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Tag: Artificial Intelligence

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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.

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AI, Voice Activated-Assistants, Robots: Does Any of It Matter?

In talent acquisition, we hear a lot about things like AI, voice activated assistants, and robots. Will recruiters be replaced by AI? Will home voice activated assistants liked Google Home and Alexa become part of our workforce? What jobs are in danger? Providers are talking about it and many talent acquisition leaders are asking for it. I get it. Technology is changing. And we need to keep up and prepare for the future. But in research we did last year, 60% of companies are still confused about AI and its value in recruitment. By focusing so much on the unknown, are we losing sight of the basic challenges with attracting and recruiting talent? Are we losing sight of what really matters?

Recruiters face some serious challenges (improving the candidate experience, attracting talent, hiring quality talent to name a few) and companies need to consider solutions that actually address those challenges. We have become so focused on what’s “new” that we are missing what’s valuable.  What solutions can actually help recruit better? When we ask companies about their top investments and where they see value, this is what they say:

  • Background Screening: It may not seem like the most exciting area of talent acquisition but for many companies it is the most important investment. Many companies have had the same provider longer than they have had their ATS. It is also the top investment with nearly 80% of companies using some type of background screening provider. In 2018, companies need to consider not only what type of screening is important but also what providers that they can trust.
  • Assessments: When using the right provider, assessments can provide tremendous value to talent acquisition by helping organizations improve the quality of hire. The challenge that most companies face is that they have been leveraging very traditional assessments that provide a poor experience for the candidate and take too long to complete. Companies need to consider validated providers that will partner with companies to create a better experience.
  • Online Reference Checks: It is surprising to me that more companies are not investing in providers like SkillSurvey and Checkster. There is tremendous value in online reference checking in reducing time to fill, improving quality of hire, and giving companies an additional talent pool where they can source candidates. These solutions along with background screening and assessments address real challenges in recruitment.
  • Communication Tools: The candidate experience is essentially about communication. Organizations need to give candidates the information they need to feel engaged and prepared. They need to provide more meaningful communication through multiple channels including chat, video, messaging, or event a phone call.
  • Predictive Analytics: I recently moderated a panel with Dr. Anton Smessaert from Visier where every question I have ever had about predictive analytics was answered in 45 minutes. Predictive analytics can help companies understand patterns of data and help guide them to make better decisions about talent. But people need to be the ones to make those decisions. He will explain this much more eloquently than I can but predictive analytics is valuable and you need a provider you can trust.

We are launching our 2018 talent acquisition survey in a few weeks and would love to hear what your priorities are in the next year.

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The Talent Acquisition Technology Market is Heating Up

compass with the arrow pointing towards the word talent

According to CB Insights, HR Tech deals reached a record high in 2016 with $1.96B invested across 350 deals from January to October. And, no surprise, most of those deals were in talent acquisition technology. Compare that to 2012 (with only $400M of investment in HR technology) and it becomes clear that this market is not slowing down anytime soon.

In fact, it really began to heat up this month. Every day seems to be marked by a new round of investment for some of the leading startups in this space. Not to mention the other major announcements – CareerBuilder got acquired and all eyes are on Google. It is an exciting time to be in talent acquisition technology.

Below are some of the major announcements this month:

• Entelo: Entelo is a leader in the talent acquisition technology market and has become a critical part of any forward-thinking recruitment or sourcing strategy. What makes it standout is not only a stellar product (inbound and outbound recruitment) but also, its approach to employees, partners, and customers. Last week, it announced $20M in Series C funding led by U.S. Venture Partners.
• Yello: One of the more impressive companies I have met with this year, Yello has a product suite that includes a CRM, scheduling, video interviewing, events management, campus recruiting, and employee referrals. This week they raised $31M in Series C funding from JMI Equity.
• Textio: The augmented writing platform helps companies create more effective job postings. Textio claims to predict the performance of these postings by analyzing the outcomes of 10 million postings each month. This week, it announced $20M in Series B funding led by Scale Venture Partners.
• Workey: This AI recruitment solution is helping companies reduce or replace their cost on third-party recruitment companies. Earlier this month, it announced $8M in Series A funding led by PICO Partners.

What’s driving this focus on talent acquisition technology? Why are investors watching this market so closely and what does it mean for you? A few factors to consider:

• Business Pressure: Talent acquisition is elevated to more of a business priority. Companies are making more strategic decisions around where they spend their dollars and what value they are seeing from these solutions.
• Importance of the Ecosystem: The modern talent acquisition landscape is comprised of three core systems (recruitment marketing, ATS, and onboarding) and an ecosystem of providers that integrate with those systems. This ecosystem is helping to drive change and improve talent acquisition efforts and this is where most of the investment is happening.
• Focus on the Candidate: For over 70% of companies, the candidate experience is the top priority. Traditional recruitment providers are not designed to enhance the candidate experience. Startups and third-party providers are leading in this area.

One important question that customers must ask is “Where does this investment go?” Customers need to consider if these providers are going to develop the product, enhance sales and marketing, or strengthen customer support. Ideally, they would do all three but it can be hard to tell. It is important to ask your providers tough questions about their investments and partner with them as they grow over the next year.

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