Curated Intel from the Talent Tech Industry
March 13-19, 2023:
• Correcting the binge bulge: Understanding the effects of mass layoffs on the tech sector;
• Being replaced at the table: Survey finds that HR jobs could suffer with AI-related layoffs;
• Positioning to soar in the market: Glider AI secures $10M Series A to advance skills-based hiring;
• Spotlighting the worsening problem: Stepstone CEO coins a new word for worker shortages;
• ICYMI-Improving slightly for recruiters: TAtech Talent Market Barometer shows uptick in supply.
PLUS
• Early Bird Discounts end in 2 weeks 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.
Understanding the effects of mass layoffs on the tech sector
The dust has mostly settled on the job cuts that kicked off 2023. With workers in the tech sector taking the biggest hits, the long-term effects on the IT talent are still playing out. Customer reticence and a stubborn inflation rate led to hundreds of thousands of job cuts across the economy, many centralized in big tech. Self-reported layoff tracker Layoffs.fyi found 485 companies let more than 138,000 workers go so far in 2023. One of the themes emerging from the layoffs is a message of efficiency from management teams to investors, according to Art Zeile, president and CEO of DHI Group. But a clearer sign is the realignment of hiring trends after a boom cycle. What was once a spike in hiring is coming undone — companies began to pull back from their efforts to attract technologists in droves. “We overreacted, and now the pendulum is swinging the other direction, but we’re going to correct back to some kind of a regression to a mean,” said Zeile. “That’s what we’re in the midst of doing right now.” Another more complex thread beneath the layoffs cycle is a normalization of workforce numbers. Companies saw massive growth as the effects of the pandemic tapered in 2021. Many overshot their growth projections when hiring, and cut jobs as a reaction to lackluster revenues. Despite the correction, the demand for IT skills remains, though the growth is slower than in recent years.
HR jobs could suffer with AI-related layoffs
Managers across the United States have expressed a willingness to replace people with AI, citing its benefits as tech furthers its influence within workplaces. In a survey among 3,000 managers, 65% admitted that they would "gladly replace" employees with AI tools if the work was comparable. "The operative word being ‘comparable.’ While AI can produce good results, any content would still require manual revisions and improvements from an expert in the field to maintain creative integrity and ensure accuracy," said the report, released by Beautiful.ai. The findings come amid growing concerns among employees that tech and automation could eventually replace them in the workplace. “While the findings show managers have an eye towards the replacement of staff, the reality is that current generative AI is built to enhance worker's outputs, not replace it,” said Beautiful.ai CEO Jason Lapp.
Glider AI secures $10M Series A funding to help enterprises shift to skills-based hiring and guarantee candidate fit
Glider AI, a Skill Intelligence Platform, closed a total of $10M in Series A funding from Primera Capital and other industry leaders. Recognized by Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) as the most innovative HR technology, the company will use the funds to continue its expansion in contingent programs and permanent hiring, furthering the development of proprietary technology, and growing its global team. Glider AI serves a customer base of global enterprises and leading staffing firms, supporting their transformation from outdated credentials-first recruiting into remote-centric, skills-based hiring. Founded in 2020 by Satish Kumar, previous COO and co-founder of Edulastic (acquired by Sumeru Equity Partners), Kumar started Glider AI to make hiring fair and opportunity accessible. Notably, diversity hiring (DE&I) and supporting candidates with accommodation needs are central to the platform.
Demography is Destiny
The rapid recovery from the Covid-19 economic shock has created tight labor markets in most advanced economies. Generally speaking, the recovery was much faster from the pandemic recession than many forecasters predicted, with employment now exceeding pre-crisis levels in most major economies. The ratio of vacancies to unemployed persons has surged to unprecedented levels as there have been more vacant positions than unemployed persons, especially in the U.S. but also in the U.K. last year. The U.S. has been seeing the hottest labor market in decades and recruiters have been struggling to fill positions in the post-pandemic economy. Somewhat surprisingly, employment levels bounced back very quickly after 2020 and are now higher than they were before the Covid pandemic. Participation rates have also recovered quite nicely and are close or even exceeding their pre-crisis level, which is obviously great news. It also means that the currently low unemployment rates are not just the result of workers leaving the labor force en masse, or stopping to look for jobs. Despite the fact that employment levels have bounced back, more companies are citing labor as the limiting factor of production. In the Eurozone, Ireland and Germany seem to be particularly affected. “Arbeiterlosigkeit” is another complex German word that you might want to add to your vocabulary. Coined by Stepstone CEO Sebastian Dettmers, it means “unemployeement” or shortage of workers, and Germany is one of the countries that will be the most affected in the long run. The demographic outlook across high-income countries is challenging, to say the least, and it would be even more grim if immigration was not adding to the workforce already.
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.
Early Bird Discounts End in 2 Weeks for TAtech North America & The World Job Board Forum
Early Bird Discounts end in 2 weeks 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.