Blog

Hiring Manager Satisfaction Surveys: The Worst Thing to (Still) Happen to Talent Acquisition

By Linda Brenner | November 20, 2023

Traditional recruiter satisfaction surveys, by which hiring managers rate recruiters based on their responsiveness and preferences, reinforce outdated and counterproductive hierarchies. Instead, the focus should shift to value-added metrics that reflect true recruiting effectiveness, such as speed, diversity, quality of hire, and cost effectiveness. Rather than simply serving the whims or beliefs of hiring managers, these objective performance metrics and outcomes of hired candidates challenge recruiters to be strategic partners and inspire them to achieve organizational goals and longer-term hiring success.

Where the Talent Went and What To Do About It

By Linda Brenner | November 07, 2023

Despite the waning of the COVID-19 pandemic, hiring and retention remain a significant challenge for businesses. Factors contributing to this shortage include demographic shifts, declining birthrates, and lower labor force participation rates. Here are four strategies to address this issue. And do it now, because it's not going to get easier anytime soon.

Talent Acquisition Technology Isn’t Going to Fix Your Hiring Problems

By Linda Brenner | May 02, 2023

Despite the explosive growth of talent acquisition technologies - and the vast number of problems they claim to solve - hiring isn’t getting better, faster or cheaper. Why?

Re-Engineering Recruiting: Tips for Assessing and Improving your Talent Acquisition Function

By Linda Brenner | February 06, 2023

Now might be the optimal time to re-engineer your recruiting processes. Start by objectively determining which metrics are most important to your business, how to evaluate them and the best approach for improving these outcomes.

Why Your “Post-Pandemic” Business Strategy Depends on HR

By Tom McGuire | October 24, 2022

What are the direct and indirect consequences of the pandemic for talent and business recovery? The list is long and we now know that it includes "quiet quitting", supply chain issues, candidate ghosting, brand management, early attrition, social issues, missed performance goals to name a few. And the length of time we'll be dealing with these issues is even longer than this list.

2023 Talent Analytics Playbook for CHROs

By Tom McGuire | October 11, 2022

The explosion of HR tools, technology and trends makes zeroing in on essential analytics more difficult than ever. How should Talent Analytics define HR priorities? What are the greatest obstacles to achieving effectiveness? What does a Talent Analytics "homerun" look like? In 2023, talent analytics should not just support, but fundamentally drive, your organization's business strategy.

4 Ways to Determine if You Need to Improve Your Job Postings ASAP

By Linda Brenner | February 07, 2022

This insane labor market requires employers to put their best foot forward in order to win top talent. But often, when the candidate sees a job posting, it's so bad that it literally repels the most qualified among them. Here are four ways to quickly audit your own postings.

Five Reasons Why Candidates Aren’t Applying to Your Jobs

By Linda Brenner | October 17, 2021

There are many reasons why candidates aren't applying to jobs the way they did before the pandemic. A recent survey identified five key reasons for this (hint: 'being lazy and on unemployment' didn't make the list.)

Are you in a War *ON* Talent or a War *FOR* Talent?

By Linda Brenner | July 22, 2021

Here are eight clues for determining where your organization falls.

Technology is Not the Answer to Your Hiring Problems

By Linda Brenner | May 05, 2021

The rapid growth of talent acquisition technologies, and all the problems they portend to solve, makes investment in them tempting - particularly during these unpredictable times. But TA tech is not going to solve most hiring problems.

How to Improve Recruiting: Begin with a SWOT Analysis

By Tom McGuire | March 29, 2021

Need to figure out how to improve hiring speed, quality and diversity? Begin with one of the most tried-and-true methods to assessing strengths and weaknesses: a SWOT framework for recruiting. Learn how this method can help you get started the right way.

8 Keys to Ensuring Your Newly Hired Black Executive Fails: A Case Study

By Linda Brenner | January 25, 2021

Proper recruiting, selection, onboarding and performance management routines are critical for the success of any new executive, but particularly for companies seeking to expand diversity among their leadership ranks. The old routines that may have worked reasonably well with primarily White leaders need to be examined and adapted to successfully and consistently win high performing Black talent.

It’s Happening: Google Workers’ Union

By Tom McGuire | January 21, 2021

​Can a mere 225 unionizing Google employees out of 260,000 have much of an impact? You bet. Their union, in many ways, resembles a private equity firm which will undoubtedly grow larger in membership, funding, and power.

3 Steps to a Rapid and Effective Talent Acquisition Functional Audit

By Linda Brenner | July 21, 2020

Regardless of how COVID-19 has affected your organization, now is the time to streamline and improve the speed and quality of hiring. There is very little tolerance from senior leaders for time- and labor-intensive hiring efforts with questionable results. Now is the time to objectively assess talent acquisition efforts and determine the best (and fastest) path forward to win top talent quickly and cost effectively.

3 Keys to an Effective Recruitment Department Structure

By Linda Brenner | October 07, 2019

Org design can be a powerful tool for addressing efficiency and effectiveness problems, but it can’t work in isolation. Here are three keys to making your org design deliver improved speed and quality of hiring.

Strategic Workforce Planning: Seven Steps To Driving Your Best Talent Acquisition Strategy

By Linda Brenner | August 11, 2019

There is hardly a more nebulous, misunderstood (and possibly hated) word in Human Resources than “strategic workforce planning”, but it is a critical key to successfully improving hiring and retention results. This article describes why it is important, how to do it, and what results you should see.

RPO Lessons Learned: Spotting RPO Dysfunction

By Tom McGuire | July 17, 2019

So your organization is using an RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) firm and you suspect things aren't going as planned? Or perhaps you are considering an RPO? Read on to learn about these common pitfalls. And check out other articles in our series to find solutions.

Linda Brenner named Top HR Tech Influencer!

By Kerri Markovic | April 24, 2019

The Human Resource Executive (HRE) and HR Tech Conference team released the first edition of the Top 100 HR Tech Influencers, and TGA Founder & Managing Partner, Linda Brenner, made the list. Dubbed “100 individuals who have shaped the world of HR technology”, the list is comprised of people from traditional HR roles, consultants/advisors, and “new media“ influencers. Read more about it here.

Talent Acquisition Model:  How to Organize Recruitment Around Talent

By Tom McGuire | March 18, 2019

What’s the best way for recruiting teams to think about tackling hiring requisitions? First in, first out – like milk? Nah, I don’t think so; but surprisingly, many succumb to this approach in the face of hiring manager pressure and the absence of business-based prioritization.

Passive Candidate Sourcing: Which Technology, and Other Key Questions to Ask

By Ashley Samber | March 09, 2018

In today’s market, employers are struggling to attract quality candidates. Many companies understand the need to source passive candidates but don’t understand how to do it effectively or how to utilize technology to support the efforts.

Talent Acquisition Audit:  Six Signs That You Need One

By Linda Brenner | January 15, 2018

Six circumstances where it makes sense to bring in outside, unbiased resources to conduct a talent acquisition audit.

Recruitment Tips for New Talent Acquisition Leaders

By Linda Brenner | November 08, 2013

Check out this list of tips for new talent acquisition leaders - especially if you're coming from an HR Generalist role - to shorten your learning curve and drive meaningful results faster.

Our Bloggers

Linda Brenner

Linda is an industry vet with keen observations and a knack for calling it like it is.

Meet Linda

Tom McGuire

Tom brings the unlikely blend of Finance & HR to the practice, illuminating readers with the link between talent and business value.

Meet Tom