When I sit to write this article, I find that I’m almost divided in my opinion of the HR Technology Conference.  I suppose this is because I think I was expecting something very different as a result of the hefty 4 digit registration cost.  So while I feel that there is tremendous value in attending, and I’m certain that I will return, I found a considerable amount of the content to be incredibly off-base or ‘dumbed down” throughout the event.

My expectation of content was high for what was to be my first time attending this conference.  After all, I’m a Bill Kutik fan – so if the man tells me there’s value, I’m at a point in my career where I can certainly check it out without struggling to do so or needing to think twice about it.  But I somehow walked away feeling like I had paid for a very large and fancy meal only to discover that I enjoyed the condiments and conversation much more than anything else that was brought to the table.  Don’t get me wrong – there was certainly some solid discussion that took place in some of the sessions.  But there were a few sticking points that I really struggled with.

For instance…  If you asked me what I expect HR Technology to look like in 2020 it would be more along the lines of talent pools and communication tools that are both automatic and dynamic and that are integrated into our working platforms rather than living as stand alone applications.  I’d predict something that integrates talent supply & demand analytics into everyday recruiting or workforce planning tools – maybe even something that “red flags” a requisition as it’s being created and, based on hard data, offers the benchmark breaking time-to-fill or alternate markets where the same talent can be found more quickly.  Heck, I’d even shoot for an evolutionary step where no one had to beg Applicant Tracking Systems to make changes that were likely being requested since 2008. (A guy can dream, right?)

Nothing close to this level of evolution in tech and Human Resources seemed to be addressed at all.

Sadly, the vendor floor seemed to have some of the same flavor.  There were many vendors that apparently had social elements just for the sake of having social elements.  It didn’t seem that much of the additions to existing systems had been given much long-term thought related to how they would impact the experience of a job seeker or the productivity of a recruiter/sourcer.  There were certainly a few that were interesting but it would seem that the overall feeling was that everyone knew that both ‘social’ and ‘data collection’ Continue Reading…