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.
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
Longtime human resources professional Harlan Schafir has seen employees go through excruciating divorces, and he thinks he’s on to as good a way as any to handle them.
Schafir, who is majority owner of Exact Hire (www.exacthire.com) and Human Capital Concepts in Indianapolis, makes clear to the employee that he understands they will be distracted and lose their productive edge for a time. He gives them much more flexibility in their schedule during this time.
Giving workers time to deal with their problems and heal is the right thing to do from a human perspective, Schafir says. But it’s also good business.
“If you develop the right culture, it’s a huge component to your success,” he says. “The way you treat your employees is the way they’ll treat your customers.”
What do you think? In your experience, how has divorce—yours or that of a coworker’s—affected your work place?
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.
Your competitive edge is going to be derived from your employees! So, how are you going to do this? Read on.
Physical properties of a business can be cloned. Your intellectual properties can not. Business will realize sustainable value from technological sophistication, creative & superior customer service responsiveness and insightful managers.
Outsource projects that are not core competency to a firm who specializes in that field to allow you to concentrate on your own business!
Our specialty is human capital management, human resource planning, applicant tracking, talent acquisition and assessments! We can give you that competitive edge so visit our site now to see how we can partner together! www.exacthire.com
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.
If there was ever a time to underscore the importance of Human Resources, it has arrived. In these days of economic woes--phrases that ring loud and clear are; Lean HR, Human Resource Planning, Job Fit, Talent Management & Talent Acquisition. The importance of using hiring assessments and human resource planning when adding colleagues to the team is more critial than ever. Maybe you don't know where to start nor do you have the tools? Visit our site for more info 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.
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.
People who are thinking of installing an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)need to step back and think for a second.
An ATS is a system that is built to manage resume flow and gives the recruiters the ability to sort, sift and prioritise candidates on the basis of keyword searches. Great technology, perhaps… but built to speed up a flawed process. The same hiring answer is arrived at, just faster.
What people should want is anApplicant Relationship Management system. An ATS, if you will, that has ties to social networks and a database of interested people. It would give the candidates a chance to interact in an uncommitted way with the company – register to get cool stuff and targeted communication – then give them a chance to get interviewed online when they are ready to do so. Meanwhile, the company learns a huge amount about their various demographic target groups and gets a chance to grow relationships over time. Then, good human capital management can start happening, with job fit and Lean HR principles in place.
That is when the front part of hiring gets really interesting, and high quality candidates start emerging from the sourcing process. None of this has ties to the expensive world of the online job boards...which is why it is even more interesting.
Does anyone know of someone already doing this? Let me know...
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?
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?
Have you ever seen a room of high quality, desperate people, all trying to fool applicant tracking systems and pre employment assessment? I did - I was recently asked to present to a local job search group, so I was the expert from HR.
It is always interesting to get a view from the other side of the desk...especially if you interview applicants in these modern times. I was impressed with how much they knew of two things - the power of the internet to find out A LOT about the organizations that they were interviewing with, and that current trends in interviewing questions were favoring a lot of behavioral questions. Therefore, they were well-rehearsed in their answers to any interview questions that began with "Give me an example of a time when..."
They are using new tools to outflank you - try this link -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYqI0mAp2AY
Straightforward advice, right? Generic, right?
Well, they have done specific training videos for most positions. Here is one for pharmaceutical sales representative -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR-IhZJOq3U
When I say that the "arms race" is on for the upper hand in hiring, these are the tools that I see applicants using. Savvy organizations are moving to screening methods that are not as easily fooled - Applicant tracking software aimed at producing job fit, employee assessments used as a part of hiring, and good human capital management policies are the best weapons...
My final employee engagement recommendations revolve around creating employee satisfaction, by creating a future and perfect job fit. Human resource planning should include the following steps.
FIFTH: Make your on-boarding process of new employees unique. Your goal should be to have the employee go home at the end of the first day and tell those closest to them that their first day with your company was the best first day they ever had. There are many ways to make your employee engagement special.
SIXTH: Develop a mentoring process in your company to make sure your new employee is immersed into your company as efficiently as possible. This is especially important when you consider the generational diversity we are all facing in the workplace and the timeline that younger employees use to judge whether they have made the right decision.
SEVENTH: Communicate the career path options that employees have and be clear as to the expectations you have for them to be considered for these other assignments.
EIGHTH: Talent management also involves employees in decision making and open communication with them. The more knowledge they have, the more they can offer your company. The more they feel part of the company and the process the better the results they’ll produce.
LAST: Warehouse the candidate data and new employee information you have obtained in a secure website. This allows you to develop analytics, feedback loops and meaningful metrics. Then evaluate your processes for higher performance payback. This will help as you search for new candidates as well as manage those you have hired. This information can also be used to show candidates that you understand how to manage the human capital component of your business.
I do not have to tell you that the competition for top talent is getting more intense. Furthermore, we all are noticing that the younger generations entering the workforce are not as patient as the baby boomers that are retiring. As business owners, we do not have as long to "get it right". The generation X and Y employees are quicker to judge and to correct a decision they feel is not a good fit for them.
By implementing these processes, you can leapfrog your company right over best practices to NEXT PRACTICES. You will improve how your organization manages talent acquisition and develops human capital; the capital that delivers the world class customer service that truly differentiates your company from the rest.
As business owners and managers, why do we allow the job candidates to decide the resume format and the actual information shared? This is inefficient for our companies and results in unqualified people walking in your office door! No where else in our company do we allow an outside source to have this much impact on such an important area of our company, human capital.
The reason we must focus more time on the hiring cycle and talent management is it is nearly impossible to force or train someone to fit your culture or have job fit AFTER you hire them. They either are a good match/fit or not. Simply stated, if they are not a good match, no amount of training or intervention will make it work.
This is a very fundamental skill, yet most companies are inadequate when it comes to the amount of time they spend in the interviewing and selection process. Many companies still do not use employee assessments to help in this area. The basic screening, selection, and applicant management parts of the hiring process has been unchanged for decades!! While all of us have heard this complaint, what have YOU done in your own organizations to change it?
Let’s look at the hiring process from a fresh perspective! The process is, at best, complicated. In fact, the most expensive time we spend with candidates is in the job interview; which is usually of short duration. In fact, I liken the interview to dating. In an hour or so of interviewing (dating in my terms) you are going to determine if you want to hire the person (get married in my terms). Does this make any sense? I contend it does not. In fact, I think we should change the process to get much more information earlier in the process. This allows employers to really understand who we are talking to and highlight areas of focus. How is this done? I will start to discuss and explain in my next blog!
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