Aptitude Research
Schedule a Briefing

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!).

Categories
Blog Talent Acquisition Strategies Uncategorized

New Research on Talent Acquisition Technology Trends

Talent acquisition technology trends seem to change every few months and it’s hard to keep up. In fact, over 60% of companies are increasing their investment in recruitment technology this year according to Aptitude Research. Companies are looking at both traditional providers as well as startups to help solve challenges with attracting, recruiting and hiring talent. But, determining what solutions provide value and what solutions create additional frustration is not easy. Currently, only one in five companies are measuring the ROI on their talent acquisition technology investments.

Fortunately, many companies are thinking more strategically about their technology with a focus on efficiency and innovation. Technology needs to do more than keep organizations compliant and provide a workflow for moving candidates through the process. Technology needs to empower talent acquisition leaders with the tools they need to solve business challenges. But, sometimes companies need help figuring out what technology to use.

I am so excited about our latest research report in partnership with CareerXroads designed to help companies navigate the trends in talent acquisition technology. The report includes new survey results, a series of interviews with enterprise organizations, case studies, RFPs and vendor reviews.

Below are some of the research findings:

–          Scheduling and Candidate Communication: Companies that use bots are twice as likely to fill positions in 2 weeks.

–          Recruitment Marketing:  Only 2% of companies are using all of the functionality in their recruitment marketing platform.

–          Assessments: Only 30% of companies are using mobile-optimized assessments.

–          Automation: Nearly 40% of companies are investing in automation but only 1 in 3 companies understand what automation can do for their talent acquisition efforts.

The report also features companies such as GE Appliances, Lowe’s and CVS. Below are some highlights from the case studies:

Lowe’s Corportation: Lowe’s needed to create greater efficiencies and improve candidate communication. It decided to leverage Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to manage over 3 million applications that it receives each year.

Enterprise Telecommunications Company: Since implementing Brazen, 15-20% of chats have turned into hires. Improvements have also been seen in managing the volume of applicants and identifying better quality applicants.

GE Appliances: The overall candidate experience has improved at GE Appliances and the apply rates have improved from 40% to 80% through the use of Talentegy.

We are fortunate to be in an industry where so many organizations are willing to share their experiences. I hope this research project can help companies along their journey to understand what options they have and what partners to consider.

 

Categories
Blog Talent Acquisition Strategies

iCIMS Acquires Jibe and Continues its Leadership in All Things Talent Acquisition

If you don’t know the history and the background of iCIMS and CEO, Colin Day. It’s an interesting story. iCIMS is a SaaS talent acquisition provider that has achieved tremendous growth and profitability in a highly competitive industry. Most of its early success stems from its commitment to customer service and Colin’s strong leadership (even through two recessions). While other providers have tried to reinvent the recruitment model favoring what is “new”, iCIMS has focused on what it does best- helping companies attract, recruit and onboard talent. It’s a basic strategy and one that has worked.

But iCIMS’ success is not just the result of its customer support, it has also taken significant risks.  In 2012, I met with Colin and CMO, Susan Vitale, in Boston. They were about to announce the decision to ditch iCIMS’ talent management products in favor of a talent acquisition suite. It seemed like a crazy idea when every other vendor was “biggering” and “biggering” into all things HCM. iCIMS was scaling back to focus solely on talent acquisition. Colin recognized that talent acquisition deserved its own suite of solutions and its own conversation. And, he was right.   

While many other providers struggled with acquisitions and customer churn, iCIMS continued a path of steady growth eventually moving up market to support some global enterprise clients. It acquired Jobmagic and TextRecruit and built out a marketplace to provider connectors with third-party providers. The recent acquisition of Jibe further supports its vision for an end-to-end platform.

Below are my thoughts on what this acquisition means for the market and what customers and prospects should consider:

–          Recruitment Marketing Platforms: Recruitment marketing continues to be a top investment for enterprise organizations and the value of having one provider for both CRM and ATS is clear. Similar to K1’s acquisition of Talemetry and Jobvite, one provider offers more consistency of data and experience. It isn’t long before we will see other recruitment marketing providers getting acquired.

–          Customer Support: Many of the recruitment marketing providers have neglected customer support. They have angry clients and angry former clients. It’s not pretty but it’s true. This is a market with significant market churn as customers look for better partners. I can name a handful of companies that I work with that will not even take a briefing from some of the providers in this space. Jibe has remained under the radar but has maintained its customer support. Johnson & Johnson is an example of a long-time customer that improved its job discovery of critical roles to a 41% increase in high-quality job applicants per search.

–          Enterprise Growth: Recruitment marketing is an enterprise market- at least for now. Large companies want solutions that can help them enhance their branding and engage with talent before they apply. As iCIMS looks to move up market, having a recruitment marketing provider with demonstrated support for enterprise companies is critical.

–          Branding: Acquiring a new company can create growing pains in terms of product and development and branding. This acquisition is not iCIMS first rodeo. It has learned some lessons with the TextRecruit acquisition and plans to make this a smoother process. We can expect a consistent experience and brand for customers.  

It is a great time to be in talent acquisition. Companies want better solutions and providers are making smarter decisions about where and how they should grow. We should expect to see more acquisitions in the recruitment marketing space over the next year and I am looking forward to seeing how this announcement unfolds.

Categories
Blog Talent Acquisition Strategies

Shaker International Merges with Montage: Reshaping Talent Acquisition Technology

Today marks a significant shift in the talent acquisition technology landscape. Shaker International, a leading assessment provider, has merged with Montage, a leading provider of candidate interview and hiring solutions. The new company will be co-headquartered in Delafield, WI, and Cleveland, OH under the leadership of Kurt Heikkinen as CEO and Brian Stern as President. The merger is designed to enable organizations to make better decisions through the combination of science, data, and technology.

According to Aptitude Research’s 2019 Talent Acquisition survey, 58% of hiring managers stated that they don’t have the data they need to make decisions around talent. This announcement is helping to solve a critical need in the market.

The HCM market has undergone numerous mergers and acquisitions over the past decade. While some provide value to customers and prospects, others fall short. According to research by Harvard Business Review, the failure of mergers and acquisitions is  somewhere between 70% and 90%. A successful merger will require alignment of goals, a commitment to the customer, and a willingness to change the course when needed. Below are my early thoughts on what will make this merger successful and what customers can expect in the future.

–          Deep Understanding of the Partnership: In this case, the merger is based on mutual respect and a desire to expand both products and customer base. These providers do different things. So, they don’t have to manage conflicting interests or compete with each other internally. They have taken the time to truly understand each other’s businesses and share similar values and goals for the future.

–          Common Culture: Both Shaker and Montage are Midwestern companies that have sustained growth while innovating to meet the needs of the market. Montage has innovated through its scheduling and interview capabilities and Shaker through its predictive assessments and Virtual Job Tryout. After spending time with both companies over the past decade, I can say that this is a natural fit.

–          Similar Customer Base: Both providers target enterprise companies. The combined company has hundreds of customers and 47 of the Fortune 100. This combination will give these companies more options from a single provider.

–          Short-Term and Long-Term Goals: Establishing both short-term and long-term goals is a critical part of any merger. In the short-term, the providers will maintain separate brands, and the companies will remain intact with separate sales, customer support, and product teams. In the long-term, we can expect to see a holistic view of the company.

–          More Insights: Unlike acquisitions, mergers are successful when both providers thrive. This merger gives both companies better data and insights to help grow their products and support customers. The combined company has over 15 million candidates and enable over 1 million hires in over 20 languages in 200 countries and territories this year.

This merger is helping to reshape and reimagine how organizations hire. But, it also has the potential to change how organizations invest in technology. Companies can start to think less about filling a category and more about solving a business challenge. Over the next year, this combined company will need to adjust to changes along the way and carefully consider future branding and customer requests. We will keep you posted over the next few months.

Categories
Blog

Employee Benefits: Your Greatest Recruiting Tool

This week, I attended the Health and Benefits Conference in Vegas where I participated in the Ideas and Innovators session. The event addresses topics such as wellness, benefits, and retirement, and I focused my discussion on how companies can turn their benefits programs into their greatest recruiting tool.

Talent acquisition has changed as the competition for talent increases. And while companies are increasing their investment in ways to attract and engage talent, they aren’t always asking the most basic question:

“What makes a candidate want to join our organization?”

The reality is candidates want what employees want. They don’t want free food, a game room, or weekly lunches with their managers. Beyond salary, most candidates want flexibility in their work options, opportunities for growth, and to be treated fairly. They want the basics.

In research we conducted last year, companies identified benefits as a top reason that candidates decide to join their organization. So, how can companies start to use their benefits programs as a way to attract talent? Below are a few suggestions:

–          Include benefits information on company career sites: Companies should include information about benefits programs on the career sites they use to attract candidates. This information needs to be visible to candidates when they are doing their research on a potential employer.

–          Empower employees to be champions of benefits programs: If your benefit programs are good, employees are going to want to talk about them with friends and former colleagues. They will help to drive employee referrals. If your benefits programs are not good, it might be time to start empowering employees with better solutions. These efforts will boost recruiting and retention strategies.

–          Create more options: Benefits programs should not be a one size fits all approach. Employees have different needs and different expectations from employers. When creating messaging around benefits programs, it will be helpful to show different options available to support employees including wellbeing programs, maternity leave, financial wellness, and retirement plans.

Sometimes the best way to attract talent, is to focus on the basics and solve for what candidates want. By improving benefits programs, companies are addressing both the needs of employees and the needs of candidates.

 

Categories
Blog Uncategorized

The Modern Talent Acquisition Function: Roles and Responsibilities

As talent acquisition becomes more complex, the role of the recruiter and the recruiting function must evolve. Recruiters must juggle multiple hats to be successful. No longer just focused on relationship-building or administrative tasks, the modern recruiting function requires a new set of skills and competencies that often seem contradictory. Just take data analysis and relationship-building as one example. Talent acquisition professionals need to build long-term relationships with candidates, interpret data, sell and market their employer brand, and consider a more flexible workforce- all responsibilities that did not exist a decade. While these responsibilities present new opportunities for talent acquisition departments to align with business goals, it can also create confusion around what roles are critical for a modern talent acquisition department.

Aptitude’s latest research looks at the evolution of the global talent acquisition function and identifies several roles that are helping to influence strategies, technology decisions, and the candidate experience. Below are some of these roles and how they are shaping talent acquisition decision-making.

Candidate Experience Manager: The Candidate Experience Manager role is influencing decisions around recruitment marketing solutions and candidate communication tools. This role helps companies such as Thermo Fischer Scientific, Wayfair and Qualtrics create a candidate-centric talent acquisition strategy. Aptitude research found that 30% of companies in APAC have a Candidate Experience Manager role compared to 21% of companies in EMEA and 18% of companies in North America.

Digital Specialists: Some companies are adding digital specialists to support their digital transformation such as Delta Airlines and Verizon. This role can help with evaluating and adopting digital solutions that can improve efficiencies and the overall experience using mobile solutions, AI, automation and video. Aptitude research found that 6% of companies in APAC have a Digital Specialist role compared to 12% in EMEA and 8% in North America.

Data Scientists: Industries such as financial services are hiring data scientists to join their talent acquisition teams and help them leverage analytics. Data scientists can help to evaluate AI solutions and predictive analytics solutions. These roles at companies like Warner Brothers and Morgan Stanley can help talent acquisition use data to drive decisions and create more consistency between disparate solutions. Aptitude research found that 10% of companies in APAC have Data Scientists on their TA team compared to 13% in EMEA and 12% in North America.

There is no one size fits all for the modern talent acquisition department. Companies will have to decide what roles will help to drive efficiency on meet new expectations of the business and the candidates. We are covering this evolution in our upcoming digital transformation report.

 

Categories
Blog

Startups in Silicon Valley: It is Time to Slow Down

I recently watched The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley. The HBO Documentary which profiles Elizabeth Holmes and her blood-testing company, Theranos, is both horrifying and familiar. In 2014, Theranos was valued at $10 billion. Four years later, it was worth less than zero.

It is the story of a tech startup that pushes a product that hasn’t been properly (or scientifically) tested and manipulates every buyer and investor into believing something that does not exist. It is also the story of a tech startup that puts marketing and false advertising over the development of a viable product.

Sound familiar?

If you have spent any time in Silicon Valley or the tech world, Holmes’ story of fraud and deceit is not unique.  It just plays out on a much larger stage given Theranos’ growth, backing, and status. Many of the elements of this story are relevant to the HCM tech industry. We have all witnessed providers that have lost their integrity in the race to the top. Buyers today need to look beyond product capabilities and examine leadership, commitment to product and development, and transparency.

Below are a few quotes/themes from the movie that are relevant for some of the startups in our industry:

“We have to uphold a legacy in Silicon Valley of saving the world.”- The elitism that comes from Silicon Valley often undermines product strategy, customer support, and leadership style. Many leaders at startups get caught up in their egos that they forget to focus on building products that will work.

“We are part of something that is a revolution, and that will change our world.” I have heard this line from too many startups throughout my career. These blind statements damage both customer and employee loyalty. They give the false sense that these early startups know better than anyone else and shield them from any accountability.

“Data doesn’t sit in our mind as much as stories do. And even more important, stories have emotion and data does not.” – Many start-ups focus on their stories and messaging instead of the credibility of their products and data. Customers in many cases are buying a vision instead of a solution that will provide value.

“Getting results doesn’t mean it’s ready for primetime.”– Years ago, tech companies would spend years building and testing their products before they launched them. Today, it seems to happen overnight. A Stanford graduate or former Google employee will get an idea, and the next month, they start a talent acquisition company. Startups need to spend some time with customers and competitors to understand this market and what solutions will drive value.

“Honesty might cost them their jobs.” One of the most frightening aspects of the Theranos’ story is that employees that questioned the integrity of the company were fired. Collaboration needs to be an important part of a startup environment, and too often, early-stage companies shut down anything negative from their employees or customers. As a result, employees have little faith and confidence in these products.

For anyone that is buying new technology, investing in new technology, or just curious about HCM startups I highly recommend this movie. I think you will find many similarities between Theranos and many of the companies in this space.

 

Categories
Blog

New Research: Quality of Hire

Over 60% of companies in Aptitude Research’s latest survey identified improving quality of hire as their greatest recruitment challenge. Organizations have been talking about quality of hire for years. Yet, we have no standard in the market for defining or measuring it. In fact, most companies still don’t know what makes a great hire at their organization.

Why is quality of hire such a struggle? What can organizations do to improve it?

I am excited to announce that we are launching some new research on quality of hire that will help to answer these questions. Yves Lermusi, CEO of Checkster, and I will be discussing some of the findings on a webinar next Tuesday at 12pm EST. I hope you can join us!

Here are some of the topics we are going to discuss include:

–          Ownership: Is quality of hire a talent acquisition metric or a hiring manager metric? Over 70% of companies surveyed said it is the responsibility of talent acquisition. Yet, companies need to use post-hire indicators to measure it. We are going to discuss how to get the right data on your first- year employees and use that data to improve your talent acquisition processes.

–          Business Impact: Organizations can no longer ignore quality of hire. The impact extends into the business since companies that improve quality of hire are three times more likely to see gains in first-year retention , first-year performance, and first-year productivity.

–          Definition: Currently, only 26% of companies have a formal methodology for measuring quality of hire. Quality of applicant is a pre-hire metric that addresses the candidate’s performance at previous jobs or through previous experiences. Quality of hire measures post-hire metrics including first-year retention, performance and productivity. Understanding this distinction and then creating better collaboration and communication around the two is critical for defining quality.

–          Measurement: Measuring quality of hire is dependent on the availability of data . While many of these key performance indicators are common in discussions around quality of hire, more organizations do not have visibility into this data. Hiring manager satisfaction is not measured consistently throughout the organization while organizational fit is often not measured at all. This data is easy for hiring managers to access through payroll or HRIS systems but it is not communicated with talent acquisition teams and leaders.

–          Improvement: Companies that invest in technology solutions were two times more likely to improve quality of hire. The key to success for quality of hire is in what happens from interview to offer. Organizations cannot ignore solutions that play further down in the funnel that directly impact quality of hire including interview solutions, assessments, background screening, online reference checking and onboarding solutions.

Organizations need more clarity around how to define, measure and improve quality of hire. If you are just starting your quality of hire journey or you are looking to help validate or refine what you are currently doing, I hope you can join us next week!

Categories
Blog

Talent Acquisition Technology: Innovation from Ireland

Last summer, I was invited by Enterprise Ireland to attend an event in Dublin and learn about some of the leading technology companies in talent acquisition and talent management. Enterprise Ireland is the Government agency in Ireland responsible for supporting Irish businesses in the manufacturing and internationally traded service sectors. Eight hundred Irish owned companies operate across all 50 US states and Enterprise Ireland supports many of these providers. Not surprising, talent and HR is a growing area of investment. Enterprise Ireland helps these businesses to start-up, innovate and ultimately, to achieve global success. It gives them the support and guidance that many stat-ups in the United States lack.

The companies that I met in Ireland were professional and had a clear understanding of their differentiators, goals and target customers.

In the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, I want to highlight a few of the leading talent acquisition technology companies headquartered in Ireland.

Sonru: With over 500 customers all over the world, Sonru (which means “stand out”) is a global video interviewing provider that supports companies such as Pepsico and Volvo.

Clinch: In the competitive recruitment marketing industry, Clinch differentiates itself with strong customer support and an innovative product. Over the past year, Clinch has added internal mobility capabilities, SMS and communication, and focused on helping companies stay GDPR compliant.

HireUp: HireUp is a referral app that was designed for employees. It allows employees to share jobs through any channel they want and provides communication and notifications about the status of a candidate to the individual that provided the referral.

Jobbio: with over 6,000 SMB customers, Jobbio is an employer branding company that focuses on helping companies with recruitment marketing, job distribution and the candidate experience.

These companies represent just a handful of innovative providers coming out of Ireland. Other areas of growth include learning, communication, and engagement. The support these providers get from Enterprise Ireland helps them make better decisions around their roadmaps, partnerships, and global expansion.

Categories
Blog

Mathematical Curiosity and the Future Workforce

Yesterday, I attended a math workshop for parents of elementary schoolers (grades K-5). The workshop was designed to provide more support for students at home and to give parents a better understanding of the math curriculum. I love the idea of learning new ways to better help my kids. But, to be honest, the thought of spending a few hours reviewing multiplication and division was the last thing I wanted to do in the middle of a busy workday.

I went anyway and what I learned was much more valuable than a refresher on algebra.

The presenter kicked off the workshop with this quote: “Good mathematics is not about how many answers you know… it’s about how you behave when you don’t know.” Math teaching has completely changed since I was a kid and is now focused on helping students understand concepts and reasoning. Kids are encouraged to experiment and make mistakes. Teachers want math to be collaborative and fun not scary and condescending. I started to wonder if elementary school is where the true reskilling of the workforce is happening.

As organizations prepare for an AI-future of work or an analytics-driven future of work, empowering employees to adopt new technologies and embrace “math” is a priority. According to TrainingIndustry.com reports, North American organizations spent over $160 billion on corporate training last year. Yet, much of this training for reskilling the workforce is conducted in an “old math” kind of way. It feels intimidating and discouraging. And, it doesn’t promote curiosity or opportunity.

Maybe we need a lesson in “new math”. Maybe we need to think more like elementary students and not be afraid to make mistakes. If we do one thing to reskill our workforce, maybe it should be to create a curiosity around math and data.

Below are some of the takeaways that I learned (based on research from Dr. Jo Boaler, a mathematics professor at Stanford University).

1.       Everyone can learn math to the highest levels.

2.       Mistakes are valuable.

3.       Questions are really important.

4.       Math is about creativity and making sense.

5.       Math is about connections and communicating.

6.       Math class is about learning not performing.

7.       Depth is more important than speed.

Categories
Blog

Key Takeaways from IBM Think

Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of attending IBM Think, an event focused on topics such as AI, blockchain, and cognitive computing. With nearly 40,000 attendees, this event is massive and spans all industries and company sizes. Think is not an HR event but talent was a central theme this year both in IBM’s messaging and in the level of attendees.

This event put two things in perspective for me:

  1. IBM is an innovator. When you think of IBM, traditional (or maybe even, “stuffy”) may come to mind. With a history of selling hardware and services, it is best known for its blue suit culture. Its nickname is “Big Blue” after all. But IBM is helping to define how we use AI in our personal and professional lives through Watson. Whether it is the weather app on your phone or the IBM candidate assistant (which partners with several ATS companies), you might be surprised about Watson’s growing presence in all things.
  2. AI is maturing. It is becoming more prevalent in enterprise technology. But, talent acquisition technology still lags behind. Companies are trying to understand AI’s role in recruitment and what providers they can trust. This reality is transparent when seeing how other parts of the business are embracing AI.

IBM is enhancing its products and addressing some critical challenges in recruiting and engaging talent. Yet, these changes and advancements are sometimes overlooked and lack the awareness that they deserve. I was surprised.

Here are some of the key takeaways from IBM Think:

–          Diversity and Inclusion: With Watson Recruitment’s Adverse Impact Analysis, companies can  identify whether unconscious bias is present in the hiring process and take action to eliminate it.

–          Partnerships: IBM has expanded its partnerships including Greenhouse last year and recently, announced a partnership with Workday to expand the use of AI among HR professionals. Select IBM Watson Recruitment features will now be available to Workday Recruiting users, helping to accelerate and improve the hiring process.

–          Assessments: IBM has transformed its assessment practice to include more candidate-friendly, game-based assessments. Its assessments include skills assessments, behavioral assessments and simulations. It is also committed to providing assessments for smaller organizations.

As IBM continues to expand its product suite, the value it provides to companies is in Watson. Moving forward, it will need to figure out how to include more Watson capabilities in more of its core talent acquisition and talent management solutions.

LinkedIn Twitter Email
Top
Aptitude Research