Curated Intel from the Talent Tech Industry
March 3-10, 2023:
• Speaking out of turn: CA courts address whether chat functionality violates wiretapping law;
• Improving slightly for recruiters: TAtech Talent Market Barometer shows uptick in supply;
• Expanding access to tech talent: Andela acquires 100% stake in assessment platform Qualified;
• Uncovering another shortfall: Survey finds internal audit organizations lack necessary talent;
• Loosening up the regs: Pentagon looks to promote talent moving in and out of government.
PLUS
• TAtech has announced a blockbuster agenda for TAtech North America & The World Job Board Forum, to be held in Austin, Texas USA on May 22-24, 2023. Some of the smartest and most successful people in the talent acquisition and talent technology fields are speaking at this one-of-a-kind event. It is the only conference totally focused on the providers of talent technology and their bottom-line success. You’ll hear from the right innovators, make the right connections and have the right conversations to propel your business growth. So, register today before the Early Bird Discounts end and the price of admission goes up.
California courts strike back against claims that website chat functionality violates wiretapping statutes
Following a February decision that allowed a complaint that alleged a website operator’s use of a customer support chat feature violated California wiretapping laws to proceed past the pleading stage, three California district courts have since dismissed nearly identical claims. The result leaves companies who may find themselves named as defendants in these lawsuits uncertain whether they will be able to escape litigation at the less costly motion to dismiss stage. In the below post, we analyze these decisions and their impact on future litigation over these claims.
TAtech Talent Market Barometer Slightly Improving for Recruiters in February
The Talent Market Barometer is based on two metrics: the Supply-Demand Ratio and Net Migrations in the U.S. talent market. The Supply-Demand Ratio compares the number of job seekers with resumes to the net number of jobs posted in a select set of workforce sectors. Net Migrations measures the number of people with resumes entering or leaving those same sectors. In February, the data show a positive trend in the Supply-Demand Ratio and a negative trend in Net Migrations in the talent market. Our forecast for talent acquisition is then determined by the month-to-month direction of those two metrics – in this case, between January and February 2023. Based on that data, the current Barometer reading is for a Slightly Improving Market for Recruiters. Conditions may be different in your specific location or for your specific target talent cohorts.
Andela acquires Qualified, a global platform for assessing technical talents
Andela has acquired a 100% stake in Qualified, an assessment platform that certifies top engineering talents. The deal, which was finalised at an undisclosed sum, will add about 3.6 million engineering talents to Andela’s global community. These talents were previously users of Codewars, an online community run by Qualified that enables technical talents to compete among themselves and develop practical coding skills through gamified challenges. In a statement shared with TechCabal, Andela’s CEO and co-founder, Jeremy Johnson, expressed excitement about Andela’s growing ability to find and qualify talents. “With the Qualified acquisition, Andela expands and accelerates our ability to source and expertly assess talent,” he said. This will be Andela’s first publicly announced acquisition, and it comes on the back of the company’s renewed focus on senior developers. Backed by over $381 million in VC funding, Andela has grown to support vibrant technical talent communities in over 170 countries globally. Notably, the company has a focus on emerging markets—like Nigeria, where it first began operations in 2014.
Internal Audit Departments are Focusing on Attracting and Retaining Talent - Especially Tech Talent - According to New Protiviti Survey
The internal audit profession faces stiff competition for talent, especially talent capable of addressing a broadening array of risk topics and well-versed in emerging technologies that can drive the function into the future, according to Protiviti's 2023 Next-Generation Internal Audit Survey. The survey found that 43% of chief audit executives (CAEs) and senior internal audit leaders report a lack of access to the talent they need. The findings also reveal that internal audit leaders view the ability to 1) recruit qualified candidates and 2) retain talent as their top priorities for the year ahead. The Protiviti survey identified that the most acute talent shortages are in high interest areas of machine learning and AI, with only 31% of CAEs and directors of auditing citing confidence that they have access to people with the necessary talent and skills. A majority of the organizations surveyed feel they lack necessary talent in assurance, dynamic risk assessment, continuous monitoring and process mining. The rapid and continued pursuit of data and technology enablement, across all industries and organization types, has intensified competition for technology-capable talent along with the need to upskill or retrain internal auditors.
Pentagon wants to spur cyber talent exchange with tech industry
The Pentagon is evaluating how its 225,000-member cyber workforce can more easily transition to and from private industry, picking up new skills and fresh perspectives and spurring defense innovation in the process. The Defense Department’s 2023-2027 cyber workforce strategy, released this week, includes four “human capital pillars”: identification of talent, recruitment, development of skills and personnel retention. Implementing it will require close interaction and unprecedented levels of cross-pollination with the tech industry, officials said. The strategy, which supports the Biden administration’s national cybersecurity blueprint, calls for collaboration inside and outside government, academia and allied nations, and includes a talent-exchange pilot project. The department must prioritize these “engagements” and allocate resources to ensure there is mutual benefit, it said. “Permeability, the ability to move between the different sectors, there has to be a change,” Patrick Johnson, director of the workforce innovation directorate for the department’s chief information officer, told reporters ahead of the release. The approach is a departure from the traditional government job, which locks in employees on set career paths at gradually increasing pay scales over decades. “We want to move from rewarding longevity — in other words, I’ve spent 30 years in this in this career — to a system, or allow for, individuals to go out for three years and come back, without penalty, and make those transitions back and forth,” Johnson said.
TAtech North America Sets Blockbuster Agenda for Job Boards & Talent Technology Companies
TAtech has announced a blockbuster agenda for TAtech North America & The World Job Board Forum, to be held in Austin, Texas USA on May 22-24, 2023. This is the only conference totally focused on the providers of talent technology and their bottom-line success. Unlike the conferences that treat talent technology companies as a subset of HR tech, this event is specifically designed to advance the growth of job boards, aggregators, talent marketplaces and the enterprises that offer programmatic solutions, conversational AI products, recruitment marketing solutions, recruitment advertising services, candidate management platforms, and interviewing and assessment systems. If that’s you, don’t miss this opportunity to hear from the right innovators, make the right connections and have the right conversations to propel your business growth. Register today before the Early Bird Discounts end and the price of admission goes up.