Jobs, Layoffs and Start-Up Funding – HR Tech Let’s Go

Starting the final sprint of the fall conference season, I caught up with familiar faces at the second annual RecFest USA festival. And because Human Resources and Talent Acquisition conferences are never-ending, I’ll be reuniting with more new and old…err..mature faces next week in Las Vegas at HR Tech 2024.

Despite some rain and wind, the RecFest team managed to pull off their second outdoor HR festival in the US. The much chiller version of the UK-based event excelled in content, networking, and community. The RL 100 officially launched in the US during a Day Zero session, in which I was humbled to participate.

No rest for the TA and HR pros though, because there’s always something brewing.

U.S. Federal Reserve Expected to Cut Interest Rates

The US labor market added 142,000 jobs in August, outperforming July’s numbers, while unemployment dropped from 4.3% to 4.2%. Depending on your news source, the sky is either *not* falling, or it *totally* is.

Regardless, we are all waiting with bated breath for the expected US Federal Reserve interest rate cut this week. This is the first expected rate cut since March 2020. The burning question is whether it will be a 0.25 or 0.50 rate cut—and what additional cuts might be in store through the end of the year.

The Fed’s oft cautious leader has guided the United States to what most would consider a soft landing—though it may be a little *too* soft for the labor market.

In case you wondered, this Job Board Doctor is placing a Vegas bet on a 0.25% cut.

CareerBuilder + Monster Merger

In possibly the year’s most *riveting* press release, Monster and CareerBuilder announced their merger in now complete. Now known as “CareerBuilder + Monster” as the combined company continues to kick the rebrand can down the road. The announcement followed the final regulatory clearance of the merger.

Jeff Furman, CEO of the combined company, said: “I couldn’t be more excited to unite these two celebrated brands. We’re leveraging the best solutions, capabilities, and expertise from both companies to better serve our candidates and employers in the evolving talent marketplace.”

Meanwhile, the company is on the hunt for a new sales chief, and a LinkedIn post revealed more than 100 candidates have already thrown their hats into the ring.

Interested? You can apply here or here or here.

Appcast Layoffs

Appcast conducted another round of layoffs on September 16 affecting 18 more employees across a variety of roles, including marketing, customer service, and sales. Unlike previous layoffs, these cuts did not seem to target Bayard legacy employees. In a case of bad optics and even worse human-ing, one employee received the news while on paternity leave. Should we expect a reorg? Seems likely.

Recruit Holdings to Reorg Recruitment Businesses Globally

Recruit Holdings will combine recruitment businesses under its HR Tech Strategic Business Unit (SBU). The SBU will include both Indeed and Glassdoor along with other recruitment businesses primarily servicing the Japanese market.

11x.ai Raises Additional $24M for AI Digital Workers

11x.ai, a company building AI bots for process automation, has raised over $26 million since launching in London in 2022. Now based in San Francisco, the company focuses on go-to-market teams and affectionately refers to its bots as “automated digital workers.“Alice, an AI sales rep, and Jordan, an AI phone rep, are already live, with two more bots rolling out soon. More details on TechCrunch.

That’s all for this week. See you at HR Tech!