Episode 580 - Your Weekly TA & Recruitment News with the Scoop

Welcome to The Scoop, brought to you by Indeed. The talent acquisition and recruitment news cycle moves pretty quickly, but we've got you covered with all the trends, developing stories, and breaking news. And now, here are your anchors, Lauren Sharp and Craig Watson. Hi everyone and welcome to The Scoop. I'm Craig. And I'm Kimbo. You're back! I am! Didn't scare you off last week. No, you didn't. Although I think the universe was trying to scare me off. I know you've had quite the journey, Kimbo. Getting here this morning. How are you? What happened? Still don't know. Apparently there was an incident at Flagstaff. Everyone, don't be too alarmed. It's fine now. But the fireys were doing something down there and then they all came up in their glory and maybe they're just shooting their calendar for next year. Maybe. Should have hung around. Damn it. Yeah. See, I was too worried about getting here on time, so I just— I didn't even look. Oh, plus I'm married to a really hot guy, so. Oh, there you go. So you don't need to. Blinkers are on. Lauren and Bonnie are having a ball in Europe, carving it up. It's been really hot too. I think I leave this Sunday and I think the weather turns shit when I get there. No, it's Murphy's Law, isn't it? I know. No, it doesn't matter. There's not much sunshine in a pub anyway, so it doesn't matter. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Don't worry about it. Why don't we kick off and why don't you kick us off with the news today? Okay. This is from Clarify Capital and they are an American publication and the title is Job Seeker Survey: The Reality of Ghost Jobs. Ooh. So if you've been job hunting lately and you felt like you're screaming into a literal black hole, you are not losing your mind. The internet is absolutely flooded with ghost jobs, and it's completely breaking our trust in the hiring system. Recent global data shows that nearly 1 in 3 active online job listings is totally fake, as in nobody is actually behind the scenes. And even wilder, about 39% of hiring managers openly admit that they post roles and they have zero intention of filling them. Wow. That's just gross, isn't it? That's horrible. It is horrible. So why are companies pulling the wool over desperate job seekers' eyes? I mean, yeah, exactly. Well, it's a two-sided game. Externally, keeping jobs posted 24/7 makes a company look like it's booming to its competitors. But internally, the motive is much more calculated. What's that? Employers are using phantom listings to subtly— I don't think it's really subtle— signal to their already overworked staff, hey, look how many people want your job. You're easily replaceable. It's a bit harsh. Yeah, I'll just come for a job to go get bloody John Smith over there working a bit harder. Apparently. And apparently that shuts down any demands for raises or flexible work. So this corporate posturing has triggered massive application burnout. It's gotten so bad that global jurisdictions are finally looking into laws to ban these deceptive listings. So if you're frustrated with the job hunt today, consider this your validation. The system really is playing psychological games. With you. Wow. That's a beauty, isn't it? And you know something even funnier? You sent me through the titles of your articles yesterday. Yeah, they're a bit dramatic, aren't they? And I— but I didn't even look at them. Oh, great. And this article is eerily similar. Oh, well, you should have looked. The funny thing is that mine's coming from a different side, which is good. Oh, okay. All right, good. So mine's from The Guardian and it's Job Scams Are Growing and Getting Tougher to Spot. And that's the reality of this hell job market at the moment. So, right, Kimbo, here's one to chill the blood. The Guardian gone digging into job scams and it read like a horror film. UK recruitment scams are more than doubled between 2022 and 2024. Lloyds clocked a 237% jump and Monzo reckons over 10,000 of its customers got done over last year alone. How? AI, obviously. Scammers— oh, there goes a train. There goes the 10:17 from wherever. At least you know you'll be able to get a train home. True. Yeah. Scammers scrape your LinkedIn, nick your tone, deepfake a recruiter's face onto the video call, then slide into your WhatsApp WhatsApp with a job you never applied for. One expert summed it up beautifully. You can sit anywhere on the earth, run a massive scam on potential candidates, and have bugger all chance of getting caught. But here's the bit that should sting, and now I'm talking to my own industry here. Why do these scams work so bloody well? It's because real recruitment already looks like this with ghost jobs, no replies, AI binning your CV before a single human gives a fuck, a quick unpaid task as part of the process, a WhatsApp from a stranger dangling a role. I got one of them a couple of weeks ago. But that's another story. So we didn't get beaten by some clever new trick. We got beaten by a mirror, Kimbo. Jeez. Thought for the night: when a fake recruiter and a real one are indistinguishable, maybe it's time to fix the real one. Wow. That's interesting, isn't it? So you're talking about the ghost ads and fakes, which is what some recruiters and some companies are doing. And then some real deepfake assholes are taking the piss and exploiting this by offering stupid job ads where they're collecting data from people and then taking stuff from unsuspecting selecting candidates. Why does— why are people so dodgy? I mean, it's a good question. Just a good question. Just got time for it, honestly. Too much gameplay. Okay, my next one is Robert Half Australia. That's where it's coming from. It's got a very boring title, the Robert Half Australia Workforce Report. That's boring. Robert Half, do better. Yeah, exactly. So let's talk about the massive disconnect between what companies expect and what talent is actually willing to tolerate. According to the latest Robert Half Australia Workforce Report, Oh, it's horrible. An incredible 88% of local employers lost a top job candidate right in the middle of the hiring process last year. Corporate leaders love to loudly complain and bitch about a skills shortage, but the data tells completely a different story. Candidates are simply walking away from broken hiring. We know this. Job seekers are aggressively rejecting offers, mostly citing awful salaries, mandatory office days, lo and behold, and interview loops that drag on forever. So let's face it, the modern interview has become a bizarre corporate ritual. If a mid-level role requires personality tests, one-way video screening, or separate rounds of interviews, top talent is just going to check out. Because of this, candidate ghosting— there we go again— has surged by 52%. Wow. Job seekers are giving companies a taste of their own medicine, dropping out of the pipeline without a word the moment rigid office mandates pop up. Have you ever pulled out of an interview process? Me? I'll be honest with you, I haven't been for a job interview in probably 25 years or longer. That's right. Now, can we circle back? Yes. Yes, I do apply for that job. Yes, I did. Yeah, but the applications close, I think, on the 14th of July. So it's one of those ones where you just wait and wait, but I don't expect anything back. But I just thought, why not just have a crack at the process? You expect anything back? I'm on. I'll tell you why. Because I don't tick diversity boxes anymore. Oh, okay. Middle-aged white males get asked for roles in companies that are very driven by mandates. And that's fair because we've had it our own way for centuries. So I'm not begrudging any of it, but I'm just saying that it's interesting. The data I read on that is very interesting at the moment. Okay. We've gone down a rabbit hole here, haven't we? Haven't we? You'll have to keep us posted. I shall. And if I do get an interview, wow, I won't know what to do. I'll be very nervous. Yeah. And we'll just delete this podcast. I hope they don't listen to it beforehand. Hey, you know the funny thing? My It's like we're in the fucking Twilight Zone. My next article piggybacks off your last one again. What a team. What a team. What a team. Lauren who? So mine's from Indeed, our wonderful partner for On the Scoop. Interview tasks are meant to reveal candidate capability, but new data suggests they may be driving candidates away. According to Indeed research, 66% of Australian employers ask candidates to complete interview tasks as part of the hiring process. Yet the same number of job seekers say they've withdrawn from the job application or chosen not to apply at all because of an interview task. The data points to a growing disconnect. While employers are looking for deeper insights into candidate skills, many job seekers are questioning what's been asked of them. Nearly half of employers, 45%, admit they've reused work submitted by candidates in an interview, while only 36% of job seekers say they have been fully paid for completing an interview task. I don't think you should be paid for interview tasks anyway, so you can go get stuffed. At the same time, 93% of candidates believe interview tasks should be paid if they take more than 3 hours. According to Indeed— What's the 3 hours? I know, right? According to who? It's bullshit. Do you know what? God, we keep going down rabbit holes. I had a conversation with my son yesterday. He's 18 and he's been looking for a job while he's at uni for a few months now and not getting any joy. But his younger brother is a referee in basketball. And I said, you love basketball. Why don't you go and do that? And he goes, oh, because for the first 2 months I won't earn nearly anything because I'll be a white shirt and they only earn X amount a game. I said, for fuck's sake, mate, you're earning nothing now. What's the difference? Get off your ass. Just do it. Yeah. Anyway, takeaways, please. Candidates become more selective about where they invest their time. Employers who design transparent, reasonable, and respectful assessment processes will be better positioned to attract and retain talent. Some of that is true, but I think candidates are getting a little bit saucy if they're asking to be paid for interviews. Do you know what, maybe the— I was thinking about this earlier, maybe the solution is that prospective employers sign off during an interview that nothing that is produced during interview will be used as IP. I don't know, something simple. Yeah, I think there needs to be that. But again, it comes back to the point that was made— just be transparent. If that's going to be the process, the recruiter, as soon as they're shortlisting them, should be saying, this is step 1, step 2. Hopefully it's not more than step 4, but this is what it is— are you in or you out? And these days with AI and with all sorts of other things that are really throwing shade on the process and how good candidates might be, that some of these assessments and some of these tasks are probably required. Like if you're looking at a developer and you ask them as part of the process to write a bit of code that will do X, Y, and Z within the language that you, you know, applied for, I can't see the problem with that. That's a no shit Sherlock. You should be able to do that. Yeah, but and not get paid and not worry about the— anyway. Oh, the world's gone soft. Very soft. All right. Next up for me, this is coming from Monster and the title— Monster's still around, apparently. Boring title. Monster Work Environment Poll. Toxic Workplace Survey. They can do better than that. Gee, they're just between Robert Half and Monster. The names that they're calling their surveys and things are just in their reports. Come on. I know, like, that's a bit hardcore. And then you go, Pathetic. Anyway, it was a good article. So let's talk about corporate wellness programs because they are apparently facing a severe identity crisis. A recent workplace poll by Monster revealed that a staggering 80% of employees now explicitly call their workplace environment toxic. Toxic. This is mine. Mine was until a couple of weeks ago. She's gonna kill you. So that is a massive jump from 67% just a year ago. But what's worse, 93% of those workers say their employees are doing absolutely nothing to fix the root cause of the burnout. The hypocrisy here is real. Companies love to hand out token perks like a subscription to a meditation app or a free fruit basket in the breakout room, which, mind you, I love a free fruit basket. I do. Monday morning and get a mandarin up here and you're away. Oh, the great Probe CX, their, their fruit baskets are incredible and the grapes are so crispy. Oh, I love crispy grapes. Exactly. So good. So thanks, Probe. While completely ignoring the toxic middle management, severely understaffing, and impossible workloads, people are officially done on with this wellness theater. The backlash is completely reshaping modern workforce dynamics. Over half of the global workers would straight up quit before staying in a toxic culture, and nearly 30% would take an immediate pay cut just to protect their peace of mind. High status titles and corporate ladders don't mean much if your mental health is destroyed. So the takeaway for HR is undeniable: you cannot fix a toxic 60-hour work week with a mindfulness seminar. You need actual structural change. Interesting, isn't it? A line you said there, 30% would take a pay to get better workplace culture. I did. Did you? I did more than that. Holy shit. And did it end up a better workplace culture for you? Absolutely. I am. You've got your crispy grapes. I've got my crispy grapes. But I am— can honestly, hand on heart, say that I'm happier at work than I have been since the last couple of roles. Oh, that's cute. There you go. Shout out Gary. Gary and Probe. But it's wellness. Just Again, don't be a dick. It comes back to last week. Just be good people. Speaking of don't be a dick, I did get some feedback on your performance last week from Lauren. Oh, shit. Yeah. She said that you went way too easy on me. I saw that. What did she say that to you or did you write it somewhere as well? Well, publicly. Publicly? Yeah. What does she want me to do? I don't know. Punch you across the table? Probably physically attack me. That's what she usually does. I'm a lover, not a fighter. My next one is from Business Insider. And the headline is the global chair of PwC gives his take on what AI means for jobs. So here's a fun one. The global boss of PwC, Muhammad Kandi, I think that's my heiße surname, has been doing the rounds telling everyone to relax about AI and jobs. His pitch: firms that go all in on AI are hiring more, not fewer. AI hands workers superpowers. Just polish your soft skills and she'll be right. Lovely, inspiring. But now read the PwC small print. The same PwC is quietly slashing its entry-level hiring by a third. They binned a promise to add 100,000 workers globally. The junior roles most exposed to AI have flatlined. So the bloke preaching abundance is running a firm that's pulling the bottom rungs right off of the ladder. So here's the bit that should worry every recruiter listening: the entry-level job was never just a job, it was an apprenticeship. It's where the green kids learnt the trade by doing the boring repetitive shit. AI has just eaten Wipe all of that. So we keep the senior roles demanding 10 years' experience and quietly delete the only jobs where you can get that experience. So superpowers for the people already on the inside, a locked door for everyone else. So it's interesting, isn't it, that, look, graduate entry-level roles have taken a massive hit. Businesses will have to wake up. So I foresee a little bit of a correction over the next year, 2 years, 3 years. Maybe it won't be back to the heady heights it once was, but I can't see that it continues to be cut no matter how good the AI is, because they'll know that, like I said there, this is the area where people got their experience to go to the next level in these businesses. So they're going to find a massive black hole otherwise. Yeah, I wish AI could fix soft skills. Yeah, wouldn't that be nice if you had a little bot? That's the problem. It is. Well, as they say, soft skills and critical, absolute critical thought are always going to be lacking. But smarter people than me may have an answer one day. One day in a couple of years. I don't know. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. All right. My last one is again from Monster. Monster. American Monster. So the highest divorce rate by profession. Oh, which career ranks highest or lowest? So gather around, everyone. Where's recruiters? Sit on this list. Turn it up. So the silent relationship killer. Your career. It turns out that your job might be doing a lot more than just paying the bills. It could actually be predicting your chances of getting a divorce. Wow. According to a massive breakdown of US Census Bureau data, professions in healthcare support, transportation, and shift-based labor are seeing staggering high divorce rates hovering around 48%. 48%. 48%. 1 in 2. Yep. So if you're a truck driver or a— what, a healthcare worker, healthcare practitioners, telemarketers, massage therapists. Yeah, I understand that one. There's something about these silk sheets or something like that. Again, so why are these specific roles taking such a heavy toll on marriages? It comes down to the lifestyle that the job demands. So these professions are plagued by irregular schedules, emotional burnout, and financial stress. So when you spend your entire day dealing with crises, work, working nights and weekends and constantly altering your routine, you're left with zero energy to actually maintain a relationship. You get home. So the job simply consumes the emotional bandwidth required to be a good partner. I think there's more to it than just that. But look, some of those do make sense because they're, they are, they, most of those roles demand a high level of emotional input. Yeah, particularly in healthcare and those sorts of things. And if you come home and then just shut down because you need to recharge, that'll affect what's going on at home. Totally. But on the flip side, yeah, what are the ones where all the action is? Well, and math sectors. What? Math? I thought you said maths for a minute. Wow. No. So they hold the lowest divorce rate of any profession. At just 14.2%, followed closely by software developers. Really? So it's not that math makes you a better spouse, it's just that these jobs offer structural stability. They provide predictable 9-to-5 schedules, high salaries that eliminate financial friction, and professional autonomy. I've got a different thought on that. Oh, so do I. If you're in tech or math, you're probably single anyway, so you're okay. Exactly, that is where I was going, but I didn't want to offend any of my peers. But yeah, so ultimately the data is a massive wake-up call. It isn't the job title itself that breaks the marriage. It's the toxic, unpredictable lifestyle that the job forces you to live. And nerds tend to last longer. According to the US. In the US. In the US. Speaking of going global, my last one today is from my favorite publication, The Economic Times of India. So your friend failed to solve a basic problem. Employee refers a friend. HR's next email leaves her stunned. So here's a little recruitment horror story for anyone who still thinks employee referrals are harmless. A software professional referred a friend for a job at her company. Nice thing to do, right? Not quite. The friend apparently got to the interview, was asked a basic coding question, and completely fucked up their response. Did she ask for payment? Probably. At most normal companies, that would mean the candidate gets rejected, everyone moves on, and the referrer quietly pretends they've never met them. But not here. Yeah. HR allegedly emailed the employee to say her friend's fire had raised serious concerns about her judgment and evaluation process. And then came the kicker. They want to conduct a fresh technical interview with her as well, just to verify her credentials once again. And she'd been there for quite a while. Oh my God. That's right. She referred a friend and accidentally referred herself back into the hiring process. Basically, they were trying to help a mate get a job and ended up in their own performance review. Now, look, I'm pretty sure there'd be some more issues at play with this said employee. Yeah, we could say, damn, what a backfire. How cut would you be at your mate? I know, I want, but I mean, we don't have the outcome of their secondary evaluation. Wouldn't be funny if they failed it? I reckon they did. I reckon so, because like you said, there's another reason behind that. You don't just, you know, you refer, like, depends also, say internally, and a lot of companies have this, have like a, you know, referral program. You bring someone in, baba bai, you might get, I know, a gift card, some money, whatever it might be, because they want to encourage it. And not everyone has got high-quality friends or family. Yeah, unfortunately. But they do say, what's the classic line? Good people know good people. But again, you're not going to refer your mediocre. It's like, it's like if you put a referee down, someone who's going to say something bad about you, you'd vet it yourself first. Wouldn't you? 100%. 100%. Yeah. Like, like I was talking about my son before. I'm all around the recruitment world and I'm not lifting a finger to help him get a job because I don't want it to come back and bite me on the ass. Yeah. Yeah. My dad used to say a saying. God, I hope this gets right. How are you meant to soar like an eagle when you're surrounded by turkeys? There you go. Very good. Think about that when you're referring. Hey, before we head off, I've got just a couple of events just to plug for video. My Talent Strategy Masterclass with James Ellis on Wednesday September 2nd. Going to that. And are you? Yeah, I am. Oh, brilliant. You got your ticket? Yep. Woo-hoo! Yeah, it'll be great. I don't know how well you know James. James is a god in the space, a global god, and very clever and a very nice man too. So do you know him personally? We've had him on the podcast 3 times, maybe. Okay. Oh geez, I feel so bad that I didn't know that. Can I get a personal intro, please? Yes, of course you can. Yeah, he's a great guy. And the last one, ITAS. Entries closed yesterday and we had a massive 123 entries. That's amazing, because last week you had 100? Between you and I, last week we were only at about 60. Get out! This time last week, and then it just went bang. That's amazing. It went absolutely crazy. So that means now more competition. I put in 2. Oh yeah, don't let your chances— yeah, cheers. And also what that also means is if we've got 123 entries, it means that but you bloody better get onto your tickets if you haven't, because they will sell out. Now, Lauren will kill me for saying this, but finalists are announced on the 14th of July, right? The week following that, ticket sales go nuts because all the finalists go and get their tickets, right? So yeah, because if Lauren's in here, she'll go, what the fuck are you saying that for? That'll mean people are going to wait now till July 14th. So I probably shouldn't have said that, but you know, cats away and all that. Squeak, squeak. Hey, Kimbo, thank you for jumping into the hot seat. I loved it. So enjoyed having you here. When in the future, when something like this happens again, would it be something you'd consider to do? Of course. Yeah. And any other side projects you want to do on the podcasting arena, talk to us because we've got the studio here, we've got whatever you want because you have got a wonderful voice for podcast. Do you know what Gary said to me? What he said? Face for radio. Yeah, that's what I was trying to say in a nice way. Is that why the camera didn't work last week? Cheers. Yeah, I know, we've got the video working this week, we think. Anyway, thank you so much. I loved it. Oh, great. And for everyone else, that's a goodbye for me. Next week we are doing The Scoop live from Wreckfest. Not live, we'll be recording and then popping it all together, but it'll be a Wreckfest-focused one, so something a little bit different. The audio level will be shit because we're traveling with portable mics and stuff, and the bars open at Wreckfest at 1 PM. That's the real reason. So it could be all over the place. But anyway, check in and see how it goes. But again, thanks Kimbo, and we'll see you all again next week. See you guys, bye!