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

Predicting the future of work is not an exact science, however one prediction that most people seem to agree with is that there will be a significant rise in freelance and contract working. This trend is already here; recent years have seen both a significant rise in the contingent workforce and the advert of talent marketplaces shaping the “gig economy”.

My guest this week is Connor Heaney, Managing Director of CXC Corporate Services. I first met Connor last year when I spoke at CXC’s future of work summit in Dublin. Since then Connor has been running future of work think tanks all over the world and has some important perspectives on how companies should be preparing themselves for the future of work.

In the interview with discuss:

    •    The positives and negatives of the rise of the gig economy

    •    The lack of government readiness to understand the changes and give the new workforce the support they need

    •    Predicted growth rates for the contingent workforce and its implications for traditional companies

    •    How ready companies are for the legal and tax implications of larger contingent workforces

    •    The evolution in Employer Branding that is needed make sure companies are attracting the right contingent talent.

    •    Recruiters versus algorithms

Connor also talks the most interesting technology innovations he is seeing in the space and gives us his view on the future

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People Analytics is one of the hottest topics there is in HR at the moment. A data revolution is starting to make companies radically rethink their approaches to attracting, retaining and developing talent.

Technology is transforming the kind of qualitative research that underpins employer branding and employee engagement strategies, providing the ability to generate instant insights that would have previously taken months of work to produce.

My guest this week is Andrew Marritt from Organization View. Andrew is a pioneer in the field of text analytics for HR and has some fascinating insights into the potential for data in the talent space.

    •    In the interview we discuss:

    •    The relevance of Big Data for HR

    •    The power of using technology to bring meaning to the free text data found in performance reviews and employee surveys on a massive scale

    •    How free text analytics can help to develop subtle differences in employer brand messaging to give maximum appeal across multiple target audiences

    •    The potential for real time analysis of job applications to generate automated smart follow up questions, particularly in the graduate recruitment space

Andrew also share his thoughts on the application of text analytics to email and workplace collaborations systems to spot conversational trends within organizations

Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

People Analytics is one of the hottest topics there is in HR at the moment. A data revolution is starting to make companies radically rethink their approaches to attracting, retaining and developing talent.

Technology is transforming the kind of qualitative research that underpins employer branding and employee engagement strategies, providing the ability to generate instant insights that would have previously taken months of work to produce.

My guest this week is Andrew Marritt from Organization View. Andrew is a pioneer in the field of text analytics for HR and has some fascinating insights into the potential for data in the talent space.

    •    In the interview we discuss:

    •    The relevance of Big Data for HR

    •    The power of using technology to bring meaning to the free text data found in performance reviews and employee surveys on a massive scale

    •    How free text analytics can help to develop subtle differences in employer brand messaging to give maximum appeal across multiple target audiences

    •    The potential for real time analysis of job applications to generate automated smart follow up questions, particularly in the graduate recruitment space

Andrew also share his thoughts on the application of text analytics to email and workplace collaborations systems to spot conversational trends within organizations

Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

The popularity of moving recruitment in house continues to grow and is now something that is happening across all types of businesses whether they are large corporates, SMEs or high growth start ups. Setting up a in house recruitment function can be a learning experience both for the company and for the recruiters involved as the reality is often much more complex than the theory.

My guest this week is Nick Yockney Head of People for Property Partner, a property crowdfunding platform. Nick has set up two new in house recruiting functions since making the transition from agency recruiter to in house recruiter and is very open and honest about his experiences.

In the interview we discuss:

    •    The Difficulties for recruiters when moving from agency to in house

    •    The motivations businesses might have for bringing recruitment in house

    •    The importance of understand the rhythm of the business and the value an in house function can add if it does this

    •    The dangers of over-promising

    •    Thinking strategically while realistically assessing the tools you have

    •    Function over fashion in recruitment technologies.


Nick also tells us what has surprised him most about moving in house, the tools he finds most useful and his views on the future.

Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

The popularity of moving recruitment in house continues to grow and is now something that is happening across all types of businesses whether they are large corporates, SMEs or high growth start ups. Setting up a in house recruitment function can be a learning experience both for the company and for the recruiters involved as the reality is often much more complex than the theory.

My guest this week is Nick Yockney Head of People for Property Partner, a property crowdfunding platform. Nick has set up two new in house recruiting functions since making the transition from agency recruiter to in house recruiter and is very open and honest about his experiences.

In the interview we discuss:

    •    The Difficulties for recruiters when moving from agency to in house

    •    The motivations businesses might have for bringing recruitment in house

    •    The importance of understand the rhythm of the business and the value an in house function can add if it does this

    •    The dangers of over-promising

    •    Thinking strategically while realistically assessing the tools you have

    •    Function over fashion in recruitment technologies.


Nick also tells us what has surprised him most about moving in house, the tools he finds most useful and his views on the future.

Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

Gartner Research predicts that by 2020 75% of business will be a digital business or preparing to become one. Digital Transformation is the number one priority for many CEOs and I think it is crucial that HR and Recruiting positions themselves to be key drivers in this business revolution. The companies who can attract and retain the right talent at the right time in the right way are going to be the ones who win the race

Governments tend to have terrible track records when it comes to technology and the UK government is no exception. However in recent years The Government Digital Service has managed to break the mould and make some fantastic progress with the digital transformation of many core UK Government services.

My guest this week is Zeshaan Shamsi who is now Head of Talent Acquisition at background check company Onfido. Previous to this he was Head of Recruitment for the Government Digital Service and his experience there is the main focus of our conversation.

In the interview we discuss:

    •    The background to the Government Digital Service, how it came about and what it is tasked with doing

    •    The benefits of challenging the status quo and questioning everything especially entrenched recruiting processes

    •    Honest open communication and why it is so important in driving change

    •    The importance of data driven approaches to recruitment

    •    Cool tools and silver bullets

Zeshaan also tells us why he can’t predict the future and shares his frank opinions on “celebrity” recruitment gurus!

Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

Gartner Research predicts that by 2020 75% of business will be a digital business or preparing to become one. Digital Transformation is the number one priority for many CEOs and I think it is crucial that HR and Recruiting positions themselves to be key drivers in this business revolution. The companies who can attract and retain the right talent at the right time in the right way are going to be the ones who win the race

Governments tend to have terrible track records when it comes to technology and the UK government is no exception. However in recent years The Government Digital Service has managed to break the mould and make some fantastic progress with the digital transformation of many core UK Government services.

My guest this week is Zeshaan Shamsi who is now Head of Talent Acquisition at background check company Onfido. Previous to this he was Head of Recruitment for the Government Digital Service and his experience there is the main focus of our conversation.

In the interview we discuss:

    •    The background to the Government Digital Service, how it came about and what it is tasked with doing

    •    The benefits of challenging the status quo and questioning everything especially entrenched recruiting processes

    •    Honest open communication and why it is so important in driving change

    •    The importance of data driven approaches to recruitment

    •    Cool tools and silver bullets

Zeshaan also tells us why he can’t predict the future and shares his frank opinions on “celebrity” recruitment gurus!

Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

Employer Branding continues to be as hot a topic as ever and we’ve covered it from a few angles different angles on previous podcasts. One aspect I’ve been doing a lot of research into this year is how large companies deal with the issue of EVP and employer brand consistency across different countries and different job types.

My guest this week is John Wilson the CEO and Founder of RPO WilsonHCG.  WilsonHCG have offices all over the world and work with many clients on a global basis.

In the interview we discuss:

    •    How companies can make their employer brands globally consistently but also make sure that they resonate locally

    •    Which companies do this well

    •    Dealing with social media in multiple languages

    •    The difference between C-Suite perceptions and EVP reality

    •    The role of employee generated content in employer brand engagement

    •    The global impact of employee review sites

John also gives us his thoughts about the future and the commercial implications of a poor employer brand

Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

Employer Branding continues to be as hot a topic as ever and we’ve covered it from a few angles different angles on previous podcasts. One aspect I’ve been doing a lot of research into this year is how large companies deal with the issue of EVP and employer brand consistency across different countries and different job types.

My guest this week is John Wilson the CEO and Founder of RPO WilsonHCG.  WilsonHCG have offices all over the world and work with many clients on a global basis.

In the interview we discuss:

    •    How companies can make their employer brands globally consistently but also make sure that they resonate locally

    •    Which companies do this well

    •    Dealing with social media in multiple languages

    •    The difference between C-Suite perceptions and EVP reality

    •    The role of employee generated content in employer brand engagement

    •    The global impact of employee review sites

John also gives us his thoughts about the future and the commercial implications of a poor employer brand

Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

When industry commentators write and speak about talent acquisition, there is a tendency towards generalized truisms that seemingly apply to all employers. The actual truth is much more nuanced and there are distinct differences in the reality of talent acquisition both between industries and between SMEs and large enterprises.

My guest for this episode is David Mason. David has worked at a senior level driving talent acquisition innovation at a number of very large corporates in some progressive industry sectors.

In the interview we discuss:

    •    Three key things that have changed in Talent Acquisition over the last five years

    •    Which industries are driving innovation and why

    •    The problems large corporates have with embracing new technology

    •    Where Talent Acquisition leaders should focus in order to drive change

David also gives us his views on the future and the role he sees being played by “Applied Artificial Intelligence” in recruiting.

Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes