Every Friday in case you missed it, ‘The Week That Was” is all you need to know about anything that matters in recruiting. We go out to the interwebs and gather interesting and insightful recruiting news we will interest you. This week we learned Nimble got some cash,  NASA released software to launch your recruiting game to the moon, LinkedIn admitted defeat, and if you are looking for graphics, we can help you Pickit. (And no, that is not a typo.)

Recruiting Terms Defined:

Employer Blanding – When a companies Employer Branding efforts are boring, bland, and lacking any visible innovation.

Tweet of the Week:

It Doesn’t Take a Rocket Scientist: NASA Releases HR Tech

NASA just released their 2017-2018 software catalog. Included is a huge portfolio of software products all free of charge to the public, without the need for royalty or copyright fees.

 “Software has been a critical component of each of NASA’s mission successes and scientific discoveries. In fact, more than 30 percent of all reported NASA innovations are software,” said Dan Lockney, NASA’s Technology Transfer program executive. “We’re pleased to transfer these tools to other sectors and excited at the prospect of seeing them implemented in new and creative ways.”

Don’t worry about it being too hard to figure out how to use it. NASA dumbed it down for use mortals by automating the process making implementation pretty straight forward. The best part for us? This year’s catalog includes HR Tech Software including their Integrated Cognitive Assessment Tool. In a nutshell, the Integrated Cognitive Assessment Tool will tell you if your candidate has the brain power to perform a specific task. Don’t worry if you are not planning on sending someone to the moon; this tool includes traditional performance measurements that may be useful to you! Click here to try it for yourself.

Bow Down: LinkedIn is Bringing Some Pre-Update Functionality Back

People totally hate the new LinkedIn interface. As a matter of fact, hundreds of thousands have gone to LinkedIn with their concerns, and LinkedIn listened. As a matter of fact, they are gradually roll out:

  • Text fields for keyword searches: Refine your search by first name, last name, title (current), company (current) and/or school using text fields on the Top and People pages. Like our search operators, these fields support the AND, OR and NOT boolean operators
  • Sticky Filters: When you select filters for your search they will remain in place for future searches until you deselect them using the Clear all button at the top of the filter list
  • Saved Searches (also known as search alerts): Save and reuse your favorite searches
  • Speed: We’re taking our first steps towards a dramatically faster search experience

Believe it or not, , Director of Product Management, Search & Discovery for LinkedIn  said:

“At LinkedIn, ‘Members first’ is one of the core tenets of our engineering process. “Members first” means listening to our members, deeply understanding their needs and building products that meet them. It also means acknowledging when you didn’t get it quite right.”

Um. That is all we want to say about that. In the meantime, click here to see the LinkedIn changes that you should know.

Goodbye ClipArt. Hello, Pickit.

Speaking of Employer Blanding, have we got news for you! Microsoft Ventures just forked over $4.6 million for Pickit’s Series A round. This means that Microsoft Office users can step up Employer Branding because of the new access to thousands of professional-looking pictures, images, and icons. Mathias Björkholm, Co-CEO, and Founder of Pickit said:

[quote]With this latest round of financing, we truly get the chance to expand our business model and create a dedicated image bank for modern Microsoft Office users. We’re already adding value and functionality to the Microsoft Office applications that people use on a daily basis and we look forward to working with Microsoft Ventures and our other partners as we continue to increase productivity.[/quote]

There is a little catch, however.  It only works on Word Online and:

  • 2013 Service Pack 1 or later
  • 2016 or later
  • Word 2016 for Mac

CRM Nimble Raises $9 Million Series A 

Part of CRM Nimble’s success is because it is so easy to use. No matter where you are – Gmail, Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook or even a Forbes article – you only need one click to pull info from emails and web pages and enrich contact records. Of course, it also brings together your calendar, contacts, and email, Nimble CEO Jon Ferrera said.

That way, workers don’t have to spend a lot of time gathering background on people by doing Google searches and the like, he said, it just presents contact information whether the user is in their email program or the Web via their computer or smartphone. And the Nimble solution is layered onto the Google G Suite and Microsoft Office 365 platforms for ease of use.

“Today’s legacy CRMs are too complex and hard to use, and we end up spending more time maintaining data in our CRMs than letting our CRM platforms work for us. The resulting low-end user adoption is a significant cause of failure for CRMs,” said Ferrara. “At Nimble we’ve solved the end user adoption issue and have built a CRM that end users love to use by seamlessly integrating with Office 365 and Google G Suite Emails, Contacts and Calendars, eliminating tedious data entry, and automating repetitive tasks. Nimble lives where users work: in email, the browser, and on their mobile devices.”

 

Recruiting Tools
News Trends Video
By Jackye Clayton

Jackye is an acclaimed thought leader and inspirational speaker on recruiting and DEIB topics. She brings years of experience recruiting across a variety of industries including tech, HR, legal, and finance. In her role as VP of Talent Acquisition and DEIB, she leads all related work at Textio, provides critical expertise to customers, and serves as a leading voice in the products Textio creates for the broader ecosystem. Jackye has been named one of the 9 Powerful Women in Business You Should Know by SDHR Consulting, one of the 15 Women in HR Tech to Follow by VidCruiter, and is on the Top 100 list of Human Resources Influencers by Human Resource Executive Magazine.