Hiring Process Hurting Your Employer Brand?

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Your marketing team has worked hard to ensure that marketing campaigns communicate exactly what your company promises to be–your company brand. So hard in fact, that people are listening and business is growing! Now your company needs to be on top of their game as they seek to attract and hire the right people–your employer brand.

When hiring–especially when hiring aggressively–the perception of your employer brand can start to go one of two ways: your employer brand is knocked as contrived marketing fluff; or embraced as an authentic representation of what your company is, who your people are, and how you seek to do business.

Frequently, the people applying for jobs at your organization are also the people most familiar with your company’s brand–and many times they are direct or indirect customers. They’ve received your marketing. Now, through the hiring process, they get to pull the curtain back and really see what’s going on. It’s important that you meet their expectations.

Delivering On Your Employer Brand Promise

Let us pretend that your company brand stands for integrity, prompt communication, truthfulness, and transparency. You’re on the hunt to hire people who exemplify those characteristics. As you begin the hiring process, you portray these characteristics yourself by outlining the stages of the hiring process and roughly how long each stage will take. Even if you were to reject an applicant at this stage, your employer brand has been upheld by communicating and being truthful. On target so far–your marketing department is loving this!

But the next thing you know, massive chaos has broken out across your organization. Maybe someone quit unexpectedly, or you’ve had a benefit provider change rates on you, or…chaos of whatever type. It’s all you can do to keep yourself from drowning, let alone notify individual applicants that the next stage in the hiring process has been delayed!

But you stay cool, and you find the few minutes it takes to update your applicants. Maybe it’s just a generic, automated email that’s sent out to all applicants remaining in the hiring process, but this simple effort supports your employer brand image. The applicants thank you, and the marketing team does too.

Breaking Your Brand Promise

But let us examine what might happen if you did not take those few minutes to send an update to the applicants.

Scenario 1: Your potential new hire may not trust you to be timely, transparent, or communicative– and that mistrust could remain once they’ve been hired as part of your organization.

Scenario 2: The applicant could assume that they weren’t selected, and that you–uncomfortable with confrontation–just didn’t want to break the news to them. This might lead them to take a position elsewhere.

Scenario 3 In the worst possible scenario, the applicant tells everyone they know about their negative experience thus far with your company, severely damaging your brand image. If you think this is hyperbole, think about a company that is hiring aggressively:

20 positions X 50 applicants = 1,000 brand promises broken

1,000 miffed people X 300 followers of miffed people = 300,000 people who now have a bad perception of not only your employer brand, but perhaps your overall company brand as well. Ouch.

What’s the Good Word?

Word-of-mouth is the oldest and still the hottest marketing tactic–good, bad, or otherwise. Your hiring process will likely touch a lot of people and generate conversations about your  company. These conversations can either tarnish or reinforce your brand. Ensure a positive experience for your applicants–don’t keep them in limbo. By staying true to your employer brand, you will strengthen your company brand.


Looking for hiring software tools to improve and maintain your organization’s employer brand? Visit our resources page for more information about our applicant tracking system and pre-employment screening software, or contact us today.

Image credit: NO se contrata a nadie by Bart Everson (contact)

Job Opportunities for Qualified Applicants Act: Ban the Box in Illinois

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Due to the velocity of business, companies need to be up-to-date on the latest industry news to remain competitive. Perhaps more importantly, businesses are also required to stay abreast of changes in legislation. Legal changes that apply to the state, country, or other specific regulations for the company can seem overwhelming. Legislation is progressive and therefore, always changing our work environments. Businesses that operate across several states often yield to the least common denominator when it comes to designing applications and obeying regulations.

Many states are now adopting a law to ‘Ban the Box’ – that is, the box regularly found on employment applications that asks if you have ever been convicted of a crime. Illinois will be the newest state to join the trend in the near future, following the lead of other states and cities such as: Massachusetts; Minnesota; Rhode Island; Hawaii; Philadelphia; San Francisco; Seattle, Baltimore; Newark and Buffalo. This list may not be all-inclusive and one should also note that different geographic areas often have their own specific version of the legislation to ‘Ban the Box.’

Qualified Applicants Act – Ban The Box

Effective January 1, 2015, the Job Opportunities for Qualified Applicants Act will prohibit Illinois employers from pre-screening candidates based on their criminal history. The law requires that applicants not be asked about criminal offenses until the interview stage of the hiring process. Full details, including exceptions to the rule, can be found by clicking the link above.

At ExactHire, we recommend our clients take care to be aware of the state requirements for the states in which they hire. This may mean that multi-state companies opt to avoid issues by removing any criminal history questions from their applications (unless of course they are required to include them for the position and meet the exceptions listed in their specific governing body’s legislation). However, the best course of action is to always check with your employment law attorney for legal counsel on how to word employment application questions for your areas of operation. This recommendation is also encouraged for employers that use electronic job listings that can be viewed nationwide.

ExactHire’s HireCentric applicant tracking software allows employers the ability to have different employment applications for use with jobs that are listed in different states, if desired. For more information about our customizable employment applications, please view our video demo or contact us today.

Image credit: Springfield Illinois Statehouse Dome by LongitudeLatitude (contact)

Employee Onboarding: What’s It Mean?

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What does employee onboarding mean? Because one of our software tools helps to automate many of the tasks and documentation commonly associated with new hire onboarding, this question is asked of me quite frequently. And while the definition certainly changes from one workplace to another, I think it is helpful to break it into two main categories: 

New Hire Onboarding

I think you can also refer to this as “short-term” onboarding.  What I mean by that terminology is that this definition is pretty limited to the initial documents/forms/tasks associated with a new hire. Tax forms, policy acknowledgements, direct deposit sign-up, etc. are good examples of things that tend to be done right upfront for any new hire. These need to be completed before that person is able to really jump in and start their employment with the organization.  From my experience over the past few years, this tends to be what most people in the SMB market space think of when they hear about onboarding.

Employee Onboarding

A little different than above, I would tend to refer to this more as “long-term” onboarding. While all of the items mentioned with short-term onboarding would certainly be a part of this process, it doesn’t stop there.

Instead, this process often can go on for the first several months of an employee’s stay with an organization. Likewise, this tends to be done in phases within those first few months on the job for a new hire.  Examples of things that are included in this form of onboarding include: training/safety videos and acknowledgements; provisioning of different items (laptop, phone, desk space, etc.); job-specific learning milestones, etc.

Currently, this definition of onboarding tends to be found more in larger organizations.  However, with technology continuing to progress, I’m seeing more and more SMB’s going this route.

Guidelines For Onboarding

Regardless of how your organization views onboarding, there are some core guidelines that apply to everyone:

  • You must follow the old adage of “you never get a second chance to make a first impression”. Make sure new hires feel welcome and that there is an organized process to assimilate them into your company.  Do everything you can to reinforce their decision to come to work for you.
  • Have a methodology to keep track of where people are in the onboarding process.  This may be onboarding software, or it may be a simple checklist.  Either way, be sure nothing slips through the cracks.
  • Stay organized and compliant.  It’s imperative that you keep record of the various documents (I-9’s are a great example) new hires complete, as you may be required to provide them at some point in the future.

Onboarding new employees is a critical function for companies of all sizes. Pay attention to this and stay close to your onboarding process to ensure that new hires are engaged, which will improve the odds that they’ll stay with you well into the future.

 

To learn more about how ExactHire can optimize and automate your HR processes, including new employee onboarding, we invite you to contact us today!
By Lhb1239 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The Hiring Process: Are We There Yet?

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The hiring process can be difficult for both the applicant and employer. Just as an anxious child awaits the end of a long road trip, both parties are asking, “Are we there yet?”

Invest Time in Saving Time

Streamline Your Hiring Process

Wasting time is expensive. And if your company spends too much time and effort hiring, you’re wasting money–especially if you end up hiring the wrong person. But it doesn’t have to be so difficult, and it doesn’t need to carry a hefty price tag.

You’ve heard it before: work smarter, not harder!

An Applicant tracking system can streamline your hiring process and save you time by reducing the time spent posting positions, reviewing applications, contacting applicants, and getting hiring approval from corporate.

Work Smarter

Applicant Tracking Systems Create Efficiency

  • List a job once and post it on any job board you want with a few clicks.
  • Manage the hiring process for all open positions from one site.
  • Invite managers to add notes and feedback at any point in the hiring process.
  • Eliminate unnecessary sorting and sifting through applicants by adding a filter to remove candidates that don’t meet the basic qualifications for the position.
  • Create a set of specialized questions for each position and attach scoring values to fast-track your efforts at finding the perfect candidate.
  • Build email templates for status letters, thank you’s, interview requests, testing requests, and any other email you regularly send to candidates.

Cut Through Red Tape

Speed Up Job Requisition

  • Streamline the requisition process by having the applicant tracking system automatically notify the next approver in line.
  • Hiring managers can check on the status of a requisition by logging in–no distracting follow-ups.

We’re Here!

ExactHire Can Help You Streamline The Hiring Process

Learn how ExactHire applicant tracking system can help your company work smarter. Visit our resources section or contact us today!

Image credit: In The Distance by Angus McCrae (contact)

Simplify, Target, Attract Top Talent

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Let’s face it, your job posting is one of countless others.

And the perfect applicant is the needle in a haystack.

When you consider these two facts, it’s a wonder that applicants and companies ever find each other! So how do you get through all that hay and find the needle?

Download our hiring process questions guide

Know Your Audience

Attract quality job candidates by targeting ideal applicants

One key element to keep in mind when posting a job is your target audience. Do you write your job descriptions in industry specific terminology? If yes, then this conveys that you are only willing to consider those with industry specific experience.

In a similar way, let’s say for a sales position you only talk about incremental sales goals. Will you not then consider an applicant who has achieved additional sales targets and up-selling goals, or exceeded Tier 3 commission?  If so, then you should mention those points in the job description too. Opportunity can abound if we carefully consider how we are talking to applicants.

Make It Easy

Attract quality job candidates by simplifying the application Process

Now, pretend that you’re an applicant who has been out of work for a year. Every day you apply for a job or two. You like how a company states things in the job description, and you think you’d be a great fit. You found the job on a job board. You click apply. This job board redirects you to the company’s website where you’re asked to fill out your entire life story. “WHY, OH WHY!” You cringe…before hitting the close tab and moving on to something else.

As Human Resources professionals, we all know the reasons for the applicant’s dilemma above. Too many applicants, not enough hours…I need everyone in the system so that I can track for legal and/or reporting purposes… the list goes on.

But how can you address an applicant’s concerns so that they click that apply button?

Break up the application and tell the applicant what’s going to happen! Add a simple line to the job description that says something like: “If you are applying to this job from a job board, you will be redirected to our site, where you will be asked to complete a brief assessment of your qualifications for this position.  Applicants who meet the basic qualifications will be invited to complete the full application.”

You’re making it easy and keeping your audience in mind while writing this job description–these are two big keys to attract top talent and find that needle in a haystack.

 

 P.S. You could also address the applicant’s pain of  “Why can’t I even get a rejection email?” with these two features on ExactHire Applicant Tracking System: emailing applicants en masse and utilizing external statuses for applicants. 

 

Making Your First Hire – Don’t Be Nervous

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So you are a small business and ready to grow – maybe you are currently the only employee or you have a few partners in your company.  Or maybe you are building a HR department from scratch. Either way, making your very first hire can be daunting, here are a few things to keep in mind to make sure this first hire (and future hires) are a success.

Find the right fit

At ExactHire, we are firm believers in finding a person who is the right fit for the job, as well as for the company culture. Upon reviewing resumes and narrowing down your choices to a select few candidates, make sure to ask yourself, how will this person fit in the company? How will he/she adapt to the job at hand? This is key especially at small companies where employees “wear many different hats” each day on the job. Employee assessments can be a great tool to find out if the applicants are likely going to fit in with your organization, too.

Follow your gut

Do not downplay the need to trust your intuition. If you are part of a growing company, you need to feel comfortable with each hire and adapting that person into his/her role on the team. If your gut is telling you that it might not be the best choice for the position, then make sure to listen to that instinct. It can be expensive to have to rehire after the fact and start training over if you make a wrong hiring decision. Remember, no one is perfect either, at some point in your HR career you will probably make a hiring “error” but following your gut will help avoid a lot of this trouble.

Test applicants accordingly

Along with testing applicants for culture fit by using assessments, you can use job skill tests to make sure their technical experience is right for the job responsibilities at hand.  This can be software-based testing such as Microsoft Office or Quickbooks; or, it can be skill-based such as basic math, spelling, data entry or telephone skills. It can also be job-specific, such as an IT programming language, accounting, legal, industrial or medical knowledge. Using a skill test will help narrow down your choices after you have found a good fit for the company culture.

Know HR regulations and laws

If this is truly your first hire, make sure you are aware of regulations and laws in your state.  The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission can help with lots of topics on which you may have questions. Making sure not to discriminate in the hiring process as well as completing any reporting that is necessary, are important practices to keep your business compliant. This pertains to job advertisements, recruiting, application questions, pay rates, referrals and much more.

I know this may all seem overwhelming to think about, but in the long run it’s exciting! You are part of a growing organization – don’t make the hiring process a nerve wrecking one (for you or the applicant). Have fun and follow these simple rules to get the most out of it all.

For more information about assessments and skill tests, please contact ExactHire today.

Image credit: number one by frankieleon (contact)

Make Hiring More Predictable

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We recently hired another staff member, and as we wound down the process, one of the key factors in choosing the person we did was based on the type of work they had done previously and the positive feedback from others who had worked with that person in those prior positions.

This made me stop and think about an old, but mostly true, saying:

“Past performance is the best predictor of future performance.”

As you likely know from prior blogs, I’m a big believer in employee assessments — both in the hiring process and for post-hire development. Assessments (when used properly) are an excellent way to gather very valid and objective data about applicants that you otherwise would not access until after they’re hired. Likewise, the better assessment providers allow you to create benchmarks of common traits among your better performers. In turn, this helps you get a better sense of how well a potential hire matches up to those existing good performers.

At the same time, if you think about the hiring process for most organizations, there’s another component that can significantly improve the likelihood of better hires. That component…the reference check.

Before your mind wanders to the frustration and time spent chasing down references, let me qualify this a bit. I’m talking about reference checks that can actually be quantified and used for ongoing review of your hiring successes and disappointments.

There are solutions available that allow you to not only automate the process of procuring references from employees — they also allow you to gather information from those references in a way that produces more responses, more quickly and with better information.

Targeted Reference Checks

By utilizing this type of approach, you are able to determine the types of specific characteristics for which you want feedback from references. Instead of simply confirming employment dates and job titles, you can now allow references to rate a given applicant on these specific things that you know from experience are important for your particular position. Since the process is anonymous for the references, they consistently provide more truthful responses and more relevant information.
Any applicant can put down 3 references on an application — especially if you don’t quantify what type of references you require. With this automated alternative, however, you may dictate whether you want former bosses, former peers, former direct reports, current peers, etc.

My point here isn’t to lobby for reference checks over assessments. Ideally, you can use both. Instead, this is simply an option that many folks don’t know exists. By utilizing it properly, you have the opportunity to make hiring decisions more predictable and continue to bring a larger number of good performers into your organization. After all, isn’t this the primary objective of any talent acquisition process?

To learn more about how employee assessment and reference check options available through ExactHire can make hiring more predictable for your organization, please contact us today.

Image credit: Arrows showing up (Blender) by FutUndBeidl (contact)

Bad Resumes Are Like Celebrity Train Wrecks

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I admit that it is a guilty pleasure of mine to read celebrity gossip articles and websites. It’s humorous, mindless trash but I read it anyway, similar to a train wreck…you just can’t help but watch and see what happens next. In the past week alone, we learned that Beyonce’s sister has rage issues and Angelina Jolie had a makeup faux pas on the red carpet. What exciting things will come next?!? I started thinking about some of the bad mistakes people make on resumes, and how they could be similar to the celebrity missteps I see in gossip columns.

Bad opening objective

This is your chance to make the best first impression. It’s the first thing a recruiter will read and you want to dazzle him/her. A bad objective is like showing up on the red carpet with bad make-up…people will remember it, and even if the rest of your resume (or gown) is amazing, they will not be able to stop thinking about that first impression mistake. Be specific in your objective and tailor it to what the organization is looking for in its open position.

Visually cluttered – aka a hot mess

Most people like “pretty” things, resumes are the same. Having a very busy or cluttered resume will surely land you on the “Worst Dressed” lists, time and time again, like Miley Cyrus. Remember that your resume is not the only one that is being seen by the recruiter so make sure it is legible and neat. Don’t overcrowd information. Gone are the days of resumes being printed out on paper regularly…so do not feel the urge to squish all your information into one page. If you need to use two pages, it is more acceptable now especially since so many companies use applicant tracking software for managing and storing applicant information.

Boring or Vague

This makes me think of the long winded, over-sharing type of celebrity who posts 20 times a day on Twitter and has more hashtags than brain cells. After a while, no one pays attention to her. Regarding your resume, make sure you are concise and specific. When listing past job experiences, use action verbs and state accomplishments, not just duties. This will keep the organization interested without giving recruiters too much. You can always elaborate more in a cover letter or during an interview.

Typos

Can you say wardrobe malfunction a la Janet Jackson? This is a major oops for anyone! There is no reason to have typos or other grammatical errors on your resume. Make sure you proofread it and also have another person review your resume before sending it out. If there are errors, the recruiter is likely to think that you do not care much about the job or lack attention to detail; either scenario will hurt your chances of landing the job. Reading your resume out loud might also help you find any other errors that you have missed, too.

By following these rules, not only with your resume avoid the “trash” pile and a negative shout out by Joan Rivers and Kelly Osbourne, but it will also be more favorably reviewed by recruiters. To learn more about our ExactHire’s recruiting software products, please visit our resources section or contact us now.

Image credit: trainwreck by Daniel Pierce (contact)

Social Media and Job Hunting – 3 Tips for Success

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If you’re considering a career change, social media can be a wonderful tool to help you find opportunities and introductions not easily available in your day-to-day life. At the same time, these tools can cut the other way, if not used properly.

For example, if you think the picture above is a great way to show potential employers your “fun” or “interesting” side, think again. It’s important to be judicious in how you use social platforms, while also understanding how potential employers may use them to recruit or screen applicants. This is essential to improving–not hurting–your odds of getting the job with the help of social media.

With that in mind, here are three critical–yet simple–things to consider when job hunting with social media.

Leverage information to your benefit

Profiles for hiring managers and corporations on sites such as LinkedIn and GlassDoor can help you immeasurably. You’re able to see people you may know in common, better understand the corporate culture of a potential employer, and even see what former employees have to say about the organization. This information puts you in a position to make sure this is somewhere you’d really like to work, in addition to providing you a great opportunity to ask more insightful questions during the hiring process.

Be committed, but don’t overcommit

Rather trying to keep several social profiles up to date and relevant, focus on one or two that you know can help you convey your personality and professionalism. Having a smaller number of current and relevant profiles is much more impressive to potential employers. It gives them a chance to see what’s important to you and how you choose to interact with others in this type of environment.

For instance, LinkedIn is widely seen as the “professional” social network. Investing time on this platform will likely benefit you more in the job search than, say, Snapchat. Also look for platforms that integrate with one another. This will allow you to effectively double your social presence with each post you make. Instagram and Facebook are two examples.

Be smart with social media

This should go without saying, but make sure the images you have tied to your profiles are professional and appropriate. While you may love a certain movie character, entertainer or sports team, setting those types of images for your profile may turn off potential employers. And, of course, be sure to take down any embarrassing or incriminating images/posts that may possibly be viewed by potential employers.

You may never be told, but the fact is many hiring teams do actively look at social profiles for candidates and may choose to hold certain things against you. Take the time to look at your profiles to make sure anything there can only help you. Alternatively, adjust you privacy settings to ensure that only your trusted circle of friends can see your fun “yolo” posts.

Being connected and having so much information at your disposal offers great opportunities. Take advantage of these opportunities and protect yourself at the same time.

ExactHire’s offers social recruiting tools within its HireCentric applicant tracking software. For more information, please visit our resources section or contact us today.

Image credit: San Diego Comic-Con International 2012: Facebooking by Kevin Dooley (contact)