This Week, In Recruiting - Issue 57

Remember:?Recruiting Brainfood ?for ever green, deep dive curated recruiting + HR content. Subscribe ??

Subscribe?Sponsored by our friends at Guide

Guide ?is a new way to win candidates over competitors. Guide lets recruiters create a personalized portal that guides their candidates from first interview to offer. With Guide, candidates have a single destination to find everything they need from interview schedules, documents, interviewer profiles, assignments and more.

Learn how companies like Gitlab, MURAL and Glossier use Guide to increase candidate engagement and win more hires?here .

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Open Kitchen: Why Remote Is Attractive

A remarkable milestone was reached last week on this platform - for the first time ever, the majority of job applications on LinkedIn went to remote job adverts, despite those remote jobs only being 20% of the jobs advertised.

Most of us have known from our own work that remote job adverts decisively outcompete those for on-premise roles, but this was the first time that we have been able to confirm the scale of this shift in job applicant behaviour.

It got me thinking about why exactly remote jobs are so much more attractive to so many more people. I suspect it is not only because of a qualitative difference in the value proposition of remote work but also the changed nature of job search for remote, which enables more people to actually 'become candidates', and more casually discover and apply for jobs.

These thoughts come to my mind, along with some implications for us as recruiters.

1. Cost of Discovery

I'm thinking that the cost of job discovery has gone way down for remote job opportunities. There is simply less things to consider, isn't there? Whether the job is remote or not has become the decisive factor, as the so many elements of employee experience is tied to the need to be on premise. Being remote is a radical simplification in the job seeker calculus - is the job remote (yes / no), is the comp better (yes / no), does this job appeal more than my current (yes / no) - three yeses and you're in a might-as-well-apply situation.

2. Cost of Assessment

A remote job is going to have remote assessment, anything else would be entirely incongruent with the ethos. Can you imagine applying for a remote only job and being asked to attend an in-person interview? It would probably a newsworthy scandal. Of course, the assessments are going to be remote also - a battery of zoom interviews, maybe an online assessment of some type, a reference check and then - what else but the offer? The 'assessment load' for the job seeker of a remote opportunity is lower by an order of magnitude than that of a comparable on-premise job - no need to take a half day holiday to interview, no need to figure out a commute, no need to find parking etc. Job seekers can enter into more application funnels, at a higher frequency and at a lower cost. When you have all three, this will inevitably lead to a more casual approach toward entering what are now highly abbreviated job application processes.

3. Cost of Switching

Finally, the cost of a switching jobs has also been massively reduced for remote only work. Moving from job to job was previously a life changing consideration, a disruption of previous routines that potentially could involve whole-of-life change. For remote job switching, it is the lack of change that is the predominant characteristic for workers. Switching remote jobs might mainly be a change of brand and login details to generally the same apps you were using previously. For sure the colleagues will be different, but as we are now mainly avatars on a Slack channel anyway, the depth of relationship was far less than you might have experienced had you been sitting next to each other for 40 hours a week, 48 weeks of the year.

All this presents some interesting challenges for employers looking to hire in this era of candidate short market.

What Do Employers Need To Do?

1. Reset expectations on job applicant volume for on-premise jobs. We are going to have to accept that the previous measures for an effective job advert are no longer valid for on-premise work. We are going to have to cope with lower volume with new average benchmarks as yet unknown. This will accelerate the need for recruiters need to move toward programmatic job advertising solutions which can intelligently deploy, active, pause and deactivate job adverts according to pre-configured rate of applicant flow.
2. Redesign on-premise jobs for the demographic that most wants to do them (early career talent). Young people want to come into the office - they want the osmotic information transfer, the building of network value and the acceleration of learning that comes from the immersive experience of the office. Jobs that require in-person need to be redesigned with this demographic in mind. We are going to see an interesting age stratification of on-premise vs remote worker populations; effectively managed there is no reason why this would not work, with office becoming sort of like an extension of a University campus, with more senior employees 'graduating out' to remote as life changes and working preferences dictate.
3. Mirror the commitment level of candidates for remote jobs. Accept that the increasing number of remote job applications will be coming from a more casual application mindset. We can expect drop out rate and offer rejections to increase for remote jobs. Rather than be frustrated by this and attempt to exercise 'candidate control', we might be better to reciprocate the commitment shown by the candidate. Casual investigators need to be treated differently from deliberate job changers, with a differentiated path. We are likely to end up offering more work trials and side project type assignments in order for both parties to get better a feel on whether a deeper commitment is wanted or needed.

There's a much longer essay to write here, but this is all I have for now. Let me know what implications you see in this era remote job applications being dominant over on-premise.

Out of the kitchen, onto the lounge ??

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's in the News?

Wagestream raise $175 million Series C round

The rise of flexible work has exposed how dependent workers have been on employer mediated compensation. Wagestream's mega raise the largest ever 'Fin-tech for good' raise and is another brick in the road toward a less employer centric future of work. Read about it here

Handshake acquire Talentspace

Hiring for early entry talent has never been a higher priority for corporate employers, especially in the era of collapsing interest from experienced hires in on-premise work. Handshake are the market leader, attempting market entry into Europe. Acquiring virtual career fair builder Talentspace is a smart move, on a long journey. Have a read here

Immigram raise €460K seed round

The massive disruption of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has prompted greater awareness and investment into global mobility. Will it change the sentiment on the conversation around immigration? The relentless rise of the nationalist right suggests that politics and tech will once again be in conflict for the future of the world of work. Read about one for the latter 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

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's On Offer?

James Osborne and the cool cats at The Recruitment Network have launched a job board specifically for employers who can, are able and willing to connect Ukrainian citizens displaced by conflict with new job opportunities.

The talent shortage is real folks and we might have a situation here where demand might keen supply in a way which provides some security for people in need. Connect with James if you want further info on this, but it seems pretty straight forward thing to do, to post a job here .

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.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What's Going On?

Recruiting Trends: The Global Trends you need to Embrace in 2022 , Weds 20th April, 2.30 - 6.30pm AEST, Smoked Garage, 126 Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley

Final leg of the tripartite tour down under, sees us visit sunny Brisbane and talk. Recruiting Trends. If you seen the talks from Bas van de Haterd and Greg Savage , you will know this is not one to this. I'll be bringing my own take on some mega trends which will impact recruiting now and in future. Apparently the location is wicked too, registration is free, so make sure you sign up and show up, here

Brainfood Live On Air - Ep151 - The State of Agency Recruitment 2022 (Down Under) , Friday 22nd April, 12pm AEST

Very excited to have this conversation with the great and good of Aussie agency recruiting. This is the 5th largest agency recruitment market on the planet and moves to it's own rhythm and circumstance. We're with Lauren Sharp , Founder (Sharp People), Ez Khan , MD (Spencer Lane) & Ross Clennett , Director (Ross Clennett) - don't miss this one folks, especially if you're in this market or want to enter it. Register here

Top 3 Reasons Why Candidates Apply, then Drop Out , Weds 27th 2.00pm GMT

Delighted to be back in the UK for this one - I'm chatting with Annie Jackson , Head of Talent Acquisition (Cleo), Anne Roe , CPO (Mind Foundry), Dave Richardson , Director of Recruitment (Monzo), with the ever awesome Anton Boner , Co-founder (Screenloop) as Master of Ceremonies. Are you having trouble with candidate commitment? Top tips on how to prevent candidate drop out. Must watch folks - get to it here

New Perspectives - Unbiased Day 2022 , Thurs 28 April, 8.15 - 11.30

Back in the UK but virtually I'll be beaming into Sweden, where I'm doing a talk on on 'new DEIB' - the inclusion challenges that come from a remote first way of working. How much Metaverse needs to be in this slide deck? Not all a lot right now, but I suspect there will be some, as the tensions between accessibility and equality are illustrated most obviously by AR / VR. Register?here

Become a Modern Agency Talent Wants to Work With , Tues 3rd May, 10.00am EDT / 15.00pm BST / 16.00pm CEST

Busy couple of weeks back in UK for me, as I'm straight in to chat with?Gerald Hetrick ?, VP of Talent Experiences at Bulhorn, on the challenges and solutions faced by modern recruitment agencies. How can agency recruiters create better candidate experience? How to become a recruitment agency which in-demand candidates want to work with? Critical questions to answer - join us to debate them. Register?here

Greenhouse Open Day , 24-25 May, Javits Center in NYC

So I'm going to New York. Been at least 4 years since I was last in that great city and I'm looking forward to getting back and seeing the place. Hundreds of brainfooders out there too, so I'm hoping we can get a few of you down to this two day event at the Javits centre. Sorted out by Dinah Alobeid ?and?Carin Van Vuuren , this is likely to be the premier vendor organised in-person event of the year. Come and up and say hello - register?here

Hired!bcn , Thursday 16 June, Hotel Alimara, Barcelona, Spain

Thinking of doing a couple weeks in Spain. Why not eh? This is one of the main reasons though, hired!BCN back after a 2 year pandemic induced pause. One of the best grassroots events in Europe (set up entirely by actual recruiters, with actual recruiting jobs) this event combines knowledge share, event experience and great networking in one of the greatest cities in the world. Looking forward to seeing friends old and new. Costs some to get in, but it's a bargain I assure you - 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

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who's Hiring?

Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist - Technology , Jet2, Leeds, UK

Head of People , Tender Foods, Boston, MA, USA

Talent Consultants , TQ Solutions, Remote Global

Talent Partner , Singular Talent, Cardiff, UK

Senior Talent Executive , Singular Talent, Cardiff, UK

Talent Partner , Solutions Driven, Remote Global

Talent Partner - Product & Delivery , ITech Media, London, UK

Talent Sourcer , Full Umbrella Talent, Remote US

Furniture Sourcing Specialist , Horton International, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Talent Administrator & Coordinator , Cielo Talent, Budapest, Hungary

Talent Acquisition Coordinator , Cielo Talent, Manchester, UK

Onboarding Specialist, Cielo Talent, Manchester, UK

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

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who's Moving?

Ryan Rowe , joins Ironclad as Manager for Emerging Talent after spending time leading hiring operations at CircleCI, and previously in senior roles with Facebook and Salesforce. Pretty awesome recruiting squad being put together at Ironclad, one of those companies I need to pay more attention to!

Dan George joins JumpCrew at Chief People Officer bring an huge degree of know-how in people analytics the outsourced services Sales & Marketing provider. So some synergy to this move - is a more data driven function in business than S&M? Probably need to make use of the service myself in 2023.....

Andrew Philip joins Pledge as Talent Acquisition Manager, after 4 years with Medallia. Great to see more investment in green tech businesses - one of the surefire growth markets in business and one which is likely to outlast any other. Look forward to seeing more roles coming from this sector.

Congratulations to Keely Pollock who moves up and broadens scope now as Strategy + Operations, Consumer Product Partner at Twitter, Orna Holland who moves up to Global Lead Core Staffing at Stripe, Edwina Wickham goes up to Division Director at Major Players and finally Lea B?nhel who gets her first big promotion moving up from Associate to Talent Sourcer at Tesla - 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

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What Are You Doing?

Not much on my side, got to say. Up in Manly, pretending to do some work.

Let me know if you have some news I got to use for this space.

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

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

End Notes

Traveling is one of those things which is both indulgent and essential. The shift of landscape, the connection with different people, the consumption of different foods....all of which challenges perspectives which are at constant risk of being ossified.

I'm enjoying this trip and I am beginning to see a way in which I can do this, whilst maintaining the brainfood. Just need to get into shape

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.