How Do I Find Blue Collar Employees?

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Blue collar jobs have long suffered from an image crisis, despite blue collar employees enjoying a high level of job satisfaction.

According to a study by The Harris Poll, 85 percent of blue-collar workers enjoy job satisfaction and are optimistic about the direction of their life. Yet, most high school graduates are opting to pursue a four-year degree. As a result, enrollment in Career and Technical Programs, where many students go to learn skilled trades, is at an all-time low.

Throw in an infrastructure bill and an all-around labor shortage, most businesses will be struggling to find blue-collar employees for the foreseeable future. Finding blue collar employees takes a mix of understanding this demographic, addressing its image and training issues, and being a whiz at advertising blue-collar jobs on the most relevant jobs sites.

Blue Collar Meaning

Finding blue-collar workers begins with understanding the term. Blue-collar generally refers to any job requiring manual labor. For decades, these workers didn’t require much technical know-how. Most learned their trade on-the-job, hiring into factories or construction companies right after high school.

Today, though, blue collar jobs refer to a wide-range of skill levels and pay scales. Electricians can make up to $98,000, while machine operators make less than $30,000. Many skilled blue-collar jobs require very little formal education. Instead, paid internships offer a path to licensing and employment.

Bias Surrounding Different Types of Collar Jobs

The blue-collar worker’s image is tied to our perception of social class in America. Even the term “blue-collar” is a reference to the dirt and grime associated with these workers who wear durable blue clothes that resist stains. In contrast, “white-collar” workers are associated with clean offices and intellectual work.

Blue-collar bias even affects college grads who come from a working-class background. In one study, researchers sent fake resumes to top offices and law firms in Australia. The resumes were identical as far as education and work experience. Some resumes, however, included upper-class hobbies, such as polo and sailing. Other resumes included typical working-class activities, such as track or country music. The resumes from presumably upper-class candidates received far more callbacks than those with working-class extracurricular activities.

But like many of our biases, these stereotypes have no place in our modern workplace. Blue-collar workers are indispensable. Anyone who’s had a broken pipe in their house or a fallen tree on their roof can attest: plumbers, construction workers, electricians and others build and maintain the framework for our society.

And they’re starting to get more respect. Blue-collar employees are seeing a 10 percent wage growth, compared to only 7.5 percent for their white-collar counterparts. And, according to this article about blue-collar stigma in Deseret News, “20 percent of technical certificate holders make more than the average [bachelor’s degree].”

Despite the surge in demand for blue-collar employees, many don’t enjoy the same perks white-collar employees take for granted. They often get less paid time off. When they go to work, they often don’t get free coffee from the breakroom or clean restrooms, often making do with a thermos from home and porta-potties.

Increasing Blue Collar Jobs Training

Fighting against the stigma attached to blue-collar employees is the first step to encouraging enrollment in trade schools and apprenticeship programs.

If your company isn’t already participating in your local high school’s career day, it’s time to get started. Representatives from your company can educate students about a blue-collar employee’s wage potential. You can also educate students on the costs of trade school as compared to a four-year university and the rising demand for blue-collar workers.

You should also be in contact with your local high school’s counselors throughout the year. Make sure they’re aware of the opportunities for blue-collar employees at your company. Talk to your local school board about setting up a vocational education program for kids still in high school. Encourage blue-collar jobs training by offering scholarships to trade schools. Or perhaps your company can offer paid, on-the-job training.

Use your social media outlets to promote blue collar jobs. There’s a large, grassroots movement to promote trade schools and end the bias against working-class workers. Relentless promoter of blue-collar trade schools and host of the TV show Dirty Jobs, celebrity Mike Rowe is never far from the spotlight and a great source for shareable articles. Create a Google alerts for search terms such as “trade schools” or “blue-collar” so you’ll never run out of content to share on your social media pages.

Finding Blue-Collar Employees

Promoting trade schools to current high school students is an effective long-term strategy for finding blue-collar employees. But it isn’t how to recruit blue-collar workers for the openings you have today. You can find blue-collar employees for your immediate openings by expanding your talent pool and advertising on the sites where blue-collar workers are.

You can actively recruit blue-collar workers by targeting specific groups. Many veterans already possess the training they need to excel in your blue-collar job openings. Check veterans’ job fairs in your local community or online. A Regional Veterans’ Employment Coordinator can help you connect with veterans seeking blue-collar employment in your community.

You can find blue-collar employees through a largely untapped talent pool. Former offenders usually get overlooked by hiring managers. But a third of U.S. adults have a criminal record. Including these individuals in your search for blue-collar employees is the right thing to do and more important than ever in the current labor shortage. Some local and state governments are offering incentives for hiring justice involved candidates in addition to the tax credit provided by the federal government.

You can find blue-collar employees on sites like Indeed if you use these effective keywords.

  •       Skilled Trades
  •       Apprentice
  •       Manufacturing
  •       Operator
  •       CDL

But you’ll be able to find even more blue-collar employees if you expand your job advertising to other, niche sites. Bluecollarcrossing.com is job board that help employers find blue-collar workers in all industries. Also look for niche job boards for your industry. careersinwelding.com, tradesmen-electrician.jobs, and cdljobs.com are several examples. “Jobs on Facebook” is a new paid advertising site on the social media giant and an effective place to find blue-collar workers.

Hiring for Blue-Collar Jobs

The current labor shortage probably has you wondering more than ever, “how do I find blue-collar employees”. By addressing the stigma around blue-collar workers and promoting trade schools in your area, you can position yourself to find blue-collar employees in the near future. But by directing your recruiting efforts to marginalized groups and your job advertisement campaigns to blue-collar workers and the sites they frequent, you can hire for your immediate openings.

ExactHire ATS can help you improve your time-to-hire metrics for all of your open positions. You’ll be able to access over 25,000 job boards and advertise your job openings with one click. You can then monitor each job site’s performance to learn which sites perform best for your company.

ExactHire ATS also makes it easy for blue-collar workers to apply to your open positions with a mobile-friendly careers site and application. You can even seamlessly text with your applicants from within the software.  You can run a report rather than sift through files when it comes time to file for your Work Opportunity Tax Credit.

To learn more about how ExactHire can help you find blue-collar employees, contact us today.

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Top 5 New Year’s Resolutions for the HR Generalist

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The year 2022 has arrived at our door whether we are ready or not. Traditionally, at the culmination of the year, rumination over the year’s positive and negative experiences flood the mind while music like Auld Lang Syne resonates with the validity of its translation: “Days Gone By”.  Truly, those days have gone by quickly, yet at times, days are seemingly endless. Let us turn our energy to starting a new year with renewed focus and optimism.

As we reflect on days gone by and the challenge of starting a second year of business operations in a pandemic, it helps to focus on the core of a business’s success. And while customers are a driving force for profit and growth, the ultimate force that helps sustain and grow our organizations–the core of our success–is our employees.

Each day, statistics and articles are published focusing on “The Great Resignation”. No one can deny that people are leaving the workforce in record numbers for myriad reasons.  Executive leadership within organizations must be cognizant of the daily struggles of their employees at all levels. Eliminating the disconnect between managers and support staff is crucial to ensuring a productive and positive working environment.

HR Generalists – keep your superhero cape fastened.  Here are five goals for 2022 that will help keep the light bright within your organization.

  1. Reevaluate your current talent – Look internally at your talent. Are there current employees who would be ideal for your vacant roles?  Do you have a succession plan in line if your key talent and leadership leaves? Current employees are knowledgeable of the company culture and already meet a basic learning curve.
  2. Retrain and refocus – As technology evolves, are your employees staying up-to-speed? Do certain departments or employees need specific training offsite, or can outside trainers meet your needs onsite?  Many educational institutions offer group training designed after a thorough needs analysis which can be delivered onsite or virtually.
  3. Enhance the employee experience – Make physical and mental health for yourself and others a priority. Does the organization offer, and encourage, the use of physical and mental wellness plans? Many gyms have closed or are on modified schedules due to COVID. Some individuals do not feel comfortable going into public exercise facilities. Any option to provide paid time to work out for 30 minutes during the day at the company or at home?
  4. Lead by example – HR is the go-to for the majority of items. Often, HR receives complaints and concerns but not always positive feedback on the successes of others or wins across departments. Seek ways to generate positive feedback from employees and departments to improve struggling morale.
  5. Flexibility, flexibility, flexibility – HR has been stretched to the point of snapping, but HR is also flexible enough to bounce back after being pulled multiple ways at multiple times. Our working world will not be able to party like it is 2019 anytime soon. Having contingency plans for staffing, support and incentives for employees to pick up additional tasks and shifts will help ease the roller coaster of departures and quarantines. Find ways to bridge the gap between onsite and remote employees. Weekly or biweekly sessions offered via video conferencing software might help.

Human Resources professionals are human like each of us. HR Departments of one or many need support too. The last two years have proved that we must work together to succeed.

 

To start 2022 more efficiently and streamline your employment processes, contact ExactHire to learn more about our Applicant Tracking Software (ATS), employee onboarding and employee assessment solutions to help increase your organization’s productivity.

 

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Best Ways to Attract Applicants to Apply

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If you’re having trouble attracting talent to your workplace, you’re not alone. The U.S. has 11 million job openings, but only 7.7 million applicants to fill them. That means companies like yours have to work hard to attract applicants. The big fish like McDonald’s and Amazon are raising their wages to recruit candidates.

But small and medium-sized businesses, still reeling from the pandemic’s economic downturn, can’t write big paychecks to attract employees. Many small businesses are getting by on shortened hours and fewer employees. But these emergency measures can only work for so long before customers start taking their business elsewhere.

Fortunately, unemployment claims are finally inching downward. But that isn’t a light at the end of the tunnel. The U.S. is still missing over 4 million workers who are sitting out the labor force because of COVID concerns, family obligations, and other reasons. Small and medium-sized businesses are still in a cut-throat competition with big chains to attract quality talent. Luckily, many of the best ways to attract applicants don’t require deep corporate pockets.

Get Job Applicants to Apply

Figuring out how to get job applicants to apply to your company begins with your employer brand and your employer value proposition. In other words, what are you doing to make your company a place where people want to work?

Start by checking your company’s reviews on Glassdoor, LinkedIn, and Indeed. These sites will give you valuable feedback about what employees really think about working for your company. They also influence candidates, who will forgo applying to your company if they read negative reviews.

But don’t wait for employees to voice their grievances online. Consider conducting an anonymous employee survey to uncover potential problems as well as those things that make you a great employer. Most importantly, after you’ve collected your feedback, act on it.

Consider also the obstacles job seekers are facing. Nearly 1.5 million of those missing from the workforce are mothers with school-aged children. Schools may be welcoming children back into the buildings, but parents still aren’t off the hook when it comes to COVID. As the virus sweeps through the classrooms, children are forced home to quarantine or recover. Revisit your policies and examine ways you can support working parents juggling jobs and children.

Many workers are also staying home due to COVID concerns. Vulnerable populations are still susceptible to serious illness, even with a vaccine. Unemployed workers caring for aging parents or unvaccinated children may be waiting until the virus is better controlled. You can encourage these employees to return to the workforce by maintaining your COVID precautions or implementing a remote work policy.

Best Place to Find Job Candidates

To know how to find good candidates for jobs, you need to know the best places to go. Most companies assume they’ll find the best candidates on Indeed and LinkedIn. But there are countless job sites out there, and your ideal applicants may be on smaller, niche job boards.

Are you tracking recruitment success rates across job sites? If you use an ATS that includes applicant source reports, you can know which sites are the best places to source employees for your industry. ExactHire ATS can filter source reporting by applicant status, so you’ll know which job sites are netting low quality talent and wasting your time.

Use social media to boost your online recruiting success. The people who follow you on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram already have a positive view of your company. Even if these users aren’t looking for a job themselves, chances are they know someone who is. Take advantage of your followers’ social connections to find job candidates.

Don’t rely solely on the internet to source talent. Take advantage of job fairs, universities, and your local employment office. Implement an employee referral bonus. According to Statista, referrals were a close second to LinkedIn as the most effective source for staffing firms. New hires are more likely to become successful long-term employees when they come from an existing employee’s network.

Create a talent pool of previous applicants to source your future hiring needs. Oftentimes, your hiring decision is a close call between two or more applicants. You can keep in touch with those who didn’t get the job. Of course, you need to implement a stellar candidate experience so rejected candidates will still want to work for your company.

Creative Ways to Attract Talent

These basics will go a long way in helping you attract and retain talent. But in the current labor shortage, you’ll need creative ways to attract candidates.

When you’ve ironed out your employer value proposition and you know the core benefits your company offers employees, create content to get the word out. Your branded careers site is the perfect place to showcase employees’ individual accomplishments. You can also create videos to give candidates a feel for what it’s like day-to-day in your workplace.

Create a lot of recruitment-related content and spread it around the internet. Think about all the things potential applicants want to know about your company. For example, on Medium.com, you’ll find articles about “How to Get a Job at Amazon” and the “5 Things You Need to Know Get a Job at Facebook.” You can post workplace photos on Instagram and links on Twitter. Or upload recruiting videos that highlight your culture to YouTube.

Consider joining a virtual job fair or hosting your own. If you haven’t seen job fairs in your local community, it could be that they’ve gone virtual. Search for virtual fairs locally as well as nationally to recruit candidates interested in moving. You can also create your own job fair. You can create a space in which job seekers can learn more and ask questions. Then, you can create meeting rooms where hiring managers can interview attendees.

Outside-the-Box Recruiting Strategies for Conversion

Up until now, we’ve focused on getting job seekers to want to work for your company. Now, it’s time to get them to want to complete your job application. The sad fact is most job seekers quit the application process. If you want to increase the number of completed applications you receive, think outside-the-box and consider your candidates’ perspective.

Your ideal candidate either already has a job or is so motivated to work that she’s made finding work her job. Either way, she’s too busy to fill out a long, complicated job application. And with so many jobs available, she doesn’t have to.

Make sure your application takes less than 15 minutes to complete. Your employer branding efforts may convince job seekers your workplace is amazing. But that doesn’t mean they’ll spend half a day filling out your job application.

Many candidates prefer the convenience of their mobile device when searching for jobs. Hourly workers may only have access to a smartphone. And many Millennials prefer using their smartphones to fill out job applications. In other words, regardless of the position for which you are hiring, you’ll attract more applicants if your careers page and application are mobile friendly.

Make sure your branded careers site contains an Applicant FAQs page. You can improve your candidate experience by providing an overabundance of information. Applicants will want to know how long the application will take, how to apply to multiple positions, and how to check on the status of their application, to name a few questions.

Your careers site and application form are your candidates’ first interaction with your company. Making these pages mobile-friendly and easy to use is your first step in creating an exceptional candidate experience. Your candidates’ experience continues during the interviewing and hiring phase.

HR Best Practices for Interviewing and Hiring

You can improve your candidates’ experience during the interviewing and hiring phase with these HR best practices.

  • Clearly communicate during each phase of the hiring process using the candidate’s preferred method. An ATS that incorporates text recruiting, message templates and interview scheduling can help.
  • Introduce interviewees to the team and take them on a tour of the workplace. You’ll demystify your workplace and allay candidates’ anxieties.
  • Provide a lot of information. Tell candidates whom they’ll meet with. Give them detailed instructions on where to park and what to wear. And tell them what to expect from your hiring process and your timeline.
  • Follow-up with candidates who didn’t get the job. Give them gentle feedback and ask them for feedback about their experience. And don’t forget to wish them well in their job search.

A massive labor shortage on the heels of a debilitating pandemic is pushing too many small and medium-sized businesses into survival mode. But you can get back to your regular business hours and get on with serving your customers with these best ways to attract talent.

Attract applicants to apply by developing your employer brand and make genuine efforts to be a great place to work. Remove obstacles that are holding back 1.4 billion Americans from searching for a job. Then get creative with your recruiting efforts. Finally, create an exceptional candidate experience and create a talent pool to invite past candidates to apply again.

You have to work harder to attract applicants to apply to your company. But an ATS can make your recruiting efforts more efficient and save you time. Using ATS data and reporting features will help you implement the best strategies for finding candidates and avoiding time-wasters.

Contact ExactHire today to find out how our ATS can help you find quality applicants.

 

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What Is Good Employer Branding?

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In 2021, as the pandemic continues, and the Great Resignation upends the labor market, and the reckoning with the country’s decades-long skills gap arrives, companies are pulling out all the stops to fill positions with the best talent possible. If you’re like most recruiters, you’ve researched the best jobs sites and you’re capable of writing killer job ads that get job seekers’ attention. And if you’re like the smartest recruiters, you’ve invested in an applicant tracking and onboarding system that simplifies the hiring process and lets you focus on the big picture strategies to attract high quality applicants, like good employer branding. But what is employer branding and how will an employer branding strategy help you hire the best candidates?

 

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Why Your Employer Brand Is Important

Good employer branding in recruitment is the blueprint for attracting the attention of and creating a relationship with prospective candidates.

In the digital noise of the current post-information age, companies have to work harder to stand out. I say “post-information age” because, apparently, the experts haven’t quite figured out what to call the emerging age. The “Era of Innovation” is one contender. Then, there’s the rather pessimistic “Age of Reckoning.” Or the straightforward “Age of Automation,” as coined by a self-described former Mechanical Engineer on a Quora forum.

All of this is to say that everything is changing. Really fast. Which is why you may have had trouble figuring out how to develop your employer brand or even why you need an employer brand in the first place.

The speed at which everything is changing is also exactly why job candidates need you to have a strong employer brand. Your employer brand helps candidates know what employees can expect from your company. In the Age of—Something—candidates are looking for assurance that your company can successfully navigate current and future changes. In other words, is your company a steady ship?

That isn’t to say that your employer branding is all about easing your candidates’ anxieties. It’s actually quite the opposite. It’s about proving you’re adaptable and resilient.

It may seem like the key elements that affect an employer’s brand is a lot like your overall brand. To a degree, the character you present to your customers should extend to your employees. Also, after reading your job description, prospective candidates will familiarize themselves with your overall brand. But the benefits of employer branding will help candidates imagine whether your company will support their professional and personal goals—or not.

Assess Your Employer Brand

The importance of employer branding lies in attracting and retaining talent in the modern corporate world.

Do you have a strong Employee Value Proposition? Or is your mentality stuck in the Great Recession, when prolonged unemployment shifted power to employers?

If the employee push to remote work tells companies anything, it’s that employees want work and life balance. Today’s workforce simply isn’t willing to sacrifice their personal life for their career. Flexible schedules, remote work opportunities, and childcare stipends all help employees achieve that balance.

Are your company’s values well-defined? And do those values extend to how you treat your employees?

Your value statement probably talks about things like integrity, trust, and accountability. If your company thinks about your employees as highly as it does your customers—and it should—then those values should also apply everything from your benefits package to your discipline policy.

Is your mission inspiring? And do your new employees have an opportunity to participate in the mission so that their individual roles have meaning?

We all have a basic human need to feel like we are doing something meaningful. You can motivate even entry level employees by connecting their daily duties to the company’s overall mission.

Does your company value social justice? Do you have strong programs aimed at increasing diversity in your organization?

Candidates recognize the importance of diversity, and not just for the value it brings to marginalized groups. Companies with a diverse workforce benefit from fresh ideas and new perspectives. Prospective candidates will be looking for evidence they’ll find inclusion in your workplace.

Does your company have meaningful social responsibility initiatives?

Candidates, as well as your consumers, understand that only strong collective efforts can solve big problems, like climate change and poverty. They’re looking to support businesses committed to contributing solutions.

Make Employer Branding Important

The best employer branding ideas of 2021 start with creating a composite of your ideal candidate. You may have several ideal candidates across multiple positions and departments. But all of your profiles should have common values that drive your business’s success. You will measure employer branding strategy alongside this representation of the model candidate.

Next make an honest assessment of your current work environment. Is it the kind of place your ideal candidate would want to work? The questions in the previous section are a good place to start. But, also gather feedback from your current and former employees.

Check review sites such as Glassdoor and LinkedIn to find out what people are saying about your workplace. Consider conducting an anonymous survey of your current employees. Review your notes on exit interviews with parting employees.

Take stock of your current recruiting results. Applicant tracking software can help you gather important data, such as the most effective jobs sites for your open positions and what percentage of your new employees stick around past their first anniversary. Using assessments to quantify the strengths which make your best employees shine will help you create a recruiting strategy to attract more individuals with the same qualities.

You can begin to develop your employer branding strategies by sorting the information you gather. Make lists of what you’re doing right and what you could improve upon. Strategies for improving the employee value proposition are accessible to even small businesses.

While some important employer branding examples, such as pay and benefits, may require a sizable investment, other less-costly strategies can also pack a punch. Items such as improving your culture, creating a more equitable discipline policy or promoting from within can improve your employee retention while also attracting talent to your organization.

 

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Employer Branding Ideas

After taking stock in what makes your company a great place to work and implementing strategies to improve shortcomings, you’re ready to create a game plan for communicating to prospective candidates the mind-blowing awesomeness that is your workplace.

Your website is fertile ground for growing your employer branding strategies. Microsoft demonstrates that they value their employees’ unique talents, even if those talents are not work-related. Their Microsoft Life page features employees’ passions outside of the office. From bakers to farmers to disability advocates, employees open up about their personal lives, which is a powerful indicator to potential applicants that Microsoft expects and encourages the kind of life balance they’re looking for.

You probably already use social media to post job openings. Go beyond job posting and news releases when developing employer branding strategies. Include photos of employees at work. Highlight the company picnic. Congratulate employees on promotions or other milestones. Share stories about causes your company supports.

Your candidate experience is an important part of your employer branding strategy. Even candidates that don’t get the job can become powerful brand ambassadors if you take steps to make their experience positive. Communicate with candidates. Let them know the next steps. Always provide a respectful review of the reasons they didn’t get the job if you decide to hire someone else. Even better, ask them for a review of their candidate experience in return.

Involve your marketing department. Employer branding ideas require quite of bit of marketing. Candidates have a wealth of information at their fingertips. The best candidates also have a wealth of options. Your marketing department can help you craft a branding strategy that gets in front of your ideal candidates while also persuading them that your company fits well with their professional and personal goals.

Employer Branding Strategy

Your marketing department will also let you in on the secret to codifying your employer brand and attracting the best talent: storytelling. When you incorporate storytelling into your employer brand, you achieve several important goals.

First, you convey a consistent message. Great stories can be summed up one sentence. Authors call this sentence the hook, and it succinctly and enticingly conveys what the book is about. As the hook relates to your employer brand strategy, it tells potential applicants what your company is about.

Take the single line at the top of Charity: Water’s branded careers site: “Quit your day job and come change the world.” That one sentence tells the story of what Charity: Water’s employees do every day. All of the copy on career’s page expounds on that story.

Storytelling has another very powerful function: it inserts the reader into the story. On Charity: Water’s careers page, applicants begin to imagine themselves joining the company on their mission to solve the water crisis.

Which brings us to the most important job of storytelling: eliciting emotion, which your marketing company would happily tell you is the key to selling. From the perspective of employer branding, eliciting emotion accomplishes another crucial task: helping candidates qualify (or disqualify) themselves from the job.

Charity: Water’s careers site tells a compelling and pointed story. Applicants can insert themselves into the story and tell right away if they want to be part of it. And if they don’t—then, the company saves themselves the expense of a bad hire because job seekers who are a poor fit move on.

Final Thoughts on Employer Branding

In the Age of—Something—recruiters have their hands full with hiring tasks.  While the internet helps recruiters reach more candidates, it also makes it more difficult for companies to attract their attention. If you’re ready to take a wider perspective on recruiting to create employer branding strategies that will help you hire the best talent, an applicant tracking system can take care of the mundane details such as tracking and sorting candidates. Schedule a demo today to find out how you can free up time to create an amazing employer strategy and reduce your time-to-hire metrics.

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recruiting Ideas for Low Wage Workers 

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Prior to the pandemic, most people used terms like “essential worker” to refer to healthcare workers, police and other first responders. 2020 changed our perceptions of what we think of when we consider jobs that are indispensable to the functioning of our society. It also changed the perceptions the people who work those jobs have of themselves and the roles they perform.

From the pre-pandemic issues surrounding low-wage workers to the effect COVID has had on our perception of them (and to the Great Resignation that’s fueling their exodus from essential jobs), companies are struggling to find innovative ways to recruit for these vital positions.

Who Are Low Wage Workers?

Before executive orders deemed them essential, grocery store workers, delivery drivers and manufacturing workers were more likely to be referred to collectively as “low-wage workers.” And they weren’t always given much respect.

One study found that restaurant workers—hard hit financially because the pandemic caused them to lose their low-wage jobs—endure the most sexual harassment. Another study on working conditions in the U.S. in 2015 found that nearly 20 percent of workers were “exposed to a hostile or threatening social environment.” In other words, these workers were routinely disrespected.

But the tables turned when COVID-19 brought the country to a screeching halt and sent millions to their homes to isolate.

Empty toilet paper shelves and daily home deliveries became the picture of the pandemic for many white-collar workers. The previously invisible mechanisms and supply chains of a smoothly running society were exposed. For the first time for most, Americans couldn’t count on being able to buy the necessities they previously took for granted.

The low-wage workers who had been keeping the supply chain operating were rebranded—rightly—as essential workers. And while state legislatures fervently hashed out which specific businesses were, in fact, essential, everyone readily agreed that those who were stocking shelves and delivering orders were working for the public good.

Fast forward to 2021, your business may be having trouble filling positions with these “low-wage” workers. Corporations like Amazon, Walmart, and Chipotle are addressing their labor shortage by ramping up their average wage to $15 an hour. Most small businesses simply can’t afford to pay their workers that kind of salary. If your candidates are flocking to work for the big box stores, it’s time for you to find creative ways to recruit hourly employees and warehouse workers.

Recruit Low Wage Workers

The key to attracting great low-wage workers is the same as for every other open position: identify what motivates your ideal candidate.

Low-wage workers want the same work and life balance as the rest of the workforce. But their obligations may look a little differently. They are more likely to have trouble finding reliable daycare. They’re more likely to require the day off if their child is sick.

Parents of low-wage workers are also less likely to be independent. These workers may need to take their aging parents to appointments or perform other caregiving duties for them. In the past, rigid employers weren’t understanding when they needed time off to care for family.

Low-wage workers are also more likely to experience financial insecurity. Lack of health insurance and affordable housing means these workers are more likely to live paycheck to paycheck. Employers that are recruiting laborers can help by providing better benefits and perks that reduce their employees’ out of pocket expenses.

Low-wage workers deserve respect. Always. Despite their status as “essential,” many low-wage workers bore the brunt of America’s frustrations. Rude or even violent customers lashed out at helpless cashiers or airline attendants. Going forward, everyone, from customers to managers to business owners, should examine ways to improve the dignity of low-wage labor in their lives.

Creative Recruiting Ideas

Understanding your ideal employee’s needs is one thing. But if you’re among the half of small business owners struggling to find workers, you need recruiting ideas for hourly employees that make you stand apart from your competitors as an employer of choice. And you need recruiting ideas for low-wage jobs that won’t break the bank.

Allow remote work as much as possible. Telecommuting isn’t an option for many low-wage jobs. But you may be able to work it in more than you think. Do your team leads have paperwork or other tasks that don’t require them to be at the workplace? Allow them one day a week to work from home. Even entry level hourly workers can likely complete their training from a laptop at home.

Be open to flexible work schedules. Remember that low-wage workers often have limited options for daycare, medical appointments, and transportation. Work with employees’ family schedules as much as possible. Flexible scheduling may not be convenient for management. But a flexible work schedule can be a low-cost and effective way to attract quality talent.

Offer better benefits and perks. The rising cost of healthcare makes many employers balk at offering better benefits. But your employees and their families still get sick. Find ways to help them with their health-related expenses. Creative recruiting ideas during the pandemic gave rise to low-cost telehealth services that can help employees access preventative care. Likewise, discount plans for dental and eye services are a low-cost way to help your employees save money.

Look for perks that can help your employees save money in other ways. Try increasing the discounts you offer employees for your business’s goods or services. Recruiting ideas outside the box include negotiating special pricing for your employees at local businesses. Cell phone providers or daycare centers may offer your employees discounts at no cost to you.

Recruitment Strategies for Low Wage Jobs

Individual pay and perks are important for attracting and retaining great unskilled workers. But your recruitment strategies for 2021 should include a company-wide approach. Making sure your business is a great place to work will help you attract awesome candidates.

Make your workplace culture as positive and fun as you can. Investing in the morale of your workforce will help you attract energetic hourly workers while also increasing your company’s profitability. With some forethought, improving company culture can be a low-cost recruitment strategy plan to attract great talent.

The most basic thing every small business needs to do is making sure its management staff treats every employee with dignity and respect. Create comprehensive policies that address interactions between management and employees. Invest in thorough training for managers to eliminate workplace harassment and discrimination.

Next, think of creative ways to recognize star performers. Prime parking spaces, restaurant gift cards and even employee of the month plaques will make your employees feel appreciated. Alternatively, address problem behaviors from employees that disrupt the work environment.

Plan social activities for your employees that foster friendship. Workers are more likely to stay at companies where they have formed friendships. Employees can get to know each other if you host a pizza lunch once a month. Plan a company picnic or take your employees and their families to a local baseball game.

When you interview candidates, take them on a tour of your workplace and introduce them to key employees. Let them see firsthand that your company is a great place to work.

Recruit Low-wage Workers with an Applicant Tracking System

Even if you implement all of these ideas, your recruitment strategy will never be as successful as it can be if it isn’t efficient and organized. An applicant tracking system can help you advertise your job openings and increase candidate conversion while collecting valuable data that will help you improve your recruitment process.

With ExactHire ATS, you can post jobs to multiple job boards with a click of a button. From there, a single screen will report performance metrics so you know which sites are most effective for your company. A robust search engine and the ability to sort and assign a status to your candidates will help you find the proverbial needle in the talent haystack.

The data you collect will make your recruitment process more efficient over time. You’ll be able to see which new hires were successful and where you found your best employees. And every year, you can complete your HR compliance reporting effortlessly and accurately.

ExactHire applicant tracking system has built in features that will help you find great low-wage workers, like text recruiting and mobile-friendly applications. If you’re ready to optimize and streamline your search for low-wage workers, contact us today.

Photo by Nathália Rosa on Unsplash

What Are the 5 C’s of Onboarding?

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Onboarding is the critical first impression that you only get one chance to make. Prior to the pandemic, many companies skated by with a basic onboarding process involving a few forms and an employee handbook. Companies making a nominal effort may have treated their new hires to lunch on their first day.

A lackluster onboarding process isn’t cutting it during the “Great Resignation.” With many companies struggling to find enough employees to provide fundamental customer service, they need to do everything they can to hold onto the new hires they’re lucky enough to get.

An outstanding onboarding process is the proven first step to lowering employee turnover, improving engagement, and boosting productivity. Small and mid-sized businesses are learning in 2021 what the most successful corporate giants have known for years: great onboarding is a key component of your company’s success.

But why is onboarding so important?

And what makes an outstanding onboarding program?

Download ExactHire's Employee Onboarding Checklist

Benefits of a Robust Onboarding Process

When your onboarding process checklist has got game, your new employees fall in love with their jobs. The fact is, your company needs employees that are fully engaged to compete in the new economy. According to this Gallup study, employee engagement is a key factor in nine performance outcomes, including customer service, profitability, and turnover.

Engaged employees are passionate about their work and they feel a strong connection to their company’s culture and values. Employee engagement is all about the emotional bonds people form with their work. These employees will always outperform their peers who couldn’t care less.

You want your employees to show up on time, every day, and do their best work. You want them to go the extra mile for the customer. When they’re on the manufacturing line, you want them to care—really care—about the quality of the goods they’re producing.

Companies are constantly looking for that special combination of skilled talent, soft skills, and work ethic that make a great employee. But they leave their new hires to fend for themselves as soon as they are finished filling out their W-4. A poor employee onboarding process flow contributes to the massive national turnover rate that costs U.S. companies $1 trillion each year.

A robust onboarding process, on the other hand, can make your employees almost 70 percent more likely to stay with your company for at least three years. And your new hires can be 50 percent more productive when your onboarding process steps set clear expectations while also providing crucial support early on.

Your new employee’s onboarding checklist pdf covers four areas known as the “4 C’s.” The 4 C’s are listed in order of importance to company growth. However, every stage of the 4 C’s is essential to a comprehensive onboarding plan.

Onboarding: The 4 C’s

Most companies stop with the first two C’s: compliance and clarification. Successful companies pay careful attention to the last two C’s: culture and connection. And our team likes to add a fifth C (shhh…don’t tell anyone!).

Compliance: Companies interested in avoiding discrimination and harassment lawsuits, i.e., every company, should start their onboarding with a thorough run-down of their policies and rules. To be most effective, you should implement a clear process by which employees can report discrimination and other issues. Earn your new employee’s trust by making it clear your company takes these issues seriously.

Clarification: This is the stage during which your new hires learn about their role, their duties and their responsibilities. Take this time to set your employee up for success. Establish a support network and ensure she has the tools she needs to complete her work.

Culture: More than a buzzword, culture has a tangible effect on a company’s success. A strong and positive culture gives you a recruiting edge. And clear values keep individual behavior in line with your company’s ethics. Make culture a strong aspect of your onboarding process by inserting it throughout your new hire’s experience. Include your company’s history and mission in your onboarding process.

Connection: Often overlooked during the onboarding process, connection is a key driver of employee retention. When workers form friendships with their coworkers, they’re more likely to enjoy being in the office. Positive relationships between your employees also mean less drama and conflict. You can foster connection during your onboarding process by finding creative ways for your new hires to spend time with coworkers.

We like to add a bonus C: check-in. New hires are most likely to quit their positions within the first year. By checking in with these new employees throughout that first year, companies can address brewing problems.

New Hire Onboarding framework

These 5 stages of onboarding create a framework companies can use to improve employee engagement and its associated outcomes. By adopting a more formal, vs an informal, onboarding process, companies can boost their customer ratings, improve employee retention, and increase their profits. Onboarding software can help companies keep their improved onboarding process organized and efficient.

Onboarding software can help you improve all 5 stages of employee onboarding. New employees can fill out their paperwork more quickly and accurately during the compliance portion of the 5 stages of onboarding with the help of auto-populating fields. Legally binding electronic signatures for all of your important onboarding forms will always be easily accessible, even years down the road.

Create training modules for every position within the company. Use training videos, how-to guides, and assessments. A simple checklist and triggering feature ensure your new employees won’t feel overwhelmed.

Include information about your culture, mission, and values in your training modules. By making culture a key component of your new employee’s experience, you’ll encourage behavior that aligns with your values. You can foster connection by assigning roles to team members to assist in the onboarding process. Each team member will receive email reminders so you know your new hires won’t fall through the cracks.

Incorporate the bonus C, Check-In, by assigning tasks to supervisors at intervals throughout the new hire’s first year. Over time, the data you collect in your onboarding software will help you improve your overall onboarding process.

Final Thoughts About the 5 C’s of Onboarding

The pandemic underscored the high cost of employee turnover, low engagement, and an uninspiring culture. When your employees are unenthusiastic, they’ll be less productive and less innovative. You’ll need more people on the payroll to get the same amount of output.

Beefing up your onboarding process is the first step to creating an inspired workforce. The investment you make in onboarding will pay dividends by creating a strong, cohesive team. Learn more with our webinar, How Effective Onboarding Boosts Your Bottom Line.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Hiring Former Offenders

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Help Wanted! Now Hiring! Sign On Bonus to Work! Those attention grabbing, highly colorful signs are everywhere on windows, billboards, and yard signage. Look on social media or pick up a newspaper – more “Help Wanted” content. Go to the primary source for job openings – online job boards encompass an endless list of companies who are hiring for all levels of roles.

It’s never been more clear. Companies need employees now, and if companies do not meet their staffing needs to operate, doors will close—maybe permanently. So what can companies do to find more employees?

Pandemic Job Market

The pandemic has brought many challenges to the nature of the hiring process. Competition for employees is fierce with organizations scrambling to find additional perks to recruit, and even retain, employees. Good insurance and vacation time won’t cut it anymore; people are seeking flexibility and remote options because many need to be caregivers or provide support to children who are e-learning.

Additionally, there are many factors that affect the ability and willingness of individuals to work. Government funding plays a role along with concerns of physical and mental health due to COVID-19. Ultimately, in discussions with fellow HR colleagues, the consistent concern of finding available employees is reiterated. Where can organizations find potential candidates to fill their vacancies?

Hiring Former Offenders

After listening to an inspirational presentation delivered by Alice Marie Johnson at the HR Indiana Conference a few weeks ago, a solution for many organizations is readily available and has been in the forefront for awhile. To fill vacancies, it is time for organizations to take a clearer look at the former offender population.

First, a little about Ms. Johnson…Alice Marie Johnson was pardoned in 2020 after spending over 21 years in federal prison for her first and only conviction in a nonviolent drug case. She has been instrumental in criminal justice reform and helping former offenders become self-sufficient upon release. Ms. Johnson provided testimonials from multiple former offenders who simply want a chance to prove themselves to employers, their own families and even to themselves.

USA Today also provided statistics that we need to examine. More than 70 million Americans – that’s nearly 1 in 3 adults – have a criminal record. Those adults have families also so nearly 1 in 2 children have at least one parent with a criminal record.

A Brookings report published in March 2018 found that 45% of those released from prison did not have any reported pay in the first calendar year after they returned home. If a person cannot support oneself or their family, that affects the likelihood of recidivism. Earning a living wage to support oneself and family through employment can reduce the likelihood of committing future offenses and break the cycle of incarceration and poverty.

Justice Involved Hiring

As a country, we need economic stability, especially now in an unstable global market. A study released by the Center of Economic and Policy Research in 2016 found that the economy loses out on roughly 2 million workers and approximately $80 million in gross domestic product (GDP) by not hiring justice involved job seekers. That was in 2016, so take into account five years and the influence of a global pandemic, and those numbers have grown.

To help former offenders find more options to acclimate into life outside of prison and re-enter the workforce, the federal government passed the First Step Act. The First Step Act is a criminal justice reform law that reduces prison sentences by changing the sentencing guidelines and facilitating early release, and supports education and treatment programs in prison.

The need to hire former offenders is prevalent. Organizations such as Taking Action for Good (TAG, created by Ms. Johnson), Hope for Prisoners, and Indeed are offering resources to help formerly incarcerated individuals find the stability they need through work.

ExactHire does not provide legal counsel so please check with your company’s legal team. If your organization’s employment application(s) include questions related to conviction history, ensure there are established guidelines internally as to how the conviction will be evaluated in the applicant review process. Consider the impact of the conviction related to the nature of the job, the severity of the offense and how much time has passed since the offense to ultimately determine how much, or if at all, that conviction affects the individual potentially completing the duties of the role.

Ban the Box Policy

As more cities, municipalities and states evolve into Ban the Box entities, companies need to review their employment application content to confirm legality. Even if an organization is in a location that allows companies to ask if an individual has ever been convicted, is that question really necessary to include on an employment application?

Is it worth eliminating a population of individuals who want to work?

Once that question has been answered on an employment application, will that cause any staff to have preconceived notions?

Background checks are consistent resources in the hiring process. As an organization, consider removing the conviction question from the employment application initially to increase applicants. Then, if and when an offer is extended, conduct and review the applicant’s background check. The conviction may show, but at that point after reviewing the applicant’s qualifications and interviews, that applicant might have already demonstrated enthusiasm and willingness to work that supersedes a conviction from years ago.

Employers Benefit from Justice Involved Employees

Consider the nature of the organization. Does the organization have legal parameters that provide bona fide reasons to prevent the hiring of former offenders? Some industries, particularly healthcare, might have certain roles that have hiring restrictions. However, if an organization does not have specific guidelines that prohibit the hiring of former offenders, it’s time to review the qualifications of individuals in a population that is seeking to work.

Hiring former offenders can offer opportunities for an organization to adhere, or even develop, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives. Financial benefits might exist for organizations which hire former offenders as well. An organization might qualify for tax credits through the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) program if hiring former offenders. Federal bonding programs also offer additional security for organizations who hire former offenders as well.

Staffing challenges are at an all time high. Let’s keep businesses open. Explore the opportunities for your organization by providing employment opportunities for qualified former offenders. We’re all in this together!

ABOUT EXACTHIRE:

ExactHire offers applicant tracking software with features, such as multiple applications, to allow an organization to customize employment application content. Our OnboardCentric solution has the ability to help organizations effectively manage potential tax credits.

 

Photo by Hédi Benyounes on Unsplash

How Do I Post a Job Ad for Free? And Should I Pay?

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The talent shortage of 2021 has many companies expanding the rate at which they post jobs online for free. If you’re looking to post a job for free on Indeed or any of the other online job boards available, you may feel overwhelmed.

There are plenty of choices for free job advertising and even more choices for paid job postings. When deciding where to advertise a job for free or when to pay to post jobs online, strategy is key. Create a winning strategy with data analytics to help you find great workers when you post jobs online.

Download ebook on recruiting mobile job seekers

Attract the Right Candidates with a Free Job Ad

There are nearly as many job openings as there are people looking for work. And although there is a willing worker for each job opening, every recruiter knows only a small percentage of applicants will make a great new hire. Recruiters who post a job for free online increase their chances of attracting quality applicants.

But applying to a free job posting is easy and quick. That’s why when you advertise a job for free online, you also risk attracting unqualified candidates. So, while free job advertising on sites like Indeed and LinkedIn is a crucial component of a successful recruitment strategy, use these tips to attract high-quality candidates while discouraging unqualified candidates.

Be clear about qualifications. Whether it’s a bachelor’s degree or a welder’s certification, be clear about what you need. But don’t raise qualifications just to cut down on the number of resumes you need to weed through. Imposing unnecessary qualifications on a job may be discriminatory. And needless educational requirements may exclude diverse candidates with hard-to-teach soft skills.

Be clear about less desirable aspects of the job. When recruiters advertise a job for free online, they sometimes gloss over unsavory traits of the position. Neglecting to mention things like mandatory overtime may net a greater number of applicants. But you risk a poor fit and costly employee turnover if wait until your new hire clocks in to break bad news.

Write a job description tailored to your ideal new hire. Think about all the reasons a hard-working, go-getting team player wants to work for your company. Opportunity for overtime? Advancement opportunity? Tuition reimbursement? When you advertise a job for free online highlighting these benefits, you’ll attract employees driven to succeed—and discourage those without the work ethic to take advantage of these rewards.

Optimize Your Free Job Posting

With 9.2 million open positions out there, you may be tempted to pay to get your free job advertisement in front of candidates. Sometimes it makes sense to pay for advertising to find your new hire when you post jobs online.

For example, you may occasionally have a professional position to fill. Open positions for which there are fewer qualified candidates and those that have a larger impact on your operations may benefit from a sponsored job posting. For other positions with higher turnover, you can get good results by optimizing job ads when you post a job for free on Indeed or any other free job boards.

You can start by making a list of all the words candidates will use to find your open position. Now search for positions on sites such as LinkedIn or Indeed using the keywords. Make a note of how often each job posting uses your keyword, keeping in mind the first few results are likely sponsored. Now aim to use your keyword more often than the other job posting on the first page of results.

Stagger Your Job Ad on Free Job Posting Sites

When you post a job for free, you steadily go down in results pages as your job ad ages. You can keep your job posting on the first page of search results when you stagger the sites on which you advertise a job for free.

Job seekers use more than one site to look for jobs. Your new job ad may appear on the first page of results when you post a job for free on Indeed. Then as that ad ages, it’s less likely to appear at the top of search results regardless of keyword optimization.

When your free job posting slips to the second page on Indeed, you can post a job for free on LinkedIn. Candidates who don’t find your aging free job ad on Indeed will be more likely to find it on LinkedIn. By staggering the sites on which you post a job for free, you attract more job seekers by extending the life of your free job advertising campaign.

Get Your Job on Google Results Pages

Here’s another reason to stagger your job postings. Positions listed on many online job boards also appear in Google for jobs results. When candidates search Google for “administrative positions in Cleveland,” Google aggregates open positions across job boards on its results page. Candidates can click on the ad from Google and apply right on your branded careers site.

Make Posting a Job for Free Easier with Applicant Tracking Software

Don’t have a branded careers site? That’s too bad because having a branded careers site will make posting a job for free easier. When you post jobs for free online, many job sites will ask if you already have a careers site where applicants can apply. Without an online application, you’re stuck creating questions for candidates on each free job board.

ExactHire’s applicant tracking system includes a branded careers site where candidates can search open positions and apply, even from their cell phones. But there are other ways an applicant tracking system will make it easier for you to post a job for free online. Using ExactHire’s ATS system, you can create your job ad and post it to as many free job sites and social media platforms as you want with a single click. The ATS will store all of your passwords and will streamline the process you use to post a job for free.

You can also use ExactHire’s applicant source reports to find out which advertising methods work best in your recruitment campaigns. You’ll be able to see the performance metrics for each free job site on the same screen. Over time, you can fine tune your recruitment strategy to save time and money while reducing employee turnover.

Are you ready to learn more about how ExactHire’s ATS can make your free job advertising campaigns more successful? Contact us today.

Photo by Souvik Banerjee on Unsplash

 

 

 

Where have all the workers gone?

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The bottom line is the techniques and the offerings that you used in the past will not work now. And, no, I don’t believe it’s going to change anytime soon. American workers don’t want to go back to that normal. And what needs to change, actually, is just about everything.

VIDEO

Where have all the workers gone?

 

 

TRANSCRIPT

Every client we talk to, every company that we interact with, is saying the same thing: they can’t find talent.
most everything that they’ve done in the past that has worked or isn’t working right now. How could that be?

The pandemic hit in march of 2020 and what did we see? We saw unemployment skyrocketing or businesses that were affected by either shutting down, slowing down, or going out of business.

But as the economy starts to heat back up, what we expected was an excess of candidates and an excess of jobs–all those things would mesh together and what we would get would be this perfect situation. But that isn’t what’s happened.

For the first quarter of 2021 what we’re seeing is unbelievable numbers on all the factors that the government measures like GDP, durable goods spending, etc. Well the opportunities have returned to the market but we haven’t seen the workers come back.

Why is that?

What I’d like to suggest here, are a few things that you should consider:

  1. With the increased unemployment benefits,
    some people can just survive staying at home and there may be lots of reasons that they want to do that.
  2. Some people that have been laid off have just decided they’re not willing to go back to work.
  3. Competition for talent has increased dramatically, and you need to pay attention to that because that’s a key.
  4. Some people have gone back to school and they’re not available for full-time work.
  5. But also, with schools and day care centers not going back full-time, some people are challenged because they
    now have children that are at home and they have to care for them.
  6. Despite increased vaccination rates, some people are still worried about returning to the
    workforce and being subjected to COVID.
  7. Some laid off workers have realized that, you know what, they they really dislike their manager, they
    dislike that job or the industry, and they’ve decided I’m not going back to that at all.
  8. And last but not least a remote workforce which was an exception, has now become the norm.

The bottom line is the techniques and the offerings that you used in the past will not work now. And, no, I don’t believe it’s going to change anytime soon. American workers don’t want to go back to that normal. And what needs to change, actually, is just about everything needs to change.

 

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