Tyler, Tara, Renee, Jordan, and Donna recently attended the Football Party event sponsored by Southern Wayne County Regional Chamber, and Monroe Chamber! Advance Staffing Solutions is a proud member of both chambers and enjoy the opportunity to network with other community businesses.
As the saying goes, “Old habits die hard”. This is very true when it comes to many aspects of business, including recruitment practices. Oftentimes the HR team or the recruitment team goes into a New Year wanting to do things better, but keeps falling into the same old ways of doing things. The problem is at this takes away from the effectiveness of the recruitment team and can actually put your company at risk. In order to improve processes this year, here are some recruiting and interviewing behaviors to leave behind.
Not conducting a thorough background check
One of the biggest hiring mistakes that companies can make is not conducting a thorough background check for every single applicant. You cannot take a candidate at face value no matter how professional they look or act during the interview — they could be hiding things in their history. Take the time to call all career references and verify work history and character. Criminal background checks are a must. Failure to do so can put your company at risk and it also caused harm to other employees.
Forgetting to follow up with candidates
Another bad habit to shake in the New Year is forgetting to follow up with candidates. Whether they have applied for a job online or they have been screened by phone for a particular job, please take the time to follow up with candidates at least with a courtesy email. It’s not fair to leave people hanging and it is a measure of goodwill when you respect candidates enough to follow up with them and give them a status update. This goes for sending out rejection letters too.
Selecting candidates based on skills only
It can be tempting to just hire people based on the skills that they list on their resume and those that are proven through assessment tests, but this leaves out a large chunk of candidates who may be otherwise qualified and perfect for a position because of their personalities. Work with a staffing agency to assess the personality and culture event of every candidate before you toss them into the rejection pile.
Hiring under pressure instead of planning staffing needs
Human resources is not meant to put out the fires in our organizations. But often times we find ourselves in the position of having to scramble around to replace a lost employee or to find a large number of workers to cover busy seasons. To make better use of our time and energy it’s important that we develop the habit of planning out our staffing needs by staying in touch with our point of contact managers. By planning ahead it’s possible to augment current staff with temporary workers and create a true succession strategy.
You stare across the desk into the dreamy eyes of a well-dressed and attractive individual. Then, suddenly your heart and mind starts to race, you get sweaty palms, and you stumble over your words, giggling nervously. Uh, oh? Are you in love?
Sounds a little like dating, right? Sadly, no…this isn’t another Nicholas Sparks movie scene. In reality, you are just another recruiter engaged in an interview with a job candidate.
It can be funny to think about recruitment in terms of the dating game, but it also makes sense. You are presenting a certain brand to try to impress a person you’ve never met before. You smile, shake hands, make small talk, and try to make the other person feel comfortable. You even selected a small, intimate office space where you can get to know the candidate on a deeper level.
How can you know if all of this effort will be worth it? Will you do enough, say all the right things, and get the person to take an interest in what you are pitching – in this case, an opportunity with your company? And then, is this the right person for the company? Do they have the perfect qualities for the job? Will others like this person when you introduce them?
Finding the right hire is like finding your soulmate.
Think about the concept in practical terms. This has to be someone who connects with you and the company brand. An interview is not just a meeting. It’s a chance to exchange meaningful words and energy between you and the
candidate. How well you do this can make a big difference in the way the candidate views the career opportunity. If you are not on your game, the candidate will sense this. If the candidate is turned off, not feeling it, or finds that they are not all that interested – things are bound to end up not working out.
When you interview candidates, think about the interpersonal skills you have. Can they be improved upon? Are you seeking that perfect candidate with every work order you try to fill or are you merely hiring based on shallow traits? Don’t settle. Hire the best person for every job and think about this as a start of a new and beautiful relationship.
Very often, hiring managers are faced with the decision of what to do with great candidates who have the right personality and fit for a company, but lack certain qualifications of a job. It’s a shame, because they could have potential in the company’s future.
Have you ever wondered if an underqualified candidate could be a valuable asset to the company? Here are some reasons why.
Not every company has the budget for “superstar” candidates.
In the startup or rapid growth phases of companies, the funds may be limited in terms of offering a superstar candidate enough to convince them to join the company. Therefore, hiring an underqualified candidate at a slightly lower salary may make better sense. This person can be developed into an outstanding employee and over time can get a promotion to a higher earning bracket.
Underqualified candidates often make the most loyal employees.
It’s hard finding loyal employees nowadays. Especially with the younger generations, candidates are prone to skipping from job-to-job within a year or two. When you give an underqualified candidate an opportunity, they will generally be more loyal to the company. This grateful attitude will also help the company to develop the person into a future leader because of the need to prove themselves.
People can learn if they have the right qualities to begin with.
It’s really hard to say if there is such a thing as a perfect candidate. However, when you give an underqualified candidate a chance, they have the ability to learn new skills that will enable them to excel in the job. Focus on some of the more important traits that the candidate has; such as a positive personality, a track record with former employers, and their ability and desire to learn new things.
Refer underqualified candidates to partner companies.
You may not be able to give an underqualified candidate a career right now. This is ok. But do not dismiss this candidate. Instead, refer an underqualified candidate to a partner company or to an area of staffing agency that you work with. The candidate will appreciate a chance to be introduced to another opportunity, and you will not lose track of them. Who knows? The candidate may be the perfect fit in the future for your business.
In the world of human resources, it’s hard to put a number on certain aspects of the personnel management game. Typically, businesses can be slow to adopt HR metrics and it can be difficult to quantify certain strategies in HR. But as HR professionals, it is up to us to make a case for the decision that we make each day in the office. Here’s how to quantify your workforce.
Experts advise that it’s best to focus on three core areas of the workforce that impact the bottom lie the most – all related to hiring and retaining the best possible employees.
Where are you sourcing the best employees for your company?
Where you are finding your new hires is a major factor in quantifying your workforce. The source of your hires needs to produce a good track record of placing high-quality employees with the right skills into the right jobs. Part of the problem with doing recruitment on your own is that decisions can be made out of haste during employee replacements or rapid growth cycles. A temporary staffing agency partner can drastically improve the quality of your workforce, and reduce the time and cost of staffing the company.
What areas or departments have the highest turnover rates?
Turnover among employees can be a sign of trouble. In fact, is can be the only sign that things are not going well with the workforce. Quantifying your human resources means nailing down the problems that are causing employee turnover. Sometimes they can be related to poor management or outdated business practices. A strong workforce is one that is actively engaged and loyal to the company. This is a valuable asset to have, and worth the effort.
Who is tracking or managing the departing employees?
Just as your company needs an onboarding program for bringing new hires in, it also needs a strategy for dealing with off boarding of departing employees. This very critical time when an employee is leaving the company can be the only opportunity to capture certain information that the company needs to quantify its workforce goals. Exit interviews are a must. Find out who is handling employees who are leaving and if there is any correlation with certain departments or managers where there is high turnover. This could be an opportunity to retrain managers on ways to keep good people instead of losing them to the competition.
When your company can quantify the value of its workforce, it will be well on its way to being a better place for employees to thrive and the company to meet its earnings goals. Partner with Advance Staffing Solutions today, and let us place top-quality candidates in your workplace!
In the last year, it’s become increasingly apparent that it’s a candidate-driven market. It’s only going to continue as unemployment rates drop and new companies move into the Detroit, MI area. With this in mind, when is the last time you looked at your company’s hiring process from the perspective of candidates? Do you think it’s positive, or does it create a negative experience?
Perhaps now would be a good time to start thinking about improving things so that it’s all about creating a warm and welcoming experience for candidates. Here are some suggestions for making this happen.
Reduce the time to apply
There is nothing more frustrating for candidates than spending hours filling out job applications, completing assessments, and submitting information online for a single job. Take hints from the top companies and revert to a single-page application form. Utilize LinkedIn recruiting to make this process even easier for candidates.
Respond promptly to candidates
When a candidate takes the time to apply for a job, they tend to like to be thanked for their time and effort. So too, candidates enjoy frequent and courteous updates to the status of their application, and after interviews. Set up an automated system for doing this that sounds personal, and then create a system for calling candidates within seven days to advise them on next steps.
Relax during job interviews
Instead of making job interviews so formal, why not create a nice relaxing environment for welcoming them and going through this process? Start with a meeting room right off the front entrance where candidates can be invited to sit and enjoy a cold water before the interview time. Then take candidates on a brief tour of the building. Once they are warmed up, conduct the interview in a comfortable area and make them feel at home.
Following up with candidates
A big part of the candidate experience is also understanding what will happen next and when they can expect to hear back on a decision. Provide a brief overview once you have completed the interview, with a time frame and next steps. Then check back in with candidates at regular intervals (like once a week) at the very least. If a candidate is not to be selected at this time, send a nice rejection letter along with a gesture of your appreciation (such as a gift card for a free lunch).
Need help with your hiring process? Let the experts at Advance Staffing Solutions take the hard work, time and stress off your hands! We have a pool of talented, vetted candidates who are ready to fill roles in your company today! Click here to check out our Talent Showcase today!
When candidates visit your corporate website, your social media accounts, and read about the company in the news, how well does this online presence blend with the kind of corporate culture you are trying to portray? Many times, companies put a lot of effort into their marketing only to find out it’s coming up short for recruitment purposes. Candidates can be highly critical when it comes to deciding IF they want to apply to work for a company that may not share their same values. This is why it’s critical to develop a strong online presence that speaks to a positive culture.
Here are some things any company can do to ensure they are portrayed in a candidate-friendly light.
Update your company website and your job listings
When job seekers are reviewing career opportunities, they can be judging the way the company website looks. If it’s been updated recently and has a positive brand, then they are more confident applying for work. If the website looks like it hasn’t been updated since the dawn of the Internet, or if job postings are outdated, these factors will not go unnoticed by job candidates.
Mixed messages and poor information on social networks
Does your company have a central person or team dealing with the social networks, or is it a free-for-all? Inconsistent messaging, odd posts, and even potential offensive content could be hurting your company’s chance of hiring the best people. Make sure your marketing team syncs with the hiring team at frequent intervals to avoid this kind of mixed messaging.
If there a Web-friendly way of applying?
Candidates today are turning to their mobile devices for finding and applying for work. If your company has not developed a mobile version of the company career portal or created a mobile job app, you are missing out on many great candidates. Use a mobile app that’s simple to use and streamlined for job applicants to use. Try a ready-made career app to make this a quick and easy step, and get your website set up as interactive with all mobile devices.
Promoting the company career opportunities
You cannot expect candidates to find your company without doing a little marketing to get the word out about job opps. Attend career fairs, participate in job fairs, partner with a staffing agency, and more to market your careers to job seekers. The company doesn’t have to have a huge budget or team to accomplish this, just keep it simple and focused.
Need help finding top-quality job candidates in Michigan and Ohio? Click here to contact Advance Staffing Solutions today, and let us take the hard work of finding, testing, and vetting quality candidates for you!
2016 has seen the legalization of marijuana for medical use in 23 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and recreational use in four states, prompting the update of human resources policies surrounding drug use. A Society for Human Resource Management survey from earlier this year indicates that 90 percent of organizations still do not have a substance abuse policy in place that addressed legal pot use. It’s as if the HR community has been slow to recognize these changes and how they impact the workplace.
Is your workplace prepared with an updated policy on legal marijuana, whether your state is affected or not? Here are some things your company needs to do now.
1. Update your substance abuse policy for the workplace.
As an employer, it’s your responsibility to maintain a safe workplace for all employees, and this includes cracking down on employees who either use drugs during work hours or bring drugs into the work environment. Make sure to clearly state what your company’s stance is on drugs at work, and that the only exceptions are for medical marijuana use only with an approved doctor’s note. In states where recreational marijuana use is legal, it is still advisable to have a policy on screening employees who have been in accidents or injured on the job.
2. Set up a relationship with a staffing agency or pre-employment drug-testing vendor.
The drug policy should also include recruitment factors, such as the company’s effort to hire drug-free employees. Therefore, a vendor needs to be in place, ready to handle all pre-employment drug screens for new hires. A staffing agency can easily and inexpensively handle this matter as they already have a relationship with drug-testing facilities.
3. Become knowledgeable about updates to marijuana legalization.
The laws around the legalization of marijuana are continually changing and they may continue to be confusing and complex for the immediate future. A trusted HR advisor or consulting agency can support your workplace by keeping your HR team abreast of current laws. Take the time to educate managers on this topic, and use staff meetings to educate employees about the drug-use policy. Remember that you do not have to allow drug use in your workplace, whether recreational use is legal or not.
Need help to build a strong workforce policy, or hiring employees who can comply with company policies? Let the staffing experts at Advance Staffing Solutions help!
In the quest to improve diversity in hiring, companies are turning to “blind hiring” practices, which seeks to eliminate the unique characteristics of candidates before they are considered for employment. The goal of blind hiring is to bring people on board who have the skills to perform certain tasks, and not because of other protected factors such as gender, age, nationality, or region.
Why is blind hiring popular?
In the past, research has shown that managers tend to select candidates who have similar demographic backgrounds as their own. A Fast Company article highlights several university studies that showed that humans are nearly always biased towards their own kind, and this happens on a subconscious level most of the time. Even the mention of a similarity during an interview can elicit warm feelings towards a particular candidate, and the person is chosen even if they are not the best fit for the job.
In blind hiring, these factors are all stripped from candidates.
The following elements are removed or hidden during the initial application phase:
All of this may seem a bit extreme, but companies that are growing rapidly or expanding operations need to be able to comply with Equal Employment Opportunity and other laws that require fair and diverse hiring.
When determining if blind hiring may be right for your company, ask yourself the following things:
Working with a temporary staffing agency can help your company to get a better grip on hiring for diversity. It takes the responsibility off the company and places it on the staffing agency for securing workers from diverse demographics and backgrounds. If you’re looking for highly qualified candidates, click here to contact Advance Staffing Solutions today!
