Companies can learn a massive amount from elite sports in terms of spotting and nurturing the talent required to build highly effective teams. Having an adaptable, flexible, and self-aware mindset is critical in these disruptive times, and professional sports have coaching models that can help leaders develop this mindset in their teams.

I was lucky enough to speak to former England Cricket Captain Sir Andrew Strauss at the recent Transform conference in Las Vegas. After his playing career finished, Andrew ran elite cricket in the UK for four years. He is now the co-founder of Mindflick, a high-performance coaching business that uses psychology and technology to make the lessons from elite sports accessible to companies.

In the interview, we discuss:

What can elite sports teach business about leadership?

Learning how to be adaptable in dynamic environments

The importance of self-awareness

Understanding how teams react under pressure

What makes top talent

Understanding and accepting weaknesses 

The role of technology

Getting buy-in and building an emotional connection with a group vision

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Ep 603: Talent Lessons From Elite Sport

Innovation and futurology in Recruiting, Recruitment Marketing and HR Technology. Matt Alder interviews thought leaders who are influencing and changing an industry

Business

Investing

Careers

Management & Marketing

Business News

Shopping

Management

Many aspects of how companies hire talent have been set in stone and unquestioned for decades. Even if Talent Acquisition wants to drive change, the power of accepted wisdom among hiring managers and the C-Suite is difficult to challenge. So what happens when the CEO of a business champions a completely different way of doing things?

My guest this week is Jeff Dewing, Group CEO at Cloudfm. Jeff's story is amazing, and his approach to business is encapsulated in the title of his book, "Doing The Opposite." When it comes to hiring, Jeff has challenged conventional wisdom around interviews and skills head-on with some spectacular results. I loved this conversation, and it is an absolute must-listen for everyone.

In the interview, we discuss:

Jeff's rollercoaster journey to get where he is today

Where everyone needs autonomy, mastery, and purpose

Why Cloudfm no longer use interviews in their hiring process and what they do instead of 

Removing the risk in hiring

Achieving a 95% recruitment retention rate

Individual career plans and ups killing

Giving people autonomy about how and where they work.

The office as a creative, problem-solving collaboration space

The impact AI will have on the future.

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Ep 611: Doing Hiring Differently

Round Up is the monthly show on The Recruiting Future Podcast channel that highlights episodes you may have missed and gives my take on some of the key learnings from the guests.

Episodes mentioned in this Round Up:

Ep 604: Building Talent Pipelines With Internships

Ep 605: Can AI Be Biased? Legal Implications for Hiring

Ep 606: Empowering Gen Z & Building A Social Brand

Ep 607: AI Powered Talent Acquisition

Ep 608: Transforming HR

Ep 609: Building A Neuro-Inclusive Hiring Process

Ep 610: Future Skills

Scottish Meet Ups

AI Whitepaper

Recruiting Future YouTube channel

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Round Up April 2024

It's becoming evident that we are at a critical pivot point for talent acquisition. While the debates around AI are sucking up most of the attention, massive shifts are happening in terms of the shelf life of skills, ongoing challenges with skills acquisition, and upskilling people for a very different future world of work.
So, how should employers think about skills, and how can talent acquisition gain the future focus it needs to drive organizational value?
My guest this week is Lisa Monteith, Head of Talent Acquisition and onboarding for HSBC UK. In our wide-ranging conversation, we talk about the skills challenges facing organizations and the importance of taking a long-term view.
In the interview, we discuss:

Current talent acquisition challenges

Selling work as a product

The shortening lifespan of skills

Providing easy access to learning

Total talent thinking

Learning agility, curiosity, and other skills for the future

Failing education systems and disappearing entry-level jobs

Individual responsibility for learning

Neuroinclusion in the recruiting process and the danger of homogenization

How does talent acquisition need to re-invent itself for the future?


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A full transcript will appear here shortly.

Ep 610: Future Skills

Somewhere between 15% and 20% of the population is neurodivergent. The majority have yet to receive a formal diagnosis, and a significant number of those with a diagnosis choose not to share it publically. Over the last few years, we've seen a growing number of employers taking steps to be more neuro-inclusive, which is great to see. However, there is still a long way to go with recruiting, as most hiring processes contain significant barriers for neurodiverse people. There is also a danger that the move to AI-driven recruiting may make things worse if neuro-inclusion isn't proactively prioritized.

So, what steps can employers take to embed neuro-inclusion in their recruiting processes effectively?

My guest this week is Tania Martin, a neuro-inclusion consultant who was previously Head of EY's Neuro-Diverse Centre of Excellence in the UK and Ireland. In our conversation, Tania discusses the shortcomings of the traditional recruiting process and how we can rethink it to be better for everyone.

In the interview, we discuss:

Harnessing neurodiversity in the workforce

How EY's Neuro-Diverse Centre of Excellence was set up

Why can making recruiting processes more neuro-inclusive be good for everyone?

Accessing untapped pools of talent

Intimidating job specs

Assessment and spiky profiles

Helping people to show their best selves during the interview process

Educating hiring managers

The role of technology

What will neuro-inclusion look like for future generations in the workforce?


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Ep 609: Building A Neuro-Inclusive Hiring Process

Economic challenges, technology innovations, changing attitudes to how and where we work, and a new, very different generation entering the workplace. These are just some of the forces driving change across the whole of the people function.
In this second compilation episode of interviews I recorded at Transform earlier in the year, I speak to two of the most innovative HR Executives out there about the changing Talent landscape.
My first guest, Donald Knight, Chief People Officer at Greenhouse, shares his insights on the current challenges for CPOs, the importance of developing curiosity, and the need to eliminate the laggard approach that has categorized HR for so long. 
My second conversation is with John Baldino, President of Humareso. This was the final interview I recorded at the conference, and we reflect on the event, our key learnings from it, and the future of HR in an AI-driven world.

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Ep 603: Talent Lessons From Elite Sport

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