Welcome to “The Most Interesting Recruiting Stories of the Week,” a weekly post that features talent acquisition insights and information from around the web to kick off your weekend. Here’s what’s of interest this week:
Breaking the Layoff Cycle: How Companies Can Avoid Over-Hiring
“Although layoffs have been common in the business world for decades, there’s been a vicious cycle in recent years,” Quartz at Work reports. “Companies that have seen unprecedented growth and success during covid have led a culture of over-hiring and over-spending, rapidly expanding their workforce and taking on increasingly ambitious projects. As these companies face economic uncertainties and changing market conditions, they resort to layoffs as part of a cost-cutting exercise. And in many cases, they cut past the fat, beyond the muscle, and into the bone of their capabilities.”
New Record: Temp Hiring Surges to 25%, As SMBs Reduce Full-Time Hires
“Small business owners’ rate of hiring only temporary, part-time workers and contractors has skyrocketed to a record high of 25% — up six percentage points from 19% in February,” according to Alignable. “In fact, in at least the past six months, the temporary, part-time hiring rate has never even passed 20% let alone 25%. And March’s rate is 19 percentage points higher than it was in December at just 6%, representing quite an uptick.”
Recruiter.com Launches AI-Powered Candidate Pitch Web App
Recruiter.com, “which helps to streamline the hiring process for employers and job seekers alike, revealed that it has beta launched Candidate Pitch, a novel app powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT,” according to Proactive Group. “The New York-based recruiting platform company said the app ‘instantly converts resumes’ into interesting career profiles using artificial intelligence (AI). In a nutshell, it streamlines the time-consuming job search process, enabling job seekers and recruiters to create persuasive text-based summaries that showcase a candidate’s unique skills and experience.”
U.S. Office Vacancy Rate Hits All-Time High
From Axios: “12.9% of office space is vacant, marking the sixth straight quarter the rate has increased and up from a post-financial-crisis low of 9.4% in the second quarter of 2019, CoStar Group reports.”
Interview Red Flags: Study Reveals the Factors Most Likely to Put Candidates Off Accepting a Job
“Family-like culture” ranks highest among red flags for candidates during interviews. Check out this article from People Managing People to read what other things candidates say concern them during interviews.
Has the Greatest Job Market in History Ended?
From Korn Ferry: “The greatest job market ever for employees appears to be over. While economists debate what will replace it, experts say companies are already shifting their hiring tactics and trying to reclaim some of the leverage they ceded to workers of all levels over the last two years.”
How ChatGPT Could Discriminate Against Applicants
“The Biden administration is considering putting restrictions on AI tools, such as ChatGPT, amid growing concerns that the technology could be used to discriminate against job applicants and spread misinformation,” SHRM reports. “The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is fielding opinions on the possibility of artificial intelligence audits, risk assessments and other measures to ensure the systems work as intended and ‘without harm,’ the agency said.”
‘AI Better Than Our Staff,’ Reckon Half of Business Leaders
“Nearly half of business leaders reckon AI could replace humans, new data out today shows, but experts think job losses caused by mass adoption of tools such as ChatGPT would be limited,” according to City A.M. “Some 44% of C-suite executives think AI could perform tasks to a similar or better quality than humans, according to a poll of more than 1,000 business decision makers by YouGov.”
The Problem of Fake Job Postings
On ERE.net, writer Suzanne Lucas explains what’s happening with “ghost positions” — that is, companies keeping questionable job posts up for many months.