RecruitingDaily presented the final HRTX event of the year, the free virtual training program for recruiters.
This HRTX, Hacking All Talent, featured nearly 30 industry trainers presenting their tips and tricks for hacking highly sought-after talent in eight fields. Each trainer brought their expertise and experience to teach attendees how they approach sourcing and recruiting for roles involved in:
- Nursing and Allied Health
- Data Science and Analytics
- Digital Marketing/Sales
- Finance
- Engineering
- Cybersecurity
- Government/Cleared Contractors
- Pharmaceuticals and Life Science
Over the course of the two-day event, attendees had their pick of a wide array of content. Each day started with a kickoff presentation – hosted by Brian Fink and Rachel Duran – to discuss broader topics and issues in recruiting today. Daniela Herrera and Shally Steckerl also hosted Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions to discuss where the industry experts got their brains picked for more detailed information. There were also sponsored sessions for paid tools including Seekout, Clinch, Greenhouse, Filtered, Gem, Hired, Qualifi and HireEZ.
The through-line of this HRTX was coming to terms with recent months’ economic instability. With layoffs hitting a high in the tech industry, many people – including some sourcers and recruiters – are switching industries or seeking new jobs.
We also saw first-hand the effects of downsizing in the tech industry and beyond. Rachel Duran kicked off day two with a presentation about resilience and ditching toxic positivity in the wake of layoffs – including her own. As she said, change is inevitable but that doesn’t mean we can’t be ready for it.
Takeaways
- Many of the sessions examined new places for people to source from. Long-time industry expert Brian Fink recommended using A9 – or as we know it, Amazon – by searching for books related to a role and scraping information about the people who reviewed it. The usage of online libraries to find researchers was shown by M&T Bank vice president Greg Hawkes. Industry expert and Lockheed Martin enterprise Sourcer Dean Da Costa brought up looking to Federal Election Commission (FEC) database for donations for potential talent.
- Among other presenters, Shally Steckerl proposed using attendee lists of events to find candidates. Sourcing cleared candidates from contracts and contract numbers was mentioned by both Junius Currier and Todd Davis. And Alan Fluhrer, talent acquisition manager at W.E. O’Neil Construction, brought the discussion back to recruiting roots when he suggested building relationships in-person in order to attract loyal, top talent.
- One of the topics trainers really hit hard was understanding the role before beginning to source or recruit. Lindsey DiCello recommended that her audience gather information on the company and the team as well as build a relationship with the hiring manager. Similarly, there was talk of understanding the roles themselves and the people that are in them. Alla Pavlova of Riot Games gave insight into data scientists: Among other things, they don’t need to have a specific degree and often come from different backgrounds, making them a trick to find. A crash course in finance was given by sourcing and technology consultant Steven Rawlings. In addition, AMS’s Katie Gentry discussed knowing why pharma employees leave their current roles citing academic interest and passion.
- Automating and optimizing the sourcing was, of course, a large part of the sessions. A large portion of presenters shared their best Boolean search strings. They included Dean Da Costa, who showcased natural language in Boolean search strings. A system of automation using CODΞ’s candidate lookup extension was shown by Balazs Paroczay,
Coming Up
Sign up now to be notified when tickets are available for our HRTX Events in 2023, both virtual and in-person.
Don’t forget you can register for The 12 Days of Sourcing through December 23, 2022.
Register to receive a daily email with the link to a newly unlocked sourcing tip, trick or hack that’s being shared exclusively for this event. We’ll do that for 12 days. You’ll learn secrets of some of the industry’s best-known sourcing leaders, leading talent acquisition at some of the best-known companies.
By Gracie Wirick
Gracie Wirick is a writer and editor at RecruitingDaily and the HCM Technology report. A Purdue graduate with degrees in Professional Writing and Communication. She is a lover of classics and literature with an unfortunate penchant for the Oxford comma.
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