Are We Approaching a Hiring Revolution?

It was an exciting few days at this year’s Talent Connect. It’s always a great time to take stock of the latest trends, technology and ideas – and check the pulse of the industry.

But this year was more than that. Just by looking through the agenda on the flight over to Dallas, it felt like 2019 was going to throw up something a bit different.

And so it proved. For me, the whole conference was a reflection of a genuine gear-shift in our industry and there seems – at last – to be some real momentum behind two big ideas. 

A joined-up approach to hiring

The first theme that reverberated throughout the whole event was the idea of a more joined-up approach to hiring. 

Hiring isn’t just a job for one department – it’s a job for your whole organisation. Your full hiring team – from recruitment agency to talent acquisition team to hiring manager – all need to be aligned to achieve hiring excellence.

John Vlastelica, one of the experts on our platform, spoke on this theme to a packed house, stressing the importance of team alignment – and in particular giving hiring managers the training and resources they need to make it possible.

This is an idea that’s been around for some time – and certainly something we’ve been advocating at SocialTalent for a number of years. But now we’re seeing some genuine movement.

Organisations are restructuring. Teams are adapting. New roles are being created. This isn’t just the early adopters any more. It’s becoming mainstream – and I expect to see much more of it over the next couple of years as the rest of the industry catches up.

A joined-up approach to talent

The second theme again was around taking a more holistic approach – but this time it went beyond just hiring and looked at talent more broadly. 

It tied in neatly with LinkedIn’s new strategy, announced by Jeff Weiner at the conference. The business is moving beyond just helping people get hired, towards helping managers engage with employees and develop their skill sets. 

This is about a more joined-up approach to talent. It’s about being smarter and more intentional in the way you bring people into your organisation and then set them up for success. It’s about thinking beyond the hiring process and looking at pre-boarding, on-boarding and those crucial first 100 days. And it’s about improving leadership training and employee engagement skills – equipping your whole talent team to deliver this change.

For me, this is the next stage in the maturity journey for talent teams. And it’s probably a couple of years off reaching widespread adoption. But for forward-thinking organisations ready to get ahead, there was plenty to think about in Dallas.

Putting it into practice

It’s easy to walk away from a conference feeling inspired and energised. But it’s the ‘what next’ that matters. And for companies wanting to go away and apply these big ideas, I think there are four things to focus on for their hiring and talent strategies.

1. Great hiring starts with your talent acquisition team

Hiring excellence starts with your TA team – they are the driving force. Make sure your TA team is equipped with the knowledge and skills to perform. They must be the experts.

2. Think about the whole hiring journey

Look beyond the TA team and focus on improving hiring at every stage of the journey. Everything from candidate search to final interview has to meet the same high standards.

3. Align your hiring team

Hiring is a team sport. Think about how you can better align your hiring team to make hiring a seamless and effective process throughout your organisation.

4. Think about how you move from hirer to employer

Look beyond the hiring process and think about how you can best manage talent during those crucial early days in your business. How can you better embed new hires and create more value?

I’m fascinated to see how businesses take these big trends and put them into action over the next 12 months. And excited to help play our part at SocialTalent.

These are interesting times. Are we approaching a hiring revolution? Maybe. Are we about to see some big and lasting change? You bet.

This post was originally published on LinkedIn.

Johnny Campbell is a serial disrupter in the world of hiring. As founder and CEO of SocialTalent, the world’s leading hiring skills platform, he works with some of the largest enterprises in the world (such as Intel, IBM and Oracle) to drive hiring excellence in their organizations. Not content with professionalising the roles of sourcers and full lifecycle recruiters, Johnny has now set his sights on steering the future of hiring. He has presented these concepts at some of the world’s biggest hiring conferences across the world. His dedication is matched only by his enthusiasm, making him one of the most sought after speakers on the topic of hiring.

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