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Ethical AI: What TA Leaders Need to Know

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It’s hard to find a conversation in TA tech that does not include AI matching. ATS providers are enhancing their capabilities to connect jobs to candidates and candidates to jobs. Providers like HiredScore and Eightfold have gained momentum in the past year and sourcing providers are going to market more aggressively as matching providers. In our latest TA study, 34% of companies stated that they are using some type of matching, and they are two times more likely to improve diverse sources and three times more likely to improve quality of hire.

Although companies understand the value of AI matching, they do not always know where to go to find a technology partner. Companies and buyers that are committed to ethical AI are looking at stand-alone providers, while companies focused on efficiency AI are looking at their ATS providers. Companies must consider what data they are using to match, the providers’ approach to ethical AI, and what skills are available on candidate profiles.

Last week, I joined Tim Sackett and Tyler Weeks to talk about the growth of AI matching, the importance of ethical AI, and what companies should consider. Here are a few of the questions we discussed:

  • Do TA leaders care about ethical AI? Why should they?
  • What should companies think about when evaluating ethical AI providers?
  • Is it technology providers’ role to bring ethics to TA?
  • What impact will the AI regulations in Europe have on TA tech?

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Blog Talent Acquisition Strategies

Talent Analytics Part 2: Efficiency

Today, I am joining Eric Sydell, EVP of Innovation at Modern Hire, on a webinar to discuss our latest research on talent analytics. We will be sharing the challenges with data and how companies can use a framework to turn goals and metrics into actions.

One of the topics we will cover is efficiency. Sixty-two percent (62%) of companies state that they are facing pressure to fill positions quickly. Talent acquisition professionals are recruiting, but with limited resources and, in many cases, limited staff. Forty-six (46%) of companies are experiencing layoffs within their talent acquisition teams. Some companies have eliminated specialist roles that may include candidate experience managers and data scientists, while others have reduced the number of coordinators to help with administrative tasks.

Goals

Talent acquisition professionals are under pressure to balance a heavy workload without support, and they must remain flexible. One in four companies stated that it still takes over three months to fill positions.

Metrics

Efficiency metrics are the most common and straightforward metrics that organizations track. Yet, they can vary greatly throughout the organization. Some metrics include:

  • Time to apply: The time it takes from when candidates learn about an opportunity to when they apply for a job.
  • Time to interview: The time it takes from when candidates apply to when they get interviewed.
  • Time to fill: The time it takes from when a job is posted to when it is filled by a candidate.
  • Conversion rates: The rate at which candidates convert from different stages in talent acquisition, from learning about a company to applying for a job, scheduling an interview, and accepting an offer.
  • Recruiter Productivity: The productivity of recruiting teams and time spent on administrative tasks, including finding candidates and scheduling calls and interviews.

Insights

Once companies collect metrics on efficiency, they must understand what impact this has on talent acquisition efforts and why efficiency is a challenge. Below are some considerations to gain better insights on efficiency gaps.

  • Identifying where talent acquisition slows down: Companies should look closely at where inefficiencies occur and if hiring managers or other key stakeholders are involved. Are there delays with scheduling calls and interviews or with communication between recruiters and hiring managers? Understanding where and why talent acquisition is slowing down can help companies improve efficiency.
  • Understanding decision-making: Talent decisions are made differently at every organization. Companies should look at the data they have on hiring decisions and determine how these decisions are made and based on intuition or accurate data.
  • Communicating with candidates more effectively: Inefficiency is often the result of poor communication with candidates. By improving candidate engagement and outreach throughout the process, companies can shorten hiring times.

Action Steps

Companies that gain insight into their efficiency gaps can take the following actions:

  • Invest in candidate-first solutions: Candidates want simple and intuitive solutions that provide better engagement and efficiency. Companies that consider solutions designed with the candidate in mind will see overall improvements to efficiency gaps.
  • Create a seamless experience: Companies must ensure that their hiring solutions are seamless, integrate with the ATS, and not make candidates go from place to place to click links, enter information, or re-enter information to complete stages. Companies must ask for is job-relevant or otherwise necessary and predictive of job success and provides results and recommendations to hiring teams in a cohesive, logical way.
  • Invest in scheduling: Interview scheduling takes recruiters, on average, sixteen hours a week to complete. Companies need a more strategic approach to scheduling and should consider solutions that automate the scheduling process to save time and improve recruiter productivity.

The research report covers candidate experience, DEI, efficiency, and quality of hire. I hope you can join us today!

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Blog Talent Acquisition Strategies

New Research: TA Buyer’s Guide Top 10 Findings (Part 1)

Eightfold AI: What’s Next?
Eightfold AI: What’s Next?

I am excited to announce that we published our annual talent acquisition buyer’s guide report this week sponsored by Verified First. It serves as a resource for anyone interested in learning more about the trends impacting technology and the requirements critical to making decisions. The talent acquisition technology market is constantly changing, and staying ahead of trends is becoming more challenging. Organizations need to evaluate providers based on a new set of criteria that encourages partnership and collaboration between the business and the solutions. Trust in the company, product, and roadmap is a critical part of the buyer’s journey and a key differentiator when evaluating solutions.

Evaluating technology is not as easy as it used to be. Ten years ago, the talent acquisition technology market was comprised of multiple providers offering clear products in defined categories such as background screening, job boards, applicant tracking systems (ATS), assessments, and onboarding. Today, the market has exploded with hundreds more providers and new ones entering each month. Additionally, the lines have blurred. Many of these providers offer several solutions in talent acquisition or have created new categories of technology, making a buyer’s decision much more complicated.

Below are 5 top findings from this research:

  • Efficiency is driving decisions. Companies have stated that improving efficiency is the key driver when evaluating technology providers. Companies are looking at providers to improve time to fill, increase recruiter productivity and improve overall decision-making in talent acquisition technology. Improved efficiency benefits the candidate and the employer by helping candidates receive communication, stay informed and move through the process.
  • Talent Acquisition Technology Investment Continues to Increase. Although some technology investment has slowed down over the past year, one in four companies are increasing their TA investment, and 44% of companies invested in new technology in 2020. Companies are looking at providers to support the challenges they face but often do not consider how they will work with the existing technology infrastructure.
  • Companies need to measure ROI early. Only 1 in 2 companies measure the ROI of their technology investment. As talent acquisition is being held more accountable to the business, showing the value and the timeframe is critical. Measuring and demonstrating ROI is a crucial part of any technology decision and does not need to happen after a company makes its investment – it should actually be considered before.
  • True partnership helps to improve adoption. Adoption is a challenge in talent acquisition technology. Only 3% of companies use all the ATS functionality and only 2% in their CRMs. Companies need to look at how their provider will partner with them during implementation and how they will make that relationship stick after year one, year two, and beyond. Companies should consider their change management resources, and customer advisory boards and councils, customer feedback sessions, and “Idea Labs,” where customers are free to voice concerns and connect with other customers.
  • Companies are looking to replace solutions this year. The top areas of TA tech replacement this year include ATS, CRM, background screening, and assessments. Before evaluating technology options, organizations should conduct an internal needs analysis and be prepared to answer some questions internally. Companies need to identify and communicate expectations before evaluating solutions. Before signing on with a provider, companies should ask how confident the provider is in meeting these expectations and what plans they have in place to meet and even exceed them.

TA buyers face more difficult decisions today with new providers, new categories, and new pressures. The TA tech market changes rapidly, and companies must balance their own unique requirements with the providers that will partner with them. This report can help companies at any stage of their TA tech buyer’s journey.

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Blog Talent Acquisition Strategies

The Future of AI Matching: A Conversation with Tim Sackett

It is hard to find a conversation in TA tech that doesn’t include AI matching. ATS providers are enhancing their capabilities to connect jobs to candidates and candidates to jobs. Providers like HiredScore and Eightfold have gained a lot of momentum in the past year. While SeekOut, a search and sourcing provider, announced that it raised $65 million in Series B funding expanding its matching capabilities. All eyes are on AI matching. In our latest study, 34% of companies stated that they are using some type of matching and they are two times more likely to improve diverse sources and three times more likely to improve quality of hire.

Although companies understand the value of AI-matching, they don’t always know where to go to find a technology partner. My friend, Tim Sackett (a true expert on all things TA) and I had a discussion on AI matching last week.

Here are some of the questions we addressed:

  • Should AI matching come from an ATS provider or a stand-alone provider?
  • What are the benefits of AI matching? Why is everyone interested?
  • Are providers truly considering ethical AI? Are companies?
  • Should matching be employer-driven (matching candidates to jobs) or candidate-driven (matching jobs to candidates)?
  • What else is going on in TA tech today?

We would love to know if you agree or disagree and what your thoughts are on the SeekOut announcement or TA tech.

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Blog Talent Acquisition Strategies

Talent Analytics Part 1: Candidate Experience

We published our latest research today, Redefining Success: Talent Analytics for the Future, sponsored by Modern Hire. Talent analytics is not a new topic in HR but I have been spending a lot of time thinking about why science doesn’t play more of a role in our talent acquisition decisions. Even with increased pressure and more accountability, we still make decisions based on guy rather than data.

One of the reasons that I am excited about this report is because it includes a framework for taking goals and turning them into actions for efficiency, candidate experience, quality of hire, and DEI.

Here are recommendations for companies looking to improve the candidate experience this year using this framework.

Goals

The candidate experience is a priority for companies looking to compete for talent, enhance their brand and strengthen customer retention. Despite an increased focus on experience, companies still struggle with understanding how to improve it. Companies need to create a candidate-first approach to better engage candidates and ensure quality of hire.

Metrics

Even with increased unemployment, the candidate experience continues to be a priority for organizations, and the way that companies manage their workforce during this challenging period will impact how candidates view their brand. As a result, the candidate experience needs to focus on safety and communication but also on efficiency.

  • Candidate satisfaction: How satisfied are candidates with various stages of the talent acquisition process?
  • Candidate safety: Are candidates safe, and is their health and wellbeing considered during the screening, interviewing, and hiring phases?
  • Candidate engagement: Are candidates engaged throughout the process?
  • Candidate feedback: Are you collecting data on the candidate experience and asking for feedback through the process?
  • Time-to-fill: Are you moving candidates along through the process?
  • Time-to-respond: Once you decide if a candidate does not move forward, how long does it take to respond?

Insights

Companies can improve candidate experience when they enhance communication and collect feedback. Companies state that the candidate experience is a priority, yet communication with most candidates has remained unchanged. Below are some considerations to gain better insights:

  • Communicate throughout the entire candidate lifecycle: Communication is not an isolated activity and needs to integrate with existing recruitment strategies so that it is frequent and consistent.
  • Interrupt bias early: Certain attributes in a resume can introduce bias into the talent acquisition process early. Companies need to remove those attributes and stop bias early in the process. Blind screening and blind interviews can help companies to apply an equal experience to all candidates.
  • Use objective data: Companies tend to decide on candidates based on the resume or those attributes they recognize. Without objective data, not every candidate is going to get a fair opportunity.

Action Steps

Companies that want to improve the candidate experience should:

  • Understand what candidates want: Companies must consider the unique expectations and experiences of candidates. Collecting feedback and going through the candidate journey can help companies with a candidate-first approach to automation.
  • Use data to build trust: Both employers and candidates need to trust the data and methodologies for the technology they are using. Companies looking at automation should consider providers that will partner with them and provide transparency.

As companies look to improve the candidate experience, they need a better understanding of what data they have and what insights they can gather to drive change. If you are interested in a new approach to talent analytics, this report will help you get started.

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HireVue Acquires AllyO: A New Look at Conversational AI

Eightfold AI: What’s Next?
Eightfold AI: What’s Next?

Companies are increasing their investment in conversational AI for talent acquisition. In research we conducted earlier this year, 36% of companies invest or plan to invest in these solutions this year compared to 7% in 2019. The value goes beyond speed and efficiency. Conversational AI improves the overall experience and helps to keep candidates engaged throughout the process. When recruiting and hiring teams are asked to do more with less, this is non-negotiable.

From an analyst’s perspective, this has been an exciting tech area to watch over the past year. Customers are more innovative in how they use these solutions. Providers are expanding their capabilities, and investors are looking for new opportunities. Companies in a variety of industries are looking at how these solutions can improve their talent acquisition efforts. All eyes are on conversational AI.

And yesterday, HireVue announced plans to acquire AllyO, a leading conversational AI provider that offers interview scheduling, onboarding, and employee experience capabilities. The acquisition helps to strengthen HireVue’s interview and assessment offerings with an improved experience.

Here are some of my thoughts on the acquisition:

  • Expanded Use-Cases: Some of the misperceptions of conversational AI are around the use cases. Companies tend to think that these solutions can help anyone applying for a job or anyone interested in learning more about the company. Conversational AI provides value throughout the entire candidate’s journey from apply to onboard and even employee experience. This acquisition by an interview and assessment provider will allow clients to engage with candidates and simplify scheduling and screening in the interview to hire stages.
  • Omni-Channel Communication: Candidate communication is a priority for companies, but what works for one candidate or one job might not work for another. Companies need a broad set of communication tools to engage with candidates where they are most comfortable, including video, chat, messaging, and text. This acquisition gives HireVue clients a broader set of communication tools to reach talent.
  • Future Acquisitions: The question remains…Is the future of conversational AI in a stand-alone market or part of a larger talent acquisition suite? When one provider gets acquired, others tend to follow. It will be interesting to watch how HireVue integrates with AllyO and how customers respond.

We will keep you posted as we continue to learn more, but overall, this acquisition further validates the staying power of conversational AI and TA’s future.

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Jobvite Acquires Talentegy: Improving the Candidate Experience Through Analytics

This week, Jobvite announced the acquisition of Talentegy, a leading talent analytics platform designed to help companies improve the candidate and employee experience. This announcement follows a busy summer for Jobvite with the acquisition of Predictive Partner and launch of AI Innovation Lab, which includes new capabilities for analytics. While many of its competitors have halted investments this year, Jobvite continues its commitment to enhancing capabilities and providing a more comprehensive end-to-end talent acquisition platform.

And, the timing is right. The ATS no longer defines the talent acquisition market. Companies need different capabilities to engage talent, improve the candidate experience, and measure their effectiveness. This acquisition is significant because it represents the future of talent acquisition technology and redefines these platforms through the lens of analytics, technology, and partnership.

What is Talentegy?

Talentegy was created to help companies provide more engaging user experiences. It tracks user activity across all talent systems (CRM, career sites, HRIS, etc.) and enables companies to measure what’s working and what’s not working to maximize these experiences. Some of its differentiators include:

  • Companies do not need IT involvement or in-depth integrations. Talentegy brings multiple systems in one view through its Smart Tag capabilities.
  • Talent acquisition leaders receive automated alerts when candidate and employee engagement is not working. They can then adjust their strategies.
  • Talentegy offers surveys that collect feedback on candidate and employee experiences to inform talent acquisition leaders better.

What Does This Mean for Jobvite?

Jobvite has invested in robust data analytics this year, and Talentegy continues that strategy. It will allow Jobvite to help companies understand what needs to change and how to improve the candidate experience. Customers can leverage the Talentegy solution as a standalone product or purchase it as an add-on to Jobvite’s current Analytics offering. Jobvite will also incorporate Talentegy product capabilities into its existing suite of solutions.

Acquisitions are not easy. They can create new opportunities for customers, but they can also create frustrations or disruptions. Add a pandemic, and they become even more challenging. Jobvite has done well. It has made very strategic decisions around its investments and its impact on its culture. It continues to expand its offerings while maintaining a commitment to its employees and customers. And it is helping to make the TA tech industry as exciting as it was in 2019.

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Modern Hire Acquires Sonru and Expands Its Global Reach

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Modern Hire announced the acquisition of Sonru, a global video interview provider based in Ireland. This acquisition further demonstrates Modern Hire’s commitment to improving talent acquisition through technology, science, and insights. While some HR technology providers are slowing down this year, Modern Hire is ramping up to build a more comprehensive solution and expand globally.

According to our latest research, interview management (52%) and selection (42%) are the most impacted by COVID-19. As companies transform their talent acquisition functions this year, the value proposition for these capabilities has never been more significant.

I have spent time with both companies (and their customers), and below are my thoughts on this latest announcement.

A Shared Commitment

As most talent acquisition technology providers were scrambling to build recruitment marketing capabilities over the past decade, Modern Hire and Sonru remained focused on interviewing, assessments, and hiring.

When Montage and Shaker International merged to form Modern Hire in 2019, the goal was to help companies improve efficiencies and provide a better experience through deep functionality and science. As competitors (including video interviewing and some traditional assessment providers) lost favor in the market, Modern Hire maintained and strengthened its reputation and customer retention.

We interviewed P&G last year, and it was able to achieve the following results through a partnership with Modern Hire.

Expand the funnel of diverse and highly qualified talent by 7%.

Shorten the interview process by ~2.5 months

Cost savings of 80% per assessment

Sonru has had similar success with steady growth and over 400 customers globally, including a strong presence in Europe and APAC. I met with Sonru in Dublin in 2018, and the cultures of both companies align in, and the way they approach client success is similar.  They have built expertise and improved customer experience in critical areas of talent acquisition.

A Look to the Future:

Science: Modern Hire is built on data and science. It has over 15 million candidates and enables over 1 million hires in over 20 languages in 200 countries and territories. The acquisition of Sonru expands its reach and strengthens its commitment to insights.

Global Footprint: Sonru has a strong presence in EMEA and APAC. Customers come from various industries, including several Fortune Global 500 companies such as DHL, Nestlé, Qatar Airways, Rolls-Royce, UBS, and Westpac.

Comprehensive Solution: We see companies shift courses rapidly from a stand-alone interview and assessment tools to more comprehensive solutions to improve quality of hire and the overall experience. Bringing Sonru under the Modern Hire brand greatly expands Modern Hire’s reach and market share while signaling high demand for the talent acquisition industry.

Over the next year, Modern Hire will be focused on integration and client success. This announcement is more than acquiring new technology. It is an acquisition that will expand its reach while strengthening its client support model and operational model.

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New Research: Conversational AI in Talent Acquisition

One of the biggest changes in talent acquisition technology over the past year has been the uptick in conversational AI. Companies are looking for better ways to communicate with candidates, improve efficiencies, and offer simplicity- especially through the past three months.

I am excited about Aptitude’s latest research report on this topic in partnership with Paradox. Currently, 38% of companies are investing in conversational AI compared to 7% last year.

Below are some of the key findings from this research:

1. Conversational AI is more than a chatbot. Many of the misperceptions around conversational AI stem from the belief that it is simply a chatbot. Chatbots provide value in giving responses to candidates in real-time. These responses are typically canned answers to basic questions delivered through text. Conversational AI offers a more sophisticated and more personalized solution to engage candidates through multiple forms of communication. Conversational AI gets smarter through use and connects recruiters and candidates in a more meaningful way. In fact, 39% of companies using conversational AI state that the most significant benefit is improving the candidate experience (Aptitude Research). By referring to this technology as “chatbots,” companies miss the many use cases for engaging talent and the numerous benefits beyond saving time.

2. Companies that use Conversational AI see high adoption and satisfaction. Low adoption and poor satisfaction are two common complaints with talent acquisition technology. According to Aptitude Research, 79% of companies see the value in their conversational AI investment. One reason is that these companies see greater adoption across their talent acquisition teams. While companies are using only 3% of their ATS functionality and only 2% of their recruitment marketing functionality, nearly 60% of companies are using all of the capabilities in their conversational AI solutions (Aptitude Research). Conversational AI is intuitive and straightforward when compared to many other areas of talent acquisition technology.

3. The Conversational AI market is growing. Conversational AI is quickly becoming a crowded market; many providers seem to have a chatbot, which creates confusion and misperceptions about how to evaluate and select a partner. While several of the ERP and ATS providers have chatbots or are looking to build chatbots, conversational AI solutions are few and far between. Companies that want to transform talent acquisition through better engagement and an improved experience are looking at stand-alone providers. According to Aptitude Research, nearly 60% of companies are looking at stand-alone providers over their ATS providers.

4. The investment remains steady during this global pandemic. While other areas of talent acquisition technology have been slowing down during today’s global pandemic, the investment in conversational AI remains strong, with over 30% of companies still investing or planning to invest in these solutions in the next year. As companies face new realities with remote recruiting, candidate communication, and the future of work, conversational AI solutions can support companies through this uncertainty.

5. Companies should look beyond candidates. When considering conversational AI, most companies think about the apply process or the screening process. Yet, many companies are expanding their use of these solutions into areas such as interviewing, onboarding, and the employee experience. The benefits of consistent communication, real-time feedback, and 24/7 access should benefit more than candidates. It should reach employees and HR teams as well. Companies are exploring the use of conversational AI to support the full employee experience. McDonald’s just announced plans to hire 260,000 people this summer and conversational AI is a big part of its’ story.

6. Companies across many industries are leveraging these solutions. Conversational AI is disrupting many industries. The belief is that these solutions are only suited for retail and restaurants. Aptitude Research found that the most significant growth was also in financial services, healthcare, and aerospace.

This report is available today and includes the business impact of conversational AI, use cases beyond talent acquisition, and a McDonald’s case study.

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Recommendations for Recruiting Remotely

This week I joined Stacey Schmidt at Pegasystems and Andre Boulais at Jobvite to talk about recruiting in a remote world. Companies are rethinking their processes and technology to support virtual recruiting. And, making changes doesn’t require a huge overhaul of your talent acquisition process. In many cases, it requires some small changes and some different tools. Our discussion offered some practical advice for companies looking to support their recruiting teams, hiring managers, and candidates.

Below are some of the highlights we discussed across the full talent acquisition lifecycle:

Recruitment Marketing
• Be genuine: Companies need to be genuine with their messaging and communication. Employers should use social media to be transparent rather than promotional.
• Clean-up Your CRM: Companies can think about organizing their CRM and reengaging talent. They can also think about targeted messaging and reengaging alumni, internal employees, and candidates that did not receive an offer.
• Rethink rejection: Companies need to rethink the rejection process to engage with talent and provide insights to candidates who may not move forward now but could continue to engage as candidates or customers in the future.

Technology: CRM, Social Media, Career Sites

Sourcing
• Look at competitors: If competitors are laying off employees, consider campaigns in your CRM that would reach these candidates.
• Engage talent pipelines: Companies can reach out to talent pipelines via campaigns and refresh old profiles and continue nurturing those relationships.
• Improve employee referrals: Companies can think about the employee referral program to gather leads for prizes and communicate these programs to employees.

Technology: CRM, passive sourcing solutions, employee referral solutions

Screening
• Invest in Conversational AI and Text: Companies should consider conversational AI or chatbots to support initial candidate engagement during the process and collect necessary information on a candidate.
• Invest in video screening capabilities: Video can help companies screen candidates early in the process and allow hiring managers and recruiters to prebuild these videos from home.

Technology: Conversational AI, Text, Video Screening

Assessments
• Consider digital assessments: Companies should consider digital assessments that can provide validity but also improve the candidate experience through a simple process.
• Shorten the assessment: Companies looking to fill positions in a short period of time should consider providers that offer shorter, candidate-friendly assessments.

Technology: Digital assessments, game-based assessments

Interview
• Leverage digital interviewing solutions in place of onsite interviews: Digital interviewing offers the ability to schedule, manage, and track interviews. Companies should look at providers
• Videotape your company: Key team members and employees can share what it is like to work at your company. Companies can do this by keeping the message genuine and encouraging employees to talk about their jobs. Employees can do this from their homes and submit their videos.
• Communicate with candidates: Companies should overcommunicate with candidates on the interview process. They should guide virtual interviewing and tips to be successful during the interview.

Technology: Interview scheduling, Conversational AI, Video interviewing

Offer and Onboard
• Automate forms management: Companies should be investing in a provider to support forms management for all new hires.
• Connect new hires with team members and peers before day one: Companies should create an environment where new hires feel connected through virtual meetings and networking with peers.
• Consider online coaching: New hires can feel supported through online coaching and mentoring programs.

Technology: Onboarding system, Learning solutions, Online coaching

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