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.

Beyond Employee Engagement: 8 Steps to an Effective Culture

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Employee Engagement Culture CycleThe greatest predictor of profitability for businesses is customer loyalty and the greatest predictor of customer loyalty is employee engagement. Thought leader and author of The Culture Cycle, James Heskett, demonstrates how an effective culture can account for up to half of the differential in performance between organizations in the same industry.

Today the intangible assets of a company, including brand, customer relationships, leadership, ability to innovate and the talent management practices and culture of the organization,  comprise 65% to 85% of its total value. This is a huge shift from the 1980’s when over 60% of a company’s total worth was based on its tangible assets – equipment, technology, facilities, equipment and resources. This shift in the way companies are valued is forcing organizations to focus on their culture, and more specifically, how they attract, align and retain their most valuable resource, their employees.

Southwest Airlines, Wal-Mart, IBM, ING, 3M, and Proctor and Gamble are some of the organizations experiencing success and growth due to their highly effective cultures and employee engagement practices.

In his book, James Heskett describes the 8 cyclical steps in what he has termed, The Culture Cycle:

1. Mission, Shared Assumptions and Values — Alignment with Strategies and Methods of Execution
2. Setting Expectations
3. Behaviors Consistent with Shared Assumptions and Values
4. Expectations (e.g. leadership, recognition, job opportunity, personal development)
5. Core Phenomena (Trust, Employee Engagement, and Ownership)
6. Policies, Practices, and Behaviors (e.g. self-direction, accountability, transparency, collaboration)
7. Organization Learning (e.g. continuous improvement, adaptability, agility, and speed)
8. Results (Four Rs, innovation, growth, and profitability)

The 4 R’s in step 8 can be thought of as your culture’s key performance indicators. “The results of an effective culture can be (but rarely are) documented and tracked:

  • Referrals: A higher proportion of potential employees recommended by current or former employees.
  • Retention: Lower recruiting, hiring, training, and lost productivity costs because of greater employee loyalty.
  • Returns to labor: Greater productivity per dollar of compensation.
  • Relationships: Better customer relationships, resulting in greater loyalty, lower customer acquisition costs, and more sales.”

Heskett is not alone in his viewpoint that in today’s competitive world you cannot be successful in the marketplace without first being successful in the workplace. Today’s ever changing business environment demands attention to the way we attract, align and retain the employees that are most vital to the success of our organizations.

Author: George Albert Opitz

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.

7 Key Statistics from the May Employment Report

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Employment Report MayToday, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics released the Employment Situation Summary for May 2014. Overall, the unemployment numbers have held at 6.3 percent, but there are increases in employment industry wide.  Here’s a quick summary:

1. Employment in temporary help services continued to trend up (+14,000) and has grown by 224,000 over the past year. This is consistent with the U.S Department of Labor’s previous reports that the contingent workforce is among the fastest growing segment of workers and the Department predicts a 23% increase by 2020. Our clients currently have numerous opportunities for contract workers, search our open jobs.

2. The total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 217,000 in May, and the unemployment rate was unchanged at 6.3%. Employment increased in professional and business services, health care and social assistance, food services and drinking places, and transportation and warehousing.

3. The unemployment rate held at 6.3 percent in May, following a decline of 0.4 percentage point in April. The number of unemployed persons was unchanged in May at 9.8 million. Over the year, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons declined by 1.2 percentage points and 1.9 million, respectively.

4. Professional and business services added 55,000 jobs in May, the same as its average monthly job gain over the prior 12 months.

5. The health care industry added 34,000 jobs over the month, twice its average monthly gain for the prior 12 months.

6. Manufacturing employment changed little over the month but has added 105,000 jobs over the past year.

7. The employment status of the civilian population 25 years and over rises significantly if the person has a Bachelor’s degree or higher.

employment rate may 2014

View the full May Employment Report.

Why Organizations & Staffing Agencies Must Partner to Make Contingent Workers Welcome

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Staffing Agencies and the ever-changing Contingent WorkforceThe necessity to utilize, understand and engage the contingent workforce is an issue that is becoming more and more pertinent to the success of staffing agencies and organizations.

Temporary and contract labor makes up 26% of the American workforce (Aberdeen Group, 2012).  Furthermore, according to the U.S Department of Labor, the contingent workforce is among the fastest growing segment of workers and the organization predicts a 23% increase by 2020.

These statistics come as no surprise, temporary, contract and contingent workers provide organizations with a great deal of flexibility while minimizing their sunk costs. However, new challenges are introduced such as the engagement, alignment and cultural values of the contingent workforce.

I would argue that many organizations and staffing agencies are ignoring the need to actively engage this ever-growing contingent workforce. Case in point, many organizations do not take the same care in hiring their contingent workforce as they do their full-time employees and instead are moving towards a more commoditized procurement model. They forget about things like corporate branding, employee selection and ongoing development. This can be a very costly mistake leading to high turnover, low employee engagement, loss of productivity and can even become contagious, infecting the performance of full-time staff.

Full-time or contingent, disengaged workers have a detrimental effect on the performance and balance of the workforce. Disengaged employees cost organizations $3,400 for every $10,000 in salary (Gallup 2002).

Staffing agencies also play a role in the engagement of the contingent workforce. To be effective they must partner with organizations to create a process that (1) identifies great employees that fit the culture of their clients, (2) engages them during placement and (3) continues to support their goals and needs. Organizations, MSPS and staffing agencies must all partner together to create processes and procedures that support long-term employee engagement.

As the contingent workforce continues to be a greater percentage of the American workforce, the more important it will become to actively engage and align temporary and contract employees.
georgeAuthor: George Albert Opitz, President of Brightwing

A Mobile World: IT Staffing Strategies Must Adapt [Infographic]

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In order for your IT staffing strategy to be effective, mobile recruitment has to play a huge role. The growth of mobile usage in the past 3 years has gone from 35% to 56% and will only continue to grow. What’s more, a mobile presence is even more important when staffing tech savvy IT professionals. The statistics don’t lie: 50% of the average global mobile web users access the web almost exclusively on their smartphone. The infographic below by Staff.com illustrates just how many people are searching for jobs via a mobile device. So, if your IT Staffing strategies aren’t paying off, make sure job applicants can find your jobs via a mobile device and painlessly apply. Want more hiring tips? Fill out the form to the right, to receive tips on how to hire your most valuable employee.

IT staffing strategies

Author: Elyse L. Turner

The Contingent Workforce: Why Your Staffing Strategy Is Killing Your Business

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In the article, Four Facts About the Emerging Contingent Workforce, McKay gives advice detailing how workers today should be ahead of the learning curve in order to stay relevant. McKay discusses how staffing changes in the global workforce will continue to happen more rapidly due to technology. While I agree with the points made in the article, I believe organizations must also change their practices towards staffing their contingent workforce in order to keep all of their employees engaged.

how you should treat your contingent workforceThe importance and growth of the “contingent workforce” model seems to continue to be misunderstood in most corporate environments today, especially when it comes to higher level, skilled professionals. What talent management/ HR teams seem to miss the most is the importance of building the same solid, engaged and high performing workplace for both full time and contingent workers. Corporate branding, employee selection, development and alignment should all be considered when bringing a new employee into an organization, whether they are full time or contingent hires.  When this is not considered, turnover and employee disengagement for both contingent and full time will occur as the culture suffers.

The current contingent environment is deteriorating into a procurement driven model that looks to achieve the most amount and highest quality of work, for the least amount of money. The effect (short-term and long-term) is essentially how the client organization is perceived in the talent market, and will take a toll on the talent available to that organization.

There is little doubt that engaged workforces lead to high levels of organizational performance. Organizations with high engagement ratings outperform competitors in their market segment, every time. With this in mind, it is the organizations that take the same care hiring their contingent workforce as they do their full time employees that will consistently attract the best contingent talent.

georgeAuthor: George Albert Opitz, President of Brightwing

Are You Setting Up New Engineering Hires for Failure?

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successfully onboaring engineersIn engineering professions industry wide, a well managed onboarding program can have a measurable impact on employee retention, productivity, employment brand, product/service quality and future hiring success. For these new and highly sought after engineers, a well designed onboarding program addresses the specific information that will help them understand the company and how they fit in to the big picture.

A few tips:

1. Be sure to build in time for open and honest discussions about their interests, your company culture and expectations. This can include asking questions to reaffirm that the new hire and company are a good match.

2. Don’t overload new engineers or any new hires. The best onboarding programs limit the information and forms required on the first day or throughout the week. If you want them to retain information, be sure to spread it out over time. Placing too much pressure on new hires makes it less likely that they will make good decisions or ask pertinent questions.

3. Include fun activities that give your new engineers a chance to meet their team members an other co-workers in a comfortable setting. This is a wonderful opportunity for them to get to know people within the organization. For example, Brightwing regularly takes new hires to volunteer at Art Road, a non-profit working to bring art back into Detroit Public Schools.

4. The most effective onboarding programs include key metrics that cover new hire retention rates, new hire referrals and time to productivity. Setting clear objectives makes people accountable for producing measurable results that impact your business.

 

April Jennings

Author: April Jennings

Google

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?

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

 

Part with Your Clothing to Put People to Work

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bag3As Brightwing celebrates its 40th anniversary, we find it extremely important to pay it forward and give back to the community. Our company prides itself on helping others become successful in the workplace, and the philanthropic event we are hosting is accomplishing that same goal. Research led me to four influential organizations that have a strong passion for getting men and women back to work. Brightwing has teamed up with Career Dress, Jackets for Jobs, Dress for Success, and the NSO to host our own professional clothing drive to benefit those in our community.

Not only will those in need be receiving an outfit from one of these charities, but they will be getting a reusable bag that gives them another boost of confidence. On the front of the bag, those who donate will write what they believe they are giving to that person besides clothes; such as, self-empowerment, motivation, strength, etc. Inside the bag will contain a small booklet of resume and interviewing tips to assist in the preparation of the initial interview.

As donations are being made for our professional clothes drive, we need to remember that this is more than just getting rid of items you no longer wear. Blouses and suit jackets that may not have any significance to you can change the lives of those in need. Brightwing’s goal is to give those in our community a chance to walk into an interview with their heads held high. Every man and woman should radiate confidence while talking to future employers and your donation can give them that chance.

Donations can be made at any Brightwing location. For more details regarding involvement, please contact [email protected]

Author: Allison Mullen

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

Change Your Onboarding to Get the Most Out of Your Investment

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Hypothetically speaking, I want to lose 10 lbs.  I could start out by running, but if I don’t take the extra steps to eat healthy and get more sleep for example, I won’t be getting the most out of my investment. Just like when you hire an employee, one of the largest investments an organization can make, you have to be diligent enough to take the necessary actions to make them a fully functional member of the organization.

A well thought out onboarding strategy can ensure that your new employees are engaged and healthy members of your culture for a long time to come.

In the short term, a high-potential onboarding program improves productivity of employees by showing:

  • Quicker ramp-up in the company and performance in their job
  • Confidence as they navigate the new organizational waters and do their job well
  • They are motivated and well-adjusted in their role
  • They know who to go to when they have questions
  • They understand their role and job expectations
  • They are socially comfortable and accepted by peers
  • They have no poor job attitudes

The long-term outcomes of onboarding will show that employees have:

    • Higher job satisfaction
    • Organizational commitment
    • Lower turnover
    • Higher performance levels
    • Career effectiveness
    • Lowered stress
    • Research shows successful onboarding leads to good employee retention rates and improved performance is a long-term outcome of successful onboarding
    • Employees will navigate to the company’s culture and find their place within it

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

 

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

How Does Military Experience Translate to Civilian Work?

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Russ is Famous!

Russ, at the right, with Scarlett Johanssen

Memorial Day is the holiday where we as a nation, remember those that have given their lives in the service of our Nation. While we are all enjoying our first long weekend of the summer, remember to take a few moments to think about all those who have given what Abraham Lincoln called the “last full measure of devotion.”

And there isn’t any reason why we should wait until Veterans Day to spend some time thinking about the men and women who have spent time in the service of our Nation.  According to the Department of Labor, the unemployment rate for post 9/11 Veterans sits at 10.9% compared to a 7.9% for non-Veterans.

What are some of the challenges that a Veteran faces when he or she transitions from Military life to civilian life? According to Michael Major, SPHR, the biggest challenges for Veterans transitioning from Military life to Civilian are:

*Getting people to understand how their military experience translates to civilian work
*Knowing where to begin, including how to write a resume and where to look for a job

In many cases the job a Veteran performed while in the military has a direct translation into a civilian field.  The military has Active Duty aircraft mechanics, electronic technicians, cooks, medics, administrative professionals, and construction workers.  In other cases the positions in the military do not translate to a civilian job easily.  Many hiring managers would not know the skill set that a Platoon Sergeant has, is the same as a Personnel Manager who is responsible for coordinating all aspects of the lives of 30+ Soldiers or Marines.  Nor would they understand that a Fire Control Technician is really just an Electronic Technician that specializes on a particular type of equipment. In a lot of cases a simple re-write of a resume by someone that is familiar with Military job titles or, who takes time to learn about them will yield immediate positive results

Having spent the last 18 years hiring people for a living I can attest to the fact that at least half of what we call “employability” rests in soft skills. Finding an employee that is punctual, a team player, motivated, and who can follow direction AND lead is one of the biggest challenges that we as employers face. Having spent almost 20 years in the military, I can also attest that men and women who have spent time in the Military have most definitely developed those skills.

The next time you see a resume of a veteran float across your desk, take the time to reach out and talk to him or her. Delve a little under the surface and learn what the true nature of their job is and help them translate the experience into something that’s easier for a non-veteran hiring manager to understand.

Author: Russ Dotson, Brightwing Senior Recruiter

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.

Are Your Supplemental Staff Treated Like Aliens?

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Is there a distinct difference in how you treat your supplemental workers and your direct employees? Over the years we have found that the way many companies attract, recruit and engage their supplemental staff differs greatly from how they manage their direct employees.  If this is true for your organization, it’s time to reevaluate some of your people processes.

Today many of the supplemental workers inside our organizations are in key strategic positions. Because of their expertise, they are often utilized for high-value, mission critical positions. They work on teams with temporary workers as well as direct employees. It’s also not uncommon for them to reside within an organization on a temporary or supplemental basis for periods in excess of 1 or 2 years. In many cases, supplemental workers are eventually hired on as direct employees.

If supplemental workers play such vital roles within our organizations, why would we recruit them any differently? We’ve witnessed many forward thinking organizations put beneficial processes into place for hiring and retaining top performers. Yet, they fall short in the way they hire and engage supplemental workers. They change the tried and true hiring best practices they’ve put in place throughout the organization. While supplemental workers technically work directly for another company, they often reside within your environment, working side by side with your other employees. Factors like culture fit, core values and management style should still play a critical role in the hiring process no matter who you are hiring

Why do we treat supplemental workers differently? Unfortunately we’ve witnessed instances where temporary employees were forced to eat lunch separately from full time employees. Some organizations have rules about where suppleental staff can sit in reference to management. Treating supplemental workers like second class employees not only harms their productivity, but the morale of the rest of your team. If this is how you treat people who sometimes are filling mission critical and important roles in your organization, what level of engagement or loyalty to completing the project might there be?

Haphazardly hiring supplemental workers and treating them like outsiders is killing your business.

  • Effects the ability of your team to function properly
  • Creates a separation from the end goal that everyone in the organization is supposed to be focused on.
  • You run the risk of losing key players within your organization because of disruptions and lack of unity and focus on end goal. These key players are often hard people to replace and vital to the organization.
  • Leads to high turnover
  • Negatively effects your culture
  • Leads to communication gaps

Some companies are looking at the whole picture, maximizing everyone’s potential. Integrating their supplemental staff, working with vendors that help them hire to their company’s values/cultural standards and also take care of their employees. As the employment marketplace continues to evolve, the trend towards using temporary or supplemental staff has been increasing not only in volume, but in the complexity and importance of the roles that are being filled. We understand that there is a necessary separation between supplemental staff and full time hires, but you cannot remove the human element or the importance of the engagement necessary to make the use of supplemental employees effective in your organization.

 

Author: George Opitz, President of Brightwing

Big Risks & Big Rewards: Letting Employees Work from Home

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Despite Yahoo’s recent ban on working from home, many companies are still opting to let employees work remotely, even if they live fairly close to the office. But, as with everything, a work from home policy can have its pros and cons. That much is evident from the story of Yahoo, where employees were collecting paychecks while spending work hours on side projects and startups. Here are some of the rewards and drawbacks to letting your employees work remotely.

 

Pros – When things go right:

  • Increase Productivity: When you give people flexibility, employees feel trusted and empowered to manage their own desk. Studies also show that employees who are allowed to occasionally work from home are more productive.
  • Build Loyalty:  People want to work where they feel valued and appreciated as a person. Offering a flexible plan demonstrates you realize everyone has different personal and family obligations.

“Its amazing how someone’s IQ seems to double as soon as you give them responsibility and indicate that you trust them.”
– Tim Ferriss author of 4 Hour Work Week

  • Spur Creativity: By changing up the environment, employees have been shown to be more innovative and creative.
  • Motivate and Attract Top Talent: Granting work from home status can be used as an incentive or perk: one that costs you very little, if anything.

Cons – When things go wrong:

  • Degrades Culture: Managed incorrectly, a work from home policy can lead to a deterioration of culture and morale.
  • Generates Resentment:  Obviously, not all jobs can be done remotely. An unfair policy can create turmoil and resentment.
  • Isolates and Decreases Productivity: Working from home excessively can lead to isolation and idleness. Without the social benefits of working in an office, employees can start to feel isolated and unmotivated.

If you’re thinking about instating a work from home policy in your office, in most cases, a practical rule of thumb seems to be moderation. Your organization might be able to benefit from the perks of allowing employees to work remotely by offering up the option once or twice per week. For instance, at Brightwing many of the working mothers and fathers with young children opt to work from home one day a week. Likewise, if you have to stay home one day to wait for the cable guy, no one will turn up their nose.  There are many examples of the good, the bad and the ugly of working from home. Still interested? Here are some great tips for creating a practical and successful work from home policy at your organization.

The concept of workplace flexibility definitely seems here to stay, but exactly what that looks like for the future and for individual organizations is yet to be seen.

April JenningsAuthor: April Jennings

 

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.

 

4 Ways to Lose the People You Hire

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If this list describes your recruiting process, you may soon be looking for a new employee to fill the spot you think you  just filled.

73% of employees expect to leave their current job for another job at some point.
32% want to leave their job now.
28% expect that to happen within two years.

For employers, those are shuddering statistics. Replacing employees is time consuming and expensive. When you bring a new person on board, the last thing you need is to be replacing that position again in the short term.  Yet, many employers find themselves in this time consuming and money-draining situation. Here are four ways to ensure that you’re not one of them.

#1: Hasty Hiring Process
The fact that you have a position to fill indicates you have an unmet need, so your haste to fill that need is understandable. But it’s not smart. If you rush the candidate screening process (or don’t have one at all), fast-forward the interviews without really getting to know your candidates, or extend an offer before giving the candidate a chance to meet the team, you will likely find yourself with an incomplete match. Culture fit is essential to the long-term success of your employees, and getting the right culture fit takes time. If you are simply focused on filling a seat, you’ll get exactly that – a filled seat (for now).

#2: Poorly Structured Onboarding Process
You found the person you wanted, extended an offer, and they accepted. Everything has been signed, and your new employee is walking in the door for their first day. Check the box! Recruiting is over, right? Wrong. The success of your recruiting depends at least as much on the onboarding process as the recruiting process. If you simply throw your new hire into the fray without the proper introductions, expectations, or the right tools to do the job correctly, you will lose the employee – mentally if he sticks around, and physically if he doesn’t.

#3: Lack of People Focus
Every company watches the bottom line; what are you doing to watch your people just as closely? They are more than just “equipment.” They have unique needs. They feel emotion. They want to know how they are contributing to the organization’s success. They want to enjoy coming to work. Too many companies forget to formally recognize their employees for jobs well done, provide ongoing personal/professional development opportunities, or offer regular feedback on job performance. These companies find themselves with dispassionate, unhappy, and unproductive employees. That’s because the best employees have already left.

#4: Poor Benefits
Total compensation will always be a primary factor in employee satisfaction and longevity. We’re not just talking about salary, medical and 401k plans however. What kind of creative benefits (gym memberships, time off for volunteer work, flex work schedules, etc.) do you offer your employees? How flexible are you in accommodating their personal time? What opportunities do they have to participate in work outside their normal job descriptions? The cost of these types of fringe benefits is more than offset by the increased engagement and happiness of your employees. If they are not excited to work for you, they will find another business where they are.

Enough negativity. This list does not have to describe your company. With appropriate attention to the right details, you can hire top people and be confident that they will be with you for a long time. Brightwing is committed to helping you do that. We do more than just provide qualified candidates; we partner with you to make sure those candidates fit your culture and want to work for you. We’ll help you bring the right people in, then help you make them want to stay.