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Author: Madeline Laurano

Madeline Laurano is the founder and chief analyst of Aptitude Research. For over 18 years, Madeline’s primary focus has been on the HCM market, specializing in talent acquisition and employee experience. Her work helps companies both validate and re-evaluate their strategies and understand the role technology can play in driving business outcomes. She has watched HCM transform from a back-office function to a strategic company initiative with a focus on partnerships, experience and efficiency.

Before founding Aptitude Research, Madeline held research roles at Aberdeen, Bersin by Deloitte, ERE Media and Brandon Hall Group. She is the co-author of Best Practices in Leading a Global Workforce and is often quoted in leading business publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Yahoo News, The New York Times and The Financial Times. She is a frequent presenter at industry conferences including the HR Technology Conference and Exposition, SHRM, IHRIM, HCI’s Strategic Talent Acquisition Conference, Unleash, GDS International’s HCM Summit, and HRO Today.

In her spare time, she is a runner, an avid sports fan and juggles a house full of boys (where a spontaneous indoor hockey game is not unheard of!).

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2018 HR Technology Conference: Bridging the Past and the Future

The energy at this year’s HR Technology Conference is hard to describe. This is an industry that thrives on connections. And there was no shortage of connections at this year’s event. Customers built closer relationships with solution providers. Partnerships were established. And even competitors explored opportunities with each other. This is an industry willing to share and an industry willing to learn. We have a unique opportunity to stay connected as vendors, practitioners, and thought leaders and something we should never take for granted. It is a great time to be in HR Technology.

I am still processing much of what I learned over the past week but some of the obvious themes include next generation assessments, communication solutions (yes, chatbots), employee experience solutions, and talent acquisition. Several years ago, startups were driving this market. Today, the focus has been on traditional providers that are setting the pace for innovation through enhanced products and partnerships.

Here are some of my observations and some providers worth checking out:

Assessments: Companies are increasing their investment in pre-hire assessments this year. In fact, according to Aptitude Research Partners’ 2018 Assessment study, 71% of companies are leveraging at least one assessment provider and 57% of these companies are using two or more providers. Until very recently, assessments have been a very stagnant market with little innovation. In fact, only 25% of companies in Aptitude’s 2018 Hire, Engage, Retain study are considering a mobile assessment solution. The good news is that we are now seeing tremendous innovation in the assessment space from both startups and traditional assessment providers. As my friend Jonathan Kestenbaum at Talent Tech Labs says: “Assessments are back in style”. This market has reinvented itself to be more predictive and candidate friendly. Below are some providers that impressed us last week:

–          Infor: Infor’s Talent Science is embedded into its talent suite- making assessments the framework of every talent solution. The candidate experience has been a priority over the past year and the assessments are mobile optimized. Infor has been successful at reducing the time to complete an assessment by 40% and at making assessments more predictive through the use of machine learning.

–          HireVue: Through the acquisition of MindX and its own product development, HireVue has established itself as a strong contender in the assessment space. Its’ focus is on game-based assessments that are predictive and ensure that candidates are more engaged in the process.

–          Shaker: If you are familiar with the assessment market, you probably know Shaker’s Virtual Job Tryout. It is a leader in game-based assessments. Shaker has made significant changes in the past year with a new leadership team (industry experts), global growth, and product innovation. It is focusing on areas such as internal mobility, predictive assessments, and mobile solutions.

–          SHL: Since going independent six months ago, SHL has moved away from a traditional assessment business and is focused on helping companies transform their workforce capabilities. It does this through the combination of science, technology, and data. It offers both pre-hire and post-hire assessments (talent acceleration) and focuses on the context of the work environment.

 

Candidate Communication: Today’s candidates are making smarter decisions about what they want from an employer. They are diving deeper into job sites, career sites, and social media to get a clear picture of an organization before making a connection. They want to understand if the skills they have are the skills needed for the job. Employers are finding better ways to communicate with candidates but they less than 40% companies provide relevant information to help candidates make better decisions. Companies want to do better and they are looking to providers to help improve communication (often through chatbots). Below are some companies improving candidate communication:

–          AllyO: There was no shortage of chatbots at this year’s conference. But AllyO stood out from others because of its accelerated automation and benefits to the candidate. It requires no registration or friction and no risk to candidates.

–          Brazen: One of the first chat and online communication solutions in recruitment, Brazen is now including its’ chat functionality on career sites and job pages.

–          IBM: Let’s be honest, most talent acquisition providers in AI are not really AI. Craig Fisher of Allegis Group calls it “Augmented Intelligence”. But there are a few exceptions, and Watson is one of them. Watson Candidate Assistant provides both employers and candidates with the insights they need to make better decisions and personalize the recruitment process. It is now available in more languages including French and also, available to Greenhouse customers through a new strategic partnership.

–          Montage: With a recent acquisition (GreenJobs Interview), momentum in several industries including Financial Services, and a strong year of growth, Montage has had an exciting year. Although its roots are in the video interviewing space, over half of its’ clients are using communication solutions that are not related to video including text, scheduling, and a recruiter assistant.

–          Monster: Monster is making improvements to the candidate journey and looking beyond pre-applicant. It offers authentic videos through Monster Studios to give candidates a better sense of an employer and connect employees and candidates.

–          Yello: Yello has made significant enhancements to its product over the past year including candidate engagement and communication. Through text messaging capabilities, Yello can provide keywords to candidates so they can be directed to career pages and can easily connect with employers.

Talent Acquisition Trifecta Providers: The Talent Acquisition Trifecta is the core areas of talent acquisition: recruitment marketing, ATS, and onboarding. Companies, regardless of size, need solutions to handle all three of these areas in order to be effective. While recruitment marketing has seen a great deal of innovation over the past year (we are publishing the recruitment marketing index in October so keep an eye out for providers in that space), ATS and Onboarding providers are enhancing their solutions as well. Below are some leading talent acquisition providers:

–          Clickboarding: Onboarding is one of the most important areas of talent acquisition that impacts productivity, retention, and performance. While so many solutions focus on the candidate experience, the new hire experience often gets ignored. Clickboarding is one of the most impressive solutions in onboarding today and provides both the compliance to employers and the positive experience that new hires expect.

–          Greenhouse: Greenhouse is continuing to move up market and has made a strategic partnership with IBM to use its Watson Candidate Assistant (see above).

–          Jobvite: Although many of the ATS providers now offer recruitment marketing capabilities, Jobvite has differentiated itself by selling the product as a stand-alone and investing in strong capabilities that go beyond just checking the box for a CRM.

–          SmartRecruiters: In addition to recent product announcements including SmartJobs, and SmartAssistant, SmartRecruiters has also been focused on its CRM product. It is ensuring that companies can easily create campaigns and make better decisions around engaging talent.

Employee Experience: Companies recognize the impact of experience on their growth and profitability and are making changes to how they communicate with, engage, and support their customers. But, creating an engaging experience does not and should not end with the customer. It must extend into our workforce. Just as companies are prioritizing customers, they must also focus on solutions that improve the employee experience. Below are some of the solution providers leading the way in employee experience.

–          Globoforce: Globoforce is continuing to improve the employee experience through its recognition software and conversations solution, which allows employees to receive ongoing feedback on performance.

–          Limeade: If you think about a modern employee experience model, wellness is the foundation. If employees are not well, productivity and performance are in jeopardy. Limeade provides solutions that promote wellness and mindfulness to benefit not only organizational goals but the overall employee experience. It also announced the acquisition of Sitrion, an employee communication tool, to further its commitment to the employee experience.

–          meQuilibrium: If you haven’t heard of MeQuilibrium, it’s because this provider spent over two years developing its interactive solution before going to market. MeQuilibrium focuses on measuring resiliency and collecting data on how thoughts and feelings impact employee performance.

–          Willis Towers Watson: The HR portal software is not a traditional HR Portal- it is a solution to employee communication and experience. This solution is personalized and branded to reflect company goals and objectives and includes case management, total rewards dashboards, and analytics.  One financial services client with over 80,000 employees invested in the HR portal to increase employee participation in total rewards programs and showcase the company brand.

It is a good time to be in HR Technology. With providers looking to help solve business challenges and improve the experience of the individual, this market has come along way. This blog is just a snapshot of some of the announcements from last week. We would love to hear what interested you.

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Blog Talent Acquisition Strategies

Six Strategies for Improving Recruitment Marketing

Recruitment marketing is one of the fastest growing areas of HR technology with nearly 70% of enterprise companies investing in some capabilities. It is a popular topic and one that tends to focus on some obvious trends CRM, career sites, and analytics. Companies want solutions that will help them attract talent before they apply for a job.

The challenge is that most companies have very little understanding of what recruitment marketing is and how to evaluate and select a partner. Building a business case can be a challenge when companies feel overwhelmed with a lot of product and a lot of use cases. Some companies need to start out small and consider strategies that can help to bring immediate benefits to recruitment marketing initiatives. These strategies may not be the most obvious but they are simple to adopt.

Today, I am presenting on a webinar with Stephen Schwander, Director of Client Solutions at Talemetry, to address six innovative trends in recruitment marketing that are practical and easy to implement including:

• Communication: How texting directly with candidates optimizes response rates
• Personalization: How personalized content empowers the candidate journey and builds ongoing relationships
• Feedback: How sharing and reviewing feedback earlier on prospective talent provides an expedited and higher quality recruitment process
• Insights: How gaining insight and visibility into career site visitor behavior can empower recruiting teams to segment candidates and nurture the most engaged talent
• Machine Learning: How Google machine learning can maximize career site traffic and engagement to increase candidate conversion
• Candidate Conversion: How improving candidate conversion on Indeed can increase overall application volume

Recruitment marketing doesn’t have to be a future goal. It can be an immediate goal and something your company can start working on today.

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Blog Talent Acquisition Strategies

Measuring the Effectiveness of Campus Recruiting: Four Strategies for Success

Campus recruiting is not a new phenomenon. It has long been viewed as a critical part of talent acquisition for companies both big and small. In fact, according to Aptitude Research Partners’ 2018 Hire, Engage, and Retain study, nearly 70% of companies are hiring new college graduates this year. But as the competition for talent intensifies, companies are placing more emphasis on their campus recruiting efforts and paying close attention to how they can achieve results. Leading companies are beginning to rethink their campus recruiting programs and invest in world-class technology to transform the experience for both recruiters and student talent.

These companies are looking to make better decisions around how they engage and communicate with student talent. But, they don’t always know how to evaluate their efforts. In our latest research on campus recruitment, only 30% of companies how a process for measuring their campus recruiting efforts. In a time when companies need to align talent and business strategies, campus recruiting efforts need to be better managed, tracked and evaluated. The good news is that technology solutions can help organizations measure these efforts and provide the data they need to make more informed decisions.

Below are a few ways that companies to better measure their campus recruiting efforts:

Define the Metrics: Not every company will have the same approach to measuring their campus recruiting efforts. It is important to consider what your unique hiring needs and goals are before defining the metrics that matter to your company. When a company understands what they are measuring, they are better positioned to make changes and improvements. Some of the metrics that companies use to evaluate campus recruiting efforts include performance of schools and events, cost savings, candidate experience and conversion rates (especially time from acceptance to start).

Make it Continuous: There is a tendency in campus recruiting to only measure effectiveness during campus event season or individual events. Companies need a long-term approach to campus recruiting that happens continuously during the year and extends beyond career fairs. Companies that are evaluating their efforts throughout the year are more likely to see improvements to their programs.

Consider Events Management: Companies that automate the administrative tasks such as scheduling and follow-ups are able to focus on measuring the effectiveness of their efforts and defining what success will look like in the future. These companies that automate the process can track what works and what doesn’t work and can make decisions based on data.

Invest in the Right Technology: Eighty percent (80%) of companies using technology have insight into campus recruiting talent. A large outsourcing firm that we interviewed for the report are using technology to capture candidate data digitally, providing complete transparency into campus recruiting results, while improving the candidate experience through streamlined resume collection. Yello helped the organization to streamline all activities and provide insights they needed to be more effective.

Campus recruiting is a top three priority for companies this year according to Aptitude’s Hire, Engage, Retain study. We are excited about our latest research and hope that more companies consider a more long-term approach to how they improve and measure their campus recruitment efforts.

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New Research: The Informed Candidate

Today’s candidates are making smarter decisions about what they want from an employer. They are diving deeper into job sites, career sites, and social media to get a clear picture of an organization before making a connection. They want to understand if the skills they have are the skills needed for the job. This more “informed candidate” brings significant benefits to organizations by improving efficiency and helping companies stay more strategic in the hiring process. And it is becoming clear that companies that want to successfully compete for talent need to embrace the informed candidate and manage their online brand to provide the most accurate and relevant information.

According to Aptitude research conducted in 2018, companies define the informed candidates as having the right information for an interview, the right skills for the job, and someone who has conducted his or her own research. When candidates know what to expect, recruiters are able to better meet those expectations and provide a positive experience. Last month, we published some new research on how companies can do a better job engaging the informed candidate. Here are some of the key findings and recommendations:

• Provide Accurate Information: Only 22% of companies communicate with candidates in a timely manner and much of the information provided is not accurate. In fact, only 32% of companies are confident that they know where they are advertising jobs to candidates. Companies need to pay close attention to the information they are providing candidates whether through advertisements, career sites, or even job descriptions. The more accurate and relevant the information, the more likely the candidate will be the right fit.

• Invest in Employer Branding: Thirty-eight percent (38%) of companies say that employer branding is still a significant barrier in the hiring process. In Aptitude Research Partner’s 2018 Hire, Engage and Retain study, companies identified employer branding tools as one of the top 3 most effective sources of hire for every position from executive level roles to hourly workers. Companies that invest in employer branding efforts are empowering the informed candidate with information that can help them through their journey. It gives them information about the company as well as relevant jobs.

• Manage Online Reputation: Candidates are doing their own research and companies should be involved in that process. Eighty percent (80%) of candidates have accurate information from companies that manage their online reputation compared to only 36% of candidates from companies that do not manage their online reputation. Managing an online reputation could include employer branding efforts, social media sites, as well as employee feedback sites. Candidates are 40% more likely to apply for a job at companies where they recognize the brand.

The key to building a successful candidate experience is understanding that it begins well before an individual is actually a “candidate”. It begins during the attract phase of talent acquisition when employers leverage a variety of channels and content to engage and inform both active and passive candidates early in the process. This experience begins when a candidate starts to gather information on a job or an employer.

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Assessments: You Have Better Options

I have been covering the assessment market for the past 15 years. And to be honest…I have done a less than stellar job. Looking back on research from 2005 makes me want to cringe. We are still talking about the same trends, the same providers, and the same challenges. Companies continue to invest heavily in assessments (some close to $2 million) and assessments continue to frustrate recruiters, hiring managers, and candidates. Not much has changed. Overall, most companies feel that assessments are not short enough, not predictive enough, and not candidate-friendly enough. If you have ever taken an assessment, you get it. It is a test and most people don’t like tests.

But the conundrum that companies face is that assessments actually provide tremendous value when used correctly. In an era when everyone wants less bias and more science, assessments are a proven model. In research we conducted earlier this year, assessments are one of the top three investments for talent acquisition leaders and an investment that 30% of companies believe has the greatest impact on quality of hire. It is a market where most companies want to increase their budgets. Unfortunately, they need better options.

Last week, when most of the talent acquisition community was focused on the acquisition of Glassdoor, HireVue announced its own acquisition of MindX– a game-based assessment provider. It is not HireVue’s first acquisition but it may be the best to date. HireVue is establishing itself as a strong contender in assessments and providing companies with exactly what they need…a better option. This acquisition represents a shift in the assessment market where companies are no longer at the mercy of traditional providers.

We are publishing a major piece of research on assessments this month and some of the trends we are seeing include:

–          Experience vs. Validation: The assessment market is not a startup market. Companies need providers with validated solutions and I/Os on staff. Many times, this commitment to validation comes at the expense of a positive experience. The next generation of assessment providers will provide both a positive experience (shorter assessments that are more candidate-friendly) and trusted data and solutions.

–          Lack of Awareness: Most enterprise companies invest heavily in assessments but most have limited knowledge of the providers that play in this market. The assessment market is not small by any means but the number of providers with brand awareness are few and far between. It creates a feeling of “meh” around assessments. Companies have a hard time leaving a provider that they are not satisfied with when they do not know what options are available.

–          Increased Demand for High-Volume: Most companies are increasing their investment for assessments for high-volume positions to help them narrow the funnel and attract quality hires. This is a shift from the heavy investment in custom assessments for executive level positions of the past.

–          Game-based assessments: Companies want game-based assessments for their most critical roles and see value in a better candidate experience and the ability to predict future performance.

We will publish our latest assessment research this month. We have interviewed many talent acquisition leaders this year and feel confident that we will do a better job addressing the real challenges and opportunities in this market.

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A Simple Way to Improve Quality in Talent Acquisition

According to our latest talent acquisition survey, forty percent of companies are increasing their headcount this year and as a result, need to think about investing in the right solutions. Many of these companies are thinking differently about some of the basic areas of talent acquisition rather than investing in what seems to be “new”. Companies want solutions that can help ensure quality of hire and provide a better candidate experience. It sounds simple but with thousands of solutions entering the market, finding providers you can trust is more valuable than bells and whistles.

Over 50% of companies said that background screening solutions have the greatest impact on quality. Screening solutions help organizations make better decisions around the talent they are bringing into the organization. Most companies are investing in criminal background checks as well as verification of employment and education. And…over 60% of companies view screening as so strategic that they are moving it up in the process.

Next week I will present on a webinar to discuss how companies are leveraging these solutions to improve both sides of quality: quality of hire and the quality of the candidate experience. Here are some of the topics we covered:

Quality of Hire: Background screening is one way organizations can improve quality of hire by providing another layer of objectivity needed to make better decisions and retain talent. When an organization is able to eliminate applicants that do not fit the position or role in the process, they can focus on the individuals that are more likely to contribute to organizational performance and growth. Organizations that are taking a more strategic approach to background screening – deeply probing into relevant information on candidates and relying on more than single errors to reject candidates – identify quality hires. Companies that invest in screening are three times more likely to track quality of hire.

Quality of the Experience: Aptitude’s research shows that investing in the right provider improves efficiency and the quality of hire and the overall candidate experience. Companies that invest in background screening solutions are viewing it as part of the process and are twice as likely to have improved their overall candidate experience in the past year. A proper and efficient screening process saves candidates the headache of getting too far along in the application process before being rejected. According to research from The Talent Board, on average, over a quarter of the employers surveyed stated that 50-75% of applicants aren’t qualified for the jobs they applied for across job classifications. Companies that invest in screening improve the candidate experience and track it so they can make changes and communicate better in the future.

Companies that invest in a strategic background screening provider are able to trust that the data about candidates is reliable. Thus, the quality of hire and the experience is improved. We hope you join us next week!

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April Acquisitions in Talent Acquisition

According to the PwC Deals report that published yesterday, 506 deals took place involving US tech companies in Q1. To put that in perspective, we are talking about $60 billion exchanged. And, no surprise, several of these deals were in HCM technology. These deal sizes and volume have remained up and the momentum has not slowed down in Q2. We saw some significant acquisitions this month in talent acquisition and talent management. Companies are looking for the right exit strategies and opportunities to expand their customer base and product suites.

Here are a few of the major announcements this month in case you missed them:

-Learning Technology Group (LTG) entered into an agreement to acquire talent management provide PeopleFluent last week. LTG has acquired several leading learning providers over the past few years including NetDimensions and the PeopleFluent acquisition allows it to expand into other areas of talent management as well as some robust solutions in the contingent workforce space. PeopeFluent is no stranger to acquisitions. After acquiring PeopleClick, Authoria was acquired by Bedford Funding which then rebranded as PeopleFluent. (It’s confusing to us too). 

-Gemspring Capital completes its acquisition of TMP. This acquisition doesn’t come as a huge surprise. TMP’s been trying to reinvent itself for the past few years – especially through its TalentBrew product. Gemspring Capital can help to accelerate its transformation into becoming more of a tech company.

–Indeed Acquires Workopolis. The biggest indicator of a provider’s decline is when it starts to acquire companies that do exactly what they do but on a smaller scale. Indeed’s recent acquisition of Canadian job board, Workopolis is a good example (Does anyone remember some of Monster’s acquisitions of several job boards before it started to decline?). Joel Cheesman provides a great overview of the acquisition on ERE.

But how do these acquisitions impact customers? Having your provider acquired is not necessarily a bad thing but there are some things to consider. What is driving the acquisition? Is the provider trying to expand its product suite? Or is this merely an attempt to stay relevant? Customers need to ask the tough questions and start to prepare for possible changes in dedicated representatives, response time, and product updates.

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Equal Pay Day: What Can You Do?

April 10 is Equal Pay Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness for the gender pay gap. According to research by Pew Research Center, the gender pay gap has narrowed (mostly for younger generations) but still persists and has remained pretty consistent in recent years. In 2017, women earned 82% of what men earned, this is analysis of median hourly earnings of both full- and part-time workers in the United States. Based on this estimate, it would take an extra 47 days of work for women to earn what men did in 2017.

The gender pay gap is real.

So, on a day dedicated to bringing some much deserved attention to pay equity, what can your organization do?

1. Acknowledge It: Companies put so much energy into saying that they don’t discriminate that they often fail to look at the inequity at their own organization. Employer branding efforts can often hinder efforts to address the pay gap when employers try to give the perception that they are something they are not. Companies need to talk about the gender pay gap. Not just in general terms but in very specific, actionable terms that can be translated to their recruiting, development, and retention strategies.
2. Measure It: In research we conducted this year, over 60% of companies have diversity and inclusion programs. Yet, only 1 in 4 companies look at pay equity when they measure the success of these programs. Can’t we do better? Companies should be holding managers accountable, teams accountable, and leadership accountable. They should be measuring pay equity consistently and in a way that is transparent.
3. Communicate It: Companies often want to ignore their own gender pay gaps. If you have some work to do, it is important to communicate with your employees the steps you plan to take and changes that you plan to make. Companies can create awareness through an open dialogue with employees about topics that are relevant.
4. Invest in It: Companies should look at what services are available and how they are using their performance and compensation software to address the gender pay gap.
5. Continue It: Yesterday, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that companies can’t justify a wage differential between men and women based on prior salary. This is a step in the right direction and a commitment to continuing support for equal pay. Companies should not acknowledge the gender pay gap on one day during the year. They must continue to address it.

What is your organization doing to support Equal Pay Day? We would love to hear from you!

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Best-of-Breed vs. ERP in Talent Acquisition

The debate between ERP and best-of-breed is still very much alive in talent acquisition technology. In our latest survey, companies are two times more likely to invest in best-of-breed providers. These companies recognize that in many cases, best-of-breed solutions are able to provide both seamless integration and depth in functionality. These providers integrate (through an ecosystem or marketplace) with third-party providers such as background screening, assessment, and video interviewing providers, as well as existing HRIS providers. Aptitude’s research found that companies are 4 times more satisfied with a best-of-breed talent acquisition provider than a traditional ERP provider.

Below are three reasons why companies are considering best-of-breed over ERP: expertise, experience, and adoption.

  • Expertise: Many best-of-breed solution providers are building expertise into their solutions. These providers understand how to help organizations navigate talent acquisition and have product roadmaps designed for talent acquisition functions. Some providers are demonstrating their deep domain expertise by helping companies improve diversity and inclusion, offering organizations capabilities such as anonymous screening, job description checkers, and bias detection initiatives. These providers are also providing scalability to help support clients as they grow. According to Aptitude’s research, 56% of companies are investing in providers that can demonstrate deep domain expertise in talent acquisition.
  • Experience: Recruiters need an easy way to attract, recruit, and hire talent. If a technology provider is not solving that problem, they do not have a viable solution. Many legacy ERP solutions are too complicated. Best-of-breed technology providers need to make it simple and address the challenges they are facing. According to Aptitude’s research, companies using best-of-breed solutions are improving the experience for recruiters and candidates.
  • Adoption: Less than 20% of companies view their ERP provider as a partner once a solution has been implemented. Companies need to look at not only how their provider will partner with them during implementation, but also throughout the course of their relationship.

We are about to kick-off our recruitment marketing research and this topic of best-of-breed vs. ERP is still a very relevant one as many providers looking at expanding both capabilities and services. We would love to hear your thoughts on this topic!

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Hiring Success 2018: Top 10 Key Takeaways

The ATS market is not really about the ATS anymore. Companies are investing in solutions that are less about compliance and workflow and more about strategic talent acquisition. This is a market where differentiators go beyond product capabilities and include services, customer support, and leadership. This new reality certainly rang true at SmartRecruiter’s Hiring Success event in San Francisco last week. Over 1000 companies came together to discuss topics such as diversity and inclusion, recruitment marketing, and collaboration. Most of the sessions didn’t even mention ATS.

SmartRecruiters’ CEO, Jerome Ternynck, kicked off the conference defining what success looks like including a positive candidate experience, hiring manager accountability, and recruiter efficiency. It was a refreshing and simple message for a very complex topic. In addition to some very meaningful discussions about the role of talent acquisition, SmartRecruiters made some significant product and company announcements last week.

For those of you not there, here are the ten things we think you might want to know:

  1. SmartJobs: SmartRecruiters has launched its own programmatic advertising solution that will help companies with job advertising and attracting talent.
  2. Recruiter Assistant: As most talent acquisition providers are marching down the path of AI, SmartRecruiters is offering its own AI solution to help communicate with candidates and enable better decision making.
  3. SmartStart– If you have been in talent acquisition for the past ten years, SmartRecruiters original vision back in 2008 was to offer a free ATS to companies. They are continuing that commitment with SmartStart, a free ATS for companies with under 250 employees.
  4. CRM: In our latest survey, we found that 1 in 4 companies are looking at their ATS for CRM capabilities. So, it is no surprise that SmartRecruiters has developed a CRM solution to help attract and nurture leads.
  5. Shelley Winner– SmartRecruiters included candidates in their agenda. Shelley Winner presented a truly inspirational story about her candidate journey from prison to her role as an impressive Microsoft product leader.
  6. Leadership: Jerome’s passion for recruitment is hard to deny. He is the type of CEO that greets every customer and employee with a hug. With so many startups and ERPs dipping their toes in talent acquisition, this expertise and commitment to this space is rare. (Dan Finnigan, CEO of Jobvite, and Colin Day, CEO of iCIMS, also fall under this category.):
  7. Ecosystem: Most talent acquisition user conferences do not have a large expo or partner presence. Hiring Success was an exception. Many of the leading talent acquisition providers were in attendance at this conference both in sessions and in the expo.
  8. Diverse Industries: It is hard to find a company in the Bay area that is growing outside of the tech market. So, it was encouraging to see a wide mix of industries including retail, hospitality, professional services, and healthcare.
  9. Moving Up Market: Like many of their peers, SmartRecruiters is moving up market with significant customer wins in the past year including Adidas and Avery Denison. Avery Denison said that integration with LinkedIn and Workday were key factors in their decision to move to SmartRecruiters.
  10. Nor’easter: With 18 inches of snow headed for the east coast last week, I was very happy to be in San Francisco and in no rush to go home.

It is amazing to see how much talent acquisition has evolved in the past few years and how companies are thinking more strategically about the way they recruit and hire talent. These conferences are a reminder of how critical talent acquisition is in both hiring success and organizational success.

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