Why I run the Recruitment Academy
The Recruitment Academy is a collection of resources I find genuinely useful in the day-to-day work of a recruiter or hiring manager. The shortlist isn't random: before I started building Element ATS, I ran my own recruitment agency and managed dozens of recruiters in Poland and abroad. I'd say that left me with a fairly cynical filter on which ideas actually move a search forward, and which only sound good in conference talks.
Element, the system I now build, is used by recruiters and hiring managers around the world. From what I see at the companies using it, the same problems keep coming back. Reaching good candidates who aren't actively looking is hard. So is keeping a process clean when 200 CVs land in a week and most of them won't fit the role anyway. And then there's getting a decision out of a hiring manager before the candidate signs somewhere else. What I've put on this page speaks to those situations.
You won't find everything ever written about recruitment here. You'll find what I'd recommend to anyone who takes this work seriously. The selection is mine and it's subjective, drawn from hundreds of recruitment processes I've sat through, on both sides of the hiring decision.
Knowledge, practice, tools, reports
Below you will find links to various sections of this recruitment knowledge base. Read, use, share knowledge with others, and send us any feedback or ideas to help build this recruitment resource centre — write to us.
Knowledge & Practice
In this section you will find a variety of materials — mainly articles but also webinar recordings — on recruitment best practices. Topics include candidate sourcing, job ad creation, effective candidate communication, legal aspects, and practical tips for both recruiters and candidates.
Candidate Sourcing
Everything you need to know about effectively sourcing candidates for your recruitment processes.
- How to Respond to Negative Anonymous Employee Reviews
- Google Analytics in recruitment
- Google Kormo Jobs
Candidate Selection
How to effectively select and evaluate candidates through your recruitment pipeline.
- Keywords Cloud: The Best Way to Prepare Your CV for ATS
- Six Practical Tips on How to Recruit Salespeople
Managing Candidates in the Recruitment Process
How to communicate with candidates and guide them through the recruitment process.
- How to Avoid Ghosting in Recruitment — Practical Tips
- Increase Candidate Response Rates with SMS — ATS Can Help You with That
- Letters of Intent and Preliminary Contracts in Recruitment Processes — A Comprehensive Guide
Recruitment Mistakes
The most common mistakes in recruitment processes, how much they cost, and how to avoid them.
Industry-Specific Recruitment
Each job specialisation is different, and recruitment processes should be tailored accordingly.
- Six Practical Tips on How to Recruit Salespeople
- Virtual Welding Course — A Revolution in Training Welders
Recruitment Metrics
Which metrics matter in recruitment? How to collect, measure and analyse them?
Recruitment Agencies
Information about recruitment agencies, staffing firms and outsourced recruitment services.
Onboarding
Onboarding is the process that follows recruitment. Some recruiters assist with onboarding, so we share knowledge in this area too.
GDPR in Recruitment
Everything you need to know about GDPR compliance in recruitment processes.
- GDPR-Compliant Recruitment — A Comprehensive Guide to Sourcing & Candidate Verification
- Complete Guide: Applying GDPR in Recruitment & Direct Search
Books
Recommended books for recruiters
Tools
Here you will find resources on various tools used in the recruitment process. Learn about ATS systems, how to source candidates online (e.g. on LinkedIn or Facebook), and discover useful tools that are emerging on the market.
Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)
Information about ATS systems — software applications that support recruitment tasks.
- Element ATS — an agile recruitment system built by recruiters, offering intuitive interface and versatile capabilities
- What is an ATS? How does it work? How to choose one? Check our comprehensive ATS guide
- Element's Recruitment Pipeline View Redesigned
Automation Tools for Recruiters
There are many tools that automate daily recruiter tasks beyond ATS systems. Here we present some of them.
Social Media
Tools and information on using social media for recruitment
- LinkedIn — New Invites Limit. Is There Any Workaround?
- Tips for Writing InMails from LinkedIn Recruiters
- How to Turn on Dark Mode on LinkedIn Mobile App
Skills & Qualification Testing, Candidate Verification
Testing tools to assess candidate competencies and qualifications
- HireRight — candidate background verification service
- Zinc Work — candidate background verification service
- TestGorilla
- DevSkiller — IT skills assessment
- HackerRank — IT skills assessment
- Codility — IT skills assessment
- Coderbyte — IT skills assessment
Artificial Intelligence in Recruitment
Articles on the use of artificial intelligence in recruitment processes
- Full Work Automation Through AI — Polemic with Dr Przegalinska
- Is Artificial Intelligence Truly Intelligent?
- AI: Humanity's Doom or Salvation? Polemic with Professor Zybertowicz
- Human-AI Symbiosis: Is It Possible?
Work in HR
Resources about careers in HR and recruitment, including job market analyses and career insights.
- Future of HR Jobs
- HR Director / Manager — Job Offers Overview
- Who Recruits Recruiters in September in Poland?
Reports — Salary, Labor Market & HR
In this section you will find links to the most interesting market reports: salary benchmarks, labor market indicators and other reports related to recruitment and human resource management.
Salary Reports
Latest 2025 and 2026 international salary reports and compensation benchmarks. Sources include Hays, Robert Half, ManpowerGroup, LinkedIn, Stack Overflow, Levels.fyi, World Economic Forum, Antal and Mercer.
2026
- Hays — Tech Talent Explorer 2026 (10,000 tech professionals, 34 countries)
- Hays — US 2026 Salary & Hiring Trends Guide
- Robert Half — 2026 Salary Guide (US, 7 professional fields)
- Robert Half — 2026 Salary Guide UK (PDF, direct download)
- ManpowerGroup — 2026 Global Talent Shortage Survey (41 markets, ~40,000 firms)
- LinkedIn — Talent Velocity Report 2026
- Hays — GCC Salary Guide 2026 (Middle East, ~400 roles, 11 sectors)
2025
- World Economic Forum — Future of Jobs Report 2025 (PDF, 1,000+ employers, 55 economies)
- Stack Overflow — Developer Survey 2025 (49,000+ developers, 177 countries)
- Levels.fyi — End of Year Pay Report 2025 (top US tech compensation)
- LinkedIn — Future of Recruiting 2025 (1,000+ TA professionals)
- LinkedIn — Workplace Learning Report 2025 (PDF)
- Antal — Salary Report 2025 (Poland, 14th edition, EN version)
- Antal — Recruitment Trends 2025 (730 recruiters surveyed)
- Mercer — 2025 Salary Projections (3.7% total increase forecast)
Salary Reports Archive (2024 and earlier)
Older editions — useful for year-over-year comparisons and historical compensation trend analysis.
- Talentio — European Tech Salary Report (2022)
- Levels.fyi — global salary data (live, all years)
- Software Engineer Salary by Country — CodeSubmit Global Report
- European Transparent IT Job Market Report 2024 (PDF)
Labor Market Reports
Reports based on data from Element ATS's Job Monit module and other sources
- Polish HR Services Market 2021 — Report 2022
- Polish Labor Market in September 2020 — Report
- August on the Labor Market — A Report by Grant Thornton and Element
- Layoffs Tracker — global employee layoff reports
