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Dog Days of Summer: What’s Keeping Us Busy

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It has been an exciting summer for us at Aptitude. After several months of hectic travel schedules, Mollie and I have decided to stay local in August. We are busy publishing new research, prepping for the fall conference season, and collecting and analyzing more data. The best thing about less travel is that we get to have some amazing conversations with solution providers, corporations, and the broader HCM community. It has been eye opening and we have learned a lot.

If you are curious about what we have been up to this week, here are five things that have been keeping us busy:

  1. Research on the Rocks: In case you missed the news, we are now part of the HR Happy Hour Network founded by Steve Boese and Trish McFarlane. Our podcast series, Research on the Rocks, will highlight some of the key findings from our research and interesting trends in HCM technology. Our first episode covers payroll, communication, recruitment marketing, and assessments.
  2. Recruitment Marketing Index and Workforce Management Index: We published our first Talent Acquisition Index report a few weeks ago and we are already well on our way with the next two. The Workforce Management Index will provide insight on areas such as time and labor, scheduling, payroll, and absence management. The Recruitment Marketing Index will provide clarity around a very popular yet confusing space.
  3. Culture Survey: Culture is a powerful force within organizations, but one that remains mysterious to many. This survey will focus on how an organization communicates, what behaviors, skills and achievements it rewards, the work environment and “employee deal” of compensation, reward, and benefits, and even how it assesses talent. We are collecting feedback on the survey now and it will launch at the end of this month.
  4. New Technology: It is an exciting time to be in HR Technology, especially with so many new providers offering solutions that are solving business challenges. We have been conducting briefings with many of the start-ups in the space and we are getting excited for The HR Technology Conference.
  5. New Research: We have new research now available on our website that cover a wide range of HCM topics including: background screening, employee communication, the talent acquisition trifecta, and employee burnout. These are reports all based on data we have collected over the past few months and topics we feel deserve more attention.

So, we have been busy but in a good way. If you have a new company, new product, new strategy or new idea, send us a note. We would love to schedule a call and hear from you.

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Don’t Go Changing…The Dangers of Category Creation

A street sign with directions pointing different ways labeled what, where, who, when , why and how

The HCM technology market is competitive and crowded. Providers are trying to gain market share and expand into new territory. Especially, when customers are increasing their investments and 1 in 5 companies (on average) are looking to replace their existing solutions (Aptitude’s 2016 Hire, Engage and Retain study). Given this state of the market, one trend I have noticed is that many providers are trying to get the buyer’s attention by creating new categories. They are coming up with clever names to describe very mature areas of technology investment or in some cases, inventing something new. Sometimes it makes sense but most of the time, it doesn’t. Does anyone really want to invest in an ”employee awesomeness experience excellence platform”?

You get my point.

Below are a few considerations for any solution provider that is thinking about embarking to the land of Category Creation.

  1. Budget: Does this new category align with HR Technology, workforce management or recruitment budgets? If not, buyers are going to have to build a business case for something they don’t have any idea of what the demonstrated ROI is going to be. That’s no fun and sounds like a recipe for failure.
  2. Confusion: The HCM technology market is already filled with confusion. Most companies are still trying to understand the difference between talent acquisition and talent management. Will a  new category exacerbate this confusion or bring clarity? Too often, new categories leave customers unsure of where this technology fits into the broader HCM landscape.
  3. Product vs. Marketing: There are product providers and then there are marketing providers. Which one are you? If you truly believe in your product and the value it provides, then by all means, create a category. But in many cases, providers are putting a marketing spin on a performance management system, LMS or ATS.

If you are set on category creation, then there are a few success stories that might be worth watching. Recruitment marketing is one example. A few years ago, companies had no idea what a recruitment marketing platform would look like. Today, it is a very well-recognized category thanks to providers such as SmashFly that have not only built a strong product but educated customers on the value. HireVue (video interviewing) and Globoforce (social recognition) are a few examples of other providers that have created awareness for new categories that now align with budgets and provide tremendous value.

Companies have a lot to think about when selecting the right technology. They want simple solutions that will help them do their jobs better and improve business results. Fancy names and new categories will not always help them achieve these goals.

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The Power of Recruitment Marketing

A digital layout withs someone selected cartoon figures as ideal candidates

When we asked organizations to identify their priorities for talent acquisition investment, recruitment marketing was top of the list. Companies want solutions that can handle the top of the funnel or the pre-applicant workflow. It is not a new request. Companies didn’t just decide they needed a solution to attract, engage or nurture leads. They just didn’t have any good options in the past. Today, recruitment marketing is a critical component of any talent acquisition technology strategy.

The challenge most companies face is understanding what recruitment marketing is and how it can help drive overall recruitment success.  Often referred to as the “pre-applicant platform”, recruitment marketing includes capabilities that maintain the employer brand, foster candidate relationships and enhance messaging and communication efforts. While recruitment marketing can transform a talent acquisition function, the real value is found in a solution that integrates and supports the overall talent acquisition strategy.

Next Tuesday, June 21, I will be presenting a webinar with Charlie Nelson at SmartRecruiters to discuss the power of recruitment marketing. Below are a few topics we plan to cover.

  • The current state of Recruitment Marketing and the key drivers for investing in a technology partner;
  • The role recruitment marketing plays in the current talent acquisition landscape;
  • The key strategies to integrate recruitment marketing efforts with overall talent acquisition efforts;
  • An action plan to help companies get the most value out of their recruitment marketing strategies and investments.

This topic has gained a lot of momentum over the past year and I hope you can join us and share your thoughts on this space.

 

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Greenhouse and the Era of Next Generation ATS Providers

Many people holding up tablets in front of their faces with their pictures on the back

Greenhouse is on a fast growth curve. It has made a name in an industry that is crowded, confusing and incredibly competitive. This next generation talent acquisition system is growing at 200% annually with $60 Million in funding and over 2000 customers (mid-market). It is interesting to me because it is not necessarily disrupting the ATS market but it is thinking about recruitment differently. I learned a lot about Greenhouse at its user conference last week where I had the opportunity to meet with the Executive team and some of its customers. Below are a few reasons why I believe it has been successful and a few things it might need to consider for the future.

Why So Much Growth in Such a Short Period of Time?

  • Productizing Best Practices: Greenhouse with its scorecard functionality and its focus on best-practices is a product that guides recruiters and hiring managers to make the right decisions. It doesn’t force them into the decisions but it shows them what the obvious answers are and then let’s them decide. The job of a talent acquisition professional has become so complex that this level of simplicity and guidance goes a long way. Box, one if its customers at the event, said it was able to provide a simple experience for recruiters, improve how recruiting teams work together and cut time to fill from 60 to 28 days.
  • The Demand for Best of Breed: According to research we’ve conducted this year, 50% of the companies that are unhappy with their ATS are using an ERP. Companies today are looking at best of breed providers and no longer have to sacrifice integration for deep functionality. Stitchfix stated that when considering an ERP and Greenhouse, the partnerships and integration  with third-party providers helped influence its decision to go with best of breed.
  • Happy Partners: In conversations with several companies in San Francisco, Greenhouse has a reputation for being a good partner. Why is this important? Well, the next generation talent acquisition platform is dependent on an ecosystem of providers to support everything from sourcing to screening to interviewing candidates. This ecosystem is the lifeline of an ATS and having strong partnerships in place can greatly improve the customer’s experience.

What It Needs to Consider Moving Forward?

  • Move Out of Tech: Right now, Greenhouse has nearly 60% of its customers in the technology industry (including eretail and fintech). When we ask companies what influences the recruitment tech decisions, “word of mouth” was number one. While it is great that tech companies are so impressed with Greenhouse, it will need to expand outside of tech to sustain its growth and rethink its messaging and even sales strategy.
  • Expand in Recruitment Marketing: Next Generation TA platforms are defined as having 3 critical systems: a Recruitment Marketing platform, ATS and onboarding system. Greenhouse has the ATS and onboarding but needs to build recruitment marketing especially as it comes head to head with providers such as iCIMS, Lever, and SmartRecruiters.
  • A Stronger Message: As competition continues to heat up in this market. Messaging around making recruitment better and easier gets overplayed. Greenhouse will need to be very clear on its differentiators as it moves up market and into other verticals.

Greenhouse is one of the providers we are including in our upcoming Index report. Stay tuned…

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Ericsson: A Lesson in Employer Branding

Shadows of business people with colorful speech bubbles above their heads

Despite its’ recent popularity, employer branding is still fairly immature. In fact, less than half of companies we surveyed are investing in employer branding this year. Companies understand it is important but often do not know where to start or what role technology can play in attracting talent. And for those companies investing in employer branding tools, only 55% are satisfied with their providers.

How can companies improve their employer branding efforts? How can they find more value in their strategies and technology options? Last week, I attended HCI’s Talent Acquisition conference and learned a thing or two about employer branding from the Head of Talent Acquisition at Ericsson.

Several years ago, Ericsson transformed from a telecommunications company to an ICT and software services provider. Not only, did it need to think about how it would represent the new business in the marketplace but also, how it would attract talent. At the time, employer branding was not aligned with any corporate communications and lacked an element of story-telling. Ericsson needed to find a way to make the company more exciting to candidates and communicate why someone would want to work there.

Below is what they decided to change:

  1. Encourage Employee Advocacy: With 120,000 employees and 100 nationalities, Ericsson recognized that not every individual would be brand ambassadors, but everyone should have the right messages and tools to be able to talk about the brand in the same way. Ericsson developed an App that gives employees an opportunity to fully understand what their employer brand is and talk about the exciting things that the company is doing.
  2. Invest in Social: By moving to Social Chorus (an employee engagement app), employees have the ability to build their personal brands within the company and share those messages externally. With this tool, Ericsson’s employees were sharing the brand 4 to 5 times more. LinkedIn Elevate also provides a powerful platform for Ericsson. Since running the pilot, the company had 24,000 job shares that they had not seen before.
  3. Target Candidates: Ericsson is able to leverage technology to create a personal and human experience for candidates and employees. It targets talent by skills, jobs, and diversity. It leverages various strategies for each of these groups. For example, it created a “Women in Tech” Quiz that captures information and engages with women about their careers. It also provided a great deal of support for the UN’s “HE for SHE” campaign and had its male employees participate. For Black History Month, Ericsson highlighted a number of its employees as well as African Americans outside of the company that have achieved success in STEM careers.
  4. Disrupt the Conversation: In an effort to stay relevant and reach candidates on a different level, Ericsson would disrupt Twitter conversations about popular TV shows and get involved with the conversation. Ericsson also invited girls to be guest bloggers on its career blog to promote Girls in ICT and Girls in STEM.

We hear so many presentations about why employer branding is important but few about how companies are strengthening their efforts. Overall, Ericsson achieved success by being innovative, empowering employees to participate, and leveraging technology in a more human way.

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China: Six Reasons HR Technology is a Big Deal

A hiker atop a mountain looking out at other mountains and lakes

My Dad visited China for the first time in 2009. He went for business but had the opportunity to see the Great Wall and many of the popular tourist sites you might expect. He took pictures and shared them- a first for my Dad. And six years later, he still finds a way to bring up China in just about every conversation. I am not exaggerating. It clearly made an impression.

Last week, I had my own experience in China. I was fortunate enough to visit Zhuhai for the inaugural HR Technology China conference hosted by LRP and China Star. With over 6000 registrants and 3500 attendees, I think it is safe to say that the event was a huge success. Every session was standing room only and the conference had captured the attention of Chinese officials, media and universities.

This trip also made an impression on me. Not only because I spent time with some of my favorite people in our industry (Trish McFarlane, Steve Boese, Jason Averbook, Kevin Wheeler, and the amazing LRP team) but also because of the energy and transformation that is happening in a country so rich with history and culture. Now six days later, I am the one who can’t stop talking about China. And… I am going to share a few things I learned last week.

  1. HR is a Big Deal. China accounts for up to one-third of the global growth in recent years and the business of talent is taken very seriously. Unlike in the US, where HR professionals are looking for ways to gain the support of business, HR is valued in China. Companies invest resources and technology to making sure they are recruiting, developing and retaining talent.
  2. Talent Acquisition is the Priority. As companies expand and look to compete for quality hires, talent acquisition is a priority. Identifying and attracting talent was a topic discussed throughout every session of the conference as companies look to hire the best talent and compete with large MNCs or foreign-based firms. Currently, only 20% of Chinese graduates are staying overseas. The majority of students are returning to China to seek employment.
  3. Services Are Where It’s At. HR professionals are eager to invest in new technology but first need to understand their processes. The demand for HR services in China seems to be greater than in the US. Conference attendees wanted to simplify some of the trends so they could make the best decisions around their technology.
  4. Branding is a City Thing: Employer Branding is a major component of any recruitment strategy for companies in China but the focus is on the city even more than the company. At the conference, both delegates and companies in attendance were creating a strong connection between talent and the city of Zhuhai through videos, marketing and messaging. A large technology firm I met with a few years ago was focused on branding efforts that would highlight the different cities in China instead of the overall company.
  5. The Student Population is Impressive: Many students from the local university in Zhuhai attended the conference. These individuals were eager to learn and connect with other attendees and presenters. They were passionate about the topics and ambitious about their future careers in the workforce.
  6. Social Media is Powerful: Although many of the popular social media sites we use on a daily basis are blocked in China including Facebook and Twitter, social media is a big part of HR. These companies leverage many social media sites including WeChat and LinkedIn. Over 50% of companies are using social media in their talent acquisition efforts.

This event was an amazing experience and I am grateful to LRP and China Star for the opportunity to attend. I will be posting a summary of my presentation on Employer Branding in China next week.

 

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Marketplace or Market Hype? Three Ways to Tell the Difference

silhouettes of people discussing and sharing ideas with ideas floating above their heads

Who doesn’t love the concept of a Marketplace? As consumers, marketplaces allow us to make a dinner reservation, order food or even get a ride to the airport. They connect us with providers, reduce the friction of buying and selling, and help us navigate through a very complex ecosystem of providers.

Fortunately, there is no shortage of marketplaces in HCM technology. Providers such as ADP, SmartRecruiters, iCIMS and Newton Software now offer valuable marketplaces to help their customers make better decisions. Even emerging providers recognize the value of linking customers with the right providers. In fact, nearly half of the 169 recruiting startups on the AngelList from August-September of last year were marketplaces (analysis from Ray Tenenbaum, CEO of Great Hires).

While the concept of a marketplace in HCM makes sense, the reality is that not all marketplaces are created the same. Many providers that have announced a “marketplace” are offering nothing more than a list of partners and an open API. How can companies decipher between a true marketplace and market hype?

Below are three ways companies can tell the difference:

  1. Customer Experience is The Priority: In order to be a true marketplace, you can’t just categorize or aggregate the market, you need to enhance it. Providers have to create value for their customers and improve their experience. An HCM marketplace should allow customers to easily search for providers, view ratings or feedback and easily make purchases. Users should not have to leave the marketplace to do any research on providers.
  2. Certification Is a Critical Part of the Process: The marketplace should be selective about who is and who is not included. Some marketplace providers are so eager to include as many companies as possible (remember- most get money from the providers they include) that they lose their value. A certification process allows a marketplace provider to set the criteria for who can be included and let the customer know that “This is who we trust. So, you can trust them too.”
  3. Insights Instead of Information: A marketplace should provide insights about the providers included so customers can make better decisions. Some marketplaces simply list providers under categories and include a brief description that can be found on their website. The HCM ecosystem is complex and the marketplace should help companies determine what providers can help meet their needs.

The concept of a marketplace can provide tremendous value to both providers and customers when it focuses on the experience. If we think about how marketplaces help us as consumers to make quick and educated decisions, the same should be true in the world of HCM.

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Blog Talent Acquisition Strategies

Stop Being So Fancy

silhouettes of people discussing and sharing ideas with ideas floating above their heads

Talent acquisition is incredibly complex. Recruiters are facing new responsibilities, new pressures and new challenges. But what surprises me is that many of the talent acquisition technology providers- with all of their products and enhancements- are adding to the complexity not alleviating it. The large, traditional Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) are so quick to transform recruitment technology into more of a finance or business solution that they seem to have forgotten their audience. And, in the rush to innovate, the recruiter’s needs have gone ignored.

Recruiters have one major problem. They need an easier way to attract, recruit and hire talent. If a technology provider is not solving that problem, they do not have a viable solution. According to Aptitude’s 2016 Hire, Engage and Retain survey, only 3% of companies are using the full functionality of their ATS system. Companies either don’t know the functionality is there or they don’t understand how to use it. Again, many of these solutions are too complicated. If you want to give recruiters and candidates what they need- technology providers need to make it simple.

Below are a few ways that recruitment technology providers can get back to the basics:

  • Don’t Overcomplicate Analytics: The use of statistical algorithms and machine learning can help organizations perform in the future. And yes, predictive analytics can help transform a talent acquisition department into a more strategic function. But the reality is that most recruiters still struggle with basic reporting. When talent acquisition providers overcomplicate analytics, recruiters will shy away. Providers should focus on providing information that will help recruiters do their job and make better decisions (ie, data around conversion rates and pipeline analytics).
  • Keep Users on the Platform: I have said this before and I will say it again. Recruiters should not have to leave their ATS to perform core aspects of talent acquisition. Scheduling interviews, viewing documents such as a resume or sending an email to a candidate should all be down in the platform.
  • Make Communication Easy: Communication is important. Ninety-three (93%)of companies say it is a priority for the upcoming year but few recruiters and hiring managers have the time to send out personal communication to candidates. More systems are including a library of templates throughout the recruiting process to communicate with candidates and even create a cadence of that communication. It may not sound sexy, but having templates for reaching out to candidates is becoming a critical tool for recruiters. Leveraging a template- can take less than a minute to send compared to a personal email that could take 15 or 20 minutes to write.
  • Understand the Value of Your Marketplace: One reason that talent acquisition has become so complex is that there are so many categories of technology and new providers entering the market. It is challenging to understand the ecosystem of talent acquisition and how these solutions integrate with an ATS. The goal of a marketplace should be to help customers make quick decisions and quick transactions on the third-party solutions.

The more complex talent acquisition becomes, the more simple technology should be. Recruiters don’t need the extra pressure and stress from a solutions that they don’t understand how to use. As we finish up briefings for our Aptitude Index reports, simplicity and ease of use are key differentiators.

 

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Just In: New Data on Talent Acquisition Technology

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Our first Aptitude survey is off to a great start with close to 300 responses. The goal of this research is to explore how companies are leveraging technology to improve the way they hire, engage and retain talent. We are looking at the challenges and strategies through every stage of the customer’s journey from readiness to selection, implementation and adoption. The good news is that with so many new products and services, it is an exciting time to be an HR technology buyer. The bad news is that most companies still struggle when making decisions on what technology will best meet their unique needs.

We are committed to helping companies navigate through the customer journey and understand how to identify their own priorities. Below is a sneak peek at some of the data that aligns with the customer journey.

  • Readiness: Readiness involves understanding your organization’s true business needs, requirements and limitations, as well as the underlying talent strategy. Companies must think about what technology they currently have in place and what changes will help them achieve their business objectives. Currently, only 3% of companies are using the full functionality of their ATS and one third of companies are still using their ERP.
  • Selection: Selecting the right provider involves more than product capabilities. It is the process for identifying the best partner. Companies have to look at differentiators and how they help to meet their own business needs. Eighty percent of companies rely on word of mouth to help make decisions. Key criteria for selecting an ATS includes:
    • Product Capabilities- 65%
    • Price – 63%
    • Demonstrated ROI- 60%
    • Approach to integration- 56%
    • Demonstrated expertise in a related industry- 56%
    • Financial Viability – 54%
    • Relationship management Resources- 52%
  • Implementation: Implementation is often when the relationship with a vendor goes wrong. The process of getting the solution operational in your unique business context. Thirty-four (34%) of companies implement their system in 90 days or less.
  • Adoption: Organizational change management is critical to success, and planning for how to support user adoption is a key to unlocking technology ROI. Adoption is the true sign of how successful the customer journey has been. Only 20%of companies have a change management strategy in place and only 43% of companies view their providers as a partner.

Over the next few weeks, we will be publishing highlights from this research and recommendations for companies looking to better understand the technology landscape and their own customer journey.

 

 

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Blog Talent Acquisition Strategies

I Can’t Even: HR Trends We Are Over

silhouettes of employees with different colored chat bubbles above their heads

At the start of each year, HR Trends are hard to ignore. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone has a message. Everyone has an idea of what happened in the past year and what should happen in the New Year. And yes… I am guilty. Trends are important because they help companies understand their priorities and benchmark their progress against industry standards. They give us a guide for what matters and what will drive success. But, the reality is that sometimes trends can go wrong. Especially when trends go unchanged year after year (mobile and social, I’m talking about you). Even when they are important, we are sick of hearing about them. But what if the problem is not about the trend itself and instead about the way we are talking about that trend. The way we talk about its value and its relevance and its impact on our organization.

Below are a few trends we believe need a new conversation and a few we want to stop talking about altogether.

  • Quality of Hire: Quality of hire is not a new trend. In fact, it is a very old trend that has been misused and misinterpreted for years. Yes, everyone wants to hire great people. But the challenge is that there is no standard for defining what quality of hire is how it can be measured. Some companies define it simply as someone that completed an application. Others ignore other important recruitment metrics like time to fill, conversion rates and source of hire. The good news is that several of the ATS providers (Lumesse and Cornerstone OnDemand to name a few) are helping organizations create this standard by defining what quality of hire is and pulling in performance and succession data to help measure it.
  • Integration: Integration is important. Very important. It’s important because HR professionals do not want to open 10 different solutions to do a simple task and it is important because the HCM landscape has become so complex it is hard to make sense of how these providers and strategies work together. There is not a simple solution to integration and so many providers try to pretend that there is. Open API’s are great but how can we help companies understand the full ecosystem. How an technology providers offer a better experience. Some providers like ADP, SmartRecruiters, and iCIMS are tackling integration through a Marketplace- providing both a network of partners and the guidance on what might be right for your company. Additionally, Andy Rice and my friends at Black-Box Consulting have the best approach I have seen to consulting on integrated talent management and helping companies overcome integration challenges.
  • Innovation: We differentiate providers by their functionality. And each year, new functionality and innovation becomes a trend. Sophistication and product enhancements are something we pay attention to and while the product capabilities are important, so many of these solutions have become too complex. HR and talent acquisition buyers want solutions that will save them time and provide a good experience for their candidates and employees. Our upcoming index report looks at differentiators beyond capabilities (the ATS report will publish early next month). Yet, too many areas of HCM technology focus on depth in functionality over simplicity. Fortunately, there are new solutions that make our jobs really easy and even fun such as GreatHires for interviewing, BrandAmper for employer branding, SkillSurvey for online reference calls, Engage2Excel for recognition and The Marcus Buckingham Company for team performance.
  • Engagement: Writing about how engagement is no longer a trend is becoming a trend. When we are talking about engagement, we seem to be stuck on the same challenges and strategies year after year. Mollie said it best in her blog last month. Let’s talk about something that will change the way we treat our employees, our managers, candidates, leaders and stakeholders. We need to talk about the experience (more to come on this next week). Let’s talk about better communication. I love the work GuideSpark is doing with providing better communication between employers and employees.

So, join us for a new conversation as we tackle some of these issues in our latest survey and don’t miss next week’s post on trends I wish we would start talking about again.

 

 

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