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

TA Tech

• McDonalds Loves Olivia: "Hiring managers are loving McHire, with many calling Olivia their 'new best friend"
• It's out: George LaRocque's quarterly HR tech investment update. Things are trending a bit better, but TA tech investment is down.

• ‍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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‍Government and Labor and Such:

• We heard there was some sort of election in the States...
• US DOL reports continued drop in unemployment rate (down to 6.9%), but continues to struggle with accuracy - the real number may be up to percentage point higher. That's an improvement - in April, they were estimating the number should have been a full 5 percentage points higher.
• New Zealand Unemployment Rate Rises as Recession Hits Hiring: The unemployment rate increased to 5.3% from 4% in the second quarter, Statistics New Zealand said Wednesday in Wellington.
• U.S. Army Hits 2020 End Strength goals. End Strength is the law which dictates the number of military members in each of the service branches  and components. With everything during Covid, military recruiting has been a challenge. One of the major reasons for hitting their goals are changes to the enlisted promotion and retention policies. To help with this the Army conducted job satisfaction surveys, and offered short term re-enlistment opportunities to active service members.  But the Army has been turning to new forms of virtual recruiting via eSports, Army National Hiring days, along with fitness and musical outreach teams. As well as having female recruiters on the ground to give other female candidates a perspective they can relate to.
• ‍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."

‍Job Seeker Updates

• People are relocating for new roles at highly accelerated rates, according to Challenger, Gray, and Christmas: “The virus spurred many who lived in densely populated locations to consider moving to areas with more space and fewer people. In some cases, the catalyst for the move was when workers lost their positions during the wave of layoffs that occurred due to COVID – and indeed is still occurring – and sought positions in these new areas,” said Challenger.

Recommended Reading/ Viewing

• We were at war with the Neanderthals for 100,000 years - and it's not clear how we managed to win.
• Two speeder bike stormtroopers question the meaning of existence. We're all feeling your pain, bucket heads: it's 2020.

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