Click IQ Academy Podcast: Recent Episodes
Alan Walker
The Click IQ Academy is a resource, learning and networking hub for recruitment and talent acquisition professionals.
This channel provides both access to content that was recorded with podcasts in mind first, and audio versions of our video content.
Enjoy!
Emma Neary and Alan Walker talk direct sourcing, and how candidate experience plays a big part in this. They discussed what an organisation needs to do to move towards a direct sourcing model, the important things to be mindful of, and some of the quick wins that can accelerate this approach.
In this conversation with Emma we discussed: * The key things that need to change to move towards a direct sourcing model. * How to move a recruiter from being an order taker to being a business partner. * The essential elements of taking a recruitment brief, and the need to ask “why?” * How taking a brief improves the ability for a recruiter to support candidates through the recruitment process. * What a recruitment team can do to be seen as strategically important. * How infusing a recruitment culture throughout an organisation, can deliver better results. * Things we can do to improve the candidate experience. * The role of technology, and how it can support a direct sourcing strategy. * What technology can do better than humans. * The importance of the recruitment process moving quickly, and the bottlenecks to work on. * How an organisation can market their opportunities more effectively.
Here's the link to the video version of this conversation:-
https://academy.clickiq.co.uk/emma-neary-on-the-guide-to-direct-sourcing-candidate-experience/
In this episode, Alan Walker talks to Kasia Tang, about the secret to building high-performing recruitment teams.
They talked about:-
- Why having the right team in place is the essence of recruiting success
- The risks of getting recruitment team building wrong
- How aiming for a diversity of thought, background and experience can bring huge advantages
- Why hiring people you feel uncomfortable working is a good thing
- Solving the biggest problems needs people who challenge the status quo
- That people who make mistakes and learn from them are more valuable than those who (seemingly) never make any
- How fostering a culture of true candidate centricity will deliver high performing recruitment teams
In this episode, Alan Walker talks to Mohammed Baig of VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas) on how he has overcome the challenges of being asked to hire over 4,000 volunteers per year.
They talked about:-
- How introducing modern recruitment tactics have made a significant difference
- Why being more data-driven and technology-savvy has led to considerable improvements
- Talent nurturing and community building making a huge difference to time-to-hire
- How pre-boarding candidates in advance of project sign off helped reduce onboarding from 5 months to a few weeks
- Why improving candidate communications improved reduced candidate drop-off
- The huge difference between hiring employees and volunteers
In this episode, Alan Walker talks to Akbar Karenga on why recruiters should act more like marketers if they want to be successful.
They talked about:-
- His time managing 16 hiring managers across 16 countries globally - and why embracing cultural differences was key to doing it well
- How lesser-known brands can compete
- The need for recruitment to behave more like other functions if they want to secure c-suite buy-in
- Business leaders demanding metrics that are meaningful to them - think "what's the bottom line impact"
- How understanding your total addressable market of candidates is essential before you start hiring
- Why pragmatic analysis of your recruitment process can lead to significant improvements
- How approaching recruitment like sales & marketing is the key to our functions future success
In this episode, Alan Walker speaks with Theo Smith about Neurodiversity in hiring and employment.
They talked about:-
- Why being a champion of neurodiversity is important to him
- His journey of exploration is going on, and how this has been driven by finding out he himself is neurodiverse
- That 15% of the population think differently and are neurodiverse
- What he's doing to be an advocate for neurodiversity
- Some of the initiatives businesses (including NICE) are undertaking around this topic
- Why it is important for employers to look at Neurodiversity, particularly when hiring
- How employers can become better at hiring (and retaining) neurodiverse talent, and some of the challenges they'll need to overcome
- Why businesses shouldn't be afraid of neurodiversity, and it's all about treating people as individuals
In this episode, Alan Walker speaks with Liz Dowling about hiring in a hyper-growth start-up.
They talked about: * What defines a "hyper-growth" start-up and the challenges recruiters face in these type of businesses * How understanding the company's strategy, vision and roadmap is the first step towards moving from being reactive to proactive * Successful TA teams building out a hiring roadmap that aligns to the business' commercials * TA people needing to be able to challenge, ask questions and understand the plans of the business * Questions to ask the business e.g. "Where are we going?", "Why are we going there?" and "What do you need?" * Why recruiters need to feed the business with intel - including talent market data and dashboards on how the recruitment team is performing * Educating the business as being essential, so they understand the commercial impact of TA being resourced appropriately * The fact that confidence is key, as is quickly earning the respect of hiring managers * How getting the basics in place - process, rules of engagement etc - is as important in these businesses as it is in large corporates * Why creating a "recruiting culture" across the business will solve many challenges
In this episode, Alan Walker speaks with Phil Catcheside about the candidate market segmentation project he is leading at Network Rail
They talked about...
- Who Phil is, and what it is he does
- What market segmentation is, why it's important and the decisions it can drive
- Why this project is so relevant for an organisation like Network Rail
- How he has managed the project
- Executive buy-in
- What external support he brought in
- Some interesting finding so far, and how they challenged perceptions
Jim discusses the latest innovative recruitment strategies.
Links cited:
https://www.one-tab.com/page/VOjhy9XNR1CL2Zwxj0c-xw
Jim Stroud discusses the world of recruitment.
Links cited:
https://www.one-tab.com/page/AfUBeXOvQtSHT7fm8PmwZg
Alan Walker speaks to Yodel's Head of Resourcing Ben Gledhill, on how he is transforming hiring in their business.
We heard
- About his role as Head of Resourcing at Yodel
- How he has revolutionised driver recruitment and candidate experience via ChatBots
- Why the challenge of a large transformation project attracted him
- Where to start with a transformation project
- Why quick wins are important, but the long term goal should be fundamental change
- Why having the right people in place should be the first step
- About key parts of his project - process, attraction, onboarding and retention
- How hiring Employed and Self-Employed people offers different challenges
- Why it's important not to be destracted by shiny tech, and it's important to do your homework
- That positioning Resourcing as a key strategic business partner has been the most important thing he has achieved
- Why TA doesn't need a seat at the main board!
- About the key changes he has made from a tech perspective
- How recruiter experience can be as important as candidate experience
- Why automation tech isn't about headcount reduction, it's about headcount optimisation
In this episode, Alan Walker speaks with Gary Manning of Touch Surgery about life as a recruiter in a fast-growing startup, some of the challenges and his advice as to how to overcome them.
They talked about...
- Gary's time with King, and his new role with Touch Surgery
- The unique people challenges startups face, and how adjusting to startup life can be a challenging experience
- Why knowing who you are, your values and communicating your purpose is key to attracting people when competition for talent is so high
- Why the role of a TA person in much broader than just recruitment in a startup
- The importance of delivering a positive candidate experience - think fast & slick
- How treating each piece of recruitment as a project (with a process) is key to consistantly good hiring outcomes
- Why kick-offs (think job briefings) and washups are essential - with the latter creating great data for providing feedback, and for developing onboarding and learning plans
- How to handle pushback from hiring managers, and why it's important to get them to stick to a process
- That when you're the first person in a new TA team, it's important to go in with your eyes open. Network, attend events, spend time with peers.
In this episode, Alan Walker speaks with Jim Stroud of Click IQ on a whole heap of stuff - the majority of it related to hiring, much of it about AI, some of it about his shoes (or lack of).
We heard:
- Why he sheds his shoes when presenting (think Die Hard)
- How Bank of America increasing their minimum wage may have some unintended consequences
- What IBM's ability to predict whether someone is leaving - via AI - means for employees
- Whether AI can be truly unbiased, and if it can be more or less human (than humans)
- How a restaurant chain accidentally discriminated against certain communities
- Why New York State barring marijuana testing is as much about a talent shortage as it is about relaxing drug laws
For more great content, check out https://academy.clickiq.co.uk/
In this episode, Alan Walker speaks with Helen Durkin of Indeed on the subject of Employer Branding.
We heard:
- Some of the specific challenges Indeed face
- How getting support internally is vital
- The crossover between employer and corporate brand
- How to build awareness in new markets
- Why listening to feedback - internally and externally - is essential
- Why developing employee ambassadors/advocates is vital, and how to do it organically
- Tips for those starting out on their employer branding journey
For more great content, check out https://academy.clickiq.co.uk/
In this episode, Alan Walker speaks with Kirstie Kelly on the subject of wellbeing in the workplace.
We heard:
- What this wellbeing "stuff" is all about
- Who is responsible for wellbeing (employee or employer?)
- The commercial reasons why wellbeing is important
- The costs to the economy of poor mental health and wellbeing
- How a company can tell whether they're providing an environment that enables wellbeing
- How an individual can assess their own wellbeing
- Where an organisation should start, when building its own wellbeing programs
- Some examples of wellbeing initiatives that have been proven to work
- The difference between wellbeing in small Vs large organisations
- How technology can help with wellbeing
For more great content, check out https://academy.clickiq.co.uk/
Chris Stewart and Alan Walker discuss content, career sites and social media – and how they all play a part in a highly effective recruitment marketing strategy.
In this conversation with Chris we discussed:
Where recruitment teams should start, when starting to produce content.
Why creating content doesn’t need to be difficult, or expensive.
The power of video content, as the medium of choice when trying to drive engagement with graduates.
How you find out which type of content will work for your audience.
Which channels are most effective for distributing content.
Whether tailoring content for particular channels is important.
If SnapChat is an effective recruitment channel.
How to build an award-winning career site, and how long it takes, and which functions to partner with.
Turning employees into brand ambassadors (and keeping them there).
Social media as a recruitment tool, it’s effectiveness for specific campaigns and how to use it to attract talent.
For the video of this interview, check out:-
https://academy.clickiq.co.uk/chris-stewart-on-content-careers-sites-and-social-media/
Tom Baker and Alan Walker talk about where an organisation should start with their employer brand strategy.
How to bring it to life; which colleagues to partner with; measuring the effectiveness of your employer brand strategy – and the importance of purpose.
In this interview with Tom, we learnt:- Where an organisation needs to start with their employer brand strategy
The role of the employee value proposition (EVP) in employer brand
How an organisation defines their EVP
The importance of tailoring your EVP, for particular talent segments
How to activate your employer brand and the channels to use
Why perfection isn’t necessary from day one and your brand can be built on
Which colleagues recruitment teams need to collaborate with, to ensure the success of their employer brand
What organisations can do about the stuff that is hard to control (Glassdoor etc)
How organisations can turn their employees into advocates
The basic requirements of a career site, and how to deal with a legacy applicant tracking system
Which measures should a recruitment team put in place to measure the effectiveness of their employer brand
Using ChatBots as a tool to convert potential candidates into applicants
How corporate brand links to employer brand
The importance of purpose in employer branding
For the video of this interview, check out:-
https://academy.clickiq.co.uk/tom-baker-on-managing-your-employer-brand/
Emma Neary and Alan Walker talk direct sourcing, and how candidate experience plays a big part in this. They discussed what an organisation needs to do to move towards a direct sourcing model, the important things to be mindful of, and some of the quick wins that can accelerate this approach.
In this conversation with Emma we discussed: The key things that need to change to move towards a direct sourcing model.
How to move a recruiter from being an order taker to being a business partner.
The essential elements of taking a recruitment brief, and the need to ask “why?”
How taking a brief improves the ability for a recruiter to support candidates through the recruitment process.
What a recruitment team can do to be seen as strategically important.
How infusing a recruitment culture throughout an organisation, can deliver better results.
Things we can do to improve the candidate experience.
The role of technology, and how it can support a direct sourcing strategy.
What technology can do better than humans.
The importance of the recruitment process moving quickly, and the bottlenecks to work on.
How an organisation can market their opportunities more effectively.
For the video of this interview, check out:-
https://academy.clickiq.co.uk/emma-neary-on-the-guide-to-direct-sourcing-candidate-experience/
Andy Curlewis and Alan Walker discuss why marketing is an essential part of any modern recruiters toolkit; some specific tactics and techniques; and how to measure the effectiveness of a recruitment marketing strategy.
In this conversation with Andy we discussed:
Why marketing is an important skill for recruiters.
The difference between talent pipelining, talent pools and talent communities.
Whether building talent pipelines is the right thing to do, and how to build a talent pipeline (if it is).
The types of content that can be used in recruitment marketing.
What key metrics you should be measuring.
Does social media work?
How an organisation can differentiate themselves on social media.
User-generated content Vs corporate/marketing content.
The effectiveness of direct marketing through social.
For the video of this interview, check out:-
https://academy.clickiq.co.uk/andy-curlewis-on-pipelining-marketing-metrics-and-content/
Katrina Collier and Alan Walker discussing everything from technology through employer brand – but centred on the need for both recruiters and hiring organisations to be more human and authentic, and for them to put candidate experience at the heart of everything they do.
In this conversation with Katrina we discussed:
How recruiters who use technology to spam will eventually be replaced by technology.
What a recruiter can do to position themselves as a recruiter who is worth talking to.
Why most recruiters are “too corporate” and need to be more relaxed, personable and approachable.
The techniques a recruiter can use to make themselves stand out.
How a company can check that their online presence represents them accurately.
Why authenticity is important, for organisations and recruiters.
How being unique in your approach to candidates is essential, in a market where there is a candidate shortage.
How technology can help with personalisation at scale.
The importance of getting candidate experience right, and the things we can do to improve.
Whether matching tools are an effective tool, whilst we’re still reliant on peoples ability to write a CV/resume.
Why recruiters really shouldn’t be ghosting candidates.
What hiring manager training can do to improve recruiting performance.
For the video of this interview, check out:-
https://academy.clickiq.co.uk/katrina-collier-on-employer-brand-authenticity-and-candidate-experience/
Caroline Evans and Alan Walker discuss how some of the techniques used in consumer marketing can be equally successful in recruitment marketing – and why those two things are so similar.
In this interview, we learnt:-
How the techniques used in non-recruitment B2C marketing can be used in recruitment marketing
Personas – what they are, and how they are used to inform a B2C marketing strategy
How personas can be used in recruitment marketing
How to start building out personas, and techniques used to define them
The number of digital touch-points it takes to convert a customer, and how retargeting is an essential part of a marketing strategy
The challenges around attributing the source of leads, and the relationships between channels
How “offline” (i.e. non-traditional digital) can be an effective addition to digital marketing channels
The importance of tracking every stage of the customer journey
Automation, and how it complements the art of marketing
How personalisation is key to brand differentiation
Measuring the success of marketing in a B2C environment, and KPI’s that can be used
Building brand awareness, its importance, and checking whether people understand it
For the video of this interview, check out:-
https://academy.clickiq.co.uk/caroline-evans-on-what-recruiters-can-learn-from-marketing/
Bill Boorman and Alan Walker discuss the future of recruitment. What the more recent changes in the media landscape mean to recruiters; the key channels for the next few years; how recruitment needs to change; and how to build a talent technology stack in different types of organisations.
In this interview, we learnt:-
What the changes within the recruitment media landscape, and the entrance of Google and Facebook into the market, means to the industry
What the key recruitment channels will be over the next few years
The role of performance media in the future, and how paying for hard results (rather than just clicks) will become the norm
The evolution of the talent acquisition function, and how hiring and learning will become more closely integrated
The elements of talent acquisition that will be automated, and how we can make sure automation improves the recruitment process
Where should an organisation start when building out their talent technology stack, and how to join it up
The core set of technology tools that a new recruitment team should have in their locker
For the video of this interview, check out:-
https://academy.clickiq.co.uk/bill-boorman-on-the-changing-recruitment-landscape/
Hung Lee and Alan Walker discuss how building a personal brand can help with both short-term goals and long-term career aspirations, and how growing a community needs the right approach – but the benefits can be amazing.
In this interview, we learnt:-
The importance of building a personal brand in the recruitment space
What a recruiter can do to build their personal brand
What collaboration and partnerships can be the key to success
How being present and active online can accelerate relationships
What a talent acquisition leader can do to position themselves as influencers or thought leaders
What triggered the idea behind Recruiting Brainfood, and the benefits Hung has seen from developing his personal brand
How recruiters can build and leverage communities
Why members must “self-identify” to be truly part of the community
What community members expect, and how to encourage engagement
The benefits of building communities for recruiters, when they should consider doing so, and the ROI
Why supporting existing communities, rather than building your own, can be beneficial
https://academy.clickiq.co.uk/hung-lee-on-building-your-personal-brand/
Morgan Lobb and Alan Walker talk all things diversity and inclusion. Why it’s important, what organisations need to do to make themselves more inclusive, and the steps they can take to hire more diverse talent.
In this interview, we learnt:-
The difference between the terms diversity and inclusion, what they each bring to the table and how we need to get both right
How an organisation can identify whether they have an issue around diversity or inclusion
The known benefits of diversity and inclusion, and the research that backs it up
Steps an organisation should take first, to make themselves ready for diverse talent to enter their workforce
How an organisation can tackle bias (unconscious and affinity)
What a hiring team should do to attract & hire more diverse talent
Where an organisation with low levels of diversity currently can demonstrate their commitment to inclusion in the future
Changes that need to be made to the recruitment process to make it more accessible & inclusive, so the best person is hired
Do blind applications (no names) work?
For the video of this interview, check out:-
https://academy.clickiq.co.uk/morgan-lobb-on-how-to-improve-your-diversity-inclusion-strategy/