Recruiting Brainfood - Issue 399

Collapse of reach on LinkedIn posts (it's not only you), Culture fit is age-ist, AI in TA Guidebook, Skills Parsimony and the puzzle of why protectionism doesn't increase headcount.

Jun 02, 2024

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Friends,

It’s my birthday today and the day has crept up on me without me even much noticing. I remember once I asked all of you to help me plant some trees in the effort to create a ‘brainfood forest’ somewhere and it’s an idea I might revive one day. However, for today, if you want to help me celebrate, then do me this one thing: pick up your phone, think about a friend, family member or a loved one and send them a message. Better yet, give them a call. Saying hello is the simplest thing in the world. But its probably how society started. I wonder how much better we would all be if we just reached out and said hello more. Give it a shot, and let me know how it goes 🙏

Thanks to: Eugène van den Hemel, Kevin Green, Dave Hazlehurst, Joey NK Koksal, Bas van de Haterd, Paul Daley, Jo Ioannidis, Manjuri Sinha, Liam Fitzgerald, Steven Rothberg, Beth Salas, Grace Carey, Manjuri Sinha, Rob Walker, Adam Gordon, Alexandra Gyetvai, Bob Pulver and Jody Smith - thank you for your public endorsement of all things brainfood. Without your support, we wouldn’t be growing this community. Scores updated in the Brainfood Hall of Fame 👊

Can you help? Share this newsletter with your team and have them subscribe. Cheers, and thank you.

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What Do Brainfooders Think?

Highly encouraging results from this poll - even though 62% of us don’t do much public speaking, 36% want to and just need an opportunity. Brainfood Live on this next month - sign up.

Brainfood Live On Air - No Show Next Week

I’m at EMBRACE HR in Berlin and TEAM 30th Anniversary from Weds through the Friday this week, so no Brainfood Live as I don’t want to risk being in transit / on stage / bad wifi spot. However, the schedule for the next month is booked, so follow the channel here and register for any of the shows you’re interested in. See you in Berlin, Warwick or online, next week 👊

The Brainfood

1. AI Is Making Economists Rethink the Story of Automation

The techno-optimist view of AI - industry disruption but also more jobs created on aggregate - has generally held sway, mainly for lack of a well articulated opposing view. This article from HBR is a welcome addition to the debate, and it argues that more attention to should placed on the uneven distribution of the benefits of innovation. Rising tide does not lift all boats - it raises some, but lowers others. High level, readable stuff.

2. Why Hiring for Cultural Fit is the New Ageism in Disguise

Important observations by brainfooder Brian Fink on how cultural fit tends to also mean hiring people from the same age cohort as you already have in the business. Consider ‘small talk’ - a reasonable ice breaker in most circumstances, but the content used for the purpose is often age stratified. The solutions are not clear but this is a conversation that needs to be had.

D&I

3. AI in Talent eBook

Loving what our friends at Willo have been doing atm - committing resources to producing research & guidebooks which are freely accessible to the community, un-gated. This ebook outlines the opportunity and risk of AI in recruitment, and comes with a useful template on how move from idea to action. Good read for anyone who is currently a little stuck with operationalising AI.

RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS

4. Applying to the Hardest Companies

The AI-enabled job candidate will be a huge challenge to traditional hiring practices. Whilst instances might today still be low, ubiquity would seem inevitable given the obvious ROI for the candidate. First person perspective of one guy demonstrating how to do it - we need to watch this and think about redesigning the hiring funnel. H/T to brainfooder Stanislaw Wasowicz for the share in the online community

ASSESSMENT

5. LinkedIn: Reach, Engagement, Follower Growth Collapse

Richard van der Blom really is a must follow on LinkedIn - his regular updates on the almighty newsfeed algorithm is a tremendous service to the recruiting community, especially those of us who are interested in building an audience / extend reach for our content. His post on the state of the newsfeed not happy reading - the numbers are down for everybody, it seems in preference for posts LinkedIn makes money one. H/T to brainfooder Sam Kuehnle for the share.

CONTENT MARKETING

6. When Protectionism Kills Talent

It’s an axiom of the bring back manufacturing brigade that protectionism will operate as jobs programme as much as it does for national security. Fascinating paper which provides counterintuitive evidence that it paradoxically has the opposite effect. Academic but accessible with implications for staffing agencies, especially if you plan on servicing an expected need which may not actually be there. Have a read

ECONOMY

7. These People Aren’t Gods: How European Founders Can Stop Making The #1 Mistake in US Recruiting

Interesting theory on why European founders (and presumably recruiters, hiring managers…) have an elevated view of US candidates: it is not that they are inherently better but the cultural conventions in communication, presentation and interviewing make non-US people think so. It’s very Erin Meyer…what do you think? Do some cultures present better as candidates due to cultural conventions, and if so, should we include these presumptions in how we assess candidates?

ASSESSMENT

8. Skills Parsimony

On the debate on Skills Based Hiring and Talent Density, let us now introduce a further concept - Skills Parsimony. This is the idea that we ‘over task’ workers with too many responsibilities, often those which are not congruent to their core expertise or even purpose. How about reducing the things you’re asking workers to do, and focus on the core skills? New doors open up to describe worker burnout, skills taxonomy, internal mobility and the like. Thank you Andrew Kable for sharing your thoughts with me - we might need to do a Brainfood Live on this.

CULTURE

9. HUGE Google Search Document Leak Reveals Inner Workings of Ranking Algorithm

How does Google rank websites? An entire industry ecosystem has evolved to try and figure this out, so last week’s info dump of what looks like internal documentation represents a whale fall like event for search engine optimisers. Full dump is link in the thankfully concise post by Search Engine Land - most interesting takeaway for me was the relevancy of backlinks which were actually clicked….

CONTENT MARKETING

10. Unlocking the Power of Talent Intelligence: My 2 Cents

The world of recruitment isn’t short of collateral damage over these past two years and Talent Intelligence - a nascent discipline which really deserved better luck - is amongst them. Brainfooder Guillaume Lhote provides a sharp, concise explainer to the function and the value it can add to strategic talent acquisition. H/T to brainfooder Ivan Harrison for the share.

TALENT INTELLIGENCE

The Podcasts

11. 14 Years of Economic DECLINE - Conservative Record 2010-24

With the UK having dissolved Parliament last week in preparation for the General Election later in the summer, we have finally concluded one of the longest periods of single party rule in the country. How have the Conservatives done in the 14 years they have been in power? Tejvan Pettinger - who somehow combines being an elite cyclist with being a somewhat droll yet compelling Youtuber - provides the take down.

ECONOMY

12. Andrew Yang on the Path to UBI, the Explosion of AI, and Optimism for the Future

The relationship between public sentiment and public policy is approximately zero

The real danger to democracy are not cartoonish characters standing for election but the obvious dissonance between what people want and how that is translated into what politicians do. Andrew Yang on the problems with the system, how poverty fuels tribalism and how to be optimistic despite the conditions.

UBI

13. Can Chipotle Founder Steve Ells Strike "Fast-Casual" Gold Again?

Will tech change the way we eat? A rhetorical question because it has always done so ever since some enterprising homin first cooked meat over fire. Fascinating conversation with Steve Ells who is launching perhaps the most highly automated fast food retailer yet. Far less human workers, but the ones who are there are better paid - is this an example of a model to be replicated across the economy? Very interesting listen, once you get past the ads…H/T to brainfooder Bas van de Haterd for the share

WORKFORCE AUTOMATION

End Note

I think I’m pretty much onboard with the idea that Talent Acquisition needs to expand scope and become a more encompassing ‘Talent Everything’ function. It makes sense of the business and sense for the individual. Given this premise, if you could take one more function, which would you take on first?

Recruiting Brainfood