LevelUP HCS

Last week we shared the Q1 2026 Worker Confidence Index findings with HRO Today. The data pointed to a market in transition and confidence edging up, but uncertainty still present across promotion, leadership trust, and job security. Curtis Grajeda has a different read on what is happening on the ground. The turnaround is already here. LevelUP HCS has been busy since Q4 2025 and that momentum is carrying into 2026. For organizations not yet seeing it, Curtis believes the shift is coming in the next quarter or so. Watch the video for his take. And if you missed the full Q1 WCI report last week the link is in the comments. #WorkerConfidence #HRLeadership #WorkforcePlanning #TalentAcquisition #LevelUPHCS

One week from today. LinkedIn HQ, Farringdon, London. We are proud to be supporting ExecTASocial for an evening centered on one of the most important conversations in talent acquisition right now: Trust. Not trust as an abstract value. Trust as a live, operational challenge every Head of TA is navigating in real time. We are beyond the question of whether to adopt AI. The conversation has shifted to where humans must stay in the loop, how candidates actually experience automated processes, and how sentiment, memory, and psychology shape the hiring experiences we design. Dr. Julia Shaw, criminal psychologist and social science futurist, joins the evening to help the community think through exactly that. And Grant J., our Global Head of Sales and Solutions, will be in the room representing LevelUP HCS. If you are a Head of TA in London and have not yet secured your place, this is the week to do it. Thursday June 4 | 5 to 8 PM | LinkedIn HQ, Farringdon Register here: https://luma.com/z0lbtned #ExecTASocial #TrustInAI #TalentAcquisition #AIHiring #HRLeadership #LevelUPHCS

One thing keeps coming up in conversations with TA and HR leaders right now. It is not a lack of tools. Most teams have sourcing platforms, an ATS, screening solutions, engagement tools. On paper everything is covered. The problem is that none of them talk to each other. Recruiters spend more time managing handoffs between systems than engaging with candidates. Decisions slow down not because the information is not there but because it is sitting in different places. The question worth asking is not "Do we have the right tools?" It is "Do our tools work as one?" Something worth thinking about as the second half of the year starts taking shape. #TalentAcquisition #HiringStrategy #AIHiring #Techology #HRLeadership #LevelUPHCS

Roles open for 100 days. Top talent choosing competitors. Operations feeling the pressure. The problem was not the candidate pool. It was the compensation strategy. A manufacturing organization with 13,000 plus employees was offering a flat pay rate for Field Service Technicians that was not competitive in high-cost regions. Competitors were paying more. The gap was costing them candidates every week. We applied talent intelligence to find exactly where the misalignment sat. Regional compensation benchmarking. Role-level skill analysis. Competitor pay structure review. Then adjusted rates to reflect market reality, not assumptions. Within 45 days, seven roles that had been open for over 100 days were filled. A 55% reduction in time to fill. The right data does not just improve hiring speed. It changes the outcome entirely. Read the full case study in the comment. #Manufacturing #TalentIntelligence #RPO #HiringStrategy #WorkforcePlanning #LevelUPHCS

The fastest-growing skills in tech hiring get a lot of attention. The skills commanding the highest pay premiums tell a different story. Team Management: +59% wage growth year over year. jQuery: +49%. Model View Controller: +48%. None of these are AI skills. None of them are emerging technologies. What they have in common is scarcity and impact. Organizations are paying premiums where talent is hard to find and where the absence of that capability creates real operational risk. Legacy system reliance is driving wages up for talent that can support them. Foundational architecture expertise commands a premium precisely because fewer people have it. The implication for workforce planning is straightforward. Not every high-demand skill is a high-wage skill. And not every high-wage skill is the one everyone is talking about. Where should talent budgets go? Build internal AI and modernization capability through upskilling. Compete selectively for scarce, high-impact expertise tied to delivery and architecture. Use flexible talent models for specialized or transitional skill gaps. Full report in the comments. #TechHiring #WorkforcePlanning #TalentAcquisition #SkillsBasedHiring #TechTalent #LevelUPHCS

Memorial Day is a reminder that purpose and responsibility are not abstract ideas. They are lived through courage, commitment, and the choice to serve something larger than yourself. Today we pause to honor the men and women who gave everything in service to others. We are grateful for the freedom to do the work we do. And today more than any other, we are reminded of what that freedom was built on. To the families who carry this day with them every year, thank you. We honor. We are grateful. #MemorialDay #HonorAndRemember #ServiceAndSacrifice #LevelUPHCS

Worker confidence edged up in Q1 2026. But the detail behind that number tells a more complicated story. Raise expectations are up. Promotion confidence is down. Trust in company leadership declined after a historic rise throughout 2025. And job security remains uncertain against a backdrop of rising inflation, slowing job growth, and geopolitical pressure. Curtis Grajeda joined HRO Today to share what these signals mean for workforce strategy right now and why internal mobility may be one of the most underused levers available to leaders today. When employees can see a path to grow within the organization, retention strengthens and capability builds from within. The organizations getting this right are asking a simple question first: does the opportunity already exist internally before looking externally? Watch the video and read the full Q1 2026 Worker Confidence Index report in the comments. We are proud to sponsor this research alongside HRO Today. #WorkerConfidence #HRLeadership #WorkforcePlanning #TalentAcquisition #EmployeeExperience #LevelUPHCS

An overwhelmed TA team. A hiring process losing candidates before offers were made. A healthcare organization that needed a different model. LevelUP started with Executive Search and then evolved into a full Project RPO engagement. 119 quality hires in 4 months. 76% increase in positions filled. 57% reduction in agency spend. The shift wasn't just operational. Gaining access to department managers changed everything, candidates matched to the actual need, not just the job description. Watch the video and see the full case study in the comments. #HealthcareRecruitment #ProjectRPO #TalentAcquisition #HealthcareHR #LevelUPHCS

Choosing a manufacturing recruitment partner is not just a talent decision. It is an operational one. When hiring is tied directly to production timelines, the wrong partner does not just slow down recruiting. It slows down everything that depends on it. Five questions worth asking before you commit: - Can they deploy and start delivering quickly, or will onboarding eat into your timeline? - Do they understand manufacturing hiring, the regional constraints, the talent pool realities? - How do they build pipelines for hard-to-fill roles beyond inbound applications? - What visibility and accountability do they provide into progress, not just activity? - How flexible is their model when hiring demand shifts mid-project? The right partner does not just add capacity. They help you maintain momentum and keep production plans on track. Read the full blog on link in the comments. #Manufacturing #TalentAcquisition #HiringStrategy #ProjectRPO #WorkforcePlanning #LevelUPHCS

At HRO Today NA Forum, the AI conversation kept coming back to one honest admission. Everyone knows it is going to reshape how we work. Not everyone has figured out what that looks like in practice. So, we want to ask directly: When it comes to AI in your hiring process right now, where does your team stand? Leave us a comment if none of these quite capture it. We are genuinely curious where the real friction is sitting right now. #TalentAcquisition #AIHiring #HRLeadership #Techology #WorkforcePlanning #LevelUPHCS