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

For many years I've been reading about the work UK retailer Timpson does to hire ex-offenders and other marginalised groups. What they do is a win win win situation. It's a win for the ex-offenders who get a job, it's a win for society as employment is a crucial part of breaking the re-offending cycle, and it's a win for Timpson as they get access to a large talent pool.

Now more than ever, employers need to be challenging traditional policies and beliefs to think differently about hiring. With that in mind, I'm absolutely delighted to welcome Darren Burns, Timpson's National Recruitment Manager and Head of The Timpson foundation, to the show. As well as running Timpson's own ex-offender hiring initiatives, Darren also advisors other companies looking to do the same, and he has some unique experience and advice to share

In the interview, we discuss:

• The work of The Timpson Foundation

• Timpson's motivations behind recruiting ex-offenders

• Breaking the re-offending cycle

• Working with prisons in the recruiting process

• The benefits of employing ex-offenders

• Advice to other employers

• Accelerator prisons and prison reform

• What's next for Timpson

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Talent Acquisition is having to evolve at speeds we have never seen before, and recruiting technology is playing a central role in enabling this transformation. However, the recruiting technology ecosystem has never been more complicated and confusing. Building an effective tech stack can be challenging.

My guest this week has a considerable amount of advice to share on the best ways to leverage recruiting technology in the dynamic environment employers are currently operating in. Ryan Dull is the Founder and CEO of Sagemark HR and an expert in pairing best fit technology, innovative process and industry best practices. 

In the interview, we discuss:

• Talent Acquisition challenges

• Technology adoption

• Building Tech Stacks to improve efficiency and increase conversion

• How much of recruiting will be automated

• How do TA leaders make sense of the market?

• Stakeholder buy-in and support

• The impact of vendor acquisition and investment on customers

• Broader technology trends to keep an eye on for the future

Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.

In today's talent markets, speed is critical when it comes to securing talent. Maintaining speed and quality when hiring is being scaled up is a challenge and is also a position many employers are now in.

My guest this week is Katie Morrow, VP of People Operations at Podium. Podium is a rapidly growing business, and Katie has some great insight to share on scaling up hiring without losing speed or damaging the candidate experience.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Scaling up talent acquisition

• High touch candidate experience

• The mind shift from relocation to remote

• Demonstrating company culture in virtual hiring

• Connecting people to the mission of the business

• Childcare

• The role of technology

• What do the next 12 - 18 months look like

Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.

As I mentioned in the previous episode, with recruiting evolving so quickly, I will be dedicating a lot of time on the podcast to providing deep dives into how AI and Automation are being deployed to solve real life recruiting challenges.

Conversational AI is a big topic at the moment, with a shift taking place from simple chatbots to sophisticated tools that can radically improve the candidate experience, speed up hiring and allow TA leaders to redeploy their human team members to higher-value tasks.

So what are the thoughts processes, decision journies and implications of putting AI at the heart of your TA strategy? My guest this week is Shannon Hughes Swayney, SVP of Human Resource US at Prosegur. Prosegur uses conversational AI strategically throughout their employee lifecycle and has done an enormous amount of work to ensure that it reflects their employer brand values in an authentic and helpful way.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Talent Acquisition challenges

• Putting AI at the heart of strategy

• Building a talent lifecycle solution and supporting candidate success

• The decision journey

• Basing a chatbot on a real person and embedding brand values

• Scripting and tone of voice

• Engagement, retention and compliance

• The balance between AI and humans

• ROI and results

• Advice to TA leaders

• The future of Talent Acquisition

Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.

Recruiting Automation is finally moving from a theoretical concept to pragmatic reality. A combination of the unique pressures talent acquisition is currently under and some quantum leaps forward in technology means automation is becoming a smart solution for an increasing number of employers. However, I know that this currently throws up more questions than answers for many TA leaders, so over the coming weeks and months, I'll be doing some deep dives into the practicalities of automation with practitioners who have hands-on experience. We've recently had a couple of episodes looking at screening via conversational ai, and in this episode, I wanted to explore the growing trend towards automated sourcing.

My guest this week is Mike Smart, a hands-on recruiter and Global Talent Leader at Devo. Devo is having a lot of success using automated sourcing to deal with some tough recruiting challenges, and Mike has some valuable insights and advice to share.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Dealing with the mismatch in supply and demand of talent

• Helping hiring managers understand the reality of current hiring dynamics

• How employers can stand out on LinkedIn

• Automating manual processes

• Augmenting recruiters with intelligent technology

• Finding undiscovered candidates

• Can you effectively automate candidate outreach in a way that resonates?

• The power of being persistent

• Advice to Talent Acquisition leaders on the reality of automation

• What does the future look like?

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Challenging talent markets and the increasing adoption of AI-driven technology are driving a revolution in recruiting. We now see recruiting automation happening in many ways, and it's becoming clear that talent acquisition is changing forever.

So how can employers use AI and automation technology to benefit recruiters and hiring managers and radically enhance the candidate experience?

To help answer these questions in a practical way, I have two brilliant guests: Rhonda Lloyd, Director of People Solutions & Recruiting at Webhelp and Barb Hyman, CEO at Predictive Hire.

In the interview, we discuss:

• How Webhelp is addressing recruiting challenges across the globe

• Putting candidates in control

• Is this the most innovative time we've ever seen in talent acquisition?

• Humans don't scale

• Automation and Smart Technology

• Finding undiscovered talent

• The end of the resume?

• Giving personalized feedback to every candidate

• Increasing both speed and quality

• Re-imagining the role of the recruiter

• Ethics and transparency

• Advice to talent acquisition leaders around AI vendors

• Why the future is personalized

Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.

Over the last couple of years, I've become fascinated by the innovation in the tools available to assess candidates in the recruiting process. While there are a growing number of impressive technologies and techniques, up to this point, it has actually been quite challenging to get solid case study evidence of effectiveness. 

My guest this week has recently run a case study based award process for assessment innovation that provides the evidence of adoption and success that we have been looking for.

I'm delighted to welcome Netherlands based consultant Bas van de Haterd back to the show. Bas has been on the podcast a few times showcasing new thinking in assessment and, in this conversation, talks us through five very different case studies of assessment innovation in action.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Assessment innovation and adoption

• Using inclusive assessment techniques to broader talent pools and increase diversity

• Improving recruiter efficiency and effectiveness

• Mapping cognitive capabilities and ignoring resumes

• Lessons in spotting long term potential from elite sport

• Alleviating burn out

• Measuring ROI over long periods of time

• Mitigating bias

• What can we expect to see in 2022

Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcast.

As I say in pretty much every interview on the podcast, predicting the future accurately is impossible. However, identifying and tracking the trends that will shape the future is not just possible; it is essential for any kind of strategic approach to talent acquisition. It's very clear that we are at the start of a new phase in the evolution of recruiting, and understanding where we are heading has never been more critical.

My guest this week is Kevin Wheeler, Founder of The Future of Talent Institute. I've known Kevin for over a decade now, which is long enough to understand just how skilled he is at identifying the trends that matter.

In the interview, we discuss:

• What is the purpose of talent acquisition, and is it structured in the right way?

• Why is internal mobility so hard

• How does talent acquisition need to evolve

• Workforce flexibility

• Recruiting automation and the future of recruiters

• Investment levels in recruiting technology

• Exponential Growth

• Upskilling and reskilling

• What has surprised Kevin the most in the last two years

• What can we expect to see in 2022

Listen to this podcast in 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 377: Strategic AI

Ep 378: Values Driven Retention and Recruiting

Ep 379: The Right To Remain Human

Ep 380: Transformational Hiring

Ep 381: People First Automation

Ep 382: HR’s Impact On Talent Brand

Ep 383: Recruitonomics

Ep 384: Diversity In Action

Ep 385: Aligning Talent Acquisition & Talent Management

Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcast

As external talent markets get ever more challenging, internal mobility is becoming a more significant issue. Unsurprisingly then, one of the major themes of the past year has been the ever closer relationship between talent acquisition and talent management. 

So how are the most innovative companies holistically looking at talent acquisition and talent management, and how is technology helping them.

My guest this week is Lisa Niesen, Head of Talent Management Solutions at SHL. Lisa has been doing a lot of work at the intersection of talent acquisition and talent management and has some valuable insights to share.

In the interview, we discuss:

• What effect are challenging external talent markets having on talent management?

• The growing importance of retention and mobility

• Career paths and development opportunities to keep people engaged

• Rethinking traditional career structures

• The role of assessment and technology

• Gathering insights on skills

• Being better with data

• Advice on bringing talent acquisition and talent management together within the organisation

• What does the future look like?

Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.