Follow up report Fusion Days 2016

Fusion Days 2016 – The working world, digital & connected – active participation is needed

From Smart HRM to digital disruption – where do people remain? A follow-up report on this year’s event.

Fusion Days is the exclusive annual event by milch & zucker and JobStairs. Once again, Fusion Days brought things together which belong together: Head and gut, heart and mind, IT and marketing. Think outside the box and complement e-recruiting with employer branding. On 19th and 20th September there were interesting topics about talent management and talent acquisition at the Klassikstadt in Frankfurt.

In addition to the large JobStairs community meeting and the BeeSite Recruiting Edition user group meet on the first day, the approx. 100 participants were able educate themselves and exchange ideas on the following topics:Prof. Dr. Josef van Genabith from the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence in Karlsruhe gave an overview of the development of computers trying to understand our language. From rule-based language technology to machine learning, where attempts are being made to recognize patterns from large amounts of data and to apply those patterns to new tasks. This can, for example, result in applications for text and voice recognition, automated translations and many more. The most recent developments, so-called deep learning, now use artificial neural networks and the availability of many millions of data. The elements of these systems are profoundly connected to one another, are self-learning and have lead to huge advances in recent years in the fields of image recognition, speech processing and robotics. It is our great pleasure to announce that instead of a presentation fee, we were allowed to transfer 1,500 Euro to “Doctors Without Borders”.

For years, Dr. Jens-Uwe Meyer of the Innolytics GmbH Leipzig has studied digital disruption intensely. He provides food for thought and answers to the essential questions associated with digital disruption: How are business models and companies changing? How do companies find talents tomorrow, who not only maintain what already exists but instead create the new? Which skill sets will be needed in the future? How will companies work tomorrow? He encourages the audience to develop new ideas for their own methods and products based on scenarios, rigorously questioning all currently established practices before the competition does.Ingo Leven from TNS Infratest in Munich presents the results from the recent Shell youth study. Is today’s youth unreasonably demanding or just misunderstood? The study describes a pragmatic, emerging generation. The majority are confidently looking into the future, and political topics are on the rise again. There are no long term horizons; plans are made in short cycles – “driving by sight”, so to speak. Career-wise, this generation also has a fundamental attitude of as-well-as, wanting to achieve many things simultaneously. Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Jäger from the RheinMain University Wiesbaden reports on the possibilities of measuring the success of 360° virtual reality videos in recruiting. Test subjects have not only answered questionnaires as part of an academic laboratory study; the skin resistance on their fingers was also measured via electrodes to indicate emotional value. As a result, the testing methods show tendencies, that these tools could be be viable for measuring, but it cannot be conclusively proven. The workshop also provided the opportunity to test the VR experience for yourself.Prof. Dr. Stefan Strohmeier from the Saarland University presents the results from a survey of HR and IT experts on the topic of “How the Internet of Things changes HR work”. The results show that greater change is expected in all areas, from changes in technology through sensorisation and data-fusion, to the acceleration and division of HR functions into smaller units, and changes to HR positions through the marginalisation of the HR department and increasing automation. The pressure to change is being picked up on, but, in this regard, experts see the HR field as still at the very beginning.Dr. Christian Zepp from the German Sport University Cologne explains how companies can profit from the skills and qualities of competitive athletes. Preparing for a competition for months, or sometimes years, and experiencing successes and failures contribute to personal development. Particularly those competitive athletes, who have actively participated in athletic competitions consistently for many years are described as being focused, goal-oriented and persistent. They possess abilities and characteristics that make them interesting potential employees for companies.Jan Schüttler from Bayer provided detailed information on their experiences with 360° VR videos used for recruiting at Bayer. Many images of locations and areas of operation have now been created. Applicants can view these videos on the website or at careers fairs with VR goggles. Jan Schüttler took the audience through the first steps and the “lessons learned” of VR video production, including many practical tips. It started with the preparation of the location, the differences to a “regular” video shoot, the camera choice, editing the films and went through to the presentation at fairs and the feedback from applicants.In the concluding topic, Dr. Jens-Uwe Meyer from Innolytics once again gave impetus. How digital innovation can be designed, how innovation – the development of ideas and from that the development of products – works: from creatively looking at problems to finding solutions according to set goals, e.g. reducing effort or risks; drawing inspiration from what is already there, and finally the persistent developing and constant optimising of the development. He warmly recommended to the audience, that they perceive innovation as a manageable process, the individual steps of which need to be worked one by one.More information on the event can be found at www.milchundzucker.de/fusion-days.