Charu Malhotra is our guest blogger attending and reporting on the upcoming Innovation in Recruitment summit; here are her pre-event thoughts:
We are just over a week away from the Innovation in Recruitment Summit 2014, and I am looking forward to seeing organisations like Barclays, Ocado and Talk Talk discuss the ever evolving talent acquisition space. Having had experience in deploying technology, and digital innovation in attracting, assessing, engaging talent , I am mindful that all talent acquisition innovation must support the business objectives not be a ‘shiny new toy’ that we have decided is the latest ‘cool’ thing to try. This summit should provide tips, tools and case studies for us to take back to our companies and there is a huge mix of sectors size speaking at the event which is refreshing to see.
Some of the tracks I’m looking forward to going to –
Mark Astley at Barclays – Video interviewing can be like Marmite, recruitment functions love it or steer clear. Given Barclays huge diversity agenda it will be interesting to see how HR has encouraged its use and what the adoption has been like internally and internationally. This morning track should set the scene with mobile adoption moving past something we have all talked about ad relentless to something applicants & candidates ‘Expect & Demand’ in all their interactions.
Gemma Lockhart at Essence’ track on International recruitment should provide insights into how the tools recruiters use be the same regardless which countries you are hiring in but without local knowledge, the recruiter’a ability to source, attract and land candidates can be impossible. I hope to see some examples of where local knowledge has been critical in successful hires and lessons on how a ‘virtual’ team can operate successfully globally. In my experience when international recruiters partner closely with international mobility teams hiring moves at pace and with more agility. It will be interesting to see how this has been structured at Essence.
Brian Parkin at Ocado’s Candidate Brand track will be hugely popular, with such an evocative, powerful brand name and consumer promise learning how the recruitment team have managed their volume hiring whilst focusing on creating a strong candidate experience will be fascinating. I hope Brian shares actual MI how to prove internally to the line and other stakeholder that the candidate experience matters especially in an environment that is seasonal and competitive and campaign led.
Mark Bertlan at Northgate is giving an HR Directors view on how social media adoption can be ‘scary’ for some HR stakeholders and this track’s focus on creating a business case then reporting results on your social recruitment should be required viewing for any organisation still viewing social media as an ‘add on; to recruitment. Bizarrely there are still UK companies where social media hasn’t been embrassed internally so Lisa Jones at Barclay Jones will be provided a list of easy to use tools on how to measure your social media spend which is guaranteed to support any internal discussions .
I will be tweeting (via @ukrecruiter and @CM_Charu) from the event all day so do come say ‘hello’ online or IRL. It would be great to hear what you’ve learnt and are taking away from the day from these and other tracks occurring.
There are still tickets available if you want to attend this exciting event.
Charu’s biography:
Charu Malhotra has over 12 years of resourcing experience with organisations such as ‘BP’, Unilever and Vodafone. Working across RPO, Inhouse functions and search has provided her with expertise in creating recruitment frameworks that are agile enough to be deployed across the globe, the last few years have seen an increased focus on digital projects including the deployment of Unilever social media talent acquisition strategy and the design of a new global career site to 35 countries . Charu is an advocate of recruitment and recruiters moving out of silos , learning from communications, marketing and there for recruiter capability is of particular interest to her.
Currently deploying a new TA strategy and RPO model at Smith, she is on the hunt for her next role. Happy to talk about Global Employer Brand, Careers sites, recruiter training and digital initiatives so come and say hi .
