Category: STRATEGY
Does Your Hiring Process Take Too Long?
In a recent poll, Indeed found that 48% of respondents said that waiting to hear back from employers is “highly frustrating.” Even worse, 55% of candidates will give up on the position if they don’t hear back from the company after two weeks of applying. This begs the question; how long should it take you to follow up with candidates?
According to a report from Glassdoor Economic Research, the average hiring process in the US takes 23 days, just a bit over three weeks. No one wants to make a bad hiring decision, so some of the reasons for the lengthy process may include:
- Vetting employees internally before making commitments
- Beginning the hiring process with a “wish list” of skills or experience instead of deciding upon the skills that are critical
- Involving additional stakeholders in the interview process and looking for a consensus decision
- Lack of technology to improve communication flow
According to Officevibe, the best candidates are off the market in 10 days!
How do you compete?
First, rethink your job descriptions. Make sure that the requirements are reasonable and clearly defined. Additionally, include information about your company culture and values. Once you have a complete job profile, think about where it’s shared beyond just job sites. Have you communicated it to employees asking for referrals? Have you shared with your social networks? If you aren’t confident how swiftly you can hire, reach out to a recruitment firm to help – it’s their job to find the best candidates as quickly as possible.
Next, manage expectations. Not just the candidates’, but yours. Instead of searching for that unicorn, look at a candidate’s skills, as well as their potential. Remember, if they are talented, they can be trained.
Keep communications going! Don’t let A-level talent fall by the wayside because of your organization’s bad hiring process. Be sure to let the candidate know what to expect at the end of their interview. Follow through with your commitment to them, whether or not you have a decision to share. Modern technology can also aid in helping with engaging candidates via email and text.
Recruit year-round and keep filling your pipeline! The good news is that with a shorter hiring process and engaging, positive candidate experience, you are building quite a nest of candidates to reach out to in the future.
Need some ideas to create on-point job profiles or technology recommendations? Let’s talk!
7 Steps to Determine if a Candidate is Right for your Culture
You’ve probably been there:
You interview a candidate.
On paper, he or she looks amazing.
Every box is checked, and he has the perfect profile.
You hire him…and he just doesn’t fit the culture!
What happened?
We’ve all read about culture fit vs culture add. Both are important! How do you strike a balance and know what to look for in the interviewing process?
- Make a list of the skills that are important to the role. These should go beyond technical skills, to include behaviors and talents. Think about phases such as: business-driver, innovator, leader, agile, collaborator, etc.
- Make a list of the core values that need to be exhibited by every employee.
- Create a list of questions around these two lists and use this as your interview guide.
- Ask very specific questions around those 2 lists. You can conduct behavior based interviewing – but make it feel natural and conversational.
- Share the core values of the organization with the candidate and ask which of these stand out to them the most. Ask for examples of how he or she exhibit these core values in the work environment.
- Most importantly, share your organization’s WHY. Let the candidate know the following: What do you stand for? How are you different? Why do they want to work for an organization like yours? What type of people are successful and which aren’t as successful at your company.
- Lastly, build a connection with the candidate. Ask them to share their WHY. What motivates him? What frustrates him? What environment does she thrive in?
Utilizing the list above will ensure that you find someone that will not only reflect company values and ethics but will also have the talents and skills that will enhance the team. This person will fit into the culture well, but also add to the team and enhance the overall culture, delivering best of both worlds.
To learn more about interviewing best practices, and determining the right fit for your organization, schedule a 30 minute call today.
The Benefits of a Recruitment Partnership
Looking for a new recruitment strategy? Partnering with an outside expert can successfully transform your approach to talent acquisition and deliver measurable business results faster.
The benefits of engaging in a recruitment partnership are plentiful. Here are just a few:
Dedicated Recruitment Function and Expertise
As the recruitment process has become more complex, often additional staff isn’t hired to take on the increased workload. You and your team may be responsible for handling hiring in addition to your other responsibilities. By hiring a firm that specializes in talent acquisition, you get a helping hand and expertise. An expert recruitment firm will offer industry-specific knowledge of market trends, salary levels, and the skills required to be successful.
Candidate Quality, Experience, and Retention
As companies are trying to do more, with less, often time constraints and lack of expertise across all stages of the recruitment process, lead to a decline in candidate quality, experience and ultimately retention. The right recruitment partner will create a customized strategy for your organization’s needs that can include everything from sourcing to engagement to onboarding and assisting with negotiations and employment agreements. By utilizing experts, recruitment partners are able to optimize the quality of candidates and the candidate journey.
Hiring Time
The time it takes to hire can be a huge challenge. Struggling to find the right talent and then onboarding new hires can impact an organization’s productivity and bottom line. A dedicated talent firm can identify the process efficiencies and room for improvement, and help implement these changes swiftly, helping to reduce the time-to-hire.
Recruitment Tools and Technology
Tools and technology for recruitment evolve very quickly and the choices can seem overwhelming. A company that specializes in only talent acquisition is equipped to keep up with the most current and relevant technologies; Not to mention, help integrate them seamlessly. Only a specialist can keep up with the latest and most relevant technologies for your business and integrate them seamlessly for your organization.
Finally, creating a recruitment partnership enables you to not only find the best talent but also receive support to maximize your business’s potential and help your organization grow. Ultimately, this gives you a distinct competitive advantage. A new recruitment strategy doesn’t have to be done alone. Reach out and let’s talk about a partnership that is right for you.
WHY Matters: Do you know your organization’s WHY?
From Simon Sinek’s famous Ted Talk as to how great leaders inspire action to John Doer’s goal-setting Ted Talk, it’s apparent that truly transformational organizations are very clear on their purpose. When we have a clearly defined “why,” that is actively communicated to all, and embraced by leadership and employees, we feel more closely aligned with our purpose.
And only then, can culture really thrive.
Perhaps a company’s WHY was never called-upon as much as it was amid the Coronavirus pandemic. An organization’s WHY can be simply stated as a reason for being, beyond profit. A recent study from Morning Consult shows that buying behavior, consumption preferences, and public opinion about brands shifted rapidly as the coronavirus crisis evolved. The data intelligence firm’s research suggested that for large companies to strengthen consumer affinity and loyalty, they should “put their purposes and values into practice.”
What can a clearly defined WHY do for your organization?
Create Employee Culture and Engagement
A common goal and purpose inspires employees to feel a part of something bigger. They take pride in their contribution and when they know what they are working toward, engagement increases.
Result in a More Productive Workforce
A purpose can set the compass in the right direction. Teams and Individuals know how their roles contribute to the whole. When they feel that they are an integral part of the vision, people feel more fulfilled. Research by Bain & Company concluded that if a satisfied employee’s productivity level is 100%, an engaged employee’s level is 144%. But the productivity of an employee that is truly inspired by the purpose of their employer is 225%
Aid Recruitment Efforts
Talent, and especially millennials, like to know a company’s bigger purpose. Jobseekers also evaluate an organization’s higher purpose and take into consideration how the company contributes to society and the community.
Retention Rates
When an employee feels that their work makes a difference and a connection to the bigger purpose, retention rates increase. This connection results in employees being twice as likely to stay with the company and for millennials, this number is even higher: they are five times more likely to stay according to a PwC study.
It may seem overwhelming, but there are dozens of ways to identify your organization’s WHY. From leadership brainstorming to fun activities that involve and inspire your workforce, identifying your company’s higher purpose matters. Need help starting? Reach out to us and we’ll help you to get the ball rolling.
How we’re making a big impact in the recruiting and consulting industry
TalentUnify was founded with one thing in mind: to make a big impact on the recruiting and consulting industry by providing a personable and genuine experience for clients and candidates.
Over the past 20-years, we’ve recruited and consulted for various organizations wanting to grow and expand. They turned to us to hire the best talent and help implement the latest HR initiatives at lightening-speed. Making things happen fast has always been essential to us, but so is taking the time to get to know people and organizations.
We’ve always led departments and projects with a customer-first mentality, meaning we ask a lot of questions to get to know the ins-and-outs. In the world of recruiting, this allows hiring leaders and candidates to think about what they want before we find it. People aren’t just dollars at the end of the day. They have goals and dreams, and we want to help them do what they love, not only do a job.
It’s this same customer-first mentality that ensures we understand an organization’s culture and mission, allowing us to create an experience that’s not only truly unique to their brand but also attracts and retains the most sought-after candidates. Ever think about what would Nike be without their “Just do it” mentality?
Bottom line: We’re your partner. We’re here to unify your business and talent goals with a personal touch. We care; we service; we execute.
Is your check engine light on? It may be time to tune-up your recruitment process
When was the last time you tuned-up your recruiting processes? (Yes, I compared recruiting to an automobile!)
What do you do to take care of your car?
- Check/change oil
- Replace windshield wiper fluid
- Rotate tires
- Put air in tires
- Wash your car regularly
- Vacuum interior
- Change air filter
- Check power steering fluid
- Replace timing belt
- Replace transmission fluid
- Flush radiator coolant
- Top off brake fluid
What’s more, if you really care about your car, you also get it serviced by a professional. It’s this peace of mind that ensures you sleep well at night knowing everything runs smoothly.
“But, Julie, how does this compare to our recruiting processes?”
I’m glad you asked!
If you’re an HR leader when was the last time someone evaluated your recruiting processes? Do you know what your candidates and new hires think about your company? In today’s job market, you can’t afford not to know these things. If you haven’t completed a tune-up recently, now is a great time.
What is a Talent Acquisition assessment?
A Talent Acquisition assessment is similar to an HR assessment where you either complete a department inventory yourself or partner with a talent expert to assess your recruiting processes.
What happens during a Talent Acquisition assessment?
During a Talent Acquisition assessment, you want to explore all aspects of the candidate lifecycle, from attracting to onboarding and retaining them. Here are a handful of questions to prepare you:
- What is your brand strategy?
- How does your brand stand out from the competition?
- On a scale of 1 – 10, where ten is the highest, how descriptive are your job postings? Do they describe the role and company culture accurately, or are they as dry as a piece of toast?
- How do you communicate with candidates throughout the process?
- Are you treating candidates like a valued customer? (Yes, I meant customer. We’re in the “people” business after all!)
- What type of white-glove services do your hiring managers receive from their recruiter or recruiting vendors? Do they get insight into the job market? Are they receiving training on the latest interview techniques?
- Describe the technology you use to track applicants. Is it easy-peasy or as painful as going to the dentist?
- How do you measure your results? Where is your traffic originating? How long is the candidate process? What is your time-to-fill? What diversity initiatives do you track? What trends are you seeing? What does the historical data tell you?
Bottom line: Whether it’s your car or your recruiting process, you can’t not afford a tune-up. You need to stay current to make sure you get the biggest bang for your buck. If you haven’t reviewed your processes and tightened them up in the past year, it’s time for a maintenance check. You don’t want to find yourself stranded along the side of the road.
Top 10 Ways to Refuel & Re-energize Your Talent Acquisition Strategy
I’ve been asked several times over the last few weeks what I think the job outlook will be when we head back to work. Boy, do I wish I had a crystal ball!
It’s no secret that the job market looks vastly different than it did before, making it challenging to predict what will happen in the short- and long-term future. As a Talent Acquisition expert with nearly 20 years of experience, I know one thing: Now is the time to refuel and re-energize your talent strategy. It’s time to prepare for when the job market and economy recover.
Here is a top ten list of what you can do now:
- Test your online application process. Go through the process of applying for an open position and ask yourself: Was it candidate-friendly? How long did it take? Was it cumbersome? Did you receive an automated response?
- Evaluate your Applicant Tracking System (ATS). If you use an ATS, is it prepared to accept an influx in applicants? How are your workflows performing? How does it integrate with other technology solutions you use? If you don’t use an ATS, should you?
- Don’t forget about your passive candidates. How are you staying in touch with your candidates today, even if you paused hiring? Engagement is essential if you want to be ready to secure the best-of-the-best.
- Create or update your interview training. Put together a short “how-to” video host a virtual training session about how to conduct a successful interview.
- Develop a training plan for your recruiters. Reach out to your vendors, industry leaders, or even survey your recruiters and gather ideas for a training program. You can also search for training resources online.
- Review your hiring process from beginning to end. What story are you sharing with candidates? How many and what steps are involved? Are there opportunities to improve the offer- and post-offer process? Please don’t shy away from asking a few hiring managers for their thoughts, too.
- Get a real feel for your candidate experience. Send a survey to your most recent hires to collect feedback about their experience. Would they refer a friend to the company? On a scale of 1 – 10, how would they rate their level of engagement? Do they understand the company’s vision, mission, and values?
- Review your employment brand. What does it say about your organization? Does it tell a story? How are you using social media? Does your employment brand align with your diversity strategy?
- Reevaluate your talent strategy in its entirety. Look at everything from workforce & succession planning, early talent programs, internal recruiting practices, etc. What needs to be adjusted based on the pandemic?
- Spend time thinking about your data. What metrics have you been tracking and reporting? Does it make sense to continue reporting on those numbers? What other data should you assess?
The job market will undoubtedly look different in the latter part of 2020 than today, and those organizations that prepare accordingly will continue to stand out as an employer of choice. What will you do you’re ready for an economic and hiring boom?