Talent Crunch - Berlin - The Talent Pulse (Jan 2025)
Welcome to the inaugural Talent Crunch newsletter!
The Talent Pulse
A Fresh Start: Your Talent Community Speaks 🙌
The past months have brought significant changes to our professional world. Your responses to our 2024 end-of-year survey painted a clear picture of what matters most in 2025: the ethical application of AI in talent practices, the growing skills gap, and the push for meaningful workplace transformations.
The numbers:
65% of you prefer monthly events, making it the clear favourite for our gathering frequency.
An impressive 77% expressed interest in a regular newsletter, with most favouring monthly updates to stay informed without information overload.
Several key themes stood out from your feedback:
The need for practical insights on building skills-based organisations
Interest in real-world case studies of successful talent initiatives
Requests for focused discussions on talent analytics and data-driven decisions
Strong appetite for peer learning and community collaboration (mainly in person, but also hybrid)
And…you guessed it…AI!
These insights come at an interesting time. As Meta shifts its talent strategy and companies worldwide grapple with the concept of 'superworkers', we see both challenges and bright spots ahead. You've asked for regular learning sessions, and we're delivering. From February to July, we've already lined up 2 or even 3 events per month.
📌 Looking at immediate challenges, 2 areas demand our attention in 2025:
1st, the transformation of work itself. With 45% of CEOs believing their companies might not survive the next decade without major changes (David Green), the pressure to adapt is real. Your survey responses echo this urgency, with talent transformation ranking as a top priority.
2nd, the AI revolution in talent practices. While this brings incredible opportunities, it also raises questions about ethics, implementation, and human-centered approaches, topics you've also asked us to explore in depth.
Each month, we'll bring you focused analysis, practical tools, and community perspectives on these and other crucial topics.
Join us as we build this knowledge hub together. Your insights, questions, and experiences will shape our collective learning journey in 2025.
Our first event is just weeks away. 👀 Watch this space for details.
The Monthly Talent Download
The Evolution of Employee Experience
Employee Experience (EX) has evolved from a novel concept to a strategic imperative, with 82% of organisations now actively engaged in EX initiatives. The research highlights 3 critical components for success: evidence-based decision making, human-centred design, and cross-domain collaboration. Notably, 92% of organisations working on EX engage in collaborative efforts across departments, with HR (96%), Marketing & Communications (69%), and IT (67%) being the most frequent collaborators.
Source: Kennedy Fitch Employee Experience Report 2024
AI Adoption Reaches Maturity
The global AI recruitment market, valued at $661.5 million in 2024, is projected to reach $1.1 billion by 2030. Ben Gledhill, Group Talent Acquisition Director at MAG (Airports Group), notes that "2025 will potentially see some of the topics of discussion over the last couple of years finally begin to mature. You will see more real user-cases of AI being used in hiring, especially in terms of GAI augmenting recruiters." By 2024, 39% of companies had already integrated AI into their recruitment processes, with a projected growth to 60% by 2026, according to Gartner data.
From "Recruitment Trends 2025" report by Matchr
Leader Development Becomes Critical
Gartner's research reveals that 75% of HR leaders report managers are overwhelmed with expanding responsibilities, while 70% believe current leaders are not adequately equipped to develop midlevel leaders. Despite 76% of organisations significantly updating their leadership programmes and planning to increase spending, only 36% of HR leaders think their organisation's current leadership development programmes are effective at preparing leaders for future challenges. Only 23% of HR leaders are confident there are rising leaders who can meet the future needs of the organisation.
From "Top 5 Priorities for HR Leaders in 2025" by Gartner
Community Highlights
Introducing: The Talent Spotlight Series
Ever wondered what makes other talent pros tick? We're launching our Talent Spotlight series, where we'll feature stories from our wonderful community members. From unconventional recruiting wins to life lessons that shaped their approach - we want to hear it all!
1st one is up and it features our bestie - Andrei. Check it out here.
Fancy sharing your story? We'd love to feature you! Pop me a message, and I'll send you our quirky questionnaire. Don't worry, we keep it fun and snappy! ✨
📅 Coming Up in February
27th Feb - Webinar: The Art of Referrals
Join us as we dive into fresh insights from our brilliant sponsor Real Links, sharing their eye-opening 2024 research and white paper on referral programmes. Trust me, some of these findings will make you go "wait, what?" 🤔
🌐 Join us here via Crowdcast and we will Restream on your LinkedIn Platforms as well.
📅 Thursday 27th of Feb 2025 - 16:00 CET / 15:00 GMT / 10:00 EST
End of February - Double Trouble
Thanks to our fantastic sponsor Ashby, we're hosting not one, but 2(!) in-person events:
A rather special leadership gathering featuring a unique artisanal experience (in collaboration with Tina Experiences) - exclusive to our executives community 🎨
“The Art of Talent: Berlin’s First Artisanal Networking Evening for Talent Executives” - Invite Only
📅 Monday 17th of Feb 2025
A community event where YOU take the stage! Yes, you read that right. We're opening up the mic to fresh voices from our community (as requested!) plus diving deep into everyone's favourite topic: quality of hire 🎯
“The Talent Crunch Stage - Quality of Hire and the Future of Recruitment”
📅 Wednesday 19th of Feb 2025 - Open Doors: 18:30
📍 Taxfix SE - Köpenicker Str. 122, 10179 Berlin
Make sure to check our LinkedIn Page, Slack Channel, Insta and also the Ticketing Platform (all linked below)
#talentcrunch #talentcommunity #berlin
😎 Anonymous & Unfiltered: Speak Your Mind Button
At Talent Crunch - Berlin, we want to create a safe space for you to share openly. Whether it’s a question, feedback, a concern, or just something on your mind, this is your place to be heard.
💬 How it works:
Share whatever’s on your mind (completely anonymously).
If you’d like us to share your submission with the community (and credit you), just let us know
We’ll moderate and, if appropriate, share your thoughts with the community to help others feel supported too.
Community Corner
🤝 Partner With Us
Growing a community takes a village! We're looking for:
Venues to host our events
Sponsors to help us create magic
HR Tech companies interested in showcasing their tools
Interested? Drop a line to Andreea at andreea@theprincipalrecruiter.com or tacrunch.berlin@gmail.com
📢 Industry Updates
Our hearts go out to the Wayfair Berlin team following news of their German operations closure. They compiled a list of some fantastic talent looking for their next adventure - reach out if you'd like to connect with them. Find it below under Resources.
📆 Event Round-Up
Psst... Have you seen our comprehensive list of talent events? We're proud to share Hung Lee's fantastic compilation - your one-stop shop for all things talent in 2024! Also down below.
💡 Help Us Grow
Your voice matters! Like, share, and let us know what content you'd love to see in future newsletters. Whether it's specific topics, formats, or features - we're all ears.
Drop a comment below or hit that reply button - we read everything!
Join the Talent Crunch Community!
Your go-to space for talent professionals in DACH, where expertise meets genuine connection. We're proudly non-commercial, deeply inclusive and laser-focused on practical impact!
Connect with us: 💼 LinkedIn: @TalentCrunch 💬 Slack: Join our workspace 📸 Instagram: @TalentCrunch_Berlin
Keen to sponsor our tooling & innovation content? Let's chat!
Resource Roundup
David Green - 12 Opportunities for HR in 2025: Thriving People, Thriving Organisation
Recruiting Brainfood Big List of In-Person Events to Attend in 2025
That's all for our 1st edition!
A massive thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts in our survey - your input is shaping our 2025 roadmap. Special shoutout to our community members who've already volunteered to help with workshops and events.
Remember, Talent Crunch is your community. Whether you're a seasoned talent leader or just starting your journey, there's a place for you here.
Want to get involved? Have ideas to share? Comment and get involved.