There is no shortage of pros willing to wax lyrical on the latest developments in HR tech. According to RecruitingDaily President William Tincup, however, what’s more interesting is what they’re not telling us.

As head of the number-one source of HR news on the net, William Tincup straddles the confluence of HR and tech, delivering daily updates to an eager audience looking to get a grip on the constantly shifting world of recruiting. Given his unique position and experience, William writes and talks about the recruitment world with an honest objectivity that’s often lacking in a sector dominated by big name companies and endless hype.

And William doesn’t just restrict his knowledge to RecruitingDaily, he also acts on the board of advisors to numerous companies, both in the US and across the globe.

Along with many other HR thought leaders, William Tincup joined us at Hiring Success 18 to share his insights with other TA professionals who eagerly absorbed his wealth of knowledge about the recruiting industry. For those who missed out, here is a free sampling of Mr. Tincup’s musings. 

What does the concept of Hiring Success mean to you?

Hiring Success, to me, is about speed to value and the longtail retention of top talent. We need to hire to our values, candidates need to convert to employees (dare I say ‘raving fans’) quickly. Employees need to add value to the firm in a rapid fashion, and the top talent needs to stay with the firm (which all starts with hiring the right people). That value chain sounds easy but we all know it’s not.  

Where should “recruitment” be on a CEO’s list of priorities ?

In my experience, CEOs must establish the values, morals, and ethics of the firm, then live by them. Moreover, they must hold everyone to the same standards. Again, sounds easy, but it isn’t. How this ties to recruiting is simple: hire to your values, screen for competence and train/skill up as needed.   

Who was/is your biggest professional influence and why?

Sam Walton. Humble. Brilliant. Lived by a code called Sam’s Rules.

• Motivate your partners. Money and ownership alone aren’t enough.
• Commit to your business. Believe in it more than anybody else.
• Share your profits with all your associates, and treat them as partners.
• Exceed your customers’ expectations. They’ll come back over and over.
• Celebrate your success. Find some humor in your failures. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Loosen up and everybody around you will, too.
• Control your expenses better than your competition. This is where you can always find the competitive advantage.
• Communicate everything you possibly can with your partners. The more they know, the more they’ll understand, the more they’ll care. Once they care, there’s no stopping them.
• Appreciate everything your associates do for the business. A paycheck and a stock option will buy one of a kind loyalty. But all of us like to be told how much somebody appreciates what we do for them.
• Swim Upstream. Ignore conventional wisdom. If everybody else is doing it one way, there’s a good chance you can find a niche by going in exactly the opposite direction.
• Listen to everyone in your company. And figure out ways to get them talking to the folks on the front lines… the ones who actually talk to the customer are the only ones who really know what’s going on out there.

These “rules” were developed in the 1970s, and from department managers to the CEO of Wal-Mart, they all live by them. Sadly, Sam died in 1992. The company flourished with him at the helm and also since he’s been gone. How many companies in the world can say that? How many us live by a code?  

What do you think will be the defining feature of recruitment in 5 years?

Career mobility. Meaning, the ability for people to effortlessly work how, where, when, and for whom they want. Think of it in these terms. What if the players on any given sports team were decided the week before the game? Like in fantasy football, you arrange your team for the desired outcome, after “the game/project” you rearrange the team. Candidates will drive most innovation in recruitment technology.

How will they affect your average hiring manager? What will their day look like?

Adapt or die. Hiring managers need to stop thinking in myopic terms of full-time or part-time. They need to embrace the fluidity of talent. If they don’t, they run the risk of going the way of the fax machine — still kind of useful but mostly overlooked and forgotten.

Artificial intelligence is big talking point in many industries. What kind of challenges can you foresee in terms of its widespread implementation and acceptance?

Most of the discourse of AI is hype or best intentions at best. The proof in the pudding of AI is not about insight, it’s about action (which is derived from insight). It should connect the dots that I couldn’t see and then tell me what to do next. When someone can show me examples of that AI, then we’ll be on the right side of the hype wave. I personally view AI as being in the embryonic phase. It will grow up, attend Stanford, have a healthy life and add a ton of value. It’s just a bit early to be talking about Stanford while AI is still in the womb.  

Do you think there are other important tech developments brewing which aren’t being spoken about?

Tons. We’ll never hear the greatest stories of recruitment, as firms are smart about what they share publicly and what is a true competitive advantage. Recruitment, if done extraordinarily well, is a defensible competitive advantage. So, why would Coke put forth the formula for Coke for anyone to copy? They don’t. They won’t. So, we’re left with the stories that can get told, where moderate innovations are made. However, anyone really great, really innovative, they’re purposely hiding from us. Probably laughing at us. Laughing at what we get wrong and how they have it figured out.

What are the most urgent problems that need to be addressed in the recruitment industry?

Real honest transparency about the positions we’re filling, the actual values of the firm, the unwritten rules of the firm, and the real work environment. Essentially, we need to be brutally honest with our candidates — herpes and all. They can handle the truth, they want and deserve the truth. The question is, are we willing to tell the truth as opposed to the Disneyland version of the job and company via — ahem — our symphonic employer branding efforts.

As we all know, tech conferences can be fun, if slightly nerve-wracking, affairs. Sure, they’ll be plenty of networking, chatting and partying, but you’ll also likely be running around, desperately trying to squeeze every last drop of goodness from the proceedings.

Your success in such endeavors will largely depend on two things: First, the quality of the conference in question, and second, how you personally navigate the various conference halls and networking events.

For SmartRecruiters’ upcoming Hiring Success 18 conference, we’ll handle the first of those two elements, while the second is up to you. Luckily, we’ve got a veteran conference connoisseur, William Tincup, to give you a hand on planning your Hire18 strategy.

As President of RecruitingDaily, William certainly knows a thing or two about attending, and speaking at, tech conferences. As a confirmed speaker for Hire18, we took the opportunity to quiz him on conference etiquette, and ask what he expects to see trending in 2018.

How important are tech conferences and HR events for the industry in general?

They are extremely important to HR, recruiting, hiring managers and executives of any firm. Talent is the business of ANY business, ahem, let me say that again — talent IS the business. So the more we know (about hiring success) the better we become. The better we become (at hiring success) the more the value of the business increases. Meaning, we need to start thinking of recruiting as a competitive advantage for the companies we represent. So with that as the backdrop, what else could possibly be MORE important than those few days?

Fair enough. With that in mind, what are your favorite things about conferences such as Hire18?

Meeting new people, hearing new stories. I know what I know. I want to know things I do not know. I’m a greedy bastard – I mean, career learner – in that way. I’m a storyteller and I learn via storytelling. That’s the best thing about important gatherings like this for me, the stories.

If you were talking to a person who is attending their first big tech conference, what advice would you give them in order to get the most out of it?

Leave your electronics at home. Work will be there when you get back. Go all in and go to every session you can. Attend every networking occasion that you can – breakfast, lunch, dinners, coffee breaks, etc. Really maximize your experience, meet new people, talk with them about what’s keeping you up at night and learn what’s keeping them up. Share your best practices freely with anyone that will listen. And for those lacking common sense; wear comfortable shoes, drink lots of water, and don’t get drunk and make an ass of yourself. No one likes that guy.

What are some big conference no-nos to avoid?

Wear name badges. I know, no one looks great with a giant lanyard jacking up their attire but, it makes it easier to talk with folks you don’t know (and in my case, sometimes people I’ve known for years). This will sound a little parental but don’t stay out late, don’t sleep in and/or miss sessions. This isn’t a vacation – it’s where you advance your career. That’s how you should treat it at least. Now, that said, I might have a shot a Patron or two but I have a wooden leg, so do as I say, not as I do.

In your mind, what are the ingredients of a great, successful conference?

Keynotes, which are supposed to be three things: (1) educational, (2) inspirational, and (3) entertaining. So expect that out of those sessions. Be sure to visit the partners at the conference. They are paying big bucks to be there but that’s not the reason to spend time with them. The real reason is that you want to see cool new tech and this is a lovely opportunity to do so. So grab a branded frisbee or a flash drive and demo cool software. I’d also suggest that you seek out speakers and talk with them when they’re not on stage. For example, Bill Boorman is speaking at Hire18, Bill literally knows more about global recruiting than anyone I know. He’s British yet oddly approachable. So, seek Bill out and talk him up.

What do you think will be the biggest talking points of Hire18?

Well, I’ll be looking for two things; (1) real use cases where folks are using some of the oft-mentioned technological advancements – AI, chatbots, blockchain – not just for insight but where said insight actually leads them to action – and/or tells them what to do – and (2) real use cases where folks have combined different apps across talent acquisition to reduce friction while getting quality, cost, experience, and speed right.

In my opinion, it’s not enough to integrate recruiting technology. It has to be integrated in a way where six things can happen simultaneously: (1) increase in quality of hire, (2) increase in speed of hire, (3) decrease in recruiting costs, (4) candidates love the experience/process, (5) recruiters love the experience/process, and, (6) hiring managers love the experience/process. That’s the goal, I want to hear those stories. 

Which of these aforementioned emerging technologies do you think has the biggest potential for recruitment?

Bots are probably the easiest for people to understand, build, deploy and see the value. AI is all about the long tail. As for potential, most advancements in recruiting technology have potential, but potential alone doesn’t guarantee success. Think of all these advancements like tools in a toolbox. You still need to know how to hammer a penny nail. Meaning, part of this “potential” is about understanding, and part of it is about experimenting with said tools. Lastly, we’re in the embryonic phase of all these advancements.

A year has now passed since Hire17. How has the recruitment industry changed in that time?

The noticeable change in the last 18 months is that we’ve gone from “kind of” talking about AI, (machine learning, NLP, and bots) to every conversation being dominated by our new normal. I think the fear of these technology advancements permeated the industry but that tension has seemed to lessen over the last year.

Obviously, it’s natural to fear advancements in tech. If you owned a horse and buggy shop when cars were first invented, you probably thought it was a fad and/or that it wouldn’t impact your life/business. I think most recruiters first thought AI would displace them and/or render them useless. Nowadays, I think most logical and reasonable recruiters have started to think of AI as a partner in their efforts to recruit the best and brightest talent.

Hiring Success 18 is due to take place in San Francisco, March 12-14. Grab your tickets and check out the agenda here.

As a recruitment guru, Paige prides herself on learning from every conversation. And considering Paige has worked for the likes of SAP SuccessFactors, Amazon, and T-Mobile, as well as in vendor-side implementation and product development, you can rest assured she’s had had some pretty insightful conversations about talent acquisition.

Now, as part of Recruitment Technology Consulting, she uses that wealth of knowledge to help both large and small companies match their recruitment goals, whether it concerns finding the right piece of technology or reworking their internal processes.

Luckily, attendees to this year’s Hiring Success 18 conference can also take advantage of her unique experience and gregarious attitude.Register here! Paige is one of the confirmed expert speakers in San Francisco from March 12th – 14th, but before then, let’s get to know her a little better with a SmartRecruiters interview.

What does the concept of Hiring Success mean to you?

Companies achieve success in hiring when they’ve struck the right balance in hiring the people that will make the most difference to their business, whose employment most significantly impacts their local and global communities.

Corporations, governments, and society have grown increasingly entwined, and meaningful employment is one of the most significant factors in developing and maintaining social stability across the globe.

Companies have both a fiduciary duty to do right by their shareholders and an ethical duty to do right by their communities. Healthy, aware companies work to equip their talent pool, develop skill sets that they can draw upon in future hiring, and employ the widest population possible to drive community growth while ensuring business success.

Where on a CEO’s list of priorities should “recruitment” be?

Hang around with me long enough and you’ll inevitably hear me say, “All problems are recruiting problems.” Time and time again I’ve seen that top companies make recruiting their number-one priority. Every critical business decision, every task, goal, and accomplishment, literally every element that allows a CEO to deliver on their commitments comes down to having the right people making those decisions and executing on those plans.

I also believe that recruiting isn’t something done once, but that companies need to constantly be re-recruiting their existing internal talent on a daily basis; that is, making sure they’re in roles that stretch them, that they find rewarding, and allow them to make a significant impact – the same drivers you focus on so intensively during hiring.

Who was/is your biggest professional influence and why?

Whoever I’m speaking with at the moment. That isn’t to say I’m easily swayed, but I am utterly intrigued by the professional experiences and challenges each person has faced, both in their commonalities and in their distinctive differences. I am all-in on every new conversation I have so that I can learn something I didn’t know before, gain a new perspective, and add to my overall understanding of the recruiting marketplace. That’s as true for recruiting professionals as it is for candidates. I’m a terror to sit next to on a plane because all I want to do is quiz the person next to me about their experiences with talent acquisition! Everyone has a story, and every story fills in a new piece of the puzzle.

What do you think will be the defining feature of recruitment in five years?

I believe that in five years, candidates will demand personal relationships with recruiters that are fully invested in their long-term career progression and life success, expect radical transparency and training from the organizations where they currently and might someday work, and will refuse to participate in supply-chain style recruiting processes that aim principally to automate recruiting at the cost of deeply personal differentiation.  

Consumer technology is already used to facilitate rather than replace meaningful human contact, and people who have come to expect autonomy, personal control and human connection in their daily lives will accept no less from the enterprises that seek to employ them.  The recruiters who will thrive in this world are those that are willing to take on the commitment of placing the candidates’ overall best interests above their own short-term hiring goals. The recruiter’s emotional labor of building and maintaining those types of truly meaningful relationships will be significantly more highly valued than it is today, becoming the central drive of new processes, practices, and rewards within the recruiting industry.

How will they affect your average hiring manager? What will their day look like?

Without getting too deep into the details of how I think this will occur, I see a world where hiring managers will have near-immediate access to the top three to five candidates who have star potential in the open role. I expect that, for many roles, hiring managers will have less input into the quantifiable details (such as education and experience) of the hiring profile and will instead be challenged to take greater risks by hiring non-traditional candidates who pose a greater possible reward to the company.

How will emerging technology change the role of the recruiter? How might they have to adapt in the future?

In addition to the obvious efficiency gains, emerging technologies will create a “knowability” around candidates that is currently ephemeral and elusive.  It will supplement intuition with previously-inaccessible substantiated reality, challenge biases and bad assumptions, and plumb the depths of candidates’ motivations and goals. It will clear paths for candidates who want to enter new fields, provide recruiting management the insight necessary to support ambitious recruiting tactics, and encourage recruiters to build daring talent pools and candidate relationships.

What are the most common mistakes you see companies make in regards to recruitment?

All problems are recruiting problems! Having the wrong people in recruitment roles perpetuates problems in recruiting practice and process. Hiring recruiting teams who are experts in their field, who are unafraid of change, who build strong partnerships with their lines of business, who exchange guesswork for data, who trim inefficient processes and who treat candidates with humanity and respect, that is key to successful recruiting.

What are the most urgent problems that need to be addressed in the recruitment industry?

In all but the very best recruiting teams, candidates are treated as a commodity.  Systems and processes are designed around it, hiring manager and interview team behaviors are predicated on it, and it drives common practices across the world.  This has perpetuated problems such as the application black hole, the purple squirrel job description, poor candidate experience, lack of hiring manager responsiveness to shortlists, and many of the challenges recruiters face in their day to day jobs. Moving away from the commodification of talent industry-wide will drive a wildly different and innovative approach to recruitment on all levels.

Looking to improve your coding, find a job, and have fun all at the same time? Well, a Bay Area CEO and founder has the tool for you: CodeFights.

Founded in 2014 by Tigran Sloyan, CodeFights is the startup behind an addictive game which allows coders to test their skills and connect to employers quickly, easily and, perhaps most revolutionary of all, enjoyably. It’s designed to be used by coders of all levels, meaning if you’re a newbie hoping to get into the industry, or a veteran looking to hone their skills and prove their worth, CodeFights could be for you.

Sounds like a good idea, right? A lot of coders would agree. Since launching, CodeFights now boasts a community of over one million developers in 200 countries.

Of course, Tigran’s idea doesn’t just end at a fun coding distraction. He realizes CodeFights also presents a huge opportunity to employers looking to hire in a competitive business. A candidate’s resume and CV might tell you about their previous work experience, but how can you quickly and effectively test their skills at scale? CodeFights adds a level of practical assessment to your recruiting process.

Tigran is one of the HR visionaries we are proud to invite to this year’s Hiring Success 18 conference, San Francisco March 12th – 14th. You’ll need to register to attend his ‘Measuring Talent’ session, although you can enjoy some preliminary insights in the interview below:

What does the concept of Hiring Success mean to you?

I believe hiring great people is the most important predictor of a company’s success. The secret is always in the right execution, not the idea.

Where on your list of priorities is “recruitment”?

It’s always my number-one priority.

Who was/is your biggest professional influence and why?

I am a big fan of CEO books, and have been reading books by, or about some, of the most influential CEOs. From Steve Jobs to Elon Musk and Jack Ma — I have pretty much read them all. But the CEO I admire the most is Jeff Bezos. He has the ability to focus and execute flawlessly, while planning almost 10 years ahead in his strategic decisions.

What do you think will be the defining feature of recruitment in five years? How will it look?

Data. I believe recruiting is a classic marketplace problem. The reason no one’s built an Uber for Recruiting yet is that matchmaking is incredibly hard in this marketplace. The only thing that can make it possible with a high degree of accuracy is data. So I believe in the next five years we will see companies emerge that have very high-quality data about both jobs and candidates, enabling it to create a truly liquid talent marketplace.

What inspired you to combine gamification and coding in CodeFights?

I am a big believer that doing almost anything can be fun if it’s designed the right way. And first and foremost, learning and professional development MUST be fun. For more details, please see here.

How do you see the concept expanding beyond coding and recruitment?

The core technology behind CodeFights can quantify programming skills and automatically measure them. That enables us to create an engaging environment in which developers can practice for technical interviews, as well as give companies the tools they need to recruit qualified talent. This core tech can be extended to pretty much every objectively measurable skill, and the same model can be copy-pasted to those other verticals.

What advice would you give an employer thinking of adding an assessment layer to their recruitment process?

The most important part of adding an assessment layer is measuring the right skills. It’s not that hard to create some sort of an assessment layer, but if that assessment layer measures skills that aren’t relevant to the job, the whole process after that will be a waste of everyone’s time.

What will the emergence of new technologies mean for the average hiring manager? What will their day look like?

It will be far more efficient. These days hiring is a guessing game. No one knows who’s interested in what kind of opportunities and no one knows who’s qualified for which job. Once both of those problems are solved, you can spend far less time connecting with candidates that aren’t a good fit, and focus your attention on recruiting those few highly qualified candidates. After all, the art of recruiting is about convincing candidates that the job you’re offering them is the best possible choice. It’s not about spamming, and it’s not about keywords based matching.

The Hiring Success 18 conference is rapidly approaching and, of course, we’ll have all the top speakers, influencers and professionals you’d expect from HR tech’s biggest event. On top of all that, we’ve also planned something rather special.

SmartRecruiters will break new ground in the HR-tech space by launching our first annual Hiring Success hackathon. The event, which runs from March 13th-14th, will see 10 teams of SmartRecruiters customers going under the hood, and head-to-head, to create the next great SmartRecruiters feature.

Jumping into a hackathon can be a daunting prospect, especially if you’re not a master developer or coder. However, whereas hackathons traditionally cater towards these professions, SmartRecruiters want to change things up by extending the invitation to anyone who’s ever wanted to make a change to our platform.

With that mind, we’ve compiled seven tips which will help any hackathon newbies survive, and enjoy their first time.

Develop Your Ideas In Advance

We start with perhaps the most important tip of all: prepare an idea. It doesn’t have to be a fully fledged plan with pie charts and Powerpoint slides, but you should at least come to a hackathon armed with some kind of basic premise. It could even be as basic as identifying a problem with a piece of existing software, therefore allowing you to direct the entire team’s brainwaves towards finding a solution.

Additionally, try to develop your idea into a quick and snappy elevator pitch. This will help you quickly and clearly explain it to your teammates, an important tactic in the hectic opening minutes of a hackathon.

However, do not be too precious with your idea. Let others suggest theirs, or make adjustments to yours. Perhaps they have some experience or expertise which could prove invaluable. Remember: hackathons are collaborative events.

Get a Decent Night’s Sleep

Hackathons, as the name suggests, are extended gruelling exercises design to test both your speed and endurance. Usually they’re at least 24 hours, but can run as long as 48. With this mind, it’s going to pay to get a decent night’s sleep before things kicks off. Although it’s quite possible to sleep during the event, it’s not guaranteed and any sleep you do get will not be particularly restful.

Instead, perhaps stay in and work on your idea, or even better, just chill out and watch your favorite TV show. You’re not going to get much ‘me’ time during the actual hackathon, so don’t be afraid to pamper yourself before you dive into the coding chaos.

Swot Up on Some Coding Lingo

By no means are hackathons only the domain of coders and developers. In fact, non-technical team members can often be instrumental in other ways, such as managing the project and directing team members.

Having said that, if you’re not a developer, it wouldn’t hurt to learn some of the basics of their work. This doesn’t necessarily mean writing code, but it would be helpful to know some of the lingo behind building a product. This will speed up communication and avoid you spiralling into a mire of confusion.

Keep It Simple

The objective of a hackathon is not to create a complete, glossy and expansive app. There just isn’t enough time for that. Instead, aim to create a functional product with features which clearly address the problem you identified. Not only is this easier to produce, it’s also easier to sell to the judges during your presentation.

Building a fancy product with great user experience and all the bells and whistles might look good, but there’s no guarantee it’s going to win against a basic, well-defined and functional app. In a hackathon, a working product is always better than a pretty one.

Don’t Forget To Eat, Drink and Rest

It might sound strange, but once you’re stuck into a hackathon, it’s easy forget about your basic human requirements.
Hydration, in particular, is critical to keep all your systems going. Failing to attend to this will result in sluggishness, lack of creativity and probably headaches. So, make sure you always have a bottle of water on the go. Additionally avoid energy drinks and sugary treats as much as possible. They might give you a temporary boost but in the long run you’re probably going to end up crashing.

Beer is a controversial subject. Traditionally, it goes against the above mentioned hydration rule, but for some it can improve cognitive functions – to a point. In fact, it has often been a drink of choice among coders, even leading to a phenomenon known as Ballmer’s Peak. Named after Microsoft developer Steve Ballmer, this suggests that chugging a couple of brewskies can endow the drinker with a peak in performance, although continued consumption predictably results in a massive decline. According to anecdotal evidence, the sweet spot lies somewhere around two pints. A University of Illinois study even confirmed its existence, and suggested a blood alcohol level of 0.075 is ideal. Don’t over do it though, no one likes working with a hangover.

Rest, even if it’s not full-blown slumber, is also of critical importance. If you’re struggling with a line of code, or you find your eyesight going a bit blurry, it might be time for a bit of a rest. This could be anything from a five minute wander around the room, to a 20 minute micro-sleep or an hour long extended chill-out. It might seem like a waste of time, but you will generally perform much better after returning from a break than trying to break through a wall.

Communicate

When working with any team, communication is key. This is especially true for a hackathon where you might be working with new people and in a compressed, and potentially chaotic, period of time. Of course, with only 24 hours to work you can’t afford lengthy arguments, miscommunications or continued explanations. This means, as well as being able to communicate clearly, you need to employ patience with other teammates, especially towards the end of the project.

Furthermore, if you’re feeling confused, do not be afraid to ask questions. It will make everything smoother in the long run.

Perhaps most importantly of all, don’t forget to laugh. Sure, there might be some money on the line, but at the end of the day, hackathons should be an opportunity for making new contacts, trying out ideas and having fun. Losing your patience, manners and sense of humor is the antithesis of this.

Don’t Forget To Bring The Essentials

Although food and drink is generally provided at most hackathons, you’re still going to need some vital equipment to get through the day.

Perhaps most critically of all, remember to bring your laptop, tablet or whatever other gizmo (and their chargers!) you’re going to need to get through the day – otherwise embarrassment will ensue.

If you think you are going to try and grab some shuteye during the contest, you’ll probably also want to bring a sleeping bag or blanket.

Finally, a change of clothes is probably also a good idea, especially if you have been selected to present your project to the judges. Although not essential, you (and everyone else) likely appreciate a non-funky T-shirt after a long days hacking.

Want to put these tips to the test? Well, grab your tickets for Hire18 and register for your first-ever hackathon. Head over here to find out the rules and how to get involved.

You could perhaps be forgiven for thinking ancient literature and technology are not natural bedfellows. Well, SmartRecruiters sales-whiz and ancient cultures expert, Alkestis ‘Al’ Spinou is a walking contradiction of that idea.

Alkestis, who joined SmartRecruiters in 2017, is currently Head of Sales Development for DACH – that’s Germany, Austria and Switzerland to the un-acronym-savvy out there – and works with various customers from different national and business cultures. This means, as a sales person, it’s imperative she gets to know her clients closely, making sure she is finely attuned to their requirements and delivering the best solution possible.

With Alkestis taking so much time and effort to get to know others, it only seems fair we take the time to return the favor and get to know her too with her very own SmartRecruiters interview.

So, where are you from originally?

Greece. I grew up in Athens, but my parents are from two islands towards Italy: Zakynthos and Corfu.

How does Athens compare to Berlin for you?

I think Athens needs some years to become as multicultural as Berlin. I love the fact that I got to experience different cultures here.

How would you describe your job at SmartRecruiters?

Well, I create awareness around the issue of candidate experience. The opportunity to offer someone the best interview process and make them passionate about a position and a company before they are even hired. I also try to handle each company individually: see their problems, go through them and find a solution.

In terms of candidate experience, what do you find is the most important thing candidates mention a lot?

The fact that it is quick, modern and speaks to millenials. I’ve been through that myself, of course, because we use what we sell. Candidates especially like our one-click-application: no logging in, no filling in forms, no buzzkills.

I was going to ask you what is the easiest thing to sell about SmartRecruiters. Is this it, or do you find recruiters like another aspect?

For companies it is mostly the collaboration within the teams. It includes hiring managers in the process and allows them to work together with recruiters.

A perusal of your LinkedIn shows you studied Ancient Cultures and Languages. I always think history is a good grounding for any career, but how specifically does it help you with sales?

I studied papyrology and epigraphy – which is basically deciphering ancient scripts – and although it might not seem immediately applicable to sales, there are a lot of transferable skills. Firstly, it helps to develop strong research skills which you can apply, well, practically everywhere. Not to brag, but I am a very good researcher! Also it’s very important in academia to develop excellent communication skills, and be able to pass your message across: to someone with no experience in the subject all the way up to a professor who has been in the field for twenty years. This comes in handy when talking with different companies, all of which have divergent needs and people with different backgrounds representing them.

So, if you had to give someone the top three pieces of advice to becoming a great sales person, what would you say?

First, you have to personalize your approach to each potential customer. Second, you have to develop what we call in Germany ‘Seelenruhe’ which can be translated as inner peace, or peace of soul. You need to trust that things are going to work out. Lastly, do your research. There is nothing worse in sales than not knowing who you are talking with and what problems they might be trying to tackle.

To find out more about how SmartRecruiters personalizes solutions for its users, read our in-depth customer case studies.

Ok. So, how would you describe yourself outside of your work?

That’s hard. I love languages. I love museums. I love to travel. I love going to the movies. And on my day-to-day life I enjoy going out with friends, having a nice meal and, above all, playing board games. I’m that kind of person.

Oh really? What’s your favorite board game?

Right now, it’s 7 Wonders Duel. This version is obviously only for two players. Of course, with board games it’s always the more the merrier. But with Duel, I cannot stop playing. I’m addicted.

What kind of board games do you prefer? Do you like the American action-oriented ones, or the indepth German ones where you have to build a rail network or something?

I like both depending on time. I think for a casual game, something in between would be awesome.

Something that has a good level of difficulty but doesn’t take 3 hours to explain?

Exactly.

It seems like board games are really becoming more popular now and have kind of shaken off their geeky reputation.

I have been into board games from a young age. It didn’t help through high school, but who cares. Board games are cool.

You mentioned films as well. I always think films are a good indicator of the person. So what would you say is your favorite film?

It’s really difficult… One film that comes to mind, because I watched it three or four times, is As Good As It Gets with Jack Nicholson. I also enjoyed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I cried through La vita è bella (Life Is Beautiful), a classic comedy-drama set during the war.

You like quite sad films then?

What I figured out about myself is this: if I were to pick a favorite day-to-day genre it would be sci-fi. But the film that I will definitely watch again is a feel-good-in-the-end type film. Not just romantic and pink and clouds all over but, one which shows signs of hope. Or just reminds you to be happy and grateful.

You mentioned music earlier? Are you someone who listens to music while working?

Yes. I don’t have a go-to. I sometimes listen to Greek radio. It’s got some really positive vibes, in my opinion. I have two or three stations back in Greece I listen to, so genre-wise it can be a little bit random.

So you can listen in Greek and work in English and German at the same time?

Yeah, it doesn’t make sense I know! Well, this job requires some serious multi-tasking, and the fact that I have the radio on and working on something else is really helpful.

Want to find out more about our incredible staff? Check out: Meet Valerie Bertrand: SmartRecruiters’ Rock-Loving Head of Legal

Lawyers are often thought of as terrifying, stern, bespectacled types. SmartRecruiters’ Valerie Bertrand proves you can know your legal jargon and how to have a good time.

If you work for a company that conducts any business in or with Europe you’ve no doubt heard a certain acronym thrown around the office with increasing frequency, and intensity: GDPR.

If you haven’t, you might want to start shouting it yourself, because avoiding the General Data Protection Regulation could prove very expensive.

At SmartRecruiters, we’re living in a GDPR-stress-free zone, thanks primarily to our Head of Legal, Valerie Bertrand.

Valerie joined SmartRecruiters in August 2017, following successful careers in both the public and private sector. To us legal laypeople, the day-to-day work of company lawyers can seem slightly mysterious, even a bit daunting. I spoke with Valerie about how she came onboard and how her legal work has changed through the years. The first topic, unsurprisingly, was GDPR:

We recently attended a TruBerlin event in which a lot of conversation was concerned with GDPR. What has been the general feedback to GDPR in tech circles? Fear, confusion, readiness?

I think European companies are really focused, though it depends on each country. We had three webinars in December about GDPR; in France, England and Germany. You can measure the interest by the number of attendees. In Germany, there were more than 200, which is quite big. In France there were around 70, and 60 in the UK. We also ran a webinar for the US, but the audience wasn’t so big.

A lot of companies are concerned because they may not be compliant.

You mentioned the UK. Do you have any inkling how Brexit could affect GDPR?

I had this question raised at the UK webinar. I think a lot of people are concerned. I cannot predict the future, but in the UK you have an authority for data protection already, the ICO. And so far they speak a lot of about GDPR. It suggests they are telling UK companies to be compliant. For UK businesses, they’ll continue to transact business and process candidates from Europe. So I think UK companies have no choice but to comply. Let’s see.

A quick perusal of your resume shows you’ve also done legal work government institutions. What are the biggest differences you’ve found in tech and recruitment?

Before SmartRecruiters I was with the German Institute for Urban Affairs, an entity with funding from local authorities to conduct scientific research. I was in charge of tenders, contracts, checking supplier terms, vendor conditions and so on. You have to apply rules, and you have a time-frame you just have to comply with. For government, you have a lot of time, and a lot of people involved at every step. It’s positive sometimes because you have time to think about your project, but here, everything is for today, or tomorrow, so you have to act much quicker.

Are there any unique challenges to SmartRecruiters?

I decided to join SmartRecruiters because I knew I had a lot to do in the beginning, since the legal function was new here. The were no lawyers, so I had to build from scratch. That was the big challenge and still is the big challenge.

So this is different to what you’ve done previously in this sector?

Yes. I worked for Lumesse before, which had a big team compared to here. I had four people with me. I know the sector, so the industry of SmartRecruiters is not new for me, but the project here is innovative and novel compared to what I’ve seen in the past.

And you prefer this freedom compared to, say, working in the government sector?

Yes. One of our values is that ‘you are your own CEO’. And I like this. Especially when dealing with this volume of work, it’s very important to like what you do.

What was it that made you want to work in legal?

After college I had no idea what to do, to be honest. So I chose law at university because I thought, “Yeah, why not?”. I discovered different faces of the profession, like, in France, you have solicitors, but I didn’t want to go to courts and plead and so on, but  I chose to work as an in-house counsel because I like to work with different profiles – engineering, sales, finance. I like to advise people and not only work on the big matters.

So if I was launching a tech startup in Berlin or elsewhere, and I asked you for some legal advice, what would you tell me?

Make sure you have all the intellectual property rights to develop your business. With technology especially, you have to protect your intellectual property and make sure it isn’t owned by someone else. Sometimes you attend conferences and hear presentations of products and you think “that is not new”. So make sure your business is really new and fully protected.

Legal can sometimes seem quite dry and serious. What do you do to in your free time?

The classic one. I have two kids – 15 and 10. It is not a secret they keep me busy. Music is a big passion for me, so when I have time I like to go to concerts.

Classical?

No. Rock!

Oh really? What kind of stuff?

Everything, but especially indie. Y’know, all The Smiths, all Oasis. But also artists like Rufus Wainwright and MGMT. I also like theater and movies, but if I have to spend money on an outing, my preference is a concert.

What was the last concert you went to?

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. But before that was a classic one, The Rolling Stones in Paris.

According to German intelligence sources, LinkedIn is now the latest social media network to have been exploited for clandestine political purposes, with China facing accusations it used the platform for espionage.

Germany’s security agency, Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), claims that up to 10,000 fake LinkedIn accounts may have been created with the aim of enticing high-ranking German political and economic leaders to become informants.

Many of the fake accounts are made to represent young and promising Chinese professionals, such as “Allen Liu” — a supposed human resources manager at an economic consultancy — and “Lily Wu” — an employee working for a think tank in eastern China.

So far China has not responded to the claims, although it has refuted similar suggestions in the past.

It seems the BfV believes the target of these fake accounts is primarily German workers in government ministries, with BfV head Hans-Georg Maassen stating:

“This is a broad-based attempt to infiltrate in particular parliaments, ministries and government agencies.”

If this accusation is true, then LinkedIn joins a long line of social media platforms that have been exploited for political gain. Facebook has recently been at the center of controversy regarding Russian state sponsored ‘fake news’ during the recent US elections, while YouTube and Wikipedia is similarly struggling to deal with so-called ‘web brigades’ — groups of paid ‘trolls’ who promote various political ideologies on open internet platforms.

Of course, the very things which make these sites useful and popular, they’re free and open nature, is also what makes them attractive tools for nefarious government agencies. LinkedIn may be particularly attractive primarily due to its high status users and the fact it is one of the few social networks not to be banned in China. Although technical solutions, for example public verification systems (perhaps even a blockchain approach?), could help prevent this kind of abuse in the future, for the time being the best defense appears to be old-fashioned vigilance.

Maassen advised any individuals who thought they had been affected by fake accounts to contact the BfV.

Source: BBC