Click IQ Academy Podcast Alan Walker

Emma Neary and Alan Walker talk direct sourcing, and how candidate experience plays a big part in this. They discussed what an organisation needs to do to move towards a direct sourcing model, the important things to be mindful of, and some of the quick wins that can accelerate this approach.

In this conversation with Emma we discussed:

The key things that need to change to move towards a direct sourcing model.
How to move a recruiter from being an order taker to being a business partner.
The essential elements of taking a recruitment brief, and the need to ask “why?”
How taking a brief improves the ability for a recruiter to support candidates through the recruitment process.
What a recruitment team can do to be seen as strategically important.
How infusing a recruitment culture throughout an organisation, can deliver better results.
Things we can do to improve the candidate experience.
The role of technology, and how it can support a direct sourcing strategy.
What technology can do better than humans.
The importance of the recruitment process moving quickly, and the bottlenecks to work on.
How an organisation can market their opportunities more effectively.

Here's the link to the video version of this conversation:-

https://academy.clickiq.co.uk/emma-neary-on-the-guide-to-direct-sourcing-candidate-experience/

In this episode, Alan Walker talks to Kasia Tang, about the secret to building high-performing recruitment teams.

They talked about:-


Why having the right team in place is the essence of recruiting success
The risks of getting recruitment team building wrong
How aiming for a diversity of thought, background and experience can bring huge advantages
Why hiring people you feel uncomfortable working is a good thing
Solving the biggest problems needs people who challenge the status quo
That people who make mistakes and learn from them are more valuable than those who (seemingly) never make any
How fostering a culture of true candidate centricity will deliver high performing recruitment teams

In this episode, Alan Walker talks to Mohammed Baig of VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas) on how he has overcome the challenges of being asked to hire over 4,000 volunteers per year.

They talked about:-


How introducing modern recruitment tactics have made a significant difference
Why being more data-driven and technology-savvy has led to considerable improvements
Talent nurturing and community building making a huge difference to time-to-hire
How pre-boarding candidates in advance of project sign off helped reduce onboarding from 5 months to a few weeks
Why improving candidate communications improved reduced candidate drop-off
The huge difference between hiring employees and volunteers

In this episode, Alan Walker talks to Akbar Karenga on why recruiters should act more like marketers if they want to be successful.

They talked about:-


His time managing 16 hiring managers across 16 countries globally - and why embracing cultural differences was key to doing it well
How lesser-known brands can compete
The need for recruitment to behave more like other functions if they want to secure c-suite buy-in
Business leaders demanding metrics that are meaningful to them - think "what's the bottom line impact"
How understanding your total addressable market of candidates is essential before you start hiring
Why pragmatic analysis of your recruitment process can lead to significant improvements
How approaching recruitment like sales & marketing is the key to our functions future success

In this episode, Alan Walker speaks with Theo Smith about Neurodiversity in hiring and employment.

They talked about:-


Why being a champion of neurodiversity is important to him
His journey of exploration is going on, and how this has been driven by finding out he himself is neurodiverse
That 15% of the population think differently and are neurodiverse
What he's doing to be an advocate for neurodiversity
Some of the initiatives businesses (including NICE) are undertaking around this topic
Why it is important for employers to look at Neurodiversity, particularly when hiring
How employers can become better at hiring (and retaining) neurodiverse talent, and some of the challenges they'll need to overcome
Why businesses shouldn't be afraid of neurodiversity, and it's all about treating people as individuals

In this episode, Alan Walker speaks with Liz Dowling about hiring in a hyper-growth start-up.

They talked about:

What defines a "hyper-growth" start-up and the challenges recruiters face in these type of businesses
How understanding the company's strategy, vision and roadmap is the first step towards moving from being reactive to proactive
Successful TA teams building out a hiring roadmap that aligns to the business' commercials
TA people needing to be able to challenge, ask questions and understand the plans of the business
Questions to ask the business e.g. "Where are we going?", "Why are we going there?" and "What do you need?"
Why recruiters need to feed the business with intel - including talent market data and dashboards on how the recruitment team is performing
Educating the business as being essential, so they understand the commercial impact of TA being resourced appropriately
The fact that confidence is key, as is quickly earning the respect of hiring managers
How getting the basics in place - process, rules of engagement etc - is as important in these businesses as it is in large corporates
Why creating a "recruiting culture" across the business will solve many challenges