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

We've talked about generative AI a lot this year and its incredible potential to change and disrupt talent acquisition. A lot of our industry conversation has been about creating with Large Language Models to generate recruitment marketing content and automate interactions with candidates. However, the impact of AI goes much deeper than this, and its effect on the speed of vendor innovation is highly significant. AI is already changing the way candidates are found, and matches are made and has the potential to make boolean searching and keyword matching obsolete in a very short space of time.So what is the art of the possible here, and how can TA Leaders ask the right questions of vendors to ensure they are dealing with genuine products that are ethical and legally compliant?My guest this week is Mark Chaffey, CEO of Hackajob. Hackajob has integrated generative AI into its technology to vastly improve matching between candidates and roles. At the same time, they have a strong focus on using AI to improve diversity in tech hiring and are already getting some significant results.In the interview, we discuss:Every company is a tech company.Market differences between the USA and EuropeThe continuing skill shortage in techThe impact of generative AI on vendorsBuilding technology that actually solves problemsMoving beyond boolean and keywords with richer LLM-driven datasetsThe questions TA leaders need to ask vendorsImproving diversity in tech hiringOpt-in self, disclosed diversity data.Will AI change the way we think about skills and hiringWhat does the future look like?Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

When we're talking about the future of talent acquisition, Generative AI has been taking all of the limelight this year. However, arguably, although it grabs fewer headlines, the steady evolution of skills-based hiring is potentially even more disruptive to traditional recruiting norms.There is an enormous amount of data, science and research going into understanding the relationship between skills and job performance, and the results are smashing some of our longest-held assumptions about hiring.My guest this week is Andy Nelesen, Global Head of Talent Acquisition Solutions at SHL. SHL has done an enormous amount of work to establish the link between skills and performance, and their research has revealed 12 skills that universally predict success. There is also a significant discrepancy between the skills employers ask for in job ads and the skills the science shows they actually need, so this is a must-list interview for everyone who wants to hire more effectively.In the interview, we discuss:Why understanding skills is so importantThe adoption rate of skills-based hiringWhat does potential mean?Overlaying soft skills against performanceThe 12 skills that universally predict successWhy a growth mindset is more important than resilience and adaptabilityMoving away from academic credentials and previous experienceAre skills the key to diverse hiring?Talent mobilityWhat does the future of work look like?Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Are you going to be at the HR Technology Conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, October 10th? Recruiting Future has teamed up with the lovely people at Hackajob to host an early evening soiree that we're calling Hack A Pod. We will be crowdsourcing a live episode of The Recruiting Future Podcast on the roof terrace of BrewDog Vegas's very own Scottish brewpub, and one of the best viewing points there is to watch the sun set over the Vegas strip.So please come along to join in or just watch and mingle with some great people. We've got free drinks, food, and even a magician to keep you entertained. Not only that, BrewDog is only a short walk or an even shorter taxi ride from The Mandalay Bay, where the conference is being held.We've only got limited capacity, so to find out more and register for your free ticket, go to mattalder.me/vegas

Regular listeners will know just how essential I believe it is for talent acquisition to learn the art and science of storytelling. Being able to craft stories that resonate isn't just part of effective recruitment marketing; it is vital to building internal stakeholder engagement and developing more influence to move TA up the corporate strategic value chain.So why is effective storytelling so powerful, and how can we all build our skills in this area?My guest this week is Karen Eber, CEO of the Eber Leadership Group and author of a new book called The Perfect Story: How to Tell Stories That Inform, Influence and Inspire. The book deals with the science and structure of good storytelling in business and is full of advice that can help everyone tell more powerful and engaging stories.In the interview, we discuss:What happens to your brain when you listen to stories?Being memorable and engagingWhy business storytelling is so importantUnderstanding your audienceConflict as fuel to drive the narrativeTelling stories with dataContext, Conflict, Outcome and TakeawayHow do you know if your story is resonating?AI and storytellingListen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.

The talent acquisition landscape is changing rapidly. 2024 has been difficult for many people in the profession, with many layoffs and an incredibly tough job market for recruiters. At the same time, advances in AI and automation technologies are driving types of change that we couldn't have imagined a few years ago, and post-pandemic labour shortages are still a reality in many talent markets.All this disruption is forcing employers to think differently about jobs, work, skills and recruiting, creating an incredible opportunity for talent acquisition to illustrate its long-term value to the business. So what role does TA play in the future, and how can TA leaders prove its strategic value when many of their teams are being downsized?My guest this week is Jessica Zwaan, COO at Whereby. Jessica is a cutting-edge HR thinker and has written a book detailing how People Ops should be run using product management principles. In our conversation, we talk about the future role of TA, and Jessica offers practical advice on how TA leaders can prove their strategic value.In the interview, we discuss:Talent market challengesBuilding a people team like a product teamWork as a subscription modelOutput metrics and funnel thinkingWhy businesses cutting TA teams are getting it wrongBuilding tools and products for the employee subscription lifecycleThe shortcoming of working in silosClosing the gaps between TA and People OpsCan existing HR functions evolve towards this model?A COO's advice to TA Leaders on proving their strategic valueWhat TA can learn from marketingThe impact of AI and what the future might look likeListen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.

If you have been listening to the recent episodes of the show, you'll have noticed the considerable amount of innovation currently happening in high-volume hiring. Driven by skill shortages and automation technology, high volume is the area that has given us an insight into what the future might be like for talent acquisition.In episodes 551 and 552, I'm diving deeper into automation and AI in high-volume hiring by speaking to technology CEOs with products that are helping to shape the future. My second guest in this mini-series is Max Armbruster, CEO at Talkpush. Max does extensive work around high-volume hiring in Latin America and Asia. Technology is driving innovation for different reasons in these markets than in the US and Europe, and Max has some deep insights into how hiring is developing and where things are heading.In the interview, we discuss:The hiring market beyond the US and EuropeAutomation to reduce recruiter numbers and broaden talent poolsEmerging markets and future economic powerhousesCost per hireHow AI improves the quality of hireThe impact of the accessibility and affordability of AICommunication channels and candidate experienceDeveloping local toolkitsAdvice to employers hiring remotely in these marketsWhat's the future for recruiters?Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

If you have been listening to the recent episodes of the show, you'll have noticed the considerable amount of innovation currently happening in high-volume hiring. Driven by skill shortages and automation technology, high volume is the area that has given us an insight into what the future might be like for talent acquisition.Over the next two episodes, I will dive deeper into automation and AI in high-volume hiring by speaking to technology CEOs with products that are helping to shape the future. My first guest is Stephane Rivard, CEO and Co-Founder of Hiring Branch. Several Hiring Branch's customers have used technology to move away from human interviews completely. Stephane talks us through the results they are getting and the implications for the future of talent acquisition.In the interview, we discuss:Is recruiting automation gaining traction?Predicting job performance via scenario-driven assessmentPreviewing the work and showcasing skillsRemoving biasWill this approach spread beyond high volume?Hiring within 24 hoursSelling the role and organizationImproving the quality of hireResources, efficiencies, budgets, legislation and regulationRecruiter career prospects and advice to TA leadersListen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.

Attitudes to work are more complex and varied than ever, making identifying trends and patterns harder. There are currently critical questions around retention and productivity that employers need to understand. So, how can we make sense of our ever more complex motivational drivers and attitudes to work?ADP have access to massive human capital management datasets, and by combining this data with qualitative research, the ADP Research Institute is helping to shine a light on complex questions about work.ADP Research Institute has recently launched a new quarterly workforce report called Today At Work, and my guest this week is Ben Hanowell, their Director of People Analytics Research. As well as looking at patterns in worker sentiment, the report has revealed a surprising inverse relationship between promotion and retention.In the interview, we discuss:Using data to make sense of the labor marketThe vital importance of retentionThe Employee Motivation and Commitment IndexThe impact of promotion on retentionImplications for talent acquisitionWhy having a good bench is importantIndividual contributors vs. managerWhy career development doesn't end with promotionMotivation and commitment are a state, not a trait.Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcast.

The way we describe work and jobs is mostly by long-standing assumptions that have been in place since the Industrial Revolution. The world is now a very different place, and the employers breaking free of our ingrained mindsets around jobs and recruiting are giving themselves considerable talent market advantage.My guest this week is one of my favourite thinkers around the reinvention of work. Dart Lindsley is Strategic Advisor for People Experience at Google. Dart believes that rather than being seen as resources or units of production, employees are actually customers of a product we call work. There are some vast implications for talent acquisition here, and this is a must-listen for anyone developing a strategic plan for the future.In the interview, we discuss:How we should be looking at workThe legacies of the industrial ageA multi-sided businessBusiness architectureEmployees as customers, not as units of productionThe implications for HRBringing marketing thinking to HRMarket research, product market fit and route to marketWork as a subscription modelA land and expand sales motionJob to be done theoryHow do recruitment marketing and employer branding need to evolveA different data model for describing workThe implications of AIWhat does the future look like?Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

We've featured several employers on the show with recruiting strategies focusing on hiring people with criminal histories. All of these employers have spoken about the benefits for the people they hire, the benefits they get from reaching new talent pools, and the benefits for society as a whole. Despite this growing list of case studies, several misconceptions about hiring people who have been involved with the criminal justice system are holding many employers back.My guest this week is Shawn Bushway, a professor at the University at Albany and a researcher at RAND Corporation. Shawn has built a body of research on the impact of criminal background checks on employment, and his work informed the current standards of the EEOC. He now helps employers revise their background check policies to better reflect the science about re-offending and become compliant with EEOC guidance.In the interview, we discuss:How background checks have evolvedBan the boxHow the tightness of the labor market dictates employers' attitudesCommon misconceptionsThe myth around recidivismOverestimating the level of riskWhy crime type is irrelevantMaking factually informed decisionsAvoiding false positivesAge, time, and numberThe role of government in creating practical, useable incentives to hire people with criminal historiesListen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts