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Why Recruiters and HR Managers Should Pay Attention to Employment Contracts: Part Two

Dispute Resolution Clause: Drop the Boilerplates

One of the biggest misnomers in a creating dispute resolution clause for an employment contract is that the language needs to be a “one-size-fits-all” boilerplate so it can be transferred from contract to contract regardless of type or need.

On the contrary, dispute resolution clauses can be completely customized based on the type of contract, the strategy of the organization and the needs of the employee, consumer or vendor.

Customization of any contract, or any provision of a contract, requires additional time and bandwidth. Fortunately, there are logical places for talent acquisition and HR professionals to start when reviewing the dispute resolution clause.

Include a “Choice of Law” Clause

The choice of law dictates which state or federal law will be applied by the decision-maker. In many instances, the choice of law may not make a difference in the ultimate outcome of the case, but that is not uniformly true. Accordingly, when drafting a contract, your company or client should consider what impact the laws of a particular state, or the applicable federal law, may have on a dispute arising out of the agreement.

For example, many organizations are incorporated in Delaware because the state has laws that are perceived as favorable to corporations, which makes it very easy to research Delaware law on corporate disputes and determine what the result of a particular dispute might be. Because of this, many organizations choose Delaware law in their corporate and commercial agreements so they have this level of certainty.

Court Versus ADR?

Does your company or client want to use the courts or an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) provider as the forum for any litigation? In some states, court dockets may be light, or the company may have a particularly strong relationship with the municipality that makes the court option an advantageous forum for litigation.

Those issues must be balanced, however, against such considerations as class action litigation. Plus, court litigation records are public. Some companies may never want to have the status and results of litigation made available to the public. Other organizations, however, may have no issue with the specter of class actions and may even want their litigation in the public sphere because of its deterrent value.

Still, others may be extraordinarily concerned about class action liability. As talent acquisition and HR professionals, you have the opportunity to bring attention to these critical issues and their importance when choosing between court and an ADR provider.

Do You Have To Pick Just One?

Companies can actually categorize different types of disputes and allocate them to different forums. In other words, you don’t have to choose court or an ADR provider for all types of litigation. You can draft the clause to allocate litigation to different forums based on the best fit.

For example, you may want all product liability disputes to be arbitrated, but any allegations of fraud or misrepresentation to be litigated in court. In the employment context, maybe you feel harassment charges are better litigated in arbitration, but wrongful termination cases are a better fit for the courts.

Of course, these decisions are all predicated on internal strategy, so there is no right or wrong answer. Taking the time and effort to customize the clause based on the situation may make the most sense in the long run.

Class Action Waiver or Not?

There’s no simple answer. Class actions can result in exponential liability to your employer or client, and they’re also a bear to defend. Mass arbitrations can also result in outsized monetary exposure.

It’s extremely important to encourage and help your company’s or client’s teams to think carefully about how to deal with litigation that involves more than one plaintiff. Consult with your attorney around your company’s strategy and goals.

Finally, be thoughtful and always consider the equity and fairness of your counterparty. Quick and efficient resolutions are always better for everyone involved.

Do You Need a Backup Forum?

There are scenarios where the dockets of a court or even an ADR provider may be so clogged that you can’t get the litigation to actually move through the process. This is of particular concern in light of the COVID pandemic, which has significantly backlogged courts. Of course, there could also be other concerns about a particular forum.

It is absolutely acceptable and sensible to designate a backup forum in case there are issues in your primary forum that limit the possibility of quick and efficient litigation.

What About Appellate Rights?

In court, there are always appellate rights or ways to argue against the decision. One of the knocks on ADR forums is that there often are no options for appeals. By customizing your dispute resolution provision, you can allow for an appeal process, providing greater comfort to any party who may demand a potential second bite at the apple.

In Conclusion

There may be other issues or considerations not described in this article that need to be addressed in a dispute resolution provision. They may be unique to your company or client, or they may be more generalized issues that are not accounted for in boilerplate provisions.

In short, this is your dispute resolution provision, and as talent acquisition and HR professionals, you have a unique opportunity to work hand-in-hand with your legal counsel to make sure these clauses are carefully examined, considered and drafted in a manner that accounts for your particular business issues and concerns.

You, of course, want to help ensure these important clauses provide the best results for your client or company and its constituents. Don’t take old boilerplate provisions and assume they will work well for all of your contracts.

An ounce of prevention and customization may make you a hero.

Search Bios, Find Publishers and More With This humanpredictions Update

The humanpredictions tool is a fantastic sourcing solution built for finding the world’s best tech talent. Thanks to its datasets that enable highly personalized messaging and predictions on candidate movement, you can easily build and manage your prospect list.

To learn more about this tool, check out this post.

Coming back to the topic of today’s post, the new update has introduced several small features. The most impressive among them are the following three:

Bio Search: Enter a query or keyword that you want in your prospect’s bio and the tool will generate a list containing all users who have it in their bio.
Publisher Finding: If you’re looking for people who are publishing content related to something you’re interested in, you can now find them with a simple search. Just enter a topic, skill, or anything else you’re interested in and the tool will generate a list of publishers you can contact.
Search Tips: Search tips are humanpredictions’ own version of boolean commands that help you filter your search results. To help you understand how they work, let’s take a look at an example. “_exists_:(linkedin_username)” is a search tip that you can copy and paste into your search to remove all LinkedIn users from your results.

With these fresh additions, humanpredictions is undoubtedly one of the most complete sourcing solutions out there. So if it isn’t already a part of your toolkit, do yourself a favor and get it right now!

Nurturing Your Employees Mental Health Leads to Increased Engagement

Lay the Foundation

When you work in human resources (HR), you wear a lot of hats. You’re both entrepreneur and coach, teacher and cheerleader, psychologist and fortune-teller. You have to select the right employees, and you have to formulate strategies that will promote not only their success but the success of the organization as a whole.

Now, more than ever, that includes cultivating a workplace environment that prioritizes employees’ mental health. However, that’s not always an easy proposition, especially if company leaders don’t necessarily recognize the link between workers’ mental wellbeing and the business’s bottom line.

But the fact remains that supporting employees’ mental health makes good business sense because when employees are happier and healthier, they’re also more motivated, more productive and more engaged.

Why Engagement Matters

If you’re running a business or leading a team, you might not be too concerned about the issue of employee engagement, as long as the team or the company is meeting its metrics. Unfortunately, that’s a thought trap that’s easy to fall into, especially for senior leadership, who may spend most of their workday pouring over financial data instead of interacting with junior staff “on the ground.”

But HR pros know that engagement is far more than a “fluff” issue, a tertiary concern compared with the real meat of keeping a business afloat and thriving.

The reality, though, is that engagement impacts almost every aspect of organizational performance, from increasing profitability to reducing turnover. More engaged employees are not only more motivated and higher performing, but they also have been shown to boost the motivation, loyalty, and performance of those around them.

Employee Engagement and Wellness

Given the traits of the highly engaged employee that we’ve already identified above, it’s perhaps not surprising to note that engagement and employee wellness are strongly linked. This is particularly true when it comes to employees’ mental health.

And yet, studies show that mental health issues are one of the most significant challenges businesses face today. In fact, according to a recent McKinsey study, 96 percent of companies reported that they had begun to offer additional mental health resources in the wake of the turmoil engendered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these efforts, though, only one in six employees stated that they felt benefitted by those initiatives.

Making It Work

Even if studies such as that by McKinsey paint a somewhat bleak picture of the state of employee engagement and mental wellbeing today, there is hope. It begins with understanding employees’ needs today and meeting them where they are now.

For many employees, this means full- or part-time remote work. And while the virtual workplace may be a necessity for large segments of the workforce today, that does not mean that it’s always easy. In fact, remote work can take a significant toll on employees’ mental health and that, in turn, can have a highly detrimental impact on engagement as well.

Remote work, by its very nature, can be severely isolating, which can instigate or exacerbate employees’ sense of loneliness, depression and anxiety.

That’s why nurturing employees’ mental health means taking special care of your company’s remote workers. Just because your team may be working remotely some or all of the time, for instance, doesn’t mean you have to give up the social aspects of the workplace. It’s imperative, for instance, to build in routine one-on-one interactions into the remote workday, as well as regular team meetings through video conference.

Stay Connected

Similarly, a great instant messaging tool that includes forums not just for work-related conversation but also for private and team chats can help your employees feel less disconnected and far more supported.

Better still, your virtual workplace can be an incredible platform for celebrating holidays, rewarding employee performance, and in general fostering that sense of belonging that remote workers need. In an environment in which loneliness, depression, isolation and anxiety are a significant risk, cultivating such continuous connection with and among your team members can be the protective firewall your employees need.

You can support your employees’ mental wellbeing and engagement by seizing every opportunity to allow your team to celebrate special occasions “together,” from virtual holiday parties to online company game nights, to monthly employee appreciation events, complete with awards, both large and small.

Recruiting for Wellness

Supporting employee wellbeing and driving engagement isn’t just about managing established employees effectively, it’s also about building wellness into your recruiting practices. For example, you can harness the power of social media to begin cultivating harmonious and healthful relationships with promising candidates and new hires alike. In the process, you can both promote your company’s wellness benefits, from discounted gym memberships to access to mental health services.

And the more you build employee quality of life and well-being into your company brand, the more likely you are to attract premium candidates. After all, talent will go where they feel most cared for, not simply as a productive employee, but as a valued and valuable human being.

The Takeaway

Nurturing your employees’ mental health isn’t just the compassionate thing to do, it’s also the smart thing to do. Employees who are healthy and happy in both mind and body are also more engaged, resulting in greater productivity, higher performance and less turnover.

Supporting your employees’ mental health isn’t a one-and-done process, however. It begins at the recruiting phase and continues through the employee’s entire tenure, extending into the physical and virtual office space alike.

Desperate for Talent? Why You Shouldn’t Jump to Hire

With an unemployment rate of only 5.2%, rushing to fill positions with less qualified talent can be tempting. Despite the jump-to-hire pressure recruiters face, it’s more about the long game, not the short one. Particularly today, companies must hire for fit and not just hire to fill. Below, we’ll take a look at the negative impacts of ignoring this golden rule, and also what you need to do to stay focused on hiring for fit above all else.

The Damage of Hiring to Fill vs. Hiring for Fit

Hiring to check a box or quickly fill a seat can have devastating effects on a company’s bottom line and organizational culture.

Labor Costs

For contracted workers, we see costs reach over $5,000 to replace a bad hire and train a new one. Salaried positions run an average of $20,000 to $25,000 to rehire. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates the cost of a bad hire is at least 30% of the individual’s yearly salary.

Productivity

Bad fits wreak havoc on team productivity. Each bad hire adversely impacts your ability to deliver, whether it’s to take orders, get product out the door or provide the level of service your customers or internal stakeholders are looking for. This ultimately impacts your end-user, who often only needs one negative experience with your brand to turn away. We say for every bad experience, you need to provide 10 good ones to make up for it – and that’s if you even get the opportunity to do so.

Workplace

Bad hires can put extra strain on any team member, even the rockstars. In fact, when a new hire doesn’t work out, it takes a toll on the entire team. They’ll often need extra support to fill the void while the position is being refilled, and they don’t always get it. This strain and frustration can lead to added workplace friction, resentment of management and eventually additional attrition. When workers see too many people come and go, the revolving door chips away at your culture quickly.

Brand

Your employer brand may take a hit when a hire doesn’t work out, especially if attrition rates increase. When people have negative experiences, they talk about them on review sites and social media. Employers can quickly become known as a company to avoid.

Start the Qualifying Process Before the First Interview

To secure top talent, we need to recognize a good fit and move on it quickly. Even before the first interview, there are several proactive steps recruiters can take to get ahead in the candidate qualification process.

First, make sure your company maintains its social media presence and keeps an active talent pipeline. Take the time to establish relationships and familiarize yourself with potential candidates in the pipeline early on, before the need to hire even arises.

Invest time in a passive candidate search. We know quality talent is scarce, so targeting candidates who may not be actively looking increases the number of qualified candidates you have and also diversifies your funnel for future opportunities.

Communicate early and often with your hiring managers, and make sure you have clarity around their changing needs and expectations. Coach them on how critical the right fit is, making them aware of the cost of a bad hire: the interruption to their business, the strain on their team members, the company culture and the bottom line.

Hiring for Fit

Whether a temporary or full-time role, cultural alignment needs to be a priority when hiring for fit, so focus on candidates who align with your culture. Determine cultural fit as early as possible. Before the interview, send candidates your website, social media and other materials that best capture your culture and values, so they have a deeper understanding of your workplace before that first meeting. During that first interview or pre-screen, ask what part of the company’s values resonate with them. If they can’t answer, it’s unlikely there will be a fit.

Provide a view of a typical day and typical week will look like. Add a manager or a peer (or several) to the interview panel so the candidate can ask specific questions, which may be best answered by someone in the same department or team, and help them gain different perspectives about the role and the organization. Seeing how they behave and the decisions they would make while speaking with a variety of team members will offer more insights into cultural alignment.

Keeping the Cultural Fit: Inclusion and Belonging

Once you make the hire, your company needs to ensure a continuous, long-term cultural match. Inclusion and belonging policies help create employee engagement and instill a sense of belonging.

Listening is the first step in creating this culture of inclusion. For example, maintaining an open-door policy (even virtually) encourages an atmosphere of open communication and dialogue. Make sure C-level leadership is available to all staff and associates. Consider establishing an ethics hotline for those who have concerns and wish to escalate them directly or anonymously.

Encourage your company to hold quarterly town hall meetings where leadership can address issues and share information, and all employees can raise questions or concerns. Following each town hall, take action based on what you hear, then take those solutions back to the employees. Listening is the first step, processing the second and taking action the third.

Incorporate methods to gather feedback in additional ways. New hire surveys within the first 30-60 days and then after 90 days are great ways to keep a pulse on your workforce at different stages of their integration into the company. Again, once you review the feedback, take action to address it, whether that means fine-tuning a policy or overhauling a procedure. This will ensure your team feels heard and supported.

Setting Yourself Up for Success

When you’re under pressure to fill a position, it’s tempting to do so as quickly as possible, but we must remain vigilant as the impact to your bottom line, and culture, can be substantial. A bad hire can increase turnover, decrease productivity and lower morale. Hiring for fit means better communication, relationship building with candidates and educating hiring managers.

Ensuring cultural alignment means listening, assessing and fostering inclusion and belonging once that talent is onboarded. Being a rockstar recruiter means having the patience and discipline to find and keep that rockstar talent, ensuring a great experience throughout.

Why Recruiters and HR Managers Should Pay Attention to Employment Contracts: Part One

Dispute Resolution Clause: Missing in Action

When the head of talent acquisition at a well-known e-commerce company hired a mid-level software engineer four years ago, she mechanically sent the employment agreement through Docusign. Little did she know that one singular provision in that employment contract would lead to years of litigation and millions of dollars in legal fees.

In almost every contract of any kind there is a provision, most commonly known as a “dispute resolution clause,” which dictates what happens if there is a dispute. In the first of this two-part series, we are going to explore what a dispute resolution clause is and why talent acquisition and HR teams should pay attention to them.

Quite simply, the dispute resolution provision can be the most catastrophic clause in a contract. Yet little attention is paid to it, and typically it is lightly negotiated if it is negotiated at all. Most of these clauses have become completely boilerplate, simply recycling language used in the past. This is a disturbing proposition for any organization.

Why Are These So Potentially Dangerous?

Imagine if your employer — or your client, for whom you are recruiting — ended up in a dispute with 100 employees for a claim of an unsafe work environment. Hypothetically, if the chosen forum in this clause is a traditional arbitration forum, the costs to simply start the litigation ($5,000 – $8,000 in filing fees per case) could cause severe financial harm to the company.

If these provisions are so dangerous, how did they become standard language in employee contracts? In an innocent way, actually. When first introduced into contracts, dispute resolution clauses were meant to ensure a perceived home-court advantage for the employer when there was a dispute.

For example, if you were an Illinois company with an employee dispute, you would typically insert the “state or federal courts of Illinois” as the chosen forum for any litigation. The theory was that courts in your own state would value the tax revenue and jobs created by the company, thereby giving it an advantage in the litigation.

Over time, however, companies became less concerned with the home-court advantage and more concerned about the cost of defending increasingly common class action litigations. So, many companies began using arbitration provisions with class action waivers instead of court.

Using Arbitration to Avoid Class Actions

Arbitration is an alternative to traditional court litigation, where instead of a judge there is an arbitrator, and instead of a courtroom there is a conference room. While you can’t waive the right to a class action in court, an arbitration provision allows the parties to agree that litigation can only be pursued on an individualized basis and not on behalf of a class of plaintiffs. This became a strategy for companies to avoid class actions, and it worked … for a while.

The landscape surrounding these provisions is drastically changing. For example, there is a new type of litigation called mass arbitration. In a typical class action, one plaintiff sues a company in one lawsuit on behalf of hundreds or thousands of unidentified plaintiffs. In a mass arbitration, the plaintiffs are pre-identified and then file bulk individual lawsuits against the company, resulting in astronomical fees.

As a result, the value of having a standard arbitration clause with a boilerplate class action waiver is now not only negligible but potentially dangerous.

Tips for Talent Acquisition and HR Teams

Given the impact that these provisions can have on any organization, it is imperative that talent acquisition, HR and legal teams start thinking more critically about new hire agreements that include dispute resolution clauses.

Here are some areas to think about.

Is Federal or State Court Included?

Is potential class action litigation an acceptable risk? Remember, the right to a class action can NOT be negotiated in court. If your company or client does not want to risk class action litigation, you cannot maintain state or federal court as the dispute resolution forum of choice in your agreements.

Why Was the Arbitration Forum Chosen?

A common response is: “I have no idea. We’ve always just used the same provision.” This is not an acceptable answer. Just as courts are not created equal, alternative dispute resolution forums are even more disparate. The fees alone may make litigation costs prohibitive, creating leverage for a settlement.

Can the Arbitration Forum Handle the Litigation and Do It Remotely?

Many arbitration forums have limited technological capabilities, dictating that everything must be done in person and significantly increasing costs. You simply need to understand who your forum is, what they stand for, how they run an arbitration process and how much it will cost.

Can I Customize This Provision?

Yes. The dispute resolution language should be customized to meet the needs of your company or client. Your company’s HR professionals, talent acquisition representatives and legal teams need to think carefully and critically about the goals of any arbitration process while also ensuring that the other side also has a fair and equitable avenue to air their grievances.

Litigation Happens

It’s a reality of business, particularly in talent acquisition and HR. However, with some careful consideration and planning around a simple, seemingly insignificant clause in your employment agreements can and will be the difference between your organization spending an inordinate amount of time, money and headache dealing with litigation or a cost-effective, efficient process that allows you to focus on your job in talent acquisition and management.

In part two of this article, we will include tips and suggestions about what should be included or considered in drafting these dispute resolution clauses.

How Nurse Staffing Agencies Can Create Flexible Job Opportunities for Entry-Level Nurses

Nurse staffing agencies can create flexible job opportunities to help entry-level nurses build out their resumes and gain experience. Partnering with hospitals is only one aspect of running a successful staffing agency. An agency must also consider creating opportunities that appeal to a range of entry-level nurses while meeting hospitals’ demands.

Here’s how nurse staffing agencies can create flexible opportunities for entry-level nurses.

Give Nurses the Freedom to Choose Where, When and How Often to Work

Offer a variety of positions, locations and assignments for nurses. This gives nurses the flexibility and freedom to choose an assignment based on the assignment length, their interests and previous experience. For example, most contracts range from 4-26 weeks.

Offer Per-Diem and Travel Nursing Opportunities

Per-diem nurses have the flexibility to choose when they work based on hospital demand. For example, a nurse can schedule three shifts at three different hospitals in the same week. Such freedom gives entry-level nurses the opportunity to pick up shifts at the last minute, take weekends off and enjoy the holidays with family and friends.

Travel nurses have similar freedom to choose where and when they want to work with the additional benefit of traveling. Often, nurses can find ICU, OR, ER, psych, med surgical, surgical tech and telemetry travel nursing opportunities.

Build a Mutually Beneficial Relationship

Create an environment where nurses strive to get better and grow with the agency every day. If nurses trust your staffing agency among others, they will likely continue looking for and refer others to your per-diem and travel assignments.

Offer Personalized Attention, Time and Care to Entry-Level Nurses

New nurses will often have inquiries and need guidance during their first assignments, especially if they are traveling to a new location. A 24/7 support system can address questions regarding job placement, housing matters, licensing, etc. Further, an excellent staffing agency will have a policy for nurses to comply with. This policy should cover missed shifts, penalties, pay rate, additional work hours and pay, etc.

Look at Short- and Long-Term Success

Entry-level nurses may have short- and long-term goals while working with a staffing agency. It is important to address both types and foster an environment that focuses on quality care when fulfilling hospital needs. This can ensure that your staffing agency can fill positions based on your high standards and success rather than worrying about nurse retention alone.

Maintain High Standards

With extensive screening, staffing agencies can find exceptional per-diem and travel nurses to fill positions. High standards will strengthen your relationships with hospitals and reputation. Your expectation for quality care, shifts, etc. should be outlined in your staffing agency’s policy.

Partner with Top Hospitals

Partnering with top hospitals can attract entry-level nurses looking to build out their resumes and gain experience from competitive locations. It may also be likely that openings at prestigious locations will fill fast, and those hospitals will get the help needed. As a staffing agency, partnering with top hospitals will further your reputation and credibility among nurses.

Offer Competitive Rates

Find unique and high-demand opportunities with top hospitals to offer competitive pay rates to your hard-working nurses. You can improve your retention rate for nurses with reasonable compensation for per-diem and travel nursing.

Have Regular Virtual Meetings and Gather Input

Staffing agencies should regularly hold virtual meetings with other staffing agencies, as well as nursing organizations. The best way to understand the needs of entry-level and experienced nurses is to communicate with other agencies. Gathering input from organizations that have similar needs and goals will set staffing agencies in the right direction.

Gathering Feedback from Nurses

Getting feedback from entry-level and experienced nurses is a great way for staffing agencies to make positive changes to flexible staffing plans. Collecting direct information, preferences and thoughts from entry-level nurses ensures that the staffing agency has the most information possible in order to provide opportunities. Not only will direct feedback from entry-level nurses build comradery between staffers and employees, but it will also give nurses the opportunity to share their ideas.

With direct feedback from nurses, staffing agencies will have the resources to understand the needs of the medical staffing industry when it comes to flexible job opportunities. Too many nurse staffing agencies blindly follow the status quo of doing things without caring about the feedback and preferences from the nurses for who they are trying to find flexible opportunities. Everyone has ideas, so why not get them directly from the source?

Turn Valuable Insights Into Hiring Opportunities with Hiretual’s Market Insights

Did you know the Hiretual chrome update has a new market insight feature? That means you can now get valuable insights, which make finding your ideal candidates a lot easier.

The market insights feature offers a variety of new insights, the most impressive of which are:

Top Titles: When you enter a job title, the tool generates a list containing the job title you entered along with a number of titles related to it. For each title, it provides the number of people who are looking for that job position.
Top Skills: Same thing as the last one, but for skills instead of titles.
Top Locations: Whether you enter a skill or title, the tool will provide the top locations where the most potential prospects are currently living.
Average Market Value: This insight is probably the most useful one. It shows you a salary range you can expect to pay your ideal hire.
Diversity: If you’re looking to diversify your workforce, this tool lists the number of people from different backgrounds who meet your requirements.

Those insights can help you learn more about your talent pool. As a result, you can approach your ideal prospects in a way that gets them interested in working with you.

So if you’re looking for a free tool that can help you get to know your ideal candidates better, Hiretual won’t disappoint you. You can add it to your Chrome browser right here.

Challenges of Hiring Software Engineers and Developers

In the dynamics of the labor market today, the overarching theme is undoubtedly the labor shortage. Labor shortages in certain industries are so acute that many employers have shifted their focus to training and paid apprenticeships in lieu of searching for new candidates.

According to statistics from the U.S Department of Labor, there has been a 70 percent increase in paid apprenticeships over the last decade with close to 30,000 active programs in place that offer various training programs including on-the-job learning. These shortages also underline the need for adaptability and learning agility on the part of employees, which means a willingness to learn new skills.

The technology sector is facing its own mounting labor shortages. The shortages in tech have been compounded by the rapid acceleration of digitization and the penetration of tech into retail and commerce — industries that were not known traditionally as being tech-driven. In expressing their frustration over finding the right talent, business leaders specifically classify strategic projects as digital, which require writing new codes and updating the existing ones.

Other key factors that contribute to talent shortages in the tech sector include transferability and adaptability of skills to other employers and business sectors. These dynamics have led to employers chasing the same tech workers across industries.

Soft Where?!

‘Soft where’ (pun intended) refers to the search by HR and talent acquisition professionals for qualified software engineers and developers. According to a report by Stripe, the financial services and payment processing software company, 61 percent of executives consider the challenge of hiring software developers a potential threat to their businesses. In 2020, there were an estimated 1.4 million software development job openings in the United States with only 400,000 graduates in computer science. Many executives have expressed concern that difficulty in hiring developers is a bigger challenge than accessing capital for growth. This difficult market draws a picture of what challenges talent acquisition specialists face.

Compounding this challenge, according to many employers, is a concern for the efficiency of their current software developers and the potential impact it can have on developing new products. An increasing number of business leaders cite the quality of software codes and the amount of time spent on legacy codes — as opposed to developing new ones — an impediment to the successful launch of new products.

Talent Shortages Meet Skills Shortages

A study of executives in the US by the Chicago-based business and technology firm West Monroe found that 77 percent of senior executives in the United States plan to hire, with 51 percent of them expressing great difficulty in finding people with the right skill set and 16 percent citing heightened competition as the biggest challenge in acquiring new talent. Digital technologies and digital transformation, according to the same report, are bound to get the largest chunk of investment dollars, sharpening the need for software developers.

Compared to other roles, it takes 50 percent longer to hire tech talent, approximately translating into eight weeks longer to find the right candidate, including software engineers. Almost all CIOs will tell you that this shortage is impacting innovation and their ability to compete effectively in the market.

There’s another aspect to this scarcity that is not talent-related but linked to the scarcity of in-demand skills. New developments in technology are prompting new skills in the development of related software, which fuels in-demand skills scarcity. Transformational technologies, such as blockchain, AI and cybersecurity, require new skillsets that not every tech professional has, leading to the creation of many hard-to-fill roles.

Some companies find enough applicants for their software job openings, but they do not see applicants with the specific skills that they are looking for because certain software products require unique skills for the new nature of its technology. In these types of situations, many HR professionals prefer to develop skill mapping tools that can be used to screen candidates.

When screening candidates, often the job title alone is not enough. Take a frontend engineer as an example. There are many different frameworks a frontend engineer may work with: VueJs, React, Angular, vanilla JS, etc. However, this all gets lost in just the job title.

When using skills as the base currency, you are able to search for specific skills that you need in a job, and ensure that the candidates that you are interviewing for are a right fit.

Job titles do a poor job of informing candidates what is needed for the role. Different companies require different things to be done specifically to their business and market objective. There are often a few key skills that have huge variations from job titles. Leveraging skills as a unit of currency, you can identify those “high importance” skills, and ensure that you interview the right candidate.

Talent acquisition teams have also expressed interest in developing a “skills similarity index.” The latter helps HR teams examine which software coding methods meet their structure and coding criteria, especially when the technology is new and requires a closer examination of an applicant’s skill sets.

Keep Up with Customers

As technology evolves, so do the needs of customers’ behaviors and expectations. So, businesses need to adopt new technologies and adjust to their clients’ evolving needs. This impacts existing tech products and their functionality, resulting in product reconfigurations. Changes to product configurations in the tech sector can result in changes to the core system. For example, AI firms have struggled to fill at least one vacancy in the past two years because of the lack of appropriate skills among applicants.

A New HR Paradigm

The skillsets required for job openings can be indexed, and applicants’ skills can be matched against the skills in the index. It has become increasingly clear that filling out job application forms and blasting out resumes are of little effect, as they do not adequately capture and display a person’s skillset and knowledge.

In a tightening labor market where scarcity is in talent, not jobs, the adoption of technologies that automate skill matching to job descriptions and applicant profiles will be critical in finding and hiring the right talent.

The Technology Purchase Experience: Great Expectations or Buyer’s Remorse?

Staffing technology solutions often promise to do many things, but they don’t always deliver the exact solution initially envisioned. Problems arise when companies expect a solution to deliver more than they were originally scoped to provide. The fact is, aligning the technology promise to real-world processes and applications can be beyond painful.

There are two approaches that companies often take when they find themselves in this situation. First, they may try to customize the solution with the hope that a re-engineered version will be a better fit. Alternatively, they may start to add on best-of-breed applications, with the goal of achieving the powerful capabilities originally expected.

In the first case, costs often become inflated beyond what is affordable. In the latter, it’s possible that add-ons may not play well with the other tools in the company’s tech stack.

How does one avoid the massive disappointment caused by missed expectations? We offer three pointers to help align your technology to what you anticipate it will do for the organization.

Understand Product Limitations

From an early age, we’ve all felt the letdown of products that fell short of expectations. Despite what you may have seen on TV, toy trucks couldn’t always roar uphill and toy rockets couldn’t really reach the moon. As an adult, you may have toured model homes that showcased designer dreams or test drove cars loaded with high-end features that would never fit your wallet.

It is no different in business.

Like one-size-fits-all clothing, technology is designed to fit most, but no business solution will ever fit all. The enhanced features and functionality that make a solution so attractive may be considered extras that are available at a premium price. It may also be that those advanced capabilities seen in the demo will not actually be available until phase two or phase three. Caveat emptor.

Be Realistic

Disappointment in the past does not mean that reality will always fall short of expectations. Here’s how to avoid disappointment:

Prepare your list of needs and wants. Go in armed and ask specific questions so that you fully understand what the staffing technology solution you purchase can — and cannot — do.
Be aware that most solutions can be customized to meet your exact specifications. That customization can be costly, however, so be sure your needs are prioritized.
Be open to configuration as an alternative to customization. This allows you to shape the basic solution to the specific needs of your organization, without re-engineering it.

Replace ‘Buyer Beware’ with ‘Buyer Be Wise’

Most technology purchase decisions are made after an evaluation of multiple factors. Quality and price are givens. Then there is fit for use, data transfer requirements, implementation specifics, adaptability, support, etc. Despite comprehensive reviews, there are a few important elements that purchasers often neglect to fully consider, yet they may become the source of the biggest challenges.

Don’t forget to check the following.

Legacy Solutions

What will happen to the company’s legacy solutions? Can they be completely sunsetted or will you need to maintain some limited access for a specified period of time? Without a plan for what you need to keep, how you will sustain its use, and for how long, you can end up with miscellaneous odds and ends that not only clutter up your technology balance sheet but may someday be the source of serious breakdowns.

Prepare your legacy strategy to avoid broken links and security vulnerabilities.

Compatibility

One of the biggest headaches for CIOs in staffing companies is tech stack inventory management. It has nothing to do with how many laptops or smart devices are in use around the company, but instead, how many software applications exist.

Some of this software is company-sanctioned but out of date. Other applications are user-generated. Keeping track may be a chore, but it becomes especially important when major change is introduced in the form of new enterprise technology. Ensure that any new technology solution cannot be derailed by a rogue connection or sketchy workaround. Don’t wait for that call for help to uncover an obscure app that was never accounted for during implementation.

Ease of Use

Finally, it is critical to know if the preferred solution is truly “out-of-the-box” ready, or whether users will require training. Test it in multiple scenarios with different types of users to minimize surprises. Give consideration not only to the initial training of your team but also to how you will handle training for new employees in the future.

Matching Expectations to Reality

Staffing businesses that are primed for growth need technology solutions that offer the power to operationalize new business opportunities. They also require the flexibility to adapt and pivot as market conditions shift, and they must have the scalability to support growth. Enterprise software specifically designed for staffing and recruiting businesses must meet these expectations.

Look for solutions that can be configured in ways that allow you to leverage best practices developed by the pioneers in enterprise staffing technology. Earlier generations of staffing technology solutions required substantial customization. Today’s solutions, however, are designed to work for most businesses with minimal adjustment. No longer custom-built from the ground up, they are developed on powerful platforms that allow you to take advantage of world-class reliability, security and scalability.

When you select a solution that offers flexibility for the future, you can expect a technology reality that truly satisfies.

Find Twitter Influencers with Tweeple Twitter Search

If you’re interested in sourcing via Twitter, you’re probably familiar with the ever-popular tool called Followerwonk.

Tweeple Search is comparable to Followerwonk, yes. Tweeple is also better.

When you search, the tool locates matching text in people’s Twitter bios and ranks the results by the number of followers.

That’s where the similarities end.

Unlike Followerwonk, Tweeple Search offers more than just a bio search. Once you switch to the “Influencer search” mode, things get interesting. You can search for queries and keywords in article content people have shared over the web. Then the tool ranks results by the number of shares those articles received.

What all that means for you, as a recruiter, is that you can make sure the user has truly influenced a topic, as opposed to merely having specified it in their bio text. In other words, you can find the contact info of real influencers rather than just people with big unengaged followings and a Twitter feed where you can hear crickets chirping all day long.

So if we could only pick one out of Followerwonk and Tweeple Twitter Search, we would definitely go with Tweeple. It has everything its counterpart has to offer — plus a whole lot more.

You can get started with Tweeple for free right here.

The Rise of AI in Talent Acquisition – and a Look at What’s Next

New industry research stated that early experiments with artificial intelligence in talent acquisition have led to broader deployments, providing enhanced automation for TA operations.

That’s a fancy way of saying that recruiting teams using AI are seeing the value and beginning to use it even more. They might have started with a chatbot on their careers site or virtual assistant to help schedule interviews. Now, they’re implementing AI-powered sourcing or assessment processes.

And while the increase in use is validating for those developing HR technologies, what does this mean for the folks doing the recruiting? Perhaps more importantly, if demand is growing, what’s next for AI in TA?

Current State

Let’s start with where we are today. The world is in a weird place, stuck somewhere between going back to life as we knew it and adopting a new normal. Though there’s no telling what will happen next, one thing is for sure – the earth keeps spinning.

As such, work soldiers on and companies need to take a fresh look at old problems – and recruiting is a big one. No surprise, Aptitude Research found that only 22% of companies have gone through a digital transformation of their TA tech stack, with efficiency as the number one driver behind TA tech decision-making in 2021.

Between a prolonged period of uncertainty, office limbo and the looming threat of the Great Resignation, the time has come to rethink how we attract, engage and hire.

AI is in the middle of this sea of change, but the early days are drawing to a close. Ninety percent of employers report they are experiencing the benefits they expected from these technologies, particularly around chatbots and automation.

As Lighthouse Research Analyst Ben Eubanks explained in April 2021, “These capabilities are rapidly becoming table stakes for the modern talent function, enabling teams to spend time on critical activities, driving a positive candidate experience and increasing impact and value.” Eubanks went on to detail the top ways employers use their reclaimed time, which include: “sourcing, connecting with key candidates and communicating with prospects in the hiring funnel.”

Recognizing this, we’re able to see the evolution starting to take place.

For too long, AI seemed to be a far-fetched idea akin to science fiction – and yes, it is a branch of computer science dedicated to building machines capable of performing human tasks. The operative word here is performing – not replacing, not supplanting, not even doing – performing. It took the daily, practical application of AI for many to realize they were accustomed to, and even comfortable with, these types of interactions.

Having jumped that hurdle, we’re ready to talk about the future.

Future State

Put frankly, we’re reaching AI’s day of reckoning as organizations grow more comfortable with the technology, seek greater functional depth and begin to apply AI across the hiring process.

However, as we move toward maturity, Deloitte points out, “Recruiters and HR experts require some understanding of AI, what it is and the promise it holds for recruitment, the ethics and legislation focused on the intersection of AI and bias in recruitment and also what is needed to implement AI in your recruitment process.”

For some, these caveats may impede progress, but for those who are ready, willing and able to move ahead, there are other use cases to consider – use cases that support a more data-driven approach to recruiting.

Here are three possibilities:

Filter outreach: With burnout a considerable risk for recruiters, AI can help reduce applicant overload by sorting, matching and scoring candidates. These solutions sit near the top of the funnel, able to navigate high volumes of applicants by building out their profiles and filtering candidates as they engage. In turn, recruiters stay ahead of the curve and avoid getting bogged down.
Improved diversity: AI brings understanding and accountability into the recruiting process. It acts as a third party, identifying and visualizing the diversity of talent pipelines. If there are goals in place, this line of sight will keep hiring on track. If not, it will enable an organization to self-audit and get transparent.
Skills-based recruiting: According to the World Economic Forum, “Skilling people for new roles, even externally, is one of the smartest things a business can do because of the impact organizations have on communities.” Whether hiring for on-site or remote positions, AI can assess candidates and create shortlists based on desired skills, even hidden ones.

There’s one more thing to note as it relates to the future of AI in TA. It all comes down to data health and hygiene. Without this critical factor, we’re looking at profiles without resumes, records without contact information and applications without work experience.

So, if there’s a trend to spot, a balm to solve those common recruiting woes, it’s this: Healthy data equals healthy outcomes.

Source Better and Faster with Webbtree

We’ve got three questions for you:

Do you want to get relevant candidate profiles based on your searches from across the web?
How about several contact methods so that you can choose the one that’s ideal for you?
Or an easy-to-use software that can get you the contact information of your ideal candidates, set up personalized email campaigns to engage them and track them on a simple cloud-based platform?

If your answer to all those questions is a resounding yes, today’s software is your dream come true!

Webbtree is a brand new chrome extension that leverages AI to pull insights on users from many popular platforms, including LinkedIn, Quora, Twitter, Github and more.

It can save you a lot of time and hassle. All you have to do is enter the criteria you want your candidates to meet, and the tool will generate a list of ideal prospects in less than a minute. And that’s not all. Webbtree is more than just a list builder. It’s also a pipeline management system that’s designed to encourage proactive recruitment instead of reactive efforts.

So if you’re looking for a tool that can help you take your recruitment process to the next level, Webbtree is definitely a solid contender.

You can add it to your sourcing toolkit right here.

Job Recovery + Candidate Engagement: Making the Process Better (and Faster)

In the early throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a lot of talk about what job recovery would look like. Would it be V-shaped? U-shaped? Maybe a W?

So far, what we see isn’t a definitive shape at all.

An Industry Out of Balance

In July 2021, PandoLogic noted an uptick of 35 percent in job openings, despite monthly reports indicating underwhelming hiring results throughout the month. That mirrored a trend noted in June (21 percent), May (17 percent), and April (38 percent). From the data collected, coupled with a recent study on the state of the job seeker, it became clear that it’s not a lack of available jobs to blame so much as the continued difficulty of finding and hiring candidates promptly.

Translation: there’s growth happening, but demand outweighs supply.

Of course, what’s going on becomes increasingly complex as you dig into the numbers. There are substantial differences across industries, particularly those critical in responding to the global health crisis, such as transportation, healthcare and supply chain. Then there are those hard-hit verticals working to bounce back and rehire, including hospitality and food service.

It’s a challenging situation and one that’s rife with complications as the virus evolves further.

Moving Forward

So what do you, as an active recruiter, do under these circumstances?

Well, you push forward. That’s what talent acquisition does. It’s what you’ve been doing, and it’s what you’re going to keep doing. But recognizing persistence as a key tenet of hiring success, consider taking a two-fold approach to today’s market.

Here’s what you need to know.

These Aren’t the Same Candidates

No doubt you’ve heard about the Great Resignation or Turnover Tsunami. In addition to those folks, there’s a glut of others who haven’t made their re-entry. And they have a good reason: their perception of work changed. Maybe they don’t want to be on the frontlines in an uncertain world. Perhaps they decided remote work is their new normal. It could be that they’re looking for the right offer – one that tops anything they received in the “before times.” PandoLogic’s recent research with Tracey Parson on the “State of the Job Seeker” reinforced this thinking.

Job seekers are ambivalent about the hiring experience. They’re there because they have to be. Jobs are a necessity. As such, many want to understand their baseline needs in our present reality – how much money they need to make, what hours support their lifestyle, and so on. By incorporating salary and shift information into the job description, candidates become more interested almost immediately because right now, the lowest part of the process is the beginning – that initial search.

Knowing that the first step in the candidate journey is so impactful, recruiters have a tremendous opportunity at their doorstep. But as a human, you only have so much time you can devote to each opening. You only have so much time you can spend interacting with each candidate – and that’s a problem in today’s hiring landscape.

Parsons summarized the current candidate sentiment noting, “For companies to make connections with available talent, they will need to understand that the pandemic changed the attitudes of workers. People want to work, but on terms where work is fulfilling, stable and life-sustaining.”

New Thinking Requires New Tactics

Recognizing the shift in candidates, talent acquisition needs to adapt from the top of the funnel on down. Being able to enhance job postings and get in front of the right candidates in the right place is step one. Finding one thousand people for an opening in an hour would require sending out something like 10,000 individual emails. Even a team of thousands would spend hours trying to close a single requisition.

Programmatic technology activates the sourcing stage, applying automation and intelligence to seek out the appropriate candidates. Without going too into the weeds, this type of approach pulls together information from different sources making 7,000 decisions a minute to ensure the postings stay optimized.

In addition to getting relevant posts and the information job seekers want upfront, another factor at play is all the little things that improve the candidate experience. This is where conversational AI enters the chat, bridging the gaps between recruiter and candidate and providing the check-ins and touchpoints that bolster engagement.

Here, you’re moving that flow, connection, communication and interview-like experience up the funnel, increasing the positive vibes on the front end and expanding your data collection in the back end. It also helps to close the black hole, which Parsons found one of the most negative components about recruiting from a candidate perspective.

Embracing the Future

Even with everything that’s happened and everything that continues to happen, recruiters have the power to right the world by tuning into job seekers. To achieve this, leverage what you knew before and what you know now and find ways to bring highly relevant people into the funnel and deliver a personal and engaging experience as you drive them through.

As Parsons put it, “Right now, the candidate experience and everything it entails is the biggest conversation not being heard. Without job seekers, without applicants, without candidates, we have no employees, and without employees, nothing in the world moves forward.”

How Baylor University, MCM Telecom and Learning Care Group Continued Talent Acquisition Despite COVID-19

The repercussions of the pandemic were overwhelming for hiring organizations across the globe. In a matter of weeks, talent acquisition leaders were forced to reexamine hiring strategies and adapt to a whole new way of operating. Now, with vaccinations on the rise, we’re seeing more and more businesses reopen their doors to the public and hiring efforts resuming. However, recruiting going forward looks quite different.

In an effort to learn more about the hiring landscape at the start of the pandemic and where it’s heading now, Mark Feffer, executive editor of RecruitingDaily, invited three business leaders from enterprise organizations to sit down for a conversation on talent acquisition:

Cheryl Gochis, CHRO & VP, Human Resources, Baylor University

Mrs. Cheryl Gochis was appointed vice president of human resources and CHRO in May 2016 after having served as associate vice president for HR since 2014. She manages and coordinates employment functions at Baylor University that include employee relations, benefits, compensation, recruiting, employee learning and leadership consulting. She is a certified HR professional and learning specialist and also serves on numerous university-wide committees.

Nizet Flores, Human Capital Coordinator, MCM Telecom

Since the start of 2013, Nizet Flores has been acting as a leader of human capital management for MCM Telecom. She’s been instrumental in developing human capital initiatives in line with MCM’s strategy, talent objectives and training goals. Nizet is also an active member of many human resources committees, including AMCHAM, AMEDIRH and Asociación de Internet de México, and participates in the Comité Directivo de Voz MCM, A.C., where she promotes support to vulnerable groups of society.

Ryan Brooks, Sr. Director, Talent Acquisition, Learning Care Group

Ryan Brooks serves as the Senior Director of Talent Acquisition for Learning Care Group, Inc., a leading provider of childcare in North America and a leader in early education. Ryan is responsible for leading and developing LCG’s talent acquisition strategies and delivery programs, including workforce/capacity planning, talent attraction, selection practices and measurement. Ryan has over 15 years of talent acquisition experience and joined the LCG team in 2018.

The Effects of COVID-19

As is typical during times of turmoil, we saw hiring teams having to get creative to address new organizational needs while facing resource constraints. To learn how our leaders’ organizations were affected by COVID-19, Mark started his conversations by asking about some of the pandemic-related ramifications their organizations faced.

In first speaking with Cheryl Gochis, Mark heard how the uncertainty brought on by COVID-19 affected her organization, Baylor University, and led to a temporary hiring freeze. “All of us have experienced the consequences of the pandemic. We did not know how many students we would have return. We did not know what the cost of testing would be and vaccines and isolating students…so we made the difficult decision to put a hiring freeze in place,” she said.

Hiring freezes, unfortunately, became common practice for businesses across the globe, but many leaders, including Cheryl, still had the ability to target talent for roles deemed essential. This point leads to the biggest challenge Mark identified in speaking with these leaders: growing active candidate pools to be in line with open opportunities.

“It seemed like in the past we had more people that were in our candidate pool than were looking for a job,” said Cheryl.

Ryan Brooks shared similar sentiments. While talent acquisition continued for Learning Care Group, he said, maintaining a strong pool of candidates proved challenging. According to Ryan, “We’re seeing decreased visits to our posts. We’re getting decreased applicant flow in an industry where we already see low applicant flow… Things are coming back as far as families wanting to enroll, but you’re just not seeing that same bounce back with people wanting to work.”

Nizet Flores also experienced attraction challenges, specifically related to bringing the right skills on board. “My priorities right now are acquiring talent – especially technical talent… Most of my collaborators are telecommunications engineers,” she said.

The Impact on Candidates

COVID-19 not only caused a shift in the way these leaders operate, it also changed their interactions and experiences with candidates. As health concerns became top of mind, job prospects expected future employers to take safety seriously and offer flexible employment options, remote interviews and virtualized onboarding.

For some leaders, like Nizet, the switch to remote work and digital-based recruiting had its share of hiccups, although the rest of the hiring process remained unchanged. “When it comes to recruitment, [COVID-19] hasn’t impacted us a lot,” she said. “We do find candidates or applicants who aren’t that familiar with technology, so having them connect was complicated… But all of the onboarding process is still done face-to-face – of course, with the applicable protocols – and that gave a little bit more certainty to applicants or to new hires.”

Others, like Cheryl Gochis, experienced larger disruptions to recruiting and worried about COVID-19’s effect on their candidate communication process – something she believes was key for easing applicant apprehension and building strong connections. In order to combat these concerns, her team focused on over-communicating and giving her candidates a clear picture of what to expect. “What we’ve done well is still add that personal experience to recruiting and set better expectations for candidates,” she explained. “Say we’re in between semesters, for example, when we do a lot of preparatory work. If you don’t hear from us for a couple of weeks, it’s not because we’re not interested… If you get concerned, you can call our recruiters, but there’s also a reasonable window when you’ll hear from us.”

Ryan Brooks dealt with a different dilemma. Learning Care Group primarily operates in a face-to-face manner, making safety a key concern for his talent. Ryan stated, “People in general, there’s a pocket of them that aren’t ready to just come back.” To counteract this, Ryan said, “We’ve done a lot of updating and messaging around our safety protocols, using that almost as a recruiting tool. It’s appealing to people when they see all that and we’ve gotten that feedback.”

What’s Working Well?

After these talent acquisition leaders shared how they’ve adapted to changes in candidate-related activities, Mark transitioned to talking about success in other areas of recruiting. Overall, we learned that, despite facing their fair share of adversity, our interviewees managed to sustain hiring momentum.

Ryan Brooks, for example, prioritized building awareness around his open opportunities by using technology as the driver. Ryan said that he prioritized “investing in a lot of tools that help source and really get us in more of a marketing space and brand-awareness space.” For Learning Care Group, its commitment to delivering a positive impact on children and desiring to be part of the experience is a message that’s key to engaging prospective candidates. When it comes to broadcasting that message, it’s all about leveraging the right channels. Ryan went on to discuss the importance of sharing Learning Care Group’s value proposition on career sites, during phone and text conversations, email and across social media.

Similar to Ryan, Cheryl Gochis recognizes the important role technology plays in maintaining talent acquisition and spent time upgrading her infrastructure to alleviate issues. “We had a good recruiting system, but literally every single thing that was in the system had to be re-entered into our other system, thus [we had] tons of mistakes,” said Cheryl. To resolve this, she made usability a key part of the criteria when evaluating new platforms and transitioning to the new applicant-tracking solution, which Cheryl describes as, “a comprehensive one-stop-shop … 100% more intuitive than our old way of doing things.”

On the other hand, Nizet Flores focused on creating initiatives to continue talent acquisition operations. Through strong relationships with higher-education organizations, Nizet was able to successfully institute new programs to secure the talent MCM Telecom required. To provide more context, Nizet stated, “The one that is really working for me right now is a seeding program. I have an agreement with the main universities – both public and private universities – and I ask young people to do internships in MCM.”

This isn’t to say technology hasn’t been crucial for MCM, however. Nizet detailed an internal recruitment process that’s strongly aided by an HCM platform. “[Candidates] apply for a position. We conduct assessments. We assess their competencies. And of course, we have a tool for HCM that allows us to compare their profiles and their experience.”

The Role of Technology in Recruiting

Technology quickly became a recurring theme during the mid-way point of these conversations. Even before the pandemic, leveraging recruiting technologies was common practice for hiring teams. With work now conducted remotely, however, reliance on technology increased even further, leading Mark to inquire more about its importance today.

Ryan Brooks said technology was foundational for recruiting and described how new, specific capabilities were making his life easier. He emphasized the importance of applicant tracking, CRM and sites like LinkedIn and Indeed, but then went on to detail new advancements he sees as being particularly valuable. “I get excited about AI as what can be, what can I automate – this will help [recruiters], whether it’s pipelining more candidates, whether it’s pre-screening, that kind of stuff,” he said.

Other leaders, like Nizet Flores, are hesitant regarding the applicability and use of emerging technologies such as today’s AI. When questioned about it, Nizet stated, “I still think [AI] is a little bit far away [for us]. I do see that some companies are working with artificial intelligence, but we do still need that contact with people … you need that empathy.” However, Nizet went onto describe how she envisions AI becoming increasingly valuable in the future, especially when used to evaluate candidates.

When asked directly about technology, Cheryl Gochis first spoke of focusing on its use by candidates. “With recruiting, [we want tools that] ease the process for the candidate and that yield the best information,” she said. “I think great technology companies are paying attention to how do you yield the best experience and how do you get the best candidates.” She then segued to discussing the recruiters’ usage of technology, emphasizing the need to balance simplicity and complexity. Cheryl mentioned, “[The solution] has to be enough, but not so much that you’re almost overwhelmed by all the bells and whistles.” In other words, it has to deliver organizations with everything needed to drive talent acquisition without requiring a great deal of training.

What the Future Holds

Mark ended the conversation with recruiting leaders by asking about the future of talent acquisition.

Like many other individuals we’ve spoken to previously, Nizet Flores believes pandemic-driven procedures are here to stay. “I think that we will not go back to our whole process of having people come to the offices and having that direct contact,” she said. “I think that we can maintain some activities or some activities that need not be compared in person. And we will maintain those activities that we are doing in person.”

Cheryl Gochis expressed similar thoughts. When asked about what’s next, she mentioned, “I very much doubt that we will go back to work how we used to two years ago. I think that all of this is here to stay – that all of these virtual tools and having things done virtually will become our new normal.” Cheryl also detailed the importance of organizational hiring evaluation – assessing talent needs pragmatically and approaching recruiting with their business and employees in mind. Cheryl ended the conversation by stating, “We’re willing to think differently. We’re willing to do ultimately what’s best for the university and do right by people.”

Ryan focused on technology being the future and foresees it driving hiring productivity. To elaborate, Ryan stated, “I really like the kind of refocus we’ve done from tools that require manual effort to move toward more automated tools, retargeting tools, things of that nature… I think it’s going to be huge in this world.” Ryan concluded by stressing the importance of centralized and autonomous marketing in attracting and engaging talent. He knows how critical it is for the business to get opportunities to be in front of the right people.

To learn more about the trends shaped by COVID-19 and hear advice on how to best prepare for the hiring restart, take a look at Recruiting Daily’s new report titled, Post-Pandemic Recruiting: A guide for recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates.

Enter Work Emails and Get Personal Contact Information with Swordfish

Everyone prefers personal emails over work emails. That’s because when you want to get in touch with someone, you’re far more likely to get a response if you contact them through their personal email. However, a lot of times, that’s not an option as you only have the work email of a prospect.

But here’s the thing: you don’t have to settle for work emails anymore.

With Swordfish, you can enter the work email of your prospect and get all their personal information, including:

Residence
Company name and job title
Phone number
Link to their LinkedIn profile
Up to five of their personal emails

Now, we bet you’re thinking, “It sounds great, but do I have to enter each email manually? That could take up hours!”

Fortunately, you don’t have to manually enter each email. Swordfish supports CSV files. So if you have a list of work emails, just upload it and the tool will generate a new list for you with personal emails along with all the rest of the details for each lead.

This is the part where you’re usually hit with a catch when something sounds too good to be true. But with Swordfish, there’s no catch other than all the leads you’ll be catching on the world wide web.

If you’re not a fan of these puns, then that’s all the more reason you should hurry up and take this tool for a spin with the 15-day free trial.