This Week, In Recruiting - Issue 98

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Sponsored by our friends at Greenhouse

Despite big tech layoffs dominating the headlines, many companies continue to hire. In fact, a reported 94% of employers plan to add headcount in 2023 in a newly released report from WorkTech (principal analyst George LaRocque) in partnership with Greenhouse: New Technology Shaping the Future of Work.?

This new research also shows 71% of companies plan to increase or maintain Hiring Work Tech budgets in 2023. Is your company prioritizing the right Work Tech to help your team connect better and be more effective?

Dive into the research here.?

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Open Kitchen:?Newsletters (and Why You Should Start One Now)

Around this time last year I wrote, Why You Should Start A LinkedIn Newsletter. 12 months on and I'm more convinced than ever this is something you should be doing. I know that his might sound counter intuitive coming as it does from a guy who (more or less) makes his living from writing newsletters and might not want yet more competition for the subscribers, but I truly believe that the more voices we have in the community, the stronger the eco-system will be as a whole and the richer we will each individually be for it.

Starting your own channel has become even more important in the post ChatGPT era. There is no doubt that GAI will trigger a tsunami of artificially generated content, which will greatly outpace our ability to absorb it. Readers will have no choice but to retreat into private spaces and toward trusted creators for their information, reducing the time and attention spent on the 'open web'. The implications for your message to get across should be obvious - those with a audience, community or subscriber list are going to have a better time of it, than those who don't.

For those who want to give it a shot, I wanted a share a few things which I have worked for me. This is not advice per se because the best thing anyone can do is find their own way, but it's possible that you find them useful. Here goes:

1. Write As You Speak

I'm literally mouthing the words to this as I go. You can also see I don't care at all about grammar. There are two reasons why this is important: firstly, it makes copy production easier, because talking is easier than writing. We've had more experience at it, both as an individual and as a species. Hence, if you write as you speak you will generate copy much more quickly compared to adopting some sort of literary style. Just don't do it, you're not writing a novel, you are sharing your thoughts. Secondly, writing readable copy is all about making it 'sound' in the readers head. And guess what the best way of doing that might be? Write as you would say it, and the reader will probably be mouthing the words along with you. Better for you, better for them, so this is the way.

2. Share What You Know

We routinely underestimate our own expertise. It's almost as if we forget how much time and effort has been invested in building up a skill or capability.

When we reach unconscious competence at something, it means that we have discovered a method which works so consistently well that we no longer need to consciously process it and we can offload the cognitive effort, which is great for energy efficiency and general performance, but not so great when it comes to explaining it to someone else. The difference between a great performer and a great teacher of that performance is the ability to go back down to the conscious competence and break down why and how this process works.

Now in the world of recruitment, there are a 101 things you do which are already in the unconscious competent segment. Have a think about what these might be and understand that anyone not doing your job (candidate, hiring manager, CEO...) will often have little idea of the thinking and acting required to get that part of the job done. That would be rich material for you to share.

3. No Need To Be a 'Thought Leader'

The pressure to 'get it right' is perhaps the thing that keeps that blog post or newsletter article in draft. No one wants to be exposed by someone who is 'more expert' or and so we end up putting in inordinate amount of research effort in order to cover all the bases and ensure that we have a watertight argument before we commit to publishing. Needless to say, this is completely overcooking it and the end result is always the same - abandoned posts in the draft folder. A simple hack, is to avoid the positioning of thought leadership altogether and instead simply commentate on what you do and why you do it this way. The only thing you are truly an expert on is your own method (remember unconscious competence earlier?) and so no other person could credibly criticise what you say, whatever it is you say. It's a simple mindset shift, but trust me, it is tremendously freeing.

Anyways, I'd love to see you give it a go. Let me know if you're interested in more content around newsletter writing - might be worth while getting a mini-group together and see if we can do a class or something

Out of the kitchen, onto the lounge ??

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What's in the News?

Welcome to the Jungle raises €50 Million for further expansion in Europe & USA

Who said the era of big raises was over in HR Tech? Great to see French phenom reverse the trend with a big raise to power it's expansion into Europe and the US. A unique proposition, somewhere in between The Muse, Job board and Employer branding site, Welcome to the Jungle not only has the best name in HR Tech but also opportunity for massive growth having dominated the French scene for years. Looking forward to seeing what happens with this. Blog update here

US Department of Justice sues Google over Ad tech monopoly

Google’s plan has been simple but effective: (1) neutralize or eliminate ad tech competitors, actual or potential, through a series of acquisitions; and (2) wield its dominance across digital advertising markets to force more publishers and advertisers to use its products while disrupting their ability to use competing products effectively.

Tough times for Google - and for ad driven businesses in general - as regulators and legislators take aim at an industry which has annoyed many but has also provided the paradigm of free-at-point-use internet for a huge swathe of the global population. If we shift to a subscription model (notably ChatGPT never considered the ad route...) then we will get a cleaner UX, greater data privacy but also entrench elitism against those who cannot afford the subs. 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?

Ruben Kostucki, CEO of TechMap is offering 20% of his tech recruiter upskilling product!

There is no question that understanding the domain is a critical differentiator on any type of recruiting, but especially so in tech where such know-how is essential for credible conversations for the highly skilled, in-demand. Looks like prices are going up in February, so with this 20% coupon code, it will never be a better time to buy for you or your team. Trusted by recruiters from UK Government, Samsung, Hello Fresh and more. Get your deal here, coupon code RBF20

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?

Big List of in-Person Recruiting / HR Events to Attend in 2023

Hope the 'the Big List'?is continuing to be useful to everybody here - I'm merging new events in every week, and deleting the ones which have already gone by, so this list should be up-to-date as you see it today. 89 in-person events in Recruiting / HR to check out - make sure you get yourself to one of these in 2023!

How to use the Big Five Personality Test to Make Better Hiring Decisions, Thurs 2 Feb, 2pm GMT / 3pm CET

Get your own Big Five Personality Test report with this event I'm running with our buddies at Alva Labs. We're going to go through the interpretations on screen, so we get a better idea as to how to use what is considered the most credible personality assessment in recruiting and HR. With?Linnea Bywall, Head of People, and?Dhevesh Mewawella?(Head of UK and International Expansion) both Alva Labs - register?here

Brainfood Live On Air - Ep191 - Personalised vs Standardised: The Best Approach for CX?, Fri 3rd February, 12pm GMT / 1pm CET

The perennial question in Candidate Experience - do you go personalised or standardised? Either way there is scope for bad CX is there, so why can't we do both? Wrestling with the question this week is Heidi Wassini, InHouse Consultant (CopenHagen Airports), Christine Ng, Head of Talent & Media (Quantum Motion), Sian Sidaway, Global Talent Experience Manager (GoCardless) & Gem Parker, Candidate Engagement Lead (EY). Register here

Empowering Your Future Talent in the Hiring Journey, Thurs 9th Feb, 12.30pm

With the awesome Nicola Sullivan, Solutions Director (Meet & Engage), Olwen Watson, Global Emerging Talent Selection Ops Lead (HSBC), Grace Clayton, Head of Volume and Early Talent Assessment (Cappfinity) and Dr Iwi Ugiagbe-Green, Faculty Head of Award and progression Gaps and Researcher of Race Equity, Employability and Education (Manchester Metropolitan University). Register here

Talent Acquisition Planning for Startups, Thurs 9th Feb, 10am PT / 1pm ET

This seems like a timely and interesting topic - how to build a resilient recruitment strategy for high growth startups. Flexibility is going to be key with headcount no longer then 'hard' targets of yesteryear. With Luan Lam, Chief People Officer (Harness) and Wendi Zhang, VP of BizDev, Ops & People (Celential.ai). Register here

Recruiters Unite, Thurs 9th March, Lagoon Beach Hotel, Cape Town

I will be traveling to South Africa more or less immediately after returning from Asia, and I have to say, I am looking forward to this event more than anything. It's going to be great to be back in Cape Town and even better to be hanging out with all of the great recruiters in the country. Make sure you grab a ticket?here?and come up and say hello when you do!

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 at mention me so that I see it

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Who's Hiring & Who's Available?

Some fantastic recruiters dropping into the Brainfood Talent Collective. Every week, I'm approving 10-20 community members who applied - this is the best way to get in touch with qualified recruiters who are 'ready to interview'. No excuses folks, if you're hiring for recruiters, this is the place to do it. Employers apply here with the coupon code: BTCFREE for 100% discount. Recruiters who are looking or hedging, apply here

We are up to 100 available and ready-to-interview candidates on the Brainfood Talent Community. If you're hiring for recruiters or HR staff, apply for a free company account and get access?here, using this code 'BTCFREE' for 100% usage. If you're a recruiter or HR person looking for work, you can apply?here, and increase your exposure to employers vetted by me!

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Who's Moving?

Salim Hamid - a.k.a 'The Legendary' - joins Light Garden as Recruiting Lead, having previously lead the hiring at cutting edge tech firms such as Synthesia, Twilio, Nested, Deliveroo and many more. At some point your black book of software engineering talent is better than anyone else's!

Shefali Davda-Bhenot joins Doccla has Head of Talent Acquisition. Healthcare Tech is a guaranteed growth sector in any market, especially as demographies continue to age - fascinating space to operate, if you get the chance. Congratulations Shefali on the move, we need to a Brainfood Live on this sector soon I think...

Yaroslav Doronin joins SaltPay as Head of Talent, after having held senior tech recruiting positions at the likes of Amazon and Bolt. I still recall a great webinar I did with Yaroslav back in the days - I hope the hair is still in great condition hombre ??

Mike Wood joins iCIMS as Analyst and Influencer Relations Manager. Great to see Mike back in the industry, few folks have this network and capability when it comes to this type of role. iCIMS have been one of the great supporters of brainfood so I suspect we get the chance to connect again Mike!

Promotions to celebrate Marc Spiron goes up to Senior Sourcing Partner at Databricks, Kathryne Snowdon is promoted to VP at Talentful, Pia Fischer promoted to Senior Manager Talent Acquisition Operations at Stryker, Stef Ovenden is promoted to Senior Talent Partner at Plentific and finally, Carolin Deilmann?is promoted to the Head of Global Talent Management at carwow - 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?

Lyndsey Shankland, Global Head of Talent (Kerry Group) is Singapore and Kuala Lumpur for the next two weeks - and due to a passport SNAFU with the family - is there on her own! If you are in either of those places in the next two weeks and want to meet up with a great community member with a superb sense of humour, get in touch with Lyndsey. Also, any recommendations from locals much appreciated.

Andy Foote, Founder (LinkInsights) is launching a new membership group - Optima Blue. Anyone who is interested in getting the most out of LinkedIn will be interested in getting involved in this. Get in touch with Andy directly here!

Joel Lalgee going multi-channel, with a new newsletter coming out. It's great to see more content creators go multi-channel - an essential hedge against being blasted off the Internet. Follow Joel on LinkedIn for more news on this.

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

Well do you know, I have been ill!

Never happens to me really but I guess long haul flight plus meeting too many people in short order, plus maybe the surprisingly chilly mornings here in Hong Kong, have led to a 2 day headache which I can't seem to shake. Been sleeping a lot too - maybe too much?

Weather gets better from tomorrow though, so there's that to look forward to.

Have a great week everybody

Hung

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.