At SAP, we have an internal mentoring group for females working in finance called Future Female Leaders, providing employees with an opportunity to be mentored by other finance professionals from offices around the world.

It’s an opt-in program with staff electing to be a mentor, mentee or both, and it aims to provide women in the group with networking opportunities, advice and tools to help professional development.

Making use of mentoring

The program works by enabling staff to elect what type of mentor they are looking for — for instance a manager or CFO — who meets with them at minimum once a quarter. Mentors also facilitate broader networking opportunities by connecting everyone in the group with other members each month.

I’m participating in the program as both a mentee under the guidance SAP’s CFO for Middle East and Europe, and as a mentor for SAP’s Turkey CFO, and SAP’s Head of Commercial, South Africa.

As a personal initiative, I also started a network for female CFOs, called Women CFOs Roundtable, in partnership with Ernest and Young (EY) as a place where women can discuss ideas, challenges, and seek advice for both their personal and professional lives.

The idea was born following a conversation I had with a fellow CFO who was having difficulties within her own organisation and was seeking advice to help overcome hurdles with the executive leadership team.

Female finance network

This conversation made me realise that female CFOs often don’t have the same opportunities to network with others, share ideas and resolve issues due to the often-busy lives they lead outside of work whether that be taking care of children or caring for older relatives.

I was inspired to create a network specific for women that would suit their schedules and provide a safe environment where we can discuss a range of different challenges — from how to conduct a capital raise to developing purpose-led strategies.

To date, we have about ten women who regularly join our catchups, which have since moved online due to COVID-19. We also connect via a WhatsApp group which is often easier for those who have other commitments outside of work.

To read the full article, visit futurecfo.net:

To read about SAP’s Diversity and Inclusion policies, visit the Ìý

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While some of these predictions are closer to coming true than others, if we turn our attention to the world of recruiting, we’ll find several much more practical and immediately attainable goals as we enter the new decade. They may be less thrilling than teleportation, but these compelling innovations are nonetheless poised to make a major impact onÌý:

1. AI-Based Candidate Matching

Recession planning is in full swing. With many anticipating aÌý, talent acquisition team are preparing for a radically different candidate market.

While we’ve long been battling talent shortages, a recession could bring talent surpluses instead. But this will not immediately solve all the challengesÌýaround recruiting and retaining the best talent. Instead, recruiting teams will look to AI-based candidate matching solutions.

There won’t be more recruiters in a downturn, but you can anticipate applications for open positions to increase to as much as 20 times their current level. Effective AI solutions will be key to making the talent pool more manageable by helping recruiters short-list candidates while identifyingÌýthose with the right skills, like adaptability and agility.

2. Taking a Candidate-First Approach

If an element of the recruiting process, an experience, or a piece of information being collected is not to the benefit of the candidate, it will be eliminated. Of course, legal requirements do not apply.

However, recruiting teams should work with their legal departments to understand what is truly required and what can be done away with to deliver a better candidate experience. For example,ÌýÌýas many as 60 percent of candidates will abandon a job application if they feel it is too long or complex. To avoid drop-offs and incomplete applications, recruiters will have to cut the extraneous data collection and let candidates get right to the point.

3. Incorporating More Feedback Into the Recruiting Experience

Recruiting teams will begin to implement comprehensive feedback and experience management solutions. Feedback should be collected during three moments, at minimum: post-application, post-interview, and post-hire. And feedback should be requested from all candidates, even those who did not get an interview request or offer. By analysing this feedback, recruiting teams will be able to identify more opportunities to dramatically improve their recruiting processes.

4. Eliminating the Gender Pay Gap

Plenty of tools are now available to identify and solve gender inequity in corporate pay structures. In 2020, the best companies will eliminate the gender pay gap entirely — or they will at least have aÌýconcrete plan to eliminate it within the near future. For example, organizations can implement salary offer checks and balances or compensation-ratio intelligence in the internal transfer and promotion process.

Diversity can not onlyÌýÌýbut also lead to better retention, stronger business performance, increased employee engagement, and enhanced customer satisfaction. Fair pay structures are crucial for the meaningful success of any workforce diversity initiative.

5. RecognisingÌýthe Material Benefits of Diversity Programs

As many organizations have implemented significant diversity initiatives over the last five years, companies are now beginning to experience firsthand how a more diverse workforce can accelerate innovation, increase productivity and revenue, and strengthen corporate brands and cultures. While closing pay gaps is one key step toward more diversity, that’s not all it takes.

In 2020, companies will double down and implement more strategies to encourage and support workforce diversity. Expect to see more anonymous recruiting initiatives, such as blind screening and assessments. AI can be a big help in this process, but evenÌý. Going forward, talent acquisition teams should prioritise learning about vendors’ efforts to prevent AI bias before choosing any AI solution.

Additionally, as part of their diversity hiring initiatives, recruiters will take more steps to better accommodate interviewing and hiring people with disabilities. Organisations are starting to recognise that this large pool of highly skilled talent has often been overlooked, and those companies that tap into it stand to gain an edge over their competitors.

6. Real-Time Flexibility in Hire Type

In the year ahead, companies will start to shift away from predetermined contractor, contingent, and direct-hire roles. Instead, they will find the most appropriately skilled person for the role and hire them.

Organisations are recognising that some of the best candidates on the market aren’t looking for traditional full-time roles. They may have families to care for, or they may simply desire more variety in their work and schedule. Regardless of the reason, candidates are seeking nontraditional work arrangements, and companies will need to become more flexible in order to compete for the best talent. As a result, a recruiter’s focus will shift to the most appropriately skilled person, not just the right hire-type fit.

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In summary, 2020 will be an exciting year in the recruiting space. Organisations are beginning to see the economic value of diversity programs and the impact of emerging technologies like AI and experience data.

Continue innovating and developing the best possible recruitment experiences for your candidates. Regardless of the state of the economy, the most valuable investment for your company’s ability to stay competitive, nimble, and innovative remains the same: your people.

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