Cost/Benefit and The Candidate Experience

incipioworkstg on June 26, 2020

Do you remember the last time you were a candidate for a job? How did it feel? Were you frustrated? Did the process drag on without the prospective employer giving you regular updates? If you didn’t get the job, do you still have a positive impression of the company?

The answers to all of these questions are dependent on what we call “the candidate experience.” As we talked about last month in our blogs, your recruiting process is a direct reflection of your employer brand. Prospective employees today know a great deal about your company long before they come in for a face-to-face interview. Combine that knowledge with how applicants are treated during the employment process, and it can have a lasting positive – or negative – impact on your ability to hire and retain top talent.

Before a job is even posted, it’ important to determine exactly what is needed in a new hire. Set up clear expectations and a communication process so candidates remain interested and engaged. Studies show the biggest letdown for most candidates is a lack of communication.

Once you’ve brought the candidate in the door you have to work to keep them there. Make sure you have a program of professional development in place to ensure your company’s culture helps the new hire grow and continues to feel challenged. The cost of a new hire walking out the door unhappy is enormous.

In talent acquisition, perhaps the most crucial step you can take is developing a positive candidate experience. Not only will the applicants you hire feel even more welcomed by your organization, but also the candidates you don’t hire will still respect you. As a result, they will be more likely to refer other job seekers who may be a great fit for your organizations. That in turn leads to your company seen as a great place to work and makes your hiring process efficient and successful. The best idea is to treat prospective employees as customers. Because if they aren’t customers today, they could be in the future!

Talent Attraction: Lots of Great Talent Available, Are You Ready?

incipioworkstg on June 19, 2020

It’s 2020 and Everything Has Changed

No one would argue the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic has been dramatic. Our world has been reshaped in ways we can’t have imagined. However, as difficult at these current times are, there are opportunities for forward-thinking companies. Businesses should be preparing now for post-crisis recovery and growth.

Time to Scoop Up Great Talent

One important opportunity is that the pool of available talent has expanded. Far-sighted business leaders should stay calm and understand that many talented people are suddenly available. If you’re a strong business, well-capitalized with a solid growth plan, now is the time to scoop up top talent. It’s just like the stock market. When the market is down and you have cash – that’s the time to buy.

YOU NEED A PLAN. 30 Day. 60 Day. 90 Day

Pay can be important, but research shows what truly motivates workers is a high level of belonging and purpose. You want a candidate to say, “This is where I want to work.” Candidates will join an organization because they can see a company has a plan in place. That requires the right plan for the current situation. Your five-year plan may not work right now. You need to have a 30-day plan – with your workforce being a major component. You also need to have a 60-day and a 90-day plan – all based on where your revenues are today and where they might look in two or three months. Do you need to hire more people? Do you need to reorganize your current staff? These times demand flexibility.

RETENTION IS KEY

Once you get the right people in the door, you have to keep them. The cost of turnover is enormous. People today want to grow. They want professional development. They want to be valued – to know their opinions are being heard. They want to be an important part of an effective team.

LEAD WITH YOUR HEART

Perhaps in your organization, there isn’t a defined career ladder for a particular job. But you can still develop those employees professionally and help them become better at what they do. If you look at successful businesses, they’ve worked on this piece. They have an effective and engaging employee culture. They have learned to lead with their heart. They are invested in their people and as a result, have employees who are loyal. Businesses that haven’t learned will be the companies that struggle.

Your Company Culture, Share It.

incipioworkstg on May 28, 2020

Your Company Culture Matters-Share It!

When many millennials (individuals born between 1981 and 1996) were growing up, it was common for their baby boomer parents to encourage them to find a steady job – perhaps one with a pension plan and a defined pay scale. My own baby-boomer father has worked for the same company for 38 years. However, ask human resources professionals today and they’ll tell you that dynamic has certainly changed.

If your company wants to do a better job of hiring and retaining millennials, it’s important to understand what motivates them and what doesn’t. Research shows while millennials are looking for a salary and benefits package to pay off college debt, they are more drawn to a company’s culture. They look for growth opportunities, great managers and jobs that match their talents and interests. Organizations that award creativity, find ways to engage and develop workers are highly valued.

Millennials want to believe they’re contributing to a company that is making a positive impact in the world. For example, they take seriously an organization’s commitment to charity and social causes. They also value a collaborative office environment that increasingly blends work life with their outside-of-work interests and values. When organizations can provide these attributes, and promote them in their branding, they will attract millennials – and perhaps just as importantly – keep their millennial employees from pursuing the next best thing elsewhere.

Your Employer Brand is Already Out There

An organization’s branding may make it seem like the company is a great place to work. But is it? With just a bit of research, it’s easy for job applicants to find out. A quick search of the internet and social media sites gives applicants a first-hand look at a company’s culture. Moreover, sites like LinkedIn can easily let potential applicants find out if they know anyone working at the company to get the “real” story. The bottom line? Companies can’t fake it. As is often said, you have to “walk the walk” if you’re going to “talk the talk.”

Your Company’s Reputation from An Employee’s Perspective.

incipioworkstg on May 20, 2020

Lori Fain

Your Company’s Reputation From an Employee’s Perspective.

When I think of social media in relation to recruiting, it takes me straight to employer branding. Employer branding is simply the process of creating, growing, and maintaining a company’s reputation and popularity from a potential employee’s perspective. It’s a crucial way for an organization to prove its worth to candidates.

What is the number one reason employer branding is so important? It’s the business identity of your company. It’s what makes your company a great employer and one that stands out to candidates. It also helps your team attract and improve your candidate pool for current and future opportunities. Having a reputable employer brand is a must for an organization’s strategy by helping companies recruit and retain great talent, reduce hiring costs, and improve overall employee productivity.

Tell the World You Are a Great Employer

A great employer brand is one that offers a clear message about the organization and what it stands for. It shows the company is committed to consistent communication with stakeholders, raising awareness of what the organization offers.

The following steps are a great place to start when creating your employer brand. These tips should set you up to boost your employer brand and attract talented hires who are a great fit!

Message – Create an authentic message and tone of voice for your brand so candidates know exactly what to expect. Make sure the brand voice is consistent at every touchpoint by aligning the messaging on your career website with video content, the application process, assessment platforms, and one-on-one conversations with your talent management team.

Culture – Recruitment plays an influential role in nurturing culture and ensuring you’re finding great talent. Consider what type of culture you are aiming to create. Employer brand reflects your culture rather than something that can be prescribed. Building a positive culture within your organization is at the core of a strong employer brand.

Brand Perception – Employees will unquestionably use platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Glassdoor and Indeed to share their work experiences with an organization. These platforms are a source of valuable feedback to address elements of your employee value proposition. Of course, not all employees are happy all of the time so watch out for pain points that may deter top talent from applying. It is crucial that a company monitor its employee brand on an ongoing basis.

Technology – Technology is a positive asset to employer branding and provides better communication channels improving the candidate experience. Technology can streamline candidate engagement, job search, applications, assessment and selection processes, as well as interview scheduling and feedback. Thanks to technology, talent management teams can provide an exceptional candidate experience that reinforces the employer brand.

Candidates are Customers – Jobseekers want to know about a company’s expectations, work style and interview process and that information is easily accessible during their job search. They may also leave reviews about their personal candidate experience. For that reason, it is essential to provide a positive, timely, consistent, fair and engaging candidate experience.

Storytelling – Once you have initiated contact with your talent pool, keep potential candidates engaged through regular communication. Storytelling might include landing pages that show videos relevant to positions within the organization or sharing stories from current employees about their own experiences.

Storytelling is an opportunity to make your brand personal, to tell the story of real people rather than faceless associates. By using engaging human narratives, you will attract the type of candidates who see themselves creating similar stories. That increases the probability great talent will enter the top of the recruitment funnel.

Layers & Depth – There are plenty of tactics beyond the written word you can use to actively promote your employer brand. Providing an appealing vision that inspires people can often be best accomplished visually – through photography, imagery or video. Many companies are utilizing social media channels like Facebook and Instagram to connect with their target talent populations.

Depth also means making communication a conversation rather than a one-way street. Consider tools like Chatbots for helping candidates get answers to their questions or hosting online career fairs.

Own your space – Make sure you are where your target talent is. Whether it be LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest, make your impact in the right places. This tactic is especially valuable if you are trying to hire in an area that is outside your usual sphere – think of a company moving into new geographical markets.

Connect employer and corporate brand – A positive candidate experience adds value to both employer and consumer brands. Conversely, there are risks: jobseekers may stop purchasing or purchase less from a brand because of a negative candidate experience.

Employer Branding: Absolutely Essential

incipioworkstg on May 15, 2020

Lisa Bottorff

Essential, Engaging, Effective.

A company that is not working on employer branding is frankly missing the boat. With the abundance of social media avenues available today, promoting your employer brand has never been easier. Prospective applicants want to know your company is a good place to work. That your organization is fair. That you embrace diversity. That you treat employees like family. If all of this comes across in your brand, your organization becomes a place where people want to work. It is the most effective type of marketing available to you!

Developing an effective employer brand certainly starts at the top. Make sure human resources has a seat at the management table. Examine your policies and procedures and most importantly, your Mission, Vision and Values statement. Ask yourself, is the message communicated throughout your entire organization so employees on the front lines embrace it just like your management team?

Employees need to know how important their jobs are. Why that little piece they are putting on a wheel is vital – and what can happen if something happens to that wheel because they didn’t take the care required. Organizations with the most effective cultures make sure employees understand how their part of the puzzle fits in the overall picture.

How Do You Look?

You can’t hide these days. A quick Google search will turn up almost everything about your company from financial statements, employee satisfaction to pay and benefits. Your employer brand communicates it all to your community and your potential workforce. If you can get your employees bragging about how great your organization is then you’ve got it made. You won’t need to do a lot of marketing to find top talent if you’ve become a great place to work and you have everyone talking about it.

Employer Branding: Culture And Commitment

incipioworkstg on May 7, 2020

Company Culture and Commitment in the Employment Marketplace.

You Can’t Do Without It Anymore.

When we talk about branding, most of us likely think of the type of branding associated with a company’s public image – perhaps created by marketing and advertising. For this blog post, let’s talk instead about “employer branding.”

Employer branding is what attracts potential hires to your company. It’s similar to a shopper using Consumer Reports to compare various washing machine manufacturers. Job applicants are no different. They do research by going to any number of websites. In today’s competitive job market, candidates look at more than just salary and benefit packages. They’re also researching a company’s culture and commitment to employee learning and development. Effective employer branding communicates your organization is a great place to work. And that keeps your current employees engaged and boosts both retention and recruitment of top talent.

It’s important to recognize benefits, compensation and a company’s culture means different things to different people. For example, benefits that are important to someone with grown children are likely vastly different in importance from the needs of a millennial. For example, the baby boomer worker may want three weeks vacation and a lower deductible health plan with a more coverage. The younger worker may prefer more vacation and a higher deductible medical plan with less coverage. Each will have varying degrees of interest in a company’s 401(k) plan, charitable efforts or non-traditional benefits like employee happy hours or free lunches.

The workplace today is changing. Don’t get left behind.

There is no question offering something to everyone can be an administrative nightmare. However, more and more benefit providers are recognizing the workplace today is changing. They’re being pushed to offer more packages and a la carte options. How many different varieties of Coke are there for example? There is something out there for every taste. There’s no reason it can’t be the same with benefits.

To begin, make sure human resources has a seat at the management table. That ensures your employer branding is strategic and part of a measurable plan. Because after all, without a strong, committed workforce, you don’t have a company!

Get The Right People for Your Business-Soft Skills Matter!

incipioworkstg on April 30, 2020

The Individuals You Hire Impact Your Existing Staff.

If there is anything a business needs to consistently get right when building effective teams and a winning culture, it’s recruiting. The individuals you hire communicate clear expectations regarding performance to your existing staff.

In the recruiting process, successful companies look not only at an applicant’s skills and experiences but also at their personality, drive and motivation. Understanding what will fit best with the existing team is critical. That means the hiring manager should have a clear picture of the needs of that team and how the recruit will fit within that group. From my perspective, in many situations, passion and drive can exceed the value of skills and experience.

Reassess and Be Flexible

For example, look at the situation facing many organizations today. Right now, there are thousands of fantastic people in the job market looking for work due to layoffs. They are more than willing to provide significant value to employers who have stayed in operation throughout the global pandemic, even if it is a short-term value! Businesses need to reassess their expectations as it relates to commitments around employment timelines. Having a short-term superstar is definitely better than having a role unfilled due to passing on that hire while looking for a longer-term team member.

Can an Outside Recruiter Help?

Sometimes traditional methods of recruiting can be limited ineffectiveness. If your candidate flow is weak, or if you are not getting the specific characteristics you need in applicants, an outside recruiter can be extremely beneficial. An outside recruiter can leverage a broad range of connections and other resources to find the candidates with the skills and characteristics you need to fill your specific job role.

An outside recruiter also uses a thorough, formal and consistent recruiting process. That allows the hiring manager, and in some cases, key members of the team, to more effectively assess the “fit” of a candidate. Depending on the situation, or the organization’s strategic direction, the candidate with the best resume may not be what a team needs.

Get The Right People for Your Business-Perfect the First Time.

incipioworkstg on April 28, 2020

More Than Staffing.

No Headhunters Here

At Incipio, we look at recruiting from a couple of perspectives. We’re not a staffing company and we’re not a traditional “headhunting” firm. We specialize in helping companies with two types of recruiting: Direct Hire and Recruiting Process Outsource or RPO.

In Direct Hiring, for an organization looking to hire a new CEO for example, Incipio will help you determine an exact skill set and culture match. Then we target candidates who have just what you’re looking for – usually from your industry. We go after them, rather than hoping a candidate will stumble upon your job opening. We do all the pre-screening and interviewing and deliver you a candidate that is a perfect fit.

Dedicaticated Recruiters, What???

In Recruiting Process Outsource, we become your dedicated recruiter. If your organization needs to hire ten people for example, we can work with an HR department or work directly with supervisors/hiring managers. We become your “recruiting department” and do everything from A to Z. We help determine the exact skill set required. Then we get that job posted to all the job channels like Indeed or Glassdoor – all the places your opportunity will be seen by potential applicants.

We handle all the contacts from emails to phone calls. Then we conduct preliminary interviews by phone or video and deliver great quality applicants. All within state and federal compliance guidelines. If clients want to do additional interviews, we’ll set those up and even handle the background checks, drug tests and the offer letter. Then importantly, we stay with those hires for another 30 days to make sure both the client and the applicants are happy.

A Very Different Process.

The process works for companies looking to hire all different numbers of people from ten to 500 a year. We collaborate with companies on a short or long-term basis and function seamlessly as their in-house recruiting department. We can also go into an organization and create the entire process. We will help hire a recruiter, train and teach that person about onboarding, training and professional development and then we’ll leave after setting them up for success.

The recruiting process is important but we also work with companies beyond this phase to ensure their team stays and is engaged and motivated. Recruiting is just the first step. We tell our clients the process is a lot like Christmas. You tell us what you want and then we wrap it up, put a big red bow on it and deliver it to you!

Get The Right People for Your Business- And Keep Them!

incipioworkstg on April 21, 2020

Lori Fain-Incipio Workforce Solutions

Why Retention Matters

Recruitment should go hand in hand with retention. In fact, I would argue you can’t have recruitment without retention. Companies should be both “recruit ready” and “retention ready.”

Here’s what I mean. The days of a large pool of candidates waiting to be hired are gone. That’s just not the case anymore – particularly in skilled positions where employees are required to have certain licenses or certifications. This requires you to think about what potential hires see when they do their homework about your company. It’s similar to online shopping. Before or during the hiring process a candidate will certainly check the reviews of your company and negative comments always carry the most weight.

As part of the recruiting process, you should answer several questions. What do your professional development programs look like? How are your employees treated? Are your employees being coached, mentored and prepared for advancement? Companies with effective retention programs are the most successful in recruitment.

How We Can Help

At Incipio, when we assist a company with recruitment we work on spending time upfront with clients. We walk through all aspects of the position, the organization, and the market. We go in and see where the work is going to take place. We meet the people who the candidate will be working with. We examine what both short and long-term success looks like to make sure the position is a good fit for both the organization and the candidate. Some of these conversations can be uncomfortable but they are crucial because the strategy sessions ensure recruiting efforts produce positive results as quickly as possible.

Recruitment: Are You Proactive or Reactive?

incipioworkstg on April 8, 2020

Ashley Overberg- Incipio Workforce Solutions

I always say recruiting is about being “proactive” and not “reactive.”

It’s the worst-case scenario if you have to be reactive to staff shortages. Even if someone gives you a two-week notice, you’re often caught in a time crunch. You’re scrambling asking them to train someone for their position. If not, that job might be open for a long time.

One way to get ahead of the hiring crunch is to examine recruiting trends at your company. Is there a certain time of year your staffing requirements have to ramp up? Perhaps in the past, you have lost people around the holidays. Knowing the history of hiring needs will help you avoid staffing problems in the future.

Identify trends, create a strategy before you need it.

Once you’ve identified some trends, you should develop a strategy and then a marketing plan. Begin by making sure there is an open line of communication between the executive team and human resources. It’s all about being honest. Is there a problem with turnover? If so, what strategies and solutions do we have in place? What’s been going on in the past month? The past year? What needs do you foresee? Even when things are running smoothly, it’s important to have that check-in to ensure there are no surprises. If any issues are identified, it pays to address them early before you find yourself short-staffed, which will affect your bottom line.

Employee Referral Programs

Assuming you’ve created a company culture where your current employees are motivated, engaged and proud of where they work, an employee referral program can be helpful. Setting up some criteria around that program is important, however. For example, a new hire has to stay for a certain amount of time for the referring employee to get a bonus.

It’s also important to look at the demographics of your hires. Benefits evolve over time. Make sure your benefits package is designed to draw in both a boomer and a millennial. What can you provide that might be unique and set you apart from a competitor? With millennials for example, can you offer student loan assistance or a loan repayment plan? That’s important to young people coming out of school with large amounts of debt. When was the last time you looked at your 401(k) benefit? Is the company match sufficient to attract a worker proactive about being prepared for retirement?

Are you looking for a good fit or a warm body?

Once you have a candidate, obviously you begin by looking at their technical skills. Do they have the knowledge and skills to do that job effectively? Then you look at whether they might be a good “fit.” Behavioral questions can help you make that determination. For example, rather than asking someone, “Can you multitask?” Ask them to describe a time when they juggled six projects at the same time. Answers to similar open-ended questions will give you an idea of their skills and experiences are a good match for your open position.

It’s important to recognize not everyone is skilled at interviewing. Every manager needs training in this area. Without even knowing it, some people will ask questions that are illegal or ask questions that might imply favoritism. It’s important managers know what they can and can’t ask. A strong internal training program designed around hiring best practices will head off any issues and strengthen your ability to recruit quality employees.