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What are the Tools of Recruitment?

There’s no doubt hiring managers face many recruitment method challenges as we work our way through 2021.

You may receive more applicants for your job openings as a consequence of the pandemic. But in the aftermath of one of history’s most turbulent years, companies can’t afford to bring on the wrong people just because there are more available. High employee turnover is simply too costly.

Additionally, recruitment methods, tools, and techniques are increasingly more sophisticated each day. Not only do you have to be on the right job sites, you have to get your job ad in front of your ideal candidates before your competitors. And that job ad has to be appealing and engaging.

Once you find a short list of people to interview, you need to create your strategy for choosing the best candidate. From coordinating your hiring team to administering employee assessments, the right tools can streamline and bolster your recruitment process.

Recruitment Methods

There are two primary types of recruitment methods: internal recruiting and external recruiting. Several innovative digital tools can assist you in every step of these recruitment methods. The right applicant tracking software (ATS) can help you manage both of these recruitment methods.

Both methods will use many of the same tools found in an ATS. These include hiring assessments and employment applications. You’ll also need a strategy and recruitment process flow for both methods. An applicant tracking system can help you find candidates and hire the best person whether you’re hiring from within the company or bringing in new talent.

If you’re searching for an external candidate, you’ll need to cast your net into the digital realm using job sites and social media. You’ll also need to engage your candidates where they are: on their smartphones. Your recruiting methods need to be mobile friendly, from the job application to text communications.

On the other hand, you’ll need some specialized tools for your internal recruitment methods. Ideally, succession planning is already part of your recruitment method process. Assessing your current workforce for qualities such as leadership potential and personality type can help you identify the roles in which they can excel.

You can use our Recruitment Process Content Scorecard PDF to analyze and rate your methods of recruitment. This checklist can help you identify areas for improvement from creating a description of your ideal new hire to writing a job ad that will attract the right candidate.

Whatever your recruitment method, you can use the latest recruitment tools and techniques to streamline your hiring process. Applicant tracking software can save you time with one-click posting to quickly advertise to multiple job search sites. You can also manage all of your communications from within the software and leverage customized assessments.

Recruitment Process Steps

Your recruitment process will go more smoothly if you break it down into stages. You can stay on track by assigning a deadline for each task and a stakeholder to bring it to completion. If you’re wondering what are the stages of the recruitment process, then check out our blog post here.

You can further kick the steps in your recruitment process into high gear by downloading our PDF Guide to Superhero Pre-Employment Screening.  This guide is packed with the best pre-employment screening tips to make your recruitment method a success.

Digital tools can streamline each stage of your recruitment method process. When choosing the right applicant tracking software, it’s a great time to rethink your hiring strategy and visualize your hiring workflow or flow chart. Think about the stakeholders who should be involved at different steps. You can then use the ATS to assign jobs, or candidates, to your hiring team from within the software.

You’ll also be able to measure your recruitment method results throughout the process as you zero in on the perfect candidate. A comprehensive applicant tracking system will gather data detailing your job ad’s performance across job sites.  Finally, an ATS can capture data over time so you know which recruitment methods are bringing the superstar candidates.

Digital Recruitment Methods

Digital recruitment methods, tools, and techniques can save time and improve the accuracy of your data. Directing applicants to a custom job site that has the look and feel of your company’s website can improve the applicant experience. A job site can also save data entry time because the content displayed there is automatically populated by your applicant tracking system.

A job site isn’t the only place where you can save time in your recruitment method and improve the accuracy of your data. With the right applicant tracking system which includes an employee onboarding platform, new employees can input their data into digitized employment forms. Much of this data can then be pushed to your payroll software.

Additionally, an ATS can take the place of redundant Excel files and paper trails by organizing all of your hiring information in one place. Your hiring team and other stakeholders can communicate and complete tasks from within the system.

External job boards are excellent resources when seeking external applicants. But multiple input screens and scattered passwords can prevent you from making the most of online job boards. An applicant tracking software portal will allow you to post your ad on all of your favorite sites with just one click.

The list of recruitment methods in the digital age will continue to grow. But you don’t want to waste time on the ones that don’t work. Tools such as applicant tracking software can help you keep track of the digital recruitment methods that yield the best results.

Regardless of the types of recruitment methods your organization uses, the digital age will extend your reach and make your results more successful. An ATS can make your entire hiring process more manageable.

Selection Methods

As you know, you need to carefully document your recruitment methods and selection process. An applicant tracking system can assist you with this and the associated compliance reporting.

An ATS can make your selection process easier in other ways too. You can use an ATS to rate each candidate. Once you have your short list of interviewees, you can communicate with each one from within the system and utilize integrated calendar scheduling to invite the best candidates to schedule interviews. You can even administer background checks and employment assessments.

Using employment assessment tools in your recruitment method and selection of candidates is an effective way to reduce the time it takes to find your new hire. If you have the right applicant tracking software, you can use custom assessments or choose from a list of industry specific tests.

Recruitment Methods And Savings

When you use the right recruitment method tools, you’ll save time and money whether you’re hiring within the company or bringing in a new employee. Your recruitment and selection process has a powerful impact on your company’s financial health.

It can cost upwards of thousands of dollars to fill each empty chair. Using applicant tracking software that addresses recruitment method challenges will save time and, ultimately, reduce employee turnover.

Download the Recruitment Process Scorecard | ExactHire

 

Image Credit: Photo by Kari Shea on Unsplash

What Are Some Examples of Recruitment Strategies

Organizations need to secure the best possible talent in order to be competitive. Companies that employ strategic recruitment and selection methods are better able to attract and secure top talent. Recruitment strategies involve positive employer branding, marketing directed by recruitment, and the ability to sell positions to high performing talent.

Strategic Recruitment

Strategic recruitment can and should be tailored to the organization but there is a basic outline of stages in the recruitment and selection process. The first phase is the preparation stage. It includes activities such as identifying which positions need to be filled, carrying out the job analysis, writing a job description, and establishing candidate specifications.

Preparing for your ideal candidate is a crucial part of the recruitment and selection process. An organization should develop a document outlining the plan, such as a strategic recruitment and selection pdf, which lists all of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and traits that the ideal candidate will have. Without laying the groundwork it will be difficult if not impossible to get the right candidates to apply.

In the second stage of the recruitment and selection process the organization needs to source those ideal candidates and get them to apply. Methods of recruitment and selection in this phase include advertising the job through traditional approaches such as the use of recruitment agencies, recruiting internally, talent searches, as well as print and web advertising. In most cases however, an organization would be wise to employ some more creative recruitment methods as well.

We all know how important branding is but it’s something we usually associate with the organization and customer experience. Did you know that branding is also an effective recruitment and selection strategy example? Employers should consider how their brand appears to potential employees and work on their employment brand in order to promote themselves as a good place to work.

These days just about all organizations have an online presence and most utilize social media platforms to engage with customers and launch marketing campaigns. Social media is a great tool to proactively source candidates and a good strategy in nurturing a passive applicant pool. Someone who is not actively looking for a job, might see a more lucrative opportunity and consider leaving their employer.

Sometimes the best candidates are closer than they seem. Employers should consider developing targeted employee referral programs to fill vacancies. Successful employees are often a good source of people similar to themselves and most would hesitate to bring in people with a poor work ethic or attitude to their place of business. A good referral program should focus on the best employees and offer the kind of rewards these individuals might want.

Selection Process

The final stage of the recruitment and selection processes is the converting of candidates to employees. The selection process begins with the screening of applicants to determine which meet the candidate specifications laid out in the first stage. Here the organization will need to analyze some of the documents used in selection and recruitment activities such as job descriptions and person specifications to match them with candidate application forms and CVs.

An organization can have a large number of applicants and it is best to use applicant tracking software and employee assessments to screen applicants quickly. It is important to maintain a fast response time throughout the recruitment process and it is possibly even more vital during the selection process. Nothing is worse than losing those best applicants to a competitor in the final stage after the organization has invested all that time and effort into finding them.

The most suitable candidates can be invited to begin the interview process. Preliminary interviews can easily be accomplished with the use of asynchronous video interviewing. This would allow a larger number of applicants the opportunity to outline their skills and abilities as well as provide the opportunity to give candidates more information about the job and company.

The final round of interviews is usually conducted with the hiring manager. This part usually requires documents needed for the selection process such as structured interview questions and benefits information. Somewhere around this time reference checks should be conducted and then the best candidate can be selected.

The last of the documents used in the selection process is the offer letter that is presented to any candidates who will be offered a position. Once the candidate accepts the offer and is officially hired, the onboarding process can begin. Thus the recruitment and selection process is complete.

Recruitment Strategy Example

Is your organization in need of more strategy in its recruitment and selection process? This recruitment strategy plan example doesn’t encompass everything but it’s full of ideas that your business can start using today. Your organization can build on this recruitment strategy presentation to make it your own.

When looking at how to develop a recruitment strategy you need to start with your employer brand. Your organization should have a clear brand to prospective employees which reflects the mission, culture, and values of your business. Start by thinking why someone would want to work for your company, build on it, and incorporate it in your website, social media presence, and communications.

Consider college recruiting as part of your recruitment strategy plan to scout up and coming talent. Attend college career fairs and get featured on campus job boards. You can even volunteer to speak at college events to generate interest and introduce your employer brand.

Create a well polished job listing which reflects your organization. The job post is a large part of your recruitment strategy and should reflect your employer brand. As a recruitment strategy example consider that the tone of your job listing will give the reader a feel for what kind of candidate you are looking for.

Develop a social media campaign and target the kind of people that are most likely to be the best candidates. Post job listings on your most active social media platforms, engage with people, and encourage the sharing of your content. Social media is a great place to begin preboarding. Bridge the gap between recruiting and onboarding more seamlessly and improve employee retention by giving people a clear idea of what it’s like to work for your organization.

Your social media job marketing campaign can target specific types of people but for employees with specific skills it’s worth exploring niche job boards. Look for industry or job specific websites that match your staffing needs. You can also explore professional organizations and post your job listings with them.

Often the most skilled candidates are already working and not actively searching for a job but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t take a new position if it was offered. Look for passive candidates and introduce them to your organization and employer brand. You might be in a position to offer them that next career step they’ve been hoping for.

Now that we’ve explored ways to market your organization and get your job listings out to potential candidates, it’s time to talk about what you’re going to do with all those job applications that are going to come flooding in. Invest in an applicant tracking system to help sort through your candidates and convert them to employees. In fact, a good system can help you at all stages of your recruitment strategy and leverage artificial intelligence to find, attract, and connect with candidates.

Now that you’ve narrowed down the field and have identified the best candidates, it’s time to conduct some awesome interviews. Remember that the interview is a two way street. You are interviewing candidates for the position and they are interviewing you for a good fit. Develop a recruitment strategy presentation that will answer their questions and help them feel good about  the idea of working for you.

Out of the Box Recruiting Strategies

Organizations need to employ some out of the box recruiting strategies to make the most of what’s available to them and have a competitive advantage. Recruitment professionals know that putting an ad in the paper and waiting for the calls to roll in isn’t an option anymore. Employees know that businesses need them just as much as they need a job. Organizations must compete with one another for the best talent.

Recruiting strategies for human resources are constantly evolving. Some of the most popular recruitment strategies of 2019 as well as the recruitment strategies of 2020 have brought about some out of the box thinking that’s worth incorporating into your recruitment plan. Your competitors are likely doing so and you should too.

Bring out of the box thinking into your careers page and revamp it to be more attractive, user friendly, and in line with your employer brand. Get involved in trade shows and industry events to get eyes on your organization. Create a lucrative and ingenious employee referral program to leverage the talent you already have.

Evergreen jobs are those that your organization tends to need to fill most often. These job openings can be better filled with the use of strategies that differ from your main recruitment and selection strategy. Create a plan specifically designed for your evergreen jobs.

There are plenty more out of the box recruiting strategies that your organization could be utilizing. Develop a boomerang employee rehiring program. Don’t close the door on good talent just because it wandered out in search of greener pastures. Invite those employees back once they realize the grass isn’t greener on the other side; or, once their career interests and goals once again realign with your available development opportunities.

Consider whether a strategy of hiring more from within and making internal mobility a priority makes sense for your organization. After all, a lack of growth opportunities can cause the best talent to leave–while ample opportunity is attractive to potential job candidates. It’s smart from a financial perspective as well. Employees who earn more due to the raises and bonuses they’ve received over time can be moved to higher paying positions, and entry level jobs can be filled with candidates who are positioned to competitively start at the entry point of a job’s pay band.

Don’t be afraid to reach out to candidates that you didn’t hire the first time. Maybe the individual wasn’t quite suited to that position. Or perhaps there was someone else who overshadowed them–at the time or for that specific position. That doesn’t mean there is no place for silver medal candidates at your organization. If they made it to the final round the first time, there might be something there worth holding on to.

Innovative Recruitment Strategies

Currently some of the most innovative and effective recruitment strategies and practices are centering around the development of software solutions. Applicant tracking software will continue to become more important for organizations who are looking for a competitive edge. Automation and technology will certainly continue to drive innovative recruitment strategies.

People are working on the go more than ever. Employers can expect to have more mobile first communications with prospective candidates. Websites that are mobile friendly will continue to be an important consideration. Quick and easy features such as multi-job apply capabilities are going to appeal to a greater number of potential applicants.

Studies show that people reply to text messages much faster than emails. Perhaps that is why organizations are embracing text recruiting. Surely that’s one innovative recruitment strategy that we are sure to see more of as companies race to snag the best talent.

Recruitment and selection are perhaps some of the most important activities that an organization will undertake. Take time to develop a good strategy for your staffing needs. Everyone has a role in recruitment. Create a recruitment plan ppt that will clearly communicate your organizational recruitment and selection strategies as well as innovative ideas and get everyone on board.

Looking for Recruitment Strategy Ideas?

Check out this Guide to Managing Evergreen Jobs.

Guide to Managing Evergreen Jobs | ExactHire

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How to Develop a Strategy for Each Stage of the Recruitment Process

What if your company managed its recruitment process exceptionally well? You would find and hire the right candidate on time and on budget. That new hire would evolve into a long-term, highly productive employee. If your company mastered recruiting, you would repeat this process over and over again.

And—get this—your entire organization would be twice as successful.

Data gathered by the SHRM Foundation found that companies that mastered their recruiting process enjoyed twice the profit margin when compared to companies with poor recruitment performance. It isn’t a surprising finding considering U.S. companies spend $140 billion to find and hire candidates.

Despite the investment and potential of the recruitment and selection process, too many companies treat it like a pesky maintenance problem. HR is expected to fill an open position quickly, as if the empty chair were nothing more than a missing cog in the wheel.

In fact, the employee selection process in HR management is an investment in the organization. The company should understand its employees are a key driver of the organization’s success. Then it can ask “what is the recruitment process” and “what are the steps of the selection process.”

Recruitment Process Steps

Articles on the recruitment and selection process often recommend breaking down the method of talent acquisition into actionable steps. These steps can be further managed using applicant tracking software.

The SHRM Foundation identifies five key steps in the recruitment process.

The recruitment process stages start with establishing recruitment objectives. With the objectives in hand, you can develop a recruitment strategy. This strategy will help you breeze through the next step, which is carrying out recruitment activities. With that third step completed, you’ll have the data you need for the last two steps: measuring recruitment results and evaluating recruitment efforts.

Talent Acquisition Process Example: Create Objectives

Your recruitment objectives should be the intersection of the company’s goals and an assessment of the labor market. The qualities you’re seeking in a candidate should align with the company’s mission. 

For example, if a construction company is angling to be more high-tech than its competitors, then it may look for workers comfortable using emerging robot and AI technology. An examination of the labor market will tell this construction company how plentiful these workers are. Using applicant tracking software, the construction company can customize an application to screen for these skills.

Knowing what you’re looking for in an ideal candidate and understanding how likely you are to find that person in the labor market will help you as you determine your other recruitment objectives.

Qualifications will likely come to mind when considering what is the first step in the recruitment and selection process. Next, you may set a timeline for having the position filled. While the position’s qualifications and timeline are essential objectives, HR managers can take their recruitment practices to the next level if they consider a few more goals.

As a recruitment process example, knowing how much the organization will spend on each new hire will help you coordinate with the company’s officers to plan for the highest return on investment. You’ll gain powerful allies when you help your company’s key decision makers understand how the resources expended to find and train new hires translates into actual dollars.

When talent retention is translated into dollar figures, you’ll recruit willing members to your recruitment team, starting with the position’s supervisor. You can work with this manager to update your position’s profile and assess how the role coordinates with the team.

The best recruitment process will help everyone who interacts with the new hire understand that finding the right candidate, supporting his success and encouraging him to stay with the company long-term is crucial to the company’s success.

Recruitment Process Step: Plan A Strategy

Once you know your recruitment goals, the next step is to devise your employer recruiting strategy to reach them. In this phase, you’ll create a recruitment process flow with actionable steps that will make your recruitment process a success.

You may find, while updating the job’s profile, that an entry level position requires knowledge of newer software. Your strategy can include applicant tracking software to create assessments to evaluate applicants’ competence.

If your open position requires a high level of performance, you may consider targeting applicants who are currently and successfully employed. If you have a tight deadline, your strategy may include generating many applicants in a short period of time. Software can help you track all of your applicants and help you ensure you’re complying with federal reporting laws to which your organization may be subject like Affirmative Action and EEO.  

Perform Recruiting Activities

The objectives you’ve already identified will help you access the types of recruitment process activities that will net the best applicants.

For high level positions, you may decide to use a recruiting professional. Such an expert will be especially helpful if your ideal employee is already employed. Industry events and old-fashioned networking can also help you find quality candidates who may not be actively seeking a new job. On the other hand, you may decide to use a local staffing agency for entry level positions. 

No matter what position you have open, job boards will help you cast a wide net. You can use applicant tracking software to post to multiple boards in one step. You’ll also be able to sort the applications by assigning a status to each one.

Measure Recruiting Process Results And Evaluate Success

Evaluate your recruiting process metrics as your search continues. Are you getting the number and quality of applicants you expected? If not, you may need to adjust your strategy. 

You can run applicant and job reports using applicant tracking software to access your progress. Ultimately, the success of your recruitment process will hinge on one result: a high-performing new hire that evolves into a long-term employee.

Formally evaluate recruitment process success annually. Then you can uncover which recruitment methods yield employees who are likely to stay with the company. Evaluating your recruitment process can have another benefit. Your results can convince decision makers that finding and retaining great employees can improve the company’s revenue.

You can make targeted improvements to the key problem areas you identify in your evaluation. For example, if you find that new hires are more likely to stay with the company for more than two years if they are referred by a current employee, you can create an employee referral program with incentives.

You may also find previous assumptions were unfounded. For example, you may have been favoring applicants with experience only to find the new graduates perform just as well and stay with the company longer.

Developing a strategy for each stage of the recruitment process does more than fill your company’s empty chairs. It significantly impacts your company’s success. A winning recruitment process strategy will find and hire the best candidates. It will also encourage them to stick with the company for years to come. Carefully planning and carrying out your recruitment strategy will help you make the most of a resource with boundless potential: your employees.

Want More Resources to Evaluate Your Recruitment Process? Download Our Scorecard!

Download the Recruitment Process Scorecard | ExactHire

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15 Tips for Improving Emotional Intelligence in the Recruiting Process

I love learning more about human behavior’s impact on employee engagement and corporate culture. I guess that’s par for the course in the human resources field. But specifically, the idea that emotional intelligence is an adaptable skill that can improve—or regress—based on an awareness of one’s emotions is fascinating to me.

I recently listened to Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry during a few of my lengthy morning commutes. I say “morning” because I generally only have the focus to pay attention to a book narrator in the early morning hours…by the end of the day I just need to decompress with music. Alas, one of my “a-ha” moments during the book was learning to truly be self-aware of my own prime times and circumstances for optimal listening. In fact, “self-awareness” is one of the four primary parts of emotional intelligence (EQ):

  • Personal competence
    • Self-awareness
    • Self-management
  • Social competence
    • Social awareness
    • Relationship management

In this blog, I’ll share fifteen golden nuggets I collected from Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and briefly relate how each of them are especially applicable for recruiters to bear in mind during the recruiting process.

SELF-AWARENESS

 

1 – Think about what you are feeling when you are in the moment

As a recruiter, there may be times when you lose your composure or are, at the very least, mildly annoyed:

  • When a candidate blurts out an unexpected answer that you don’t appreciate.
  • When a hiring manager doesn’t get back to you with feedback in a timely manner.
  • When an interviewee shows up late to an interview.

By being aware of how you feel about a situation, you’re better equipped to recognize your feelings before they have an undesired impact on others. Then, you may instead take positive action to improve a situation–even if you didn’t cause it to go poorly. According to Bradberry’s book, the more you think about your feelings and how you wish to act, the more you strengthen the pathway between your brain’s limbic system (where emotions originate) and the part of your brain that helps you think rationally.

2 – Pay attention to the ripple effect your emotions have on others

Even the subtlest emotions–contentment, moodiness, irritation, nervousness and bashfulness–can have an impact on those around you. And as we already know, the more extreme examples of happiness, sadness, anger, fear and shame can significantly affect social situations and outcomes. Check yourself during your next candidate interactions to see how your most basic emotions may be influencing the recruiting process–for better or worse.

  • How has your personal demeanor impacted an interviewee’s answer?
  • Does your attitude perturb (or elevate) other stakeholders during the hiring process?

3 – Be aware of your physical reactions to situations

Whether you’ll admit it or not, the range of physical responses you experience during certain emotions varies from barely perceptible (though still detectable) to obnoxiously obvious. If you’re like many of us, you may do the following:

  • Tap your fingers when you’re getting impatient with an interviewee’s lengthy question response…or bounce your leg up and down under the table (I’m guilty of the latter).
  • Redden in the face or neck when someone says something that upsets or embarrasses you.

And while you can’t necessarily prevent these responses from happening, you can use them as the first clue that you’re heading down the path of experiencing a certain emotion so that you can take positive action to keep your composure and minimize the impact.

4 – Determine why you do what you do

Instead of simply reacting, consider why you behave in a certain way when experiencing various emotions. This may be just the ticket for better controlling the strength of your response–you don’t have to revert to your signature behavior just because it’s the way you’ve always done it.

  • Is your response rooted in a need to control a situation…or perhaps a desire to not have to be in control?
  • Are you worried about being ashamed if you mess up in front of your peers at your employer?

Once you’ve identified your motivations for behavior, then you may consider whether you may make any adjustments to eliminate your need to act that way in the future. Or conversely, what can you do to encourage more of the same behavior in the future when you are experiencing positive emotions?

SELF-MANAGEMENT

 

5 – Just smile

This is old news, yet so easily forgotten. Smile when you are on the phone with a prospective employee or during a face-to-face interview. Bradberry’s book shares that, in this scenario, your face actually sends signals to your brain that make you happier.

6 – Schedule time to ponder

When you have ten different requisitions for which you are sourcing and you feel like you must schedule back-to-back phone interviews all day long, you’re not at your best. You can’t sustain that level of activity while having the best outcomes for all involved in the recruiting process for long.

Schedule blocks of time to decompress and think about candidate responses and make notes before making any decisions. That way, any emotions you were already feeling about certain candidates will be somewhat dissipated and you’ll be in a better position to process rational thoughts about each individual’s qualifications for a position.

7 – See your own success in advance

When I played basketball as a kid, my coach taught me to see the ball going into the hoop as you are shooting it. Visualization is an important tool to being successful in your endeavors…and it helps improve your free throw percentage, too. Once you’ve identified a situation that may cause you to lose your cool–even mildly–imagine yourself coming out of the scenario with a positive outcome.

The next time a hiring manager brushes you off and doesn’t respect your desire to get back to candidates promptly, visualize your conversation and actions with the HM instead of reverting to your normal response of annoyance, anger and/or helplessness.

8 – Keep your circadian rhythms in rhythm

If you’re anything like me, you sometimes struggle to put your laptop away once the kids are in bed. In order for you to be the most alert during the day, you need to give yourself the best chance for good sleep at night. Turn the computer off at least two hours before bedtime…stop screening applicants while watching DVR!

SOCIAL AWARENESS

 

9 – Greet people using their name frequently

Everyone loves hearing his own name. Be sure and use prospective employees’ first names at an appropriate frequency during the interview process. If you’re the type of person that forgets a person’s name as soon as he tells you, then think of a mental image that will help you remember new acquaintances’ names. For example, if you meet a “Sandy,” picture her standing on a sandy beach.

10 – Be prepared for awkward silences

As a business professional, there will be times when you hit an uncomfortable lull in conversation in the workplace. While it likely won’t be on a phone interview, maybe it’s while giving an office tour to a final stage candidate. Have a “go-to” question in mind to circumvent those awkward silences. After all, part of your job as a recruiter is to make interviewees feel at ease at your organization. Here are some casual conversation question ideas:

  • Have you read any good books lately?
  • Is there anything about our organization that you’ve learned, but weren’t expecting?

11 – Don’t think ahead, just listen

Personally, this is an area in which I know I have room to improve…slowly but surely! Whether you’re interviewing individuals or working with your peers at your employer, don’t try to plan your next comment while “listening” to someone else speak. That’s not really listening and you’re bound to miss details…or at least the context of some of one’s comments. Whether or not the other person acknowledges your failure to focus, his behavior and respect for you will reflect his attitude about your inattention. Listen and learn from others’ talking points first and foremost.

12 – Be punctual

How many blogs have you read about job seekers complaining about never hearing back from companies…or hearing one promise, and receiving another outcome? Too many to count from my end. Respect the time of others and give yourself a competitive advantage–because enough recruiters and hiring managers out there don’t bother.

  • Be prompt with phone interviews.
  • Mind the clock so that interviews don’t exceed the allotted time expectation.
  • When scheduling interviews, be as flexible as possible with candidates to accommodate their own schedule limitations.

RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

 

13 – Accept feedback famously

Some people are better at receiving constructive criticism than others…and what an opportunity to strengthen your EQ and your relationships if you can do it well! Solicit suggestions from job candidates and hiring managers about how the hiring process may be improved. Then, smile (remember #5!), be gracious about feedback and communicate plans for any action steps as a result of the feedback.

14 – Acknowledge the feelings of others

Let’s face it…you’re never going to agree with everyone about everything. However, the way you work through differences of opinions will certainly influence how smooth your interactions (and future disagreements) are with the same stakeholders in the future. It’s okay to disagree, but don’t minimize or ignore the feelings of others.

If you’re disputing which candidates should be hired with hiring managers, respect their opinion as valid before trying to come to a consensus, compromise or action step for further candidate vetting.

15 – Don’t be shy about having hard conversations

If you can have tough conversations in a clear, professional manner, then people will respect you more and know that you’re being upfront with them. The alternative approaches of avoidance and/or insincere sugar-coating only delay the inevitable and cause turmoil for yourself and others involved. Especially when delivering bad news to the final candidates who don’t get an employment offer, be courteous and give them a call to break the news and thank them for their time. Be direct but kind.

If you have not read any EQ-focused books yet, consider picking one up soon to continue exploring techniques for how you may improve your personal and social competence. Any improvements you can make will not only serve you well professionally, but also your employer as you represent the organization in the recruiting process.

 

Make time to boost your recruitment EQ

When you can save time and stay organized, you’re able to focus on your emotions and relationships. HireCentric is applicant tracking software that manages your entire recruitment process so you can focus on the more strategic aspects of recruiting.

 

Employee Culture And Corporate Job Fit – Buzzwords Or Reality?

Your employees are a valuable resource. They are the power behind your customer service, production, and revenue generation. They are also the ones who will have the most interaction with your customer base. Having a set of employees who act in a similar way to situations is the key to delivering a consistent experience for customers.

One way to ensure a consistent customer service experience is to have a recruitment process that takes into consideration how well candidates may be able to successfully assimilate into your company culture as a part of the selection cycle. Culture has long been the focus of management consultants and other HR professionals as a way for businesses to improve their productivity, decrease costs and improve employee retention.

However, does corporate culture have as great an impact within an organization as we might be led to believe? Or are employee culture and job fit just buzzwords?

What Is Company Culture?

Organizations are not faceless entities run by people in suits in a boardroom. They have personalities, identities and values that are present both internally and externally. Company culture can be described as the organization’s personality from the employee perspective. It is an experience that includes the company’s mission and the workplace atmosphere.

How this is symbolized within the organization varies from company to company. It might be documented officially, represented in a logo, or be an unspoken set of behaviors understood throughout the organization. A company’s culture will determine the environment of the workplace – for better or worse.

The corporate culture of a work environment also affects how the organization interacts with external entities: the local community, customers, and others. Essentially, when a brand has a strong corporate culture, everyone knows about it.

Take for instance Zappos. Its corporate culture is as well-known as its products, and cultural promotion starts from the moment its team hires a new employee. Zappos has a cultural fit interview and during training, if hiring managers feel the job isn’t for the recruit then the recruit is offered $2,000 to quit in the first week.

Also, ten core values are promoted to every team member. This is possible because a portion of the corporate budget is spent on culture promotion and employee team building. The Zappos team’s efforts have yielded great results, with happy employees and great customer experience.

Employees and Their Cultural Values

Employees have ethics and moral codes which help dictate their behaviors in certain scenarios. With enough information, you can accurately predict what actions an employee would take in different scenarios.

When these actions are aligned with the organization’s corporate culture; the employee feels secure and happy. Other research has found that happy workers are 12% more productive than unhappy workers.

When employees are not aligned to the corporate culture, this can be a significant issue as some sources report. One report by the Harvard Business School stated that the annual cost of a toxic employee, an employee who negatively affects the cultural cohesion of a team, is on average $12,000 per year. Other studies have placed this figure even higher.

Failing to hire employees that will complement your corporate culture may lead to a toxic environment, despite whether the new hire is highly productive or skilled at bringing in high levels of revenue. A hire that is out of sync with your corporate values and culture can cause staff and customers to abandon your business, and this can be costly.

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Hire For Culture

The general consensus among business leaders is that cultural fit is vital for successful recruitment. A survey by Cubiks in 2013 found that 82% of managers thought it was important and 59% had indicated that they had rejected clients because they weren’t a good cultural fit. Additionally, 92% disagreed that cultural fit was a buzzword.

The argument seems to be in favor of the recruitment process incorporating exercises that assess whether the cultural values of the candidate will align with those of the employer.

It isn’t just business owners that think the cultural fit is important, many job seekers believe that finding a company with values similar to their own is important. In fact, corporate culture can be a top priority during the application process relative to market presence, financial performance, or longevity.

How Can You Define Your Corporate Culture?

If you want to hone your recruitment process and start to reduce the number of bad hires that are coming into your business, you need to define your culture clearly. There are three elements that you could use to help according to this blog by Moz:

Shared Beliefs: These are the aspects, concepts and behaviors that your organization believes are universally true. You can sum these up in a few statements including:

  • Great employees have traits like X, Y, Z
  • It is inappropriate to Y at work
  • You should treat others right by doing Z

Shared Priorities: These are the activities, tasks and long/short-term goals that are most important to your organization. This element can also relate to shared processes that individuals have when it comes to making decisions.

Stylistic Cohesion: Not everyone has to agree, that would be useless for your business, as some conflict can help solve problems with innovative solutions. However, cohesion is about creating a team where none of the members adversely affect the happiness or performance of others.

How to Ensure a Good Fit

When it comes to recruitment, make sure you ask the right questions during the interview stage. Questions that attempt to reveal the candidates’ behavioral norms, values and priorities will help you predict cultural values and their future behaviors.

You’ll start to get a good idea about whether they are a good cultural fit as you should know what answers you and the rest of your team would give if asked. However, bear in mind that this is the opportunity for your candidates to query your corporate culture too. So be prepared to answer questions that could relate to that.

You could help demonstrate the corporate culture of your organization in the interview with the support of visual and audio aids. These could be part of the interview or situated in the waiting area.

Finally, offer a social event to examine the candidates’ cultural fit, such as a social meeting after the interview, a job shadow or consider a short trial period. Either of these will give you insights about the candidates in a different setting and reveal details about them that a stressful interview would not. If they get the chance to meet another employee or two, then your current staff could also help determine whether candidates are a good fit or not.

Conclusion

Candidate cultural fit is not a buzzword; it’s a vital aspect of your potential hires that can determine their success and support of your organization. Get it wrong, and you could face extensive costs in replacing the staff member and repairing the damage they cause your business. Get it right, and you could have a loyal staff member who supports the growth and advancement of your organization.

Do you hire with the cultural values of the employee in mind? How do you identify your candidates’ cultural values?

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