Recruiting Future with Matt Alder Evergreen Podcasts

Skills-based hiring is not just a passing trend; it's a significant shift in the recruiting landscape. Many employers are eager to unlock its advantages in terms of flexibility, diversity, economic efficiency, and dealing with talent shortages. But is there a gap between theory and practice regarding understanding and implementation?

Over the last few months, experienced TA leader Adrian Thomas and myself have partnered with Neil Kelly at Vector on some research to uncover the realities and practicalities of skills-based hiring within large global employers.

Neil and Adrian join me on this episode to discuss the findings, some of which are quite surprising, and to look at what employers need to do to advance with skills-based hiring. 

In the interview, we discuss:

Why and how we did the research

Motivations for being skills-based

Some surprising findings

The problems with skills taxonomies

Talent Acquisition and Talent Management 

Training Hiring Managers

The way forward for skills-based hiring

Download our report " Skills-Based Hiring, The Gap Between Theory and Practice”

Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Podcasting at events and conferences is one of my favorite things to do. I love the joy of seeing people face to face, and you get the opportunity to access a broad range of views and expertise around the topics shaping the industry.

At the beginning of May, Recruiting Future was an official media partner of The HR Technology Conference Europe in Amsterdam, the first time the event had been held outside of the US.  

AI was a central theme in the discussions, and I was eager to gather insights on the current use cases of AI tools, as well as the potential future implications.

The first voice you will hear is Rebecca Carr, CPO and acting CEO of SmartRecruiters, talking about AI as a co-pilot and its potential to enhance the very human aspects of recruiting.

Next up after Rebecca is my friend and co-author, the ever-present Mervyn Dinnen, talking about his concerns about the impact of AI on employee experience and creativity

Finally, I spoke to Norwegian entrepreneur Eivind Arnsten about the AI employer lawyer his company is building and the potential for widespread automation throughout HR processes and activities.

Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Inclusive hiring is vital to building inclusive organizations, and the benefits of getting it right are considerable, both at a human and a business level. Recognizing bias, standardizing hiring manager behavior, and analyzing data are just some of the things employers need to consider to be more inclusive in their hiring.

My guest this week is Sarah Harnett, Senior Director of People Business Partners at Greenhouse Software. In our conversation, Sarah talks us through the steps that Greenhouse has taken to build an inclusive culture through inclusive hiring practices.

In the interview, we discuss:

What does it take to build a diverse workforce?

Understanding your employee's experience

Hiring as a starting point for building an inclusive culture

ERGs as a vehicle to empower people

Dealing with systemic bias

Inclusive hiring manager behaviors

Structured hiring processes

Connecting DE&I strategy to corporate strategy

The implications of AI on inclusive hiring

Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

The pace of change in recruiting technology continues to accelerate, and with it come opportunities to improve hiring outcomes, streamline operational efficiency, and make much-needed improvements to the candidate experience. When you add in increasing volumes of applications driven by candidate use of AI and the differing wants and needs of a new generation entering the workforce, it becomes evident that we are on the brink of a profound transformation in recruiting processes.

So, what are the most forward-thinking companies already doing? My guest this week is Hollie Powell, Recruitment Business Partner at EDF. EDF is reinventing its recruiting process for early careers and improving the candidate experience by carefully balancing technology and automation with high-quality human interaction.

In the interview, we discuss:

The early careers strategy at EDF

Increasing volumes of applications through candidate use of AI

How EDF is evolving its recruiting process

The enormous benefits of effective video interviewing

Speeding up the process to improve the candidate experience

Ensuring high quality human interaction during the process

Using an organization wide strengths-based framework

Keeping up with changing candidate wants and needs

Planning for the skills shortages of the future

Consumer brand versus employer brand

How will early careers evolve in the coming years?

Follow this podcast in Apple Podcasts.

As I've said many times before, automation in recruiting and HR is inevitable. This means that every TA and HR leader should be thinking strategically about automation, its implications, and, most importantly, the value that it will add right now.

So what are the benefits of automation, and where and how should talent functions be automated?

My guest this week is Brandon Sammut, Chief People Officer at Zapier. Automation is in Zapiers corporate DNA, and they are successfully using it to drive their talent density strategy through automation in recruiting, onboarding, and skills development.

In the interview, we discuss:

What Talent Density means at Zapier and how they built it

Focusing on what is uniquely human

Being transparent about a remote-only employee experience

T shaped talent

Automated Onboarding

Using automation to solve hard problems and make things more personal at scale.

Experience design and empathy

Understand where to apply automation and where not to apply it.

Developing AI skills across the business

What will the future look like?

Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.

It is becoming clear that job seekers' use of AI tools in the application process has profound implications for talent acquisition. Many employers report a significant increase in application volume, and there is a potential technology arms race as employers and job boards attempt to use AI to identify AI.
While this may help in the short term, it won't work in the long term, and is job seeker AI use even a bad thing?
My guest this week is expert job board consultant Alexander Chukovski. Alexander has been doing a deep dive into how job seekers use AI and its implications for recruiting. He has valuable insights about job seeker verification and its potential to create win-win situations for candidates, job boards, and employers.
In the interview, we discuss:

The implications of a new generation of AI-savvy job seekers

The different ways job seekers are using AI include

ATS integration

The drawbacks and risks for candidates using AI tools

A pointless tech "arms race."

Why is it difficult to spot the use of AI in CVs and applications?

How should the industry respond?

The rise of verification technology

What can be verified now and what might be possible in the future

The importance of job seekers owning their data

What does the future look like?

Follow this podcast on Apple Podcasts.