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

Over the last few years, there have been parallel conversations about candidate experience and talent experience. As thinking has developed, it has become obvious that these two things aren't mutually exclusive and are in fact elements of an overall talent experience. I recently undertook a research project in collaboration with Mervyn Dinnen and with the support of Saba Software, to explore the implications of a joined-up talent experience on talent acquisition. We spoke to several employers who are doing some exciting work in this area and have recently published our findings in a free whitepaper. My guest in this episode is Duncan Miller from Saba Software. Duncan has some great insights to share on talent experience and how it might develop in the future. In the interview, we discuss: • What is talent experience and why is it so important • How closely should candidate experience and employee experience be aligned • What are employers doing to create world-class talent experiences • The role of technology and its limitations • Early onboarding • Understanding the moments that matter most and the practicalities of personalization Download our whitepaper Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

Contact: [email protected] Employer branding has been the hot topic for the last several years as companies vie for competitive advantage in tight talent markets. But, despite all the focus, is employer branding actually getting worse and what do companies have to do to get noticed and connect with their talent audiences? My guest this week is Ed Nathanson from Red Pill Talent, Ed has a vast amount of experience in helping build employer brands that stand out from the crowd and has some great practical tips to share. In the interview, we discuss: • How employer brand is changing • Creating something meaning and memorable • The danger of being vanilla • Engagement as the ultimate measurement • Message and marketing Ed also talks about making brands stand out and share some examples of what great looks like Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

Contact: [email protected] We talk a lot about the poor quality of job postings with many just being a cut and paste version of the internal job description. However, we should also be talking about the poor quality of job descriptions themselves, many of which are put together in haste with little thought round impact and outcome. To give us a different perspective, my guest this week is Kate Leto, a well-known product management and transformation consultant. As well as sharing her thoughts on job descriptions, Kate also offers insights on how thinking like a product manager could help improve the talent acquisition process. In the interview, we discuss: • What is product management and what lessons might it have for talent acquisition • The importance of recruiting for emotional intelligence • Person organisational fit • Using four simple questions to create effective job descriptions Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

Contact: [email protected] Job Boards and their likely future is a topic that we've not really covered in-depth on the podcast. Despite the decade long predictions of their demise, Job Boards still play a crucial role in many talent acquisition strategies. They are evolving quickly, and some of the new generation talent marketplaces are attracting enormous venture capital investment. My guest this week is Martin Lenz. Martin is CEO of innovative job board software provider Jobiqo and is therefore ideally placed to get us up to speed on the current state and future potential of job boards. In the interview, we discuss: • What role are job boards currently playing in talent acquisition and how could they be better at it • Creating value in niches • Leveraging increasing amounts of data • Improving the candidate experience • What factors are driving change in the job board market and who are going to be the winners and losers. • What functionality should talent acquisition professionals be demanding from job boards both not and in the future Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts Follow the show on Instagram

Contact: [email protected] Employer Brand storytelling is a crucial topic for me, and it has been great to see an increase in the number of employers using the power of stories over the last 18 months. However realising the true potential of storytelling is only possible by understanding the science behind it and having proper strategies in place for audience segmentation, messaging, medium, format and distribution. My guest this week is someone who will genuinely accelerate your understanding of how to get results using stories. Miki Johnson is the co-founder of Job Portraits, a San Francisco based employer branding studio focused on helping high growth startups hire more effectively through storytelling. In the interview, we discuss: • The evolution of employer branding • Deep dive storytelling • A strategic approach to content using UX research tools • Evidencing EVP through stories • Tailoring the message to different audience segments • Medium, Format and Distribution • When to use video and when not to Miki also discusses the role of employees as creators and distributors and highlights some great examples of companies producing great content. If you are interested in getting started with or improving your storytelling, Job Portraits have an Employer Value Proposition Worksheet that can help. Please email [email protected] to get your copy. Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

A couple of weeks back, I had the great pleasure of attending the TA Tech North America event in Austin, Texas. There were some great content and discussions which explored the current and future state of talent acquisition technology. In this week's show, I have four interviews to give you a flavour of the key topics at the event. Firstly I interview: • Terry Baker from Pandologic about the TA Tech Stack research and the disconnect between employers and vendors. • George Larocque from HRWins about the amount of investment in talent acquisition technology in 2019 • Jessica Miller-Merrell from Workology about recruitment marketing and the user implications of job boards buying and selling traffic. I then got the opportunity to get on the main stage and host a fireside chat with Shannon Offord, VP Strategic Partnerships and Alliance at DirectEmployers Association. In our interview, we discuss: • The aims and objectives of DirectEmployers Association • The biggest challenges employers are currently facing. • Flexible working and Diversity • Accessibility in recruitment technology • The future of the industry Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

Contact - [email protected] Work is changing. Jobs are changing. Is recruiting changing quickly enough to keep up? The demand for new mixes of skills and ever-shortening tenure means that recruiting needs to be extremely flexible and work faster than it ever has before. My guest this week is Nikos Moraitakis, CEO of Workable. Workable work with 20,000 companies across 100 countries which means Nikos has some fascinating insights to share on the current and future state of recruiting. In the interview, we discuss: • How work and jobs are changing and the implications for talent acquisition • The broadening fit between skills and jobs and why this makes matching more difficult • Ever higher candidate expectations • Recruiting automation • The changing nature of screening and assessment • Providing hiring managers with tools they don't hate Nikos also talks about the role of recruiting technology and shares his thoughts on what recruiting will look like in 5 to 10 years. Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

Building a workplace that is inclusive for neurodivergent people is something every employer should be doing. However, there is still widespread ignorance about neurodiversity and relatively little discussion about it in our industry. My guest this week is Theo Smith, recruitment manager at The National Institute for Healthcare Excellence. Theo draws on personal experience and some in-depth research to share his insights into how and why companies should attract, include and retain a more neurodivergent workforce. In the interview, we discuss: • What is neurodiversity and how is it misunderstood • The challenges neurodivergent people face in the workplace • Empowering superhuman abilities • The importance of sharing stories. Theo also talks about the companies who are getting this right and shares his advice on the steps companies can take to improve the employee experience for neurodivergent people. Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

Contact: [email protected] Talent acquisition transformation projects seem to be everywhere at the moment as employers look to adapt to changing markets, shifting business priorities and new technologies. I always tell my clients that transformation is impossible without evaluation and strategy, but how do you build and measure an effective strategy in talent acquisition. My guest this week is Rebecca Carr, SVP of Global Success, Consulting and Strategy for SmartRecruiters. Rebecca talks in detail about the Hiring Success methodology and how it can help employers understand where they are now and where they need to be in the future. In the interview, we discuss: • Why the Hiring Success model was developed • How do you measure talent acquisition effectiveness • Reinventing legacy metrics • Key pillars and the 4 level maturity model • Strategic steps for transformation and improvement Rebecca also shares her thoughts on who is doing this well and what's next for talent acquisition. SmartRecruiters Hiring Success Podcast Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

In recent times there has been an explosion in the number of conferences, webinars and indeed podcasts aimed at the talent acquisition audience. The kind of peer to peer learning these platforms are driving is incredibly useful and therefore, extremely popular. However, this only all works if there a steady flow of practitioners who are prepared to step up and share their story and I know this is something that many people find challenging. My guests this week are Audra Knight, senior manager of employer branding at Foundation Medicine and Katrina Kibben the founder and CEO of Three Ears Media. Audra and Katrina are both fantastic speakers who have some brilliant advice to share with anyone who either wants to get started or be better at speaking. In the interview, we discuss: • Why a talent acquisition professional would want to get involved with speaking • How to get started • How to find speaking opportunities • How to pitch to speak • Should speakers be paid? • How to prepare • Dealing with nerves • Most common speaking mistakes • The importance of preparation Audra and Katrina also talk about the favourite presentations they have given. Subscribe in Apple Podcasts

My guest this week is Matthew Syed. Matthew was formerly the British table tennis number one and is now a journalist the best selling author of books such as "Bounce" and "Black Box Thinking". Matthew's new book, "Rebel Ideas" has just been published. In the book, he explores a topic that we've looked at a few times on the show, the importance of diverse thinking in teams and organisations. In the interview, we discuss: • When and why diversity matters and how it contributes to success • Diversity of background, perspective and thinking • Rebel ideas that challenge, cross pollenate, diverge and augment. • An example of the CIA being individually perceptive but collectively blind • The danger of assimilation to the dominant assumptions of a business. Matthew also shares his advice for recruiters and suggest ways we can all have more rebel ideas Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

Following on from my conversation with Megan Butler about the state of the market for AI in recruitment, for the second part of this mini-series explaining AI and Machine learning, we are taking a deep dive into the technology and terminology itself. My guest is Jon Krohn, Chief Data Scientist at recruiting technology company Untapt. Jon is also a lecturer, researcher and author in the field of machine learning, deep learning and natural language processing. This interview goes into a huge amount of detail into the definitions and mechanics of AI (in an understandable way!) as well as exploring current and future applications for recruiting. In the interview, we discuss: • The role of a data scientist • AI and sorting the mail • Building predictive data models • Machine learning versus deep learning and how Siri got clever • Data engineering • Adoption and bias • Current and future applications of AI in recruiting Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

The role of AI and machine learning in recruiting technology continues to provoke both debate and confusion. What benefits do these technologies current bring and how much of the current narrative is just marketing spin? What will they make possible in the future, and what are the risks and dangers we need to be aware of right now? To help answer these questions, in the next two episodes of the show I'll be asking two genuine experts in AI for recruiting to share their knowledge. First up is Megan Butler, a research analyst in AI for HR. Megan was part of my live panel back in episode 200, so it is brilliant to have the chance to talk to her in more depth. In the interview, we discuss: • Is AI in recruiting what it is hyped up to be? • How to get the benefits and mitigate the risks • The fine line between analytics and machine learning • Matching and assessment • The importance of process • Bias Megan also shares her thoughts on the future of AI in recruiting and the importance of taking controlled risks. Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

One thing that I've noticed recently is the increasing traction behind the concept of talent experience. The reality is that employer brand, candidate experience and employee experience don't exist in silos when you are the employee experiencing them. So what can employers do to ensure the kind of joined-up thinking that creates a seamless talent experience and, at the same time, develops workplaces that prioritise belonging and inclusion? My guest this week is Charu Malhotra, a highly experienced global employer branding leader. In the interview, we discuss: • How employer branding is changing • Why EVPs tend to get overshadowed by other employer branding outputs • Joining up candidate experience, employee experience, employer brand and EVP • Moving culture and values from talk into action • Inclusion, belonging and psychological safety. • The importance of listening and two-way communication • The role of technology Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

After about 15 years worth of articles and conference presentations about Millennials I'm sure I'm not alone in finding generational stereotyping a bit annoying. However, research-based insights into changing attitudes to technology, work and careers are incredibly useful. My guest this week is Pranam Lipinski, Co-Founder and CEO of Door Of Clubs. Pranam has spent the last few years conducting research to uncover insights into the mindset of the newest generation in the workforce, Generation Z. In the interview, we discuss: • The validity of generational stereotypes • Smartphones in 4th grade and growing up in the era of fake news • Attitudes to work and careers • Inclusion, Stability and Loyalty • Providing unique employer experiences • Becoming an input focused as an employer • How to market to a generation that avoids commercial attempts on their attention. Pranam also talks about the importance of personalization and shares details of how to get his one-page Generation Z research summary. Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

Whenever I'm talking to companies about their recruitment challenges, one area that comes up time and time again is recruiting enterprise salespeople, particularly in the tech sector. My guest this week is someone who can give us a hiring manager's perspective from one of the most competitive locations in the world for this type of talent. Angie Jongejan is a Director of Sales for SurveyMonkey in San Mateo, California. It was great to hear her share some insights into SurveyMonkey's approach to recruiting and retention in their highly competitive talent market. In the interview, we discuss: • SurveyMonkey's three main recruiting challenges • The importance of providing a fantastic candidate experience • Ensuring alignment between the recruitment team and hiring managers • Sourcing jams • The role of surveys and acting on feedback Angie also shares her thoughts on what is next for SurveyMonkey. Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

Contact - [email protected] Diversity and inclusion are a vital issue for many employers, but as an industry do we genuinely understand what they mean, their implications and the issues that need to be solved? My guest this week is Jackie Glenn, Principal and Founder at Jackie Glenn Diversity Solutions and former Global Chief Diversity Officer at Dell EMC. In the interview, we discuss: • The amazing story of Jackie's career • The challenges of a Chief Diversity Officer • Diversity, Inclusion, Equity and Belonging • Is D&I really as much a priority for employers as it should be? • The importance of auditing and the power of diverse teams • D&I issues in the technology sector. • Letting your audio match your video Jackie also shares her advice for employers and talks about her book "Lift As I Climb: An Immigrant Girl's Journey Through Corporate America." Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

Contact: [email protected] One of the biggest things I've learned in my career is the importance of effective influence. Driving change, promoting technology adoption and establishing new ways of working is a challenge whatever employer you are working for. So what can talent acquisition leaders be doing to develop presence and be more influential? My guest this week is an expert in these areas. Harrison Monarth is a New York Times best selling author and leading executive coach with a client list that includes Fortune 500 CEOs, start-up entrepreneurs and Members of Congress. In the interview, we discuss: • Harrison' coaching philosophy • What is "executive presence", why is it so important and how anyone can develop it • The critical importance of perception • Managing emotions in high-stress situations • Feedback • Improving influence and getting buy-in • Harrison also talks about managing the line between confidence and arrogance and the new edition of his book "Executive Presence." Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

Contact - [email protected] The relentless march of digital transformation means that many employers are having to find ways of reaching out to new pools of talent to attract different types of people into their businesses. No company is immune from this and even established technology companies are having to rethink their talent acquisition strategies. My guest this week is Andreea Nicolescu Employer Branding and HR Communication Manager and at Temenos. Temenos is a market-leading Fintech business and has developed cutting edge strategies in both talent acquisition and talent management to facilitate digital transformation. In the interview, we discuss: • The recruiting challenges at TemenosAccessing New Pools Of Talent • Attracting digital natives into roles that previously did not exist • Moving from a transactional to a proactive model of talent acquisition • Switching to new technologies to support the talent acquisition strategy • The right candidates not the right number of candidates • Engaging with new talent pools via targeted advertising • Getting ROI by engaging, tracking and optimising • Developing talent via academies and boot camps Andreea also talks about diversity in the workforce and what is next for Temenos. Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

Contact: [email protected] When I first started this show as a fun side project, I had no real expectations of getting much of an audience. I could never have anticipated that four years and three-quarters of a million listens later I'd be publishing my 200th episode. I want to take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me and the show. My superb guests, my fabulous sponsors and most of all, everyone who has listened, subscribed, recommended, shared and given me feedback. The story doesn't end here, I've got some big plans for the future and as some fantastic guests lined up for the coming months. What better way to celebrate 200 episodes than with a live recording of the show. A few weeks back, I was on stage at the excellent RecFest event in London, and we recorded a live panel discussion on Recruiting Automation. My guests were: • Megan Butler from CognitionX • Ben Gledhill from Yodel • Andrew Soane from Accenture The discussion was wide-ranging with lots of insights and experiences shared Thanks to SurveyMonkey for supporting this episode, I highly recommend signing up for their online Curiosity Conference, more details here Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

Candidate experience is a topic we've covered time and time again on this podcast, mainly by looking at employers who are innovating in this area. It is clear though that delivering even an acceptable level of candidate experience is still problematic for most companies. So what is the current state of the candidate experience and what can employers be doing to get a competitive advantage? My guests this week are Martin Dangerfield and Neil Harrison, both of whom are well known consultants in talent acquisition. They have recently collaborated on a piece of research that collected candidate experience insights from a variety of employers In the interview we discuss: • The importance of candidate experience in the current labour market • Where does candidate experience start and end • Who owns the candidate experience • Key moments of truth • The increasing importance of review sites • The relationship between talent acquisition and hiring managers • Data, measurement and the importance of optimisation • Getting competitive advantage. You can find the full report here. Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

Contact - [email protected] With talent acquisition continuously changing and evolving, making sure your recruiters have the right skills is critical for employer hiring success. But what are the skills needed, what should recruiters be doing develop them, and how should their employers be supporting this process? My guest this week is Rachel Dalboth Strategy and Capability Director for the Forum For In House Recruitment Managers, otherwise known as The Firm. The Firm is a collaborative support community for in house recruiters and has recently done several very interesting research projects around recruiter capability. In the interview we discuss: • The FIRM and its work • The definition of recruiter capability • The critical skills in house recruiters need in 2019 and how they currently measure up against them. • When confidence is overconfidence • Typical areas for development • How the growth of technology is changing the type of skills which are needed Rachel also shares what she is seeing the best employers doing to build capability and gives more details on how companies can get involved with The Firm. Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

In this episode, Matt Alder speaks to Matt Burns from The Global HR Collective about technology strategy in HR and Talent Acquisition

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Sinead Bunting about The Tech Talent Charter and the initiatives to improve the gender balance in the tech workforce

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Dakota Younger, Founder and CEO Boon about what employers should be doing to supercharge referral hiring

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Brandon Batt, Director Of People Operations at Four Foods Group about recruiting automation and the line between humans and technology

In this episode The Recruiting Future Podcast and The Chad & Cheese show collide to talk recruiting technology adoption and the future of the industry

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Tonille Miller, Global VP of Culture and People Engagement at Startek, about the importance of employee experience

Matt Alder talks to Bruce Ballantine from Articise about the current state of virtual reality and its potential in talent acquisition

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to author and analyst Charlene Li about the talent strategies and thinking required for digital transformation.

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Allyn Bailey, talent acquisition transformation manager at Intel, about the end of transactional recruiting

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Jim Stroud, VP Product Evangelist at ClickIQ about the future of recruiters

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to number of the speakers (including a robot) at TA Tech in Lisbon about current issues in recruiting technology

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Hayke Tjemmes from Wehkamp about building data models to measure and improve the candidate experience

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Bryan Chaney, Global Director of Employer Branding at Indeed, about Talent Branding and Talent Attraction

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Mark Deubel, Global Technical Recruiter at Elastic Search about strategic recruiting

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Harvard Business School Professor Francesca Gino about her book Rebel Talent

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Peter Weddle, CEO of TA Tech, about the future of work and its implications for talent acquisition.

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Daniel Chait, CEO at Greenhouse Software about what makes great onboarding

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Wiktor Schmidt, CEO of Netguru about implementing a "remote first" culture.

In this episode, Matt Alder talks digital talent acquisition and retention with Sebastian Kolberg from Bayer and Angelika Inglsperger from Allianz

In this episode, Matt Alder and John Wallace investigate recruiting automation. Featuring interviews with Ben Gledhill, Head of Resourcing at Yodel, and talent futurist Kevin Wheeler.

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Damon Klotz from Culture Amp about the space where culture, technology and analytics collide

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Theo Smith, recruitment manager at NICE about the importance of evidence based recruitment marketing

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Dorothee El Khoury from the Hackett Group about changes HR and Recruiting need to make to drive digital transformation

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Jordon Meyer from Granular about the techniques they use to attract senior digital talent to their business

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Craig Brown from Just In Time Recruiting about Lean Recruiting methodologies.

In this episode, Matt Alder talks to Tom Goodwin about Digital Darwinism and talent for digital transformation.

In this week's episode Matt Alder talks to Neil Harrison about the evolution of employer branding