HR Services

Do you often have multiple interview steps for many different positions? If so, there is a feature available in ExactHire's applicant tracking software that may pique your interest--the ability to create a customized interview form to record as many sets of interview notes for as many different interviews (and/or interviewers) for as many different positions as you want...and date stamp them. Whew.

If you are currently documenting interview notes in either the "Applicant Notes" area or the "HR Data" section of an applicant's record, this add-on feature might be worth a look if you are a high volume interviewer. Currently, using the "Applicant Notes" section you are able to enter as many different sets of notes (with date & name stamp) as you would like (see image 1), and with "Interview Notes" in the "HR Data" section (see image 2) you are allotted one text box in which to enter interview notes for an applicant. These notes areas are not specific to a position, but rather, to an applicant in general.




In contrast, check out the details for the customizable interview form (an example of one is shown):

• Note the red arrow…this indicates a completed version of this form that has already been saved and attached to a Service Associate position.
• However, as the green arrow indicates, you may save multiple versions of this form to accommodate an applicant's different interview steps within various positions. Each saved form may be edited or viewed later.
• While the form shown at right shows only 9 data fields being used, you have access to as many as 50 fields that can be labeled however you like. These fields can be coded to be any of the following response types: Small/Medium/Large Text Box, Yes/No, Check Box, or Multiple Choice.
• Because this feature is completely customizable to your preferences, it is an add-on to the “HR Data” section that ExactHire can turn on in your ATS site for a small annual charge.
• NOTE: This can be made into a form to serve your other needs, as well--it doesn't have to be an "interview" form, specifically.

If you are interested in more information about this feature and other applicant management techniques, please contact ExactHire.

This press release was in the Business section of the Indianapolis Star on August 12, 2010.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/08/prweb4327504.htm

Barada and Associates and ExactHire to Provide Indiana Companies with New Hiring Solution
Barada and Associates, Indiana's premier provider of employment screening and reference reports, announced today a partnership with ExactHire, an Indianapolis-based developer of applicant software.

Indianapolis, IN (PRWEB) August 3, 2010

Barada and Associates, Indiana’s premier provider of employment screening and reference reports, announced today a partnership with ExactHire, an Indianapolis-based developer of applicant tracking software. The two firms are also unveiling the integration of their web-based platforms that will enable Indiana businesses to gain access to their most essential pre-employment services – background screening and application tracking – from a single, online solution.

“We entered this agreement because the two processes are naturally linked based on when and where they occur in the hiring process,” explained William C. Barada, Vice President of Barada Associates. “We selected ExactHire for the partnership because we wanted to provide our clients with a complete, integrated solution from two best-of breed-providers.”

The solution has already been rolled out to several Indianapolis-area organizations that are benefiting from the effort:

“The integration between ExactHire and Barada has made the hiring process move faster,” said Susan Johnson, HR director of Conner Prairie. “By the time a hiring manager makes an offer they want the candidate to start yesterday, so the quick turnarounds on information are terrific.”

“As a mental health organization, our clients could very easily be taken advantage of, so it is very important that we get a thorough background screen that we can trust,” said Tina Baxter, payroll coordinator for Meridian Services Corporation. “It is nice that we can now go to just one site and get the answers and the information that we need.”

The new service is especially beneficial for HR managers in the Indianapolis area who have previously been unable to get the same combined services from any other provider.

“Background checks are a logical complement to our other applicant management and assessment services,” explained Harlan M. Schafir, Partner with ExactHire. “This new integration will allow us to expand the valuable services that we’re currently delivering to our customers and improve the overall efficiency of the hiring process.”

About ExactHire
ExactHire’s leading-edge applicant tracking software helps organizations improve internal operating efficiencies related to the hiring process. The ExactHire solution focuses on JobFit and the gaining of additional knowledge of candidates before they are hired. This unique combination improves the quality of an organization’s new hires, saves time and increases profitability. For more information, visit www.exacthire.com.

About Barada Associates
Barada Associates was founded by Paul W. Barada in 1979, as one of the first employment screening businesses. Today, Barada Associates provides reference reports, employment verifications and background checks to employers nationwide. Our professional reports and thorough research give our clients a clear hiring advantage. Barada Associates remains headquartered in its original building in Rushville, Indiana. For more information, visit www.baradainc.com.

Though many of us are energy conscious when home, we are less likely to take measures to cut down on wasteful practices as the office unless we are small business owners.

One way to "go green" at the office is to incorporate the services of a company offering applicant management, personnel management, on-boarding, talent management and HR services on-line.    This also cuts cost when an employee is able to multi-task and engage in employee assessments on-line which reduces paper, time and lessens the human footprint we are leaving behind.

Read more ideas of Operating in the Green here.

I'm personally sick and tired of headlines bemoaning the general gloomy economic outlook. What to do?  Simple.  Get back to basics.

We need to adhere to the fundamentals of life/business/etc.  Fundamentals begin with values (i.e. what is important to us?).  Values are the core of our being. They are what drives our behavior. If we don't know what is important to us and/or our business, then how are we going to survive?

The challenge is to identify our values (i.e. integrity, service, passion, harmony) and live by them.  Look for new employees that are in alignment with them.  Build an applicant tracking system that asks about values and attitudes.  Have pre-hire assessments measure values, not just skills and behaviors.  Have a Lean HR focus, so that high performers see a performance management system that works, and is fair and consistent.

Doing so will allow us to thrive in good times and bad.  And that will make all the difference.

I presented this morning on Employee Engagement to a great group of HR professionals.  The coffee was fresh, the coffee cake was tasty, and the issues were predictable.

"What metrics really work in today's business environment?"

We worked through what metrics they were using, and got into what metrics they SHOULD be using, and ended on how to measure and project the impact of good employee engagement.  We talked about Lean HR, about applicant tracking, and HR services that are aligned with the organization's vision.  All good.

As I drove away, I reflected on the wish of everyone in the room for a "silver bullet" that would fix tough employee relations issues and solve the talent management problems of the future. 

There is a great first step.  Train all of your managers in the skill of active listening.  If the managers start to listen better to their staff (or at least appear to) and if they can know more about their staff through the use of valid assessment tools, then the staff will feel well-managed and deliver the goods.  Whatever the goods are.

So, there you have it.  As an extrovert who does not like to listen, this is tough advice.  Just listen to it...the answer is out there.

We occupy space, or used to,  in a building that we own.  Last week, we found ourselves with the realization that to provide exceptional customer service to our building tenant, we have three days to move our operations so they could take over the floor of the building we occupy!!  No easy task!

Thoughts run rampant in our minds: moving phones, furniture, artwork, paperwork, file contents and where do we find a mover on such short notice.  Where do we locate space to store our "stuff", where do we move our staff??

Now, talk about personnel management, job performance, HR management and Human Resource Planning!!  This was the maximum test of our patience, resourcefulness and skills.  Definitely a team effort in every sense of the word.  And this team reached the finish line with flying colors!

When you are building a team;  before you hire, consider the use of Career Personality Tests or other Employee Assessments so that you know the candidate has Job Fit.   It will be worth all the time and energy.  We do and it continues to pay dividends.

New data and projections are in from all points - we're looking at a year at least of bumpy roads and grumpy people and the new reality is firmly here.  Widespread layoffs will include a continuation of reductions in our staffs - by that I mean HR - at the same time that needs and issues are climbing.  With stressed employees come higher employee relations demands, heavier use of EAP services, and (probably) higher medical utilization.  In all of this, we've got to stay productive.

There is no graceful way to automate the face to face part of HR.  We've got to be able to make more time to BE THERE for our people.  We can either stop doing background things (not likely) or better use technology to do the background work.

If you have technology that you have not implemented fully (and you probably do) now is the time.  If you have "grandfathered" processes, retire them.  Simpler is better.

Simply put, now is the time for LEAN Human Resources.  Now is the time for assessments as a tool for productivity and management development.  Now is the time for human resource planning to guide the future.

Now is the time.  What will you do to get ahead of the curve? 

Change is the mother of invention.  In my work on changing how HR Services are delivered and how assessments are used, I have found some secret methods for making change happen.

There are a lot of self-help books out there with all sorts of advice, and more motivational speakers with messages of treating each other nice and getting things done.  I have a better idea.

Move your office.  All of it.  Get some boxes, and take all of the stuff that is in your desk and on your desk and so on and get busy.  Mark the "keep" and "pitch" boxes and start sorting.  If you don't have a different space to move to, just haul everything out into the hall and only move back in that which is useful.

Do the same with your processes.  Find ways to simplify, find ways to use technology better, and even find ways to stop doing things altogether if they are not aligned with your strategic goals.  This, in a real sense, is how you apply Lean Theory to HR, and make Lean HR.  Eliminate Waste, and rethink the processes at the core of your work.

By taking all of the flotsam and jetsam of your office and sifting through it, boxes and boxes of waste will be generated.  This is good - you will be amazed at how liberating it feels to have a new, clean focus.  Now, do the same with your Human Capital Management processes.  All of the talent management ideas, all of the job fit efforts, everything.

If you need some help after you get everything out in the hall - give me a call.  I'm happy to be that ruthless, objective friend that can help clean out the closets...and, also, I have just moved my office, so I'm an expert.

My question is this: if you could change one part of the hiring process, what would it be?

Well, the whole issue of the different generations has just shifted.  As I have presented over the last 5 years, I have predicted that all of the boomers would retire within months of each other when the stock market climbed above some arbitrary point - my guess was 13,500 on the Dow. 

Well, with the economic meltdown, all bets are off.  Talking with several senior HR people today (all of whom were boomers) they both report that retirements are certainly off for their "on the cusp" employees, who have watched their 401k plans divide by half.  That means that all of the generational issues we have been watching are suddenly becoming bigger, with cranky boomers who wanted to retire rubbing up against Gen X'ers who are hoping that the boomer's retirement would create some promotion and growth opportunities.  Space to grow?  Not so much.

In all of this, HR is an important tool.  If you can, build HR Services that use assessments and career personality tests to predict job fit and succession planning.  Recognize that the generations see the economic meltdown differently, as seen in this news story.

We've all got to get along, and good talent management will go a long way...

So there I was, driving to work in the early dawn and thinking about applicant tracking or assessments or something.  As the sun rose, the sky lit the clouds from below and filled my windshield with a carpet of orange and salmon clouds, a backdrop for the street signs and landing airplanes and all the normal interstate claptrap. 

Moving with the morning rush hour, I fished the camera out of the back seat, rolled down the window and used one hand to wave my camera in the (cold) wind and fired off a dozen shots.  I always have my camera with me, and so I thought nothing of it.

An hour ago, I was on the phone with a client.  We had just set up a new assessment system that will help them screen for job fit, and I was checking in.  After we had done our business, he asked if I had seen the sunrise this morning. 

"Why, yes."

He said he was very frustrated.  He felt it was one of the more beautiful ones he had seen, and that he had pulled off the interstate, gotten out of his car, and thought he had taken a photo of it to remember it by.  He had just tried to show the photo to his staff, and the cell phone had not worked.  Grr.

I smiled.  "Would you like me to email some of mine?"

I could tell it made his day.

As HR professionals, we are always expected to anticipate needs and have everything that our staffs and employees and bosses want.  It always feels good to have exactly what a client wants, when they want it - be they internal clients or external.  Even if it's just a photo of a sunrise. 

In these stressful economic times, good customer service and high performance is everything.  Enjoy the pictures.  Maybe it's what you need right now...

Harlan is sharply driven by his philosophy that the PEOPLE part of our business is the critical factor in separating our organizations from the competition.  Whether you are talking about customer service, innovation, company growth or profitability...it is PEOPLE that drive it!  To be successful, it takes the best PEOPLE and those individuals are attracted to and stay with companies with the best jobfit and culture. Harlan has proven through the years that he understands how to create organizations with "World Class Culture".

Prior to founding ExactHire, Harlan founded Professional Staff Management, a PEO and HR solutions company that he sold in 2003.  Harlan is a long time, respected expert in the field of HR.

Harlan's expertise in HR Services, Personnel&Talent Management and Employee Assessments can help lead your organization to the "next" practices needed to out perform the competition.