The recruiting category of the ExactHire blog discusses wide-ranging topics, trends, and best practices within and around the talent recruiting industry.

Strategies for Remote Recruitment

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From 2019 to 2022, the remote workforce has tripled according to Gallup. Remote recruiting is Human Resources’ fastest growing strategy within talent acquisition to meet the needs of an evolving work environment. Remote recruitment involves the sourcing, screening, interviewing, and hiring of employees located throughout the world. Traditional means of recruitment used to entail a multi-step process. Phone screens, in-depth phone interviews and then, one or more onsite interviews prior to extending an offer of employment. While some traditions are tried and true, traditional recruitment as described is becoming antiquated. It does not accommodate the needs of an evolving remote and hybrid work model. Companies need to make the recruitment process efficient for all types of employees. When recruiting remote employees, an organization must examine their existing recruitment plans. Then make essential adaptations to make the evaluation process efficient for everyone involved.

 

SOURCING

Review your company’s culture and online presence. Remote job seekers will search for opportunities online. The description of the company found online can affect if they apply. The remote job seeker will want to click to learn more or scroll by. Craft your company’s website with a plethora of examples of the company as a whole. Company culture, history, commitments to employees, customers and society with an emphasis on the company’s investment in remote employees. Share pictures on the company’s social media pages to generate excitement about events within the company. Be sure to include remote employees’ experiences within the content.

Include videos from leadership discussing the company’s mission, vision and values. Having an informative and engaging website will help remote job seekers develop a connection to the organization and reiterate their desire to work there. Include benefits that support remote employees such as additional education and certification opportunities, flexible time, technology benefits, etc. Reiterate that promotion can occur for both onsite and remote workers. If your organization is truly a remote friendly company, broadcast that on the company’s website so remote job seekers can quickly identify that your company encourages remote workers. Make it more than words or a nifty “remote friendly” graphic by including testimonials from remote workers about their positive experiences so job seekers can get additional perspectives from those who do work remotely.

JOB POSTINGS AND DESCRIPTIONS

Now that the organization’s culture has been addressed, take a look at the job listings that are posted on the company website and job boards. Human Resources talent acquisition personnel need to craft job descriptions that attract remote employees. Clarify if the position is 100% remote or if the position is actually hybrid with some onsite work requirements. If it is hybrid, will there be occasional travel to the company headquarters or regional office, and if so, how often? Include specific expectations of the role that apply to its remote specification. Is there a specific time window or time zone that the employee must work?  What type of home work environment and technology are required?

An organization needs to examine all channels of promotion for remote jobs. Recruit existing remote employees to scan their networks for potential talent. Promote job listings on job boards that specialize in remote work opportunities. Utilize your Applicant Tracking System (ATS) integrations with niche job boards to expand your audience.

 

SCREENING AND PRE-INTERVIEW

Upon finding potential talent, it is time to evaluate further and put the “human” in “human resources”.  Remote recruitment does not readily offer the ability to bring talent onsite for interviews so it’s time to go to the talent themselves. Schedule the interview through your Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Phone screens offer an initial opportunity to evaluate basic skills, but for remote positions, consider replacing a phone screen with a video call. This gives recruiters an additional opportunity to develop a connection and evaluate communication and nonverbal language skills. Recruiters need to develop and refine video interviewing skills prior to kickstarting a video interviewing process.

Keep your interview area free from distractions and interruptions. Make sure all equipment is working prior to the interview. Doing this prevents precious interviewing time being wasted on resolving tech issues. Technical issues can occur no matter what. So have an alternate plan to continue the interview in case technical issues cannot be resolved. In a warm, welcoming manner, be the first person to join the meeting. This way the interviewee does not increase nervousness waiting for the interviewer(s). This is not a typical video meeting. Recruiters need to gauge and evaluate nonverbal communication cues, but that can be more difficult over a screen. Take notes regarding questions about qualifications and experience, but if you are taking notes using an interview guide within your ATS, ensure that you can see the interviewee the whole time.

INTERVIEWING

Craft interview questions to include segments focusing on time management, communication skills and autonomous experiences. Formulate questions to gauge the job seeker’s ability to work independently when remote and how they communicate with others when questions or challenges arise. How do they handle stress, particularly when they cannot get up and go walk to someone for assistance? Asking open-ended questions seeking examples will help recruiters find remote talent that will fit within the organization’s remote culture. Explore assessments to evaluate job skill compatibility along with behavioral and cognitive capabilities.  Conduct written assessments to get an example of how the job seeker expresses themselves. Writing samples can include how to respond to an angry client while researching the problem, providing instructions to a teammate or a client, or whatever is relevant to the position.

When the interview concludes, ensure they know the next steps in the process and how they will be contacted. Remote recruitment can take longer than traditional recruitment processes. All job seekers appreciate updates on their status in the hiring process. However it is essential to provide additional communication with remote employees so they can stay engaged in the hiring process. Depending on the intricacies of the job opening, examine the need for additional specialty interviews such as panel interviews. Including the remote candidate in a group meeting and encouraging their participation could give another perspective on interaction and group acclimation. Positions need to be filled quickly to mitigate productivity loss. However, take enough time to host enough video interviews and group sessions. Doing this will allow you to determine if the remote candidate is the best fit for the position.

HIRING

Once an employment offer has been extended to the soon-to-be new remote teammate and they accept, engage them in an active onboarding process starting with the use of onboarding software to automate part of the process. Keep the new remote hire involved with open communication and timely notifications of what is needed from them and what they need to do as well. Partner with the company’s Information Technology department to communicate technology security policies with the new remote hire.

Work with the new hire to validate that they have the tools they need to do the role. Craft communication plans with the new hire so they can start interacting with the team. Outline expectations for task completion, and most importantly, be available as questions arise. Check in on the new remote teammate and host weekly meetings to help them get up to speed on the responsibilities of their job. Remote work environments thrive on communication so ensure the team is there to support the new remote teammate as they learn the culture and their role.

Tailoring remote recruitment to meet the needs of remote job seekers provides the organization with the means to find candidates who want and can successfully complete the duties of a remote position. Remote employees must be self-directing and have stellar communication skills along with grit to handle tasks independently but be ready to collaborate and work with teammates digitally alongside them. Remote employees offer higher productivity and increased loyalty to an organization. As an organization seeks talent to fill vacancies, remote talent can provide the skills and commitment to forge a path of heightened productivity. Forge that path together, no matter where you are.

6 Outdated Hiring Practices

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How effective are your current hiring strategies? Are you attracting top-quality talent? Or are you posting and reposting with very few submissions? Today’s hiring ecosystem is different. And what used to work as recently as one year ago won’t necessarily be effective today.

 

So, as you review your hiring and onboarding metrics, look to spot trends that might point to gaps in your current hiring practices. And keep reading to see if any of these outdated hiring practices represent techniques you’re still using. More efficent hiring practices and strategies first require the identification of poor-performing processes. See what you can eliminate and reform so you can get back to hiring incredible talent for your organization.

 

According to Forbes, the “Great Resignation” brought 47.8 million Americans to the decision to leave their jobs in 2021. And that movement shifted power away from the recruiter’s desk and back to the job seeker. While some nuances continue to shift, these are the current hiring practices you should consider eliminating.

1. Hiring Based on Resumes and CVs

There was a time when the candidate’s resume was all a hiring manager needed to make a hiring decision. However, the old CV isn’t carrying as much weight anymore. A surging number of companies are even considering hiring and interviewing applicants without a resume at all. Today’s leaders realize the best-fit candidates present qualifying experiences, applicable knowledge, and soft skills, all of which are hard to quantify in a one-page resume. Sure, some roles will require certification or technical proof of experience. But if you’re still relying on the resume alone to evaluate candidates, it’s an outdated hiring practice that could be costing you brilliant employees.

2. Attracting Candidates with Salary Alone

It also used to be considered a hiring best practice to rely on salaries alone to attract top talent. In theory, you’d pay more for more qualified candidates. But today’s best and most talented applicants are looking beyond the pay before making any offer-accepting decisions. Today’s workers are choosing to work with companies that offer creative benefits that speak to work-life balance. They’re looking for positive company cultures and potential for internal growth. And if your job descriptions or interview processes don’t speak to these points, you’re missing great candidates.

3. Hiring Based on Location

With the onset of remote working dynamics, today’s companies are throwing regional or location-based hiring practices out the window. Stop insisting on “local” when you seek to attract new candidates and open up your role to nationwide pools of incredibly qualified professionals. Of course, this also means you’ll have to adopt a remote or hybrid workforce. And being flexible as a return for productivity is a highly attractive element among top talent today.

4. Posting Vague, Fluffy, or Ambiguous Job Descriptions

Another outdated hiring practice you might not realize you’re using is the generic, vague, or ambiguous job description. Over the years, certain roles evolved to “feel” like templates outlining responsibilities and benefits. Today’s candidates are looking for descriptive, transparent, and precise descriptions. And if they sense any fluff content or gray areas, they’ll move on to the next job opportunity. When crafting your job descriptions, be unique about how you capture the responsibilities and requirements. Spell out what you’re looking for in a dynamic candidate. Additionally, create transparent lists of benefits, perks, and pay ranges that apply. It’s about setting realistic expectations and attracting the candidates who want to apply, not baiting applicants.

5. Requiring Lengthy and Time-Consuming Application Processes

To leverage the most effective and current hiring practices, you’ll need to look at the time it takes to apply to your job. If there are redundant steps in the process, including requirements for applicant logins or form completion steps in addition to resume uploads, you’re likely losing interest among your candidate pools. And even worse are those companies that take too long to move forward with the next steps in the applicant process. Today’s companies are adopting AI for improved communication and innovative software that streamlines every step. Eliminate unnecessary or time-consuming steps in your application procedures and start being more effective in hiring great candidates.

6. Implementing In-Person Interviews and Outdated Tech

If your recruiting and HR teams are still requiring in-person interviews, you’re missing out on pools of incredibly talented applicants and still practicing what is now an outdated hiring practice. Look to adopt all the technology you need to connect with, engage, evaluate, interview, and onboard new hires virtually. Even for those roles you have that DO require on-site work, take the flexible interview route with options for virtual meetings and calls. Use the tech to connect, and you’ll find you have broader applicant pools with which to work.

Is your company still using some of these outdated hiring practices? More importantly, do you need help developing and executing more effective hiring practices? Let ExactHire be your guide! We have all the resources and strategies you need to change your approach to hiring, including the best practices for today’s hiring environment.

5 Stats to Know About the Labor Market for 2023

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There are some key thing you need to do to be an effective hiring manager in today’s job market. It’s best to keep up with the relevant statistics regarding employment and unemployment. In addition to those job growth, earnings, and hiring best practices are also important. Today, we’ll share some of the very latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, along with additional insights that will ensure you make the most informed hiring, interviewing, and onboarding decisions in 2023. Knowing the top five current labor market stats will only improve your ability to attract, hire, and retain the top talent professionals you need for your organization to grow.

The Top Five Stats in the Current Labor Market, 2023

The Bureau of Labor Statistics often shares insights and metrics that represent the current state of the labor market. But some of the most recent and interesting stats, as sought after by most of today’s business leaders, are these:

 

  1. The current labor force is growing at a rate of 0.5% annually. It is expected to continue at this pace over the next ten years. More precisely, the labor force grew to 161.2 million, an increase of 462,000, between 2020 and 2021. By 2031, the projections suggest the labor market will grow to 168.9 million.
  2. The aging population will contribute to a decline in labor force participation. Projections indicate a decline from 61.7% to 60.1% by 2031.
  3. Real gross domestic product, or GDP, is expected to continue to improve at a rate of 2.1% annually. This is slightly higher than the 1.8% rate in recent years.
  4. Healthcare-based and social assistance sectors are projected to create the most jobs through 2031. The biggest growth in employment is expected to be among the service sectors serving the aging population.
  5. One of the industry segments experiencing the fastest growth is leisure and hospitality. Rebounding from the economic impacts of the pandemic, these sectors, along with food consumption, accommodations, and public services, are expected to experience the most growth through 2031.

What Can Leaders Do with These Stats?

As a business leader or hiring manager, how can you take these latest labor market statistics and put them to use in your growth efforts? For starters, company leaders should recognize that the country’s experiencing its largest employment expansion ever. Coupled with record-low unemployment rates, these labor market conditions have made hiring ridiculously challenging.

But you probably already know that.

However, these latest stats point to continued growth. So, while many of these market dynamics were exacerbated by the pandemic rebound, it’s not expected to let up in the coming years. It means waiting for the market to “level out” or return to pre-pandemic conditions won’t be an option.

These five stats should also wave red flags to anyone running a business within the service sectors. Leisure, entertainment, hospitality, senior services, healthcare, and food services in particular. These particular markets are growing at higher rates. If your business model represents any of these services, employment is going to continue to be extremely competitive throughout the next eight to ten years.

Understanding these emerging trends and stats will help you strategize for improved applicant attraction methods and hiring best practices.

What Broader Trends Can Leaders Leverage?

Perhaps there is a bigger question for today’s business leaders. How can one capitalize on and leverage these labor market stats and trends? Here are some solutions worth considering as you look to improve how you attract, hire, and retain top talent in today’s employment landscape.

RippleMatch says many employers are relaxing their hiring requirements to broaden their talent pools. For example, opening positions up to potential candidates who don’t have college degrees or years of industry experience is proving successful.

Today’s hiring managers are seeking to improve their employee benefits and company culture initiatives at a much higher rate. The Great Resignation of 2021, where 47 million workers effectively quit their jobs, did so because of a growing need for flexibility and work-life balance.

A Different Approach to Hiring and Onboarding

What today’s current labor market trends really indicate is a need for a new playbook for company leaders looking to hire and retain top talent. Any business striving for growth will need the teams to execute those growth plans. And if you’re not changing the way you hire, you’re going to face hiring challenges ongoing for the next ten years.

Recognizing that you need a new approach might also mean you need a new hiring strategy partner. ExactHire fully embraces the emerging hiring trends and provides companies with the software solutions, hiring tools, and onboarding techniques needed for growth in this new labor market.

These top five labor market stats should inspire change and improvements within your company’s hiring practices. And ExactHire can be the partner you need to facilitate simplified applicant tracking and improved employee onboarding. Contact our team to talk about your challenges and growth goals for 2023!

 

Photo by ruthsen zimerman on unsplash

How to Reach Passive Job Seekers

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At ExactHire, we help employers hire through the use of our software and our team of SHRM certified strategists.  Our solutions are effective for attracting both active and passive job seekers. However, in this post, we will discuss how employers can attract passive job seekers. We’ll do this by defining just who is a passive job seeker, then explore their characteristics and establish how employers can launch an effective recruiting initiative.

Who is a Passive Job Seeker?

Put simply, passive job seekers are individuals who already have a job, but would consider another opportunity if it arises.

Think of them as employees on the go–who can quickly hop to the next opportunity when it shows up. They are not totally satisfied with their current job and constantly have an eye out for new opportunities to grow their career. Research shows that the percentage of passive job seekers is continuing to rise, particularly following the storm of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Characteristics of Passive Job Seekers

Now that we’ve identified who a passive job seeker is,  let’s explore the characteristics and traits of these professionals

1.) Open for contact

As discussed earlier, passive candidates are open for new positions, although they may not actively seek these positions due to present work engagements.

They’re always open to learning about new job openings. They’re willing to hear about job offers–bonuses, packages, and new roles. However,  since they are not actively searching for new opportunities, their interest must be triggered by job ads or direct contact.

Therefore, if you’re looking for passive job seekers, consider being actively engaged in finding them. Inquire from colleagues or others in your network whether there are talented professionals who’d be open to working in a different set-up..

2.) Have individual ambition

Passive job seekers are in a better position than most job seekers. That’s because they already have a job; they’re just seeking new opportunities and greener pastures.

Because they’re in a good position, it’s critical to give them an offer they cannot turn down. Professional and personal development motivate some candidates. Others are inspired by a flexible work schedule that supports a positive work-life balance. Others also prefer better payments and better perks. Sometimes targeting passive job seekers is about a fit between personal and company culture.

According to research by Glassdoor, below are five main factors that make professionals likely to show interest in a job offer:

  • Better payments and perks – 48%
  • Better, convenient access or easy commute – 47%
  • High salaries – 46%
  • Work-life-balance – 43%
  • Work-from-home flexibility – 41%

3.) Long-term thinking

Passive job seekers have a long-term thinking mindset. They think of the future and aren’t satisfied with short-term gains over long-term rewards. Their desire to grow and eventually realize their careers. Sometimes realizing their long-term goals may constitute finishing their education first or gaining more experience.

Either way, employers targeting passive job seekers must consider their long-term strategy. The fact that they’re seeking better opportunities is a clear indication of their plans and futuristic mindset. Giving passive job seekers clear opportunities for career growth and recognizing their life-long priorities is a great way of reaching out to them.

4.) Need to be updated

Passive job seekers like to stay updated. And as you embark on reaching out to them, it’s critical to lay a foundation of close contact. Try to establish rapport with them by establishing avenues for contact and interaction – whether online or offline.

For instance, you may build rapport with someone who’s interested but not ready to switch up to a new role just yet. If this happens, it’s advisable to keep in close contact with the candidate for future openings.

By keeping in contact, the professional may be able to make a change when the time is right. Keeping in close contact helps monitor your target job seeker even as time changes.

Why would you want a passive job seeker over an active one?

There are many reasons why organizations and recruiters prefer passive job seekers over active ones:

  • They’re passionate about development and growth. Their passion for growth and professional development implies that your organization can grow with people with a ‘growth’ mindset.
  • Won’t come without a reason. Passive job seekers won’t come to your organization without a reason. These job candidates need incentives for them to consider alternative positions.
  • Choose your organization. Passive job seekers take the time to study your organization. They’re keen to learn the dynamics that make your organization stand out. Because they have a clear goal to achieve, passive job seekers are critical of your organization.
  • Less time pressure. Active job seekers are pressured by time and situation. That means they’re less likely to be critical about their job preferences, which will have long-term implications on job satisfaction levels. Passive job seekers have less time pressure, meaning they’re positioned to make good career decisions.
  • Strong relationship before hiring. When targeting passive job seekers, you’ll find competent candidates who are interested, but not ready to leave their current positions. That is an excellent opportunity for you to build rapport with them and establish a relationship.

Focusing attention on passive job seekers gained momentum in the early 2010’s. Changing job patterns and shifting workplace dynamics have shifted the focus, allowing recruiters to focus their efforts on both active and passive candidates.

ExactHire – Streamlining Your Search for Passive Job Seekers

Whether you’re looking for active or passive candidates, ExactHire provides customizable software solutions that help streamline your hiring. ExactHire provides applicant tracking software, employee onboarding software, and employee assessment software to improve your hiring outcomes.

Rather not implement software? ExactHire Full Service Hiring is a solution for employers who don’t have the time or resources to manage a hiring process. Our team will advertise your open positions, manage applicant communications, screen candidates based on your criteria, and then deliver you qualified best-fit candidates.

Tips for High Volume Hiring

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Organizations pursuing high-volume hiring propel job creation and fuel economic growth. Unfortunately, filling high-volume requisitions isn’t for the faint of heart.

When you’re dealing with mass hiring, you need creative and practical ways to complete it. Talent is one of the most coveted assets, and organizations succeed only when they have the right skills and talent in the pipeline.

What is High-Volume Hiring?

High-volume hiring refers to the practice of filling a high-number open requisitions within a short timeframe. High-volume hiring seeks to fill many available job positions within a limited time.

Organizations and sectors that use high-volume hiring face seasonal hiring periods and experience massive organizational growth or shifts. For instance, a construction company may conduct a mass-hiring exercise to find construction workers for an unusually large project. If that same company specializes in an area like road repair that is impacted by climate, they may hire hundreds for the spring and summer months, but wind hiring down in the fall.

High Volume Hiring Challenges

The Covid-19 pandemic had far-reaching implications on individuals, families, and organizations. Businesses sustained job losses, mass resignations, and supply chain disruptions. They are still finding it hard to identify, train and keep new hires–not to mention their struggle to keep mass hiring initiatives organized.

So obviously, high volume hiring is a challenge at a time of mass resignation with employees are quitting jobs at record highs. HR managers must respond to these dynamic shifts with creativity and agility in attracting, hiring, and retaining talent that’s in high demand.

And with mounting pressure, industries that rely on mass hiring are getting more creative by the day. For instance, TikTok is maximizing video resumes, with companies such as Chipotle, Great Clips, Target, and Shopify trying out TikTok to fill entry-level positions.

Other common challenges for dealing with mass hiring include:

  • Time crunch. It takes a lot of time to place an ad and to officially onboard the first group of new hires. Where possible, look to automate common, repetitive tasks.
  • Interview process overload. Successful high-volume recruitments rely heavily on efficient application screening. Software can help hiring managers quickly focus on the best qualified applicants, while also supporting DEI initiatives.
  • Analysis paralysis. High volume application processes need to be strategically conducted and executed to manage stress and anxiety. This means having a screening plan in place before recruiting begins.
  • Providing a positive candidate experience. It’s easy to focus on getting the job positions filled, but don’t forget about the people behind the job applications. Provide positive feedback and highlight benefits and positive experiences to new hires.

Strategies for High Volume Hiring

Let’s discuss tips for high-volume hiring. These tips will help you navigate the existing challenge of mass resignations and help you identify, attract, and retain high-demand employees facing high turnover rates.

  1.) Alignment with hiring managers

Misalignment is the source of all problems in recruitment and onboarding exercises. The slightest disconnect with the hiring team can cause major problems in the recruitment process. Ensure that you’re on good terms with all the hiring managers before going far in the hiring process.

You can use the following three tips to ensure internal alignment with hiring managers:

  • Identifying overarching key performance goals
  • Identify different tasks that support or complement each performance goal
  • Identify the skills and proficiencies that will help the hire succeed in their work

By identifying the relevant skills needed to succeed in a certain position, you enable new hires to develop feedback mechanisms and understand and respond to customer needs.

  2.) Put quality first

When you have a pile of requisitions, it doesn’t mean you need more candidates. It means you need quality new hires to get the job done. One way to get quality candidates is to write job descriptions that match the people you want to hire.

Your job description will appeal to the caliber of people you want to hire. Quality job descriptions will clarify the values and attitudes needed for the job and appeal to the right candidates for an open requisition.

You can use the following tips to craft a job description that targets the best candidates:

  • Tell job stories. Tell your candidates why the position is the ideal place to work based on a job story that transcends the job description.
  • Communicate your culture. Clearly state the values and characteristics defining your company’s culture and describe how you view and reward success.
  • Emphasize and impact. Every job candidate has this question in mind, “what’s in it for me?” when they skim dozens of job postings. Most candidates are looking for something intangible – something rewarding and satisfying and worth their time and effort. So, ensure that your job description stipulates the rewards and benefits, tangible and intangible, that come with the job position.

For instance, LinkedIn job postings encourage quality applicants. LinkedIn postings give candidates a personalized window that clarifies the open position and helps them decide whether it’s right for them.

  3.) Create a ‘candidate-first application’ process

Research by Indeed found that 42% of applicants find lengthy job postings intimidating. They found long applications as the most frustrating parts of the application process.

So, while Snapchat’s snaplication model may seem impractical at first glance, it presents a creative and unique opportunity for creating mobile-first and super-speedy applications. Mobile phones and mobile apps will help organizations deploy a candidate-first application process.

Some of the best practices for candidate-first application include:

  • Talent intelligence. Always be where your applicants are – TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter; surround yourself with potential candidates and hires. Talent intelligence drills down on candidates based on geography or location.
  • Mobile-optimization. Ensure that your job application process is mobile-optimized. According to Indeed, more than 50% of job applicants use their mobile phones to navigate job postings.

Using and optimizing mobile phones is especially significant to hourly workers who don’t have access to desktop computers. So, ensure that your application process supports a pipeline of potential candidates who may not necessarily have the means or access to application materials or devices.

  • Keep it short. Create a one-click application process and reduce candidate friction. If this model doesn’t work for you, keep the application questions to a minimum. Enable candidates to apply using their social profiles and pre-populate text boxes to avoid lengthy applications.

Focusing exclusively on job candidates helps you fill open positions faster, saving you time and money on resume screening processes.

  4.) Expand your reach

Now that you’ve created crafty job descriptions and targeted quality candidates, it’s time to put your job posting in front of as many eyes as possible. The more people you reach, the higher the likelihood that you’ll receive more quality applications.

Some of the tactics you can use to amplify the reach of your job postings include:

  • Encourage current employees to share postings with their network and add personal touches
  • Give people something creative and compelling to talk (and share) about by adding images and video
  • Consider sponsoring job posts through job boards, or boosting your social posts

Tip: It’s crucial to keep an eye on who comments, shares, or likes your job postings on social and say thank you. Expressing gratitude may go a long way in attracting the pipeline of potential candidates and new hires.

  5.) Speed up with talent rediscovery

Talent rediscovery involves digging and searching your resume databases to find relevant but old applications.

A prime concern for employers is recruiters failing to examine their resume databases. However, this complaint is slowly being phased out now that Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) have internal search functionality.

ATS technology is useful in today’s volatile labor market. Most organizations are channeling their focus toward rebuilding internal talent and re-skilling in response with an unpredictable labor market. Talent intelligence provides visibility, enhancing your understanding of your workforce’s skillset requirements.

  6.) Automate candidate screening

Perhaps the most unique and innovative way of dealing with mass hiring is the automation of candidate screening. Research shows that 75% of resumes collected from high-volume job postings are considered unqualified. Organizations without an ATS spend time and money screening applications instead of focusing on the bottom line.

A manual, hands-on approach to mass hiring wastes countless hours in skimming unqualified paperwork and documentation. Screening dozens of applications can be mind-numbing for HR teams,  but recruiting software can help you stay organized with high volume hiring and give you back time to focus on other key areas.

 

Contact ExactHire to stay organized when dealing with mass hiring–consider using our ATS software, or let us do the hard work of filling your candidate pipeline, so you can focus on final hiring decisions and onboarding new hires.

 

 

What are the characteristics of a good employee?

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Knowing the characteristics of a good employee positions an employer to hire best fit job candidates and build a culture that supports positive employee engagement. Many employers will define what makes a good employee as a combination of soft and hard skills. But skills can only go so far in making someone a great employee. Personal characteristics such as hard work, determination, and critical thinking are crucial in identifying great employees too.

In this post, we explore seven characteristics or traits that make good employees.

7 Characteristics of Good Employees

Improve productivity, build a stronger work culture, and increase employee engagement by hiring good employees with the following characteristics.

1. Dedication

Dedication is the trait of having a strong sense of commitment and loyalty to your career role or business. Moreover, dedicated employees are purpose-driven in their careers. Dedication is exemplified by the following traits:

  • A strong passion for work or profession
  • A positive attitude towards profession or job
  • Punctuality for work-related events, meetings, or projects
  • Flexibility when assigned roles, duties, or tasks

Dedicated employees don’t need extensive experience to succeed. Rather, they’re willing to learn, train, or sacrifice the hours required to excel in their work. These employees are purpose-driven and goal-oriented. They’re ready to strengthen any areas that may need reinforcement to excel in their careers.

2. Confidence

Confidence, performance, and productivity go hand-in-hand. Confident employees are not only sure of their abilities, talents, and skills; they’re also willing to convince other employees of their ability to get the job done.

Confident employees are not scared by complex tasks or undertakings. They know they can research, consult, and collaborate to get results. This translates into confident employees being able to complete more complicated, harder, or sophisticated tasks with the same level of effectiveness.

As employee confidence grows, employees exhibit the following traits:

  • Seeking ways to improve personal and professional skills.
  • Adapting fast to new roles and new tasks
  • Knowing when to seek help

Employees exhibiting high confidence levels find new ways to adapt to challenging tasks. They’re ready and willing to embrace workplace challenges. Confidence includes the ability to look at new ways to overcome challenges, including optimizing existing resources (personal, equipment, or knowledge).

3. Communicative

Excellent communication skills are a must-have to succeed. That’s because most workplaces only excel with effective internal communications. Processes and procedures must be conveyed to relevant people employees, and outcomes must be communicated back.

Managers need excellent communication skills to convey instructions, guidelines, and policies to middle-level and lower-level employees. Similarly, employees need great communication skills to converse with upper management about their responsibilities and whether they understand directions clearly or not.

Relaying information quickly and efficiently is critical, especially in industries where data is crucial to operational success. This makes communication skills a top priority to look for in candidates, as well one that should be foster through processes and work culture.

Excellent communication skills can lead to success and competitive positioning. The ability to communicate denotes the ability to collaborate on shared tasks. That, in turn, leads to greater efficiency and productivity.

4. Reliability

Reliability is perhaps the most sought-after characteristic of an employee in most industries. A reliable employee is trusted and transparent. Reliable employees have strong moral codes and ethical standards.

Reliability is a critical factor in ensuring that the job will get done – and done well! Reliable employees are strategic assets because they can do the job with little or no supervision.

Being a reliable employee includes:

  • Consistently meeting deadlines
  • Coming to work on time
  • Attending work-related seminars and events
  • Showing a readiness to take on responsibility
  • Giving high-quality work
  • Showing initiative when needed

Reliable employees are especially valuable in industries with highly sensitive information, including personal data, credit card numbers, and social security numbers.

5. Teamwork

The importance of teamwork and collaboration cannot be over-emphasized. Teamwork is a requirement in most work settings. Teamwork and collaboration require dedication, tolerance, openess, and patience.

Being a team player means you’re a positive contribution to your team. It’s possible to exhibit a set of other desirable characteristics by being a team player. For instance, most team players are communicative.

Some of the traits and characteristics of good team players include:

  • Committed to their success and their team’s
  • Strong problem-solvers
  • Supportive and respectful
  • Responsible and reliable
  • Flexible and adaptable

Organizations that rely heavily on teamwork often need greater adaptability. For instance, a team member who can flexibly adapt to being a leader will be an important contributor to the organization.

6. Independence

The ability to work alone is just as important as the ability to collaborate. Even in heavily team-oriented companies, employees will likely find themselves doing some work alone. This is necessary and healthy, as it provides employees time to focus and complete work more efficiently. Independent work requires respect and trust between co-workers and managers that work will be completed independently and efficiently!

Autonomous employees offer the following qualities:

  • Strong time-management skills
  • Ability to review and critique work or projects
  • Strong focus
  • High productivity

Remote employees must be trusted to work independently without supervision. And since remote work calls for greater autonomy, independent employees can adapt faster to working remotely.

7. Leadership

There’s a debate on whether leaders are born or made. However, what’s not debated is that great leaders are admired, loved, and are hard to come across. But what makes great leadership?

Well, leadership is the ability to motivate a group of people towards a common and shared goal. This requires vision, strategy, and confidence, and communication. Great leaders must have a vision and leverage their teams’ efforts to achieve a defined goal.

Employees with strong leadership skills can move companies forward. They can guide team members toward developing their skills. Influential leaders have a wide range of skills, including honesty, reliability, and self-confidence.

Leaders exhibit the following traits:

  • Give constructive feedback instead of being judgmental
  • Show great empathy to fellow team members
  • Act as a source of inspiration to fellow team members
  • Strong ability to identify a team’s strengths and weaknesses
  • Confidence in their ability to lead teams
  • Strong organizational skills

Leadership is a critical quality. People with strong leadership skills are usually promoted by an organization into a more strategic role. That’s because internal recruitment or promotion from within helps companies cut recruitment costs.

Likewise, hiring someone who shows strong leadership skills gives others someone to look up to, which increases organization and productivity in the workplace.

ExactHire – Solutions to Hire Good Employees

ExactHire is a provider of custom hiring solutions to employers of all industries and sectors. We provide applicant tracking software, employee onboarding software, and full service hiring (where we do the hard work of delivering you candidates to hire).

Contact ExactHire to refine and enhance your search for good employees.

 

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A Strategy for Veteran Hiring

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A strategy for veteran hiring may seem difficult to develop, but you don’t need to create one from scratch. However, first your company needs to commit to employing veterans and realize the added value this population of jobseekers can bring to your organization.

Veterans bring unique and sought after qualities to an organization. After leaving their domestic and/or international deployments, veterans conclude their military careers with a wealth of job skills and professional experience that successfully translates to the civilian world. If your organization does not have a strategy for veteran hiring , now is the time to create one.

Why Hiring Veterans Makes Sense

Not only is hiring veterans good for an organization’s culture, but there are also financial benefits to hiring veterans. First off, employers that hire veterans might be eligible for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC). But there other veteran employment programs as well, such as:

Non-Paid Work Experience Program

The Non-Paid Work Experience program allows local, state, and federal government offices to temporarily employ a veteran without having the position count against the agency’s full-time equivalent allocation.

Veteran Readiness and Employment

Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) pays the veteran a monthly subsistence allowance while the veteran learns valuable work-related skills and experience. Through this Special Employer Incentive program, employers receive an incentive to hire veterans who face extraordinary obstacles to employment, which includes reimbursement of as much as 50 percent of the Veteran’s salary for up to six months.

VR&E can provide specialized tools, equipment, and workplace modifications to eligible veterans allowing them to perform their duties. Through the on-the-job training program, VR&E subsidizes veterans’ salaries so employers pay an apprentice-level wage while training veterans. As the veteran progresses, the employer pays a larger portion of the Veteran’s salary, until the training program is completed and the employer is paying the full salary.

Veteran Hiring Events

There are various events that can help introduce an organization to this skilled jobseeker population. Connect with your state government’s workforce development board to learn what hiring events are held for veterans in your state and in the states where you hire. The National Labor Exchange has an interactive map that will connect veterans and employers to employment resources.

Follow the events going on within the Department of Veterans Affairs. Consider having your organization participate in a federal resource program such as the Department of Defense’s SkillBridge program, which connects soon-to-be-discharged veterans with employment opportunities. VETS2INDUSTRY also offers employer strategies for veterans recruitment and support for profit and non-profit organizations.

Building a Veteran Hiring Process

Ideally, an organization should have a dedicated member of the HR team focused on veteran and veteran family recruiting and support – bonus if the dedicated HR team member is a former military member or military spouse. If senior management is unsure of the need for a dedicated veterans recruiter, here are ten reasons why your organization should hire veterans. The Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) understands the need for HR specialization and education towards veterans so SHRM, in partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal, created the SHRM Veterans at Work certificate program.

Translate Veteran Skills into Civilian Skills

Resume writing can be cumbersome even for the most linguistic jobseekers. Translating military responsibilities into civilian language can be challenging for veterans. HR resume screeners need to review veterans’ resumes with supportive resources, if needed, since veterans’ accomplishments might be communicated in military lingo. To help novice and seasoned HR staff better understand the accomplishments and successes of a veteran in their particular military roles, CareerOneStop offers an online civilian/military occupation translator.

Recruiting Veterans

Recruiting veterans can be completed in a variety of ways. Ensure that your organization vocalizes and adheres to the mission of providing support to veteran employees. This can be done by boldly expressing your organization’s commitment through your organization’s website and social media channels. Coming from a team focused environment, veterans will be more interested in finding another team-based culture.

Onsite and virtual job fairs are excellent recruitment events to help connect with prospective veteran employees. Promote your jobs on veteran specific job boards and on social media. Get involved with the veteran community to connect with candidates. PsychArmor offers online training modules to learn about veterans’ needs. Specifically, they provide organizations a robust training module specializing in creating a veteran hiring program.

One item to keep in mind is that not only is an organization recruiting the veteran themselves, but also the veteran’s spouse. Don’t forget to include military spouses in recruitment. The United States Department of Labor provides specific resources to recruit and support military spouses. For active duty military families in particular, remote jobs are of primary interest to military spouses as a military family might be relocated often for new assignments; however, remote jobs offer the ability for the spouse to work uninterrupted anywhere.

It’s About More than Hiring

Veterans have risked so much for our daily freedoms. They have sacrificed safety and comfort so we can have that. We can never fully return the favor to veterans for their sacrifice and courage; however, let’s support them in their civilian endeavors and provide them with an opportunity to utilize their skills in a role that fits both the company and the jobseeker.

 

ExactHire HR Software offers the ability to streamline the applicant process and tag applicants’ skills and characteristics, such as applicant veteran status, for you and your team’s convenience in applicant screening and candidate communication. For more information about our solutions, please contact us.

 

 

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What Is a Recruitment SWOT Analysis?

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The Great Resignation, skills gap and increasing recruitment costs may have you wondering how you can improve your talent acquisition strategy.

The evolving economic and labor landscapes mean that what worked in hiring prior to the pandemic doesn’t work now. How can you systematically assess your approach to recruitment against these changing circumstances?

An old business standby, the SWOT Analysis, can be adapted to help you develop a recruitment strategy that uses your strengths to harness opportunities while reducing your vulnerability to those circumstances that make recruiting so challenging.

SWOT Analysis in HR

SWOT, meaning an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, was developed in the 1960s and is widely used today. A SWOT Analysis takes stock of all four factors in a business endeavor to create a strategy to ensure the endeavor’s success. Individuals and businesses can use a SWOT analysis to aid in planning and goal setting.

SWOT Analyses are effective when making decisions in business planning. Business leaders who use a SWOT analysis benefit from the balanced perspective it provides. Leaders can make decisions that build upon existing strengths without falling victim to uncalculated risks.

When performing a SWOT analysis, decision makers typically start by drawing a quadrant with four boxes. They then label each box beginning with the top left with one of the four factors: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. In a business setting, it’s best if the quadrant is drawn on a large presentation pad or whiteboard for maximum participation from all stakeholders.

The best SWOT Analyses have the following characteristics.

  • Focus on the business activity in question.
  • Avoid complexity that hinders decision-making.
  • Prioritize specificity and honesty over vagueness and evasion.
  • Include input from several stakeholders to overcome the subjective nature of the analysis.
  • Perform the analysis in relation to top competitors in the business activity in question.

There are many benefits of a SWOT analysis in recruitment. It offers the organization an opportunity to reframe their recruitment challenges using a range of considerations not normally examined. Using this fresh perspective, hiring teams may see patterns previously missed. You may find it helpful to also perform an onboarding SWOT analysis and employee engagement SWOT analysis to gain further insight into your recruiting process.

Recruitment SWOT Analysis

Performing your own recruitment SWOT analysis can help you devise a talent acquisition strategy that will leverage your company’s unique strengths to overcome its particular challenges. It will help you identify the employers competing for the same talent and consider the recruitment process from the candidate’s perspective.

Before embarking on a SWOT analysis for the hiring process, gather relevant data and identify the people whose input will help make the analysis as objective and productive as possible. Recruitment areas to examine for SWOT analysis include things such as distributing an anonymous employee survey or performing a job search and researching your company from the candidate’s perspective.

When deciding how to do a SWOT analysis of recruitment for your own company, follow these tips.

  • Clearly identify your recruitment goals, including unofficial goals that the hiring team may not have expressed yet.
  • Identify organizations competing for the same talent, even if they are not a competitor within your industry.
  • Consider candidates’ perspectives when reviewing opportunities and threats.
  • Gather information from outside sources, such as employee reviews on Glassdoor and anonymous surveys from employees and previous candidates.
  • In addition to considering the organization’s strengths and weaknesses, take stock of those factors specific to the HR department.  
  • Consider only those factors which are relevant in the present or the very near future.
  • Think about aspects of your organization that are unrelated to HR but still relevant to the recruiting process, such as company brand and core competencies.

Recruitment Strengths and Weaknesses

The recruitment strengths and weaknesses you list on your SWOT analysis are factors within your organization. These are the factors you have the most control over, but they are also the items about which you’re least likely to be objective. Again, having multiple stakeholders contribute to the SWOT analysis for recruitment will produce the best results.

Recruiting strengths are those items that positively impact your candidate search or make your company appealing to job seekers.

Common strengths of the best recruitment process include:

  • Pay scale above industry norms
  • Tuition reimbursement program
  • Executive buy-in for the importance of recruitment in relation to the company’s goals.
  • A strong team in which members feel valued and cared for
  • An applicant tracking system for talent recruitment that ensures the most qualified applicants are at the top of the interview list
  • A mobile-friendly job application

Recruiting weaknesses are those internal factors that make your candidate search more difficult or cause applicants to view your company as less desirable than your competitors.

Common weaknesses in the recruiting process include:

  • A benefits package that is more costly and less comprehensive than your competitors
  • Lack of insight about which job sites for recruiting job seekers reliably produce the best applicants for your company
  • An online application that takes longer than 15 minutes to fill out
  • A physically demanding or uncomfortable work environment
  • Lack of advancement opportunities

Recruitment Opportunities and Threats

Recruitment opportunities and threats are external factors over which you have little or no control. They may include an influx of recent graduates, lack of candidates with the necessary skills or widespread crises such as the pandemic.

You may have difficulty deciding which quadrant to use as you’re finding opportunities to recruit better. Some factors, like your employer brand, begin as an internal element, but then become an external factor subject to independent opinion. Rather than getting caught up in placing a factor in the “right” box, focus on the insights arising from the discussion about your SWOT analysis for recruitment.  

Examples of opportunities include:

  • The city in which your company is headquartered just appeared on a list of best places to live.
  • You can recruit from almost any geographical region for newly remote positions.
  • A competitor is downsizing and laying off employees.
  • The local university offers educational programs in line with your industry needs.
  • Your brand enjoys a good reputation in your community.

Examples of recruitment threats include:

  • A recent court case just increased personal liability for employees in key positions.
  • There aren’t enough graduates in your field to fill the open positions across your industry.
  • Your recruiting competition has switched to a fully remote workforce.
  • When performing internet research from a candidate’s perspective, you find that your organization has a poor employer brand.
  • The big job sites don’t work well for your highly specialized open positions.

Overcome Recruiting Challenges with SWOT Analysis

When you’ve finished your SWOT analysis, you should have around five, but no more than 10, factors in each quadrant. Your aim is to develop a “strategic fit.” Internal factors should complement external factors. And strengths and opportunities should effectively overcome weaknesses and threats.

For example, perhaps an external threat to your recruiting efforts is that your local area lacks enough candidates with necessary skills. Ideally, a strength or opportunity would exist to mitigate this threat. Your organization could develop an opportunity by partnering with local schools to develop a curriculum to teach students the in-demand skills. Or you could bolster your recruiting strengths by offering an in-house apprenticeship program.

A recruitment SWOT analysis can help you analyze the factors that lead to both your recruiting challenges and success. It’s an effective way to gain insights into the circumstances that affect your recruiting efforts. Whether you’re addressing the changing landscape of talent acquisition in general or looking for solutions to challenges unique to your locale or industry, a recruitment SWOT analysis can offer much-needed perspective.

 

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Why Should Companies Hire New Graduates?

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Read any article on hiring recent graduates, and you’ll find a litany of ageist aphorisms. Some pigeonhole Millennials as lazy and entitled. Others sing their praises for their ability to be adaptable or ambitious, as opposed to (we’re led to assume) their aged coworkers set in their ways and coasting along until retirement.

Then there are fresh takes on Zoomers–the most recent college graduates.  According to some, they are driven more by salary than a good opportunity to learn new skills, and so at the drop of a dime will job hop for a slightly better salary.

In truth, you don’t have to pay Millennials in trophies or lure Zoomers with hefty sign-on bonuses–any more than you had to endorse flannel as business casual attire when you hired Generation X.

Moreover, hiring new graduates makes sense even if these stereotypes are true. The skill shortage is real, and all the data points to the power of a diverse workforce. In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about how to recruit new graduates, regardless of their generational traits.

Hiring Fresh Graduates

There are many benefits of hiring college graduates. They’re understandably excited to have graduated college and start their careers. As candidates without experience, they often will accept a lower job salary in exchange for upskilling opportunities. There are other great reasons to hire new grads that far outweigh the disadvantages of hiring fresh graduates.

Reach your diversity goals. When companies hire fresh graduates, they’re more likely to attain their diversity goals. Pew Research Center reports that recent graduates are more diverse than ever. A diverse workforce is good for your business. According to McKinsey, companies succeeding at diversity are 35 percent more likely to enjoy profit margins above the median for their industry.

Access a passive talent pool. Most hiring managers would agree a currently employed candidate is more appealing than a jobless candidate. Turns out 41 percent of recent college graduates are underemployed, with at least 10 percent earning less than $25,000. Chances are that these hard-working employees would prefer a role with a promising future at your company.

Hire digitally proficient employees. One trope about today’s fresh graduates is mostly true: they pickup new technology quicker than older generations, an unsurprising fact since Millennials were the first generation to grow up with the internet–and  Zoomers may not remember a time without smart phones. New graduates can likely help the company quickly improve its online presence or make more efficient use of existing software.

Challenges of Hiring New Graduates

These numerous benefits aside, there are problems faced by employers in hiring new graduates.

And while one article ungraciously claims “Millennials’ Work Ethic Is In The Eye Of The Beholder,” you’ve been a hiring manager long enough to know the same could be said of many people, regardless of age. The weakness of a new graduate employee has less to do with tired stereotypes.

Simply put, new graduates have different expectations than their older counterparts.

  • Recent graduates want to work for companies that “care about their individual well-being,” according to Gallup. While that may seem like a nebulous requirement for an employer, it’s clear your company needs to develop a culture that humanizes your employees in order to attract new graduates.
  •  The internet is integral to the way younger generations connect with the world. Companies need to engage in mobile recruiting coupled with a strong online presence to attract fresh graduates. You need more than one or two ads on job sites to appeal to fresh graduates. Your company needs to have a strong, authentic social media and online presence, including a branded careers site.
  • Lastly, lack of experience for fresh graduates is a legitimate concern for hiring managers. To successfully hire and onboard Millennials and Zoomers, your company needs to help them quickly acquire the knowledge you might expect from more experienced employees.

Campus Recruiting

The best place to find your newly graduated new hire is—you guessed it—on campus. The following tips will help you recruit graduates on campus.

  • Make sure your job ads are listed on the university’s job board as well their social media pages. One of the advantages of campus recruiting is that you can target your audience when you use university’s niche job board.
  • Have a strong LinkedIn presence. As graduation approaches, many students will strengthen their LinkedIn profile. You can search for recent graduates and reach out through InMail.
  • Make sure your branded careers site is appealing to recent graduates. Your careers site should include information about your company culture as well as “behind-the-scenes” videos.
  • Host an on-campus job fair complete with free company swag. Your campus recruiting strategy isn’t complete without an onsite job fair. Make sure you advertise the job fair both on campus and online. Have several employees at the booth with plenty of literature about your company and its open positions.
  • Build relationships with college organizations and the university’s career department. Your business isn’t the only one competing for new graduates. You want to make sure your company is top-of-mind when career advisors are counseling students.

Job Offer for New Graduates

Gallup surveyed new graduates and published the findings in their report “How Millennials Want to Work and Live.” When Gallup asked Millennials what they look for in a job offer for after graduation, pay and benefits did not make the top five. When making a job offer for new graduates, you need to highlight the job quality most important to them.

Opportunity to Learn and Grow

Continuous learning and opportunities to grow are important to 59 percent of new graduates. These candidates understand their inexperience is a disadvantage. The see ongoing upskilling as a way to career stability. Tuition reimbursement and certifications are important to fresh graduates.

Quality of Executive Leadership

Your executive team makes important decisions about the company’s culture and direction. For this reason, strong executive leadership is important to 58 percent of Millennials. New graduates will be more likely to accept your job offer if you’ve explained the company’s vision well.

Quality of Direct Manager

Over half of Millennials agree with 60 percent of Baby Boomers on at least one thing: quality of manager is extremely important. Throughout the interview process, give candidates the opportunity to meet their potential manager.

Challenging, Meaningful Work

While no one wants to be bored at work, new graduates are more likely to decline an offer for a job that isn’t interesting. But that doesn’t mean you need to rewrite your job description to make it more entertaining for your new hire. Creating a culture of innovation can make even a receptionist role more interesting if it means you’re open to creative solutions that extend beyond the usual scope of the role.

Advancement Opportunities

Gallup’s survey indicates that half of new graduates consider advancement opportunities an important factor for a graduating senior’s job offer. Keep in mind, fresh graduates are just starting their careers and are looking forward to achieving goals. The best job offer for new graduates will include clear guidelines about advancement decisions as well as career pathing for the new hire.

Pay and Benefits

Compensation may not have made the top five. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t an important factor for new graduate job offers. Pay and benefits are a close sixth in importance at 48 percent.

Hiring New Graduates

New graduates grew up with the internet and smartphones. They witnessed several historical events before entering the job market. But they still have the same sense of excitement about their future as previous generations. And the outlook and preferences of Generation Z  are still evolving. Don’t fall into the trap of dismissing new graduates as fussy job hoppers, and don’t broadly characterize them as upgrades of your older employees.

The key to recruiting new graduates is to humanize the candidate experience and see them as individuals. If you think about it, that’s what all your prospective new hires want.

Do you need help analyzing your recruitment process? Download our free scorecard to evaluate whether your recruitment process is helping or hindering your job offer acceptance rate.

 

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