Curated Intel from the Talent Tech Industry
August 28-September 3, 2023:
• Teeing up the battle: Resume Builder survey finds 9 in 10 companies plan RTO by end of 2024;
• Hurling accusations: Privacy researcher accuses OpenAI of GDPR data protection violations;
• Vouching for engineers: Startup Weekday raises $2.2M for its candidate referral solution;
• Offering an alternative to usual recruitment fees: CareerBuilder intros pay-for-resume service;
• Settling into a calmer state: First time since March 2021 U.S. job openings less than 9 million.
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9 in 10 companies will return to office by end of 2024, survey says
About 90% of companies plan to implement return-to-office policies by the end of 2024, according to an Aug. 22 report from Resume Builder. Most of the 1,000 business decision-makers surveyed by Resume Builder said they currently track or will track their employees to ensure in-person attendance, and 28% said their organizations would threaten to fire employees who don’t follow new in-person mandates. “It’s important to note that, when it comes to RTO, one size does not fit all. The majority of business leaders who plan to RTO in 2024 seem to understand that, in order to retain talent, they can’t force unwilling employees back to the office,” Stacie Haller, chief career advisor for Resume Builder, said in a statement. “The end of 2024 is still a long way away, and the job market is constantly changing,” she added. “It remains to be seen if businesses will follow through on their RTO plans, especially when taking into account the recent backlash against major employers who have forced employees back to office.” Only 2% of respondents said their company never plans to require employees to work in-person. About 51% currently require some or all employees to work in-person, while 39% plan to by the end of 2024 and 8% plan to by 2025 or later.
ChatGPT-maker OpenAI accused of string of data protection breaches in GDPR complaint filed by privacy researcher
Questions about ChatGPT-maker OpenAI’s ability to comply with European privacy rules are in the frame again after a detailed complaint was filed with the Polish data protection authority yesterday. The complaint, which TechCrunch has reviewed, alleges the U.S. based AI giant is in breach of the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — across a sweep of dimensions: Lawful basis, transparency, fairness, data access rights, and privacy by design are all areas it argues OpenAI is infringing EU privacy rules. (Aka, Articles 5(1)(a), 12, 15, 16 and 25(1) of the GDPR). Indeed, the complaint frames the novel generative AI technology and its maker’s approach to developing and operating the viral tool as essentially a systematic breach of the pan-EU regime. Another suggestion, therefore, is that OpenAI has overlooked another requirement in the GDPR to undertake prior consultation with regulators (Article 36) — since, if it had conducted a proactive assessment which identified high risks to people’s rights unless mitigating measures were applied it should have given pause for thought. Yet OpenAI apparently rolled ahead and launched ChatGPT in Europe without engaging with local regulators which could have ensured it avoided falling foul of the bloc’s privacy rulebook.
Weekday Raises $2.2M in Funding
Weekday, a San Francisco, CA-based recruitment startup operating via a crowdsourced reference network, raised $2.2M in funding. The round was led by Venture Highway with participation from angel investors. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach. Founded in 2021 by Amit Singh, Anubav Malik and Chetan Dalal, Weekday is a Y Combinator backed startup that helps companies hire engineers who are vouched by other software engineers. Weekday invites software engineers to connect their social graph (i.e. LinkedIn and Contacts) and gives them a ready made shortlist to refer talent to various companies. It gamifies the experience and makes this data of references available for recruiters.
CareerBuilder Launches Pay Per Resume: Say Goodbye to Traditional Hiring Costs
CareerBuilder, a global leader in human resources solutions, is proud to announce the launch of Pay Per Resume, a groundbreaking offering that transforms the recruitment landscape. This innovative solution is set to revolutionize recruitment by providing an affordable and flexible alternative to traditional recruitment fees, making the hiring process more efficient and cost-effective than ever before. Pay Per Resume revolutionizes recruitment by allowing companies to pay only for the resumes they use, eliminating the responsibility of traditional recruitment fees and license costs. With this flexible approach, businesses have complete control over their hiring expenses, empowering them to make more efficient and cost-effective hiring decisions.
US job openings fall below 9 million for the first time since March 2021
The number of available jobs in the United States shrank for the third consecutive month, dropping below 9 million for the first time since early 2021, according to the latest data released Tuesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In addition, a smaller number of workers quit their jobs, businesses hired fewer workers and layoffs nudged higher as the US job market settles into a calmer, more balanced state. Job openings fell to a seasonally adjusted 8.827 million in July, from 9.165 million in June, according to the BLS’ Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report. It’s the lowest number of total openings since March 2021, and there are now 1.5 available jobs for every unemployed person. That’s good news for the Federal Reserve, which has been hoping for more slack in the labor market in its battle to bring down inflation. An imbalance between worker demand and supply could cause wages to rise and, ultimately, add upward pressure on inflation. The central bank has tried to tame higher prices by ratcheting up interest rates in efforts to throw cold water on demand. “This is where we wanted to go; we’ve got job openings heading downward, but in a calm, cool and collected manner,” Rachel Sederberg, senior economist with labor market research and analytics firm Lightcast, told CNN.
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Get worldclass content and business building connections at TAtech Europe & The World Job Board Forum. Don’t miss this opportunity to attend the premier B2B conference for job boards and talent technology companies in the EMEA region! Coming up in London on December 4-6, it is the only event that’s specifically designed for company CEOs, their direct reports and rising stars and totally focused on advancing the bottom-line growth of their enterprises. Whether your company is a niche or general job board, aggregator, talent marketplace, online classifieds business, programmatic platform, chatbot, conversational AI solution, ATS, recruitment marketing solution, CRM platform, interviewing or assessment system or talent technology consultancy, this event will supercharge your sales and your profits. So, register today and join the other thought leaders, innovators and influencers at this one-of-a-kind conference.