Recruiting Gen Z: Preparing for a new generation of work for white-collar employees

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The workforce is changing drastically by both technological advancement and the increasing presence of Generation Z. This generation born between 1997 and 2012 grew up with the advancement of tech and has different priorities in the workplace. While Gen Z does not generally reject the idea of working in a corporate job, they are less inclined than previous generations to compromise on their values when it comes to choosing a workplace. In Europe, where the demographic shift is particularly pronounced, companies must understand how to effectively recruit and integrate Gen Z employees.  

Prioritising Flexibility and Work-Life Balance  

Flexibility is extremely important to Generation Z. Based on a study by Deloitte, a stunning 75% of Gen Z individuals prioritise flexibility over a high salary. A study by Upwork also reaffirms this as 74% of Gen Z prefer working remotely. This implies they appreciate having control over their work schedules, being able to work from multiple locations, and being able to effortlessly combine their personal and professional lives. 

For companies to attract and retain these new talents, they need to offer flexible working options.

Remote employment, hybrid arrangements (a blend of remote and in-office work), or flexible hours are examples of such options. Fortunately, technological innovation enables European businesses to offer this option of flexibility without compromising the quality of their work. Collaboration tools on the cloud, project management platforms, video conferencing software, and other digital technologies enable smooth communication and collaboration regardless of physical proximity. 

Implementing flexible work rules not only meets the expectations of Generation Z but also provides several benefits to businesses. It would bring better work-life balance, higher productivity, higher employee retention rates, and access to a global talent pool. 

Mentorship Over Management  

Unlike previous generations, Gen Z prioritises mentorship over traditional managerial practices. One of the key motivators for this tendency is Gen Z’s desire for personal improvement and continuous learning. They seek guidance and support from experienced professionals who may provide valuable insights, recommendations, and skills to help them advance in their professions. Mentorship offers a more personalised and hands-on learning experience, allowing Gen Z to benefit from the knowledge of seasoned professionals. 

A study by Censuswide shows that 6 in 10 employees would not work for a company that does not share their values.

Traditional management styles that focus on strict hierarchies and top-down decision-making may feel stifling to Gen Z individuals. Though the strict management system worked for previous generations in maintaining company values and a good work system, it simply doesn’t work for Gen Z. Moreover, a study by Censuswide shows that 6 in 10 employees would not work for a company that does not share their values. So to prevent a high employee turnover in Gen Z employees, it’s smarter to switch from a strict managerial style to a mentoring one.  

Mentorship provides a more collaborative and empowering approach, where they can engage in meaningful discussions, contribute their ideas, and have their voices heard.  

The Gen Z workforce have a strong desire for purpose-driven work. They value meaning and impact in their careers and seek mentors who can help them align their personal values with their professional goals. Therefore, they will appreciate mentors who can guide them through challenges, provide feedback, and help them develop the necessary skills to succeed. 

DIY Training and Upskilling  

In the past, millennials, Gen X, and Baby Boomers had to rely on formal systems to acquire information and expand their knowledge. They would attend schools, visit libraries, and engage in other traditional methods of learning. However, the emergence of Gen Z brought about a shift, with easy access to a wealth of learning materials at their fingertips. 

As a result, Gen Z tends to favour online courses as a means to enhance their education, rather than pursuing physical training or obtaining additional degrees. Through a few clicks, they can access a vast array of resources, ranging from video tutorials to interactive quizzes, enabling them to acquire new skills at their own pace and convenience. This shift in upskilling methods has profound implications for recruitment practices.  

Traditional metrics, such as possessing a degree, may no longer be the definitive measure of competence when evaluating potential candidates. Instead, skill-based assessments have emerged as a superior approach to identifying the most suitable individuals for specific roles.

While having a degree can still hold value, it is no longer the sole indicator of an individual’s competence or potential success in a given role. 

Additionally, online courses and DIY learning can be adopted in retaining top talents. Employers can give these Gen Z talents access to platforms that allow them to grow their skills at their own pace. It would be an essential perk that helps both talents and organisations. 

Digital Channels in Recruitment  

Digital platforms are essential in recruitment, particularly when targeting Generation Z, who rely heavily on them for communication and information. To effectively reach out to this generation, organisations must adopt proactive digital recruitment strategies.  

Employers need to underline their company culture, job vacancies, and genuine employee experiences on significant social media sites such as LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Actively communicating with potential candidates through interactive material will allow organisations to generate a sense of connection and form relationships with the Gen Z talent pool. Employers can also leverage data from Giant to discover the best places to reach candidates for specific roles.  

Because Generation Z primarily utilises smartphones to search for and apply for employment, streamlining the recruitment process for mobile devices is crucial. This includes developing a responsive website that adapts to multiple screen sizes and gives candidates a user-friendly experience for browsing job posts, applying for employment, and obtaining important information. In addition to reaching Generation Z, using digital platforms in recruitment gives various benefits. These strategies enable organisations to broaden their reach, engage with a larger pool of prospects, and develop a strong employer brand. 

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Nearly half of HR managers worried AI will replace them, but should they worry?

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Just how far will the power of Artificial Intelligence reach? According to a report by investment bank Goldman Sachs, the tally could run up to 300 million full-time jobs. It could replace a quarter of work tasks in the US and Europe but may also mean new jobs and a productivity boom. And it could eventually increase the total annual value of goods and services produced globally by 7%.

“Despite significant uncertainty around the potential for generative AI, its ability to generate content that is indistinguishable from human-created output and to break down communication barriers between humans and machines reflects a major advancement with potentially large macroeconomic effects”, Goldman Sachs economists Joseph Briggs and Devesh Kodnani write in the report.

Real reason to worry?

Jobs are a fluid phenomenon. Pinsetters, airplane listeners and lamplighters are, for all the right reasons, a thing of the past. In other words: it is a human phenomenon to worry about how jobs will, eventually, be destroyed and replaced. Considering the fact that 60% of today’s workers are employed in occupations that didn’t exist in the 1940s, is that such a bad thing? After all, new technology creates new opportunities. And new opportunities equal new jobs.

43% of HR leaders are worried

Nevertheless, people are worried. And those worries aren’t just limited to customer service agents or data entry clerks — HR leaders are worried about they too will be replaced by forms of artificially intelligent computers. In all, two fifths (43%) say they are worried they’ll lose their job as more of the HR function is automated, per Personio research. 

So, should they worry? According to Ross Seychell, Chief People Officer at Personio, the worries may be unfounded.  “Emerging technologies such as generative AI tools, like ChatGPT, have the potential to revolutionise workplaces, and the HR department is no exception. But will HR be ‘replaced’ one day by AI? I certainly don’t believe so, and the business leaders that say it is possible are short sighted and worryingly misinformed about the role that effective HR plays in businesses.”

“But will HR be ‘replaced’ one day by AI? I certainly don’t believe so.”

Instead, on the flip-side, Seychell expects to see AI make HR more important rather than obsolete. “We can expect to see AI make HR more important, by allowing a hard-pressed department to focus more on business critical issues like building a great culture or solving retention challenges, while new technology will make admin tasks more efficient.”

Business leaders: AI is opportunity for HR

Contradictory, business leaders themselves say the same thing. In all, Personio’s research found that 73% of business leaders say HR will be more important to the business in the future, while 60% said they intend to incorporate more AI and automation into their HR department in the next five years. Meanwhile, 64% believe there is a clear opportunity for HR departments to harness AI and automation to free up time to focus on supporting businesses with long-term goals.

“HR teams will only be able to unlock their full potential if they continue to work with business leaders directly to show them the value they can bring.”

“Business leaders tell us that HR is only set to become more important in the future, not less”, Seychell continued. “But despite this and the importance of the function over recent turbulent years, they also admit they don’t fully understand where the role begins and ends. This challenge needs to be met head-on. HR teams will only be able to unlock their full potential if they continue to work with business leaders directly to show them the value they can bring.”

The 6 most important skills for recruiters of the future according to Kevin Wheeler

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If you want to make sure you have a job in the future, the best thing you can do is become a hairdresser. After all, there’ll always be a need for cutting hair, no matter what. And in any case, it is also a job that is hardly likely to fall prey to automation, American recruitment guru Kevin Wheeler argued during The Future of Talent, an exclusive gathering for Benelux-based recruiters and recruitment managers.

Only as a hairdresser are you more or less immune to the rapid changes in the job market.

So hairdresser are more or less immune to the rapid technological changes in the job market. But at the same time, that is one of the few professions for which this notion true, Wheeler told his audience. Virtually every other job has more to worry about. Because we are now living in times of rapid change, particularly on the back of everything artificial intelligence. And that, he believes, will change the concept of ‘work’ in the near future in a way it never has before.

Artists over engineers

For instance, he thinks artists will soon earn more than engineers or technicians. “The artist deals in concepts and ideas. These cannot be automated. The artist still creates something of value, where the narrow expertise of engineer can soon be replaced by A.I. In the last century, being an engineer still came paired with a certain status, while as an artist you would starve to death. That has now been completely reversed. I think the latest rounds of layoffs in the tech world are a clear sign of this.”

This century is not so much about technical knowledge as it is about 21st century skills, Wheeler stressed. Such as: broader, general skills, problem-solving ability, the art of influencing, being able to think strategically, leadership, marketing and branding. “Nobody has the answers now. Everything is changing. That’s why it’s best to be broadly educated.”

No more receptionists

It may not yet be noticeable, and it may not yet be reflected in labour productivity, but automation is going fast at the moment, Wheeler says. Just look at the average reception desk in an office. “There’s no human being sitting there anymore already. You come in, type your name yourself, print a badge, and automatically the person visiting you is called. What more value would a receptionist add?”

‘If you have to work together a lot, you are less likely that automation will take over your job.’

Incidentally, this is not just about the complexity of the work, says Wheeler. “It is also related to the level of collaboration required. If you have to collaborate a lot, then you are less likely that automation will take over your job.” But either way, robotisation will start to replace some of all our current work, he says. “It will definitely be a different world. The only exciting thing is: how long will it last? And: can we cope with having nothing to do all day?”

Different kind of jobs

Wheeler’s vision is blunt, but comes with a sense of warning. Also for recruiters. Not only will they have to start looking for a different kind of people, according to Wheeler, but they will also have to think differently about jobs. “Not just 9-to-5, 40-hour weeks anymore. That may be how we grew up, but why do we still do it that way? We need to learn to look at a larger, more diverse range of people. If we ask companies now who their workforce is, 87% already say it is more than just their own employees. Young people no longer want permanent jobs. That trend will only continue.”

“When someone leaves, you have to start having the discussion: should we replace them with a new employee? Or by a gig worker? A contractor? Or maybe a robot after all?”

But, as Wheeler asked the room: which recruitment manager is actually recruiting and selecting gig workers? Only a few hands go up — most are still recruiting for permanent positions. That’s an attitude that may no longer be sustainable, he says. He urges attendees to turn into change managers. “When someone leaves, you have to start having the discussion: should we replace them with a new employee? Or by a gig worker? A contractor? Or maybe a robot after all? We will have to dare to have that kind of conversation more often. That’s part of your job as a recruiter.”

‘The job needs to get done’

It will be the only way to keep companies profitable in the long run, and to make your role of value as a recruiter, says Wheeler. “There is no shortage of talent. At most, there is a lack of talent distribution. We therefore need to start thinking more about a global workforce of skills. If I’m sitting here on a broken chair, I don’t want to hire someone to fix chairs, I want someone to fix the job. I don’t have to like that person. Nor does he or she have to look like me. Nor does he have to have many other skills, or do this for 40 hours in a row. The important thing is that the job gets done.”

“There is no shortage of talent. At most, there is a lack of talent distribution.”

And all of that work doesn’t have to be done from the office, Wheeler insists. He believes we are moving towards a future where working in the office will become the exception, and people will go to the office at most 2.5 days a week. “You can already see that in San Francisco, which is almost extinct. It’s almost scary. At Salesforce, for example, only 20% of staff still work in the office. And that was one of the biggest offices there. That doesn’t affect Salesforce at all. But it does affect all the restaurants and shops nearby, which are now going under.”

‘In 1955, HR did not exist’

Wheeler takes the opportunity to give us a bit of history, too. “Until 1955, HR didn’t actually exist. There were just some payroll clerks. Only in the 1960s did departments appear that also became responsible for employee welfare and safety. But in the 1980s, HR changed from human relations to human resources. From then on, shareholder capitalism emerged, and it was no longer about paying attention to people, but only about the question: how can we make people as productive as possible?”

“I think HR will change to HD: human development.”

It is precisely this attitude that more and more of today’s young people are turning away from, Wheeler sees. “It is the main reason for the high turnover in organisations. Young people see that companies just want you to work harder and harder, without looking after you. They don’t participate in that anymore. They want an employer who cares about them. Therefore, I think HR will change to HD: human development. In Asia, you can already see that happening.”

Internal upskilling

Retention is the new recruitment, Wheeler argues. “In all professions, you see internal mobility increasing at the moment. Only not in the Oil & Gas and agriculture sectors. But those are sectors with turnover close to zero anyway.” According to him, it then becomes a matter of developing good internal upskilling programmes. “And we must learn to write new job profiles in terms of skills. Always ask yourself: why is a degree actually needed? It is better to look at what skills you really need, and then find the people to match them. As a consultant, contractor, or whatever form of contract.”

“I tell you: your vacancy holders have no idea about any of this yet.”

And also very important: recruiters should dare to have more of an internal conversation about this. “I’m telling you: your vacancy holders still have no idea about all this. They still think you can fill every vacancy with a permanent employee, just like that. It is our job to have the conversation. Can we find the skills? Internally or externally? Or do we need to develop them? Did anyone here go to university to study recruitment? Did they? But you are good at your job, right? So why do we still require a university degree for so many positions?”

‘There will be friction’

Companies like Google have already caught on, says Wheeler. They are abandoning education requirements, in favour of a focus on skills and personality. And universities are already starting to suffer too. Some are even going bankrupt, he says. “Every institution is now in question”, Wheeler says. “And the future of work is also bound to be fraught with friction. Professions will be added, but also disappear. Not everyone will like that. It is up to HR and recruiters to manage that. Literally. By helping people find new skills, for instance, and thus new jobs. By creating new jobs themselves. And letting different people share jobs. And by shortening working weeks.”

The 6 skills for recruiters of the future

In his opinion, are these really all jobs for recruiters? “Yes definitely. I don’t see how you could separate development from recruitment and selection. You have to look at HR in a much more integrated way. You have to be able to move flexibly between internal and external, between in-house development and recruitment, between permanent and flex. Total talent management, in other words. I personally think that few functions in organisations are as ill-prepared for the future as HR. HR, and recruiters too, should develop much more. And delve much more into the huge changes that are coming.” To still be assured of work in the future, recruiters need to develop 6 skills, according to Wheeler.

  1. Analytics
  2. Networking
  3. Influencing
  4. Agility and adaptability
  5. Talent intelligence
  6. Technical acumen

“The recruitment of the future should also be much more based on what really makes the difference for your organisation.”

“So not something like sourcing or interviewing. Those are practical skills. But what matters are the foundation skills. You can take them further. And at strategic levels. Like: how do we define employee success? We are very bad at that as HR and as recruiters. It’s always quite subjective. We really need to get better at that in the coming years and generate more data for that if we want to continue to prove our value. The recruitment of the future should also be much more based on what really makes the difference for your organisation.”

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Talent Acquisition and Management: Navigating the mistakes and challenges

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Before now, TA leaders were not even on the table for decision-making. But now that they are, we still see organisations not paying attention to their professional advice and strategy. Instead, employers are relying on outdated decision-making processes, with poor use of technology, and untrained professionals, as it is used to merely replicate existing practices. The unplanned growth initiatives without proper analysis are also contributing to a chaotic hiring process.

However, as recruitment trends shift, more Talent Acquisition leaders are incorporating data to alter the narrative. According to a Forrester study, 80% of decision-makers are focusing more on improving hiring quality and hiring speed. They also want to use hiring tools and data to better understand candidates. Let’s examine some of these challenges and mistakes affecting recruitment, and how we can move forward.

1. Erratic hiring decisions

In 2020, the Covid-19 Pandemic caused many organisations — especially tech companies to make poor hiring decisions. In all fairness, the unexpected pandemic and global lockdown shined a bright light on the possibility of growth in the tech industry. Therefore, many tech companies failed to conduct proper due diligence and began recruitment in an attempt to stay ahead of the curve. Reports from CNN showed that from 2019 to 2022, Amazon had a 106% increase in employee headcount, Meta had 103%, Salesforce had a 67% increase and Twitter had 63%.

Both employees and managers are now bearing the grunt of these hiring decisions, as many become unemployed, and a lot of recruitment resources are wasted.

We’ll refer to this as headcount and not recruitment because most of these employees were not needed on the long term. Now, we can see massive layoffs of ten thousands happening in these organisations. Since they didn’t reach their expected growth, they had to lay off these staff. Both employees and managers are now bearing the grunt of these hiring decisions, as many become unemployed, and a lot of recruitment resources are wasted.

2. Talent hoarding & bidding

For certain roles, we can see companies engage in fierce competition to attract and retain the best talent to gain a competitive edge. This trend has been on the rise as organisations recognize the crucial role skilled employees play in driving innovation and success. As a result, companies find themselves vying for the same limited pool of highly qualified individuals, leading to increased competition and bidding wars.

However, talent hoarding isn’t always done for the right reasons. Most times, top organisations ask Talent Acquisition (TA) Leaders to find new talents for them, regardless of whether they are needed or not. The entire purpose of doing this is to get top-skilled talents within the company for the “rainy days”. Organisations keep highly skilled individuals away from competitors until they are eventually laid off. This practice not only wastes talent but also affects those individuals who are left idle for months, especially those on work visas.

For some roles, especially in the tech industry, the salary range has widened drastically due to talent hoarding.

This hiring strategy has significantly increased the pay gap for top-skilled talents. As companies often resort to offering higher salaries and more attractive compensation packages to entice skilled professionals to join their organisations. In some cases, this can create a hyper-competitive environment where companies are willing to go to great lengths to secure the best candidates, sometimes even hunting employees from their competitors. For some roles, especially in the tech industry, the salary range has widened drastically due to talent hoarding.

3. Lack of (recruitment) strategy

Employers lack of recruitment strategy is evident in its failure to internally identify and nurture potential talent. Instead of proactively assessing their internal resources and identifying individuals with promising potential, there is a haphazard approach to hiring. The recruitment process often involves a simple email, instructing the hiring team to go and find suitable candidates, without considering the need for a comprehensive strategy.

This lack of strategy becomes particularly apparent when there are challenging roles to fill in a specific country. The recruitment leader resorts to engaging agencies and exploring options like relocation, without considering the lessons learned from previous experiences or adopting a location strategy that could attract diverse candidates, including more women.

Without a proper strategy, companies are truly hiring amiss.

For instance, a data driven recruitment strategy based on talent intelligence, inspired with insights from platforms like Giant would have shown the best locations, the needed perks, the salary range, and the best places to access talents in each industry in Europe and the US. However, these hiring managers go out with the desire to meet the recruitment headcount the company has requested. Without a proper strategy, companies are truly hiring amiss.

Furthermore, the accountability for finding these talents are disproportionately placed on the shoulders of the HR or recruiters without providing them with the necessary resources and support. Even individuals who lack proper training or expertise in recruitment are tasked with sourcing and identifying potential candidates. As a result, these employees are ill-equipped to carry out effective talent searches and are left grappling with the challenges they face.

4. Talent Management

Talent management in recruitment is frequently undervalued, with the potential consequences of poor management practices being ignored. Given that senior-level positions typically account for 70% of all hiring demand, there’s a need to grow talents internally. Continuously recruiting candidates for those senior positions while failing to develop internal talent would exacerbate the lack of diversity in fields such as technology, where there is already a significant gender gap at the senior level.

It is the company’s responsibility to prioritize providing appropriate support mechanisms to nurture each employee’s development.

Furthermore, failing to provide the necessary assistance and resources for the growth and development of existing talent leads to higher employee turnover, and even more recruitment issues. It is the company’s responsibility to prioritize providing appropriate support mechanisms to nurture each employee’s development.

5. Wasted hiring cost & resources

The wastage of resources in the hiring process is an often overlooked aspect that organisations should consider. Unfortunately, the influence of the CFO often outweighs that of the CHRO, prioritising monetary aspects over the value of human capital. Employers keep disregarding the cost of attrition, which can amount to billions of dollars annually for organizations. For instance, Amazon spends about $8 billion annually on attrition.

When hiring at a fast pace, compromises are made on crucial elements such as diversity, quality, and new hire engagement.

When hiring at a fast pace, compromises are made on crucial elements such as diversity, quality, and new hire engagement. Inevitably, it results in a high attrition rate, with individuals joining organizations only to leave shortly after. The lack of strategy, the poor use of data, and more all wound up in high recruitment costs and wasted resources.

The light at the end of the tunnel

Data, and insights have emerged as powerful tools, shining a light at the end of the tunnel for both employers and job seekers. With the increasing availability of technology and digital platforms, vast amounts of data can now be collected and analyzed to make informed decisions. Recruiters can leverage this wealth of information to gain valuable insights into candidate profiles, market trends, and hiring strategies.

This article is brought to you by Victoria from Intelligence Group. Inspired by: The Chad and Cheese show

Small businesses hire 3 unsuitable candidates per year; inadequate soft skills the main reason

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Global hiring platform Indeed recently conducted research on the hiring process for small businesses, revealing that on average, companies hire three unsuitable candidates each year. The survey, which involved 1,000 employers, showed that while small business mis-hires were comparable to those of larger companies, the impact of such mismatches is more profound for smaller businesses. 

With more than four million businesses in the UK with up to 49 employees, which accounts for almost three-quarters of private sector employers, the effect of mismatches is felt more keenly by these firms, with one in ten indicating that they hired more than five unsuitable employees each year.

Where’s the mismatch?

In addition to inadequate soft skills, the most common reasons for mismatches were salary expectations (37%), expectations of role (37%), visa requirements (36%), and the absence of hybrid working options (35%). Smaller businesses are quicker to identify mismatches, with an average of 12 days compared to 18 days for companies with more than 250 employees.

An inefficient hiring process

The survey also revealed that over half (55%) of all employers believe that the hiring process is inefficient. The most common complaint is that employers receive too many irrelevant candidates (67%) and that the hiring process takes too long (68%). Two-thirds of companies (67%) reported that unsuitable candidates progressed too far in the hiring process. 

Over half (55%) of all employers believe that the hiring process is inefficient.

This means that, on average, a third of applicants who reach the interview stage are unsuitable for the role. In reality, candidates were more frequently rejected in the latter stages of the process for technical reasons, such as right-to-work issues (38%), which could have been identified earlier, rather than competency for the role (36%).

Willing to pay more for better

The majority of UK businesses believe that identifying higher quality candidates in the early stages of recruitment would improve the hiring process, with 77% of those polled willing to pay more for fewer, better-suited candidates. “The hiring process is too complex, deeply inefficient, and simply too slow, and we know the frustration this causes employers and jobseekers”, said Raj Mukherjee, EVP and General Manager at Indeed. 

“By improving matching, we can help fast forward to meaningful interactions between people, which is when the real magic happens.”

“Finding quality workers should be as easy as pushing a button, and that’s why we’re making it easier and faster for employees to shortlist quality candidates. Recruitment is fundamentally humancentric, and by improving matching, we can help fast forward to meaningful interactions between people, which is when the real magic happens.”

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The 5 biggest AI-related trends talent acquisition leaders need to know in 2023

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Recruiters have always tried to make the hiring process feel more personal, but sometimes they end up overdoing it. Having your recruiters ask about a favourite time of ice-cream, or asking them which company they’d ask for, beyond the one their interviewing for, is a massive waste of time. Personalisation, among other things, is exactly what Artificial Intelligence (AI) aims to solve in the hiring process. From ChatGPT to customised onboarding experiences, AI is changing the way we recruit. We’ve amassed five trends

1. Personalisation

The concept of personalisation has been around for a while, but only recently has AI enabled us to deliver it at scale. In talent acquisition, personalisation means tailoring the recruitment process to the individual candidate based on their unique characteristics and preferences. This can range from personalised job recommendations to customised onboarding experiences. An excellent example of personalised recruitment is the use of chatbots to engage with candidates. By asking candidates questions to understand their preferences, chatbots can provide relevant job recommendations that improve candidate engagement while reducing the time and effort required to find the right candidate.

Case study: Stanford Healthcare

US-based Stanford Healthcare, major player in the healthcare industry aimed to enhance the hiring process by leveraging AI-powered chatbot Phenom, that offers candidates personalised experiences. The chatbot has effectively simplified and optimized the journey for job seekers, enabling them to complete the application process at their convenience, including via mobile devices. Over a period of six months, the AI chatbot generated an impressive quarter-million interactions, resulting in over 11,000 candidate leads, close to 35,000 distinct visits, and more than 12,000 clicks to apply.

2. Automation

AI is also enabling greater automation in the recruitment process, from automated job posting to automated candidate screening and scheduling. This can help recruiters save time and focus on higher-value activities. For instance, AI-powered candidate screening can analyse resumes and identify the best candidates for a particular role based on their skills and experience. This, in turn, can reduce the time and effort required to screen candidates, allowing recruiters to focus on more strategic activities.

Case study: Interdent

Interdent is a rapidly expanding Dental Service Organisation. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, InterDent faced challenges in optimising their hiring processes while working with a limited budget to fill over 1,000 positions annually. The company faced an immediate 50% decline in candidate flow when their candidate application process broke down. Interdent turned to Appcast to help them restructure their hiring processes and optimise their recruitment budget. The results showed a 70% increase in candidate flow, a 2.5x increase in qualified candidates, and consistent volume of qualified applicants for Interdent’s hardest-to-fill and priority positions.

3. Bias detection and mitigation

Bias in recruitment can lead to unfair hiring practices and limit diversity in the workplace. To tackle this issue, AI can be used to detect and mitigate bias in the recruitment process. Job descriptions can be analysed to identify language that may be biased, while resumes can be anonymised to reduce bias in the screening process. By detecting and mitigating bias, AI can improve diversity in the workplace and create a fairer hiring process for all.

4. Predictive analytics

AI can also provide insights into the recruitment process by using predictive analytics to identify trends and patterns in recruitment data. Predictive analytics can help talent acquisition leaders make more informed decisions about the recruitment process based on data-driven insights. This can improve the quality of hires and reduce the time and effort required to find the right candidate.

Case study: Data Hire

Data Hire is a staffing and recruiting company which faced challenges with slow candidate sourcing and email campaigns. AI-powered outbound recruitment platform hireEZ was the solution that allowed for the creation of dynamic and customisable talent pools, serving multiple clients simultaneously. With hireEZ’s automated email campaigns, Data Hire was able to quickly and easily nurture top candidates. Before it, Daren had to manually copy, paste and send emails, leading to a time-consuming and inefficient process.

5. Skills mapping

Finally, AI can map skills and identify skill gaps in the workforce. By identifying which skills are in high demand and where there may be shortages, talent acquisition leaders can develop targeted recruitment strategies to address the organisation’s needs. Skills mapping can also help to identify candidates with the required skills for a particular role.

 

WEF: ‘Nearly a quarter of all jobs globally will change in the next five years’

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The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023 assesses the impact of macro trends, as well as technological change on jobs and skills over the next five years. “There is no doubt that the future of work will be disruptive”, the WEF states. “But it need not be dystopian.” 

“Investment in the green transition, as well as increasing consumer awareness of sustainability issues will create new opportunities.”

First, the new opportunities as described by the WEF. “Investment in the green transition, as well as increasing consumer awareness of sustainability issues will create new opportunities. Roles from renewable energy engineers, solar energy installation and systems engineers to sustainability specialists and environmental protection professionals will be in high demand, translating to a growth of approximately one million jobs.”

Jobs growth in agriculture and education

Where the overall number will decrease, the largest absolute gains in jobs will come from education (3 million jobs) and agriculture (4 million jobs), the WEF sees. Driven in part by demographics and in part by applications of new technologies in these fields. “The new economic geography created by shifting supply chains and a greater focus on resilience over efficiency is also expected to create net job growth, with wins for economies in Asia and the Middle East especially.”

Slowing economic growth

The implementation of new technology is expected to cause disruption within the job market, with some companies experiencing a decrease in employment opportunities while others will see growth. However, the relationship between humans and machines is evolving and expanding to uncharted territories. Despite the previous notion of physical and manual labor being replaced by machines, there has been a shift towards automation of tasks that require reasoning, communication, and coordination, areas where humans hold a comparative advantage. This trend is expected to continue in the future.

“The biggest threat to jobs is still seen to come not from technology, but from slowing economic growth.”

“This is not surprising”, the WEF states. “Generative artificial intelligence is expected to be adopted by nearly 75% of surveyed companies and is second only to humanoid and industrial robots in terms of expectations of job losses, most likely to affect bank tellers, cashiers, clerks, secretaries and accounting. Yet, the biggest threat to jobs is still seen to come not from technology, but from slowing economic growth, the rising costs of inputs and weaker purchasing power among consumers.”

Wanted: creative thinkers

The flip-side: there are certain cognitive, self-efficacy and technology-based skills on the rise. Organisations are in dire need of creative thinkers, analytical thinkers and those familiar with technological literacy. Those that are curious and lifelong learners should also have no fear of losing out.

Source: WEF

Reskilling on the rise

Onto one of the world’s most topical topics: reskilling. Almost half of an individual’s skills (44%) will need to change on average across all jobs, the WEF states. “The skills with the highest share of companies reporting growing demand include analytical and creative thinking, followed by technological literacy, curiosity and lifelong learning, resilience and flexibility, systems thinking and AI and big data. Skills with less demand include global citizenship, sensory processing abilities and manual dexterity, endurance and precision.”

Skills gaps continue to be an issue

According to the World Economic Forum, the current economic climate is causing frustration, fear, and despair among individuals due to the integration of new technologies and future uncertainties. “For many individuals, the concurrent shift in the wider economic environment, the integration of new technologies at work and the expectation of future uncertainty translates into frustration with current job prospects, fear about future ones and despair about growing economic disparity in the future.”

“Human capital will become the key impediment to navigating the new economic landscape.”

At the same time, companies are expressing concerns about the talent needed to thrive in this new context. 60% of companies are worried about skills gaps and 54% are concerned about their ability to attract talent. Finally, governments that have underinvested in education and lifelong learning systems will face challenges in navigating this new economic landscape. “Human capital will become the key impediment to navigating the new economic landscape”, the WEF concludes.

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The important differences between ‘active-passive’ and ‘passive-passive’ job seekers

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For years, we’ve spoken about job seekers in dual-form. They’re either active, and therefore actively seeking vacancies and job offers. Or they’re passive, and uninterested in one of the twelve million messages they receive daily on LinkedIn. According to new research by Talent Intelligence experts Intelligence Group, it’s time to forget everything you ever thought you knew about the latter group: so-called passive job seekers must be split in two. While active job seekers are what it says on the tin: active, passivity can be divided into two separate columns: active-passive and passive-passive. 

Active-passive job seekers

Unlike their purely active counterparts, active-passive candidates don’t have their CV’s uploaded onto job sites or CV databases. They might take a look on occasion to see what’s out there, whether through job boards, social media, or recruitment sites — but it won’t result in an application. “They’re generally the ones that ensure they can be found via LinkedIn and leave digital traces in their network, so they can be found by recruiters”, says Geert-Jan Waasdorp, Founder of Intelligence Group.

These candidates are seemingly passive, meaning they’re generally heavily pursued by sourcers.

It’s not just playing hard-to-get, however. The main issue, if we can call it that, is that a lot of recruiters are already hunting this particular target group. Because these candidates are seemingly passive, they’re generally heavily pursued by sourcers. “They may put in the occasional call to a recruiter or account manager, but generally aim to be portrayed as passive”, Waasdorp adds.

Passive-passive job seekers

Then we’re onto the hors catégorie of passivity. While passive-passive job seekers may sound like the new villain out of Mission Impossible: A recruiter’s tale in 2023, they’re not as bad as they sound. “They’re surprisingly receptive to employer branding messages and job-related content”, Waasdorp says. “You can recruit them through their colleagues and former colleagues, acquaintances and friends. It’s generally the result of long-term employer branding: they have been following that company for a long time and sometimes communicate with it.”

“They’re very focused on internal mobility and generally don’t go the extra mile to be found online.”

But there’s a catch. These are candidates generally aiming to be promoted within their own organisation. In other words: they’re a loyal bunch. “They’re very focused on internal mobility and generally don’t go the extra mile to be found online. I think employers have ignored it too much in recent years. I think in a tight labour market, you have to force yourself to look from within.”

Employer branding and RMA to the rescue

Talking strategy, employer branding through Recruitment Marketing Automation (RMA) appears to be the best route to reaching the passive-passive job seekers. “If passive-passives are not present on LinkedIn, I am curious how recruiters go about contacting them”, says Caroline Pols, expert within the field of RMA and founder of Netherlandse-based UP in Business. “Then suddenly, your options are limited.”

“There’s a whole process leading up to the moment a passive-passive job seeker even gets to your company’s website.”

“What we see a lot is that people have to be active on LinkedIn for their work, and not so much for personal branding. Yet there are opportunities there. By being visible as a company on LinkedIn, you can become part of their world. Only sourcing and approaching out of nowhere is counterproductive. There’s a whole process leading up to the moment a passive-passive job seeker even gets to your company’s website.”

Using the right data and content

Pols and UP rely on labour market data provided by Intelligence Group to first get an estimate as to what any specific target group looks like in terms of passivity. “If a client needs X-amount of developers, we first consult Giant to get an idea of the size of passive target group. Suppose that’s 50%: now we know how many people we need build a brand preference for. The next step is finding out where they are, so we start formulating an approach on the channels they’re active on.”

“With the concept of Recruitment Marketing Automation, we closely monitor the behaviour of those passive-passive job seekers.”

It’s all about professional content, Pols says. “That’s what everyone wants, right? There must be a clear correlation between the brand and the position they may see themselves working in, one day. With the concept of Recruitment Marketing Automation, we closely monitor the behaviour of those passive-passive job seekers. There’s no use in actively headhunting developers, for example, they need interesting content by IT professionals. That’s the only way of getting them remotely interested in your company.”

Turning candidates from passive to active

Recruiting expert Koen Roozen sees reason to view the job application process as a journey. “You aways start a job with sense of satisfaction that will likely shift one day. But people generally don’t share their feelings right away. Only when a candidate thinks a job is really appropriate, he or she will respond or engage in conversation. Whenever they actively act on their impulse, then they transform from passive to active.”

“Above all: every passive candidate, no matter how passive, wants to be seen as a human being first.”

So reason for organisations to focus on Recruitment Marketing Automation and Internal Mobility, according to Roozen. “When people aren’t aiming to apply, pitching a vacancy makes no sense. You first better pitch your employer proposition: that you are a company that does cool things, for which RMA can be a very valuable tool. When you tailor messages to every phase, you’ll eventually make a breakthrough. All those touch points must communicate a sense of relevance. Above all: every passive candidate, no matter how passive, wants to be seen as a human being first.”

“In all cases, it’s about having the right knowledge and data of this passive target group as an important starting point.”

“I think it’s all about clarifying the subtle differences within any passive target group”, Waasdorp adds. “And catering the recruitment process, through a variety of different strategies, to their needs. Whether you’re looking to add senior personnel or blue-collar workers to your team. In all cases, it’s about having the right knowledge and data of this passive target group as an important starting point.”

Organisations are spending 25% more on Talent Acquisition in 2023: ‘There is no universal or best structure’

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McLean & Company, a trusted research and advisory partner of HR leaders around the world, has released its new blueprint Redesign the Talent Acquisition Strategy. The industry resource was developed to support HR leaders in understanding, analysing, and redesigning the TA structure to better support their organisations’ needs while adapting to the evolving hiring environment. 

Ongoing changes in the economy and labour market continue to cause shifts in organisations’ approaches to talent acquisition (TA) landscape, according to a new report by McLean & Company. “TA teams that do not adapt to these rapid shifts risk structural misalignment and increased stress and burnout as talent pools shrink and candidate behaviours change.”

No universal structure for TA

In the new hiring landscape, Talent Acquisition structures have been categorically slow to adapt. McLean & Company’s research has revealed that HR departments are spending most of their time on TA, with a 25% increase over the past year. Coupled with changing candidate behaviours, including a 49% increase in candidate ghosting and a 57% decrease in applications for job openings, ensuring a streamlined, efficient TA strategy is in place is key.

“While changing the TA structure alone won’t solve all recruitment challenges, it does create a foundation which enables the organisation to address the challenge areas.”

“There is no universal or best talent acquisition structure”, says LynnAnn Brewer, director of HR research and advisory services at McLean & Company. “Redesigning the TA structure to be specific to the organisation’s needs is not, however, a quick solution, as it requires a thorough evaluation of the underlying issues. While changing the TA structure alone won’t solve all recruitment challenges, it does create a foundation which enables the organisation to address the challenge areas.”

Four-step process

In an an attempt to ensure their organisations are implementing the right TA strategy for the situation at hand, McLean & Company have offered their own four-step process to redesign a TA structure.

1. Define the desired outcomes of the TA structure

“The first step is understanding how best to engage core stakeholders, as well as gathering information about the current and future state of TA, creating a list of TA activities, and determining constraints and limitations. This is followed by the creation of design principles based on the identified strengths, challenge areas, and structural implications, including uncovering goals and metrics to track success.”

2. Determine the jobs required to meet needs

“Step two supports the establishment of how TA activities will be completed and the deciding of which activities will be completed by the TA team. Next, the workload for each activity is evaluated, TA activity groups are created, and adaptability is built into the TA structure.”

3. Design the TA structure

“Upon completion of step three, decision-makers in the TA redesign process will have determined the required quantity of positions for each role, updated the reporting structure, and gathered feedback to finalize the new structure. The new structure can now be developed.”

4. Communicate and implement the new TA structure

The fourth and final step guides HR leaders through creating a communication plan, which anticipates stakeholders’ reactions, supports team members through the transition, and enables planning for monitoring, reviewing, and iterating the TA structure. “A redesign may also be disruptive and may not result in a more effective TA function if the root cause of the challenges is not addressed, so it is critical to determine if underlying issues would be better addressed by changes to people, roles, processes, or culture, before moving on to structure.”

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How Europe fell behind in the AI skills race, and is now aiming to fix it with ARISA

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is, seemingly everywhere. But in reality, in the European Union, a mere 8% of enterprises are using an AI technology, as last measured by Eurostat in 2021. Now, two years later, these numbers may have changed drastically — but there’s no reason to think why the continent’s SME’s have successfully introduced AI onto the work floor. 

Europe is falling behind quickly

The main reason for that is a simple one: a sincere lack of skills. So how severe is Europe’s dearth of AI talent and how does it compare to the United States, China and the United Kingdom – the world’s AI champions? That’s what Bruegel aimed to find out, through an analysis of AI-relevant degrees each year. It looked at three separate bachelor’s degrees. Firstly, computer science bachelor’s degrees, which provides some indication of educational attainment in AI-relevant degrees. And secondly, computer science PhD and master’s degrees.

While there has been some progress on the postgraduate front, the EU’s 6% annual growth rate pales in comparison to the US’s 13%. In other words, the gap has widened.

These figures all indicate the same thing: Europe is off the pace by quite a bit, compared to China, the United Kingdom and the United States. The number of awarded bachelor’s degrees in Europe actually decreased in the eight-year period ending 2018. While there has been some progress on the postgraduate front, the EU’s 6% annual growth rate pales in comparison to the US’s 13%. In other words, the gap has widened.

Per million inhabitants, the EU has approximately 128 awarded computer science bachelor’s degrees, while the US has 242 and the UK has a world-leading 296. When we look at PhD and master’s degrees, the only category where Chinese data is available, it is similarly sombre for for the EU. The US leads in that category with 147, China comes in at 131, the UK is at 120 while the EU’s number lies at 81. 

How do you solve a problem like ARISA?

In other words: there’s work to be done. Which is exactly what a new initiative called the Artificial Intelligence Skills Alliance (ARISA) aims to do. In short, ARISA aims to reduce the AI skills shortages in the EU market by identifying the current and emerging AI skills gaps for specific occupational domains, including business leaders, technology leaders, tech practitioners, and policymakers.

ARISA aims to reduce the AI skills shortages in the EU market by identifying the current and emerging AI skills gaps.

The project looks set to run until 2026, during which it will develop a European strategy for AI skills development that defines concrete strategic objectives and actions to address the identified skills gaps including a short-term and long-term roadmap. The project will also deliver curricula and learning programmes to empower employees, job seekers, business leaders, and policymakers with the knowledge and skills needed to support an inclusive and human-centric AI.

Open and collaborative 

The Erasmus+ project, led by DIGITALEUROPE, consists of some of the continent’s top universities and organisations who have joined forces to reduce the AI skills gap. The ARISA consortium brings together 16 full partners and 4 associated partners with solid experience in technology, training, and community building, a wide network of stakeholders from diverse backgrounds including education and training providers, qualification bodies and associations representing the industry and digital ecosystem.

Notable names include The Adecco Group, Amazon Web Services and Skillsoft — while it includes universities such as the Warsaw School of Computer Science and the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences. “ARISA is designed to engage with public and private stakeholders at the local and European levels to ensure the highest quality results and support the AI upskilling and reskilling of the workforce”, the press release reads. “Ultimately, the project wants to foster a community revolving around AI skills as part of the European Commission’s flagship initiative Pact for Skills.”

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The end of pay secrecy in Europe: new pay transparency legislation requires companies to disclose gender pay gap

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The gender pay gap in the EU stands at 12.7%, the last time it was measured in 2021 and has only changed minimally over the last decade. It means that women earn 13.0% on average less per hour than men. The gender overall earnings gap, that measures the combined impact of the average hourly earnings, the monthly average of the number of hours paid (before any adjustment for part-time work) and the employment rate, stood at 36.7% in 2018.

Why do women earn less?

The gender pay gap measures a broader concept than pay discrimination and comprehends a large number of inequalities women face in access to work, progression and rewards. Around 24% of the gender pay gap is related to the overrepresentation of women in relatively low-paying sectors, such as care, health and education. Highly feminised jobs tend to be systematically undervalued.

Then there’s unequal share of paid and unpaid work. Women have more work hours per week than men but they spend more hours on unpaid work, a fact that might also affect their career choices. This is why the EU promotes equal sharing of parental leaves, an adequate public provision of childcare services and adequate company policies on flexible working time arrangements.

Female managers earn even less

The position in the hierarchy influences the level of pay: less than 8% of top companies’ CEOs are women. However, managers are the very profession wherein the largest difference exists in hourly earnings in the EU. On average, female managers earn 23% less than their male counterparts. “In some cases, women earn less than men for doing equal work or work of equal value even if the principle of equal pay has been enshrined in the European Treaties since 1957.”

New legislation adopted by 427 votes to 79

It appears things could now finally change, however. New legislation will require EU companies to disclose information that makes it easier for employees to compare salaries and to expose existing gender pay gaps. Under the rules, adopted by Parliament’s plenary by 427 votes to 79 against and 76 abstentions, pay structures to compare pay levels will have to be based on gender-neutral criteria and include gender-neutral job evaluation and classification systems.

Vacancy notices and job titles will have to be gender neutral and recruitment processes led in a non-discriminatory manner.

As part of what will change under the new legislation, vacancy notices and job titles will have to be gender neutral and recruitment processes led in a non-discriminatory manner. According to the directive, if pay reporting shows a gender pay gap of at least 5%, employers will have to conduct a joint pay assessment in cooperation with their workers’ representatives. Member states will have to put in place ‘effective, proportionate and dissuasive’ penalties, such as fines, for employers that infringe the rules.

Right to claim compensation 

The directive also states that a worker who has suffered harm as a result of an infringement will have the right to claim compensation. For the first time, intersectional discrimination and the rights of non-binary persons have been included in the scope of the new rules. Under the new rules pay secrecy will also be banned. The rules stipulate that workers and workers’ representatives will have the right to receive clear and complete information on individual and average pay levels, broken down by gender. Pay secrecy will be banned and there should be no contractual terms that restrict workers from disclosing their pay, or from seeking information about the same or other categories of workers’ pay.

Shift in the burden of proof 

On pay-related issues, the burden of proof will shift from the worker to the employer. In cases where a worker feels that the principle of equal pay has not been applied and takes the case to court, national legislation should oblige the employer to prove that there has been no discrimination. “Not only do we finally have binding measures to tackle the gender pay gap, but also all citizens of the EU are empowered, recognised and protected against pay discrimination. Non-binary people have the same right to information as men and women”, said Samira Rafaela, member of the European Parliament and member of the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee.

“Historically, women’s work has been undervalued and underpaid, and with this directive we take an important step to secure equal pay for work of equal value.”

The Council will now have to formally approve the agreement before the text is signed into law and published in the EU Official Journal. The new rules will come into force twenty days after their publication. “This legislation makes it crystal clear that we do not accept any kind of gender pay discrimination in the EU”, said Kira Marie Peter-Hansen, member of the European Parliament and member of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee. “Historically, women’s work has been undervalued and underpaid, and with this directive we take an important step to secure equal pay for work of equal value.”

Photo credit: European Parliament 

Beamery announces TalentGPT: the world’s first-ever Generative AI for HR

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When ChatGPT was launched late 2022, the word quickly spread to HR and recruitment spheres. Who’d be the first to jump on the rising popularity of OpenAI’s tool? The answer is clear now — albeit not in the way we’d have imagined. Beamery, a global leader in Talent Lifecycle Management, has announced the launch of TalentGPT.

TalentGPT will offer a single assistant that leverages both Beamery’s proprietary AI, as well as OpenAI’s GPT-4 and other leading Large Language Models (LLMs).

TalentGPT will offer a single assistant that leverages both Beamery’s proprietary AI, as well as OpenAI’s GPT-4 and other leading Large Language Models (LLMs). This unique combination allows TalentGPT to deeply personalize the insights and recommendations provided to the user and generate content that adapts to changing customer information and requirements in real time.

Relevance and context

For example, TalentGPT will not only generate new job descriptions, but make them highly relevant to the skills that organisations lack, and the capabilities that make high performers successful. It will not just generate email templates to send, but contextualise them to the exact candidate audience employers are trying to reach. It will not only provide career recommendations to employees – it will also guide them based on the skills they have today, and where they need to develop to find their next promotion.

Proprietary tech developed over 3 years

TalentGPT is a proprietary AI technology developed by Beamery over the past 3 years. It is built on top of the Beamery Talent Graph – which tracks over 17 billion data points about candidates, companies, skills and jobs. It augments Beamery’s award-winning and bias-audited AI models with generative AI from pre-trained LLMs.

Simplifying and redesigning

“We are not just incorporating TalentGPT into all of our products – this new technology is enabling us to radically simplify and redesign all of our user experiences,” said Sultan Saidov, co-founder and President of Beamery. “It is hard to overstate how much these advances in AI technology are improving the interactions we can provide to our users, and how much time we can save people in achieving complex tasks.”

“Beamery has consistently led the market on management of compliance and bias when it comes to AI.”

Beamery’s move comes at a time during which AI usage is under increasing scrutiny. “As the first HR Technology company to undergo an independent audit on its AI models and the only company to allow candidates to set preferences around the use of AI on their data by organisations, Beamery has consistently led the market on management of compliance and bias when it comes to AI”, the company said. “Deploying multi-purpose LLMs within these bias-audited AI controls allows Beamery to mitigate the risks typically associated with the use of ChatGPT and other models.”