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    7 Ways to Message UVPs to Tech Candidates Now: Recruitment Marketing in 2023

    What You’ll Learn

    Why it’s not about hyper-growth anymore

    How to be creative and considerate when structuring and communicating benefits

    Why emphasizing flexibility is key

    About this eBook

    At the beginning of 2022, a common recruitment message to candidates was how rapidly a company was growing, or about the latest round of funding. 

    After companies of all sizes laid off workers in mid through late 2022, those messages needed revisions. Now, there is an unprecedented volume of high-quality, seasoned talent looking for their next role. 

    To make the most of this opportunity to reach previously passive candidates and slingshot your teams forward, use this eBook to proactively address jobseeker priorities or concerns. More

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    How to Onboard Successfully & More: Talk Talent to Me December ’22 Recap

    Catch up on the December 2022 episodes of Hired’s Talk Talent to Me podcast featuring recruiting and talent acquisition leaders who share strategies, techniques, and trends shaping the recruitment industry. 

    Respecting history, protecting the future, and maintaining healthy office culture with Hadley Haut, Executive Director at The Atlantic 

    Diversity on a leadership level, career path building, and successful onboarding with Amy Cappellanti-Wolf, CHRO at Cohesity

    Educational standards, the importance of soft skills, and India as a source of talent with Aditya Singh, Director of Talent Acquisition at Informatica

    Working for an agency versus in-house, initiating urgency and speed, and the responsibilities of a TA leader with Jodi Cohen, Director of Talent Acquisition at Tombras

    HR personnel versus recruiters, turning a bad interview into a valuable one, and personal branding with The HR Twins Carla Patton & Camille Tate

    Unconventional career journeys, the pressure to specialize, and why sourcing is often oversimplified with Wesley Gilbert, Global Head of TA at On

    A white glove approach to recruiting, reframing job descriptions, and flexibility in the resume process with Alia Poonawala & Emma O’Rourke-Powell, Recruiting Directors at Johns Hopkins University 

    1. Hadley Haut, Executive Director at The Atlantic

    Candidates should approach the company they want to work for with deliberate ambition, adequate research, and the will to uphold company values. Hadley did exactly that on her way to becoming Executive Director of Talent and Culture at The Atlantic. She shares how, despite the difficulties of the pandemic, her company successfully maintained its office culture. Hadley also explains why working in-office is still extremely valuable for all employees. 

    “When you’re ready for a new job, the best thing you can do is reach out to a company where you really want to work, because that’s the first thing anyone who is hiring you will notice.” 

    Listen to the full episode.

    2. Amy Cappellanti-Wolf, CHRO at Cohesity

    The workplace is rapidly changing and there is an increasing focus on the mental health, wellness, goals, and happiness of employees. Amy discusses her interesting HR philosophies and shares how to find the right way to help onboarding employees integrate successfully. Amy also suggests how to lead onboarding to secure employee retention and engage employees in their work. She even offers an example of how to plan an employee’s onboarding process!

    “There’s a ton of studies that if you don’t get onboarding, right within the first month to 60 days, retention drops drastically after the first year of employment. It’s not only the right thing to do for your employees, but there’s real business value in doing that.” 

    Listen to the full episode.

    3. Aditya Singh, Director of Talent Acquisition at Informatica 

    As educational standards constantly change, is it still necessary to hire talent based solely on the educational background? Or, should recruiters look for something else? Aditya helps answer this and emphasizes the importance of soft skills. He also discusses India as a major source of talent for companies based outside of the country, explaining why India is unique in the talent it produces. Learn about the country’s current surge in technical skills development and why startups remain the focus of many Indian investors.

    “I think we need to get away from role-based positions. The guardrails of education are slowly moving out. I think that we find the person who’s able to deliver, focus on the result and what the individual brings to the table, and then the background of the individual.”

    Listen to the full episode.

    4. Jodi Cohen, Director Talent Acquisition at Tombras

    Jodi dives into her journey as a recruiter and how she ended up working in-house, which she compares to working for an agency. She also dives into how she brought urgency and speed to Tombras, and moves quickly while putting processes in place. Jodi tells us her thoughts on the roles and responsibilities of a Director of Talent Acquisition, and why being hands-on is essential. 

    “I am still very reluctant to pass on any responsibilities through the hiring process. Anything that’s communication with the candidate, I’m still going to take on, because that ensures that the relationship with the candidate is going to be maintained throughout the process.” 

    Listen to the full episode.

    5. Camille Tate & Carla Patton, Head of Talent at Strava and VP of HR at RAPP

    For departments that should work in tandem, many find that HR personnel and recruiters often devalue each other’s roles. This episode’s guest duo rectified this common situation and reveal exactly how HR and TA should join forces. In fact, these two guests are twins and work side-by-side to deliver the hit podcast, The Career Saloon. Carla and Camille offer takes on their least favorite aspects of the opposite department too. As for advice, they tell us how to turn a bad interview into a valuable one, why it’s vital to be self-aware, and why personal branding is inherent in each of us. 

    Related: What Happens When TA & Hiring Managers Unite? Best Practices from One Medical, NBCUniversal & More

    “People are always watching you. It doesn’t matter if you think they aren’t; they are always watching you. If you don’t think you have a personal brand, you do.”

    Listen to the full episode.

    6. Wesley Gilbert, Global Head of TA at On

    Not everyone follows a linear career path, and pursuing a non-traditional route can equip you with useful skills you wouldn’t otherwise have acquired. With a varied and eventful career journey, Wesley is living proof that there’s no correct way to approach your career. He offers a refreshing perspective, sharing how a fortuitous encounter facilitated his first recruitment job and how he realized the inflexibility of a larger organization wasn’t for him. He also discusses the pressure to become more specialized (and the benefits of being a generalist). 

    “It doesn’t matter how senior you are when you come into a company. We’re going to give you some autonomy, we’re going to give you some scope. And we’re going to give you the trust to go and do that. And that means that you just attract a completely different caliber of people.”

    Listen to the full episode.

    7. Alia Poonawala & Emma O’Rourke-Powell, Recruiting Directors at Johns Hopkins University 

    In another episode featuring double the insights, Alia and Emma from Hire Hopkins, the recruiting arm of Johns Hopkins University, discuss university recruitment. They shed light on their white glove approach featuring one-on-one and data-driven work, and share how building an infrastructure streamlines the recruitment process. Alia and Emma also explain how to reframe job descriptions to generate interest from the target market, why flexibility is vital in the resume process, and why you should consider international talent. 

    “The companies that do well are the ones that are teachable and willing to experiment.” 

    Related: Raise the Bar in 2023: Strategies from Top Employers Winning Tech Talent (VIDEO)

    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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    How to Nurture Innovation, Strengthen Retention (Use Professional Development)

    If you want to foster employee professional development and growth, it’s essential to begin with a positive and supportive work environment. By providing opportunities for learning, as well as a culture of collaboration and open communication, companies encourage their employees to reach their full potential and become valuable assets to the organization. 

    In this blog, we explore laying the foundation for employee professional development beginning with the hiring process, and ways to create a nurturing environment. To help provide real-world examples and insights, we’ll lean on excerpts from episodes of Hired’s podcast, Talk Talent to Me, featuring these experts: 

    Consider growth potential from day one

    Riffat Jaffer shares, “There are so many jobs everyone does. But what are they going to grow into six months or three years from now and how will they add value to your company in the future?”

    Hiring for potential means looking beyond a candidate’s current skills and experience. It’s considering their ability to learn and grow in the role. The specific role you’re hiring for shouldn’t be the bottom line, but rather a starting point to build upon.

    This approach is particularly valuable for businesses ready to invest in their employees and support their professional development. Companies then bring on employees who may not have all the required skills at the time of hire. However, they have the aptitude and willingness to learn and grow.

    Leverage potential to build diversity

    One benefit of hiring for potential is helping companies build diverse and dynamic teams. By considering a candidate’s potential rather than just their existing credentials, businesses bring on employees with a range of backgrounds and perspectives. This contributes to creating a more vibrant and creative work environment and allows for more innovative solutions.

    In a past panel discussion, “An Insider’s Guide to Hiring in Tech,” Nathalie Grandy, formerly with Gem, now Head of Tech Recruiting at Mutiny, shared her insights. She says, “It starts with changing the mindset of what you’re looking for and potentially being open to those nontraditional backgrounds. For us, it’s encouraging hiring managers to think about the 80/20 rule. So 80% existing skill set and 20% coachability.”

    Impact down the line: employee retention

    Another advantage of hiring for potential is helping companies retain top talent. By providing opportunities for learning and growth, businesses support their employees in achieving their career goals and help them feel fulfilled in their roles. This leads to increased job satisfaction and a lower employee turnover rate.

    Riffat explains, “Candidates come in and maybe they’ve not done the job exactly like you want them to do. But they know you trusted them and hired them to do it. They’re willing to give it their all and more than somebody who has done it three times over now.” 

    Take a leap of faith

    Of course, hiring for potential does come with its challenges. For example, it is difficult to accurately assess a candidate’s potential. There is always a certain level of risk involved in bringing on employees who may not have all the required skills at the time of hire. 

    However, with careful consideration and a robust onboarding process, companies can successfully hire for potential and reap the many benefits of supporting employee professional development and growth.

    Riffat says, “Maybe they’re not where we want them to be today but our onboarding and training come in to get candidates where they want to go. Typically, you end up hiring the best candidates when you take a leap of faith.”

    According to Riffat, hiring for potential is all about “being able to partner with the hiring managers and make sure they see potential in a candidate. It also depends a lot on product maturity and if we can afford to give a candidate six months to become what we want.” 

    Build an inclusive environment to foster employee growth

    An inclusive workplace values and respects diversity, and is where all employees feel welcome and supported. By fostering an inclusive workplace, businesses create an environment to support employee development and growth. Here are a few ways to do this:

    1. Establish guiding values to support professional development and growth

    These values must emphasize the importance of providing opportunities for employees to learn and grow in their roles, and support their professional development. By adopting such values, companies create an environment that encourages employees to learn new skills and take on new challenges.

    Anabel Morales echoes this saying, “The key to scaling our culture successfully is equipping our leaders with tools to scale trust, transparency, and inclusion. When we hire managers or promote somebody into a management role, we’re introducing them to our leadership principles and educating them on how to live up those values.”

    2. Encourage open communication and feedback

    Create an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their ideas and providing feedback to one another. This helps identify and address any challenges or barriers employees may be facing, and can support their growth and development.

    To Anabel, this means “facilitating inclusion and teaching people how to build trust. Leading without micromanaging, asking for feedback, and being a good listener are basic things managers sometimes forget to do.” 

    “The psychological safety piece is also very important. It is something you need in a team to ensure innovation. The last thing you want as a manager is to have a team where everybody just agrees with you. Create an environment where people feel open to speak.”

    3. Explore personal drive and growth

    Provide employees with support and guidance as they explore their personal drive for growth. This might include offering advice and mentorship to help guide their self-reflection as they define their purpose and future goals.

    Sacha Luthi says, “If you look at what success means, it’s very broad. I can make things very complicated as an HR person. Or, I can try to build an environment in which people want to work with you. I don’t want people to work with me because they have to. The true reason is finding the ‘Why are you here?’”

    4. Measure the impact of deficiencies

    There are endless avenues to take when it comes to professional development and growth. So many possibilities might become overwhelming, causing employees to struggle in picking their starting point. As a leader, aid employees in identifying personal development needs to plot their course.

    Reflecting on his own experience, Sacha says, “it took good leaders to see things I was not able to see in myself. You need people along the way who believe in you and build confidence.”

    Encourage self-reflection to measure the impact of deficiencies in order to identify growth opportunities. Sach poses a few questions for individuals to consider: “How do I find out what I’m really good at? What gives me energy? Where is the space for it to be used?”

    “If you are not good at something you should also look at it from a collective perspective. There are other people around you who may jump in or cover the gap, so look at performance and career. We still value and recognize individuals but how do we put those strengths together so the collective output is better?” 

    5. Provide opportunities for learning and development

    The opportunity to continuously learn and tackle new challenges continues to be the number one reason software engineers enter a career in the field. Employers should offer compelling career development opportunities to attract and retain software engineers and ensure they feel adequately challenged in their roles. 

    Based on our survey of software engineers, more than half said it’s important to them their employer provides professional development opportunities. 72.2% reported new challenges and continuous learning most attracted them to a career in software engineering.

    Set the tone for personal growth & professional development in your organization

    If you want to create an environment to encourage employees to develop new skills, cultivate new strengths, and continue the evolution of their careers, build an inclusive workplace and keep growth in mind from the hiring process on. 

    Tune into Hired.com’s podcast, Talk Talent to Me. Hear what top experts have to share about the strategies, techniques, and trends shaping the recruitment industry today.

    Want to listen to the full episodes featured in this article?

    Editor’s note: at the time of the podcast recording, Anabel was VP of Talent Acquisition, in August of 2022, she became VP, People and Culture. Congrats, Anabel!  More

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    How to Build a Sustainable Tech Talent Acquisition Strategy: A Comprehensive Guide

    About this eBook

    Do you know anyone who’s used “talent acquisition” and “recruiting” interchangeably? Maybe you’ve done it, yourself! While organizations are moving towards a more sustainable talent acquisition strategy, they often confuse talent acquisition with recruitment. This misunderstanding may hamper your process and disrupt progress.

    A sustainable talent acquisition strategy encourages you to maintain a balance between acquiring external and promoting internal talent. A lack of career advancement opportunities is one of the main reasons people quit their jobs. Sometimes, current employees even feel neglected when companies enter the hiring phase.

    Although hiring new talent is important, doing so at the cost of current employees is detrimental to organizational growth and morale. Moreover, if you delegate all resources and money towards recruitment, there’s none left to invest in and retain your employees.

    Hence, a sustainable strategy is a win for all – companies can divide time and resources between current employees and new hiring with proper planning and implementation. While recruiting is essential for gaining employees, it can become a time-intensive and expensive endeavor without a TA strategy.

    Amidst a dynamic labor market, many organizations are exploring talent acquisition avenues to prepare for hiring surges and talent management. To help, we created an eBook to demystify talent sustainability and help organizations incorporate it into talent acquisition strategy.

    What You’ll Learn

    What constitutes a sustainable talent acquisition strategy in both candidate and employer-driven markets

    Actionable steps to take on the daunting task of building a robust talent pipeline, including 5 questions to answer before making a plan

    Strategies to nurture and engage candidates in the talent pipeline

    A look into the future of tech talent acquisition

    Plus, Why Core Values are Important to Talent Acquisition Strategies

    By integrating your organization’s core values into your talent acquisition strategy, it strengthens your employer brand. This pays dividends in multiple areas including candidate and employee experience. If you need help in this area, we’ve also created resources for both startups and larger enterprise companies. More

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    How to Foster Psychological Safety in the Workplace, from Interviews to Management

    Why it’s Important to Create an Environment for Employees and Candidates that Welcomes Feedback

    The workplace hasn’t always felt like a safe space to speak up or out. Because of that, issues can go unaddressed and ideas can go unmentioned. Savvy organizations know an environment strong in psychological safety is more conducive to innovation and employee satisfaction. Haven’t heard of psychological safety before or don’t know what it is? Learn why it’s important in the workplace from interviewing to managing teams. Find out how to establish and nurture it within your company.

    What Is Psychological Safety?

    According to Harvard leadership professor Amy Edmondson, “psychological safety is a belief that it’s absolutely ok, in fact, it’s expected, to speak up with concerns, with questions, with ideas, with mistakes.” Everyone feels comfortable being themselves at work. There’s no fear of punishment or humiliation for one’s thoughts or ideas.

    This doesn’t mean work is sunshine and rainbows all the time. Conflict will happen. The difference is people are willing to speak up. There’s mutual support with psychological safety.

    Psychological safety lays the groundwork for innovation and adaptive performance. This can occur at all levels of an organization. It establishes an environment where team members feel comfortable expressing concerns. They ask tough questions because everyone’s input counts. They’re not afraid to throw out ideas for fear of rejection. When team members feel safe, they’re more likely to take risks, share new ideas, and challenge the status quo.

    Anabel Morales, VP of Talent Acquisition at Worksome describes psychological safety in a nutshell as “really just having the ability to speak your mind and being open to candor.”

    Tyler Parson, Head of Talent at Chili Piper explains how creating this space stems back to the organization taking initiative. “If you create a culture where it’s okay to say those things, then it takes all the fear out of it, or at least most of the fear out of it.” 

    Company Values & Culture Foster Psychological Safety

    Reinforce and promote psychological safety through the company’s values. Doing so allows you to set the tone for its development throughout the organization.

    Worksome’s company values are “Speak data, be brave, and have fun.” Anabel Morales explains how these values work to build an environment of psychological safety. 

    “Being brave really connects to letting people be authentic, speak their minds, and have fun. I think it’s not just about social events and team building, but it’s also about actually having a passion for your work and having fun at your job because of what you’re doing.” 

    “Our cultural framework is made up of trust, transparency, and inclusion. We try to approach everyday interactions with our colleagues in this way and also throughout the candidate journey.

    Culture promotes psychological safety for internal employees seeking changes too. Tyler Parson shares how this works.

    “What we’re trying to build at Chili Piper and have been successful in doing so far is creating a culture where if you want something new, you always ask for it internally first. If it’s in the realm of possibility and our growth plan, then we try it.”

    With clear values and a positive culture, employees can feel comfortable expressing themselves in the workplace and building trust with the company.

    Psychological Safety in Interviewing

    For far too long, an interview hasn’t always felt like an opportunity to speak up without fear of backlash. Or worse, getting the boot from the recruitment process. Building psychological safety in interviewing will change that.

    Anabel explains why Worksome makes an effort to provide psychological safety in the interview process. “We want to ensure people feel free to speak up and share failures as well as successes because we know that’s really where the learning happens and that’s just important to share.” 

    This welcomes the opportunity for candidates to share the adversity they overcame to achieve success!

    So, how do you set a precedent of psychological safety for a candidate in an interview? It starts with the interviewer.

    Tyler shares that Chilli Piper ensures during “interview trainings, hiring managers are equipped with how to create a basic positive candidate experience. Part of that is understanding how to make candidates feel comfortable, welcomed, and [empowered] to talk about their experiences in a way that doesn’t shy away from talking about their failures.

    Gauge a candidate’s ability to foster psychological safety in the workplace. Ask questions focusing on empathy and respect. Assess if this person will be a good fit in a culture of psychological safety.

    How do you go about building trust with your team?Provide an example of how you showed empathy in your current role.How would you help someone progress after a failure?Share how would you respond if someone else’s view on a task or project differed from yours.

    Psychological Safety for Management

    Creating a psychologically safe workplace starts with strong leadership. Leaders need to model the behavior they want to see in their team members. They need to encourage open communication. Give employees the space to voice their opinions.

    Anabel believes “top leadership” setting a precedent has a ripple effect throughout the organization. “I think if they are living out their values then it will naturally trickle down to the rest of the company.” 

    “You can always use the values when you are trying to make tough decisions and when you reflect on the values, it’s [even] helpful in navigating your day-to-day.”

    “When we hire managers or if we promote somebody into a management role, right away we introduce them to our leadership principle, educating them on just how to live up to those values.”

    Tips to Build Psychological Safety

    Here are 3 important tips from Amy Edmondson to create psychological safety as a leader: 

    Frame the work as a learning problem, instead of an execution problem. Needing everyone’s involvement creates a rationale for speaking up.

    Ask more questions to invite sharingActively request opinions from those who tend to stay quiet

    Acknowledge your own fallibility to create more safety for speaking up. Tyler Parson supports this saying, “It starts with… you as a leader practicing vulnerability”

    Apologize when you make a mistakeAsk for help when you need it

    Model curiosity and ask a lot of questions to create a necessity for voice.

    Promote equal speaking time for everyone involvedEncourage feedback sharing and use it to build on ideas

    Psychological Safety Is the Foundation for Innovation

    Psychological safety establishes a baseline. Everyone can feel safe to speak up and feel heard when they do. In this sort of environment, innovation comes easily with the free flow of ideas. 

    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.

    Finally, want to listen to the full episodes featured in this article?

    Editor’s note: at the time of the podcast recording, Tyler was Head of Talent, in June of 2022, she was promoted to VP, People. Congrats, Tyler! Likewise, when her episode was recorded, Anabel was VP of Talent Acquisition, in August of 2022, she became VP, People and Culture. Congrats, Anabel! More

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    8 Ways to Hire Faster & Build a Better Employer Brand

    What You’ll Learn

    How to fill positions more efficiently through tools, templates, and moreThe partnership making hires an average of 11 days fasterThe strategy that took an offer acceptance rate from 60% to 88%

    About this eBook, 8 Ways to Hire Faster & Build a Better Employer Brand

    In a panel discussion led by Hired CTO Dave Walters, talent leaders from Gem, Tanium, NBCUniversal, and One Medical shared their thoughts on trends and best practices for optimizing the candidate experience.

    They reviewed how to improve the hiring process by strengthening the experience and by extension, the employer brand. Now, we are covering eight of their strategies to consistently help their teams fill tech and sales jobs efficiently. Use them to take action with your recruiting goals! More

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    Navigating Market Uncertainty: The State of Tech Hiring (VIDEO)

    Watch this webinar-on-demand to hear in-depth analyses of the hiring market today, based on the 2022 State of Tech Salaries data report. Listen to meaningful conversations regarding hiring strategies, including the structure of compensation packages, flexible working models, and other talent initiatives.

    Hear from:

    Hired CEO Josh BrennerVP & GM, Employer Solutions for General Assembly Catie BrandHead of People, Virtru, Conley (Henderson) McIntyre and Director, Talent Acquisition, Markforged, Bryan Robinson.

    Download this collaborative panel discussion to discover: 

    Salary trends by role and years of experienceChanges in industry benchmarks such as average time-to-hireKey opportunities to win over top tech talent efficientlyImpact of global remote on tech talent hiring More

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    How Smart Companies are Solving Post-Lockdown Working (4 New Trends)

    From ‘swarm teams’ to the metaverse, innovative ideas take on the challenges of the new world of work…

    In late 2021, Professor Lynda Gratton of the London Business School asked 150 executives from companies around the world for their take on the biggest challenge currently facing businesses. The answer came back loud and clear: “retaining people,” closely followed by “recruiting people.”

    It picked up on a problem destined to grow. The Great Resignation, the result of lockdown-fuelled dissatisfaction with our jobs was first. Then it was followed by the Great Reshuffle, as workers leapt from job to job in search of fulfillment. As we entered post-lockdown working, how would companies evolve?

    In May this year, the UK’s Office for National Statistics revealed that there were more job vacancies than unemployed people in the country for the first time since records began. The marketplace has since begun to settle, but a July survey of 1,100 US professionals showed that 31 percent were planning to quit within the next 12 months. In other words, employers still need to focus hard on hiring and keeping the best talent.

    Post-Lockdown Working at Home vs In-office

    According to Josh Brenner, CEO of Hired, the largest AI-driven recruitment marketplace for tech workers, what is most likely to attract and retain employees is the offer of flexible working. In a recent Hired survey, less than two percent of respondents wanted a full, five-day return to the office.

    “We’ve seen really high rates of attrition when companies have forced people back to the office for a full five-day schedule,” he says.

    With that comes the need to make the best of hybrid work, potentially across disparate geographies. In order to retain employees, companies also need to work harder to engage them. They need to help them feel aligned with the organization’s values, Brenner believes.

    “When we hear about companies losing high numbers of staff, a lot of it is because employees feel disconnected. They lack a solid understanding of where the company’s going, and how their work  bubbles up and contributes to goals.”

    Throw in the need to prepare for a fast-changing world – technologically, geo-politically – and you have a cluster of problems for companies to solve in post-lockdown working. Those that do so most effectively stand to gain a competitive advantage – so what are the most innovative trending ideas? 

    In WIRED’s report, readers learn about the:

    AI company that has done away with managers marketing company making a four-day week pay dividends professional services company using the metaverse to engage its workforcerise of a new C-suite role that’s re-shaping business… More