In his opening address to the Talent Acquisition Institute conference in May, Checkster CEO Yves Lemusi reported the top three priorities to conference attendees, according to polling results:

1. Candidate Sourcing
2. Diversity and Inclusion
3. Candidate Experience

In attendance in San Antonio were Talent Acquisition leaders from across the country representing industries from healthcare, banking and insurance to hospitality, entertainment and retail. We had the privilege of engaging these leaders in panel discussions and in private business meetings over the course of three days. Here is what we learned.

The Evolution of Recruitment through Social and Mobile

Mira Greenland, SVP with SaaS Social Recruiting Sales, CareerArc, describing their strategy for staffing 100 new Ulta stores a year for the next five years:

• Raise employer brand awareness where target talent are — social media
• Build consistent brand messaging and content through well-crafted social media posts and social job posts
• Optimize each Tweet to maximize targeting and return on reach

Employers are examining social media management and developing coaching programs for hiring managers in social networking skills. Being well versed in social posting using embedded links and hashtags and hosting hiring Tweet chats are all tactics TA leaders must embrace in order to attract today’s savvy candidates.

The message to talent acquisition from Derek Smith, GM Xref, was clear regarding social and mobile recruiting: Do you want to be Blockbuster or Netflix? Change is here, embrace it!

Diversity Ignites Creativity, Problem-Solving and Innovation

Conversations frequently landed on the common question of how to reduce bias in hiring decisions. Chris DioDomizio, SVP Talent Acquisition at Chubb asserts that diversity and inclusion “starts at the top, with leadership. Diversity and inclusion are the right thing to do, the more organic the better.”

Discussions centered on pre-hire behavioral assessments integrated into ATS. When a company uses assessments, a community’s diverse talent is represented. According to data scientists at Talent Plus, using a talent-focused selection tool to identify candidates takes the human bias out of the equation.

There is No Difference Between a Candidate and a Customer

According to the Bureau of Labor statistics, the unemployment rate dipped to a 50-year record low of 3.6 percent through April 2019. Candidates are shopping companies like they search for other consumer goods, by checking all affiliated social media sites and researching the quality of the company experience.

Glassdoor, Vault, Indeed and other employee-review sites are a resource for candidates to learn from current and former employees about the employer’s culture, brand, compensation and benefits. Just like Google, Amazon and Yelp reviews can inform shopping decisions, candidates shop social media platforms to see what employees are saying and what company life looks like.

During the panel discussion “Creating an Amazing Candidate Experience,” Subhashini Panyam, Country Director, TA & HR at Hitachi Consulting, reinforced the concept of “treating your candidate like you treat the customer.”

Representing Talent Plus in panel discussions, we introduced the Talent Card ®, generated after each Talent Plus pre-hire assessment. This tool is a review of the candidate’s unique top talents, whether they are selected for in-person interviews or not.

Each Talent Card is presented to candidates immediately after completion of the online assessment or upon hiring. It’s a free development tool that strengthens the positive experience individuals have with the employer and has improved candidate experience net promoter scores to greater than 50 percent.

According to Girish Ganesan, Head of Talent for TD Bank, “Candidate experience actually happens in the first 90 days of the employee life cycle.” To Ganesan, the “candidate experience is just as important as employee experience.”
Talent Plus ® attended the Talent Acquisition Institute Conference May 2019 at the La Cantera Resort in San Antonio, Texas.