Category Archives: HR Technology

Awesome New HR Technology #HRTechConf

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It’s that time a year again for one of my most favorite HR and TA Conferences – the HR  Tech Conference 2015!  On the first day of the conference this year Human Resource Executive Magazine announced the 2015 Awesome New Startups for HR.  These are are companies I’ll be checking out and keeping my eye in the near future:

Bridge US

Bridge US has reinvented how companies secure visas and green cards for foreign talent. The company’s cloud-based platform eliminates the time and paperwork associated with immigration processing, tracking and compliance. Bridge US streamlines the immigration process for hundreds of happy customers, ranging from leading startups to publicly-traded companies.

 Great Hires

Great Hires will showcase its mobile-first candidate experience platform that helps companies deliver an awesome on-site interviewing experience. By providing information about the company, job and people they meet with before they walk in the door, candidates are better prepared for their interview, ensuring a positive candidate experience.

 Kanjoya

Kanjoya Perception pushes the frontiers of workforce analytics with its integration of employee engagement, performance review and unstructured text data to understand and predict which employees will do well and why. Created with state-of-the-art natural language processing and machine learning, the solution delivers targeted intelligence to help businesses attract, retain and motivate the best employees for their organizations.

 One Model

HR applications use data but they don’t share it. One Model will demonstrate how it can help deliver a true HR data strategy across a company’s technology investments so that analytics, planning and integration can flow naturally from all of their data. One Model helps companies take control of their HR data, including the data’s history and predictive capabilities, and put them to work.

 OrgVue (a company I reviewed this past year on my T3 series) 

OrgVue is the leading tool for business transformation. It gives HR and OD teams a new and better way to design, transform and operate their organizations. From merger & acquisitions to organizational restructures, the company helps deliver change faster, fairly, with lower risk and lower cost.

 TMBC

TMBC’s StandOut is revolutionizing engagement and performance through next generation HR solutions. StandOut provides the technology to meet the needs of the present and the future with dynamic teaming, real-time statistically reliable measures of engagement and performance, and machine-learning algorithms to increase the precision of measurement over time and to deliver personalized, calibrated coaching to each user.

Besides these companies there is also a Startup Pavilion with twenty other up and coming companies I’ll be checking out as well. Stay tuned for more great information on HR Technology coming over the next few days, and of course all year on my T3 series every Tuesday!

 

T3 – @HalogenSoftware #HRTechConf

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This week on T3 I’m taking a look at Halogen Software. Halogen is a market leading provider of cloud-based software solutions for performance management, succession planning, learning, compensation, and recruiting and onboarding.  Years ago when I first ran into Halogen I knew them as ‘the’ company for performance management, but they’ve grown so far beyond that!

As a Talent Management vendor, they built all their own stuff to make implementation seamless. This is unlike many HR Tech vendors who buy up smaller technologies, then cobble it all together. At Halogen every module relates back to improving and supporting employee performance – from job descriptions and applicant tracking through to succession, learning and compensation, all parts of the suite are linked to supporting performance.

They are deeply focused on improving the areas that matter most to employees and managers when it comes to performance. They give them tools and training to simplify the process, and focus on the things that make performance management ongoing – for real. Feedback, goals, development and coaching convos are at the heart of their performance management solution – including 1:1 Exchange – to really make the process ongoing, forward-focused and effective.

5 Things I really like about Halogen:

1. Halogen’s 1:1 Exchange.  Look at this point we all already know that performance feedback should not be a once a year deal. Halogen not makes it easy for your managers to provide ongoing feedback, but the software actually teaches them and helps them with wording on how to do this most effectively!

2. Halogen’s 360 Multirater. I’m a big fan of providing 360 feedback to all of your employees, executives to mailroom. It has been some of the greatest performance and development feedback I’ve ever gotten in my career. Again, Halogen, makes it easy and inexpensive to do in-house on your own. I love this!

3. Halogen’s Job Description Builder. I like this module because it’s something 99% of us need right now!  Let’s face it, your JD’s suck! But, guess what? So do 99% of JD’s in the industry, and that is why this part of Halogen’s software is so useful.

4. Halogen Succession.  This is another thing that almost all companies are doing an awful job at, and something most need help with right now based on your workforce’s demographics.  The research shows that HR departments biggest need right now in HR Tech is Succession solutions.  Halogen embedded theirs right into Performance Management. Hey! Wow, that makes sense!

5. Customer Service. One thing I’ve learned jumping in with both feet into the HR Tech pool, is that there is some really, really cool technology available on the market.  I’ve also learned that many of these companies bomb when it comes to implementation and ongoing support. Halogen is the exact opposite of this!  I’ve talked with Halogen users on my own, and 100% of the time, they rave about Halogen’s customer service. This matters.

Halogen will be out at the HR Tech Conference next week at booth #2335. Make sure you check them out if you’re going to be in Vegas.  If you do, stop by around Monday at 2:45pm, I’ll be interviewing some of their customers in the booth, and finding out what real problems they solved after implementing Halogen.

T3 – Talent Tech Tuesday – is a weekly series here at The Project to educate and inform everyone who stops by on a daily/weekly basis on some great recruiting and sourcing technologies that are on the market.  None of the companies who I highlight are paying me for this promotion.  There are so many really cool things going on in the space and I wanted to educate myself and share what I find.  If you want to be on T3 – send me a note.

T3 – Microsoft Excel

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Wait a minute, this isn’t April Fool’s Day is it?

On a daily basis I’m reminded at how much of HR and TA (Talent Acquisition – but I’m now just going with TA for the rest of time) Technology is really just Excel spreadsheets and Word docs.  That isn’t a knock on HR and TA pros. That is just a reality of resource limited universe most HR and TA shops live in every single day!

The awesome thing about HR and TA is that you really don’t need that much technology to be great.  This proven out by Men and mostly Women that run HR and TA in SMB shops everyday around the world, who use mostly email, Microsoft Office, a copy machine and a phone. I don’t have exact numbers, but if you take away a payroll system, over 50% of HR shops run on the technology listed above.

Microsoft Excel can be used to provide your organization with front-line HR and TA metrics, like turnover, sourcing information, days to fill, benefit enrollment information, employee relations log, etc. You can track time and attendance. Performance management records. Total compensation statements. Succession planning. Interview guides. And on and on.

What Microsoft did with the launch of office in 1988 is tell HR and TA that you no longer have an excuse in not providing great service to your organization, because we just gave you the backbone of every process, procedure and product you’ll ever want or need to do great work.  We look at Microsoft Excel now like we look at the internet.  We can’t imagine not having access to it to get our jobs done, and if you took it away we would lose our minds in a short period of time!

5 Things I really like about Microsoft Excel: 

1. It makes you look way smarter than you really are.

2. It makes your data look official even when it’s kind of made up to present a case to get you something you want.

3. It gives you something to blame when executives don’t buy your bullshit numbers. (Must be an Excel error, I’ll go back and check that!)

4. The learning barrier to begin using is very low, but ceiling to what you can potentially do with it is very high.

5. Almost everyone running HR or TA has access to use it, and learn how to use it for free.

In a few weeks I’ll be at the annual HR Technology Conference and I’ll be on the front-line of the best and newest HR and TA technology the world has to offer.  Every single product is designed to solve specific pain points we have in HR and TA. None of these products will have the ability to match the scope and breadth of what Excel can do, and almost all will be more expensive. I’m still super geeked to see the new stuff, and can’t wait to share what I find with you!

T3 – Talent Tech Tuesday – is a weekly series here at The Project to educate and inform everyone who stops by on a daily/weekly basis on some great recruiting and sourcing technologies that are on the market.  None of the companies who I highlight are paying me for this promotion.  There are so many really cool things going on in the space and I wanted to educate myself and share what I find.  If you want to be on T3 – send me a note.

T3 – @Paysavvy

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This week on T3 I take a look at the ‘modern day alternative to ADP’, Paysavvy. Paysavvy is a Canadian company that is a fully integrated payroll, HR, and time management for mid-sized companies.  I usually wouldn’t right about a payroll company on T3 but Paysavvy is a little different.

Only five years old, they really came at payroll from a different direction than those who were already entrenched in the industry. Currently, they only provide services for Canadian payrolls and since I’ve got a gigantic audience in Canada for reasons I don’t understand, I thought what the hell! They will support companies outside of Canada who have operations and a need to run payrolls in Canada.

I also love the fact they just come right out and call out  the industry giant ADP.  Who does that?! Someone who is very confident that what they are offering is good, really good.

5 Things I really like about Paysavvy: 

1. One of the few companies vetted by the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA), so you know they are reputable and can be trusted with the one thing HR departments get more bad publicity with than anything else, payroll administration.

2. Build for the SMB organization. Integrated with Quickbooks, Sage, Microsoft Dynamics, Netsuite, etc. But, also build for modern day organizations whose employees want to do automated charitable giving (through sites like Chimp) and retirement & investing (through Wealthbar). Enterprise level functionality and tools, but not enterprise pricing.

3. Customer service support is personal and provided in ways fast moving SMB clients need. Direct access to personal support with the same person each time, dedicated customer support reps. Live chat feature for the times you don’t have time to jump on the phone. All customer support folks housed onsite at the corporate office, close to those developing and selling the product.

4. Built specifically for Canadian payrolls. Includes all Canadian holidays automated, year-end closing documents you can email directly to employees, ability to go seven years back on all payroll data within the system.

5. The system is super easy to customize and they actually have the step-by-step instructions on the dashboard you can pull up when you want to make a change, instead of having to wait for someone else to do it.  Fully integrated online or clock entry system with manager approval processes.

I know. I know. It’s a Canadian Payroll system. Yep, but it’s a pretty damn good Canadian Payroll System.

Eventually, Paysavvy is looking to quickly build out full HCM capabilities in the attempt to be a fully integrated end-to-end HR suite, all on the same platform, but still built for their core SMB audience. I’ll update you when this comes on line.  In the meantime, if you’re in need of a Canadian based payroll system, check them out!

T3 – Talent Tech Tuesday – is a weekly series here at The Project to educate and inform everyone who stops by on a daily/weekly basis on some great recruiting and sourcing technologies that are on the market.  None of the companies who I highlight are paying me for this promotion.  There are so many really cool things going on in the space and I wanted to educate myself and share what I find.  If you want to be on T3 – send me a note.

Live Streaming Today @Glassdoor’s Employer Branding Summit

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Today from 10am EST to 6:30pm EST – Glassdoor is Live Streaming their entire Employer Branding Summit from San Francisco!

Kris Dunn and I will be hosting the Live Stream with a Special Kick Off show starting at 10am EST, Halftime show at 3pm EST and special segments at breaks throughout the day!  We will be giving out special prizes to those watching the Live Stream and interacting with us throughout the day!

You can watch Live Stream for FREE by clicking on this Link.

The agenda is packed with some of the best Employment Branding minds in the business:

Glassdoor Speakers

 

 

Check it out! It’s like the next best thing besides actually being there with us, which is pretty cool. I mean you have Kris and I doing our best ESPN SportsCenter acting jobs!

 

T3 – EmployUs (@EmployUsApp)

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This week on T3 I take a look at the free mobile hiring App EmployUs.  EmployUs has developed a platform (currently still in Beta) that offers cash rewards for connecting companies with successful job applicants. If you recommend an acquaintance for a job, you’ll cash in on the referral bonus if your candidate makes the cut.

EmployUs is being called the “Uber of Recruitment” for what many are considering a disruption to the normal recruitment industry standard practices.  EmployUs is trying to put the power of agency recruitment directly in the hands of those hiring, and cutting the middle man, by leveraging the social networks of not only your employees, but anyone who might have an interest in referring talent your way.

It’s simple. It’s clean. It might be a little naive, but I think they could really grab some traction from some employers who are willing to be on the cutting edge of talent attraction.  Right now the platform is completely open.  I tend to believe that will scare away some corporate talent acquisition shops, but already Citrix and Redhat are investing and using the platform!

How does it work?

Company signs up for the App and posts jobs.  Referrers, sign up for the App, and refer people.  It’s a closed loop private App, so only those signed up can see the jobs and refer.  Companies using the are obviously encouraged to invite their employees to join.  This also could be problematic, because when an employee joins EmployUs, it’s not just joining as part of your company, they now can see all jobs for all employers on the App.  So, you’re inviting your own employees to the App in hopes of them referring their friends, family and contacts to your jobs, but they’ll also see jobs they could apply themselves to other employers.

Their early numbers show that about 20% of those being referred are being hired.  That’s a big number.  The average referral bonuses being offered are anywhere from $500-$10,000, a far cry from contingent headhunting fees, and a nice way to run your internal referral program for your own organization.  EmployUs does get  paid a portion of the referral bonus. We’re all capitalist. So, it’s free to use the App, but they’re going to get paid somehow.

I like the idea.  I would like to see EmployUs add a little functionality that would allow employers to keep it 100% inhouse to begin with, before opening it up to anyone, in terms of accepting candidates.  I do think this platform could launch an entire industry of “Mommy Recruiters” (Stay at Home parents who want to recruit and use this platform to ‘refer’ candidates and collect the referral bonuses).  Which is another interesting idea that might come out of this.

Check them out. EmployUs has a unique idea, that I think can be a valuable tool to your talent attraction strategy.

T3 – Talent Tech Tuesday – is a weekly series here at The Project to educate and inform everyone who stops by on a daily/weekly basis on some great recruiting and sourcing technologies that are on the market.  None of the companies who I highlight are paying me for this promotion.  There are so many really cool things going on in the space and I wanted to educate myself and share what I find.  If you want to be on T3 – send me a note.

T3 – CareerBuilder’s Talentstream Technologies

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This week on T3 I take a look at the Pre-hire technology suite by CareerBuilder called Talentstream Technologies.  Last week at CareerBuilder’s Empower conference, they launched a fully integrated suite of pre-hire recruitment services which you probably knew separately as CB1, Broadbean, Talent Network, RecruitmentEdge, EMSI, etc.

For those who haven’t been keeping up with CareerBuilder, they made a very conscience pivot a few years ago to move in a big way into the Talent Acquisition software business, a natural progression that aligns well with their job board business.  Wise decision, and quite frankly, they are killing it on the software side! The launch of TalentStream just solidifies that CareerBuilder will be a major player in the TA technology race for years to come.

So, what is Talentstream? Talentstream Technologies bring together high-powered sourcing tools, massive job distribution, automatic CRM, easy candidate workflow and powerful recruitment analytics, all under one integrated platform. For those customers who still only need some aspects of TalentStream, you can still get the individual technologies you need without buying the full package.

Talentsteam has three main aspects: Recruitment Software, Sourcing Technology and Recruitment Analytics.  It’s your ATS, Recruitment Automation and Business Intelligent tools all built into one.  It can replace your current ATS, or work with your ATS.  I think most companies who want to use TalentStream will eventually drop their current ATS and use the full product suite of TalentStream, they integration is to nice not to take advantage of it.

5 Things I really like about Talentstream Technologies:

  1. Talentstream Engage is an awesome re-engagement technology that does what we all say we want in Talent Acquisition which is how do we connect with all those great candidates who wanted us six or twelve months ago, but we didn’t need them at the time. Being able to seamlessly re-engage with this talent is paramount for a great TA shop’s effectiveness.
  2. Broadbean Job Distribution and Resume Search let’s you coral all of your job boards into one place. Yep, CareerBuilder has technology that allows you to use Monster, Dice, LI ,etc. all in one place, along side of CB.  One platform. No need to jump around and search three or four different databases! This is life changing for recruiters working in multi-database environments.
  3. The full Recruitment Analytics suite in Talentstream. EMSI college analyst allows you to give deep into your college recruitment and really focus your efforts on those schools giving you the most return, but also tells you which schools you really should be going to based on the talent you need. Broadbean analytics suite pulls in all of your data and gives you great workflow funnels to show your hiring managers exactly what is happening on their search, with great graphics.
  4. The Candidate Sourcing Platform is not only gives you the access to CB’s database of 90 million profiles, but RecruiterEdge has another 400 million passive profiles, and it’s not just IT profiles. CB has profiles on roughly 80% of the licensed Physicians in America! They have profiles on skilled trades, truck drivers, etc.
  5. Ability of hiring managers to give feedback on candidates without having to get into the system.  This is critical for recruitment process success. You need to get quick feedback, and we know managers aren’t going to take the time to live in ‘our’ system and tools. TalentStream gives you the ability to gather feedback from your hiring managers without having them have to log into the system.

CareerBuilder claims to have invested $1 Billion dollars into developing Talentsteam Technologies and I don’t doubt that amount after seeing the product live. This fully moves CB out of the job board play, and into the talent acquisition enterprise technology play. The benefit TalentStream will have over their competition is CB’s strength in job advertising that the other recruitment automation and ATS folks just don’t have.

Check out Talentstream Technologies, it’s well worth a demo.

T3 – Talent Tech Tuesday – is a weekly series here at The Project to educate and inform everyone who stops by on a daily/weekly basis on some great recruiting and sourcing technologies that are on the market.  None of the companies who I highlight are paying me for this promotion.  There are so many really cool things going on in the space and I wanted to educate myself and share what I find.  If you want to be on T3 – send me a note.

Watch Me LIVE Right Now! #CBEmpower15

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That’s right, someone made the brilliant decision to put me on TV LIVE. Lights, camera, action!  Today, I’ll be bringing you all the cool stuff happening at Empower 15 in Chicago!

The Live Stream will start at 8am CST today and go all day until 5pm CST (that’s 9am for you East Coasters – and way too early for those on the left coast!).

My friend Laurie Ruettimann will be joining me to kick it off in this morning, then I’ll be bringing you many other great HR and Talent Pros/Celebs throughout the day.

If you want to ask a question on the Live Stream – hit me on the Twitters at #CBEmpower15 or @TimSackett and I’ll try to make you famous!

Click below to get to Live Stream feed:

Empower 15 Live Stream

Remember! This is LIVE, who knows what might happen…

 

The 1 Miracle That Can Make Your Corporate Recruiters Better Almost Instantly

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I’ve had 3 opportunities in my career to step into traditional corporate recruiting departments and make changes that would ‘turn’ these departments around so that the organization would see them as a positive producing department, where previously that had not been viewed as this.  As you can imagine there are numerous changes that can be made to do this.  You could go out and hire more talented recruiters.  You could redesign and launch a new employment brand.  You can redesign your processes.  You can launch a new career website.  Add in recruiter specific training.  Get hiring managers and leadership involved in ‘owning’ their talent in their individual departments.  All great stuff.  All things that I eventually did – all which take considerable time and resources!

When you are stepping into a new organization and taking over, those who hired you expect instant miracles.  Why?  Because that’s what you told them you could do when you interviewed.  One problem.  You told them this without truly knowing what you were going to find when you started opening up closet doors in the department and skeletons began falling out all over the place.  You didn’t realize your staff of recruiters were really just HR admins in disguise.  That your ATS was an advance spreadsheet, and nothing more.  Your hiring managers believed the only way to get talent was to wait for you to deliver it to them on a silver platter, just so they could say “I don’t like that kind – bring me another platter!”  You didn’t know your major vendor was the CEO’s cousin who had no clue and no sense of urgency – but was entitled all the same.

Doesn’t matter now – deliver the miracle!

There is really only one thing I know that works in recruiting.  Doesn’t matter if you’re an agency or corporate.  Doesn’t matter the industry.  Doesn’t matter the recruiting experience level you have on your staff.  It’s been the one miracle that in good times and bad has always sets recruiters apart – at all levels.  Activity.  Outgoing phone calls, number of candidates interviewed, number of resumes sent to hiring managers, etc.  Higher activity level = higher recruiting department satisfaction and results, 100% of the time.  It’s a simple miracle.

So – how do you do this tomorrow?

Step 1:  Instantly track the number of ‘outgoing’ phone calls made per recruiter.  If you don’t have technology to track this – develop a simple call sheet that tracks candidate name, phone number, position called for and result.  Track calls for 2 weeks. (outgoing calls only – keep it simple, establish a habit – great recruiters call candidates)

Step 2: On week 3 – set daily outgoing call goal 25% higher than the two week daily average.  (don’t let on you will do this on week 3 or you’ll have low numbers your first two weeks)

Step 3:  Hold those recruiters accountable who aren’t reaching their call goal.

You’ll hear every single excuse in the world – you have to stay strong.  “I have too many meetings” – tell them you are giving them permission to no longer attend those meetings.  “I have to much paperwork” – stop doing paperwork – that’s for after 5pm and on weekends (recruiting isn’t a 40 hr per week job). Only concentrate on calls.  Calls. Calls. Calls.

Miracle, delivered, almost instantly.

Want to hear some more?  Call me – I’ve got more miracles. Sackett.tim@hru-tech.com; 517-908-3156 or @TimSackett  – my company delivers staffing miracles every freaking day!

CareerBuilder Empower 15 Live Stream Wednesday Sept. 10th!

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Next week Wednesday, September 10th, CareerBuilder has asked me to Host their Live Stream of Empower 15!

That’s right, someone made the brilliant decision to put me on LIVE. Lights, camera, action!  To bring to you all the cool stuff happening at Empower!

The Live Stream will start at 8am CST and go all day until 5pm CST (that’s 9am for you East Coasters – and way too early for those on the left coast!).  My friend Laurie Ruettimann will be joining me to kick it off in the morning, then I’ll be bringing you many other great HR and Talent Pros/Celebs throughout the day. Click on the link above for Wednesday’s lineup of great presenters!

Click below to get to Live Stream feed:

Empower 15 Live Stream

What is Empower?

DISCOVER. ELEVATE. INSPIRE.

The act of connecting employers and job seekers to make meaningful matches has changed dramatically over the past 20 years. And new economic, digital, and social trends have introduced an entirely new set of challenges. We’re giving you a front row seat to share the journey as we look back and, more importantly, ahead to the next 20. Join CareerBuilder and 1000+ other leaders for the talent acquisition event of the year where we’ll identify opportunities to continue to move the industry forward and work together to make recruitment easier and more effective.

Empower is Talent Acquisition’s version of all those cool HR conferences your HR peers get to go to, but they aren’t really designed for true Talent Acquisition leaders!