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

There is a lot of talk about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in talent acquisition, but when you dig below the surface, the amount of practical action happening doesn't live up to the promises made.

A few weeks ago long time friend of the podcast Bas Van De Haterd introduced me to one of the most inspiring recruiters I've spoken to for a long time.

Eugène van den Hemel helps employers recruit talent from communities that are historically underrepresented in the job market. In the last few years, he has been doing some pioneering work helping to connect refugees with employment opportunities and, in so doing, opening employers' eyes to an incredible pool of talent.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Recruiting to make matches that matter

• Dealing with inaccurate preconceptions

• The power of humans meetings humans

• The problem with current thinking on certifications

• Advice to employers looking to hire refugees

• Broader leaning for recruitment in a time of automation and technology

• Jobs For Humanity

• What is the future of recruiting?

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Talent markets are crazy, recruiting is tough, and it can be challenging to get any sort of perspective on what is going on. So how can we make sense of everything and, in a world that feels out of control, what can talent acquisition professionals actually do that will make a difference.

My guest this week is Andrew Flowers, Labor Economist at Appcast. Andrew is combining traditional labor market analysis with Appcast's unique proprietary data into Recruitnomics. Recruitnomics combines cutting edge insights with real-world business applications making Andrew overview of market trends in this interview a must listen for everyone.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Job market trends

• Data sets and sources

• Key variable and levers

• Wage growth

• The impact of government support

• The continuing influence of the pandemic

• Rising recruiting costs

• Will things ever "normalize"?

• Skinny application flows

• Politics and policies

• Programmatic tools

• Advice to talent acquisition professionals

• Long term trends to keep an eye on

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With everything that is going on in the market, it is more important than ever to understand the factors that make people feel positive enough to want to advocate for their employer or feel negative enough to want to leave their job.

My guest this week is Marcus Buckingham, Head of Research, People and Performance at The ADP Research Institute. Marcus is well known in the industry for doing pioneering research work. He has just realised a report with a new model that measures the impact and performance of HR through the lens of employee experience. The results are fascinating and illustrate just how much influence the performance of HR can have on a company's talent brand.

In the interview, we discuss:

• The current state of the market and the reassessment of work

• The HR XPerience Score

• Measuring the effectiveness of HR through employee experience

• Can HR drive positive employee behaviours?

• What are the levers to create a great experience?

• How HR experience drives talent brand

• How HR can drive attrition

• Characteristics of a high scoring HR function

• Results that run counter to current megatrends

• The importance to humans of being seen at work

• What does the future look like

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Recruiting automation via conversational AI is proving to be an effective way to help solve some of the unique challenges in today's talent markets. But how are employers actually using it, what benefits are they getting, and how do they manage the balance between humans and machines.

My guest this week is Victor Gaines, Senior Vice President, Talent Acquisition at Aveanna Healthcare. Aveanna has been using automation technology to vastly increase efficiencies in its recruiting process. Victor has some exceptional advice and insights to share on choosing and implementing technology, as well as some fascinating thoughts around the future of recruiting.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Talent acquisition challenges in the home care market

• Working at scale when speed is a critical issue

• The role of technology in creating internal and external efficiencies

• Building an engaging candidate experience with automation

• Being people first

• Balancing technology and humans

• Advice to TA leaders on evaluating and buying technology

• What to look for in vendor partners

• Screening people in rather than ruling them out

• The future of recruiting

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Digital transformation is currently one of the fundamental drivers of talent strategy for many organizations. Ensuring your company has the right balance of skills is a complex task involving talent acquisition, L&D, retention, internal mobility and an effective HR and Recruiting tech stack.

So how are employers managing the complexity of all of this while prioritizing the employee experience?

My guest this week is Harm Otten, Executive Vice President Human Resources at DHL Global Forwarding & Freight. Harm has spent the last few years focusing on the talent aspect of digital transformation within his organization, putting recruiting technology at the heart of the strategy.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Digitizing the HR organization

• Improving the employee experience

• Creating a job architecture and an internal career marketplace

• Building an HR tech stack around a core systems

• The advantages of using end to end recruiting technology

• The impact of the pandemic on working practice

• How digital transformation is changing skill requirements in a competitive market

• The vital importance of EVP and being an attractive employer

• Being applicant centric

• Combing cultures after an acquisition

• The future of recruiting

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As our working lives become ever more focused on digital screens and devices, how can employers ensure that they support their employees' mental wellness? Also, with the growth of digital tracking and surveillance in work technology, how can HR step up to defend cultures and long term productivity by ensuring people are treated as humans and not machines. 

My guest this week is Dr Anastasia Dedyukhina, founder of Consciously Digital. Anastasia writes, speaks and coaches extensively around the impact of devices on wellbeing and the challenges around the use of technology at work. 

In the interview, we discuss:

• Screens, devices and mental health

• Establishing boundaries and regaining balance

• How employers can help

• Productivity and deep work

• Digital presenteeism 

• Tracking and surveillance

• Why HR needs to step up

• What would an ideal world look like

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Keeping employees is as difficult as attracting employees at the moment, and, as ever, it is particularly tough in the tech sector. The relationship between employees and employers is changing, and shared values are a vital part of this.

My guest this week is Michel Visser, VP People Success & Enablement at software company Unit4. Unit4 are taking a holistic values driven approach to recruitment and retention. It is also a strategy based on innovation and experimentation, and Michel has some extremely valuable perspectives to share.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Recruiting challenges in tech

• Talent on the move

• Making work more than transactional

• Taking a holistic view of employee success

• Being innovative with compensation and benefits

• Meaning versus tokenism

• Using core values as a compass

• Demonstrating values through candidate experience

• What is the future of work?

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Talent Acquisition is uniquely challenging at the moment. Impossible talent markets, virtual recruiting, and evolving EVPs are just a small selection of TA leaders' current challenges. At the same time, we are seeing an unprecedented amount of investment and innovation in recruiting technology being driven by AI. So how does everything join up, and how can talent acquisition teams use AI in a strategic way to address the problems they face

My guest this week is Rebecca Warren, part of the Customer Success team at Eightfold AI. Rebecca is a former TA leader, which gives her some unique insights and advice to share on using AI strategically. 

In the interview, we discuss:

Talent Acquisition challenges

The best way of connecting with candidates in the current environment

Looking beyond the resume

Using AI to find skill adjacency, talent and potential

DE&I, what is happening in practice?

Which new ways of working are long term trends

How AI can make Talent Acquisition more strategic

The evolution of the EVP

Practical examples of AI in action

Advice to talent acquisition leader on AI

What does the future hold?

Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.

Recruiting is a challenge for pretty much everyone at the moment, but how do you continue to recruit effectively in a market with long term skill shortages in a country whose borders have been shut for more than 18 months and where applications rates are down by 75%?

My guest this week is Lorraine Carr, Talent Acquisition Manager at Class, an Australia based FinTech. Lorraine is using a combination of strategies to recruit successfully in an incredibly challenging market and has some high-quality insights and experiences to share

In the interview, we discuss:

• The current challenges in technology recruitment 

• How talent acquisition at Class has evolved

• Creating a diverse pipeline

• The importance of optimizing job ads

• Candidate experience and the Circle Back initiative

• Hiring managers and executive stakeholders

• Preboarding

• The humanization of EVPs

• What does the future of talent acquisition look like

Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.

Over the last couple of years, I've developed an increasing interest in the use of behavioural science in advertising and marketing and its growing relevance in broader business disciplines. I'm absolutely convinced that it offers a route to incredible innovation in talent acquisition and therefore is something we should all be actively investigating.

So what is behavioural science, and what implications does it have for recruiting, diversity and the future of work. There is no one better to explain all of this than Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy. Rory is one of marketing most original thinkers and influential speakers. He is a pioneer of behavioural science in business, and it's a huge privilege to have him on the show to share his thoughts about talent and talent acquisition.

In the interview, we discuss:

• Why Behavioural Science is the science of knowing what economists are wrong about

• The dangers of defensive decision making

• Finding psychological truths and the importance of emotions

• Why Uber has a map

• Recruiting for diversity of thought

• How Ogilvy have redesigned the recruiting process to find people of exceptional non-standard ability

• While the average is not the optimal solution

• The difference between equality of opportunity and diversity of opportunity

• Why work is a relational relationship, not a transactional one

• Cost reduction versus lost opportunities

• Personalising the value exchange between employer and employee

• The future of work and why it has taken a pandemic to get us there

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