A Rundown of Recruiting-News, Odds and Sods, and Some Recommended Reading

TA Tech

• ‍‍‍Will Virtual Interviewing & Onboarding Hurt Seasonal Hiring? Retailers are talking about it. "I don’t think this will go away anytime soon. Let’s hope the technology is robust enough to hire the right people for the right fit in an organization." -Richard Hernandez, Director, Affiliated Foods, Inc.
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• Speaking of... Virtual Hiring Platform Handshake Raises Some Money: $80 million, to be exact, in a D-round. Expect more of this.
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‍Government and Labor and Such:

• ‍ICE Wants to Automate Recruiting: According to a request for information, ICE wants an existing artificial intelligence or IT system that can compile and analyze data included in an applicant’s Questionnaire for National Security Positions and Questionnaire for Public Trust Positions to determine the complexity of analyzing the disclosed information. With a complexity score, ICE expects it can better manage the workload of the security screeners and introduce more predictability into its federal and contractor applicant pipeline.‍
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• Order 66? Trump order creates Schedule F, to speed hiring and firing in key positions: The Trump administration created a new category of civil servant dubbed "Schedule F" in an Oct. 21 executive order that establishes new hiring and firing flexibilities for agencies across a range of policymaking positions. The new classification will include employees in "confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character," according to the executive order, which are "not normally subject to change as the result of a presidential transition."
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• U.S. jobless claims drop to 787,000, but layoffs remain high: The number of laid-off Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week to 787,000, a sign that job losses may have eased slightly but are still running at historically high levels.

The Covid-19 Hiring Landscape (Updates):

• ‍More than Half of U.S. Companies Have Hired New Staff Remotely: COVID-19 changed everything, including how companies recruit talent, new research from global staffing firm Robert Half shows. According to a survey of more than 2,800 senior managers in the U.S., 53% said their organization has hired full-time or temporary staff remotely since the pandemic began.

• Symphony (no, not the recruiting platform) doubles hiring plans after 300% user surge among home-bound bankers: Symphony has seized on a boom in demand for surveillance and compliance as hundreds of thousands of bankers work from home.
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Good Reading for a the Weekend:

• Why Hiring During Covid Is Different Than in Previous Downturns "2020 Is Not 2008 All Over Again: For starters, the Covid job market is not like 2008, nor really like anything anyone has observed seen since the birth of modern capitalism." -Harvard Business Review