Jessica Miller-Merrell - Digitizing Talent: Creative Strategies for the Digital Recruiting Age

Advance Praise for Digitizing Talent

Jessica Miller-Merrell has always had the rare skill of taking complex information and creating digestible chunks of information. In Digitizing Talent , Jessica gives thorough explanations of the digital transformation that has occurred in the talent acquisition and recruiting space. From how we have gotten here to the future of work, Jessica has written a must-read book for all responsible for the people function. The digital recruitment space is moving at a breakneck pace. Read Digitizing Talent to make sure you do not get left behind!

Jackye Clayton , VP of Talent and DEIB, Textio

An extremely informative guidebook that encompasses all the aspects of data and business processes digitalization. This comprehensive overview will help HR professionals revamp their overall approach to recruiting in a consistent fashion and smoothly operate the digital transformation necessary to attract and connect with the candidates they need in an era of evolving social and cultural traits as well as fast-changing business and market requirements. This book is not bluntly preceptive. Instead, Jessica takes readers through her own journey and adeptly shows how she herself was able to progressively shed the analog mindset embedded in older technologies to embrace on a professional level the digital savviness we understand and practice in our everyday lives and how more technology, not less, is crucial to resurrect the human dimensions of recruiting.

Marylene Delbourg-Delphis , Serial Technology CEO, Board Member, and Author

The reality of sourcing, acquiring, and retaining talent is an essential component of every organization now and will be for the foreseeable future. Understanding how to be effective in doing this digitally can be difficult to comprehend. Jessica Miller-Merrell has done a fantastic job of making this maze of options, approaches, and directions clear in her new book. She gives depth to a topic that is critical to talent acquisition, HR, and recruiting pros in a user-friendly and tangible way. I recommend her good work as a valuable resource for every organization.

Steve Browne , SHRM-SCP , Chief People Officer, LaRosas

Candidates dont magically appear from the internet. It takes knowledge, strategy, and creativity. Jessica gives you all of that and more in this book! She did the work and the research to help you attract and land more talent.

Tim Sackett , SHRM-SCP , SPHR, HR/Talent Technology Analyst, Influencer, and Creator

Copyright 2022 Jessica Miller-Merrell. All rights reserved.

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information regarding the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that neither the publisher nor the author is engaged in rendering legal or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent, licensed professional should be sought. The federal and state laws discussed in this book are subject to frequent revision and interpretation by amendments or judicial revisions that may significantly affect employer or employee rights and obligations. Readers are encouraged to seek legal counsel regarding specific policies and practices in their organizations.

This book is published by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). The interpretations, conclusions, and recommendations in this book are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the publisher.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Miller-Merrell, Jessica, author.

Title: Digitizing talent : creative strategies for the digital recruiting age / Jessica Miller-Merrell.

Description: Alexandria, VA : Society for Human Resource Management, [2022] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022019561 (print) | LCCN 2022019562 (ebook) | ISBN 9781586444228 (paperback) | ISBN 9781586444303 (pdf) | ISBN 9781586444358 (epub) | ISBN 9781586444402 (kindle edition)

Subjects: LCSH: Employee selection--Technological innovations. | Employees--Recruiting--Technological innovations.

Classification: LCC HF5549.5.S38 M55 2022 (print) | LCC HF5549.5.S38 (ebook) | DDC 658.3/112--dc23/eng/20220511

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022019561

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022019562

Published in the United States of America

FIRST EDITION

PB Publishing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 61.12303

I dedicate this book to my former bosses, Tom and Mark. Thank you for doing the thing I wasnt ready to do but needed to do in order to venture out as a woman entrepreneur, teacher, and educator serving the human resources community. Your actions fueled my passion, mission, and business.

Acknowledgments

This book is a culmination of conversations, research, experiences, and support Ive received and experienced throughout my professional career, which spans over 20 years. Id like to thank my family, including my husband, Greg, and my daughter, Ryleigh, for their unwavering support.

Id also like to thank my parents, Terry and Leigh Miller, for instilling in me my work ethic and showing me what it means to love. My work has always been a family affair with my sisters, Jamie and Julie, and their families supporting me in different wayswhether it was updating websites or offering an opinion or outside point of view.

I want to thank my mentor, Marylene Delbourg-Delphis, for many late
night conversations filled with tough but real advice even when I didnt want to hear it. Id like to thank my friends and amazing recruiting and HR resources Jennifer Tharp and Carrie Corbin for many recruiting and life conversations that helped lead to the development of this book. Thank you to Alicia Maples for your friendship, inspiration, and guidance.

A thank you to the following HR and talent acquisition readers I interviewed for this book and those who contributed their unique perspectives:

Devin Boyle, Josh Christianson, Corinne Weible, and the amazing teams at The Wheelhouse Group, The Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT), and The Partnership on Inclusive Apprenticeship (PIA)