This week’s brainfood is supported by our friends Zinc

Social media checks you can trust

Since launching our social media check, it hasn't been surprising to see the high percentage of recruiters already conducting such checks. It’s an essential step in due diligence. However, where you draw the line in terms of what’s acceptable for your business is still a topic of heated debate. It’s crucial to protect your colleagues by applying basic due diligence.

What has been surprising, though, is the high percentage of recruiters conducting social media checks without obtaining consent. If you act on the information gathered in this way, you expose your business to potential legal action.

Zinc offers fully compliant social media screening with access to social APIs that reveal more data than a manual search. Zinc combines automation with manual searches for a comprehensive check. 

Book a free demo and consultation to review your process today: https://zincwork.com/checks/social-media

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Friends,

I’m sending this out from hot and steamy Hong Kong, which has persisted with it’s 30C heatwave well past normal season. Two more days here before I go to Dubai for RL100 Middle East. There also happens to be another HR event going on in the city whilst I’m there so I’ll scout that out also and see if I see anything interesting. If you’re in the city from 23-27th Oct, let me know…

Thanks to: Joey NK Koksal, Eugene van den Hemel, Blanka Novotna, Heather van Werkhoven, Lauren Sharp, Matt Staney, Michael Estafanous, Aarti Angelo Fernandes, Javeed Khan, Rachael Murphy, Diane Christine Maninang, Jo Ioannidis, Rob Walker, Iwan Gulenko, Craig Watson, Tugba Gok and Joel Lalgee for your public support on all things brainfood - you sharing the newsletter on your socials is the only marketing we get - thanks!

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Share Recruiting Brainfood

What Do Brainfooders Think?

Votes are in, and my read from the results is that putting the #Desperate label on your LinkedIn profile picture isn’t recommended, if your plan is to encourage recruiters to reach out to you. Thanks to everyone who voted!

Brainfood Live On Air - Ep278 - Hiring in the Gulf States in 2024 & Beyond (Wed 23rd Oct, 12pm GST), Ep279 - Diversify Your Talent Pipeline with Employee Referral Programmes (Fri 25th Oct, 2pm GMT)

Friends we have a double header next week as we’re going to be doing a mid week special on Hiring in the Gulf States (register here if you’re interested in the region), followed on Friday by a return to usual programming, with an attempt to solve the ERP (Employee Referral Programmes) + Diversity controversy - register here for that one! Best thing to do is the follow the channel here and you’ll be notified every time we go live 👊

The Brainfood

1. The State of AI Report 2024

One of the annual classics, the State of the AI Report arrives on it’s 7th edition. Its a Mary Meeker style 200+ page monster, but as comprehensive a view of the state of artificial intelligence as you’re going to find. Probably too dense in places, but one of those which should be the starting point for further research on topics you’re particularly interested in. Must read for everyone here. H/T to brainfooder Martyn Redstone for the share in the online community.

AI

2. C-Suite Hiring: Seven Mistakes Companies Still Make

Nice piece of fan service from MIT, which some guaranteed zingers in here which will have us in TA / HR applauding. However, I suspect none of this has ever really been empirically tested, and given that we can never replay a hiring decision, we don’t really know if these are mistakes. ‘I’ll know it when I see it’ - I suspect we might one day, we’ll rehabilitate this heuristic.

NB: I know I’m on the margins on this one 🤣

ASSESSMENT

3. Spotify: Remote Staff Not Children

Straw man and virtue signal in the same interview? An EB opportunity you can’t fail to take. Widely lauded by all those who want flexible and inclusive workforce practices, Spotify’s announcement of its commitment to remote was a welcome relief for us in the workforce being besieged by messages of RTO. LinkedIn has some great supporting commentary in this post, though none of it recognises the cultural bandwidth market leaders have which every other company doesn’t.

REMOTE WORKING

4. Freelancers on the Rise: Adapting HR Strategies for the New Era

Do you identify as an ‘independent worker’? Apparently 36% of US workers do so, an increase from 27% in 2016. The push of economic insecurity and the pull of flexible working will probably continue to drive this trend, especially in the knowledge worker market. Winners will be those who can figure out how to reduce the cost of sale / cost of delivery - a good topic for Brainfood Live at some point?

FUTURE OF WORK

5. Why GenAI is More Likely To Support Workers Than Replace Them

2800 skills identified from millions of job postings on Indeed, then ask ChatGPT4o to assess how could it would be in taking these skills on, and replacing the humans with it. The pro-human conclusions are generated from the additional concept of how these skills are applied - often intersectionally and within human contexts. Nice exercise though I suspect the authors misunderstand the nature of work displacement - it won’t be via a vivid 1-2-1 substitution but on a more unseen industry wide suppression of labour demand.

AI

6. What Type of Childhood Makes A Top Scientist?

Nobody disagrees that childhood has an enormous impact on life outcomes, yet it is information that we do not (should not?) use when it comes to recruiting. Some interesting patterns on childhood environment of Nobel Laureates - turns out having a father who was a business owner is the most significant factor for male Nobel Laureates. Flawed thread, but interesting brainfood.

ASSESSMENT

7. The Border Crisis Won’t Be Solved at the Border

Illegal immigration is likely to be one of the most important topics in the US Presidential election in November but the arguments from both parties ignores the most salient fact: US economy needs illegal workers, performing in the essential jobs (remember them?) in agriculture, food processing, logistics, warehousing, sanitation and the rest. Like the war on drugs, immigration hysteria ignores root cause of the phenomena - US demand for what it then perceives to be a problem. This post is an important corrective

SOCIETY

8. GenAI and the Future of Talent Acquisition

There are loads of ‘Future of Talent Acquisition’ posts out there - I’m as guilty as anyone for writing these - so it always welcome to see a few which includes bold predictions not seen elsewhere. Brainfooder Andrew Monroe from Veris Insights sent me their POV and there are some new ideas here, especially the bifurcation of career pathways for recruiters. Worth a read

RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS

9. 2024 Future of Work 100

This is quite cool - what are the leading recruitment / HR tech providers who are supporting the transition to an AI-enabled workforce. We already know some of these companies, some others will become household names in a year or two’s time. Good tech landscape type post.

RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS

10. Philippine Chipmakers are Embracing Automation — and Leaving Low-skilled Workers Behind

I’m reminded of that scene in Hardhome: Game of Thrones when Jon Snow boards the last of the boats fleeing the shore, looking back as the majority of the Wildlings get left behind to the mercy of the White Walkers. Replay of this in the Philippines as progressive early adapters become AI-enabled, whilst those left behind take to industrial action to protect their jobs. We’re all going to have to run to the boats.

WORKFORCE AUTOMATION

The Podcasts

11. Hiring Success APAC2024 - Wow!

It was huge pleasure to take part in Hiring Success APAC earlier this month - fantastic event by SmartRecruiters with some really interesting insights from the product team. Take the opportunity to listen to CEO Rebecca Carr on the new vision. I’m in this at the end of the show, as an add on 🤣

RECRUITMENT OPERATIONS

12. Navigating Recruitment's Future with Kalpesh Baxi – AI, Automation, and 2025 Predictions

It’s the ‘Nokia of the recruitment industry’ - a great title for the legendary Kalpesh Baxi. I’ve got to know Kalpesh over the past couple years and there are few people who are as motivated and effective in supporting the community. Great conversation on the RecTalk Podcast - important to see and hear the agency side of the conversation.

AI

13. If AI Takes All Of Our Jobs... Who's Going To Buy Everything?

Nothing lands on today’s internet better than ‘infotainment’. This channel exemplifies the genre. Very frequently, it also asks pertinent political questions, such as what is the real purpose of AI, and do we want actually want that? Missing from this 12 minute discussion is the acephalous nature of innovation - nobody is in charge of this change, so the trends are inexorable. Have a watch.

UBI

End Note

Been thinking about employment status for a while now. It’s been well over a decade since I last had job, and whilst there are definitely elements that I miss from being part of a company, I definitely wouldn’t trade the life I have now. That said, there are have been some less-than-great times, including at least 2 failed companies, 1 near bankruptcy and two long stretches of time where ‘income zero’ was my reality.

Got me thinking about where we’re at as a sector. Are we moving toward more independent work status, or are we pretty much still operating as employees?

It’s the vote for today’s poll folks, so let me know where you’re currently at:

Leave a comment

That’s it - thanks for reading everybody

Have a great week

Hung