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The Scoop: Recruitment Trends & Industry Insights | October 2019

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Here is your October guide to the latest in recruitment trends, technology and industry insights! Each month, we highlight the biggest news affecting the industry and explain what to expect as new trends continue to emerge.

WILL SOCIAL EQUITY PROGRAMS IMPACT THE TALENT SUPPLY CHAIN?  

While the job growth rate has slowed slightly (0.3) over the last three months, the hire per job opening ratio is still below 1.0 (0.82), indicating that employers are still struggling to hire against the ever-pressing demand for talent. Adding to that pressure, the quit rate is up 6% YTD compared to the same timeframe last year. Employee confidence in the labor market is still high, as is the competition for passive candidates. 

While the economy will continue to level-off, employers who explore previously tepid avenues for talent will be in a better position to manage their talent supply chain regardless of external factors. I stumbled upon one such talent avenue via an Indeed job posting labeled “Social Equity Applicant”. 

The formerly incarcerated face unemployment rates of 27%, and a handful of states have been instituting policies aimed at creating new pathways to full-time employment. 

And while the fairly nascent dispensary market has greater flexibility to develop employment norms as it grows, the approach is being instituted in more established sectors, such as finance. JP Morgan Chase has partnered with a local nonprofit organization to pilot a program to hire people with criminal backgrounds into roles such as associate banker, personal banker and remittance processor. 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-jpmorgan-chase-criminal-records-hiring-20191021-a4sym5c3czhgdaqryaaq65wofa-story.html

AS TECH COMPANIES EXPAND, OPPORTUNITIES FOR JOB SEEKERS CROSS BLURRED INDUSTRY LINES 

While moving in fits and starts, the Gig Economy is estimated to grow to around $2.7 trillion by 2025. Uber is often top of mind in conversations about gig work. Beyond its on-demand driver opportunities – Uber and Uber Freight – the company recently moved into other service workspaces with the launch of its temp staffing company and platform Uber Works.

https://www.uber.com/blog/chicago/uberworks/

It’s a synergistic move considering its original driver staffing model and access to one of the largest populations of people looking for more flexible work arrangements. However, Uber’s expansion in this space comes amid growing concern from workers and policymakers about wage increases and benefits such as health insurance.

Recently Amazon, online bookstore turned tech company, acquired Health Navigator, a company that provides online symptom checking and triage tools to end-users. This offering is being rolled-out to employees as a part of Amazon Care Clinics, to connect employees to a physician or nurse through live chat or video, with the option for in-person follow up services. 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-amazon-health-navigator-david-thompson-20191024-gpmr3qs5sjf3bdsytpb7kr6njy-story.html

In the short term, this move may open up new opportunities for healthcare occupations. Longer term, this acquisition, along with Amazon’s move into the pharmaceutical space, could reshape how, and how often, we access traditional healthcare services, which may (hopefully, you’re still following me) create the right conditions to accelerate the growth of the gig economy.


ARE COMPANIES WITH AI-BASED USER EXPERIENCES MOVING TOWARD MORE EXPLICIT SIGNALS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND USER NEEDS? 

A main value prop of AI algorithms and big data has been the ability to take the guesswork out of interpreting user needs and how best to meet those needs (broadly speaking, the experience). With much of that decision-making process happening without a clear understanding of the why behind the results (the Blackbox) and a greater focus on getting personalization right for the many vs. the few, it was only a matter of time before the conversation around assumptions and biases required a renewed focus on explicit, in addition to implicit, signals.  

Similar to the thumbs up or down function on streaming music services, Hulu now allows its users to provide explicit signals of interest with its new like and dislike feature to improve the quality of recommendations. 

https://www.theverge.com/2019/10/16/20917156/hulu-like-dislike-new-features-better-home-screen-search

Likewise, as Pinterest looks to scale its platform beyond its current user base, the company recognized that its algorithm, based on initial questions of age and gender, and refined based on momentary interests, resulted in assumptions and ultimately less valuable recommendations. The company recently rolled out Home Feed Tuner, which will let users review and manually edit their activity history and interests, telling the algorithm what to remember and what to forget.

While job seekers are less mercurial about their interests, HR tech leveraging AI will still benefit from incorporating more explicit signals to gain greater insight into the interests and needs of end users.   

https://onezero.medium.com/how-pinterest-built-one-of-silicon-valleys-most-successful-algorithms-9101afdfd0dd

ROUNDING OUT THE SCOOP: PSYCH, SOCIAL, LABOR AND TECH

THE POWER OF UNCONVENTIONAL THINKERS

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About Jahkedda Akbar

Jahkedda Akbar currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Innovation and Head of Radancy Labs. In this role, she is dedicated to exploring research and analyzing data to understand the evolving dynamics of the talent market, which are influenced by factors such as labor market fluctuations, policy changes, societal shifts, and technological advancements. Her expertise in human behavior and decision-making enables her to develop innovative strategies and solutions that support both Radancy and our customers effectively.

One Response to " The Scoop: Recruitment Trends & Industry Insights | October 2019 "

  1. aish feat says:

    Thanks for sharing this information

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