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

With many countries facing a second wave of COVID 19, taking a long term view on the outlook for work and employment is difficult. However, several months into this global crisis, crucial labour market trends are emerging, which will shape the future of talent acquisition.


My guest this week is Neil Carberry, CEO of The Recruitment & Employment Confederation. The REC is doing a vast amount of work to understand the changes in the labour market and advise talent acquisition leaders and recruiting firms on the likely future. In our conversation, Neil shares some valuable perspectives on the challenges that lie ahead.

In the interview, we discuss:

   •   The current state of global labour markets

   •   Hiring hotspots where the jobs market is recovering

   •   The long term impact of the pandemic on the shape of employment

   •   Creating career pathways into in-demand jobs

   •   The recruiting implications of a mixed model of remote working

   •   The role of recruiters in rebuilding economies

   •   How has the increase in tech adoption affected talent acquisition in the long term

   •   Similarities and differences in global markets

   •   What should talent acquisition be focusing on for the next six months

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Personal branding is something we've been talking about for at least a decade now, and it sometimes feels that much of advice that is shared is unrealistic and somewhat divorced from most people's reality.

With the global economic crisis causing many people to rethink their long-held career plans, arguably personal branding has never been more critical, and some fresh thinking and new ideas are desperately needed.

My guest this week is consultant, author and speaker Jeff Gothelf. Jeff's new book "Forever Employable" is fantastic and offers advice and insights on personal branding that are relevant, realistic and achievable. This interview is a must-listen for everyone in the difficult times we are currently going through.

In the interview, we discuss:

   •   The story behind "Forever Employable"

   •   Personal branding in 2020

   •   The end of corporate loyalty

   •   Creating a safety net of opportunity

   •   Planting your flag and building a personal platform

   •   Standing out from the noise via humility and vulnerability

   •   Are preconceived ideas about talent making employers miss out on valuable skills

   •   What does the future of work look like and what tools do we need

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I've been advocating for broader adoption of established digital marketing practices in recruitment marketing for a long time now. With many talent acquisition teams now having to deliver results with reduced resources, understanding targeting and measurement in marketing has arguably never been more important.

My guest this week is David Larsen, Global Talent & Employer Brand Lead at Knauf. David has a really interesting background, having worked at Google and also spent time as an entrepreneur starting up and successfully exiting from a tech company. David has some great thoughts and insights to share on the role digital marketing should be playing in talent acquisition moving, forward particular in terms of how employers define and understand their target audiences.

In the interview, we discuss:

   •   The lessons David has learned about talent acquisition during his career to date.

   •   The talent acquisition challenges at Knauf

   •   Applying digital marketing practices to recruitment marketing

   •   Defining and understanding target audiences

   •   Truly understanding an EVP

   •   Gaining competitive advantage

   •   Adapting processes and communication for different audiences

   •   Technology as a lever of cost and efficiency

   •   Quantitive analysis of candidate journeys

   •   The future of recruitment marketing

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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 300: On the Frontline

Ep 294: Global Recruiting

Ep 296: Engagement and Mobility

Ep 297: Introvert Friendly Workplaces

Ep 298: The Productivity Puzzle

Ep 299: Talent Acquisition Has Changed

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Over the past few months, I've spoken to numerous talent acquisition leaders about their experiences during the pandemic and their strategies for a changed future. In this episode, I wanted to bring in the views of two strategic technology and service providers to give us their perspectives on the future based on what they are seeing and hearing across the portfolio of employers they work with.

My guests this week are Nicola Sullivan Solutions Director at Meet & Engage and Pag Miles Global Head Of Alliances at Alexander Mann Solutions. Both of them have some fantastic insights to share, and this really is a must-listen interview for anyone who is trying to understand the current state of the market or who is working on their future talent acquisition strategy.

In the interview, we discuss:

   •   What support have employers needed in the last six months?

   •   Panic, Protect, Prepare, Progress

   •   Automation to support applicant volumes

   •   Employers priorities for 2021

   •   Improving experiences with technology

   •   Virtualised Onboarding and Re-Boarding

   •   Panic buying and tech stack reviews

   •   Virtual internships

   •   2020's legacy in terms of talent acquisition and HR technology

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A few months ago, the podcast passed 1 million downloads, and it feels fantastic to get to this next milestone of 300 episodes. A big thank you to everyone for all the support you give me, whether that's through listening, sponsoring or appearing on the show. This podcast would not exist without you, and I'm incredibly grateful.

Unlike the 100th episode where I published a whitepaper or the 200th episode which I recorded live at RecFest, I'm no doing anything special to mark this triple century. Instead, I'm focusing on continuing to create valuable content as well as shaping my plans to take the show to 400 episodes and beyond. I'll be sharing more details on those in the coming weeks.

With the pandemic shaping the content of the last 52 episodes, it seems very appropriate in this episode to talk to Nicola McQueen, the CEO of NHS Professionals. NHS Professionals is owned by The Department of Health in the UK and is responsible for providing the NHS with a flexible workforce of Doctors and Nurses. This really is the frontline of recruiting during the pandemic, and I'm grateful to Nicola for sharing the story as well as some lessons learnt around rapid change and agile workforce deployment that all employers can learn from.

In the interview, we discuss:

   •   The role of NHS Professionals

   •   Stand Up, Step Forward & Save Lives

   •   The unprecedented challenges of recruiting during a pandemic

   •   Reducing onboarding from 4 weeks to 24 hours

   •   Change and motivation

   •   Long term talent pipeline engagement

   •   The importance of being bold

   •   Agile workforce deployment

   •   What comes next

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Talent acquisition has been forced to change more during 2020 than at any other time in its history as a function. It's now several months since the pandemic turned everything upside down, and I think it is an important time to reflect on the impact of the changes that have been made and their sustainability into the future.

My guest this week is Himanshu Aggarwal, Chief Growth Officer at SHL. Himanshu works with talent acquisition leaders all over the world and has vast insights into the challenges they are facing and the changes they are making.

In the interview, we discuss:

   •   How the pandemic has changed talent acquisition

   •   The rapid acceleration of adoption recruiting technology

   •   How candidate experience is changing

   •   Is the kind of talent employers are looking for changing?

   •   Identifying the behaviours needed for effective remote working

   •   How is virtual recruiting impacting quality of hires?

   •   The importance of using technology that has been built for hiring

   •   Science and data

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The accelerated digital transformation of 2020 is driving significant additional adoption of recruiting and HR technology. But is technology making us more productive and how might things develop as we move in 2021?

My guest this week is Tim Ringo, a highly experienced HR and technology consultant and author of the new book The Productivity Puzzle. In our conversation, Tim shares some highly knowledgeable insights into the relationship between humans, technology and productivity.

In the interview, we discuss:

   •   The evolution of the productivity paradox

   •   Investing and aligning people with technology

   •   How is the pandemic changing productivity?

   •   Turbocharging humans with smart technology

   •   Changing the slow speed of adoption in recruiting and HR tech

   •   Making technology human-centric

   •   Advice to Talent Acquisition and HR leaders on what to focus on

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All over the world employers have had remote recruiting and remote onboarding imposed on them. Recruiting has gone through a forced accelerated digital transformation, and it's now becoming clear that things will never completely go back to the way they were before.

So what should talent acquisition leaders be doing to make this shift a sophisticated strategic revolution to make recruiting better for everyone?

Well, some of the answers can found by learning lessons from digital disruption in other industries.

My guest this week is Arjan Spies, Arjan is taking lessons from e-commerce and applying them to recruiting in innovative ways.

In the interview, we discuss:

   •   Solving the challenges of remote recruiting

   •   Automated assessment instead of resumes

   •   Putting hiring managers through assessments and sharing the results with candidates

   •   Selling the opportunity remotely.

   •   Removing human error with technology

   •   Labour market intelligence and marketing automation

   •   The challenges of getting culture across in remote onboarding

   •   The future of work and talent acquisition

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Building inclusive workplaces that make everyone feel that they belong is something all employers should be focusing on. One topic that I don't hear talked about very often in our industry though is the difference in working styles between introverts and extraverts. So how can employers make sure their working practices, communication and talent acquisition strategies are working for everyone

My guest this week is Jennifer Kahnweiler, an author speaker and consultant who is hailed as a "champion for introverts" Her latest book explores how employers can unlock the potential of all of their talent by making workplaces more introvert-friendly.

In the interview, we discuss:

   •   The difference between introverts and extroverts in the context of work

   •   Differing communication styles

   •   Working from home and working alone

   •   Being visible and being heard

   •   What are employers doing to be more inclusive for introverts?

   •   The impact of the pandemic on communication

   •   Avoiding bias in interviewing and hiring

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