Building more diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplaces is an ongoing challenge for many organizations. There is still a disconnect between the amount of noise generated around DE&I and the results achieved. So how can employers do better, and what lessons can be learned from other organizations?

My guest this week is Bruce Jackson, Associate General Counsel & Managing Director, Strategic Partnerships at Microsoft. Bruce has just published a new book, "Never Far From Home", which documents his personal journey from a housing project in Manhattan to becoming a lawyer who represented Pete Rock and LL Cool J and ultimately worked for the President of Microsoft. In our conversation, he shares his insights into the developing DE&I strategies at Microsoft, and the role employers can play in improving social mobility.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Bruce's journey and dealing with obstacles

• The overwhelming influence the environment you grew up in has on your prospects.

• What should employers do to improve diversity and inclusion?

• Practical incentives to help law firms be more diverse

• Improving evaluation and accountability

• The role employers can play in improving social mobility

• Cybersecurity programs in community colleges

• The critical importance of not losing another generation of great brave minds.

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Whatever part of the industry you are in, you will be facing uncertain times as we start to move through 2023. On top of the obvious economic factors, Talent Acquisition is heading into a period of dramatic reinvention right in the middle of a trend of TA layoffs, a conundrum at a time of continuing talent shortages and candidate-driven markets.

Whether you are looking for a new role, reinventing your existing role, or getting promoted, confidence is critical. It's also something that we don't talk about enough, particularly when it comes to building more of it and dealing with imposter syndrome.

My guest this week is Jess Jones, an influencer, content creator, and DE&I talent lead. Jess recently wrote a book about building confidence called "Own It". Her experience in TA gives her a unique perspective on how we talk (or rather don't talk) about confidence and resilience in our industry, and she has some great advice to share.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Confidence in the workplace

• Tackling imposter syndrome

• "Owning it"

• Empowering people to be more confident

• The snakes and ladders of work in 2023

• The five-second rule

• Does social media make things more complicated?

• The myth of perfection and the importance of being vulnerable

• Curiosity

• Showing up and leading by example

• AI & TA

• Internal mobility

• Using creators and influences to target specific pools of talent

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Talent Acquisition is continuing to grow in complexity. Technology is becoming more disruptive, recruiting methodologies are getting more sophisticated, and data and analytics are becoming more important. It's not surprising then that the skillset of TA teams is diversifying, and the role of TA Operations is becoming more developed. So how can TA leaders demonstrate the value of TA Ops, and how can it inform hiring strategies

My guest this week is Mark Jenkins, Talent Acquisition Operations Manager at Product Madness. Mark's role involves improving recruiting and hiring efficiency through process improvements, streamlined funnels, and digital transformation. He has lots of insights and advice to share about the growing value of TA Ops.

In the interview, we discuss:

• The bottom line impact of TA Ops

• Improving retention and diversity

• Unlocking the full potential of recruiting technology

• Automation and the importance of process reinvention

• How to drive value via continuous improvement

• Calculating the ROI of TA Ops

• Storytelling with data

• The role TA Ops can play in shaping hiring strategies

• The future of TA Ops

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

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 489: The Personalization Megatrend

Ep 490: Responsible Recruiting Strategies

Ep 491: Can TA Drive Internal Mobility?

Ep 492: AI & Automation Strategies

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With the relentless coverage, comment and discussion around ChatGPT, it finally feels that there is a mainstream realization of the capability and impact of AI and automation. However, while Twitter threads, conference presentations and webinars are great for building awareness, there is no discussion on the complexities of implementing AI and the strategic foundations needed to ensure success.

My guest this week is Kyle Lagunas, Head of Strategy & Principal Analyst at Aptitude Research. Kyle has recently authored a whitepaper exploring automation's current state and future potential in talent acquisition. TA Leaders need to think very carefully about strategy and implementation, and Kyle shares some valuable insights into the automated future. 

In the interview, we discuss:

• The outlook for talent acquisition in 2023

• Automation as a catalyst to unlock high-functioning TA

• Creating richer, high-quality stakeholder experiences.

• The importance of understanding system capability

• Continuing optimization and strategic development

• Building new best practices and AI and automation

• What do the humans do, and what do the machines do?

• Augementation and anticipation

• The evolving maturity model and the current rate of adoption

• What skills will the TA team of the future need?

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We're still only at the start of 2023, but it's already clear that it will be another challenging and complex year for talent acquisition. With so much disruption, TA Leaders must be able to prove their value to their businesses. One area we are seeing this happen is internal mobility, where the line between talent acquisition and talent management is getting a bit blurry as employers look at talent more holistically.

My guest this week is Manjuri Sinha, Global Director of Talent Acquisition at OLX. Manjuri recently helped launch a highly successful internal talent marketplace called OLX Explore. In our conversation, she shared some of the strategies used to deal with the significant challenges around internal mobility and has some advice to share with TA Leaders who want to prove the value of their teams.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Recruiting challenges

• Tech layoffs and global talent pools

• How Talent Acquisition leaders can demonstrate the value of their teams

• Building internal talent marketplaces

• The challenges of internal mobility

• Building a business case from data

• The importance of C-Suite sponsorship

• Awareness, access and enablement

• Results and ROI

• The role of technology

• What does the TA team of the future look like

Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.