Talent Acquisition News

 

Do you know where you are? Well, you’re about to, as we launch into another heavy roundup of all things recruiting and HR tech. That’s right, it seems like anyone and everyone is throwing their last-minute news over the transom before the year ends – and in most instances, it spells big changes afoot. What will be interesting to see is what the moves and money mean come 2020 in terms of product roadmaps and general leadership. Guess we’ll have to wait and see on that one. In the meantime, here’s a look at what’s going on:

No doubt you heard about the shakeup over at McDonald’s, but in the midst of that, you might have missed the less salacious announcement from Alexander Mann Solutions that founder and CEO, Rosaleen Blair CBE, stepped down. Blair launched AMS in 1996, and will now serve as Chair of the Company’s Board. She’s replaced by David Leigh, who previously worked as CEO at talent assessment and analytics specialist, SHL, and international education provider, Study Group.

Two similar-sounding, albeit fundamentally different startups, entered the fray recently: Ethena and Elpha. The former, developed by Harvard grads, Anne Solmssen and Roxanne Petraeus (yes, that Petraeus) promises “customizable training delivered in bite-size segments that caters to individuals based on how much they already know about sexual harassment in the workplace.” In short: Ethena intends to disrupt those annual training reminder emails that everyone ignores. The latter, coming out of Y Combinator, wants to be a “tailored online network for women in tech.” Right now, Elpha’s getting a lot of “LinkedIn for women” comparisons.

Subway, as in the restaurant chain, teamed up with Penn Foster to give employees at 331 Central Florida stores access to new career readiness resources, designed to help Subway Sandwich Artists™ develop workplace skills and advance their education. The resources are available through the Penn Foster talent development platform and include an online, accredited program that offers restaurant employees the opportunity to their high school diploma on their own time.

Capital Investments, Mergers, & Acquisitions

So if you’re still wondering where you are, I’ll tell you. You’re in the jungle. At least that’s what the folks at Welcome to the Jungle, a French startup think about the current recruiting landscape – and that just landed them $22.3 Million in funding to help make sense of it. They also fancy themselves a bit of a media company, in addition to their tech side, which sounds a bit like The Muse.

In a similar raise, Fountain, a recruiting platform for gig and hourly workers, closed $23 M in Series B. The funding will go toward product development and expansion into new verticals. Co-founder and CEO Keith Ryu pointed to ongoing automation and a changing workforce as driving forces behind the company’s success.

Symphony Talent, known for employer brand and experience solutions, acquired SmashFly Technologies, a leader in enterprise recruitment marketing and candidate relationship management. We sat down with Roopesh Nair, CEO of Symphony Talent, to learn more about this one and what it means for the industry.

Workforce Logiq, provider of workforce management software and service to large corporations, assumed the predictive analytics and AI software company, ENGAGE Talent, gaining proprietary benchmarks and real-time intelligence models in the process. It’s worth noting that Workforce Logiq is owned by the global investment firm, The Carlyle Group, which took over the majority investment in HireVue last month.

The payroll side of space saw some movement with Alight finalizing its acquisition of NGA Human Resources, and Papaya Global raking in $45 M in Series A. While never the most interesting facet of human capital management, payroll is perhaps the most necessary, with money continuing to function as the most significant employee engagement tool of all.

Upcoming Events & Conferences

Other recent highlights:

  • Toptal, which touts itself as an elite network of the world’s top talent in business, design, and technology, created Staffing.com, a content hub and podcast about the future of staffing.
  • Lever rolled out its latest product release, including an in-app Zoom integration, expanded HRIS integrations with Namely and BambooHR, updated version of Lever Talent Intelligence, and new Inactivity Alerts.
  • SilkRoad Technology went for the C-Suite and introduced a new global service called “CHRO Essentials™.” A consulting program, CHRO Essentials analyzes existing processes and strategy and delivers an execution plan.
  • FACEBOOK, formerly known as Facebook, grew its ATS integrations, adding SmartRecruiters and Applicant Pro to the mix, and just in time for holiday hiring at small businesses.
  • OutMatch added Development Reports to its Talent Discovery Platform. The feature supports employee development through personalized and expanded onboarding, tailored development plans, and recommended resources.

Got news to share with us for our next update? Contact [email protected].


Authors
Noel Cocca

CEO/Founder RecruitingDaily and avid skier, coach and avid father of two trying to keep up with my altruistic wife. Producing at the sweet spot talent acquisition to create great content for the living breathing human beings in recruiting and hiring. I try to ease the biggest to smallest problems from start-ups to enterprise. Founder of RecruitingDaily and our merry band of rabble-rousers.