This Week, In Recruiting - Issue 46

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Open Kitchen: A Plus For The Universe, Not A Minus

I don't often talk about values.

For me, they are deeply personal, inevitably difficult for others to understand, hard earned as they are by experiences which they could not have been a part of and which were sometimes not easy to undergo. But as Brainfood has grown, I feel the need to explain my some of behaviour which might otherwise seem strange to the rest of the community.

So begging your indulgence, today's Open Kitchen is pretty much going to be about me, the things I do but mostly, about the things I don't.

1. I Don't Do Conflict

Image credit: Atomic Object

At some point, we all find out that you can't change people's minds through online argumentation or debate. Do you remember that moment when you realised this? In fact, there is even evidence to suggest that the very provision of evidence simply results in further entrenchment of erroneous positions. Turns out, whether something is true or not is the not the most important factor for people holding the opinions they do. This is the case for you, me and everyone else.

I think our explanations of the universe are an attempt to create a safe psychological environment in which to operate. Any exogenous attempt to change this, especially if the manner is seen as adversarial, will of course be strongly resisted. Online conflict therefore has no purpose - no outcome - other than the destruction of another person's psychological safety. Now sometimes this may indeed be merited, but most of the time, it won't be.

2. I Do Ask Questions

Louis Theroux might be the finest interviewer I have ever seen. The video above is a fantastic exposition as to his style. It's only 5 minutes long and I recommend everyone watch it. The outcome of his approach is always a humanisation of people and groups who have previously been de-humanised, regardless of the opinions they hold. This is a lot harder than it sounds, as it requires a suspension of your own beliefs and certainties as you engage with the other. How Louis Theoroux Asks A Question is why he has been able to be accepted by marginalised and ostracized groups from Gangsters in LA to WWF Wrestlers to Christian and Islamic fundamentalists. In essence, it is curiosity about why an opinion is held, not whether that opinion is right or wrong. It is the first, necessary step toward genuine engagement with the other. And it is a worthy example to follow on how to engage with other human beings.

3. I Always Resist the Mob

You might be surprised at the amount of times I get invoked to get involved in this online fight or other. I never respond, because I am not a weapon to be deployed in a fight I didn't choose. I fear the misuse of influence, especially because these days I know I may have more of it than others.

The above image is a tweet by a recruiter, whose intent was to encourage greater confidence for jobseekers in the salary negotiation process. In contextualising her own role in the story, she unwittingly positioned herself as the 'agent of evil' and consequently suffered an online pile on which is terrifying to watch. If you ever wanted to see how a witch hunt might've felt like in medieval Europe or struggle session during Mao era China, just take a look at the Twitter feed. Did this person deserve the doxxing, the abuse, the attempts to get her fired? For sending a poorly received tweet? Of course not.

+ not - for the Universe

When people pay attention to what you say, you have a responsibility to be extra vigilant in how you say it, or whether saying anything is the right thing to do at all. We are all connected with each other, can't help but influence each other. As we discover more about our Universe, the interconnectedness of everything in it might be one of the few truths upon which we might all agree. And whilst we have so much more to understand, I've made the presumption whilst we are getting there that it is always better to add a plus to the universe, and never a minus.

So are you going to help somebody today, or hurt somebody today? It should be a pretty easy question to answer.

Out of the kitchen, onto the lounge ??

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What's in the News?

Radancy acquire Employee Referral provider, Firstbird

It's always great to see friends get together ??. Radancy - formerly know as AIA / TMP WorldWide - expand their product offering with the acquisition of Austrian employee referral, Firstbird. I remember first meeting Arnim and Matthias in a Berlin hackathon in 2016, and have been fans of their efforts ever since. Watch out too for Radancy CEO Michelle Abbey to feature in Founder's Focus soon to talk about this deal as well as exciting vision for the future of Radancy. PR on the acquisition here.

Otta raise $20 Million Series A

Great to see the maturation of the talent marketplace model - this next generation is getting the curation piece right (not full automation), as well as the timing. Otta is one to watch - read the PR here

Byteboard raise $5 million Seed Round

I first came across Byteboard in the run up to the Brainfood Marathon (remember than dumb idea?) and have been keeping an eye on them ever since. Great to see this raise, timing is perfect in a world that is beginning to understand the value of unbiased assessment. Techcrunch with the report here

If you are a recruitment service provider or technology business and have any news to share,?comment below,?this is your application to get into next week's addition of This Week, In Recruiting. Make sure to @ mention me so that I see it

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What's On Offer?

Our buddies at iCIMS are offering ￡250 Amazon Voucher for about 2 minutes worth of work. Recruiters who use recruitment technology, this applies to you

What is your plan for Recruitment Tech in 2022? Complete the survey here, help educate vendors on product roadmap and get yourself a chance to ￡250 of value.

If you are a recruitment service provider or recruitment technology vendor have any?exclusive?offer for the community,?comment below?with your offer in order to be included in next week's edition of This Week, In Recruiting. Make sure to @ mention me so that I see it.

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What's Going On?

How will the Global Mobility Game Change in the UK in 2022? Wed 2nd Feb, 2pm GMT

The UK really is in a unique position - Covid-19, shift to remote, exit from the EU - all happening more or less at the same time. How are UK employers handling immigrant labour? Are we even trying? And if so, what do we need to do to remain attractive employers in the face of global competition. I have no idea at all on this, so I am delighted to be chatting with Gordon Smith, VP of Sales (Localyze) and Jules Motcho, UK Immigration Law Expert (Localyze) to try and figure it out. One of all UK recruiters I should think - register here

Automated Interview Scheduling: Streamline hiring processes and make your team more efficient, Thur 3 Feb, 4pm GMT

Anyone who has been following brainfood over the past several years knows I am a huge advocate for automation. There are many recruiting tasks that we can and should automate. How would your hiring process change if you could save 284 hours a year by automating interview scheduling? Cronofy's CEO, Adam Bird leads the discussion on how automated interview scheduling saves recruiters time, improves efficiency, and attracts top talent. Register here

Founder's Focus - Up close & personal with Tony Jamous, CEO, Oyster, Fri 4th Feb, 1pm GMT

Excited to speak with Tony Jamous, CEO of Oyster later this week. Followers of this newsletter will know by now that HR back office has been one of the most exciting opportunities to emerge in the pandemic era, and prize for the service that is able to offer a turnkey solution for employers looking to hire globally is enormous. Oyster are one of the few contenders to win it all - what is that experience like for a business leader? We're on Friday 4th February, 1pm GMT - don't miss this one folks - register here

Recruited by On Deck, Thursday 17 Feb, 11am - 3pm ET

Free, half day virtual event to celebrate and learn what common themes drive recruitment success. Are there commonalities between organisations that hire well? If so, what may these be? Seems like a question we might all do well to answer. Register here

If you have an event, webinar or podcast going on next week and want it featured on next week's newsletter,?comment below?with the link and event details. Don't forget to @ mention me so that I see it

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Who's Hiring?

Recruiter EMEA - UK, NL or CZ, SentinelOne, Remote Europe

Embedded Talent Partner, KANDIDATE, Remote Europe

Junior-Mid Tech Recruiter, OLX Group, Warsaw, Poland

Global Leadership Recruiter, OLX Group, Berlin, Germany

Senior Technical Recruiter, OLX Group, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Technical Recruiter, OLX Group, Lisbon, Portugal

EMEA Talent Acquisition Events Lead, BCG, London, UK

GTM / Sales Recruiter, Stream, Boulder, CO, USA

Recruiting Manager, First Mode, Seattle, WA, USA

Technical Recruiter, Deepgram, Remote USA

Manager, Talent Acquisition, Minted, San Francisco, CA, USA

Senior People Partner (m/f/x), FINN, Munich, Germany

Senior Talent Acquisition Partner, FINN, Munich, Germany

Senior Talent Acquisition Manager, Blinkist, Berlin, Germany

If you want to get your job featured, post jobs on the Brainfood Jobs Job Board?here

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Who's Story?

Mark Deubel, Senior Tech Recruiter at Gitlab, tell's his story - 20 year military veteran with the Royal Dutch Navy and then Airforce, before becoming a tech engineering, and eventually, tech recruiter. I can't remember when I first connected with Mark, but it seems like we have known each other for a long time but this story helped me know him even better. I asked Mark 20 Questions - here are his amazing answers.

If you have a story tell and want to join the hundred or so folks who are already in the Brainfood Tribune, comment below and say that you wanna.

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Who's Moving?

Emma Hunt joins Bloom has Senior Talent Advisor after spending time leading recruiting at Bonsai, Looker and Huge. Building up a tremendous career in Toronto, got to be one of the best connected tech recruiters in city by now. Still think of Emma as London based but our loss is Toronto's gain!

Maisha Cannon joins perhaps the most exciting games company on the planet - Roblox - as Program Manager. Maisha was kind enough to offer to send me some swag, I am now regretting my saying no ??. What a great hire this is - and perhaps one of the best opportunities around. Congratulations both!

Oksana Strippentow joins Motive Partners as Head of Recruitment. Great to see former colleagues powering up career wise - I can think of few people who might be better suited to this role heading up the hiring for a PE company. Lets catch up soon Roxette ??

Ambrosia Vertesi joins Ironclad as Chief People Officer, after spending time in venture capital. Welcome return to the industry for one of the great people in the business.

Quila Cervelli joins Sportsbet as Employer Brand and Talent Channel Lead, after spending time RMIT University as Global Employer Branding Manager. I first met Quila two years - maybe three years ago(?) when I had the good fortune of visiting Melbourne for the first time. Looks like I might get a chance to be back there soon, here's hoping we get a chance to catch up soon.

Some cool promotions too - congratulations to Jason Webster who goes up to Regional VP at Handshake, Cameron McClennan promoted to Sales Manager at Paiger and Christina Kutschinski, promoted to Chief People Officer at Wunderman Thompson - congratulations all!

If you have made a senior exec appointment to your business,?and feel the wider community needs to know about it,?comment below?with the details and see it featured in next weeks issue.?Don't forget to @ mention me in it so that I see it

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What Are You Doing?

Adriaan Kolff is launching a campaign to raise funds and awareness of the need to reduce carbon in the atmosphere. Will you join Adriaan in a 24 hour walk for the planet? One for the fitter members of this subscriber list, take a look here

If you are doing something new,?comment below?with what it is and share a link to where you want people to go. Don't forget to @ mention me in it so that I see it

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End Notes

Seems like in-person events are starting to happen eh?

It might be time to fire up the Big List of TA / HR Events, which last time I looked was frozen in stasis in 2019. Let me know if you think it would be a good idea to crowdsource this again and see if we can assemble a decent resource for us to use.

Have a great week everybody - and as it is Lunar New Year from tomorrow, let me take the opportunity to wishing you good fortune, good health and great prosperity for the Year of the Tiger!

恭喜發財! 新年快樂!

Hung Lee is the curator of?Recruiting Brainfood, and now This Week In Recruiting. Subscribe to both if you are into recruiting or HR or just interested in world of work.