Episode 39 with Vern Howard on candidate experience

The People Podcast

Welcome back to another episode of the #ChatTalentPeoplePodcast!

In this episode, I’m joined by the amazing Vern Howard, CEO and Co-founder of Hallo.

As per my usual, we talked about a lot. About how Hallo came to be formed. About the importance of data to support targeted student campaigns, which Vern said it best:

“Without data, it’s like throwing darts at a board and hoping for the best”

And about how Hallo are currently using heat-maps to show companies where great students are... and where their competitors might not be!

Allowing a bigger and more importantly divers poll of candidates to apply.

It is only through the use of data that a company can fully understand how they are being perceived. Then, from this information, you can easily shift your approach to be able to target more diversely.

From there we naturally moved to the importance of candidate experience. Something that Vern is extremely passionate about.

“Everyone needs to zoom out of the transactional nature of recruitment and bring it to a more personal level. In this industry, we are all lacking empathy. Relationships matter and actually talking to different people in different communities. That is how you recruit.”

I then concluded the episode by asking what Vern's primary manifesto promise would be if he had his own political party, and how his biggest take away from lacrosse is actually patience, not teamwork.

It’s an extremely interesting episode with someone who has a brand new take on the industry. Definitely worth a listen.

Enjoy!

DON’T HAVE TIME TO LISTEN TO THE WHOLE EPISODE? HERE’S AN EASY BREAKDOWN

[2.05] Who is Vern Howard

[6.49] Why should a TA or HR lead look at Hallo

[8.36] Would you still consider your platform an events tool (not a recruiting tool)

[9.48] What impact has Covid19 had

[11.16] In which demographics do you see Hello working?

[12.51] You’ve clearly been inspired by other social platforms, talk us through the ‘upvote’ option.

[14.51] What's the best piece of advice you would give someone looking to start their own tech company

[16.16] What’s next for Hallo?

[19.04] Tell us your opinion about CVs.

[21.18] How should the industry positively impact the candidate experience?

[22.54] How do we build candidate relationships at scale?

[28.36] Imagine you got to create your very own presidential party. What would your 3 key manifesto promises be?

[31.34] You’ve praised social media a lot throughout our chat. Do you see one of the positives of social media, being the information access?

[33.38] I’ve heard you are passionate about lacrosse. Tell us a bit more about this...

[37.26] And finally, where next? Do you have any plans for a global expansion?