Round Up March 2024

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[00:00:48] Hi there! This is Matt Alder

[00:00:51] Welcome to the March Roundup episode of the Recruiting Future Podcast

[00:00:56] If you've not listened to Roundup before, it's a short review of the episodes that I've

[00:01:01] published in the last month to make sure that you don't miss out on the valuable insights

[00:01:06] my guests are sharing. A huge thank you to plum.io for their ongoing

[00:01:11] support of Roundup. I think the approach they're taking to skills-based thinking

[00:01:16] is both highly innovative and highly pragmatic. You should definitely check out their website

[00:01:22] to find out more. Well, March was quite a month. The transform

[00:01:27] conference in Vegas was fantastic and it was great to reconnect with so many great people

[00:01:33] and make some fantastic new friends. However, the highlight of March for me was publishing

[00:01:40] the 600th episode of Recruiting Future. A huge thank you for all of your support in

[00:01:46] listening to the show. It really does mean the world to me. Thanks as well to all my amazing

[00:01:52] March Podcast guests who offered some genuine thought leadership on the most important topics

[00:01:58] of the moment. I was delighted to hear that two of my regular

[00:02:02] guests on Recruiting Future were writing a book together. Talent acquisition excellence by

[00:02:08] Kevin Wheeler and Bass Fander Hatred is now available wherever you get your books.

[00:02:13] And it was brilliant to welcome both of them back to the podcast to talk about their book

[00:02:18] in episode 597. Kevin is the founder of the Future of Talent Institute and he's highly respected

[00:02:26] for his skills in predicting how talent acquisition and HR will develop and evolve. Bass is a consultant

[00:02:33] who's keen sense of curiosity has helped him map the evolution of assessment technology and

[00:02:39] deliver an annual state-of-the-nation report on corporate career sites. In our conversations,

[00:02:45] they brought different perspectives to the concept of talent acquisition excellence,

[00:02:51] offering some actionable advice and giving us a sense of what the future might hold.

[00:02:57] Executive search is often considered to be so specialised that it should always be done

[00:03:02] by an executive search agency. However, an ever-increasing number of large employers

[00:03:08] are now choosing to build in-house executive search functions. So what are the advantages

[00:03:14] of doing this? How do you do this? And what's the ongoing impact from tighter talent markets

[00:03:20] and innovations in technology? My guest on episode 598 was Katie Howard, global talent acquisition

[00:03:28] luxury and lifestyle lead at IHG. Katie has made the switch from search agency to in-house

[00:03:35] just over a year ago, and has been helping set IHG up for success in highly competitive market

[00:03:42] for senior talent. In the interview we discuss the difference between agency and in-house,

[00:03:48] approaching and engaging with global talent pools, and how IHG is seeking to make their candidate

[00:03:55] experience match their luxury guest experience. We live in a world of work where understanding

[00:04:03] interpreting and telling stories with data has never been more critical. Although talent acquisition

[00:04:09] has become more data-centric in recent years, many TA functions rely on summary statistics

[00:04:15] that don't provide a sophisticated enough platform to use data to inform and influence

[00:04:21] their organisations properly. So what can TA leaders do to make their data strategies more effective?

[00:04:29] On episode 599, I spoke to Ben Pauhr, chief customer officer at Harvard. In our conversation,

[00:04:37] Ben offered some highly actionable advice that TA leaders can follow to level up and tell compelling

[00:04:44] stories with data. We talked about what organisations miss out on if they only use summary statistics

[00:04:50] that most critical sources of data and how AI will empower decision making based on much smaller

[00:04:56] sets of data. I launched Recruiting Future 9 years ago to attempt to understand the future

[00:05:02] of talent acquisition. Back then, social media was the biggest driver of change,

[00:05:07] and we were starting to realise just how much new technology would change the world.

[00:05:13] Predicting the future is always risky. However, if you approach things correctly,

[00:05:19] you can spot the trends that will stick and get a sense of what's likely to happen.

[00:05:24] To celebrate this landmark of 600 episodes, I invited my longtime collaborator and co-author

[00:05:31] Mervyn Dinnon to a studio in London to explore just how accurate some of the predictions we made were

[00:05:38] in a white paper back in 2016 about the future of work, and to also discuss what we think is going

[00:05:45] to happen over the next decade. Skill shortages, shortening skill lifespans, digital transformation,

[00:05:53] the AI revolution, hiring freezes and layoffs. These are just some of the factors currently reshaping

[00:06:00] how companies think about talent. It's clear that this level of disruption is now the new normal,

[00:06:07] rather than just a short-term trend. So how do TA teams respond? And what role do they have

[00:06:13] in helping employers redefine their thinking about talent, skills and hiring? My guest on episode

[00:06:20] 601 was Rich Wilson, CEO and co-founder of gig.ai. Before we became a founder, Rich had a successful

[00:06:29] career as a recruiter, and spent time as a gardener analyst specialising in digital transformation

[00:06:35] and the future of work. In our conversation we discuss skills focused strategies to reinvent

[00:06:41] hiring, and the part TA teams have to play in this critical transformation. Skills-based hiring is

[00:06:49] still a hot topic, as many employers seek to better understand the skills they need in their

[00:06:54] business both now and in the future. With the shelf life of hard skills shortening by the day,

[00:07:00] companies need to bridge the gap between talent acquisition and talent management to ensure

[00:07:05] that they're hiring for the skills that actually drive value for the business. Jason Putnam,

[00:07:10] the CRO at Plum, joined me for episode 602. Jason has tremendous experience in our industry

[00:07:18] and is continually talking to senior corporate leaders about their skills strategies.

[00:07:23] He has some interesting and unique insights to share, and this is a must listen for everyone

[00:07:29] trying to make sense of skills-based hiring. We discuss the ever-changing focus between talent

[00:07:35] acquisition and talent management, the mismatch between the skills employers hire for,

[00:07:40] and the skills they actually value in the organisation. And how job seekers use of AI will change

[00:07:46] talent acquisition forever. Employers can learn a massive amount from elite sports,

[00:07:52] in terms of spotting and nurturing the talent required to build highly effective teams.

[00:07:57] Having an adaptable, flexible and self-aware mindset is critical in these disruptive times,

[00:08:04] and professional sports have coaching models that can help leaders develop this mindset in their

[00:08:09] teams. I was lucky enough to speak to former England cricket captain Sir Andrew Strauss

[00:08:14] at the recent Transform Conference in Las Vegas. After his playing career finished,

[00:08:20] Andrew ran Elite Cricket in the UK for four years. He's now the co-founder of Mindflick.

[00:08:26] A high-performance coaching business that uses psychology and technology to make the lessons

[00:08:32] and elite sports accessible to companies. We had a fascinating conversation, and we covered

[00:08:38] topics including the importance of adaptability and self-awareness, why it's important to understand

[00:08:44] and accept your weaknesses, and driving team performance by getting emotional buy-in to a shared

[00:08:50] vision. A huge thank you to Plum, Harvard and Willow for sponsoring the podcast during March.

[00:08:56] So onwards into April, and I can promise you some absolutely outstanding guests on the podcast.

[00:09:03] So make sure that you subscribe or follow the show wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:09:09] I've also just published a white paper which explores 10 ways that AI will transform talent

[00:09:15] acquisition. You can download your free copy by going to matolder.me slash transform.

[00:09:21] That's matolder.me slash transform. Thanks very much for listening, I'll be back next time,

[00:09:29] and I hope you'll join me.