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

As part of my continuing focus on getting a diverse range of opinions and voices on the show, this week I thought it would be interesting to get the views of a Global HR Director. My guest for this episode is Graeme Cook, Group HR Director at ground engineering specialist Keller, a company who employ 10,000 people across 40 different companies. Graeme’s career has itself been a global one and he has worked in several different countries for his past employers, giving him a genuinely global perspective. In the interview we discuss:     •    Some of the key considerations and challenges of operating HR at a global level     •    Skill shortages in the Oil, Gas and Engineering sectors     •    The three key parts of the HR Director’s role and HR’s position within the organization     •    Technology, automation and the future of HR Graeme also talks about his transition from working in finance to working in HR and gives his views on the challenges of managing a multi-generational workforce. Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes Click here to pre-order “Exceptional Talent”

It has become very clear from the conversations I’ve been having with employers this year that the problems posed by current and future skill shortages have never been higher on their agenda. The best companies are acting to solve these problems by thinking differently and tapping into some extremely valuable pools of talent that they may have previously overlooked. My guest this week is Jane Hatton Director of Evenbreak, a job board that matches talented disabled job seekers with inclusive employers. In the interview we discuss:     •    The strong business case for employing disabled people     •    Popular misconceptions round the implications of employing disabled people     •    How people with particular impairments (autism as one example) can bring particular skills to the workplace     •    How employers should go about attracting disabled people to their organization and how they should be adapting their recruitment processes to get the best talent     •    Which employers are doing this well Jane also shares her advice on the first steps employers should take to gain access to this valuable pool of talent Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

Over the last few years there has been a massive proliferation in the number of talent acquisition tools and technologies on the market. The pace of change shows no sign of slowing down and it is increasingly difficult for talent acquisition leaders to know just where they should be focusing. My guest this week is Lance Haun, Practice Leader at The Starr Conspiracy Intelligence Unit. The Starr Conspiracy have recently published their 2017 Talent Acquisition Brandscape Report. A piece of research designed to help make sense of a confusing and fast moving market. In the interview we discuss:     •    How do you categorize and segment such a “nebulous” market sector     •    The current biggest area for innovation in talent acquisition     •    Dealing with the potential implications of Microsoft’s purchase of LinkedIn     •    The two key future trends everyone should be aware of Lance also gives us his view on the future pace of change in the sector and the likely impact of any potential global economic slow down Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

It is always important to step back and see the world through a different lens. With that in mind, I’ll be talking to several people on the show this year who have a vested interest in recruiting but aren’t viewing it from inside the industry bubble. My guest on this week’s show is Charlie O’Donnell founder and partner at Brooklyn Bridge Ventures in New York. Charlie is an early stage investor in a number of fast growing start-up companies and has first-hand experience of seeing which recruiting strategies are working in these dynamic business environments. In the interview we discuss:     •    The importance of effective team building     •    The challenges of defining and hiring to cultural fit     •    An “A Player” culture versus a learning based culture     •    Where the real skill shortages are in start-up recruitment     •    The effectiveness of having an iterative approach to developing job descriptions Charlie also shares his advice on how recruiters and start up founders can work better together Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

Talent Attraction in areas of extreme skill shortage is something that is consistently difficult. I’m always interested in any creative ways that employers are using to tackle the problem, particularly when they don’t have a massive budget or unlimited resources to use to solve it. My guest this week is Ruth Penfold, Director of Talent Acqusition at Shazam, a company who are regularly having to use innovative talent attraction approaches to bring on the board the talent they need. In the interview we discuss:     •    Why Shazam’s existing employees are their most importance Talent Attraction tool and why recruitment is everyone’s responsibility     •    The benefits of a transparent culture     •    The importance of candidate communication and an authentic candidate experience     •    Why being seen in the right communities is critical to success     •    Generational mindset and purpose We also discuss Shazam’s priorities for 2017 and Ruth gives us an insight into the unique musical experiences on offer to Shazam’s employees! Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

For this first episode of 2017 I wanted to offer you something a bit different. Last year I was fortunate enough to deliver the opening keynote at HR Tech Fest in Johannesburg. My topic was the dual role I feel HR needs to play in the digital transformation of business. It was quite a personal presentation for me as I shared some of the lessons that I’ve learned from the 20 years of my career I have spent being digital disruptive in several different industries. The conference organizers, The Eventful Group, made an audio recording of the presentation which I’m delighted to share with you as this week’s podcast episode. In the presentation, you’ll hear me talk about five key lessons I’ve learnt about digital transformation: 1)    Change is Exponential 2)    There is a Revolution at Work 3)    Exceptional Talent Wins 4)    Perfect is not Best 5)    Think the Unthinkable In case you are wondering you don’t actual need to see the slides to understand the presentation but if you want to have a look you can find them here on SlideShare Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

It’s always great to welcome a previous guest back to the show. I’m particularly pleased this week to be able to welcome back William Uranga, Director or Technical and Corporate Recruiting at GoDaddy. Last time he was on the show William shared the tactics GoDaddy were using to recruit in some highly competitive markets. In this week’s episode William gives us an insight into the journey his talent acquisition are on to move from being reactionary to operational and ultimately to be genuine strategic partner for their business. In the interview we discuss:     •    How GoDaddy’s recruiting challenges have changed     •    Finding new ways of being proactive and partnering with the business     •    Making talent acquisition predictable in its delivery     •    The benefits of providing analytics to hiring managers     •    An incredibly smart way of improving the candidate experience If you are an in house recruiting leader looking for a model for change then this interview really is a must listen. Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

Some of the most interesting and effective technological innovation I have seen this year has been in the area of assessment. Whilst many of the new approaches aren’t yet widespread, I think they point towards a coming fundamental shift in the way we think about this part of the recruiting process. My guest this week is Dr Nathan Mondragon, Chief IO Psychologist at Hirevue. Hirevue have been doing some fascinating work within the science of assessment and its ability, via data and technology, to accurately predict performance. In the interview we discuss:     •    How technology and science are challenging the established norms of assessment     •    The hidden data in words, inflection, pauses and facial micro expressions     •    How video analytics can be combined with subsequent job performance data to develop predictive hiring models.     •    Using science to understand the art of recruiting and the changing role of humans within the recruitment process Nathan talks about the types of tangible ROI that employers in a number of different industries have gained from using this approach and he also shares his thoughts on what we can expect to happen in the future. Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

2016 will be remembered for many things but in our industry one of the most notable trends has been the reinvention and resurgence of recruitment marketing. I’ve been working in recruitment marketing since 1999 so its certainly not a new thing but it has been interesting that this year has seen so much discussion and debate around it. To help me make sense of this my guest this week is HR Pro, Recruiter and industry commentator Tim Sackett. Tim recently hosted Smashfly’s Transform recruitment marketing conference and I was delighted to have him on the podcast to talk about the latest thinking in what is a critically important area for talent acquisition. In the interview we discuss:     •    Why Recruitment Marketing is back on the agenda and what has changed     •    Marketing spin versus authentic employee experience     •    The role of story telling     •    How technology is supporting the reinvention of the discipline     •    The advantages of corporate recruiting and marketing departments working closely together Tim also talks us through which employers he thinks are doing this well and also shares his views on the likely impact of President Trump on recruiting and HR in 2017 and beyond. This episode of the podcast is kindly supported by Hirevue Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes

This week we return to the popular topic of improving the Candidate Experience. There is a lot of talk at the moment about the importance of treating candidate’s as customers but what happens when your candidates actually are your customers! My guest this week is Ben Gledhill, Talent Acquisition manager at retailer Sofology. Sofology is going through a digital transformation process at the moment to fulfill its aim of being an omnichannel retailer. They have been looking hard at their candidate experience and Ben offers some great practical insights into their learning and the improvements they have made. In the interview we discuss:     •    How a negative candidate experience can affect Sofology’s business     •    Building an emotional link with candidates     •    How to achieve total visibility on the candidate experience     •    Mandatory hiring manager interview training     •    The vital importance of a mobile optimized ATS     •    Using NPS ratings for candidate experience measurement     •    The value of explaining the recruitment process up front on the corporate career site Ben also talks about what’s next for talent acquisition at Sofology and gives us his view on emerging recruitment technologies. This episode of the podcast is kindly supported by HireVue Subscribe to this podcast in iTunes