When Geoff walked into a Mercedes showroom to buy a new car, at that point every other manufacturer had failed. But what was it that led him to make that important decision? What was the catalyst?
It’s not easy to know for sure, but the truth is it probably started about a year beforehand, when his current car went in for a routine service that was going to cost him 5 times more than what he was expecting (lots of unbudgeted & expensive ‘work’). What did he do? Nothing. He begrudgingly paid the invoice and carried on as normal. But subliminally, at that point in time, an important seed had been sowed. He didn’t know it, but that seed was called ‘we really need to have a plan for replacing the car’.
Life carried on, and a conversation was had in the pub about cars. Someone says ‘Hey Geoff, I’ve just got a new Mercedes and its fantastic. Incredible mpg, affordable servicing… it’s great’.
Seed #2 has been sown. Again, what does he do with this new information? Not much, although this time he starts to make a few online searches into the prices of approved used Mercedes and the trade-in value of his current car – This direct action now gets the attention of the Mercedes programmatic ad team, and Geoff begins to be served ‘Mercedes’ run of site ads while browsing the web.
He continues to do nothing. He sees Lewis Hamilton on TV on the podium wearing a Mercedes cap. He does nothing. He gets invited to a Mercedes sales event through social media; He doesn’t go (Geoff thinks ‘what’s the point, we can’t afford to replace the car right now’). But then, completely out of the blue, he receives a financial windfall. The company he works for is being bought out and all long-standing employees with a share option in the business are set to receive a financial bonus.
Boom – At this point everything comes together; All of the ads he’s seen, the conversations he’s been privy to, the whole ‘experience’ delivers him into the Mercedes showroom, not to ask, ‘Should I buy one?’ but to have an informed discussion about which model to buy? Estate or saloon? Metallic or non-metallic paint? What’s the servicing package? In short, he’s buying one!
Now, let’s put all of this into a recruitment context. Our world of talent. Let’s think about the ‘Hard-to-fill roles’. ‘Skills shortages. ‘DE&I’. And, let’s think about all of the people that we want to get to come and work for us, but who are currently happily working somewhere else, with absolutely no thought of changing jobs. They are committed, they are hard-working and they are dedicated to their incumbent employer.
That is until they get overlooked for a promotion … and that is the point when they subliminally start to become ‘activated’ just like Geoff did when his car went in for a service.
Having a long-tailed, brand-led attraction plan for these scenarios is a consumer marketing concept that we should all be exploiting in the employer brand space. Passive audience targeting and buying audiences is a key shift in the way we are moving forward with our clients. It’s something that we will be discussing in detail at our ‘Employer branding webinar’ on 13 September, 2023 and we would very much like you to join us – So please click here to register and hear what our panel of experts have to say on ‘winning the war for talent’.
Authors Vangie Sison, Head of Employer Brand Advisory, Americas Richard Clough, Media Strategy Manager
‘A New Era Of Innovation, Part III: The Next Generation Of Workforce Solutions’ is a great article by Chris Dwyer from Ardent Partners. I particularly liked his statement that Enterprises ‘run on talent’ – how true!
New innovation will always be there and at AMS we strive to be part of that innovation, but great Talent will always be needed and finding and retaining that talent is more important than ever before.
I had the pleasure of attending the HR Tech Festival at Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre over the last 2 days. I haven’t seen the official numbers, but it looked considerably larger than last year, with high-profile guest speakers and a wide variety of exhibitors and attendees. Well done to HRM Asia for a well-organised and well-attended event.
After a good night’s rest, I thought reflecting on my top 3 observations would be good.
Many new names entering HR Tech landscape. Walking the events space amongst the established names, I could see many new companies offering a variety of innovative platforms. It was great to make the connections, learn more about their niche, and I hope to meet again after the event to hear more about their offering. I can sense we are on the verge of a new wave of innovation, and the landscape could be different again next year.
Hiring for skills was a hot topic and appeared in several keynote addresses and conversations at our booth and lunch tables. There seemed to be broad acceptance of a skills-based hiring strategy, and many see a ‘skills-first’ mentality as a critical strategy to reach diverse talent pools. However, the execution of the strategy was another story. Listening to HR Leaders’ stories, it seems that ‘skills-based’ hiring can be many things, with some measures being very tactical and straightforward to deploy. However, for skills-based hiring to be fully realised, it required broader company-wide support and execution. We will watch this space.
How great our Marketing Team is: We received many comments about how impressive and welcoming the AMS event space was, and I could see the AMS Singapore team having some great conversations about the world of work. We are very conscious that our ‘swag’ and giveaways are sustainable and can be well used over and over. Once again, well played, Alyssa Tan and the AMS Marketing Team.
That’s a wrap for another year. I’m glad I attended, and thanks to everyone who visited the AMS booth. Feel free to reach out for those that didn’t get the chance; we would be more than happy to connect.
After a turbulent end to 2022 and a rough start with layoffs continuing across the US, the labor market has remained solid with over half a million jobs added in January of 2023. In fact, the majority of jobs added are in retail and hospitality.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are 11 million open jobs across the US. But while vacancies are on the rise, there aren’t enough workers to fill positions. 6 million American professionals are still unemployed.
All businesses are feeling the pressure. But with a 5.4% quit rate in lower paying industries such as hospitality and retail – compared to 1.6% in other sectors – it’s clear that these companies need to get creative in their hiring processes to attract the worker volume they need.
For many organizations, this has led to a re-think around how technology can make hiring more efficient and effective. Technology is becoming key to attracting candidates in high volume and streamlining the process. In a candidate-driven market, speed is vital.
But how can technology improve recruiting?
Automation of repetitive tasks
The around-the-clock nature of high-volume hiring means that TA professionals often get bogged down in mundane, repetitive tasks.
Take interview scheduling, for example. A recruiter might need to schedule 10 candidates for an interview. It might take three calls to get through to each candidate before the interview is confirmed. Those 30 calls could take up a large chunk of that recruiter’s day.
Interview scheduling software can automate the entire process, allowing candidates to select a slot suitable to them and confirming the meeting via email, adding the event to both the candidate and recruiter’s calendar. So, a process that could take several days can now be confirmed within minutes of a candidate accepting an interview. This gives recruiters back time to focus on more strategic and high value activities.
Conversational artificial intelligence (AI)
High volume recruiting means hiring the same profile of candidate repeatedly. Automation and conversational AI, such as smart chatbots, allows organizations to frame the same questions that need to be asked of each candidate, providing short answers that can move the applicant through the funnel quickly. A successful candidate can immediately schedule their interview to the next stage.
Technology allows companies to speed up the hiring process and removes the strain from recruiters, so they can focus on more strategic, people-focused tasks. It also improves the candidate experience, as they move quickly and easily through the recruitment process.
Those not using this type of technology are missing out on candidates, as the market today is all about speed and user experience. Jobseekers are used to a speedy, consumer-like experience. They use UberEats to deliver food, or Amazon to buy products. Everything is so quick and easy. It’s about instant gratification. If your job application is long and tedious, you’ll lose candidates to organizations that can move faster.
Real-time analytics to drill down into specific challenges
The pace of growth in retail, hospitality, tourism and other high-volume sectors means that hiring managers and recruiters need to make changes quickly. Real-time analytics allows recruiters to drill down into specific issues affecting individual stores or job roles before making targeted interventions.
This can be useful if an organization is seeing high attrition in a particular role, or to investigate different candidate experiences between stores.
Combining tech and touch
Technology alone won’t help businesses hire better. Optimizing how people use it will. After all, 75% of candidates still want the human touch.
While talent technology can remove unnecessary admin burden for recruiters and make hiring processes faster and more efficient, the human element is crucial for building strong relationships with candidates.
With consistent and meaningful communication throughout the key stages of the hiring experience (such as during interviews and when following up) candidates can feel more connected to a business. This means they are less likely to drop off mid-process.
To build the most effective high volume hiring strategy, tech and touch must work in tandem.
Amplifying High-Volume Hiring: Unleash the Power of Technology, People & Process
The pressure of high-volume hiring is real. And while it’s no David Bowie song, the impact of hiring hundreds – even thousands – of employees each month without a cohesive process will definitely be just as memorable, albeit much less enjoyable.
Unfortunately for many TA teams, the only systems in place are adopted from professional recruitment practices. But high-volume hiring comes with a unique set of challenges that requires a specialized approach.
Let’s take a sneak peek at what you can expect to learn during the event.
First and foremost, we’ll discuss how to streamline and accelerate your high-volume hiring processes while still providing a personalized candidate experience. One-size-fits-all recruitment practices don’t work in high-volume hiring, and we’ll show you how to scale and personalize your recruitment process. You’ll learn about the different solutions available and how to implement them seamlessly into your workflow.
Leveraging technology is essential to manage high-volume recruitment effectively. Our webinar will highlight the best practices for technology implementation, from automating processes to screening resumes. The right technology stack can help you reduce costs, improve hiring efficiency, and enhance your candidate experience.
An essential part of high-volume hiring is showcasing your employer brand to potential candidates. It can be tough to differentiate yourself in a sea of job postings, but with the right messaging, visuals, and outreach, potential candidates can learn about your unique culture and benefits. We’ll give you insights into conveying a compelling, authentic employer brand that resonates with potential candidates and expedites the hiring process.
Our goal with this webinar is to help TA and HR professionals streamline and amplify their high-volume hiring to its fullest potential using the power of technology, people, and process. We’ll provide practical, actionable advice and insights to help your talent acquisition function become more effective and efficient in the competitive world of high-volume hiring.
Join us to learn how to transform your high-volume hiring, attract and retain quality talent, and give your recruitment process a significant boost.
Technology has transformed the talent industry at all levels, from mobile recruitment tools to AI in sourcing, interview, and assessment processes. But to increase speed-of-hire and reduce costs, high-volume recruitment needs the right tech, a people-first approach, and effective processes.
If 2022 was a year of bullishness for companies and peak hiring volumes for Talent Acquisition (TA) functions, 2023 is certainly looking like a year of uncertainty. We’ve had layoffs in the tech sector and in parts of financial services and, naturally, hiring reductions in both. And whilst other sectors are not reducing headcount en masse it certainly looks like growth has slowed from the peak that we experienced in 2022. In any other year we would be confident that a reduction in net hiring for our companies would make TA easier but don’t be fooled, despite hiring slowdowns, demand continues to outstrip supply for many skills and in many geographies.
I’m pleased to share the latest article that I have contributed to with my colleague Nicola Hancock. In the article we explore the concept of a jobs-full recession where, despite declining GDP, unemployment rates are remaining at very low levels. Analysts believe that in many markets we’re in a position of full employment where there are more available jobs than workers. A simple LinkedIn jobs search today shows c. 5.6m open roles advertised in the US. Total unemployment in the US as of February is 5.9m. It’s a crude comparison for many reasons but it does demonstrate that hiring is unlikely to get any easier anytime soon. In fact, as we reference in the article, US Labor Department numbers showed 10.46 million job vacancies in November 2022, with 1.8 jobs available for every unemployed person in the US.
And whilst growth may have slowed within many companies, staff turnover will remain a concern for HR leaders. With the rise in inflation and the corresponding impact on cost of living, many workers are struggling to make ends meet and are understandably looking for new opportunities that will secure a higher salary. As I share in the article, typical workers who change jobs will achieve a 9.7% increase in wages v’s a 1.7% fall for those who stay. Hardly surprising workers are considering a change.
As I’ve been arguing for some time, now really is the time for Talent leaders to take new approaches to securing the skills and talent that they need for the long-term success of their businesses. Taking a skills-based approach to hiring; hiring for potential; tapping in to new and hidden talent pools; revolutionizing internal mobility; designing consumer-grade processes. There are multiple strategies that will give talent leaders strategic advantage. 2023 must be the year that talent leaders strive to innovate.
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“Things are complex. While the overall economy is a concern and there is a lot of talk about inflation, if you look at it from a pure jobs and talent perspective, things remain very competitive,” says Nicky Hancock, President and Regional Managing Director, Americas and Investment Banking, AMS.
In the new digital insights report created in partnership with Raconteur I discuss the enormous challenge that lies ahead of us in the renewable energy sector – how to overcome the talent shortage that will hit organisations in the next few years and beyond.
Some of the topics covered include the extent to which employment levels in the renewable energy sector are set to rise exponentially, the necessity of looking to other channels, skills and experience to meet demand, the importance of ensuring the renewable energy sector is as attractive as possible in a competitive market for talent, and the need for increased collaboration between government, business and education.
As a passionate advocate of securing a sustainable future for the generations to come, I don’t think there can be many more important problems to solve for talent acquisition professionals.
At AMS we aim to be part of the solution to this problem by providing products and services that allow organisations to scale at pace, cost effectively, with minimum risk, enabled by leading technology and quality people. So, if you find yourself facing these challenges, please do contact me or use our form through the website Contact Us – AMS (weareams.com). We hope you enjoy the read!
McKinsey forecasts that global solar and wind power capacity will quadruple between 2021 and 2030 as nations reduce their reliance on fossil fuels. It says a “staggering” additional 1.1 million blue-collar workers will be needed to develop and build these plants, along with 1.7 million extra workers to operate and maintain them.
I’ve now been in my new role within AMS for a month and I thought I would share some thoughts on our new mission, what it means to me and what I hope it will mean for our talented staff around the world. This article is unapologetically targeted towards my colleagues in AMS but I hope it will resonate with all Talent Acquisition (TA) professionals regardless of role, location or whether they are working in an in-house environment or with an outsourced partner.
Within TA our mission is simple, we’re seeking to hire the very best talent to enable our businesses to be successful. How we do it is important (speed, cost, experience), but our ultimate mission is a simple one. One of my proudest moments in AMS came a few years ago when I was copied in to an email from a global HR leader within one of our large pharmaceutical clients, to a small team of AMS recruiters supporting manufacturing hiring for that client in Europe. The email thanked our team for the contribution that they had made to ramping up the production of an incredibly important vaccine that was urgently needed to tackle a virus spreading quickly in Africa. The contribution that our team had made had helped to save lives.
Most of us will know the story about President John F Kennedy visiting the NASA space centre in 1962. During the tour the President spoke to a janitor and asked him what he was doing. “Well Mr President” the janitor responded, “I’m helping put a man on the moon”.
We like to tell ourselves that TA isn’t rocket science yet we certainly have a lot of complexity in what we do. We are continually focused on optimizing our services through process design, deployment of technology, through leveraging data to analyze and predict performance. We focus on how quickly we can perform our tasks and the cost-effectiveness of our work. Sometimes we may forget our ultimate mission – our own versions of putting a man on the moon.
Within AMS our vision is to harness a new universe of talent for the world’s leading employers. Put simply, talent is our world. We want every single colleague in AMS to understand the part that they play in that mission. I’ve heard great stories from Recruiters who have gone out of their way to support candidates through the hiring process by spending time checking-in with candidates out of core working hours or by finding time to have a coffee with new starters to welcome them to the business. I’ve heard stories of Sourcers making connections and discussing potential roles with people they meet whilst on holiday or in coffee shops. And I’ve heard stories from Administrators who have simply made the effort to put a call in to a candidate to connect in advance of an interview to wish them good luck.
I’ve asked my colleagues in Client Operations to share more stories with me so I can share them further to help motivate and inspire all of us to put talent at the centre of our worlds. It’s a very small reminder that all of us are contributing to a far more important mission. In our own ways we should each be helping to put a man on the moon.
We wanted to create something with greater purpose and clarity, and this video is a trailer of where we will be focusing in the years ahead. Talent is our world.
I am incredibly excited to have moved to a new role within AMS where I now lead our global Client Operations capabilities. Those operations include the candidate sourcing and administration functions that support our clients with permanent hiring as well as the teams that help fulfil contingent hiring requirements.
Spending time with my new leadership team I’ve been keen to discuss the value that we provide to our many stakeholders and the ways in which we articulate that value. It’s a topic that I wrote about last year in the context of quality of hire and a topic that I think has even more importance in 2023.
2022 was an exceptional year for those of us that work in Talent Acquisition (TA). Hiring volumes were exceptionally high, demand for talent in most sectors exceeded supply and, as a result, time to hire was consistently up on prior year.
As we enter 2023, many are expecting to see a softening in hiring activity as economic growth slows. But with some notable exceptions, the tech sector being one, that slow-down does not yet look to have materialised. As Josh Bersin states, “For the first time I can remember we’re entering a global economic slowdown yet the unemployment rate has dropped to the lowest it’s been in 53 years (3.4%). There is a shortage of people to take the jobs we have, and even though revenue and profits are slowing, companies continue to hire.”
As the article, linked below, from HBR demonstrates, layoffs in the US are actually significantly lower than historical averages. So it seems that the challenges TA leaders have faced in 2022 look set to continue in 2023 with perhaps the added burden that there is unlikely to be additional net investment in TA functions in a time of slowing revenue and profits.
So now, more than ever, is the time for TA leaders to be articulating the value that they deliver to their businesses over and beyond the simple fulfilment of hiring demand. I continue to be passionate about the fact that we need to demonstrate strategic value through talent acquisition – the value of hiring for skills, the value of hiring for potential, the value of hiring better talent for our businesses.
In addition to that strategic value, our TA teams need to be able to demonstrate the value that they provide as individuals to their businesses and business stakeholders. Our Recruiters need to be able to demonstrate the value that they provide as talent advisors to their hiring managers. Our Sourcers need to be able to demonstrate the value that they provide in their ability to access and engage with the best and diverse talent. And our Administrators need to be able to demonstrate the value that they provide in ensuring an impeccable candidate experience. That value should be evident in individual goals and objectives.
As I have set my vision for Client Operations in AMS, I have asked my leadership team to better define and demonstrate those areas of value for each of our team members. A great example of which is candidate experience. There is an abundance of research that demonstrates the impact that candidate experience has on the overall effectiveness of TA. Here are six key metrics that demonstrate that point:
60% of job seekers have reported quitting an application due to the length and complexity of the process.
75% of candidates report that they have no engagement with a company following the submission of an application and 22% would discourage others applying for a job at the same company.
80% of job seekers say they would not reapply to a company that didn’t notify them of their application status.
80–90% of candidates report that the candidate experience could change their minds about accepting an offer with a company whilst a positive experience makes a candidate 38% more likely to accept a job offer.
Nearly 60% of job seekers have had a poor candidate experience, and 72% have shared their experience on online employer review sites such as Glassdoor.com
50% of candidates will not purchase goods or services from a company after a bad job application experience
No TA leader should tolerate the provision of a poor candidate experience, particularly given the challenges of hiring in today’s talent market. Whilst candidate experience has always been a priority for AMS, I now want to ensure that it’s embedded as a key goal for every one of our thousands of team members supporting hiring processes. At AMS talent is our world. It’s a vision that we’re seeking to embed in everything that we do and a vision that will drive us to do bigger and better things every day.
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In fact, the economy in early 2023 is not being roiled by layoffs — which are currently abnormally low compared to historical standards. This means the labor market remains really tight, despite arguments to the contrary. As a result, hiring will remain tough, and it may even mean central banks will have to keep interest rates higher for longer.
It was an honour to be named alongside AMS’ founder, Rosaleen Blair, in this year’s SIA Global Power 150 Women in Staffing. Now in its eighth year, this annual list recognises women for their outstanding efforts and achievements in elevating the workforce solutions ecosystem.
I was thrilled to be named alongside some incredible female leaders in our industry and whilst I’m obviously thrilled with my nomination, I’m also aware that I work with a number of other incredible females in delivering the UK Government’s Public Sector Resourcing (PSR) Framework.
Through PSR we mobilised urgent contingent support across several critical government departments to support the COVID-19 response and I’m immensely proud of the work the team did to contribute to the national effort in such difficult times.
We now have over 20,000 workers on our framework supporting more than 120 UK government departments with both contingent and end-to-end statement of work procurement.
We’re continuously responsive to the needs of our customers and are always looking to innovate and adapt our offering. Most recently, we’ve introduced Recruit, Train and Deploy, a program of specialist vendors whose expertise bridges skills gaps and builds talent pipelines for the public sectors future workforce.
AMS as an organization has always sought to support and empower the women in its workforce. To be included in this list isn’t just an individual or even team recognition. It’s recognition for our entire organsation and for that, I am very proud.
“The Global Power 150 is an amazing accolade to be nominated for, so to make the list of females who are not only leaders in their field, but also helping to drive change across the staffing industry is a real honour. By celebrating female successes, we can encourage the next generation of female leaders and highlight the career opportunities available to all, regardless of gender.”
