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Can Programmatic Recruitment Help SMBs Attract Top Talent?

A neon job advertisement outside an office

 

Over the past few years, recruitment marketing has emerged as an essential strategy for organizations competing for talent in an increasingly tight labor market. However, competition has hardly been fair. Large organizations outspend SMBs by a mile when it comes to marketing jobs. The fact that big businesses tend to enjoy better brand awareness doesn’t help either. While it may seem that the deck is stacked against SMBs in the race for top talent, all is not lost.

Recruiting technology has emerged as a great equalizer with affordable, feature-rich solutions designed specifically for SMBs. Activities that were previously cost-intensive, such as, display advertising or job posting have become much more accessible for organizations with limited budgets.

A key innovation driving this trend has been the rise of affordable, programmatic recruitment, which was previously the realm of larger businesses with massive advertising budgets. So, how can smaller businesses leverage programmatic recruitment to land top talent?

What is Programmatic Recruitment and How Can SMBs Use it to Hire Better?

Programmatic recruitment is defined as the automated buying, publishing, and optimizing of recruitment ads. Programmatic advertising originated as a pureplay advertising solution that automated the bidding process with software. It found its way into the world of recruiting technology as recruitment became more digital and competitive.

Speaking about the emergence of programmatic recruitment, Amit Chauhan, CEO at JobAdX, a programmatic exchange, says, “We’re facing the most competitive hiring era, which means there’s definitely a shortage of talent but it’s not really a ‘talent shortage’ because there are enough people around. There’s just a big mismatch of skills as traditional hiring platforms are not showing the right opportunities to candidates.”

With programmatic recruiting solutions, organizations can set up dedicated budgets for ad spend and the cost per click and the software does the rest. The biggest advantage of programmatic recruitment over traditional job advertising is its ability to reach relevant audiences at the right time.

Most programmatic solutions use demographic data to identify prospects and deliver the right ads at a time and place that is most likely to result in engagement. Programmatic solutions rely on candidate browsing data, A/B testing, and artificial intelligence to optimize ad performance.

“As job seekers move across our network, we collect a critical amount of data which helps us understand what roles they’re clicking, what keywords they’re searching for, how they’re engaging with the jobs, and what makes them apply to a specific job instead of others. Before we deliver an employer’s job ad to one of our premium slots, we’re confident that it matches the industries, experience, location, and preferences of that job seeker on an individual level,” explains Amit.

As organizations look to promote their employer brand and connect with talent in new ways, programmatic recruitment offers an approach that is adaptable across channels and platforms. JobAdX, for instance, allows users to add video within job postings to make it more relevant and engaging for candidates.

“The power to entice the right talent by showcasing the company’s culture in a recruitment video has been widely acknowledged by employers but channels have been limited to social media or company career sites. As the only programmatic exchange that can seamlessly display video within the job postings across its publisher network, recruiters can now better engage the job seekers right at the moment they are searching for jobs and see quality conversions on employer branding initiatives in a whole new way.

“Ultimately, all of this improves the candidate experience and everyone wins – job boards see increased loyalty and conversations, while agencies and employers make higher quality hires faster and more easily,” says Amit.

Choosing the Right Programmatic Solution for Your Business

For a complete beginner, navigating through programmatic recruitment can be a bit tricky. One of the most important elements of successful programmatic recruitment is the solution. You need a solution that meets your business needs. For instance, if you want to attract a large volume of candidates, you might want to invest in a programmatic ad platform. However, if you just want to improve job distribution and get better-fit candidates for your organization, a programmatic exchange would make more sense.

“Firstly, understand your objectives. Is your top priority budget management, attracting a large volume of applicants, or improving the quality of inbound candidates? This will define whether you need a full-on programmatic platform or just better job distribution, where we play. We’re solely a programmatic exchange, not a platform, which means we apply programmatic ad buying to help optimize your spend but our focus is the targeting and delivery of your ads to the right candidates. If you’re looking for more qualified, targeted applicants, you’d want to work with a programmatic exchange like us. Programmatic platforms offer start-to-finish campaign creation and are great for budget management, but might be more than you need if you’re not looking for high-volume hiring,” says Amit.

The second step is setting your budget. Most programmatic platforms require minimum spends. So, if you have a budget of $5,000 to $10,000 a month, you could consider investing in a programmatic ad platform. On the other hand, if you have a more conservative recruitment budget, a programmatic exchange would be a better choice.

Lastly, you need to understand your bandwidth. “Many programmatic platforms out there are still complex and take time to implement. After getting on the platform, there might be a learning curve and getting to know it may take time. For an agency or a larger staffing company, that’s a much easier, must-have setup. But if you have a smaller recruiting team, then that’s a task all on its own. If that’s the case, an exchange is a better option to get you set up in minutes without the learning curve or resources,” Amit adds.

Ultimately, small and medium-sized businesses will benefit greatly from using a programmatic exchange. It helps you make your recruiting dollars reach your ideal candidates. And while big businesses may have more resources, SMBs can have better efficiency.

TrackJobChanges.com makes sure your contact data is up to date

 

Make sure your contact data is up to date as people change jobs and companies with Track JobChanges.com

 

We have an intel tool that we would like to talk about called Track Job Changes, formerly known as Inlistio. This tool has a lot of different applications, and the main function of the tool is job tracking. Rather, it can track people and their jobs. Upload people into the tool from your ATS or Salesforce.com database and then see how often they change jobs, where they worked and where they go next.

When this example set was created, the people selected were all working at Boeing. Since then, you can see that a lot of them have left for other companies. This can show you patterns of where they are going, as well as get some insight into a lot of people suddenly leaving a company. Maybe they are being targeted for recruitment, and maybe there are other unhappy employees ready to leave. It allows you to keep updated on when people are leaving. Use this for your own employees that are leaving and see where they go next and how long they stay there. Track trends in employee turnover!

There’s a lot of intel that can be gathered from this tool, which is pretty neat. It’s also a great way to make sure your contact data is up to date as people change jobs and companies. You can set up your account to check once or twice per month for changes, and Track Job Changes will come back with any updates, including an updated email address! They will send a confidence score along with the information that shows how accurate they think the information is.

 

~ Noel Cocca

Look inside with Dean Da Costa:

 

 

5 Reasons to Recruit and Hire Career Changers

Hiring career changers

 

Picture a stereotypical 20-year-old talking with her cousin from Washington, D.C. about her lack of future plans. I was a sophomore in college and the clock was ticking for me to choose a degree path to follow. My cousin, who already had an impressive and exciting career in politics, jumped at the opportunity to introduce me to the campaign world. I was easily persuaded.

Fast forward to summer break, and I was on my way to Tampa for my first internship on a statewide political campaign. I followed this path for the next 13 years, gaining an immeasurable amount of experience from different campaigns, organizations, personalities and work cultures. Change was constant and often unpredictable, and I continuously relied on others for direction while setting aside my own underlying interests and passions. Eager to please, I prioritized a work culture that revolved around change over any natural changes that were necessary for my early personal and professional growth.

On top of this, I had fallen into the all-too-common trap of allowing work to consume my every waking moment. Work was my lifestyle, and it followed me everywhere. As a wife, mother of two beautiful boys and a woman that thrives on outdoor adventure, I knew that this lifestyle would eventually break me.  So at 33 years old, with decades of working years ahead of me, I chose to reprioritize my life and take control of my career.

Now comes my next challenge: convincing recruiters to overcome any biases toward career-changers and think outside the box when considering how outside experience might apply to their industry. To get you started, here are five reasons why someone like me can be the shakeup your company needs.

Confident

The main reason why it took so long to acknowledge and voice any unhappiness with my previous career was a fear of disappointing my colleagues. I had grown to rely on them for feedback and justification because that was all I knew how to do. By deciding to make a career change, I discovered the courage that came with facing my new reality that came along with it. My newfound self-reliance gave me the confidence to express my ideas and challenge others to explore possibilities outside of their comfort zones.

Adaptable

Working with political campaigns and organizations exposed me to a wide variety of work cultures. Since I was generally a consultant or an “outsider,” I had to quickly learn how to fit in so that I could be an asset, not a hindrance.  I became objective and flexible, and I learned to quickly pick up new skills and stay open to criticism. A diverse variety of experiences can show how a career-changer has adapted to and overcome new challenges. Having a positive outlook on change can rub off on other employees and improve team inclusiveness and morale.

Resolute

Cycling through this constant change in work cultures has naturally exposed me to all kinds of personalities. For a political campaign to survive, senior leaders down to interns must learn to put aside their differences so they can collaborate towards the common goal of winning an election. This can be difficult to remember under the constant stress of today’s political culture. Working in operations, I had to quickly diffuse situations and execute solutions, all while the political machine that I was helping to operate moved forward at a dizzying pace. This level of decisiveness can only be achieved through experience. Through trial and error, the career-changer has learned when to be an unwavering and resolute voice when managers need it most.

Acknowledges Failures

Life’s greatest and most enduring lessons are learned through failure.  Acknowledging these experiences and the value they bring through reflection, analysis and application is what separates the good from the great. They have enabled me with a wealth of tried and proven strategies that, once broken down, can be applied anywhere. Time and again, the career-changer has confronted real-world challenges to gradually accumulate a wealth of practical knowledge. Any business must accept a certain amount of risk if it hopes to be successful. Why not hire those who have the most experience with it?

Passionate

Some employees may lack excitement for their careers because they have simply stumbled upon it. I was certainly one of them. Why rock the boat if the seas appear to be calm? I recognized this illusion in my life and made a change. After years of experience and self-discovery, career-changers know what they want when they choose your company. They come to your interview with a newfound drive to realign their careers with their rediscovered passions. When a business can align those passions to meet its goals, anything is possible.

While hiring an “outsider” may seem like an irresponsible decision for some human resource managers, others will see their value and potential for greatness. Their qualities scale beyond the classroom and college internship, forged through successes and failures that have transformed them into confident, adaptable and resolute professionals with an experience-driven passion for your industry. Taking a chance on the career-changer might be what your company needs to break through to the top.

 

How To Use Peerlyst as a Sourcing Tool

Use Peerlyst as a sourcing tool for the Information Security market

 

Let’s talk about a website called Peerlyst. It’s a spot where Information Security professionals and enthusiasts can go to talk shop and trade ideas. If you’re willing to do a little legwork, it can be used as a sourcing site. Look through profiles and see what people’s skills are, where they work and live, as well as their social links. You can search by tags, go through posts, or search through companies that you’d like to target.

If you find someone that you’re interested in contacting, use some of the other tools we’ve talked about in the past to find their email address or phone number! You might have to do a little more work to get direct contact information, but it’s a good way to find people to start with.

Long story short, if you want security people, find them on Peerlyst!

 

~ Noel Cocca

Look inside with Dean Da Costa:

Top Recruitment Technology Funding Trends in 2019

The recruiting startup ecosystem is showing no signs of slowing down. Amid fears of recession and ongoing trade wars, the recruitment technology market is going strong. Globally, recruitment startups collectively raised $1.6 billion as of November 1, 2019, up by 1.1 billion in 2018.

With 58 out of 169 companies having raised over $5 M in various financing rounds, investor interest in the recruiting space is certainly increasing. As recruitment becomes a key driver of organizations’ competitive advantage in a tight labor market with acute skill shortage across key positions, the market potential of the recruitment industry is only set to grow.

Recruitment Startup Funding Trends 2019

Here’s a quick snapshot of historic funding rends in the recruitment startup ecosystem and the ten biggest funding rounds in 2019:

A chart representing cumulative funding raised by recruitment technology startups over time
Figure 1: Total Funding Raised by Recruitment Startups
Source: Crunchbase
  1. Jobvite: The comprehensive analytics-driven recruitment platform raised a whopping $200 M in a private equity round from K1 Investment Management in February 2019. One of the first platforms to leverage social networks to match candidates with jobs, Jobvite, used the funding to bolster its recruitment offerings by acquiring Talemetry, RolePoint, and Canvas.
  2. Andela: In one of the earliest funding rounds of the year, Andela, picked up $100 M in series D. The company that offers both coding lessons and jobs to students in developing countries is currently valued between $600 – $700 million. The company operates in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Rwanda with salaried developers working for companies located in the US and Europe.
  3. Jobcase: The Boston-based open-access platform for job seekers and employers raised $100 M in a growth equity round led by Providence Strategic Growth (PSG) in late February. Jobcase helps white-collar workers discover job posting and reviews while offering employers a suite of recruiting tools. The business model is similar to LinkedIn where Jobcase charges candidates fees for accessing pages with information about job openings.
  4. eCheng: The Chinese AI-powered talent matching and resume management platform bagged $80 M in series C financing round led by Cathay Innovation Fund and joined by previous investor Lightspeed China Partners. eCheng serves some of the leading businesses in China including Tencent, Alibaba, iSoftStone, and Vanke.
  5. Neuvoo: One of the fastest-growing job websites, Neuvoo, received an equity investment of $40 M from Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Canada’s second-largest pension fund. The investment is expected to help the company expand its global footprint and significantly increase its headcount. Neuvoo operates in over 70 countries and reported annual revenues of $57 M in 2018. Headquartered in Montrèal, Canada, the company also has offices in Europe and Latin America.
  6. SmartRecruiters: The enterprise recruiting platform raised $50 M in a series D financing round led by Insight Partners and joined by Rembrandt Venture Partners and Mayfield Fund. The company offers an end-to-end recruitment solution including recruitment marketing, applicant tracking, and offer management. The platform has a marquee client list which includes Twitter, LinkedIn, Ikea, Visa, and Bosch.
  7. AllyO: One of the first movers in the conversational AI space, AllyO completed its series B funding round with $45 M led by Sapphire Ventures and Scale Venture Partners with participation from Google’s AI fund – Gradient Ventures, Randstad Innovation Fund, Bain Capital Ventures, and Cervin Ventures. Selected as the Top HR Product of 2019 by Human Resource Executive Magazine, AllyO uses conversational AI to help organizations find more qualified candidates, automate workflows and glean in-depth insight into their recruitment process.
  8. Personio: The German HR and recruiting platform closed a $40 M series B round in January, this year. The funding was led by Index Ventures and joined by existing investors Northzone and Rocket Internet’s Global Founders. The company’s clientele includes leading SMEs in Europe and abroad. Personio’s open API and multiple third-party software integrations make it an attractive value proposition for employers using an assorted variety of HR solutions. The company also acquired Rollbox, a Spanish API-based payroll solution in April to bolster its capabilities in the core HR market.
  9. Triplebyte: The San-Francisco-based startup that calls itself a background-blind recruiting platform, raised $35 M in a series B funding round earlier this year. The company offers personalized online coding tests and technical interviews to help employers make data-driven hiring decisions. Triplebyte’s platform is aimed at candidates with non-traditional education backgrounds and career paths who possess high-level technical skills, which makes it a very compelling product for employers operating in the tough labor market today.
  10. Nomad Health: Nomad Health, a clinician placement platform raised $34 M in equity and debt funding led by Icon Ventures with participation from Polaris Partners, RRE Ventures, .406 Ventures, and Silicon Valley Bank. Launched in 2012, the Manhattan-based startup connects doctors and nurses to employers looking for new staff. Nomad Health lets employers hire for locum tenens, permanent, telehealth, and traveling nurse positions. The company aims to plug the massive talent shortage in the US healthcare system.

Funding trends for 2019 reflect the larger macroeconomic issues at play in the global talent marketplace. Skilled talent shortage continues to be one of the major pain points for organizations today and it is no surprise that startups solving for this problem have received the lion’s share of VC funding this year. Additionally, AI recruiting platforms have also raked in significant funding in 2019. As prominent VCs and investors like Softbank, Y Combinator, Lightspeed Ventures, Gradient Ventures, Randstad Innovation Fund, CDPQ, and more, focus on startups solving real-world problems using AI, we can expect to see a lot more action in the AI recruiting space going forward. While talent matching and data-driven skills assessment startups will continue to hold investor interest for at least the next two years, we’re likely to witness the rise of more industry-specific and specialized skills solutions.

With innovation coming from emerging AI powerhouses like China, Israel, Germany, and Canada, investor profiles in the recruiting technology landscape are also set to become more diverse. So far, 2019 has been a stellar year for recruitment startups and 2020 promises to be even more exciting.

What funding trends are you tracking in the recruitment space? Let us know in the comments below.

Mute Notifications on Desktop Chrome Extension

Mute those annoying desktop notifications!

 

This is a Chrome extension that allows you to get more done without distractions from desktop notifications. This is perfect for times when you’re doing a video conference, recording a video, or just need to get some work done without sounds and messages popping up while you concentrate! Bing bing bing! This mutes them.

It’s easy to use, just install the extension and click the icon when you don’t want to be disturbed. Notifications can still be viewed, but you won’t get the alerts in real-time. Simple, easy peasy!

~ Noel Cocca

Look inside with Dean Da Costa:

Why You’re Paying 20% (or more!) for Recruiting

how to stop over paying for recruitment servcies

 

There’s something odd about the recruiting industry: the ‘few good clients’ pay for the many more poor working relationships the industry seems to generate. When you cut that 20% fee check, you’re usually covering the cost of 4 other searches that went nowhere. (You’re so nice!) Oh, and the costs some other inefficiencies, too.

The inefficiency of the Industry

With over 10,000 choices, you the client, have more options than you’d care to consider when selecting a recruiting firm. Many recruiting firms seem to be the same, right? Same rate. Same guarantee. Same uncertainty on whether or not they’ll deliver on what they say they can do. When do you want to get started?!

Like any working relationship, yours with a recruiting firm may hit a rough patch. Candidates seem to be coming in too slowly. Salary expectations seem too high. Someone quits after 91 days, conveniently enough. This reality combined with you knowing you have literally 10,000 other ‘same’ options to choose from make for an often, unhealthy, partnership. Kind of like online dating – “thank you, next.”

From the get-go, both you and the recruiting firm are hedging. You, by inviting other firms to join the search. Them, by having a 20% fee and limiting the investments they actually are going to make on your specific search. This only exacerbates the underlying inefficiencies of the industry. Firms start chasing quick wins, not valuable client relationships. Clients expect no relationships and treat recruiters as disposable and, sometimes, with disdain.

This is a significant inefficiency the recruiting industry has brought upon itself. It operates with little expectation of full buy in from the client and often commits little effort in return, hoping for an ‘easy’ big win.

The inefficiency of the Recruiting Firm

As a whole, recruiting firm owners are a risk-averse bunch. I’ve worked with a few… and the structure of how firms work is a reflection of this. Many firms depend on heavily commissioned recruiters to sell and fill roles. This model works well as the cost of the work is only absorbed after the invoice for a successful placement is sent. The challenge with this model is twofold: commissions must be high, sometimes up to 60%, to entice professionals to take on the risk (significantly inflating the fee you pay) and motivation for recruiting firms to invest in the efficiency of their commission-based team is, well, low.

Why take on the risk of the additional cost when you only have to cut a check when you’re getting one? You end up having experienced recruiters handling much of the ‘grunt work’ of the search because no one wants to take on the fixed costs of support staff. Understandable, but this approach contributes to that high fee you’re left paying.

This also negatively impacts a firm’s ability to stand behind their guarantee – heavily commissioned recruiters are not excited or financially motivated to fill replacement searches when compared to full-fee searches they’re also managing. They may be motivated by the continued relationship, but are they confident you’ll stick with them? Are you?

The inefficiency of the Relationship

In the face of a ‘free’ partner, until they prove themselves against the sea of other options, it can be easy to become a bad client, and not even mean to! It’s so easy to end up accidentally as the bad client that many recruiting firms expect only 1 of 5 searches will result in a placement. So, 80% of the efforts will be rewarded with $0. That means you, the good client, cut your 20% check when you make the hire not because that reflects the cost of YOUR search and YOUR needs, but because you’re stuck covering everyone else’s bill. Big surprise you have little excitement when making the check request.

While 20% seems hefty, often there are too many variables for a recruiting firm to be able to reduce their fee confidently – these variables include different hiring managers, uncertain urgency to fill, salary competitiveness, assessment implementations, potential guarantee utilization, additional recruiters tasked with the same search… there are many.

Many of these variables are backed into the status quo of the industry, recruiting firm structure, and how the firm/client relationships have been traditionally structured. So ingrained are these aspects, many do not even question it beyond grumbling about high fees (or ‘bad’ clients).

What You Can Do About It

If you’d like to save on your recruiting, find great talent for your roles, and build a partnership – make sure you don’t just go along with the industry flow.

Invest in your relationship with a recruiting firm that has proven itself to work for you, supports its recruiters, and has a compensation model that aligns recruiter interests with yours. Challenge your recruiters, hold them accountable, and let them do the same. You’ll be rewarded with a sweet, efficient partnership and many happy, new colleagues.

 

Sync Recruitment Texts Between Phone and Desktop with MightyText

Sync your texts from your phone to your desktop!

This is one of the new play tools we really love! MightyText allows you to access as well as send your mobile texts right from your computer desktop. And, it’s free! This is useful for recruiters that are using mobile to send opportunities to prospects, or even just for your personal use.

How does it work? All you need to do is install the app to your phone, and then either install the Chrome extension or the free Desktop version from their website. This will sync all your messages, as well as photos and videos right to your computer.

It’s quick, simple, and easy, and it works well! The tool is only compatible with Android phones, and not available for Apple users. Still a great tool!

~ Noel Cocca

Look inside with Dean Da Costa:

How Web Accessibility Affects Employment

Web acessibility recruiting and hiring WCAG ADA

 

 

“only 40% of working-age adults with disabilities have a job”

 

All businesses are required by law to be equal opportunity employers. However, even if a company does not discriminate during hiring or employment if its website isn’t accessible to people of varying abilities, that company is still prohibiting the largest minority group – people with disabilities – from seeking employment.

According to The Brookings Institution, only 40% of working-age adults with disabilities have a job – a rate that is about half that of people without disabilities (79%). Nearly 30 years after the passage of the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), the largest group of unemployed Americans is still people with disabilities.

Below are three ways that recruiters and HR executives can boost job applicant numbers and recruit a more diverse workforce through web accessibility.

Look to WCAG 2.0

Employment is central to the goals articulated by the ADA – equality of opportunity, full participation, independent living and economic self-sufficiency. Because job searches and applications today are primarily done online, websites are the main doorway to employment. It is critical that people with varied and changing abilities have access to websites in order to even be considered for a job, and that’s the first step toward employment. This is where the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0), published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), comes into play.

WCAG 2.0 is the gold standard for web accessibility and compliance. It outlines the necessary measures to make websites accessible to a wide range of users with different abilities. WCAG 2.0 states that websites must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. Failure to address any of these four pillars of accessibility can result in not only a lack of diverse job applicants, but also noncompliance and lawsuits. As companies recruit employees, they should consider first if their job site and company website adhere to the standards outlined by WCAG 2.0.

Monitor for Web Accessibility Early and Often

With today’s focus on diversity and inclusion, HR professionals are being more thoughtful when it comes to attracting the most diverse pool of job applicants.  Naturally, website accessibility is imperative to achieving this goal.  While web accessibility should be considered during the development stages of a business’s website, it is often left out. Testing for accessibility should be conducted in the same way a website developer would test for security – early and often, especially when posting job openings.

An accessible website is a good website for all users. Correcting accessibility at the source code should be done, but going back to make those corrections can be a long, tedious process and many organizations will be chasing accessibility rather than achieving it. Some web accessibility solutions require no modification to the source code of digital content or applications, allowing businesses carefully plan future source code remediation while their current website remains accessible. Through website accessibility, HR executives can pave the way toward more equal employment for those with disabilities.

Utilize the Latest Technology and Training

Finally, organizations should invest in accessibility tools and training to remain ADA compliant when posting jobs online. While there are in-house web development teams, they are typically trained to take a bare-minimum approach to accessibility. It’s important to deploy both automated testing tools and conduct manual scans for accessibility errors using the latest software available. This way, businesses can bridge the gap toward usability by ensuring things like navigation order and captions on job applications are presented logically and with accurate context and value.

For example, one of the most common complaints is that job application signatures often require a mouse. Imagine getting all the way through an application just to be barred from submitting it because the application signature requires the use of a mouse. When an organization invests in the right combination of accessibility testing, remediation technology, and training services, HR executives will benefit quickly when recruiting the right talent for the job.

By taking into consideration these suggested tips, HR executives and recruiters can open the digital door for all qualified job candidates, regardless of ability.

 

Your Phone: Sync Desktop Work With Your Phone

 

Windows 10 now includes an application to sync your phone’s texts, photos, and notifications!

 

Windows now offers an application called Your Phone. This application is free to download and can be installed from the Windows store if it’s not already on your PC. What this application does, it allows you to connect and sync your phone to your PC! It will sync your texts, photos, as well as your notifications right to your desktop. You can also use this to respond to incoming text messages as well as create new message threads.

What’s cool is, we have been using other tools to do this for a while, and now we have a Windows-specific application that does it as well. Like other similar tools, it currently only supports Android phones and is not meant to be used on Apple iOS. Currently, iPhone users can only use this to send websites from your phone to the PC. Hopefully, this will change, and iOS will be included in future updates!

~ Noel Cocca

Look inside with Dean Da Costa:

 

Talent Acquisition Movers, Shakers, & News Breakers – November 2019, Part 1

Talent Acquisition News

 

Do you know where you are? Well, you’re about to, as we launch into another heavy roundup of all things recruiting and HR tech. That’s right, it seems like anyone and everyone is throwing their last-minute news over the transom before the year ends – and in most instances, it spells big changes afoot. What will be interesting to see is what the moves and money mean come 2020 in terms of product roadmaps and general leadership. Guess we’ll have to wait and see on that one. In the meantime, here’s a look at what’s going on:

No doubt you heard about the shakeup over at McDonald’s, but in the midst of that, you might have missed the less salacious announcement from Alexander Mann Solutions that founder and CEO, Rosaleen Blair CBE, stepped down. Blair launched AMS in 1996, and will now serve as Chair of the Company’s Board. She’s replaced by David Leigh, who previously worked as CEO at talent assessment and analytics specialist, SHL, and international education provider, Study Group.

Two similar-sounding, albeit fundamentally different startups, entered the fray recently: Ethena and Elpha. The former, developed by Harvard grads, Anne Solmssen and Roxanne Petraeus (yes, that Petraeus) promises “customizable training delivered in bite-size segments that caters to individuals based on how much they already know about sexual harassment in the workplace.” In short: Ethena intends to disrupt those annual training reminder emails that everyone ignores. The latter, coming out of Y Combinator, wants to be a “tailored online network for women in tech.” Right now, Elpha’s getting a lot of “LinkedIn for women” comparisons.

Subway, as in the restaurant chain, teamed up with Penn Foster to give employees at 331 Central Florida stores access to new career readiness resources, designed to help Subway Sandwich Artists™ develop workplace skills and advance their education. The resources are available through the Penn Foster talent development platform and include an online, accredited program that offers restaurant employees the opportunity to their high school diploma on their own time.

Capital Investments, Mergers, & Acquisitions

So if you’re still wondering where you are, I’ll tell you. You’re in the jungle. At least that’s what the folks at Welcome to the Jungle, a French startup think about the current recruiting landscape – and that just landed them $22.3 Million in funding to help make sense of it. They also fancy themselves a bit of a media company, in addition to their tech side, which sounds a bit like The Muse.

In a similar raise, Fountain, a recruiting platform for gig and hourly workers, closed $23 M in Series B. The funding will go toward product development and expansion into new verticals. Co-founder and CEO Keith Ryu pointed to ongoing automation and a changing workforce as driving forces behind the company’s success.

Symphony Talent, known for employer brand and experience solutions, acquired SmashFly Technologies, a leader in enterprise recruitment marketing and candidate relationship management. We sat down with Roopesh Nair, CEO of Symphony Talent, to learn more about this one and what it means for the industry.

Workforce Logiq, provider of workforce management software and service to large corporations, assumed the predictive analytics and AI software company, ENGAGE Talent, gaining proprietary benchmarks and real-time intelligence models in the process. It’s worth noting that Workforce Logiq is owned by the global investment firm, The Carlyle Group, which took over the majority investment in HireVue last month.

The payroll side of space saw some movement with Alight finalizing its acquisition of NGA Human Resources, and Papaya Global raking in $45 M in Series A. While never the most interesting facet of human capital management, payroll is perhaps the most necessary, with money continuing to function as the most significant employee engagement tool of all.

Upcoming Events & Conferences

Other recent highlights:

  • Toptal, which touts itself as an elite network of the world’s top talent in business, design, and technology, created Staffing.com, a content hub and podcast about the future of staffing.
  • Lever rolled out its latest product release, including an in-app Zoom integration, expanded HRIS integrations with Namely and BambooHR, updated version of Lever Talent Intelligence, and new Inactivity Alerts.
  • SilkRoad Technology went for the C-Suite and introduced a new global service called “CHRO Essentials™.” A consulting program, CHRO Essentials analyzes existing processes and strategy and delivers an execution plan.
  • FACEBOOK, formerly known as Facebook, grew its ATS integrations, adding SmartRecruiters and Applicant Pro to the mix, and just in time for holiday hiring at small businesses.
  • OutMatch added Development Reports to its Talent Discovery Platform. The feature supports employee development through personalized and expanded onboarding, tailored development plans, and recommended resources.

Got news to share with us for our next update? Contact [email protected].

Using LaunchPad as a Sourcing Tool

You can use LaunchPad to source and connect with people!

 

LaunchPad is meant to be a software collaboration platform, but we’re going to show you how to use it to find people. There are a lot of online communities like this that can be used for some creative sourcing! This particular site has over 40,000 projects that you can search or browse, and over 5 million users.

First, search for a topic using keywords. Then, look through those search results for relevant posts. When you see someone that looks interesting, you can click on their username to view their profile. As you will see, some of the users have their email addresses listed right on their profile! Easy peasy!

If their email isn’t listed, that’s okay too. There are other ways to locate them, so you’ll just have to do a little more legwork. For example, take their other information and pop it into Swordfish, or in a worst-case scenario, simply contact them using the LaunchPad messaging service.

Simple and easy! A cool tool that finds you people, and you can combine it with other tools to do so much more!

 

~ Noel Cocca

Look inside with Dean Da Costa:

 

#HRTX in Action: Outtakes from New York City

If you’ve ever wondered what happens at a RecruitingDaily #HRTX event, well get ready because we’re about to give you a first-hand account. Picture it. New York City. The year 2019. The month, November. In a second-floor conference room, more than 100 like-minded professionals gathered together for a full-day workshop about recruiting.

Emcee and presenter Brian Fink kicked things off, before turning to sourcing legend Shally Steckerl, who was ready to host an in-depth look at natural language search and showcase a series of tricks that reveal candidates otherwise hidden in the depths of the internet. Steckerl provided general rules of thumb about refining Google searches to a clickable number (under 500) and samples for event-specific strings such as (member OR roster OR attendee OR chapter OR board OR conference) COMPANY NAME. Consider those two a gift, but you’ll have to attend an #HRTX or harass Shally for more.

Ronnie Bratcher took the stage next, expanding the audience’s knowledge of search engine strategy, i.e., sourcing beyond Google. Have you ever heard of eTools? No? Bratcher explains that this Google alternative searches 15 other engines, allowing you to set languages and preferences as they go. This one also highlights the keywords, letting sourcers zero in on results. He also turns a spotlight on options designed with visual learners in mind like Carrot2 and Peekier.com. So much for AskJeeves. But knowing these engines exist is only half the battle cautions Brachter, you also have to know the right syntax to use them, something he covers in detail.

Just before lunch, Tangie Pettis dove deep into “How to Be More Productive When Sourcing,” starting with the Pomodoro Technique. For those not familiar, “pomodoro” means “tomato” in Italian. In sourcing, it means that we can only source for so long before we need a break. After 27 minutes or so, we start to zone out and need a refresh, even something as simple as standing up, shaking out the old limps, and sitting back down. Pettis introduces a series of tools that support this method, including a Chrome extension that blocks the website you’re on once the timer goes off. She also offers up similar methods for uncovering information about unknown phone numbers, locations, and more while staying super organization.

After that, Steckerl returned to explore the corners of the deep web – not the dark web, nothing sinister happening here. Instead, this is the information that’s off the beaten path and harder to find, meaning unlinked or private websites, dynamic or non-HTML content, for starters. These are web pages that Google and search engines can’t index. Ever try sourcing through peer-reviewed journals to close a particularly niche req? What about the Wayback Machine? With Steckerl’s guidance, you can. And that’s just scratching the Shally surface because he also got into custom search engines, which by building it yourself opens up even more avenues.

Taking a break from his other duties, Fink hopped up again to shed light on the current state of “social recruiting” – and what that means in the age of Amazon and Instagram. By the end of the day, it became pretty clear that if you can’t find candidates, you’re not looking hard enough (or don’t have the right tools in place!).

Interspersed in between these sessions, a few solution providers shared what they’re working on at the moment.

The folks from Oracle spoke on “3 Keys to Win the War for Talent,” which no surprise including sourcing, candidate experience, and internal talent. GR8 People examined the relationship between recruiters and technology, with automation in mind, reassuring attendees that AI supports but doesn’t supplant real-life humans. Symphony Talent, fresh off the SmashFly announcement, covered recruitment advertising and how programmatic strategies serve to target candidates and improve outcomes. Skill Scout put video front and center to bring humanity into job descriptions, providing a primer to get started without a whole film crew.

Do you see what we’re getting at?

#HRTX is a full day of hands-on, useful information from industry folks doing the research and development needed to make recruiting easier and more effective. Can’t argue with that. And if you’re in Los Angeles, you’re in luck – there’s one more event on the schedule for 2019, and it’s in your hood. If you can’t make it, fear not – 2020 dates are coming soon.

Real Estate, Recruiting and Sourcing: A Love Story of Sorts

Recruiting Love Story

 

“building out a mass of maybes does not a hire make.”

There are more than a few parallels between recruiting and real estate. No, this isn’t a diatribe about how candidates are like houses. They’re not, and frankly, we might all benefit from a little more emphasis on the human factor, but that’s a topic for another time. Instead, let’s look at recruiting and real estate as they exist now. 

Both disciplines go back hundreds, if not, thousands of years, ever since the dawn of the modern civilization. People needing housing looked to a landlord or real estate agent to find a dwelling. People needing workers looked to a recruiter to help them make qualified hires. As both industries evolved, this thinking became more sophisticated and nuanced, requiring sharply honed skills along with an intimate knowledge of local markets. Then the internet showed up, and suddenly everyone became expert. 

Except that’s not exactly what happened, is it? Quite the opposite. We need recruiters and real estate agents now more than ever, and with them, all the knowledge that comes from doing the legwork, particularly around sourcing. 

Acknowledging Value 

Look, anyone can go online and root around to try and find potential candidates (or property to keep the real estate analogy going). But building out a mass of maybes does not a hire make. Not to mention that in today’s job market, there aren’t that many people actively looking. As Human Resource Executive so aptly put it, “Sourcers are experts at both research and relationship building, finding potential talent from a myriad of sources and networks, and making initial contact with them, all to put them into the pipeline for open jobs.” 

What we don’t see, or perhaps, don’t recognize, is how much value sourcing brings to the table. The work gets done early on in the process, conducted by lesser-seen resources out there carefully crafting lengthy Boolean strings. It doesn’t necessarily command the grit and glory of later stages in the lifecycle like the interview, or the pomp and circumstance around an accepted offer. Yet, without strong sourcing, where would we be? Most likely, listlessly knocking on the doors of candidates uninterested in letting us in to view their home, let alone consider selling (there it is again). 

Identifying Opportunity 

So, with the case made, how do we fully incorporate sourcing into recruiting, and ensure that the two functions remain intertwined? Well, for one, there’s another variable in the process: the hiring manager. Often cast as the big bad wolf of talent acquisition, hiring managers run the gamut from boor to boon and everywhere in between. We spend hours brainstorming ways to improve the relationship, eager to distill the right information at the get-go to improve outcomes. 

What if we put that same level of energy into sourcing? Says sourcing expert Steve Levy, “To say most programs are suboptimal would be kind. They are laden with opportunities to exclude someone at every step of the process.” Choosing to combine resources into one powerful team rather than separate entities and lament the lack of cohesion across the process. To make this a reality, we need to invite sourcers into the conversation earlier on, soliciting their feedback before attempting to cull candidates and curry favor based solely on the hiring manager’s guidance. In doing so, we open up communication, allowing the free flow of knowledge between stakeholders. 

Closing the Gap

Going back to real estate for a moment. What we’re trying to achieve here is a quick closing. One that unites the buyers, sellers, agents, mortgage brokers and lawyers as painlessly as possible. Anyone who’s ever bought or sold a home knows how intense the process is, and why wouldn’t it be, you’re signing up to own a building for the foreseeable future. Landing a job doesn’t require the same level of commitment, but it’s still a huge decision and one that involves navigating a series of stages and systems. 

Here’s where technology comes into play because, without it, there would be no sourcing. To make collaboration possible, you’re going to need to integrate your sourcing solutions, or at the very least, make it easy for sourcers to upload information from their various … sources. Once you’ve got this in place, start keeping track of sourcing channels, and measuring the effectiveness of each. Talk to the sourcing team about their outreach, conversations, and, ultimately, conversions. Walkthrough their approach, like you would an open house, and get a feel for how the sourcing happens. Having this understanding will reinforce your overall recruiting function by keeping everyone aligned and informed without having to post a sign on the lawn. 

Editors Note: Any chance we get to tie in “The Office” we take it.  A love story, Jim and Pam, recruiting and sourcing, a stretch?  If you want to see how we tackle this topic register now for our upcoming webinar linked below.  If you can’t make it, don’t worry, you can watch it on-demand anytime after.  

Link: https://recruitingwebinars.com/bridging-the-gap-between-sourcing-recruiting

The Bigger Picture on CCPA and Data Privacy

California consumer privacy act and recruiiting at recruitingdaily

 

“Old school” recruiters like myself remember that the best recruiting relies on building relationships

On January 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) goes into effect. Much like the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of two years ago, the law is meant to give consumers more say over how companies collect their data online and how they use it, and affects companies doing any potential business online in California and with the state’s residents- that is, just about every company. There are already plenty of comparisons online between the two laws, such as this chart originating from Thomson Reuters, so I will just summarize by saying that the two laws serve a similar purpose, with a few notable differences. As important as it is to be in compliance with CCPA in the new year, it is more important to recognize why these laws – and others yet to be enacted – are coming into existence, and how the staffing industry should be thinking about data privacy.

Privacy is a basic human right

The passage of laws such as GDPR and CCPA, and coming legislation in other states, forces the issue that data privacy is a core tenet of our technology policies. It codifies many common-sense guidelines, such as retaining candidate data only with permission, treating data sharing as an opt-in rather than opt-out, and not abusing the trust created in the candidate relationship by selling data or using it for communications – spam – beyond what the relationships warrant.

We must treat data privacy as more than a subject of governance with which we must comply but as a basic human right. Data privacy is the new reality for all organizations, the staffing industry included. Think about why we collect personal data vs. how it is used; is it to spam entire lists of candidates, or to support the relationships built with them to better serve their careers?

Not only must companies respect data privacy, but they should also embrace it- to their benefit.

Turn data privacy into an opportunity

The advent of ATS and VMS presented us with an opportunity in allowing the collection of vast amounts of personal data to expedite the recruiting process and fundamentally altered the way recruiters interact with candidates. Similarly, we can view the growing focus on data privacy as an opportunity rather than a restriction. Regulation forces us to ask the question we should have always asked about harvesting personal data: just because we can do it, should we?

“Old school” recruiters like myself remember that the best recruiting relies on building relationships. Back then, it was the only way to interact with candidates. New technologies put new pressure on recruiters to be faster to compete, but the risk that came with speed – more quantity – was the loss of quality. Technology allowed recruiters to hire candidates faster, but too often this is done without building relationships. In this case, personal data collected through these platforms becomes a commodity to be used rather than a privilege that enhances best practices.

Focus on using data to become a better recruiter

There are a number of things recruiters can do to succeed in using data to build relationships in this age of data compliance, including:

  • Curating candidate pools and focusing on relationships: the data is there to improve candidate interactions, not to force them. Artificial intelligence, in particular, is something recruiters can and should leverage in the curating process.
  • Looking to partner with candidates to create career opportunities: as partners, they are more likely to opt in to data collection, increasing response and placement rates.
  • Using data to make things easier for candidates, not harder: for example, rather than focusing on lists and volume, communications should be modeled on desired outcomes rather than mass outreach.

Staffing professionals know how to fulfill the promise of recruiting: to be a meaningful partner to employers and candidates and help people advance their careers. Having more data, and being asked to comply with new privacy regulations regarding that data, does not change that. The competitive pressure to place candidates faster remains, but the secret to success is to be better as well, and not let the speed come at the cost of relationships with candidates and clients. As GDPR and soon, CCPA, remind us, candidate data is a gift – one that deserves respect.