Welcome to “The Most Interesting Recruiting Stories of the Week,” a weekly post that features talent acquisition insights and information from around the web to kick off your weekend. Here’s what’s of interest this week:
Job cuts are down, but… Well, of course there’s a “but.” New numbers indicate that job cuts dropped from May to June by 49%, which marks the lowest total since October last year. Good news, right? Right. Now here’s the caveat: Numbers are still 25% higher than in the same month a year ago. Let’s make things even more depressing: There have been 458,209 cuts so far this year, which is a 244% increase over the same period last year. In other words, overall number are still not good — but the future might be. (Challenger, Gray & Christmas)
Recruiting fails to soar at the Air Force. Last week, we included an article about the Navy’s struggles to meet hiring targets. Seems that the issue extends deeper into the military. The Air Force is also facing significant challenges; it’s likely to fall short of recruiting goals by 10% this year. To turn things around, the Air Force is upping its DEI game. What’s particularly interesting about such efforts is that there are many critics who argue that the military should focus less on diversity initiatives for fear of weakening its strength. It’s good to see the Air Force rejecting such claims. (The Center Square)
Would you post your past and current salaries on your LinkedIn profile? Somebody did. Good idea? Bad? It’s enough to make your head spin because…who does this? Almost no one, obviously. But the bold move does raise interesting questions regarding pay transparency. Rarely, if ever, do we encourage candidates to engage in anywhere near the same level of transparency that we insist employers do. And for good reason. There’s a power imbalance at play. Still, this is fascinating. (Twitter)
Will affirmative-action bans impact recruiting? There’s a good chance they will. A 2013 Harvard study that lasted two decades had found that after a number of state and local governments outlawed affirmative action, workforce participation among Hispanic men fell by 7%, among Black women by 4%,and among Asian women by 37%. Meanwhile, the number rose by 4.7% among white men. There are many factors that undoubtedly come into play, but if you are concerned that the Supreme Court’s recent ruling ending affirmative action might impact corporate diversity, then you should be. (SHRM)
Lots of people hate New York’s new AI in hiring law. The states law regulating AI’s role in employment decisions finally took effect — and people are angry. While the statue has its proponents, there are critics who argue that it’s too hard to enforce and that it’s not extensive enough. What we all can probably agree on, however, is that this law is likely just the beginning of further regulations nationwide that will mushroom to address the growing role of new technology. (MIT Technology Review)
The dystopia created by video interviews. Speaking of things that people hate in recruiting, let’s add video interviews to that list. Sure, vendors will say how much candidates appreciate the technology, but what else would you expect a software company to say? There are many, many reasons to be skeptical not of the vendors so much as the role and value of video interviews themselves. In the name of efficiency, are video interviews ruining the hiring process more than helping it? (Protocol)
Recruitbot raises $8.2M in new funding. The recruitment platform recently announced its latest round of funding as it continues to develop its AI functionality. The company said “its advanced AI algorithms enable the platform to comprehend recruiter preferences and display increasingly relevant candidates from its qualified database of 600 million profiles. Additionally, the platform facilitates personalized, automated email campaigns to candidates on behalf of hiring managers.” This clearly represents a vote of confidence in an AI-infused future for recruiting. (VentureBeat)
Twitter claims that Meta illegally recruited workers. Last week, Meta launched its newest app, Threads. Twitter was not happy. Its chief lawyer sent Meta a scathing letter accusing Meta of stealing intellectual property via illegal hires. Naturally, Meta denies the claims. True or not, they’d be hard for Twitter to prove for a number of reasons, most of which are due to the company’s own practices. Time will tell if a lawsuit will actually materialize, but, well, don’t hold your breath. (ERE.net)