HCM Talent Technology Roundup January 7, 2021

Recruiting platform Paradox raised a $200 million Series C investment round. The round was led by Stripes, Sapphire and Thoma Bravo. The company’s AI assistant helps employers automate candidate screening, interview scheduling, onboarding and other tasks through a simple mobile experience. Paradox has worked with more than 500 clients around the world. 

SmartRecruiters will partner with PandoLogic to enhance its SmartJobs managed service and In-App offering. The partnership will benefit from PandoLogic’s proprietary recruitment technology and support via turnkey integration, helping employers get their jobs in front of qualified candidates more quickly and efficiently.

Korn Ferry launched Korn Ferry Intelligence Cloud, an AI-enabled talent analytics platform. Intelligence Cloud combines data-driven insights with the company’s consulting expertise and intellectual property, and is designed to help solve the challenges involved with acquiring, managing and mobilizing the right talent and skills.  

Talent Cloud Turing said it reached unicorn status after raising $87 million at a valuation of about $1.1 billion. The Series D financing was led by WestBridge Capital with participation from Foundation Capital and new investor StepStone Group. Turing’s Talent Cloud combines global reach and AI to deliver ideal engineers billed by the month.  

Talent intelligence platform Searchlight closed a Series A funding round of $17 million, led by Founders Fund. The company also launched its talent intelligence platform, designed to aid hiring teams in assessing and retaining quality hires. The platform offers companies the ability to measure and improve quality of hire, the company said.

Artificial intelligence will continue to evolve beyond its more common uses in recruiting, learning and employee sentiment analysis, HR tech analysts say. But vendors’ use of the technology for employment decisions will face increased scrutiny from government regulators and HR practitioners. That’s according to SHRM. John Brownridge, digital workplace leader for Deloitte Consulting, said AI will be built into more applications and that barriers to buying or building intelligent systems will be reduced thanks to commoditization of the necessary technology and increasing low-code or no-code development options.

HR technology spending increased 57% during 2021, according to the 2021-2022 HR Systems Survey by Sapient Insights Research Group. Most companies used an average of 16 HR systems during the year, up from 10 systems in 2020 and nine in 2019. Employers also enhanced their applicant tracking systems and increased their budget for recruiting solutions. “Spending on TA tech had been on the rise previously, but during the pandemic, 62% of companies increased their investment, ” said Madeline Laurano, founder of Aptitude Research.

Authors

Mark Feffer

Mark Feffer is executive editor of RecruitingDaily and the HCM Technology Report. He’s written for TechTarget, HR Magazine, SHRM, Dice Insights, TLNT.com and TalentCulture, as well as Dow Jones, Bloomberg and Staffing Industry Analysts. He likes schnauzers, sailing and Kentucky-distilled beverages.