Cramped hotel conference rooms and uncomfortable chairs are the banes of many recruiting conferences, but here’s how SmartRecruiters is flipping the script on the traditional industry events.

What was the last conference that truly excited you? What made it unique—the sessions, the networking, the food? Did it have a unique structure, or did it follow the traditional format of sit, listen, stand up, talk? More often than not, industry conferences fall into the latter category, where most event attendees inch towards the closest exit first chance they get. No one is a fan of stuffy conferences, and that’s why SmartRecruiters seeks to redefine the experience for talent acquisition professionals everywhere. 

Hiring Success EU isn’t designed to test your passive listening skills; in fact, participation is encouraged. Every session is designed to be interactive, giving audiences the opportunity to absorb insightful content in a refreshingly new way. In addition to the speaker-led sessions, there are countless workshops and round table discussions where TA and HR leaders can roll up their sleeves and learn as a group. 

The recruiting community is unique for its focus on shared knowledge. We are constantly working together to share ideas, perspectives, and best practices on talent acquisition so that every organization can build better hiring processes that attract the best talent possible. SmartRecruiters feels this approach is necessary to create both a memorable experience and make a lasting impact on how people think about recruiting. 

Hiring Success EU kicks off September 10-11 in Amsterdam, and here is a sampling of what attendees can expect at this non-traditional conference:

1. Reverse Recruiting
Reverse Recruiting is our way of taking action to connect overlooked candidates to jobs at scale. At this year’s Hiring Success EU, 300 interviews will simultaneously take place between audience members and hopeful job seekers, including formerly incarcerated individuals, refugees, transgender people, people with disabilities, and more. These impromptu interviews offer them a chance to practice their interview skills, make connections with current TA professionals, and boost their self-confidence in finding gainful employment. This-meet-and-greet-format will create new bridges of friendship, mentorship, and jobs between our communities. Isn’t that what recruiting is all about?

2. The Hackathon
Twenty technologists invested countless hours over the last few months to create unique hacks and APIs built on the SmartRecruiters platform. Now, these innovators can demo their builds in real-time at the conference. Here’s the catch: Every attendee starts with 1000 “wow points” to invest in the teams they believe have the greatest impact on the future of recruiting technology. The top 3 teams that receive the most investment will be sent to the final round to battle it out for fortune—$10k in sponsorship at Hiring Success 20—and glory.

3. Session: Make your Organization a Microcosm of the World
One of the best-kept secrets in recruiting is the extra-ordinary output of neurodiverse people. Many of us are neuro-diverse—we just don’t know it.  Sara-Jane Harvey, aka Agony Autie, is a world-class activist for neurodiversity and returning Hiring Success speaker, having debuted at Hiring Success Americas earlier this year. Now, she’s back to expose truths about how making offices accessible for autistic people have far-reaching benefits for companies, employees, and the potential to transform the world economy.

4. Session: Reflecting Freedom
Self-imposed limitations are created when our choices and actions are dictated by automatic responses and unquestioning beliefs. Understand these limitations and find freedom from the prison of the mind. This session will take attendees through an inspiring journey of grit, and who better than to tell it than Khalil Osiris, who spent 20 years in prison. During his time in incarceration, he earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Boston University. Khalil is now an author, educator, social activist, and CEO of Reflecting Freedom, a social enterprise company. 

5. Session: Getting Smarter
What will your hiring mix look like in 10 years? Get this question right and you’ll see your stock soar. Get it wrong, and you’ll spend your time playing catch up. This session will bring a much-needed perspective from the navigation technology and consumer electronics company TomTom on how it discovered the ideal hiring mix. This session is presented by Thomas Waldman, Global Head of Talent Acquisition at TomTom, leveraging his 20 +years of experience in recruiting and sourcing to discuss how TomTom conducted its own internal discovery and transformation.  

6. Session: Becoming an Inclusive Leader
What does an aikido master and the first ordained African-American meditation master, who also advises Fortune 50 CEOs have to teach company leaders? Find out in this participatory session that is sure to strengthen everyone’s leadership skills. Dr. Steven Jones, who—among numerous accomplishments and accolades—is the CEO of JONES, a consulting firm specialized in diversity and organizational effectiveness, teaching the value of inclusive leadership.

Don’t miss the opportunity to be a part of this one-of-a-kind recruiting conference. Where else can you make a positive impact on someone’s life, flex your entrepreneurial muscle like a VC, or learn from a curated selection of activists, speakers, and TA leaders from around the globe? You will find it all here at Hiring Success EU. To find out more about what to expect, visit our website and secure your tickets before September 10th—see you there!

Recruiting operations are mission-critical to enterprises searching for top talent, yet the majority of hiring teams continue working with legacy systems that fail to deliver ROI. 

Modern businesses are under continuous pressure to remain competitive in today’s economy, with an increasing focus on adopting technologies that enable agility and strategic thinking. In fact, digital transformation is a top priority for C-level executives, with 74% of enterprises already employing, or currently implementing, a digital transformation strategy. As businesses prepare to tackle future disruptions, such change is inevitable. Change, however, is scary.

As a result, many organizations stick with the status quo, betting on traditional processes and legacy systems to deliver successful future outcomes. Meanwhile, technology is evolving at an exponential rate, and organizations that embrace digital transformation know full well the role of technology in keeping businesses organized, productive, and communicative. 

SmartRecruiters recently surveyed Talent Acquisition (TA) professionals about their existing recruiting technologies, and found that the vast majority (89%) fail to see value in their legacy systems, particularly among enterprise companies. What’s more, when asked the likelihood of recommending their current ATS to a friend or colleague, survey respondents gave a -67 NPS score. 

Check out the complete survey results in the infographic below:

While some shy away from challenging the status quo, it’s clear that most enterprise companies are open to the possibility of change. Of course, with myriad options to choose from, how can one decide? Choosing a new ATS solution may appear challenging, but companies that switch to a modern, intuitive, and enterprise-ready ATS are seeing measurable ROI on hiring, particularly around budget optimization and candidate quality.

While technology adoption is only one element of implementing a digital transformation strategy, it is a crucial piece that cannot be overlooked. Contact SmartRecruiters today to find out why over 750 enterprise customers have already embraced our modern recruiting platform, and are experiencing immediate improvements to their talent acquisition processes.

A venue trapped in time, surprise artistic performances, and limitless cheese options—these are only some of the wonders you can expect in Amsterdam.

Hidden behind the glitz and glamor of the Dutch capital’s inner city lies a narrow street that feels worlds apart from the shiny Rokin and Dam squares, despite running parallel to them. On a normal night, walking down this passage—called “The Nes”—requires jockeying for position between pedestrians and passing cyclists. You might feel as if you’ve been transported to the early 1900s with all the stone architecture, cozy houses, and theaters luring you closer with the promise of music and drink.

On this particular night, however, you will be surprised to find a red carpet juxtaposed with urban sprawl, inviting you to walk inside, past a giant wooden door. Passing through the looming edifice with the words “Tobacco Theater” etched overhead, you will find SmartRecrutiers’ flagship afterparty, the can’t-miss event of our Hiring Success conferences. This year’s celebration—made possible by Xref, our official party sponsors—is no exception.

Network with your peers, cocktails in hand, as you explore this centuries-old tobacco auction house that now plays host to one of Amsterdam’s biggest music events: the Red light Jazz Festival. Discover hidden corners throughout the building, engage with Hiring Success speakers, and bounce from one entertaining performance to the next. Of course, don’t forget to indulge yourself at the cheese stations and take in the sounds of the live band, bringing the atmosphere of Amsterdam’s street life into the theater for one special night thanks to our partners at Xref.  

You’d be hard-pressed to experience the ambiance of Amsterdam in a more historic space. So while you’re there, seize the opportunity to make new connections and digest the day’s learnings. The venue’s art-meets-business vibe, delicious food, and inspiring company are guaranteed to recharge you for another nonstop day of demos, panels, labs, awards, and interactive sessions.

Still haven’t secured your ticket for the industry’s coolest afterparty? Head over to the Hiring Success EU website and we’ll see you in Amsterdam!

With experiences that span across cultural borders and industries, here are the inspirational talent acquisition leaders speaking at Hiring Success EU you cannot miss.

Hiring Success is on the move again, this time heading to Amsterdam’s picturesque canals for two days of thought leadership, inspiration, and professional networking. Along with hundreds of TA leaders from global brands like Heineken, LinkedIn, and Facebook, dozens of dynamic speakers will join SmartRecruiters for the next installment of Hiring Success Europe. 

Occupying the majestic Compagnietheater from September 10-11, Hiring Success EU will showcase over 40 sessions led by more than 50 speakers who will help define the future of recruiting. Their tracks include discussions around innovation, diversity & inclusion, and Hiring Success. Conference attendees can customize their own learning path by choosing which sessions align with their interests and professional goals.

The speakers are a hallmark of every Hiring Success conference, and this year SmartRecruiters is excited to announce the following presenters who will make their debut appearances on the Hiring Success EU stage in Amsterdam.

1. Dr. Makaziwe Mandela, House of Mandela

Born and raised in Johannesburg, Dr. Makaziwe (Maki) is the eldest daughter of Evelyn Mase and Nelson Mandela. Maki earned a bachelors in Social Work and an honors degree in Sociology. Through a Fulbright Fellowship, Maki obtained a masters in Sociology and a doctorate in Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Mandela has written several publications on the role of women in a changing South Africa, as well as developed investment portfolios designed to uplift and economically empower women. Maki was also a director at Nestlé and the GM of Human Resources at Spoornet. Dr. Mandela currently serves as the Chairperson of the House of Mandela and sits on numerous boards.

2. Tukwini Mandela, House of Mandela

Raised by her grandmother in Cape Town until the age of 10, Tukwini is the granddaughter of Nelson Mandela. Having lived in the United States and South Africa, she has extensive education in Social Work as well as professional experience in advertising at Leo Burnett and Foote, Cone & Belding. Ms. Mandela’s expertise expanded to communications at First National Bank and marketing at several multinational institutions. Tukwini is currently the Marketing Director for House of Mandela.

3. Tim Ackermann, LIDL

Tim is an international and multi-industry HR leader with nearly 20 years’ expertise in talent acquisition and talent management. At LIDL he connected great people with one of the world’s largest retailers and created an engaging candidate & employee experience throughout the employee life cycle. Tim also has his own side hustle, which he now runs full-time, as the founder & managing director of a day spa and concept store in Potsdam, Germany.

During Hiring Success EU, Tim will lead discussions with other TA professionals as they share engaging and funny stories on how to be an entrepreneur within your own company.

4. Maarten Bokhoven, ABN AMRO

Maarten’s personal mission statement is to move people and make people move. He is passionate about driving business results, as well as helping team members achieve their personal and professional ambitions.

Maarten has exemplified this approach through his 20+ years of experience in marketing and communications for global brands such as Brunel and, most recently, as Head of Employer Branding, Sourcing & Community Management at ABN AMRO Bank. He brings a unique perspective to employer branding, having transitioned from content marketing for consumers to brand proposition for candidates. He is passionate about projects that create brand awareness and engagement but also drive conversion and deliver results.

5. Noor van Boven, N26

Noor is the Chief People Officer at N26, Europe’s first mobile banking service and one of few startup unicorns. However, this isn’t her first foray into the digital sector; Noor also spent several years as the VP Global Head of People at Spotify and even co-founded Hello, an online community designed to connect dynamic, professional women around the world. Noor is a leading example of the next generation of talent acquisition leaders, and during her session, she will share her experiences navigating hiring challenges for a company undergoing hyper-growth.

6. Anna Brandt, Uber

Anna is the Global Head of Talent Acquisition and Community Operations at Uber, a position she serves through her consultancy, Brandt Talent Solutions.  Anna enables organizations to scale their talent acquisition efforts in order to hire and retain the best talent available. She now focuses on Talent Acquisition Program Design & (interim) Management. At Hiring Success EU, Anna will join Noor van Boven in sharing her first-hand experience establishing hiring practices at Uber, as well as how to steer organizations through dramatic growth cycles.

7. Ben Clark, Heineken

Ben leads the Global Talent Acquisition function at Heineken and is proud to represent his organization’s home turf by speaking at Hiring Success EU. At Heineken, Ben established the company’s first-ever talent sourcing hub in Central and Eastern Europe. He also played a critical role in expanding Heineken’s highly publicized employer branding and global implementation of new recruiting technology. For his sessions, Ben will speak about what it’s like working for a well-loved and recognized global brand alongside SmartRecruiter’s Marketing Director, Prachi Gore. 

8. Michael Falkner, Ramboll

Michael spent the past 18 years hunting for the right match. Today, he is an experienced Talent Acquisition leader with an unusual background as a former Detective with the Copenhagen National Police. His drive to seek out people didn’t stop after he turned in his badge, so he launched a career searching for talented professionals.

Michael has extensive recruiting experience from Laigaard & Partners, Hays, Accenture, and most recently, Ramboll. As the current Head of Global Talent Acquisition at Ramboll, Michael is responsible for overseeing recruiting activities across 35 countries and the organization’s Center of Excellence, Operations, Talent Sourcing Hub, Offshoring and Employer Branding.

September is fast approaching, so don’t miss out on the opportunity to see these stellar speakers in Amsterdam. Stay tuned as we continue to publish speaker profiles, tease our flagship party, and more. To find out more about what to expect at Hiring Success EU, visit our website and secure your tickets for the recruiting industry’s most anticipated annual event here.

Four years ago, the footwear retailer partnered with SmartRecruiters to develop a custom implementation strategy that would empower them to tackle high-volume seasonal hiring and industry challenges.

After finding success implementing SmartRecruiters at their Manhattan Beach headquarters, Skechers had the ambitious goal to roll out SmartRecruiters in all 727 of their stores within 90 days. The purpose was to standardize their hiring process and provide a consistent candidate experience regardless of location. With the holiday season fast approaching, the pressure to implement a new system before the hiring demand spike was on. SmartRecruiters’ Hiring Success team was up to the challenge, and started the process by breaking out the process into five steps:

1. Awareness ― Understanding goals and defining metrics to measure success
2. Roadmap ― Establishing a plan to reach objectives
3. Re-optimization Workshop ― Redesigning the hiring process and providing sustainable supporting configuration for Skechers’ main points of contact 
4. Acceleration ― Implementing everything configured in the workshop and preparing Skechers’ trainers for their three-month training roadshow to teach all hiring managers how to use the new system effectively
5. Optimization ― Reviewing the metrics and achievements of retail stores on a monthly basis 

The results speak for themselves, with a 100% launch in all of Skechers’ stores after 90 days. Additionally, hiring teams readily embraced the platform, with over 80% of the entire organization’s TA department using the new system immediately after implementation. The modern and uniform hiring process also translated to a significant increase in applications, with more than 50,000 applications for 1,400 jobs, which led directly to 525 new hires. To us, that is the definition of Hiring Success.

SmartRecruiters sat down with Adan Villalobos, Global Director of Talent Acquisition at Skechers, to look back on these accomplishments. Adan dove deep into what it felt like to participate in the monumental changes of Skechers’s global hiring process.

What did you find to be some key benefits from the re-optimization workshop? 

It was incredibly helpful to have an expert show us the technical side of how we should be setting up the system. We realized during this stage that SmartRecruiters had so many different processes and systems that we weren’t even utilizing. We discovered how to operate the system on a global level, and were then able to come together and build a training program for our hiring managers. This step was crucial to prepare us for the global rollout. 

What were your biggest concerns while on the road during Skechers’ store rollout?

Initially, my biggest concern in rolling this out to stores was that we would have to pull hiring managers away from the sales floor to teach them the system. However, SmartRecruiters is so mobile and intuitive that it was possible to have short training sessions and then send hiring managers out to use the platform on their phones on the sales floor. Once they learned of this ability it gave them the opportunity to streamline the entire hiring process while also providing a great candidate experience. 

We were also somewhat worried about adoption rates, but the training programs that we built with SmartRecruiters encouraged all participants to buy into the system because they saw how it was going to benefit them in the long run. It was easy to see how, by using the platform, they were going to achieve top-quality hires, which meant an increase in the overall profitability of their store.

How do you sustain the success that you’ve seen with the engagement and adoption in each store?

Many of us have been in a business where a new system is rolled out, it’s bright and shiny for the first three to six months, and then it loses its luster. To avoid this, we wanted to create programs that support SmartRecruiters’ system and also sustain the great results we initially saw. In order to achieve this, we made district managers and regional managers accountable for managing the platform in all stores. This allowed them to truly own the program, and it was in their best interest to utilize it to the best of their ability.

We also built a recruiting ambassador program. Each recruiting ambassador was assigned to a district to help stores actively recruit through the platform and make sure that they’re utilizing it to its full potential. SmartRecruiters also does a great job of continuing to update the platform, and this keeps our people very involved. 

How can SmartRecruiters help clients be successful with high-volume hiring in retail?

The SmartRecruiters team has always helped build our strategy for the peak periods of hiring during the holidays and the back-to-school season. They have achieved this by showing us how to use the platform as a marketing tool. 

It gives stores an opportunity to market to career fairs and at in-store events. The hiring manager can then create candidate pools from the people they reach and benchmark the candidates already in the system. When the store is ready to hire for a specific season the hiring managers can go back into the system and identify the best candidates for interviews. Overall, our planning and communication throughout the hiring process have improved, and so has our capability to deal with the masses of candidates each season.

Through strategic planning and partnership, Skechers received a tailored implementation program that produced dramatic results and has the roadmap to continually attract, select, and hire great talent for years to come. To hear the full Q&A session check out the Webinar: Building a Business Case for Hiring Success in Retail where our Hiring Success director breaks down process that led to this incredible transformation.

In a time when recruiters desperately compete for talented candidates’ attention, building communities could be a way to stay ahead. 

The job advertising market has ballooned into a multi-billion dollar industry, which has, perhaps unsurprisingly, drawn the attention of tech giants Google and Facebook towards technologies that make it easier for people to find jobs, as well as build massive, on-demand databases of skills.

Meanwhile, many companies are finding it increasingly difficult to market their open requisitions to the right audience. Too often, hundreds of under-qualified candidates flood recruiter inboxes with applications, or worse, job postings are left open for weeks, failing to yield promising applicants. In both cases, the amount of resources thrown at finding the best candidates only continues to increase.

However, successful hiring teams are combating these challenges by proactively building communities of people with common interests and skillsets ahead of demand. This expedites the hiring process and nurtures relationships with talented professionals for future job opportunities. The question is…where do you start?

To answer this question, we spoke with Hung Lee on our Hiring Success podcast. Hung is a recruiter and influencer in the Talent Acquisition (TA) space and—as the creator of the Recruiting Brainfood newsletter—knows a thing or two about building communities. After all, his TA bulletin circulates to over 14,000 subscribers every week. Find out how Hung’s newsletter found success and why candidate community building is a must for the modern-day recruiter. 

Listen to the full episode—featuring a thought-provoking conversation with Anita Grantham of Pluralsight—over on Spotify and Apple Podcasts

How did Recruiting Brainfood start?

In the beginning, there was no strategy behind it. It was a vague idea inspired by the fact that the internet got so noisy and so big that it was very difficult for me personally to find the great bits of recruiting content as a consumer. I knew there was great stuff out there, but it was swamped by everything surrounding it. I started bookmarking articles and eventually, I realized that I had collected a bunch of great content. I was getting value from this and thought if I were to share it with others, maybe they could get value out of it as well. The Internet got too big and Recruiting Brainfood was my attempt to make it smaller.

Was there ever a moment where you doubted the newsletter would find success?

Not a single person read the first newsletter. I had no subscribers, so no one actually received it when I sent it out. I was a bit worried, but I went back to the drawing board, did more promotion, and when I pushed out the second one a few hundred people were reading it. I would gain around one subscriber per week and it would be the most exciting moment ever. At the same time, growth wasn’t the primary objective. The foundation was built on providing interesting and useful content for recruiters, and I think that is what made the newsletter a success. If I was looking for immediate wins or immediate audience then I would have bailed a long time ago. It did take about half a year before people started to pay attention, but then large numbers of people began signing up, reading it, and talking about it. 

Why do you think that it takes six months of consistency before people are really willing to give you the time?

When you are promoting content, the goal is to create an audience. You are asking people to spare their time for you, which—for them—is very precious. The first thing is to clearly signal that the content is around to stay. A newsletter or any type of series isn’t a one-time event; anything that is subscription-based is not a single purchase or transaction. 

This is why consistency is crucial, which then directly translates into trust. The same is true of human behavior. If you had a friend where you couldn’t predict their mood or behaviors between Monday and Friday, it is quite difficult to imagine a long-term relationship with that person. A good friend is someone who is going to be solid and predictable in some respect that you can rely on. This builds the foundation of that relationship and that is the key to audience building—they need to trust that you are going to be there.

A quote you often use in conferences or presentations is “Attention is the currency of the digital age.” How does it relate to recruiting?

It refers back to this idea that we are all in a permanently distracted state. The folks listening to this podcast right now, I guarantee you, are also looking at least one, maybe two different screens at the same time. When attention becomes scarce, it becomes valuable. Right now there is real competition for candidates’ attention. If you manage to get someone’s attention then that is the opportunity. That is when you can have a solo conversation or communicate—opportunities emerge from that. 

Without that attention, you can’t start a sales process, a relationship, or a plan. As a result, there is substantial competition between recruiters for candidates’ interest. Companies utilize ad notifications and other marketing tricks but it creates chaos, this huge noise. It is actually much more powerful if people step towards you rather than if you interrupt them. 

How do you think you can reach out without adding to the noise? 

Recruiters who need to interact with candidates can employ two broad techniques. The first technique is what I call the ‘stand out from the crowd’ technique. This is when you send personalized emails and make sure you follow up. Other strategies include sending a rich media message instead of a text-based email, which is the predominant way in which today’s recruiters try to interact with candidates. My view of it is that these things might be incrementally effective, but overall they contribute to the noise. At some point, every time you reach out you add to the cacophony, which ultimately pushes that technique towards the end of its effectiveness. 

The other broad technique is to create a type of community or audience where people willingly seek you out. Once you have that, then you realize that you don’t really need to rely on marketing tricks to have a conversation. A good example was when you wanted me as a guest on this podcast. There was no need to send me a long email with arguments as to why I should be here. A short email or text was all that was necessary because we already had built a relationship and already had some social capital.

The future of recruiting is going to rely on recruiters who are able to build strong relationships with large numbers of candidates before the need to hire. One of the major problems we have in recruitment is that it is a very transactional relationship. Recruiters have a role they need to fill in that exact moment and that is the only reason why they are interested in speaking with the candidate. 

This relationship is not reciprocal because recruiters are not there when candidates need them. However, I do believe we’re heading towards more equitable relationships between recruiters and candidates. The expectations of recruiters are beginning to change with the increased use of recruitment marketing and candidate relationship management tools, but there still needs to be changes in how recruiters are compensated and measured in terms of performance. In the future, we will see skilled recruiters who are judged on their ability to build communities of talented people interested in working at a particular company or a specific position.

Learn more from leaders like Hung lee in the next part of the podcast series where we find out how to master talent attraction with Celinda Appleby, the Global Talent Attraction Director of Visa

How one school is utilizing HR tech to hire incredible teachers that truly make a difference.

America’s public schools face many challenges, from funding to keeping up with rapid innovation in other industries. Today, the number of teachers is dwindling, with enrollment in US teaching programs falling by 15 percent between 2006 and 2015, leaving many to wonder how schools will find quality educators to prepare the next generation for future challenges.

With the literal future at stake, many schools are stepping up to the challenge by harnessing tech to find the next crop of inspirational educators. One such institution achieving success in rocky terrain is Uncommon Schools, the public charter school whose handy use of tech successfully scaled their employer brand and advertising reach to attract, select, and hire educators to staff all of their 54 locations in six cities across the Northeast.

The results speak for themselves, with 99 percent of Uncommon School’s students being accepted into four-year colleges since 1997, and 76 percent of students earning—or are on track to earn—a bachelor’s degree. This is an amazing feat, considering that 82 percent of the students they serve come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. 

We caught up with Amanda Craft, Senior Director of Recruitment for Uncommon schools, at Hiring Success 19 to discover the recruiting strategy that finds teachers who produce such outstanding results. 

If you want to learn more about Hiring Success EU – Amsterdam, September 10-11, 2019, check out our agenda here!

What are the challenges that your schools face when hiring teachers?

Right now we’re in the midst of a national teacher shortage. There are more teachers leaving the profession than entering, so we have to be both creative and competitive to bring in the top talent and get them excited about coming to our schools.

Diversity is also very important to us, especially since 95 percent of our students are black or Latino, and 85 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.  According to a John Hopkins University study, students of color who have at least one teacher of color in elementary schools are more likely to pursue a college education. So, we place a strong emphasis on recruiting people of color to join our team and lead our schools. It is super important to us that our students see themselves reflected in the people who teach, lead, and guide them. I am proud to say that over 50 percent of our teachers and staff are people of color, compared to a national average of just 18 percent. 

How do you navigate these issues?

We’re doing a lot of brand awareness. We are making sure that people know that our schools are committed to being both joyful and rigorous, full of love and learning, and fiercely dedicated to closing the achievement gap. We also ensure that aspiring and experienced educators know our schools are great places for people looking to develop their craft and grow professionally in a strong teaching environment.

How is your team leveraging HR tech in this process?

Since we’re hiring for over 50 schools, and the majority of our candidates are millennials, technology has become a huge part of our recruiting process. HR technology helps us advertize our job postings and digital branding across platforms like LinkedIn, Handshake, and Glassdoor—all through our SmartRecruiters Talent Acquisition Suite (TAS). 

…And what results have you seen thus far?

Since we implemented our new HR technology, we’ve seen a 95 percent increase in applications in the first 30 days after launch. We’ve seen a 60 percent increase in applications and triple the number of leads collected at career fairs. We’ve also doubled the number of conversions from staff referrals into applications. In part, a lot of this success is due to features like automated email messages sent to candidates saying, ‘We’re so excited you’re interested. If you fill out an application, it’ll increase your chances of getting a job.’ That is happening without my recruiter needing to go in and decide who should receive an email.

Additionally, we’ve significantly diversified our sources and improved our job board integrations since using SmartRecruiters. The overall result has not only been an increase in application volume but also the quality – We’ve seen a 93% increase in the number of teacher candidates who qualified for an interview compared to last year despite needing to fill fewer openings.

How has your organization’s candidate experience changed?

Filling out the application is much easier. We’ve already seen an increase in application completions since we implemented SmartRecruiters versus what we were doing before. Furthermore, we now use scorecards and reviews to ensure consistency of interviews across our regions.  We have made it so that when we are hiring someone in Newark they have the same candidate experience as someone in New York City and we’re looking at the same criteria to evaluate both candidates. One of the ways we are eliminating biases is with an objective candidate and interview experience. 

What are you looking at in terms of optimization going into the future?

We’re capturing more data about each candidate through the full-cycle recruitment process. Our long-term goal is to connect the lead and applicant information to how successful the new hire is in the classroom. In the end, we could potentially source more great teachers by tracking all of the information to where we found them and what motivated them to apply.

Any reflections on recruiting in the education industry?

If you don’t have the right people in the building, you’re never going to be successful. The number one indicator of a student’s future is the adult in front of the classroom. The teacher is an essential factor in a student’s ability to grasp a concept or master a standard. Once a school attracts and retains those key difference makers, they have the ability to coach and develop other teachers, as well as create a strong culture that allows students to flourish. 

People are the backbone of any organization. That is undoubtedly true in education, Uncommon Schools and almost any organization for that matter.

See more from leaders like Amanda in the next part of the blog series – 10 Things I learned at Hiring Success – where we find out what it is like hiring for a global industry in transition with Jonathan Mears of Visa

Finding the right talent for your organization has become almost as difficult as saving private Ryan, luckily we know some TA Generals.

Coined by McKinsey’s Steven Hankin in 1997, the term ‘war for talent’ has become synonymous with the market conditions that have led to fierce competition between companies to attract and retain talented employees. This phenomenon will only increase at a time when too few workers are available to replace the baby boomers now departing the workforce in advanced economies.

A whopping 82 percent of companies don’t believe they recruit highly talented people. For companies that do, only seven percent think they can keep them.

For tech companies like Devoteam, a French IT service company, they are the ones storming the beaches in search of top talent to bring into their organizations. Spread out over 18 countries across Europe, they have developed specific strategies to gain ground in the cutthroat world of Talent Acquisition (TA) where 73 percent of candidates are passive and top candidates only stay available on the market for 10 days.

One of the people spearheading these endeavors is Matthieu Rivière the TA director for Devoteam. He has seen first-hand the fight to recruit talented individuals for his international teams and the importance of having the right firepower like candidate engagement and experience.

We caught up with Matthieu Rivière at  Hiring Success 19, where this TA general shared with us some of his experiences in the trenches of TA and how he thinks his company can win the War for Talent.

If you want to learn more about Hiring Success EU – Amsterdam, September 10-11, 2019, check out our agenda here!

What is it like on the frontlines of the War for Talent?

As a tech company, we understand that it is a war and that means competing for highly skilled technical people with all other types of companies. 

The struggle to attract people becomes even more difficult because we specialize in consulting, so most people would rather work in a startup or one of the well-known tech brands. Therefore our main challenges boil down to being able to engage with passive candidates, start conversations with them, and then create a preference in their minds to choose us as an employer. 

Then, on top of all that, our recruitment volume requires more than 2000 people a year and our average employee turnover is two to four years. In general, it is a very difficult environment to succeed in.

How does your team confront these challenges?

As a service company, providing the best customer experience is our main priority. This idea translates to recruitment in the form of candidate experience. And, at the end of the day, creating a top of the line candidate experience is good for us as well as it allows us to be more selective and acquire the best talent.

As far as the specifics of our recruiting function, each country is specialized in a particular type of candidate profile. Half of our IT specialists are in France so the team there will be made up solely of IT recruiters. In other locations, we have TA  teams focused on finding project managers or Java developers.

In general, everybody is involved – even the sales teams are committed to sourcing candidates and engaging them in the recruitment process – working closely with the recruitment team for sourcing and employer branding.

How do you expect to win the War for Talent?

The strategies to ‘win’ are becoming more and more based on marketing. We have to engage as many people as we can and convert them into candidates – much the same way you would convert a lead into a client. 

Candidate experience will continue to be paramount, and for that, we will continue to use a mix of digital and physical components. From our point of view, everyone who works here is an ambassador of our employee brand, and having everyone involved really makes a difference.

The tools we use and our Applicant Tracking System (ATS) are crucial to our success. Without the system capabilities such as candidate feedback on the hiring process, texting options, and easy integration to social media platforms like LinkedIn, I don’t know where we would be. 

We are lucky to have a tool with such a great user experience that anyone can pick up because, as I mentioned before, even the sales team may source some candidates or hire them for a job. This aspect and a truly flexible solution made it easy to implement the SmartRecruiters technology in each country despite the different offices or recruiting team structures. 

In the end, we are positioning ourselves to succeed with our candidate marketing techniques and having technology that’s adaptable to any situation.

See more from leaders like Matthieu in the next part of the blog series – 10 Things I learned at Hiring Success – where we find out what it is like maintaining a brick and mortar store against the waves of digitalization.

Recruiting is constantly evolving and companies need to reevaluate the value they put on talent and technology.

Founded in 1946 in Troy, Michigan, Kelly Services pioneered the concept of ‘temp workers’ when they began connecting growing companies with readily available office employees in the post-war economic boom. Today, as one of the largest staffing firms in the world, the company provides a veritable bouquet of services in specialty areas from education to engineering.

One of the reasons Kelly Services has continued to lead the market is the organization’s commitment to agility, as well as its ability to leverage technology to consistently deliver amazing results in an ever-changing labor market. 

Part of the Kelly Services team driving this future-facing strategy is Tim Pröhm, VP of Digital Product Development. It’s Tim’s responsibility to discover and understand the up and coming digital trends in the world of Talent Acquisition (TA). And, after over two decades of experience in the trenches of  TA and recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), he’s up to the task!

We caught up with Tim at  Hiring Success 19 – San Francisco, where this leader shared with us what he’s seeing in TA now, and his recommendations for the future of recruiting.

If you want to learn more about the next Hiring Success EU – Amsterdam, September 10-11, 2019, check out our agenda here!

In your experience, what do organizations need in order to succeed in the current landscape of TA?

Nowadays, every organization understands talent scarcity and they know they need to compete for talent. I think the ‘how‘ of it is three-pronged: creating an employer brand that speaks to their target audience, optimizing processes through the intelligent use of technology, and leveraging pinpoint solutions to find that person that will contribute the most to their organization.

What are some of the challenges that are ‘top of mind’ for TA today?

The biggest question I’m seeing is, ‘How can I attract passive candidates?’ In the past, you could simply post a job ad and people would actively apply. Now, that talent is scarce, people simply don’t apply, so you need to go in front of talent, you need to make sure you advertise your brand and really transfer a compelling value proposition.

This is something where traditional TA organizations say they struggle because they don’t do that from an outsourcing and RPO perspective. The best organizations have shifted their focus to attracting and approaching candidates as one of their main functions and that is something that will continue to be important.

Is TA finally in the boardroom?

The saying, ‘TA needs a place at the table’ has been tossed around for a long time. Companies realize access to talent is critical and if they don’t have the right talent in their organizations, they are going to struggle to achieve their business objectives.

On the other end, I think that TA is becoming more complex than ever before, especially with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).  There is talk of some companies not wanting to hire permanent employees, and are instead looking to the gig economy and the ‘human cloud‘ for solutions.

There are a lot of changes happening in the marketplace in the ways people want to work, how you get in contact with people, and how you can attract them to your organization. So, from an HR/TA perspective, you really need to make sure that you have a good strategy in place and can make strategic recommendations to the board, and the CEO of the organization. Talent was once commodity, but that’s not the case anymore.

What has been your experience with the trends in HR technology and where do you see them going?

Fifteen years ago,  it was much more about process optimization, now it’s about technological optimization. Today, when you go to conferences, the question is ‘how can I find that new niche technology that helps me to get a competitive advantage when fighting for talent for my brand?’

A few years back, the biggest innovation was the ATS. Now, there is talk about chatbots, artificial intelligence, and how TA can utilize blockchain… All this didn’t really exist three years ago. Everything is digital now and I think the speed of change from a technology perspective will increase even more.

If you had one piece of advice to give TA leaders, what would it be?

I’d say get your processes in order so you can automate. I think automation is one of the biggest things for the future. Talent no longer waits, so if you have a two week or more decision process, people are going to go somewhere else. I think based on that, a lot of TA functions don’t really have a straight process flow in place today, and they don’t think about making them automatic. That’s a mistake…

See more from leaders like Tim in the next part of the blog series – 10 Things I learned at Hiring Success – where we find out what it is like on the front lines of the war on talent with Matthieu Rivière of Devoteam.

For an industry in transition, recruiting is the secret ingredient for agility.

American Iron and Metal (AIM) is a fast-growing recycling company in Canada. With a footprint in six countries, they employ over 3,000 people and are looking to become the largest recycler in North America.

As the company seeks to expand, the talent acquisition (TA) team has grown from three to 12 in a year. And what these recruiters have quickly realized is that they would have to overhaul their hiring practices to facilitate the company’s growth and expansion goals.

At a time when the manufacturing industry has been experiencing many challenges such as outsourcing, automation, a trade skills gap, and low population density near factory locations. It is an industry in transition and AIM sees upgrading its hiring processes as the linchpin towards successful transformation.

To learn more, we talked with Caroline Boyce, the company’s director of TA, about her team’s strategic plans to source and hire in this new industry landscape.

As part of the ten-part series “Ten Things I learned at Hiring Success” we catch up with Caroline at Hiring Success 19 San Francisco, this is what we learned about American Iron and Metal’s overhaul.

Set the stage for us. What was hiring like at AIM previously?

We are a manufacturing company, so an easy application process is key to getting great talent to apply. However, the application used to take 30 minutes for someone who wasn’t used to working with a computer – the whole process was very heavy for the candidates. On top of that, our work was spread out through an applicant tracking system (ATS), job boards, and even spreadsheets.

We were really excited to have one system that would allow candidates to apply with a few clicks and would have all the information in the same place, which is what we found with SmartRecruiters.

What would you like to see happen with the recruiting function within your company?

The biggest change is going to be to increase our hiring manager engagement in the process. Right now we are recruiting 1,000 people every year with only 12 recruiters centralized in Montreal. So, one of the goals is to decentralize our recruitment and get more internal ambassadors. This will help our hiring team become more involved with recruitment.

As a manufacturing company, do you hire for many specialized skills?

We hire for many specialized skills in maintenance and mechanics. Some of these positions include crane mechanics, labor workers, and even IT. We hire for everything in manufacturing.

How do you feel more hiring manager engagement will help make hiring for those specific roles easier?

I think more engagement will ensure a great candidate experience for all our applicants. We are also taking a three-pronged approach by investing in our employer branding, culture, and technology.  

Candidate experience is so important these days because most job searches are painful and stressful for the applicant. Nobody calls them back or employers are ghosting them. My wish is that we create a great candidate experience that applicants actually enjoy. So even if they have multiple offers, they say, ‘hey, it went smoothly with AIM, I love the culture, I want to sign with them.’

See more from leaders like Caroline in the next part of the blog series – 10 Things I learned at Hiring Success – where we gain insights into the future of recruiting with Tim Pröhm of Kelly Services. Also, make sure to join us at the next Hiring Success EU – Amsterdam that takes place, September 10-11, 2019.