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

Many employers regularly offer internships, but the role of these internships in long-term hiring strategies can be pretty tenuous. So what happens when a company puts internships at the centre of its hiring strategy and proactively leverages this to build long-term pipelines of valuable talent?My guest this week is Leah Bourdon, Vice President of Talent at staffing and consulting firm ALKU. For several years, ALKU has made internships the heart of its resourcing strategy. In our conversation, Leah shares precisely how they do this and the considerable benefits and value it drives.In the interview, we discuss:The market for recruiting recruitersHaving a unique focus on entry-level talentThe employer brand of a career in recruitingTraining interns during the school yearFaster ramp-ups and higher retention ratesTalent spottingHow are the skills needed to be a recruiter changingTraining interns in the same way as full-time employeesHow will recruiting change over the next five yearsFollow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Round up is the monthly show on The Recruiting Future Podcast channel that highlights episodes you may have missed and gives you my take on some of the key learnings from the guests.Episodes mentioned in this Round Up:Ep 597: Talent Acquisition ExcellenceEp 598: Building Exec Search In HouseEp 599: Data SophisticationEp 600: Did We Predict The Future?Ep 601: Quiet HiringEp 602: The Skills Mismatch In HiringEp 603: Talent Lessons From Elite SportFollow this podcast on Apple Podcasts

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 environmentsThe importance of self-awarenessUnderstanding how teams react under pressureWhat makes top talentUnderstanding and accepting weaknesses The role of technologyGetting buy-in and building an emotional connection with a group visionFollow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Skills-based hiring is a hot topic as many employers seek to better understand the skills they need in their businesses both now and in the future. With the shelf life of hard skills shortening by the day, companies need to bridge the gap between talent acquisition and talent management to ensure that they are hiring for the skills that actually drive value for the business.My guest this week is Jason Putnam, CRO at Plum. Jason has tremendous experience in the industry and is continually talking to senior corporate leaders about their skills strategies. He has some interesting and unique insights to share, and this is a must-listen for everyone trying to make sense of skills-based hiring.In the interview, we discuss:The current market challengesAre companies prioritizing talent management over talent acquisition?How is the relationship between the talent management and talent acquisition function evolving?The shortening shelf life of hard skills and the importance of soft skillsThe mismatch between the skills employers hire for and the skills they actually value in their organizationsSkills and productivityAre mapping skills within the organization necessary or even possible?How job seekers' use of AI will change talent acquisition.What does the future look likeFollow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

The podcast discusses skills shortages, digital transformation, AI revolution, hiring freezes, and layoffs reshaping talent acquisition. Rich Wilson talks about skills-focused hiring strategies, AI creating new opportunities, internal mobility, upskilling, and talent sharing. It explores future work trends, the importance of TA teams, and envisions the talent space in five years.

I launched Recruiting Future nine years ago to attempt to understand the future of talent acquisition. Back then, social media was the biggest driver of change, and we were starting to realize how much new technologies would change the world.Predicting the future is always risky; however, if you approach things correctly, you can spot the trends that will stick and get a sense of what is likely to happen.I'm actually launching a short digital course next month to teach you some tools and techniques to do this. You can join the VIP waitlist for early access and a discount by going to mattalder.me/course Back to the 600th episode. To celebrate this landmark, I invited my long-time collaborator and co-author, Mervyn Dinnen, to a studio in London to explore just how accurate some of the predictions we made in a whitepaper back in 2016 about the future of work were and to discuss what we think will happen over the next decade. There is also a video version of this podcast that you can find by following the link in the show notes.In the interview, we discuss:When I first told Mervyn I was launching Recruiting futureTasks, not jobs, in a skills-based futureHow the pandemic accelerated trends that were already thereIs "return to the office" HR's version of the culture warsWhy we thought recruiting would be "Tinderized."The long-predicted demise of the resumeTalent MarketplacesWhat does the next ten years look likeTotal Talent ThinkingWhere is the humanity in the AI-driven future of work?What is going to happen over the next 12 monthsWatch the video version of this episode on YouTubeFollow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

We live in a world of work where understanding, interpreting and telling stories with data has never been more critical. Although Talent Acquisition has become more data-centric in recent years, many TA functions rely on summary statistics that don't provide a sophisticated enough platform to use data to inform and influence their organizations properly.So, what can TA leaders do to make their data strategies more effective?My guest this week is Ben Porr, Chief Customer Officer at Harver. In our conversation, Ben offered some highly actionable advice TA leaders can follow to level up and tell compelling stories with data.In the interview, we discuss:Why data is so essential in TAAnswering questions with data rather than with opinions or assumptionsWhat organizations are missing out on if they only use summary statisticsWhat are the innovative organizations doing?AI and automationWhat are the most critical data sources?Pivot table versus data visualizationHuman in the loopUsing data to shift strategiesHow AI will empower decision-making based on smaller sets of dataWhat will the future look like?Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Executive Search is often considered so specialized that it should always remain the preserve of Exec Search agencies. However, an ever-increasing number of large employers are now choosing to build in-house executive search functions. So what are the advantages of doing this, how do you do this, and what is the ongoing impact from tighter talent markets and innovations in technologyMy guest this week is Katie Howard, Global Talent Acquisition Luxury and Lifestyle Lead at IHG. Katie made the switch from Search Agency to in-house just over a year ago and has been helping set IHG up for success in a highly competitive market for senior talent.In the interview, we discuss:The difference between agency and in-houseThe current challenges in the senior talent market within luxury hospitalityHow IHG differentiates itselfApproaching and engaging with global talent poolsNon-linear careers and talent mobility Managing stakeholders in large matrix organizationsMaking the candidate experience match the luxury guest experienceDE&IRethinking onboardingAdvice for anyone setting up an in-house functionThe role of AI in executive hiringWhat does the future look like?Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

I was delighted to hear two of my regular guests on Recruiting Future were writing a book together. “Talent Acquisition Excellence” by Kevin Wheeler and Bas Van De Haterd is now available, whether you get your books, and it is brilliant to welcome them both back to the podcast to talk about it.Kevin is the founder of The Future of Talent Institute and is highly respected for his skills in predicting how Talent Acquisition and HR will develop and evolve. Bas is a consultant whose keen sense of curiosity has helped him map the evolution of assessment technology and deliver an annual state-of-the-nation report on corporate career sites.In our conversations, they bring different perspectives to the concept of Talent Acquisition excellent, offer some actionable advice and give us a sense of what the future might hold.In the interview, we discuss:What is talent acquisition excellence?Why AI could be more disruptive than the invention of the InternetShifting mindsetsImproving selection by using scienceDriving the evolution of recruitment marketingHow the recruiting function will change, and what skills will recruiters needWhy employers aren't moving quickly enoughWhere will TA be in a year?Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Round Up is the monthly show on The Recruiting Future Podcast channel that highlights episodes you may have missed and gives you my take on some of the key learnings from the guests.Episodes mentioned in this Round Up:Ep 591: Is AI Changing Jobseeker Behaviour?Ep 592: Understanding SkillsEp 593: The Career Forward MindsetEp 594: Recruiting Data Science SkillsEp 595: Proving The Value Of Talent AcquisitionEp 596: Expectations and ExperienceFollow this podcast on Apple Podcasts