The Recruiting Future Podcast - Innovation In Hr And Recruitment

I've always found it fascinating to study high growth companies and start-ups that are seriously scaling up. Things move at a million miles an hour, and some serious lessons can be learned about culture, skills development, talent management and talent acquisition. My guest this week is Sandy Scholes, Chief People Officer at Flipp, a fast-growth retail technology company based out of Toronto. Toronto is a highly competitive talent market, and Sandy has some very valuable insights to share on acquiring and retaining the right talent for a scale-up business. In the interview, we discuss:    ▪   The people challenges at Flipp    ▪   How do you build a culture?    ▪   How the pandemic has changed Flipp's approach to employee experience    ▪   Ensuring the right skills are in the business.    ▪   How to stand out and attract talent in a tough market    ▪   Raising the bar on recruiting.    ▪   Career Journeys Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts. Sign up for the live Recruiting Future event

Trust at work has been in the news a lot recently. Whether it's Zoom fatigue caused by too many pointless meetings, employers using software to spy on employees in their own homes or forced returns to the office, it is clear that our new world of work still doesn't sit comfortably with some employers. So how should we be thinking about trust at work now, and does rethinking our whole approach to accountability hold some of the answers on how we move forward? My guest this week is Carolyn Taylor, a global thought leader on corporate culture change. Carolyn has written a brilliant new book called Accountability@Work, which offers some very practical advice on building a scalable system of accountability that will help everyone who leads a team. In the interview, we discuss:    ▪   Why culture really matters during the pandemic    ▪   Types of trust: reliability, motivation and capability        ▪   Empowerment and equality    ▪   What is accountability    ▪   Being counted on    ▪   Mitigating risk    

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 335 Neurodiversity Ep 336: Jobs At Risk Ep 337 – Interview Intelligence Ep 338: Future Brainfood Ep 339: Diversity Hiring Ep 340: Changing Candidate Experience Ep 341: Culture Fit Doesn’t Exist Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts

An area that has been of genuine interest to me recently has been company culture and how some of the core ways we used to think about it are being disrupted. Remote working has meant companies are having to think much harder about how they work and showcasing their culture during the recruiting process has become a real challenge. Another significant area of debate has been the use of culture fit as an assessment criteria and whether culture fit even exists. My guest this week is Bret Putter, CEO of Culture Gene and author of several books on company culture. Brett spends a significant amount of his time researching corporate cultures with a strong recent focus on companies that were already working remotely before the pandemic. He has some very valuable insights to share on what company culture now means in our much disrupted times. In the interview, we discuss:    ▪   The definition of culture    ▪   The culture challenges of remote working    ▪   Best practices of remote-first organisations    ▪   A

Candidate Experience has been a regular topic on this podcast as long as this podcast has existed. People often get frustrated that we keep having to talk about it as poor candidate experiences still persist for many. However, improving the candidate experience isn't a single time-limited problem; it is an ongoing process that evolves in line with expectations and technology. With that in mind, talent acquisition teams must treat candidate experience strategically as a science rather than as a one-off project. My guest this week is Kevin Grossman, President of The Talent Board, the organisers of the Candidate Experience Awards. The Candidate Experience Awards have been running for ten years now, and Kevin has a massive amount of valuable data-based insights to share on how the candidate experience challenge has been evolving. In the interview, we discuss:    ▪   The methodology and data behind The Candidate Experience Awards    ▪   Candidate Experience as an ongoing challenge, not a single problem    ▪  

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are critically important. However, despite much discussion and debate, many employers are still failing to improve their hiring diversity. Those employers that are moving the needle are those that have actionable strategies and leadership accountability. My guest this week is Rachel Hirsch, who is a Recruiter at Frame.io. Frame.io have a genuine focus on diversity equity and inclusion and have tangible results to show for it. In our conversation, Rachel shares the strategy and identifies the key elements that have driven their success. In the interview, we discuss:    ▪   The key recruiting challenges at Frame.io    ▪   How unconscious bias affects diversity in sales leadership    ▪   Narrowing requirements to the things that matter most    ▪   The complications of the pandemic    ▪   Building trust with candidates    ▪   The critical importance of allyship and leadership accountability    ▪   The results have Frame.io seen from its strategy    ▪   What does the futur

It's fair to say that trends in recruiting technology are moving quickly. The events of the last 12 months have turbo boasted some aspects of the market and radically disrupted others. So what's changed, what's accelerating and what does the future look like? My guest this week is the perfect person to ask and was the most requested guest in the audience survey that I ran earlier in the year. Hung Lee is the Editor of the leading industry newsletter Recruiting Brainfood and a keen observer of recruiting technology. In the interview, we discuss:    ▪   Changing trends    ▪   The rise of assessment tech    ▪   Interview analytics    ▪   The future of automation    ▪   Ethics    ▪   What happens after the pandemic    ▪   How the way the industry educates itself on technology has changed Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Interviews have always been the central tenant of the hiring process and the one area where it has been most challenging to collect meaningful data. The mass move to video interviewing in the last 12 months has potentially changed everything. So, what data can we now gather, and how can it be analysed to drive actionable improvement in the interview process. My guest this week is Siadhal Magos, the Co-Founder and CEO of Metaview. Metaview is a technology start-up that is helping some well know employers gather data and act on interview intelligence in new and innovative ways. In the interview, we discuss:    ▪   Using data to make sense of interviews at scale    ▪   Two techniques to improve interviews    ▪   Will technology replace traditional interviews?    ▪   What are the critical interview data points?    ▪   The correlation between hiring funnel efficiency and interview rigour    ▪   Bias and inclusivity    ▪   Addressing privacy concerns Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.

The future of jobs in an age of AI and automation has been a popular topic on this show. We've tended to talk in quite theoretical terms and never truly considered what practical solutions there might be to the inevitable job displacement. Millions of jobs have already been lost in the pandemic, and the World Economic Forum predicts that an additional 85 million jobs with be lost to automation by 2025. So what type of jobs will disappear, and how do we upskill and transition the large proportion of the workforce who will be affected? My guests this week are Madeleine Gabriel and Karlis Kanders from Nesta, the UK's innovation agency for social good. Nesta has just completed a significant piece of research called Mapping Careers Causeways, which is intended to support job transitions and inform skills policy in a labour market that AI and Automation will forever change. In the interview, we discuss:    ▪   The uncertain future of work    ▪   Which jobs are at risk of automation    ▪   Identifying pathways

Back in 2019, I interviewed Theo Smith about Neurodiversity at work. At the time, I didn't have much of an understanding of Neurodiversity, and it was great to learn from Theo about the challenges neurodivergent people face in the workplace, what employers can do to support them and the enormous benefits this support would bring to everyone. Theo has since teamed up with Professor Amanda Kirby, and they are about to publish a book on Neurodiversity at Work. A couple of weeks ago, I caught up with them to find out more about the book and what talent acquisition professionals can be doing to be more inclusive in recruiting and assessment. In the interview, we discuss:    ▪   What is Neurodiversity    ▪   How do we get the best out of everyone at work?    ▪   Cognitive strengths and cognitive struggles    ▪   Spiky profiles    ▪   Unrealistic job descriptions    ▪   Focusing on what people can do rather than what they can't do    ▪   Making interviews and assessment more inclusive    ▪   How will work

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 328: Authentic Hiring Ep 331: Transforming Recruitment Marketing Ep 333: Automation, Simplicity and Experience Ep 332: Careers Site Systems Ep 329: Assessment Lessons From Elite Sport Ep 334: Fair AI Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

The number of talent acquisition technology solutions offering AI continues to grow exponentially. However, we must look at AI's role in recruiting through a critical lens to ensure transparency and that technologies are fair and ethical. If AI is being used to improve the candidate experience and remove bias, how do we make sure it isn't actually making things worse. My guest this week is Barb Hyman, CEO of Predictive Hire, an AI based interviewing solution. Predictive Hire has recently published a paper on Fair AI in recruiting intended to provoke debate and help Talent Acquisition leaders ask the right questions when they are buying a solution. Barb has an HR leadership background which gives her a unique perspective on the dangers and opportunities of the AI revolution. In the interview, we discuss:    ▪   Fair AI in Recruiting    ▪   The importance of vendor self regulation    ▪   Why AI should be unbiased, inclusive, valid and explainable    ▪   Building trust with talent acquisition leaders and c

As regular listeners will know, I often collaborate with HR Technology Analyst Mervyn Dinnen to produce research reports on various aspects of talent technology. Our latest report was published a few weeks ago with support from the learning and performance management platform Bridge. I wanted to bring some of the highlights of our findings to the podcast, so keep listening to hear what we discovered about how the landscape for learning and performance management has been changing during the pandemic. In the episode, we discuss:    ▪   Critical skills gaps    ▪   The challenges of talent mobility    ▪   The importance of specialist and fit for purpose technology    ▪   Training to support remote management    ▪   The employees perspective    ▪   Peer to peer interaction Download the Learning and Performance Management report Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

The events of 2020 / 2021 will shape how talent acquisition operates for years, especially when it comes to recruiting automation. In the past automation in recruiting has often been dismissed as impersonal and ineffective. However, as technology has developed and strategies have changed the immense value and inevitability of automation is becoming clear.  My guest this week is Jeff Uden, Head of Talent for UK supermarket, Iceland. Like all frontline food retailers, Iceland has faced some unprecedented talent acquisition challenges during the pandemic. Jeff gives us an insight into the innovations these challenges have driven, and Iceland's successful use of automation to radical enhance both the candidate and hiring manager experience. In the interview, we discuss:    ▪   The challenge of hiring 5,500 people in 8 weeks    ▪   Maximising simplicity and efficiency in the recruiting process    ▪   The critical importance of candidate experience    ▪   Automation with a human touch    ▪   Keeping hiring m

As I said at the start of the last episode reinventing recruitment marketing is a big topic for talent acquisition this year. Long term listeners to the podcast will also know about my deep-held belief that careers sites are the critical element of recruitment marketing that remains very much underutilised. Many forward-thinking employers are now turning to careers site systems to maximise the recruitment marketing benefits of careers site and minimise their development pain points. So what happens when we start thinking about careers sites as sophisticated software solutions rather than one-off creative projects? My guest this week is James Saunders, CEO of Attrax. Over the last few years, James has been one of the pioneers of careers site systems and has a massive amount of knowledge and experience to share. In the interview, we discuss:    ▪   What is a careers site system?    ▪   The focal point of employer branding    ▪   Strategic positioning    ▪   Why employers should invest in their own asset

It's still early in the year, but the reimagining of Recruitment Marketing is already a big topic for 2021. This has been clear in several conversations I've had with talent acquisition leaders and in the results of the audience survey I currently have running. Many employers are looking to transform their recruitment marketing to meet the new challenges they have and leverage emerging techniques and technologies. So what is cutting-edge thinking in recruitment marketing and what steps do talent acquisition teams need to take to unlock the power of what is possible? To give us some insights to answer these questions, I'm delighted to welcome Allyn Bailey, Global Recruitment Marketing Leader at Intel, back to the podcast. Allyn is one of the most progressive thinkers in our industry, and this is genuinely a must-listen interview. In the interview, we discuss:    ▪   Why and how recruitment marketing is transforming    ▪   Data decision mapping    ▪   Collecting target audience data via automation    ▪ 

We are living through a time of immense disruption the full scale of which we don't yet fully understand. The pandemic has caused millions to lose their jobs and changed the business models of entire industries. Understanding the skills now needed in the labour market and the level of reskilling required is further complicated by the rise of artificial intelligence and automation. So what does the future of work now look like and how can companies and individuals navigate the next few years? My guest this week is Dr Michelle Weise, Senior Advisor at Imaginable Futures and author of the book, Long Life Learning - Preparing for jobs that don't even exist yet. Michelle specialises in the future of work and the future of learning and has some incredibly valuable insights to share In the interview, we discuss:    ▪   A more positive vision for the future of work    ▪   The lack of a common skills taxonomy    ▪   Data infrastructure for talent mobility    ▪   Why employers are struggling to articulate the sk

Understanding and assessing talent is something I don't think we talk about in enough detail in our industry. Advances in both technology and neuroscience are challenging traditional thinking in recruiting if this will be another key topic for me this year. To get the conversation started my guests this week have a simple fascinating story to share. Eric Castien and Andries Van der Leij are the founder and CTO of Brainsfirst. Brainsfirst is a Dutch company that uses cognitive psychology and machine learning to help elite football teams identify future talent. They have brought their learnings into the business world and have some incredible insights to share. In the interview, we discuss:    ▪   Talent identification in elite football    ▪   Studying the link between specific brain function and performance    ▪   Learnability over capability    ▪   How understanding brain skills can drive talent redistribution    ▪   Only assessing skills you can actually quantify    ▪   Seeing a role as a set of desi

Over the last six months, we have talked a lot about transformation in talent acquisition with a large number of employers working hard to reinvent their strategies to meet the new challenges they face. So what does great talent acquisition now look like in 2021? Well, that's a question I'll be focusing on a lot in the coming weeks and months. My guests this week are Rona Anhalt, and Ed Nathanson, the Chief People Officer and VP of Talent and Talent Branding at disruptive pharmaceutical startup EQRx. Since their launch early last year, EQRx has done fantastic work in talent branding and talent acquisition and really is a benchmark for what hiring strategies should now look like. In the interview, we discuss:    ▪   How EQRx is disrupting the pharmaceutical industry    ▪   The challenges of scaling up talent acquisition in a pandemic    ▪   Building a purpose driven culture    ▪   Diversity, Equality, Fairness and Inclusion    ▪   Culture add over culture fit.    ▪   Superpowers    ▪   Being bold wit

It's only the end of January, and I think we can all clearly see that 2021 will be another challenging year. So what can talent acquisition leaders do to motivate and build resilience in their teams during these incredibly stressful times? My guest this week is Jen Thornton, a former Global Director of HR Operations who is now founder and CEO of 304 Coaching. Jen is an expert in conversational intelligence, something that can help everyone improve the quality and outcomes of their communication. In the interview, we discuss:    ▪   What is Conversational Intelligence    ▪   Applying neuroscience to workplace communication    ▪   Having better conversations    ▪   Motivating Talent Acquisition teams in tough times    ▪   The importance of resilience and coping with change Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts