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Category Archives: Hiring Tips
Ask almost anyone today and he or she will tell you how impersonal the world has become. It doesn’t have to be that way during the hiring process. In fact, making the hiring process more personal makes it more likely to get a positive response from a well-qualified job candidate.
Making Hiring Personal
According to an American Staffing Association Workforce Monitor Survey, 69 percent of Americans feels the job search today is too impersonal and 80 percent say that applying for a job feels like sending their resume into a black box.
The fact is that experienced candidates won’t leave a good job unless they have a true sense of what their new job and that job setting involves. They want – and need – to connect with those they will soon be working with. Taking a new job can make anyone fearful of making a poor choice. Just as you would not buy a house after only seeing the neighborhood once, you wouldn’t be likely to take a new job if you had only minimal contact with your potential new environment.
Building Genuine Connections with Candidates
Before the interview, send them an email with interesting information on the company. Why would someone want to work for your business? Get them excited about the organization before they even meet with anyone. Was there a recent acquisition which shows the company continues to grow? Did they win some type of best employer award? What are employees saying about the organization?
When the candidate is there for an interview, bringing them into the conference room and introducing a few future co-workers should not be the only way you consider encouraging a “yes” from a qualified candidate. Think outside the box.
- Use tech to your advantage and respond promptly to candidate concerns or questions using tech. If a candidate leaves your office and later has a question, can he or she get a response to that question from you or a staff member by sending an email? Unanswered questions leave doubt and doubt in a candidate’s mind can lead to a negative response to a job offer. Employers who can make applicants feel as though they’re getting personalized, one-on-one treatment will have an edge over competitors.
- Choose 2 peers and/or direct reports to the position and provide the candidate with their email or phone number where they can be reached to discuss the company outside the interview process.
- Send candidates a thank-you email or card after the interview advising them how much you appreciated their time and that a decision will be made by a certain date, keeping them advised on the timeline for the hiring process. It is critical that you advise all candidates that you phone screen or interview the final outcome.
- Invite candidates to join a video conference with a portion of your team. Let them see and hear on a first-hand basis what your employees experience on a regular basis.
- Depending on the position, consider offering a “one day in the role” opportunity where they can experience the role and how the team works together before they accept the offer. This is not for all jobs but could be beneficial in some instances.
Let Flex Execs Help You Personalize Your Hiring Process
Flex Execs Management Solutions has helped companies in the Chicago area and beyond find high-quality managers for over 28 years. What can we do to help you succeed in the hiring process? Contact us today to learn more.
To find the best candidates in today’s market demands specialized knowledge and a great deal of time. Recruitment today requires tapping local, regional and global sources and extensively promoting your available positions. No wonder it leaves you feeling drained when combined with the rest of your day-to-day responsibilities in human resources!
An Answer to Your Recruiting Headaches
Steve Jobs once said, “The secret of my success is that we have gone to exceptional lengths to hire the best people in the world.” He went on to add, “You need to have a collaborative hiring process.”
Recruitment process outsourcing, or RPO for short, is not outsourcing in the traditional sense. It is a collaborative partnership between two organizations with defined expectations.
It may be designed to include job advertising, screening, testing/assessments, interviewing and selection, background verification, and drug testing. It may be expanded to include onboarding and orientation. In short, it can be what you and your HR staff need it to be.
Is It Cost-Effective?
RPO has gained acceptance because it has proven to be cost-effective when used as intended.
An RPO solution is not a way to add only one or two individuals to your existing HR team. Rather, RPO is designed to transform multiple aspects of your recruitment process. It makes the provider you select the single source for your organizational hiring. You can hire talent in a timely manner and free your in-house HR team to focus on personnel management and labor relations.
The Benefits of Recruitment Process Outsourcing
When business unit leaders need advice about building a new location based on talent availability, they know their RPO partner will provide accurate and detailed market data to position the business for success.
When you develop a relationship with a RPO, you reduce the amount of time it takes to find exceptional talent due to the knowledge that recruiters in you RPO will bring regarding industry expertise, technology and recruiting skills.
Ready to Launch RPO?
Learn about the ways Flex Execs can help you explore your options. We are happy to answer your questions. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you meet your recruiting goals and maximize the effectiveness of your human resources team.
A resource can be exhausted and depleted, but an asset is tended carefully and expected to grow. Such a statement begs the question: Do you see your employees as expendable, or are they assets that will serve you and your organization best when they grow?
If you see them as assets and communicate that fact, you will be more likely to have success in attracting and retaining the talent you need in today’s employment market.
Putting People First Makes You a Winner
Today’s market is candidate-driven due to low unemployment and an improving economy. This means good candidates are often in short supply, and those you have on your team may be open to better offers. If you understand that your employees are assets, they generally respond well by bringing strong work and increased productivity to your organization.
Lifetime employment is rare today. Most employees today recognize, and even embrace, workforce mobility. In order to retain your top performers, offer them the training and opportunities that help them see the value that comes from their current position. Be sure to also keep in mind that employees who feel they have a stake in the long-term success of the organization are motivated to stay with that organization and build their skills to grow with the organization.
A Positive Employee Experience Multiplies Benefits for Your Business
When you need to bring on new employees, and have worked hard to attract strong candidates, treating them as internal customers can increase the likelihood that they will stay with you for the long term. Putting people first will help ensure that your team members generate genuine enthusiasm for the work you task them with.
Through their professional networks, your employees have numerous contacts, any one of whom could become candidates for new openings if they hear good things about your organization. As the internet has become increasingly dominant in our lives, good news from employees and high reviews travel fast.
Always Put People First
Not only does improving your employee experience and corporate culture improve retention and loyalty, but surprisingly it can also increase innovation and profits. If workers feel pressure to deliver results in the short-term, either because they fear being fired or feel undervalued, they may be less likely to pursue innovations or develop their strategic thinking skills. On the other hand, if workers have a stake in the company’s long-term performance, they should be more likely to innovate and communicate your positive management policies to others.
At Flex Execs, our business is helping our clients and job seekers reach their goals in this competitive market. Contact us to learn more about our unique approach to recruitment and hiring.
The need to hire an interim professional can arise from multiple scenarios. Whether the need comes from increased demand for your product or services, from medical leaves or retirements, or from the fact that no one on your staff has the skill sets you need for a specialized project, it helps to lay out your goals and figure out what you need in a contract expert before you set out to find the right candidate.
Do you know what key metrics and objectives the interim specialist needs to meet? What challenges will they encounter during the term of their position? What skills will they need to bring to the table? These are just a few of the questions that should be addressed before the search for an interim hire begins.
Who Constitutes Your Ideal Candidate?
Those whom we place as interim professionals are generally experienced and results-oriented. They are attracted by the challenge of short-term assignments and may welcome the opportunity to work in a new and interesting industry or in a new area of the country for a short period of time.
Before starting the search process, identify what performance expectations you have and the core skills and personal characteristics you want from your interim professional. If you are hiring for a position that requires specific industry experience, make sure you know what experiences you are looking for in potential candidates. If you are hiring for a corporate-style position, industry may be a secondary concern.
Regardless of why they are looking for new work, interim experts are people who are ready to enter a new position and quickly assume the required role. The experience and capability they can bring to your business will be an asset.
Don’t Delay Recruitment Decisions
As unemployment continues to decline, the best interim professionals often have multiple offers on the table. They may also take offers quicker due to the shorter term of their position, rather than taking a longer time to ponder a full-time job offer. Have a contract ready for the perfect candidate as soon as possible and do not delay recruitment decisions for unnecessary deliberations.
Understand What Interims Need from You
Interim professionals need to have clear goals and performance expectations, all of which should be defined in their contracts. They need to understand the limits of the position and the authority they have within your contract with them. Your interim professionals will be most successful if permanent staff have a clear understanding of the role they will fill.
Work with a Reputable Provider to Find the Right Interim Manager
When you contact Flex Execs Management Solutions to hire an interim professional, we know that you want an individual who can help you get the results you need quickly. In short, they need to be able to “hit the ground running.” Flex Execs will do the vetting so the interim professional is ready to work.
We also know that any individual hired on an interim basis will need good communication skills and a management style that allows him or her to build productive relationships quickly. If the interim hire will be bringing a new skill set to an organization, we look for the individual’s ability to be a strategic thinker. When finding someone to fill an interim role, call Flex Execs Management Solutions.
The idea that it is a human being who first takes a look at the resume of a potential job candidate is on the verge of becoming outdated. Today, research shows that it is artificial intelligence in the form of a software program that can first review a resume. This form of technology will search the resume for key words to see if the candidate has used words that match with the employer’s desired skill sets.
Unfortunately, you may be losing great talent! Keywords are good, but there are different terms that candidates can use which will be missed by the system. Can you afford to let top talent slip away due to words alone.
AI has the potential to become a real time-saver for employers, but it is far from perfect. Artificial intelligence cannot replace human intelligence. Figures currently show that as many as 65 percent of people begin looking for a new job after only three months with an employer. If you’re looking for help with full-time recruitment solutions, Flex Execs Management Solutions has cost-effective, on-demand solutions to meet your needs.
What does the rise of artificial intelligence mean for recruiters and hiring managers looking to make better decisions?
The Role of Recruiters in the Hiring Process
Good recruiters help develop onboarding processes that yield positive results and avoid high turnover and new-hire discontent. In a well-designed interview, a skilled recruiter wants to gain insight and detail about the thought processes of potential candidates. Such processes will draw out behaviors and characteristics that point toward building a successful employment match.
This can be achieved by asking a mix of open-ended and technical questions. Skilled recruiters decide in advance the behavioral characteristics they want to see in a candidate. Then they develop questions that will draw out the answers they need.
What the recruiter will want to avoid are questions that allow only for short answers. If a majority of questions ask for only “yes” or “no” responses, insights into a candidate’s thought processes are limited; also limited are opportunities for interpersonal connection. These types of answers that don’t require as deep thinking may eventually be addressed by artificial intelligence solutions in some capacity.
When Flex Execs’ team members are called upon to work with clients, we work to understand the technical skills and the intangible, interpersonal skills successful candidates will need.
Questions to Help Identify the Potential for Growth
Andrew Carnegie was one of the drivers of the industrialization of American industry. Over a hundred years ago, he said, “You cannot push anyone up the ladder unless he is willing to climb.” Today his statement is still true.
If you want employees who will ultimately advance through your organization, develop questions based upon events that have happened within your organization. Did you face a crisis because of supply issues? Ask a candidate to describe the steps he or she took to resolve a similar issue. Or, describe an issue your organization faced and ask candidates how they would have handled it.
Flex Execs is here to handle your questions about hiring issues. Looking for a customized staffing solution that addresses your team’s greatest needs? Call us today.
A growing economy and robust employment are making qualified job candidates increasingly scarce. In short, top talent is now at a premium! It is now more important than ever to streamline hiring and move quickly to put well-qualified applicants on your payroll. What can you do as a hiring manager to win the battle for the right candidates?
Your Job Posting is Your First Impression
When you need to hire new staff, you want to get interest and follow-up action from qualified applicants. Start by giving a brief overview of your company and highlight what you have to offer such as excellent benefits, paid time off, work-life balance or career growth opportunities. Help candidates identify what makes working for your company different from anyone else.
Write a concise job description, but consider enhancing it to make it more than a generic list of skills. One way to do this is to add words such as “you” or “your” into the phrases used in the listing. Research has shown that personalization encourages the likelihood of positive responses. For example, after listing your needs you might say, “Your experience and our team can be a perfect match. Let’s explore the options together. Apply today!”
Give Candidates a Clear Path to Apply
Steps to apply should be clear and concise. When you have reviewed resumes and credentials and have narrowed your list of interview candidates, decide how to best determine an individual candidate’s strengths. If your new hire will meet regularly with outside clients, ask each candidate to prepare a short presentation for the screening panel. This will allow you to spot strengths (or weaknesses) that could impact your bottom line.
Extra time spent in a skill demonstration gives the members of the interview team additional input into how the candidate would fit into the existing company culture. This is important because every hire –whether temporary or permanent – impacts the group where they are placed.
Streamline Your Interview Process
Since time is of the essence in a tight market, schedule interviews with candidates as soon as possible since your competitors may have a faster process than you do. Determine who is absolutely necessary to the interview process, and do not include others since that can lengthen the process. Who will actually make the final decision? Make certain this is clear in case there is disagreement about a candidate.
At some point before the interview, have everyone determine what experience and culture fit is critical that the candidate has so everyone is on the same page during the interview. Have a rating scale. Have the candidate meet everyone in one day to minimize the time the candidate has to take away from other priorities. Designate someone to be responsible for determining what type of offer the candidate would want, so when the time comes to offer, you make one offer that is hopefully accepted. Have all interviewers confer right after the interview to assess the candidate and determine immediately if you want to make an offer or not.
Find Talent When You Need It
When talent is needed quickly on an interim basis, Flex Execs Management Solutions is here to help. Our recruiting solutions and expert staff will work with you to meet your hiring goals. Contact us today to get started!