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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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Countdown to HR Technology Conference: High-Volume Recruiting

Only six weeks until the HR Technology Conference, and one trend that we have focused on over the past two years is high-volume hiring. We found that 65% of companies have high-volume recruitment needs today. And this percentage continues to increase. Unfortunately, high volume is one area most traditional ATS systems fail to address. Instead, they focus on professional hiring and ignore the experience, capabilities, and solutions needed to attract, recruit, and hire this forgotten workforce. For example, in our high-volume research this year, only 27% of companies know if their hourly workers have transportation to an interview. Only 33% know if candidates have access to a laptop. Yet, most solutions do not consider the unique needs of these candidates.  

High-volume companies must find quality talent while managing hundreds, or even thousands, of applicants. Unlike traditional corporate hiring, high-volume needs are extremely time-sensitive with speed-defining success. Over the past year, high-volume hiring intensified as many companies were forced to reduce time to fill from several weeks to several days. The experience needs to be simple, frictionless, and mobile-first.

Fortunately, some technology providers are focused on improving high-volume recruiting – this is where we see most of the disruption in talent acquisition. Paradox is one provider that offers a completely reimagined experience for high-volume candidates. Through conversational AI, it provides an alternative to an ATS. It allows companies to advertise jobs, engage with talent, offers a simple apply process, screen candidates, schedule interviews, assess candidates, and initiate onboarding all through a single, mobile-first experience. Paradox is also hosting a career site for companies, including McDonald’s.

AMS Hourly, Fountain, and TalentReef also offer a better alternative for high-volume hiring needs and include end-to-end capabilities from recruitment marketing to onboarding.

Text recruiting is another way that companies are improving high volume hiring. Candidate behavior has changed since the pandemic and 62% of candidates are using their mobile device more this year than last. Hourly candidates want to be able to use one device to communicate with company, and text meets the needs of the mobile-only mindset by providing faster response and personalized engagement in real-time. Providers like Emissary offer simple end-to-end text recruiting solutions that integrate with ATS providers.

Programmatic job advertising is another TA technology category that improves high-volume recruiting. It streamlines and automates advertising of jobs and provides visibility into how companies should spend their advertising dollars- a huge expense for high-volume industries. It saves hiring teams time, reduces costs, and helps to target the right talent. Some of the leading providers include Appcast, Joveo, and Pandologic.

And, there is even a HRMS focused on high-volume that will be at HR Tech...Harri.

These are just a few of the providers improving high-volume hiring. Here are a few trends impacting high-volume recruiting:

“High Volume” Is a Broad Category: The greatest confusion around high-volume recruitment is the definition. Companies often consider a narrow definition of high-volume recruitment limited to hourly or gig workers. For example, one in three companies defines “high volume” as hourly recruitment. The reality is that high-volume hiring is broader and impacts 65% of companies. It includes any company filling over 1,000 positions in a short period of time. As hiring ramps up this year, this study found that companies in various industries (including aerospace and defense, financial services, technology, and healthcare) identified high-volume needs.

A Traditional ATS Is Not Enough: Sixty-five percent (65%) of companies with high-volume recruitment needs are not satisfied with their current ATS. Most traditional ATS systems are designed for corporate hiring and lack capabilities to support high-volume recruitment such as programmatic advertising, scheduling, or communication. High-volume recruitment technology must be simple, intuitive, and mobile responsive. Eighty-two percent (82%) of companies with high-volume hiring needs are increasing their investment in technology this year.

Quality Is as Important as Efficiency: Companies face pressure to fill high-volume positions as quickly as possible. As a result, efficiency becomes the priority for many organizations with high-volume needs. They want to improve and streamline the talent acquisition process to reduce time to fill. Despite this focus on efficiency, 61% of companies stated that quality of hire is the most critical metric for success. Companies must ensure they are engaging and hiring the right talent as they focus on improving the time it takes to fill positions.

High volume is a critical topic in talent acquisition, especially as companies prepare for more change next year. I look forward to learning more about how companies tackle their challenges and new technology providers in this space.

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Countdown to the HR Technology Conference: Interviewing and Assessments

Yello and WayUp Merger: A New Look at Early Talent
Yello and WayUp Merger: A New Look at Early Talent

Only seven more weeks until the HR Technology Conference, I am finalizing my presentation and thinking through the constant change in our industry. Over the past year, one trend that has emerged is the increased investment in hiring experience platforms (interviewing and assessment). This category has exploded over the past few years- partly because of the push for remote work and the need to reduce bias and improve decision-making. Companies spend millions of dollars on recruitment marketing and EVP strategies and often neglect interviews. Our latest interview study found that 1 in 2 companies lost quality talent due to poor interview processes.

Providers such as Modern Hire, HireVue, and Outmatch helped to define this category by offering a suite of solutions (through some acquisitions) that include everything from first interview to assessment to offer. Some of these providers are even expanding into onboarding. But, over the past few years, this category has been growing as companies recognize hiring decisions will not come from an ATS. Providers such as Sapia, Humanly, Wedge, CodeSignal, Talview, and Vervoe provide companies with interviewing and assessment solutions that improve experience, quality, and efficiency. Paradox (through the acquisition of Traitify) offers capabilities to schedule interviews and provide a validated, candidate-friendly assessment all through conversational AI.

Although every provider seems to call the interview to assessment offering something different, hiring experience is a category to watch.

Here are a few trends I will cover:

One in four candidates drops off at the interview stage. Companies that improve candidate engagement and the application process will still see candidates drop off if hiring is a negative experience. Companies must provide consistency, transparency, and fairness throughout the hiring process to ensure that candidates are not dropping off at this stage. Delays and poor communication can result in companies losing quality talent. Aptitude Research found that 52% of companies have an interview process that lasts four to six weeks.

Companies do not trust the data to inform hiring. Companies are dissatisfied with their data’s quality, accuracy, and integrity. One reason is that companies are not starting with the right data and rely solely on resumes or candidate profiles to inform decisions. Fifty-seven percent (57%) do not have the data they need to decide on talent. They need a consistent process and quality data to gain deeper insights into candidates and make smarter, confident, and bias-free talent decisions. Data to drive hiring decisions will come from interviewing and assessment providers.

Companies use too many systems: Most companies leverage multiple solutions to support hiring activities, and 62% use two or more assessment providers. These systems provide different experiences and data management. Companies cannot make decisions on talent when they do not have consistent data to support those decisions.

The ATS is not enough. Companies are looking outside of their ATS for hiring support. Traditional recruitment technology focuses on compliance and applicant workflow. It does not always support hiring activities. As a result, companies invest in several solutions to support hiring or rely on a manual process to make hiring and selection decisions. Companies identified lack of integration, issues with data quality, and lack of candidate insights as the top frustrations with technology that supports hiring.

Companies are relying on interview and assessment data more this year. Companies are using interview and assessment data to inform decisions more in 2022 than in 2020. Unfortunately, this data is often inconsistent or only available for some candidates. Companies rely less on the resume as the primary data source but must continue to draw deeper insights and more consistent data.

AI is changing hiring. AI is fundamentally changing every aspect of HR, and there is growing curiosity and appetite to understand it. According to Aptitude Research, 63% of companies are investing or planning to invest in AI solutions this year, compared to 42% in 2020.AI can play a critical role in helping companies use data to inform decision-making and even humanize the process. Recruiters and candidates are becoming more comfortable using AI in talent acquisition and the impact on hiring.

As companies look at their TA tech stack, hiring experience platforms are becoming a core investment area along with an ATS and CRM. I look forward to meeting with some of these providers at the HR Technology Conference.

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Blog

Countdown to the HR Technology Conference: Skills-Based Hiring

It is hard to believe that the HR Technology Conference is only 8 weeks away. I love this conference and the opportunity to reconnect with friends and learn about new (and old) technology providers. I am thrilled to be presenting new research at the event and I will be posting a series of blogs leading up to September on TA tech trends.

This first post will focus on a topic that is gaining momentum in talent acquisition… skills-based hiring. Every provider seems to be using skills in their marketing messaging, but few providers have invested in a robust skills ontology and capabilities to improve both the employer and candidate experiences.

Skills are quickly becoming the currency for the future of work. A skills-based approach can help connect talent to the right opportunities, personalize the experience, and provide more visibility into the capabilities of the workforce. Employers benefit from improved efficiency and stronger talent pools, while individuals benefit from greater opportunities to control their career paths. Skills provide a roadmap for the future and a bridge between talent acquisition and talent management.

We published a study (in partnership with Beamery) and found that companies that invest in skills development are:

  • Twice as likely to improve retention
  • Thirty-four percent (34%) more likely to improve quality of hire
  • Twenty-eight percent (28%) more likely to improve DEI initiatives

Skills level the playing field for both internal and external talent. Evaluating skills means looking      beyond what is found on a resume or employee profile to get deeper insights about the individual. But, many companies are not always clear where to start with skills development. Lack of ownership and confusion around how technology fits in have added to this uncertainty. Talent marketplaces are gaining momentum as the vehicle to deliver a skills-based approach, yet not every company understands the impact of these solutions. For companies to compete for talent and provide fair and equitable experiences, skills must be part of the equation.

Here are some of the key findings from our research…

The Demand for Skills Is Being Driven From the Top: The focus on skills development is being driven by executives and CHROs. According to this study, 65% of CHROs say that upskilling and reskilling is the most important priority for 2022. CHROs are two times more likely to be involved in technology decisions that focus on skills than other areas of TA technology and 75% are interested in talent marketplaces to deliver on a skills strategy. CHROs are setting the course but oftentimes, talent acquisition and talent management must execute the strategy. Realistic expectations and clear communication will help these leaders achieve results and provide a more successful approach to skills.

Skills Unify a Talent Strategy: With equal pressure to recruit and retain, talent acquisition and talent management often still operate in silos with competing interests. A skills-based approach helps unify talent acquisition and talent management initiatives – providing consistency in data and experiences. Companies must empower their talent teams with a focus on skills. According to this study, companies with a skills-based approach see greater collaboration between talent acquisition and talent management.

Not All Providers Are Approaching Skills the Same Way: Technology allows companies to scale their approach to skills, provide opportunities and personalization to every individual, and leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to draw deeper insights. Most importantly, it provides context to skills by inferring insights about the individual and employer. Although several technology solutions are aiming to address skills today, not every solution provides value. A successful skills-based approach requires a commitment from a solution provider to build a skills ontology, invest in talent intelligence, and apply AI inference so that skills are dynamic and personalized. With companies increasing their investment in skills, they must carefully consider providers that demonstrate expertise.

A Skills-Based Approach Benefits Employers and Individuals: Skills are not just a benefit to an organization. They give employees the resources they need to manage their careers and provide more opportunities for personalization and inclusivity. To truly understand an individual, however, companies should not stop with skills. They should consider the qualities that will make someone successful and happy in the work they are doing.

Skills Can Greatly Impact Internal Mobility Efforts:  The most obvious use case for a skills-based approach is internal mobility. Companies are looking for better ways to promote and develop their workforce while supporting talent acquisition initiatives. With 70% of companies increasing their investment in internal mobility efforts, many are just promoting jobs or leveraging internal career sites. Skills offer a more substantial approach to internal mobility by providing employers with a deeper understanding of their workforce and empowering individuals with the tools they need to be successful.

Providers to watch (in alphabetical order): Beamery, Boostrs, Eightfold, HiredScore, Oracle, TaTio, TechWolf, Workday

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Blog

New Research: Key Trends in Interviewing

For most companies, interviewing is still broken. According to our latest research report, one in three companies are not confident in their interview process today and one in two companies have lost quality hires due to a poor interview process this year. Companies face several challenges with interviews, including a lengthy process, too many interviews, inconsistency, lack of objective data, and bias. These challenges not only impact the efficiency of talent acquisition efforts but the overall candidate experience. As a result, only 24% of candidates are happy with the interview process. The challenges with interviewing are not new and the pandemic did not bring much change.

Here are some findings about what goes wrong and how technology can help.

Where Does the Interview Process Go Wrong?

Interview Process Is Too Long: The interview process can be frustrating for both employers and candidates. Companies that create lengthy interview processes do not necessarily collect data that can inform decision making. A longer interview process does not equate to more effective hiring. It puts a company at risk for losing talent. Forty percent (40%) of candidates stated that it was over two weeks since they heard anything from an employer after their first interview, and 52% of companies state that the interview process lasts four to six weeks.

Too Many Interviews: Over half of companies make candidates go through four or more interviews. For companies looking to reduce time to fill, too many interviews can impact efficiency as well as experience. Companies are at risk of losing quality talent when the interview process is delayed or too many interviewers are introduced.

Inconsistent Interviews: When companies lack a strategy for interviews, hiring managers and recruiters often go rogue and ask questions or conduct interviews with little guidance. Inconsistency in the interview process can create inequity and damage the employer brand.

Data-Driven Decisions: Organizations feel pressure to act quickly and may make decisions based on gut. Companies are not relying on data and insights to drive these decisions because they don’t have information beyond the resume, which only provides a limited, often biased view of a candidate.

Bias in the Interview: Companies must recognize and acknowledge bias in the hiring process. Only 30% of companies identified bias as a top challenge in talent acquisition, yet one in three candidates have experienced bias in the interview process. Relying only on human interviews creates inconsistent hiring standards and introduces bias. 

How Can Smart Technology and AI Help?

The right technology can help companies address the challenges they face with interviewing to:

  • Empower recruiters and hiring managers to make smarter decisions
  • Improve recruiter productivity
  • Improve hiring diversity by using blind smart interview technology from the start
  • Create consumer-grade candidate experiences through the convenience of a smart interviewer

The pandemic accelerated the investment in digital interview solutions. In February 2020, less than 60% of companies were using or planning to use video interview providers. One year later, over 80% of companies were using or planning to use a broader set of intelligent interview platforms. Video was the tool of choice at the beginning of the pandemic for asynchronous hiring. The problem was that many of these solutions merely replaced face-to-face interactions, with a less human way of interviewing. Many candidates do not feel comfortable with the format of a video interview, especially if they are timed. For many companies, abandonment rates are high on video.

Today, there are technology choices available that remove that cognitive load and deliver on candidate expectations. AI is fundamentally changing every aspect of HR and there is growing curiosity and appetite to understand it. According to Aptitude Research, 63% of companies are investing or planning to invest in AI solutions this year, compared to 42% in 2020. This study found that 39% of companies believe it brings positive benefits, and 32% of companies are starting to leverage AI in interviewing.

If you are interested in the full report (sponsored by Sapia), you can download it for free here.

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Blog

Humanity in the Workforce: The Impact on Hybrid Work, Mental Health and Childcare

The events of the past two years have reshaped the future of work and the relationship between the employer and employee. According to new research that we are publishing next week, companies have responded to today’s reality by increasing their focus on employee experience. One in three companies have increased their spend on the employee experience and 47% of companies are investing in new solutions to support these objectives. Companies across all industries are looking for an immediate solution to solve retention and improve performance.

Unfortunately, despite this increased investment, most companies are falling short. They are taking a one-size-fits-all approach and treating employees like transactions instead of humans. Companies today must rethink their approach to talent and humanize work. They must focus on the individual, build more meaningful relationships, and provide an experience that is rooted in inclusivity, humanity, dignity, and trust.

Several factors are influencing human-centered work, including remote and hybrid work models, mental health, and new responsibilities of caregivers.

Hybrid work models  

Not every company is clear on their future workforce model, and the next year will likely bring more change and uncertainty. Companies that listen to their employees, adjust to the unknown, and provide transparency will build better relationships with talent. Aptitude Research found a mix of work models that are impacting organizations and the future of work Whether working from home or adjusting to new office rules, employees often feel lost and isolated in these models. 52% of companies have a hybrid model. Companies must provide a different level of care and compassion to remote or hybrid models.

Mental Health

On average, companies in this study stated that 36% of their workforce faces mental health challenges. Although companies have responded to the topic of mental health in the workforce by providing days and weeks off, collectively, it is not enough. Only 24% of companies have asked employees if they need support in the past six months and only 36% of companies provide mental health benefits. Organizations need to change the stigma and ideas around mental health. Employees are asking for more support and organizations need to provide a more human response.

Caregiving

The role of caretakers evolved during the pandemic as more employees were faced with having to care for children, elders, and other family members themselves while balancing a new work dynamic. Every employee is impacted by care, yet employers do not typically address childcare issues and most employees do not feel safe talking about their needs with their managers. In today’s environment, companies must think about how care impacts the employee experience. Currently, one in three employees do not feel comfortable talking about childcare and only 11% of employers are asking employees how to support their caregiving needs.

According to this study, companies are not taking active steps to acknowledge these new responsibilities of their workforce or to provide the support that employees need during these times. The most common action that employers take is providing leave to care for family members (paid and unpaid). Only 30% of companies offer clear career advancement opportunities for caregivers and only 36% of companies offer three or more months of parental leave. The pressure that employees feel in their personal lives is impacting their decisions to stay with an employer and in some cases, possibly leave the workforce.

I am excited to share our latest report on humanity in the workforce next week!

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iCIMS Acquires Candidate.ID and Strengthens Its Recruitment Marketing Offering

Today, iCIMS announced the acquisition of Candidate.ID, a leader in recruitment marketing automation. By adding Candidate.ID’s functionality to its Talent Cloud, iCIMS offers a powerful recruitment marketing offering with the ability to effectively engage talent. In addition, this acquisition makes iCIMS better positioned to compete against ATS providers and stand-alone CRM providers. I have been following Candidate.ID for the past few years, and I am excited about this opportunity.

Below are a few of my initial thoughts:

What is Candidate.ID?

Companies are facing pressure to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of talent acquisition efforts. Candidate.ID helps companies solve this challenge by identifying, nurturing, and engaging ready-now talent. It solves what the ATS, LinkedIn, and CRM cannot do – informing recruiters when someone is ready to be hired and engaging that individual in a meaningful way. As a result, recruiters receive notifications when candidates are interested, and their profiles are updated in real-time, reducing time-to-fill, improving candidate engagement, and increasing conversion rates.

One key differentiator is that Candidate.ID focuses on In-Demand talent, helping companies build pipelines for critical roles that are hard to fill, including healthcare professionals, engineers, scientists, and enterprise sales. Its scoring capabilities allow companies to filter candidates by engagement scores and match them against job descriptions.

What Do We Know About This Acquisition?

Before joining iCIMS, Steve Lucas was the CEO of Marketo, a marketing automation provider. Given his background, It is no surprise that he was impressed by Candidate.ID and the potential to enhance Talent Cloud with these capabilities. Here are a few things that we know about the acquisition so far.

  • Brand: Immediately following the acquisition, Candidate.ID will be referred to as “Candidate.ID, an iCIMS company.” A brand transition may occur in 2023.
    • Flexibility: iCIMS is taking a flexible approach to selling and packaging Candidate.ID. It will be offered to existing customers, sold as a stand-alone, and sold to RPOs.
  • Integration: In the near-term, Candidate.ID’s solutions will be integrated into iCIMS CRM and iCIMS ATS. The product integration will continue to roll out in phases across data, user experience, and workflows across the entire Talent Cloud, including unique use cases in the areas of internal mobility.

What is Marketing Automation?

Marketing automation helps companies better engage and nurture talent by automating marketing tasks and letting companies know which candidates are cold, warm, and “ready-now.” It sits at the top of the funnel and manages all interactions with talent, including when they visit a career site, open an email, open a job advertisement, etc. It solves what the ATS, LinkedIn, and CRM cannot do – informing recruiters when someone is ready to be hired and engaging that individual in a meaningful way. Integrating CRM and marketing automation software can increase a company’s recruitment marketing capabilities and improve the experience.

How Does it Help?

Marketing automation helps companies understand the talent they are attracting, manage talent pipelines more effectively, and provide a better experience to both recruiters and candidates. Some of the use cases include:

  • Lead Nurturing: As today’s companies face challenges attracting talent and managing applicant volume, they need to nurture their candidate relationships over time. Candidates are not always ready to apply for a job with their first engagement. With marketing automation, companies can check in with candidates, create more meaningful relationships, and track engagement levels to know when candidates are “ready now.”
  • Target Audience: With marketing automation, companies can better understand the talent they target and track who is interested and engaged. It uses a multi-channel approach to understand what content individuals are interested in, how they want to receive that content and then serves up relevant information. It provides visibility into the marketing activities so that companies can see what activities are working and what needs to change.
  • Analytics: Once a campaign has ended, the system generates analytics showing how successful the campaign was and what may need to change in the future. Analytics provide insights into cold, warm, and ready candidates.

I am excited to share any updates on this acquisition over the next few months and include Candidate.ID in our Recruitment Marketing Index report.

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Blog Talent Acquisition Technology

Top TA Tech Trends in 2022

Conversational AI: Transforming Talent Acquisition
Conversational AI: Transforming Talent Acquisition

The talent acquisition technology landscape has shifted over the past few years. According to Aptitude Research, 72% of companies are investing in new technology in 2022, but only one in two companies measure the ROI of that investment. Traditional providers are reinventing themselves, startups are emerging overnight, and new categories are being created. Talent acquisition buyers have more opportunities, but they also face new pressures when considering remote work, candidate communication, and employer brand.

Talent acquisition success is measured by its ability to adjust to change. And talent acquisition leaders face pressure to adopt the latest technology innovations in a short time. Keeping up with the latest trends is no small task.

I am excited to share the latest research on TA tech from Aptitude tomorrow on a webinar with Appcast, a leading programmatic job advertising provider. A few of the trends we will discuss include:

  1. The ATS Is Not Enough: The modern talent acquisition system is more than a workflow or a traditional ATS. It includes recruitment marketing, CRM, onboarding, and internal mobility. Many providers have enhanced their interview management capabilities, have dabbled with AI-matching, and have made commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The modern talent acquisition system is an end-to-end platform that supports attracting, recruiting, and hiring talent.
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: DEI is a priority for companies investing in TA tech but not every provider is providing support beyond marketing messaging. We will discuss what tech can and cannot do to support DEI through leadership team, culture, product capabilities, and services.
  • AI Matching: It is difficult to talk about talent acquisition technology without including the impact of AI. Providers have focused on AI matching in a big way over the past year. Many providers are investing in both candidate-centric and employer-centric matching as part of their solution.
  • Internal Mobility: Companies are looking closely at their internal mobility as it relates to talent acquisition. Most providers offer basic capabilities in this area that include dedicated career sites and personalized communication to internal hires. Few providers go deeper with skills frameworks, succession planning, and career development.
  • Foundational Layer: This presentation looks more closely at the foundational layer of the TA tech stack and includes analysis and considerations for integration, data management, and automation. Companies that achieve the most success with their talent acquisition systems are paying close attention to this layer of technology.
  • Programmatic Job Advertising: : Unlike traditional job advertising models that are slow and time-consuming, a programmatic approach solves an immediate need for companies today – greater efficiency. Companies state that the key driver for technology decisions is reducing time to fill and improving overall efficiency. By streamlining advertising and targeting the right candidates, the process of attracting and recruiting talent improves significantly. Aptitude Research found that for companies using programmatic job advertising, 90% are either continuing to invest or will increase their spend this year.
  • Candidate Communication: Candidate communication is a critical part of improving the candidate experience, especially in a remote world. Communication is more than mobile apply and SMS texts. Our analysis of each provider included integration with messaging platforms, conversational AI, and collaboration platforms. 42% of companies are investing or planning to invest in conversational AI this year.

It will be an exciting year in TA tech! I hope you can join us!

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Blog Talent Acquisition Technology

A Week in Review: Acquisitions, Jobs Report, and Rebrands

Last week, someone asked me if the momentum and investment in TA tech and HR tech will continue in 2022. And, the answer seems to be YES. This week included acquisitions, investment announcements, and even a rebranding. It is an exciting time to be in this market for providers, buyers, and even analysts. We found that over 60% of companies are increasing their investment in TA tech this year, and buyers are looking closely at what solutions will help them attract, recruit, and hire talent.

A few of the big announcements include:

SmartRecruiters Acquires Attrax: A career site can make or break a company’s ability to attract and convert talent. And, not all career sites are designed the same. ATS providers have invested in career sites over the past few years, but most enterprise companies still need to look at third-party options to build dynamic and engaging career sites. This acquisition of Attrax, a leading career site provider, further strengthens SmartRecruiters’ recruitment marketing capabilities with personalized and engaging career sites.

Phenom Acquires Tandemploy: Phenom has expanded beyond talent acquisition and offers an experience platform for the entire employee lifecycle. Tandemploy is a Berlin-based HR tech company focused on solving key problems associated with employee experiences. This addition enhances the capabilities of Phenom’s AI-powered Talent Experience Management (TXM) platform and grows the company’s presence in Europe.

Hiretual Rebrands to HireEZ: This week, Hiretual rebranded to HireEZ and hosted an analyst day to announce this news and $26M of investment. HireEZ’s vision is to create a new category around Outbound Recruiting. Some of my brilliant analyst friends (George LaRocque, Trish McFarlane and Steve Boese, Tim Sackett) did great covering this announcement.

January Jobs Report: The January Jobs Report came out today, and Andrew Flowers, Chief Economist of Appcast, did a great job covering this news and its implications on the labor market. With 467,000 jobs added and unemployment holding steady at 4%, the job growth trajectory is looking up. Despite 15 million people with COVID, the labor market is not slowing down. According to the report:

Retail accelerating thru January

Restaurants & bars not as affected by Omicron as they were by Delta

 Healthcare, transportation & warehousing are steady

Manufacturing slowing

2022 is off to a busy start, and looking forward to what this year brings. We are about to publish two new studies on humanity in the workforce and data-driven hiring. Stay tuned!

Categories
Blog Talent Acquisition Technology

2022 Talent Trends: Care and Humanity

If 2021 was the year of rethinking the approach to talent, 2022 is the year for rebuilding it. Companies are facing intense pressure to both recruit and retain talent today. The pandemic has changed the relationship between employer and employee, and many companies are looking for ways to engage their workforce better.

Over the past two years, the focus on care has helped to improve this relationship by providing more empathy and understanding to the employee and candidate experiences. But, unfortunately, care and humanity are not priorities for every company. According to Aptitude Research, only 22% of companies stated that humanity is part of their company culture, and only 10% of companies have a clear idea of what they need to do to bring more humanity and care into their work environment.

Companies in the process of evaluating their talent processes and technology must lead with care.

I am excited to discuss the future of care and humanity on a webinar with Misha Chakrabarti, Product Marketing Specialist at Avature, on January 20 at 11 am EST.

Below are a few themes that we will discuss:

  • Skills, AI and Automation: Many companies embrace AI to improve efficiency and save recruiters’ and managers’ time. But, AI and a skills-based approach to talent can also provide greater humanity. It allows companies to understand candidates and employees better, connect them with the right opportunities, and provide a fair and inclusive process. AI can lift the administrative burden placed on recruiters and managers and allow them to focus on relationship building.
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Over the past year, companies increased their investment in services and technology to support DEI initiatives. While technology can help to reduce bias in the talent acquisition and talent development processes, it is not a fix-all. Companies need to consider what changes they need to make to their culture and talent practices to provide a safe and inclusive work environment. Companies committed to care will start by looking internally before investing in technology.
  • Communication: Care is only possible through strong communication. Companies must consider the tone of their communication with candidates and employees and the communication methods. Communication must be frequent and meaningful, but companies must reach talent where they live and spend their time, including text, messaging, chat, and video.
  • Agility: Every company proved to be flexible and agile during the pandemic. Companies had to adapt in a short period of time. Agility helps companies respond to immediate needs but also prepare for the future.
  • Hybrid Work Model: Not every company is clear on their future workforce model, and 2022 will likely bring more change and uncertainty. Companies that listen to their employees, adjust to the unknown, and provide transparency will build better relationships with talent.

2022 is a year where these ideas and concepts of care will be tested. For companies committed to recruiting and retaining talent, a focus on care and humanity is the only way. I am excited to share some of our research on these topics. I hope you can join us!

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Blog Uncategorized

How Integration Impacts the Employee Experience

Yello and WayUp Merger: A New Look at Early Talent
Yello and WayUp Merger: A New Look at Early Talent

According to Aptitude Research, 72% of companies are increasing their investment in employee experience technology next year. These solutions include everything from wellbeing to mental health to engagement surveys and career development. But, as companies spend more on technology, the employee experience has not improved much in the past year. We found that 62% of employees do not feel valued, and 64% have not been recognized consistently this year. Technology can play a significant role in improving this experience, but these systems need to be implemented and integrated to make an employee’s life easier, not harder. And, they need to be integrated in a way that connects employees with their managers and leaders.

I am thrilled to be sharing some of our research on how integration can improve the employee experience during a webinar tomorrow with my friend, Greg Belkin, at Jitterbit. Integrating HR systems have significant benefits in providing consistent data, enabling a better experience, and eliminating manual processes. Yet, integration has long been a point of frustration for companies investing in new technology. Many companies lack dedicated resources and underestimate the needs and expectations of IT to build integrations. Providers downplay the challenges of working with partners and the willingness to work with their competitors. And IT and HRIT are typically preoccupied with other priorities. In fact, 1 in 3 talent acquisition and HR professionals surveyed said that IT views talent acquisition integration as a low priority.

Here are a few themes that we will cover during the webinar:

We are Thinking About Integration Too Late: Unfortunately, two-thirds of companies do not consider integration until evaluation and after implementation. Less than half of companies ask these questions in advance of their vendors. The foundation should be part of the essential requirements when evaluating providers, and companies that start this process early can see greater success.

Clear Ownership is Important: Companies with successful technology adoption have clear ownership of integration, data management, and automation, and they also have clearly defined roles. Without a strong foundation, talent acquisition may have an internal conflict with IT or key stakeholders around these critical areas. By establishing a clear vision and outlining responsibilities in advance, companies will have a much smoother process. Thirty-four percent (34%) of companies have a dedicated operations role on the HR team involved in these decisions.

Companies Must Measure Results: Integration is a continuous process. Companies must continually evaluate the quality of the integration, partnership with providers, costs, and security. When asked how satisfied companies are with their integration, respondents were least satisfied with timeframes, communication with providers, and costs and most satisfied with data security and the quality of the integrations. Companies should communicate these concerns with all key stakeholders, including IT. As companies look to different systems, finding a provider that is an active partner in the integration process should be a key consideration.

Companies with successful integrations are more likely to improve the employee experience and optimize their technology investments. I am looking forward to this discussion tomorrow and hope you can join!

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Aptitude Research