RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS

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221 items in RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS

Talent Tech Trends to Watch in 2025
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Some smart thinking by one of the smartest around, brainfooder Jonathan Kestenbaum pens three bullet points in this post about the future of recruiting tech. Going to get Jonathan onto an early 2025 Brainfood Live (follow the channel here if you haven’t already) to discuss how rectech roadmap - I’m pretty sure TA / HR don’t see what’s coming.
Issue #427 published 15 Dec 2024
Visiting Vienna last month was one of the highlights of the year. Centrepiece was the HR Meetup hosted at the We Are Developers HQ, where I took part in a panel with fellow brainfooders Rudi Bauer and Eva-Maria Meyr. It’s real talk about 2024 and how we are TA leaders have to prepare for 2025 where we will be expected to ‘do even more, with even less’. Have a watch.
Issue #426 published 8 Dec 2024
The Great Flattening Is Here To Stay
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
AI will greatly simplify company structure. It will have a de-layering and de-siloing effect. This accessible post from Business Insider tells the story from the point of view of middle managers on the job market which is simply not providing the opportunities which were once there. There’s a lot of middle managers stranded atm, including many in our community. What to do? Might be worth a brainfood live early in the new year.
Issue #426 published 8 Dec 2024
Do more with less? The first thing to do is to reduce the inefficiencies in your process. Here’s a load of them to think about - especially note how weakness in one area produces extra work in another. Recruitment efficiency will again be top priority in 2025, so we had better get to it.
Issue #426 published 8 Dec 2024
Annual Survey 2024 - The Talent Lab
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
One of the classics in annual surveys in our industry - its the The Talent Labs Annual Survey of Talent Acquisition & Talent Managers, mainly in the UK. Some fascinating slides, including the one featured above on TA team size and capability. Main trend for me? Rise of the single member TA team, from 68% in 2023 to 71% in 2024. What is this number in 2025? Positive vision: super AI-enabled recruiter coordinating a swarm of AI Agents, doing the work of 10 recruiters…H/T to brainfooder Emma Mirrington for the share, outside of the reg wall.
Issue #426 published 8 Dec 2024
Survey results from a Findem and Recruiter.com collab where 1000 TA & HR decision makers completed the questionnaire on such questions as headcount projections, paid tool usage, attitude to LinkedIn Recruiter and sense of job security in the market. US respondents - have a read here
Issue #424 published 24 Nov 2024
Brainfooder John Vlastelica is writing some great material at consistent clip these day. So far in 2024, its between him and fellow recruitment legend brainfoder Glen Cathey as the authors most featured in this newsletter. This week, we see John dive into analogy of taxation in order to sell the cost of bad decisions in the recruitment process.
Issue #424 published 24 Nov 2024
TA Tech Landscape
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Vendor landscape maps are problematic but not without value. This is a tremendous piece of work from brainfooder Glenn Lindley, whose shown to be open to updating this map through input from the community members. Useful for anyone wanting an at-a-glance snapshot of the some of the leading recruitment tech vendors in some of the most important categories.
Issue #423 published 17 Nov 2024
Eric Knauf writes a thoughtful post on the irreplaceable value human recruiters will perform when AI takes away the information carrying / processing demands of the current workflow. Rapport building, cultural fit analysis, human judgement where data is ambiguous - hard to disagree with all of this - even though it inexorably leads us to an uncomfortable end point - the necessary rehabilitation of bias. Have a read.
Issue #423 published 17 Nov 2024
Title of this post seems so dated, but it would’ve been a top 10 most clicked post only a couple years ago. Still the advice here still appears sound though. I especially like the concept of ‘sharpshooter recruiting’ - that phase in early stage startup when you’re actively targeting named candidates in industry. Lots of founder time saved if you get a pro to do it or coordinate the doing of it. Incidentally, brainfooder Ludmila Tomperi has hired 9 (!) talent acquisition pros for her team at Wolt - and is still looking for more. If you’re interested, get in touch with Lumi…
Issue #421 published 3 Nov 2024
LinkedIn Hiring Assistant
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Every vendor in the recruitment tech eco-system is building AI-powered features which will transform software from being primarily systems of record and into assistants which will perform a significant percentage of the tasks we might currently be spending a lot of our time on. Hiring Assistant by LinkedIn may not have caused the immediate reaction it deserves - if it does what it says on the tin, it will be a genuinely revolutionary product for our industry. Anyone have an early look at this - let me know, we need a brainfood live on this, asap
Issue #421 published 3 Nov 2024
Scheduling remains one of the tasks which is a huge time / effort sink for TA / HR. Scheduling for an ‘uberised’ workforce is another challenge altogether. Great interview on how the implementation of a centralised, AI-enabled, self serve orientated scheduling app helped change the game for this organisations 40,000+ workers.
Issue #420 published 27 Oct 2024
Brainfood John Vlastelica is pretty much of most people’s list as one of the leading thinker-doers in the community. He’s a must follow, not least because of posts like this, which accurately captures the moment a lot of us are in when it comes to AI - we know we need to change, but we’re quite able to get it done. Why is this and how we can get over the hump - have a read.
Issue #420 published 27 Oct 2024
One of the annual classics, Stack Overflow’s Developer survey has a new modular, interactive look which helps users get to the information which most pertinent to you. 60,000+ responses from developers worldwide, though mainly in US, UK, India, Germany and Ukraine. Must read for all tech recruiters. H/T to brainfooder Pedro Oliveira for the share.
6. Change Is Hard. Will AI Make It Easier in TA?Brainfood John Vlastelica is pretty much of most people’s list as one of the leading thinker-doers in the community. He’s a must follow, not least because of posts like this, which accurately captures the moment a lot of us are in when it comes to AI - we know we need to change, but we’re quite able to get it done. Why is this and how we can get over the hump - have a read.
Issue #420 published 27 Oct 2024
Hiring Success APAC2024 - Wow!
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
It was huge pleasure to take part in Hiring Success APAC earlier this month - fantastic event by SmartRecruiters with some really interesting insights from the product team. Take the opportunity to listen to CEO Rebecca Carr on the new vision. I’m in this at the end of the show, as an add on 🤣
Issue #419 published 20 Oct 2024
2024 Future of Work 100
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
This is quite cool - what are the leading recruitment / HR tech providers who are supporting the transition to an AI-enabled workforce. We already know some of these companies, some others will become household names in a year or two’s time. Good tech landscape type post.
Issue #419 published 20 Oct 2024
There are loads of ‘Future of Talent Acquisition’ posts out there - I’m as guilty as anyone for writing these - so it always welcome to see a few which includes bold predictions not seen elsewhere. Brainfooder Andrew Monroe from Veris Insights sent me their POV and there are some new ideas here, especially the bifurcation of career pathways for recruiters. Worth a read
Issue #419 published 20 Oct 2024
AI in Organizations: Some Tactics
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Ethan Mollick has become one of the must follows on X or Substack for his experiments and observations on the impact of AI on the workplace. The theme in this post is the dissonance between individual productivity vs organisational productivity; AI is having stronger positive impact on the former, but not yet the latter - why is this, and what can we do about it? Publicly rewarding ‘secret Cyborgs’ for AI use is one way. Ever interesting reading.
Issue #418 published 13 Oct 2024
Joveo again with the good stuff. They have a freely available library of guides like this (see Issue 413), but I am separating this one out given that the topic of buying technology to increase operational efficiency is not only top of mind but also inevitably going to involve AI. Download here, no gate
Issue #416 published 29 Sep 2024
The interesting content often comes from non-specialist recruiters, investigating the the job search and recruitment market. Love this post from Mind the Product, on the state of the PM job market covering recent history, the reduction of friction to application to the use of ATS multi-posting. It’s impressively accurate for an non-specialist, though we need to wait for Part 2 for deliverance on ‘how to fix it’ 🤣. In the meantime, Lenny Rachitsky, who runs the No1 PM newsletter has been doing his own research on the State of the Product Manager Job Market
Issue #416 published 29 Sep 2024
Some useful bits in this Future of Recruiting piece from LinkedIn Talent Solutions. I found this chart most interesting - are you getting involved in working with other departments on how AI will reshape their job roles / dept organisations? Seems like we should be doing this. Bonus: I have an embarrassing quote in this see if you can spot it 🤣
Issue #414 published 15 Sep 2024
Joveo How-To Guide Library
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Wonderful resource from our friends Joveo - a free library of How-To Guides on topics ranging from Facebook Job Ads, High Volume Hiring, Candidate Experience, ATS selection, Diversity Hiring and the rest. H/T to brainfooder Heather van Werkhooven for the sharing these with us and outside of any email registration wall!
Issue #413 published 8 Sep 2024
Recruiting in AI Guide
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
I wrote about how ‘AI is eating Recruiting’ in Open Kitchen a couple weeks ago, which prompted brainfooder Ivan Harrison to share this excellent overview piece from Phenom on the what AI means for recruiting - a very good guide in accessible language on how AI will change the focus of our work - graphic above is a great visual of this.
Issue #411 published 25 Aug 2024
Recruiter Time & Motion study from our friends The Talent Labs has some fascinating insights, especially when we get to segmentation by role. Key takeaway is the areas where we currently spend most time, are also those areas which are most exposed to AI / Automation, a confirmation of the claims ChatGPT itself made in an experiment I ran a year and a half a go. That’s good and bad news for us - opportunity is there to become hyper productive via AI-enablement, but it is essential we take control over the time saved so that we can expand scope beyond our current remit of work. H/T to brainfooder Adam Gordon for the share.
Issue #411 published 25 Aug 2024
Product Managers Career Ladders
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Lenny Rachitsky runs one of the most successful domain specific industry newsletter. He is now probably the most connected person in the Product Manager space, consequently easy for him to knock up a bare bones Google sheet like this and have it go viral. Useful for all PM recruiters; also good nurture content to send to your PM candidates. H/T to brainfooder Mitasha Singh for the share.
Issue #409 published 11 Aug 2024
ATS Vendor Evaluation Scorecard
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
‘What ATS are you using?’Probably the most often asked question in any recruiter community that you’re in. What we need a reasonable score card to evaluate from the thousands (no exaggeration) options out there. Got a look at this ATS evaluation tool from our friends at Screenloop and I think it is more than pretty good. Free to use and copy, no registration wall - have at it here
Issue #408 published 4 Aug 2024
AI in Talent eBook
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Loving what our friends at Willo have been doing atm - committing resources to producing research & guidebooks which are freely accessible to the community, un-gated. This ebook outlines the opportunity and risk of AI in recruitment, and comes with a useful template on how move from idea to action. Good read for anyone who is currently a little stuck with operationalising AI.
Issue #399 published 2 Jun 2024
I like it particularly when entrepreneurs talk hiring. Lessons from real experience trump all the theory that we in TA / HR can often overly consumed with. Larry Shurtz led billion dollar revenue sales at Salesforce and has some hiring lessons to share. Excellent brainfood. H/T to brainfooder Pedro Oliveira for the share.
Issue #397 published 19 May 2024
Great to see Josh Bersin in action this past week at HR Tech Europe - here he is talking about the need for Talent Acquisition to reinvent. Companies are on a global ‘search for productivity’, which means talent optimisation rather talent acquisition. Can recruiters adapt and expand scope? We had better.
Issue #395 published 5 May 2024
To save you time, these are: Offer Acceptance Rate, Time to Hire, Pass-through Rate, Pass-through Rate by Demographic and Job non-compliance rate. Decent primer for our ‘how to build a recruitment analytics dashboard’ show next month (sign up for this here). H/T to brainfooder Michael Talarek
Issue #394 published 28 Apr 2024
What The F%ck Does a CFO Do Anyway?
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
The Secret CFO reminds me of the great anonymous blogs once written in HR - unfiltered tell alls which disclose the inner workings of the profession. The form has now migrated to X, which despite the increase of toxicity, trolls and bots, remains a place in which you can find gold. Someone should do one of these for recruiting.
Issue #393 published 21 Apr 2024
Brainfooder Adriano Herdman again with a one page cheat sheet presented in such a way which makes you want to mouse over the three dots and right click ‘save’. Like we said previously, fiddle about with the content for your own needs, as the value is in the template.
Issue #392 published 14 Apr 2024
Nice video how-to on Microsoft Copilot use cases for recruiting. We kind of know these already, but excellent to see job description generation, candidate ranking, interview generation and the rest effectively demo’d on screen. H/T to brainfooder Colin McNicol for sharing in the online community. I’m no reclassifying this type of content from ‘AI’ to ‘RecOps’ because it’s become table stakes.
Issue #390 published 31 Mar 2024
When brainfooder Lars Schmidt shared this resource into the online community last week, I knew before I clicked that it would be a great resource. Produced by Index Ventures, it is a collection of knowledge and insight from 1000’s of successful venture backed businesses. Refreshingly free from HR-speak, this is banging content - great resource to have and share, especially if you are in startup / scaleup.
Issue #389 published 24 Mar 2024
Talent Acquisition Excellence
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Matt Alder with brainfooders Kevin Wheeler and Bas van de Haterd talking about the latter two’s new book, Talent Acquisition Excellence. My copy is lost in post so I will paid particular attention to this episode - really good to hear smart people knock around a few important ideas. Have a listen here.
Issue #388 published 17 Mar 2024
Love this BTS stuff from brainfooder Michael Blakely. What’s it like hiring for Frontend Developer in 2023? Detailed breakdown of process, application sources, conversion metrics in Part One, and now a review of the assessment methods, pro vs cons of blind assessment, tech testing and interview in Part Two. Great reading - be a great exercise if everyone did similar public retros’s like this.
Issue #386 published 3 Mar 2024
Brainfooder Adriano Herdman’s one page visuals are fast becoming a regular feature in this newsletter. This is clarity of communication at its finest. Feel free to dispute the content within the cells, but consider how impactful this type of format is compared to a long email or word document. The key is lowering the cognitive effort for the reader. If you can do that, there is a good chance your message will get through. H/T to brainfooder Chris Haslam for the share.
Issue #386 published 3 Mar 2024
Ethan Mollick has been a pioneer in the use of GenAI, integrating it into his own work as a University lecturer whilst also writing about the best methodology to follow when rebuilding a process with AI-enablement baked into the flow. He describes the task with characteristically evocative terms: “how to cut down the organisational tree, and regrow it”. Important long read.
Issue #384 published 22 Feb 2024
TA / HR is far behind the conversation on how AI will transform work, and the entire function is at existential risk if we don’t collectively step up to how C-level demands. It’s tough love from brainfooder Jason Seiden but this is an essay which needed to be written - it is concise, advanced and persuasive. Important read, please do so herePS: the question of what to do about it is open to comments - how do we elevate our thinking / doing on AI-enabled for TA/HR?
Issue #384 published 22 Feb 2024
So two things have been happening here. Adriano Herdman has been regularly producing outstanding one pagers, which are diagrammatic explanations of common challenges faced by recruiters. And brainfooder Darren Bush has been tagging me in these posts to get my attention to them 🤣. I appreciate both and look for them to continue, because this is add-value snackable content for the community. Well done guys.
Issue #380 published 21 Jan 2024
The State of UX 2024
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Beautifully presented interactive website on the State of UX, which not only reviews the trends in design but also projects the impact of AI on the size and significance of UX teams. Pulls no punches here - UX teams will get smaller, and with that, shrink in power and influence. A likely future for everybody regardless of role so have a read…
Issue #378 published 7 Jan 2024
Recruiter Use Case for ChatGPT, Pt1
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
By far the most popular show on Brainfood Live this year will be no surprise to anyone - recruiters and tech vendors coming on screen to demo what they have been doing with ChatGPT. We did this in Jan 20th and never had a chance of beating the attendance record for any other show. Enthusiasm was high and it remains a really watchable show. Be great to get some of these folks back early 2024 and see how / if they / we have progressed. Have a watch here.
Issue #376 published 24 Dec 2023
How cool is this? Another example of pro-level content quality being produced by members of the community. Of course you can tailor all the bits to your own tastes but the discipline of forcing all the parameters into a one pager is something we could all learn if we want to create frameworks that we are actually going to use.
Issue #374 published 10 Dec 2023
Practically everything that brainfooder John Vlastelica writes makes it into this newsletter so you might as well just follow him on LinkedIn. Here he is underlining an obvious-in-hindsight point - hiring managers need to be rewarded for being great hiring managers - and includes a mechanism on how to do it.
Issue #373 published 3 Dec 2023
Love this post from brainfooder Michael Blakely - it’s precisely what I mean by ‘externalising operational data’ - it always makes the best recruiting content. This is Michael’s account of hiring a Front-end Developer for his interview intelligence tech firm Equitas. It provides fascinating insight on founder / hiring manager mentality, tech market conditions and job candidate behaviour, especially in the use of GAI. Can’t wait for Part 2
Issue #372 published 26 Nov 2023
The Value of Recruitment 2023
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Very interesting study by brainfooder Jon Brooks on how recruitment agency owners think about pricing. Key insights: lack of differentiation is the No1 factor for agencies having a weaker negotiating position on recruitment fees. Points the arrow towards increased specialisation and innovation on service delivery. This is also an excellent example of how anyone can conduct valuable small sample research. Have a read here. btw: get in touch with Jon if you want support on your pricing strategy.
Issue #372 published 26 Nov 2023
Brainfooder Denys Dinkevych doing his bit in formalising the work that sourcers do. Is this the first maturity model for the sourcing discipline? I have seen one for generalist TA but not one tuned for sourcers. Check it out.
Issue #368 published 29 Oct 2023
Brainfooder John Vlastelica is one of the smartest thinker-doers in the business today. I hope he continues to produce and publish observations like this - always makes you think about the hidden or under discussed problems with recruitment. Are you measuring Time-To-Alignmnet (TTA)? Maybe we should.
Issue #367 published 22 Oct 2023
Are you trying put some structure into your TA career pathing? If you have a TA department of any size then you probably should be. A community member (I forgot who - sorry!) shared Cleo’s framework in the online community and I thought it was a very decent resource. If you are a TA leader and don’t have anything, this is a good starter for ten.
Issue #366 published 15 Oct 2023
Sunday Night Exec Meetings
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Most of us are going to recoil at this suggestion but having thought about it some more, I do wonder whether it has merit. We all know Monday’s are a sh1tshow - by far the least productive day of the week - and it’s mainly because we’re spending too much time preparing, updating, interrupting, contesting and delegating rather than any doing. What if Exec did their meetings on Sunday - high incentive to secure consensus when it is your time rather than company time. Reminds me a little of the Bezos meeting memo idea - prepare before you talk. What do you think, do you think this would improve operating efficiency in your business, or say, your TA department?
Issue #365 published 8 Oct 2023
What is the difference between Principal vs Senior? Brainfooder Andreea Lungulescu draws the distinction and argues for the formalisation of a non-managerial career track for expert recruiters in a series which looks worthy a follow
Issue #364 published 1 Oct 2023
Recruiter Enablement Maturity Model
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Nice piece of work from TA Guru and PoetryHR. What is recruiter enablement? Pretty straight forward framework from the sales world - are you, as an organisation, providing your recruiters with the tools and techniques to succeed? Figure out where you stand with this downloadable maturity model.
Issue #363 published 24 Sep 2023
Brainfooder Kevin Wheeler’s independence of thought has been of huge value to the industry for the past 3 decades. He continues to be on top of his game, with this contrarian yet realist position on the corporate or in-house recruiter. Bottom line: TA cannot defend against lay offs when all we do is hiring. Must expand scope or embrace the flexibility of contract / interim / fractional work. Love to know your thoughts on this
Issue #362 published 17 Sep 2023
Given that LinkedIn Recruiter licenses are likely to be the most expensive line item in your recruitment tech budget, it’s probably a good to understand how your team is utilising it. This brilliantly insightful post from brainfooder Michael Talarek is just what you need if you wanted to put together utilisation measures which might be more useful than those provided natively by LinkedIn.
Issue #362 published 17 Sep 2023
Measuring Developer Productivity?
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Talking about measuring productivity, can you do the same for developers? McKinsey say you can, which triggered engineers enough to produce this response, which basically says ‘you can’t really’. It’s a debate which is tangential to our work - though recruiters are cited in this as a job function where productivity can be measured - but the ideas shared here apply across disciplines. Is a recruiter productivity even if they have not made the hire? Maybe the hire was exceeding hard, or the HM never intended to make a decision or the company had a hidden EB problem. Productivity - may actually be unmeasurable.
Issue #360 published 3 Sep 2023
Trends in Recruiter Productivity
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Why don’t more ATS’s produce content like this? Another example of the vendor nailing content marketing by the rather simple expedient of externalising anonymised, aggregated data from their platform. Some really interesting insights: application volume negatively correlates to rate-of-hire (employers with abundance mindset?), as well as important benchmark data on time-to-hire across business and technical. More of this please
Issue #360 published 3 Sep 2023
Brainfooder Kevin Wheeler is unafraid of taking shots at convention, and his two post salvo in recent weeks in his excellent newsletter Future of Talent (subscribe to this), outlines the rational case against Quality of Hire as a metric. Part One is the argument, Part Two is on what recruiters should be measuring otherwise.
Issue #355 published 30 Jul 2023
Nice use case here for ChatGPT Code Interpreter from brainfooder Marcel van der Meer, who demonstrates how you can use it as a performance management tool for recruiters. The data analytics capabilities of Code Interpreter should not be underestimated and it could quickly become a critical tool for all TA / HR leaders. Encouraging that this is only Part 1 - a series on this would be super useful.
Issue #355 published 30 Jul 2023
HR Operating Model Report 2023
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
So basically 200 organisations submitted their org charts to this report, to reveal some fascinating insight on how they are structuring their HR / People departments. Quick findings: HR is indeed at ‘top table’ with 86% of organisations with CHRO position (sample bias tho…), Talent Acquisition only existing as a separate function in 66%. It’s an interesting study, read here, download PDF here
Issue #350 published 25 Jun 2023
Do you use ‘no-hire’ job requisitions in your KPI’s? Fascinating angle of analysis from our friends datapeople who researched 120,000 job posts from 2021 and 2022 and found that 31% of them were never filled. How much recruiter time is spent on jobs like this is probably an important question to ask if you’re interested in recruitment operational efficiency. H/T to brainfooder Michael Talarek for the share.
Issue #349 published 18 Jun 2023
13,000 CEO’s, HR leaders and Managers surveyed in this Mercer 2023 report, again data collected from 2022, so again it feels already a little dated. It’s useful for project ideas though, as it matches its analysis with recommendations for action, supported by plenty of visually appealing diagrams, as above. Worth a browse - download it here.
Issue #345 published 21 May 2023
Design around 12 use cases (with examples), this type of how-to is an invaluable document for anyone struggling to get started with ChatGPT (or similar GPT’s) or has indeed started and stopped. The more you use it, the more uses for it will emerge. Accessible essay from brainfooder Andy Headworth.
Issue #342 published 30 Apr 2023
How to Meta-work and Get More Life?
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Brainfooder Michael Talarek is one of those rare writers who infrequently posts, but when he does, it is the sort of deep dive which is fully deserving of setting aside specific time to read. His ‘How to Scale Your Sourcing Strategy’ from last year remains of my favourite reads. This time, Michael is tackling productivity and techniques for always getting thing done - have a read.
Issue #339 published 9 Apr 2023
Super interesting report from our friends at Ashby, who have analysed the number of offers created and accepted on their ATS, and have come up with a few essential benchmarks. Offer Acceptance Rate is consistently 70-75% range (regardless of offer volume), with tech roles being rejected by candidates at a higher rate than others (OAR 65%). This is the sort of content which I encourage recruitment tech vendors to produce, benchmark reports from proprietary data - it’s essential insight.
Issue #339 published 9 Apr 2023
The Future of Recruiting 2023
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
The fun thing about predictions posts is that they can be used to gauge the pace of change; this recently released collection from LinkedIn already feels dated in places, even though the information was likely collected only 3-6 months prior. The first prediction is quite jarring - ‘recruiters being strategic’ - a socially popular assertion that is difficult to maintain when we still seem to be the first out of the door when the hiring stops. Don’t let that put you off the rest of the it though - there is some good stuff here, including valuable thinking on Skills Based Hiring, Internal Mobility and Employee Upskilling.
Issue #337 published 26 Mar 2023
Very fine snapshot from Dr John Sullivan on the anticipated impact of AI on recruiting. The call to action is clear - we recruiters need to adopt AI in every aspect of our work, not only to secure productivity and outcome gains, but because C-level might now reasonably expect it. It will be interesting to hear from any community members who have taken the plunge on ‘AI transformation of their TA function’. Drop me a line if you’ve got a plan on this. H/T to brainfooder Jacob Sten Madsen for the share in the online community
Issue #336 published 19 Mar 2023
Superb piece of industry research from our friends at Gem - who incidentally, have made a habit of producing fantastic research like this. 700 TA professionals surveyed for where they are at, and where they plan to be for 2023. Incidentally, ATS penetration is only 84% - surprisingly low, which means there are brothers and sisters out there still doing it with what - Outlook folders? Must read, download it here
Issue #334 published 5 Mar 2023
What is your decision making process? It’s probably something you’ve learned over time, relying on pattern recognition, but it might not work so well at times of great risk or opportunity. Essential listening
Issue #333 published 26 Feb 2023
Talent Maturity Model 3.0
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Some nice work from brainfooder Gareth Flynn and team at TQ Solutions. Iterating on the Talent Maturity Model on this regular cadence is super valuable for the community. Check it out here, and see how your organisation measures up. Radar chart visualisation of course a major bonus 👊
Issue #333 published 26 Feb 2023
So brainfooder Marcel van der Meer excited everybody with his ChatGPT / Zapier message automation workflow in Brainfood Live a couple weeks ago, so here he is with the blog post outlining the process. I’m telling you now, recruiters who are able to master AI + Automation will outcompete recruiters who can’t.
Issue #332 published 19 Feb 2023
Josh Bersin has a conventional hypothesis - it was all about risk free capital and culture of ‘hiring before revenue’. Always a great synthesiser, this is one of Josh’s best essays - diving deep into past economic history, recent big tech over hiring and the inside knowledge that rings true - companies being pressured to hire by investors seeking a x20 return on the bet. Bersin also includes a recommendation - a shift for TA toward internal mobility and L&D. Must read folks. H/T to brainfooder Heidi Wassini for the share in the online community.
Issue #331 published 12 Feb 2023
I’m skeptical of listicles as a general rule but was more than pleasantly surprised with this crowdsourced effort from HBR, which takes the challenge of how employers can improve their appeal to candidates and delivers long list of do-able ideas . Have a read of this folks, you’re going to get something out of it.
Issue #329 published 29 Jan 2023
With Big Tech Winter showing no sign of coming to an end, it feels weird to include a post like this. I mean, how many of us are scaling engineer teams right now? I’m going to restart the monthly LinkedIn polls on this, see if we can get a gauge from the community as to where we’re at. Still, this post is a decent resource from the engineering manager’s POV on one of the most challenging parts of scaling fast - keeping the velocity high as you grow.
Issue #328 published 22 Jan 2023
Straight talk from brainfooder Greg Savage on what agency recruiters and owners need to be doing in 2032. Some bullets in this post, including my personal favourites the need for leaders to ‘re-recruit’ your staff, for consultants to ‘brickwall’ existing clients and for everyone to re-engage the silver medal candidates who came close but did not get the job. All great advice, delivered in the inimical savage style - have a read folks. H/T to brainfooder Sajithkumar Swaminathan for the share.
Issue #327 published 15 Jan 2023
How Company’s Think About Layoffs
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Written in a refreshingly vernacular style, this post from Diff lays out some critical concepts from the business POV on cost cutting. It would be an interesting experiment to layering on some of the ideas here to some of the high profile individual cases we’ve been hearing about, and identifying which approach those companies are adopting. One of those posts where you read, then re-read again.
Issue #326 published 8 Jan 2023
Ambitious report from HR.com, which tries to measure the efficacy of different recruitment technology categories as cited by users of those technologies. Not a massive data sample (327 ‘usable’ responses) but an interesting presentation nonetheless, with a very important call to action - utilisation rate is the most important metric - invest in recruitment technology that actually gets used by recruiters.
Issue #326 published 8 Jan 2023
My friend and general cool cat Brainfooder Jo Avent wrote this exceptional predictions post last month. I particularly like the winners / losers formulation so often missing from forecasts, which usually err on the side of over optimism and become things that you would like to see, rather than what you think will happen. Jo will be joining us on Brainfood Live this week, make sure you register.
Issue #325 published 1 Jan 2023
More on LinkedIn, because lets face it, its still the most important website for the recruiting profession. LinkedIn have been rolling out a huge number of features this year, so many in fact that this list of notable ones comes in handy to make sure you haven’t missed any you need to know about. Check it out here.
Issue #324 published 25 Dec 2022
Yeah I know, hardly the most appealing podcast title 🤣. But as workforce populations dramatically change, finding a way to future proof your payroll is no easy task. Good job we have some experts at hand to help, including brainfooder Anita Lettink who dispenses sound wisdom in this 25 minute pod
Issue #322 published 11 Dec 2022
Has anyone here ever been 'pipped'? One of the most annoying aspects of corporate culture is false purpose of performance improvement plans, which in too many cases are really just procedural protection for the employer who has already made the decision to fire you. This post is for the non-cynical however, because it provides a decent framework if you actually want to retain your direct report through improvement of performance. Obviously of no use to Elon Musk but probably will be for some of us here.
Issue #317 published 17 Nov 2022
2022 Kleiner Perkins People Report
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Let's look ahead to 2023: Presuming the tech winter continues to bite hard through next year, what does this mean for us People People? This is the question Kleiner Perkins is trying to answer with this Coda - compensation, trends, DEIB, team structure, tools and more. Everyone will get some value from this outstanding resource - read it and bookmark it folks. H/T to brainfooder Matt Bradburn for the share
Issue #317 published 17 Nov 2022
You got to respect a founder who ‘eats his own dog food’. Brainfooder Siadhal Magos, CEO of our friends at Metaview, is certainly one of those. This post is his reflections on a component of the recruiting process which is often neglected - what happens immediately after the interview? Some good advice here on why you should do it in a structured way and how critical it is to explain the thinking behind the decision, rather than just deliver the outcome. Must read folks.
Issue #318 published 17 Nov 2022
One for our UK readers, this is a digestible summary from our friends at Zinc onz what employers need to do before hiring a person in the UK. Love the simplicity, love the concision and the checklist. Now wouldn’t it be great to have a global per country library of these….?
Issue #314 published 16 Oct 2022
Probably the most useful thing I’ve read for a long while - 8 HR / TA dashboards and why you need to have them. Great explanations, great illustrations, just great in general. TA leaders, especially, need to read this.
Issue #314 published 16 Oct 2022
Useful post on an under-covered subject - the cost of employee turnover. The direct costs are approx 1/3 of salary, but the indirect costs - to team productivity, morale, cohesion - maybe as much as x 4 salary. There are no formulas in this but there is a very useful chart (see image) which is worth the click alone.
Issue #313 published 9 Oct 2022
Figures Leveling Framework
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
I’ve been doing a cool compensation focused webinar series with our friends at Figures, and this levelling framework was shared in the last event. Its Figures own internal notion page, freely available for us by anyone else. Useful, especially if you have not yet levelled your business yet….
Issue #312 published 2 Oct 2022
You know what? I think management is hard and getting harder, with the elevated employee expectations, increased emotional labour and new skills required for management remote or hybrid teams. FirstRound with a no nonsense this-is-how-you-do-it how to. Must read for recruitment leaders
Issue #312 published 2 Oct 2022
Hiring: Why More is Often Less
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
The best recruitment content often comes from non-recruiters who reflect on their direct experience of recruiting. This post is great example - the ex COO of Instacart, talking about hyper scaling, and why hiring less can often make for better business. You won’t agree with all of this (especially the reliance of profiling of A-players etc), but you will on some of it - have a read
Issue #311 published 25 Sep 2022
So congratulations for brainfooder Bas van de Haterd for hitting 40 episodes of his still new podcast series, Talent Savvy. These are smart conversations with smart people, as evidenced by this chat on the shift of recruitment mindset from growth to process.
Issue #310 published 18 Sep 2022
Recruitment: An Art & a Science
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
This is actually an interview with me as the subject, which is usually not a mega interesting story, but might be useful to those who are interested in entrepreneurship, business failure, revenue generation as a solo operator and the link. Enjoyed the chat - have a listen here
Issue #310 published 18 Sep 2022
You have to respect the boldness of this post, which is prepared benchmark recruitment KPI’s against clear dollar amounts. By all means dive deeper into the methodology but we have to be brave enough to say things without the constant caveats and appeals for context. H/T brainfooder Ivan Harrison for the share
Issue #310 published 18 Sep 2022
Brainfooder Kevin Wheeler is always worth a read (subscribe to his newsletter if you don’t already) and his speculations on the future of recruiting might occasionally feel dystopic, they are nevertheless a reminder to keep our skills future aligned if want to avoid obsolescence. Great visual too, worth the open alone. H/T to brainfooder Clair Bush for the share.
Issue #308 published 4 Sep 2022
The ‘grey rhino’ is a high impact, high probability exogenous event with an unknown time frame. We know it’s going to happen but we don’t know when, so we don’t do anything to prepare. From the villagers of Pompeii to all of us citizens of the world in Covid-19, its a pattern of behaviour which we need to break. 4 tips on how to do it, in the context of the firm. Excellent framework, which might help you, some day.
Issue #306 published 21 Aug 2022
You don’t have to look too deep into the internet to find a critic of Agile, but you won’t find many that are as clear sighted as the author of this post. What I like most is each mistake is countered by the thing you could be doing instead. Useful if you run agile in your TA Ops, or indeed if you have any kind of methodology which is in danger of taking over the point.
Issue #304 published 7 Aug 2022
What I Learned at Clubhouse
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
This post is about product management but really you could apply a great deal of OP’s 20 lessons to recruitment, process re-engineering, change management, technology implementation and the rest. The insight is often novel, free from cliche and you feel the lessons were hard earned. Excellent read, gonna say it is a must read.
Issue #302 published 24 Jul 2022
Now belatedly recognised as one of the most important roles to hire, getting the right person in for your Head of Talent role might be decisive in determining the success / failure of the business. This excellent checklist post suggestR some attributes to identify doing it - complete with good explanations why - and crucially - with questions to test out those attributes. Have a read here
Issue #301 published 17 Jul 2022
Somewhat challenging listening as two engineers deep dive into organisational structure and change. The challenge is the use of engineering terminology (which we do not know natively) to topics which we may consider ourselves expert. As ever though, it is thought provoking to pay attention when outsiders talk about organisational change. Give it a shot.
Issue #299 published 3 Jul 2022
So I shared some thoughts on this guide book last week on LinkedIn, and I found it a revelation mainly because it underlined to me what a mediocre recruiter I would be if I were ever to return to the field! Outstanding guidebook from our buddies BrightHire, using the trail guide metaphor to outline all things you need to do to be the optimal recruiter. Must read.
Issue #299 published 3 Jul 2022
A New Path to COO
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Great post from brainfooder Jessica Zwaan on her own journey from recruiter to COO, a atypical outcome for someone in a TA / HR role. Analysis from Jess on why this should make more sense to organisations and advice to those who may wish to pursue this path. Great insight and great writing.
Issue #297 published 19 Jun 2022
Some great cross disciplinary thinking from brainfooder Kevin Wheeler who applies Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints to the world of recruiting. It’s essentially the idea that incremental efficiency gains per-stage are not likely to produce significant change, because without refactoring the process, the critical bottlenecks remain. H/T to brainfooder Caroline Hunter for the share
Issue #297 published 19 Jun 2022
I suspect this is going to be most popular post in this week’s newsletter - essentially, how to hire when you’re skint. Quality writing on recruitment, again coming from a non-specialist in the field, in this case, No4 hire at HubSpot, who therefore ended up doing a ton of hiring as that company grew. Essential reading folks. H/T to brainfooder Petar Vujosevic for the share.
Issue #296 published 12 Jun 2022
6 KPIs to Make Hybrid Work a Success
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
One of the most frequently asked questions in brainfood online community is ‘what KPI’s are we using’? Good to see old metrics like TTF / CPH getting supplemented / displaced by more useful measures such as those found in this post, which is not specific to recruitment but nevertheless closely adjacent to most of the work we do.
Issue #295 published 5 Jun 2022
Legacy recruitment KPI’s that ‘time-to-hire’ and ‘cost-per-hire’ are not only being recognised as crude and counterproductive, but potentially discrediting to TA. How about some metrics C-level really wants to know about? Essential reading for everyone here, especially those who are in TA leadership roles or aspire to it at some point.
Issue #293 published 22 May 2022
The Ultimate HR Tech Buyer's Guide
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Some great content being created by vendors at the moment - I think the content teams are really finding the ‘content / audience fit’. Even better that most of them seem to be friends of Brainfood! This includes Charthop, the organisation analytics company who have produced a useful (and fair) guide on how to buy HR tech. Check it out here and download the PDF here
Issue #292 published 15 May 2022
Always interesting to hear from the insiders view on what famed employers look for in candidates. Step-by-step review from a candidate turned recruiter McKinsey & Co. Worth a listen to anyone who wants to apply to the company of course but also relevant to anyone who wants to understand how a consistent hiring process works. Have a listen here
Issue #289 published 24 Apr 2022
Are traditional recruiting processes becoming unviable? For those of us slaving away on job ads, sourcing and cold outreach it may seem increasingly to be the case. Powerful call to action here from Gartner for HR, which pulls no punches: i.e hiring managers need to go. Essential read.
Issue #289 published 24 Apr 2022
Marcus Edwardes - the most melodious voice in recruitment - on mindset and methodology around metrics and KPIs. It’s a monologue - the toughest type of podcast to do - and Marcus executes it superbly well. Have a listen here
Issue #285 published 27 Mar 2022
When was the last time Josh Bersin wrote something that wasn’t urgent? 🤣. Another great call to action from one of the great synthesisers of our business. Top ideas in this include: over hiring, being ‘top of the license’ and a cool Organisation Design Maturity Model. Must read folks.
Issue #284 published 20 Mar 2022
My friend and long time brainfooder Andrew Stetsenko 🇺🇦 is not only doing amazing humanitarian work for his country men and women (donations to the Stetsenko fund still open here) but also finding time to put together superb posts like this - essential read for anyone hiring for tech and rethinking how remote and relo might in fact be complimentary approaches.
Issue #284 published 20 Mar 2022
Chris Russell is a good person to follow for recruitment technology, chatting here with brainfooder Gordon Stoddart on the state of recruitment technology.
Issue #283 published 13 Mar 2022
Ep 410: Recruiting Fundamentals
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Recruiting legends Matt Alder and Lou Adler talk about recruiting fundamentals for 2022. That should be enough for you to press play
Issue #281 published 27 Feb 2022
Creating A Startup Headcount Plan
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
For readers of TWIR, you will know that I am a proponent of ‘open kitchen’ style of working - openly share your operational thinking / working, ideally whilst you’re doing it. You crystallise thinking by writing about ‘it’, lose inhibitions which stop you from talking about it and usually create some interesting content for others to read. Hat tip Zinc for following through and sharing their experience in using market data to help create a startup headcount plan.
Issue #280 published 20 Feb 2022
I’m always going to have time for brainfooder Kevin Wheeler, one of the few visionaries in our business, whose forecasting has generally be on or at least adjacent to the mark. What about this image for the future of recruiting? NB: I think Kevin is wrong about recruiting moving to marketing, we need to move back into HR. Talking about this on Brainfood Live later this month, so sign up here if you want to talk about it.
Issue #278 published 6 Feb 2022
The backlash against best practice continues apace, and I think we might all be better for it. The main theme is that every business is different, and that strategy / approach needs to be emergent from your context, not imported in from outside. Hard to disagree.
H/T to Bas van de Haterd for the share
Issue #277 published 30 Jan 2022
Which ATS Do Recruiters Most Prefer?
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Important question, especially as it seems that the type of ATS your business is using has an impact on the relative attractiveness of your job. 2571 recruiters completed responses to this question, hundreds each in most of the core territories where brainfood is regularly consumed. Take a look, see what your compatriots are using and if you’re a ATS vendor, check out which territories you are performing well in. Bookmark the too - as I get through your responses to other questions, we’ll graph it out on this insights page.
Issue #277 published 30 Jan 2022
Including this post principally for the idea of ‘proactively de-prioritising’ job requisitions, a concept with the assertiveness which I feel us recruiters sometimes lack. H/T to brainfooders John Vlastelica with the timely wise words, Adrian Holtham with the share in the fb group.
Issue #275 published 16 Jan 2022
TA Tech & and the Modern Recruiter
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
What is our relationship with recruitment technology? Love the focus of this report from brainfooder Madeline Laurano, whose work I recommend people in this community pay close attention to (follow, basically 🤣).
Particularly interesting was what category of technology recruiters care about most (sourcing), which is another way to describe the activities upon which we are being measured.
Issue #275 published 16 Jan 2022
Of course vendors are going to produce forecasts which mirror their product roadmap - wouldn’t be much of a roadmap if they didn’t believe in it. Our buddies at Lever go heavy on ‘automated candidate nurturing (agree) and data driven recruitment (also agree). Worth a read.
Issue #273 published 2 Jan 2022
This was the report caused me to ditch my policy of only including content with “2022” in the headline. McKinsey Global Surveys is a review of the year just gone but nevertheless has more than an eye towards what employees and employers have to do in 2022. Valuable report and a great benchmark for any TA / HR / L&D strategy you have this year - download it here
Issue #273 published 2 Jan 2022
How many new recruiters entered the industry last year? Not enough clearly, but for those who did and are reading this newsletter, these tips brainfooder Greg Savage is timeless advice. Good refresher for all of us too - have a read.
Issue #271 published 19 Dec 2021
David Green with his review of 2021 and predictions for 2022. This week and next week’s newsletters will have a mix of these collections, I’m going to do my best to select the ones which are particularly insightful, useful or true. David is pretty reliable on all three - have a read here
Issue #271 published 19 Dec 2021
Josh Bersin with his predictions post for 2022. Main themes are continued candidate shortage, adoption of next gen HR tooling, revamped conversation on company culture, and repositioning of HR. It’s not all science fiction. Download the report too, here
Issue #271 published 19 Dec 2021
Straightforward how-to on launching a CSR, but I think the framework is portable to any project launch. Surprisingly missing the most important element IMO - building in public and therefore inviting contribution and buy-in from the entire workforce population.
Issue #270 published 12 Dec 2021
Another cool report, this time super focused on Internal Recruiting Managers, in the UK. From the FIRM, this is a members survey and provides useful benchmarks on all the things we are meant to care about. Download here. H/T to brainfooder and FIRM founder, Emma Mirrington for freely sharing this members report.
Issue #270 published 12 Dec 2021
It’s all about being SMART folks - setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound objectives. This is a just good management, but in non-office environment, the requirement to be crystal clear on SMART has become decisively important. Good reminder of eternal management best practice.
Issue #269 published 5 Dec 2021
It is Amdahl’s Law on parallel processing, why it might explain why productivity does not scale with team size. The writing in this post could be more readable I think, but its is worth persevering for the value of the idea at root - that as the team grows, so do the co-ordination / communication challenges between team members. Give it a shot, here
Issue #269 published 5 Dec 2021
At a moment where every requisition is a hiring challenge, it might be time to ‘mix and match’ your strategy based on the skills you need to acquire. Accessible how-to guide outlining the resourcing options ahead of us, along with a framework for deciding which one to go for. Must read folks
Issue #269 published 5 Dec 2021
What is a Job Family?
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Pretty decent question, one of those which is not often asked ‘because we should know already’. Bravo to Ongig for deciding to tell us anyway and for providing great examples, as well as a downloadable ‘Job Family Matrix’
Issue #268 published 28 Nov 2021
Cool interview with brainfooder Anna Brandt on what you need to do to scale, especially on what you need to do when you’ve just raised a massive round. It’s an action packed 25 minutes, have a listen here.
Issue #266 published 14 Nov 2021
Are we still running performance reviews? Out of fashion in public discourse, they remain essential tools for improving employee well being, reducing employee attrition and retaining institutional knowledge. Lenny Rachitsky with the framework and the template. Must read
Issue #266 published 14 Nov 2021
In the middle of a labor shortage, a man in Florida applied to 60 jobs only to receive one interview.
So begins this fascinating story on broken recruiting systems which progressively degrade when there is less resources around to maintain them. If you’re familiar with cascade theory of system collapse, or want to ruminate on why process is so important in our work, then this post is for you.
Issue #265 published 7 Nov 2021
Hiring a VP of Engineering?
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Outstanding post from FirstRound, which manages to combine framework level abstractions with real world illustrations which you can immediately apply. Must read for anyone hiring for tech, especially for tech leadership roles.
Issue #265 published 7 Nov 2021
7 Mental Shifts For Hiring Now
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
One of the reasons why it is fantastic to hear recruitment commentary from non-specialists, is that they are often unencumbered with groupthink. More than one interesting tip here from Papaya CEO Eynat Guez, including using hiring sprints vs always on recruiting. Excellent transcript too so if you prefer to read you can do it here, or listen to the conversation here
Issue #264 published 31 Oct 2021
In line with our own survey above, the shortage of candidates has generated a widespread interest in trying to figure out what ‘quality jobs’ really are. This post zooms out to look at what metrics to use as a baseline for quality. The bar is low - a living wage - but a decent exercise for us to figure out how many of jobs at this level are created in our organisations.
Issue #264 published 31 Oct 2021
HRTheRealDeal
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Value packed 17 minute conversation on how to be successful when you’re in hyper growth. Promising video series, great quality production and smart people, great questions. Have a watch. PS: should’ve mentioned, this is about Spotify.
Issue #262 published 17 Oct 2021
Brainfooder Greg Savage with a lesson on how to do teaser content for paywalled material; there’s enough value in this nugget to make you want more. 11 things to think about when you’re setting up a recruiter commission scheme. Must read for any agency owner, or indeed, anybody setting incentives for any type of recruiter.
Issue #262 published 17 Oct 2021
Great to to see brainfooder Glen Cathey getting back into this writing - we have missed this voice. Here he is with a thought provoking post on why it is mindset not metrics which determine whether a recruiter is ‘transactional’. It’s really a defence on activity focused work. Most top billers, I think, would agree. Have a read
Issue #262 published 17 Oct 2021
Brainfooder Kevin Wheeler is one of most consistent and insightful commentators on the impact of technology to process. This short essay outlines a future where the key actors in hiring is no longer the recruiter, but hiring manager and applicant. H/T brainfooder Christopher Platts for the share.
PS: make sure to catch Kevin in Brainfood Live next month, as I sit down with the great man to talk ‘future fit TA’ - register here
Issue #259 published 26 Sep 2021
Outstanding post from Kapwing CEO Julia Enthoven who shares learnings on how to better close candidates after having seen 16 job offers turned down. Some of the best writing on recruiting is coming from the people who are non-specialists at it - this one is a must read folks. H/T to brainfooder Denys Dinkevych for the share.
Issue #258 published 19 Sep 2021
Thanks to everybody who contributed to this post - all the commentators on the LinkedIn thread and the guests on the Brainfood Live. I’m going to start doing these threads more regularly to follow up the conversational content - hopefully they will become useful resource documents or quick and dirty ‘how to’ guides for the community. Take a look here
Issue #257 published 12 Sep 2021
Fascinating perspective of viewing the work of CPO as ‘product manager for people systems’. Covers compensation, rewards and recognition, performance management, and internal comms - long read, but like most things from FirstRound, 100% worth it.
Issue #255 published 29 Aug 2021
The newbies outnumber the veterans in high growth. Default culture is not what pre-exists but whatever new people bring with them.
One of several memorable lines in this somewhat thrown together yet insightful post on culture building in hyper growth business.
Issue #255 published 29 Aug 2021
Brainfooder Anh Tran has produced some of the most popular posts in this newsletter - intelligent essays packed full of resources. Any TA person reviewing their recruiting process can benefit from reading his posts, this one on talent pipelining, being no exception. Must read
Issue #254 published 22 Aug 2021
Scaling Up Your Hiring Strategy
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
There are not many people who think as well as they do. Brainfooder John Vlastelica is one of the few and his contributions are always worth paying attention to. Outstanding how-to for TA teams, especially ones who are scaling up. H/T to brainfooder Vidhya Sivaramakrishnan for the share.
Issue #254 published 22 Aug 2021
The SaaS Org Chart
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
You’ve raised a new funding round. You need to staff up. Here’s what that looks like.
Another rough and ready how-to, this time from David Sacks, founder of Yammer / COO of PayPal. Hiring priorities mapped to successive funding rounds. Useful for any recruiter working in SaaS
Issue #251 published 1 Aug 2021
What do you do in your first 90 days? Useful sketch note on 10 things you got to do, especially No1 (promote yourself), No4 (secure early wins) and No8 (creating coalitions). Btw, we are doing a Brainfood Live on exactly this topic for recruiters starting a new job - register here if you want to take part
Issue #251 published 1 Aug 2021
Rough, ready, incredibly useful, this how-to guide from Snyk VP of People, Dipti Salopek is essential reading for any of us here working in rapid growth environments. The writing is the essence of telling it as it is. Google doc, make sure you make a copy and download it
Issue #251 published 1 Aug 2021
There’s a been a lot of mobility in the labour market in 2021 - especially for TA / HR pro’s where the market seems to be white hot. Few of us actually write about the off-board though, and how to do this properly. Good job brainfooder Clive Smart has. Excellent post on what to do when you’ve decided to leave.
Issue #250 published 25 Jul 2021
We all need to get better at automation - there is no greater joy than getting rid of repetitive tasks which soak of up too much time. This post from MatchHR on how to use Zapier and Integromat to increase your operating efficiency might give you some inspiration. Must read folks
H/T to brainfooder Michiel Wiersema for the share
Issue #246 published 27 Jun 2021
To celebrate unfashionable Brentford FC’s promotion to the English Premier League, this thread on the revolutionary philosophy brought by owner, professional sports gambler and moneyball enthusiast, Matthew Benham, is well worth a read. Big lessons here?
  1. Don’t do what everyone else is doing
  2. Scoop up and develop someone else’s talent
  3. Challenge & change legacy KPI’s
It’s a brilliant story, highly relevant to us here. Must read
Issue #243 published 6 Jun 2021
Recruiting As Competitive Advantage
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Like it when non-recruiters write about recruitment. We can see how other people see the topics, without unnecessary refinement or overly cautious fence sitting. Redpoint Ventures MD Tomasz Tunguz here with a short, accessible post on the cost-of-a-bad-hire at exec level. Note also the inclusion of a candidate’s ‘network value’ as an integral consideration to the quality of hire.
Issue #243 published 6 Jun 2021
As a rule of thumb using the above chart, we can assume that if you’re on a path to raising $50m in your first 4 years of business, you’d want to be hiring roughly 4–5 people a quarter every quarter for the first 18 months….
Great piece of research from brainfooder Maddy Cross, on what type of team you’re going to need if you want to go from startup to scale up. Complete with role / function / seniority breakdown. Kind of a must read for tech recruiters. H/T brainfooder Sushobhan Mukherjee for the share in the fb group
Issue #241 published 23 May 2021
Brainfooder John Vlastelica with a scintillating post on the challenges to culture whilst hiring at break neck speed. New people hiring new people? Yeah, that is a potential problem. This is brilliant - as all of John’s stuff is - so have a read here.
Issue #239 published 9 May 2021
Mapping Out A Career In Engineering
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Mapping out career paths seems a popular sub topic in this community, so I’m going to try and share some more examples as I find them. This one here from Envato is on Engineering career paths is quite good (full screen the embedded slide deck)
H/T brainfooder Simon McSorley for the share in the fb group
Issue #237 published 23 Apr 2021
RPO: Friend or Foe?
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Brilliant, no frills, how to guide from brainfooder Jon Hull, the Head of Resource Delivery at Nationwide, on how to work with Recruitment Process Outsourcers (RPO)‘s. We missed Jon’s contribution on Brainfood Live on this topic, so amazing to see him document what he was going to contribute in this way. Have a read if you are, or plan to, work with a RPO
Issue #237 published 23 Apr 2021
Some meta curation for you - this list of HR benchmarks by brainfooder Anh Tran is well researched, referenced and organised. Of value regardless of the stage of hiring maturity - take a look, here
Issue #236 published 18 Apr 2021
Nice post from our friends at (Transfer)Wise. We need to see more of these public retro’s on how TA teams have done X or Y. This one is on how Wise have developed their approach to career mapping. Have a read here, and a deeper dive into how it looks like from the employee side.
Issue #235 published 11 Apr 2021
The Infinite Conflict of Hiring
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
NFX get their portfolio to produce some really great blogs. They are fascinating because they are generally written by non-specialists who have had to think about recruitment, bringing concepts and language from other disciplines into our field. No rocket science in this post, but the perspective on trade offs is useful. H/T to brainfooder Denys Dinkevych for the share
Issue #234 published 4 Apr 2021
Company case studies on recruitment operating procedure have proven to be popular in brainfood, so this transcript of a workshop by Greenhouse Co-founder and long time brainfooder Jon Stross with Alison dela Cruz (trivago) and Matthias Schmeißer (Scout24) should be valuable to us here. Good read for anyone who cares about recruitment efficiency / quality - check it out here.
Issue #233 published 28 Mar 2021
Three things to admire with this; 1) Transparency of the retrospective 2) clear process which others can replicate or draw inspiration from 3) That Typeform actually have a Head of Content producing stuff like this. Which, incidentally, also serves effectively serves as a recruitment ad. Have a read here H/T to brainfooder Simon McSorley in the fb group
Issue #230 published 7 Mar 2021
Lots to like about this post - the transparency of the reporting, the focus on the ‘problem’ as much as the ‘solution’, introducing (to me at least) the idea of scoring the efficiency of the recruiting process. Fascinating to see non-specialist managers bring their systems / methods to hiring. Must read folks. H/T to brainfooder Denys Dinkevych for the share.
Issue #229 published 28 Feb 2021
We’ve talked about internal mobility many times on Brainfood Live. It is clear that one of the main ways to make it happen is to have a team dedicated to it - internal recruiters, in the true sense of the term. This, amongst, several other cultural innovations, has been the key to success in Salesforce’s program. Great case study, accessibly written, must read for everyone here.
Issue #229 published 28 Feb 2021
“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure”
Do you make data driven hiring decisions? We should try to (I think) but we always need to remember what data is - flawed measurements of some activities and events, not all activities and events. This excellent post is about running a business based on metrics and perils of ‘doing what you measure’. Relevant whenever we think about recruiting KPI’s…..have a read.
Issue #224 published 24 Jan 2021
Day 2: DownSizing The Team
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Imagine that on the second day of your new job…..you get told to ‘focus’ the team - code for downsizing. How do you decide who loses their jobs? Tough situation relayed by OP, a CTO in this case, struggling with the challenge of making this decision. His framework for doing so, is well thought out and well worth a read.
Issue #223 published 17 Jan 2021
Great bit of crowdsourcing from LinkedIn; you could do worse than simply make note of each of these themes to use as a checklist for things you got to cover in 2021. My faves? Focus on hiring flexible work - we recruiters need new hiring models, tools, processes for this, and Internal mobility - TA have got to take ownership of the ‘talent marketplace’. Have a read here
Issue #223 published 17 Jan 2021
Is Dr John Sullivan suddenly now more prolific? I hope so, as he always has something interesting, useful or contentious to say. This falls into the middle category - pretty much you can copy this scorecard if you’re not already doing it. H/T to brainfooder Martin Poole for the share
Issue #222 published 10 Jan 2021
Dr. John Sullivan is not as prolific as he once was, but when he does produce commentary it is always worth paying attention to. This short prediction piece starts off with a firework, HR’s paternalistic overreach. Definitely brainfood for us - have a read. H/T to brainfooder Martin Poole for the share
Issue #221 published 3 Jan 2021
Optimistic notes for 2021 from one of the big inspirations for our community last year, brainfooder Lars Schmidt. Have a read of these 7 points here, and make sure to contrast with Dr J’s more pessimistic look further below. Also watch out for Lars’ fireside chat series - looks like a fantastic virtue tour to follow this year.
Issue #221 published 3 Jan 2021
The shift to remote really underlined how inefficient on premise recruiting was, especially on the interviewing logistics. This recruiter survey from Yello presents some amazing statistics, such as 2/3rds of overall hiring time being spent on scheduling tasks. We’ll do better in 2021, surely. H/T brainfooder Laura Green for the share.
Issue #220 published 27 Dec 2020
Any one of FirstRound’s posts could probably have made this list Best of compilation but this post - part interview / part case study with Patreon’s Head of People Lucia Guillory is an exemplar of the form which manages to relay practical how-to information through the medium of a human story.
Issue #220 published 27 Dec 2020
Short but (bitter)sweet excerpt from LinkedIn Global Talent Report on the state of the recruiting budget. Going to decrease obviously, as employers play a cautious game and TA, turns inward. Worth a scan, but do compare with the Firm’s members survey below, which strikes a more optimistic note.
Issue #219 published 20 Dec 2020
The company has added 427,300 employees in 10 months, bringing its global work force to more than 1.2 million. The closest comparisons are the hiring that entire industries carried out in wartime, such as shipbuilding during the early years of World War II or home building after soldiers returned, economists and corporate historians said.
Incredible post on Amazon’s pandemic inducing hiring spree, with several good ideas emerging in the report, including having a dedicated group whose job was a nurture relationships with other companies, in order to be in position to support anticipated furlough / redundancy. No one is doing recruiting like Amazon. H/T brainfooder Chris Raw for the share in the fb group
Issue #217 published 6 Dec 2020
We’re talking about Recruitment Process Automation in Brainfood Live this Friday (sign up) so this list of use cases for one of the most accessible and popular automation tools - PhantomBuster - is pretty handy. Obviously a bit of marketing literature, but some decent checklist breaking down the repeat activities we recruiters tend to do a lot of. Have a read.
Issue #216 published 29 Nov 2020
A New Work Ecosystem
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Brainfooder Kevin Wheeler is doing a huge amount of the intellectual heavy lifting when it forecasting the future of the talent acquisition department. Reaching back a couple decades to revive the Shamrock model for the post pandemic era is a testament to the breadth of knowledge from different eras he can bring to bear on the topic. Essential reading for anyone in TA
Issue #215 published 23 Nov 2020
The Ultimate Hiring Guide
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Great value add content from Juggle Jobs. Particularly brave in naming vendors and describing what they may be best for (glad to see several sponsors of brainfood mentioned in there btw). You’re not going to like everything in this how-to but there is enough of it to be practically useful to a lot of recruiters, so download here. H/T brainfooder Denys Dinkevych for the share
Issue #214 published 16 Nov 2020
The move to substack has really freed up Kevin Wheeler to expand on his writing. We all benefit from this, as we can see from this excellent post speculating on what a future structure of TA might look like. The challenge remains that organisations are designed with two often competing purposes in mind 1) for optimising performance the depart vs 2) provide career development for the individual. Those two things don’t align. H/T Bas van de Haterd for share in the fb group
Issue #213 published 9 Nov 2020
No DE&I measures in this compilation? Disappointing but debate for another moment. As it is, this remains a useful primer / reminder for those who are reviewing how to measure recruitment performance in your business. HT to Denys Dinkevych for the share
Issue #213 published 9 Nov 2020
“I want to know how competitively we pay in the market for all our roles”.
Have you ever been asked this question👆? If you haven’t, its only a matter of time, so this post from Alistair Fraser is a super useful overview of the challenges, mistakes-to-avoid, tools you can use - if you ever have to answer the question. Have a read here
Issue #213 published 9 Nov 2020
One of the main roles the HR Generalist currently serves is as a human switchboard for the maze of HR services.
Hard to argue with eloquence like this 👆. Brilliant essay by the brilliant John Sumser. Have a read if you’re interested in digital transformation and the necessary emergence of a new role.
Issue #213 published 9 Nov 2020
…probably going to be the next big job in recruiting too. Using ‘no code’ (max 1 year before we lose the air quotes) applications to replace human labour is probably close to tipping point if software developers themselves are thinking about it. Have a read here - a pathway for some of us, for sure.
Issue #207 published 27 Sep 2020
18 Recruiting Metrics To Track 
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Its fashionable to knock recruiting KPI’s but that doesn’t mean you won’t read this post, because it is rather good on the all the recruiting metrics we do really still need to use. Free template too, as a bonus. H/T brainfooder Denys Dinkevych for the share.
Issue #202 published 23 Aug 2020
HR KPIs & Talent Strategy Scorecard
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Some classic - and now fashionable to malign - Recruiting & HR KPI’s here, including yield ratio, retention ratio, and ROI. Great overview post, particularly useful if you are in the process of creating / renewing a balanced scorecard. H/T to brainfooder Denys Dinkevych for the share
Issue #201 published 16 Aug 2020
People Ops as a Product 🚀
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
The body of knowledge on recruitment operations is growing, and this post from brainfooder Jessica Hayes is a great addition. Are there parallels between RecOps & Product? Not obviously, but having this read this post, maybe….
Issue #200 published 9 Aug 2020
‘Holistic People Ops’? Cynics going to cynic but I really like the base idea of expanding scope; it is critical that HR / TA functions do this, especially in the light of shrinking FTE as a percentage of the workforce population. This is a great read, as you can expect from First Round.
Issue #197 published 19 Jul 2020
Outstanding thinking from brainfooder John Vlastelica whose suggestion of focusing on the work rather than the ‘ideal candidate profile’ may be a critical step to not only diversifying your talent pool, but also elevating the role of recruiter from provider to advisor. Must read
Issue #197 published 19 Jul 2020
Fascinating story coming out of Berlin of a team of laid off engineers who pitched and got hired as a team. Particularly interesting to see how standard recruitment artefacts emerge organically from the process - role allocation, record keeping protocols, kind of a reversed hiring funnel, and even a proto-ATS.
Issue #193 published 21 Jun 2020
Excellent overview of ‘Talent Intelligence’ by brainfooder Marie Herlihy. There is a healthy mixture of research, theory and call-to-action in this post on the competitor talent pools.
Issue #191 published 7 Jun 2020
Spotify’s Failed #SquadGoals
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
The co-author of the Spotify model2 and multiple agile coaches who worked at Spotify have been telling people to not copy it for years. Unfortunately, truth doesn’t spread as quickly or as widely as an idea people want to believe in.
This post is less about Spotify, and more about us wanting to believe in miracle frameworks to solve complex challenges. Which - if we’re honest - may always be with us as a basic condition of collaborating with others. Extraordinary insiders diagnostic on Spotify’s Squads
Issue #191 published 7 Jun 2020
Tesla's Return-to-Work Playbook
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Elon Musk lost some serious brown points over his approach to Covid-19, but that should not take away from this excellent guide his company has put together for inevitable return to the factory. H/T brainfooder Denys Dinkevych for the share
Issue #190 published 31 May 2020
Is hiring more people always the answer? Of course, we know it isn’t, but perhaps have never seen the reason why so well described as in this superb 5 minute lesson to the wise. Not sure what category this should go under, other than ‘must watch’
Issue #190 published 31 May 2020
How to Establish a No-Meeting Day
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Creating space in your week for deep work and intense problem solving can be tough. Why not set aside a meeting-free day with your team?
Sounds like a dream. But it’s really a technique as GSD practitioners will already know. H/T Martyn Redstone for the share in the fb group
Issue #187 published 10 May 2020
The Recruitment Codex
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Nice piece of work from brainfooder Simon McSorley, whose team at Crew has created ’the Recruitment Codex’ - a visualisation of the skills, activities & tools recruiters use. Cool and useful, I think
Issue #186 published 3 May 2020
Whilst Hire by Google is heading for the sunset, we might as well grab the great content they’ve pulled together in the short time they’ve been around. This post is typical - easy to understand, high value, do-it-today advice. Have a read here
Issue #159 published 23 Apr 2020
Really interesting insight from brainfooder John Vlastelica - how curiosity underpins knowledge acquisition and thereforefore adaptability, and therefore might be the most important attribute to look for when hiring for a recruiter. Is there a way to foster/cultivate curiosity? More bandwidth would be a start. Great read.
Issue #174 published 23 Apr 2020
Did I tell you that Hire by Google have a great recruiting blog? They have a great recruiting blog. Another accessible gem here, a how-to post on creating a decent recruitment flow chart. It’s easy, high value reading so have at it here
Issue #138 published 23 Apr 2020
I’ve come across this post quite late, which is disappointing, because it is really rather good. Agree or disagree as you wish, but someone needed to put it down in writing as to when and how you should grow your recruiting team. Harver have done it, so take a look here.
Issue #138 published 23 Apr 2020
It’s a sign of the times that disaster planning for actual disasters is becoming a necessary part of the role of HR. As Hurricane Irma barrels in Florida, it’s up to HR leaders like brainfooder Robin Schooling to outline how best to prepare the workforce for it.
Issue #151 published 23 Apr 2020
Have you heard of ‘Self Service Hiring’? The recruiter is not the operator but the facilitator, and hiring is best done …by the hiring managers. Superb post from brainfooder Deborah Caulet on the unique process that’s been developed at Blinkist
Issue #177 published 23 Apr 2020
It’s pretty clear that Yello are going for it when it comes to dominating the conversation around Recruitment Operations. They’ve got yet another fantastic post on the topic, this time leveraging survey data in order to provide a benchmark for us in 2020. Must read folks, so do it here.
Issue #162 published 23 Apr 2020
Most of us don’t get past cost-per-hire / time-to-hire, so here’s a handy list of 20 of the most useful recruiting metrics - and how to calculate them - courtesy of one of the best vendor side blogs around, Hire by Google. Check it out here
Issue #137 published 23 Apr 2020
Definitive Guide to Hiring Success
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Who wants an operating guide for hiring success? This is what our buddies at SmartRecruiters have produced with this superb guidebook for Talent Acquisition leaders. It’s packed with data and actionable insight, available as an interactive website and downloadable PDF. No email registration, just go ahead and grab it.
Issue #165 published 23 Apr 2020
I had the pleasure of seeing John Vlastelica from the front row at the Brainfood tent at RecFest19 earlier this year. No question it was one of the best deliveries I’ve ever seen on stage. This is the transcript of the same talk - 9 steps you can take that allow you to show up as a talent advisor to your hiring managers - must read.
Issue #165 published 23 Apr 2020
Recruiting Recruiters
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
When should you hire a recruiter? As soon as possible, we would all say, but somehow the message doesn’t always get through to the business. This great post by Amy Moody Knapp not only makes this case but also shows founders what to look for in a recruiter and how to assess for it. Accessible and valuable read - one you might like to share to your non-recruiter colleagues also.
Issue #150 published 23 Apr 2020
Am I Operating As A Talent Advisor?
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
This post is basically all about the Talent Advisor Diagnostic Tool - a downloadable one pager you can use to benchmark the status you and your recruitment team has in relation to your hiring managers. It’s from brainfooder John Vlastetica so you know it’s going to be good.
Issue #178 published 23 Apr 2020
Excellent overview of the strategy employed by IBM to change TA - by first changing the TA function. Some worthy ideas baked in the the strategy - differentiated candidate experience, deep specialisations and new roles in the TA function and helping candidates self select out. Must read folks.
Issue #135 published 23 Apr 2020
2019 Talent Benchmarks Report
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
Signature report from our buddies at Lever, this 2019 Talent Benchmarks report is a must read for anyone who cares about measuring hiring efficiency. H/T to ‘foodie Deborah Caulet for the share. View or download the report here
Issue #141 published 23 Apr 2020
More quality content from our buddies at Google Hire - one of the most consistent vendor blogs out there. Most important takeaway fo me is the use visual support - this post itself providing the example - and the establishment a consistent reporting cadence.
Issue #141 published 23 Apr 2020
The Return of RecOps
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
“Recruitment Operations” …becoming a favourite for us brainfooders, so it makes sense to listen to what actual practitioners make of the term. Great timing on this post from our buddies at Zinc.Work. Have a read here
Issue #161 published 23 Apr 2020
Sad I didn’t get the chance to meet with Jeff Moore when I was in the Bay Area last week. He is one of the few to combine operational work as a high end recruiter with consistently highly quality content output. This, along with his other posts, is another must read.
Issue #126 published 23 Apr 2020
What is Recruitment Operations?
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
It’s the function-within-a-function which is finally getting the corporate recognition it needs. Dedicated resource focussing on process improvements, tech and tools, business alignment and the rest. Great summary post from Yello here on what RecOps really is. Also check out the Larder for more posts on the topic.
Issue #157 published 23 Apr 2020
Top take away for me on this recent report from LinkedIn Talent Solutions was the entry of non-recruiters into senior roles in the talent function - a phenomena which we should welcome. Have a read of the other 6 points here. 
Issue #160 published 23 Apr 2020
What makes a great sourcer? Could be GoodCall might know as they’ve gone and built the largest sourcing centre in Central & Eastern Europe. Great breakdown from brainfooder Jose Kadlec on their internal hiring process for the best sourcers.
Issue #160 published 23 Apr 2020
‘Recruitment operations’ is making a late run for being the buzzword of the year. Yello’s post on this topic was a hit in brainfood Issue 157, and this expanded ultimate guide from the same authors is sure to be as popular. You’re going to read this at some point, so you might as well do it now.
Issue #160 published 23 Apr 2020
Never underestimate the power of a well designed spreadsheet. LinkedIn’s Product team came up with an Interviewer Scorecard to develop and recognize their star interviewers. Here it is, and this is the write up about it.
Issue #155 published 23 Apr 2020
Top 5 Recruiting Challenges of CEOs
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
What are the top recruiting challenges of CEOs? A question raised by our buddies at Workable, who asked me to input on the responses the surveyed CEO gave. We’re talking confidence, replication, delegation and culture. Have a read
Issue #155 published 23 Apr 2020
Do you think about your intake meeting or just show up and take notes? It’s a process recruiters have to pay more attention to explains ‘foodie Brendan Browne, LinkedIn’s head of recruiting. Here’s his checklist he and his team use at every intake meeting - worth a regular re-read.
Issue #146 published 23 Apr 2020
Been meaning to share this post by Aline Learner for a while; it’s an outstanding example of thinking about ‘assessment load’ - the pressure we recruiter place on HM and technical assessors when we design our recruiting processes. Complete with handy spreadsheet
Issue #172 published 23 Apr 2020
Typically useful post by the Hire by Google content team. Cost-per-hire is a metric that isn’t going to go away any time soon, so we might as well get better at calculating it. Great starter post for folks who’ve never done this, a great refresher for those that have. Have a read here
Issue #149 published 23 Apr 2020
The Complete Company Guide on OKRs
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
‘Objectives and Key Results’…..OKR’s are an acronym that none of us can get away from these days. I’ll be first the confess that I don’t really know the whys and hows, so this post from Happier was handy for me. Might also be handy for you.
Issue #149 published 23 Apr 2020
Given the popularity of 20 Metrics post in Issue 137, I’m doubling down with this listicle from on HR Metrics. Don’t expect fireworks from this post, but do expect some excellent value.
Issue #140 published 23 Apr 2020
How LinkedIn Targeting Works
RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS
LinkedIn were kind enough to send me this PDF on how to use their ad targeting platform. I’m going to do it - are you? Have a read here before you do and we can compare notes.
Issue #140 published 23 Apr 2020