HCM Talent Technology Roundup – October 30, 2020

HCM Talent Technology Roundup: October 30, 2020

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Symphony Talent Adds Interviews to SmashFlyX

Symphony Talent’s SmashFlyX became the latest recruiting platform to add on-demand interviewing. Its new module, SmashFlyX On-demand Interviewing, automates one-way video and audio screening in an effort to streamline the work recruiters and hiring managers.

One way it does that is by allowing talent acquisition teams to automatically prompt on-demand interview screening at specific moments in the CRM workflow, such as after a virtual event. Or, the feature can route interviews to a specific pipeline. Either way, recruiters can then access recorded interviews from within the CRM talent profile.

On the candidate side, the user experience is built on a conversational interface. “Video interviewing is new for a lot of people in our current environment, and if we can make it more approachable and less stressful, it’s a win,” said Lisa Bordinat, senior vice president of assessments and customer care.

Other features include:

• Audio-Only Screening: Allows candidates to turn off video, and helps employers save time on phone screening while removing opportunities for initial bias, such as appearance and attire.
• Question Library: Some 500 questions across competency and behavioral abilities.
• Custom branding: Teams can continue their career site and recruitment marketing branding by customizing the entire on-demand interview experience, from the welcome message to an exit screen.

Symphony Talent launched SmashFlyX in June, its acquisition of SmashFly Technologies. The merger combined Symphony’s employer-branding and creative services with Smashfly’s recruitment marketing and CRM tools. SmashFlyX makes available CRM, career site, talent mobility, and programmatic advertising solutions through a single interface.

OutMatch Acquires Pre-Hire Simulation Firm

OutMatch acquired the assessment company FurstPerson, which specializes in pre-hire simulations. The company said FurstPerson’s tools complement its video interviewing capabilities, as well as OutMatch’s broader range of assessments, which measure traits such as communication skills and motivation.

In addition, OutMatch said it launched a new talent-decision management platform that uses technology like FurstPerson’s to provide end-to-end hiring solutions. The platform ties together candidate screening, assessments, video interviewing, and artificial intelligence for a single integrated experience. OutMatch hopes that will help drive speed, efficiency, and engagement while removing bias.

At the same time, the company launched a gamified culture assessment for OutMatch Assess. After a candidate completes two brief assessments, clients can determine how they align with both their current and ideal organizational culture.  

OutMatch CEO Greg Moran said integrating technologies such as FurstPerson’s will help the company “meet customers where the market is heading—toward an automated, candidate-driven experience.”

Doing Business

Upwork and Citrix Systems expanded their relationship to provide improved access to specialized, flexible talent. Their new offering, Upwork Microapps for Citrix Workspace, is designed to simplify the identification and onboarding of talent by helping employers post jobs and review both proposals and profiles of the candidates who submitted them.

High-volume hiring platform Fountain announced new features that attract and engage applicants as more companies increasingly rely on remote recruiting and hiring. The features include live and on-demand video interviews, a universal talent view, a recruiting chatbot, branded career sites, advanced resume parsing, and geolocation.

Nearly 70% of the companies that have furloughed or laid off employees during the Covid-19 pandemic will back-fill roles that were eliminated, according to the Adecco Group. Almost 90% of those planning to back-fill will do so in less than a year, while 62% plan to do it in six months.

Sourcing technology provider nextSource and Shortlist Project announced a partnership through which they’ll provide a direct sourcing solution for contingent workers. The partnership pairs nextSource’s employer of record, agent of record, and 1099 certification services with Shortlist’s Freelancer/Workforce Management System.

Eightfold.ai closed a $125 million Series D funding round, which it will use to expand and scale its recruiting technology platform. Led by General Catalyst, the round brings the Mountain View, Calif., company’s total funding raised to date to more than $180 million. Other participants include Capital One Ventures, Foundation Capital, IVP, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Eightfold said it’s more than quadrupled sales since closing the previous round of funding in April 2019. The company has customers in 110 countries, using 13 languages. They include AirAsia, Bayer, Capital One, and Micron.

Harvey Nash Group acquired Latitude 36 as part of its strategic expansion in the U.S. Latitude 36 is a technology recruitment specialist with operations across America and India.

People

Boris Shimanovsky and Renata Dionello have joined ZipRecruiter as chief technology officer and chief people officer, respectively. Most recently, Shimanovsky was senior vice president of engineering at Foursquare, while Dionello led corporate development for Sony Playstation.

Travis Parsons joined Korn Ferry as senior client partner in the firm’s global technology practice, based in Silicon Valley. Previously, he worked for an unnamed executive search firm.

Bob Lopes became the CHRO of Randstad North America. He joined from sister company Randstad Sourceright.

Gabrielle “Gaby” Toledano is joining ServiceNow as chief talent officer. She begins work in January. Previously, she was the COO of Keystone Strategy LLC.

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.