The Latest from the Talent Tech Industry
March 1-6, 2021: Seek sells Zhaopin stake for $697M; Talroo releases Qualifying Questions to help employers sort through applicants; job.moms launches to help professional women find mom-friendly employers; China accelerates its pace of AI development; TAtech announces totally awesome conferences; Institute for Career Development examines the disability inclusion problem in the tech industry; A thought piece on Recruiting: Pivot or Perish; PLUS Industry Pros on the Move: Elyse Mayer to Paradox; Paul Horowitz to ResumeSieve; and Trina Hymes to Talenya. Getting ready to leap forward.
SEEK follows through on Zhaopin sell-off for $697m windfall
Job listings outfit SEEK (ASX: SEK) has formally given up a majority holding in one of its fastest-growing subsidiaries, a day after revealing advanced negotiations were underway to sell off part of its investment in Beijing-based Zhaopin. SEK shares have continued their downward slide this morning following yesterday's announcement to reduce exposure to Zhaopin, which currently accounts for almost half of group revenue and is one of the few segments reporting profit growth. SEEK has also confirmed its ownership in Zhaopin will be reduced from 61.1 per cent to 23.5 per cent with expectations for gross proceeds of $697 million, implying a $2.2 billion valuation for Zhaopin.
Talroo releases Qualifying Questions enhancement to Talroo Pro
Talroo, an award-winning job advertising platform, has launched a new feature enhancement called Qualifying Questions to enable companies to hire qualified candidates while reducing wasted time and wasted recruitment marketing budget. Qualifying Questions solves one of the biggest pain points shared by all recruiting & talent acquisition teams: sorting through unqualified applications. By asking these questions before redirecting to a client's application tracking system, Talroo helps filter out many of the candidates that would be unqualified, which provides relief to busy talent acquisition teams. Meanwhile, candidates can find other jobs where they may be a better fit before investing their time in applying. This feature is ideal for companies who need the scale and efficiency required for high-volume hiring.
Another ‘Jobs for Moms’ Community Is Launched
A new digital platform connecting career women to flexible employers with mom-friendly, inclusive cultures – jobs.mom – has officially launched. The mission of jobs.mom is to get professional mothers back to work, giving them access to companies that provide the support and resources they need to successfully balance work and family life. jobs.mom goes further to provide top level services and personal support to an ever-expanding network of job-hunting mothers, including resume help and interview coaching – as well as offering corporate inclusivity certification for businesses.
Artificial intelligence research continues to grow as China overtakes US in AI journal citations
The artificial intelligence boom isn’t slowing yet, with new figures showing a 34.5 percent increase in the publication of AI research from 2019 to 2020. That’s a higher percentage growth than 2018 to 2019 when the volume of publications increased by 19.6 percent. China continues to be a growing force in AI R&D, overtaking the US for overall journal citations in artificial intelligence research last year. The country already publishes more AI papers than any other country, but the United States still has more cited papers at AI conferences — one indicator of the novelty and significance of the underlying research. These figures come from the fourth annual AI Index, a collection of statistics, benchmarks, and milestones meant to gauge global progress in artificial intelligence. The report is collated with the help of Stanford University, and you can read all 222 pages here.
TAtech Announces Totally Awesome Conferences
Upcoming events you do not want to miss! Sure, they digital … well, actually digital and more, but TAtech’s upcoming conferences are events you do not want to miss. They’ll cover everything from The Future of Recruitment Marketing to A Job Posting Designed for High Performers, from The Future of Recruitment Automation to Blockchain & Diversity, from AI and the Candidate Experience to Programmatic Ad Buying in a Time of Business Acceleration.
The Tech Sector’s Big Disability Inclusion Problem
Much has been written about the lack of diversity in the technology sector, but it focuses primarily on gender and race. Of course, that’s important, but a group that is often overlooked in conversations about diversity and inclusion in tech is individuals with disabilities. The tech sector is a prolific job generator, with 530,000 new jobs projected in the United States by 2029. Yet the nation’s unemployment rate for people with disabilities is 2.5 times higher than for those without — even though companies that are inclusive of individuals with disabilities are more financially successful.
That is why the Institute for Career Development, where I am CEO, and New York Institute of Technology recently studied the challenges for individuals with disabilities seeking employment in technology in New York City.
Recruiting: Pivot or Perish
2021 will be a defining year for hiring managers. What has largely been seen as a function of business continuity has now been catapulted into a business-critical role. If there is one thing companies have learned from the ongoing health crisis, it is the need to run business with minimal resources and maximum optimization. This would mean hiring talent with skills to pull an organization forward from survival mode to profitability. The idea of pivot or perish in times of uncertainty is not limited to an organization alone; it also applies to its people. To surmount challenges posed by the pandemic, customer relationships and high-quality service delivery have assumed even greater criticality to sustain performance and growth. Moving forward, the success of an organization will be hinged on how employers hire, nurture, and retain critical talent.
Industry Pros on the Move
Elyse Mayer joins Paradox.ai as VP Enterprise Marketing. Her most recent position was with Symphony Talent.
ResumeSieve, Inc. announced the appointment of Paul Horowitz as the Company’s Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). He has held various leadership positions at PwC and Deloitte, with a primary focus around technology and software and served as the CEO of a fintech blockchain startup.
Trina Hymes has been appointed Global Head of Sales at Talenya. Previously, she was VP of Sales at Visible Thread.