Aurelia Butler

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    Activision Blizzard’s Talent Attraction Strategy: Three Brands, Three EVPs

    Activision Blizzard is a well-known name in the video game industry, with three distinct brands: King, Blizzard Entertainment, and Activision. Each brand has its own unique identity and EVP (employee value proposition), which helps the company attract and retain top talent. In this episode of our Employer Branding Podcast, we talk to Alex Horner, the Global Head of Talent Attraction at Activision Blizzard, about how they manage three separate brands for three unique game studios.

    The Unique Talent Challenges of the Video Game Industry
    Making video games is a complex process that requires a wide range of skills, from game design and engineering to art and animation. “There are so many incredibly niche roles and skillsets needed to make games,” says Horner, “and we need to articulate why someone with such an in-demand skillset might want to join us and what the benefit they would get from coming here might be.”
    One of the challenges of attracting talent to the video game industry is that it is a very competitive field. There are many different companies vying for the same talent, so it is important to have a strong EVP that will resonate with potential hires.
    Activision Blizzard’s Three Distinct EVPs
    Activision Blizzard has developed three distinct EVPs for its three brands:

    Activision: “Great games start with great people.” This EVP is focused on attracting talent who is passionate about creating blockbusters for the largest audience possible.

    Blizzard Entertainment: “Entertain the universe.” This EVP is focused on attracting talent who is passionate about creating genre-defining titles that are known for their fantasy and immersion.

    King: “Make the world playful.” This EVP is focused on attracting talent who is passionate about creating inclusive games that are accessible to a wide audience.

    Why Employee Advocacy Is Key to Activision Blizzard’s EVP Activation
    Activision Blizzard has found that employee advocacy is a key to activating its EVPs. “We really wanted to put our people at the heart of the storytelling and to have them tell the story on our behalf,” says Horner. The company has an employee advocacy program that identifies employees who are a good fit and takes them through a structured learning and development program to help them build their personal brand.
    The employee advocacy program has been very successful in helping Activision Blizzard attract top talent. With 55 people in the program, they collectively have 500,000 followers on LinkedIn and generate 2-4 million impressions on a monthly basis.
    The Benefits of Activision Blizzard’s EVP Strategy
    Activision Blizzard’s EVP strategy has a number of benefits for the company:

    It helps the company attract top talent in a competitive field.
    It helps the company differentiate its brands and attract talent to the right studio.
    It helps the company create a strong employer brand that is known for its passion for creating great games.

    Activision Blizzard’s EVP strategy is a great example of how companies can use employer branding to attract and retain top talent. By developing distinct EVPs for its brands, the company is able to attract talent with the skills and experience it needs to be successful. The company’s employee advocacy program is also a key part of its EVP strategy, and it has been very successful in helping the company attract top talent.
    Conclusion
    Activision Blizzard’s EVP strategy is a complex and multifaceted approach to employer branding. However, it is a strategy that is working well for the company, and it is one that other companies can learn from.

    To follow Alex Horner’s work in employer brand, connect with him on LinkedIn. For help with your own EVP, get in touch. We help you identify the values and culture you want to create in your company.
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    Restart Recruitment Guide: How To Reboot Tech Hiring Post-Freeze

    Have you paused tech recruiting? Persevered through a hiring freeze or slowdown? When it’s time to restart recruitment, where should you start? Keep reading to kickstart your tech hiring after challenging economic times with this guide.
    1. Before you restart recruitment, reassess the current circumstances
    Start by re-evaluating hiring needs. Review the roles that were initially put on hold. Are they still relevant or have your business needs shifted? You’ll also need to understand the new market conditions for a better idea of the employment landscape. 
    Which industries have bounced back and which are still lagging? Are you in a candidate-driven market? How have candidate priorities and expectations changed? 
    Resources like Hired’s 2023 State of Tech Salaries offer detailed insights to adapt and keep moving forward in the current hiring market.
    Related: Less Competition, More Talent: Here’s How to Recruit in an Economic Downturn 
    2. Re-engage with past candidates
    Take inventory of the connections you might already have. Check the availability of past candidates and get back in touch with those who were in the interview process before the freeze. Hopefully, you maintained a feedback loop and shared feedback from previous interviews with candidates. This is an effective way to foster goodwill even if you didn’t hire them.
    3. Review your employer brand and employer value props, or EVPs
    After shaky economic times, people – understandably – may become more cautious when it comes to employers and their stability. Post-downturn, rebuilding trust in your company’s stability and growth is a priority. Be transparent and highlight recovery plans and growth potential in your employer branding.
    It’s also a great time to showcase company culture. This is especially true if your organization’s culture includes supportive elements like mental health initiatives, flexible working options, and employee development programs. 
    Related: 2023 Survey Results: Top 3 Benefits Ranked by Engineers (Besides Salary) 
    4. Invest in training and development
    Sometimes the best hires are internal. Consider investing in training programs to upskill existing employees for new roles, promoting internal mobility. Not to mention, supporting internal mobility and upskilling are great ways to retain talent, support internal candidates, inspire loyalty, and provide professional growth.
    Related: How to Support Internal Candidates When They Don’t Get the Job 
    Offering continuous learning and development opportunities will also attract jobseekers looking for long-term career growth. Our 2023 State of Software Engineers report revealed development and career growth as top priorities for an ideal company culture and work environment according to surveyed engineers.
    Related: How to Nurture Innovation, Strengthen Retention (Use Professional Development) 
    5. Revise your recruitment strategy
    Think back to when you re-evaluated hiring needs. What shifts can you make to your recruitment strategy given the new circumstances? From revising your candidate messaging to rethinking how you conduct interviews, we have a suite of resources to help employers make these updates a little less overwhelming:  

    6. Re-evaluate your recruitment tech stack
    Now is also the time to consider new platforms or tools to support your hiring revamp. Hired, for example, connects employers to a curated pool of experienced and responsive tech talent seeking their next role. The platform also integrates with applicant tracking systems to fully streamline your hiring process. 
    Related: How to Secure Approval for New Tech Tools (Free Template) 

    Restart recruitment lessons learned from Laura MacKinnon, VP of People at Clari
    On Hired’s podcast, Talk Talent to Me, Laura shared learnings from a massive hiring freeze. She gave a few tips on what she would do differently when ready to restart recruitment:  
    “One of the things we did up front was make sure not to bring our recruiting team down to a skeleton crew. We knew these things usually do have a bit of an up-and-down cycle. If we were to have brought our recruiting team down to the need we had at the moment, we would not have enough people respond to the demand. Luckily, we kept our scheduling, sourcing, and recruiting teams around with the hopes the downturn would be short. Being a cloud-based company, we accelerated back to needing to hire engineers along with other people to help lead the business forward. 
    As you can imagine, the head of people is involved with finance, the head of engineering, and the CEO requesting the board to fund additional resources. What I would do with 20/20 hindsight is make sure we also included asking for the increased spending needed to spin up that machine because it was idle. That means not just the recruiters, but money in place for proactive talent sourcing and time with the marketing team to help get the word out that the company is recruiting.”  
    Laura’s tips: 

    Don’t bring the recruiting team down to a skeleton crew
    Get on board when you hear about other teams requesting funds

    Related: Need help talent sourcing? Hired’s got you covered with temporary or ongoing help. 

    6. Secure funding before you restart recruitment
    Laura MacKinnon emphasizes the importance of collaborating with other teams to ensure the recruiting team has a seat at the table. 
    She says, “If you notice a team talking about potentially adding headcount, that’s the time for your Head of Talent to jump in. They should ask to include two recruiters, a sourcer, and a scheduler. The earlier you hear that coming up, the faster you want to jump in so you have funding. If your company is proactive, you can even onboard those people before the official big ask gets approved.”
    Partnership with finance is especially critical because a lot of what recruiting does has a cost. Laura illustrates this with example from Clari: “Diversity and inclusion are such an important part of how we’re going to grow as a business. As opposed to waiting until we’re a thousand people, the needle-moving time is when the company is at its smallest. 
    We want to have a diverse team of men, women, people of color, and any underrepresented groups. Starting with that helps build because a lot of our hiring – probably one-third – will probably come from referrals. Those initial efforts to spin up the machine and make our commitment to that community clear come with a need to fund. It could be through innovative internships for students or being present at events to show Clari wants to be an employer of choice for a diverse population. 
    You need financial support. The more HR can learn how to make business cases that make finance people happy and understand, the better we are at getting funding.”
    Restart Tech Recruitment Checklist:

    Reevaluate hiring needs
    Engage with past candidates
    Update online employer profiles
    Revise recruitment strategy
    Review salary benchmarks
    Plan for onboarding
    Measure effectiveness regularly

    Navigate the upturn
    Emerging from an economic downturn to restart recruitment and hiring can feel daunting. However, with a strategic recalibration and a systematic approach, it’ll be a smooth transition. 
    Restart recruitment for tech and sales roles with Hired! Get a free demo. More

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    Hired’s 2023 State of UK Tech Salaries

    The last 12 months were dominated by mass layoffs, economic uncertainty, rising living costs, and the surge of artificial intelligence (AI) tools. While the UK was less impacted by tech layoffs than the US, it was still a concern to both hiring managers and jobseekers. 
    This year felt turbulent, challenging, and full of change. Tech recruitment in 2023 changed dramatically compared to 2022, and the UK market feels especially different to its US and Canadian counterparts. 
    Despite this, the UK tech job industry remained strong and it continues to create its own trends. This is especially notable when you compare the trend for higher salaries for local roles compared to remote ones, and an overall increase in salaries where they’ve dropped in other locations. 
    It feels as though UK tech recruitment in 2023 and beyond is more focused, with a drive to fill roles faster — with the right talent ready and waiting in not just London but cities like Leeds, Belfast, and Brighton. 
    With UK candidates steadily increasing their expected salaries, and demand high in key hubs like London, what does this mean for tech companies in 2024? It’s likely to require a renewed focus on competitive salaries, in-demand benefits, and a more engaging approach to recruitment.
    Insights for UK tech recruiting pros
    In the 2023 State of Tech Salaries Report, Hired brings you a wide and in-depth look at today’s hiring environment. The report features our extensive proprietary research from not just the UK but the US and Canada too, giving you a micro and macro look at the state of tech salaries today. 
    The next 12 months present exciting opportunities for companies that are willing to rethink their strategies and enhance their recruitment models to attract and retain the best tech talent. With competition high and salaries on the rise, it’s time to make sure that your hiring and employee experience is the best it can be. We’re here to help you find the best talent in a more transparent way, cutting out bias and getting straight to the goal — hiring talented people for your team.
    In this eBook we’ll cover: 

    UK jobseekers’ salary expectations
    How salaries differ by UK city, based on cost of living adjustments
    Salary trends based on company size
    Next steps to improve the hiring process in 2024 More

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    Data Analyst vs. Business Analyst in Tech: What’s the Difference?

    Both data analysts and business analysts work with data and take insights from it to drive business forward. On Hired’s talent marketplace, we categorize business analysts as a subrole of the data analyst role. While these positions often overlap, they have unique responsibilities, skill sets, and trajectories that separate them. Let’s delineate the paths of these two roles. 
    Typical tasks of a data analyst

    Data cleaning and processing: They work on refining data, ensuring its accuracy and reliability.
    Data visualization: Data analysts are adept at creating compelling visual narratives through charts and graphs that communicate findings clearly.
    Predictive analysis: They build models to forecast trends, often using machine learning and statistical methods.

    Typical tasks of a business analyst

    Requirement analysis: Business analysts bridge gaps, illuminating business requirements and needs.
    Process improvement: They continually work on optimizing and improving business processes.
    Stakeholder communication: Being the liaison between stakeholders and solutions teams is a central task, ensuring there is a seamless flow of information and understanding.

    Related: Hired’s 2023 State of Tech Salaries Report
    Integrating into business frameworks
    Data analyst
    Data analysts are the backbone of data-driven decision-making processes, helping organizations understand trends and phenomena, and aiding in strategic planning.
    Business analyst
    Business analysts, on the other hand, focus on optimizing business processes and ensuring that business objectives are met effectively and efficiently, thereby steering the business toward success.
    Educational background
    A Bachelor’s degree in fields such as computer science, statistics, or related fields is usually the starting point for both roles. The most common Bachelor’s degrees among the interviewed candidates on Hired are math and economics. 
    Hired data also revealed that more than having a degree or certification alone is often needed to secure a job in the current market. This is because most interviewees have at least a Bachelor’s degree, making it a common requirement. 
    We also observed an increasing number of people with Master’s degrees in data analytics, business analytics, and data science. Based on Hired’s data for 2023 so far, roughly half of the interviewed candidates hold a Master’s degree, while the other half have a Bachelor’s degree. 
    Data analyst

    Advanced degrees: Many data analysts pursue Master’s degrees or PhDs in data science or analytics.
    Specialized courses: There are courses tailored to building knowledge in data analysis, focusing on languages like Python, R, and SQL.
    Common certifications include being Microsoft-certified as a Data Analyst Associate and SAS-certified as a Data Scientist

    Business analyst

    MBA: This can be a major boost, offering an advantage in understanding deeper business dynamics.
    Industry-specific knowledge: Business analysts often benefit from knowing the specific industry they are working in, whether it’s finance, healthcare, or IT.
    Common certifications include Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP) and PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)

    Note: Hired’s partners, like Ironhack, General Assembly, and Per Scholas, offer data analytics courses and/or boot camps to help candidates unleash their potential and pursue successful careers.
    Top skills
    Data analyst
    Data analysts possess a more specialized set of technical skills that are centered on manipulating, analyzing, and visualizing large or complex datasets to extract actionable insights and inform business decisions.

    Proficient use of statistical software like SPSS, SAS, or R for complex data analysis and statistical modeling.
    Strong programming skills in languages such as Python and R for data analysis, manipulation, and automation.
    Advanced knowledge of SQL and experience with relational databases (like MySQL, PostgreSQL) or NoSQL databases (like MongoDB) for complex data querying.
    Expertise in data visualization tools such as Tableau, QlikView, or Power BI for creating advanced visual representations of data.
    Use of tools like Alteryx, KNIME, or data libraries in Python (e.g., pandas) for cleaning and preparing data for analysis.
    Some knowledge of machine learning frameworks (like scikit-learn, TensorFlow) for performing predictive analytics and data modeling.
    Familiarity with big data platforms like Hadoop or Spark can be beneficial for handling large-scale data processing.
    The top five technical skills include:

    Python
    R
    SQL
    Java 
    Scala

    Related: Hiring a Data Analyst? What to Look for in Top Candidates Now 
    Business analyst
    According to Hired data, the business analyst sub role was among the biggest movers (and the only role within data analytics) to see a positive change in demand, with a 15% increase from 2022 to 2023. Business analysts typically have a more diverse set of technical skills geared towards understanding and managing project requirements, business processes, and the broader implications of data insights for business strategies. 

    Familiarity with business intelligence tools like Microsoft Power BI or Oracle BI for creating dashboards and reports that help businesses make decisions.
    Proficiency in using modeling software like Microsoft Visio or Lucidchart for creating business process models, UML diagrams, or system designs.
    Using tools like JIRA, Confluence, or other project management and requirements tracking tools to manage the lifecycle of business requirements.
    Understanding of databases to extract insights and liaise with data professionals; some knowledge of SQL may be required for querying databases.
    High proficiency in Excel for data analysis and manipulation. Being skilled in Word and PowerPoint for documentation and presentations is a plus!
    The top five technical skills include:

    SQL
    Python
    Tableau
    Excel
    Statistics

    Related: What Tech Roles Increased Most in Demand in 2023? 
    Salaries 
    Salaries tend to fluctuate based on experience, industry, and geographic location. However, the average interview request salary for data analysts on Hired is $124,000 and the average salary for business analysts is $116,000.
    As a primary role, data analytics average interview request salaries saw the most substantial decrease from 2022 to 2023, dropping 3.2%.
    Understanding data analyst and business analyst career paths
    While there is a symbiotic relationship between data analysts and business analysts, each role has its distinct path and specialization. Think of it like this: Business analysts are typically more involved with the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of business needs and processes, while data analysts focus on the ‘how’ and ‘what’ in terms of data and its implications for business strategy and operations. 
    With the ever-increasing prominence of big data, understanding what to look for in these roles is crucial. Use this guide as a start in your search for a top business or data analyst.  More

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    Want To Hire More Women? Focus On Performance Feedback

    Diverse teams win. Study after study proves what savvy talent leaders have known all along: more and varied perspectives lead to better business results. Gender-diverse companies consistently outperform their less-diverse peers. The most ethnically and culturally diverse companies are 36% more profitable than the least diverse. Talent leaders in tech are constantly broadening their candidate pipelines and bringing more women into their workforces. They know that having women in the room and listening to their ideas makes teams more creative and companies more successful. But finding and retaining women in tech is a struggle. Let’s look at why performance feedback becomes key.
    Where are all the women in tech?
    Despite years of DEI commitments and broad acknowledgment that gender-balanced teams bring more value, women are still underrepresented in the tech industry. Estimates vary, but women reportedly make up roughly 28% of the U.S. technology workforce despite being 57% of the workforce overall.
    And things are moving backward. In 2021, 25% of women technologists reported they were outnumbered by men in the workplace by 75% or more. In 2023, 45% of women technologists reported this, a 20% increase over just two years.
    Things are especially concerning when it comes to Black, Latina, and Native American (BLNA) women. Despite more BLNA women receiving computing degrees in recent years—the number doubled between 2016 and 2021—their representation in tech decreased by more than 10% from 2018 to 2022.
    Women in tech are less satisfied in their jobs
    It’s not just that there are there far fewer women in tech than there should be, but also that those who do work in the industry are unhappy. That’s true even more so now than in years past. Skillsoft’s 2023 Women in Tech report showed that just 28% of women technologists say they are extremely satisfied with their jobs. Compare that to 44% in 2021. The report also found that “nearly 40% [of women] are likely to switch job roles in the year ahead.”
    Accenture data shows that women who take a tech role end up leaving it by age 35, and women quit tech jobs at a 45% higher rate than men.
    Women feel unwelcome and unsupported
    Technology is not inherently a mismatch for women. Girls get better grades in STEM subjects (and all subjects) than boys. Women appear to have stronger coding skills than men.
    It’s not technology as a discipline; it’s women’s experiences within tech workplaces that make it risky to join and difficult to stay. We’ve known this for at least a decade. One recent study looking at open-source software communities—an extreme example of gender inequity at 9.8% women representation, despite open-source constituting 70-90% of modern software solutions—found that women in tech are experiencing everything from having their contributions ignored to having their lives threatened.
    Here again, it is more pronounced for women of color. A study from the Kapor Center’s Women of Color in Computing Collaborative showed that women of color in tech were “the equivalent of 37.6 percentage points less likely than white women to see a long-term future for themselves at their companies.“ They were also “16.4 percentage points more likely than white women to report that they have left or considered leaving a company because of its culture.”
    Mothers see additional discrimination and mistreatment at work, with managers assuming moms are less dedicated because they have parental demands, and employers less willing to even interview them for the same reason. Hiring bias is increasingly prevalent — as Hired recently reported, after years of improvement, the number of roles that sent interview requests to only men increased in 2022. Not to mention, inflexible schedules and insufficient parental leave can make women decide for themselves to opt out of the field altogether.
    The thing is, despite the discrimination and harassment that are obvious detractors, what women consistently say is a major reason they‘re unsatisfied is a lack of development and growth opportunities. Essentially, managers are failing women.
    Bad and biased performance feedback is causing women to quit
    New research is putting instructive data behind the bias, mistreatment, and intent to leave that women in tech consistently report. Textio’s latest annual Language Bias in Performance Feedback study showed that women report being called “helpful” two times more often than men in performance evaluations. Meanwhile men are called “ambitious” two times more often. Women also report feeling disrespected or underappreciated 1.3 times more often than men.
    These findings matter. Biased and poor feedback prevents women from understanding how they can grow in their roles, and stunts their career trajectories. And “growth potential” and “lack of equity in opportunities” are among the top reasons women cite for being unsatisfied in their jobs and wanting to make a switch.
    Textio’s research showed that 83% of men said they understand the requirements to earn their next promotion, while only 71% of women, non-binary, transgender, and gender non-conforming people said the same. Additionally, 61% of people who said they plan to stay with their current employer agreed that they understand expectations of them, as opposed to only 21% of people planning to leave.
    The link between poor-quality performance feedback and attrition is undeniable. Textio’s report found that people who receive low-quality feedback are 63% more likely to leave their organizations than everyone else. And women (and people of color) receive the lowest-quality feedback of all.
    Between frustrating working conditions, unfair and sub-par performance management, and outright harassment, it’s no wonder we see so few women in tech. There is a trickle-down effect of women having bad experiences, women warning other women, and women opting out. As the lead researcher in the open-source community study put it: “…the individual harm that a woman faces leads to incidental harm of other women being discouraged from participation, resulting in further collective harm for the open-source software community in the form of fewer women participating. Overall, these negative experiences are detrimental to the retention of women in open-source software and the tech industry in general.”
    Hire and retain more women with high-quality performance feedback
    Toxic teammates aside, tech organizations have a huge opportunity to better support women at work with better performance management practices. Improving the quality of feedback women are receiving can directly address the lack of growth potential, insufficient managerial support, and inequities in advancement opportunities women say are top reasons they’re unsatisfied and looking to leave.
    Better experiences for women in the workplace can have a trickle-up effect of attracting more women and allowing them to grow and contribute at a higher level.
    What does better performance management look like? Fair and effective feedback at work is:

    Clear: It uses direct phrasing, and avoids clichés and exaggerations.
    Actionable: It references specific examples and gives suggestions for growth.
    Relevant: It is focused on work output, not personality characteristics.
    Unbiased: It avoids hidden bias that excludes and causes harm.

    Your organization can ensure managers are consistently giving thoughtful, thorough, and fair feedback to support women’s careers. Software helps with this and makes it scalable across the company, so everyone is getting feedback that helps them grow.
    Show women you’re an inclusive and equitable employer
    If you’ve cleaned up your culture and feedback systems, be sure candidates know it. Often the first place they’ll hear about you is your job post. Do you know what message it’s sending? Using unbiased and inclusive language in your job posts signals that you’re a welcoming and mindful work culture. You can attract more women to your roles in the first place with better, optimized recruiting language.
    Including a pay range is another way to demonstrate your commitment to equitable practices. You may even need to by law depending on your organization’s size and location. Data from Hired shows an overall positive effect on gender wage and expectation gaps in major US cities with new salary transparency legislation. Software helps here too. Features like Textio’s pay-transparency guidance prompt recruiters to add pay information when it’s not there.
    There is much work to do to make tech a better field for women. Removing bias and increasing quality in performance feedback is a fruitful place to act. If enough employers do, perhaps we’ll see the numbers start turning around next year.
    Hire and retain more women with inclusive recruiting and equitable performance management software from Textio. Learn more. More

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    Navigating Employer Branding in APAC’s Diverse Talent Landscape

    The Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, with its rapid digital transformation and vast internet user base, presents a dynamic and challenging environment for employer branding. Glynnis Quek, APAC Online Marketing Lead at Google, shares insights on navigating this diverse landscape and effectively attracting top talent.
    Understanding APAC’s Nuances
    APAC’s linguistic diversity, evident in over 2,000 languages and dialects, demands localized content. Chinese, for instance, has unique variations in each country, necessitating customized messaging for Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China.
    Platform preferences vary across markets. LinkedIn is favored in India and Australia, but less prominent in Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. China has its own platforms, necessitating a shift from global channels.
    Cultural preferences also play a role. Stories highlighting a fun workplace culture resonate well in Korea, while professional development and career growth are key drivers in Singapore.
    Addressing Misconceptions about Western Companies
    Western companies often face misconceptions in APAC, such as the need for strong English language skills, rigid Western workplace cultures, and incompatibility with traditional values.
    Google’s #GoogleRamadan campaign effectively challenged these perceptions by showcasing Muslim employees, resonating deeply with APAC’s sizeable Muslim population and prompting the global expansion of the campaign.
    Balancing Global Strategy with Local Resonance
    Google maintains a global employer brand strategy while ensuring local relevance. Quek assembles cross-functional teams with local subject matter experts and traditional employer branding partners, empowering them to work within the global framework while adapting it for their specific markets.
    Partnerships for Success
    Partnerships are crucial for effective employer branding in APAC. Google’s Women Techmakers initiative in India and the Google Aboriginal and Indigenous Network in Australia are examples of localized partnerships that resonate with diverse talent pools.

    Empowering Local Teams to Create Resonant Content
    The key to success lies in empowering local teams to create content that resonates with their markets. Quek emphasizes the importance of combining a robust global employer brand strategy with innovative local teams capable of adapting content for their specific audiences.
    Bottom Line
    APAC’s growing tech talent and burgeoning middle class make it an increasingly important region for global brands. By understanding local nuances, addressing misconceptions, balancing global strategy with local resonance, and forging strategic partnerships, companies can effectively attract top talent in this dynamic region.
    To follow Glynnis Quek’s work in employer brand, connect with her on LinkedIn. For more on Google’s global employer brand strategy, listen to our episode with Mary Streetzel. For help identifying the values and culture you want to create in your company, get in touch.
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    AI in HR, People-Centered Approaches, & More: Talk Talent to Me October ’23 Recap

    What did you miss in the October episodes of Hired’s Talk Talent to Me podcast? Get insights from recruiting and talent acquisition leaders who share strategies, techniques, and trends shaping the recruitment industry. 

    AI and HR with Theresa Fesinstine, Founder of peoplepower.ai
    Long-term approaches to TA with Greg Muccio, Managing Director of TA at Southwest Airlines 
    A new take on company culture and employee value with Jessica Zwaan, COO at Whereby

    1. Theresa Fesinstine, Founder of peoplepower.ai
    Theresa shares where we are in AI development within the HR space, what tools she uses for AI learning, and how HR employees can make use of AI. This breakthrough episode simplifies the nuanced and complex issues within HR.
    “To me, HR is the only team [and leader] in the organization that really understands what [every] other department functionally is working through, their challenges [and it’s] like the central post of what’s happening within a company.”
    Listen to the full episode.
    Related: ChatGPT in Recruitment: How to Unlock its Power, Increase Efficiency 
    2. Greg Muccio, Managing Director of TA at Southwest Airlines
    Greg discusses his experience as a long-time Southwest Airlines employee (22+ years!) and what motivated him over the years to stay. He shares an overview of the distinct talent acquisition challenges Southwest faces and how he implements long-term tactical approaches to talent acquisition. Greg also dives into current hiring trends, appetite for open roles, and the significance of uncovering new talent the company does not already possess. 
    “At Southwest, we want a representative of our brand and that culture and those kinds of things because that’s what makes people come back and fly with us again, and again, and again, it’s our people.” 
    Listen to the full episode.
    3. Jessica Zwaan, COO at Whereby
    People-centered approaches to business emphasize the importance of prioritizing and supporting the well-being, growth, and satisfaction of employees. Businesses can create a positive work environment to benefit employees and improve performance, productivity, and long-term success. 
    Jessica discusses her innovative, people-centered approach to HR and business development. She unpacks how the best aspects of product management can be applied to HR to transform the value of your workforce and business. Learn how HR can increase productivity, the ins and outs of streamlining the workforce to increase its value, reducing regrettable churn through effective HR, and analogizing people with products. Jessica also offers insights into why justifying an employee based on revenue is outdated and why she views the business as an ecosystem.
    “We should be building [HR performance] systems which are built for the way human brains work.” 
    Listen to the full episode.
    Want more insights into recruiting tips and trends?
    Tune into Hired’s podcast, Talk Talent to Me, to learn about the strategies, techniques, and trends shaping the recruitment industry—straight from top experts themselves. More

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    Revolutionizing Recruitment: Walking the Tech Hiring Tightrope (VIDEO)

    How do you future-proof recruiting and talent acquisition in this evolving tech landscape? Watch this on-demand webinar to hear experts discuss key findings and data from Hired’s 2023 State of Tech Salaries report. They’ll discuss insights into the technologies, skills, and preferences shaping the tech industry. From emerging tech roles to the rise of hybrid work models, discover how to align your hiring strategies with the future.
    Hear from:

    Read an excerpt of the conversation here and scroll down to access the full webinar. 
    What are common recruiting challenges teams are facing?
    Katrina Collier
    It’s always quite amazing because you think it’s going to be a technology problem. It’s never a technology problem. It’s always a human problem. I hear other recruiters speaking all around the world and it’s always the same problem. It comes back to the intake or kickoff call and the relationship between recruiters and hiring managers. It always seems to be what’s causing the friction. Maybe it’s different things around it but it’s always that relationship. 
    Related: What Happens When TA & Hiring Managers Unite? Best Practices from One Medical, NBCUniversal & More 
    I would really like to see investment in people because we used to teach that people relationship. We get a lot on the candidate side but there’s not enough on the manager side. I would love to see recruiters being built up in confidence so they can say no. Sometimes these managers have really big job titles. But that doesn’t mean they can recruit. You should be going in and equally partnering. 
    I would also like to see TA leaders allowing their recruiters to be really audacious. If the hiring manager doesn’t show up to the meeting, which happens a lot, the recruiters often just close the requirement… It shouldn’t have to get to that point. There be respect in the partnership from the beginning. I would like recruiters to feel like TA and business leaders have their backs so they can say, “We’re recruiting people for your team. This really matters. I get that you’re busy but the people make this company a success.” 
    Have you experienced a shift in candidate expectations?
    Gary L. Davis
    It’s interesting because in terms of expectations, the same things candidates wanted twenty years ago, I don’t know if we’ve always been in a position to deliver them. To Katrina’s point about setting recruiters up for success, the things we were asking for twenty years ago are not much different. Candidates want to be treated with courtesy and respect when we’re going through the interview process. They want to make sure we’re being evaluated consistently and fairly.
    Candidates also want to make sure we have clarity about the value we’re expected to create in the role. We’re talking about more integration. How do we build our careers around our lives? Now we’re saying, how do we build our lives around our careers? We’re expecting things like wellness to become a major priority.
    Related: 2023 Survey Results: Top 3 Benefits Ranked by Engineers (Besides Salary) 
    We’re also expecting to have the flexibility to drop kids off at school in the morning and be available later in the evening. Then on the flip side, you think about that wellness and flexibility piece and tie it back to DEIB. We’re noticing jobseekers (particularly Gen Z and Millennials) expect DEIB to be something companies care deeply about and are actively doing things to change. LinkedIn did a study a few years back and found about 76% of jobseekers and employees were looking for that level of satisfaction and reassurance about companies caring. 
    The reality is that the world is continuing to change. In a lot of ways, especially in this past year, the tech space has been rock solid. We did massive hiring a few years ago. Only at the start of this year and late last year did we let a lot of folks go. I think we’re all in this moment of wondering how to hire for what’s next. How do we prepare ourselves? How do we think about the future of our companies and how the talent acquisition landscape needs to change to make our companies competitive? 
    Watch the full collaborative panel discussion to discover:

    How candidate preferences are transforming work models, benefits, and career growth
    How small and medium-sized businesses can compete for top tech talent
    How to foster continuous learning and skill development for future demands
    How useful AI is in recruiting  More