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

The only things certain about talent acquisition in 2023 are uncertainly and more disruption. As companies deal with these complex times, what can TA leaders do to ensure their teams give their businesses maximum value?

My first guest of 2023 is Jane Curran, Global Head of Talent Acquisition at JLL. Jane leads a large TA team firmly focused on driving value by advocating for responsible recruiting throughout the business.

In the interview, we discuss:

• The continuing challenge of standing out and finding top talent

• The market in 2023

• The need for responsible recruiting

• Building a strong relationship between TA and Finance

• Working with HR Business Partners and Hiring Managers

• How should TA prioritize recruiting

• Improving internal talent mobility

• Building flexibility in the model to ensure you have the right sized TA team

• The role of technology in 2023

• Zero waste in the ecosystem of talent

• How can TA do less with more in changing times

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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 479: Neurodiversity Hiring At Microsoft

Ep 480: Are Job Boards Evolving?

Ep 481: Workstyle

Ep 482: The Fluid Workforce

Ep 483: The Power Of Talent Marketplaces

Ep 484: Innovation and Skills-Based Hiring

Ep 486: Building A Second Brain

Ep 487: Focus

Ep 488: The DE&I Journey

Ep 489: The Personalization Megatrend

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Anyone who has listened to the show, read any of my writing, or seen me present this year will know that I firmly believe that technology-driven personalization is a forthcoming megatrend in talent acquisition.

Earlier in the year, it was a pleasure to speak about personalization at the Association of Talent Acquisition Professionals Global TA Day conference. ATAP recorded the session, and I wanted to share it with you to wrap up Recruiting Future for 2022. So please listen on and learn more about how you can achieve Automated Human Centric Recruiting in 2023.

This is what I cover in the presentation:

• Why personalization is a TA megatrend

• The current poor state of personalization in recruiting

• Why, how and when

• The shift to automation

• RPA and data

• Automation + Quality Experience = Personalization

• Why should TA professionals care?

• Turning data into personalized experiences

• Adjusting content to context

• What is currently being personalized in TA?

• The split between robots and humans

• Relationship building and empathetic communication at scale

• Leveraging behavioural science

• A framework for storytelling

• Using personalization for competitive talent advantage

Podcast episodes mentioned in the presentation:

Ep 375: The Magic of Behavioural Science

Ep 438: The Power of Storytelling

Ep 434: Personalization Case Studies (Part One)

Ep 454: Personalization Case Studies (Part Two)

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One of the key lessons from 2022 is that implementing effective strategies for DE&I is always a long-term journey rather than a quick fix. Sharing insights to learn from the experiences of others is a critical part of the process; progress cannot happen in a vacuum.

My guest this week is Eric Thomas, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer at Genesys. Genesys is on a journey to become a more diverse company, and a vital part of this is increased workforce representation to align with the markets they serve. Eric has some valuable insights to share on the lessons they are learning, particularly around talent acquisition and employee experience.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Eric's journey to becoming a Chief Diversity Officer

• The lessons Genesys has learned during its ongoing evolution to being a more diverse company.

• Empathy and helping employees understand the why

• Inclusion and belonging

• The innovation required for effective DE&I work

• Determining priorities and experimentation

• Reimagining talent acquisition

• Redesigning the interview process

• Employee experience as a differentiator

• Advice to other employers on a similar journey

• Setting industry benchmarks and building an ecosystem.

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

As an end-of-year special, this week is productivity week on the podcast. 

With so much going on and so many competing pressures, I know that everyone listening will, at least at some point in 2022, have had challenges with focus and information overload. Talent Acquisition is evolving quickly, and managing attention and processing information are vital skills that aren't highlighted as much as they should be.

A couple of days ago, in Episode 486, we looked at managing information overload when I spoke to Tiago Forte, the inventor of the Building a Second Brain system of personal knowledge management. 

In this episode, I want to focus on focus, and my guest is author and speaker Erik Qualman. In 2009 Erik wrote a hugely influential book predicting the rise of social media called Socianomics, and since then has written extensively on digital leadership. His most recent book is The Focus Project which highlights the problems humans have focusing in our hyper-connected world and explores some of the potential solutions that can help us.

In the interview, we discuss:

• The Focus Project

• Focusing on the big, not the busy

• Focus is hard in an unfocused world.

• The importance of systems and process

• Progress not perfection

• Saying no a lot

• The power of sleep

• Spotting patterns, time fencing and the 20/20/20 rule

• How can employers support focus?

• What does the future of work now look like

Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.

As an end-of-year special, this week is productivity week on the podcast. 

With so much going on and so many competing pressures, I know that everyone listening will, at least at some point in 2022, have had challenges with focus and information overload. Talent Acquisition is evolving quickly, and managing attention and processing information are vital skills that aren't highlighted as much as they should be.

My first guest on productivity week is one of the world's leading personal knowledge management systems experts. Tiago Forte is the Founder of Forte Labs and the creator of the brilliant Building a Second Brain. BASB is a very effective knowledge and information management system I can personally vouch for as I used it to write my book "Digital Talent."

Tiago has created a popular online course and a book on Building a Second Brain, and in our discussion, he gives us an excellent insight into the system. 

In the interview, we discuss:

• The story behind BASB

• Are employers giving knowledge workers effect support around information overload?

• Personal Knowledge Management

• Shifting from top down to individual

• The key elements of BASB

• Capture, Organize, Distill, Express

• The role of technology

• How I reactivated ten years of lost Kindle highlights

• Taking the first steps

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

The death of the resume has long been predicted. It is widely acknowledged that they are ineffective and prone to promoting bias, but alternative approaches have yet to achieve universal adoption. However, with many employers moving towards skills and competency-based hiring and technology continuing to drive rapid change in recruiting, are the days of the resume finally numbered?

My guest this week is Maya Huber, Co-Founder and CEO of the competencies-based sourcing platform TaTiO. Maya has a PHD in Job Analysis and some fascinating insights into practical ways of moving on from the resume and making hiring more efficient, inclusive and effective.

In the interview, we discuss:

• The ineffectiveness of resumes

• The danger of assessing just on words and stories

• Skills-based hiring versus competency-based hiring

• Testing performance in its context

• Reducing the administrative burden for recruiters

• Job simulation

• Job analysis

• The hiring outcomes of competency-based assessment

• What should companies expect from the future of work?

Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.

The pace of business change is continuing to accelerate. According to a recent McKinsey Global Survey, business leaders expect that by 2026, half of their companies' revenues will come from products, services, or businesses that haven't been invented yet. Innovation is critical for companies to survive and thrive. So how can employers ensure they have talent strategies in place to have the right skills to create and drive new ideas forward, and could innovation be the catalyst that accelerates skills-based hiring?

My guest this week is Mauro Porcini, PepsiCo's first ever Chief Design Officer and author of a new book on people-centric innovation. In the book, Mauro does a deep dive into the skills, culture, and philosophy companies need to innovate. It was brilliant to hear his views on what employers need to do to attract, retain and develop people with the diverse skills required for effective innovation.

In the interview, we discuss:

• The role of Chief Design Officer at Pepsico

• How business cultures have changed

• Designing the future with human-centric design

• The 24 skills needed for innovation and the importance of identifying and developing them in leaders

• Building a culture of innovation

• Process versus people

• The power of kindness, optimism, and curiosity

• The relationship between kindness and productivity

• Recognizing and recruiting innovators

• Redesigning the recruiting process

• What does the future look like?

Mauro's book - The Human Side of Innovation: The Power of People in Love with People

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

One thing that has remained constant in our changing talent markets is the importance of targeting the right audience with the right message at the right time. In the noisy world of recruiting marketing, talent marketplaces are proving to be effective platforms for bringing employers and like-minded potential employees together.

My guest this week is John Beard, Head of Corporate & Technical Talent Acquisition at One Medical. One Medical is competing for talent in some challenging markets. John has a lot of insights to share on finding, connecting, and persuading the right talent to join the organization in rapidly changing times.

In the interview, we discuss:

• How recruiting challenges are evolving with the market.

• Recruiting missionaries, not mercenaries

• Candidate experience as a north star

• Offering feedback to all

• Cutting through the noise to connect with the right people

• Doing something important versus doing something with impact.

• Compelling storytelling

• The role of talent marketplaces and the advantages they offer employers

• How will the tech talent market evolve over the next two years?

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The debate around the office versus remote versus hybrid looks set to run and run as employers continue to experiment with different strategies. Despite the enormous advantages of remote working, there are many challenges and gaps with some current approaches that need addressing as we move forward.

So what are the key issues, how do employers address them, and what role should HR technology play?

My guest this week is Saad Siddiqui, General Partner at Telstra Ventures, a VC firm with several HR technology investments. Saad has written extensively about the future of work and the advantages of a fluid workforce strategy.

In the interview, we discuss:

• The current state of the hiring market and the longer term outlook

• Identifying gaps and challenges in new ways of working

• The fluid workforce

• Generational divides

• Building connections and mentoring

• Culture and the role of leadership

• Employee motivations and retention

• Finding the best talent on a global basis

• Key trends in HR Tech

• Consolidation and platform business extension

• How should employers think about technology?

• What does the future look like

Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.