Adam interviewed Vanessa about recruiter enablement. Van quite rightly says, "Recruiter enablement doesn't happen often enough" AND insists it doesn't need to cost a fortune. She says companies pay for expensive tools recruiters often don't want to use and it's better to give them the learning they need to do things their way. They talked about the fact there's no 'one-size-fits-all' when it comes to learning, giving recruiters free rein to build their own brands as talent magnets, building outreach messaging using generative AI and the benefits of collaboration.
Adam interviewed Paul about recruiter enablement. Paul talked about a very interesting aspect of recruiter enablement, understanding your own and other people's personalities, behaviours and preferences. As Resourcing Manager at Insights Learning & Development, it's vital for Paul's team and hiring managers to make use of the tools the company offers, which are based on Jungian psychology. Once you understand your own behaviour and preferences, you can begin to understand other people's and that enables better communication, both face-to-face and in writing and this facilitates better recruitment.
Adam spoke to Jakob about recruiter enablement. Jakob says talent acquisition has a role to play much beyond filling reqs. Specifically they discussed LEO Pharma's culture directions, known as 'Winning Behaviours' and how they relate to recruiter enablement and talent acquisition. These winning behaviours are prioritisation, collaboration and accountability. Candidates take a personality test and recruiters use scorecards to enable hiring managers to have meaningful conversations. They talked about how TA can genuinely contribute to the success of the business by hiring for winning behaviours.
Adam interviewed Kurt about recruiter enablement and drew on Kurt's considerable talent acquisition experience. How do you empower recruiters to be excellent at their jobs. Kurt says TA 1.0 includes baseline skills such as how to use the ATS and how do our comp & bens work for example. TA 2.0 goes up the value chain including advanced search skills, talent pooling and objection handling. And then there's TA 3.0.. This reminds us of the interview on this channel with Manjuri Sinha from early July 2023. Kurt says learning is 70% experiential, 20% learning from others and 10% in the classroom. Listen in for bonus material on what it's like to run TA in Asia Pacific.
Adam interviewed Martin about recruiter enablement and got to hear some great advice. Martin says recruiter enablement is about removing clutter for recruiters so they can operate successfully. One example he uses would be helping recruiters understand, of the 80 tools someone can use, which are the 5 best suited to their needs today. He recommends tools which perform multiple functions (and references a sourcing tool which also undertakes strong messaging), creating solid processes and enhancing everyone's capability as necessary. Look out for a part 2 with more info on Grab's 'Sourcing CoE' portal.
Adam spoke to Luke about recruiter enablement. Luke talks about using data and league tables so recruiters can see how they're doing compared to peers in different metrics. With this information, recruiters have the knowledge to improve their skills and performances by collaborating together. For only the second time on this channel, we screen share and get to see some visual aids.
Adam interviewed Rich about recruiter enablement. Rich recommends taking a step back and assessing the workforce strategy in the context of the org's 5-year plan before going deep into recruiter enablement. He says removing politics so that recruiters can have fun and enjoy their jobs is important and that streamlining process and digitising where possible helps. He refers to Fosway's research which shows a TA team needs tech to fulfil 15 or 16 different tasks and they all need to integrate. Specifically Rich is excited about developments in reference checking and blockchain and how assessing for values and culture is becoming more affordable.
Adam interviewed Nate on recruiter enablement and he explained several important concepts. The first was that people need more transparency in every interaction they have with an organisation whether they're buying a product or service OR applying for a job. He talks about it from his own experience of applying for roles. Nate also addresses the issue of marketing content and why it's grown so much in importance within talent acquisition.
Adam spoke to Kate Watts about recruiter enablement. Kate talks about it in the context of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. The foundational layer includes your ATS and how to use it. It includes good branding and marketing. The level above includes really good education and training. At the top is more advanced skills around articulating the value of the work we're doing as recruiters. Kate says the value of the work we are doing is vital; it even impacts economies and we should come together more as a community, internationally, so we are better able to distil the value of our work, beyond the transactional. Kate describes this as 'recruiter empowerment'.
Adam spoke to Will about recruiter enablement. Will leads tech, process and experience, including 200 processes from referral to onboarding and asks, "Maybe that's what recruiter enablement is?" We think it very likely is! He talks about building central learning resources and admits there's room for enhancements in TA marketing collaboration. AZers work to simple but vital principles; 'human focused', 'time aware' and 'passing (not throwing) the torch'. Listen in for how IKEA furniture-building exemplifies these principles and how designing the 'ultimate talent acquisition partner' by taking the best from everyone in the team allowed a lot of benefits.
Adam spoke to Emi about recruiter enablement. Emi has free rein to choose her team's work but they have three priorities. 1) Efficiency = time-to-hire and cost-per-hire are part of this. As part of this, processes need to scale. Templates help but can't be too rigid. 2) Diversity - processes need to be inclusive. 3) Experience - for candidates, hiring managers AND recruiters. If an idea or initiative impacts all of these it goes ahead. Emi says she is a fixer and constantly evaluates what can be done better. She says there's always new things to do in recruiter enablement because what worked in the past won't definitely work in the future. Emi advocates using data to make decisions, upskilling recruiters, evaluating the tech stack and is a champion for recruitment marketing.
Adam spoke to Bill about recruiter enablement. They skipped straight to the reasons why this is an area that's been semi-overlooked by the incumbent talent acquisition tech providers. Bill says we typically build the rails before we build the trains and as an example, when job boards first appeared, recruiters needed to write too many job adverts until Broadbean made multi-posting possible. Job boards were the rails. Broadbean was the train. Bill also says ATS providers typically aren't interested in addressing solutions until they start to appear as requirements on RFIs. Bill also shared his thoughts about generative AI and how it will impact EVERY aspect of talent acquisition. You'd better be prepared and learning today.
Adam spoke to Alex about recruiter enablement. Alex says recruiter enablement is about making it easier for recruiters to focus on the work that matters to them and making them as successful as possible with the right messaging, graphics, videos and reference content. Alex talks about creating team member videos, segmented by location and department, LinkedIn banner images and Zoom backgrounds. He also talks about the GoDaddy 'Employer Brand Toolkit' and 'Employee Ambassador Program'. Alex says making all this accessible to hiring managers and their teams is the next evolution and he says a few words about 'The EB Space', a discord server he's co-founded for practitioners. Get involved.
Adam spoke to Stu about recruiter enablement. Stu says recruiters need to understand everything going on in attraction so for example, a team member recorded a 4-minute video to explain the new 'team pages' on the careers site and how they are part of a lead-gen tactic so everyone understands how it will benefit them. Recruiters all learn in different ways and are all at different stages of knowledge so some might want checklists whereas others want a visual; some need a summary and others a deep dive. Likewise, recruiters' approaches to candidates need segmented according to who is being approached and their likely FAQs and objections. He has launched an EB Academy, InMail guides a content repository and much more, to aid this.
Adam interviewed Ian about recruiter enablement and specifically talked about the new Alstom Talent Acquisition Academy. For context, this has been built following the merger of 2 x 30,000 person companies, each with different ways of doing talent acquisition. Ian thinks broader than 'recruiter' enablement and about making all stakeholders successful so this is also for hiring managers. Working with the Alston University team, Ian has built a platform which includes resources and training in 5 core steps with use cases including kick-off call templates, job descriptions, branding materials and 'how to' guides on subjects such as managing counter-offers. They've also included external sources such as an 'influencer wall' and a 'podcast wall'.
Adam interviewed Sandy about recruiter enablement. (Privately we know that interviewing someone from DAZN was a dream come true for him.) Sandy summarises recruiter enablement as setting talent acquisition up for success. Sandy thinks about TA as a model and as the system matures, silos build up, disorder gradually creeps in, responsibilities become diluted and individuals find workarounds and can become single points of failure. It's vital to assess all possible improvements, focus on tech, skills development, data analytics and reporting to grow the service in line with high growth requirements. Sandy also says collaboration and strong communication with the rest of the business is fundamental.
Adam spoke to Lauren about recruiter enablement. Lauren's says it supports the efficiency, accuracy and predictability of hiring efforts and is more essential today as some recruiting teams are down-sized and recruiters are not in the same locations. She says if there's no system for enablement, recruiting can fail and recommends the earlier we focus on this the better. Specifically they discussed the surprisingly exciting subject of documentation. Lauren says many orgs document very little and compares it to a long road trip without GPS. Listen in for many tips on documentation, including tasking new colleagues with documenting their onboarding and role so gaps can be identified and each new start contributes value from day 1.
Adam interviewed Katrina Collier, best known as the author of The Robot-Proof Recruiter, about recruiter enablement. Katrina thinks about recruiter enablement as empowering the team so they can get the best experience for the candidate by partnering best with hiring teams. She says it's all about the human side of recruiting and references the art of asking the right questions and importance of the intake meeting. They discussed the impact of WFH and Katrina says recruiters should collaborate more. They also talked about design thinking and generative AI.
Adam talked to repeat guest Caroline about a specific area of recruiter enablement; generative AI prompting. Caroline's team has created a library of useful prompts for recruiters for a variety of use cases and have included prompts from guests and made this open source. In this session, Caroline undertakes a quick demo. Well worth checking out; especially if you're just starting your journey with Bard, Bing or ChatGPT.
Adam interviewed Allison about recruiter enablement. Largely is a communications platform that helps talent and HR professionals communicate authentically both as candidates and employees and previously Allison was TA leader at Anheuser-Busch and elsewhere. Allison says recruiter enablement is setting your team up for success and giving them all the tools and content assets they need so they can spend more time influencing candidates rather than other tasks. Allison also references the importance of training and its context; campus v volume v exec is all very different. Adam also asked Allison about her experience moving from large corporate to start-up life.
Adam spoke to Lauren about recruiter enablement. Lauren says it's about getting recruiters to connect and talk to each other about transferring skills and knowledge. What's gone wrong? What's gone well and how can we share that knowledge? Lauren's experience in talent acquisition suggests this needs more work and recommends "a good old chat" can solve a lot of issues; including that rewards might be needed to make this happen more. They moved on to the issue of sustainability. Lauren helps companies to improve their sustainability in the context of talent AND helps them to hire sustainability professionals. Well worth listening to this. It's a fascinating subject we should prioritise.
Adam spoke to Oli about recruiter enablement. Oli said recruiters want and need to spend more time talking to in-demand talent and recruiter enablement needs to satisfy this. Specifically he says empowering recruiters by making processes better and giving them access to the right technology will make them want to come to work every day and do a great job. Oli stresses it's not about giving them 'all' the tech, but the tech that's right for them. He says automating repetitive tasks and using AI where appropriate is very useful and recommends simply making access to information as easy as possible is a big win.
Adam spoke to Grant about recruiter enablement. He says we need to think about how we enable people rather than drop them in and see if they can swim. Grant describes recruiter enablement as an important part of the future of talent acquisition, especially with all the disruption and transformation we are experiencing today and the new tech, processes, workflow and legislation; it's challenging to be operationally excellent unless recruiters are well enabled. Grant makes a great distinction between recruitment operations and enablement. Listen in for several great tips PLUS Grant's assertion that there's no more complex a role within the org than that of a recruiter.
Adam spoke to Lyndsey about recruiter enablement, a topic she is clearly passionate about! Lyndsey says it's setting the talent acquisition function up for success. They agreed that 'everyone' is a TA expert and Lyndsey says the bar of expectation is forever high. One challenge is corporate TA teams are often lean and recruiters wear many hats so if we can automate to reduce the burden on them, we should. One example is Kerry's 'Global Candidate Care' conversational AI which helps candidates self-serve FAQs. If recruiters have the time to act as genuine subject matter experts and be able to provide true business partnering, everyone wins. Lyndsey highlights that if recruiters' experience at work is excellent, all stakeholders' experience will also be great.
Adam spoke to Paul about recruiter enablement. Paul thinks about TA like a marketing funnel and when we assess the funnel we see blockages, drop-offs and can thereby optimise. We're always competing so battle cards are useful. He says we need to consider people and process and only then, tech. He cautions not to buy tech without good reason and only if it integrates, optimises and / or automates your pre-determined process. He says we need to know where the org is today, what's most important and how are we aiming to grow only then can we build our TA playbook. Paul promotes objective hiring which focuses on 'success profiles' rather than education. It takes time to build scorecards but once done, it reduces bias and improves D&I.
Adam interviewed Rebecca about recruiter enablement. Rebecca says recruiter enablement is the ecosystem built around recruiters and it's also how recruiters interact with that ecosystem. She says recruiters should forge strong relationships with other teams, be inquisitive about processes, probe why they work that way and take ownership for driving positive changes and enhanced engagement. Rebecca says TA teams often work in super-complex matrix environments so coaching and training are vital. She says tech and automation create scale but cautions that we shouldn't remove recruiters' personality. To succeed, recruiters need to be armed with talent intelligence so they can advise on where talent will come from and how we can attract them successfully.
Adam spoke Kristie about recruiter enablement. As a recruitment marketing expert, Kristie recommends automation so lead (candidate AND client if agency) generation is far less manual as it needed to be in the past. Kristie says recruiters need to focus on high value interactions so if we can track and score candidate touchpoints with your email, social media and web pages, recruiters know precisely who to connect with 1:1. On social media, Kristie recommends creating a mini content calendar, peppered with different types of content such as jobs, testimonials, case studies, company content and more. They also talked about up-to-date trends in recruitment marketing we should all be aware of.
Adam spoke to Amy about recruiter enablement. They talked about learning from internal colleagues in DevOps and in particular, RevOps. Amy says that in both TA and sales, we want people spending as much time as possible IN the funnel rather than managing other tasks and this is a newer idea in recruiting. To achieve influence and drive change, Amy recommends clearly outlining the sales comparison and says partnering with recruiters helps with buy-in and adoption of enablement. Amy says an evaluation of existing processes and identifying bottle necks, manual tasks recruiter interruption is the place to start. Tactically, Amy advises harnessing individuals' knowledge and facilitating the sharing of that knowledge is a big win as is designing the optimal tech experience.
Adam spoke to Celinda, who says she's "obsessed with all things recruiter enablement". Over the last 2 years, Celinda's accelerated recruiter enablement for talent attraction, using a SharePoint for the global TA org including email templates, job ad templates, social media posts, hashtags and more. Celinda jokes this 'feels a bit 2010' but in reality most employers still are doing nothing like this. Previously, #LifeAtVisa was being used 14 times a month on LinkedIn but now it's 80+ and recruiters are also enabling hiring managers to participate. Prior to building this, Celinda found recruiters simply didn't feel enabled with the right wording, angle and assets. Next? Scaling LinkedIn personal brand enablement and making smart use of ChatGPT.
Adam spoke to James about recruiter enablement, chemistry and biology. James says 5% of people are 'in-market' and ready for a conversation so branding speaks to the 95% and this is equally valid in sales and recruiting. The sales team's job is to close the deal with the 5%. Sales enablement connects the dots. Recruiter enablement does the same. It's all about giving the recruiters everything they need to be more successful. From an employer branding perspective, it's about bringing the proposition to life; contextualising it for recruiters so they know how to inspire candidates.
Adam spoke to Daniel Harris (and Milo Harris) about recruiter enablement. Daniel says we need to ensure recruiters have the support and tools to be enabled in their roles, remove duplication and un-necessary administration and we need to explain all processes so they are able to recommend enhancements. He says TA leaders have to focus on how TA is perceived in the org by aligning purposes. Daniel talks about 'freedom within a framework' and as an example, talks about enabling a former team member to use her hobbyist developer skills to create an in-house sourcing tool.
Adam spoke to Nadine about recruiter enablement. Nadine says talent acquisition teams (and HR in general) need to better demonstrate how their work impacts overall business success and recruiter enablement is anything which facilitates this. Tactically this could include the ATS, CRM, lead generation, collaboration tools, standardised workflows, recruitment marketing materials, hyper-personalised communications and more. She cautions that these tangible enablers are easier to implement than the intangible enablers, such as engendering the right organisational mindset and says failure to get the intangible enablers right is 'the handbrake of transformation'. Nadine recommends investing in experience, understanding mobility and not assuming tech will solve everything.
Adam spoke to Viktor about recruiter enablement. Viktor compares recruitment to sales and marketing and says there's a wealth of enablement tools in those professions which we don't yet have access to. He says HR pros typically learned a lot about traditional HR subjects but less regularly did they learn about sales and marketing, ahead of their careers, so this is an area where lots of opportunity exists. Viktor says we need to nurture candidates and sell ourselves as employers a lot more than ever before so sales and marketing-type skills are vital. Adway provides fully automated candidate generation and employer branding services. Recruiters don't need to change any aspect of their workflows to make use of Adway. This is perfect recruiter enablement.
Adam spoke to Nerida about recruiter enablement. Nerida says recruiters have to be advocates of the brand on the phone or online so enabling them with things like Teams backgrounds, talent insights and job adverts are important but knowledge of what candidates are looking for and how to market that is equally vital. As an example, Nerida has developed a people campaign, 'This is Kier' which conveys the personality of the people in Kier by revealing their passions outside work, whether that be netball, skateboarding or painting miniature military figures. This has enabled recruiters to showcase to candidates some of the people they'd be working with and this has assested more than 100% increase in applications.
Adam spoke to James about recruiter enablement. From the marketing perspective, James says recruiter enablement is allowing recruiters to self-serve, on demand, with email copy, templates and designs which are on brand, on message and beautiful. Marketing assets are often in multiple places so attempting to consolidate and make life easier for recruiters at the front line is recommended. Thankfully, James says, within recruitment, the marketing team is less often considered the 'colouring-in department' today and is much more often included at the early phases of designing strategic initiatives rather than called upon mainly for cosmetic changes to assets once already built.
Adam spoke to Anna about recruiter enablement. Anna says recruiters are 'the architects of organisations' (nod to Brian Fink for this phrase) and recruiter enablement is the tools in our tool belt to build. Using this term helps us defining and quantify the importance of the work we do to capture the right talent and present the best experiences for everyone. Recruiter enablement includes the processes, tech, tools and data to back up the value we provide. Anna talks about the knowledge gap which emerges when a recruiter leaves an org and reminds us that insanity's doing the same things which don't work over and over. Bonus content: enablement for neurodiverse recruiters.
Adam spoke to Don about recruiter enablement. Don says recruiter enablement is the what (the toolset and the execution) and how (process, consulting & influencing) of doing the recruiter job. He says you need a combination of these things to be the ultimate recruiter. As he grew his previous talent acquisition team from 40 to 200 recruiters, enablement was a vital programme which developed over time. Central was ATTA (All Things Talent Acquisition), a portal which recruiters could visit for the essential tools and knowledge to complete their tasks. 10% of his TA budget was allocated to innovation in order to test new tech and continuously enhance delivery. Listen in for many additional insights.
Adam spoke to Alexandra about recruiter enablement. Alexandra has a background in engineering and R&D and they discussed the parallels between these professions and recruiting. Alexandra says there are patterns in each and includes business development as another related discipline. She says stakeholder management is vital in all these areas and cautions that an understanding of the bigger picture is needed before you buy tools or training. What's the business goal and what are we aiming to achieve? When we know that we can work on recruiter enablement as the connecting layer between the strategic and the operational.
Adam spoke to Gerry about recruiter enablement and this one's mandatory viewing. Gerry says we need to be in learning mode all the time because recruiting is so dynamic. He thinks about recruiter enablement in the context of standards. Yes, it's the tools, resources, policies and content recruiters need, at their fingertips. But collectively this should become the standard 21st century body of essential knowledge our industry agrees upon and potentially certifies people on. As an example, do all recruiters need to use Boolean? No, but they should all understand it and its purpose in our profession. Gerry says he's convinced there are baselines within recruiter enablement and if you can't achieve these you aren't really recruiting. Listen in for a wealth of insights.
Adam spoke to Glenn about recruiter enablement. He says the 'recruiter enablement' term creates focus and he has set his team up to enable recruiters and candidates. To do so, he has an 18-step process map and has evaluated how each step can be better facilitated whether in attraction, onboarding or retention and in areas such as shortlisting, interviewing or offer-negotiation. Glenn says 80% of the tasks should not be done by recruiters but by marketing and automation and uses feedback loops as an example. Glenn cautions not to let the pursuit of perfection get in the way of progression. Hear hear..
Adam spoke to Joy about recruiter enablement. They started by discussing the benefits of studying History of Art in advance of a career in recruiting. Joy says recruiter enablement allows recruiters to go above and beyond the standard expectations. Recruiters who have been well enabled can behave, think, learn and adjust better. In the context of exec talent acquisition, Joy says alignment is critical. The searches which went wrong all included an aspect of misalignment - in expectations or in the job briefing for example. Joy talks about the benefits of probing questions, customisation, capacity and listening tours.
Adam spoke to Heidi about recruiter enablement. Heidi says everything which can be automated should be automated so recruiters can spend the majority of their time on candidates and hiring managers. Heidi says recruiters should be partners to the business, advising on issues such as culture, diversity and creating a sense of belonging for candidates through the process. She says a good ATS is vital to protect recruiters' time, whether it's a base with good plug-ins or an all-in-one system. The connection between LinkedIn and the ATS is an important enabler for example. Heidi says where she is based, in Denmark, equipping recruiters with messaging is not as much of a priority and some employers even frown on recruiters spending time on social media.
Adam spoke to Virginia about recruiter enablement. Virginia says recruiter enablement is giving recruiters the right processes and tools and importantly, the knowledge base they need to do a good job. Virginia believes all recruiters should know the challenges in the market, how their org compares to the competition, how to prepare for intake meetings and liaise with hiring managers and BPs. They should be well equipped with data and act as advisors. She notes that hiring managers sometimes don't know what they want and shouldn't always get what they think they want. At Zalando, Virginia created TA enablement and said it had to start with recruiter onboarding. Listen in for more great insights.
Adam spoke to Cathal about the 'Recruiter Enablement Maturity Model', Cahal's comments on its development and the state of recruiter enablement in October 2023. You can find a link to download the Maturity Model at the top of this page.
Adam spoke to Barry about recruiter enablement and its importance in the context of organizational adaptability and competitiveness. Barry emphasises the need for organizations to embrace technology and data, shift their mindset, and equip their teams with the right skill sets. He says we need to move beyond the days of the 'accidental recruiter'. Topics covered include the need to engineer recruitment processes for greater success and consistency and the importance of creating a safe environment for experimentation and agility within recruitment teams. They also discussed Barry's role as an advisor at TalentSandbox and his recent work on instructional design for a recruiter enablement course.
Adam spoke to Andreea about recruiter enablement and they covered three key points. Andrea conveyed the importance of enabling and supporting individuals to embrace artificial intelligence and automation in recruitment and recruitment marketing. She advocates for a focus on data analytics and predictive analytics to gain insights from past data to improve processes and use automation tools effectively. Andrea also highlights the significance of matching recruiters with projects that align with their skills and interests, emphasising happiness and enjoyment in their roles as it leads to improved performance and candidate conversions.
Adam spoke to Julie about recruiter enablement, specifically in the context of inclusivity for individuals with disabilities. Key points include promoting empathy and inclusivity, ensuring accessibility and accommodations in the recruitment process and expanding recruiter enablement beyond technical accessibility to cover scheduling flexibility and other essential aspects. Julie says providing recruiters with the knowledge and resources to interact effectively with candidates with various disabilities is important and she emphasises continuous education and measurement. They also talked about Disability Solutions and where to find more information about their work.
Adam spoke to Joe about recruiter enablement. In this conversation, Joe discusses the Purpl platform, which offers learning solutions for talent acquisition professionals. Purpl provides on-demand training sessions led by experienced talent acquisition professionals for operational recruiters. The platform covers various topics, including sourcing, interviewing and stakeholder management, with a focus on practical, actionable content. Users can access training sessions in any order based on their interests, and dedicated courses with toolkits and certifications will be available soon.
Adam spoke to Aaron about recruiter enablement. Aaron admits an earlier attempt to embed recruiter enablement faltered as it was a period of peak hiring so when reqs reduced for a quarter, he seized the opportunity and now that hiring levels are back up again, the team are enjoying the rewards. Aaron emphasises careful planning and implementation. Specifically he talks about process optimisation and collaborating with hiring teams to streamline workflows. Aaron's story highlights the value of working on process efficiency during quiet periods, offering valuable lessons for recruiter enablement enhancement.
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