Recruiting Trends 2016: Breaking From the Norm

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It’s no secret that the demand for talent has surpassed supply. To counteract this, employers must break from the norm, get out of their comfort zones and bring candidate needs to the forefront. Top recruiting trends this week:

 

Hire the Best People, & Let Them Work from Wherever They Are

Most organizations say they are more open-minded than ever about virtual teams, and yet they still have old-school systems in place for hiring people across the country or around the world. From where I sit, the overlapping barriers come down to structure, culture, and mindset. Read more…

 

How to Conquer Recruiting, Retention and IT Skills Challenges

IT has become ingrained in every part of business strategy, so it’s not surprising that demand for tech talent is at an all-time high, forcing organizations to be creative when competing for talent. We’re already through the month of January and employers are looking down the barrel of a competitive 2016. Several industry experts offer their advice. Read more…

 

With Changing Job Climate, Employers Need to Break with Tradition to Find New Hires

Demand is outpacing the supply of talent as baby boomers hit retirement age and the economy improves, putting pressure on companies to try new angles. Here are five less-obvious pools of talent that can bring fresh ideas to the company, as well as fill gaps. Read more…

 

 

 

 

 

Grasping Visa Rules Can Help in Hiring International Students

work visaInternational students majoring in STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) fields can stay in the U.S. longer if they are using the OPT program. Read more…

 

 

3 Ways to Make Onboarding Paperwork Easier for New Employees

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For a fresh college graduate starting their first job today, running the onboarding gamut can be as daunting as a mortgage agreement. The onboarding experience includes the application, authorizations and disclosures, background screening and verification, drug screening, federal tax withholding, state tax withholding, medical insurance and ACA forms, 401K, short-term and long-term disability, voluntary disclosure of disability, COBRA acknowledgement, non-compete agreement, employee handbook agreement, direct deposit, emergency contact, wage theft, EEO… gasp!… it is a lot of paperwork.

 

paperworkI recently had an opportunity to interview some college graduates who had just gone through an onboarding process. A common theme arose from all of them: the paperwork, whether electronic or paper, was a daunting task. When having to onboard using paper forms they universally talked about the same experience. It required an appointment, locked in a conference room with someone from HR, not understanding what was required on certain forms, and not having all of the required information with them to complete the tasks. Does this sound familiar?

 

To ease the onboarding process, organizations and HR need to consider the growing regulatory environment that we are in today, and the mountains of required documentation. There are plenty of ways to be out of compliance, government or corporate: use an out-of-date form or miss a form altogether; overlook an employee walking away with vital intellectual property without a non-compete on file; fail to meet the requests of an ICE audit and suffer fines. So what is an HR professional to do? Plenty!

 

Have you ever spent time looking for a paper form trapped on a coworker’s desk? First thing’s first, if you’re still using paper it is time to move your onboarding forms into an electronic process. This provides consistency, ensures the required forms are completed on time with the right information and in the right sequence, and provides you with a permanent digital record. It also helps make information easier to search for and share across locations.

 

SEE ALSO: How to Implement a Highly Effective Onboarding Process

 

In talking to HR professionals, one of the most dreaded questions when helping an employee with their paperwork is, “how many deductions should I write down?” We are many things, but a tax accountant is not one of them! Give your candidates the option to complete their onboarding paperwork at home before their first day. Every day new employees are asked to make critical, potentially life-altering choices on a Monday morning, with only seconds to think about it and without access to key resources to make an informed decision. Additionally, for forms regarding healthcare and life insurance, most people don’t have dependents’ or beneficiary’s social security numbers with them, making these nearly impossible to fill out in a conference room setting. Letting your new hires complete their forms at their own pace before they start their job enables them to ask questions among experts within their own circle, find required information, and also means less time for you in a conference room. Leave the tax questions to the tax experts!

 

Finally, be patient with your candidates. The top four positive stressful events (is there really such a thing as positive stress?) are: buying a home, getting married, having children, and starting a new job. Talking to the recent college graduates, their number one resource for help with their new hire paperwork was their parents. As HR professionals, we live and breathe these forms every day. We know a W-4 from a W-9 from an I-9 and we have the I-9 List A, B, and C document requirements memorized. Your new bright-eyed candidate may have never completed these forms in their life. Always look at things through their perspective, and remember there is no such thing as a stupid question!

 

Originally Posted by TalentWise, a Brightwing partner

At Brightwing, recruiting and staffing is about the people. We pride ourselves on effective onboarding to position new employees for long-term productivity. Looking to jump-start your career? We live for that. Learn more here.

The Best Hiring Managers Focus on Who, not What

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We have all known a leader who’s struggled trying to fill an open position because they wanted the perfect combination of hard skills and really weren’t persuaded by exceptional soft skills. These leaders are holding out for a candidate’s work experience that includes a particular previous employer, or an unusual technical skill, or a certain project experience.

 

hiring manager tipsSurprisingly, when these same hiring managers are asked whether or not they would have been better off hiring a smart, energetic person to whom they could teach the hard skills, they answered “yes” — especially when they’ve been waiting for those elusive hard skills for months.

 

To make matters worse, in almost every case in which a hiring manager was seduced by some particular hard skill for which they’ve hired, they fired for misaligned soft skills. Rarely do we hear of someone being fired for not having a hard skill they professed to have. Yet, how often have we heard someone fired for poor work ethic, no initiative, poor people skills, or they just don’t fit?

 

So why are hiring managers still so hung up on searching for candidates with ideal hard skills when they know most (not all) critical hard skills can be learned? One reason is these leaders aren’t sure how to screen for those soft skills. Another reason may be the IBM syndrome: the leader stands a better chance of being criticized for taking a risk on an unknown than for going with someone who has a “proven” track record. The flaw in that reasoning is we don’t know if the candidate’s perceived success is due to their own skill, others on their team, the environment, or just a perception created by this candidate.

 

When hiring managers review candidates, they should challenge their bias towards hard skills and ask themselves what someone with good soft skills can learn. One of Jim Collins’ most important leadership principles is “first who, then what.”

 

Empowered hiring managers focus on “who” and the successful “what” then comes.

 

This post originally published by The Metiss Group here.

How to Implement a Highly Effective Onboarding Process

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Having an effective onboarding process has never been more important in today’s competitive workforce. Talented employees are among one of the strongest assets for innovative companies, but poor initial onboarding experiences often lead to unpleasant, costly results.

 

The following statistics emphasize the importance of an effective onboarding process:

– 33% of new hires look for a new job within their first 6 months on the job
– 23% of new hires quit before their first anniversary
– It takes about 8 months for a new hire to reach full productivity
– Estimated employee turnover costs range between 100% – 300% of the replaced employee’s salary

Statistics Source: Harvard Business Review

 

Understandably, managers have busy work lives. It’s often a challenge to implement stimulating, effective onboarding experiences. Luckily, there are ways to streamline new-hire processes to engage and drive long-term success. Below, we provide 4 suggestions for implementing a highly effective onboarding process:

 

Create an Onboarding Video

A quick onboarding video is one way to effectively show newcomers what they can expect. The video may highlight things like culture, core values, and the next steps in the onboarding process.

  
Use Technology to Speed up the Paperwork Process

We have the technology at our fingertips, so why not use it? HR systems like Talentwise, Silkroad, and Taleo provide new hire portals that are capable of implementing electronic signatures, up-to-date employment records, and socializing features.

 

Create a Mentoring Program

To make the onboarding process less overwhelming, create a mentoring program. Mentors will often be able to help newcomers understand the organizational structure and employee processes. Such a program usually increases productivity as well.

 

Involve All Stakeholders & Give a Warm Welcome

The development and implementation of the onboarding process doesn’t have to be limited to the HR department. There are several other departments that can make a good first impression as well. For instance, streamlining a process where the new hire gets to meet different sectors of the workplace every other day is a good way to encourage increased employee engagement and motivation.

 

The Science behind Recruiting Millennials

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Recruiting MillennialsWhen it comes to recruiting Millennials, it’s a whole different ball game. Also known as Generation Y, Millennials were born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s. This new generation of workers is already starting to reshape the workplace. They have grown up with more information at their fingertips than any other generation and have a unique perspective on what they want out of their career.

The key generational differences listed below are changing the way we recruit Millennials, and ultimately retain this growing segment of the workforce.

 

Tech-Savvy & Socially Minded

Having been raised with laptops, smart phones, social media and instant messaging, Millennials love technology and are fiercely independent. Not to mention, connected 247.

  • Stay up to date on technology and utilize social media to recruit Millennials.
  • Make sure your career site is mobile-optimized.
  • Work your network. Get employees to share job postings and talk about your employer brand. For example, taking your staff to a baseball game? Post pictures of the game and tag employees.
  • If your employees love working for you they will tell everyone. The opposite is also true, if they hate their job they won’t hesitate to complain to their networks.
  • Encourage employees to openly talk about interesting projects they are working on, better yet, video tape them talking about it. Then share it.
  • Improve the technical skills of your existing workforce. This is an opportunity to engage Millennials by having them teach more seasoned colleagues how to leverage tools like social media in the workplace.

 

Growth & Recognition

Millennials strongly believe in continuous training and are motivated by positive recognition. According to PwC, 35% of Millennials consider excellent training programs to be the top benefit they want from their employer.

  • Communicate opportunities for training, growth and advancement internally and externally.
  • Design a blended training and onboarding approach utilizing tools like web-based learning, mobile apps, gaming, as well as traditional classroom training.
  • Recognize and praise Millennials for their accomplishments publically. This increases job satisfaction and motivates this generation to work hard.
  • Be proactive about transferring institutional knowledge to your millennial workforce.  After all, they are the future of your company.

 

Flexibility

Most Millennials have a work hard, play hard mentality and aren’t willing to sacrifice their personal life in order to advance their careers. They also don’t respond well to cookie-cutter management approaches.

  • Tell candidates how your organization values work-life balance and talk about your employee sponsored events, charity and volunteer work, health and fitness programs and any other benefits provided to employees.
  • Show employees how the work they are doing contributes to the overall goals of the organization.
  • Millennials want instant access to information so leverage technology to give employees 24-hour access to company information.

 

Have a “Why”

Recruiting Millennials involves digging deep. They want a challenge and a sense of purpose.

  • Share your corporate vision and provide a career path of empowerment and self-discovery. When candidates and employees feel connected to your why, they are much more likely to dig deep, work hard and be loyal.

5 Key Tips for Recruiting and Hiring High-Demand Candidates

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Recruiting and Hiring High Demand CandidatesIt’s no secret; it’s a candidate’s market. The more competition there is for a group of candidates, the more recruiting effort is required to attract and hire them.

Here are the top 5 tips for recruiting candidates in high demand:

1. Know your product

The first step in the recruiting process is getting to know everything you can about the open position. What is the culture of the team, what hours will they work, what problems will you need this person to solve and how can the position progress?  The better you are at communicating and answering questions, the clearer the picture you can paint for candidates. Know your stuff.

2. Know your target audience

Creating a detailed profile is the first step in hiring an employee who will be with you for the long haul. It’s not enough to just define the level of experience and talents you are looking for, you also have to identify the type of person who will thrive in your environment.

3. What makes your job stand out?

The 3 most important differentiators:

• Your company’s cutting edge or innovative projects
• Your people (because people do business with people that they like)
• Your company culture

4. Let current employees tell your story

Content is king, but it is more effective when communicated by a relatable source. Your current employees are your best sales people and recruiting tool .

5. Promote, promote, promote!

This is a recruiting step that takes planning and strategy.  Search for events, forums, conferences, and meet ups where you will be able to tell your story to the right audience. You can also attack the market socially: post videos, blogs and other materials on social communities where your audience is most likely to see and share your job opportunity. Most importantly, reach out to your current employees. Referrals are the number one way to recruit great employees.

5 Key Tips for Recruiting Engineers

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recruiting engineers

It’s no secret that engineers are some of the most sought after professionals today, and the marketing to attract and retain their talent is incredibly important. In the words of Pete Soderling, software engineer and founder of Hakka Group, “Engineers are in massive, disproportionate and obscenely high demand. In other words, they’ve become the hottest girls at the bar.”

Recruiting engineers (mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer engineering and other engineering professionals) may be as simple as Marketing 101, Soderling explains:

Know your product like the back of your hand
Engineers of all types have an incredible amount of opportunities laid before them, so when you speak about your product, this job opening, you better know exactly what you’re talking about because you probably only have one shot. Like in retail, you should know all facets of this product: What is the culture like, what team would they work on, what hours would they work, what engineering problems would you need this resource to solve, what kind of person would thrive in this environment, how the position could progress, etc, etc, etc. The better you are at communicating and answering questions, the better the picture will look. Know your stuff.

Know your target audience
What type of engineer do you need? This goes along with knowing your product. Are you looking for entry level, recent college graduates? Do you need a degreed professional or an engineer with hardcore experience? If you define the type of professional and level of experience you will have a better road map to hiring an engineer who will stay with your organization, not quit three weeks later.

What makes your product stand out?
According to Soderling, there are three essential aspects of a job that an engineer will dissect:

• Your company’s engineering challenges and projects
• Your people (because people do business with people that they like)
• Your company culture

You MUST be able to differentiate your company on these three points. Engineers by nature solve problems. Make this problem as attractive as you can, “The bigger, the badder, the hairier the challenge, the better.” Also, every professional wants to be happy at their job, and a huge aspect of that is their environment and the people they see every day. Make sure that you are able to talk about the culture and those that work in it quickly and effectively.

Allow current Engineers to tell your story
Content is king, but it is more effective when communicated by a relatable source. You wouldn’t want me, a marketing professional speaking to biomedical engineers about our engineering challenges. Your internal engineers are your best sales people, and also show your target audience that great engineers not only work at your company, but love to work there. Commence engineer magnetism.

Promote, promote, promote!
Now that your story, audience and who your spokes engineers are, you are ready to spread your message. This is a process, and takes planning and a lot of scheduling but will get your message out on several fronts:
1. Map out events, forums, conferences, and plan meetings or meet ups where you are able to tell your story to the right audience.
2. Attack socially: post videos, blogs and other materials on social communities where your audience would most likely see and more importantly share.

If you dissect your current engineering recruiting efforts, are you taking the right steps? Are you missing a piece? The engineering community is so highly sought after, that evaluating your process is invaluable to your company.

Click here to read the original article posted on Soderling’s blog.

 

Top 11 Job Interview Questions to Ask Interviewees

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Oprah Winfrey job interview questions

The below job interview questions can be asked at any job level and any position. The answers to questions like these can reveal personality, drive, level of ability and strengths. You should also add questions that are position and or candidate specific for further information, however these get the conversation started. Here are the top 11 job interview questions to ask interviewees:

  • Why do you want to work here?
  • Why are you looking for a new opportunity?
  • What interests you most about this position?
  • What is your greatest strength?
  • What are the reasons for your success?
  • What would you like to be doing five years from now?
  • What kind of experience do you have for this job?
  • What kinds of decisions are most difficult for you?
  • What are your biggest accomplishments?
  • What training/qualifications do you have for a job like this?
  • Why should I hire you?

Bounce Back from Rejection: How to Ask for Feedback When You Don’t Get the Job

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How to ask for Feedback when you don’t get the jobThe best job interview experience often comes from an interview in which you failed. Like in sports, you can learn more from losing than winning, but you have to learn how to ask for feedback when you don’t get the job. The only way to improve upon yourself as an interviewer is to evaluate your actions and make positive changes. It’s never easy admitting that you need guidance but if you swallow your pride (I have been there before…) you have the chance to improve by great lengths.

Here is an example of how to write an email asking for feedback, feel free to use and change to fit your specific situation:

Subject: Thank You

Hello ____ –

I wanted to thank you for taking the time to interview me last week, it was great to meet you and have the chance to interview. Although you have chosen to go with another applicant, I wanted to ask for your honest feedback in how I could have improved in our meeting. I want to continually advance my skills as a job seeker and the best way is to learn from my experience.Please give me a few specific examples as to what I could have changed, so I will know for future interviews.Thank you again for your time,ElyseOnce given feedback, what you do with it is the trick. According to the4 Keys to Learning From Failure by Guy Winch, Ph D., you need to focus on 4 steps:

Re-Evaluate your planning
Did you prepare enough for the interview by going over your own experience? Did you print your resume on high quality paper?

Re-Evaluate your preparation
Did you plan out sample interview and behavioral questions with specific examples? Did you think about any curve balls that they may throw you? Did you research the company and seriously think about why you would want to work at their company?

Re-Evaluate your execution
How was your interaction with the manager? Were you late? Were you able to openly talk about your experience?

Focus on variables in your control
Don’t focus on the few aspects of the interview that were out of your control. Focus on the aspects that you definitely have control over and work on those. To continually fixate on the emotional aspect of failing in an interview is easy to do, but this will not help you improve.

If you ask for feedback, you can be your own coach and cheerleader by better preparing yourself for your next interview. Re-focus your efforts and gear up for your next interview!

Five Strategies for Effective Talent Procurement

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Five Strategies for Effective Talent ProcurementToday’s procurement professionals face significant challenges. Increasingly asked to do more with less, these individuals must also move beyond traditional roles focused on cost reductions and streamlined sourcing and become an integral part of an organization’s strategy team.

What does this mean for talent acquisition? Simply put, procurement professionals who seek to lead in their field must re-examine how they approach the hiring process to ensure their organizations remain nimble and competitive. Following are five strategies for effective talent procurement for forward-thinking professionals.

1. Understand the talent situation.
Despite persistently high unemployment levels, many organizations are facing a talent shortage. The competition for talent is expected to increase in the coming years. In a recent Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey of 235 C-level executives, more than half (53%) of respondents cited talent shortages as their primary area of concern. Meanwhile, the contingent workforce is growing exponentially, driven by advances in technology and the desire of organizations to flex their capabilities based on market demand. Understanding these trends is key to finding a solution.

2. Know who you need.
Talent shortages and hiring challenges are highest in areas that require advanced skills and college degrees, such as IT, professional services, healthcare, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Hiring talent in these areas therefore requires a different approach than hiring for lower skill sets. To adopt the right approach in hiring, it’s imperative to know the types of roles that need to be filled in an organization.

3. Put systems in their place.
The trend toward a larger contingent workforce and a desire to standardize hiring is leading to an increased adoption of software-enabled, cloud-based, systems-driven staffing solutions. In a recent survey of hiring managers and executives across a range of industries, approximately half currently use vendor management systems (VMS), managed vendor systems (MVS) or managed service providers (MSP). The chief advantages cited by those using the systems are a faster hiring process, lowered costs and decreased workload as well as tracking and reporting capabilities.

In an environment that demands process consistency and in-depth intelligence, these systems present an attractive solution. Indeed, the ability to save time and resources and integrate sophisticated workforce analysis tools can provide a competitive advantage—when these systems are applied in the right way.

4. Understand the limitations of VMS/MVS and MSP solutions.
Despite the benefits of VMS/MVS and MSP solutions, they’re not a “magic bullet” for acquiring talent. When asked about the performance of VMS/MVS and MSP solutions, only one out of four survey participants rated performance across all attributes as very good or excellent. Hiring managers and executives were also neutral on the performance of automated talent acquisition systems in identifying candidates—only one-third rated the quality of candidates that are hired as very good or excellent. The primary challenge cited by those using VMS/MVS and MPS solutions was the sourcing of unqualified candidates or candidates who are a poor fit for the organization. High turnover and a lack of engagement are common. On average, respondents said they work around the established process of a VMS/MVS or MSP 34% of the time.

5. Leverage the value of human involvement.
Approximately half of all respondents prefer to work with a combined hiring solution using both an automated system and a specialized staffing/recruiting agency, noting that both methods have advantages for different requirements. VMS/MVS or MSP solutions can fill positions quickly that require less skilled or less specialized employees, while specialized staffing/recruiting agencies are preferred for higher skill sets and more specialized recruits who require more time and effort to identify.

An additional 23 percent of those surveyed indicated that they prefer to work only with a specialized agency because of the agency’s ability to source high-quality candidates, target specific needs, and provide clear communication and better control of the process.

Standardization and commoditization have their place in the procurement chain. However, when talent matters, human involvement on a personal level is essential. By adopting strategies that recognize the value of personal, professional attention in the hiring process, procurement professionals can play a key role in positioning their organizations to lead in the next workforce paradigm.

Source:

Brightwing Market Research Study on Team Member Recruiting and Talent Acquisition, Clear Seas Research, Troy, MI, Dec. 2012.

How to Provide Real Value in Talent Acquisition

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Today’s world of talent acquisition or “recruiting” seems to have some very confusing measurements around what represents value. The market is trending towards more outsourced solutions: RPOs, MSPs, automated resume parsing and screening, as well as off shoring some, or all of the initial contact with potential candidates. This trend seems to represent a quicker delivery (in most cases) of resumes to the hiring managers or client delivery team.

Real Value In Talent AcquisitionFor hiring managers combating a real talent shortage, is the quicker, faster delivery of resumes really the best answer? In my career the focus has always been on working towards finding the best hire, not on the delivering resumes within a 24 hour period.

The sad reality is that there are HR organizations that seem to drive the same concept of value whether they are recruiting for themselves or outsourcing the work to recruiting organizations. The selection process is essentially driven by a commoditized procurement model rather than a value/success driven talent acquisition model. I am convinced that the commoditized procurement model falls short in helping to support hiring managers. Forcing a usually overworked hiring manager or executive to review numerous resumes (we refer to this as a resume blizzard) in the hopes of finding that one aligned and ideal candidate is a recipe for failure.

I discussed this theory with a manager at a major airline a few years back. He had already gone through a hiring process 3 months earlier to hire 2 senior people on his team. Of the initial 2 hires, one eventually didn’t show up and he was getting ready to release the 2nd due to performance issues. The manager reached out for support from the existing HR partner and wouldn’t you know it, he received 60 resumes within 2 days. I asked him about his plan for the 60 resumes and he said; “probably take them home and read them over the weekend.” This gentleman had a wife, a new born, 3 other children and was already working 10 to 12 hours a day. He eventually admitted he would probably only get to look at 10 to 15 of the resumes.

When did quantity of resumes delivered in 15 minutes or less represent success and value to hiring managers over delivering quality and finding the “right” candidate? Managers forced to staff under these circumstances sometimes never get to see the best available candidate. Ultimately, the organization ends up accepting the best of the mediocre submitted candidates. On the other hand, high performing organization’s focus on their talent acquisition process.  They insist that their recruiting or HR professionals streamline the acquisition process for the hiring manager. The lesson is this; a monkey can pull scores of resumes off of Monster or Career Builder, the real value of a recruiting partner is their ability to evaluate hundreds of resume submittals and find the 2 -3 most ideal candidates.  In addition, they also help managers review resumes and guide candidates through the recruiting and hiring processes. This leads to a better representation of the organization as well as a more informed manager and ultimately congruence when offers are eventually made.

I believe it’s time to put the human element back into the recruiting processes as a matter of practice as opposed to the exception.

I look forward to hearing what other professionals think. Let’s start a dialogue.

Author: George Albert Opitz

Talent Acquisition — What Every C-Level Exec Should Know

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effective talent acquisition

In today’s highly competitive, fast-paced business environment, having the right people fully engaged in key positions can make all the difference in the success of an organization. Increasingly, however, achieving that goal is becoming much more difficult. Despite persistently high unemployment numbers, organizations looking to fill specialized roles in IT, accounting/finance, healthcare, engineering and design are finding a shortage of qualified candidates. In a recent Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) survey of 235 C-level executives, more than half of survey respondents indicated that they believed “insufficient talent within the organization as a whole” could harm their company financially. A “lack of alignment of individual and business objectives” and “low employee satisfaction” were also cited as areas of concern.

At the same time, contingent staffing is on the rise as more organizations seek flexibility to meet market demands. Spend under management, the total spend of contingent (temporary) labor that is managed by a technology or alternative service rather than being managed by the corporation itself, is also growing rapidly. A report by Staffing Industry Analysts indicated that spend under management reached $100 billion in 2011, a 16 percent increase from 2010 and indicative of a larger overall growth trend. These solutions, typically implemented in the form of vendor management systems (VMS), managed vendor systems (MVS) or managed service providers (MSP), are extremely attractive on the surface for their ability to control costs, standardize workflows and improve consistency in contingent workforce hiring. But what about their ability to source qualified talent?

A recent survey of hiring managers and executives across a range of industries provides compelling evidence that spend under management doesn’t always add up for talent acquisition.

Systems-based solutions exhibit lackluster talent performance.
Approximately half of the hiring managers and executives surveyed currently use VMS/MVSor MSP solutions. The chief advantages cited by those using the systems are a faster hiring process, lowered costs and decreased workload as well as tracking and reporting capabilities. However, when asked about the performance of these solutions, only one out of four survey participants rated performance across all attributes as very good or excellent. Hiring managers and executives were also neutral on the performance of automated talent acquisition systems in identifying candidates—only one-third rated the quality of candidates that are hired as very good or excellent. In general, the performance of VMS/MVS and MSP solutions is meeting but not exceeding expectations. Only one out of three survey respondents rated the overall performance, ease of use or effectiveness of these systems as extremely positive. On average, respondents work around the established process of a VMS/MVS or MSP 34% of the time.

Commoditization doesn’t work with people. 
When asked about the primary challengesof VMS/MVS and MPS solutions, the highest response was the sourcing of unqualified candidates or candidates who are a poor fit for the organization. High turnover and a lack of engagement were common complaints. Other challenges cited include lack of communication and contact, lack of understanding about the company/industry or job requirements, loss of control, inflexibility, complexity and an inadequate database.

When it comes to identifying the best talent for an organization, even the highest performance systems created by the most experienced software development teams have a fatal flaw: The systems aren’t human. No matter how many variables are programmed into the system, the system itself can’t reason or assess all of the nuances involved in talent acquisition. When these systems are implemented and managed by people who don’t understand the art of talent acquisition, the results are almost certain to fall short of expectations.

When talent matters, human involvement on a personal level is essential. 
Approximately half of all survey respondents said they prefer to work with a combined hiring solution using both an automated system and a specialized staffing/recruiting agency, noting that both methods have advantages for different requirements. VMS/MVS or MSP solutions can fill positions quickly that require less skilled or less specialized employees, while specialized staffing/recruiting agencies were preferred for higher skill sets and more specialized recruits who require more time and effort to identify.

An additional 23 percent of those surveyed indicated that they prefer to work only with a specialized agency because of the agency’s ability to source high-quality candidates, target specific needs, and provide clear communication and better control of the process.

For organizations that require specialized skills and top-level talent to remain competitive, relying on systems alone is not enough. Finding the right people is an art that requires the honed instinct of experienced recruitment professionals.

Written by Brightwing President, George Albert Opitz, this article was originally published in The Staffing Stream

 

Onboarding Is More Than a Welcome Wagon

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SWAG is great. Who wouldn’t like a new company  tote bag, bottle of wine and candy jar on their new desk? Welcome wagons are just that. They are usually things and small events that welcome someone new to a company, and after a few weeks are gone. If there is no more than that to bring someone new into your company, you are potentially setting your company as well as new employee up for failure. So from a technical and strategic view,  where does onboarding fit in the hiring process?

Successful onboarding is the result of several human resource management functions moving and working together in harmonious fashion. According to Karla Walker of American Family Insurance, five components make up the Strategic Onboarding Process and it is a collaborative process:

 

  1. Align: Ensure the organization agrees on the need for the new hire and specific role. This is key, the organization has to be on the same page before bringing in anyone otherwise a poor fit for the company in general may be hired.
  2. Acquire: Recruit, interview, and select the new hire based on hard skills, and cultural fit for the company.
  3. Integrate: Provide the building blocks: socialization for new hires to connect with others who can provide information and build relationships; culture to learn a sense of the organizational norms; clarification to ensure employees understand their new jobs and expectations and; compliance to teach the basic legal and policy-related rules and regulations.
  4. Support and Development: Give new hires and agents tools, resources, experiences needed to do the work. If this is not provided you are impairing the new hire’s ability to grow or succeed in any way.
  5. Accelerate: Help new hires/agents and the team perform better and faster.

Welcome bags/ boxes/wagons should still be provided. Introductory lunches are great for team building and a morale booster for existing employees, but be sure that you focus on more than SWAG when bringing in a new hire from administrative to executive level.

If you need help with your onboarding strategy, Brightwing’s Brightstartwould be more than happy to help grow your workplace culture.

Author: Jenny Dickey

If You Provide Only Orientation, You’re Failing Your Employees

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Having been in the business for over 40 years, we have been asked a multitude of questions. One that has come up frequently in conversations with clients is “What is the difference between orientation and on boarding?” There is a definitive difference, and if you are only providing orientation you may be missing out on the opportunity to get new employees up to speed effectively and efficiently. Here’s the breakdown:

Orientations are meant to orient newly hired employees. Orienting is good. It provides the new hire with insights into the company’s mission, vision, and values. It gives new hires an introduction to the organization’s history and gives them more detail about their department, benefits plans, and set up for payroll. (Steve Cohen, On Boarding Can Mean More To Company Than New Hire. January 27, 2012). Orientation is the introductory stage in the process of new employee assimilation, and a part of his or her continuous socialization process in the organization. Many organizations focus here, and conclude any formal program within the first few weeks of employment. (Knowledge Advisors. August 5, 2009.)

Onboarding, however, takes it to the next level. It is the structured way a company brings newly hired employees into their “fold.” It is more about getting insights and information from the new hire. (Steve Cohen, On Boarding Can Mean More To Company Than New Hire. January 27, 2012).

  • This takes several meetings within the first 90 days. It starts with the candidate being “sold” on coming to work with the particular organization, an interview to ensure both the individual and the hiring company are a good match, one-on-one meetings with the supervisor, manager, and manager’s manager. And a meeting to determine if there is variance between what the new hire thought it’s like to work at the company and what the actual employees think it’s really like to work there. Then there are meetings to evaluate the new hire’s performance.
  • Onboarding is about communicating up and down. It is about finding out what is good, as well as what needs improvement, and then dialoging about it all.
  • Onboarding is a process of aligning, assimilating, integrating, and transitioning a new employee. (Knowledge Advisors. August 5, 2009.)

 

Author: Jenny Dickey

Today’s Candidate Market: Are Employers Ready to Entice?

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Welcome to my torture chamber- I hope you don’t mind that I’ll be drilling out your tooth, without Novocaine! 

For many of us job applicants, we’re often made to feel this way before, during, and after a job interview. But in this robust job market for knowledge workers, the stakes have changed.

The interview process for applicants and employers is always a less-than-comfortable, but necessary experience. No matter how many times you participate in the process, it’s inevitable that you’ll be out of your comfort zone. Unfortunately, many employers exacerbate the level of discomfort for prospective candidates by saying or doing certain things that ultimately turn off that person towards their organization. In the end, solid candidates may be lost in the process. Over the years I have seen a pattern of these missteps including;

  • Not being prepared for the candidate by not having read their resume in advance
  • Being late to the interview and/or keeping the candidate waiting
  • Asking inappropriate questions, leaving the candidate with no ‘right’ answer to give
  • Being inattentive or distracted during the interview, ie checking email
  • Not being clear about their interview process
  • Handing the candidate off to others impulsively without a clear direction
  • Not managing and respecting the candidate’s time by allowing the interview to go excessively long
  • Not sharing information about their firm and the details of the position
  • Telling off-color jokes
  • Offering a handshake and not knowing when to end it

Ultimately, interviewers can avoid many missteps by simply imagining the roles reversed…..and skipping the drilling altogether!

Author: Gary Ruby

How to Hire a Bad Egg

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Every company has some process to hiring, which usually involves an interview, a reference or background check of some kind and then initial training. But what about the other key steps that you are missing? Here are some boxes that you may want to check before you extend an offer:

  • Always Be Recruiting – A surefire way to destruct your workplace culture is to reactively recruit. The market for great candidates is tight and you should always be working your pipeline, to make sure you always have the best people.

 

  • Slow down – Create a comprehensive list of the current needs of the role as well as the future needs of the organization. The long term potential of a candidate and the effect he or she can have on the organization is just as important as filling a current needs.

 

  • “I know a guy” – Did you ask your employees, neighbors, friends, family and vendors for referrals? These will be your best source for qualified candidates with the interpersonal skills you’re looking for. Good people know good people.

 

  • Do your research – Be sure to check your references even if your gut is telling you that the candidate is perfect. This is one of the best ways to really learn about a person and if what they say in the interview and on their resume really rings true.

 

  • You don’t test – So you need a c#, .Net, Silverlight expert with excellent public speaking and presentation skills in three languages. Wouldn’t it be a great idea to double check the candidate’s actual skill level before you waste time and money with a hire? Websites like proveit.com, can help you test technical skills on various levels.

 

  • Getting to know you – If you’ve ever read any of Brightwing’s other blogs then you already know we think hiring for culture and values is just as important as hiring for hard skills.  Someone who needs a lot of structure and team support will most likely fail in an entrepreneurial or start-up environment. Make sure candidates meet with their potential direct report and other key people on the team.

While there is no way of knowing exactly how someone will act in any given work culture, an ounce of preparation is worth a pound of cure. Do your research, know what you are looking for and never make rash decisions.

5 Lies You Might Hear From a Recruiting Company

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Lie #1: We will find you the perfect candidate right away.

The Truth: No recruiting company has a stack of ‘perfect’ candidates waiting around for your particular job to become available.  Finding the right candidate takes time – time to understand your company culture, time to specify the need you’re looking to fill, time to screen qualified candidates, and time to dig deeper than the resume to find the perfect candidate for you.  If a recruiting company immediately tells you they have the perfect candidate, it means only one thing: they’re careless.  Don’t waste your money on “careless.”

Lie #2: Candidates are thoroughly screened before you ever see a resume.

The Truth: Most recruiting companies don’t do a good enough job of screening their candidates before hitting the send button again and again.  If your recruiting company is doing its job, you should receive only two or three resumes for each position, and each of those resumes should strike you as a candidate that meets your needs.  If you’re spending a lot of time sifting through resumes, you’re not getting what you paid for.  (By the way, if your recruiting company tells you lie #1 and #2, you know you’re in trouble.  They simply cannot both be true.)

Lie #3: We don’t use job boards. 

The Truth: The #1 method that successful recruiting companies use to find external hires is referrals.  What’s #2?  Job boards!  Nearly one in four external hires are found on job boards.*  Job boards are important tools for finding new candidates, but they only offer active candidates (those who are currently looking for a job).  Many times, the best candidates are passive candidates (not actively seeking a job).  You want a recruiting company with a proven record of tapping both.

Lie #4: We can fill all of your openings within a week!

The Truth: It’s just not possible to fill openings this fast and do it well for the same reasons listed under lie #1.  Look for a recruiting company that sets reasonable timeframes for filling each position.  You should be willing to wait for the right candidate, but you should also demand clear expectations for how long that might take.

Lie #5: We specialize in the field for which you are hiring.

The Truth: Simply knowing the buzz words for your industry is not enough to make anyone an expert.  Most recruiting companies don’t fully understand the jobs for which they are seeking candidates.  How could they?  They’re dealing with a lot of different positions from a diverse range of industries.  The only expert in your field is you.  What you want from a recruiting company is someone who takes the time to learn about your business and its needs.  With the right recruiting company, you’re getting much more than a service; you’re getting a partner in managing your most important asset: your people.

*https://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2011/06/09/recruiters-say-job-boards-are-here-to-stay/

 

4 Ways to Engage with Millennials

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They’re here. The Net Geners, today’s youngest and fastest growing employee group, make up 25% of the U.S. Workforce.(1) Also known as Generation Y or Millennials, the Net Generation was born between 1978 and 1994.(2) Having been raised with laptops, smart phones, social media, and instant messaging, they love technology and are fiercely independent. They want instant access to everything and a fluid balance of life and work. An nGenera Insight survey found that half of Net Geners consider flexible work hours to be a critical factor to accepting a job offer. They strongly believe in continuous training, and they don’t respond well to cookie-cutter management approaches.

Sound intimidating? If so, you’re not alone. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) found that 61% of chief executives report having trouble recruiting and integrating younger employees. As Baby Boomers retire, finding ways to  engage this generation will only become more critical.

Here’s what you must do:
1. Develop a recruitment and employee engagement process specifically geared toward a multigenerational workforce.
2. Leverage technology to give employees 24-hour access to company information. Gartner Research forecasts that by 2014, social networking will replace email as the primary communications hub for 20% of business workers.
3. Improve the technical skills of your existing workforce. This is also an opportunity to engage your Net Geners, as they are probably most qualified to teach tools like social media to older workers.
4. Design a blended training approach for your employees, employing tools like web-based learning, mobile apps, gaming, as well as traditional classroom training. According to PwC, 35% of Net Geners consider excellent training programs to be the top benefit they want from their employers.
Be proactive about transferring institutional knowledge to your Millennial employees. After all, they are the future of your company.

Notes:

1. Bureau of Labor Statistics
2. Some demographic studies those born as late as 2000.

 

Tell Pride Stories During Onboarding

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Consider adding pride stories in various sections of your on-boarding program. One of the most important messages is to communicate “Pride Stories” (implicitly and explicitly) that will attract and retain employees so they can be proud to work at your organization.

Implicitly: by conducting a well-designed, well-organized, effective on-boarding program so new hires can see the organization does things right. It shows “I’m part of a great organization,” and respect for management “The organization knows what they’re doing here.”

Explicitly: by sharing stories that communicate “You can be proud to work here” by sharing stories that demonstrate why your organization is worthy of pride. Consider stories new hires can share with their families.

Key themes your stories may include:

1. What makes your product or service great.
2. How your product or service has made a difference in the lives or businesses of your customers.
3. The good things your organization does in your local community, or for the world community.
4. Examples of employees or contract workers performing at elite levels, such as providing over-the-top customer service that blows your customers away.
5. How your organization is run with integrity, respect for its people, and competence.

How do you obtain pride stories?

  • Collect them from employees at all levels, about Moments of Truth that illustrate why they are proud to work in your organization.
  • Collect and cataloged them in a database. (Note what they communicate and what value they personify.)

Once you have collected the stories, you can: 1) include them in the on-boarding program, 2) include them on your recruiting site and/or 3) have recruiters share them at job fairs and in hiring interviews.

Sharing stories that inspire pride as part of your new hire on-boarding program not only will make your program more inspiring, it will also help to “confirm the decision” in your new hire’s minds that they made the right choice. So be sure to add pride stories that communicate “You can be proud to work here” in your on-boarding program.

How Do You Know if Your Recruiting Process Is Broken?

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Photo credit: AP | The Manhattan skyline remains dark after Hurricane Sandy, as seen from Williamsburg in Brooklyn. (Oct. 29, 2012)

With the vivid images of the devastation of Hurricane Sandy front of mind it seemed appropriate to draw an analogy for this week’s blog. (Not by the way to diminish the situation).

Over the 20 years I have spent in the recruiting industry, I have had the good fortune to work with some great companies whose recruiting function worked like a well-oiled machine. They are strategic in their approach, thoughtful in how they plan their strategy and have a hiring process in place that makes the candidate ready to jump at the opportunity. Sadly, there are many more companies who’s process is broken and they do not even realize it.

How do you know when your recruiting process is broken? According to a recent article published by Haidar Hadi, Product Marketing Manager, at BonitaSoft, there are seven signs companies should look for:

1)    Low retention rates: If your turnover is high then you are not recruiting the right people. Performance metrics should be reviewed when building the interview questions.

2)    Recruiting process is too long: Recruiters should have a pipeline of qualified candidates and build relationships with passive candidates that might be right for future opportunities. This prevents each new hire from being a start from scratch type of project. You already have people that you know are qualified to reach out to.

3)    You need to reduce the cost of recruiting: Posting, screening, interviewing and managing the overall process is time consuming and costly. Post wisely, leverage your network, automate where you can and make good use of your recruiting time to identify candidates rather than being buried in busy work.

4)    You have to deal with a complex approval process for new hires: If you have multiple stakeholders it is important to make sure that you have a process in place that allows for collaboration in selecting the right candidate.

5)    You have to deal with a complex interview process: Limit the number of candidates you present and make certain the candidate is fully qualified so that the interviewer can interview for talent as opposed to qualifications. Interviewers should be provided with structured questions. Most managers are not experts in interviewing and need guidance.

6)    You have to deal with legal issues: If your interview process is set up properly there should never be any questions around legal issues. Interviews need to be conducted properly, documented properly and candidate selection based on the best candidate for the job.

7)     You have to deal with a high volume of applicants: Make sure you have an easy way to compare candidate qualifications possibly in a table format so at a glance you can pull the best to move forward.

There are a number of points made around this subject ~ including another article sighting seven similar signs. Forbes offers what they say is the 15 Minute Fix to Your Recruiting Problems.Regardless of which points in your process that are broken the results are the same. If you do not take a hard look at your processes and fix what is broken in your recruiting process you will remain stalled in the storm and miss out on good talent.

 

Your Last Failed Hire Cost $60,140!

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Here are some typical costs for an employee making $55,000 who leaves after eight months:
• H.R. involvement (interviews, onboarding): $1,100
• Manager interviews & other recruiting expenses: $1,000
• Advertising: $400
• Employee salary: $36,672
• Benefits (30% of salary): $11,000
• Training: $800
• Productivity Loss (other employees picking up 25% of failed hire’s work due to learning curve): $9,168

TOTAL COST: $60,140

Obviously, these estimates don’t apply to everyone, but according to industry based studies, 24% of bad hires in the U.S. cost the company more than $50,000. Nearly half cost more than $25,000. For failed executive hires, those costs can be 10-15 times the monthly salary. Those are big numbers, and they affect more than the bottom line. A bad hire hurts productivity and morale, not to mention the loss of intellectual property.

In 2010, 2/3 of companies reported a bad hire adversely affecting their business. Perhaps you are one of them. Here are a few quick tips for reducing the chance of it happening again:

1. Closely monitor turnover rate. Put it on your list of quarterly metrics.

2. Understand why someone leaves, and take steps to keep it from happening again. Conduct exit interviews, and treat the exiting employee with respect. There’s a reason he is leaving, and it’s in your best interest to know why.

3. Develop a strong recruiting process that brings in people who fit your culture, environment and organization.

Here’s a simpler one-step formula: partner with Brightwing! Our success depends on the success of your hires, and we have an impressive history of getting it right. We would like to
help you reduce your H.R. costs.

The Reality of Your MSP

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There are more than six billion people on the planet, each of us with talents and skills. Not one of us could be called a commodity.

So why then, when organizations seek out new talent, would they use a process designed for procurement?

MSPs (Managed Service Providers) aren’t new, and at face value, are well intended. In my more than 30 years recruiting and discovering talent, I have engaged with many of them. The core capability of an MSP; compliance and cost management are significant issues that should be addressed. But most MSPs promise big savings by squeezing cost out of systems and streamline procurement processes.

However, what I’ve invariably found is that whatever short-term success organizations experience, long-term they are almost always a drain on the caliber of talent an organization attracts.

High Performing organizations spend a great deal of time identifying, developing and communicating their brand promise and core values in the marketplace. Candidates who are sourced using internal hiring teams are carefully screened for fit with the culture and values of the organization in mind. They are put through a vigorous interview process and are assessed to ensure they align with the values, as well as the skills, for the position. A successful hire is the result of thorough conversations with the candidate and feedback from the hiring managers.

In contrast, the typical hiring process of MSPs only allows the vendor a limited timeframe (sometimes as little as 48 hours) to provide candidates. Candidates may only have as short as a 30-minute interview with the hiring manager (and believe it or not sometimes no interview) and throughout the process there is little to no feedback provided to either the vendor or the candidate.

Putting a requirement out with a hard limited deadline means that a lot of quality candidates are missed, particularly passive candidates who may truly be the best qualified. Additionally, when recruiters are unable to get feedback and make successful placements, they will turn their focus to clients who are more engaged in the hiring process. Because of this, top talent may be going to your competitors.

The typical MSP scenario can also greatly damage your employee brand. With little or no feedback; and constant submittals to a variety of positions within your organization, talent will eventually feel commoditized. That message and feeling eventually makes it into the market place. Also controlling or managing the message about your organization in the market is very difficult with multiple recruiting and staffing vendors who are usually not incentivized in the process to do so. The reality of the typical MSP managed “staffing” systems is that over time they almost always are a drain on the caliber of talent and, therefore, the future potential of the organization.

Talent drives innovation and success in any top-performing organization. Leading organizations understand that when they are discovering and acquiring talent, it’s an investment in their future and a statement about their potential.

Finding the type of talent that can help propel a company forward requires a people-centric process — one that allows a vendor to use their experience and insight to find the best candidate for the job. I’ve yet to find an MSP that drives a people-centered process.

Author: George Albert Opitz, President of Brightwing

 

3 Ways Employment Branding Beats out Job Postings

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Employment BrandYou can think of your Employment Brand as your organization’s reputation as an employer. And the stronger your Employment Brand, the more, and higher quality, candidates you will attract. In order to market your employment brand, you have to discover what makes your company unique (or your Employee Value Proposition). Then you have to communicate that through various mediums, such as your career web page and social media. But more importantly, you have to engage your current employees in the dialogue. Think of them as your brand ambassadors. Encourage your employees to blog about company events and perks, get involved in user groups or associations and attend community events. When people love the place they work, they can’t help talking about it.

 

 

Why it gets better results:

1. Higher quality candidates. If you want to attract innovators and people at the top of their game, you have to be other places besides the job boards. The best candidates are sometimes passive candidates. And the best candidates want to work for companies with a great reputation that have a compelling, interesting and authentic story to tell.

2. It doesn’t expire. Employment Branding has more long-term value. Once you have successfully built your employer brand it will continue to positively affect your recruitment for years to come. As your Employment Branding content gets circulated, your internet search engine rankings will continue to increase and inevitably drive more talent to your company.

3. It’s more cost effective. Through Employment Branding you can drive organic traffic to your career page versus using paid job postings. Interesting and authentic Employment Branding also drives free referrals from your employees and your local and online communities.

Author: April Jennings

How to Write a Realistic Job Description

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If you’ve ever visited one of the popular online dating sites and taken the opportunity to review the profiles of those seeking the “right” person for what they consider an “ideal” relationship you’ll notice a common theme on many of them.   The profile of the person they seek is perfect…literally perfect.

The list of things they’re looking for goes on and on with all kinds of requirements, interests, and qualities.  Do people like that really exist?

Probably not.

What if these folks approached their search with somewhat more realistic expectations, and just included of a few of the non-negotiable must have’s instead of listing out every little thing that would be “ideal”?  What if they included a little bit of info on what’s truly important to them (their values), and why those things matter?  What if they stuck to the “must have’s” and allowed for someone to learn/develop certain interests or qualities over the course of a relationship?

If they were to sit around and wait for someone who met all their “ideal” requirements they could be waiting a very long time, and interact with very few people.  At the end of the day, they might actually keep themselves from meeting someone really great; someone who has qualities they never expected or thought to ask for in a person.

Attracting Talent in the workplace is not all that different than attracting the right person for a personal relationship…a wider net gives you a larger pipeline, more choices, and offers opportunities to include those with unique skills and experience.

The “attraction” process often begins with a simple job description.  Much like the online dating profile, many job descriptions are loaded with requirements; full of ideal qualities and skills, and ultimately pretty limiting in terms of whom might actually be “right” for the job.

The most effective job descriptions are those that stick to core requirements—what is absolutely essential to performing the functions of the role.  Including an outline of how performance will be measured also provides a standard for both the individual and the manager.  Allow for some of the “ideals” or nice-to-have skills to be learned and developed along the way.  Often those “nice to have” skills change as the business changes.  Good job descriptions also include something of the core values and the behaviors that exhibit those values.  The potential for success in a role is much greater when you seek to match the core skills and values rather than focusing strictly on the never ending list of technical skills and experience requirements.

Here are some simple rules for writing a realistic but effective job description; one that is likely to apply to a range of different individuals who can perform the job, and without limiting the possibilities for potential in the role:

  • Outline the primary, or core responsibilities of the role.  This will also assist managers by providing clear objectives and standards for the role.
  • Stick to “must have” requirements—what skills are absolutely necessary to performing the job outlined?
  • How will performance be measured in the role?
  • Include a couple of the company core values as well as the key behaviors that exhibit these values.

Core requirements…simple, straightforward, and clearly outlined.  Effective, realistic, and applicable to a wider range of potential talent.  Now that’s absolute perfection.