SAVED FOR LATER: A word about words - the ones your use in your public job listings

Since no one asked, a quick word about the process I have used for ages to find/save ideas for blog topics.

I use Feedly, (while pouring one out for the late, great Google Reader), to subscribe to about 400 news and information sources on topics like tech, HR, news, pop culture, sports, and more for two main reasons. One, to try and keep up to date and informed about what is going on the world, country, and in the HR/workplace/HR tech space. And two, to leverage Feedly's 'Read Later' funciton  to effectively bookmark or save posts and articles that might be used as sources or inspiration for future posts.

Inevitably, I save many, many more articles than become posts, (or topics on the HR Happy Hour Show). So sometimes, usually on the weekend, I page and scroll back through some 'Saved for Later' pieces that I didn't actually cover or discuss anywhere in order to make sure that there wasn't something really interesting that should have been covered but for some reason was not.  And there are plenty of these kinds of pieces for sure. So in 2018 I am going to try to do a little better about surfacing these topics, even if it is a little 'late' or if it seems the news cycle has passed. So here we go...

From a few weeks ago, in something you may have caught, perhaps not, the HR Tech company Textio (who we featured at the 2017 HR Technology Conference), published a really interesting post titled '1000 different people, the same words', which shared the results from text analysis of over 25,000 public job postings from 10 well-known tech companies. The purpose of the analysis was to determine both the most common words and phrases used within a company's job postings, as well as assess how much more or less frequently these words and phrases appear compared to peer companies and a general baseline. Finally, Textio also examined the impact of these words and phrases in terms of how they drove differences in the expected number of male and female applicants. Take a look at a summary of the data below, then a couple of quick comments from me.

It is pretty amazing and instructive what this fairly simple but still pretty profound text analysis suggests, (and possibly reveals), about the cultures, norms, and expectations that these companies have for their employees based on the words they use/overuse in their job postings.

The words and phrases are also kind of reinforcing too, of the ideas we the public and job applicants likely have of these companies, based on what we know about them from the news and their reputations.

The words that appear often in Amazon and Uber job postings like 'maniacal' and 'whatever it takes' are probably not surprising given what we know and have heard about these companies approach to work, business, competition, and performance.

Likewise, Slack's use of 'lasting relationships' and Twitter's use of the phrase 'diverse perspectives' also pretty accurately reflect at least some elements of both of these company's ethos.

This is really interesting, and I think important. The language that an organization uses in their communications, especially their public-facing kinds of communications say more about what they truly are about than any formal, stilted, and focus grouped to death mission or vision.

It is a really good idea to make sure that the words, phrases, tone and manner with which your message is being carried to those who may not know (or have experience with) what you organization is really all about be true to what you believe (or aspire) it to be.

Textio is doing some really interesting and important work in this area, thanks to them for sharing this data.

Happy Monday - have a great week! 

PODCAST: #HRHappyHour 307 - The Benefits of Hiring Disabled Candidates

HR Happy Hour 307 - The Benefits of Hiring Disabled Candidates

Host: Steve Boese

Guest : Dan Peltz

Listen to the show HERE

This week on the HR Happy Hour Show, Steve is joined by Dan Peltz, Founder and Director of Shift NJ - an organization that helps candidates of all ability levels to connect with employers and find meaningful work. 

Shift New Jersey was created to empower individuals. Dan and the team individuals of all ability levels maximize their potential through employment, skills training, counseling, and case management. They assist adults in preparing for college, employment, and independent living by helping them develop the vision, mindset, action steps, skills, and experience necessary to become successful.

On the show, Dan described how Shift NJ works with candidates and employers to find employment opportunities, help build skills and capabilities of candidates that may have some challenges in finding positions, and how they support both the individuals and the organizations to make these programs and placements work for everyone.

Additionally, Dan shared examples of how large employers like Amazon are working with agencies like Shift NJ to place more candidates into open roles, and how they are proactively seeking to expand their candidate pools.

Finally, Dan shared how HR leaders in any location can get started with these programs and how they benefit the organization and community overall.

You can listen to the show on the show page HERE, or by using the widget player below:

This was an interesting and important show - thanks to Dan for joining us. Learn more at the Shift NJ site here.

Thanks to show sponsor Virgin Pulse - learn more at www.virginpulse.com.

Subscribe to the HR Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

PODCAST: #HRHappyHour 302 - Tim Sackett and Talent Acquisition Technology

HR Happy Hour 302 - Tim Sackett and Talent Acquisition Technology

Host: Steve Boese

Guest: Tim Sackett

Listen to the show HERE

This week on the HR Happy Hour Show, Steve is joined by Tim Sackett, President of HRU Technical Resources, popular writer and speaker on all things Talent Acquisition and keynote speaker at the upcoming Recruiting Trends and Talent Tech Conference.

On this show, Tim shared his perspectives on how technology continues to change the Talent Acquisition function, how roles for sourcers and recruiters are impacted, and some of the keys for corporate talent acquisition leaders to make the most of their technology investments.

Additionally, Tim talked previewed his upcoming keynote at the Recruiting Trends and Talent Tech Conference, (November 28 - 30, 2017 in Palm Beach, Florida), how to balance the 'people' side of recruiting with the technology, as well as the one single area of Talent Acquisition Technology that Tim thinks more corporate leaders should be investing in today.

Finally, we talked about innovation across the board in HR and Talent Tech, the role of technology in candidate experience, and Steve teased his NBA podcast, tentatively titled 'Bounding and Astounding'.

You can listen to the show on the show page HERE or by using the widget player below:

This was a really fun show with a long time friend of the HR Happy Hour Show - thanks Tim for taking the time and we hope to see lots of HR Happy Hour listeners at the Recruiting Trends and Talent Tech Conference later this month.

Reminder: HR Happy Hour listener survey here.

Thanks to show sponsor Virgin Pulse - www.virginpulse.com.

And finally, subscribe to the HR Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

PODCAST: #HRHappyHour 301 - Re-inventing the Candidate Experience at J&J

HR Happy Hour 301 - Re-inventing the Candidate Experience

Host: Steve Boese

Guest: Sjoerd Gehring, Global Vice President, Talent Acquisition, Johnson & Johnson

Listen HERE

This week on the HR Happy Hour Show, Steve is joined by Sjoerd Gehring, Global Vice President of Talent Acquisition at Johnson & Johnson, to talk about how J&J has re-invented the candidate experience with a blend of enhanced processes combined with new technology resulting in a modern, consumer-like, responsive, and effective new set of tools and processes that combine to create a new standard in large company candidate experience.

Sjoerd shared some of the challenges that J&J was facing in talent acquisition, the need to become more responsive to candidates, the need to leverage new and better tools and technologies that meet candidate expectations that rival their consumer and personal technology experiences, that shaped their journey to create and launch J&J's new platform and experience named 'Shine'.

Shine puts the candidate at the center of the experience - providing increased information, transparency, usability to candidates, as well as driving increased satisfaction from both candidates as well as internal stakeholders. Sjoerd also shared some of the thinking that went behind developing the Shine platform, how and where to prioritize effort and focus, and what some of the early outcomes that have been seen since the new platform was launched.

You can listen to the show on the show page HERE, or by using the widget player below:

Thanks Sjoerd for sharing information about the J&J journey, and the lessons learned that any company can take direction and inspiration from as they move to modernize and improve their recruiting processes.

Thanks as always to show sponsor Virgin Pulse - www.virginpulse.com.

Subscribe to the HR Happy Hour wherever you get your podcasts, just search for 'HR Happy Hour' to subscribe and never miss a show.

Last, please take out HR Happy Hour listener survey.

Digital Talent Profiles and the Blockchain

I'm still unwinding a bit from last week's HR Tech Conference, and one of the things I like to think about after the event is more of a question I suppose. Namely, 'Where there any trends or new technologies that we should have paid more attention to at the event, and should be featured next time?'

About a two or three weeks before the event, a friend of mine contacted me to inquire if we (the Conference), was going to showcase any Blockchain technology, and how this developing tech can or will be used in HR, Talent, or Recruiting. My short answer was 'no', as I had not really seen or heard much on that front in 2017, no one (that I can recall), specifically pitched me any blockchain powered tools to review, and frankly, I only kind of understand what the whole thing is about myself.

For folks who may have no idea what I am talking about, from our pals at Wikipedia on the Blockchain:

A blockchain is a continuously growing list of records, called blocks, which are linked and secured using cryptography.Each block typically contains a hash pointer as a link to a previous block,a timestamp and transaction data. By design, blockchains are inherently resistant to modification of the data. A blockchain can serve as "an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way. For use as a distributed ledger, a blockchain is typically managed by a peer-to-peer network collectively adhering to a protocol for validating new blocks. 

This makes blockchains suitable for the recording of events, medical records, and other records management activities, such as identity management,transaction processing, documenting provenance, or food traceability

That doesn't seem too tough to understand, right?

A data repository that is secure, verifiable, can record and store all kinds of data types, and can be widely distributed and shared.

Thinking about it that way, there certainly seems like their would be or could be some applications of this technology in HR and talent technologies.

Before we jump to that, check out this example of how a form of Blockchain is being applied in the Higher Ed space - as a way to electronically distribute and validate student credentials and degrees:

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is offering some students the option to be awarded tamper-free digital degree certificates when they graduate, in partnership with Learning Machine. Selected students can now choose to download a digital version of their degree certificate to their smartphones when they graduate, in addition to receiving a paper diploma.

Using a free, open-source app called Blockcerts Wallet, students can quickly access a digital diploma that can be shared on social media and verified by employers to ensure its authenticity. The digital credential is protected using block-chain technology. The block chain is a public ledger that offers a secure way of making and recording transactions, and is best known as the underlying technology of digital currency Bitcoin

An interesting application of Blockchain to share and allow the verification of student degrees by employers, banks, and whomever else would need access to a student's degree information.

To jump back to HR/Talent, it makes perfect sense then that a similar Blockchain protected employee talent profile could be created for an individual person that could include not only the degree and academic information like in the MIT example, but also work products, verifiable job histories, certifications and skills assessments, and maybe even things like recommendations and testimonials. And all stored in a secure and distributed way - perhaps a way for a candidate to share their profiles with a number of companies at once without having to go through tedious and repetitive job applications for each one. Or maybe in some kind of talent repository for temp, gig, and contract workers to submit their availability and credentials in talent marketplaces.

There are probably going to be lots more applications of Blockchain in enterprises coming soon, and I will be on the lookout for innovative HR and talent applications for next year's HR Tech.

If you are a provider doing something interesting in this 'Blockchain for HR' space, get in touch, I'd be interested in learning more.

Have a great day!