This week’s brainfood is sponsored by our buddies Platypus. 

With systematic data on team culture and candidate values, Platypus allows you to track alignment, build stronger teams, and improve quality of hire.

They’ve just launched a BETA of Platypus Connect, a new recruiting platform where candidates match directly with teams based on shared values. Create your own profile and be among the first to try it out.

It’s next-generation stuff folks, so book a demo with a friendly member of the Platypus team, or try their candidate flow. 

Cool database collecting together the problematic outcomes of the implementations of AI. As an AI optimist, I feel we are often overly skeptical on artificial intelligence but this database does remind even us advocates that concerns about AI are not without merit. Fun, educational, probably useful - check it out here

Very decent summary of the key trends which present both risk and opportunity for HR. In TA, there has been a movement to row away from HR and become a distinct function ‘at the top table’, but in light of these trends, I rather think movement in the opposite direction is the wiser move. Worth a read

Has the Hybrid Hype cycle has already peaked? When collections like this appear on LinkedIn, it’s a decent sign that it has and we’re on our way to the trough of disillusionment. Hybrid was always going to be the most difficult of configurations to make work. Some of us are going to make it work though, so good news that this post contains a few handy tips how-to

Gergely Orosz is staking a decent claim to be the guru in tech hiring, with regular, insightful posts like this. Whilst the research is pretty much him speaking with engineering managers, the collation here chimes with reality - 2021 has been a year of ad hoc yet significant comp adjustments for the highly skilled in demand. Have a read here. H/T brainfooder Matthew Hill for the share

Fine essay from one of the most insightful commentators on work today, on the essential ‘non-fungibility’ of human beings. Our problem, says Dan Luu, is that we treat humans as if they were interchangeable units….

Pretty decent question, one of those which is not often asked ‘because we should know already’. Bravo to Ongig for deciding to tell us anyway and for providing great examples, as well as a downloadable ‘Job Family Matrix’

This is the paper which launched the idea of blockchain into the public consciousness, and I’m sharing it here for two reasons - No1, we need to become Web3 literate and No2, this is an interesting way to communicating potentially dense textual information in a more accessible way. Pretty cool huh?

A criticism of remote is that it is no substitute for really being with other people’. But what if people are 8rseholes? The beauty bias might well be one of the things we can ameliorate by shifting to a mode of work where human bias can at least be moderated by a computer screen. There is more to debate here, especially on whether recruiters ‘inherit’ bias from hiring managers (we do). A brainfood live I think, for the future.

H/T brainfooder Colin McNicol for the share in the fb group

5696 companies ranked by market capitalisation, headcount, revenue, market cap gain, market cap losses. Not sure what we can do with this, but good to navigate around your industry and get a look at where the big fish swim.

More fascinating studies on the significance of familiarity as a signal of in-group membership, and therefore, subsequent positive ratings we give people who share membership of that group. Relevant to all of us recruiters who have an opinion on whether should use ‘blind resumes’. Accessible read

Following on from last week’s popular post on ‘what makes a great board’, this week we’re going to post this warning sign on boards in general - they are there to help the shareholders and that may not be you. Particularly pertinent for founders, but a good read for anyone who wants to better understand how incentives drive behaviour.

Outstanding report on the correlations between ‘high risk’ social media postings from job candidates and their subsequent performance has hired employees. It might not be cool to say it, but it appears that risky social media behaviour is something employers should indeed screen for. South Africa data sample, nearly 10,000 employees screened. It’s fascinating research

We often talk about creating an ‘agile workforce’ without understanding the implications of an organisation which can scale up / down resources according to demand. It means less full time employees, less talent ‘acquisition’, greater diversification of employment types and more ‘talent access’. Great analysis from Lynda Gratton.

A confessional from long time brainfooder James Ellis, who appears to be on the market and looking for a new role. Observations of an employer branding guru on today’s candidate experience is worth making notes on.

Also titled: ‘Five ways to build a strategic network’ and what do you know, this post actually does deliver five practical techniques. This topic is often viewed from the POV of the individual whereupon it becomes a personal branding exercise, but this view from the organisation POV converts it into network analysis. Must read for everybody

Some decent cultural innovation here, with the ‘blameless post mortem’, presumably taking off disciplinary action off the table before conducting a review on why a negative outcome occurred. Would love to know the process of how to do this - anyone know anyone at Twilio who knows, let me know…

Always great to hear from Google CEO’s Sundar Pichai on the future of his 144,000-person workforce and how to build in flexibility for a company of this size. 1-2-1 interview, 15 minutes, here - it’s excellent stuff. H/T to brainfooder Bas van de Haterd for the share.

Always enjoy hearing about the how to maintain culture when hyper scaling. This week, it’s Katie Morrow, VP of People Operations at Podium with the one and only Matt Alder. Have a listen here.

Josh Bersin in a one person monologue (perhaps the most difficult form of podcasting), but he nails it as it’s really just him giving one of this signature presentation deliveries. It’s an optimistic appraisal of the future role of the recruiter - have a listen here