Marty McFly’s preview of 2015 may not have been true to our reality, but the changes the recruiting profession has undergone in the last 30 years resemble something out of Back to the Future.

During a keynote at LinkedIn’s Talent Connect Summit last month, Erin Scruggs, the platform’s VP of talent acquisition, shared how the field has changed since 1995 when she landed her first recruiting job at a Baltimore-based staffing agency that primarily placed contractors in government roles. “In that era, a recruiter spent most of their time focused on the thrill of the hunt, finding the names and contact information of people who could do a particular job,” she told the audience.

She recounted a time when she raised her hand to take on the arduous task of placing a candidate in a nuclear reactor mechanic role that required experience working on a Nimitz class aircraft carrier, a nuclear-powered Navy warship. The role went unfilled for weeks, and the firm had no proprietary matches. Scruggs spent 10 business days researching the role and leads. Ultimately, she found nine candidates who fit the criteria. One was interested and took the job.

Fast forward to today, Scruggs is able to find 312 candidates who fit that same criteria in a matter of seconds using LinkedIn’s AI recruiting tools. These recent technological advancements have freed up much of the busy work recruiters slog through daily. And it’s made the profession much more strategic than some had given it credit for, Scruggs said.

Keep reading here.—PM

A sweet salary and benefits package isn’t cutting it anymore, especially for Gen Z employees. That’s according to a recent SurveyMonkey survey of 1,222 US workers.

Gen Z employees are more likely to value work-life balance than their millennial and Gen X colleagues, with 32% ranking it as the most important aspect of a job, versus 28% and 25% of the older generations. Millennial and Gen X respondents, meanwhile, said compensation and benefits are most valuable, with 30% and 29% ranking it in first place, compared with 20% of Gen Z employees.

Career over company. Gen Z employees’ likelihood to value work-life balance over total compensation reflects shifting expectations about how work fits into life, Wendy Smith, SurveyMonkey’s senior manager of research science, told HR Brew. Gen Zers may also care more about their career paths than their employers. For example, 22% of Gen Z respondents ranked career growth as important in a job, compared to 13% of millennials and 9% of Gen X respondents. Meanwhile, just 8% of Gen Z respondents said they value company culture, compared to 10% of millennials and 15% of Gen X respondents.

Zoom out. HR professionals hoping to attract Gen Z candidates may want to rethink recruiting tactics that emphasize company culture as a selling point.

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A shortened workweek has been touted as a way to encourage efficiency and engagement, not a way to cut pay. But one German company is using it as it tries to drastically reduce costs.

Where in the world? Germany is Europe’s largest economy, but has struggled since 2022 amid weak demand for exports like electric cars and competition with China. Now, Robert Bosch, a German autopart supplier with 429,000 global employees as of 2023, announced plans to cut some employees’ hours as the company tries to save costs, Fortune reported. The move came shortly after a fresh round of layoffs affecting 5,550 workers (3,800 in Germany), on top of the 7,000 workers who were let go in October. Roughly 10,000 employees will see their hours reduced from 38–40 hours a week to 35 hours.

The auto industry has been fairly stagnant in recent years. Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes Benz also conducted layoffs earlier in 2024.

Satellite view. US car makers have made tough decisions this year as well. Ford, GM, and Stellantis all cut US jobs, mainly in the midwest, Bridge Michigan reported.

Keep reading here.—KP