• Terry recounts his career path, including his significant role in the growth of PandoLogic and its transformation from RealMatch.

• We explain the shift to programmatic job advertising, the use of predictive analytics, and the competition with companies like Appcast and Rectuitics

• An overview of Daxtra's capabilities, including parsing resumes, semantic search, and recruiter automation.

• We discuss the rationale behind acquiring PivotCX and how it enhances Daxtra's offering by adding a human touch to candidate engagement.

• Insights into the different types of AI, the importance of data accuracy, and how TA leaders should evaluate AI tools.

• Terry shares valuable advice for entrepreneurs looking to scale their businesses, emphasizing the importance of strategic planning and metrics.

• Time to hire, cost of hire, and quality of hire are identified as crucial metrics for evaluating the effectiveness of talent acquisition processes.

• Daxtra's growth strategy, including expanding from the staffing marketplace to the enterprise market and enhancing internal mobility for clients.

• Summer in Calgary was on June 26. Driving with the windows down & the music loud!

• Stupid stuff we have to suffer through. 

• Labour tensions continue for Canada’s 2nd largest airline, mechanics reject the 23% wage increase offer, strike and lockout by Westjet is throwing cold water on Canada Day long weekend travelers.

IN THE NEWS

• Which job types are taking a hit as we see Canada’s job vacancies drop. Along with better news is the job with the biggest wage gains. 

• US jobless claims from a 10 month highs as unemployment remains low at 4%

• Canada levels the playing field by axing an unfair practice for work permit renewals

TIP OF THE WEEK

• Just say no. Then explain why we don't leave jobs posted to see what’s out there or ‘test the waters’. 

RECRUITING INSIGHTS

• GenZ’s golden ticket to the world of work with employers who use skills-based hiring, they could hit a brick wall as HR just isnt ready for  it. 

• Ex-Nvidia recruiter Stefanie Fackrell shares her pet peeves about candidates who show up for interviews unprepared. 

• LinkedIn’s new AI tool answers the call to what recruiters just don't have the time to do - write a tailored message to each candidate.

• Mastering the art of the 5 minute shower. Calgary is under a local state of emergency as the main water line is damaged. 

• It's the summer of discontent. WestJet Airline mechanics were poised to take strike action and disrupt the summer travel plans. Just weeks after Canada Border Services Agents narrowing avoided strike action. 

IN THE NEWS

• Apple Intelligence. Did they just appropriate the term AI? Serge breaks it down for us and gives us hope that Siri will be upgraded.

• Bullhorn acquires TextKernel and how the staffing industry will get smarter & even more efficient with this union. 

TIP OF THE WEEK

• Start now. Standardize your hiring process with consensus of who will be involved in the interviews before you introduce candidates. The benefits will improve everyone’s experience. 

RECRUITING INSIGHTS

• Beware the STAR method of interviewing. Studies prove it has a low predictive validity for job performance - like .32

• If 91% of employers use some form of social media to create awareness, where does TikTok fit in?  Tips on how to leverage this powerful platform, provided it doesnt get banned!

• 2 sides of the argument. AI will create jobs or will it reduce the workforce as we know it today. 

• After a whirlwind travel schedule, our final stop at TA Tech turns out to be the best ever!

• Feeling smarter. The knowledge drops just kept coming for 2 full days. Ben Eubanks Chief Research Officer with Lighthouse Research & Advisory stole the show! The great topics and top notch speakers were on fire, our friends Richard Collins, Guru Sethupathy and Allyn Bailey blew us away. 

• A special surprise for Shelley that she didn't see  coming!

IN THE NEWS

• Canada’s job numbers from May

• US jobs report from May

TIP OF THE WEEK

• AI wont fix your employer brand. Tips on what can.

RECRUITING INSIGHTS

• What’s going on with LinkedIN?  Content providers are bummed out about their audience traffic or have they been chasing vanity metrics the whole time.

• 25% of GenZ bring mom or dad with them to the interview. This could be a click bait. We dig in to figure out what grain of truth could exist in this report. 

• More click bait or self serving research. You decide if Phenom has fudge the numbers to pump their own tires. 

After 5,000 blog posts, at what point do you just write a few books?  

With his latest book, Tim brings the wit and humour we all need after a long day in TA. 

Fun fact, he is one of the few people who can honestly say they were born to be in this profession.

Our favourite takes from his new book:

• Money fixes everything

• Hiring Managers are mad because they see us as HR

• Laughable metrics in TA

• Talent Streaming

• Referral to Interview ratio - aim for 90-100%  

The Talent Fix Volume 2 is out now!

This week on TRF:

• TATech success! Two full days of soaking up the knowledge of the TA industry’s top thought leaders. We will deep dive next week.

In The News

• Youth unemployment hits a frightful level in Toronto

• Closer to home, the Oil & Gas industry seems puzzled as to why new talent is avoiding them

• Women under 30 in the US have closed the gender pay gap

Tip of the Week

• Help recruiters help you. Adding a descriptive sentence of each company you’ve worked for helps give context to your experience. 

Recruiting Insights

• Last year, 36% of senior managers left their jobs because of mandated RTO policies, leaving a gaping hole in the succession plan.

• Jobs that pay over $250K a year don't come with remote or hybrid work options this year - last year it was 10% now its 4%.

• Plan for boomerang employees, let people leave for better experience and keep their seat warm as you keep the door open.

• TRF celebrates 4 years of podcasting

• Kids say the darndest things

• Thank god for Ring cameras

• TA Tech is June 4-6 

In The News

• CBSA voted in favor of striking, not the best time to travel

• Nvidia stock does a 10:1 split and Jensen Huang is now the world’s 17th richest person.

• Time to fill number are out

Tip of the week

Read Tim Sackett’s new book, The Talent Fix Volume 2. Just advertise the hell out of your jobs!  See page 145

Recruiting Insights

• Talent density is the hottest topic in TA. The 5 recommendations for hiring.

• Advising job seekers to game their resume and beat the ATS is the hair in our sandwich

• Special feature:  Masterclass in Programmatic Job Advertising. Hung Lee, host of Recruiting Brainfood Live On Air, breaks it down for us like we are 11 years old on what programmatic advertising is. The real star of the show is Yaz Dalal 

• Shelley enters the exclusive club, 60 is the new 50!

• Countdown to TATech June 4-6 in Washington DC. 

In the News

• ChatGPT4o has some impressive upgrades. Check out the Tutor function

• ZipRecruiter has bad news and good news, earnings are down but free cash flow is healthy.

• The backlash was swift when Shopper’s Drug Mart posted a job ad looking for volunteers to stock shelves - unpaid! 

• SeekOut lays off 30% of its workforce to reduce costs after spending $2 to make $1. 

• HireEZ launches their Sourcing Hub as a one-stop-shop for Sourcers that will leverage job board partners.

Tip of the Week

• Your company career page is a window into your organization and its time to clean the windows. Its part of the candidate journey and pretty important to keep fresh.

Recruiting Insights

• Bias against Entrepreneurs; former business owners were 35% less likely to get an interview. 

• Dell takes a sharp turn from supporting work flexibility to color-coded rating based on your attendance under the veiled threat of getting on the lay off list. 

• Plus is GenZ responsible for return to office mandates

Knowing that 68% of hard skills wont exist in the next few years, TA and Talent Management need tools to ensure their people are in the right job.

• Jason reveals what PLUM scientists have been hard at work on 

• PLUM Flourish the free assessment for job seekers will now offer career mapping

• For the ELT with vision to lead their company, PLUM Thrive introduces Culture Mapping

• To address the culture gap, Talent Management now has the technology to align hard skills and soft skills in just over 8 minutes!  

• 230% growth in 2 years - PLUM is the overnight success that took 12 years to build!

• Coming to you from Silicon Valley where we were greeted by the CEO of Linked In, Ryan Roslansky.

• Serge killed it on the pickle ball court!

• Tune in May 24 at 2 pm ET as we discuss the agenda for TATech - the speakers and who is the ideal person to attend - hosted by our friend Stephen O'Donnell

IN THE NEWS

• Indeed lays off 1,000 staff

• Canada’s job number for April stay steady

• Foreign student fiasco with 800,000 business students when what we need is healthcare and trades 

TIP OF THE WEEK

• Creative thinking for recruiters that want to get off the merry-go round and find work in high demand career paths

RECRUITING INSIGHTS

• When and why is makes sense to Direct Source using an MSP

• Talent acquisition metrics that matter to the CFO

• Hung Lee knowledge drops the most profound explanation of the global talent shortage - our heads nearly explode!

• Serge puts on a brave face and jumps off the Strat in Las Vegas! 

• Unleash America hosts amazing speakers and the trade show floor was buzzing around the start up pavilion. We made some new friends and reconnected with our community of TA tech vendors.

In the News

• Ontario has some lofty goals and heavy fines for employers who post jobs for the fun of it and for those who ghost candidates after an interview. 

• April’s US job numbers remain vanilla - small changes over March but nothing alarming

Tip of the Week

• Reality check on the overqualified applicant, improved job posting will save us all alot of heart ache.

Recruiting Insights

• Recruiting teams are the driving force for flexible work to ensure they can recruit the best talent according to Linked In Talent Solutions report 

• We are at pivotal moment for talent acquisition, with teams feeling disconnected from strategic workforce plans and pressured towards cost-reduction rather than upskilling recruitment teams. 

• Miriam shares the similarities of recruiting tech talent in LATAM to the US and Canada. 

• Fierce competition for remote work in the tech space. 

• Using technology to recruit and where Ai fits into their tech stack.

• Mariam shares how her skill team decodes the job specifications.

This week on TRF

• Recording from the beautiful city of Toronto where we met some of the smartest TA professionals in the Country. Thank you Plum, AMS and Humanly.io for organizing a great dinner.

• Text message mania, first hand experience with scammers texting job offers and is legitimate recruiters.

In the News

• LinkedIn is requiring Recruiters to verify their profile - smart move!

• US bans TikTok and give them 270 days or they are out

Tip of the Week

• Best practices for in house referral success.

Recruiting Insights

• Pros and cons of 2 major firms in the UK who publish their interview questions

• 94% of US business leaders surveyed “Simply wont hire GenZ” Why do they have such high demands in the workplace 

• We cherry pick thru Hung Lee’s 10 essentials of candidate response rate. 

• Tracing his steps after Monster leads us to the quick apply process as his last company was acquired by Indeed.com in 2014.

• From the start in 2017, Joveo’s vision has never wavered, “Do 1 thing & do it right”.

• More KJ wisdoms:

Recruiters are not marketers

80% of TA is doing it wrong

Job advertising hasn't changed since 1995   

• All this from a CEO whose annual salary is $0.96 per year.  

• Taylor Swift swept the world away with 1 BILLION Spotify streams in 1 week, Shelley was one of them!

• And some other news you will need to listen to find out!

IN THE NEWS

• The FTC proposal to ban non-competes is ruffling lots of feathers in the US. Just another day in the office here in Canada.

• Foreign job seeker interest in Canada is down 40% since mid-2023

• Google fires employee who bring their politics to work & protest at the office, 48 people so far.

• More layoffs at Google, Nike and Tesla - all for very different reasons. 

TIP OF THE WEEK

• Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Dumb question or legit.

RECRUITING INSIGHTS

• War for AI talent has been declared. Shots fired from Meta, Google and Amazon have Elon Musk calling it ‘crazy’.

• $81,822 is the lowest pay to change jobs. The gap between what men will accept and what women will accept just got even bigger. 

• Craig brings a wealth of experience and passion to his new book, Hiring Humans. 

• Practical tips and key takeaways are written for HR and TA as deskside reference and refresher.

• The 5:1 content generation template gives you the cadence and consistency to build your personal brand as a recruiter. 

• Craig has built a community for TA with TalentNet events.Twice a year, the conference is a safe space with honest conversations, case studies and featured speakers. 

• 7 weeks to TATech, Should Serge wear a Bond Tux to MC the event at the International Spy Museum in Washington?

• Fun private client and friends dinner event with @Plum and coming up.

In The News

• HiBob launches Bob Hiring

• Pandlogic and Broadbean become Veritone Hire

• Try getting a candidate to move cities when they're on a low rate mortgage? The data is showing that's it's nearly impossible.

• Kenya cracking down on recruitment agencies scamming job seekers

Tip of The Week (Brought to you by Plum)

• We're not a "family" I think Netflix got it right: it's a professional team. One where colleagues earn a spot by being really good in their given position.

Recruiting insights (Brought to you by Metova)

• CEO's turnover is huge right now, hitting a record high last year

• Which candidate attraction channels work best, we dig in

• HR has a lot of work to do for skills based hiring to succeed.

• Freshly into his new promotion from President to CEO, Adam is confident this role is perfect for him and for Paradox. 

• With incredible growth, 90 to 600 employees and 1,000’s of clients, many prestigious brands. Adam shares the simple truth for their success. 

• Loaded with case studies showcasing outcomes of their clients, 

• Want fries with your AI? Macdonald’s took their days to hire ratio from 71 to 3 days.

• Staying true to their core values, Paradox listened to their clients to bring on their own ATS.

• Olivia, their chatbot, gets better with time. 

• And we finally understand why they called the company Paradox!

This week on TRF we cover:

• Blink and we missed it. From our part of the world, there wasn't much fanfare over the solar eclipse. 

• Fama’s newest product inspired a #MagiOfFit on several channels and gave us a chance to share how hiring the right fit will raise everyone’s game. Leah Sobering was Shelley’s Instant Fit.

In the News

• Angela Hood named by Inc. as 106 out of the 250 top female founders. Big round of applause for Angela and This Way Global. 

• Canada’s unemployment rate jumps to 6.1% in March, yet the job numbers remain flat.

• US Economists are still shaking their heads as 303,000 jobs were added in March plus the unemployment rate edged down to 3.8%

• 109 young men for every 100 young women in Canada giving us the widest gap in nearly 50 years. Our liberal immigration policy is a key factor. 

Tip of the Week

• The less talking from the recruiter, the better the interview. Favourite interview question: When were you happiest at work? What were you working on? 

Your only job is to listen.

Recruiting Insight

• New catch phrase alert: The Great Talent Grab. ZipRecruiter survey reveals incredible growth of new hires reporting they were recruited in. Speculation on why?

• VP of HR claims she was not moved forward in the hiring process because of her natural appearance, no make-up. 

• Internal mobility is a belief that the best new talent are those who already work for you. Hiring Managers struggle to get on board with letting their top performers move internally.  

• Will Serge jump 829ft into the Las Vegas Skyline?

In the News

• Statistics Canada says population growth rate in 2023 was highest since 1957

• Indeed Launches Smart Sourcing tool

• Employ names Steve Cox as CEO

• LinkedIn testing new TikTok style video feed.

Tip of the Week

• To determine a candidate’s level of business acumen, simply ask: “How does the company you last worked for make money?”

Recruiting Insights

• A recent survey with over 11,000 participants calls out there's still a "Boys Club" in recruitment.

• Zuck putting on his recruitment hat on to go after AI talent

• Automation in recruitment ‘humiliates and alienates young people’

• With a non-traditional entry into HR, Nancy brings business acumen and operational experience to her decision to pursue a Masters in HR Management. 

• A life long learner, she also shares her knowledge as an Instructor at George Brown College in Toronto delivering the Intro to HR course. 

• Nancy shares some of the assessment techniques Paladin uses to evaluate a candidate’s skills during the recruitment process and some of the challenges they are facing now. 

• The intersection of L&D in HR is her deepest expertise. The role of HR plays in supporting the business by creating front line training with very clear pathways of employee development. 

• Understanding your talent pool and creative thinking in how to partner with provincial entities shows innovative thinking.

• When your Linked In post gets hi-jacked, it can be a complement or just annoying. What was Barry thinking, his //bit.ly would create an avalanche of qualified candidates?

• Congrats to one of the OG's of HR podcasting, Matt Alder hits 600 episodes. 

In the news

• Federal minimum wage in Canada jumps to $17.30. Sad to see the US federal minimum wage still sits at $7.25 per hour.

• Realtors in the US are facing some drastic changes that will hit their commissions. There should be an app for this! No one ever felt good about paying $25,000 to someone for selling their biggest investment - your home. 

• NASA vs SpaceX. It all comes down to hiring and perhaps keeping costs in line. Consider their spending habits over the last 10 years, NASA clocked in at $21.2 BILLION and SpaceX at $500-750 million. 

Tip of the Week

• Recruiters being interviewed by a Recruiter for a recruiting role, feels like jedi mind trick.  Showing up isn't what you wear, it's asking great questions. 

Recruiting Insights

• Glassdoor controversy this week. Adding the Fishbowl means you give your identifying information sparks fear into the hearts of some users that employers will someone find you out for the nasty review you left. 

• Global Trends Report 2024 from HireVue uses an impressive survey size of 6,000 leaders. 2 things stood out, skills based hiring to identify transferable skills and getting comfortable with using AI.

• Boomerang employees have risen by more than 30% since Covid with half of them returning within 2 years of leaving.

• Every company is a tech firm. 

• Based in London and New York, Mark along with his co-founder spent the last 10 years building a 2 way marketplace specifically for engineering talent. 

• Their laser focus on their audience and to provide a first class experience that includes a human Talent Success Manager to coach the candidate has paid off. 

• Building the skills taxonomy was essential and using Ai to do it. 

• Their own growth from 75 to 150 employees in one year, Mark talks about his ‘Swiss Army Knife’ and their internal TA tech stack

• Breaking into the US for Hackajob it was a serendipitous chain of events

• Love the new car smell. Car manufacturers offer fewer options in the post chip shortage car buying market.  

• Just a little FOMO about Transform held in Las Vegas last week. DuoLingo wins the top spot for employer brand. 

In the News

• Paradox names Adam Godson as the new CEO. Big congratulations to Adam who started his career as an HR professional and climbed all the way to the top!

• Employers are optimistic about hiring according to the Q2 US net employment outlook. 

• Clear winners in revenue increases are Upwork and Fivvr as the traditional job board world all report losses. 

Tip of the Week

• The flat boring resume dates back to the 1930’s - its time to up our game with more visual documents from the likes of Canva and Enhancv. 

Recruiting Insights

• With all the concerns of AI threatening to replace workers, we review the list of Top 5’s. Blue collar and white collar jobs that are AI-Proof.

• Video continues to dominate with over 80% of global internet traffic. TikTok has become the goto platform for younger demographics who crave unique and entertaining ways to communicate your employer brand. 

• 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer global report proves the power of the Influencer is equal to the trust we have in scientists for telling the truth!

• From North Virginia, arguably the most beautiful part of the USA.

• With 26 books written and a columnist for the Wall Street Journal Peter’s insight into the world of work, he shares sage advice to those considering what AI will do for the Recruiter.

• The early days of TATech the foundation was to create a trade organization and Code of Ethics. Creating a trust source for buyer and TA Tech vendors. The one and only TATech Buyers guide was born.

• Peter and his team have created the incredible opportunity for TA Tech to come together with investors & analysts to make deals happen. 

• Mic drop, TA should manage HR, makes perfect sense.  

• HiringBranch challenged Shelley’s 30 years of recruiting experience against their AI tool, Serge believes the Robot won.

• Vastly different responses to a Hotel fire alarm at midnight. 

• The twins turn 5 - HBD!

In the news

• Canada’s economy added 41,000 jobs and unemployment rose to 5.8%

• TikTok ban in the US - Influencers & content provider are panicked.

• 42% of companies with RTO mandates have higher turnover than expected.

Tip Of The Week

• Nurture your relationship with Hiring Managers, prepare for your intake meeting with data such as: Time to Find, Time to Engage, Competitors recruiting for the same role to have meaningful conversations and set realistic expectations.

Recruiting Insights

• OpenAI’s ChatGPT dream solution or opening up a nightmare? Is it even legal?

• Singing their own praises, Coinbase CEO and COO now must approve every hire. We debate the claim of being ground breaking.

• We just had to know the story behind the name of the company. It all makes perfect sense. 

• A simple answer to Improving onboarding, make good on the recruitment experience and throughout the life cycle of the employee.  

• The biggest hurdle with any HR system is getting employees to use the system; 85% of users access it at least twice a week. 

• Sarah confesses they are an HR nerd at heart and gives their best advice, ‘Best to be true than perfect. 

• We talked about influencer marketing and how its can be a real thing using your employees 

• Best prediction, Sarah shares their perspective on the changing landscape of pay transparency and opportunity transparency. 

• After several attempts to invite women leaders in TA to be a guest on the podcast, we are asking for your help. Please send us nominations or referrals, we promise it will be fun!

In the News

• Vice.com lays off employees on a town hall zoom call with no preparation and a 2019 understanding of zoom features, like how to disable the emoji feature. 

• Taking a page out of her own playbook as a Product Manager, Marta Puerto’s video goes viral on Linked In.

Tip of the Week

• The resourceful recruiter, follow layoff trackers and strict return to office mandates to know where talent will be more likely to depart.  

https://www.warntracker.com/

https://talentedgeweekly.com/p/talent-edge-weekly-issue-226

Recruiting Insight

• LazyApply lives up to its name. Aki Ito test drives the bot who will apply for 750 jobs a day for you. It will be chaos for recruiters and for Aki Ito too!

• EY sets the pace for how to nurture a talent pool, by using their rejection email.

• Recruiting 101, exhaust the local market first before you undertake the expensive and time consuming task of relocation, immigration and 8 weeks to start. 

We welcome back our favorite Dutchman, Bas. 

• With 5 books published under his belt, Bas shares his inspiration for a truly global perspective on the TA profession and how partnering with the OG of TA, Kevin Wheeler was the perfect match.

• Spoiler Alert: There is no connection between formal credentials & on the job performance.

• RPO is a North American thing

• Don't bother advertising your job in the Middle East. 

• The Netherland’s solution to paid job advertising and how they have simplified the background check.

• An inspirational example of digital recruitment marketing. 

• Perspective check, Bas debunks the myth that AI will harm hiring. 

• Hear what Serge did with a room of over 100 Recruiters at the Canadian Recruiters Networking Group. All good fun.

• Tim Sackett composes a hilarious list of HR’s results of Dating at Work, there is always truth in jest. 

Events

• March 11 Hiring Branch presents, Demystifying Ai and Skills Based Hiring Workshop; send us a DM if you are interested!

• June 6-9 TA Tech Conference in Washington, DC where we will be the MC’s!

In the News

• Big acquisitions going down this week, Workday acquires HiredScore and Deel acquires Zavvy. 

• Canada picks up the pace on post-graduation work permits offering Masters and PhD graduate 3 years to work and hopefully stay.

Tip of the Week

• Saying NO is a good thing. Never leave candidates hanging, if they are not getting the job, we have a responsibility and professional courtesy to let them know.

Recruiting Insights

• Harvard & Burning Glass Institute release their findings on the impact of removing degree requirements in job postings. We highlight their key findings. 

• Centralized vs Decentralized - the Global Candidate Experience Benchmark Report; we deep dive into what TA Teams from around the world are doing and how they are changing. 

This week Serge (Sans Shelley) interviews Richard Collins, CEO of CVWallet,

• Richard shares insights from his career in recruitment and advertising, including the sale of ClickIQ to Indeed in 2019.

• CVWallet was founded to help job seekers prove their credentials, but shifted focus towards solving the recruiter paradox due to generative AI's rise.

• Some challenges generative AI, including an increase in applications and the need for verification to ensure candidate data reliability.

• He advises talent acquisition leaders to adopt scalable solutions capable of handling increased application volumes due to AI advancements.

• Some disappointment over Google discontinuing its job ads product, seeing it as a missed opportunity to shake up the recruitment advertising market.

• We may need to call for a security escort after Serge presents at the CRNG event in Calgary. On one hand for the riots that may ensue and on the other hand, the ladies who will be storming the stage. 

• Work assignments gone wild. We rip into Eight Sleep for thinking getting hired by them is like an audition for SNL - Saturday Night Live is notorious for stealing comic’s material in their auditions. 

In The News

• Air Canada tries to blame their own chatbot for giving out the wrong information to a customer. The ruling was watched around the world and is a clear indication that companies will be held accountable for their rogue chatbots!

• Indeed will be the headline partner for RecFest UK and RecFest USA. A little late to the party but the wallet is open.

• CRA clarifies how employers must determine the province of employment for remote workers.

Tip Of The Week

• If your interview process is greater than 3, take this as your warning, the company you are recruiting for is dysfunctional .

Recruiting Insights

• Mercer gives us the measuring stick for how big your TA team should be. 

• We arent making this up, job search is rigged. We pull back the covers on how companies are behaving badly.

• Chano brings an impressive track record with his career built in the HR Tech world and his incredible depth of knowledge from industry giants like SAP and Workday

• We tackle the topic of how Eightfold, by design, has 2 CEOs.

• Chano shares his expertise on how AI is being applied for the betterment of HR within organizations. 

• Internal mobility is the top trend in our space, identifying skills development opportunities and how generative AI, like Chatbots can help co-pilot the HR professional and Leaders. 

• Advice for organizations considering Talent Intelligence platforms; ask yourself, “Am I ready for this?”  

• Research takes on a whole new meaning as Serge prepped for co-hosting on the Chad & Cheese podcast. 

• Famous by 8, Mallory gets a big round of applause and a Taylor Swift hoodie.

• Lucky 13 and the power of Swifty nation dominated social media speculation after the Super Bowl. 

In the News

• PLUM.io shares positive news

• GenZ and not Baby Boomers are most afraid of AI, some fatherly advice from Serge to GenZ.

• Bell Canada cuts 4,800 job even when they had revenue growth in Q4/23, there is more to this headline

Tip of the Week

• Reverse engineer your TA metrics. Define the problem first, then the metrics. 

Recruiting Insights

• Chocolate for TA Professionals, the Appcast 2024 Recruitment Benchmark Report.

Interesting facts: 

1. Mobile applications are still dominate yet they drop by 5% in 2023
2. Job titles need to be short & straight forward
3. Job seeker action picked up with higher apply rates
4. Recruiting costs declined across all job functions EXCEPT gig

• Career change or industries to pursue in recruitment, we list the top 10

• Quality of Hire, don't give up yet, just take a simple approach. One job at a time. 

• A fateful cab ride was the genesis of the book, when the Lyft driver was gobsmacked by being interviewed by a robot for a baggage handler job at the local airport, Hilke began her quest to learn more. 

• The one-way video interview and its inevitable demise when HireVue’s claims of facial expressions to predict candidate’s honesty was proven to be crap.

• Talent Intelligence platforms like Eightfold can prove to be a positive force in helping organization know who to promote and like any double edge sword, cursed for its contribution on who should be laid off, 

• How do we fight back? Hilke gives some sound advice to HR Leaders. 

• Crystal ball predictions for 2030, sound pretty accurate to us!

• An industry guy who hated HR only to become a recruiter. Trent has gone on to be a thought leader and author of 2 of the ‘must read’ books for TA leaders. (Sprint Recruiting and High Performance Recruiting)

• Trent is quick to point out there is no science behind this, just 20 years first hand experience

• Hear us smile as we dive into 3 of the 7 top traits of high performing recruiters

• KPIs to measure in the recruitment process - surprised?

• High performing leaders - sign me up if you have someone with these qualities. 

• The NO RULES rule.

• Predictions for 2024

Riots in the streets of Calgary! The little bylaw was not very well thought out.

In the News

• Remote workers face the cold facts, they are 35% higher risk of being laid off.

• Salesforce joins the flood of tech industry lay offs

• UPS cuts management and contractors in a bid to save $1BB in costs, that is out of the $100BB in sales in 2022

• In happier news, the global online recruitment market is set to reach $49.2 BB by 2030

Tip of the Week

3 simple things to improve your job ads. 

1. Shorten your sentences
2. 3 bullet points max!
3. Pay attention to the words you use. “Demonstrated ability” means different things to older workers than it does to younger workers

Recruiting Insights 

• Linked In XRay search options, including key fields like job title will have an impact on sourcing tools. SeekOut and hireEZ have a work around.

• More on skills based hiring. When 46% of workers say their formal qualifications are not relevant to what they are doing in their current job. You need to ask yourself why the fixation on that bachelor’s degree.

• Bigger isn't better. 85% of mid-sized companies reported ZERO layoffs last year. 

Bringing an impressive background in the employee benefit industry, Mike knows a great technology when he sees it. 

• The launch of their Click Retain product and the partnership with Alight to name a few. 

• Best practices for pre-boarding to eliminate day one ghosts

• Onboarding, listen to why anything above zero, is a problem.

• Prepare to be impressed, Mike give us some well informed predictions for 2024

• Wayfair CEO says uses his outside voice - again. He thinks he’s Elon Musk and can get away with saying whatever pops into his head. Its cringe worthy.

• Flockity, friend of the show Tracy Parsons creates the first Influencer platform for jobs.

• Hiring Branch study shows some surprising data on language skills connection to success on the job.

In the News

• Canada pumps the brakes on the number of International students, for all the right reasons.

• WebMD parent company Internet brands return to office video is so bad, we don't think their employer brand will ever recover.

Tip of the Week

• The top 15 jobs people want to quit. This list is a recruitment marketer's dream. Leverage this for the skills that will easily transfer to your organization. 

Recruiting Insights

• The weirdness of the US labour market continues. Job seeker behaviour is changing, more discerning than ever before. 

• Job postings in November took a nose dive and the rate of hiring dropped like a rock too, something we’ve not seen since the 2008 crash.

• Adriano Herdman strikes again. This week is the 21 Talent Acquisition Tatics comparison chart. Just brilliant.

• If you think RPO is just rent-a-recruiter, prepare to be blown away by what Cameron has built, right here in Canada. 

• 12,000 jobs filled in 2023, makes us dizzy just thinking about how to pull that off. He shares how he did it and you can as well.

• Cameron openly shares his POV on HR tech and hints at some of the NON-industry thinking behind their incredible success. 

• Fears and reality of the hourly worker in Canada.

• 2024 looks to be the year of the RPO

• Shelley is on the list of the Top 24 HR Influencers to Watch in 2024 and gives credit where it’s due!

• Our LinkedIn feeds are full of our friends and followers getting new gigs! Lots of movement and it's only the 3rd week in January. 

In the News

• Tech darlings Meta, HubSpot and Google loose their top spots on Glassdoors’s list of Best Places to work

• Watch the TikTok video of Brittany Pietsch getting let go and weigh in. Is she someone you’d want on your sales team?

Tip of the Week

• Get your copy of the Interviewers Cheat Sheet for 2024.

Recruiting Insights

• Appcast 2024 Top Recruiting Trends

• Revoking a job offer, lying during the interview process is reason enough? 

• Our first disagreement of the year, please comment!

Andrew recaps the 2023 labour market for US, Canada and Europe and a big round of applause on his predictions all being correct!

• The increase in US states who are adopting pay transparency laws and the positive impact it is having on candidate quality. 

• Beige is the color of 2024. Its kind of what we wished for in 2020!

• The 2 labour markets, standing up jobs and sitting down jobs.

• Victim of success, Canada’s immigration model puts extra pressure on housing

• WFH bites into commercial real estate

• 2024 predictions are good new bad news! 

• Big thanks for our listeners who participated in our little survey. Some great suggestions that we will incorporate into the show!

In The News:

• The US labour market is still chugging along with a 3.7% unemployment rate and 216,000 new jobs added in December. 

• 217% increase in the number of Canadian employers using apprenticeships to fill the labour and skills shortage, all in the SMB sized companies.

Tip of the Week

• Volunteer. Never loose sight of what it feels like to be a job seeker. Supporting a job seeker with tips and advice is looks good on you!

Recruiting Insights

• Explaining pay policy to employees and to job seekers is art and science, well its math actually. Only 38% of HR pros surveyed felt they could effectively explain it to their managers. 

• Hiring the wrong person is expensive and deflating is not news to any of us. Mastering the intake to get the job description right is key.

• Gartner research predicts 50% of consumers will limit their interactions on social media by 2025 We see this as an early warning sign in recruitment advertising

• Big year so far with FAMA - they are the leading platform for screening for workplace misconduct. 

• FAMA acquires Social Intelligence, better friends than foes.

• The Hunova partnership offers a comprehensive talent intelligence, it feels like the first time you downloaded Waze - life just got easier.

• The most common type of workplace issue is harassment.

• Business impact of hiring bad apples will spoil the whole barrel. 

• The holidays are best with little people. Seeing how excited and happy they are to unwrap gifts is precious. 

• Some omens of the year to come based on how NYE was celebrated. 

In the News

• Know when to stop talking is our advice to Wayfair’s CEO 

• Elite athletes and CEO’s get paid top dollar - also known as pay for performance, we wont get on the bandwagon to envy their success 

• Prediction from 2023 came true. Unionized workers flexed their muscles and took job action in many sectors

• New employment related laws in Canada coming into effect in 2024

Tip of the Week

• Flakes or Catalysts - great recruiters can identify candidates who are intelligent, intuitive, move fast and burn out quick and ensure Leaders know how to get the best from them.

Recruiting Insights

• The evolution of DEI and why it may be losing steam in 2024

• Deloitte’s feature on how IKEA’s leverage AI to the benefit of 10,000 staff members

• KPMG’s Future Workplace survey confirms what we all were sensing, fully remote work drops to 1%

TA Practitioners Series

With a TA team of 80 across Canada, Nicole and Harneet share with us why KPMG is the best place to work if you are a recruiter.

• Hiring Leaders who understand the value of TA is no accident. With Nicole flying the plane and Harneet as co-pilot, Hiring Managers are fully onboard with investing in TA. 

• Early talent, campus, internal mobility, alumni, sourcing for domestic and international, this team does it all.

• KPMG’s pandemic response was to upskill the team by investing in better technology to allow Recruiters to spend time where it matters - with candidates.

• When offer acceptance rates declined they built their own offer Playbook to enhance negotiation skills. 

• If by the end of this episode, you aren't on their careers page, then you weren't listening!

When the classiest guy in HR Tech buys the nicest recruitment marketing agency, you get happy employees and delighted customers. 10 cities in 10 days to meet the Bayard team, he’s convinced this acquisition is a win-win. 

• Chris gives us an inside view of his personal journey and his philosophy on how to build a successful company. 

• Smart people are everywhere, so invest in overlooked communities like Fredericton, New Brunswick.

• Chris gives us some inside baseball on how the conversations with partners unfolded before the acquisition with Bayard was announced.

• 20 years of building business and selling them, this is a first to acquire one!

• Appcast is now the world’s largest buyer of Indeed and ZipRecruiter media.

• The definition of success 2 years after the acquisition.

• What's next for Appcast?

Bonus material:

• The best explanation on why job postings are down in 2023

• How good were last year’s predictions?

• Serge gets a standing ovation for his prediction from last December, ChatGPT and AI rocked the world.

• Although YouTube shorts did not clobber TikTok, we are seeing a drop in use among teenagers.

Surprises in 2023

• The swing from employee to employer market was quick.

• Pay transparency law in British Columbia was passed adn now in effect

• Joel Lalgee becomes a star!

Predictions for 2024

Wager from Shelley

• Assessments will be all the rage! Skyrocketing in popularity will be the likes PLUM.io, Hiring Branch, HackerRank. 

• A Linked In developer will harness AI to enable meaningful data mining on the platform & solve job matching

Wager from Serge 

• Quick Apply / Easy apply for jobs becomes obsolete

• Recruit Holdings buys ZipRecruiter

• One major employer will eliminate the old school recruiter role 

• High volume hiring such as The Calgary Stampede who hires 3,500 people for 10 days, can now use technology to make the process more efficient. 

• Conversational AI helps the job seeker experience by getting right to the heart of the matter - getting an interview. 

• Fear of robots taking over the recruiter’s job are unfounded, AI can scale in a way that humans just can't, making recruiter’s lives better. 

• Sean makes a well educated prediction for 2024. 

• Shelley’s first born, Chandler defended his thesis and passed! Being a stand up comedian came in handy, the ability to handle hecklers or disruption when presenting, is a skill well earned on stage. 

• Global News Calgary anchor person Leslie Horton claps back at a rude email, making her internet famous for the 3rd time. 

In the News

• Spotify’s third round of layoffs this year. Watching the giants start to fall this year as IBM, Google & Meta have all made significant reductions in staff this year. 

• Job Scams are up 250% compared to this time last year.

Tip of the Week

• Dress for the job you want! Video interviews allow us to dress up the top half and not worry about the rest. Internal promotion or a new job, dress for success never goes out of style. 

Recruiting insights

• AI training is in such high demand, employers can't find people with the skills they need. IBM and AWS have committed to providing over 4 million people with free AI education! 

• Skills based hiring is trending in popularity. The focus is shifting from things like formal education and a list of duties to the skills needed. In the US this year, 41.6% of US job postings dont list qualifications. 

• Got a beef with BDI? It's so outdated. Move to structured interviews. Ask interview questions to determine if someone has the skills needed to do the job. 

• Christmas party season, get drunk and make a fool of yourself. Not a good look.

• Life choices, baby boom, unmarried parents or double income no kids.

In the News 

• Indeed walks back the PPA, gone as of December 18 is sunset.

• Canada’s unemployment rate stays in a good spot at 5.8%

• Grief on a timeline, research says 14 day is necessary, not 5.

Tip of the Week

• Recruiters need raises! Get informed before you go ask for yours.

Recruiting Insights

• Workplace trends - The look of the 5 day work week is changing and the “D” in DEI is losing its focus. 

• Forcing RTO with an iron fist has landed a few with legal battles they will not win.

• Job distribution marries programmatic, Veritone will soon reveal what the new baby will be called. 

• The June 2023 acquisition of Broadbean, Alex shares the vision Veritone has to unite Pandologic & Broadbean.

• Transparency in AI as a way of doing business ensures Veritone is ahead of the curve in light of the laws being passed in New York and other states in the US. 

• Alex shares the similarities of Canada & Europe when it comes to the uptake on programmatic job advertising. 

• Sitting on a mountain of data, 12 million job ads and 160 million applicants, gaining insights and connecting the dots will make recruiters better at doing what we do best, recruit.

• Another trip, another band - Shelley and Brook are off to see The 1975

• Serge must protest as the lead singer is now on Taylor Swift's long list of x-lovers.

In the News 

• Elon cant help himself, throwing daggers at Linked In as X tries their hand at being a job board 

• Union Drama Queen gets in a snit over TFWs coming to build an EV battery plant in Windsor ON; he seems to think Canada has an extra 1600 unemployed technical experts just sitting on their hands.

• Easier said than done, using express entry to fill the huge demand for Truck drivers in an industry that is rotten with bad actors like Driver Inc.

Tip of the Week

• Recruiters looking for a recession proof industry to specialize in? Start building a talent pool of electricians. 

Recruiting Insights

• The best 2 places to start on your recruitment marketing journey. Google Analytics will give you a solid understanding of traffic and using Tableau to dashboard your analytics. 

• The 12 system features to look for in an ATS, our top picks are integration, user friendly interface and bonus points for pre-boarding and on-boarding features.

• A positive outlook for 2024. Employ survey says 61% of TA Leaders see increased budgets next year.

• We welcome back a long time friend of the show Leah Daniels who joins us at the PLUM booth at HR Tech. 

• To improve the candidate experience and the recruiter experience, we can point the finger at who developed the ATS.  

• Layer on the confusing state/provincial and federal government compliance requirements and we now have the perfect storm.

• Leah give expert advice for TA professionals when shopping for technology, define the problem and make the vendor prove integration.

• Like politics and religion, no one agrees on music. If you want to keep the peace, don't debate someone’s taste in music. 

• Mentoring with The Forum, Shelley is excited to give back to Women entrepreneurs who are early in their journey. 

In the news

• HOT TAKES on the drama unfolding at OpenAI. 

Tip of the Week

• Open Hiring is an honest solution when considering your entire workforce. No one size fits all when it comes to interview or not to interview before hiring. 

Recruiting Insights

• Forrester’s predictions for 2024 with AI maturing on the employer side and applicant side. Grab the popcorn and watch which big name firm will be the first to hire a non-existant candidate

• Wyndham Hotels & Resorts put AI to good and ethical use. 

• New hires keep looking. In fact 6 months into a new job almost 40% are planning their escape. An easy fix is onboarding. 

• Growth by acquisition works well, so long as there is a solid plan in place to merge the new people into the company. 

• No connection between an employee’s age and their remote work preference. Survey says, consider the nature of the role and individual preferences. Sounds like management’s worst nightmare. 

• Refreshed and tanned, Serge shares his skin care secrets and the live free or die culture that is Florida. 

In the News

• Apple pulls a fast one on Immigration and pays the price, is $25 million enough? 

• Not falling for the drama around Christmas hiring, let’s unpack the reality.

• ZipRecruiter and Indeed feel the drop in paid advertising again in their quarterly results.

• Ontario is on top of the bad actors in the staffing industry by requiring licenses and guarantees. 

• BC boldly goes where other provinces will follow, as of November 1 all employers must post pay ranges. 

Tip Of The Week

• Recruiting events and how to get the most out of participating - should you choose to participate - be intentional. 

Recruiting Insights

• A Tech Recruiter for Meta does the humble brag on why it's so easy to attract talent, starting with their perks. 

• Hiring strategy - applications vs sourcing. We are no further ahead after all this time and effort to build a candidate pipeline. 

• Recruiter skills for 2024, some are classic along with a few new ones. Cultural Intelligence makes the list. 

• ThisWayGlobal won an award for Innovation of the Year HR Tech in 2019 for their AI for Jobs product. AI before everyone was talking about it.

• The reality of working with IBM, it was surprising to hear both parties took away learnings. 

• Any company who does not believe the research that DEI is good for business will find themselves left behind.  

• ‘30 minutes to value’ is solving the biggest challenge to adopting any platform, Angela’s team made it a reality. 

• 2024 will be the year we realize an improved quality of life through business automation. 

• Work from anywhere, Serge takes the family to Florida to visit Peppa Pig Land, LegoLand and Disneyworld. Now he needs a vacation from his vacation.

• Something is terribly broken if we have Cyber Security professionals driving Ubers

In The News

• WeWork goes bankrupt, the fall from an $50BB valuation to $3BB in debt. 

• Software Engineer. Rug Doctor. Alberta’s engineering governing body loses their argument base on public safety.

• Ontario employers are now required to disclose pay ranges on the job ads. 

• As of December 1, Canadian experience requirements will be barred for more than 30 occupational and licensing bodies as a requirement in licensing.

Tip of the Week

• Hiring for ‘fit’. A cloak for discrimination and puts up more barriers for job seekers. Challenge your Hiring Managers to define ‘fit’.

Recruiting Insights

• Hot tea! 45% of HR pros cant wait to spill the tea on employees with their family and friends. More like 70%

• Trends to impact recruiting in 2024 - we may be over thinking what AI really is.

• Tone deaf and ego filled opinion, Nolan Church shows how out of touch a former Google recruiter can be.

• The reality of her first corporate job and having to endure a long daily commute sent a TikTok viral this week.  

• Recruiter Nation report had some interesting findings plus some things stayed the same.

In the News

• Stepstone the dominant job board in Europe, did a 5% employee reduction. 

• The major Canadian banks are undergoing layoffs. Always seen as stable and still showing record breaking profits, it appears that letting people go is cheaper than upskilling them. 

Tip of the Week

• Ditch your outdated BDI interview questions. Research shows that 75% of hiring managers have added little phrases to their question that beg the candidate to fabricate an answer.

Recruiting Insights

• Puffed up job titles to make the job appear sexier may seem like a clever way to attract GenZ candidates, it is a deeply flawed approach.

• Never underestimate the revenge factor. Some sage advice before you decide to target your competitor’s people.

• Who lies on their resume or in the interview most, turns 85% of those with masters or PhDs will lie. 

• Not a fan of horror movies, we discover Serge’s childhood trauma from the “My Buddy” doll. 

In the news

• In a bold move, Radancy acquires Brazen, we give our take on what this means for the industry.

• IBM’s CEO walks back his bold statement about how AI will replace roles. 

• Canada takes first place as the top dream job destination.

Tip of the Week

• Candidates who bomb the interview doesn't mean they aren't great at what they do. Keep the type of role in mind before you judge their interview skills. 

Recruiting Insights

• Time to Alignment - new metric or new name for a best practice in recruiting? Taking a closer look into this will serve you well.

• More insights from the candidate interview experience published by Greenhouse, 24% of candidates get their interview advice from TikTok. Well that explains alot!

• Will resumes disappear in the next 5 years? Shelley is confident they will, Serge sees things differently.

• No FOMO here. As our friends all head to the land of bedbugs and baguettes, we are kind of glad we didn't go to Unleash World in Paris.

In the News

• LinkedIn does some right sizing with laying off 668 positions, including more in talent acquisition. 

• Stack Overflow hired too many sales people with no direction, at least thats our conclusion with their lay off announcement.

• AI for headshot, the jury is out.

Tip of The Week

• Book recommendations: The Talent Fix by Tim Sackett, Hiring Humans by Craig Fisher, Full Stack Recruiter by Jan Tegze and our all time favorite The Robot Proof Recruiter by Katrina Collier.

Recruiting Insights

• By the year 2030 staffing agencies are expected to increase their market size by 12.7%, doing the math, thats $1778.29 Billion. Let’s unpack how and why that might be.

• Moonhub’s claim of 1 billion public profiles sounds a bit of an exaggeration. We’d like a demo please!

• Candidate experience platforms seem a bit optimistic when their success is hinged on hiring managers are tasked with designing the experience. A chatbot wont solve the problem!

• When designing your campus recruitment program get clarity on what new grads say they ideally want vs what they end up accepting as their first job out of school.

• Shelley shares her "thoughts"

• Insights from a great HR Technology show

In The News:

• Canada's September job numbers above estimate but is it real?

• US Job numbers tell a similar story.

Tip of the week

• As a TA Leader if you plan to attend an event like HRTech, plan plan plan so you can be the most efficient and not get distracted.

Recruiting Insights

• "Grumpy Staying" There's always been people unhappy at their jobs.

• Using AI to help answer interview questions. A new approach on evaluating talent might be the solution.

• Reno talks about his LinkedIn success with over 200,000 followers, sharing how he started posting content during the 2020 pandemic when many people were losing their jobs. He began sharing career coaching advice and built his following over time

• Wiseful was founded to connect communities and creators with job opportunities through social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.

• Employers can engage with Wiseful to promote their talent brand and jobs within relevant communities. The platform helps companies reach high-quality talent while leveraging creators and community leaders.

• The importance of identifying internal influencers and enabling them to create authentic content that resonates with both candidates and employers.

• Reno believes that AI tools can democratize access to career coaching and job search assistance, but he also advises candidates to review AI-generated content and make it their own.

• "Layoff List" project initiated during the pandemic, connecting thousands of laid-off individuals with job opportunities. He shares insights from the data, including the fact that over 80% of those laid off in 2022 had found new jobs.

• Types of Jobs Impacted by Layoffs: The discussion touches on the types of jobs affected by layoffs, including recruiters, salespeople, and software engineers. Reno mentions that software engineers also faced layoffs, often due to cost-cutting measures.

.

• Weekend Bliss. Shelley gets her love cup filled with little Genevieve holding her hand and sharing some poutine!

• Sunday morning, we woke up to the nicest shout out from James Ellis. The best way to start the day, for sure. 

In the News

• Terry Baker joins Daxtra Technologies as their new CEO and becomes an investor in Sonic Jobs. 

• CEO of Shopify the platform created for side hustles, deserves a public shaming for his claim of being unaware of employees having side hustles, considering it's in the offer letter that HE signs!

• Hiring Branch gets a big round of applause and a healthy round of funding. Congratulations!

Tip of the Week

• Prepare your candidates to ask great questions in their interview.

Recruiting Insights

• Everything now culture. The Candidate Experience Report from Cronofy shares some fascinating changes in what job seekers expect in the hiring process. 

• We should never forget what it feels like to be looking for a job. Continued frustrations associated with ATS takes a huge toll on candidates. 

• Indeed FutureWorks announced some changes & improvement as well as an admission they didnt get the PPSA perfect - and they have fixed it. 

• Cliquify’s CIO came from the Fintech industry; building with OpenAI made complete sense. 

• Social media and buttoned down corporate don't play well together, plus marketing has a full time job. Your employer brand is left in the dust.  

• He set out to tame AI and allow corporations to build their social media presence, then continue to refine it, measure it and tie it all back to employee retention and attraction. 

• Amit gives us his crystal ball into how AI will shape the world of work.

• The rules have changed. Drop the guilt of not answering every call. Text before calling, you never know where someone could be. 

• According to some Taylor Swift puts her new boyfriend on the map. Considering she could sell out the stadium single handedly and merchandise sales cleared the racks.

• If you are at HR Tech, swing by the PLUM booth, 2109 Come say hi!

In the News

• Roblox cuts their TA team by 30 people. We know what’s next.

• Google Duet or Teams let you send a robot to attend meetings for you.

Tip of the Week

• Boomerang back to your old job or your former company, ask yourself, “What’s changed?” Remember why you left in the first place

Recruiting Insights

• Influencer is a REAL job. There’s no over night success or viral posts that will replace the years of effort and creativity that goes into becoming a trusted source.

• Google shows us the receipts! Putting skills based hiring in place of university degrees and offering micro learning that is accessible to under represented groups. 

• New trend, salary negotiations are on the decline. Gone is the notion that men will negotiate and women don't, its not true. Could this be a side effect of salary transparency?

HR Tech Founders who have never worked in HR, Park your bias at the door until you listen to this episode. 

• 3 university students have the same experience. They begin to wonder if this is a chronic issue or isolated event.

• They reach out to hundreds of sources to find out, it's a classic problem that has plagued campus recruiting since the 1990s.

• Although GenZ gets lots of bad press, they are not the first generation to feel ghosted by employers who swoop onto campus in September then crickets until your internship or new grad role is supposed to start.

• AbodeHR solves the communication black hole. A simple and elegant solution to an age old problem. 

• Remote work, work from home, in the office? What GenZ wants.

This week on TRF:

• Heading home from RecFest, as luck would have it, Shelley was seated next to a famous hockey coach and legend here in Alberta, Darryl Sutter. Should she have offered to trade seats with Serge?

• The first DisruptHR Halifax was a great success with our friends Leah and Ilya. We could feel the energy all the way to Nashville.

In the News

• There’s an old saying, “Former Google recruiters dont stand in the unemployment line.” 100’s are laid off and we are eager to see where they go next.

• Canada’s job market appears to be slowing with optimism towards certain parts of the country to have the perfect landing.

• You can't make this stuff up! An HR Manager in Oregon sends an employee a chocolate male body part, in the mail with her return address on the box. From there it only gets more shocking.

Tip of the Week

• Get active on LinkedIn. As recruiters if you have a dormant page, why would any candidate respond to your InMail?

Recruiting Insights

• LinkedIn Recruiter’s native interface fails to provide meaningful benchmarks to recruiting teams. You will need a custom dashboard solution for that? Unless you have 100’s of seats, we’d suggest tracking successful hires.

• Top reasons to be a contract recruiter, along with some practical advice. 

• SmartRecruiter wins top spot for best ATS from a surprising reviewer.

• Being Bold is a way to differentiate yourself in the sea of sameness of HRTech Company marketing

• Marketing should be at the top of the list of priorities for HRTech just starting

• How an offsite event convinced her that plum was the right place for her to work

• Authentic is the keyword when it comes to defining your Employment Brand

Plus we make it official! The Recruitment Flex will podcasting directly from the Plum booth at HRTech.

It seems everywhere we went, there were long lost cousins of Serge or home town friends,

Southern hospitality is alive and well in Nashville. We made lots of friends and talked to lots of TA professionals from all over

In the News

• With no statement from Talent.com, we have a reliable source saying their layoff was 40% of their staff.

•  Cyber security professionals as Uber drivers, we hear first hand and then confirmed the news with announcements from several firms laying people off. Stay calm and carrying on - they wont be unemployed for long.

• Employees disengaged is not news or is it? The debate between Serge and Shelley continues.

Highlights of RecFest

• AI was in the title of 80% of the presentation titles, yet no one walked away with clarity on exactly what part of the HR process is actually using it. 

• DEI was a big topic with an entire stage on day 2 hearing from the front line practitioners.

• PLUM stole the show. The Canadian TA tech firm brought the house down with their Swipe Right, HR’s Ultimate Match Game. AND with hosting the kick off event to RecFest complete with purple cowboy hats and Chad & Cheese PLUS a professional hair braiding team beautifying everyone made them the fan favorite!

Here are some of the questions we try to answer

• How do you cut through the noise of so many different type of solutions?
• Why partnering with your vendors are so critical?
• What to do when implementation does not go the way you expected?
• Why buying recruitment marketing partners is different than software?
• What questions you should be asking vendors?

And much more helpful info for anyone that is looking to enhance their tech stack in the HR/TA space

• Taking the old guy to the Labour Day game, at 88 Shelley’s dad was thrilled to be at a live CFL game

• Serge’s 3 beautiful little girls draw the attention of former AB Premier, Rachel Notley. Really? Who could resist those beautiful faces?

• Sept 6 was Global TA Day, we celebrate by talking all things recruitment.

In The News

• CareerBuilder cringe. Following last week's TBT (Throwback Thursday) announcement; they embarrass themselves, yet again.

• Talent.com employees use LinkedIn as their personal platform to announce a ‘massive company restructure’.

• TikTok runs with scissors. Making up yet another term, September Surge (not Serge).

• Meanwhile back in Canada we discuss the highest demand across Canada. 

Tip of The Week

• Calling in the big guns. Set your ego aside and let the professionals do their job. 

Recruiting Insights

• Attention seeking rant or legit complaint about TestGorilla’s hiring process, you be the judge. There is no argument the corporate response gets top marks.

• Zero-Touch ATS concept gets top marks from both Serge and Shelley 

• Build an in-house recruitment team or go RPO? Either way, cost per hire is a lazy way out of making the decision.

Events:

• RecFest Next week in Nashville September 13-14th
• DisruptHR Halifax September 14th
• HRTech October 10-13th Recording with our friends at the Plum.io Booth

Internationally famous as the recurring co-host on Recruiting Brainfood Live with Hung Lee and a successful HR Tech founder with the sale of Candidate.ID to iCIMS, Adam joins us for a short yet action packed episode.

• Explain Recruiter Enablement

• Every HR Tech start up needs to take notes on the process Adam followed before they started developing the solution.

• The toggle tax for Recruiters

• Pronounced BAYTA or BEETA - either way, the chosen 42 companies will be part of the inner circle of Poetry

• HR Tech is not as far behind as some sources say it is.

• With all the investment in HR Tech, the best ideas are still hitting the trash bin, Adam explained how VCs work

• The last work on where TA Professionals need to focus for the next year

- Serge and Shelley go see Taylor Tomlinson.

- Headlines are not always accurate.

In The news:

• Canada is on track to host 900,000 international students this year.

• CareerBuilder has become a satire of itself launching pay Per Resume 10 years too late.

• Indeed adds a chrome extension.

Tip of the Week

• Never too early to start campus recruiting.

Recruiting Insights:

• Employers and candidates are tired of ghosting each other.

• We finally settle the debate on cover letters...not really!

Events

•  Recfest USA Nashville September 13th and 14th
• DisruptHR Halifax - September 13th
• HRTech Las Vegas - October 10-13th - Find us at the Plum booth!

As the Director of People and Talent with AltaML, an incredible start up focused on the most ethical use of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) with offices in 3 Canadian cities. Having fun is part of their EVP, Deanna is living proof.  

• Going from 40 people to 140 during the most turbulent and competitive times, means getting creative, having good tools and really listening to what’s important to your target audience. 

• Do tech assessments, take home assignments and live coding exams sound like job seeker bait or repellent?

• Danna shares her ‘do over’ list, team structure and the 3 super hero roles to have in a high function TA team.

• When you realize your children are genetically predisposed to Monster Trucks, Serge shares some fun facts about his Guinness World Book of Records status.

• Shout out to TD Insurance! They earned a 5-star review from Shelley.

• The final word on fixing the gender pay gap from our perspective.

• Both TA & L&D leadership roles are predominantly held by women according to a global survey of 600,000 in HR. Added bonus, the career paths for each will surprise you.

In the news

• LinkedIn rolls out ID verification in Canada - and its free!

• If it feels like there are more cars on the road, there are. 4 out of 5 employees drive to work, exceeding the number of commuters to levels in 2016.

Tip of the Week

• Know who your talent competitors are. Research outside of your industry to understand the choices job seekers have. 

Recruiting Insights

• Practical advice on ways to prove you have a culture of opportunity. Beyond single step promotions, the definition of opportunity can be defined at different points in your career.

• Survey said, “40% of Hiring Managers admit lying to candidates”, we go deeper to explain why recruiters believe the number is much bigger.

• This needs to be mandatory on everyone’s interview guide. Ask this simple question and you will easily separate the mediocre from the great people managers.  

Events

• TRF Will be broadcasting live from Plum.io booth at HRTech in Las Vegas October October 11th and 12th.
• TRF Live on the disrupt stage at Recfest in Nashville 13th -14th September.
• DisruptHR Halifax September 13th.

The pairing of James and Marcus is the employer brand & TA’s version of Megan & Harry.  

• James, being our most popular guest, has teamed up with Marcus to talk about employer brand, for an hour at a time and yes, they have a point of view!

• Measuring employer brand in its simplest form, “Did it solve the problem?”

• Ending the argument on what is an EVP

• Employer Brand in different countries, one size does not fit globally

• EB looks different based on the size of company you're in 

• Advice for TA as they launch into EB

This week on TRF we cover:

• August has been a weird month so far. Both of us had unpleasant encounters with nature invading our personal space. Picture bugs and mice in the house.

• Would you expect to pay more because of your gender? We weren't sure how to feel about an event designed to attract women into IT that charged men more to attend.

• Amazon continues to fall from grace - we may see the A in FANG removed due to their continued blunders in how they treat their employees.

Upcoming Events

• RecFest - Nashville Sept 13 & 14
• DisruptHR - Halifax Sept 14th
• HR Tech - Las Vegas Oct 10-13
• DisruptHR Calgary - September 21st

In the news

• Indeed reports 50% decline in paid ads

• Tutoring firm settles a claim alleging their recruiting algorithm was ageist - we suspect other wise.

• The US job market continues to cool - but not really, its just returning to pre-pandemic levels.

Tip of the Week

• The tool of last resort, the Sign On Bonus. When, how much and why to use it as bait

Recruiting Insights

• Roblox redefines early career recruiting! They offer a 3D immersive experience for potential employees - brilliant

• Asking ChatGPT to spot red flags on resume, in the wrong hands, this will spell disaster. Experienced recruiters will need to teach it what a red flag really is. 

• TA Tech - deciding on Good, Fast or Cheap. We weigh in on how to define it and when to pick from the 3 options.

Omar joins us with some practical advice and shares successful uses of video for mid to large to high volume hiring. 

Seeing is believing. The power of video is unequaled when marketing your jobs, your team and your company.

Some great advice to TA leaders on how to get started with video: 

• Pick your top 4-5 positions
• Define your culture, in simple terms, Why do we like working here?
• Define the job specifically and answer,  Why do we like working 
• No need for celebrity endorsement, you have your brand ambassadors in plain sight

Remove the fear of creating video content. Bring your company to life using video by allowing your team’s stories come to life in their own words.

• Shelley’s feeling a little rattled. A perfect driving record is now tarnished, a cement parking barrier vs a front bumper isn't a fair fight!

• When are we too old to attend a rave? Serge takes in an outdoor performance of Tiesto.

• Get your tickets now, Serge will rock the stage at DisruptHR YYC.

• AND if you are on the East Coast, join Leah Sobering as she hosts DisruptHR Halifax.

In the news

• ZipRecruiter remains profitable despite a big drop in customer count.

• Staffing industry giant Airswift inked a deal to acquire Energy Resourcing, adding 11 offices in 9 countries.

• 3 options to choose from if you work for Amazon as they mandate 2 days a week in the office, the last option is to voluntarily resign - let that sink in a moment

• The irony of Zoom mandating return to office is not lost on the entire white collar working world. 

Tip of the Week

• A great measure, worth boasting about is a tight Applicant to Hire ratio. If you are hiring a single role, 50:1 is the target. 

Recruiting Insights

• Despite the fear mongers, most employers face little risk of being held liable for negligent hiring when it comes to people with a criminal record. 

• Use of social media while you are supposed to be working. A Monster study published says that 57% of workers think social media in the workplace is unprofessional yet 46% admit to spending up to 4 hours on social media during working hours. The real interesting result is half of those surveyed dont want their employer following them on social media. 

• Before you jump on the HR Tech bandwagon of AI powered this or that - get up to speed on what AI actually is and what is just an automated process.

• Here’s where to skill up for free and at your own pace https://www.edx.org/learn/artificial-intelligence/google-google-ai-for-anyone

TA Tech’s Chief Growth Officer and founder of NORA, the national online recruitment awards joins share his deep knowledge of the TA landscape. 

• Starting in 1987, Stephen is the OG of aggregating jobs!  

• Latest trends in HR tech and who looks to be a game changer.

• Fiverr and Upwork a paradigm shift for some businesses.

• Video in job ads and how it is changing the job board space.

• The best idea to solve recruiting challenges will never see the light of day; there’s no money to be made by doing it!

• When a CEO’s top measure of success is happy employees, you know you’re listening to Chris Forman with AppCast! Catch the episode released last Monday

• Friend of the show, Adam Gordon is teasing with his new company called ‘Poetry’ dressed in France’s national colours and on a boat!

• Lazy Girl Jobs - just set all women back 50 years, everything Barbie did to empower women has been undone by these viral TikTok's.

• What’s next? Paying your adult children to stay home and do chores?

In The News

• Netflix runs an ad for an AI Expert with a salary of up to $900K; causing outrage to the striking Hollywood crowd.

• Linked In is testing out a job seeker coach using AI, no word on the monthly price tag.

Tip of the Week

• Ask candidates how they want to be communicated to - email, phone or text. If you’re going to use text, better call our friends at RecTxt.com.

Recruiting Insights

• When having Canadian experience a real and legitimate job requirement, and you don't know how to read a resume, you best brush up on federal and provincial human rights act.

• The world’s first blind hiring experiment included voice masking technology soon to be the best intended worst experience ever.

• 3 powerhouse reports paint a stark picture of a brewing storm with a mandated return to the office. We watch as the pendulum swings with attrition and struggling to recruit. Good news for recruiters, the demand for our skill are headed back our way.

• Chris gives us an inside view of his personal journey and his philosophy on how to build a successful company. 

• Smart people are everywhere, so invest in overlooked communities like Fredericton, New Brunswick.

• Chris gives us some inside baseball on how the conversations with partners unfolded before the acquisition with Bayard was announced.

• 20 years of building business and selling them, this is a first to acquire one!

• Appcast is now the world’s largest buyer of Indeed and ZipRecruiter media.

• The definition of success 2 years after the acquisition.

• What's next for Appcast?

Bonus material:

• The best explanation on why job postings are down in 2023

Is organizational hygiene the polite term for cleaning house, aka layoffs?

In the News

• 10,000 H1B Visa holders in 48 hours, highly skilled workers are eager to get into Canada!

• Twitter launches job listings @TwitterHiring - next up @TwitterDating

•  Former TA Exec sues his employer Goldman Sachs, we saw this coming from miles away

Tip of the Week

• Using AI to improve your Linked In summary statement. Be sure to edit it before you publish.

Recruiting Insights

• Cisco offers up training sessions to become talent influencers. Such a great idea!

• The 4-6 pm dead zone and MS Teams is big brother, watching your every move. 

• HireRight points the finger at TA when their customers demand faster service.