iCIMS of Matawan Appoints Chief Economist

On Jan 15, 2016

Matawan-based iCIMS, Inc., a leading provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) talent acquisition solutions, has announced that Josh Wright has joined the company as chief economist. Prior to joining iCIMS, Wright served as a US economist with Bloomberg Intelligence and the Bloomberg Economics Brief, where he analyzed current macroeconomic trends and was a frequent guest contributor on Bloomberg radio and Bloomberg TV.

“At Glassdoor, we have seen an increase in private companies bringing on economists to help conduct research and better understand data to inform business decisions,” said Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, Glassdoor chief economist. “The increasing need for economists and data scientists in business isn’t going away any time soon. Employers will continue to invest in individuals who can push the business forward by analyzing the company’s data and understanding trends in a new way.”

In his role as chief economist, Wright will use iCIMS’ system data, which includes hiring insights across more than 4,500 organizations, to compile and share information with the media, analysts, and customers on emerging trends in the labor market. iCIMS began its U.S. Hiring Trends quarterly report series in 2015 within the company’s thought leadership center, Hire Expectations Institute™.  Since the quarterly report’s introduction, insights from the series have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Bloomberg, and MarketWatch. To date, the quarterly U.S. Hiring Trends reports have covered topics such as talent demand and supply fluctuations by region, industry type, and company size, as well as information on specific hiring practices and results achieved on important Human Resources metrics such as “time-to-fill” open positions.

“Data is key to driving business results. At iCIMS, I will be focused on using the company’s comprehensive hiring data set to identify market trends and make forecasts tied to economic indicators, and to educate and serve as a valuable resource to job seekers, employers, and our clients,” said Wright. “As a researcher, I was attracted to this role by the unique view iCIMS can provide into full lifecycle hiring data – who’s hiring, who’s applying, where did they come from, how are they are applying, what’s happening between candidates and hiring companies throughout the process, and most importantly, what are the outcomes. The insights we’re able to generate and share are going to be impactful to hiring companies and job seekers alike. We also expect our insights to contribute to policy and academic discussions of how the U.S. labor market is evolving.” Wright added.

A former Federal Reserve staffer, Wright helped build the Fed’s mortgage-backed securities (MBS) portfolio of more than $1 trillion, among other responses to the Global Financial Crisis. As a researcher, he has published on labor and housing markets, and advised policymakers across the legislative and executive branches of government. His work has appeared in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Economic Policy Review Journal and Liberty Street Economics blog, and The New York Times. Wright earned his Master of Public Policy with a concentration in macroeconomics from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Mass, and his Bachelor of Arts from Yale University in New Haven, Conn.

“iCIMS is rich with data. Having an in-house expert to analyze and predict future trends will enhance these insights for our customers, employers, and job seekers across the country,” said Susan Vitale, iCIMS chief marketing officer. “Today’s executives see recruiting as one of their top business concerns, and are now turning to metrics to make informed hiring decisions to help them recruit the best talent for their organizations. Josh brings experience in researching and analyzing the workforce, and we are confident that his expertise will take awareness of our research practice to a broader audience.”

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