Archive for March, 2008
Resumes, don’t over do it
Yes, that includes you IT candidates as well. A good candidate can limit their chances of getting to the interview by having a cluttered and bloated resume filled with information that will not prove anything except that you are annoying already. The best resume will have up to date factual information pertaining to the position for which you are applying as well as a snapshot of your history, and qualifications.
If it looks useless leave it out, if it doesn’t pertain to the job then why put it in there? So go ahead and give it a try, what have you got to lose but a few pages.
Employment Branding. Think About It
Are you proud of where you work? Do you go home at the end of the day with a sense of pride and belonging? Employment branding is the image of an organization as “the great place to work”.
Are you representing that image? Are the benefits and career incentives being provided? The idea of changing your image into a positive one begins internally. You will never fix high attrition by hiring more people because your image has not changed. The mentality within your organization must be changed first. “The great place to work”. Once this has been accomplished you can start on the external branding strategy, reinforced by the internal attitude. As employers or corporations your single most valuable asset is the employee.The challenge of finding and retaining the right people is hard work but if you are having difficulty in your search, or if retention is low then perhaps you need to look at ways of changing the candidates and employees’ perception of your company. You cannot re-brand your image over night but with a little research and employer value propositions you will begin the process of change.
The talent management or recruiting team has an advantage in making the case. You speak with candidates all the time and through interviews or offers of employment you can see where your shortfalls are at. A good example would be candidates that are not entirely sold on your organizations’ ability to be competitive with the leading brand. Why is this? Do they have a better looking logo? Is the name well known? What are they providing their employees? All good questions but more importantly what are the common answers and solutions you will provide to change your course? If you are unhappy with your employment brand there is a solution but before we get to solutions you need to understand your value to the re-branding process. The information you need to create a successful employment brand has a lot to do with the recruiting process. You need to find out what and why before you get to how. The information you provide is critical in making changes.
Employment branding doesn’t have to be expensive. It can start with small changes that grow into bigger ones over time. How you ask? Productivity increases when you have high retention and recruiting costs go down. This offset naturally shifts money in different directions and in our case more money for better programs or benefits, hopefully. It is common business sense but how many companies are actually making an effort to create a better employment brand? Not as many as you would think. We could point fingers all day long but the simple fact is that your information has a lot of power and that power may be all that you need to get the ball rolling toward a better employer brand.
The solution to creating a positive employer brand is not a blueprint and in most cases simple tweaks over time can go along way. The internal solution can be answered by a survey and research in most cases. This is a huge morale boost because your employees will realize that bluer skies may lie ahead because you are actively looking for better ways to improve their lives and careers. What do they want? What are your competitors giving? How can you beat them by providing something better and different, exclusive to your brand? You will answer these questions and in time you will have an opportunity to make changes. As recruiters you may feel that your role has little significance or that no one cares when it comes to changes that affect your employment brand image. They will care when you understand that you have the ability to provide valuable information critical to the employment branding process and that image alone can make or break a company. Do you want to be the great place to work? If so then look no further than the recruiters, they have the guide to where you want to be and who you need to get there.
Most realistic plans can be as simple, for example, better working schedules, diversified benefit plans, or tuition assistance through continuing education. These programs do cost a lot of money if any at all and are usually stretched out over time, participation is also a factor. You could consider shifting some recruiting funds toward these programs to help cover the cost. It is a small sacrifice to fix a much larger problem. Your goal in creating a more attractive employer brand will benefit you in the long run with the right plan and organization in mind. We tend to lose sight of the bigger picture by focusing on the wrong problems. People make companies not the other way around. If you invest in your employees then they will invest in you. Sure, you are saying I know this. My question to you is, what are you going to do about it?
Getting Your Employee Referral Program to Work
Have you noticed that when you see “Employee Referral Program” it is marketed to job seekers more than the actual employees themselves? Sure, you might see it in the bottom right hand corner of the company on-line news letter but in most cases its potential is left untapped and it seems more like an extra bullet point to fill space then to motivate an internal referral system.
The recruiter’s greatest resource is their ability to network and what better way to generate a steady group of quality candidates then through everyone else that works at your company. A successful employee referral program has to do with creativity and persistence. A creative referral program doesn’t necessarily guarantee results and if anything you should change it periodically anyway so you can judge whether it is effective or not and so it does not collect dust in the corner. It can consist of monetary rewards, days off, or even performance recognition but whatever you decide to do make sure it attracts attention and isn’t a rendition. The ideas of a referral program are only as good as the marketing campaign used to get your people moving so remember persistence pays off. When was the last time you had asked an employee for a referral? It should have been when you hired them. The best way to get your people moving depends on your industry. In some large organizations you may consider training days or quarterly department visits and in smaller companies a personalized approach can be very successful. I personally teach my clients to bring a referral card and have each employee list at least one person who might consider an opportunity. If your going to use email be prepared for {Delete} because employees treat a lot of internal correspondence like spam they look for anything pertaining to them quickly and then they get rid of it.
Creative Ideas: The best way to come up with a good employee referral program is to research your competitors and make sure that you are not doing the same thing-hence rendition. It can be a catered lunch with admission upon receipt of a referral card, or it could be two paid days off for the most qualified referrals in a quarter with a cash bonus for hired referrals. The creative idea has endless possibilities so experiment with different ideas. You can also send out a survey and see which one gets the best response. The idea is to be different and change it once a quarter.
Persistence: It does not matter how creative your idea is when it comes to employee referrals if you are not staying on top of your employees with correspondence, phone calls, and changing incentives it will never have the effect you want.
Employees are an excellent source of referrals and if you change your program while maintaining consistency in its management you will start to see an increase in employee generated referrals. I heard about one company who had a dunk tank set up and you could sink the recruiter and even a few managers by submitting a referral card. Anyone interested in taking a plunge?
Brand Yourself
Are you looking for more job offers or higher pay? How about some form of recognition? The idea of branding yourself is no different than what you have been doing for many years, projecting a better light on you that attracts attention. There are so many ways to brand you, with networking sites like facebook or linkedin the question isn’t where but how. There are three questions you have to answer first which is why, what, and when?
Why, are you branding yourself in this way? Why is it important to you?
Example: (I am passionate about my job and I believe I can be the best)
What, are you trying to accomplish by branding yourself as an industry expert or service provider?
Example: (I want to be the top sales executive in my industry)
When, do you want to start so you are not the flavor of the month or the failure of the moment?
Example: (I would like to prepare everything and be ready to market myself on-line in 30 days)
These are key questions that you need to answer so that you know where you are going. The idea of branding yourself is not just a few interesting bullet points and a photo but an idea of who you are and where you want to go.
Why are you doing it? Branding yourself as a job seeker has to do with separating yourself from the rest, you are unique. If you are branding yourself in a given industry it is because you have something different to offer than anyone else and that difference gives you a unique brand. The question of what is important because in order for you to successfully brand yourself you must know what you want to accomplish. When is critical because if you are not prepared to make an impact toward accomplishing that goal with little preparation you could fail. A plan that is prepared and then launched when you are ready increases your ability to brand yourself successfully. The concept of branding yourself is really not complicated it is a simple plan with the goal of focusing more attention on who you are and why we should pay attention. So why are you still here reading? Now that you know what to do there is only one question left, when?
What Happened to the Hiring Manager?
Since when did a computer decide who is qualified and who isn’t? I remember a time when hiring managers could help make that choice or at least get a word in edgewise on the decision. We have become so dependent on other people and machines that the hiring manager seems to have all but left the process. I am sure you know why the hiring manager is important but do they? If they do then you need to capitalize on this and if they do not then you have some explaining to do. In any case your success rests on the synergy between the hiring manager and the candidate, what they are looking for, and why it is important in so many different areas that contribute to the success of the company. The hiring manager is one of the greatest assets, and if you become more engaged with them then it just makes your job as a recruiter or HR manager a whole lot easier.
Collaboration with hiring managers can be inconvenient and in some cases down right unpleasant but it could be that you are witnessing the residual effects of neglect. Maybe it is retaliation for what they might feel is ignorance or futility. Whatever the reasons are you have the ability to change this and let me tell you right now it is not going to be easy. The goal in reinstituting the hiring manager into the hiring process has three benefits, they are now important in the process (which they should be), they have more control over success in their department through selection, and their professional decision has value (which it should have). Be proactive with your hiring managers and get them involved in creating a profile that is based on their knowledge and advice, educate them on current branding initiatives, and creative ideas. You will see greater retention, higher productivity, and if you’re a recruiter higher placements.
I am not saying that technology in the selection process is bad but it should not replace the value of human decision.
Job Search, Persistence Pays Off
I remember my father telling me when I was growing up to keep calling employers and checking in with them after I applied. The advice at the time seemed to go in one ear and out the other because it really made no sense to me. Why should I keep contacting an employer who obviously did not want to interview me for the job? I also remember my father telling me never to assume, that was his favorite saying that, and “the point is”. My father is not a recruiter, he worked at a body shop for the city when I was growing up and eventually went into paint sales, but the advice that he gave me at the time is the same advice I am giving you now, be persistent and never assume because the point is persistence pays off.
Today finding a job seems much more difficult than when I was growing up, and with a multitude of web sites and search engines it seems more like a jigsaw puzzle then an application for employment. So what can you do to make absolutely sure that your resume has been looked at? My advice is that you make phone calls even when the ad says “No phone calls please” think about it, how many times did a recruiter or manager get upset when you called about a potential job. Do your research and find out who the hiring manager is by asking. I would also use sites like LinkedIn or ZoomInfo to try and look up information then send them your resume directly. Why you ask? It goes back to my father telling me never to assume. The recruiter today has a lot to contend with and after screening hundreds of resumes in a given week it is not uncommon for you to slip through the cracks. It is ok to make your case and this is especially true if you honestly think you are competitive for the position you seek. It is your job search and it is up to you. You can tell them that you read my blog post and assumed it was alright.
Probing Effectively
On reading the title you might think this is a blog post for proctologists. Open and closed probing is a technique that I learned while taking the Professional Selling Skills course through Achieve Global years ago. Why is it important to recruiters? The ability to ask questions effectively is important and through a series of open and closed probe questions you can gather important information on a specific candidate. I have a close friend who works downtown and she asks excellent open and closed probe questions without even knowing it. In PSS or (Professional Selling Skills) I learned it is important to build a clear, complete, and mutual understanding of the customers needs. The same applies in your job as a recruiter because the candidate is the customer as well as the client. The ability to probe in a certain way in order to facilitate an open exchange of information is your goal.
Open probes are general questions used to obtain information and yet open that exchange of information which will lead you to ask closed probe questions which will be more specific in nature. Recruiters should have a list of questions written down and these will be open probe questions which will lead you to ask closed probe questions. Why is it important to probe effectively? As recruiters we often get caught in the trap of becoming salesmen. When you become more engaged in finding out about the candidate then it gives you not only a better picture of them but it prepares you for those out of the blue questions from your client or hiring manager about the candidate. You can never go wrong by asking too many questions but you can have a disaster when you do not ask enough. This blog post is not going to make you the master of open and closed probes but it will get you to think about how and what you ask and why. In asking your questions relevance will direct whether to ask another closed probe question to investigate further or ask an open probe question to change direction. Now that I think about it maybe I should have titled this article” Mental Proctology”. If you ever wanted to become a better interviewer just think about open and closed probes and let the questions develop naturally through this technique.
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