UNLEASH Conference 2023 Recap

UNLEASH 2023 is a premier event for TA leaders from around the world to gather in one place for cutting-edge technology, lively discussion, and enough inspiration to carry you through the next year.

The team at HireVue left UNLEASH re-invigorated to keep doing what we do—advocating for skill-based hiring and structured interviewing to make hiring faster, fairer, and more flexible for everyone.

Here are the top 4 takeaways from UNLEASH 2023.

The obvious top theme? Ethical AI

Whether you are a Talent Acquisition leader or not, conversations around ethical AI and laws to regulate its use are becoming as common as a morning cup of coffee. For example, New York City (NYC) begins enforcement of its Automated Employment Decision Tool law on July 5th, 2023^[1]. The law requires organizations using AEDTs with candidates in NYC to follow a number of requirements, including informing candidates of its use, the job requirements or characteristics measured, and conducting and publicly posting the results of an independent bias audit. It is important to partner with a vendor who is proactively monitoring emerging regulations, and who develops assessment solutions that adhere to professional testing standards and legal guidelines.

A quick scroll of UNLEASH Conference 2023 sessions titles will tell you AI and ChatGPT were top buzzwords this year. HireVue was proud to host two of those sessions, sharing the science and ethics behind our technology.

ChatGPT Shouldn’t Write Your Interview Questions: HireVue Builder Should
The Skills Revolution: Using AI to Advance Skills-Based Hiring

We believe the future of AI is ethical use, and we support legislation that ensures everyone is treated fairly and use is safe.

If you’re a recruiter looking for an HR tech vendor, it can feel overwhelming knowing where to even start. The latest and greatest isn’t always the answer, but then… what is?

At HireVue, we believe transparency is the number one priority when looking for a vendor. Your vendor should be able to do three things:

Explain how their technology works easily
Explain it in a way that makes sense
Explain their validity and ROI

If they can’t, you should probably be wary. Learn more about the science behind HireVue’s AI by reading the industry’s first AI-Explainability Statement.

Diversity isn’t a checklist.

Conversations also centered around diversity in the workplace—and ensuring you aren’t just checking boxes but creating a culture of belonging.

The Office of Personnel Management even shared that they’re hiring a Chief Diversity Officer for every agency. During one session titled Battling HR Burnout: Supporting & Nurturing Your HR Warriors, AstraZeneca shared advice on how to build a foundation worth celebrating.

During Covid, the pharmaceutical company developed a vaccine and provided it at no profit at the height of Covid—demonstrating their core values by taking care of people. And they’ve learned from their successes and failures and carried the momentum into 2023. Gena Restivo, Vice President, Corporate Affairs & Sustainability, shared that the company made employee well-being during difficult times a top priority and encouraged their leaders to provide an open environment where employees can share their voices and thoughts.

She emphasized that leaders must be committed to removing all barriers for their employees. If you want a company with diverse thoughts, then you have to have practices that support diverse hiring.

Solutions like structured interviewing and assessments ensure that all your candidates are evaluated consistently. Skill-based assessments also mitigate the unconscious bias frequently associated with resume review—so hiring teams can make decisions based on data instead of factors like alma mater and location.

Restivo emphasized that employees will work for employers who do right for the environment around them—do right for your people, do right for society, and do right for the planet.

Leaders, be purposeful in your decisions. If you genuinely take care of your people, they will take care of your customers.

Life is complicated. Hiring shouldn’t be.

In their session titled Leading TA Transformation During Challenging Times, CVS Health shared their drive towards simplicity.

Yvette Stortz, VP, Global Talent Acquisition, shared that the company is constantly looking for a simpler process, because shaving off time is key to hiring the top talent. She also highlighted the importance of being agile and pivoting when things don’t go as expected—and TA leaders of all people should know that the unexpected is becoming the expected.

HireVue exists to make hiring simpler for hiring teams. Our integrations allow teams to work out of one seamless ecosystem instead of switching between pages (and we know many of you have a lot of tabs open…).

Automation is the key to making things simpler. Automating your engagement, screening, assessments, and interviews allows you to spend more time on strategy and building relationships instead of scheduling and rescheduling interviews.

Re-implementation isn’t a bad word

This year, Estée Lauder presented a session titled Accelerating Agility: How The Estée Lauder Companies is Re-engineering Operating Norms for High Performance.

It was there Claire MacIntyre, SVP, HRBP, Global Value Chain & Global Corporate Function at Estée Lauder, and Michael Bowes, SVP and Head of Global Talent, emphasized that re-implementation shouldn’t be avoided.

Today, we have access to so many tech vendors, and finding the right fit can feel overwhelming. However, it’s not how many vendors you have.

At the end of the day, it’s your integration that is key. It’s not a failure or waste of time to have to re-implement to get it right, so be open to the idea.

For example, Legacy Workday users may be plugging in all their tech pieces but finding they just aren’t working well together. Many think they need to send out an RFP, because they need more or something else to fix the problem.

In actuality, your integration may just need to be adjusted, so consider re-implementing Workday or the other tools you’re currently using.

Do your research and find what technology you actually need. Consider how all the pieces work together for one seamless hiring ecosystem—instead of fragmented pieces. When you do, you’ll take your hiring to the next level.

Ready to do just that? Request a demo now.

¹ NYC Rules: Every year, City agencies make over 100 changes or additions to the City rules that are an important part of how government interacts with the public. New Yorkers can review proposed rules and voice their opinions about those rules before they are adopted into law.

UNLEASH conference recap 2023