A Week in Review: Acquisitions, Jobs Report, and Rebrands

Last week, someone asked me if the momentum and investment in TA tech and HR tech will continue in 2022. And, the answer seems to be YES. This week included acquisitions, investment announcements, and even a rebranding. It is an exciting time to be in this market for providers, buyers, and even analysts. We found that over 60% of companies are increasing their investment in TA tech this year, and buyers are looking closely at what solutions will help them attract, recruit, and hire talent.

A few of the big announcements include:

SmartRecruiters Acquires Attrax: A career site can make or break a company’s ability to attract and convert talent. And, not all career sites are designed the same. ATS providers have invested in career sites over the past few years, but most enterprise companies still need to look at third-party options to build dynamic and engaging career sites. This acquisition of Attrax, a leading career site provider, further strengthens SmartRecruiters’ recruitment marketing capabilities with personalized and engaging career sites.

Phenom Acquires Tandemploy: Phenom has expanded beyond talent acquisition and offers an experience platform for the entire employee lifecycle. Tandemploy is a Berlin-based HR tech company focused on solving key problems associated with employee experiences. This addition enhances the capabilities of Phenom’s AI-powered Talent Experience Management (TXM) platform and grows the company’s presence in Europe.

Hiretual Rebrands to HireEZ: This week, Hiretual rebranded to HireEZ and hosted an analyst day to announce this news and $26M of investment. HireEZ’s vision is to create a new category around Outbound Recruiting. Some of my brilliant analyst friends (George LaRocque, Trish McFarlane and Steve Boese, Tim Sackett) did great covering this announcement.

January Jobs Report: The January Jobs Report came out today, and Andrew Flowers, Chief Economist of Appcast, did a great job covering this news and its implications on the labor market. With 467,000 jobs added and unemployment holding steady at 4%, the job growth trajectory is looking up. Despite 15 million people with COVID, the labor market is not slowing down. According to the report:

Retail accelerating thru January

Restaurants & bars not as affected by Omicron as they were by Delta

 Healthcare, transportation & warehousing are steady

Manufacturing slowing

2022 is off to a busy start, and looking forward to what this year brings. We are about to publish two new studies on humanity in the workforce and data-driven hiring. Stay tuned!

Author

  • Madeline Laurano

    Madeline Laurano is the founder and chief analyst of Aptitude Research. For over 18 years, Madeline’s primary focus has been on the HCM market, specializing in talent acquisition and employee experience. Her work helps companies both validate and re-evaluate their strategies and understand the role technology can play in driving business outcomes. She has watched HCM transform from a back-office function to a strategic company initiative with a focus on partnerships, experience and efficiency. Before founding Aptitude Research, Madeline held research roles at Aberdeen, Bersin by Deloitte, ERE Media and Brandon Hall Group. She is the co-author of Best Practices in Leading a Global Workforce and is often quoted in leading business publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, Yahoo News, The New York Times and The Financial Times. She is a frequent presenter at industry conferences including the HR Technology Conference and Exposition, SHRM, IHRIM, HCI’s Strategic Talent Acquisition Conference, Unleash, GDS International’s HCM Summit, and HRO Today. In her spare time, she is a runner, an avid sports fan and juggles a house full of boys (where a spontaneous indoor hockey game is not unheard of!).