But Yvette's also honest about what disappoints: vendors who oversell integration capabilities, tools that look great in demos but disrupt recruiter workflows, and the gap between "we can do that" and actually doing it. One vendor demo promised seamless integration. When implementation started? "Not so much."

One surprising insight: healthcare is no longer lagging in tech adoption. Health systems have moved to the front of the pack on responsible AI implementation, proving that constraints can drive better outcomes.

For TA leaders drowning in vendor pitches and paralyzed by options, this episode delivers a practical roadmap.

We dig into the feedback loop nobody's talking about: job seekers using AI to mass apply to jobs, employers using AI to filter the noise, and the whole apparatus just... creating more work for all. 

Mark walks through his six-question framework for cutting through vendor pitches, why context matters more than the algorithm, and why the most interesting solutions may come from founders who've never worked in traditional TA.

Also: why everyone's fishing from the same data ocean, what skills taxonomy actually means (and why you're probably not doing it), and Mark's contrarian take on why AI won't take our jobs – but it will expose which work shouldn't have been ours in the first place.

If you're a TA leader trying to figure out where to put your AI budget, this one's for you.

Talivity helps employers see what others miss – brand reputation risks, workforce shifts, and the real value of AI – so you can make smarter decisions and achieve measurable hiring outcomes. Learn more at Talivity.com.

Topics include:

• The evolution of recruitment from job boards to a marketing-driven discipline
• Why ATS source-of-hire data is only 20% accurate and how to move beyond it
• The rise of employer branding as a core pillar of talent acquisition
• The surge in referrals for tech talent and their potential impact on diversity
• Strategies for improving candidate experience and treating applicants like consumers
• The growing importance of employer branding for internal retention
• How to educate executives on the value of employer brand investments when ROI is challenging to measure

Links:

Maria Christopoulos Katris, Founder and CEO of Built In

• LinkedIn 
• Built In 2025 Talent Trend Report
• Connect with the Built In team to learn more about how a recruitment marketing approach will help you attract top talent."

Tune in to discover how to transform your talent acquisition strategy by embracing recruitment as marketing and building a candidate-centric employer brand that stands out in today’s competitive landscape.

Our conversation dives into what makes a "quality job" in today's economy and JFF's ambitious mission to see 75 million Americans working in quality jobs within the next decade. Alex unpacks how AI is transforming both educational settings and workplaces, challenging traditional notions of digital literacy and reshaping the skills landscape.

You'll discover why the most valuable future skills may not be AI-specific technical abilities, but rather the "human skills" that AI can't replicate—creativity, critical thinking, communication, and adaptability. Alex also explores how different educational institutions are navigating AI adoption and the policies that could help create more equitable access.

Whether you're an HR professional, educator, or worker navigating this rapidly evolving landscape, this episode offers critical insights on how we can ensure AI becomes a technology that makes everyone better off, rather than deepening existing divides.

Links: 

JFF Labs: The AI Ready Workforce Research Findings

Jobs for the Future

Topics Covered:

• The difference between human-in-the-loop vs. human-centric AI design
• Why HR departments struggle with AI adoption and tech literacy
• Practical ways to increase AI literacy within HR teams
• Evaluating AI use cases across impact, risk, and complexity
• Success stories and low-risk starting points for HR AI implementation
• Moving beyond the "bias boogeyman" in AI evaluation

Discover how to evaluate AI implementations and learn why many HR departments are starting their AI journey with conversational AI. This episode provides a nuanced framework for HR professionals looking to move beyond fear-based decision making and implement AI solutions that genuinely augment human capabilities.

We explore why friction in the hiring process is actually a good thing, how AI tools can enhance rather than replace human connection, and why most companies are missing the mark on retention and employee advocacy. Craig also shares behind-the-scenes details on rewriting 13,000 job descriptions for one of the world's largest banks—and why SEO and contextual AI optimization are now table stakes for recruiting.

Plus, he gives us a sneak peek at his upcoming book Paint Your Store, designed to help job seekers and solopreneurs level up their personal brands.

Whether you're a recruiter, TA leader, or job seeker navigating today's AI-infused hiring landscape, this is one conversation you won't want to miss.

🛠️ Topics covered:

• How social media shaped early recruitment marketing
• The case for human friction in hiring
• Why AI won't replace recruiters (but bad job descriptions might)
• Tactical tips for job SEO and optimizing for AI search
• The overlooked power of onboarding and employee advocacy

🔗 Learn more about Craig's work: hiring-humans.com New episodes every week at changestate.io

Rishad shares insights from his books Rethinking Work and Restoring the Soul of Business, diving into the rise of task-based employment, the growing trend of fractional roles, and how both individuals and companies must adapt. We discuss:

• Why the traditional full-time job is evolving into a modular, task-based system
• The "Company of One" mindset and how fractional employment creates flexibility for both companies and workers
• How companies can foster strong cultures without relying on physical office presence
• The six essential skills individuals need to stay relevant in the AI-driven future of work

If you've ever wondered what the future of employment looks like—and how to prepare—this episode is a must-listen.

Connect with Rishad Tobaccowala:

• Books: Rethinking Work & Restoring the Soul of Business
• Newsletter: rishad.substack.com
• Podcast: What Next?

Topics include:

• The Durable Skillset vs. the Half-Life Myth: Rethinking the idea that all skills quickly become obsolete and emphasizing the enduring value of fundamental abilities like communication and problem-solving.
• Building a Skill Portfolio: How to strategically invest in skills as long-term career assets rather than viewing them as fleeting data points.
• AI’s Role in Upskilling: Exploring where organizations are on the Gartner hype cycle for AI and practical approaches to integrating AI into talent development without over-reliance on outdated models.
• Practical Strategies for Talent Development: From auditing current AI usage among employees to designing learning strategies that address both immediate needs and future capabilities.

Join us for a candid conversation that bridges the gap between HR strategy and real-world application in the era of AI, and discover actionable insights to help your organization and employees stay ahead of the curve.

Matthew J. Daniel, Senior Principal of Talent Strategy, Guild

LinkedIn

Topics include: 

• Workforce Demographics & Skills Gap: How retiring baby boomers, a shrinking Gen Z, and declining college enrollment are fueling a critical skills mismatch that could leave 85 million jobs unfilled.

• Impact of AI & Technological Change: Why AI is more about augmenting roles than replacing them, and the urgent need for upskilling and reskilling.

• Industry Examples & Organizational Response: Comparing companies like Walmart and Amazon to illustrate how different business models can face vastly different workforce risks—and why proactive talent investments matter.

• Reframing the American Dream: Rethinking the four-year degree as the sole path to success, and exploring how trades and skills-based hiring offer a more sustainable future. 

Cole Napper, VP Research & Innovation, Lightcast

https://www.linkedin.com/in/colenapper/

Lightcast Risk Outlook

Topics include:

The future of talent acquisition, how AI can streamline processes while enriching candidate experiences, how to strike the right balance between AI and human touch, the ethical considerations when training AI, AI in high volume recruiting vs. executive recruiting, the shift towards skills-based hiring, talent acquisition roles of the future, the debate over hybrid work, the importance of critical thinking, approaches to measuring the ROI of artificial intelligence, and how AI is already empowering “wow” moments in recruiting

David Ellis

SVP of Talent Transformation, Korn Ferry

Linked In

Articles:

Korn Ferry’s Talent Trends 2025: Progress Over Perfection

 This week we welcome Sean Behr to the podcast. Sean is a successful entrepreneur spanning multiple industries, including e-commerce, advertising and automotive. Before joining Fountain as an investor and CEO, Sean held a number of founding and senior leadership roles at STRATIM, Adap.tv, and Shopping.com. He is also an active investor and advisor for numerous early stage companies, including Nana, AntHill, and Kinectic Eye, among others.

Topics include: the unique challenges and opportunities of frontline recruiting, the limitations of applying recruiting tactics and technologies designed for corporate roles to frontline roles, how the labor market is forcing organizations to consider new approaches to frontline recruiting, technological innovation in recruiting as an agent for (and impediment to) change, the increasing demands for efficiency in HR/TA, strategy vs. technology, task-based automation vs. goal-based automation, and the iterative nature of advances in artificial intelligence

Sean Behr
CEO, Fountain

LinkedIn

What is Methods & Practices?

 We launched the podcast five years ago with a focus on education: how do we engage with, promote, and elevate the most interesting voices in our industry? This has led to fascinating conversations with nearly 60 leaders in and around the talent acquisition space. As our listener base has grown, some questions keep popping up from our fans: What is Change State, anyway? How do we help clients? How can I take a similar approach in my organization?

Methods & Practices is one part of our answer. Staying true to our educational mission, these mini episodes provide a quick “behind the scenes” look at our approaches to solving common problems in the TA space. And while we love the opportunity to partner with new clients, we created these, like all of our episodes, to be helpful whether you ever become a Change State Client.

 Have a topic or guest suggestion? We love to hear from our fans! Shoot us an email at podcast@changestate.io 

Topics include:

The definition of employer brand, how an employer brand differs from an employee value proposition, perception vs. reality in branding, the connection between a consumer or master brand and an employer brand, key dimensions of strong employer brands, stakeholder groups involved with an EVP project, and the top considerations when designing an employee survey.

Topics include: the current state of the labor market, the connection between the labor market and interest rates, the role of the Fed, the near and far term prognosis of the labor market, the concept of workforce readiness, Gen Z attitudes towards employment, the trend towards “quick quits”, novel approaches to talent retention, the growth and evolution of people analytics roles in senior leadership, reactive vs. proactive mindsets, how public-private partnerships are attempting to address the skills gap, and the future of universities in a world where college degrees are becoming less valuable in the labor market 

William Sims

SVP Professional Services, Lightcast

LinkedIn

Topics include: the evolution of and current state of employer brand as an industry, reactive employer branding vs. strategic employer branding, why employer brand should “live” under HR instead of marketing, the concept of recruitment marketing as a subset of employer branding activities, transactional vs. communal relationships in marketing, post-hire employer brand touchpoints, the limits of consumer marketing when applied to employer branding, the differences between competition for talent and competition for products and services, how early career and hourly jobs can be more than transactional, the current state of the candidate experience, and why large organizations are sometimes the worst offenders in terms of offering poor candidate experiences

Susan LaMotte

CEO, exaqueo

LinkedIn

Topics include: employer brand as a strategy vs. tactic, employer brand ambassadors, how to identify and activate employer brand ambassadors, the importance of incorporating regular employee feedback into employer brand management, DEI beyond gender and ethnic identity, and the value and power of introverts to an organization.

Heather Tenuto

CEO, The Muse Group

LinkedIn

Topics include: economics, the basic definition of “work,” the value of viewing jobs as a bundle of work activities and people as bundles of skills, the trouble with understanding jobs as collections of skills, the difficulty of quantifying the output or profitability of individual employees, the forces shaping the future of work, the difference between workforce intelligence and talent intelligence, the variety of available external data sources, why social profiles are foundational to workforce analytics, choosing the right benchmarks vs. choosing the right metrics, and approaches to evaluating the quality of external data sources, and generative AI and the future of recruiting 

Ben Zweig

CEO, Revelio Labs

Adjunct Professor, NYU Stern School of Business

LinkedIN

Topics include: organizational culture, core values, how core values can serve as a “framework” for effective decision-making, using product-development frameworks to optimize recruiting operations, the value of iterative approaches in driving organizational alignment and buy-in, how to get “people” people to embrace data and analytics, the concept of recruiter enablement, and generative AI and the future of recruiting

Rachel Gulley

Director, Talent Acquisition Operations at FanDuel

LinkedIn

 Topics include: the advantages (and disadvantages) of having recruiters with deep subject-matter expertise, why hiring the wrong person can be particularly costly for startups, the inherent tension between the speed and quality of hires, how the lens of “NOT hiring” can lead to better outcomes for early stage startups, the emerging concept of “fractional” hires, the difference between “fractional” hires and freelancers and consultants, the pros and cons of fractional positions from the candidate’s perspective, and the impact of AI on biotech and the jobs of the future

Carina Clingman

Founder & CEO, Recruitomics Biotalent Consulting
LinkedIn
Building Biotechs Podcast
Startup Resource Guide

Topics include: how HR can be a “lonely” role in an organization, the similarities between HR and therapy, the importance of having “truth tellers,” the prevalence of open technical roles in non-technical companies, how non-technical companies can leverage their talent brands to compete with tech juggernauts like Amazon and Meta, the importance of career pathing to tech talent, how to foster efficiency within the recruiting process, the value of transparency to tech workers, how to leverage employee “personas” in talent attraction, the delta between employer messaging and employee perceptions, employee engagement scores, candidate nurturing, the interaction between remote work and “belonging”, and the role and value of employee resource groups (ERG’s).

Heather Dunn

Chief People Officer, Gem

LinkedIn

Chief Chat: Heather Dunn

My company pays ERG leaders $10K in equity per year. Here’s why

How startups and non-tech firms can better attract laid-off Big Tech talent

Topics include: building bridges between HR and marketing, the persistence of silos within an organization, aligning an EVP with an organization’s wider purpose, the concept of brand champions, how to identify and nurture brand champions, the intersection of brand understanding and brand passion, “wild cards” vs “spectators,” and the importance of maintaining promises to employees in times of change.

Gretchen Heustis

Group Director of Brand-led Change, Siegel+Gale

LinkedIn

Times May Be Changing, But the Promises You Make to Employees Never Should

 Topics include: the current status of the labor market, layoffs vs. new job creation, inflation, skills-based hiring and industry switching, pay equity, approaches to setting compensation for remote roles, employees as “free agents,” and how generational demographic shifts are impacting the labor market

Jay Denton

Chief Analytics Officer, LaborIQ

LinkedIn

Topics include: the growth of quick apply frameworks, the challenges of communicating an EVP in a quick apply context, how quick apply frameworks help and hinder recruiters, job seeker traffic and job board incentives, SMS and high volume recruiting, interview scheduling and the importance of speed-to-candidate, “human” touchpoints as an indicator of value, ChatGPT, how large language models will affect the future of recruiting

Adam Godson

President & Chief Product Officer, Paradox

LinkedIn

Twitter

Topics include: skills-based recruiting, workforce development, the role of compensation in job hopping, how upskilling can support employee retention efforts, the impact of technology and innovation on the durability of skills, how the current talent shortage is shifting productivity and growth expectations, immigration policy and the labor market, the effect of remote work on organizational culture, work-life balance and employee productivity, control vs. trust in performance management, the importance of diversity of thought in building high-performing teams, how authenticity during the hiring process leads to better outcomes, and the ROI of employee upskilling investments.

Becky Chung

Vice President, Talent Development 

Cielo Talent

LinkedIn

Topics include:

 Skills-based hiring, how automation can improve the hiring process, approaches to measuring the ROI of an employer brand, how strong employer brands create efficiencies in recruiting, the rising importance of retention in a tight labor market, and how organizations are utilizing AI to make layoff decisions

 Articles Referenced

AI Is Starting To Pick Who Gets Laid Off
Aptitude Research: 2023 HR Technology Trends and Predictions

Topics include: the “touchy feely” nature of DEI efforts historically, DEI as a catalyst for the HR data revolution, closing the gap between DEI awareness and small actions that improve outcomes, the backwards-looking nature of most dashboards, the value of “live” DEI data, the challenge of setting realistic DEI goals, corporate accountability and the public sharing of DEI metrics, the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in supporting DEI initiatives, how AI uncovers hidden DEI insights, the use of segmentation to deliver tailored benefits and services to underrepresented sub-groups, and the connection between segmentation and intersectionality.

Topics include: the distinction between user-owned networks and corporate-owned networks, the concept of a “rake” as it relates to talent networks, why middlemen tend to extract an increasing amount of value over time, the case of DoorDash and stolen driver tips, how blockchain tokens help keep rakes low (or negative), the role of governments in regulating the gig economy, the historical purpose of corporations and the coming “unbundling” of labor, how elastic workforces benefit employers and workers alike, the likelihood of finding job security in the gig economy, the question of who “owns” a freelancer’s work history, and how the Braintrust token serves as both an incentive mechanism and a governance system for the Braintrust network.

Topics include: how the labor shortage is intensifying the war for tech talent, what matters to tech talent beyond salary, the importance of closing the feedback loop when conducting employee surveys, the tradeoffs associated with different organizational structures and the employer brand function, strategies for bridge building between employer branding and consumer branding teams, the importance of creating action plans prior to launching employee engagement surveys, how connecting an employer’s EVP to the company’s broader mission creates a stronger brand, how to measure ROI of employer brand initiatives, the value of discovering what doesn’t work, talent acquisition as a cost center vs. revenue creator, and how organizations are navigating the post-COVID return to office.

Topics include: the fourth industrial revolution, how AI makes the current revolution more “sophisticated” than previous industrial revolutions, the plummeting cost of data analysis and processing, how automation stands to eliminate (and create) jobs, the likelihood of universal basic income becoming a reality in our lifetime, the concept of employees as “customers” of HR, time versus money as “currencies” in talent attraction, the question of where employer brand sits (and should sit) within an organization, how the labor shortage has elevated the stature of talent acquisition and employer brand, NPS as a measure of employee “stickiness”, how employee referral bonuses can cloud the meaning of NPS scores, and how employee referral programs can impede diversity and inclusion efforts.

This week we welcome Jeffrey Spector to the podcast. Jeffrey spent more than six years at The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he served as Chief of Staff to Melinda Gates, before co-founding Karat, a service that helps CTO’s and CHRO’s make technical interviewing a customer-centric experience. 

Topics include: the surging demand for software engineers, the parallels between training effective teachers and training effective interviewers, why interviewing can be a lonely craft, the notion of a professional interviewer, soft vs. hard skills often found in professional interviewers, the importance of offering “redo” interviews, the concept of a “false negative” as applied to candidate interviews, how candidate interviews can be leveraged post-hire, the meaning of the “access gap,” why many well-intentioned DE&I efforts are ineffective, how democratizing information about interview processes supports diversity efforts, and alternate education paths for technical roles.

Topics include: the connection between the current labor shortage and skills mismatches, how the pandemic has changed employee expectations, the shortening half-life of skills, the declining value of college degrees in the labor market, alternative approaches to post-secondary education, skills-based hiring and the limitations of current application tracking systems, the issue of newly upskilled workers leaving an organization for other opportunities, how to weigh the cost of a significant pay increase vs. replacing a lost employee, why entry-level employees are less likely to be offered upskilling opportunities, how company ‘eco-systems’ can lead to mutually beneficial talent pools, and the distinction between attrition and regrettable loss.

Topics include: how the pandemic has accelerated adoption of live virtual events, the challenge of standing out in a world characterized by “screen fatigue,” social mobility and the democratization of information, the use of talent personas to create personalized experiences, how positive candidate experiences lead to employer brand advocacy, key considerations when evaluating virtual event platforms, how to measure ROI of virtual event platform investments, the future of chatbots in recruiting, chatbot use cases and limitations, the importance of “humanizing” chatbot interactions, and how to create “social style” candidate experiences.

Topics include: the maturation of employer branding as a business function, the stubborn misconception that employer brands are “created,” good and bad aspirational branding, internal collaboration (and conflict) between employer branding and consumer branding teams, how strong employer brands generate revenue and value for consumer brands, the difference between retention and regrettable loss, how supporting employees who leave for better opportunities leads to higher performing cultures, the intersection of politics and the employer branding, the impact of virtual work on employer branding, and how remote work serves as a “litmus test” for strong employer brands.

Topics include: the advent and evolution of the ATS as a SaaS product, the commoditization of HR technologies, the record high numbers of job openings in the US, the impact of government incentives on hiring, how lack of quality childcare and eldercare has forced women out of the workforce, the persistent bias against the resume “gap”, Baby Boomers and “forced” early retirements, the challenges of skills mismatches between recent college graduates and available jobs, the difference between American and European approaches to addressing unemployment, the long-term implications of birthrate falling below replacement levels, the outlook for immigrant workers entering the job market, and the effects of remote work on talent pools and wages.

Topics include: the value of applying first principles thinking to talent acquisition, why traditional recruiting fee structures are illogical, the “epidemic” of treating recruiting as a cost center, the disconnect between the importance of HR and its lack of attention from the C-suite, why many recruiters lack the skills required to effectively vet job candidates, what professional sports and the military can teach us about recruiting, how to use scorecards to make data-driven hiring decisions, the importance of investing in employees with robust onboarding and training programs, and the post-COVID outlook for talent acquisition.

Topics include: the various meanings and incarnations of “brand,” the concept of brand as a relationship between a company and an audience (i.e., customers, candidates), the distinction between “functional” (rational) and higher order (emotional) benefits of a product or service, the connection between strong brands and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, how strong brands serve as “north stars” to guide business decisions, the recent emergence of “employer brand” as a concept and its connection to an organization’s consumer brand, the value of having a singular unified brand for both employees and customers, the challenge of rehabilitating a brand with a poor reputation, the four P’s of positioning, and the importance of building strong connections between talent acquisition and marketing.

Topics include: the origin and growth of Recruiting Brainfood, the historical nature of resumes, alternative approaches to visualizing the interests and goals of tech talent, the inherent subjectivity of words and the implications for recruiting, the switching cost associated with moving away from the resume, employee experience and career pathing, the shift to remote work and the digitization of workforce behavior, opportunities to automate the ~170 unique tasks of a recruiter, and the use of AI for sourcing, scheduling and sentiment analysis. 

Topics include: the recent history of employer branding, the connections between consumer marketing and talent acquisition, the challenge of translating talent acquisition concepts and nomenclature to marketing “speak” (and vice versa), the growing importance of data in employer branding functions, approaches to measuring ROI of employer brand investments, the tradeoffs of outsourcing talent acquisition efforts, the hidden costs of making bad hires and leaving positions unfilled, the future of job boards, and the value of a strong consumer brand for talent attraction.

Topics include: the advantages and limitations of using résumés in hiring for technical roles, the issues with relying on educational or career ‘pedigrees’ as proxies for technical skill, the biases introduced when screening based on measures like GPA, why software development has been one of the last fields to “digitize” its screening processes, the role of emotions in making hiring decisions, the hidden costs of communication when hiring a remote workforce, the meaning of culture and the implications for remote workforces, the necessary ingredients for creating a thriving tech eco-system, how a city’s “vibe” dictates which industries will thrive there, the attrition problem facing engineering departments, and the ways in which technology can enable career development within an organization. 

Topics include: the efforts of local governments to attract employers and employees, the concept of employer branding as applied to cities, Miami’s divergent approaches to tax and public safety policy, the role of a mayor as a city’s chief brand ambassador, Miami’s pitch for Amazon’s HQ2, the issue of gentrification, Miami’s ongoing campaign to re-brand itself as a new tech hub, and how the city is cultivating tech talent of the future with its “Miami for Everyone” initiative.  

Topics include: hiring for potential vs. hiring for past skills and experiences, the connection between hiring for potential and diversity, the limitations of resumes and their modern-day equivalents, the growing problem of attrition, the mismatched incentives between advertisers (employers) and job boards, the importance of viewing talent acquisition and talent management holistically, the concept of a “half-life” as applied to skills, the hyper-specialization of jobs, “good” attrition vs. “bad” attrition, augmented intelligence vs. artificial intelligence, the importance of transparency when deploying AI-powered solutions, the rise of remote work and its effects on pay parity and talent pools, and and employer branding for cities. 

Topics include: the meaning of culture in an HR context, understanding culture as the “why” behind a business, the difference between company culture and employer brand, the “checkbox” mentality behind many HR initiatives, the effects of remote work on company culture, approaches to setting realistic goals for diversity and inclusion, the importance of building new pipelines for under-represented STEM talent, and how to measure progress on DE&I initiatives.

Topics include: the importance of personal accountability in fostering positive workplaces, the practical meaning of empathy, why HR initiatives often fail to live up to their promises, the pitfalls of asking for employee feedback without a process in place to implement change, how to retain control of your time as a job candidate and employee, the need for “un-sanitized” feedback on employers, how the independent workforce is shifting the employer-employee power dynamic, universal basic income as a tool for employee (and entrepreneur) empowerment, HR as the intersection of work, power, politics and money, surveillance capitalism, and the future of remote work.

Topics include: Change State’s growth during a pandemic year, the value of founder-created content for organic business growth, the challenges of starting a content engine from scratch, our approach to hiring our first employee(s), soft vs. hard skills in making hiring decisions, the difficulty of writing high quality job descriptions, the meaning of company culture in start-ups with minimal headcount, the pros and cons of the gig economy, the bane of Powerpoint presentations, the economic ripple of effects of remote workforces, and employer branding for cities.

Topics include: the future of business travel, Graham’s beard, why many organizations lack insight into their top sources of applications and hires, the problem of overworked and underpaid recruiters, the use of video conferencing background images as a basis for evaluating job candidates, reactive vs. proactive recruiting, the mistake of equating talent acquisition with human resources, approaches to incentivizing quality hires, the lack of quality data in talent acquisition, and employee engagement survey fatigue. 

Topics include: the importance of bringing timing to sourcing, public vs. private “signaling” as it relates to recruiting, why high demand talent is often less likely to maintain up-to-date public profiles, how activity on platforms like GitHub can reveal an impending career switch, the natural connection between predictive sourcing and candidate nurturing, the importance of relationship building, the issue of job-hopping, and the rise of remote work and its implications for tech recruiting.

Topics include: why effective leaders must be effective recruiters, Phenom’s audacious goal of helping one billion people find the right job, the importance of viewing talent acquisition and talent experience management from a global perspective, the value of seeing the big picture when thinking about workforce diversity, why focusing on D&I with hiring managers (the “interview” stage) can be more effective than focusing on frontline recruiters, approaches to setting realistic D&I goals and measuring progress by industry or role grouping, how to use AI to identify opportunities for improving D&I across all stages of the funnel, the concern about amplifying an organization’s existing biases with “black box” AI systems, and the future of remote work in a post-pandemic economy.  

Topics include: the impact of COVID on employer brands, the ways in which our predictions in March proved (in)accurate, whether an organization’s pandemic response is a basis for a differentiated employer brand, the rise of remote work and its effects on company culture, the evolving meaning of “work-life balance,” the importance of creating processes and frameworks to reinforce an organization’s commitment to its employer brand pillars, how employee referral programs can be misleading indicators of employer brand health, the importance of combining NPS with other employee satisfaction metrics, the ways in which virtual meetings have deepened employee-employee connections, the evolution of employee wellness initiatives during COVID times, and our early impressions of Glassdoor’s new “Review Intelligence” offering.

Topics include: the superiority of Wawa pizza subs, the FinTech recruitment landscape during the 2020 pandemic, the synergies between mass market consumer brands and their talent brands, the differences between “awareness” marketing and job-specific marketing, how (and why) recruitment marketing lags consumer marketing in its approaches to truly understanding its target “customers”, how job boards have failed to adapt to the explosion of remote work opportunities, why posting remote jobs nationwide may be counterproductive from a cost/efficiency point-of-view, the different challenges posed by too-many and too-few applications for a given requisition, how to effectively deploy gamification to automate assessments at scale, the double-edged sword of employee referral programs, how employee referral incentives can undermine the value of NPS as a employer brand health metric, and the future of industry conferences and trade shows.

Topics include: the history and purview of “data science,” how the explosion of available data in recent years has increased the demand for data scientists, the challenges and opportunities presented by this new wellspring of “big data,” the importance of keeping analysis rooted in specific business problems and use cases, the different forms of bias that exist within the recruiting function, how seemingly minor differences in job descriptions and skill requirements can have significant effects on the types of talent an organization attracts, how AI can help organizations identify biases within recruitment processes (and what to do about them), approaches to addressing D&I by expanding talent pools, and logical starting points for organizations newly focused on identifying and correcting biases in their systems and tools.

Topics include: the meaning of “accessible for all” with regard to HR tools and tech, the prevalence of male-gendered words in job descriptions, why years of experience often isn’t predictive of an employee’s success, how technology can reduce our reliance on resumes as screening shortcuts, how an organization’s chosen mode of interviewing candidates (e.g., video, phone, chat) can introduce biases against candidates with certain personality types or communication styles, the importance of using candidate feedback to improve hiring team outreach and communication, and differing approaches to measuring employee impact or “employee lifetime value.”    

Topics include: the similarities and differences between talent acquisition functions in US, the Middle East, and Africa, how and why hiring timelines can vary widely by market, the importance of creating a robust workforce plan for multi-national organizations, proactive vs. reacting recruiting, the necessary inputs to create a viable workforce plan, getting beyond the “cost center” mindset in talent acquisition, internal mobility as an crucial component of an effective TA strategy, the meaning of “company culture,” the difference between highlighting individual employees’ personal brands and an organization’s employer brand, and the relationship between company culture and employer brand.

Topics include: the problems with using questionnaire-based assessments in recruiting, why game-based assessments are more accurate for testing cognitive skills and assessing personality traits, the difference between conscious and unconscious “bias” in candidate self-perceptions, how our frame of reference influences our perceptions of ourselves, how pre-screening technology can reduce bias in assessing job candidates, the parallels between assessing “chemistry” in romantic relationships vs. business relationships, the meaning and implications of application order bias, how pre-selection technologies can help reduce application order bias, the difference between true AI and “explainable” AI, the concerns about relying on AI to make “black box” recruiting decisions, and how using employee performance data to predict future-

Topics include: biases in screening and assessments, the ways in which AI can amplify (or minimize) the biases of the human recruiters who use them, the problem of training assessment tools on employee datasets that have inherent biases, how rising employment has increased the importance of effective screening at scale, the value of “pre-screening,” how the sorting problem is different for volume vs. professional roles, the connection between the shifting educational landscape and the declining value of resumes, the difference between using assessments for hard skills vs. culture and personality “fit”, how reducing reliance on resumes and traditional educational milestones can support diversity and inclusion initiatives, and how the preference for candidates with a good stage presence introduces a bias against otherwise qualified introverts.

Topics include: the fundamental issues facing American higher ed, the stigma attached to online education, how traditional degrees may (or may not) retain their value in the job marketplace, the inherent recruiter bias against non-degree candidates, the current state and limitations of diversity job boards, the gaps left by creating job boards as destinations, the meaning of “candidate-centric” when it comes to diversity hiring, how to bridge the gap between equal opportunity employers and community organizations, the connection between “inclusion” and employee upskilling, and how providing career paths that lead outside your organization can help create a compelling EVP.

Topics include: the myriad dimensions of candidate experience, how optimized career sites boost candidate conversion rates, the disconnect between organizational D&I goals and the employee experience portrayed on career sites, the issues raised by having marketing or IT “own” your corporate career site, why career sites are “multipliers” for candidate flow, the distinction between having analytic skills and an analytic mindset, why résumés make poor predictors of employee success, alternative approaches to cognitive and personality assessments, and strategies for removing unwanted bias from candidate screening and assessments. 

Topics include: the value of viewing consumer and talent brands holistically, the limitations of content-first approaches to talent branding, the distinction between “employer” brand and “talent” brand, how strong talent brands build equity for their consumer counterparts, the importance of getting beyond internal “hunches” when defining an talent brand, why employee surveys are foundational to structured talent brand initiatives, how good surveys support employee engagement, the key characteristics of a strong talent brand, why HR (and talent brand) has historically been viewed as a cost center, how to measure ROI of talent brand with “business” metrics, the connection between recruiter performance metrics and talent brand health, and the connection between diversity and inclusion efforts and talent branding.

Connect with Jody Ordioni

LinkedIn
Website: Brandemix
Book: The Talent Brand
Achieve Engagement

Topics include: why HR lags behind other departments in analytic prowess, the limitations of focusing recruiting efforts on the top of the funnel (“we need more candidates”), approaches to up-skilling recruiters and hiring managers, how data analysis can reveal surprising opportunities in candidate sourcing and selection, the ways in which good data “tells its own story,” the good/fast/cheap triangle of project management, differing approaches to measuring candidate quality, how implementing consistent metrics across recruiters can lead to better insights, how to think about the apparent tension between analytics and the “human” side of talent acquisition, the role of intuition in making hire decisions, the value of conducting regular interviewer process audits, how flashy new pre-hire technology can distract from talent acquisition goals, why analytic dashboards have risen in prominence, and how dashboards focus our attention in good ways and bad.

Topics include: what we know about the new Glassdoor/Indeed partnership, the migration of Glassdoor sponsored jobs to Indeed, what is likely to happen to existing Glassdoor sponsored jobs packages, the implications of the partnership for job aggregators and the candidate experience, the future of Glassdoor (and Indeed) ratings, likely scenarios for the merging of reviews from both sites, the potential impact on staffing companies and RPO’s, unanswered questions about quick/easy apply and ATS integration, LinkedIn’s lack of minority representation in its leadership teams, how labor market statistics can provide a benchmark against which to measure D&I efforts, the connection between under-represented employee groups and educational attainment, the value of publicly sharing an organization’s D&I statistics, the difficulty of connecting minorities with forward-thinking employers, and how employer can meet under-represented “where they live.” 

Links

Press release: Glassdoor and Indeed Partner to Help Employers Hire More Efficiently

Article: 2019 LinkedIn Workforce Diversity Report

Links

Blog post: Diversity and Inclusion Is Not an Employer Brand Strategy
Book: Give & Get Employer Branding: Repel the Many and Compel the Few with Impact, Purpose and Belonging

Topics include: why Fortune 500 organizations struggle to deploy sophisticated HR analytics programs, the importance of using business outcomes to guide your HR analytics strategy, why dashboards have exploded in popularity in recent years, the ways in which chatbots are under leveraged within talent acquisition teams, why HR often lags behind other departments in its analytic education and prowess, how AI/machine learning has caused many organizations to overlook time-tested analytic models and approaches, recommended starting points for organizations interested in “resetting” their people analytics strategies, and how to select a framework to bridge the gap between analytic strategy and tactical execution.

Brad's LinkedIn
Brad’s Course: People Analytics - University of Toronto
Book Mentioned: The New HR Analytics: Predicting the Economic Value of Your Company's Human Capital Investments

Topics include: the special considerations when developing an EVP for high volume recruiting, how Maslow’s hierarchy of needs should inform your employer brand strategy, using surveys to create “personas” of satisfied employees to enhance recruitment marketing messaging and targeting, the distinction between developing personas based on attitudes (e.g., NPS) and behaviors (e.g., tenure), the effects of record unemployment and the stimulus on high volume recruiting, which recruiter tasks are best “outsourced” to technology, how to use AI to elevate the role of the recruiter, and the questions talent acquisition leaders should be asking of HR tech providers. 

Topics include: the challenges of attracting black candidates given the historical frayed trust between the police and communities of color, the issues that arise from assigning rookie officers to patrol disadvantaged neighborhoods, the problem of police officers living outside the communities they patrol, the difference between “compliance” and good faith D&I efforts, the true meaning of “inclusivity,” and what it means to create a culture that not only attracts diverse talent, but allows it to thrive.

Then we unpack Marty's own blog post, 'Candidate Experience and the Hidden Costs of Cheap Job Seeker Traffic,’ to highlight how the search for the cheapest 'job seeker click' can produce a scavenger hunt for job seekers, creating hidden costs in terms of candidate experience and employer brand.