Talent Tech Joe
By peterweddle
December 14, 2021
TA Tech Business NewZ in Q4
TA Tech Business NewZ is the only weekly publication that focuses entirely on key announcements and individual newsmakers in the talent tech industry. It is designed for executives, thought leaders and trend-setters looking to stay on top of the ever-morphing world of talent technology.
To provide some perspective on the weekly updates included in TA Tech Business NewZ, TAtech also publishes Talent Tech Joe, a quarterly summary of the key trends shaping the field of talent technology. Each quarter, Talent Tech Joe highlights the major dynamics affecting the organizations that design, develop, produce and sell technology-based talent acquisition products and services.
Before we introduce Q4's Talent Tech Joe, however, take a look at the insights and information TAtech will be offering in 2022:
• TAtech Leadership Summit on Recruitment Marketing, April 25-26, 2022, Boston University Alumni Center, Boston, MA;
• TAtech North America & The World Job Board Forum, May 31-June 2, 2022, AT&T Conference Center, Austin, TX;
• TAtech Leadership Summit on Technology & the Candidate Experience, A Joint TAtech & Talent Board Conference, September 27-28, 2022, Harvard Club, New York, NY;
• TAtech Leadership Summit on Applications of Recruiting AI for Enterprise Employers, October 24-25, 2022, University of Chicago Gleacher Center, Chicago, IL;
• Talent Acquisition Leadership Summit, limited to 25 company CEOs and 25 corporate VP HR/TA, November 7-8, 2022, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY.
Click here for more information.
Q4 Talent Tech Joe
As usual, there were more than a few emerging or reinforcing trends in the talent tech industry in Q4. It’s too early to tell whether some will gain sufficient momentum to have a lasting impact – for example, career communities that could become alternatives to LinkedIn were in the news with both Ladder and Knoetic raising money for their respective products. Other trends, however, are already reshaping the talent market, and the following were among the most important:
Key Trend #1: A lot of attention has been justifiably focused on the investments being made in talent technology startups and new solutions, but existing providers are also upping their game with product innovations and their own acquisitions. Here’s just some of what was in the news in Q4:
• iHire announced an intuitive, step-by-step Job Ad Builder to help employers create modern job postings in less than five minutes;
• Wedge unveiled the release of Wedge Hire, a mobile app, as well as several new product features, all designed to turn video screening into a competitive advantage;
• Mogul launched a patent-pending feature that enables employers to filter candidates by veteran and disability status;
• Greeenhouse acquired sourcing automation provider Insteller to help employers diversity their talent pool without having to leave the Greenhouse CRM.
Key Trend #2: Given the pain being inflicted on employers by the supply-demand mismatch in the talent market, the top of the funnel got plenty of attention in Q4. There were numerous announcements about investments and new products for sourcing and recruitment marketing, including:
• QJumpers introduced AI-powered candidate search software that scours publicly available information to find, rank and engage qualified candidates for specific openings;
• VideoMyJob raised $2M in new funding to accelerate the use of its video products for attracting and engaging candidates and retaining employees;
• Wonolo closed $138M in additional funding to scale its work-booking app for employers seeking to fill temp openings;
• Workstream raised $48M in Series B funding to accelerate the introduction of its solution for hiring the “deskless workforce.”
Key Trend #3: Notwithstanding all that activity at the top of the funnel, solutions for mid-funnel interviewing and assessment were also very hot as employers looked to get candidates through the process efficiently and with maximum insight on their qualifications and fit. In Q4:
• Clovers closed $15M in seed funding to advance its conversational intelligence interviewing capability that helps employers select new hires more effectively and free of bias;
• FloCareers raised $7.5M to expand the availability of its technical interviewing solution that combines video with experienced freelance interviewers;
• Pillar introduced an AI-powered interview platform to help employers evaluate a candidate’s fit for a specific job opening;
• Paradox acquired Traitify to further streamline its hourly hiring capability with a mobile-first assessment solution that is visual, convenient and fast.
TA Tech Business NewZ is TAtech’s weekly publication for those who want to stay up-to-the-minute on the latest news and announcements in the talent tech industry. It is entirely focused on the facts – there is no commentary or opinion – so you get the most direct and undistorted information available with which to chart your own course to business success.