Libby Sartain, Chief People Officer at Yahoo says that “What makes a great employer brand is how it serves to attract and retain and engage talent.” It seems like we are all trying all sorts of ideas to do just that. Ms. Sartain, along with Mark Schumann, has completed a book entitled, Brand for Talent, a sample of which can be read here. There were a couple of issues that caught my attention. They were how a talent brand must “be the strategic tool for a company to attract and retain people and survive Social Media.” Connect to article here.
In the book, the authors emphasize that there is a new “consumer of work.” This consumer is what we used to call job seekers. While the leaders of this new shift are members of Generation Y, it can just as easily be those well before Generation Y. It is not as much the age factor that is working here as it is a comfort level with and reliance on technology. These are people who see no reason to shift their reliance on technology when looking for a job.
If these new “consumers” are not totally engaged in the organization, they will continue to look for opportunities even after they have taken a position with your company. Their overall job performance will likely suffer if technology isn't central to the duties of the job. Therefore, it becomes even more important to begin that engagement process at the earliest possible moment à from the time they view your application process(including addressing the social media piece) to how you ask your interview questions to how you onboard them.
This means using HR software as a cornerstone to your recruiting and human capital management processes is critical. Applicant Tracking Software is the first interaction most of these "consumers" will have with your organization. You want to utilize a solution that provides the tools you need to be user friendly, technology savvy, and offers a way to express your company brand effectively. In addition, the solution must provide multiple ways of using social media to get your brand and job opportunities visibility in the employment marketplace. Finally, this applicant tracking software should offer a way to ask those critical interview questions right on the application that can help ensure that a person is going to fit within the culture of your organization. This most definitely contributes in a positive way to ensuring the engagement of these "consumers of work" and their long term commitment to your organization.
Visit our website at www.exacthire.com to learn more about how our applicant tracking solutions can help you better acquire the right consumers of work for your organization.
If you work in HR you believe, with all your being, that good human capital management leads to better productivity and better product quality. But, sometimes it’s so hard to prove, especially to a CFO who wants to see short-term financial improvements. As one top HR professional put it, "A financial person is concerned with taking money out of the organization. HR should be concerned with putting investments in." Well, now there is some research to support the connection between successful applicants and product quality.
One of the leaders in this effort is Betty Lou Smith, the vice president of corporate HR at Hunter Douglas. She began investigating the connection between employee turnover and product quality. Divisions with the highest turnover rates, she found, were also those with damaged-goods rates of 5% or higher. And extraordinarily, 70% of employees were leaving the company within six months of being hired.
Visit: http://www.fastcompany.com/node/53319/print . This is a fascinating article that also focuses a great deal on why others in many organizations don't care for human resource planning and talent management in general. While most of us might disagree with some of the points made in the article, it is thought-provoking.
Effective Applicant Tracking Software and assessments can be the first steps in finding those with the right Job Fit. Creating thought-provoking key questions right on the application can save a recruiter time and help focus the search on only those that meet the very highest standards. Using employee assessments can validate those first impressions.
At ExactHire, we love creative HR managers who are ready to use every resource at their disposal--Applicant Tracking, Assessments, Human Resource Management Systems-- to get to that perfect Job Fit. We believe, like you, that putting investment IN an organization will produce the value that makes taking money OUT possible. Check out our new website for more information: www.exacthire.com.
I was driving down the street today watching Holiday decorations going up in the trees, lights being strung, ribbons placed around light poles---so the daydream started.
As you wind down 2009 and look forward to 2010 what are your plans for the coming year?Will you modify your processes to make your businesses more successful next year?
Will any of the people you hired this year or for the holidays have outstanding job performance? Will they transition into great long term employees?
Now is the time for all of us to start planning how we are going to attack 2010. What will we do differently next year to be more successful.
I suggest you look at our applicant tracking software and employee assessments as a way to increase the probability that you will hire employees that are engaged. In a very short period of time you will be able to determine if what we offer is right for your organization. The ROI can be very significant.
Visit www.exacthire.com to learn more about how we can help you meet your objectives in 2010. Proper talent management and employee engagement can make a big difference.
Do you ever leave a business & feel like employees were brought in by the Talent Acquisition Process known as "Drive by Hiring"?
Who is managing talent acquisition in those companies? For the sake of retaining customers and valuable workers, having a Human Resource Management System in place is critical.
While talent acquisition is one of the most important functions we as owners and managers perform in our businesses, why do we spend so little time, energy and money trying to get it right? The cost of "Drive by Hiring" is almost always poor Job Fit. What is "Drive By Hiring"; it is when we feel pressured to just fill a seat, or when we don't have the time to really evaluate all the applicants who submit information, OK you get the point. Most of you have done it and it usually always ends with someone who is not an ideal fit for your job, company and culture.
Don't lose customers or good employees by using the "Drive by Hiring" process!! We can assist you to be proactive with better hiring practices through partnering. Visit www.exacthire.com to find out how we can help with pre-hiring employee assessments & applicant tracking to build superior Job Fit!
SHRM did a survey of employees to determine what was important to them. The rating used a 4-point scale to indicate what was “very unimportant” (that’s a 1) to them or “very important” (that’s a 4).
The percentages below indicate how many people gave the item a 4, meaning “very important.”
The 601 full- or part-time employees were randomly selected from a U.S.population.
63% Job security 60% Benefits 57% Compensation/Pay 55% Opportunity to use skills/abilities 54% Feeling safe in the work environment 52% Relationship with the immediate supervisor 52% Management recognition of employee job performance 51% Communication between employees and senior management 50% The work itself 47% Autonomy and independence 46% Flexibility to balance life and work issues 45% Meaningfulness of job 45% Overall corporate culture 42% Relationships with co-workers 39% Contribution of work to organization’s business goals 35% Job-specific training 34% Variety of work 32% Career advancement opportunities 31% Organization’s commitment to corporate social responsibility 30% Organization’s commitment to professional development 29% Paid training and tuition reimbursement programs 22% Career development opportunities 17% Organization’s commitment to a “green” workplace
Besides the expected answers that relate to pay and benefits, notice how high the rankings are for how they feel about their job and their supervisors.
The key here is not only hiring people that have Job Fit but also making sure you have the right supervisors in place.
When it comes to Job Fit, Job Performance and feedback for HR Management--we'd like to hear what your issues are. We would like the opportunity to help you imrprove your organization. Check us out at www.exacthire.com
We continually talk to our clients about Job Fit. The question that comes up is how to soft skills relate to Job Fit and Talent Management? Soft skills are intrapersonal and interpersonal skills that determine a person's ability to excel and fit into a particular job or company's culture. These skills include competencies in areas such as emotional, communication, leadership ability, etiquette, conflict resolution, decision making, self-motivation, self-discipline, persuasion, etc.
The reason for all the fuss is simple. Experts ranging from psychologists to business and spiritual leaders, such as Donald Trump and the Dalai Lama, agree that one or more of these soft skills have the greatest impact on your level of success.
We can help you with talent acquisition. The use of our applicant tracking software and employee assessments can assist you in identifying potential "A" players and improve your talent management; especially when we are all being asked to maintain a lean HR approach. Take a moment to look at some of the solutions we offer at www.exacthire.com
There is a higher chance that your competition can replicate your product easier than they can replicate your human capital. So why not invest in the best human resource tools? This does not mean large dollar amounts. What it does mean is investing in highly effective applicant tracking software and career personality tests that can make you the best in human resource planning and management.
The key to staying ahead of the competition is managing your human resource tools to create better employees. If you use effective applicant tracking software that asks applicants for key, job related, information you will increase your ability to create a world class team that can build, market and sell your product far better than your competition.
You spend money and time to protect your product or service secrets, why not find out what little it takes to create the best human resource tools? Even if you have the same product, you’ll win every time with an applicant tracking system that increases the quality of your talent acquisition.
Don’t risk losing your best human capital to your competition. ExactHire can help you. Go to www.exacthire.com.
All human resource professionals love it when they see the magic that happens when good candidates are matched with the right job. Everybody wins! The company wins because the new employee makes a successful contribution to the company, both in the bottom line and in the culture of the company. The employees win because they are happy doing the job, they stay longer, build history and success.
Providing an applicant tracking tool and assessments gives us a way to contribute to that magic. We believe in our products and services, but nothing convinces us or others more than when we hear it directly from our customers. Just this week, we received this email:
“We are really enjoying ExactHire and are now wondering what we ever did without it! It has been a wonderful tool to use and is helping us do a much better job of managing applicants as well as our process.”
What a great feeling to know that customers are using our product in assisting them to improve the way they manage applicants and the hiring process. But best of all, it’s making life easier and more enjoyable in the ever changing and challenging field of human resource management. Come and start experiencing the magic for yourself……..www.exacthire.com. It’s only a click away.
I don't know about you, but I'm getting tired of hearing about how bad the economy is doing these days. But, until it improves a great deal, we all will have to continue to deal with it. Having read several articles about this, it made me think (scary, I know!).
All of the experts advise us to do some key things related to talent management with this economy. Incorporate Lean HR practices wherever possible, focus on talent acquisition to upgrade your staff, etc. Great ideas, but in a practical sense, how do you do those things? Especially if you are a small or mid-sized organization?
I'm seeing more companies turn to technology to accomplish these tasks. Using applicant tracking software and automated onboarding solutions can really help to incorporate those Lean HR principles into most any mid-sized organization. Likewise, using employee assessments or career personality tests that can be administered online can really augment any talent acquisition process by helping to ensure JobFit is present for both the new hire and the organization.
These human capital management systems are becoming more affordable and can really improve the overall talent management function within most organizations. More to come, but if you haven't investigated these solutions, I would encourage you to begin.
There is a higher chance that your competition can replicate your product easier than they can replicate your human capital.So why not invest in the best human resource tools?This does not mean large dollar amounts.What it does mean is investing in highly effective applicant tracking software and career personality tests that can make you the best in human resource planning and management.
The key to staying ahead of the competition is managing your human resource tools to create better employees. If you use effective applicant tracking software that asks applicants for key, job related, information you will increase your ability to create a world class team that can build, market and sell your product far better than your competition.
You spend money and time to protect your product or service secrets, why not find out what little it takes to create the best human resource tools? Even if you have the same product, you’ll win every time with an applicant tracking system that increases the quality of your talent acquisition.
Don’t risk losing your best human capital to your competition.ExactHire can help you.Go to www.exacthire.com.
Companies need to take a rigorous and progressive approach to the hiring process by determining what it is they're really looking for and how to assess it. Who are the "right" people to hire? Members of successful teams differ in complementary ways. If you've ever worked for someone who only hires people like themselves, you know why this is true. Diversity needs to be a part of an office's unique environment. Differing perspectives will keep your company from seeming similar, regardless of the client or the services you deliver. It also helps you round out your team. A team made up of just quarterbacks would not be very successful.
A progressive approach to successful hiring is needed to achieve diversity and success. Do you have a human resource management system securely in place? Have you looked to an outside specialist who can assist your human resources team by using an applicant management & tracking software to help you build a model for successful job fit? The time to invesigate an applicant tracking software systesm is now when you have the time. When the markekt recovers and we return to "green flag racing" we will all be to busy.
Before interviewing, you researched the company, donned your best clothes and practical shoes the day of the appointment, planned your route to be early, tucked your updated resume in your portfolio and left for your interview with Human Resources.
In the next hour, you do everything in your power to acquaint them with your skills, explain why you fit the job and why they should hire YOU!
But then, the regret letter arrives saying although they were impressed with your credentials, they have decided to go with another candidate.
You think, what could have I done better in the interview and why wasn't I hired?!!
Well if the company did its job right, it used applicant tracking software system to better refine candidiates and subjected you to taking some employee assessments so they knew more about you before the interview. So if they didn't pick you, maybe they did you a favor? If there was no job fit, how long would you have lasted. Companies need to spend more time focusing on talent acquisition.
On your next job interview if a company using applicant management and pre-employment testing make sure you ask them how they define job fit. It will give you better insight into whether this is a good decision for both of you.
I met with some Lean consultants this morning over coffee and eggs. I opened my half of the conversation with the thought that, if a Lean initiative fails, the blame generally falls on the Human Resources. They both blinked, thought, and agreed. Conversely, HR can make a significant contribution to lean success. Lean works if the people are aligned with the processes.
So, which HR practices are helpers of lean success?
First is how performance is calculated, communicated and tied to incentives. Too often, staff go home not knowing (or caring) whether or not they accomplished their goals.
Next is team development. An organization that is based on individual performance will struggle to get the team behaviors needed for lean success.
Then, clarify roles and responsibilities. The job description for a supervisor are different than those of an engineer.
Then, communicate. A lean communication plan must go beyond posters and newsletters into walking the talk and reminding everyone of their success. When you feel you are over communicating, you have it about right.
Finally, celebrate success. A lot of repetitive hard work follows. Before enlightenment, there is chopping wood and carrying water. After enlightenment, there is still chopping wood and carrying water. It's an old saying, but it applies.
Over communicate, celebrate, and clarify roles. Get Human Resources on board, using assessment tools, good HR Management, Human Resources software and a focus on job fit.
Then, and only then, will your Lean initiative survive over time.
I was reading a resume for a client last week, and hit a phrase I had not seen before - "top to top selling". Since I work in sales, I "got it", but others might not. I realize that there have been several new words cropping up that were not there before...
Joining the Twitterverse A "torch and pitchfork" group Nanoblogging WILB - Workforce Internet Leisure Blogging
...and so on.
Those of us that need to keep up (and we all do...) need a simple resource to look these words up. That way, our performance management systems and Applicant Tracking Software can be capturing meaningful words, and we can guide better talent management decisions. If we keep up with the words that are used, we can keep up with the people.
Here is a secret weapon - WordSpy.com. I love it - you can quickly find out what it REALLY means. The last one I came across on a tech resume was Ubicomp. Huh?
I looked it up. It is short for ubiquitous computing. And, now I'm current. Word.
Picking the right people is never easy. You would think that years of experience would bring you closer to a hiring expert but it does not.
Your candidates can present an eye appealing resume, have great presence and charm, or communicate like a scholar but that doesn't mean they are right for the job or your company's culture! Remember, if they look too good to be true, than they probably are.
Don't flip the coin in hiring. Don't rush headlong to fill an open position. Pedigree can be less important than experience, entrepreneurial nerve and commitment.
Build a hiring science to your company through the use of hiring assessments and applicant tracking software. Help your company be successful by developing a culture that attracts high performers and allows for employee engagement.
There seems to be a lot of fear in the workplace lately. From the adult perspective, we know that crises happen, markets go up and down, people get laid off. But that used to happen to someone else, not us. That is no longer the case.
What do we do? Paul H. Sutherland of Zenvesting teaches: establish a habit of doing more than you're paid for. Do everything you can to keep your employer profitable.
Help keep your employer's core values in the vision. Don't let panic overtake reasonability. Keep connection to ethics, virtue and common sense.
As an employer, when hiring new employees what steps are you taking when hiring new employees to find the people who embody your culture through pre-employment testing & assessments? Do you assess what you need for job performance, think lean HR, or make use of applicant tracking and use human resource management systems available on the market to access for job fit? These steps will help set your employees up for success, not failure. After all, it is all about the people.
What are you doing as an employer or employee to insure your success?
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.
There he was. A nicely dressed man in a necktie on the main corner in town. I couldn't tell the color of his suit because he was wearing a sandwich board that was almost as tall as he was, saying "Hire ME!" He had his profession and his phone number on the sign, and he was waving at me with a hopeful sign as I drove by.
Wow. I realized that these are strange times. Even stranger, less than a day later, I got a call from a local journalist, doing a story about hiring in general, and about the guy in the sandwich board in particular. "Had I seen him? " Yes. "What did I think?" Hmm.
I said that I had two opinions. First, he would probably be successful for a variety of reasons - that nobody else was doing it so he would stand out, that he was showing determination and a willingness to try new ideas, even if the concept of holding a sign in public is certainly 100 years older than the Internet.
Then, I said he was a shining example of how flawed and overloaded the current job search process is. Organizations are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of applicants, and job seekers are willing to do WHATEVER it takes to get past the screening and get a job. Any job. He was certainly giving up on the Internet.
Savvy organizations are using this time to redo their core processes, putting in assessments and applicant tracking, using human resources software and talent management concepts to predict good job fit.
If not, when the economy turns (and it will) the organizations that did not focus on job fit will have their high performers leave and their mediocre people stay. What you want is to have the high performers stay. That requires good talent management.
I hope your filters and systems are in place, and that you will be rewarded by a sustainable culture of high performance. And, if the guy in the sandwich board is reading this, call me. I would be happy to help with your search.
Stop making problems biggger than they have to be. As we work our way out of this economic wiredness, we are watching the complexity of the economy and organizations play out. Who knew it was all connected? Yikes.
Keep it simple as we fix it. As I work with applicant tracking and assessments, I find that the processes that fail are the ones that are too complex and/or don't have a dose of common sense. It is human nature to try to fix a problem by making lots of little changes and building in checks and balances that get very complex over time. As the layers pile up, there is a tendency for the system to fail in new and more clever ways. I am reminded of this by NASA. It is very difficult to get a rocket into space, and the simpler ones have a better history than the fancy, gizmo-laden space shuttle.
True story - when NASA first started sending up astronauts, they quickly discovered that ballpoint pens would not work in zero gravity. To combat the problem, NASA scientists spent a decade to develop a pen that writes in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, on almost any surface.
The Russians used a pencil.
The human resources software that I install is often not as complex (or costly) as the huge enterprise sytems that are out there. But, as we know, simple is good...
Okay, bear with me as this story takes some imagination and introspection.
Over the course of the last days watching the snow come down, working from my home office because it was too difficult to drive to the office, I was struck with the thought of how satisfied one can be when their job fits what is important to them.
What really is job fit? Some of us are fortunate enough to have experienced it. Some say it is when your job truly aligns with your core values. While that is true it may be hard for us to grasp that concept. More specifically I think it is when the requirements of the job and the core values of the company align with your skills and values. This seems to make sense and most of us agree with this statement.
However, during the interviewing and hiring process it seems to be that neither the company or the candidate spend enough energy on making sure it is there. For the most part companies get very tied up in skills and work experience and than wonder why the employee fails. At the same time the candidate is trying to land the job and does not do their homework either.
When job fit exists, employers end up with engaged employees who are loyal, like what they do and enjoy their chosen occupation; it not just a job. Everyone can tell the difference especially the customers.
In my next blog I will discuss how this can be accomplished by using applicant tracking software and employee assessments to gain more knowledge much sooner in the process.
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