Are you going to be at the HR Technology Conference in Las Vegas on Tuesday, October 10th? Recruiting Future has teamed up with the lovely people at Hackajob to host an early evening soiree that we're calling Hack A Pod.  We will be crowdsourcing a live episode of The Recruiting Future Podcast on the roof terrace of BrewDog Vegas's very own Scottish brewpub, and one of the best viewing points there is to watch the sun set over the Vegas strip. So please come along to join in or just watch and mingle with some great people. We've got free drinks, food, and even a magician to keep you entertained. Not only that, BrewDog is only a short walk or an even shorter taxi ride from The Mandalay Bay, where the conference is being held. We've only got limited capacity, so to find out more and register for your free ticket, go to mattalder.me/vegas

Regular listeners will know just how essential I believe it is for talent acquisition to learn the art and science of storytelling. Being able to craft stories that resonate isn't just part of effective recruitment marketing; it is vital to building internal stakeholder engagement and developing more influence to move TA up the corporate strategic value chain. So why is effective storytelling so powerful, and how can we all build our skills in this area? My guest this week is Karen Eber, CEO of the Eber Leadership Group and author of a new book called The Perfect Story: How to Tell Stories That Inform, Influence and Inspire. The book deals with the science and structure of good storytelling in business and is full of advice that can help everyone tell more powerful and engaging stories. In the interview, we discuss: What happens to your brain when you listen to stories? Being memorable and engaging Why business storytelling is so important Understanding your audience Conflict as fuel to drive the narrative Telling stories with data Context, Conflict, Outcome and Takeaway How do you know if your story is resonating? AI and storytelling Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.

The talent acquisition landscape is changing rapidly. 2024 has been difficult for many people in the profession, with many layoffs and an incredibly tough job market for recruiters. At the same time, advances in AI and automation technologies are driving types of change that we couldn't have imagined a few years ago, and post-pandemic labour shortages are still a reality in many talent markets. All this disruption is forcing employers to think differently about jobs, work, skills and recruiting, creating an incredible opportunity for talent acquisition to illustrate its long-term value to the business. So what role does TA play in the future, and how can TA leaders prove its strategic value when many of their teams are being downsized? My guest this week is Jessica Zwaan, COO at Whereby. Jessica is a cutting-edge HR thinker and has written a book detailing how People Ops should be run using product management principles. In our conversation, we talk about the future role of TA, and Jessica offers practical advice on how TA leaders can prove their strategic value. In the interview, we discuss: Talent market challenges Building a people team like a product team Work as a subscription model Output metrics and funnel thinking Why businesses cutting TA teams are getting it wrong Building tools and products for the employee subscription lifecycle The shortcoming of working in silos Closing the gaps between TA and People Ops Can existing HR functions evolve towards this model? A COO's advice to TA Leaders on proving their strategic value What TA can learn from marketing The impact of AI and what the future might look like Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.

If you have been listening to the recent episodes of the show, you'll have noticed the considerable amount of innovation currently happening in high-volume hiring. Driven by skill shortages and automation technology, high volume is the area that has given us an insight into what the future might be like for talent acquisition. In episodes 551 and 552, I'm diving deeper into automation and AI in high-volume hiring by speaking to technology CEOs with products that are helping to shape the future.  My second guest in this mini-series is Max Armbruster, CEO at Talkpush. Max does extensive work around high-volume hiring in Latin America and Asia. Technology is driving innovation for different reasons in these markets than in the US and Europe, and Max has some deep insights into how hiring is developing and where things are heading. In the interview, we discuss: The hiring market beyond the US and Europe Automation to reduce recruiter numbers and broaden talent pools Emerging markets and future economic powerhouses Cost per hire How AI improves the quality of hire The impact of the accessibility and affordability of AI Communication channels and candidate experience Developing local toolkits Advice to employers hiring remotely in these markets What's the future for recruiters? Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

If you have been listening to the recent episodes of the show, you'll have noticed the considerable amount of innovation currently happening in high-volume hiring. Driven by skill shortages and automation technology, high volume is the area that has given us an insight into what the future might be like for talent acquisition. Over the next two episodes, I will dive deeper into automation and AI in high-volume hiring by speaking to technology CEOs with products that are helping to shape the future.  My first guest is Stephane Rivard, CEO and Co-Founder of Hiring Branch. Several Hiring Branch's customers have used technology to move away from human interviews completely. Stephane talks us through the results they are getting and the implications for the future of talent acquisition. In the interview, we discuss: Is recruiting automation gaining traction? Predicting job performance via scenario-driven assessment Previewing the work and showcasing skills Removing bias Will this approach spread beyond high volume? Hiring within 24 hours Selling the role and organization Improving the quality of hire Resources, efficiencies, budgets, legislation and regulation Recruiter career prospects and advice to TA leaders Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.

Attitudes to work are more complex and varied than ever, making identifying trends and patterns harder. There are currently critical questions around retention and productivity that employers need to understand. So, how can we make sense of our ever more complex motivational drivers and attitudes to work? ADP have access to massive human capital management datasets, and by combining this data with qualitative research, the ADP Research Institute is helping to shine a light on complex questions about work. ADP Research Institute has recently launched a new quarterly workforce report called Today At Work, and my guest this week is Ben Hanowell, their Director of People Analytics Research. As well as looking at patterns in worker sentiment, the report has revealed a surprising inverse relationship between promotion and retention. In the interview, we discuss: Using data to make sense of the labor market The vital importance of retention The Employee Motivation and Commitment Index The impact of promotion on retention Implications for talent acquisition Why having a good bench is important Individual contributors vs. manager Why career development doesn't end with promotion Motivation and commitment are a state, not a trait. Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcast.

The way we describe work and jobs is mostly by long-standing assumptions that have been in place since the Industrial Revolution. The world is now a very different place, and the employers breaking free of our ingrained mindsets around jobs and recruiting are giving themselves considerable talent market advantage. My guest this week is one of my favourite thinkers around the reinvention of work. Dart Lindsley is Strategic Advisor for People Experience at Google. Dart believes that rather than being seen as resources or units of production, employees are actually customers of a product we call work. There are some vast implications for talent acquisition here, and this is a must-listen for anyone developing a strategic plan for the future. In the interview, we discuss: How we should be looking at work The legacies of the industrial age A multi-sided business Business architecture Employees as customers, not as units of production The implications for HR Bringing marketing thinking to HR Market research, product market fit and route to market Work as a subscription model A land and expand sales motion Job to be done theory How do recruitment marketing and employer branding need to evolve A different data model for describing work The implications of AI What does the future look like? Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

We've featured several employers on the show with recruiting strategies focusing on hiring people with criminal histories. All of these employers have spoken about the benefits for the people they hire, the benefits they get from reaching new talent pools, and the benefits for society as a whole.  Despite this growing list of case studies, several misconceptions about hiring people who have been involved with the criminal justice system are holding many employers back. My guest this week is Shawn Bushway, a professor at the University at Albany and a researcher at RAND Corporation. Shawn has built a body of research on the impact of criminal background checks on employment, and his work informed the current standards of the EEOC. He now helps employers revise their background check policies to better reflect the science about re-offending and become compliant with EEOC guidance. In the interview, we discuss: How background checks have evolved Ban the box How the tightness of the labor market dictates employers' attitudes Common misconceptions The myth around recidivism Overestimating the level of risk Why crime type is irrelevant Making factually informed decisions Avoiding false positives Age, time, and number The role of government in creating practical, useable incentives to hire people with criminal histories Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts

It has been an extraordinary year for technology. We can all broadly agree that the effect of generative AI will be transformational for talent acquisition, but how can we separate the hype from the reality to know where to focus in the short term and how to plan for a much-changed future? With so much noise and minimal signal in the discussion about AI, I thought the best way to get a grip on everything was to talk to a genuine AI thought leader. My guest this week is Jon Krohn, host of the SuperDataScience Podcast, Best Selling Author, and Chief Data Scientist at TA start-up Nebula. Jon was on the show back in 2019 and gave us a primer on AI that was so good people are still listening to now. This time, he is doing a deep dive into generative AI, giving us some history, explaining the current reality, and outlining the radical potential for the future. This conversation was eye-opening for me, and it is a compulsory listen for everyone working in Talent Acquisition. In the interview, we discuss: Developments in AI over the last three years Hype v Impact The development of the transformer architecture that facilitates ChatGPT Why the jump from ChatGPT 3.5 to ChatGPT 4 was incredibly significant Is artificial general intelligence possible in our lifetimes? Other notable examples of Large Language Models The immediate implications for Talent Acquisition How LLMs will supercharge vendor innovation The importance of TA Leaders embracing AI Are we heading towards a utopia or a dystopia? Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts. A full transcript will appear here shortly.

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. This Round Up episode also features a short interview with Clive Meyers, Director of Public Sector Strategy at Indeed, talking about some up coming events to support refugees across Europe Episode mentioned in this Round Up: Ep 537: Strategic Workforce Planning Ep 538: The Rise Of Short-Form Video Ep 539: Building TA Technology Strategies Ep 540: AI & Recruitment Marketing Ep 541: The Skills-Based Revolution Ep 542: Building A Global TA Strategy Ep 543: Hiring At Speed And Scale Ep 544: Transforming TA Teams Ep 545: Using AI Strategically Ep 546: Transforming Frontline Hiring Listen to this podcast in Apple Podcasts

Frontline hiring continues to be highly challenging with ongoing labor shortages in many countries. The business impact of understaffing is both significant and quantifiable, meaning hiring speed is a critical lever for business value and competing effectively in a competitive talent market. So, how can employers speed up their processes while offering a great candidate experience and improving retention? My guest this week is Joshua Secrest, VP of Client Advocacy at Paradox. During his time as a Global TA leader for McDonald's, Josh used technology to reduce frontline hiring times from 21 days to 3 days. He is continuing to help employers automate recruiting and innovate with AI at Paradox, and he has many valuable insights to share. In the interview, we discuss: The current challenges in frontline hiring Business impacts of understaffing Having the ear of the C-Suite The critical importance of speed and moving fast at every stage of the process Turnoever and retention The power of automation The role of AI and the role of humans Delivering an excellent candidate and hiring manager experience The importance of simple, intuitive interfaces Speed of adoption in recruiting automation and advice to TA leaders Plugging generative AI into conversational AI What does talent acquisition look like in five years? Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Earlier in the summer, I collaborated with the SmartRecruiters team to interview four fantastic practitioners who spoke on The Hiring Without Boundaries stage at RecFest in London. We recorded the conversations backstage at the event, and this is the third of three podcast episodes where I will be sharing them. Talk about generative AI is everywhere, but most of the conversation is either inflating the hype or dealing with highly tactical short-term techniques and use cases. So, how can TA Leaders think about AI strategically to embrace current opportunities and plan effectively for the future? My next RecFest guest is Ben Handyside, Director of Talent Acquisition EMEA at Colliers International. Colliers have recognized that ChatGPT was already being used by many people within their organization and are harnessing the advantages to boat innovation and make TA a key strategic driver of value. In the interview, we discuss: Challenging barriers and boundaries to access new talent The forces driving change in TA TA as a strategic enabler Acknowledging AI utilization, understanding the risk, and establishing guidelines The risk of doing versus the risk of not doing Use cases and experimentation. Creating more time for human interactions Managing adoption Planning for the AI-driven future Understanding the problem you are trying to solve. Speed as a strategic lever Advice to TA Leaders What will the role of the recruiter be like in ten years? Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Earlier in the summer, I collaborated with the SmartRecruiters team to interview four fantastic practitioners who spoke on The Hiring Without Boundaries stage at RecFest in London. We recorded the conversations backstage at the event, and this is the second of three podcast episodes where I will be sharing them. It's an unprecedented time of disruption in talent acquisition. Economics, demographics, and technology are driving seismic shifts in how companies think about hiring. With the pace of change continuing to increase, the most successful TA functions will be the ones that adapt the quickest. My second RecFest guests are Lindsey Stone, Group Head of Talent Attraction & Resourcing at Greene King, and Eric Houwen, Head of Talent Acquisition & Employer Branding at Deloitte in The Netherlands. Although they work for two very different types of business, there are a lot of interesting commonalities in Eric and Lindsey's approach to TA transformation. In the interview, we discuss: The forces driving change in TA Employability and Social Mobility Shifting workforces Evolving talent acquisition What skills does a TA team now need? Developing a consultative approach Positioning TA to drive value for the business The role of technology How do you take your people with you? What will the role of the recruiter be in 10 years? Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Earlier in the summer, I collaborated with the SmartRecruiters team to interview four fantastic practitioners who spoke on The Hiring Without Boundaries stage at RecFest in London. We recorded the conversations backstage at the event, and this is the first of three podcast episodes where I will be sharing them. Hiring for frontline retail positions has always been a challenge, but since the pandemic, it is a challenge that has increased exponentially. So how does an expanding retail group fill 30,000 roles a year at pace while ensuring a high-quality candidate experience that reflects the fact that their candidates are literally their customers? My first RecFest guest is Adam Reynolds, Head of Talent at Frasers Group. Frasers Group is a multi-brand international retail chain, and Adam and his team have used technology to transform their TA strategy to meet the needs of the business in a very tough talent market. In the interview, we discuss: Recruiting challenges Growing hiring exponentially Urgency, pace, and velocity Getting stakeholder buy-in Quality communication at scale Automation without being robotic Storytelling The fundamental role of technology Ratios and data Talent pooling silver medallists How will the role of the recruiter evolve in an AI-driven future? Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Being a Global Head of TA in 2023 is highly challenging. Dealing with disrupted talent markets and global hiring nuances while building a consistent approach to candidate experience and stakeholder relations and keeping on top of emerging technology trends is complex, to say the least.  My guest this week is Chet Ritchie, VP of Global Talent Acquisition at Manulife. Chet is driving a TA strategy based on transparent relationship management and a core, common, and custom approach to the critical elements of recruiting and employer branding.  In the interview, we discuss: Demographic shifts and talent market dynamics The importance of hiring manager and stakeholder relations A personalized and engaging candidate experience Providing feedback throughout the process Structuring a global team Core, Common, and Custom The role of technology Showing humanity through the recruiting process Leveraging data for talent intelligence and process optimization What does the future of TA look like Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

The skills-based organization and skills-based hiring have been talked about for several years now. Despite this, many employers are yet to start a shift towards skills or are still at a very early stage of the process. So why is being skilled-based so important, and what are the implications for companies that haven't yet started a transition towards skills-based hiring and talent management? Is this another HR fad or a critical re-imagining of how we think about talent in a world of continued disruptive change? My guest this week is David Blake, CEO of Degreed, a skills-based learning and development technology platform. David is a passionate advocate for the advantages that skills-based organizations will have in our AI-driven future of work. In the interview, we discuss: Why is a skilled-based approach so important, and how does it translate into business success? Job titles are not the same as skills. Getting the best out of people Jailbreaking the college degree. Skills versus qualifications and experience Evolving the recruiting process to hire for skills Reskilling and upskilling Why the skills gap will continue to get bigger and bigger In demand skills Thinking differently about talent How will AI define the future of work? Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

A few short months ago, many commentators predicted that AI would be a revolutionary force in recruitment marketing that would drive automation, efficiency, and engagement. So how does the hype live up to the reality, and what have we learned about how AI and humans need to work together to create effective recruitment marketing? My guest this week is Kat Kibben, CEO and Founder of Three Ears Media. Kat is a recruitment marketing expert with a focus on job postings. They have some valuable insights and informed opinions on the relationship between recruiters, AI and recruitment marketing. In the interview, we discuss: How has recruitment marketing evolved since the pandemic What is holding AI back Why marketing and recruitment marketing are not the same jobs What happens when everyone has access to the same tools Telling the truth, being unique, and standing out Training recruiters to be consultative. Driving a faster hiring process What makes a great job posting Are mandatory requirements really mandatory? Employer branding as an accelerator Advice for TA leaders on the future of recruitment marketing Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

The amount of technology available to TA teams has exploded, and innovation is moving so rapidly that it is almost impossible to keep up. In a world driven by shiny objects syndrome taking a long-term strategic view when it comes to TA technologies is crucial. However, the challenges around this are considerable and are not just about the amount of choice. TA leaders need access to specialist skills to help them make the right decisions and, simultaneously, need to ensure their voice is heard within the business around tech procurement. My guest this week is Rob Cohen, TA Ecosystem Manager at Philip Morris International. Rob has the kind of role I can see becoming more common in TA Teams in the future. He is a genuine technology expert who sits outside the IT function and is responsible for all the technology that touches candidates and helps recruiters do their job. Rob has some fascinating insights on technology strategy, TA tech stacks, and the AI-driven future, making this an absolute must-listen interview. In the interview, we discuss: The importance of Talent Acquisition owning its own tech Skills and stakeholders Translating business needs into tech requirements. Being strategic with technology, not tactical Dealing knowledgeably with vendors Open AIs Using systems for what they are designed for Platforms versus point solutions The complexities of operating globally Is there such a thing as a perfect TA tech stack? The current and future role of AI Personalized recruiting automation The future role of the TA team Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Over the last few years, TikTok has driven a revolution in short-form video content, racking up billions of views and forcing its competitors to adopt similar formats. Recent data, ironically released by Google, has also highlighted that a significant percentage of young people prefer to do their research on TikTok and Instagram instead of using Google.  However, while a few employers are doing a great job in this area, overall, there is still very little recruitment marketing or employer branding content on these platforms. So what do employers need to do to connect with the millions of people consuming short-form views effectively, and what part should this type of content play in recruitment marketing and employer branding strategies? My guest this week is Omar Khateeb, Founder and CEO at JobPixel. JobPixel is helping many employers to embrace short-form video content, and Omar has expert insights to share on what works and how to build effective workflows for this type of content. In the interview, we discuss: The current state of the market and the consequences of overhiring How employer branding is evolving to meet the current challenges The critical importance of creating authentic video content Showcasing the good, the bad and the ugly. The evolution of Day in the Life videos How does short-form video fit in strategically? Many people research companies after they have applied, not before What makes great content Having the right tooling and process to capture video The impact of AI on content creation What is the future of video for recruitment marketing and employer branding? Listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

One of the key themes I've observed emerging over the last few years is the need for employers to think about talent holistically. To achieve this, progressive organizations are already breaking down the barriers between talent acquisition, talent management, and L&D. The central tenet is Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP). So what does effective SWP look like, how is AI changing thought processes, and what role does Talent Acquisition need to play? My guest this week is Sadhana Bhide, Strategic Workforce Planning Subject Matter Expert at Faethm by Pearson. Sadhana has expert insights to share on the current state and future development of SWP, and this is a must-listen for TA leaders everywhere. In the interview, we discuss: What is SWP, and why is it so important? Unique strategic advantages Engaged workforces The 6 Bs that underpin SWP The impact of AI on jobs What role should Talent Acquisition play in SWP? Common roadblocks and challenges Best practices to measure success Establishing a learning mindset and a culture of change readiness What does the future of HR look like? Subscribe to this podcast in Apple Podcasts.