Need some inspiration? These Talent Acquisition resources are chock-full of knowledge and personality!

In the last five years, the recruitment industry found itself undergoing an exciting renaissance. A profession no one ever wrote books about is now smack dab in the zeitgeist, directly affected by both cultural movements (like #metoo) and technological advancements (such as AI and social media trends).

The human capital management (HCM) market is projected to grow to $22.2 billion by 2023, up from $13 billion in 2016. All this growth means the tools and practice of recruitment and HR will evolve at a rapid pace, and practitioners can’t rely on the grapevine to keep abreast of the latest news.

Fortunately, there are a plethora of recruiting podcasts, blogs, newsletters, online communities that keep pace with the industry goings-on. The following list is just a few of our favorites – seriously, there’s so many out there! We chose these because they are engaging and keep us coming back every day!

Feel free to tag us @smartrecruiters with ideas for our next edition.

1. Recruiting Brainfood

Longtime recruiter and industry influencer Hung Lee created the weekly TA newsletter, Recruiting Brainfood, back in October of 2016. Over 127 editions later (and 10,000+ subscribers), Recruiting Brainfood is now a community for hiring practitioners worldwide, with the largest concentration in the UK, but quickly spreading. (US folks can gain workplace street-cred by introducing this resource to colleagues.)

Subscribe to the newsletter for a manually curated collection of articles, interactive polls, and jobs relevant to the talent industry; or, join the Facebook group for community chats, live stream Q&As, and video interviews.

What makes this community special is how active the audience is in polls and conversations. This may have something to do with the host, Hung Lee, who has made a concerted effort to break the fourth wall, acknowledging new members and never letting a comment disappear into the internet void. A personal example, when I joined the Facebook group I was prompted to fill out a survey about the newsletter. I jotted down some thoughts (largely positive), and a couple of days later Hung followed up on my minor layout suggestion. Now, that’s engagement!

2. Recruiting Subreddit

Reddit is mainly known for memes and casual trolling, but it’s so much more than that! The annals of Reddit unpack practically every subject known to humanity. Whatever interests you, there’s likely a subreddit of people who care about it just as much (or more), and recruiting is no exception.

The Recruiting subreddit is a great forum to get feedback or ask questions. One newbie crowdsourced goals for their first quarter on the job, another for tips on no-show candidates. These – and generally all inquiries – were met with many specific and encouraging answers – proving that the internet can be a nice place sometimes!

3. HR Open Source

HR Open Source is kinda what it sounds like. In its own words, they are “a global community of practitioners who believe collaboration is the key to preparing their organizations for the future of work. Simply put, [they] make it easier to access peers and resources needed to thrive. at zero cost.” Practically, this means you join the community via their website or Facebook, and then you can share/read case studies or ‘Sparks’ (the site’s adorable name for abridged case studies), participate in surveys, talk to your peers, and even buy some cool merch.

Founded in 2015, the people behind #HROS (that’s how you should search their posts on Twitter) are two impressive recruiters you may have seen on the conference circuit: Lars Schmidt, founder of Amplify Talent, and Ambrosia Vertesi, VP of people at Duo Security. One great asset from this resource is their latest Future of Work Report. The data they collected from actual practitioners about how their teams are interacting with tech and allocating budget was extremely enlightening, and unique in that it wasn’t just spectator commentary.

4. HR Girlfriend

HR Girlfriend is a professional network for women working in HR, where members can find professional development and certifications, events, and industry job postings. Anyone can peruse the website and learn from their Real Talk Blog. For those folks in the US, HR Girlfriend regularly hosts and attends events, so you can catch up with the Girlfriends in person.

The Q&A section of their blog is a personal favorite. The questions are real and relatable, and the answers are super detailed without being long-winded. I should also mention that the advice comes from real HR practitioners. Last week’s question tackled how to handle a scenario where an employee complains about a coworker showing them an inappropriate photo. The reply included a step-by-step procedure as well as additional resources.

Sana’ Rasul, Chief Girlfriend, HR consultant, and cybersecurity expert, says of the group, “If I could sum up why I’m committed to the HR Girlfriends community it would come down to because we are ‘….in this together.’”

5. Evil HR Lady

The title in and of itself makes this blog worth reading. The eponymous ‘Evil HR Lady’, Suzanne Lucas picked the name to challenge the prevailing stereotype that HR folks are rigid and spitefull corporate goons. Her blog seeks to “demystify” HR, revealing there’s usually a lot more going on behind the scenes than the employee general population, or even management, know.

Susanne posts a mixture of relevant articles from around the web, original content, and other resources, like webinars. Visit her blog or subscribe for the latest in your inbox.

6. Ask a Manager

You will get sucked into this Q&A blog! The questions range from ‘what should I do when I hit a coworker’s car in the staff parking lot?’ to ‘how do I handle misuse of sick leave?’, and much more. Every time I visit Aks a Manager, we can’t stop scrolling.

Alison Green started this website in 2007, and since then has written a book and launched a podcast covering all things management. The blog isn’t specific to HR and Recruiting, yet many of the questions cover relevant material. And, with three or more posts a day, there’s always something new to read.

7. The Lorne Epstein Show

Lorne Epstein is a recruiter and author in Washington DC, where he’s hosted his weekly radio show/podcast since 2016. The Lorne Epstein Show covers a diverse array of HR and Recruitment topics, from in-depth interviews with industry thought leaders like Lou Adler, to nuts and bolts how-tos of salary laws, to expounding the world’s most adventurous jobs – don’t you want to know what it’s like to be an FBI bomb investigator?

This podcast definitely has an ‘inside baseball’ feel, which is great for those of us who care about the proverbial baseball (in this case, HR and recruitment). So, if you get excited about the latest developments in the industry but are sick of the glazed-over look in your friends/partner’s eyes when you start on a future of work rant, this is the place for you!

8. Constangy, Brooks, Smith Prophete LLP Blog

Learn from experts with real employment litigation experience. Everyone has an opinion, but these are the opinions that really matter when it comes to legal issues at work. Of course, reading a blog does not count as actual legal counsel, it’s a place to stay abreast of the latest legislation and best practice.

The Constangy Blog focuses on US workplace law, though some subjects will be internationally relevant. That’s not to say that it’s all dry legalese – that couldn’t be further from the truth. Their contributors also offer editorials on topical issues like the movement for a $15 minimum wage and think pieces on historical work practice, like Radio Corporation of America’s HR guidelines for supervising female employees written during WWII.

9. The Chad & Cheese Podcast

To quote the hosts, Chad & Cheese is “HR’s most dangerous podcast. Lock your doors and hide your kids. Chad Sowash and Joel Cheesman are here to punch the recruiting industry right in the face!”

The latest industry news with a healthy dose of snark – what’s not to love? The show listens like classic morning radio with irreverent attitudes and frequent sound effects, which is a nice change of pace for an industry known for buttoning up. Enjoy, but headphones a must if you are at work or around kids.

10. Hiring Success Journal

Forgive the shameless self-promotion, but we couldn’t resist. You already know about the Hiring Success Journal if you are reading this, but did you know that we have a weekly curated newsletter that delivers our latest articles straight to your inbox. Signup here for the latest recruiting stories, industry deep dives, and how-tos that will level up your TA practice.

The glass-ceiling-shattering law will forcibly move the needle towards greater gender parity by 2021, but what’s stopping the change from happening at companies today?

Thanks to new legislation signed into effect on Sunday by Governor Jerry Brown, California is now the first state in the country to mandate women on company boards. The law, known as SB 826, will require all publicly-held companies in California to have a minimum of one female director by 2019.

By 2021, the minimum number will increase to two or three female directors depending on the size of the board.

This pioneering decision emerges during a charged political climate in the US, particularly on the heels of of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s sexual assault allegations and the rapid momentum of the #MeToo movement across the country. Brown acknowledged this current state of affairs in a memo accompanying the new law, saying, “Recent events in Washington, DC—and beyond—make it crystal clear that many are not getting the message” about equal treatment of women.

Many in-state organizations are likely taking stock of their gender parity initiatives in the wake of this new legislation, which carries fines between $100,000 and $300,000 per violation. California-based companies have until December 2019 to comply, but equality activists are scratching their heads as to why—in the midst of the social justice movements sweeping the US—companies are just now reacting to the lack of female leadership at major corporations.

Of the 445 publicly-held companies headquartered in California listed on the Russell 3000 Index, more than one quarter (26.1 percent) had zero female board members in 2017. California, on average, has 1.65 female members per corporate board whereas the US as a whole averages 1.75 female members.

These discrepancies have raised concerns in recent years over the lack of female representation in sectors like the tech industry, with a major hub located in California’s Silicon Valley. According to the most recent diversity reports from SV’s biggest tech firms, women account for 24.5 percent of technical employees at Google, 23 percent at Apple, and 22 percent at Facebook.

These numbers are growing slowly, but not nearly fast enough for change advocates like California Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, who authored SB 826, arguing that “gender diversity on corporate boards is associated with increased profitability, performance, governance, innovation, and opportunity.”

A number of European countries have already acknowledged the benefits of more female leadership roles. Norway lead the charge in 2008 by requiring companies to have at least 40 percent female directors or face possible dissolution. In the years that followed, France, Italy, Britain, Germany, and the Netherlands were among the dozens of countries that enforced similar quotas ranging between 30 and 40 percent female representation at the corporate level.

With the fifth largest economy in the world, and home to 53 companies on the Fortune 500 list, the Golden State is in a chief position to spearhead efforts of corporate board diversity in the US.

But why is the threat of financial penalties the strongest motivator for generating this change when the merits of female workers are well known? Not only are women often more qualified for leadership roles than their male counterparts, they often outperform their male colleagues over time because they continue to learn and develop their skills.

What’s more, a study from MIT found that evenly-split, gender-mixed teams brought “a greater spread of experience, which could add to the collective knowledge of a group of office workers and make the unit perform more effectively,” affecting everything from office morale to the company’s bottom line.

While the passing of SB 826 may present challenges for organizations that currently lack diverse hiring policies, here are some actionable tips that all HR and TA professionals should consider as more companies reevaluate their diversity and inclusion efforts.

• Get comfortable discussing difficult topics. Conversations around D&I are rife with uncomfortable truths, but the first step to implementing real change is approaching these conversations in an open and honest way.
• Identify what doesn’t work. Bärí Williams, legal counsel for companies like Marqeta, StubHub, and Facebook, argues that companies looking to improve their company diversity and inclusion should begin by asking the simple question: “How can we do better?”
• Examine your employer branding. Think about how your company’s employer branding also encompasses your impact on customers, employees, and society at large. It’s equally important to consider your organization’s candidate-facing image, from the company website to the tone of its messaging, the types of photos used on social media channels, and the language used in job descriptions.
• Reach out to underserved or underrepresented minorities. Proactively seeking out these talent pools gives companies a measurable advantage over others that exclude them. According to Greenhouse Senior Recruiter Ariana Moon, “We saw a huge impact on our pipeline once we began listing jobs on diversity recruiting sites such as NAACP and Ebony.” She continues, “When thinking about partnerships, align with different organizations that are key to building pools of diverse talent.”
• Reduce bias in the hiring process. One of the biggest D&I issues tackled by AI is recruiter bias. AI solutions like SmartRecruiters’ SmartAssistant automate the candidate screening process, evaluating applicants based on skills, allowing you to make better and faster hires backed by measurable data.
• Create a truly inclusive company culture. None of the efforts outlined above will work unless your company embraces and celebrates different cultures and values. Making employees feel valued and giving them a sense of belonging allows them to thrive at your organization, and directly affects your employer branding.

Although California’s recent legislation represents a major step towards greater gender diversity in the boardroom, whether or not this new law will be challenged in court remains to be seen. In the meantime, however, it appears promising for women everywhere, offering them an opportunity to step into more executive roles and the chance to undo the male definition of leadership that has dominated the corporate world for generations.