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8 Tips for Better Recruiting

by KG Workforce Solutions

Recruiting can be a frustrating process. Below are eight tips for a better recruiting process, while also enhancing candidate engagement and employer branding.

Write and post accurate and unique job descriptions.

Lots of companies are recruiting for the same talent. Make your job postings stand out by using attractive images and a variety of posting techniques. Keep your postings current and make sure they are accurate AND engaging.

Leverage referrals from existing employees.

Keep your employees informed about the positions you have open and how to refer candidates. Make the referral process easy and commit to following up with EVERY referral from an employee (yes, even if they are not the right fit for your current needs).  If you don’t follow up with referrals, employees will stop sending them!

Leverage social media.

Don’t just post your job ads on social media. Ask people to share your openings with their network. Encourage employees to engage in your job posts. Post your job ads on social media platforms that are commonly used by the type of candidate for which you are searching.

Keep focused on getting better candidates, not more candidates.

You only need one person to fill your position. Spend your time and energy attracting that specific type profile. If you post jobs all over the place, without a strategy, odds are that you will spend a lot of time weeding through the wrong candidates.

Make your application process easy.

Candidates are deterred by a cumbersome applicant process, so make the process easy and quick.  

Follow up with candidates quickly.

You are more likely to keep a good employer brand and get more referrals if you follow up with candidates quickly. Confirm receipt of their resumes. Let them know when jobs have been filled. Schedule interviews quickly!

Promote your company and culture simultaneously with your open positions.

Encourage candidates to be interested in your company, not just one particular position. This will help support a strong employer brand and will also get you more followers, hence more potential candidates viewing your job ads in the future.

Don’t recruit only when you have a job opening.

Build your audience. Constantly be connecting and networking with people who possess the skills your company can use. It is a lot easier to fill a position when you have a pipeline and network.

If you practice all of the above, your recruiting will get better. Like most things, it takes time and consistency to see results. So get started ASAP!

Recruiting- Times Are Changing in 2019

by KG Workforce Solutions

With lower unemployment rates, many HR professionals are finding it more than difficult to manage their recruiting processes than in recent years.  This market shift has created a greater challenge than just finding talent. It also means that companies need to really focus on their employee engagement.

A common challenge is that their recruiters and HR professionals are working on large volumes of openings which are taking longer to fill than in years past. In some cases, this is coming at the expense of employee engagement. While there is rightfully a push on being creative in finding and attracting talent, there needs to be an equal push on engaging existing employees. 

The cost of losing an existing employee is often greater than the cost of having a vacant position. So, with all of the hype around making sure you are recruiting the right talent, don’t forget to protect and engage the talent you already have. I can promise you someone is out there ready to poach your most valuable employees! You don’t want to have a backfill position as soon as you fill a vacant position. The net effect will be null and exhausting!

When clients ask what they should do, it really comes down to a handful of things that can help with recruiting and retention:

• Be responsive to candidates and employees
• Be creative and resourceful – don’t be scared to try something new
• Have a plan – you would never launch a new product without a marketing strategy, so why launch a recruiting or retention strategy without a marketing plan
• Communicate – in failed recruiting efforts and in failed retention efforts, a lack of communication is frequently the cause
• Know the cost of a vacancy and the cost of turnover- this alone may help justify the expenses for some of your recruiting and retention ideas (and I know you HR professionals and recruiters out there have some GREAT ideas)

When asked about recruiting these days, the best response I can give is in the words of Bob Dylan, “They Are A-Changin’.” We have to change with them, or we will get left behind. We are changing! Are you?

Recruiting – 5 Basics for Success

by kgworkforce

The recruiting process can be daunting, leaving recruiters, hiring managers, and job applicants feeling frustrated instead of successful. As an employer, there are a few basics you can incorporate into your recruiting process to improve the success of your recruiting efforts.

1)   Make the application process simple

If applying to your job takes a candidate an hour, you are probably losing a lot of candidates! Some information is absolutely required, and you can can’t get around that. However, try to make the process as easy and quick as possible for the candidate, keeping in mind that many candidates want a mobile application option.

2)   Be transparent about the job opening(s) for which you are recruiting

Let’s face it, not all jobs are really “open” even if you are interviewing candidates. Be as honest as possible about the status of positions for which you are interviewing. This will not only preserve your reputation, but it will also help you build rapport with candidates who might not be what you need today, but might be what you need tomorrow.

3)   Keep communication lines open with active candidates

If a candidate takes the time to interview, they deserve an update. Whether it’s a quick phone call or a short email, keep candidates posted on their candidacy.

4)   Be creative and read between the lines

Not all candidates clearly articulate their skills on their resume. If you are only looking for buzzwords or using technology to scan for buzzwords, you could be losing out on great talent. Keep an open mind and be creative about drawing parallels between candidates’ experiences and your needs. As the job market continues to get tighter, this will become even more important.

5)   Know the market

If you don’t know the job market for the skills and geography for which you are recruiting, you are unlikely to maximize your success. You should have a solid understanding of the compensation and availability of the talent for which you are recruiting.

For additional tips on recruiting, follow us on Twitter @kgworkforcesoln or Facebook @kgworkforcesolutions.

7 Tips for Making a Good Hiring Decision

by kgworkforce

Hiring employees is one of the most essential, yet expensive, initiatives of an organization. There are several key components to a successful recruiting effort that can help minimize the risk of making a poor decision when hiring employees. Incorporating these 7 tips into your hiring process can lead you down the best path to select the right employee!

Understand the Need

There is a difference in what you need and what you want when recruiting for a position. Taking the time to differentiate between what you want and what you need can save you a lot of time and money during the recruiting process, and help ensure you hire the right candidate for the job.

Team Dynamics and Culture

Hiring the right candidate means that not only does the new employee possess the skills, abilities, experience, and aptitude you need, but also that they will fit in. Collect information from the hiring manager, as well as team members, to ensure you fully understand the team dynamics and culture.

Conduct Market Research Before Hiring Employees

Know the availability and compensation trends for the type of employee you are looking to hire. Knowing whether you may need to relocate a candidate, if there is a high supply of talent in an area, and what compensation expectations are for such talent will enable you to more effectively recruit for the right employee. In today’s market, you must be competitive to secure top talent!

Educate Hiring Managers

Managers need to understand interview and market trends and techniques. They also need to be in synch with HR and other contacts with whom potential employees interact from your organization. And not that you have ever known a hiring manager who asked an inappropriate interview question, but trust me, they exist! Education is a critical component to effective hiring.

Multiple Screening Techniques

There are a ton of different interview styles and assessment tools available to employers. By using a variety of tools and techniques in the interview process, you can capture a more well-rounded understanding of a candidate. Thus, increasing the likelihood of making a hire who is both a skills and culture fit.

Targeted Company Features

Understand the demographics and needs of the candidates you interview and leverage those to sell your company. For example, if a candidate is primarily concerned with opportunity for advancement; make sure to discuss your company’s tuition reimbursement, succession planning, leadership programs, etc. If a candidate is primarily concerned with having a flexible work schedule, make sure to discuss your company’s options for job sharing, flex schedules, or remote work. If a candidate is most concerned with compensation, selling your company’s gym offerings will be less effective than selling your retirement plan or bonus structure.

Stay in Touch with Candidates

Many candidates decline offers because they don’t feel a connection, don’t build a rapport with interviewers, or don’t feel informed about the hiring process. Keeping in touch with candidates throughout the interview process, especially between the offer and start date, is critical.

Recruitment Marketing Strategy

by kgworkforce

What is a recruitment marketing strategy? Simply put, it is a marketing plan directed at potential job seekers. Whether you are a small, two-employee startup firm, or a giant Fortune 500 entity, recruitment marketing is essential in today’s world.

Why do I need a Recruitment Marketing Strategy?

The goal of recruitment marketing is to give your organization an employer reputation. Even if you are small firm with minimal brand recognition, potential job seekers will learn about your employer reputation through research. If there is nothing for them to find, they will create their own idea of your reputation, which may not be beneficial to your recruiting efforts.

Steps to create a Recruitment Marketing Strategy

Below are six steps to creating a competitive recruitment marketing strategy. These steps are scalable for any size organization.

Step 1: Objective

What do you want to accomplish? What are you challenges?

Step 2: Target Audience

What types of employees do you want attract? Where do you expect to find these employees? What are the demographics associated with these potential employees? Where do you find and engage your audience, such as user groups, social media, universities, trade organizations, etc.?

Step 3: What Products and Services should you highlight?

These are not the products and services your company sells to businesses or consumers, but the features and culture of your company that are most attractive to your target audience. Examples might include geographical features if you need to relocate candidates. Benefits, flexible work schedules, technology, continuing education, student loan repayment or tuition assistance, and retirement plans might be other features for which your target audience values.

Step 4: Create a Strategy

What do you know about your target audience and how can you leverage that information? Do you have competitive intelligence? What are your tools, resources, and timelines? How will you implement and monitor your strategy? Make sure to include inbound and outbound marketing campaigns. Your current employees are vital to the success of building your employer reputation.

Step 5: Implement Strategy

Training for internal staff is critical in this step! If your hiring managers don’t align their management styles and interview techniques with your recruitment marketing strategy, you might get more qualified applicants, but you might not be able to secure and retain them.

Step 6: Monitor, Analyze, Report, and Adjust

As with any marketing campaign, determining the effectiveness of your strategy, adjusting as needed, and keeping the strategy aligned with changes in the economy, business direction, and job market is critical.

Recruitment Marketing Strategies are all about engaging people with your brand, but from a personal and prospective employee perspective, instead of a buyer’s perspective. Align your HR team with your general marketing team to overlap where possible and ensure cohesion among the campaigns. It is time to start recruiting, not just hiring!

Why Work with an External Recruiter for Direct Hire Services?

by kgworkforce

Deciding how to identify the best employees for your company is a large task. Leveraging relationships and services of an external recruiter can not only make the task easier, but it can also lower the risks associated with making a poor hiring decision. Below are the top reasons companies use an external recruiter.

An external recruiter knows where to find talent.

They are masters at sourcing and networking. External recruiters don’t just know active job seekers, but they also know passive candidates who will not apply to your position online.

Speed to Fill.

With their vast networks of talent, external recruiters can often fill positions with qualified candidates very quickly. After all, they don’t have a million other tasks to accomplish like you do. All they do is RECRUIT, day-in and day-out.

Placement Guarantees.

Making a bad hiring decision is expensive.  When you place the wrong candidate in the wrong position, there is no cost effective way to replace him/her.  When an external recruiter places a candidate, their success is guaranteed (or at least it should be). External recruiters typically offer guarantees for direct hires that range from 30 days to six months, on average. This means that the recruiter has to replace the candidate for free or refund the service fee if the placement is not successful during the guarantee period.  Guarantee details should be included in the contract when you engage a recruiting firm for their services.

Strong Candidate Relationships.

Once you have found that perfect candidate, you don’t want to lose him/her.  External recruiters often foster relationships with their candidates for extended periods of time.  So once that perfect candidate has been identified, who do you want to court him/her during the interview and hiring process? Someone who has worked with him/her for weeks, months, or years; or someone from your organization who may have only met him/her a few times and is juggling hundreds of other tasks.

Market Insight.

External recruiters have one focus, and one focus only; RECRUITING. Since this is all they do, good external recruiters have great insight into market trends, knowledge of the latest technology for sourcing and tracking applicants, and significant insight into best practices in the employment industry.

Save Time and Money.

Working with an external recruiter can actually save you money! Approximately 60% of job applicants admit to applying to jobs for which they are not qualified. If you are not using an external recruiter, who is reviewing, responding to, and prescreening all of those applicants and how much is that costing you?

Furthermore, how much is it costing you to have an unfilled position for more than 30 days? Recent studies have shown that approximately 65% of employers indicate that jobs not filled within 30 days will typically stay open for more than three (3) months! Now that is expensive!

This is only a short list of the reasons companies solicit services through staffing and recruiting firms. Just make sure that whatever firm you use has a reputation for quality, integrity, and customer service. AND definitely make sure they have a service guarantee.

Still have questions? Contact us at info@kgworkforcesolutions.com.

REAL Recruiting. REAL Solutions. REAL Results.

Hiring and Competing for Top Talent

by KG Workforce Solutions