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The Contemporary Recruiter

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The HR Technology space is a crowded one, and with that is fundamentally changing how we recruit, the processes, and how we view business. This fundamental change can create an overwhelming situation that leaves many people in a state of uncertainty and confusion.

HR Technology is Your Friend

So, you have multiple positions to fill and precious little time to source and find qualified candidates. Most organizations are now using technology in one form or another, including spreadsheets to power their efforts more effectively and efficiently. But using technology in the best ways requires a change in mindset to purposefully embrace the proliferation of technological improvements in everything from searching for candidates to qualifying and hiring them. This new mindset should look at products like applicant tracking platforms that integrate all the available functions versus a series of independent pieces that don’t work together holistically. The right recruiting technology (ATS) should enable you with the tools to expedite and better qualify people, as well as save recruiting dollars. The benefits of using the right recruiting technology are myriad compared with using a manual, tedious process to manage your hiring. The efficiency here is in being able to conduct all aspects of the sourcing and recruiting with greater speed that incorporates and leverages technology to bring about a better result and not just a quick turnaround. Also, a well-designed ATS platform will enable you to onboard new hires with better capabilities by offering paperless and mobile-based applications that can be completed on the go by both recruiter and candidate. In addition, the best recruiting platforms seamlessly integrate with other best-of-breed vendors you need to use in your recruiting process. For example, the best available services such as background checks and other screening tools should be offered and not because they benefit the ATS provider, but because they best serve the recruiting needs of the client-organization.

Past Recruiting Paradigms are not Acceptable

Some companies are on a carousel of hiring that never stops, while some have the occasional hiring need. The one thing that is a constant in both situations is that neither can sacrifice quality of hire, nor take too long to find the right person for the job. Even with this, recruiting has long-been considered a tactical duty rather than strategic initiative, but much research has uncovered realities as to why recruiting must be strategic in nature versus reactive and tactical. This is where the new mindset must breakout of that outdated thinking.

It’s no surprise that moving away from the reactive mindset is difficult for some recruiters. Change is typically difficult, and with that, some recruiters are hesitant to abandon their reactive habits due to many years of working tactically. However, with greater availability of data and analytics for effective hiring, forward-thinking companies see the value in being proactive and learned versus reactive and imprecise and are open-minded to how technology can pave the way to a better outcome. For example, organizations are placing greater emphasis on finding candidates who align with the organization’s mission and values, most believing that this “attitude” is a major factor in productivity, ambassadorship, allegiance, engagement and retention. What this means for recruiting is that marking off a checklist of skills and keywords is no longer the deciding factor in someone’s candidacy. Additional measures must be taken to determine what motivation candidates have and if they will fit into the culture of your business. The organizations that have expanded their mindsets recognize the value and advantages technology and data bring to their recruiting process, and how necessary these tools are for achieving greater levels of success.

What to Consider

When hiring-managers need people to fill vacancies, they usually need them “last week.” However, the evolved recruiter has adopted a mindset of knowing that good communication and previous experience with that hiring manager will serve as a guide to hiring success. Without effective communications between hiring managers and recruiters, compounded by a lack of recorded data identifying the key performance indicators (KPIs) of those employees who stand out as desirable, make it nearly impossible to fully understand what qualities and attributes will integrate nicely into that hiring manager’s team. This knowledge will, also, serve to create a more proactive approach… recruiters can and should develop a pipeline of candidates for varying positions before the immediate need arises. Simply, proactive attempts at forecasting, networking internally (think ERPs and brand ambassadors) corporate alumni programs, and external networking are all excellent ways to keep a healthy pipeline of candidates thriving and engaged, especially in today’s socially astute world. Quality, quantity, cost and speed are always going to be balls to juggle, but balancing the right combination of these is also essential to successfully deliver quality candidates.

Keeping a Grip

Finding the happy medium for recruiting in your organization is a must. It’s great to see what other organizations are doing and what technology is emerging or being used effectively by other organizations, but the caveat here is to first evaluate if their practices in recruiting are doable within your organization. Too often, people want to emulate the success of other organizations before determining if what that other company is doing makes sense for them. You must first evaluate your culture and determine if your organization can manage what works for others. This determination includes which recruiting technology is being used, what compensation and benefits are being offered, and potentially eliminating unnecessary steps used to successfully vet candidates. It’s important to understand your own processes inside and out and determine where the bottlenecks are and evaluate those glitches. Using data to analyze where you were and where you need to be can open the door to some interesting findings in your current processes. These findings, in turn, may help you develop a mind-set that belies the use of anecdotal experiences and replaces them with the use of empirical data in your qualifying and selection processes.

Additionally, if your recruiting strategy is homogenous, consider exploring other avenues. For example, if your employee referral percentage is low, give thought to how this can be improved. Also, if you are not looking to affinity groups within your organization and diversity groups outside the organization, you are missing out on opportunities to incorporate diverse experiences, skills and people who may very well align with your company’s mission and values.

All-in-all, recruiting in today’s world is an interesting place to be. As technological options expand, data and predictive analytics take a prominent place in the process, job seekers and candidates become savvier and more aware of companies as they consider culture a determining factor in their selections, and with transparency via social media bringing information to the forefront faster than ever before, the modern-day recruiter is being called upon to perform her duties with the speed and effectiveness of a well-oiled machine. These changes, however, should not deter you, as it’s just evolution taking place in your profession and raising the bar of expectations, and with that comes a wide-variety of technologies and tools that can advance you to greater levels of success within your profession.

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6 Fixes That Immediately Improve Your Hiring Process [Infographic]

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The “hiring is broken” reputation is a hard one for recruiters to shake and the hiring process is only predicted to become even harder this year. 

To help you maintain your recruiting sanity, I’ve compiled a list of 6 fixes to improve your hiring process summarized in an infographic below.

6 Fixes That Immediately Improve Your Hiring Process [Infographic]

  1. Attract more candidates by promoting your employer brand

A LinkedIn survey found the #1 obstacle for job seekers changing jobs is “not knowing what it’s really like to work at the company.”

This uncertainty is a big reason why recruitment marketing has become so popular. As a central part of recruitment marketing, your employer brand is a reflection of your company’s culture, values, and mission.

Whether it’s through your company’s videos, photos, blogs, and social media statuses or third party review sites like Glassdoor, dramatically improve your hiring process by ensuring your employer brand is searchable, authentic, and compelling.

  1. Improve your job posting by adding your employee value proposition

Improving your job posting is a simple but overlooked fix to improve your hiring process. Most job postings seem to be written as an afterthought: long, boring, and technical. Worst of all, they tend to be company- rather than candidate-focused.

Research has found that job postings that emphasize what the job offers to fulfil the candidate’s needs not only attracts more applicants, but a higher quality of applicants too.

One of the best ways to highlight this job-candidate fit is to include your employee value proposition: the rewards or benefits that an employee can expect to receive in return for their performance.

Your employee value proposition should include what differentiates the job and company from whether it’s career progression, autonomy and flexibility, or amazing perks.

  1. Reduce time to hire by automating your resume screening

For every 100 applicants a high volume job posting receives, around 65% are ignored.

Automating resume screening using software powered by AI eliminates this resume “ignore problem.”

iCIMS found a resume spends 23% of its time in the screening phase. Using AI to automate your resume screening improves your hiring process because it drastically reduces time to hire without sacrificing quality of hire.

In fact, AI for resume screening has the potential to increase quality of hire because it screens every resume instantly screened which prevents good candidates from falling through the cracks and ignored.

AI for recruiting software analyses your existing resume database to learn what the qualifications of successful employees are and then applies that knowledge instantly screen, grade, and rank new candidates (e.g., from A to D).

  1. Reduce candidate acquisition costs by rediscovering candidates

Although the typical large company is sitting on thousands – if not millions – of resumes, most ATS software lack the ability to accurately search an existing resume database to match previous candidates to current reqs.

Talent rediscovery software solves this issue by using AI to analyze your job description and then searching your existing ATS to find candidates who have applied to your company in the past who fit the requirements of a current job opening.

Rediscovering previous candidates improves your hiring process because eliminates the need to come up with Boolean or keyword searches to conduct a resume search manually as well as saves you money on candidate acquisition costs.

  1. Improve your hiring process by personalizing your candidate experience

A CareerBuilder survey found that the #1 complaint of job seekers about the hiring process is a lack of personalization.

Employer behavior falls short of candidate expectations: while 52% of employers respond to less than half of the candidates who apply, 84% of candidates expect a personal email reply to their application and 52% expect a phone call.

One of the biggest benefits of using technology to improve hiring is reducing the administrative burden and freeing up recruiters’ time to personalize candidate experience.

By automating your resume screening, each and every application can be screened, ranked, and replied to. Recruiters can concentrate on the shortlist of candidates identified as strong matches, for example, all candidates graded as am A.

Recruiters can use this freed-up time to create more in-depth, high-touch relationships with qualified candidates to uncover their needs, determine fit, and persuade them to consider to opportunity.

  1. Show your recruiting value by using business-related metrics

Recruiting metrics are measurements that provide insights into the value and effectiveness of your recruiting process.

They provide information for recruiters to identify where process improvements are needed and justify investment into specific recruiting functions.

Measuring recruiting metrics and linking them to business outcomes, for example, reduced costs related to decreased turnover or increased revenue related to hiring top performers, significantly improves your hiring process because it demonstrates your financial and strategic value to the company.

The article was originally posted on Ideal.

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How Machine Learning is Changing Recruiting

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Companies approach recruiting in different ways. Facebook’s method, for example, involves acquisitions for human capital and a six-week onboarding boot camp. Of course, that’s not the norm: On average, a recent study found it takes 42 days—and a cost-per-hire of $4,129—to fill an open position. That adds up, especially since Bloomberg recently reported that approximately 10,000 members of the baby boomer generation reach retirement age every day. With numbers like that, it’s no wonder efficiency-boosting advancements in machine learning are beginning to challenge the HR status quo. Let’s explore how machine learning is changing recruiting.

How Businesses Use Algorithmic Assessments

Spotify. Waze. Netflix. Amazon. These are just a handful of the many companies that have opted-in to some form of AI or machine learning. Why the boom? There are lots of reasons, of course, but there’s a primary one that comes to mind: Using algorithmic assessments—i.e., a kind of machine learning—can speed existing processes for consumers and even predict their needs ahead of schedule. In other words, these companies know that to get ahead in this digital marketplace, they’ll need to compete on customer experience (CX). They’re using technology to get there.

The same principle holds true for HR and, more specifically, recruiting. Algorithmic assessments use statistics and historical data to predict whether or not a potential employee will perform well. The benefits of this process are numerous: Recruiters can consider more applicants in less time and with less effort. In addition, they have the added peace of mind that their decisions are backed by more data than subjectivity.

Let’s examine an international startup harnessing the power of algorithmic assessments.

From Reviewing Resumes to Reviewing Social Behavior

It’s impossible to tell everything about potential hires from resumes alone. What if you could incorporate that resume data with information about who applicants really are—their values, likes and dislikes, etc.—and then use machine learning to plug that information into an algorithm that could predict how well they fit within your corporate culture? That’s the premise behind the Indian startup Belong, a brand recently profiled by Forbes as one company leading the machine learning and recruiting charge.

Belong’s algorithms do two things: First, they analyze behavioral data from social networks, blogs, and other digital platforms in addition to the standard information like education, experience, and stated objectives found in CVs to gather “a more holistic and accurate” profile of each candidate. They also use machine learning to better understand the preferences and patterns of each hiring company. From all that data, Belong generates a tailored, SERP-esque database of matches, each unique to the company and the position.

Does it work? Belong’s method reportedly gets a minimum of a threefold increase in company-candidate engagement rates. With numbers like that and customers like Cisco and Amazon, I’d say they’re onto something.

Now, Belong was by no means the first to dip its toes into social when it comes to recruiting. Their application of machine learning to their solution, though, is their secret sauce. Note that my friend and colleague, Megan Biro, CEO of TalentCulture, has written extensively about the power of social media, especially in passive recruiting. The trifecta of relationships, conversation, and unprecedented access to digital tools is a veritable hotbed of HR potential—Meghan has even referred to it as the “tech meets HR marriage,” and I couldn’t agree more. We’ve both got eyes on what’s next.

Speaking of what’s next, are there any plans to shake up what recruiting looks like at your organization in the next year? If you’re looking for a change, what potential do you see in machine learning and HR? What challenges? Let me know in the comments.

Photo Credit: martinlouis2212 Flickr via Compfight cc

This article was first published on FOW Media.

What Small Businesses Are Saying About the Recruitment Process

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 “People make the ultimate difference” Bill McDermott, CEO SAP

Even the best ideas can fail. Success is never guaranteed. It is dependent upon the talent, drive, and compatibility of human beings. Companies don’t just need bodies – they need people who have the talent and skills to meet the job requirements, and are a good fit for the team. Recruitment, therefore, is high stakes, mission-critical work.

To learn more about how crucial recruitment efforts are managed, particularly in small business, we surveyed 2,341 business professionals responsible for recruitment activities. Of those surveyed, 50% were in HR and 50% were in the lines of business. The survey included professionals in the US, the UK, and France across a range of industries, with an emphasis on retail, hospitality, and healthcare. All participants represented companies with fewer than 500 employees.

Our comprehensive report details specific findings; broadly, we learned the following:

CONSTRAINTS

Multiple, Unrelated Responsibilities

95.2% of those surveyed also had additional job duties including employee training and development, performance management, compensation and benefits, and workforce planning (not to mention line of business responsibilities).

WorkConnect Chart

97.0% performed multiple functions within recruitment – some combination of managing candidate searches, interviewing candidates, tracking applicants, and making hiring decisions. Individuals dedicated solely to recruitment does not appear to be typical in companies of fewer than 500 employees.

WorkConnect Link

In addition to other duties and activities, 58.7% of respondents hired 10 or more people in the previous 12 months, indicating there are multiple candidate searches being managed at any given time.

Number of New Hires

Time pressure to make hires

94.3% indicated that urgency to fill the role was a key factor in the level of difficulty involved in filling an open position. Even in markets where it is common to give two weeks or more notice before leaving a position, time pressure to hire still exists across the three markets. Given the rhythm of business today and employee loyalty dynamics (e.g., job hopping), there is a narrow window between approval to fill an open position and the need to have someone functioning in that position.

Growth and evolution are main triggers

84.4% indicated that a factor prompting new hires was growth and evolution including business growth, expansion, evolving job requirements, and restructured roles. The remainder indicated the trigger was more “functional” in nature (sick or maternity leave, retirement, normal turnover, seasonal workforce, increasing overtime). This indicates a strong strategic nature to hiring activities, increasing the stakes for finding candidates that are a good fit for evolving organizations.

Prompts for New Hires

Lots of manual effort

Use of online job boards or career websites is high (72.7%), as is use of software specifically to support the hiring process (61.4%).

Still, 56.7% use printed documents and 51.7% use spreadsheets to manage hiring activities. This generally means printing resumes, manually marking them up and sorting them according to level of interest, and then using XL to track applicants through the interview process.

94.7% indicated two or more people are involved in the hiring process even though this level of manual effort is not conducive to team collaboration.

Offline Tools for Hiring

EXTERNAL FACTORS

Tight labor pools

It’s a candidate’s market: 96.5% of respondents say quality of available candidates is a factor that influences the difficulty of filling a job, 92.5% say availability of candidates is a factor, and 90.3% say competition for candidates is a factor.

Tight labor pools

 

Inefficient processes

In this environment, where there is time pressure to make hires and it’s challenging to find good candidates, 77.7% of respondents say completing the hiring process in an efficient and time-saving way is a challenge.

Across the hiring process, 78.6% say managing postings on multiple job boards is a challenge, 76.5% indicated that keeping track of applicant status and follow-ups is challenging, and 75.7% say consolidating and organizing feedback from co-workers is a challenge.

Given these dynamics it’s not surprising that people involved with recruiting want the following:

Access to more qualified candidates 92.30%
Easier to manage job posts 84.80%
More lead time for recruitment 84.10%
Easier to collaborate with peers during candidate evaluation 83.60%
More accessible database of previous job descriptions 82.70%
More automation / less paper 80.90%
Better applicant tracking software 80.50%
More budget to promote job posts 77.40%
More staff to support hiring 74.60%

Individuals tasked with recruitment – HR and hiring managers – are craving a better way. They want access to more and better candidates, they want to move away from printing documents and filing them in folders, and they want a better way to collect, aggregate, and store coworker feedback. Ultimately, they want to find ways to move and act more quickly.

People involved in recruitment are operating under some very challenging conditions. There is a tremendous opportunity to make things easier for them by enabling better business processes like hiring triggers, job descriptions, job posting, and collaboration. The hiring process is calling for tools and technology to support the end-to-end lifecycle.

This article was written by Jeff Rosenberg, Co-Founder and Partner at WideOpen, and originally appeared on WorkConnect by SAP.

Seven Keys to Effective Recruiting

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Creating a world-class talent acquisition effort that incorporates cool recruiting ideas may seem unrealistic for many HR departments. After all, the pressure to fill the ever-larger pile of open reqs leaves little time for experimentation. And at smaller firms, where recruiting duties often fall to an HR generalist who has to interview candidates in between many other daily duties, attracting good new hires is good enough, which leaves the absolute best hires working someplace else.

Yet, even if you hire just one new candidate a month, you can leverage many of the same effective strategies as the leading companies in talent acquisition, say the folks who lead them. You simply need to learn about the latest trends, and then strive to incorporate some or all of those efforts into your daily hiring routine.

Most HR specialists agree they want to get better at talent acquisition. In a 2016 SHRM survey of more than 2,300 HR professionals, respondents said recruitment was their top business/HR challenge, ahead of compliance, employee training and compensation/benefits. Finding the time to implement these leading strategies is the bigger challenge. To that end, here are summaries of the seven most meaningful steps to creating a more effective talent acquisition effort, according to a range of leading voices in the field. Many don’t require a major investment of time or money, and instead can be incorporated into the recruiting practices you’re using already.

  • Brand your company as a great place to work. If you don’t tell your story, others will do it for you. Having an attractive career web site was a prerequisite 10 years ago. Now, it’s a basic requirement to manage your brand and, once in place, allows you to focus on what makes you special to potential candidates in your marketing materials, across social media and in person. For example, post written and video testimonials on your web site from current employers explaining why they enjoy their jobs, to create an image among prospective hires of what it’s like to work for your company.
  • Maximize employee referrals. Referrals are still the primary source of new hires. In fact, 96% of all companies with 10,000 employees or more say it’s their No. 1 source of new hires, while that percentage falls to a still high 80% for companies with less than 100 employees, according to a 2016 SHRM Benchmarking survey.

“So why are most incentive payments so low?,” asks Tom Darrow, SHRM-SCP, founder of Talent Connections, an Atlanta-based executive search firm and chair of the SHRM Foundation Board of Directors.  “It’s widely known that employee referrals are the best source for candidates, yet many companies offer pitiful ‘bonuses’ of $500 or $1,000 to their employees, while offering search firms a $20,000+ fee for the same position.” He suggests incentivizing staff to serve as recruiters and encourage them to tap into their networks to help fill open positions.

  • Pay at least as much as your competitors for talent and be transparent about what you offer. Make absolutely sure that your total compensation package is competitive and, if one or more aspects are lagging, tell candidates why. Then work with your senior management team to improve your offerings.

“Create a competitive compensation package that reflects your culture, then put the dollars in front of candidates at the start and you’ll likely have to negotiate less,” says Steve Browne, SHRM-SCP, executive director of human resources at LaRosa’s Inc., a Cincinnati-based restaurant group. “It’s a brass tacks approach, but be sure to supplement the dollar discussion with the other workplace benefits you offer, including flexibility, autonomy, the work space and more,” says Browne, who is a director-at-large on the SHRM Board of Directors. Darrow adds that by highlighting what makes your offer most attractive, you can help deflect attention from what doesn’t.

  • Consider hiring more part-time contributors, and embrace their flexibility. If the full-time talent you seek is too difficult to find or costly to hire, then fill each open position with multiple part-time employees who have embraced the “gig” economy and are willing to share the workload. And don’t punish them if they decide to try something else.

“The biggest shift for us culturally is that we tell each new employee that we’ll enjoy you while you’re here, and that we want to make the time you’re with us be great,” says Browne. “So if you decide to become an Uber driver, congrats! We enjoyed having you while we were here.”

  • Build strong talent networks. Learn to develop relationships with potential new hires long before relevant job openings are posted. One approach is to create “communities of engagement” online through social media where candidates can learn about your company and see how current employees have an opportunity to make a difference.

“Too often I see companies aren’t hiring the best of the best; they’re hiring the best of who they stumble on based on their poor sourcing strategies,” says Darrow. He advocates using social media and networking to build a deep pipeline of potential candidates who you may not have jobs for today, but who you can tap into when appropriate openings emerge down the road.

  • Learn and implement predictive analytics. The role of HR metrics has grown dramatically. While you may not need to hire a full-time data analyst, you (or your vendors) should have the ability to measure the effectiveness of all aspects of your recruiting efforts.

“Employers have to be able to assess the probable yield of a recruitment ad in a certain location, among a certain demographic or at one salary point vs. another, and then instantaneously measure the results and make changes to that ad placement and content on the fly,” says Peter Weddle, CEO of TAtech.org, the association for talent acquisition solutions in Stamford, Conn. By managing your recruitment marketing efforts this closely using analytics, you’ll optimize the results and lower your cost per hire, he adds.

  • Simplify job applications. Poor completion rates for online applications results in the loss of top talent, poor word-of-mouth from candidates frustrated with the process and wasted spending associated with abandonment in cost-per-click recruiting models.

About 60 percent of all job seekers quit in the middle of filling out online job applications because of the form’s length or complexity, according to CareerBuilder. Conversely, companies can increase the rate at which candidates will complete an application by more than 300 percent by reducing the length of the application process to five minutes or less, reports Appcast, an online recruitment service. “You have to make applying simple, fast and mobile friendly, or you won’t attract the best candidates,” says Darrow.

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How Companies Can Effectively Build Their Leadership Pipelines

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The business world is headed for a leadership crisis. More and more baby boomers retire every day, and many companies lack future leaders who are ready, willing, and able to take their place.

In their 2014 Global Human Capital Trends report, Deloitte found that 86 percent of businesses believe they do not have an adequate leadership pipeline, and 79 percent believe they have a significant retention and engagement problem. Obviously, these problems are closely related. How can you hope to sustain an effective leadership pipeline if your employees are disengaged and your turnover rate is high? Today’s mid-level director could be tomorrow’s CEO – if she stays on board.

For many HR professionals, the problem begins with the word “retention” itself. The idea of “retaining” top talent suggests locking the front door so your best employees can’t leave. Instead, we should think in terms of continually attracting talent.

The ways in which we convince employees to remain at a company shouldn’t be all that different from the ways in which we convince them to join in the first place. Many marriage experts suggest that to ensure a healthy relationship, you should never stop “dating” your partner. By extension, HR professionals should never stop “recruiting” their current employees.

According to the 2017 edition of Deloitte’s report, 48 percent of employees at American companies consider employee experience “very important.” What this tells us is that compensation and benefits aren’t the only answer to the leadership pipeline problem. Attracting talent begins at a cultural level. Businesses must create an environment where employees actually want to work – an environment where they feel supported professionally and can derive meaning from their job.

Increasingly, employees are demanding coaching and professional development from their employers. When companies provide these support services for their teams, it represents a win-win for everyone involved. Employees gain confidence and increase their efficiency, improving overall performance, decreasing stress, and boosting morale. Employers get an office full of happy workers – who may one day turn into happy leaders.

Providing coaching and professional development helps remedy a significant source of diminished employee engagement: the expectation gap. Employers expect a certain level of productivity and achievement from their workers, and workers in turn expect that they will be given the tools (both literal and figurative) to meet those goals.

If management finds that employees are failing to meet expectations, it may be a sign that the company is also failing to fulfill its obligation to provide appropriate support. This results in disengaged employees who may already have one foot out the door, causing a negative ripple effect on retention, growth, and – of course – your leadership pipeline.

Coaching – particularly from an external service – closes this expectation gap, helping to ensure that employees are well positioned to succeed. External coaching has been shown to increase companies’ retention by more than 50 percent, proving that the more supported employees feel, the more likely they are to stay and grow into future leaders.

More and more companies are beginning to recognize the need to drive employee engagement and create a solid leadership pipeline. An external coaching service is more than just a perk management can offer to employees – it is a long-term investment in the future of the company. The employees you train and develop today may one day step up to the plate and assume greater responsibilities that will shape and mold the growth of your business. That is an investment worth making, and one that no business owner can afford to put off.

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3 Ways Recruitment Automation Will Change Recruiting Forever

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The growing need for recruitment automation tools has fueled the recent popularity in AI for recruiting.

With hiring volume predicted to increase next year but recruiting teams remaining the same size or shrinking, interest in recruitment automation will only get stronger.

In 2017, finding top talent will depend on a recruiter’s ability to intelligently automate their workflow.

Recruiting teams are also facing increased pressure to demonstrate data-based KPIs. Talent acquisition leaders are increasingly measuring their recruiting teams by quality of hire in addition to time to fill.

According to LinkedIn’s data, the most important recruiting KPIs are:

  • Quality of hire is the top priority for 60% of talent acquisition leaders
  • Time to fill is the top priority for 28% of talent acquisition leaders

Advances in technology have transformed finance, sales, and marketing departments and industry experts believe recruiting technology will be the next big adoption.

By streamlining some aspects of the recruiting workflow, experts predict recruitment automation will enhance a human recruiter’s capabilities.

Here are three major ways recruitment automation is changing recruiting.

1. Recruitment automation for resume screening

One of the most promising applications of recruitment automation is for resume screening due to three main reasons.

  1. Manually screening resumes is still the most time-consuming part of recruiting.
  2. Up to 88% of resumes received for a role are considered unqualified.
  3. A recruiter spends on average 23 hours screening resumes for a single hire.

Although screening resumes is still the biggest bottleneck in recruiting, technology to address this problem has only recently become available.

Powered by AI for recruiting, intelligent screening software automates the resume screening process. Designed to integrate with an ATS, the software learns what the job requirements are and then learns what qualified candidates look like based on previous hiring decisions.

Using employee data on performance and tenure, the software figures out which candidates went on to become successful and unsuccessful employees.

This type of recruiting software can also enrich resumes by using public data sources about previous employers and candidates’ social media profiles.

Intelligent screening software applies the knowledge it learned about employees’ experience, skills, and other qualifications to automatically screen, rank, and grade new candidates.

Recruitment automation applied to resume screening promises to be a boon to reduce time to hire because it automates a low-value, repetitive task that most recruiters hate to do anyway.

Automated resume screening allows recruiters to re-focus their time on higher value priorities such as talking to candidates to assess their personalities and culture fit.

2. Recruitment automation for pre-qualification

In the current candidate-driven market, candidate experience can make or break whether a top candidate accepts your job offer. Recruitment automation in the form of chatbots holds the promise for improving the candidate experience.

CareerBuilder’s data found 67% of job seekers have a positive impression of a company if they receive consistent updates throughout the application process.

Recruitment automation in the form of chatbots allows human recruiters to provide these consistent updates in real-time by asking pre-qualifying questions related to the job requirements and providing feedback, updates, and next-step suggestions.

By automating repetitive tasks such as answering the same questions about a job, chatbots enhance the pre-qualification capabilities of a human recruiter without additional strain on their time.

3. Recruitment automation for interviews

Recruitment automation for interviewing augments recruiters’ capabilities by allowing recruiters to conduct interviews anywhere any time.

Digitized interview technology records candidate interviews and assesses factors such as their word choices, speech patterns, and facial expressions to predict how well a candidate fits the role.

Recruitment automation applied to interviewing promises to improve quality of hire by providing additional data points on how well the candidate fits the job requirements or company culture.

The takeaways for recruitment automation

Industry experts believe recruitment automation will augment and enhance human recruiters’ abilities, rather than completely replace them.

Recruitment automation is changing recruiting in three major ways:

  1. Automated resume screening that reduces time to hire by saving recruiters the hours spent manually reading resumes.
  2. Automated pre-qualification through chatbots that enhances the candidate experience by providing continuous, real-time feedback.
  3. Automated interviews that improve job fit by analyzing candidates’ words, speech patterns, and facial expressions.

As the adoption of recruitment automation continues to increase, the recruiter role will change.

Talent acquisition is a marketing role, not a sales one. ~ Maren Hogan

Industry experts predict that by reducing time to fill and improving quality of hire, technology will enable recruiters to become more strategic by freeing up time to spend on proactive hiring and workplace planning.

Ironically, recruitment automation will enable recruiters to become more “human” as their skills in candidate engagement and persuasion become more important to compete for talent.

This article was first published on Ideal.com.

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How Assessments Create Successful Manufacturing Hires

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Want to make the right manufacturing hires? A 2016 MRI survey on recruiting found that 80 percent of all hires are mistakes that cost companies time and money. In manufacturing, according to research by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute, nearly 3.5 million jobs may be needed over the next ten years. Some 2 million are expected to go unfilled due to the skills gap, however. This serious issue requires a serious shift in perspective: Discovering the right fit needs to be about more than skills. A pre-employment test can accurately evaluate aptitude and personality to assess a candidate’s real potential. The good news is that there are tests to do the heavy lifting and there’s no reason not to take advantage of these tools.

Aptitude: The Key Differentiator

A pre-employment assessment, that looks at a candidate’s potential, shifts our criteria to more effectively look at talent to address today’s realities. We’re staffing up in a super-tight job market that’s also experiencing a marked skills gap, so an open position can have a direct impact on production, as a 2014 study conducted by Accenture for The Manufacturing Institute uncovered. The talent shortage is costing American manufacturers an average of 11 percent in annual earnings— or $3,000 per existing employee.

The key is to recruit for aptitude as well as skill. A pre-employment test for mechanical aptitude, for instance, may convey that a potential hire will be able to ramp up fast and learn into the job. Recent research on hiring shows that aptitude is generally a far more effective indicator of on-the-job success: it’s twice as predictive as a job interview, three times as predictive as job experience, and four times as predictive as education level.

Pre-Hiring Tests Help Shape Careers, Not Just Fill Jobs

In the big picture, successful hiring is also about considering the candidate as talent, not just a pair of eyes and a pair of hands; and acknowledging that from their point of view, it’s not just about walking into a job and staying there. We know that in general, candidates prefer organizations that offer opportunities for growth.

Additionally, manufacturing may not be perceived as having the same kind of growth potential as other fields. Not to put too fine a point on this, but manufacturing was actually ranked last by Generation Y as a career choice in that Deloitte / Manufacturing Institute study. If the perception is that you won’t be hired if you don’t already know everything and have every skill, then the company is going to lose out on applicants from the beginning.

But companies can convey the potential for growth by demonstrating that they’re screening for it. Businesses that provide tests to measure aptitudes and potential for the future may be perceived as more competitive, and therefore more desirable to candidates. As a compelling piece by my colleagues at SHRM (the Society for Human Resource Management) pointed out, when companies make an effort to demonstrate that there’s a tangible skills ladder to climb, they may attract more applicants.

Metrics for Better Performance

Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute found that 80 percent of manufacturers have at least a moderate, if not a severe, shortage of qualified applicants for skilled and highly skilled production positions. The basic skills most lacking among applicants include:

  • Computer and technology skills — 70 percent lacked
  • Problem-solving skills — 69 percent lacked
  • Technical training — 67 percent lacked
  • Math skills — 60 percent lacked

So if you’re looking for new talent, screen for these as aptitudes — and then provide the training and growth that cultivates them into specific skills.

Companies can also establish benchmarks based on existing best-performing employees — a new but proven strategy that’s catching on. Take this example from Criteria Corp’s website: Criteria stands at the vanguard of pre-hire testing, enabling firms in the manufacturing sector — from small businesses to larger ones — to winnow out top talent efficiently. Criteria works with companies in a whole range of fields, to be sure. But here’s an example from manufacturing: an American installation and repair service company wanted to decrease turnover rates and improve the productivity of more than 3,000 service technicians. The solution: Set a standard, and go from there.

The company first administered the Wiesen Test of Mechanical Aptitude (WTMA) to one group of its techs to create a standard. What emerged was a set of scores associated with high performance that could be used as a baseline for pre-employment testing. The result with this kind of process is that everyone is happy. The candidates are happy to participate in a process that’s data-driven and transparent. Companies are satisfied because the process works. Hiring managers and recruiters are assessing candidates based on qualitative data rather than hunches, which drives a new kind of commitment we all want in our workplaces.

In terms of engagement and alignment, here’s how it works: The candidate experiences, firsthand, the company’s commitment to both making a fair hire and investing in a candidate’s learning and development. The company gets a candidate motivated to do the legwork to grow. The results: better hires, better performance, but also a better workplace. That’s better, in my book, than gambling on guesswork.

To read more from Criteria Corp about manufacturing and assessments, click here.

This post is sponsored by Criteria Corp.

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Recruiting Efficiency Can and Does Improve Candidate Experience

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Recruiting is made up of a million different moving pieces. Literally. And they’re not linear either; they constantly loop back and in on themselves. Some of them help with talent attraction. Some do the heavy lifting of recruitment itself. And others help us with the final stages of the hiring process.

These pieces don’t have to operate in perfect harmony because that just doesn’t exist. But to strive for peak efficiency is key, even if it means only focusing on two to three areas your team can improve today. This kind of harmonic efficiency is only possible when the right technology, systems, people and processes are in place.

Without this critical infrastructure, recruiting would grind to a halt. Tapping into today’s richest candidate channels would be almost impossible, and we wouldn’t be able to build robust candidate relationships and pipelines or effectively track and manage the million-and-one details inherent in recruiting. And that great candidate experience we’re all working so hard to deliver? Without the right infrastructure and processes that are tested and measured and adjusted, that isn’t happening either.

In fact, one of the best ways to raise the bar on your candidate experience is to relentlessly monitor and improve your overall recruiting efficiency. Because that’s what you should be doing anyway, and by doing that, you’re effectively raising the bar for your candidates (and your teams).

The Importance of the Big Picture

Recently at one of our spring candidate experience workshops (that still have seats available for the upcoming ones here), talent acquisition leaders and their teams were talking about the application process and how they’ve reduced the number of questions and fields. But before they did so, they ensured the back-end screening, assessments and dispositioning communications were in place via their technologies and processes. Otherwise it becomes a hot mess that just lets lots of unqualified candidates in the door.

Capital One, a multi-year Candidate Experience Awards winner, is a perfect example of a company whose focus on the big picture of overall recruiting efficiency has helped to reinvigorate its candidate experience.

It simplified its digital engagement for candidate exploration by rolling out both a mobile application and mobile referrals. Last year, the company saw 25 percent of its applicants come through its mobile channel, and 40 percent of its referrals come through mobile applications as well. Here’s an example of efficiency and candidate experience lifting each other up.

As detailed in a case study in the Talent Board’s 2016 North American Candidate Experience (CandE) Research Report, the company also applies candidate experience data and reporting to its broader talent acquisition organization. For instance, it uses a recruiter scorecard to tie key attributes of the candidate experience to specific recruiters and their lines of business. Capital One also examines data at every point in the recruiting process to encourage recruiters to continually improve candidate interactions.

In addition, the company implemented a new recruiting technology platform last year to provide a “central support structure” and uniform parameters for use by all hiring managers and recruiters, regardless of location or business group. According to Capital One, this has made interacting with candidates more consistent and efficient—and helped to consolidate and improve the various ways candidates apply to jobs.

Other findings from the CandE Report show just how widely these types of recruiting technologies are being invested in:

  • 97 percent of employers participating in the CandE Awards have an applicant tracking system (ATS) in place.
  • 81 percent utilize assessments and testing systems.
  • 76 percent utilize talent network/community systems.
  • 69 percent have CRMs.

As the CandE Report data also shows, participants expect these kinds of infrastructure investments to grow. (Read more about that by downloading the Report.)

Improving the Candidate Experience

The candidate experience. Those three little words have unleashed an avalanche of articles, blog posts, white papers and reports—and rightly so. The candidate experience is one of the most important aspects of recruiting success, yet it still needs to be streamlined and enriched at a staggering number of organizations.

One of the most basic problems our candidates have is just getting their foot in the damn door! Let’s be honest—the online application process can be a navigational nightmare. A time- and patience-sucking beast built on systems and processes that are poorly integrated (if they’re integrated at all).

One organization that recently overhauled its online application process—and another CandE Award winner—is NewYork-Presbyterian, one of the nation’s most comprehensive academic health care delivery systems. As recounted in the 2016 CandE Report, NewYork-Presbyterian had no problem attracting candidates. But getting them to complete online applications and assessments was another matter. Too many candidates were simply dropping out of that process.

The organization realized it was “putting candidates through an obstacle course” before even considering them for a role. To remedy this and other application-related problems, NewYork-Presbyterian dissected its entire online process and implemented fixes such as pulling key data from its ATS, reviewing responses from its candidate experience surveys, and extensively testing its application process.

If you’re interested in improving your own application process, here are three good places to begin:

  1. Ease up on some of those prescreening fails. Initial screenings don’t always tell you the whole story about an applicant’s viability or qualifications. CandE research reveals that 86 percent of employers now allow more individuals to complete an application even after they fail screening questions. And they probably have the back-end in good shape, too.
  2. Make it easier to apply on mobile devices. As mentioned above, after rolling out a mobile application and a mobile referrals program, Capital One had 25 percent of its applicants engaging the company on mobile devices after just six months—and 40 percent of its referrals came through mobile applications. And even though according to the CandEs, nearly 80 percent of the participating North American employers offer mobile apply, only 12 percent of candidates are using it, so improving that experience is critical to candidate conversion.
  3. Prepare your candidates for success from the get-go. At Hyland, a leading software solutions provider, recruiters use an applicant tracking system to determine where candidates might best fit in the organization. As a result, during job interviews, recruiters often talk with candidates about more than one position. Chicago-based consultancy, West Monroe Partners, helps its candidates prepare for an interview, even offering them tips even about the interviewers themselves to help facilitate introductions and fruitful conversations.

Without question, the candidate experience needs to improve. But it’s only part of the larger recruiting the equation. If we pay attention to our company’s overall recruiting efficiencies—and to implementing the best possible infrastructure on the back-end—the candidate experience can and does improve.

That’s the heavenly beauty of harmonic recruiting efficiency.

Registration is now open for companies that want to participate in the 2017 Talent Board Candidate Experience Awards Bench Program. Register today!

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#WorkTrends Recap: Top 5 Predictors of Employee Turnover

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Without a doubt, employee turnover is costly mistake and one that most companies can avoid with minimal effort, yet so many brands fail in this area.

This week on the #WorkTrends show, host Meghan M. Biro and her special guest Dan Harris, of Quantum Workplace discussed the intricacies of employee turnover and its long-lasting implications on the employment value proposition.

Dan talked about the difference between dysfunctional and functional employee turnover and how each impacts the organization. It was a lively conversation.

Here are a few other key points that Dan shared with the community:

  • Not all employee turnover is bad for the organization
  • Employees who don’t feel valued by their employers won’t value their work. They will most likely seek value elsewhere.
  • Employee recognition is strongly correlated to employee engagement for a healthy workplace

Did you miss the show? You can listen to the #WorkTrends podcast on our BlogTalk Radio channel here:   http://bit.ly/2neuI8h

You can also check out the highlights of the conversation from our Storify here:

Didn’t make it to this week’s #WorkTrends show? Don’t worry, you can tune in and participate in the podcast and chat with us every Wednesday from 1-2pm ET (10-11am PT).

Remember, the TalentCulture #WorkTrends conversation continues every day across several social media channels. Stay up-to-date by following our #WorkTrends Twitter stream; pop into our LinkedIn group to interact with other members; or check out our Google+ community. Engage with us any time on our social networks, or stay current with trending World of Work topics on our website or through our weekly email newsletter.

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#WorkTrends Preview: Top 5 Predictors of Employee Turnover

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During this week’s TalentCulture’s #WorkTrends event, we’re going to be discussing an important topic and one that we touch upon often given its impact on brands, culture, the workplace and workforce.

Employee turnover is costly and one that most companies can avoid with minimal effort, yet so many brands fail in this area.

Join host Meghan M. Biro and her special guest Dan Harris, Ph.D of Quantum Workplace on Wednesday, March 29 at 1pm ET as they discuss the intricacies of employee turnover and its long-lasting implications on the employment value proposition.

Top 5 Predictors of Employee Turnover

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Join Dan and Meghan on our LIVE online podcast Wednesday, Mar 29 — 1 pm ET / 10 am PT.

Immediately following the podcast, the team invites the TalentCulture community over to the #WorkTrends Twitter stream to continue the discussion. We encourage everyone with a Twitter account to participate as we gather for a live chat, focused on these related questions:

Q1: What are the indicators of employee turnover? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Q2: What causes brands to fail at employee engagement? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Q3: How can employees help leadership create a great culture? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Don’t want to wait until next Wednesday to join the conversation? You don’t have to. I invite you to check out the #WorkTrends Twitter feed, our TalentCulture World of Work Community LinkedIn group, and our TalentCulture G+ community. Share your questions, ideas and opinions with our awesome community any time. See you there!

Join Our Social Community & Stay Up-to-Date!

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#WorkTrends Recap: Immigration and Visa Under the Trump Administration

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Without a doubt, we are living in one of the most pivotal moments in history. Our current presidential administration is making lots of changes that could have repercussions for businesses all across the country. And we can speculate that many more changes will be occurring in the future. How exactly will all of these changes impact American and global workforces?

On this week’s #WorkTrends show, host Meghan M. Biro was joined by immigration attorney Jon Velie. They discussed the current political landscape regarding immigration, current and new processing requirements and what changes that we may see in both visa processing and/or compliance.

Jon shared the latest information regarding immigration and visas and how unforeseen repercussions could have a lasting impact on businesses.

Here are a few other key points that Jon shared:

  • Businesses that rely on STEM workers could be forced to move outside of the US to find employees
  • If it’s hard to get jobs in America, fewer international students will come to our universities
  • Only 19 percent of American students graduate with degrees in STEM

Did you miss the show? You can listen to the #WorkTrends podcast on our BlogTalk Radio channel here:  http://bit.ly/2ndIKud

You can also check out the highlights of the conversation from our Storify here:

Didn’t make it to this week’s #WorkTrends show? Don’t worry, you can tune in and participate in the podcast and chat with us every Wednesday from 1-2pm ET (10-11am PT). Next Wednesday, March 29, Meghan will be joined by Dan Harris of Quantum Workplace to discuss predictors of employee turnover.

Remember, the TalentCulture #WorkTrends conversation continues every day across several social media channels. Stay up-to-date by following our #WorkTrends Twitter stream; pop into our LinkedIn group to interact with other members; or check out our Google+ community. Engage with us any time on our social networks, or stay current with trending World of Work topics on our website or through our weekly email newsletter.

#WorkTrends Preview: Immigration and Visa Under the Trump Administration

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Without a doubt our current presidential administration is an interesting one. There are lots of changes taking place and as we speculate, many more will be occurring in the future. With all of these changes, the American and global workforce will be affected, but in what ways?

Join Meghan M. Biro and her special guest, immigration attorney Jon Velie on Wednesday, March 22 at 1pm EDT to hear the latest information you need to know regarding immigration and visas. During this informative #WorkTrends event, Meghan and Jon will discuss the current political landscape regarding immigration, current & new processing requirements and what changes that we may see in both visa processing and/or compliance.

Immigration and Visa Under the Trump Administration

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Join Jon and Meghan on our LIVE online podcast Wednesday, Mar 22 — 1 pm ET / 10 am PT.

Immediately following the podcast, the team invites the TalentCulture community over to the #WorkTrends Twitter stream to continue the discussion. We encourage everyone with a Twitter account to participate as we gather for a live chat, focused on these related questions:

Q1. What are the workforce realities of the immigration ban? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Q2. What can U.S.-based multinational brands expect from the current ban? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question) 

Q3. How will workplace productivity be affected by the lack of diverse culture? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Don’t want to wait until next Wednesday to join the conversation? You don’t have to. I invite you to check out the #WorkTrends Twitter feed, our TalentCulture World of Work Community LinkedIn group, and our TalentCulture G+ community. Share your questions, ideas and opinions with our awesome community any time. See you there!

Join Our Social Community & Stay Up-to-Date!

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Your Hiring Process: A Trip Down the Red Carpet or an Episode of Survivor?-

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There’s no doubt that hiring qualified people is important. Having top-notch talent who do quality work will help your organization reach its goals. Unfortunately, in an effort to get hiring right, some organizations have made their selection process an obstacle course.

Take, for example, a prominent company in Seattle. It’s a great place to work. However, a less prominent employer in town, with whom they compete for employees, is winning the war for top talent. Is the lesser known company’s jobs and work environment better? No. They consistently rank slighter lower on Glassdoor.com.

Why is the lower-ranked company winning the war for top talent? It’s simple. It’s their process. They’ve created a fast and efficient red-carpet experience for candidates. Top talent are treated with exceptional care, and are whisked through an expedient selection process. This includes one phone interview followed by one face-to-face interview.

The more prominent company hires differently. A phone interview is followed by four separate visits for in-person interviews. As one candidate put it, “Interviewing with them is like being on the show ‘Survivor.’ They make you go through a ridiculous obstacle course to get to their jobs.”

Does this mean the prominent company is more rigorous in their selection process? No, not at all. In fact, when compared side by side, both companies maintain high standards. The lesser known employer is meeting these standards quickly and efficiently.

Forked Road

How can you turn your hiring process into a red carpet experience that accelerates top talent through an efficient experience? Take these four steps.

Step #1: Take the emotion out of hiring decisions.

Our emotions are an important part of being human, but they routinely compromise and slow down sound decision making. This is especially true in the hiring arena, because leaders often choose the wrong candidates for the job when their feelings interfere with the selection process. For example, feeling comfortable with a candidate is a distraction that hinders one’s ability to determine if a candidate has the necessary traits to perform well in a job. Being at ease with a potential hire is great, but it can also undermine making a decision based on factual evidence.

Top leaders counter the emotional element in their selection process by relying on hiring profiles. Unfortunately, hiring profiles are inaccurate or simply not used in many organizations. Implementing up-to-date profiles helps take the emotion out of hiring decisions. Instead of relying on “gut” feeling, hiring managers use hiring profiles to make faster, objective decisions based on facts.

Step #2: Cultivate candidates from multiple sources.

There are plenty of methods for sourcing good talent, including using job boards, going through your internal database of candidates, and of course, following up on leads through referrals. No one source can adequately meet all of your talent needs. The leaders who successfully fill their open jobs quickly maintain a strong flow of candidates, generated by multiple sources of talent.

Each candidate resource ebbs and flows, so your access to talent will always be changing. To quickly fill jobs with the most talented people, be sure to have a talent pool made up of multiple sources. Most organizations find they need to draw job candidates from six to eight different streams of talent.

Step #3: During interviews seek proof, not promises.

During conventional interviews, candidates are always on their best behavior. They say what you want to hear, only share the best parts of their backgrounds, and make promises of how they will perform on the job. Unfortunately, these promises don’t always translate into quality work.

Seek proof that the candidate is a good fit for your organization. This is done through experiential interviews where the candidate performs sample work focusing on key aspects of the job. Have salespeople demonstrate how they sell. Ask computer programmers to write code. Require a customer service manager to solve a real business problem. If you watch carefully while the candidates does the actual work of the job, you’ll quickly discover whether or not they fit.

Step #4: Always be interviewing.

Remember this truth about hiring: It’s not if a job is going to open up—it’s when. Ongoing hiring is a certainty, and top leaders and hiring managers plan for when positions will become open in their organization.

Companies that fill their jobs with ease and speed have made faster hiring a strategic imperative, and this initiative starts at the top. Executives should regularly interview top talent as prospective future hires. Senior leaders and other managers should do the same, following the example of their bosses. A few interviews each month will ensure that you always have people ready to hire, the moment a job becomes open.

Speed and quality are not mutually exclusive. A fast and efficient selection process can be thorough and effective. That’s why I’ve included a faster process in my new book from McGraw-Hill—High Velocity Hiring: How to Hire Top Talent in an Instant. Talented people have choices. Rolling out the red carpet makes them much more likely to choose you.

A version of the post was first published on Wintrip Consulting Group.

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#WorkTrends Preview: High Velocity Recruiting Is Lean Hiring

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In today’s very competitive hiring environment, brands need to have a solid strategy for talent acquisition with forethought to the retention of desired talent. Speed and accuracy of culture fit are essentials parts of the strategy, but what happens when companies take too much time to assess their candidates?

On Wednesday, March 8,  Scott Wintrip, author of the highly anticipated book High Velocity Hiring: How to Hire Top Talent in an Instant joins host Meghan M. Biro on #WorkTrends to discuss how companies can hire quickly and still maintain high standards for the acquisition of desirable talent.

High Velocity Recruiting Is Lean Hiring

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Join Scott and me on our LIVE online podcast Wednesday, Mar 8 — 1 pm ET / 10 am PT.

Immediately following the podcast, the team invites the TalentCulture community over to the #WorkTrends Twitter stream to continue the discussion. We encourage everyone with a Twitter account to participate as we gather for a live chat, focused on these related questions:

Q1: How can brands hire the right talent quickly?  #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Q2: Why should leadership consider faster hiring a strategic imperative? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Q3: What impact does a long interview process have on candidate experience #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Don’t want to wait until next Wednesday to join the conversation? You don’t have to. I invite you to check out the #WorkTrends Twitter feed, our TalentCulture World of Work Community LinkedIn group, and our TalentCulture G+ community. Share your questions, ideas and opinions with our awesome community any time. See you there!

Join Our Social Community & Stay Up-to-Date!

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#WorkTrends Recap: The New Digital Workplace: Four Key Trends

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As technology advances and changes our workplaces, many pundits speculate on the trends that we need to be mindful of.

Companies are developing global footprints and with that employ people based in different countries with varying cultural nuances, the need for better digital tools and accessibility to remain connected continues to rise.

This week on #WorkTrends, host Meghan M. Biro was joined by Igloo Software VP of Product Strategy Stephen Rahal to discuss the four key trends every company needs to know today to better prepare for the future workplace.

Stephen shared about how companies can make the most of technology advancements to create an inclusive workplace even though employees might be spread across the globe.

Here are some other key points that he shared:

  • Technology acts as an enabler for Collaboration
  • Bringing people, apps, data, information, and processes together to drive business results is the key to success
  • Leaders must be willing to get their hands dirty

Did you miss the show? You can listen to the #WorkTrends podcast on our BlogTalk Radio channel here: http://bit.ly/2j30a7W

You can also check out the highlights of the conversation from our Storify here:

Didn’t make it to this week’s #WorkTrends show? Don’t worry, you can tune in and participate in the podcast and chat with us every Wednesday from 1-2pm ET (10-11am PT). On Jan 25, I will be joined by Kurgo CEO Gordie Spater to discuss the benefits of a pet-friendly workplace.

Remember, the TalentCulture #WorkTrends conversation continues every day across several social media channels. Stay up-to-date by following our #WorkTrends Twitter stream; pop into our LinkedIn group to interact with other members; or check out our Google+ community. Engage with us any time on our social networks, or stay current with trending World of Work topics on our website or through our weekly email newsletter.

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Corporate Perks: A Thinly Veiled Disguise

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It’s no secret that there is a war going on… a tug of war to be exact. Companies are scrambling to find the best and brightest talent and many are failing miserably. One of the tactics used by many companies is to seduce candidates with profound and presumably attractive perks as a lure for employment. Further, these same tactics can be used as a retention tool with existing employees. In the short-term, perks are novel and with that may be considered interesting, but in the long-run, they are not the enduring enticement employers believe them to be.

Perks come in many shapes and forms and offer varying benefits. Some companies believe that free food, paid travel, and other offerings of the like are exactly what it takes to attract new talent and to keep the talent they have. Simply, this is not a solid long-term solution. What’s worse is when one company attempts to mimic a competitor’s perks in the hopes that they, too, can enjoy the same presumed successes and much to their chagrin it goes sideways and for good reason.

Company perks should be a reflection of the company’s culture and match the values of that specific organization. Since no two companies are alike, it’s an erroneous assumption to believe that what works for one company should work for another.

Give the people what they want

According to a survey conducted by Gallup, a sample population of job seekers were asked what matters most to them about a potential employer. The results of the survey revealed that the respondents were interested in a company’s mission, culture, growth, advancement opportunities, compensation and compelling statements as to why they should consider employment with one organization over another. Not a mention of free food, ping-pong tables or free haircuts was cited by anyone in this survey.

An article on Careertopia, supports the findings revealed by the Gallup survey. The articles goes on to state that the five things job seekers want from an employer are: career growth; work-life balance; fair compensation; great leadership; and alignment with a company’s mission, vision and values. Once again, perks were not mentioned as being an attraction factor.

The Millennials speak

In a different survey conducted by Gallup, they queried 1,700 U.S. workers to determine the attraction factors that appeal to the three employed generations. What the results of this survey revealed is that Millennials, who are presumed to be job hopping know-it-alls, are in actuality seeking out employers that cater to a generation thirsty for opportunities to learn and grow, to be managed by great leadership, to be engrossed in work that is interesting and which offers challenges, along with opportunities to advance their careers. Additionally, the survey results disclosed that a workplace with an informal and “fun” environment was not a high-attraction factor highly coveted by this generation.

Independent of the Gallup survey, Deloitte conducted a Millennial survey which revealed that compensation along with interesting work and work-life balance rose to the top of the results and what is most in demand by Millennials.

The Sandwich generation

For people born between 1965 and 1978, also known as Generation X, they too have stated what is important for them in the workplace. For this group, work-life balance rises to the top of the results. For this generation, the realities of managing parenthood along with taking care of a parent is becoming more commonplace with each passing year. To that end, having a flexible schedule that allows for care-giving is a big attraction factor. Further, Gen X has developed a reputation for being results oriented, problem solvers who seek out work opportunities where their feedback and opinions are welcomed. Free food, indoor putting greens and other perks of this nature were not mentioned.

The thing that really matters

As leadership scrambles around seeking out the next best shiny object to use in their recruitment and retention arsenal, they need to stop and revisit that which is already in front of them: their company culture. This one item is the biggest and best perk any organization can offer to potential and existing employees. This is what attracts and keeps needed talent. People seek out a culture that aligns with their personal beliefs. Servant leadership, 360 feedback, companies that take an interest in their employees’ well-being, opportunities to learn, good communication, respectful interactions, work-life balance, fair pay, and for job seekers, a shortened hiring processes and timely follow-through with communications all matter. All of these are indicative of an organization’s culture and what is being researched by job seekers and responded to by employees.

The irony is that the bells and whistles that many companies buy into are actually not what they need. People place more value on a relationship and a good work opportunity than they do a ping-pong table or free haircut. I guess the old expression is correct… sometimes people can’t see the forest through the trees.

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#WorkTrends Preview: The New Digital Workplace: Four Key Trends

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Many pundits in the HR and tech space are speculating on trends we need to be mindful of. Many anticipate the workplace as we know it today will be a great predictor of what’s to come.

As more and more companies develop a global footprint and with that employ people based in different countries with varying cultural nuances, the need for better digital tools and accessibility to remain connected continues to rise.

Join this week’s special guest Igloo Software VP of Product Strategy, Stephen Rahal and host Meghan M. Biro as they discuss the four key trends every company needs to know today to better prepare for the future workplace.

The New Digital Workplace: Four Key Trends

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Join Stephen and me on our LIVE online podcast Wednesday, Jan 18 — 1 pm ET / 10 am PT.

Immediately following the podcast, the team invites the TalentCulture community over to the #WorkTrends Twitter stream to continue the discussion. We encourage everyone with a Twitter account to participate as we gather for a live chat, focused on these related questions:

Q1: How can digital create an inclusive workplace for remote workers? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Q2: How can companies be better at attracting desired talent?  #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Q3: How can the Intranet create a collaborative culture? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Don’t want to wait until next Wednesday to join the conversation? You don’t have to. I invite you to check out the #WorkTrends Twitter feed, our TalentCulture World of Work Community LinkedIn group, and our TalentCulture G+ community. Share your questions, ideas and opinions with our awesome community any time. See you there!

Join Our Social Community & Stay Up-to-Date!

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Slack for Recruiting? You Betcha!

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Slack has created a name for itself as a tool for communication, collaboration, and file-sharing amongst team members in a business or organization. But did you know tech-savvy HR directors are jumping ahead of the curve to adopt Slack as a recruiting tool?

Slack interfaces with a host of other messenger and collaboration apps—including Facebook, Twitter, GDrive and Gmail, and Asana—so you can reach out to people where they already are. It allows recruiters to connect with top talent across a variety of networks.

Intrigued? You should be. Let’s start from the beginning—finding candidates via Slack—and then look at some of the apps you can use with Slack to better manage recruiting processes in your organization.

Use Slack Channels to Find Candidates

Slack channels are similar to Facebook or LinkedIn groups. You’ll need an administrator to allow you into the group and, once you’re there, it’s good to spend some time learning the rules and etiquette of that particular channel.

Once you’re “in,” posting questions or reading current posts can be great ways to get to know candidates on a deeper level. Without even looking at a resume, you’re weeding out candidates you feel may not be a good fit in your organization. You might even find that hidden gem who isn’t currently looking for a job—so you might not come across their current resume on another platform—but he or she may be open to a conversation.

Find the Right Slack Channels

It’s important to note that you can search for keywords within communities on Slack, but you can’t search for specific channels. Use Google or websites like http://slacklist.info/ to find the most useful channels. You can also keep an eye on Twitter or talk to colleagues for recommendations.

Build a Talent Community and Watch the Candidates Come to You

Of course, you don’t have to rely on hunting down channels. You can create your own community, spreading the word through your other social channels, including LinkedIn and Twitter. Make sure to discuss topics of interest—not just promote your company—and ask questions that will provide insight into the capabilities of group members you might want to approach as prospective hires.

Engage with Other HR Professionals

Whether you’re looking to share tips on leveraging technology in HR, recommendations on the best Slack channels, or even seeking candidates that might be a good fit in your company, you can connect with other HR pros via Slack.

Having all these connections and information in a searchable database can be a bit addicting, so—as with any social media platform—you’ll want to carve out time each day devoted to Slack. However, because the platform is so convenient and you can receive and send messages through other social interfaces, it’s also an excellent way to get immediate answers to questions or answer colleagues or candidates without it interrupting your workday. HR experts who use Slack say it can vastly reduce the number of emails—and we all know what an interruption email can be!

Integrate HR Tools to Streamline Your Hiring Process

Slack currently integrates with 160 apps—all listed in the Slack App Directory—including communication, project management and, most significantly, a number of recruiting and HR-specific apps.

Breezy HR, a Trello-like project management tool for HR, allows you to organize candidates visually. Connect it to Slack to manage the hiring process. Use it to list prospective candidates, resumes to review, or interviews to schedule, for instance.

The Lever app pushes any notifications about individual candidate profiles straight to Slack, saving time and—you guessed it—keeping the process on one easy-to-use platform. The contents of any notes plus the candidate’s overview will automatically go to the private Slack channel you specify, which is great for collaborating with your HR team in real time, wherever they might be.

Blitz brings an under-used recruiting tool—instant messaging and chat—to the HR industry, enabling candidates and HR professionals to communicate seamlessly. By integrating with Slack, Blitz promises to save time and streamline your process by setting up automated pre-screening questions that filter which candidates get into the chat room.

Next Up: AI and Slack?

Imagine coupling a program like Blitz with the real-time ease-of-use of Slack and the capabilities of deep learning Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms. Slack could be working even when you aren’t, to sift through candidates, pinpoint the brightest stars, and filter out poor fits. The capability isn’t there yet, but right now, there are many other ways to use Slack for recruiting. No doubt, as the popularity of the service grows, so will its potential.

photo credit: gminguzzi Slack via photopin (license)

The Business Impact of Candidate Experience

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Here’s what crystal clear in business today: poor customer service impacts customer retention, referrals and potential new business. Social media has given consumers an open forum to share both good and bad product and service experiences to all who will listen.

How many of you have used social media to get some customer service action instead of growing old waiting on the customer service phone trees or trying to navigate the labyrinth of online FAQ databases?

The same has been true for job seekers, and for too long employers were resistant to treating candidate as the primary customer of recruiting. Per the Talent Board Candidate Experience (CandE) Awards and Benchmark Research, that’s finally changing for the better.

In fact, many of this year’s 50 CandE award-winning employers – all of which provide their job candidates with an exemplary experience as defined by the candidates themselves – have gone through this transformative shift. Meaning, to treat all their job candidates, both externally and internally, as the primary customers of talent acquisition. Not the hiring manager, executive manager or other recruiting peers and colleagues – the candidates.

And not a moment too soon, since now six years of Talent Board’s CandE Awards benchmark research conclusively demonstrates that on average 41 percent of global candidates who believe they have had a “negative” overall 1-star job seeker experience (based on a 1-5 Likert Scale rating) say they will take their alliance, product purchases and relationship somewhere else. That means a potential loss of revenue for consumer-based businesses and referral networks for all companies. On the other hand, 64 percent say they’ll definitely increase their employer relationships based on the very positive job seeker experiences they’ve had. These aren’t just the job finalists either, but the majority are individuals who research and apply for jobs and who aren’t hired.

Also, quite clear from the 2016 CandE data (to be released early 2017) is how many employers continue to raise the bar on candidate communication and feedback loops – those candidates who said they had an overall 5-star candidate experience were only waiting for a response from the company after applying 32 percent of the time versus over 45 percent of candidates who said they only had an overall 1-star candidate experience. Unfortunately, 47 percent of all North American candidates overall were still waiting two to three or more months for a response from the company post-application, a continuous area of missed opportunity and a trend over the past few years.

When you look at candidate feedback at the interview stage, 87 percent those candidates who said they had an overall 1-star experience we’re never asked for any feedback on the interview process, while 32 percent of candidates who had an overall 5-star experience were asked for varying levels of feedback, a key differentiator in the race to hire the best people.

Lastly, candidates share their positive recruiting experiences with their inner circles (friends, family, peers, etc.) over 81 percent of the time and their negative experiences 66 percent of the time. Candidates also share their positive and negative experiences online via social media (Glassdoor, LinkedIn, etc.) 51 percent and 34 percent respectively. Again, it’s the negative experiences that not only potentially impacts the employment brand and direct revenue for consumer-based businesses, but also the sought-after talent employers are competing over and those referral networks that come with them.

Additional insights will be explored in the 2016 North American CandE research, the full report will be available on a complimentary basis to all interested employers and organizations early next year.

A non-profit research organization, Talent Board launched the CandE Awards program in 2011 as a way to promote and benchmark quality candidate experiences. Since then Talent Board has expanded to offer the CandE Awards in three regions: North America, EMEA and APAC. The 2016 North American CandE Awards set a new program record with more than 240 participating companies and 183,000 job seekers sharing their thoughts and experiences as candidates – 84 percent of whom did not get the job.

More than an awards competition, the CandE Awards also serve as a benchmarking program to raise awareness of the benefits of a positive candidate experience and highlight the tools, technology and techniques that can facilitate the process, as demonstrated by winning companies. The opening of the 2017 CandE Awards program will be announced following the publication of the forthcoming research report.

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5 Best Interview Questions To Hire Great Talent

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Hiring talent is not an easy job. During the different steps of the recruitment process, there are little tips and tricks that can help hiring professionals with the intricate task to identify the most talented candidates.

As a recruiter, when you are going through the resumes you may pay attention at how candidates have presented their most remarkable achievements on their resume. During this part of the process, you may look for some first signs of talent and potential. Aspects such as previous accomplishments, attitude towards work and originality are some positive indicators.

However, it is during a face-to-face interview when you will have a better chance to know the contestants, and there will be a real opportunity to detect the great talent that so many companies are after. The trick is that employers should hire for potential not for experience, as “past performance doesn’t guarantee future success”.

But how can you identify candidates with the highest potential if it is not based on their education or working experience? These 5 questions will help go the extra mile in a work interview and uncover those hidden gems.

– How many tennis balls can you fit into a limousine?

This is a brilliant question to test a candidate’s problem-solving ability. What you are looking for with this question is someone whose rationale starts by thinking about how big is a limousine and the measurements of a tennis ball. You are not after an exact number but a correct thinking process. So all those candidates trying to guess with an estimated number are not showing signs of being very talented people.

– Let’s stop talking about you; tell me something interesting about me.

This question has a twofold purpose. On the one hand, it will help you find out if the applicant has done the research about the company and the team. And on the other hand, you are not looking to learn something new about yourself but the contestant’s reaction to an unexpected issue. This is important because working with clients you need to be prepared to answer all sorts of questions, even those you don’t have an answer for.

– What would be your dream job?

Talented people normally have big ambitions and clear goals. With this query, you will find out two crucial things. First of all, if you are in front of a person committed to their work that will complement and work well with the rest of the team. And secondly and probably most importantly, when you are hiring talent you need to think about how are you going to retain it, so this question will help you understand that person’s opportunities to grow within the company.

 – What do you do for fun?

Keeping the right balance between personal and professional life is key for success, and as the co-founder of BigCommerce, Mitchell Harper, explains, talented people “strive to do well in most, if not all, areas of their life including physical fitness, relationships contribution and learning”.

Asking this question you will identify goal-oriented personalities and those who are constantly looking to self-improve. People, who make additional efforts in their personal life, such as learning how to play an instrument or a foreign language and volunteering in their spare time, will be the ones also making an additional effort in a professional environment.

– What is the best criticism you have ever received? Did you appreciate it at the time you received it?

In a constantly changing world, it is necessary to know how to receive feedback and learn from it. Constructive criticism helps us learn and improve and talented people know this naturally. You may discard candidates who don’t remember having done anything wrong and those who seem uncomfortable with the idea of receiving criticism. These are signs of lacking the ability to adapt to new changes and learn from one’s mistakes.

As you can see, to detect and hire talented people is not a simple task but it can actually be quite fun. Following the right tactics, it is possible to not only identify the candidates with the highest potential but also reflect on how to keep the most talented aspirants in your business. As a recruiter, make sure you structure your interview correctly and that all those random looking questions have a clear objective behind of them.

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#WorkTrends Recap: Recruiting Trends and 2017 Predictions

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The world of recruiting and talent acquisition has evolved over the past few decades… and changes are predicted to continue well into the near future.

The HR Technology space is teeming with options and competition with new companies coming onto the scene every day. Many will see a bright future, but others will barely see the light of day.

This week, special guest host Tim McDonald hosted Talent Board co-founder and chairwoman Elaine Orler to discuss recruiting trends and predictions for the next year.

Tim and Elaine discussed what trended this year and where they think the industry can and will go.

Here are a few key points that Elaine shared:

  • Businesses need to define what they want versus what they need before they shop for HR tech platforms
  • Social media is now moving more to interactions and awareness of where people are
  • Recruiting technologies fail because of the inability of the business to be prepared for new solutions

Did you miss the show? You can listen to the #WorkTrends podcast on our BlogTalk Radio channel here: http://bit.ly/2fLzgEK

You can also check out the highlights of the conversation from our Storify here:

Didn’t make it to this week’s #WorkTrends show? Don’t worry, you can tune in and participate in the podcast and chat with us every Wednesday from 1-2pm ET (10-11am PT). Next week, on Nov 16, I will be joined by William Keiper, CEO of FirstGlobal Partners LLC and best selling author, to discuss the new epidemic hitting the workplace, cyber slacking.

Remember, the TalentCulture #WorkTrends conversation continues every day across several social media channels. Stay up-to-date by following our #WorkTrends Twitter stream; pop into our LinkedIn group to interact with other members; or check out our Google+ community. Engage with us any time on our social networks, or stay current with trending World of Work topics on our website or through our weekly email newsletter.

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#WorkTrends Preview: Recruiting Trends and 2017 Predictions

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The world of recruiting and talent acquisition has evolved over the past few decades… and changes are predicted to continue well into the near future.

The HR Technology space is teeming with options and competition with new companies coming onto the scene every day. Many will see a bright future, but others will barely see the light of day.

Join guest host Tim McDonald and special guest Elaine Orler, the Chairperson and Co-founder of Talent Board on Wednesday, November 9 at 1pm ET as they discuss the current state of recruiting and explore the possibilities of the future recruiting technology landscape.

Recruiting Trends and 2017 Predictions

#WorkTrends Logo Design

Join Tim McDonald and Elaine Orler on our LIVE online podcast Wednesday, Nov 9 — 1 pm ET / 10 am PT.

Immediately following the podcast, the team invites the TalentCulture community over to the #WorkTrends Twitter stream to continue the discussion. We encourage everyone with a Twitter account to participate as we gather for a live chat, focused on these related questions:

Q1: What is the most impactful HR tech you’ve seen in 2016? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Q2: What recruiting and TA tech will be game-changers in 2017? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Q3: What resources can help educate us on recruiting technologies? #WorkTrends (Tweet this question)

Join Our Social Community & Stay Up-to-Date!

Passive-Recruiting

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#WorkTrends Recap: How Artificial Intelligence Can Change HR and Recruiting

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Are robots coming to work? Not entirely, but something that is going to be a game changer is about to take over the world of HR. Artificial Intelligence or AI is coming to an HR department near you and maybe sooner than you think.

Artificial intelligence is going to do for HR what the car did for transportation. It’s going to transform how we look at data, what data is worth considering and help us to interpret the intricacies of big data.

This week, I hosted special guest Jessica Miller-Merrell, founder of Blogging4Jobs, to discuss this timely topic.

Jessica and I discussed ways AI has already impacted HR. She also shared her predictions for the future.

Here are a few key points that Jessica shared:

  • AI has the potential to make work easier for our teams
  • AI can remove the unconscious bias from hiring and find candidates that might otherwise be overlooked
  • You need data for AI to be effective

Did you miss the show? You can listen to the #WorkTrends podcast on our BlogTalk Radio channel here:  http://bit.ly/2fhS10Y

You can also check out the highlights of the conversation from our Storify here:


Didn’t make it to this week’s #WorkTrends show? Don’t worry, you can tune in and participate in the podcast and chat with us every Wednesday from 1-2pm ET (10-11am PT). Next week, on Nov 9, special guest host Tim McDonald will be joined by Elaine Orler, chairwoman of the Talent Board, to discuss recruiting trends and predictions for 2017.

Remember, the TalentCulture #WorkTrends conversation continues every day across several social media channels. Stay up-to-date by following our #WorkTrends Twitter stream; pop into our LinkedIn group to interact with other members; or check out our Google+ community. Engage with us any time on our social networks, or stay current with trending World of Work topics on our website or through our weekly email newsletter.

 

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#WorkTrends Recap: Millennial Attraction Factors

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There are more millennials among today’s applicants than any other generation, and they’ll be 75 percent of the workforce by 2025. On this week’s #WorkTrends show, we were joined by CEO of The Muse, Kathryn Minshew, who shared insights on what attracts millennial talent.

Kathryn discussed the challenges all businesses face in finding what resonates with millennials. She helped the audience set aside common misconceptions and shared what to focus on in order to engage the Digital Generation.

Here are a few key points Kathryn shared:

  • Millennials are looking for the 3 Ps for their future business. People, Purpose, and Path. They want to know about the people they will work with, what their value will be to the company, and what growth opportunities they will have within the organization.
  • Instead of just telling prospective employees about your company’s greatness, give the megaphone to your employees and have the employees explain what they love and why.
  • Potential employees need to demonstrate that they’ve done their homework on the company and come prepared to describe what they bring to the table and why they would love to work there.

Missed the show? You can listen to the #WorkTrends podcast on our BlogTalk Radio channel here:  http://bit.ly/2cWk7i7

You can also check out the highlights of the conversation from our Storify here:

Didn’t make it to this week’s #WorkTrends show? Don’t worry, you can tune in and participate in the podcast and chat with us every Wednesday from 1-2pm ET (10-11am PT). Next week, on Oct 19, best-selling author and speaker Michelle Tillis Lederman will join host Meghan M. Biro to discuss “The 11 Laws of Likability.”

The TalentCulture #WorkTrends conversation continues every day across several social media channels. Stay up-to-date by following the #WorkTrends Twitter stream; pop into our LinkedIn group to interact with other members, or check out our Google+ community. Engage with us anytime on our social networks, or stay current with trending World of Work topics on our website or through our weekly email newsletter.

photo credit: jeffdjevdet Millennials Scrabble via photopin (license)