Workforce Management Archives

Rewrite Your Talent Onboarding Story In 7 Game-Changing Steps

in Hiring Process, Workforce Management/by Randi Renee Doerr, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

Once upon a time there was a talented, optimistic marketing professional named Simon. An exciting, fast-growth technology firm was fortunate enough to woo Simon during a flashy interviewing process and he was pleased to accept its offer of employment shortly thereafter. His new position would offer him more responsibility, more pay and a chance to learn some new technologies. Sounds like a storybook ending for Simon, right?

That’s what he thought, too, until he began to experience the firm’s employee onboarding process. While the tech firm had many things going for it, it had a few things to learn when it came to giving its new hires the best opportunity to be successful and productive in their working environment. Let’s see how Simon’s story unfolded and consider what the tech firm might have done differently to make a positive impression on him in the critical early days and months of his employment.

1 – Wait, What’s Pre-Boarding?

Once Simon accepted his offer, he still had to give his current employer a few weeks’ notice before finishing his job there. While his new employer was hiring frequently, and at such a pace that it often had employees start just days after accepting an offer, Simon was an anomaly in that he had some time to kill before his start date. Unfortunately, his new tech firm was radio silent during this period. Simon actually had to proactively reach out to confirm details like start date and arrival time. He wondered if his new company had forgotten about him.

Rewrite the Story: Simon’s new hiring manager could have called or emailed him to welcome him to the fold and prep him with some housekeeping details prior to his first day. This “pre-boarding” scenario (aka the period before official employee onboarding) is also a golden opportunity for an organization to send a welcome kit to a new hire with goodies like a prepared training schedule, visual organizational chart, fun facts about the company and some branded company swag.

A best practice during pre-boarding is to make sure that your company’s existing employees know about the forthcoming start date of your new employee so they can be ready to make him feel at home. This also gives the onboarding process stakeholders a chance to update recurring meeting requests and email distribution lists to include the new employee. Otherwise, Simon might feel silly if he was the only one that didn’t know to show up to the monthly corporate meeting.

2 – Learning the Unwritten Rules

Simon was an organized guy and liked to be prepared. During his interview, they told him that they had a relaxed dress code, but he still hadn’t seen any evidence of that and didn’t want to be the only guy in jeans on his first day. So, he showed up in business casual to be safe meanwhile contemplating the extent of the company’s flexibility when it came to the “flexible work schedule.” In addition, he was still in limbo with how daycare arrangements would work for his daughter, too. He would continue to feel a little stressed about that until he could adjust her drop-off and pick-up times to accommodate his new schedule. Of course his nerves weren’t helped when a bunch of his new co-workers asked him why he was so dressed up for his first day.

Rewrite the Story: Starting a new job is stressful enough; don’t make it worse by keeping your new hires guessing. At a minimum send new hires a Q&A sheet of commonly asked company culture-related questions before their first day.

Go the extra mile by pairing a new employee with a mentor buddy who can give him the real dish, and
assembling an attractive book or website full of pictures of your employees enjoying the unique aspects of your culture (for example, hitting the gong to celebrate a goal achievement or modeling work-appropriate attire).

Better yet, create a video office tour in which you interview employees that answer these burning company culture questions. Give employees like Simon the confidence to know when it’s actually okay to play ping-pong during work hours.

3 – You Mean I Don’t Even Get a Red Stapler?

Once Simon was shown to his working space, it was remarkably bare. While thankfully his laptop was awaiting him, there wasn’t much else other than tedious employment paperwork. His cube neighbor said that the supplies he needed were around, and that he could show him the office cabinet. So, Simon grabbed some sticky notes, a pen and a notepad since he wasn’t sure how much was appropriate to take. Back at his desk, he passed the time waiting for further direction (his boss was in a meeting on the morning of his first day) by investigating a new “twiddle your thumbs” finger workout on his smartphone…or at least he felt like that was what he was doing.

Rewrite the Story: Not having supplies ready on a new hire’s first day is frustrating and makes a poor first impression on a new employee. Stock a new hire’s space with all the essentials…have email setup, browsers downloaded and include a handy guide to applications that will be used on a regular basis. Complete the staging with a thoughtful welcome sign with the employee’s name. To make this setup easy on existing employees, too, have a basic onboarding checklist or template in place that can be quickly customized based on departmental needs. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel with every new hire.

Identify additional employee onboarding best practices like implementing software to automate both the workflow-related checklists for existing employees, as well as the actual paperwork completed by new employees. Instead of taking up two hours of a new hire’s first few days on the job with boring, redundant paperwork, give him a web-based portal to enter that data in about fifteen minutes. Make sure your onboarding process brand matches the sleek corporate brand that people have come to expect from a fast-growth tech firm.

4 – Be More Innovative Than Lunch

Simon was pleased to learn that he wouldn’t have to figure out lunch on his first day. His manager, as well as some other members of his department, did take him out to a nice restaurant to get to know him better. There’s nothing wrong with lunch as long as that’s not all you do to learn about new hires.

Rewrite the Story: Use your organization’s industry, resources and/or culture to create a unique experience for your new employees. For example, a technology firm might have a space for all employees to share their favorite mobile app along with comments about why each app was selected. A design firm with graphic artists on staff might choose to commemorate the arrival of newer employees by adding their caricature to a wall of fame after 90 days. An organization of travel buffs could have a giant world map and invite new employees to mark the exotic places to which they have traveled with pushpins. Be imaginative and discover each employee’s passion.

5 – My Brain is Only So Spongy

Once his first few days had passed, Simon had to admit that his training schedule did become quite rigorous…full of people to meet all day everyday. He was hustled from one office to another, desperately trying to absorb all the information he heard like the latest chamois cloth mop from QVC. Alas, cramming isn’t generally effective; however, sometimes employers still feel compelled to fill all the gaps in the first few week’s of an employee’s training schedule. While the firm did gain some points for doing its best to expose Simon to a number of areas in the hopes that he’d be more productive sooner, they should have allowed some time for his early foundational knowledge to soak in and then solidify.

Rewrite the Story: Consider a shortened training schedule for the early days of a new hire’s employment. By empowering an individual to train and shadow with others for just part of the day, you enable him to take the rest of the day to reflect and absorb the information gleaned. He can form questions, review the most recent lessons and be better prepared to be a true participant in the rest of his training activities. Incorporate gamification elements into the training and orientation phase by creating company- and/or department-specific quizzes to assess the employee’s learning while also providing entertaining education.

6 – That’s the End?

A month into his employment experience, Simon was starting to feel like a member of the team. Especially when he was thrown into the training mix for three newer hires that were starting the coming week. That’s right, Simon’s fifteen minutes of new hire fame were already up. And while it’s not a bad idea to help new hires hit the ground running by involving them in improving the onboarding process for future hires, you also don’t want to let your hair down too early with your newer employees. The firm was riding on its own cultural coat tails too aggressively. Keeping employees for the long-term requires a learning and development culture that doesn’t end after a new employee’s first three weeks on the job.

Rewrite the Story: Chart an onboarding course for the long haul and remember that the good stuff happens at milestones you intentionally plan for new hires along their entire employment journey…whether it is three weeks or one year into employment. Beyond new hire paperwork and software login credentials, build in triggers for activities like

more advanced learning “courses” once initial onboarding prerequisites are met,
exposure to other departments to better learn how one’s own job impacts others,
individual assessment in order to uncover opportunities for synergy between the newer employee, his hiring manager and/or other department members,
succession planning conversations, and
personal achievement recognition at notable anniversary dates.

7 – Get What You Expect

Being organized and self-motivated, Simon already had his own ideas about what he wanted to accomplish in his career with the tech firm. He certainly knew his own job responsibilities and had a vague idea of the potential career path available; however, he was foggy on his firm’s expectations when it came to targeting dates for specific skills mastery and project completions. He was looking forward to really producing now that he had a few months behind him, but he would have appreciated more detail about what success had meant for other top performers in the past.

Rewrite the Story: Having a culture of performance management doesn’t mean forcing a performance review every 90 days, or perhaps ever. But, it does mean having candid, personalized conversations with employees about their passions, developmental goals and the organization’s expectations for achievement. Create a job success factors document for all positions so that new and existing employees alike have a benchmark for comparing their own performance to the model for success for their role. Include details about initial job priorities, expected time frames for project completion and resources available from the organization to support the employee. Then, work with employees to align their strengths and passions with opportunities for increasing responsibility and rewards. Providing a map to success will set employees up to have a true sense of accomplishment once they’ve reached important job milestones.

Where Will Simon’s Story Take Him?

Is your organization guilty of any of the onboarding oversights that befell Simon in his new position? If so, take action now so that when your newer employees get a recruiter InMail message after seven months on the job they politely decline the chance to learn more about the next exciting, fast-growth tech firm.

This blog originally appeared on elementthree.com/blog.

Image credit: Swoosh Goes Swish by slgckgc (contact)

Stressed Out HR

in Workforce Management/by Tom Branson

A funny thing happens when you get busy. You get stressed. Now, some people handle stress better than others, but to some degree stress affects a change on everyone. You begin to lose focus on the unimportant things or, at least, the not immediately important things. This is hardwired in all of us, and it can be really useful for, say, a race car driver or a mountain climber. Those guys and gals need to be focused on the extreme activities in front of them and not much else.

But what about your average Joe or Jane in the Human Resources Department? How does stress and this narrowing of focus impact them?

Human Resources Cutting Corners

Recruiting for talent is stressful, especially in today’s job market. To succeed in finding and hiring the best for your organization, you have to raise awareness and garner excitement around your open position first. This means you must write a compelling job description that attracts top talent and hopefully references an awesome work culture. You also need to cast your nets wide by posting jobs on social media, utilizing niche job boards, and leveraging the power of job aggregators. Then you have to review and organize applications and communicate with hiring managers and applicants. This might be manageable with one or two open positions, but what if you’re hiring for several jobs? And what if you’re an HR Department of One? Hello stress!

Stress begins to seep into your workflow the moment work volume exceeds your work capacity. This is precisely when “immediately unimportant” items or tasks get dropped.

Now, some might say that high work volume is “a good problem to have” and “job security,” and that “desperate times” (high work volume), “call for desperate measures” (cutting corners/dropping items). But this mentality and approach can sabotage an organization’s talent management efforts because it masquerades as a solution, while not addressing an inconvenient truth: a well-planned, efficient hiring process does not contain any unimportant items or tasks–everything is important.

But say your organization doesn’t have a well-planned, efficient hiring process. Suppose it, instead, places its faith in an HR professional with a keen sense of what’s important and timely for an effective, high-quality hiring process. Well, stress has a funny way of dulling the senses, and when an organization relies on the “keen senses” of HR to reach its talent goals, it’s setting itself up for failure. Because while cutting corners may be a byproduct of high work volume at first, eventually those cut corners will become an established part of the process.

Unintended Behavior Modification

Ever seen a dog exploring the boundaries of a newly installed electric fence? You know, those invisible ones. I haven’t (because I find a real fence to be kinder), but from what I hear, the dog will approach the boundary and receive a shock. Eventually, after getting zapped enough times, the dog learns not to approach the boundary for fear of being shocked.

When our HR professional drops items or tasks in the face of “too much volume, not enough capacity,” he is modifying his behavior to overcome stress just like the dog. Overtime, the HR professional will learn to drop items and tasks before he reaches capacity, so as to avoid the stress. This leads to a drop in recruiting/hiring quality because the dropped items are often things like:

Posting jobs to social media with frequency (“But, one tweet is enough, right?”)

Writing a remarkable job description (“But, all the vital information is there…they get the idea.”)

Consistent, timely, and appropriate follow up with applicants (“But, it’s not immediately important.”)

Projecting a friendly and welcoming demeanor to job applicants (“But, I’m too stressed to be kind!”)

Proactively communicating with colleagues to keep everyone on the same page ( “Sorry, I meant to tell you sooner. I just have a lot on my plate.”)

Taking care of the above distinguishes an organization in the eyes of top talent (the excuses…are just that, excuses). Neglecting the above is not professional, and it hurts the hiring process. So does that mean 60-hour work weeks for our HR Department of One? No.

Getting Resourceful

If the dog in our story above wants to chase a squirrel beyond its limits and avoid the shock of the electric fence, running into the fence more often is not going to help. The shock (stress) will only increase. But suppose that dog climbed up on the the patio table adjacent to the invisible fence and jumped over it? It avoids the shock and can now have a chance at that squirrel.

Our HR Department of One can likewise chase top talent (purple squirrels even) by being resourceful when faced with stress caused by high work volumes. Rather than viewing work capacity as static and immovable, they can explore ways to increase capacity and enhance quality in hiring. HR technology accomplishes both. By automating many of the time-consuming tasks that are vital to high quality recruiting and hiring processes, HR can be free to focus on the things that distinguish their organizations in the job market.

ExactHire provides hiring and employee onboarding solutions to assist organizations in attracting, hiring, and retaining talent. To learn more about how you can leverage our SaaS solutions to optimize your talent management efforts, contact us today!

Feature Image Credit: stressed by rick (contact)

Job Board Spotlight: Beyond.com

in Workforce Management/by Tom Branson

The best Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) will integrate with your website via a careers portal, creating a seamless brand experience for job applicants. But to attract a high volume of applicants to your site, it is vital to have an ATS that features automated posts to a wide variety of external job boards. Without this, even the most efficient applicant tracking systems will be useless if job seekers cannot find your job posts.

To help you discover the unique benefits of job boards and communities, ExactHire will seek to spotlight some of the more effective options available to you by frequently reporting on them through our blog.

This month, we selected Beyond.com as the focus of our Job Board Spotlight. We spoke with Danielle Sayre, Strategic Alliance Manager at Beyond.com.

Q:With thousands of job boards available, what is your advice for employers seeking to find the best option?

A: A job posting is an advertisement. So evaluate a job board the way you evaluate any advertising opportunity. First of all, is the site appropriate to your brand? Second, how will the board market your jobs? If you have a generalist job, you may want it available for general public. But if you are looking for a specific audience, then you want to make sure that your job ad will be marketed to the most relevant audience.

Q:In what industries does Beyond.com specialize?

A: Beyond has over 50 million members who belong to hundreds of niche communities on Beyond. Our largest community is our healthcare community with 6.6 million members. We also have a robust technology community with almost 3 million members, and a growing retail community with 3.7 million members. To view a complete list of our latest member statistics, visit http://www.beyond.com/communities/hiring/.

Q:Can you describe the advantages of using niche job sites?

A: Sites with a niche approach are often able to deliver a more relevant pool of candidates. The niche approach attracts unique candidates with an interest in that niche. In addition, sites with a niche philosophy strive to market your job to the most relevant candidates.

Q:How can Beyond.com serve as one of the world’s largest job boards, yet also offer the advantages of niche job boards?

A: Beyond is the original niche network. We started as PhillyJobs over 10 years ago, and grew into a network of over a thousand niche sites, including TechCareers and Healthcare Jobsite. We cut our teeth bringing niche and passive candidates to relevant jobs – and we still do – but today we do it through 500+ talent communities on Beyond.

Because Beyond evolved from a niche network model, we are experts at targeting and do a better job of connecting active and passive job seekers with the right opportunities. We’ve attracted many of our 50+ million members based on their affinity for a specific industry, location or profession, so we know what they’re looking for from day 1. And, we continually gather information about our members to ensure that we’re always delivering the most relevant jobs and content.

Q:How many job applicants can I expect to receive per job post? (or other success metric)

A: Number of applicants can vary greatly depending upon the type of job, the job description, the job application process, and other factors. However, it is important to keep in mind that due to the nature of Beyond’s niche approach, we strive to first deliver quality over quantity to the job opportunities on our site.

Q:How well does Beyond.com reach passive job seekers?

A: Beyond is the Career Network, and we continue to engage job seekers after they find a new job by providing career and industry content relevant to their career. As a member network, the majority of our activity is from existing members engaging with our email and other communications, rather than from people actively conducting web searches. This means that we reach the person who is perusing our emails to see what jobs might be available, even if they aren’t actively searching for jobs online.

Q:In addition to job postings, in what other ways can employers promote open positions with Beyond.com?

A: By posting a job on Beyond, employers are automatically getting a sophisticated marketing engine to promote their jobs. Employer jobs are available for our “Smart Alerts,” which are “learning” alerts that include relevant jobs based upon member activity. Jobs are also included in “Following Alerts,” which are specific alerts sent to members with exact matches for job titles that they are following. And, when a new job is posted we send out an “Instant Alert,” which is an email with just that job sent to a small list of the most relevant candidates in our system.

We also market jobs on Beyond, our niche sites, and throughout the web.

For employers who want additional ways to promote their jobs, Beyond offers targeted email marketing campaigns, text messaging campaigns, career alert sponsorships, and display advertising. Employers can also source our database of over 50 million members.

Q:Does Beyond.com integrate with Applicant Tracking Systems? How can ExactHire clients get started?

A: Yes, we integrate with some, but not all, applicant tracking systems. Single 30-day Job Postings can be purchased through ExactHire. To get started, clients can contact Randi Shuck at ExactHire or go to http://www.beyond.com/exacthire.

5 Steps to Better Job Description Click-Through Rates

in Workforce Management/by Randi Renee Doerr, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

In most organizations, marketers don’t own the task of writing job descriptions for new opportunities available within their organization. This responsibility generally belongs to people in human resources or recruiting.

And even if those folks have marketers review a draft before it posts (at least for marketing positions, that is), many times the urgency of the request prevents anyone from worrying about fine-tuning the job listing’s content. However, skipping this crucial step can make it even harder for you to fill that position quickly because the job description isn’t converting as many applicants as it could.

Fortunately, taking a little time up front to create a job description editorial checklist can make refining just-in-time job requests a piece of cake in the future. Here are five ways to garner better job description click through rates for your company’s opportunities.

1. Make Landing Pages Mobile Responsive & Job Board Friendly

Surprise, surprise, right? This goes without saying these days. However, while many organizations have corporate websites that have long been coded with mobile responsive design, the same doesn’t always hold true for the third party job portals they use to manage the job posting and application submission process. In many cases, the landing pages to which your paid and organic search listings point are actually the job description pages of an applicant tracking system (ATS).

Not only does Google reward mobile-friendly applicant tracking solutions, but major job board aggregators like Indeed.com will reward these sites with higher mobile SERP rankings as well. In fact, even if an employer sponsors an ad on Indeed, the ad won’t be placed as high in mobile search results as other sponsored ads that do point to mobile responsive job portals.

In addition, the best job portals have integrations with sites like Indeed and LinkedIn that allow job seekers to auto-populate their employment application with data from their existing profile. It’s clear that application submission CTRs have a greater chance of improving when your job listings are more readily visible and you make it easy for applicants to start the application process.

2. Don’t Write Vanilla Job Titles

Unless of course it’s some kind of French Vanilla premium custard, I suppose. But seriously, if you are looking for a Web Developer, be specific with your job title wording so that you can be found by the candidates that are truly qualified to do your Front End Javascript Developer job, even if you really just call it Web Developer II internally.

For hints, study your competitors’ opportunities for job title variation ideas that might accurately represent your employment need. Just remember that your job title can’t be so long that it will be cut off in SERPs or wrap to too many additional lines when applicants view your position listings page on their smartphone screens.

3. Model Your Snippets Based On Job Seeker Preferences

Depending on whether you host job descriptions on your corporate website or you use a recruiting software application, you may or may not have easy access to write a customized meta description for each job listing page.

In the event that you don’t have that functionality, you must carefully craft the first couple of sentences of your job description body text to include the keywords that will resonate with job seekers.

Above all, consider your labor market as a means to hone in on the type of unique selling proposition you should highlight in the first section. Here are some potential approaches:

Skills / Duties – This is the approach I recommend most of the time. Think about the occupation-specific keywords that job seekers are most likely to use to search for your job listing and include them in the first sentence so they show up in the snippet candidates see in SERPs. This will make it more likely that your organic listing will appear higher in results, too. Specifically, restate the job title in the first sentence.
Pay – Know that when you include numerical details about compensation in your job listing (even if they are at the bottom of the description) the search snippet may include the dollar amount. Some employers choose to include this information to attract and convert potential applicants who are especially compensation focused (e.g., sales professionals) or because they are paying a higher wage for certain positions relative to other competitors in the market.
Availability – If it’s difficult to source applicants for shift work in your area, then your leading keywords should include commentary on the working hours and days of the week required for the right job candidate.
Company Brand – If you are an extremely large organization, then you may be able to get away with leading with information about your company in the first paragraph. This would only be a viable approach if your potential job applicants are likely to search the internet based on your organization’s name. This approach is more suitable for sponsored job board ads that you know will have premium real estate, despite a shortage of position-specific keywords in the snippet.

4. Write for Readability First, Then Add Keywords

Instead of forcing a job description to use potentially awkward-sounding long tail keyword phrases, wordsmith a description that is both compelling and informative to applicant personas. Once the initial draft is done, go back and sprinkle in the most important keywords, as well as relevant co-occurring terms. Finally, be mindful of the keyword density for your job description so that the finished product isn’t keyword-stuffed.

5. Use Images & Video

Even though most job board search results point to landing pages that include familiar text elements such as job title, position preview, essential responsibilities and qualifications, that doesn’t mean you can’t break the mold and utilize images and embedded video. Many hiring software platforms will offer job description WYSIWYG editors that support the inclusion of images and video. Just make sure to include keyword-rich alt tags and video transcripts with your visual assets.

By giving potential job candidates a feast for the eyes, as well as more finely-tuned job information, you are more likely to engage them to click through to your landing page and start the application process. Use these five ideas to do exactly that and start converting more job applicants today.

This post originally appeared on Relevance.

Image credit: Teclado / Keyboard by Microsiervos (contact)

Liza Galliher | Business Development

in Workforce Management/by Liza Galliher

Liza joined ExactHire in August 2016 as our Business Development Specialist after several years of sales experience at a technology firm in Washington, DC. Liza serves as our main point of contact for our clients who are in need of our software solutions for their organizations.

Previously, Liza worked at WeddingWire Inc. in a similar consultant role, and even more recently she worked as a Behavioral Clinician at Meridian Health Services utilizing her educational background in psychology. She holds a B.A. in psychology from DePauw University.

Liza also serves as a member of the national women’s philanthropic organization of Psi Iota Xi, and is a member of their Alpha Chapter. Her favorite pastime is spending quality family time with her husband and young daughter. Liza also enjoys reading, cooking, interior design, spending time outside, and traveling when possible.

Work Culture–Monday FunDay

in Workforce Management/by Tom Branson

ExactHire wrapped up a successful 2015 with the final Monday FunDay of the year on December 21. In addition to the monthly competition and employee workiversary/birthday celebrations, we added a Sweet Treat Exchange for everyone to enjoy. Combining these activities made for an exciting, sugar-charged day that once again brought our company together to enjoy and relish in our unique work culture.

Sweet Treat Exchange

Sharing office space with another company can sometimes present challenges. Organizing office supplies, reserving conference rooms, adjusting to different noise levels, and sometimes just navigating your way through a crowded break space can be frustrating. However, when the Sweet Treat Exchange comes around, suddenly the rewards are realized.

Our officemates at Human Capital Resources joined us in an annual tradition of baking, or otherwise making, our favorite sweets to share with one another. This year, each participant walked away with several dozen bags of home baked goods (or in my case, thoughtfully selected commercially produced sweets). The exchange is just one way our two companies provide opportunities for developing a shared culture that does much to overcome the challenges of a shared office space.

Monday FunDay – December

After taking down about 200 grams of sugar, the remaining ExactHire team that wasn’t in a sugar coma went to the conference room for a holiday-appropriate contest. The contestants were in luck, as two-time defending champion, Allen, was under the weather and unable to compete. There would be a new winner this month.

The competition melded shuffleboard, present wrapping, and trash talking. Here’s what that looks like:

Jess Sliding present for ExactHire Monday Funday

One of the most skilled contestants was forced to go first and, thus, showed everyone who followed how not to do it. The main beneficiary of this scheme? Our Co-owner, Jeff, who with expert skill and dexterity wrapped his gift and slid it to victory on his first attempt. The winning time: 36 seconds.

Jeff Slides Into First

Requisite Victory Taunt

Final Results

Jeff
Christa
Jess
Harlan
Tom

The December Monday FunDay was a fitting end to a fun 2015. And after 4 months of testing this new team-building event, I think it’s safe to say that 2016 will continue the tradition and usher in more fun as a defense against the Monday Blues.

Recent Golden Vase Winners

How To Make A Holiday Video In One Week

in Workforce Management/by Tom Branson

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! For many, December is the month to buy and give gifts–and maybe even receive some too. That, of course, is not the reason for the season, but it has become a tradition that spans cultures and faith backgrounds.

Another tradition is the holiday card. These come in a variety of styles…

Holiday Card Styles

The Majestic

The Peaceful

The Family

The Pets

The Funny

Bringing It All Together

New Approaches

And now, increasingly, holiday “cards” are coming via new channels. From the holiday email, to the social media post, and even to cutting edge bitmojis, there are more ways than ever to send your season’s greetings to family and loved ones. For our team at ExactHire, we opted to move away from our traditional Thanksgiving Card (snail mailed), and we embraced another trend: the video holiday card.

If your small business forgot to budget a holiday card this year–or if you were just too busy takin’ care of business–it’s not too late! You can produce your very own video holiday card in one week and bring some holiday cheer to the hearts of your customers. Here’s how:

Invite your co-workers to participate. Not everyone is cutout for the big screen–or even the iPhone screen–so make this optional. It’s much easier to work with willing actors and actresses.
Determine your direction. Need inspiration? There are tons of examples out there on YouTube, Vimeo and the blogs of companies who provide video editing software. Go ahead and find a handful of different ideas and put them in front of your team for feedback.
Storyboard. With a direction in mind, you can now start the process of scripting and storyboarding your video. Best advice here is to keep it simple and short (60-150 seconds). Also, avoid long shots if possible–it makes the filming and editing easier, while also cutting down on retakes (your co-workers will appreciate the limited distraction and time investment too).
Choose your weapon. GoPro, Camcorder, SmartPhone…you choose! We used an iPhone 6 and were very happy with our results. Use what is comfortable for you and is readily available.
Schedule the shoot. You can realistically shoot this in a morning, but it may be hard to get time on everyone’s schedule. Remember that you don’t need to necessarily shoot the scenes/shots in order. If your owner appears last in the video, but is available first, go ahead and shoot him (his part in the video, not him). You can reorder the shots when editing. Use an online scheduling tool to help this go smoothly.
Edit. For this you’ll need some type of video editing software. If you are on a mac iMovie is free and capable enough. Wistia and Camtasia are also affordable options with more capabilities. You’ll want to pull it all together, add graphics or text and maybe some background music.
Publish and Distribute. With a completed video in hand, go to your favorite hosting site and upload. You can link the video into a holiday email, on your website blog, and on your social media sites. It’s a good idea to send to your customers/clients first as part of a customized email. After they have had the opportunity to view, then unleash it to the world!

These are roughly the steps that ExactHire took to create “Thanksgiving Potluck In 7 Steps”. If you have additional advice or questions, please leave these in the comment sections below. This was our first year making a holiday video, and we are eager to improve our skills. Thanks!

5 Tips for Making the Holidays an Employee Engagement Extravaganza

in Workforce Management/by Randi Renee Doerr, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

Employee engagement comes in many forms. Many organizations look at it as a top-down activity, where perks are given to the rank and file staff by the executives or directors. But another form is one that meaningfully involves everyone across roles and departments.

ExactHire has solidified its monthly tradition of seasonally-themed and friendly inter-office competition. November’s version of this much anticipated event didn’t disappoint and was not surprisingly focused on giving thanks, eating food and taking out turkeys. Wait…what? Read on for details folks.

For those of you who weren’t able to join us for the spirited activities on Monday, November 16th, I thought it would be fun to give you the breakdown in a few quick snippets below. Gobble, gobble! Let’s get to it…

#5 – Deck Your Office Digs With Turkey Swag

To get into the spirit, a handful of us conspired to bring in an eclectic collection of autumn- and Thanksgiving-inspired decorations to make the conference room extra special and lively for our annual November potluck lunch. I think we struck a reasonable balance between really hitting the mark vs. making it look like the seasonal aisle at Michael’s or Jo-Ann’s threw up on our conference table. I mean, we even had a cornucopia!

#4 – Eat: Pre-Game, Main Event & Post-Game

Arguably, November is the easiest month in which to host an office pitch-in because you don’t have to worry about coming up with a clever theme. Yes, potluck sign-up sheets are old hat for us at ExactHire since we embrace the paperless nature of our business by using a shared Google Doc file to state our name and our favorite Thanksgiving-appropriate food converted into a portable version (courtesy of a crockpot). Especially on a Monday Funday, the nibbles started early with the pre-game warm-up followed by the main meal in the company of each other. A few people might have kept sneaking the chocolate-caramel brownies later in the afternoon, too.

#3 – Document the Day & Spread the Joy

Wondering about the picture, aren’t you? What better way to pay homage to a momentous meal than to embrace the power of the trytophan? But speaking of giving thanks and spreading cheer, one of my favorite ExactHire traditions is our annual Thanksgiving card to clients.

We’ve had fun putting together the design for the cards in past years as they’ve always depicted the members of our team in what we hope is a comedic way. This year, however, we wanted to try something new that could reach even more people — a video. We used Funday as center stage for producing our first (dare I say) annual Thanksgiving video card. The collaborative effort involved in the video production helped us engage in the day’s festivities even more…from the decorations to the personal video messages of thanks to the staged post-meal napping.

#2 – Shoot Some Turkeys

We can’t forget the competitive part of Monday Funday. When we all battle it out for the coveted golden vase and personalized certificate of achievement. November didn’t fall short with a bowling pin-style shooting range of thoughtfully (okay, maybe hastily) colored paper turkey drawings each assigned various point totals. Each participant was given two practice shots before taking six official shots to try and accumulate the highest point total. You may be wondering about our weapons of choice? Well, fellow teammate Darythe was kind enough to supply us with some sharp shooting tools courtesy of her daughter. They were from the Nerf Rebelle line in case any of you want to bring this contest to your own organizations.

I was up first and feeling pretty good about my chances, but was very quickly rousted from contention by pretty much every single other co-worker…except of course, Darythe, who ironically came in last despite owning the goods. The official standings:

Darythe – 70
Jess – 85
Tom – 100
Susan – 135
Christa – 150
Jeff – 185
Randi – 200
Allen – 250 (for his second Monday Funday win!)

Allen Wins November Monday Funday — Allen proudly reclaims the golden vase for the second time!

Turkey Targets | ExactHire Monday Funday — All set with turkey targets in place!

Darythe Loads Nerf Shooter | Funday — Darythe gets ready to show us how it's done.

#1 – Spend Quality Time With Great Teammates

It’s easy for people to be too busy to really talk to their co-workers these days. I’m sure many of us are guilty of taking lunch at our desks, heading off site to meet others outside of the company all the time or just huddling in our own offices/cubes to finish a big project for hours on end. Our Monday Fundays give ExactHire employees a built-in opportunity to stop talking shop for a bit and get to know and appreciate each other. Fostering that kind of synergy pays dividends when it comes to group projects and resolving challenges in the workplace. We highly encourage you to try similar stress-reducing, culture-building activities in your organization.

I think it is safe to say there is no “case of the Mondays” here!

Recent Golden Vase Winners

Mobile Recruiting Strategy Fails – When Your Organization Isn’t Prepared

in Workforce Management/by Harlan Schafir

You built a mobile recruiting presence, the applicants came…but then your organization wasn’t ready. Or, maybe you’re well on your way toward social recruiting Shangri La and you sense that a few hiring managers may be late to the party. In this blog, I’ll review five mobile recruiting strategy fails encountered when a business is not prepared in the hopes that you can avoid the same mistakes.

1 – Failure To Get Buy In

Even if you’ve already put a few mobile-friendly recruiting elements into play, or if you continue to evolve your social media content calendar to include career-related advice, you will still struggle if the rest of the team at your company isn’t prepared to buy into and participate in the new talent acquisition model. Start by educating them with statistics that paint a picture of this trend–no, this new way of doing business–to get their attention.

According to a 2015 survey by SHRM, 65% of employer respondents indicated they had sourced candidates from social media in the past year. And if it’s not your organization regularly leveraging the power of professional networking sites like LinkedIn or career community-focused networks like Beyond.com, then you can bet your competitors are.

Skilled workers who are willing and able to participate in the workforce aren’t as easy to come by these days. For example, in October 2015, recruiting difficulty reached a four year high for the 19th consecutive month according to SHRM’s Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) Report. Your organization must utilize the latest resources available in order to grab its share of scarce talent.

2 – Failure To Be Candidate-Centric

Remember when Tom Hanks’ character told Meg Ryan’s character that she needed to take it “to the mattresses” to save her business in the movie You’ve Got Mail? As you may recall, the dialogue was actually a reference to the famed Godfather; however, I like to mention the former, more recent movie because it represented how (at the time) email was a revolution in the dating game. It changed the face of courtship forever.

So now has social media and the proliferation of smartphones and tablets forced the evolution of talent acquisition. Take it to the mattresses. Be candidate-centric…maybe not in the same context that a staffing agency might because you have to fill a specific job rather than amass resumes for the future, but in a way that empowers your company to find the candidates where they are…on the networks and devices they are using. Don’t make it difficult for candidates to research your company online; and do make it easy for them to share jobs and positive career-related content on social networks when they want to chat with their peers about what they heard about working at your organization.

3 – Failure To Know Your Candidate Personas

If you fail to identify your target applicant audience across various job categories, then you will miss the mark when it comes to selecting specific social networks, mobile job posting apps and even customizing the applicant interface for your jobs portal to optimize your user experience (UX).

And while the thought that “mobile is coming” often conjures images of my favorite Stark family characters warning that “winter is coming” along with an onslaught of white-walkers in the binge watch-worthy Game of Thrones, the extent to which your organization needs to plan out its mobile and social strategy is dependent on the types of jobs you offer and the demographics and preferences of the top talent filling those positions. According to a 2015 Pew Research Center Report on U.S. smartphone use, it is lower income smartphone owners who are the most likely to use a phone during a job search.

Translation: The mobile candidate experience will make or break your recruiting success when it comes to your less specialized and entry-level positions.

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In fact, according to the report, “compared with smartphone owners from households earning $75,000 or more per year, those from households earning less than $30,000 annually are nearly twice as likely to use a smartphone to look for information about a job — and more than four times as likely to use their phone to actually submit a job application.” So ask yourself what percentage of your recruiting efforts focus on that population and then take appropriate action.

This insight doesn’t mean you can rest on your laurels if you manage HR at a professional office setting with higher income levels such as a physicians group or an engineering firm. Mobile is coming and the statistics on usage in the job seeker space will continue to climb across all income brackets.

4 – Failure to Communicate Internally

In your haste to reach out to candidates in their own space and ensure that your applicant tracking system is mobile responsive, did you miss explaining the consequences a more savvy candidate hiring experience will have on your internal stakeholders? If you’re not catching my drift, think about whether the following comments elicit a grin…or a chagrin.

Have you engaged hiring managers in the process of revamping your recruiting process? If not, then the shorter, concise job descriptions you may want to use may irritate them since they don’t understand why you are condensing details about their department’s opportunity. (The answer of course would be due to the shorter attention spans and impatient click behavior indicative especially of mobile job viewers).
Ever since social media has inserted itself into the selection process, the next generation of candidates who used to place phone calls to hiring managers and HR staff are now inviting employers to connect on social media; or, they are simply tweeting at your organization’s Twitter handle with specific job questions. With this increase in inbound activity comes the heightened responsibility for employer representatives to be ready to respond in the same manner solicited. And, for your organization to have documented policies on how you handle social media inquiries (using the best hashtags BTW) and candidate social screening.
Have you documented details on which social platforms and external job boards you use to post which types of positions? After all, what works for attracting manufacturing-minded machinists will probably fail miserably at securing interest from content marketers.
Have you discussed how to approach scenarios in which you may need to privately source talent for a position that is not yet open? If individuals in management but outside of recruiting are involved, a lack of coaching to show constraint when it comes to covertly posting future jobs can spell disaster for many…especially the existing employee who has not yet received the termination memo.

5 – Failure To Enable A Talent-Focused Culture

When was the last time you paid a placement fee to an external recruiter? Not something you want to do for every open position, huh? While there is certainly a time and a place for such engagements, in the meantime you should be focused on maximizing awareness for your job opportunities via in-house resources. The right approach starts with making sure that your existing employees, vendors, clients, alumni and friends know about the amazing roles available with your organization. The best approach kicks it up a notch (like Emeril) and incentivizes crowdsourcing behavior with a socially savvy employee referral program.

Make it easy for individuals to share your job listings with their networks using a unique permalink (URL address with an individual identifier) that tracks their referral activity and rewards them when their candidates are hired. Then, when it comes to amplifying the reach of your latest career-related content, share examples of suggested wording for social posts so that your co-workers can quickly copy and paste to spread your message (for ex., if they are outside of human resources and don’t necessarily want to spend time/thought on crafting their own version of a message). Also, consider whether any rigid social media policies or limited access to certain websites will limit your long-term hiring objectives by handcuffing your employees’ talent-focused social behavior.

This is the first post in a series of blogs about mobile recruiting fails. Stay tuned for the next post which will examine what happens when the technical aspects of your mobile-friendly recruiting experience don’t align with the rest of your hiring process.

ExactHire’s HireCentric applicant tracking system is a mobile responsive software application for your job posting and recruiting needs. Contact us for details today.

Image credit: FAIL Stamp by Hans Gerwitz (contact)