Recruiting Brainfood - Issue 334
Creator Economy, Talent Acquisition plans for 2023, LinkedIn headlines and TikTok search is king for Gen Z
This week’s brainfood is supported by our buddies, Join Talent
Have you heard about Join Talent's amazing Talent Acquisition Insights project? They are a series of how-to guides on topics such as Using Assessments in Talent Acquisition, Market Mapping, Benchmarking, Building KPI's and Using Data and more. It's some of the most pragmatic recruiter centric guides I've seen - and all freely downloadable in the Join Talent Resources Hub. All free to download, so get to it!
SPONSORS
Friends,
Have you ever been booted off LinkedIn?
A friend of mine got the bullet last week and another got a temporary suspension. It’s devastating when it happens and if it cannot be reversed, potentially terminal for many of us in this industry. Two lessons important to learn: Firstly, stay on the right side of LinkedIn’s policy, with a caution first approach. And secondly, develop a multi-channel approach to audience building, even if it feels inefficient to do so.
Better news, Big List of Places to Post Jobs (Globally) has been revived - bookmark this if you want a one-stop shope for global hiring. If you board is not on the sheet, add to the bottom of the list and I’ll merge in.
Brainfood Jobs Job Board is now up to 11 (!) jobs - from the likes of Western Union, Blenheim Chalchot, PAIR Finance and the like. If you’re hiring for recruiters, post on the board for free using BTCFREE coupon
Brainfood Talent Community - up to 161 ready to hire recruiters and HR folks. Join it if you’re looking for work, or think you might be in the near future. Approved companies can search the db and connect directly.
Finally, thanks to Paul McArdle, Jennie Volek, Kevin Green, Pedro Oliveira, Dorothy Dalton, Christian Payne, Garry Turner, Sarah Ali, Tereza Machackova, Tim Sanchez, Michael Brown, Joey NK Koksal, Eugène van den Hemel, Steven Davis, Dhawal Parikh, Matthias Schmeißer, Rob Walker, Eva Zils and Belinda Kerr for your amazing public endorsement of all things brainfood last week - stuff like this keeps the operation on the road - thanks! Scores updated on the Brainfood Hall of Fame
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What do Brainfooders Think?
Exactly how much do we like remote work - tested in last week’s poll to see what kind of salary increase would be required for remote workers in our community to move to an on premise role. We’re going to need significant increases folks and almost all of the 12% went on to comment that no amount of money would be sufficient!
Btw, I replicated this poll at larger scale on LinkedIn last Thursday - results and comments on this here. We can see from both that commitment to remote work from those who have previously experienced on premise is currently ‘high to extreme’. Collision in the market place likely to happen if economic downturn tips into recession.
Brainfood Live On Air - Ep195 - Impact of Generative AI on Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
As we continue our experimentation and implementation of Generative AI, the contours of controversy are becoming clearer. One of the main challenges is surely on EDI - how can we ensure the productivity gains do not come at the expense of fair treatment, especially for disadvantaged groups. We’re extending the ethical debate folks - if you care about DEI and AI - this one is for you. Register here
The Brainfood
1. 2023 Recruiting Trends: Talent teams’ Pain points, Priorities, Expectations, and Initiatives
Superb piece of industry research from our friends at Gem - who incidentally, have made a habit of producing fantastic research like this. 700 TA professionals surveyed for where they are at, and where they plan to be for 2023. Incidentally, ATS penetration is only 84% - surprisingly low, which means there are brothers and sisters out there still doing it with what - Outlook folders? Must read, download it here
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
2. The Creator Economy Statistics (2023)
This maybe one of the most comprehensive overviews of the creator economy I’ve yet seen. It’s a synthesis of publicly available data and paints a vivid picture of where we are at in an economic category few of us were aware of until a few years ago, and yet is a space where the youth of today aspire to operate in above all others. Must read for anyone who is thinking of ‘earning from creating’ and perhaps also of Gen Z recruiters who might be thinking how to blend elements of the creator economy into job design.
CREATOR ECONOMY
3. 28 LinkedIn Headline Templates
My initial skepticism on this post evaporated after I clicked through a few of the slides presented in this LinkedIn post. I have not thought too much about LinkedIn headlines for a while - thought there was not much to learn - but stand corrected after reading this superb breakdown over what makes a headline effective. Have a read if you haven’t thought about this topic for a while either. H/T to brainfooder Vincent Romano for the share.
PERSONAL BRANDING
4. Startup Decoupling & Reckoning
If you want to zoom out and satellite level view over what’s happening in the tech economy, then this piece from Elad Gil is probably as good a place to start then any other. The prognosis is tough - lots of company shutdowns and forced sales as ‘zombie startups’ run out of runway previously paved with free and easy VC money.
ECONOMY
5. Who Owns the Generative AI Platform?
Far sighted speculation on who (or what?) is going to come out winning the Generative AI race, now that this class of technology has broken through to the mainstream. Quite a technical post, this is worth reading for recruiters who want to be better understand the infrastructure of the tech economy and why certain players are almost certain to win (again).
ECONOMY
6. Ramadan Simplified! Tips for Non-Muslim Colleagues
Wonderful post by brainfooder Yasar Ahmad on what Ramadan is and it how impacts Muslim colleagues. It’s happening in a months time and something close to a quarter of the world’s population will be undergoing dawn to dusk fast, which includes prohibition on drinking water during that period. Hadn’t realised how tough this was - and as TA / HR professionals who care about employee well being, candidate experience and talent assessment - we need to factor Ramadan into our considerations when working with Muslim colleagues and candidates. This post is worth distributing widely.
D&I
7. Employee Engagement: What to Expect After Layoffs
Culture Amp is another company which does exceptional research work on their area of expertise. Here they apply their know-how on employee engagement in the context of redundancy - unsurprisingly, engagement collapses during lay offs, including amongst those ‘non-affected’. Of course, everyone is affected and TA / HR need to pay due attention.
CULTURE
8. Yelp’s Remote Work Policy Spurs Employee Exodus from NYC to Florida
What happens when a company makes a permanent decision to shift to remote only? Turns out, that employees do indeed migrate to warmer climes where friendly tax regimes means more money in the pocket. If this report from Yelp is an example of a trend, then shift to remote will be redistributive force nationally and globally. Lots to think about here, especially if you operate in a location agnostic role.
REMOTE WORKING
9. TikTok Really Is Becoming Gen Z’s Google, and More on How Gen Z Gets Its News
In the ChatGPT hubbub we have kind of forgotten that Google’s place in the Internet was already under severe challenge by upstarts like TikTok. The reality is search has been broken for a long time on Google - why else is there a need for boolean sourcing if search actually worked as it should?? Chickens are coming home to roost and it’s incredible to witness how a successful in business directly suppresses innovation. Important one to read, especially if you are an early career recruiter.
EMPLOYER BRANDING
10. The Future(s) of Unpaid Work: How Susceptible do Experts from Different Backgrounds Think the Domestic Sphere is to Automation?
One of the earliest memes on workforce automation was the promise that technology would release housewives from the burdens of domestic work. It became a cruel joke as two income households became the norm for families struggling to keep above the cost of living. Interesting academic piece now suggests that the original Keynesian dream might now actually be happening. What this means for the unpaid workers nobody knows. PS: quite technical so copy paste into ChatGPT for an accessible summary.
FUTURE OF WORK
The Podcasts
11. How San Francisco Can Solve Its Empty Office Problem
Perhaps no other city has exemplified the tech boom and bust as much as San Francisco. Once the most expensive real estate in the world, SF is undergoing a post Covid transformation as tech companies move out, and tech workers demand remote. Interview with Mayor London Breed on how the city can turn around its fortunes. Whether it can or can’t will be a bellweather for other superstar cities of the before times.
REMOTE WORKING
12. Chat GPT - The Idiot's Guide for Recruitment & TA with Hung Lee
Real pleasure to be invited back on Tapod with brainfooders Craig Watson and Lauren Sharp to talk about what everyone else is talking about, ChatGPT. It’s a wide ranging one folks - we talk about usage, ethics and portends for the future of the web and the future of work. Really enjoyed this conversation - I think it does a fair job of presenting what I think about Generative AI. Have a listen
AI
13. Google for Jobs Monetizing?
I was actually reminded by turn on Tapod to tune into another great non-UK/US podcast series, Recruitment Flex by our friends and fellow brainfooders Serge Boudreau and Shelley Billinghurst. Some great conversation as ever, including a reminder to get watching Last of Us and also some signs that Google might be finally doing something revenue wise with Google for Jobs.
RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING
End Note
So I’m off to South Africa and beautiful Cape Town for a week this week. Weird to be only back in the UK for a week before going off again but I think this is going to be pattern now that everybody has finally got over pandemic mitigation. See you all in Recruiters Unite for all those who are coming - going to give a keynote on Macro trends - I’ve got 5 of them nailed, so I might as well ask the community which ones you think might be most interesting to deep dive into a future essay or Brainfood Live topic. Votes below folks
Have a great week everybody
Hung