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

Despite some highly publicised layoffs in the tech sector, macro trends are still driving a high demand for highly skilled tech professionals. This is particularly true in data science and AI, where hiring the right talent can have a significant business impact. So what do employers need to do in the current market to ensure they are getting the talent they need?My guest this week is Kevin Dewalt, CEO of Prolego, a leading AI consultant for Fortune 500 companies. Prolego has recently published a report to help companies get better at hiring data science talent, and Kevin has some valuable insights to share.In the interview, we discuss:Why we are only at the beginning of a long-term trend in AI adoption and innovation The current state of tech hiringWhy there is no new wave of talent in the marketCreating the right working environment to be an employer of choice.Attention and attractionGathering talent intelligence to understand motivationsThe critical importance of the hiring manager and why you should include them in the JDLonger-term structural considerationsPrioritising learning and the importance of non-management career pathsHow to compete for talent with big techThe future of AI in recruiting technologyListen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

I know that many of you who listen to this podcast are very aware of the quality of your employee experience and the importance of your employer brand reputation. However, as the balance in the workforce between permanent hires, contractors, and project-based workers evolves, do you still truly understand all the factors influencing your employer brand?My guest this week is Tanya de Grunwald, journalist and founder of The Good And Fair Employers Club. Tanya is a long time campaigner for the rights of young people in the workplace and has been working tirelessly to expose the use of exit or training fees by some IT outsourcing companies. This interview is an absolute must listen for everyone working for an organization that contract in workers from external providers.In the interview, we discuss:What are exit fees, and what are their implications for young people?The implications of denying people the right to move jobsThe legal positionActivismOutsourcing and placement: who is and isn’t an employee?Why have employers been so slow to actEthics in procurement and supplier managementProviding consistent values and experience for the entire workforceWhistleblowing & PR disastersGood and fair employersListen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

I'm on holiday at the moment, but I want to make sure that you have plenty of Recruiting Future content to listen to until I'm back. So for the next couple of weeks, I'm going to republish some of my favourite episodes with conversations that you may have missed the first time round.This week's replay is my conversation from earlier in the year with Maggie Spong, VP of Talent Acquisition at AstraZeneca. It is one of the best examples I've had on the show for a while of a company developing holistic, long-term strategic solutions to deal with ongoing skill shortages. It is well worth a listen, even if you have heard it the first time around.In the interview, we discuss:How Talent Acquisition is evolving at Astra ZenecaUsing Talent Scouts to build external talent pipelines for hard to fill roles and where there are gaps in internal succession planningBuilding a personalised and inclusive candidate experience.Giving feedback to all interviewed candidatesThe challenges of the pandemicEncouraging candidate self-selection by showcasing the authentic employee experienceTurning The Great Resignation into The Great OpportunityThe role of technologyEmployer brand advocacyInvesting in development and the Talent Acquisition AcademyAstra Zeneca's focus for 2022Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

I'm on holiday at the moment, but I want to make sure that you have plenty of Recruiting Future content to listen to until I'm back. So for the next couple of weeks, I'm going to republish some of my favourite episodes with conversations that you may have missed the first time round.This week's replay is my interview with Rory Sutherland, Vice Chair of Ogilvy and one of the world's leading thinkers on behavioural science. I firmly believe that behavioural science will take a leading role in talent acquisition in the future, particularly when it comes to automation and personalisation, and that's why I wanted to give you all a second chance to listen to what Rory has to say.In the interview, we discuss:Why Behavioural Science is the science of knowing what economists are wrong aboutThe dangers of defensive decision makingFinding psychological truths and the importance of emotionsWhy Uber has a mapRecruiting for diversity of thoughtHow Ogilvy have redesigned the recruiting process to find people of exceptional non-standard abilityWhile the average is not the optimal solutionThe difference between equality of opportunity and diversity of opportunityWhy work is a relational relationship, not a transactional oneCost reduction versus lost opportunitiesPersonalising the value exchange between employer and employeeThe future of work and why it has taken a pandemic to get us thereFollow 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 442: Lessons From Elite CyclingEp 443: The Nowhere OfficeEp 444: Workplace CultureEp 445: Happiness At WorkEp 446: The Competitive Advantage Of Employee ExperienceEp 447: Dealing With DisruptionEp 448: Proving The Business Value Of Talent Marketing

Measuring the impact of talent marking in a way that aligns with the rest of the business and demonstrates value for the c-suite has always been challenging. TA leaders often find themselves judged by measures and outcomes they don't fully control, which are impossible to translate into business value.So how do you prove the business impact of recruitment marketing and employer branding, particularly in such volatile times?My guest this week is Nick Thompson, Global Talent Marketing Leader at IBM. Nick and his team have been working on this issue for a while and have devised a way of measuring the value of talent marketing that resonates with the C-Suite and provides a laser focus for optimisation and improvement. In the interview, we discuss:The scale of recruiting at IBMThe current state of the global market for tech hiringThe shortcomings of existing talent marketing metricsSpeaking the same language as the rest of the businessMeasuring where you have ownership and controlWhat is the time to apply metric, and how was it developed?What insights does time to apply enable?Mapping onto business value The reaction The levers that reduce time to applyRemoving the reasons why people don't click applyThe role of employer brandingAdvice to TA leadersListen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts

Back in 2020, there was an acknowledgement that talent acquisition had changed forever but a sense that things would eventually stabilise into a new normal. Two and half years later, it is clear that the only new normal is continual long-term disruption, change and uncertainty.So what should TA leaders focus on to give their organisations the best chance of maintaining a competitive talent advantage in these challenging times?My guest this week is Hayli Thornhill, Head of Recruiting at Brighthire. Hayli is an experienced TA Leader with experience in both start-ups and large corporates. She has some insightful advice on dealing with disruption and preparing for an uncertain future.In the interview, we discuss:Long term disruption and uncertaintyIntelligent interview and evidence based hiringWhat should TA Leaders be focusing onEfficiency and qualityAuditing tech stacksModernising interviewer trainingImproving the hiring processFive non-negotiables to focus onProviding a brilliant candidate experienceLooking to the futureListen to this podcast on Apple PodcastsA full transcript will appear here shortly

Many employers will claim to be people-centric organisations, but how many actually have the quality of employer experience to back this up? A high-quality employee experience dries value for businesses in many ways, including competitive advantage in talent acquisition, better retention, increased productivity and better service for clients and customers.So how do you build a genuinely people-centric organisation with an employer experience that delivers on its promises? My guest this week is Mayra Chimienti, COO of Mister Carwash, the largest car wash operator in North America. Mister Car Wash is a certified Great Place to Work that has built a category-leading employee experience.In the interview, we discuss:What it means to be a people-first businessEmployee experience and customer experienceBuilding competitive advantage in Talent AcquisitionTelling authentic stories and showing evidence in the recruiting processRetention, professional development and benefitsThe long term impact of the pandemicInnovationThe future of people strategy at Mister CarwashListen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

With so much unhelpful noise around the topic of the future of work, I'm taking a deep dive into the practicalities of what is actually going on over three podcast episodes. In the previous two episodes, I spoke to authors Julia Hobsbawm and Bruce Daisley about our physical relationship with the workplace; in this episode, I want to explore happiness at work.The John Lewis Partnership is a unique UK-based retailer jointly owned by its employees and founded on the premise of ensuring worker happiness. My guest this week is Lord Mark Price, the former UK Trade Minister who was CEO of Waitrose and Deputy Chairman of The John Lewis Partnership. Mark now works via his business WorkL to help employers increase workplace happiness using some of the lessons he learned during his time at John Lewis. In the interview, we discuss:Lessons from The John Lewis PartnershipThe six core elements of happiness at workWhy looking at averages is dangerous.How can employers build a happier workplace?Using happiness for competitive advantage in talent acquisitionThe relationship between the individual and their line managerProspects for the future of the labour marketListen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

With so much unhelpful noise around the topic of the future of work, I'm taking a deep dive into the practicalities of what is actually going on over a series of three podcast episodes. In the previous episode, I spoke to author Julia Hobsbawm about some of the challenges of this emerging new phase of work, and I want to continue this theme in this episode.My guest this week is the perfect person to help me do this, and it is great to have him back on the show. Bruce Daisley is a speaker, author and workplace culture enthusiast. Previously a VP at Twitter, Bruce now hosts one of the world's most popular podcasts on making work better. In the interview, we discuss:Critical issues in workplace cultureWhy flex is the new payThe danger of uncoordinated hybridProductivity and worker satisfactionThe intentional curation of cultureUsing the office as a toolHow management infrastructure is changingThe rise of the community managerRethinking knowledge transferUnderstanding the demands of top talentChallenges for talent acquisitionWork from anywhereThe danger of nostalgiaWhat will work look like in five years?Pre-order Bruce’s new book “Fortitude”Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.