This Week, In Recruiting - Issue 61

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H.U.G comes to London!

After a day full of remote content at H.U.G on May 24th, Personio are hosting an in-person follow up event at The New White Loft at 6-14 Underwood Street, London N1 7JQ on May 25th from 13.00pm to 19.30pm

The best part? It’s live and in person, so come and network with your fellow HR professionals, enjoy some amazing lunch, and hear from industry leaders such as Jon Ingham (Director, Strategic HR Academy), Carolin Fleissner (VP of People & Culture, Wayve), Yssine Matola (VP of Heydoc) and Sonia Mooney (Founder, Signature Solutions) on HR Leadership, Organisational Architecture and preparations for the Great Reset.

140 capacity spacing, (102 tickets already gone!) so grab your place by registering here. Tickets are free, but you have to register.

Personio is the People Operating System that gives HR teams time to focus on what really matters: people. We’ve helped 6,000+ companies in Europe to automate people processes and free up time for more strategic work, enabling HR to go beyond HR.

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Open Kitchen: Recession Proofing Your Recruiter Career

I wrote last week that the market has already flipped.

Record inflation, increase taxation, higher input costs due to higher energy costs, hostile de-globalisation, anaemic growth - maybe a wholesale reset to a lower level of consumption, employee resistance to back-to-the-office, continuing pandemic (case rates going back up...), collapse of tech stocks / crypto markets and the persistent challenge of hiring for candidates....there are too many things pointing the same direction to avoid the conclusion that we're headed for at least a slowdown in growth, if not a reversal into recession, if not something even worse.

From the poll conducted, of which 869 people answered, it seems that most of you agree (not that this means much, other than a measure of sentiment of the network), so today's Open Kitchen might be a good opportunity to collect together some thoughts as what recruiters need to do in order to best position for the next cycle, which might already be here.

So....how do recruiters recession proof our careers?

Some thoughts.....

1. Obviously Don't Panic

It is one of those clichés which happens to be true that recruiters are immensely resilient. There are plenty of people who have tried this work and - you know what? Most drop out within weeks of doing it. If you've made it this far so as to be interested in this newsletter, the chances are you are already shown the fortitude that you need to survive any downturn. The last 12 months have been an incredible golden period where we suddenly became the hottest commodities in the market but I don't think any of us were under the illusion it was going to last forever. It's actually a damn shame that it didn't last for longer but we need to get over it, mentally reset and look forward to the market as it is going to be in the next 12 months. Our mental posture needs to be aware and active.

The good news is economies are not monoliths but a simplification of interconnected components with varying degrees of discretion and dependency. This means that even though we might expect the aggregate to slow or reverse, there will always be sectors which will continue to grow regardless of overall trend.

[Image: McKinsey 2021, Future of Work After Covid]

Some of these sectors are obvious - Material Sciences, Artificial Intelligence, InfoSec, Green tech, Healthcare, Technology.

Needless to say, if you're not already recruiting in these sectors, might be an idea to actively move towards them, even as you retain your cool in not panicking 😉

2. Default from Private to Public

Most of us professionally operate in 'private' mode. For recruiters, I increasingly believe this to be a profound mistake. It is not a terminal error, because you can be great at your job being some kind of stealth ninja, but it is not optimal because you are certainly leaving opportunities unseen and ungathered.

In a digital world where 'algorithmic gains' (thanks Ivan Harrison for the phrase) can be had simply by being active online, it makes no sense not open up your approach and shift into 'public' mode. Hate to say it, but we need to learn from YouTubers and Instagrammers - where everything is 'content' or at least considered to be having 'content potential', no matter how banal it may first appear. Drop the pretence of quality control - not because you don't care - but because we don't always know what quality is. In social media, what quality is is defined less by the author and more by the audience and the algorithm. So you need to be open with your journey.

It's basically what Open Kitchen is - me sharing what I thinking as I'm thinking it, sharing what I'm doing as I'm doing it. The marketing value of transparency is not only that it decreases stress (seriously, I think this is a form of therapy for me), but also that the content production is practically free. You are simply showing people how you do what you do.

The outcome of this shift from private to public is more digital output, which will lead to increased digital footprint (you'll be more findable), increased intimacy (you'll be more relatable) and increase in awareness (you'll be more familiar). It's going to make you better as a recruiter and even more resilient than you already are.

3. Expand Your Network

Tim Sackett memorably asked - would you reject a recruiter who had less than 500 connections on LinkedIn? His answer was that he would.....and you know what? He would be absolutely right to do so. LinkedIn gets a no great praise - in fact, it has become a badge of honour for recruiters to proclaim their independence from it - but the fact remains that it is a free online, always available database of millions of people who might become valuable contacts, hireable candidates or great customers and clients. It's crazy that we do not maximise our use of it.

I used to be LION (LinkedIn Open Networker) before that become a spam fest, then I joined a few private groups set up to maximise connections, then set up a few groups of my own in order to continue to build out connections.

[Image: Jason Roberts: Increasing Your Luck Surface Area]

Why did I do this? Because I thought of the network not only as database of candidates and contacts, but also (and now importantly) as a distribution channel for amplifying conversations like this. Yes you need 'quality' connections but as quantity has a quality all of its own, one which we dismiss because we don't understand what it might be. That quality is a wider surface area for opportunity - the scientifically validated definition of good luck 🤣

And in any market - bull or bear - good luck is something we would love to have more of.

4. Contribute to Community

Most of us are members of some sort of gated community, and most of us mainly lurk in them. I know I did before I realised that you get much greater value by actively participating. It took me at least several years before I realised this. The annoying thing is what stops us from participating is a misunderstanding of what other community members expect from us - we think they expect expertise or perfect solutions, when they actually don't expect much at all!

This anxiety is founded on the misconception that online communities are purely performative spaces for the acquisition of status through the demonstration of superior intellect, wit or knowledge. They are is for some people but in the communities you find yourself enjoying being a part of, the chances are the 'performers' are low in number and low in virulence.

Let's conceive online community as primarily conversational spaces. They are opportunities for us to discuss things we care about, with people we might confidently predict share our enthusiasms. There is no need to be correct; it might be better if you are not, as there is no greater killer of conversation that certainty.

[Image: Big List of Online Communities]

This anxiety is founded on the misconception that online communities are purely performative spaces for the acquisition of status through the demonstration of superior intellect, wit or knowledge. They are is for some people but in the communities you find yourself enjoying being a part of, the chances are the 'performers' are low in number and low in virulence.

Let's conceive online community as primarily conversational spaces. They are opportunities for us to discuss things we care about, with people we might confidently predict share our enthusiasms. There is no need to be correct; it might be better if you are not, as there is no greater killer of conversation that certainty.

Above is an image of the Big List of Online Communities. It was crowdsourced in 2019 and contains hundreds of digital communities for recruiters / HR people across the world. It's obviously dated now, but guess what? I am going to refresh it because I think we need it again. Click on the links and see which communities are still active - join the ones you care about and let me know which ones are now defunct!

Btw: you are welcome to join Recruiting Brainfood Online Community - just apply here.

5. Attend in-Person Events

There is no question that in-person events remain a niche activity for most people in HR / Recruitment. Likely less than 10% of the industry has ever been to one. I say this to you now - the most significant moments of my career unquestionably came as a result of attending them. An inspirational talk by the late great Alan Whitford first opened my eyes to the possibilities unlocked by social technologies. My first TruLondon, attended on the invite (and insistence!) of the great Bill Boorman, connected me with people who I call friends to this day. My first public talk courtesy of Stephen O'Donnell, who just took a chance and asked me to do it having never heard me saying anything sensible in public at any point, more or less launched the idea of communicating one-to-many, which is what brainfood is fundamentally there to do.

With in-person events now happening, I encourage you attend those that you can. The relationships we have stockpiled over the past two years of remote first, remote only can and will be improved through meeting face to face.

You are not going to meet many new people at in-person events. What you will be doing is connecting with familiar names and faces from people you have already met in digital spaces. The first time you meet someone you know in-person is a moment you tend to remember - it is an important milestone in the development of the relationship you have started together. Unquestionably it will a deepening of that relationship.

[Image: Big List of Events for Recruiters / HR]

If 2,3 and 4 help you scale out your online connections, then 5 will help you deepen them to the extent that these contacts can become real friendships which will unquestionably increase their professional value to you. It's a big part of the reason why I have returned to international travel; not only because it's always great to get away but because these are rare opportunities to deepen relationships with community members who I know, but do not know well enough.

The above image is a screencap from another crowdsource spreadsheet - the Big List of Events for Recruiters / HR Pro's to Attend. It is another one which I am going refresh and circulate around, because I think having one place where all the events are will be useful for us all to plan our attendance or when we decide to plan our own events. Again, check out which ones are still going, let me know which ones are not and more important, let me know which ones are going to be happening this year.

So that's my five.

Anything else to add? Please do comment below and add the list of to-do's. The more tips we all share, the better it will be for

Anyways, out of the kitchen, onto the lounge 👇

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What's in the News?

Deel raises $50 million at $12 Billion valuation

This is how Deel announced it latest fundraising round, with a tweet outlining its revenue growth from $1million ARR to $100 Million ARR in less than 20 months. Insane numbers for any business and a once-in-a-generation opportunity to grab the dominant position in the new landscape of location agnostic work. I think there will be more than one winner here, Deel is going to be one of them.

Aboveboard raises $6 million for it's URG Talent Marketplace for Exec Hiring

Great example of finding your market and focusing on the niche. Aboveboard is a two side marketplace which aims to match under represented groups to senior exec positions, which traditionally go to headhunters or are reliant on C-level networking, both of which typically mean a non-diverse pipeline of talent. Simple solution here with a clear path to success. Techcrunch with a great report here

Cielo acquires Peridus Group

Always exciting news to see good friends get it together - RPO Cielo Talent acquire HR Tech consultancy firm Peridus Group. Congratulations to CEO Caleb Fullhart who will stay on as Senior VP - Consulting, and Robin Schooling who joins as VP - Consulting. Press release from Cielo here

If you are a recruitment service provider or technology business and have any news to share, comment below, this is your application to get into next week's addition of This Week, In Recruiting. Make sure to @ mention me so that I see it

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What's On Offer?

Julia Reiss Consulting is offering The HR Checklist at 25% discount for any takers who claim before 31 May 2022!

Already more than reasonably priced at €149 (Standard) or €299 (Premium), you can get discounts on either one with the promo code: BRAINFOOD. Sometimes you just need to make sure you have checked all the boxes - get to it here

If you are a recruitment service provider or recruitment technology vendor have any exclusive offer for the community, comment below with your offer in order to be included in next week's edition of This Week, In Recruiting. Make sure to @ mention me so that I see it.

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What's Going On?

Founders Focus - Ep27 - Up close and personal with Will Laufer, CEO of Prelude, Tue 17 May 10am EDT / 3pm BST

It's my favourite thing to do folks, and I think I've figured out why - it's fascinating to deep dive into the minds of CEO's who have found the inspiration to try and make a substantive change to the industry landscape. This week, I'm speaking with Will Laufer, CEO of Prelude. Leadership and entrepreneurial lessons from the folks changing the way we work today - we're on tomorrow Tuesday 17th 10am EDT / 3pm BST - register here

Brainfood Live On Air - Ep155 - Moving to Salary Transparency, Thu 19th May, 12pm BST

Going to be doing this show from Berlin, hence the shift to the Thursday rather than traditional Friday slot. Might also be a good A/B test on whether this might be a better day for it. Lots of companies are moving toward salary transparency - how do you do it, what are the pitfalls, what are the best practices, what are the outcomes? Critically important topic, so mandatory attendance for this one folks: Annie Jackson, Head of Talent Acquisition (CLEO), Mick Griffin, Chief Growth Officer (TRAFFIT), Raluca Jamault-Otelea, Talent Acquisition Director (360Learning), Matt Bradburn, Founder (People Collective) & Jessica Zwaan, COO (Whereby). Register here folks

Tech Hiring Community Conference - Redesigning Work, Fri 20 May, 13.30 - 18.00

Not only will be a great event for knowledge share and networking, but also will include some highly relevant data on tech salaries across Europe, courtesy of a survey conducted by our buddies Landing.jobs. I'd be going to this if I wasn't otherwise double booked! Additional good news - the first 10 claimants can use promo code for 50% discount on tickets: THCLX22_RecruitingBrainfood. Available here, on first come, first serve. Get to it folks!

HR Berlin Spring Fling 2022, Thurs 19 May, 16.00 - 21.30pm, HRpepper Management Consultants, Tempelhofer Ufer 11, 10963 Berlin, Germany

I am doing a fireside chat at this event, which is JV between the three biggest and best HR / TA communities in Berlin - The Secret HR Society, HR Leaders Berlin, and The Purple Squirrel Society! This should be a great turn out and a busy event, so register here if you haven't done so already - and see you there!

Greenhouse Open Day, 24-25 May, Javits Center in NYC

I suspect this is the No1 vendor organised event in the HR / TA space this year. This may be cognitive bias of some flavour as I'm actually going to this one, but a quick look at the line up does not disappoint - there are going to be some great sessions on here, including the opening panel debate on the main stage featuring such smart folks as Anessa Fike, Founder and CEO at Fike & Co and Interim Head of Talent Acquisition at NPR, Diane Dagher, Associate Vice President of Talent at Modernizing Medicine, Bryan Sherwood, VP of Talent Acquisition at BlockFi and Frank Cebek, Director of Recruiting at SeatGeek. Registering here folks - comment below if you want 30% off rate card, I will DM you the code!

Redefining HR Through Collaboration, 8-9 June, 14.30 - 17.45 CEST

On the 8th and 9th of June, Recruitee invites you to TGTHR, the newest, go-to event for HR and recruitment professionals. This free, 2-day online event will cover a variety of topics that are disrupting the way we hire, such as sourcing, remote discrimination, collaborative hiring, and more.

Make sure to take part in their #LetsGoTGTHR contest for a chance at winning some cool prizes, including a 1:1 Mentoring session with Katrina Collier. Sign up here: recruit.ee/TGTHR-RB 

Hired!BCN - The Talent Acquisition Conference, Thu 16 June, Barcelona, Spain

Excited to be in Barcelona for a couple of weeks. In the main, this is the reason - to return to the best community organised event for recruiters in Europe. Amazing line up of speakers, including a recurring theme on how the economic conditions is impacting the job market for recruiters. Going to need to update my slide deck on this. Tickets here if you fancy paying full price, though you should used my discount code (HUNGHIRED) and get15% discount off.

Politics, Religion & Sex in the Workplace, Jun 21, 11.00AM EST

The professional world is no longer separate from the personal and the old management technique of 'leave your opinions at the door' on the topics of politics, religion and work are no longer tenable. What do we, as TA / HR leaders need to do about this? How do we manage it? I don't know but I think we need to have a conversation about it. Join me and Alex Murphy and lets have a civilised discussion about it. Register here

If you have an event, webinar or podcast going on next week and want it featured on next week's newsletter, comment below with the link and event details. Don't forget to @ mention me so that I see it

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Who's Hiring?

Technology Acquisition Partner (Go To Market EMEA), Join Talent, Remote Global

International Talent Acquisition Specialist, iDeals, Berlin, Germany

Talent Acquisition Manager (German Market), Choco, Berlin, Germany

Talent Acquisition Manager, Choco, New York, NY/NJ, USA

Business Recruiter, Choco, Berlin, Germany

Technology Talent Search Partner(Zurich or Prague), Join Talent, Remote Global

Talent Search Partner (Fully Remote InHouse), Join Talent, Remote Global

Technology Talent Partner (Zurich Focus), Join Talent, Remote Global

Talent Search Partner(Fully Remote, Zurich Focus), Join Talent, Remote Global

GTM Talent Partner(German Market), Join Talent, Remote Global

GTM Talent Partner(Turkey), Join Talent, Remote Global

Senior Executive Recruiter, JLL, Chicago, IL, USA

Recruiter, JLL, Miami, FL, USA

Human Resources Generalist, JLL, Chicago, IL, USA

Director, Compensation, JLL, Miami, FL, USA

Human Resources Business Partner, JLL, Atlanta, GA, USA

Global Talent Sourcing Leader, Vaia Talent, Remote EU

Technology Solutions Consultant, Cielo Talent, Remote EU

Senior Recruiter, Cielo Talent, Berlin, Germany

Recruiter, Cielo Talent, Plymouth, UK

Lithuanian Tech Talent Partner, Join Talent, Remote Global

Talent Sourcer EMEA, Microsoft, Remote EU / UK

EMEA Recruiter, Microsoft, Remote EU / UK

Recruitment Coordinator, Join Talent, Remote Global

US Tech Talent Partner, Join Talent, Alamo, TX, USA

Tech Talent Search Partner, Join Talent, Remote Global

Global Lead of Employer Brand and Loyalty, Getir, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Sales Recruiter, JLL, Atlanta, GA, USA

Talent Acquisition Sourcer - Technology, JLL, Miami, FL, USA

GTM/Sales Recruiter, Stream, Remote USA

Manager - Recruiting Operations, McKinsey & Co, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Manager - Recruiting, McKinsey & Co, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Tech Recruiter, WeAreKeen, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Mid-Senior Tech Recruiter, WeAreKeen, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Business Recruiter, WeAreKeen, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Tech Recruiter, WeAreKeen, Berlin, Germany

Business Recruiter, WeAreKeen, Berlin, Germany

Talent Partner - Germany, KANDIDATE, Remote Global

Recruitment Relationship Manager, Allegis Global Solutions, Paris, France

Change Manager, Allegis Global Solutions, London, UK

Partner - Life Sciences, SE Asia, Horton International, Remote Global

Principal Consultant - Logistics, SE Asia, Horton International, Remote Global

If you want to get your job featured, post jobs on the Brainfood Jobs Job Board here

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Who's Moving?

Matt Gallivan joins Adway as UK Sales Director, having previously led sales at Vacancysoft and Volcanic, as well has running his own staffing company Perfect Path. Making a serious tilt at the UK market is Adway - delighted to say that they will be joining Brainfood as a sponsor on Brainfood Live later this year - watch out for the episodes!

Tena Lyons joins Alira as Chief Marketing Officer, having previously led Global Marketing at AMS, ADP, SumTotal Systems and Sopheon. Few marketers know the recruitment technology space better than Tena - this is coup of a hire by Alira.

Holly Middlemiss joins Datadog as Global Head of Employer Brand & Recruitment Marketing, having previously led EB at e-commerce giants Shopify and ASOS.com. Super interesting to see how to an EB strategy actually works when you get started in the job. Maybe something worth a Brainfood Live, if Holly is up for it?

Mitchell Schneir joins Apploi as Head of Talent Acquisition after spending time in Exec Search with Google, and having previously led HR / TA and DEIB roles with Actifio and RSA. Heading up TA for a recruitment technology firm has got to be one of the unique roles in our space - another Brainfood Live I think!

James Osgathorpe joins Meta as Technical Sourcer - Software Engineering Leadership after spending time in senior management roles at RPO's PeopleScout and Sevenstep. I mentioned it before on air that if one of the FAANG come for you, your answer should default to yes - they remain incredible opportunities with unique, world changing businesses.

Finally, congratulations due on the following promotions - Katy Peichert moves up to Director of People at Bryter, Laura Peakall goes up to Head of People & Workplace Operations at Kaluza and Michelle Myers goes up to Director at Elastic - congrats all!

If you have made a senior exec appointment to your business, and feel the wider community needs to know about it, comment below with the details and see it featured in next weeks issue. Don't forget to @ mention me in it so that I see it

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What Are You Doing?

Tracey Barrett MD of BlueSky PR and for the past 3 years, the acting CMO of APSCO, announces her retirement last week. One of the first marketers focused on recruiting, Tracey has been a shining light in the industry. Huge congratulations at a magnificent innings - Happy retirement Tracey!

Henna Pryor, Exec Coach and Founder of Pryority Group, launches The Recruiters Copy Clinic, for the first time online. Useful for both staffing professionals and talent acquisition pro's, this course covers the essentials for written communication in the remote first world. Sign up, here

Finally, my buddies Steven Rothberg and Andrew Stetsenko are launching a GoFundMe to support the displaced people of Ukraine. If you follow this newsletter or anything brainfood related, you will probably know these two fellas already - they are two of the best our community has to offer. Read about how the GoFundMe works and donate what you can.

If you are doing something new, comment below with what it is and share a link to where you want people to go. Don't forget to @ mention me in it so that I see it

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End Notes

I haven't opened email at all this morning - and, you know what? I have never felt better about it. Its been on my mind recently that your inbox is a place where other people give work for you to do, so having set times to look at it helps moderate how much new work you are able to ingest.

I've got stuff to do obviously, but none of it gets done if new stuff keeps piling up on top of old. Might well block out mornings entirely from now on - what do you think?

Have a great weekend errybody

Hung

PS: see you in Berlin if you're around on Thurs

Hung Lee is the curator of Recruiting Brainfood, and now This Week In Recruiting. Subscribe to both if you are into recruiting or HR or just interested in world of work.