How will AI impact recruitment?
AI (artificial intelligence) is disrupting industries from medicine, transportation and software, to consumer goods. HR hasn’t been exempt, and AI is poised to transform the recruiter role by automating and streamlining low-value, time-consuming tasks. AI for recruiting is the application of artificial intelligence such as learning or problem-solving exhibited by machines to the recruitment function. AI uses techniques such […]
Five ways to combat prejudice in your recruitment process
Speak to 500 HR managers about discrimination in the recruitment process and what do you get? Almost half of recruiters who admit their own hiring process may be prejudiced, three quarters who have witnessed bias or discrimination amongst others first-hand, and 25% who say it’s a regular thing. We all make judgments. We all have […]
Why you need to adopt a more strategic approach to talent acquisition
As UK business continues its transformation into an increasingly digitally led environment, a whole new set of skills and expertise will be vital across all industries. This has meant that in recent years the job market has been tougher than ever. And while the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) reveal employment […]
How to close the engineering skills gap
Companies need to show more imagination when it comes to attracting new talent, says Matthew Aldridge, director of igus UK, the leading manufacturer of energy chains and polymer bearings. The engineering and manufacturing sector has long suffered from crippling skill shortages, and the problem appears to be getting worse. Statistics from trade body Engineering UK […]
Why the built environment sector needs to attract diverse talent
With an ageing workforce and ever-growing competition for skilled labour within the construction industry, the need to attract more talent from diverse backgrounds is greater than ever. As Equalities Manager at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), I passionately believe that the built environment, as well as all business sectors, must put inclusivity at […]
Case study: Want to find the right people in a skills shortage? Think outside the box
Haven’t you heard? There’s a digital skills shortage out there – so you better start stockpiling developers and IT engineers quickly. We are constantly bombarded by claims to the lack of skilled developers and IT engineers, putting a significant strain on our economy. A report from the Department for Business Innovation & Skills in early […]
Artificial intelligence: pre-screening candidates’ lives, not just CVs
At its most basic level, artificial intelligence (AI) will provide HR with the ability to automate many aspects of the recruitment process in a much faster and more efficient way compared with traditional processes. Manual searches for candidates will be a thing of the past; instead, recruiters will enter key terms, desirable aspects and job […]
Ensuring your data is readable and actionable in talent acquisition
Forrester reports 74% of firms say they want to be “data-driven,” but only 29% are actually successful at connecting analytics to action. Actionable insights appear to be the missing link for companies that want to drive business outcomes from their data. In recruiting, when you’re using aggregated data sets to make decisions, you need to make […]
Talent acquisition, technology and where this leaves you
Talent acquisition is merely nearly new; by comparison the capability of HR technology is really new. Talent acquisition is recruitment turned retro. Does it differ? Yes, and we have fashioned today’s HR thinking on talent into longer-term, strategic and cyclical practices that extend beyond just filling the job. Here I’m going to take a brief […]
How to cultivate a winning mindset in your new joiners
In HR and Talent Acquisition circles, we place great emphasis on quality of hire, but recruiting people with the right skillset and experience is only part of the equation. With increasing pressure and expectations for new joiners to ‘hit the ground running’, we want our new joiners to slot in quickly, navigate easily and direct […]
A new wave of AI and what it means for recruitment
As many recruiters will tell you, finding the right person for a job can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack; it’s not uncommon for employers to receive hundreds of applications for an opening, only to find that most of the resumes don’t lead to a potential hire. The statistics are quite dismal: […]
The energised employee we all want to hire
The Plainspeak Analyst is Katherine Jones, Partner and Director of Talent Research at Mercer, the world’s largest human resources consulting firm. Her job is to design and deliver insight research and services to Mercer’s global clients. She was previously VP, Human Capital Management Technology Research at Bersin by Deloitte. She has a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Cornell […]
Social media screening: what information can you use?
Social media has revolutionised the way we engage with each other and exchange information. The figures speak for themselves. According to We Are Social, there are 38 million active social media users in the UK – that’s over half the total population – while 84% of UK millennials take part in social media activities every […]
“There has never been a better time than today for candidates to find a job in which they can truly be themselves.”
David Bernard is the CEO of AssessFirst, a technology platform that offers predictive recruitment solutions for organisations. The information they gather helps organisations understand candidate potential and how their way of working impacts performance and engagement. Jamie Lawrence, Editor, HRZone: How are companies using recruitment agencies differently? What is their role in the modern recruitment environment […]
Onboarding senior leadership – making the right first impression to ensure success
Corporate governance, investor relations, reputation….ultimately success lies with the behaviours, attitudes and expectations of the board and senior management teams. But what happens when a new leader joins the team: how do you help them to provide leadership which will strengthen the organisation? In this article we take a look at the importance of […]
Time to say goodbye to boring job descriptions?
As of March 29th, I am hosting a virtual summit to help companies grow faster by hiring amazing people. It’s a series of interviews with well-known talent sourcing experts like Katrina Collier, Jo Dodds and Tris Revill. Check out all the speakers here. If you want to follow them live or through the re-watch option afterwards, there […]
Describing our personal strengths in a post-truth world
LinkedIn's just released a list of the top ten buzzwords used by HR professionals when looking to move jobs. Use of 'buzzwords' in the headline made me expect metaphor-ridden, multi-word combos strung together with hyphens like a chain of fairylights. Except that wasn't the case. Here's the list: Specialised Leadership Focused Strategic Experienced Expert Passionate […]
Regulatory references: the new rules of recruitment for the financial sector
On 7 March 2017, the recruitment practices of banks and insurers are changing with the introduction of mandatory regulatory references. It is expected that these rules will be rolled out to all PRA and FCA authorised firms in due course, but no firm date has been set at the moment. The basic premise of regulatory […]
The case for and against: should we get rid of unpaid internships?
There are plenty of contentious issues in HR and the workplace, and we think it's important to get a balanced discussion going on some of the bigger questions out there. In this series, we'll be asking HR experts and practitioners to give us opposing viewpoints on a key issue, and we welcome your input too! […]
International recruitment: how to help new employees adjust
We recently undertook a survey of HRs in the international recruitment sector. The study found that nearly half of HR managers included in the research struggled to onboard candidates. Surprisingly, the biggest problems HRs faced wasn’t in talent acquisition itself, but the adjustment phase that follows. The most commonly cited problems were with settling in (46%), […]