eBay’s Beth Axelrod
The challenges of hiring skilled data scientists is well-documented, but what of Big Data’s impact on talent recruitment within other fields? According to Beth Axelrod, eBay’s Senior Vice President of Human Resources and the co-author of the new book The War for Talent, Human Resources is the latest department to be significantly disrupted within the data-driven enterprise.
In an interview at Forbes, Axelrod explains, “There’s a lot of value to be created and added through data analytics…Whether it’s doing a better job spotting talent outside to attract to the company, or doing predictive analysis of who is likely to leave and what are the factors, so you can intervene before that point is reached to try to change the trajectory.” She points to recruitment startup Gild as exemplifying the changes to come. Not unlike a Kaggle in reverse, the service analyzes and evaluates open source code available on the web, and then connects prospective employers with the developers writing the top-ranked code.
Axelrod notes that the greatest barrier for companies embracing data-driven employee recruitment is often the folks in the Human Resources department, who may lack the skills or desire to perform sophisticated analytics. This mismatch should encourage companies to reach outside of their HR departments for recruitment efforts, she says, and engage in-house analytics talent when considering new hires.
About the Author
