HCM Talent Technology Roundup November 12, 2021

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission launched an initiative to ensure that artificial intelligence and other emerging tools comply with federal civil rights laws when they’re used in hiring and other employment decisions. While acknowledging their potential, “the EEOC is keenly aware that these tools may mask and perpetuate bias or create new discriminatory barriers to jobs,” said EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows. The initiative aims to guide applicants, employees, employers and technology vendors in ensuring these technologies are used fairly and consistently with federal equal employment opportunity laws.

Fountain closed an $85 million Series C round, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The investment follows strong company momentum during 2021, the company said, as revenue grew 220% year-over-year. With the round, Fountain has raised $119 million to date. It will use the funding to invest in continued development of its hiring platform, to grow its sales and engineering teams and its operations and presence in EMEA and APAC.

Hirewell received a $21 million investment from Prytek, an investment firm with expertise in integrating global services firms. As part of the investment, Hirewell will acquire ICV, a Tel Aviv-based software company. The combination will unite Hirewell’s recruiting expertise with Prytek’s and ICV’s technical acumen.

Jump Recruits released a new diversity recruitment talent hub. Building upon existing features, Jump now creates custom pipelines for individuals and businesses and, beyond identifying candidate and career opportunities, acts as a community with shared career development tools, assistance in developing a more inclusive workspace and understanding evolving business capabilities. The platform gives users the ability to create their own profile, identify current opportunities, notify businesses that they’re interested in the company as an employer and take advantage of training, support and career tools.

Research by InFlight Corporation revealed significant gaps between the expense of attracting candidates and diminishing engagement due to friction in the online application process. The research also uncovered a disconnect between the people designing experiences and those who buy and configure the technology. Even when organizations were smart about including recruitment marketing visual brand elements, the corresponding technology experience wasn’t configured to support a positive user impact and high application completion rates, the company found.

HiringSolved launched a new release targeting enterprise organizations. The company said it put “additional emphasis” on search and match features as well as data analytics and reporting to help employers source and hire the right talent more quickly.

PDS announced several improvements to its Vista HCM platform. Vista Recruiting now offers additional controls to manage the applicant’s registration process and improve the recruiter’s analysis of recruitment activity. Vista Onboarding offers simplified personalization and better monitoring of the onboarding process. And Vista Benefits has been enhanced to include a new streamlined benefits enrollment experience.

Authors

Mark Feffer

Mark Feffer is executive editor of RecruitingDaily and the HCM Technology Report. He’s written for TechTarget, HR Magazine, SHRM, Dice Insights, TLNT.com and TalentCulture, as well as Dow Jones, Bloomberg and Staffing Industry Analysts. He likes schnauzers, sailing and Kentucky-distilled beverages.