2014 Strategic Talent Acquisition Conference Day 1
Attendees were treated to a full schedule of thought-provoking content for HCI’s 2014 Strategic Talent Acquisition Conference. Practitioners and thought-leaders alike met up in Boston, Massachusetts to discuss the top talent acquisition issues of the moment. This year we saw three themes surface through the course of the day “Source innovatively”, “Make Data-Driven Decisions”, and “Design the Sustainable Pipeline.”
“Insight is a spontaneous organization of chaos”
The Voice of HCI, Dave Forman, once again presided over the podium navigating and segueing between presenters and sessions. Rebecca Costa’s session “FutureThink: From Data Intelligence to Artificial Intelligence” set the Twitterverse a buzz explaining how technology will be changing the future citing examples of a shift from chemical engineers creating advanced pharmaceuticals to the insertion of nanobots to fight disease or nanobots injected into plants to determine exactly how much water botanicals would need to thrive. Costa explained how these evolving technologies will change who and how HR sources talent for the future. “Insight is a spontaneous organization of chaos,” shared Costa as she detailed how scientists can now tell from brain scans when insight will strike.
“Community as Collective Wisdom”
Jessica Lee closed out the day with the final keynote, “Amplify a Strong Talent Acquisition Strategy through Community.” Lee challenged the attendees to have talent communities that live up to the ideals behind “community” which she defined as, “a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.” Lee preached the role of “Community as collective wisdom,” contrasting with a Ted talk with Former Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou explaining failures in the financial crisis stating, “We were trapped by our collective ignorance…instead of reaching out to the collective wisdom of our societies.”
“Avoid Death by Consensus”
Lee explained how her community at Marriott includes her job seekers, her employer brand and communication team, and associates within the company. To find wisdom, firms can participate in focus groups with potential job candidates to determine what they specifically desire. The more firms can have a grasp on what exactly candidates want the easier it will be to connect with them. Lee identified a lag on HR technology adoption as a chance for Human Resources to learn from the consumer side of firms who may have already conquered those challenges. Jessica finished her session empowering the attendees to collaborate and work across business lines to build that community, but cautioned to maintain some structure around decision making and chain of command to avoid death by consensus.
So far we are off to a great start for the conference this year with a lot of engagement from the crowd both in person and virtually but we have another full day of intriguing content coming up tomorrow to look forward to. For the members not able to attend this year try checking out our virtual conference or feel free to follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #HCIevents. Also be sure to check out Jessica’s recent podcast with HCI Before the Sourcing Even Starts the Role of Employer Branding.