This weeks brainfood is supported by our buddies PredictiveHire,

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Must admit, I first scrolled through this post to see if I would find myself being lampooned in it (probably deserve it), but thankfully Oleg remains No1 target (definitely deserves it). Anyways, this is the perfect post to start off this week’s brainfood - a humorous critique of every recruiters favourite network - and a timely reminder that most normal people don’t see it the same way

DI drops its annual Human Capital Trends report - listing 5 trends its identified as things to think about for 2021. These are 1) baking employee well being into the job design, 2) employee agency in skills development 3) rapid unscheduled reorganisations of resources 4) total talent ecosystem and (therefore) 5) necessary expansion of scope for HR (TA needs to rapidly fold itself back into HR btw). Anyways, read it yourself here, download the pdf here

As you should know by now, I’m a sucker for a big list, so this one on ‘Women in Tech’ communities immediately caught my eye. Super useful for anyone hiring for tech, you can start here. H/T to brainfooder John Rose for the share in the fb group

Atomico & Slush collaboration produces the definitive annual report on the state of European tech. Comprehensive, accessible and beautifully presented piece of research. H/T brainfooder Martyn Redstone for the share in the fb group

Brilliant essay on team dynamics. Have a read

Superb visualisation of where ad money has been going over the past 40 years, decline of TV is obvious, as is that of newspapers, losing out to big tech (main reason why broadcast media is so anti big tech…). Always opportunities for those who are early to new channels - whats next for us in this space? Worth a brainfood live early in the new year I think.

Fantastic dashboard from Our World In Data, a data visualisation site which aggregates public research data and presents it into interactive web experience. Slice and dice the data as you want in this post on how we use our time - especially pertinent now that the barrier between work vs play has been co-mingled by Covid.

Irina Shamaeva is like a human aggregator of sourcing intelligence. Her collections are always excellent, mainly because you know that she is a practitioner and a tester before being a publisher. She is a brainfood treasure and this is sourcing gold.

IM is going to be a critically important component to the future of TA; if we don’t grasp the opportunity and the responsibility for it, we are going to shrink in as a department and as a function. This report on the state of IM is easy reading for the paint points which have so far prevented IM from being anyone’s top priority. Time to make it ours. NB: read alongside Profinda’s piece on ‘Opportunity Marketplaces’

I’ve referenced this piece of research a number of talks I’ve been given recently so I thought I’d best share it with the community here in case you’re not already familiar with it. Some useful bits, including the occupational classification table.

Another week, another cool index, this time a country by country comparison on AI power. The only handicap is significant - data sources are overwhelming US centric platforms , therefore data is accordingly US centric. How many Russian data scientists on LinkedIn for example? Probably not near all of them. Fascinating to see which countries lay where though, and useful enough for those who want to identify best countries from which to source AI talent. Have a read and a bookmark, with the usual caveats 👆

Been talking a lot about assessment lately - from hosting a panel on it with our buddies at Landing Jobs last week, to focusing on tech assessments on Brainfood Live this Friday. It’s clear that in a remote friendly, remote first world, how we assess is going to escalate up the priority list for any TA / HR manager. This website is a cool tool for a couple of reasons - it’s educational on the categories of assessment that we want to think about - and it’s pretty fun to play.

Fascinating story about a business culture focuses on continuation of service rather than profit maximisation. As we look toward a post pandemic future, with new values about the social enterprise, perhaps we might draw inspiration from the ‘shinise’ businesses of Japan. H/T to brainfooder Kimberly Groat for the share

Log into the foodhall of fame, set your bandwidth this week, and get connected to other brainfooders for work and collaboration opportunities. The world of work is changing folks and we ALL need to diversify our revenue streams. Free to use here

One of my Christmas projects is going to be refreshing this big list - so make sure you update this if you are running a podcast for 2021. Check out the list here. If you want to add a podcast to this list, access the google sheet here and add to the bottom of the spreadsheet

Fun podcast with Malcolm Gladwell, who speaks with the staff he has hired, seemingly, and mostly, on whimsical impulse. Is Gladwell right to deny the value of recruitment due diligence? Does it, in the end, all come down to chemistry, gut feel or even random chance? Life as a hiring nihilist. Have a listen

Relevant podcast from a relevant series, the answer on this listen is going to be ‘no’. However nuance is required whenever you talk brand building because attribution is never straightforward. H/T brainfooder John Vlastelica for the share in the fb group - and be sure to follow the comments in the thread here, especially brainfooder Rene Bolier‘s excellent responses

Departure from the normal recruiting related pods, this is one where engineering managers discuss ‘skip level’ meetings - literally meetings where they ‘skip’ the levels and interact with staff who are often several rungs below them in the org chart. Kind of like boss-on-the-shop-floor vibe. It’s pretty cool listen

The only thing you need to care about now folks is the Brainfood Live On Air Christmas Special. And because I don’t believe in fake news, when I say Christmas I mean Christmas. Join me, Adam Gordon and many of the guests who have featured on the show this year as we reflect back on the year and share what lessons we’ve learned. Register here