HCM Talent Technology Roundup – July 24, 2020

HCM Talent Technology Roundup – July 24, 2020

COVID-19 Forces LinkedIn Layoffs

Disruptions to recruiting and hiring have forced LinkedIn to lay off about 6% of its workforce, or some 960 employees. The company, “is not immune to the effects of the global pandemic,” wrote CEO Ryan Roslansky in a blog post. “Our Talent Solutions business continues to be impacted as fewer companies, including ours, need to hire at the same volume they did previously.”

The cuts will be across the company’s global sales and talent acquisition teams, Roslansky said. He added no further layoffs are planned.

In April, LinkedIn said it wouldn’t make any pandemic-related layoffs until the end of June. It’s been good to its word. But as executives reviewed operations over the last several months, they decided a number of positions were no longer needed. Either because of duplication or a change in approach. For example, Roslansky explained, LinkedIn can unify its separate talent media businesses onto one platform. And scale back the use of field sales teams by moving SMB support online.

With that in mind, LinkedIn’s invested a “substantial” amount of money into an SMB-focused online storefront. This investment “will allow us to better serve the millions of small businesses that will need LinkedIn through this pandemic and beyond. And aligns with how we plan to focus our field sales efforts on our higher-value relationships,” Roslansky said.

One could argue that some pain at LinkedIn was inevitable. Given how much of its revenue comes from job ads and recruiting services. Even though parent company Microsoft doesn’t break out LinkedIn’s revenue, most analysts say that’s where the lion’s share comes from.

During the first quarter, the site’s advertising revenue began falling, reported The Wall Street Journal. Microsoft expressed concerns the pandemic would take a continuing toll as hiring slowed down.

Glassdoor, Indeed Dance

Sister companies Glassdoor and Indeed—they’re both controlled by Recruit Holdings—have joined forces to offer packages of job postings and employer branding services.

Customers will be able to post open roles on both sites by using Indeed’s job advertising features. As well as purchase bundled employer brand services on Glassdoor’s Employer-Profile and Indeed’s Company Pages Premium.

The companies said they’ll work closely in sales and customer support. This fall, employers will be able to access reviews and ratings from both sites from the Glassdoor Employer Center.

Glassdoor and Indeed will continue to operate as separate brands. Just as Ultimate Software and Kronos operated as distinct brands after the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman acquired Ultimate in 2019. (The companies announced their merger in February 2020.)

Doing Business

Integrations and Collaboration

Talent.com announced an integration partnership with LinkedIn’s Talent Hub. LinkedIn said it expects the connection will “further streamline the candidate hiring experience.” While Talent.com said it aims to improve the applicant’s experience on both platforms. “Ultimately resulting in a more cohesive hiring environment for the job seeker.”

Background-screening firm TazWorks announced an integration with talent management platform ClearCompany. The link will allow TazWorks consumer reporting agencies to offer clients full-service pre-employment screening.

DHI Group and IDG Communications launched a series of virtual technology recruitment events. The partnership will unite IDG’s content and brands. Such as the publications CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. And the virtual event capabilities of DHI’s technology job board, Dice.

SAP Fieldglass launched External Talent Marketplace. A free platform that connects employers and staffing agencies when they need temporary workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The marketplace is meant to provide a single place where businesses in need of temporary workers can connect with multiple staffing firms. That allows then to tap into a large pool of temporary labor, while staffing firms can find more opportunities to place candidates, Fieldglass said.

Another DHI unit, eFinancialCareers, launched video and voice calling to facilitate communications between recruiters and candidates when so many are working from home.

Hiretual launched integrations with several ATS providers. Including Workday, iCIMS, and Greenhouse. The integrations use AI to refresh existing candidate profiles within ATS with updated information pulled from the open web.

Insights and Analytics

Checkster announced New Hire Insights. A tool to help employers determine if new hires will be a good fit for their organization. The product’s design can uncover predictors of turnover and give employers access to information that can help retain new employees.

Startup HelioScout launched a candidate analytics platform. It provides insights about candidate talent, availability, and diversity information quickly into the hands of recruiters. The platform retrieves candidate information from public sources, analyzes it, and displays the results using data visualization.

Job advertising platform JobAdX extended its programmatic advertising services into the Canadian market. “Our experience and findings over the last two years with U.S. jobs and audiences have helped us polish our product to deliver a job-advertising experience that is a lot more simple and goal-oriented,” said CEO Amit Chauhan.

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.