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Is LinkedIn now just corporate Facebook?
114 Plays17 days ago
Episode 91 has news for 2 December 2024 and Question of the Week, "Is LinkedIn now just corporate Facebook?"
#RNA #RecruitmentPodcast #recruitmentNewsAustralia
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Transcript
Introduction to AI in Recruitment
00:00:09
Speaker
AI technology has transformed staffing and recruitment, unlocking new levels of productivity and empowering teams to better use their time. But what does a hiring workflow powered by AI look like? Discover how the day in the life of a recruiter is transformed by AI and learn more about Bullhorn's vision for infusing AI everywhere. Visit bullhorn dot.com to see their AI vision in action right now.
AFR Fast Starters List Insights
00:00:35
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This is the news for the 2nd of December, 2024. I'm Ross Clennett.
00:00:40
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X-Recruiter was named at number one in this year's AFR fast starters list released last Friday. The two eligibility criteria for the fast starters list are that companies must have started trading on or after the 1st of July 2019 and reported at least half a million dollars in revenue in the current financial year. X-Recruiter reported sales of $16 million dollars in the 2024 financial year after sales of $900,000 the previous financial year a growth rate of 2,385%. The AFR reported ex-recruiter currently supports 55 agencies with 17 other owners in various stages of setup for an early 2025 launch. The article also noted ex-recruiter's September 2024 quarterly revenue was $10 million. dollars Five other recruitment industry businesses mated on to the AFR fast starters list, Vectek at number 17, Mergent Group at 21, Transform at 28, Level at 52,
00:01:37
Speaker
and Acquisitive Intelligence at number 58. Released at the same time, the AFR Fast 100 list comprising businesses that started trading before 1 July 2019 and generating at least $5 million dollars in revenue in the most recent financial year also featured several recruitment industry operators.
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highest ranked with Indigenous Cybersecurity and IT Recruitment Business, Batem, with Sustain Health Recruitment at number 44, and Labour High Catering and Camp Management from Business, TLCH, at number 52.
Celebrating Recruitment Excellence at Tiara Awards
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Others to make the top 100 include One Medical, Zeap Medical, the Transformation Group, World Workers Migration and Recruitment Services, and Main Consulting. The 2024 winners of the Tiara Awards were announced last month in Sydney.
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The winners were recruitment leader, Samantha Miklos of Cornerstone Medical, best recruitment company to work under 20 employees, Halo People, and for more than 20 employees, Cranfield Group. New recruitment company was named Rainy Day, specialist recruitment company under 20 employees was Satcha, and more than 20 employees was NES Furcroft. Growth company award was given to Curemore Healthcare, Community Impact to launch,
00:02:57
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Candidate Experience Award to Trade Wind Australia and the Client Service Award to Cure More Health Care. RPO Award went to Kelly Outsourcing. Recruitment Brand of the Year was Horizon One. Training and Development Award went to Cornerstone Medical. Best Use for Tech was seen by Cranfield Group. DE and&I Award went to Hoban. And Back Office Team Award was taken out by
Leadership Changes at People In
00:03:20
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Latitude IT. t ASX listed people in limited announced that its CEO Ross Thompson has been appointed as managing director.
00:03:28
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and will join People In's board of directors effective from last Thursday. In announcing the appointment, People In chair, Glenn Richards said in a press release, it is a pleasure to welcome Ross to People In's board. We recognize the responsibility and accountability that Ross already demonstrates to CEO and look forward to the value contribution he'll make as a member of the board. Thompson joined People In from project management company, RPS Australia in October, 2021.
00:03:53
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The challenging macroeconomic environment is weighing
Economic Impact on Manpower Group
00:03:56
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on Manpower Group Standard and pause global ratings reported late last month after downgrading the company's outlook from stable to negative. Manpower Group's organic revenue is forecast to decline about 5% this year because of economic conditions, S and&P Global reported.
00:04:12
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Demand for the company's services is highly vulnerable to cyclical downturns due to its exposure to manufacturing commercial temporary staffing, said the ratings agency. Following a post-pandemic hiring boom, demand has declined over the past two years across several industries and geographies. S and&P Global also reported staffing industry participants expect a recovery in the second half of next year, with overall revenue growth forecast to be between 2% and 3%.
Skills Shortage in Australian Public Service
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despite its workforce expanding, Australia's public sector is experiencing an ongoing critical skills shortage. The State of the Service Report 2023-24 released by the Australian Public Service Commission last week reported 185,343 APS staff across 101 agencies and 8.9 per cent annual increase in headcount. However, despite the boost in numbers, APS agencies are reporting critical skills shortages, says the report.
00:05:11
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The APSC flagged the issue last year reporting that 87 agencies had identified a significant increase in critical skills shortages. There was a particular demand for ICT staff with 76% of agencies struggling to hire the skilled workers they needed to manage growing IT infrastructure. As well as gaps in ICT skills shortages are prevalent in project management, leadership data and legal.
00:05:36
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Other findings reported in the ABS annual report were 84.7% of staff were full-time, 11.8% part-time and 3.6% casual. Canberra-based employees comprised 36% of the total total with just 12.3% of federal public servants based in regional Australia. 82% of workers expressed satisfaction with their non-monetary employment conditions, up 8% from 2023 An APS staff engagement has reached record levels with 91% of federal public servants saying they are willing to go the extra mile when required and 87% saying they had a strong personal connection to the organisation.
US Companies Reassess DEI Post-Election
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The imminent return to the United States presidency of Donald Trump has seen a significant move to the right in HR departments across the United States, with America's largest commercial employer, Walmart, announcing significant changes to its DEI initiatives, becoming the largest company to date to scale back such programs.
00:06:36
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The retail giants decision includes withdrawing from the LGBTQ plus advocacy group, human rights campaigns, corporate equality index and ending its practice of prioritizing supplies based on race or gender criteria. Notably, will not Walmart also chose not to renew its five year commitment to a racial equity center established after George Floyd's death in 2020.
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The announcement follows similar moves by other big corporations in the US, including Ford, Lowe's and Toyota, signaling a broader shift in how American companies approach workplace diversity and inclusion. Conservative activists have turned up the heat on corporate DEI policies, which has only intensified following last month's US elections, in which the Republican party regained control of the White House and the House of Representatives. The Republicans already control the Senate and there is a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court. While some companies have chosen to dial back their DEI commitments, others, including Amazon, JPMorgan Chase and Target, are standing firm. Eric Machnak, Director of Operations at ah HR Consultancy Red Clover, points to a corporate fear of consumer black of a consumer backlash as a key driver of the trend.
00:07:55
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Companies will often shift their perspectives and approaches based on the outcome of elections, he said. The big difference right now is I think a number of these companies are legitimately afraid of retribution from either the federal government or from consumers who have taken on taking down DEI programs as their personal mission.
Global Economic Indicators: Unemployment and GDP
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The unemployment rate in the OECD remained unchanged at 4.9% in September 2024, having been at or just below 5% for 30 consecutive months.
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Compared to August, the unemployment rates were unchanged in September in 26 OECD countries, while rising in four and declining in two. Six OECD countries recorded an unemployment rate below 3%, while only Spain registered a double digit rate at 11.2%. Year on year, GDP growth in the OECD was 1.7% in Q3 2024, slightly up from 1.6% in Q2.
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Among G7 economies, the United States recorded the highest growth rate over the last four quarters of 2.7%, while Germany recorded the largest fall at minus 0.2%. And that's your news for the second of December 2024. I'm Adele Last. Please stay tuned now for our Question of the Week.
LinkedIn's Evolution and Professional Use
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Question of the week, is LinkedIn now just corporate Facebook?
00:09:31
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That's because we know Facebook is so bad and it feels like LinkedIn is sliding into that black hole, but what is it that's upset you Ross? Why do you say this one? Well, the way I use LinkedIn, and I'm certainly not saying that I'm any role model for LinkedIn, but I post probably a couple of times a week, I'll post a link to my own blog, which I produce every week, and I'll invite comments. I'll also repost our Group of News Australia post about the latest episode. Occasionally I might post something else. I'll comment and I'll like other people's material, but what I'm seeing more and more is people are about to go off on annual leave, people posting photos, one year anniversary, two year anniversary,
00:10:18
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flowers, they're out at a big boozy lunch, some saying that they find inspiring. It's just, um put it this way, I like to think that I'm producing content my audience wants to read and get value from. And so much of the stuff that I get it doesn't appear to be thought through in terms of, well, what's the audience going to get from this? It's just people producing content. They've been on these LinkedIn courses. You've got to post five times a week. A photo is always good. Ask a question. And it's just, it's just, it's just tedious. I've got nothing against people getting flowers for anniversary, believe me, nothing against that at all. But it's just so tedious to see that stuff all the time.
00:11:07
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and I'm dreading the Christmas season because you know what's about to come in the next three weeks, don't you Adele? You're sounding a bit like Scrooge now Ross, I'm a bit worried about you. and not It will be people, I'm clocking off for the year, I'll be on the 18th of January, it's been a hard year, but I've got through it and this is what I've learned. Top five things I've learned this year. I know I'm sounding like a grouchy old scratch, but honestly, it's just so predictable and there's so little content or so few people producing content that I think is useful and the sort of content that LinkedIn used to be full of, but is not full of too much anymore.
00:11:50
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So if you post about your holidays, don't expect a like from Ross. There's a first bit of advice from our questions of the week. But look, it is social. I mean, they're posting these things because they're people and these are things that happen to people. So there's a social element to this, don't you think?
00:12:06
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like sam You know, they're dog or they're kids or... Yeah, but it's Facebook. Use Instagram or Facebook for that stuff. Not LinkedIn. This is corporate. I get we've all got personal lives, but it's like the bleeding of Facebook type posts into LinkedIn is just diluting the quality of LinkedIn. And it's like, well, actually, so let me give you two examples of people whose content I like. Okay. Pete Watson. Okay.
00:12:37
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Mint, Rec2Rec, love Pete's stuff. He'll post just about every day. He's always got some sort of wry view on something that's happened. He'll have a new photo. It's clearly not AI-generated.
00:12:52
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And Pete always gets quite a lot of comments with every post. So clearly, he's engaging his audience. And yes, there's personal stuff, but he's always sharing something that I think is relevant to his audience. And clearly, the number of comments he gets tells me that. Jason Elias, OK, Jason's on the RCSA National Board, Jason's um the owner of Elias Recruitment in New South Wales. And if you look at Jason's LinkedIn posts, they're all focused on the legal sector. So everything is about what's going on in legal. So if you were in the legal sector, you'd be interested to follow Jason, no posts about dogs, no posts about, well, very few posts about employee anniversaries. It's all targeted at ah legal clients and legal candidates. so
00:13:41
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They're examples of people who I think know how to use LinkedIn well. I am seeing some really bad behavior actually of late on LinkedIn, which has reminded me of Facebook, I must admit. I've seen, you know, full fights kind of happening, arguments, a bit of mud slinging going on on LinkedIn, which did surprise me. You know, i I feel like people have forgotten it is a public forum. I feel like they've forgotten that it's not just a personal account, and it's attached to their business brand. And when you want to pick a fight with somebody publicly like that, I think you need to be a little more careful about it. I think that I'm seeing, as I said, just really bad behavior, bad
00:14:22
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Um, you know, I just, just cringe-worthy stuff that you wish, um, they would not do in that forum. Are you pointing to that spat that Blake Thompson from X recruiter had with Charlie Bell? Is that what you're referring to? It was painful to read and watch, but I was obsessed. I went through, you know, for an hour, I think paging through all of the comments and notes and ah Yeah, if you haven't looked up that one, you might want to look that up. It's got plenty of traction. It's certainly got pretty gloves off and, yeah. Throws were even mentioned in it. yeah Yeah. But, you know, like I get that people want to have an opinion and you want to strike conversation. But again, I think you have to be a little careful about that public forum. And so that kind of behavior, as I said, really kind of shocks me and surprises me that people would be that open
Future of LinkedIn and AI's Role in Content
00:15:18
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with it.
00:15:18
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Yeah, but kind of see that would make, that's what makes it interesting. Like when you do get those sort of spats that ah that are related to the content that was put up, I found it pretty interesting. I wouldn't recommend it necessarily to people, but I've got to say I did find it interesting. Okay. So what about you? So how do you use LinkedIn? Are there any people on LinkedIn that you find particularly instructive to follow or that whose posts are ones that you will actively seek out and read? Well, when you're talking about, you know, stuff that is interesting, and and I'm talking about, I guess, being, but you know, being bad and and having bad behavior, it's not necessarily done, you know, ever to be done in the right way as such. But I really do love Dion Ha. You know, I know Dion personally, and I follow him on LinkedIn. ah He's a bit irreverent. He's a bit naughty. He's always trying to stir the pot. But it's become his brand. It's become the character that he's created.
00:16:17
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essentially on on social media. So it's consistent. He doesn't ever do it with malice. He's never really, you know, very mean or, um you know, personal about things. But he really just kind of calls out the bullshit when he sees it. And I do admit, I love seeing ah when he calls out somebody who isn't in recruitment, but gives everybody advice around resumes and how to to get through interviews. And, you know, you go back and look at their profiles, and they've literally never worked in recruitment before. So I love those ones.
00:16:46
Speaker
Yes. Well, um you do like people who are prepared to take other other people on because that's typically not not what you see on LinkedIn. So what about you? How how do you use LinkedIn? Yeah. So for me, I do also try to post with some regularity a few times a week. And I guess for you and I, we do have that multiple pronged business model where we can post things, whether that's from Recruitment News Australia or from career lasso or any other things that I'm working on. So I try to keep people up to date as to, I guess, what I'm doing, where I'm at, things I'm learning, things I'm seeing. So I guess mine has that educational slant to it. um I work on my own, so I'm not sending myself any flowers, but I might send you some, Ross, for your anniversary just to see your face. um But yeah, I think it, I think the point is about just kind of having a strategy around it. I think it has just become a case of
00:17:41
Speaker
Here's a photo of something. I don't know what else to post. I'm just going to slam it out there and hope for the best. And I think that's a bit we're missing. Yeah, agree. I completely concur with that. It seems like many people don't really have a well thought out strategy. And frankly, I don't have a particularly well thought out strategy. It's just simply I'm only going to post something I think is clearly of interest to the target audience. And most people don't seem to have that strategy. It's just whatever sort of comes up and, you know,
00:18:13
Speaker
There's plenty of free courses. Look at people you admire and look at their LinkedIn um posts. What are they doing? Obviously, we've given three names here for people to jump on it and have a bit of a look. But I've got to say, along with the number or increasing number of ads,
00:18:33
Speaker
I'm going, you know, is LinkedIn reaching the end of its use by date? Kind of like X or Twitter has got to that point. It's pretty much imploded. Is LinkedIn going to sort of self-combust, and we're going to have to go somewhere else? I'm not sure. Microsoft obviously own LinkedIn. They've got so much money at stake, and I'm sure they're watching all the data points pretty closely. But I've got to say, right at the moment, I feel pretty disheartened about LinkedIn.
00:19:01
Speaker
And I think once it just becomes a regurgitation of a whole lot of AI content, AI posts and bots, I guess that's probably where it will slip into a billion. Yes, that's right. I think that you're right that it could be the downfall, the fact that LinkedIn clearly are investing a lot in AI to help people on LinkedIn, but will it help too much? And we're all kind of sounding just like each other before log.
00:19:30
Speaker
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