James Hickey

Recruiting teams love data. Until it tells them something they don’t want to hear. You track time-to-fill, cost-per-hire, and maybe even candidate satisfaction. But are you measuring what actually impacts business outcomes? Three most overlooked recruiting metrics that separate top-tier hiring teams from the rest: ✅ Hiring Velocity Yes, how long it takes to fill a role matters. But how quickly do your top candidates move through the funnel? If your best candidates keep getting stuck at final approvals, you’re losing them to competitors​. ✅ First-Year Turnover Rate A great hiring process finds long-term fits. If 30% of your hires leave in Year 1, something is broken—in hiring criteria, onboarding, or culture fit​. ✅ Offer Acceptance Rate (OAR) If your OAR is under 80%, analyze your compensation, employer brand, and candidate experience. Losing talent at the finish line is the easiest fix—most companies ignore it​. Don't track more things. Track the RIGHT things. If your hiring process isn’t improving, you might be looking at the wrong numbers. Hit me up if you need help getting your data metrics where they should be. #peopleanalytics #hiringmetrics #recruiting

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I'm going to say something that other staffing industry professionals may judge me for: Your entire delivery team does not need their own emails, their own phone numbers, or their own text message tools. I believe the future of high performing staffing organizations is to think more like software companies.  → Create a centralized inbox your team shares → Move to a single phone/SMS number  → A single WhatsApp  → A single email  → A single chat interface And collaborate - back each other up. → If Tommy is sick one day, those messages don't get lost in his inbox. → If a recruiter leaves, their relationships are no longer tied just to the person. → All around customer service is improved when you work together to serve clients and candidates as promptly as possible. And Bonus: You will save you thousands (sometimes tens of thousands) a year to not have all of these additional lines and inboxes. Some tools you can look into to accomplish this: Crisp IM Intercom Front Thoughts on this? I know it goes against common practice, but teamwork makes the dream work! 😁

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We just signed our third client this month who shared they’re moving off the Paraform platform after disappointing results. It’s not surprising. For those who understand how talent acquisition really works, their model simply doesn’t hold up. As the TA market strengthens, that gap will only widen. Two core issues, on both sides of their marketplace, make it unsustainable: 1. Exploiting desperate TA professionals: Paraform markets itself as a path to million-dollar commissions, but the reality is stark. Nearly every recruiting professional who invests their time walks away with nothing. The ads featuring AI-generated images next to stacks of dollar signs are misleading and, frankly, embarrassing for our profession. This may attract attention in a down market when skilled recruiters are struggling, but as opportunities improve, their supply side will collapse. 2. Delivering noise instead of value to clients: Companies hiring top-tier talent don’t need 30 or 40 recruiters blindly chasing the same requisition. That only creates wasted time and inefficiency on both ends. What actually drives results is a small, focused team with the right tools, deep client knowledge, and real relationships with hiring managers. Overpromising and underdelivering erodes trust quickly, and we’re already seeing clients recognize this. 3 things: 1. There’s room for many players to succeed in this industry. 2. New models and new technology can and will disrupt staffing, especially as AI matures. 3. I never wish failure on anyone. But if you look at the fundamentals, Paraform’s trajectory resembles BountyJobs and the four other platforms that tried this model before. My prediction is that they’ll burn through their funding in the next 18 months and end up in the same place.

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**Unemployment Is Not The End** Lately, the question I've been asked most is: "How do you view the recent wave of #layoffs?" Last night over family dinner, my cousin who works near KLCC mentioned nearby companies are quietly conducting layoffs. It seems no one is truly immune in this economic climate... Over the past two years, I've watched friends leave jobs one after another—some laid off, others quitting to start businesses. A few years ago, going a month unemployed would've caused panic. But Now? The paradigm has completely shifted. Being jobless somehow feels... #normal, even expected. These conversations used to carry shame—whispers about laziness or failure. But today, unemployment might actually be a hidden blessing. NOT EVERY EXIT IS RETREAT. NOT EVERY PAUSE SETS YOU BACK. For many, this could be their pivot moment We all gotta understand.. Having a job today doesn't make you superior and losing one doesn't make you flawed—we're all just navigating the same storm! Treat this intermission as your strategic recalibration period. I have a 30+ something friend who endured a toxic boss for 10 years before finally quitting. The first two months were terrifying—until he discovered freelancing. Now he earns irregularly but lives abundantly.. Sometimes layoffs aren't tragedies—they might be a system alerts pushing us to upgrade our survival mode. The world changed. Work changed. That myth of "one STABLE Job until retirement" is DEAD. The future belongs to: - Freelance portfolios - Project-based income - Anti-fragile careers Here's what thriving "unemployed" people do differently I have noticed: ✓ Monetize skills(Package expertise into sellable services) ✓ Fragment time(Ditch 9-to-5 for fluid income streams) ✓ Diversify risk(Always have Plan B through Plan Z) When society obsesses over hustle culture, the wisest move might be pressing *pause*—because clarity comes to those who step off the hamster wheel first. #FutureOfWork #CareerPivot #LayoffResilience #FreelanceEconomy #AntiFragileCareers #UnemploymentOpportunity #SkillsMonetization #WorkplaceWellbeing #MalaysiaJobs #CareerReinvention

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The difference between Talent Acquisition vs Staffing Agencies? Reactivity vs Proactivity TA is great if used correctly, but 99% of companies out there don't understand how to utilize them. High quantity positions that can afford to be reactive are phenomenal for TA to work on and fill. High level, niche roles can start to be worked on by TA for a period of time (dependent on urgency level), but those really should be given to a staffing agency that specializes in that sector and ideally has the relationships to identify the ideal candidate quickly and efficiently. In summary- "saving cost" by avoiding agencies can be doable, but don't shoot yourself in the foot by sending your TA team to war with a butter knife as they just flat out don't have the resources or head start that agency recruiters have! #staffing #recruiting

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Recruiting Agencies wanting to build a 7 figure office must know it doesn't happen in a 40 hour work week or as a solo operation. Once you have a steady stream of jobs coming in from your clients, it's best to hire Recruiters solely focused on filling the roles being brought in.

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We talk a lot about candidate experience. But are we practicing what we preach? - Asking for CVs and duplicate applications - Using outdated documents to judge capability - Writing “competitive salary” and hoping no one notices 👀 Candidates notice. In fact, 91% of job seekers say transparency around pay influences their decision to apply. And 1 in 2 have quit a lengthy application midway because it felt like a waste of time. We can do better. → Streamline your applications → Ask for what you really need → Post your salary range This isn’t about trends. It’s about trust. Learn how to go skills-based and win the talent game. #HRLeadership #RecruiterTips #HiringWithIntegrity #SalaryTransparency #CVFree

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Hiring tech contractors has become more challenging. Not because the demand isn’t there, it’s quality. The new adjusted rate cards have a lot to do with it. On paper, it’s an employer’s market as there is more supply than demand, so rates have come down compared to 12 months ago. But top talent is and will always be at a premium. Rate cards speak to the market as a whole, not the top tier. This is creating friction. Leaders are navigating exceptions, or finding creative ways to bring in the right people outside of standard staffing programs, because at the end of the day, mission-critical projects don’t slow down just because rate cards do. With regulatory pressure forcing modernization, upgrades, and system builds while AI demand is sky rocketing; top talent will continue to be essential. The new rate cards just make it more interesting in how you attract and engage them. And that’s why we’re working closely with tech leaders who need the best people in place to deliver.

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