How to Effortlessly Use Texting to Hire Hourly Workers

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You only have to look at your smartphone’s weekly screen time report to know that the amount of time we spend accessing our phones is increasing at a relentless pace. Whether our pervasive mobile usage troubles or encourages you, it is undeniable. In fact, according to research done by Hitwise, the average device split for searches was 72% for mobile and 28% for desktop in 2017.

In consideration of the amount of time people spend doing web searches on phones, naturally we’re in a climate where employers must adapt and leverage mobile communication in their hiring process–particularly while unemployment is at an epic low.

Today, the name of the hiring game is speed, and this is painfully realized in industries that employ a large number of hourly, non-exempt workers. The reality of those employers is that if they hesitate to respond quickly, the competitor across the street has already paid their would-be new hire for their first shift.

Signs that you’re not effectively using a text recruiting strategy

We can and should all continuously experiment with and tweak our hiring processes. The hiring landscape changes so quickly that constant attention is required. However, there are telltale signs that help identify when your organization has a more significant mobile communication problem.

Phone ghosting

I was initially surprised a couple of years ago when I heard that many employers of hourly workers, in particular, struggled to get candidates to respond to phone invitations for an initial interview. If your recruiters are frequently encountering full voice mail boxes when reaching out to schedule a conversation; or they discover that a candidate doesn’t even have voice mail set up, then it’s time to try something other than a phone call.

Candidate shelf-life

It’s not uncommon for employers who rely on large numbers of hourly workers to empower the managers and assistant managers of various store locations to screen candidates and invite them to proceed in the hiring process. Because hiring is just one of myriad operational responsibilities for these managers, they don’t always respond to candidates as quickly as may be necessary in this job market.

This failure in prompt candidate engagement all too often sinks a retail location’s recruiting efforts before the ship even leaves port. Or, maybe a manager is in such tremendous need of candidates that he recognizes this deficiency and immediately calls or emails new applicants. However, because many hourly workers tend to fill positions that aren’t necessarily accompanied by a desktop computer or an office landline, their tendency is to communicate via text rather than voice mail or email.

If a job seeker doesn’t recognize a general manager’s incoming phone number, chances are she’ll avoid taking the call–meanwhile, if she has applied to multiple hourly positions, a savvy competitor is grabbing her attention and her time via text before she checks her inbox.

Standardizing communication and respecting candidate privacy

In the absence of a strong hiring software platform that allows managers to contact job candidates via text message, many managers of hourly workers will resort to their own smartphone to contact applicants to connect for an interview.

This is commonplace; however, it isn’t in the best interest of the employer. In many cases, these applicants were not prompted to opt-in to receiving text messages during the job application process–why would they if the applicant tracking system didn’t support text messaging?

Not only is this a privacy concern as it does not allow job candidates to formally opt-out of text messages once they are initiated, but practically speaking, candidates won’t necessarily be on the lookout for text communication from your organization.

Arguably, they will probably quickly adapt given that texting is second nature to many of them, but your organization is missing an opportunity to set expectations about the hiring process and endear itself to candidates…candidates who are in hot demand.

Moreover, when general managers take texting candidates into their own hands outside of an ATS, there is no guarantee of adequate communication documentation with the job applicant. By utilizing applicant tracking software that includes in-application texting functionality, an employer is ensuring that multiple users of the system have access to review communication between candidates.

After all, in this highly competitive recruiting landscape, recruiters have full plates and may be called to work on different job requisitions if a co-worker is on vacation, on leave, etc. What you don’t want is for only one person in your organization to have access to candidate conversations–that’s a significant obstacle for a scaling company.

Why is mobile recruiting an opportunity for hourly jobs in particular?

Hourly workers are often the front-line defense (or offense) for your organization. They are the individuals who are most likely to interact directly with your customers. And, unfortunately, they are often in the positions with the highest turnover–whether that is related to the nature of the job, the typical lower pay (relative to exempt positions), and/or the lack of benefits (at least in the case of part-time hourly employees). In a job market flooded with open positions, candidates will leave for a few cents more per hour.

You see this happen in positions like

  • hosts and servers at your local restaurant,
  • cashiers at your retail store,
  • LPNs at your healthcare facility,
  • service techs at your automotive dealership, and
  • direct support professionals (DSPs) for nonprofits.

People who fill these types of positions tend to be on the go (i.e. not doing a desk job) and may have more than one part-time job at a time. They don’t get into email or voice mail as frequently (if at all), and so they need fewer barriers to communication when it comes to job consideration, as well as long-term engagement with an employer.

Considering that over 58% of America’s working population fills hourly positions (BLS, 2017), there’s real opportunity to leverage texting to be the first to attract and engage hourly job candidates. I’m offering the following steps to help you position your organization as an earlier adopter of the mobile recruiting revolution.

6 steps to successfully use texting to hire hourly workers

1 – Create communication efficiency

Use pre-built text message templates within your applicant tracking system. Create and label them for different stages in the selection process for hourly workers. This saves store managers time when they need to hire three new retail associates–“yesterday!”

2 – Model the right texting behavior

Train your hiring managers on appropriate texting etiquette for your recruiting process. Does the language they use and the tone they convey support your overall employment brand? Additionally, make sure they understand how text messages will show up to the job candidate.

An easy way to accomplish this is to test the messaging feature from within a sample job application. Then, take a screenshot of how it appears to a recipient on your phone and share it with managers. This step will help them understand from what number(s) messages may originate, whether the sender’s name, job title and/or organization name are referenced, and how much of the message will appear on the preview screen before being cut off.

3 – Lightning fast speed

Use text to reply promptly to candidates once they’ve responded to your initial outreach. Don’t make the mistake of resting on your laurels once you have native texting functionality and take your sweet time to reply–jump on message responses!

Remember: texting affords job candidates fewer communication barriers to entry, so they expect organizations to respond quickly, too.

4 – Strategically plan text content

You should absolutely use text to reach all types of job candidates to screen and schedule interviews. However, text messages also present an opportunity–when used thoughtfully and selectively–to reach candidates who are on the fence about joining your organization.

Consider the potential impact of a personalized message sharing a link to a positive article about your company. Or, the likelihood that a hired candidate will end up ghosting you during the pre-boarding phase if you regularly connect with him to prepare him for his first shift.

5 – Flip the script on thank you notes

Use text messages to thank a job candidate for her time and preparation after you conduct an interview. That’s right–once upon a time, we expected job candidates to thank recruiters and hiring managers for their time in order to help them secure an offer–but times are changing!

Thank you notes are still an amazing gesture on the part of a job candidate, but they are no longer a mainstay for job offer consideration in today’s job market given the sorry state of many employers’ candidate pipelines.

Today is about sourcing, not screening. Break through the clutter by proactively thanking candidates with a simple text message and humanize your hiring process.

6 – Hiring process visualization

When candidates know what to expect from the hiring process it

  • helps them visualize how they see themselves interacting with your organization,
  • may allow them to more adequately prepare, and
  • it makes it easier for them to say “yes” when you make the job offer.

You can use text to quickly outline the various hiring process steps at the onset of the recruiting process. Think of this step as reducing friction for distracted job seekers who probably have many options before them. If you can grease their understanding runway regarding your job opportunity–and you can do so quickly–you’ll be the employer who is poaching job candidates from competitors across the street.

Mobile recruiting facilitated by text message communication is here to stay. Armed with the steps outlined above, you’re on the way to engaging the job seekers in your hourly job candidate pipeline and positively impacting your employer’s bottom line.

ExactHire Hiring Software | Text Recruiting

9 Ways to Show Empathy When Employees Take a Leave of Absence

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This is an easy time of year to remember to give thanks. With all the festivities of the holiday season, we don’t have to try that hard to show gratitude and be empathetic to others’ situations when things are going well. However, have you paused to reflect on how you demonstrate empathy during other times of the year?

The privilege to always show empathy and gratitude to others has never been more clear for me…as over the past couple of weeks I have cared for a close family member recovering from a challenging life event. I’ve been humbled and overwhelmed by the numerous demonstrations of support received from family and friends…and co-workers.

Empathy in the workplace is worth serious conversation, as the degree to which it is championed varies significantly from one organization to the next. However, because we spend so much of our lives in the workplace, our organizations are one of the best venues to grow our empathy practices. One of the most practical applications of this opportunity is when employees must take a leave of absence due to their own health condition or to care for a family member.

In this blog, I’ll cover nine ways that employers may demonstrate empathy when employees take a leave of absence from work. Still looking for tips and tricks for HR situations? An ATS solves many HR related problems, look at our Free ATS Guide to learn about the myriad of problems that can be solved with an ATS.

1 – Embrace a growth mindset

If your organization hasn’t traditionally gone above and beyond to empathize with employees who require leave, don’t fret. Your organizational capacity for empathy can improve if you and your company can create the space for that practice.

I believe most people want to be compassionate, but often things unintentionally get in the way. People become distracted with being busy to the point that they are not attuned to opportunities to align with others’ needs and make a meaningful impact. Create time to intentionally focus on empathy toward others throughout the month.

2 – Be reassuring and consistent

When an employee takes a leave of absence, it can be based on circumstances that were unanticipated. The potentially unknown duration for a leave of absence may create stress for an employee. Nevertheless, the situation does offer an opportunity for your organization to be reassuring as well as consistent with communication about leave benefits. This helps to build a foundation for trust and emotional safety from the perspective of the employee.

3 – Be specific with your offer

I’m the type of person that never wants to appear as if I am taking advantage of others by saying “yes” to non-specific offers of help. For example, I politely thank someone who says “let me know if you need anything” without ever seeking his assistance…because it may be too overwhelming to think about what that assistance would be…and whether it would be too big of an ask for that individual.

However, lately I’ve learned to say “yes,” and it’s been easier when people offer specific ways they can help. A gesture may be as simple as offering to clear a co-worker’s calendar on his behalf when he is called away to care for a loved one; or, offering to deliver a care package to get a teammate through hard times.

By articulating a tangible offer, I think it is easier for the beneficiary of the help to say “yes” because you take away a potentially distracting decision from him–that is, the decision of what type of help to seek. These gestures cut through the stress and anxiety experienced by your impacted co-worker and help him persevere. They are a partial roadmap in an uncertain time and help alleviate the burden of yet another decision.

4 – Utilize communication templates for efficiency

Have a template ready to quickly send leave administration paperwork to an affected employee when the need arises. Use technology (everything from an HRIS to a free Trello board) to create and manage leave-related touchpoints…think of it as employee onboarding for the leave process.

Make your content consistent, yet approachable, and answer questions like those recommended by Jellyvision:

  • How much time can I take off?
  • Will I be paid, and if so, how much?
  • Is my job safe…or should I worry?

Also, match and mirror the employee in terms of her preferred communication mode (e.g. email, phone, text, etc.). Be mindful of employee preferences when it comes to in-person communications during a difficult stretch. For example, know whether she would be comforted by a friendly hug or view it as an encroachment on her personal space.

5 – Designate a single point of contact

Have your HR representative ask the employee if he wishes for any updates to be shared with concerned co-workers. With the employee’s consent, ask him if he prefers a single point of contact for updates or if he is okay with other teammates reaching out to check in. Otherwise, he may find himself struggling to keep up with 50 text messages from concerned co-workers all at once.

Even if a person is active on social media with what is happening in his life, and connected to co-workers on that network, he may still appreciate a single person for communication in the workplace.

6 – Make it easy for others to help

As long as the employee has consented to the employer allowing others within the organization to help, the company can organize outreach efforts on behalf of the employee taking leave. For example, consider

  • allowing other employees to donate PTO or sick time,
  • using a site such as takethemameal.com to set up a meal sign-up sheet, or
  • organizing a sign-up sheet to ensure that a periodic visitor helps to keep the employee’s spirits up.

7 – Choose empathy rather than sympathy

While empathy and sympathy are closely related, empathy goes a bit further to put yourself in the shoes of a person experiencing an event. Conversely, sympathetic gestures often begin with a statement such as “at least you don’t have X going on.” While the intent of sympathy may be to put rose-colored glasses on a tough situation, it may not do anything to help someone through a rough spot. However, finding common ground through a similar shared experience and letting an employee know you that you’re available to provide support may prove more effective.

Truly listen to what an employee needs in a challenging moment. And, if you don’t have amazing advice, just tell her you hear her and are there to help. Active listening means you don’t think about your next statement before the other person is finished speaking. Rather, you pause and then restate what she said, and ask questions to hone in on how you can be of assistance.

8 – Train your managers

Not only is it good form for your managers to be sensitive to the emotional, physical and social stresses an employee may experience related to a leave of absence, but it’s also sound business practice to make sure your managers have undergone training to handle leave administration appropriately.

Without training, employers leave themselves open to liability resulting from “foolish” statements by uninformed managers, according to Jeff Nowak in this SHRM article.

9 – Be available for the long haul

It’s easy for an organization to be helpful in the early days of an employee’s challenge, but make sure you create triggers to check in with the employee when the initial shock has worn off, too. Recovery from challenging life events takes time and an employee’s communication and tangible needs may evolve throughout that process. For example, make it easy for an employee to understand what is necessary to extend a short term disability claim, or to see what accommodations are needed in order to return to work more quickly.

When was the last time you considered how “human” your company’s human resources efforts are when it comes to assisting teammates with challenging circumstances? In this season of Thanksgiving, let’s re-examine what we’re doing in the workplace to empathize with our employees’ life situations and lift them up when they need support.

Prevent Workplace Theft

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Hiring the right talent for your organization is never an exact science. Hiring managers and teams must seek to make the best hiring decisions with the information they have available. Sometimes this inexact science results in a new hire that lacks certain skills or competence. In this scenario, a poor hiring decision can be overcome through employee training or coaching.

However, other times a bad hiring decision reveals itself in ways completely separate from employee performance. It may be the case that entirely capable employees are hurting an employer through more sinister means, specifically, through workplace theft.

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), in it’s 2018 Report to the Nations, states that the median loss for U.S. companies due to fraud is $104,000. For small businesses, those with under 100 employees, the median loss nearly doubles to $200,000. It’s important to note that these figures are only for companies that reported fraud to the association at the time of the survey, which begs the question: how prevalent is workplace theft in the United States?

Unfortunately, that answer is not encouraging either. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, it’s estimated that 75% of employees will steal from their employer at least once. And around one-third will become multiple offenders.

How does employee theft happen?

Workplace theft can take many forms. It’s not the case that employees are stealing $100,000 worth of paperclips. However, relatively minor instances of theft can set the stage (and build the workplace culture) for more costly crimes. Here’s an overview of what employee theft can include:

  • Larceny: stealing cash or property from an employer.
  • Embezzlement: when an employee in a position of legal authority and trust steals cash or property. For example, a cashier taking money from the register.
  • Billing: setting up a fake payee account and paying that account (themselves) for fake goods or services.
  • Payroll: writing payroll checks to employees that do not exist, or requesting compensation for more time than actually worked.
  • Expense Reimbursement: submitting an expense report with line items that were not bought or were not business-related.
  • Time Theft: using company time to conduct personal business.
  • Information Theft: when employees use a company’s proprietary information to directly or indirectly benefit themselves.

Why does workplace theft happen?

The AFCE offers Cressey’s “fraud triangle” to concisely illustrate the psychology behind workplace theft.

Pressure

The path toward theft or fraud, begins with the employee experiencing or perceiving some type of pressure. This pressure is what makes the act of theft necessary or just in the mind of the employee. Some examples of this can include, a sudden financial set back or unexpected debt; or an employee’s belief that their work is not adequately compensated.

Opportunity

Once an employee feels the pressure to commit workplace theft, it’s only a matter of time that the employee will discover an opportunity to relieve that pressure. This opportunity often presents itself in work environments that lack controls for theft prevention, or in “flat” organizations that put a great deal of trust in each employee.

Rationalization

Finally, an employee will need to convince themselves that the act of theft is acceptable. There are many ways in which this can work. However, it’s often the case that an employee will fall into one of these categories:

  • The employee believes they will simply borrow an item or resource.
  • The immorality of stealing addresses the employer’s immorality of under-compensating or mistreating employees.
  • The desperation of their situation necessitates theft (like Jean Valjean stealing bread).
  • The theft is victimless. The employee doesn’t see the company as a person or collection of people, and so the theft is not harmful.
  • The risk is worth the reward. The employee doesn’t believe they will be caught and/or doesn’t believe the punishment will be severe.
  • It’s part of the company culture. An employee sees others committing theft and deems it acceptable.

How can employers prevent workplace theft?

With workplace theft so common, it’s nearly impossible to eliminate it completely. However, there are a number of measures a company can take that will minimize the possibility of employee theft.

 

Address theft in company policies.

Describe what constitutes theft by giving clear examples, and outline the punishment for theft. A zero-tolerance policy sends a strong message.

 

Be transparent in addressing workplace theft.

Ensure that all employees are aware of when theft occurs and the measures taken to address it. Ideally, those measures will be in alignment with the aforementioned company policies. This communicates to employees that the employer is serious about theft prevention.

 

Conduct more rigorous background checks.

Not all employees who have committed theft in the workplace are prosecuted. A simple check of police reports or criminal records will not insulate employers from hiring an employee with a history of theft. Employers must call on previous employers to help them gain a better picture of an employee’s character. This is especially important for any employee who will be handling money.

 

Informally audit on a consistent basis.

Ensure that there is more than one person responsible for reviewing financials, inventory, time, and attendance. This helps to hold a team accountable for the use of resources and can stop theft before it starts (lack of opportunity).

 

Develop process for reporting employee theft.

Empower employees to report suspicions or evidence of theft through an anonymous means. Often taking the form of a “tip hotline”, a theft reporting process is yet another deterrent for would-be thieves in the workplace.

Better hiring to prevent employee theft

Employee theft can exist unnoticed for years when it’s at a small scale. However, this existence has the potential to grow into more costly forms of fraud. The best way for employers to prevent workplace theft is to optimize the hiring process to screen out would-be thieves. This can include:

From there, employers must turn to developing a strong system of controls to educate and deter employees who may be at risk of committing theft. And when workplace theft does occur, an employer must be ready and willing to enforce company policies in a timely, effective manner.

17 Details for Your New Hire’s First Day *Don’t Forget!

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An employee’s first day of work usually includes a mix of emotions. And although an employer cannot possibly control those emotions, it can be prepared to warmly welcome new hires and eliminate unnecessary stress.  Often times it’s the small details that can make the biggest difference in the new hire experience. So here’s a list of seventeen details that you’ll want to remember in order to make your new hire’s first day perfect.

Map to ExactHire

1. Maps & Amelia Earhart

Everyone can get lost! Be kind and provide an address, accompanied by a map, to show new hires where to park and where to go when they first arrive.

 

2. Parking Permits

Does your office require a parking permit, or is there a waiting list to get into the parking garage? Your new hire will want to know.

 

3. Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

We aren’t all lucky enough to work in cities with public transit, but if you do and your company has an incentive program, be sure to include those details.

 

4. Day One Schedule

It is great to have a schedule that provides accurate information. Notify everyone on the team of the new hire’s first day schedule to encourage them to be ready at designated times.

 

5. Jinx the cat uses the toilet

Please make sure one of the first things you do when a new person arrives to your office is show them where the toilet is. There is no need for peeing in the corner if you know where the toilet is.

 

6. No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service

Dress codes may be a bit more lax these days, but if there are lines you don’t want crossed, a Working Attire Policy and/or Hygiene Policy should be in place and provided as soon as possible.  Offer a time to discuss any policies to ensure the new hire understands the policies in place and enforced.

7. Hello, is it me you’re looking for?

Cell phones are basically attached to everyone nowadays – if you don’t want your staff playing Candy Crush at their  desk, make sure you let everyone know the rules.

8. Inspirational Cat Pictures

Sending personal emails, social media, and shopping online are great ways to waste time at work. Setting limitations and expectations for internet use at work is becoming more and more important, especially with the constant need for cybersecurity.

9. Bueller?!

Every employee needs to know about allocated sick days, PTO, and any repercussions for going to a parade after calling in sick.

10. Where do you want to eat?

Whether you have a cafeteria, common fridge, or vending machines – it is important that your new hire knows what’s what. At a bare minimum, provide some local lunch places or delivery menus for reference.

11. What makes your office special?

Do you have shared bikes or umbrellas available across your campus? Do you have a ticket concierge to help your employees get the hot tickets around town? Does your office have an annual retreat or summer company picnic? Remember to tell your employees about these things as soon as they come onboard.

12. Benefits

  • 401K – Does the company offer a match?
  • Roth IRA
  • 529 / Educational Savings Account
  • Pension
  • Medical
  • Dental
  • Health
  • Flexible Spending Accounts
  • Pet Insurance
  • Any other optional benefit offered.

13. Mo’ Money > Mo’ Problems

Provide the pay schedule, bonus structures, and commission rates to ensure there isn’t any confusion for the new hire. If you offer direct deposit or use pay cards, provide that information as well. There is nothing like getting your first paycheck late due to a clerical error to put a bad spin on your new job!

14. Drug & Alcohol Policy

Pre-employment drug testing, random testing, and consequences of being under the influence at work need to be identified and defined. Different industries will have different requirements here but in a world where your employee might go somewhere that recreational marijuana is legal, you can never be too safe in making sure that the rules are known up front.

15. Guns

You might be okay with your employees packing heat – maybe you aren’t – but either way, this is a hot topic that should be discussed with your employees on or before their first day at the office.

16. Inter-office Dating

Does your office host speed-dating once a quarter after work? Do you work in an environment where dating co-workers or customers is strictly prohibited? You’ll want to be certain your employees don’t have any questions about the office dating scene.

17. Childcare

Even if your office doesn’t have a childcare facility, you might want to provide resources for your employees that may have just moved to town. Don’t forget about your employees with fur-babies and include any policies on bringing children or pets to work.

Don’t Forget!

The seventeen details above are examples of some important things that often go unmentioned. Your organization may have others as well. To make sure that you are including the right details, you may want to audit your existing onboarding materials to review the level of detail that is included.

Knowing what the important details are is one thing, but remembering to communicate them in a timely manner is another. To make sure that you remember to communicate the details, you can utilize a number of free task management tools available online or you may wish to explore employee onboarding software, which will automate communications and provide a digital repository for reference materials.

Audit Your Recruitment Process Marketing Content to Delight Job Seekers

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Use this audit checklist to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of your recruiting process-related content.

I’m not the first one to say that recruiters, human resources professionals and marketing specialists should team up to create content that engages top talent in your recruitment process. However, how many of you have actively engaged in measuring the impact of that HR/marketing “bestie” partnership?

If you don’t have a benchmark from which to grow, your organization will have a tough time figuring out which recruiting content is worth the investment of time and money.

Maximize the effectiveness of your recruiting content with a periodic audit of your hiring process-related promotional assets. Establishing KPIs for content will make it easy to quickly identify existing content gems, as well as guide you in developing additional content that will resonate.

Auditing your recruitment content is as easy as 1-2-3

Let’s examine the audit process and recap with a free recruitment process marketing content scorecard.

1 – Determine your recruitment content audit’s focus

You can’t decide if you’re investing your time and resources to produce recruitment content wisely until you settle on the scope of your audit.

Don’t sweat it if you can’t tackle a comprehensive audit in your first attempt. If you can–great–though it will depend on your recruiting volume and what you’ve previously tackled in terms of content analysis.

It’s okay to segment an otherwise comprehensive audit into smaller sub-audits–just have an overall plan in place for which audit type should be attempted first.

Potential content audit focuses:

  • Employment brand quality: consider whether your recruitment content is well written, and whether it aligns with what you’ve defined as your organizational employment brand.
  • Hiring process stage: analyze whether a specific hiring process stage is addressed in each of your content assets, and if job seeker questions characteristic of that stage are answered by the content.
  • Job board optimization and search engine optimization (SEO): review your job listing rankings on third party job boards and recruitment content performance on external search engines to identify improvements that will create better digital awareness for your employment opportunities.
  • Content compliance: examine whether your content meets any industry- and/or government-related compliance requirements for your organization, including an analysis of your career content’s ability to attract a diverse set of job candidates.

2 – Settle on your audit evaluation factors

Your recruiting content evaluation process will be based on the type of audit you select. The audit factors must be easily measurable and align to your project scope.

Because this audit is a wonderful opportunity to connect the human resources and marketing teams in your company, ask the project champions from each of those departments to determine the ideal recruiting content audit criteria.

If we select a hiring process stage audit as an example, then HR and marketing might jointly evaluate factors like the content’s

  • alignment with overall employment brand,
  • specific hiring stage focus (e.g. awareness, consideration, conversion, retention and advocacy),
  • attempt to answer stage-appropriate job seeker questions,
  • call-to-action for the next step in the hiring process,
  • current distribution and promotion method by stage type, and
  • likelihood of being easily utilized by hiring stage stakeholders

As you prepare for an audit, you should also plan your intended project deliverables. Aside from a quantitative score for each recruitment content asset, deliverables can include other action steps to enhance content quality.

Potential hiring process stage content audit deliverables:

  • Documentation of all current content assets by hiring stage
  • Content gap analysis for certain hiring process stages
  • List of questions that individual content assets should answer at each hiring process stage
  • Action steps for your content library – content to retain, revise, create or expire
  • Template for creating content for each hiring process stage
  • Distribution strategy for each asset based on hiring process stage and content type (e.g. owned media such as your own career site, earned media such as a guest blog placement on an industry website, or paid media such as a sponsored job listing on a job board)

3 – Rank your recruiting process content

After you’ve married the appropriate content criteria with each asset, you’re ready to score your recruitment process content!

Please recognize that some things can be quantitatively evaluated (e.g. how many out of X job seeker questions are answered?) while others are subjective (e.g. does the narrative’s language support our employment brand initiatives?).

Now’s your chance to create your own evaluation form to standardize your existing and future recruitment content.

Need some help designing your employer’s scoring process? ExactHire created this recruitment process content scorecard to help you hit the ground running.

 

ExactHire Recruitment Process Content Scorecard

Recommendations that resonate

Your audit data is chock full of ideas on where you can start making an immediate impact on your recruitment process marketing. Best of all, it’s backed by a standardized content scorecard.

Use your scorecard analysis to spot trends. Does one aspect of your hiring process consistently fall short? Could others help implement some of the action steps due to their expertise in one stage of the process?

Backed by your audit data, you’re on your way to constructing a high-level recruitment process content strategy that will reinforce your employment brand and help convert more new hires.

Ban The Box Expands (WA, NM, CO)

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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate is less than 4%, a near record low that indicates various strengths in the economy. For employers, economic strength is beneficial as it tends to signal increased sales and services sought by consumers; however, it also means a highly competitive labor market with heightened challenges in finding individuals to fill vacant positions.

When open positions remain vacant longer than preferred, the result is impeded organizational output and overworked employees who assume extra duties until those positions are filled. Ban the Box legislation can help employers increase their applicant pool by surfacing qualified individuals who might have been previously overlooked.

What is Ban the Box?

Research shows that individuals with a criminal history are 50% less likely to receive a call back or job offer due to their past criminal history. Ban the Box legislation is aimed at helping these individuals gain employment by preventing employers from asking criminal history questions on the initial job application.

Hawaii kickstarted the Ban the Box movement when it enabled legislation in 1998. Other state legislators followed suit, though the scope of legislation varies by state. Since certain employer exceptions exist, it is crucial to know the specifics of Ban the Box legislation in each state in which your organization hires. The National Law Employment Project (NELP) offers additional resources and ongoing updates on the Ban the Box movement.

States with Ban the Box

Currently, federal legislation does not exist for nationwide Ban the Box policies for public and private sector employers. Thirteen states, listed below, passed state legislation specifying when criminal history questions can be asked to applicants applying to jobs within the public and private sector. Various municipalities have their own local laws for adherence as well. For a complete list, visit SHRM’s (Society for Human Resources Management) Ban the Box Laws by State and Municipality.

  1. Hawaii (1998)
  2. Massachusetts (2010)
  3. Minnesota (2014)
  4. Rhode Island (2014)
  5. Illinois (2015)
  6. New Jersey (2015)
  7. Oregon (2016)
  8. Vermont (2017)
  9. Connecticut (2017)
  10. California (2018)
  11. Washington (2018)
  12. New Mexico (2019)
  13. Colorado (2019)

Increasing Opportunity (and Applicants)

With the current and anticipated expansion of Ban the Box legislation affecting employers’ hiring processes, applicant pools will start to increase as individuals with a previous conviction history receive additional consideration. While the employers’ goal remains the same, fill their organization’s vacancies with the applicants best suited for the roles, Ban the Box legislation aims to have employers include individuals for consideration that previously may have been denied initial review due to previous criminal history.

ExactHire Clients Subject to Ban the Box

At ExactHire, we take pride in doing our best to ensure our clients’ satisfaction is the highest possible. We do whatever we can to resolve clients’ current needs and identify potential needs. After you speak with your legal counsel, and if you and your legal team decide changes need to be made to your employment application(s) to comply with legislation, the ExactHire team can work with you to create a new application with the verbiage you specify for compliance.

Also, please know that one of the benefits of using ExactHire’s HireCentric software as your applicant tracking system is that you can create multiple employment applications, each specific to your needs. If you are an existing client looking for more information about updating your current employment application(s) and/or creating additional employment applications, please email support@exacthire.com, and let us know your needs.

For more information about HireCentric ATS, please visit our resources page or contact us today.

9 Employer Strategies That Limit Ghosting

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Even if you haven’t already heard the term employee “ghosting,” odds are you have still experienced the workplace trend. What is ghosting and why is it more relevant to your organization than ever?

From existing employees failing to show up for work and disappearing without a trace…to job seekers reneging on an accepted offer when a better one comes in last minute–ghosting occurs when someone you are counting on fails to appear and doesn’t give you any notice.

Why is this trend emerging now? Contributing factors may include a labor shortage, a tight job market, and younger generations’ popular preference for electronic correspondence over face-to-face conflict resolution. Not surprisingly, ghosting affects industries with a large number of hourly workers, but it’s also impacting the white collar worlds of technology firms, business services and healthcare.

Here are nine strategies to help scare off the ghosting trend in your workplace.

1 – Follow the Golden Rule

This is simple, yet worth restating with some regularity nonetheless. I frequently find myself telling my kids to “treat people the way you’d want to be treated.” And, the same goes for employees and applicants. Keep them informed, treat them with respect and be kind. For a long time, many employers got away with ghosting job seekers and interviewees, failing to respond to the messages of final stage candidates or even completely neglecting to decline them at the end of a hiring process.

Make sure your own recruiting tactics don’t include ghosting tendencies…turnabout is fair play! Recruiters can’t get away with the same bad behavior they may have had when unemployment wasn’t at the low that it is right now.

2 – Strategize the counteroffer

Considering that one of the insidious forms in which ghosting takes shape is that the employee doesn’t show up on his first day, you must anticipate job candidates receiving competitive offers–including a counteroffer from an existing employer.

Plan a strategy session with a newly hired employee at the time he accepts the offer and talk through various scenarios. Encourage him to brainstorm with you how he might fend off a counteroffer. Remind him to consider why he originally looked elsewhere and provide a template the candidate may follow to talk through his resignation with an existing employer.

3 – Leverage text recruiting

Since applicants (like the general population) rely on smartphones to screen their calls, in the age of spam robo-callers it is less likely that they will pick up the phone when you call them for the first time to schedule an interview. In my product research calls over the last year, many employers explained that job seekers they try to contact frequently don’t even have their voice mail box set up–or if they do, it’s full.

Make sure your hiring software includes the ability to text with candidates, and more importantly, ensure that incoming text message notifications to your job seekers adequately identify your organization, related job and recruiter name.

4 – Over-communicate with job candidates

Obsess about the communication piece of your employment brand. Counteract a potential eventual lack of communication on the candidate’s part with meticulous communication from the employer throughout the selection process. Job seekers will feel more informed and more engaged to reciprocate communication if they sense the opportunity may not work for them. Here are some specific communication tactics:

  • Set expectations about what the hiring process involves at the very beginning of the process (e.g. number of stages, requirements of each stage, duration of process, etc.).
  • Send updates to job seekers when target dates for various stages get delayed.
  • Invite candidates to share feedback about your process at different steps along the way–whether they are selected for the position or not.
  • Stay connected with silver medal candidates for future consideration. They are a great back-up if the gold medalist ghosts you, and more likely to come through for you in the next position if you keep them engaged in your pipeline through thoughtful messaging.

5 – Be transparent with those who refer candidates

Follow-up with referrers of candidates to thank them for their employee referral, and acknowledge your appreciation for the referral with the job candidate, too. This personal reminder puts pressure on the referred candidate not to let her friend down by ghosting the employer and risk damaging her reputation.

Not only does this practice help mitigate ghosting, but it also increases the likelihood that your existing employees will continue to refer you qualified candidates in the future. Remember–don’t ghost your own employees about referral outcomes when they take time to make a recommendation to you!

6 – Preview the employee onboarding experience

Create content that provides a thorough overview of your employee onboarding process to potential hires. This helps prevent the cognitive dissonance that they may otherwise feel about accepting an offer. If they’re excited about what to expect in their first year, then they’re much more likely to show up on their first day.

Additionally, give final stage interviewees a sneak peak into the employee experience by inviting them to do a job shadow before extending an offer. This simulation illustrates what it’s really like to work for your organization, and encourages candidates to self-select out of the process before you get to the ghosting let-down.

7 – Become a pre-boarding pro

Don’t go radio silent during the all too important pre-boarding process–that time between the accepted employment offer and the start date. This may last from a few hours to a few weeks depending on your organization and job category, but think about how to keep new hires feeling connected during this time.

Reflect on your culture and plan touch points with the new hire that make them feel welcomed to the team. Text a group photo, invite them to lunch before the start date and/or send them a swag bag at home. Ask the new hire to complete a “get to know you” sheet during pre-boarding, and then share info sheets about other employees with the new hire prior to the first day, too. This helps the new hire start to feel like a part of the team before the first day–which will make it harder to abandon the team without explanation.

8 – Flaunt your best attributes

Know your market and then understand which aspects of your compensation and benefits package and/or work schedule are highly attractive. While it is natural to highlight these attributes in detail in an employment offer, it’s a good idea to remind existing employees, too.

To help prevent employees from leaving unexpectedly for greener pastures, create a detailed total rewards summary and discuss it annually with workers to differentiate your unique value proposition from competitors. Make sure the summary highlights any continuous education opportunities, especially, so that employees not only understand their existing assets, but also their potential to improve their knowledge.

9 – Proactively thank candidates

Once upon a time, recruiters gave an edge to the candidates who sent the first thank you message (assuming all else was equal). However, today recruiters who don’t wait around, but rather proactively thank candidates following an interview are less likely to be ghosted. This follow-up is also a trigger for the organization to touch base with job seekers about timing for next steps in the process. And, as we learned in tip #4 above, over communication is a best practice.

It is unlikely that you will completely prevent ghosting despite your attentive efforts; however, the aforementioned tips are a proactive start in dramatically reducing its impact on your company.

 

Exercising Discipline to Succeed

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The phrase “exercise discipline” can rouse different feelings.

On one hand, we dread discipline as a punishment for failure. Parents discipline a child for failing to get off the playground when asked. After failing an assignment, a student becomes disciplined and grudgingly chooses the library over the party.

On the other hand, we admire discipline as a character trait that leads to success. Elite athletes are lauded for their discipline and commitment to intense training regimens. The author who writes every day produces a bestseller through talent and discipline.

It would seem, then, that discipline is the cause of success and the remedy for failure. So why do we often fail to practice it?

Defining Success

You could argue that we aren’t actually failing to exercise discipline; we’re simply practicing it at the wrong time and for the wrong reasons. We either care too much about success in one area, or we want to succeed in all areas. In both cases, we waste effort, discipline breaks down, and we realize an unwanted failure.

For many of us, the path to success starts with defining (or redefining) success for ourselves. This is not easy, as it requires honest introspection that cuts through preconceived ideas of success. However, once that understanding is in place, we can move onto the next step of determining when to exercise discipline.

Foresight is 80/20

The Pareto principle is the idea that 80% of effects come from 20% of the causes. Here are some examples:

Applied to the exercise of discipline, we could say that 80% of our successes are caused by 20% of our decisions to exercise discipline or not. So what does that mean?

It means that to be successful, you do not need to exercise discipline 100% of the time. Rather, you must know when to exercise discipline… especially during that 20% of the time that impacts 80% of your success.

What is important to my success?

First, we need to throw out the idea that everything is important to our success. Trust me, I know there are people who believe everything is important (they’re real fun at parties), but the reality is that not everything is important. Now that being said, different things are important to different people’s ideas of success–who am I to tell an Instagram influencer that her latest post is unimportant?

The easiest way to determine what is important to your success is to simply ask the question: “Will doing this activity or making this decision take me closer to my idea of success?” If the answer is yes, then it’s likely that the decision to exercise discipline lies in that oh so important 20% that will cause 80% of success.

Get Things Done

For the most part, exercising discipline to succeed seems easy. You simply prioritize doing important things over the unimportant things. However, there is also a question of whether an activity is urgent–does it need to be done now or very soon? In the chart below, discipline means living in the blue quadrants, with an occasional trip to the yellow quadrant.

Things to Be Done

Exercise Discipline

You may not agree with how I classified my examples above; however, the point is that everyone has the ability to classify “things to be done” according to what they see as important and urgent for their success. In looking at my examples, one could assume that success for me includes: career, earning money, meeting commitments.

Prioritize what is important

Assuming you’ve taken the time to define what’s important in your life, it will be considerably less difficult to know when to exercise discipline. But it still doesn’t tell us how to exercise discipline. For that, we’ll need to prioritize what is important. A couple examples with “family” and “health” as important areas of success:

  • Family: nephew has ballgame at 7pm,
  • Entertainment: new season of Stranger Things 2 released at 7pm
    • Discipline: go to game and catch show later
    • Undisciplined: I am tired. There will be other games. I deserve some chill time.
  • Health: scheduled time to workout at 6:15am Monday
  • Entertainment: Binge-watched Stranger Things until 1am Monday
    • Discipline: go to gym on 5 hours of sleep, learn your lesson.
    • Undisciplined: hit snooze button, vow to reschedule for afternoon (fail to do so)

These disciplined/undisciplined decisions above are not shocking and the choices may seem easy. However, depending upon circumstances like our stress and energy levels, distractions, and upcoming commitments, it could be very difficult to exercise discipline in the moment.

Discipline is Action in the Moment

And unfortunately, exercising discipline in the moment is critical because discipline is action, not thought. The longer we think about doing something, the less likely it is that something will be done. This is where most people fall off the discipline train–they think about doing something, but fail to take action.

Of course, we don’t admit to ourselves that we’re undisciplined. We make excuses and tell ourselves that we deserve a break. We renew commitments and adjust our plans for tomorrow. The problem is that this failure to exercise discipline becomes a habit. And like any habit, it’s hard to break.

To make matters worse, this habit delays achievement, which then adds to our stress and decreases energy. Discipline becomes harder to exercise because we haven’t realized the benefits. Success seems to escape us.

Staying on track

Everyone knows that dedicating time to your sweet, kind nephew (not the bratty one) is more important than watching Stranger Things 2, but over a quarter million Americans binge-watched it the first day it was released. It’s safe to assume that many had more important things to do.

So while discipline is easy to understand, we must exercise it in order to realize success. This is done by defining success for yourself, knowing what’s important, prioritizing what’s important, and then doing it—whether that’s in the office, at home, or somewhere in between.

 

Disciplined Hiring: ExactHire develops HR software that makes it easy to develop consistent workflows for hiring and onboarding that help you realize success in talent management.

Introduction to Using Video in Recruiting

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ExactHire recently teamed up with Covideo to create a short series of videos highlighting tips for how to use video in the recruitment and hiring process. Check out the video below for a short overview of how to use video in recruiting.Video Recruiting How-To | ExactHire

Video Transcript

There’s no denying that the majority of people prefer to watch an engaging video rather than read text. Not surprisingly, many job seekers have the same preference as they research and engage with potential employers. But, to see why recruiters specifically could benefit from video, we talked to Jessica Stephenson from ExactHire.Hi, I’m Jessica Stephenson, and I’m the Vice President of Marketing and Talent for ExactHire. We’re a software firm that develops applications that help employers automate and improve the hiring process.

So, why would a recruiter want to add video to their recruitment process?

From a recruitment standpoint, video is super appealing. I think in the age that we are today, especially with unemployment being low, employers need to do everything they can to stand out in a sea of other employers as they compete for talent. So when you think about assets that you can use to promote your job opportunities, what’s going to stand out more in an email, in a social media stream, and anywhere–it’s going to be video and imagery…not just static text content.

What are some of the places where video can be used during recruitment?

So video can be used in all different aspects of recruiting and the employment life cycle. Starting with recruiting, also in interviewing, in pre-boarding, in onboarding and employee engagement, and even in offboarding.

Video is beneficial to any recruiter out there looking to distinguish themselves to their applicants.

There’s no right or wrong way to use video in the employment life cycle. Do what’s right for your organization based on your unique core values and culture. And, experiment along the way to see what works best for you.Choose Right HR Software | ExactHire