Resources
Recruiting
3 min read
Streamlining the Hiring Process
The HR world is abuzz about bringing transformation to employment starting with the hiring process. Check any well-known recruiter’s social media space, and you’re sure to find their take on how companies can treat candidates better. It’s popular right now to take a stand for the unemployed searching for work and declare the hiring process be turned upside down. Is this a just another talking point trending, or is there really some change to be had? What does a quality hiring method look like, and why is it important? An employer’s hiring process is the first glimpse into the organization for every applicant. The hiring process can be the driving factor pushing a unicorn candidate to choose one company over another. With less positive outcomes, hiring methodologies can also have legal implications and lead to future legal action if the wrong steps are taken, not to mention the potential for negative media and public damage. Examining a few questions and answers about a quality hiring process may be helpful in grabbing the attention of that unicorn candidate, preventing negative publicity, and avoiding legal risk. Streamline the Amount of Interviews Many companies or hiring managers do not come to the job market prepared with a set of applicant steps. This can create confusion on the part of both interviewers and candidates throughout the applicant search. It is critical to be able to prepare applicants with clear expectations and time commitments through the hiring process. Typical entry and mid-level jobs may require 2-3 interviews including an initial phone screen. For high level or C-suite positions, additional screening is expected and may include up to 4-5 meetings throughout the process. Keeping the interview process dragging for weeks or months on end and requiring meetings with unnecessary parties may turn candidates off from an organization. Additionally, this makes the hiring department appear unorganized and likely sends a huge red flag to applicants. Can sample work be requested of candidates? Asking candidates to submit small assignment or drafts during the interview process is allowable, but it should be kept to the latter end of the hiring process. Anyone being asked to submit their own work as part of the hiring process should be in the top tier of applicant being considered for hire. The work should be of a small scale and not consume too much of the applicant’s time. Any work submitted from the candidate could not be used by the company itself. Requiring an employee to complete a working interview is also allowable, but candidates should abide by all employment laws and be compensated for any time worked. How often should communication happen? Companies in this day and time do not want to gain a reputation of ghosting candidates. It is vital that the hiring team maintain consistent communication with candidates, both those moving forward in the process, and those being passed on. Communication, positive and negative news, shows the company and hiring team to be not only organized, but also empathetic. Candidates searching for work are depending on communication from the companies they interview with as they make difficult decisions about their future career. Even if a stall in hiring must occur, it’s important to be honest with candidates about the stagnant state. The open communication style can also be advantageous to the employer as applicants may share additional information about the status of their job search that could influence how quickly the process should be moving. To maintain consistency, companies may consider establishing a standard template for the candidates that don’t get hired. Consistency, although leaving room for catering slightly to each person if applicable, may mitigate any risk of potential accusations of discrimination in the hiring process. What to avoid in the hiring process? In order to avoid making a legal error, hiring managers and anyone interviewing candidates should be trained on what is and is not ok during the hiring process. All interview questions should be kept relevant to the job duties. Candidates should never be required to answer questions about anything pertaining to their personal life, appearance, or skillsets unrelated to the job. Keeping managers and interviewers up to date on discrimination training will go a long way in avoiding future legal missteps in the hiring process. Transforming the hiring process is not going to change overnight, but there are small and simple steps companies can take to ensure every candidate is being given a fair and positive application experience. Avoiding legal mistakes, keeping open communication, limiting interviews and sample work to reasonable requirements all will help employers be a part of the hiring transformation, making hiring more equitable for all. Stephanie Mauney is a freelance writer and content curator specializing in Human Resources
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Text Recruiting
24 min read
Text Recruiting Discussion
Last week I hosted Madeline Laurano from Aptitude Research as we brought her new text recruiting research report to life on Zoom. It was a terrific discussion with some comments from the attendees as well on texting use cases, do’s and dont’s and more. Below is a full transcript of that discussion so you can follow along. Download the Rise of Text Recruiting Text Recruiting Transcript All right. Let’s do this. Hey, everybody. Welcome to another edition of RecTech Live. I’m your host, Chris Russell, Managing Director of RecTech Media, where we cover all the world of recruiting technology. Today, we’re talking about text recruiting. As companies look to improve communications, text recruiting is becoming a strategic priority for them. In fact, 40% of companies have increased their use of text in talent acquisition this year, according to new research conducted by Aptitude Research, in conjunction with Emissary.ai, the text recruiting platform entitled, The Rise of Text Recruiting and the Business Impact. The report states that although text is widely adopted in other areas of business, talent acquisition has been slow to respond. Email is still their preferred method of communication, and 58% of candidates received no response at all when they are screened out of the process. You can download the report for free with no email required, over on the link there on the chat, on the Emissary website. Or you can click on the blog at Emissary.ai, to get it. And definitely hit them up for a demo while you’re there, as well, if you want to learn more about text screening solutions. Here to discuss the report is author Madeline Laurano. She’s the Founder and Chief Analyst at Aptitude Research. Good afternoon, Madeline. Thanks, Chris. Thanks for having me on the show. I think this is my second time her, so, I appreciate you having me back. Absolutely. Looking forward to it today. We had to reschedule from last week, of course. Sorry about that, audience. So a great topic today, and if the audience has questions as well, feel free to throw them in the chat there as we go along. I’m going to have the report up here on the screen, and we’ll scroll through it as I go through my questions with Madeline. We’ve got a few more people in the room, David Bernstein. Awesome. It amazes me that most companies have yet to adopt texting into their recruiting process. There’s still just a huge swath of companies out there, Madeline, that have yet to actually tackle this technology. But can you kind of just summarize the report in a few words here for us as we get started? Sure. So it’s amazing to me too, Chris. We look at our consumer lives, we look at our personal lives, and we use text all the time. It’s just part of how we engage with companies and brands. It’s part of how we communicate, and we’re not seeing it widely adopted in talent acquisition, at least not in a way that’s compliant and safe and really engaging with candidates. So to me, when I looked at this study and we first started talking about what this was going to look like from a research perspective, started to really dive into the communication crisis right now in talent acquisition. To me, a lot of the issues with candidate experience come down to communication. I think it’s a communication challenge. I think we’re not communicating with candidates in a way that’s immediate, in a way that’s personal, and in a way that’s meaningful, and we’re seeing that really impact every single area of talent acquisition. And what we found in the research when we looked at this communication crisis, is that companies rely so heavily on email. This is the go-to, this is how ATSs support communication. This is what companies use. There’s classes and training out there on how to create an email. We’ve all seen this. We’ve all gone through this on how to just create these email templates. And this is the go-to form of communication. What we found in the research is 43% of candidates don’t even open their emails. And we know when we look at the hourly workforce, which is the forgotten workforce, a lot of these candidates don’t even have access to email. So we’re seeing, especially through the pandemic, this increase in the use of mobile devices and individuals owning mobile devices and communicating through mobile devices. We need to be able to communicate with candidates where they live and where they spend their time. So the report, to summarize, I know that was a long answer, really looks at the communication crisis today, and then the impact of text in being able to improve that candidate experience and the recruiter experience as well. Yeah. Email becomes kind of a crutch, I think for, for companies. It’s sort of the default, just send an email if it’s so easy, I guess. But what do you think is preventing them from adopting things like text recruiting in their communications and talking to candidates and applicants and all that kind of stuff? I think one of the reasons is it becomes a behavior. The behavior is just to use email, and a lot of system support email, and that’s been the go to for a lot of recruiters and a lot of hiring managers and companies. So I think that’s one reason that we’re seeing this. I think the other is companies don’t exactly know that they have these options. And what we found in the research too, is a lot of recruiters are using text, but they’re using it in, I would say, inappropriate, and I don’t mean it probably as that’s going to come across, but if they’re using just kind of rogue texting to say, “All right. Somebody put their number on LinkedIn in their profile, or I found their number on their resume. I’m just going to send them a text and see if they want to jump on the phone with me.” And it sounds really easy, and this is happening all the time. And we know this is happening. I’ve been contacted by recruiters through text, but it’s not compliant. It introduces bias, because we don’t know the language being used. It’s not integrated into the ATS, so we’re not able to track the effectiveness of this type of communication. And it’s just out there. So I think a lot of companies don’t even know that the recruiters are actually doing this in a very rogue way, and it puts them at risk. If we think about it, on the consumer side, imagine going into a store and you buy something, or you go and you have a meal in a restaurant and you leave the restaurant. And imagine that the waiter sends you a text, “Hey Chris, thanks for my tip. Can I get another 10 bucks?” Or, “Thanks so much for coming. I hope you liked the steak. Next time I would try the scallops.” That would never happen. It would be so inappropriate. The text comes through a system, it comes through a platform that says, “How was your meal? Can you give us a rating? How was your meal? Would you like to come back? What can we do better?” It’s engaging, it’s professional, it’s compliant. And we need to think about doing the same thing in talent acquisition. Definitely. Was there an aha moment in this report for you, in terms of some of the numbers that you uncovered here? Yeah. I think there were a few. I think for one, I didn’t realize how many recruiters are just using text without having a platform or a way to really measure that effectiveness. That was surprising. And then, I think the other piece, and it’s just been a theme for me this year, is the impact on the recruiter experience. We’ve talked so much about candidate experience. That’s definitely been a big focus for my research in the past few years. But this year, the recruiter experience really came to light. We really started to see that recruiters are leaving, companies are struggling to find recruiters. Recruiters are burnt out. We need to think about technology that supports recruiters, not just technology that IT wants to buy or that VPs of HR want to buy. What does really work for people that are doing the work? And so, looking at this report and this research through the lens of the recruiter experience, it was like, “Okay, text is not just for candidates. It’s just as much of a benefit for recruiters and recruiting teams, too that do not have time to engage with candidates one-on-one that still want to create meaningful experiences and just want to do it in a more immediate way.” Yeah. Yeah. David Bernstein in the chat there agrees, he says “Lack of communication is the number one reason why candidates complain about their experience.” I see Kevin Grossman over at the Talent Board talks a lot about the key to providing a great kin experience is the ability to provide frequent and respectful feedback through the entire life cycle. That’s something that’s definitely lacking out there. A hundred percent. That feedback over there. Yeah. Hi, David. I think that’s a great comment. And I know Kevin and the Talent Board, they create these pillars of what is a great candidate experience? And feedback and communication are two of those pillars. And they’re both impacted by this conversation today. Yeah. I wonder if there’s a company out there that’s kind of like a text first company in terms of just all the communications with their employees and their candidates out there. There must be some small company out there that does everything by text. I’d love to talk to them about that. But if anybody knows in the chat there, there’s got to be a company that does a lot of this well. One thing too, Chris, I think what happens, to that point, is a lot of companies are great with improving communication, whether that’s text or conversational AI or messaging, they’re great at one part of talent acquisition, like we’ve figured out how to improve the interview scheduling, because we’re going to do that through text or we’re going to improve the apply process and answer questions through a different form of communication. But to do it end-to-end, I think that’s surprising to me as well when we looked at the research. It’s like this impacts every single part of that candidate journey. Yep. All right. So how many companies did you talk to you for this report? I think we had over 400 companies that responded to the survey, and then we do quite a bit of interviews, oh, a little bit over 300. And then we do quite a bit of interviews to support that as well, so that happens throughout the year. And communication has just been a big, big topic of a lot of the round tables in the interviews that we do. Yeah. Let’s go through some of the numbers here. Four times more likely to see candidates respond in the first two minutes. That’s, I think, very true. I was talking to one of Emissary’s clients the other day, we’re doing a case study with them and I asked the guy, “What did candidates tell you about this?” And he said, “It’s just their reaction.” He says, “I’ll message a candidate as soon as they apply and they reply back, ‘Oh, wow. That was quick.'” And to me, that’s awesome. Right. That’s what the candidates want. And we need to have more of that happen throughout TA in that kind of speed, I think. But two times more likely to fill positions in the first two weeks and 48% in the overall permanent candidate experience, so very cool. Now, well walk me through the top findings here, because these are pretty interesting, I think. Yeah. So, the first I think is what we started talking about, which is email is not enough, and that’s been the go-to for a lot of companies. You can see here, 43% of candidates aren’t even opening those emails, and that’s not just true for talent acquisition, that’s true for the employee experience, too. So looking at how does this impact not just how we’re recruiting, but can we continue this type of communication through the employee experience? But we rely so heavily on email and just again, going back to this idea of high volume or hourly workforce or the forgotten workforce, a lot of these individuals don’t even have email addresses or they’re not checking them frequently. And why are we not going to where candidates spend their time and communicating with them there? So I think just kind of getting out of this behavior of email is definitely been a big theme in the research report. Text is important across all areas of talent acquisition. Again, I think we just think of it in one situation, like this could improve apply, this could improve scheduling, maybe this improves onboarding. But there are use cases throughout all of talent acquisition, and we really have to think about providing that consistency throughout. And then, I think this idea of ROI, this is a theme just in TA tech in general. Companies aren’t measuring ROI, and a lot of companies, I think, find it challenging to measure ROI. When you look at communication and again, whether that’s text, conversational AI, messaging, whatever it may be, this ROI conversation, it becomes much more critical because you’re seeing an immediate ROI. You’re seeing candidates respond. Within two days, you’re seeing candidates being able to maybe accept a job within two days. We’re seeing improvements in efficiency. We’re seeing improvements in that experience. We’re seeing improvements in recruiter productivity. So the ROI, it’s almost immediate. I hate to kind of say it so definitively, like this is an immediate ROI, but it really is. When you improve communication, you see the impact across all of these areas of talent acquisition. And we talked about speed and the response time, the metrics change within talent acquisition, too. We’re not just looking at time to fill or quality of hire or a lot of these traditional metrics. We start to look at metrics that are more marketing metrics, like what is response time? What is communication? And what are these metrics that we can start tracking to be able to really gauge candidate engagement? And the recruiter experience, too, right? They sure love using text. Do we have any recruiters in the audience who want to give texting some props here? Feel free to chime in. And yeah, the mobile only mindset. I think even job alerts should be text now. Forget email if you’re a company and you’re any kind of talent community, you should be texting those jobs to the candidates if you want more applies, right? Right. And even think about again, going back to the consumer experience, even companies that are sending you emails all the time, you’re still getting texts, too, or you have an option to receive text messages. And that’s just how we communicate. I get text messages all the time. They’re like, “I sent you an email, but I’m sending you a text too, because I know this is faster and sometimes easier for people.” And it definitely is for me, so it’s appreciated. Yeah. I think candidates want it, too. Yeah. They expect it almost at this point. Jonathan Doraday says, “We use the term first contact to offer our clients moving from seven days to two days with text plus automation.” Yep. “You can’t do job alerts over text,” he says. “It’ll get banned to spam.” Really? I would think as long as it’s opt in, why can’t you do that, Jonathan? I’m curious there. All right. So other findings here, two week communications at scale is a reality through text. Now, all text is the same. What do you mean by that one? So I think that’s kind of going back to the point that a lot of recruiters will just text a candidate if they see their number on a resume or they see their number in a LinkedIn profile or wherever it may be, and just reach out and say, “Would love to schedule some time, would love to connect you with this hiring manager,” whatever it may be. And that’s not the same as using a text-based platform that’s compliant, that’s reducing bias, that’s thinking about this experience, that’s integrated with your ATS or able to manage and measure the effectiveness. And again, I think just going back to that kind of consumer example, we would never expect that as consumers, to get these random text messages from the person you just met in a store that you wanted to buy a t-shirt in. But we’re seeing recruiters do the same thing. So I think thinking through it as a compliant platform. And bias is a big part of that conversation too, because companies are spending so much money on diversity, equity, and inclusion. We have to think about reducing bias in the hiring experience. We know bias is everywhere in talent acquisition today, and we can’t just risk having either managers or recruiters sending out text messages without really ensuring that they’re communicating in a way that is really thinking about bias, too. Yeah. Syed has a good comment in the chat there. He says, “We talk about texting like a bullhorn.” So yeah. Good point there. I’ll say you can’t overdo texting, because it is so personal and immediate. You have to do it… There’s a right mix of cadence there. Anything around that, Madeline, that you want to talk about? Yeah. And I think that that does happen. I think we’ve all probably experienced that, where you have to really figure out what the right level of engagement is and what’s going to be most effective, and not just do a lot of the same patterns that we do on email through text as well. That’s a great point. Yep. All right, here. So the communication crisis. When asked to select top three priorities for 2022, companies identified improving efficiency, finding candidates faster, and finding more candidates. Speed is a currency for success in talent acquisition. Amen. So the numbers here, improving all of our efficiency, you can see where the needs are. I thought this was interesting here, which was the daily recruiter activities. So what do they spend their time doing most? Do you want to read some of those for us? Yeah. If you talk to recruiters, and having a lot of friends that are recruiters, we know why people love being recruiters, is because they love connecting with candidates and they love building these relationships. I have a good friend who is a campus recruiter, and she loves seeing someone get their first job and working with early talent and building those relationships, and kind of being that point of contact and that first relationship with someone before they join an organization. Recruiters aren’t recruiters because they love searching in an ATS or because they love reviewing applicants. So I think one piece of it is, a lot of this work is administrative. And the other piece of it that comes through in this data to me is recruiters are not able to focus on really connecting with candidates, that communication gets lost when you’re spending all of your time just searching for candidates or worrying about advertising or trying to be able to schedule interviews, which is a lot of time, and a huge time commitment. So again, I think this idea of text is not just being something for candidates, but for recruiters too, really changes the whole idea of what are we doing and how are we reaching candidates? Yeah. So if we look at the graph here, top three things, reviewing applicants, number one, finding applicants, number two, scheduling interviews, number three. I would think technology is shifting those numbers, because technology can bring in a flood of applicants, you have to go through them essentially, as a recruiter there, unless you have some kind of automated evaluation process there. Yeah. And I think matching solutions help that, too. And there’s a lot of technology, a lot of automation that can help reduce a lot of these tasks. I think what’s interesting is a lot of the solutions are so complex that recruiters either are not able to use them in a way that’s really bringing any value to them, or they have to go through so much training, or companies are just switching them constantly, so it becomes really challenging to I think really see a high adoption in a lot of these TA tech solutions. Yeah. That’s a good point. Your TA tech solution has to be dead simple easy if you want to gain adoption with it. And the more complex it is, the less use it gets, essentially. So that’s the way of the world. Here’s some more numbers, communication often takes a backseat to these administrative tasks and responsibilities. The result is that candidates are ignored. Four times more likely to see… 56% of applicants that are screened out never receive a response. That’s a huge fail, and a part of the black hole out there. 74% of companies were not effectively engaging candidates in a remote environment. And 62% of hourly workers never receive a response. Wow, that’s crazy. Crazy. Especially because of everything that happened in the past two years, where during the pandemic, the hourly workforce is the workforce that made sure that we were getting food and really could sustain our lives during this time. And then, we’re not even treating them with respect enough to give a response during that period. So I think this, not to kind turn this into an hourly conversation, but to really think about what’s happened with the hourly workforce and how that needs to change, communication is the foundation of that. We have to be able to communicate with hourly workers in a way that’s simple, where they’re living and where they’re spending their time. And text is a big part of that. Yeah. I want to read some of the chat stuff here. It says, Jonathan Norte, “Best practices. ‘Hi, first name, my name is, recruiter name from company name.’ If you don’t do this, the engagement rates are subpar,” he says. And Dominic says, “Agreed. We’ve talked with candidates a lot as well. And one-way messages with links are frowned upon. Also, always ending with the question is a great way to get good engagement rates.” They make some pretty good points there. If you’re just sending a link, what’s the point, right? Right. Right. You can do that with an email. It’s got to be something different, more personal, I think. Yeah, definitely. I think that this idea of personalized experiences, this is where most companies need to go. And when you look at even the email training that I think a lot of companies have gone through, or recruiters have gone through, it’s to create more personalized emails. And to do that at scale, we have to kind of take some of that and put that into text too, just texting out a link or encouraging them to apply for a job without even providing any type of humanity just doesn’t go very far. So obviously, email is still king, but how do you see other tools like WhatsApp, WeChat, Slack, entering the recruiting process. Madeline, give us some thoughts around that if you could. Yeah. A lot of the ATSs are trying to figure out now how can we create better communication channels? And it’s not just email, and a lot of them are trying WhatsApp, and messaging is part of a lot of ATSs now, WeChat not as much, because they’re harder to integrate with. But Teams is obviously, there’s a few ATSs out there where Teams has been a big focus or Slack. So I think we’re starting to see more options, but it’s still, again, the go-to still is email. So the more that we can provide these options, the more we can think about where candidates are spending their time and how do we engage with them on those platforms, the more successful that experience will be. Yeah. Sayed, you had a question? Yeah. You know what? You start addressing it, which I think is really key, because the whole idea of texting is such a great communication tool because it’s very direct and it can be very personalized. But one of the problems that everybody that I talk to when I talk about texting, they talk about it as another top of funnel feeder. And to me, that basically perpetuates this problem of intermediation between the job seeker and the employer. So, texting should be a way to streamline the communication, to make it easier for an employer to engage. And that’s something that I think whoever does it best will start winning the quality war or the quality battle for great candidates, because as a replacement or as a top of funnel thing, I think it becomes another thing we have to come up with a cure for. Or another option that a candidate has to find on their own or that a company has to find on their own. Yeah. I think that’s a great, great point. It has to be as easy as possible and it has to be almost a text first approach. Well, I read your study, by the way. It’s fantastic. Oh, thank you. And thanks for putting it out there, Chris, really great work. Oh, thank you. I appreciate that. Thanks for joining. All right. So as we look through the rest of the report here, again, email versus text, I think some of the obvious comparisons there are pretty obvious. Yeah. And I think the more that we kind of bring awareness to email does not need to be the go-to approach that companies are using, I think the ATSs have some work to do as well to rethink that process. Yeah. I’m looking for a text-first ATS to come out. Right. Just with texting as it’s kind of core component, done properly. I think there’s a market there for something like that overall. Anybody else disagree with that? Yeah. There’s conversational AI-first ATSs, Paradox is certainly able to do that on the hourly side. It’s able to do on the professional side too, but a lot of hourly companies are using Paradox for an ATS. We could see similar for text, for sure. So, yeah. Yeah. So about 40% of companies said they’re going to increase their use of texting this year. Yep. They’re going to increase their use of text. And I think that will be again, the more we can educate them that the platform is a better option than kind of this just random texting, I think the more value companies will see. Texting…. And I think the other piece too, is it’s so so familiar. There isn’t a lot of education to tell companies what text is or what the value is. Everybody understands what we text all the time in our personal lives. This is unlike a lot of different areas of talent acquisition. If we’re just going to use AI matching as an example, you really have to explain what this is. You have to help companies understand how AI is used. Well, there’s an art to it, right? Yeah. Yeah. There’s an art to it. As Jonathan said here, first name, “My name is X from company X,” and you have to keep things brief, of course. There’s a whole best practices guide over in Emissary.ai if you guys want to check it out as well. But yeah, there is a little bit of art to this as well. I’ve done some surveys of recruiters around how they actually use texting, like what are the phrases and words they use, which I think can be… Words matter, right? Whether it’s text or email, the way you sound, that tone, is important out there. Right. It’s the method, and it’s the tone as well. Benefits of text-to-screen platform, 52% improved efficiency, 42% increase in candidate engagement, 32% improved candidate engagement, and 30% improved recruiter experience overall. That’s good ROI right there, for anybody who’s not using text recruiting yet. And the use cases for text-to-screen, run us through those there, if you could, on that one. Yeah. And I think a lot of companies think it’s just like apply and scheduling. A lot more, yeah. But to see all of these different use cases where you can do one-on-one text, where you can think about recruitment marketing, referrals, I think is a great example of being able to use text. And referrals are so obvious that I think often overlooked from text, because companies have referral programs. We know this is the number one source of hire, yet to be able to text referral codes and make them personal to your employees and have them be able to share that via text, provides just much better adoption of these referral programs than if you’re not using text. And then, I think beyond that, we really looked at the employee experience too, to say, “Okay, if talent acquisition is where a lot of companies are going to start to adopt text, can we look at this experience in other areas, whether that’s benefits administration, whether that’s performance management, whether that’s internal mobility, and to start to see the value throughout that entire experience.” Yep. I get their recruitment marketing one in there, and that’s great for short code recruiting. Emissary has a client, they were doing something with truck drivers, and they had a short code called “truck, yeah,” was there short code. And so, if you texted that you would get back some information on the company. Screening at 10%, it’s kind of low, I think. Yeah. Texting is a great use case for that as well. It’s a great use case for screening. Yeah. And I think especially during the pandemic, we started to see a lot of those examples kind of come up. But I think the other one too, that I call out, and I think it hits on all of these, is Campus as well. For companies that are going to either Campus events or they’re thinking about increasing their Campus recruiting programs, to be able to do all of this and reach early talent can be very valuable as well. Yeah. Yeah. You see more companies using texting in their Campus recruit. I would think the QR code has made a comeback too, there. Right? Yep. Yep. Yeah. I think there’s going to be… I think where Campus is at right now, is companies are trying to figure out what the mix is going to be of virtual versus in person. And I don’t think there’s a lot of answers yet about what that will look like for next year. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. You can’t forget the employee experience, too, right? You can use texting inside of that arena. Just touch on that if you could. Yeah. I think there’s lots of different examples throughout that employee experience. I did an interview, this is a few years ago, but it was with the State of Colorado. And I think they employee like 50,000 people. Just for benefits administration, they were sending out emails for open enrollment to try to get people to sign up. And it was very low, like under 20% were actually signing up for open enrollment by the date, yet everybody wanted benefits. That’s part of the benefit of working for the state, the great benefits. And people just were not reading their emails, they weren’t opening the emails. So they had to really switch their communication, and they relied heavily on text to be able to do that. And they saw that enrollment go from under 20% to over 90% just in a year. And that’s just changing that method of communication. Yeah. What about onboarding too? That could be a good use case for onboarding, give welcome messages from the team and that kind of thing. Yeah. And the bidirectional, I think when you use a platform, too, it’s not just one way. You can get this bidirectional communication, and to be able to think about that onboarding experience. I think for onboarding, there’s so many fears for new hires. It’s scary, especially for going back to an office for the first time in two years, I was just talking to someone about this. There’s so much fear with, what do you need to bring? What is this going to look like? And it doesn’t feel awesome to be able to send an email Sunday night before you start on Monday, and ask these questions, or you might not get a response, you don’t really know who to go to. But if there’s an option to text and to be able to find out information or get quick reminders, it can feel really great. We even found in our research, this is pre-COVID, but the biggest fear for new hires was should I bring a lunch on the first day of work? And it sounds silly, but it’s really a real fear. Do I pack a lunch? Is someone going to take me to lunch? Is there lunch in the cafeteria? Is there a place to buy lunch? Do I need to leave the office building to find lunch? And lunch is expensive. So that, do I bring and pack a lunch is a fear that could easily be answered over text. Well, I guess at the end of the day, texting, just do it, right? That’s what it comes down to. We need to get this into more hands in TA and help speed up that hiring process and the other things as well. Absolutely. Cool. Any other questions from the audience as we wrap things up here? Again, you can check out the report on Emisarry.ai. You can also go to aptituderesearch.com, perhaps, is that the URL? Yep. Okay. I think so. I had to think about it. Throw your URL in the chat there too, if you could. And yeah, it’s been a great conversation. I love talking texting. And any last questions out there from the audience? I’m going to put this. Yeah. I have a quick question. Hi, Chase. Hey, my name’s Chase. I have seen text used really often for initial screening and knockout questions after a candidate applies. And especially in the hourly world, that’s working well to get more applications. Are you authorized to work? Yes or no? Makes it pretty easy on recruiters, but it’s less used in a personal one-to-one connection type of… It’s less used to develop intimacy and a sense of closeness with the recruiter like we’ve been talking about this whole session. And I’m wondering if you still feel, although it may be underutilized, if you still feel that there’s a lot of value in those pre-screening questions or maybe just some of that automated stuff for candidates that are applying to a job. That’s a great question. Chris, I’m sure you have opinions on this too, but I think there is value, because a lot of companies are going to ask those questions and try to get those requirements anyway. And to be able to easily do that through text, it’s more efficient, candidates are going to have to do it anyway, and then sometimes they forget to do it, or it feels like another hassle to go back to that email or log into some system to do it. So I think it’s more efficient, so that’s the benefit. I think the number one benefit I see, and I think companies are being creative, too on when they can include those. Maybe you can first create that meaningful relationship and say, “Hey, by the way, Chase, we need to also just get some of these questions out of the way. If you get a few minutes in the next day, if you can kind of send these back.” So I think the traditional way would be like, send those questions before we even provide any engagement, knock candidates out. And then do that. I think companies can be a little more creative now about when to do it. Some companies have even gotten rid of a lot of requirements, too. Yeah. I think if you’re a high volume employer too, you’re going to leverage that piece you mentioned, Chase, this screening out part versus the personalized stuff more. Sure. Because you just don’t have that bandwidth to make those personal messages on a one-on-one basis at that point. But at the very least, the screening out is an excellent use case for them. Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you. Excellent. Good question. All right, guys, as I mentioned, I’m going to throw this on YouTube. Chris, did you. And then, on that guys, that’s Barry Lynch from Emmissary. Oh, hey, Barry. Dovetailing what Madeline had said and Chase had said, one of the best case uses we’ve was for new employees starting in a retail environment. They would send an automated text out the day before the person was due to start to say, “Hey, here’s the store location you’re going to. Here’s the time you’re supposed to show up. You’ll meet the manager of your shift who is going to be this person at this time. Any questions, shoot us a text, and we’ll be able to get back to you straight away on it.” And just that anxiety, again, as Madeline mentioned, about starting a new position, it was eased. One of the unexpected things about it was in the war for talent that’s happening in the hourly space and has been prevalent over the last little while is they were getting a lot of texts back going, “You know what? I’ve accepted another job.” Or “I’m not going to be able to make it tomorrow.” And that would clear the manager’s schedule to say, “Okay. I’m not waiting around here when I should be restocking the shelves or doing whatever the case may be, waiting for someone who’s not going to show up.” They would get more show ups and more people showing up. But also, “Okay, we need to start the recruitment process again, because this person we thought we had in the bag is not going to be with us.” So it had multifaceted benefits. Ghosting prevention. I love that. Yeah. I love that example, Barry, because that ghosting conversation is so real, and it’s a reality, especially in high volume. And it’s scary to send… To know you’ve accepted another job, or you went back to somewhere else, you decided you are going to take some time off and not work, and to draft an email, most candidates are not going to do that. Or they’re not going to pick up the phone and call someone and tell them they’re not going to show up. To send a quick text and say, “I’m sorry, but this isn’t going to work. I’m not coming in.” It feels immediate. It feels like you’ve done it. It feels less scary. And then, it’s a relief for the manager to say, “I know that I can spend my time doing something different tomorrow versus just sit around waiting and getting frustrated all day long because someone’s not showing up.” Yeah. Good stuff, Barry. Thanks for that. All right. It is 2:37. I think we can wrap up. What do you say? Good to see everybody again. Sayed, good to see you. You, too. Jonathan, thanks for the chats there. I’ll put it up on RecTech Media’s YouTube page, hopefully by the end of the day. And I’m also going to transcribe everything and post it on the Emissary blog next week, too, so stay tuned for that. Thanks, Chris. All right, everybody, well… Thanks Madeline for joining us, and check her out at aptituderesearch.com, Emissary.ai. We’ll see you next time. Thanks for watching. Thanks, everyone.
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Text Recruiting
1 min read
The Rise of Text Recruiting - New Report
Traditional forms of communication including email can negatively impact the employer brand, provide a poor candidate experience, and prevent recruiters from reaching their hiring goals. As companies look to improve communication, Text Recruiting is becoming a strategic priority. Forty percent (40%) of companies have increased their use of text in talent acquisition this year, according to new research conducted by Aptitude Research in conjunction with Emissary. Entitled “The Rise of Text Recruiting & The Business Impact“, the report states that although text is widely adopted in other areas of business, talent acquisition has been slow to respond. Email is still the preferred method of communication, and 58% of candidates receive no response at all when they are screened out of the process. Text Recruiting can provide improvements to conversion rates, efficiency, and engagement. According to this study, companies using text see the following results: Four times more likely to see candidates respond in the first two minutes. Two times more likely to fill positions in the first two weeks. Forty-eight percent (48%) improvement in the candidate experience. Text-based recruitment humanizes and personalizes the candidate experience while lifting the administrative burden placed on recruiting teams. Unlike other areas of talent acquisition, text-based recruitment provides an immediate ROI – impacting every aspect of the candidate journey. It offers a significant, measurable impact in a short period of time. Madeline Laurano Top findings from the report say that email is too often used as the primary means of communication which ignores that fact that 43% of candidates do not open emails. In addition, talent acquisition teams often underutilize it. Text can play a role in everything from employer branding to onboarding. Companies using text also see improvements in efficiency and effectiveness. The ROI is almost immediately felt. Text recruiting is also good for the recruiter experience. Almost all recruiters are pressed for time and texting speeds up their tasks. This allows them to focus more time on building candidate connection and rapport. For candidates, their job searching behavior has changed due to the pandemic. 62% of candidates are using their mobile device more this year than last. Candidates want to be able to use one device to communicate with a potential employer, and text meets the needs of the mobile-only mindset by providing faster response and personalized engagement in real-time. Download The Rise of Text Recruiting (.PDF)
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Recruitment Marketing
2 min read
What's an Employer Value Proposition?
Within today’s job market, getting creative with hiring solutions is more important than ever. An employee value proposition, EVP, is one tool employers can use to stand out from competition in attracting top talent to their organization. Gone are the days where simple promises of growth or the highest salary wins over the in-demand candidate. Rather, employers must present a comprehensive package that stands out amongst companies lined up ready to hire. According to Gartner, a technological research and consulting firm, an Employee Value Proposition is “the set of attributes that the labor market and current employees perceive as the value they gain through employment with the organization.” A well-developed EVP displays to a potential candidate not only the financial rewards being offered, but also the professional development opportunities, unique company benefits, or values and vision of the organization. An EVP may come in many forms such as a statement included in job ads, a video shared from company social media platforms, or one-pager shared with new employees. Regardless of the form it is delivered in, a successful EVP is one that company recruiters know well and is easily communicated to candidates. Every EVP should include certain elements that create a comprehensive view into the unique worth a company offers its employees. The EVP may be wrapped up in a share-worthy tagline, but almost always expands on several key components. Compensation The explanation of compensation in an EVP could include the company compensation strategy, system for raises and promotions, current employee compensation satisfaction, employee review procedures, and market comparisons. Benefits Benefits shared in an EVP should detail the basic medical, dental, and vision that is expected as standard and whether any percentage of premiums are covered by the employer. In addition to these basics, the company should share about their time off policies, retirement benefits, employee assistance programs, holidays offered, family leave, and any other perks included in total compensation. Forward thinking employees are always going to be considering the whole package, and one additional incentive may be the difference in being the employer of choice. Professional Development How is the company investing in its future by making employee growth a priority? Employees want to be re-assured that loyalty is not a one-way street when it comes to employment. Sharing how the organization invests in its employee’s growth can be a strategic differentiator in the market. Consider sharing whether the organization provides education reimbursement, professional networking opportunities, career planning, or training for advancement opportunities. Candidates want to know how their future work will be evaluated and how feedback will be provided. Work-Life Work life in an EVP clues candidates into what day-to-day values are prioritized in the company. Nike expresses their values in a EVP slogan, “win as a team.” Nike wants candidates to know they are a company who values working together to the make the world better through their products and services. Google claims to “build, design, code, create—for everyone.” They want to cultivate a diverse network of employees to join the ‘Googler’ team. Maybe the organization allows flexible work hours, advocates for clear work-life boundaries, or encourages healthy lifestyles; these are all important to share in an EVP. Finding creative ways to share the values the organization is focused on can help a company stand out and draw in candidates who feel aligned similarly. Culture An EVP could include a focus on company culture. Perhaps share that a vision of collaboration or company communication is a current emphasis. Answering what leadership style is prevalent could be a huge factor in candidate perspective. What efforts is the company making to create change via social or environmental responsibility? Employee value propositions can be a unique tool to foster buzz amidst both active and passive candidates. Companies can incorporate crafting an EVP during the annual goal setting process. By identifying not only company goals, but also ideal candidate traits, the organizational leadership can perform a gap analysis to pinpoint focal points. After creating the EVP from current goals, employers can initiate a roll out by defining where and how the EVP will be advertised to gain the best results. EVP’s should be evaluated on a yearly basis to ensure alignment with the everchanging and up-to-date company vision. Stephanie Mauney is a freelance writer and content curator specializing in Human Resources
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Human Resources
3 min read
Getting Workers to Return to the Office
One of the hottest topics in today’s conversation about company culture and hiring is the ever so dreaded, return to the office. Employers seem to be faced with the impossible. Over the last two and a half years companies have overcome the unprecedented and been forced to reconcile the future of their workforce. Many continuously pushed back return to office dates as the Covid-19 pandemic stretched longer than most of us imagined was possible until they ultimately chose to transfer their companies to remote offices permanently. The ‘return to the office’ conversation has spiked high emotions amongst leaders, employees, and those searching for work. One only must turn to a quick Twitter or LinkedIn search to find a few viral posts encouraging workers to stand strong in their remote work convictions. This post from Adam Grant inspired by a recent episode of his podcast, “WorkLife with Adam Grant”, received nearly 135,000 LinkedIn reactions and over 9,500 shares: You don’t need people in the office every day. The evidence is clear: hybrid work boosts productivity, creativity, well-being, & retention. Great collaborations don’t involve constant contact. They alternate between deep work and bursts of interaction. In an email to his employees, Elon Musk wrote passionately about requiring Tesla workers to return the office with a 40 hour in office minimum citing the need for corporate employees to be held to the same standard as his manufacturing units. Public response fell on a spectrum somewhere between understandingly sympathetic and complete outrage. It seems evident that opinions vary widely across the workforce. With such broadly diverse perspectives, it may be difficult for employers to navigate the right return to work rhetoric and requirements. Those with the flexibility to offer fully remote or hybrid opportunities now suddenly have a competitive edge in the hiring market. Employers wanting to require employees back in the office are up against a challenging reality. According to this year’s “People at Work 2022: A Global Workforce View” report from ADP Research Institute, “Two thirds (64%) of the workforce would consider looking for a new job if they were required to return to the office full time.” This begs the question; how can employers encourage a return to work without outrage and losing over half of the workforce? What makes a return to office requirement smooth and widely accepted? The answer is complicated. No return-to-work requirement at this point following the pandemic is going to be without its losses. There are bound to be those who simply are not ready to let go of remote life and will consider other employers. But there are ways to incentivize employees and create a positive conversation within an organization. Communication and posture are everything. Making hasty demands will not likely be taken well. Here’s a few suggestions to employers ready to bring employees back to the office: Empathy is key. Be careful to listen to employees and their needs post pandemic. Their world was uprooted, and needs have likely changed since they last commuted to work everyday for a 9-5. Consider putting out a company survey about how the organization can meet their needs as a return to the office occurs. Is a change in work environment needed? Does the physical workspace need an upgrade? Some employers are changing their physical environments to make the workspace more enticing to employees. Employees are no longer keen on the bland, windowless, cubicle environment. How can the physical workspace be altered to accommodate them? Designs including open spaces, plants, welcoming art, amenities, and good lights go a long way in improving making a workplace appear more welcoming. Flexibility could entice employees to get behind a return to office plan. Is offering flexible hours an option for the workplace? Can a more casual workplace dress code be allowed? Are there additional benefits like an Employee Assistance Program, childcare relief, or commuting allowances that could be offered? Is a hybrid model a possibility for the employees? Perhaps, even allowing Fridays from home could be the key to showing goodwill from organization leaders. Many companies have found success in creating a compromise by allowing employees to keep some work from home days. Those roll out of bed, grab the coffee, and throw on a work shirt mornings have become treasured in the minds of employees. Even one remaining at home day may be the flexibility needed to keep employees happy with a return to the office. Other ideas include a transportation reimbursement, free food, company sponsored pet walkers, or even moving to a 4 day workweek. Whatever you decide to do, its clear the new way of work will require more creative solutions to get them to come back. Stephanie Mauney is a freelance writer and content curator specializing in Human Resources
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Recruiting Trends
2 min read
Summer Hiring Tips
As the summer season begins, businesses across the country are looking to staff up to support a predicted increase in consumer demand amid one of the most dynamic labor markets in recorded history. A new report from Snagajob highlights some fresh data and insights from thousands of hourly workers and employers as well as practical hiring advice for businesses staffing up for summer. “Despite the fact that 80% of workers plan to look for a new job this year, companies across every industry are reporting they’re struggling to find candidates,” said Mathieu Stevenson, CEO of Snagajob. “One of the great revelations of the pandemic was just how fungible hourly workers’ skill sets were. It’s not that the hourly workers have left the workforce, it’s that they are reshuffling: looking for more equitable work, greater flexibility and better opportunity for advancement.” Summer Hiring Stats Key findings from the survey of over 3,000 hourly workers and employers highlight who is searching for jobs this summer and how employers are faring: 87% of teens are now looking for work 51% of hourly workers reported that they’re willing to change industries 60% of Gen-Z job seekers consider “sharing social values” among their top 3 factors for choosing a company 45% of hourly workers expect improved working conditions/health standards at a new job Over 93% of businesses report that they’re now understaffed 70% of businesses successfully filling roles are open to flexible work schedules Summer Hiring Tips In addition to the key findings, Snagajob’s Summer Hiring Report features tips for businesses on how to hire today’s hourly workers: Build up programs to attract and retain talent – Many employers find that higher wages alone aren’t enough to bring workers back. Emphasizing company culture through opportunities for workers to grow within the company, socialize with their coworkers, or support causes they stand behind are all approaches to attracting and retaining talent. Take advantage of soft-skilled candidates – Expanding who you consider for open positions is paramount to success in the post-COVID world of work. In addition to considering non-traditional workers such as teens and other first-time hires, look for workers who may not have the exact skill set you’re looking for but can still grow into the position. Broaden your offering criteria – Offering better pay is just the beginning. Workers today are going to be enticed by a full range of offerings, from flexibility and health insurance to growth opportunities, tuition reimbursement, child care assistance, paid time off, company discounts, and more. Acknowledge employee contribution – Employees are part of a team with a shared purpose. People want to belong to a workplace community, be part of something bigger than themselves, and enjoy the day-to-day. Keep work interesting with energy, humor, and fresh incentives — purpose, camaraderie, and levity. Hold job fairs – provide incentives for potential seekers to attend such as free food, gift cards, etc.. You may even need to have “open office” hiring hours on a weekly basis. Summer hiring is challenging but these tips should give you some takeaway tactics to us to your advantage. To access the full report, click here.
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Recruiting
2 min read
Why Talent Acquisition is Important
Companies globally are experiencing the impact of ‘the Great Resignation’ and many are failing to meet the challenge of hiring in the competitive job market current economic conditions have them in. Turnover is on the rise as employees catch wind of higher wages, remote work opportunities, and confidence to go after jobs that go above the basic benefits package. Candidates are looking for companies that present a comprehensive experience for them. With these circumstances, businesses are seeking out strategies to stay competitive, retain staff, and hire top talent. Talent acquisition teams are the answer to this problem. Talent acquisition teams should be viewed as integral business partners for any organization looking to make people a priority. As a company plans to scale growth in revenue, increased talent needs to follow, and often does so in budget-approved waves. With a comprehensive approach to growing teams, employers can utilize talent acquisition departments to recruit candidates that bring assets beyond just the minimum required skills. There are several ways that successful talent acquisition teams bring value to an organization. Brand Awareness Big name brand companies get their world wide popularity from their people. Companies with focused talent acquisition strategies add value to a company by providing positive brand awareness. When TA teams have business related goals, values, and visions in mind they are able to effectively communicate the meaning of a company’s brand to every candidate they encounter. Whether a candidate moves to the final stage of hiring or not, smart companies will focus on TA teams that leave every candidate with a positive story to tell. In many industries, networking and hearsay about a companies hiring practices can make or break the future of recruitment. Being sure to have a resilient talent acquisition team can make all the difference in becoming the more attractive employer in the market. Strategic Success Organizational leadership must understand the connection between company success and strategic hiring. Every hire brings to a company a quantifiable value both via tangible and intangible metrics. Leaders in talent acquisition are there to help business decision makers understand those values. Companies must define what specific value they are looking for in a high quality hire. When managers and supervisors make that connection with their talent acquisition team for not only high level positions, but positions throughout the business, hiring can become deeper than looking for the person with the right years of experience. Companies should be helping recruiters answer the question, ‘how will this position ultimately affect the bottom line?’ This will result in new hires coming onboard that know the answer to that question from the start, creating employee engagement and investment from an early stage. Hiring Efficiency Hiring, firing, re-hiring, re-training, and recruiting are extremely expensive business costs. When companies are not investing in a quality talent acquisition team, recruiting and hiring become inefficient. Inefficient hiring leads to additional training and employee turnover. When positions are not filled with high quality candidates and engaged employees, the business suffers. Without quality recruiting and efficient onboarding procedures, most companies will get stuck in cycle of unending turnover leading ultimately to high costs, burdens on existing staff, and frustrations from managers. In order to improve this cycle, talent acquisition must be a valued focus. This means not only having a TA team, but bringing them into the decision making process and partnering with them on business objectives. Talent Analysis Creating high quality hiring strategies and efficient recruitment procedures requires understanding where the gap lies in current conditions and the ideal goal. Talent acquisition teams often have access, or should be provided with acces, to tools that can provide important analytics for the organization. What is the current time to fill? What is the requisition to recruiter ratio on average? What percent of turnover is happening with new hires? Is turnover primarily with tenured employees? How prepared do new employees feel to do the job after the training period? Are expectations laid out in the hiring process to candidates meeting the reality of what happens on the job? Answers to these questions can be provided by a TA team and may be the accelerant to making positive change. Without a team able to advise of where gaps lie, it is extremely difficult to make changes that steer the company in right direction. Stephanie Mauney is a freelance writer and content curator specializing in Human Resources
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Recruiting
3 min read
Jobs with Work Life Balance
Can there ever be enough jobs in the world that offer a good combination of work life balance? I ask that because it’s becoming increasingly more important to the next generation of job seekers. Many of them are reassessing what balance means in their lives. Talent organizations will need to adjust to this new way of work that future hires want. According to Deloitte’s 2022 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, the next generation workforce is deeply concerned about the state of the world. They are worried about the cost of living, climate change, wealth inequality, geopolitical conflicts, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and they are determined to drive positive societal change. However, they are also struggling with daily life challenges such as financial anxiety, lack of work/life balance, and consistently high stress levels. “This year’s report shows that many Gen Zs and millennials are reassessing what matters most to them as they grapple with the continual disruption and uncertainty of the last few years. This has led to a workplace reckoning which has empowered many to demand sustained changes, including higher compensation, more meaningful and flexible work, more action to address climate change, and an increased focus on well-being. There is an urgent need, and an opportunity, for business leaders to re-define the talent experience to better meet people’s needs,” says Michele Parmelee, Deloitte Global Deputy CEO and Chief People and Purpose Officer. Cost of Living Concerns This year, Gen Zs and millennials cited the cost of living as their top personal concern, just above climate change. Concerns about the cost of living may be a symptom of the times, given the rise of inflation, but they also speak to issues that these generations have been expressing for the past 11 years that Deloitte has conducted the survey: they don’t feel financially secure personally, and at a broader societal level, they are deeply concerned about wealth inequality. About a quarter of Gen Zs (25%) and millennials (21%) say they cannot comfortably pay their living expenses each month, and nearly half live paycheck to paycheck. This likely impacts their ability to save and explains why about three in 10 respondents are not confident they will be able to retire with financial comfort. Meanwhile, about three-quarters of respondents believe that wealth inequality is rising, and only 28% believe the economic situation in their countries will improve in the coming year. Some Gen Zs and millennials are taking on second jobs and redefining their working patterns to alleviate financial concerns. As many as 43% of Gen Zs and 33% of millennials have taken on a paying part- or full-time job in addition to their primary job. They are also capitalizing on the financial benefits of a remote work environment, with a small but growing percentage moving to less expensive cities. Workers in the Driver’s Seat Employee loyalty is up from last year’s survey, potentially because many people changed jobs over the last year. But this still leaves four in 10 Gen Zs and nearly a quarter of millennials who would like to leave their jobs within the next two years, and roughly a third who would do so without another job lined up. Pay, workplace mental health concerns, and burnout are the top reasons why respondents left their jobs over the last two years. But, when choosing a new job, work/life balance and learning and development are the top priorities. Respondents see flexible work as a way to find balance in their lives: saving money while making time for the people and activities they care about. Three-quarters of respondents say they’d prefer a hybrid or remote work arrangement, and many would like more flexible working hours. Purpose continues to be pivotal to talent recruitment and retention. Nearly two in five respondents said they have turned down an assignment or role because it did not align with their values. Meanwhile, those who are satisfied with their employers’ societal and environmental impact—along with their efforts to create a more diverse and inclusive culture—are more likely to stay with their employer long-term. Employers Increase Focus on Mental Health Stress levels continue to be high among respondents, particularly Gen Zs. Nearly half of Gen Zs (46%) and about four in 10 millennials (38%) are stressed all or most of the time. And nearly half of respondents feel burned out due to the pressure of their workloads—about the same percentage of respondents say many of their colleagues have recently left their organizations due to burnout. This signals a retention issue for employers, but about one in five Gen Zs and millennials don’t think their employers are taking it seriously or taking steps to prevent it. The survey did find that Gen Zs and millennials believe their employers are more focused on well-being and mental health since the start of the pandemic. However, just over half of respondents believe this has not had any meaningful impact on employees. “Stress and anxiety levels are unlikely to ease as global threats and ongoing disruption from the pandemic continue to affect Gen Zs’ and millennials’ daily lives and their long-term view of the world,” adds Parmelee. “Business leaders must play a role in supporting better mental health at work, and in mitigating the causes of stress and burnout. Better mental health resources, setting boundaries to protect work/life balance, creating stigma-free environments, and empowering their people to drive change are just a few of the ways leaders can support better workplace mental health.”
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Recruiting
3 min read
Hiring Manager Relationships
Recruiters and hiring managers do not always have a united vision when it comes to hiring practices. I’d go as far as to say that the relationship between them can often be strained. This can be seen posted all over recruiter-focused social media. I sought out a couple of social platforms to see exactly how recruiters are perceiving current industry relationships with their hiring managers. This video from viral HR Tik-Tok content creator, Nikki Jazz, shows the utter frustration of miscommunication between a recruiter and hiring managers concerning compensation negotiations. Nikki pokes fun at the amount of convincing it takes for a manager to increase pay to market level. When asked how to collaborate with and build a healthy relationship with hiring managers LinkedIn influencer and recruiter Dan Roth suggests, “wine and wine.” Of course, Dan is making a joke, but the underlining message is clear. It’s often difficult to work with them, leading to the occasional friendly bribe. Although many recruiters use their social platforms as comic relief, at the core, the majority of both internal and external recruiters desire to build long-lasting rapport with hiring managers to work in partnership on hiring successfully. Alexander Tsokos, Recruitment Business Partner at Adyen, suggests creating a mutually agreed upon written list of expectations initially to begin a healthy relationship from the start of a partnership with a hiring manager. Kristi Moose, a Client Success Manager for TalenTrust, says that she finds it helpful to meet with managers off-site and focus on making a genuine connection outside of operations. It’s important to keep in mind that both the recruiter and hiring manager likely have the same end goal. They want to meet company objectives by bringing on top talent and securing candidates who will convert into tenured employees. There are a few practical ways that recruiters can successfully partner with hiring managers. Building the Hiring Manager Relationship The first step to working well with a hiring manager is building a positive relationship. Both internal and external recruiters should understand that human connection often holds a priceless value in terms of meeting professional goals. Having strong relationships with hiring managers means effective communication, candid conversation, and efficient hiring can happen seamlessly. One way to build a positive relationship is to find ways to connect personally. Do you have any mutual interests? Are you living in a similar life stage? Perhaps plan a quarterly or bi-yearly lunch to step away from the stress of operations and have a planning meeting that can include a personal connection as well. Clarity of Expectations Nearly all strained relationships stem from miscommunicated expectations. Treat your relationship with your hiring manager like a marriage. If an expectation is not communicated clearly in writing or out loud, do not have hope that there will be follow-through. Before beginning a new relationship with a hiring manager take time to discuss a realistic workload and the effects of the number of requisitions on turnaround time. Pull up analytics that shows time to fill and retention. Ask if the hiring manager is satisfied. Talk about the exact type of candidate they are seeking including the experience, education, and skills that are required for the job. Ask where their perfect candidate might be working right now. Creating clear expectations with hiring managers will certainly make strong headway for future hiring success. Training Hiring Managers If open to the idea, hiring managers may need training in proper and legally compliant hiring practices. Providing reasoning and legal repercussions can give hiring managers context for the requirements behind protocols. Not all hiring managers may understand the intricacies of Affirmative Action, document retention, remaining unbiased, and compensation policy. For instance, to attract the perfect candidate, hiring managers may be willing to go above and beyond in offering a lucrative compensation package, but the internal recruiter may have to explain the repercussions of wage compression fur current tenured employees. Hiring managers should also be properly trained in the expected interview process and the importance of having an efficient process for the candidate as well as consistent interview questions. Have a conversation about how many interviews are appropriate for the hiring process, the importance of maintaining consistent communication with candidates, and being open to transferable skills. The potential for recruiters to build strong relationships with hiring managers is hanging on the ability of the recruiter to connect well and communicate effectively. The positive outcome of crafting and sustaining that relationship is well worth it. Give these tactics a try and see if you can turn around a strained relationship. Stephanie Mauney is a freelance writer and content curator specializing in Human Resources.
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