Resources
Recruiting Tactics
2 min read
High Volume Recruiting Tactics
With current staffing trends, many companies are having to utilize high volume recruiting to fill current openings and ensure a well flowing candidate pipeline. Although many candidates out on the market claim they have applied to hundreds of roles throughout their job search; it can still be difficult to source the right person for a role, especially when a recruiter is looking to fill a large number of positions at once. High volume recruiters can be faced with very high stress levels. They are often required to meet tight deadlines and fill multiple positions a day. Their compensation may be tied to their hiring metrics. While there may be a high demand and an overall large talent pool for entry level positions, the competition with industry competitors can often lead to no show interviews, candidates backing out at the last second, and bold counter offers. Targeting mid and senior level candidates poses similar obstacles. Companies are forced to find the competitive edge to stand out. Add in the requirement to finding several qualified people per day, and high volume recruiters are faced with a challenging reality. Creativity, innovation, industry expertise, and advanced research skills are just a few examples of how some recruiters beat out their competitors. Here’s some tactics to consider; Ensure job seekers can locate and understand your positions Work together with your technology and marketing experts to ensure roles are easily accessible. Are candidates able to find your jobs based on similar titles? Search optimization can mean a huge difference in audience reach. Is your job ad clear and accurate? Collaborate with hiring managers to ensure the job posting meets the expectations of the role. Implement automation into your job posting How many candidates see your job and keep scrolling? Even worse, how many start your application only to walk away after realizing your application was going to take an hour of their time? Think about ways your post can be streamlined to catch the eye of the candidate, remind them to follow through, and create a seamless timely application process. Remember, you represent the company to every candidate that applies Although, it may be difficult to personally respond to a high number of applicants, it is vital to not only securing the candidate who is ultimately hired but also keeping candidates who aren’t hired interested in future roles. Personal investment can have big returns on your ability to fill future openings. Initiate texting to speed hiring According to AIHR, when it comes to modern-day job seekers, over 90% of them use their mobile devices to look for that dream job. Our world is mobile. Recruiters have personal access to the device candidates are likely spending multiple hours a day checking for updates. Texting is a great way to reach people fast, reducing that wait time for a returned email and keeping them updated with the current application status. Give job seekers the tools to succeed Many applicants to entry level positions or blue-collar industries may not have the necessary means to land the job they are qualified for. Point candidates in the right direction by offering a resume builder, interview tips, coaching on interview etiquette, or preparing them for what to expect throughout your process. By providing this type of automated baseline support you could be gathering applicants that otherwise may have been passed over entirely. Treat candidates as human beings Remember that job seekers are putting themselves in a vulnerable position. They may be trying to provide for a family or get off the ground after a difficult lay off. Respecting their time and efforts goes a long way. The average corporate recruiter has dozens of job reqs to deal with. The ones that prioritze the candidate experience always win. With high volume recruiting, it’s important to never burn a bridge with your candidates whether they are hired or not. Keep them updated throughout the process. Advocate for them. Celebrate when they are extended an offer. Encourage them when they don’t receive an offer. Take a moment to offer them job search advice, resume feedback, and support. Even in a rejection, there are ways to be encouraging. Qualified job seekers should be urged to re-apply. Although they may not have been the best fit at the time, they can take away key tips and come back more prepared for your next opening. Stephanie Mauney is freelance writer and content curator specializing in Human Resources.
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Human Resources
3 min read
How to Onboard a New Employee
You’ve made the offer and they’ve accepted. Great! You consider this a job well done. But wait? The job isn’t done. How do you plan to onboard them? Successfully onboarding your new employee ensures they’re able to quickly imbed themselves into the culture of the company while productively fulfilling the duties of their role. Whether you have a stellar onboarding process or you’re still wondering what onboarding is, there’s always room for improvement. I’d like to separate onboarding into two halves – before the employee starts and after their first day. HR should be equally involved in both halves, although you will become less involved after the new employee starts. How do you know when you’ve onboarded a new employee successfully? Successful onboarding doesn’t just mean there weren’t any glitches in the process. Successful onboarding ensures a new employee feels confident in their new role and company. It also shows that the team was able to see a lift from the new employee taking on the work slated for them. What should happen before the new employee’s first day? All necessary paperwork should be completed or, at least, sent to the employee to complete on day one. This includes paperwork for payroll, background checks, I-9, and anything else you consider necessary for the new employee to start working at your company. The new employee’s equipment should all arrive before they’re slated to start as well. Since the world is facing production and shipping delays, it may be best to have equipment on standby. And, if you can, swag is a wonderful way to show appreciation for your new employee. However, if that isn’t in the budget, making sure the team enthusiastically welcomes the new hire will suffice. This can be done via internal communications, announcements in team meetings, or letting the team know so they can reach out on the first day to greet the new employee. If you already do this, then I suggest looking at each process to see where you can simplify or streamline it. Does your paperwork have to be printed out for the new hire to complete it? How can you get rid of that and make the entire process electronic? Do you only offer limited choices in equipment? How can you expand that to better accommodate the needs of all hires? Is benefit or 401K enrollment manual? How can you integrate that into the HRIS to automatically generate the necessary forms needed to enroll the employee? Also, how do you assign system access? HRIS will do this for you. Have you turned on all your integrations to make this happen? What happens on day one and going forward? So, the employee has started. Now what? Connect with the employee on the first day to set expectations for the first 30, 60, and 90 days of their employment. Whenever possible, supply documentation to support the onboarding plan. Make sure to provide time to address any concerns you or your new employee will have. The onboarding plan should also have checkpoints and meetings that coincide with each checkpoint to ensure the new employee is meeting expectations and/or can receive added support to perform their job duties. In addition to a concrete onboarding plan, the new hire needs two support partners. One support partner will be a peer and someone on the new employee’s team. The second support partner should be someone on a different team, a team that normally doesn’t interact with the employee’s team. This support partner should not be anyone in HR. The peer support partner is to provide the new employee a coaching buddy, someone who knows the responsibilities of the role and what success looks like in that role. This will be someone the new employee can lean on daily to aid with any setbacks they face in learning the hard and soft skills of their new role. The second partner will be someone who can help mentor them by explaining the culture of the organization and addressing any unfamiliar nuances the hire may face. This person acts as an impartial representative of the company. While HR isn’t as involved in onboarding once the hire starts, HR should make it a point to connect with all new employees during the process. These could be check-ins to give clarity and support on anything the other partners have missed. New employees should also be surveyed by HR to measure the new employee’s experience to glean insight into improving the onboarding process for future hires. When onboarding is done successfully it sets the right expectation for the entire employee’s experience with the company. It also enhances the culture and strengthens the entire workforce. This guest blog contribution is from Timara Nichols
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Human Resources
2 min read
4 Day Work Week Gaining Steam
The 4 day work has long been a dream of many workers. It provides more rest and more attention to the personal lives of employees, so they’re more invigorated to be more successful and driven to make the company succeed. Some studies even say that it’s been proven to be effective in not only maintaining productivity, but improving it. According to new research from Qualtrics, nearly all U.S. employees (92%) say they want a four-day work week, citing improved mental health and increased productivity as the perceived benefits. 74% of workers said they would be able to complete the same amount of work in four days, but work longer hours on those days. See the full study results here. The idea is even seeping into the restaurant industry. NYC restaurant company DIG has introduced it to its workforce. According this story on fast Company: “In an industry where it’s common to work unpredictable shifts—and where workers also often have to take a second job to make enough money to survive—Dig was already unusual in that it offered 40-hour weeks. To keep the same number of hours, workers who chose to switch to the four-day week had to change to 10-hour days. Unlike a fast-food restaurant, Dig’s food requires a lot of prep work, so long shifts make sense.” 4 Day Work Week is About Flexibility In today’s competitive labor market, flexibility over when they work is among workers’ most common requests. Ultimately, increased flexibility beats out a set four-day work week for more employees. When asked to choose between the two, 47% say they’d prefer a four-day work week, compared to 50% who would rather have increased flexibility to work when they want. Here’s what else it brings to the table; 79% of U.S. employees say a four-day work week would improve their mental health; 82% say it would make them more productive Only 38% say a four-day work week would encourage employees to slack off, compared to 60% who say it wouldn’t. Despite the popularity of the idea, many employees fear a shorter work week could have a negative impact on the company’s bottom line and relationships with customers. Forty-six percent believe a four-day work week would have a negative effect on sales and revenue, and 55% say a shorter work week would frustrate customers. “What employees really want and expect is the flexibility to adjust their work schedules to fit the demands of their lives. In today’s new world of work, successful companies will set aside antiquated assumptions about what productivity looks like and listen to employees, so they can offer the flexibility that meets their individual needs,” said Benjamin Granger, Ph.D., head of employee experience advisory services at Qualtrics. “While there is increasing momentum around the idea of working four days a week, employees are willing to acknowledge the associated tradeoffs — like working longer hours or potentially frustrating customers.” Recruiting with a 4 Day Work Week When it comes to recruiting and retaining talent, however, employees are confident that a four-day work week would be beneficial. Employees say a four-day work week is the number one thing that would influence them to stay at a company longer — even more than unlimited vacation or paid mental health days. Eighty-one percent say a four-day work week would make them feel more loyal to their employer, and 82% say it would help their company with recruitment. More than a third (37%) would even be willing to take a 5% pay cut or more in exchange for recurring three-day weekends. As a former corporate recruiter I can easily say this would be a huge carrot to dangle in front of candidates. Don’t be surprised to hear about more 4 day works weeks in the news over the next few years.
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experience
3 min read
Interview Experience Tips for Employers
What is your organization’s interview experience philosophy? Is it seen as a means to an end? Do you see it as a simple filter-down procedure? What if your organization treated the interviewing experience with deeper purpose? Could it hold the potential to expand a strategic brand image? Could it be used to make lasting connections with even those who don’t make it into the role? Amidst the latest boom of employees looking for the next bigger and better employment option, employers are having to get additional staff in on the interviewing process. Talent Acquisition Specialist was ranked #12 in LinkedIn’s 2022 Jobs on the Rise list. The field of people deciding who gets to move on to the next step in the interview process is growing exponentially. The current state of mass shuffling of careers also means candidates have options. What is your organization doing to ensure a positive interview experience? Imagine the viewpoint of a candidate who encounters the following: They’ve applied to a job that feels like a perfect fit. Your organization has lured them in with a conglomerate of glamorous benefits and promises of a well-respected work-life balance. They are thrilled when they get the email that their resume has made it past the ATS, and they’ve been chosen to interview with a recruiter! It’s a zoom interview, of course, so they bring their A-game and have at least their top half looking like the professional they are. All this anticipation leads up to a call with your designated first point of contact in the interview process: a blank faced, personality lacking, monotone voiced, recruiting robot persona merely reading off a checklist of interview questions from their screen with little to no effort towards having a two-sided conversation. Does that sound like the type of interaction that matches the exciting culture and innovative platform the company was advertising? No. It is extremely hard to thrive in an interview where it feels as if the person opposite is just getting through an assigned checklist of screening questions. In the current war over top talent, it is essential for employers to recognize the importance of making real connections in the interview experience. Candidate evaluators must ensure they are supporting the philosophies and values their company advertises. Consider the consequences of not doing so. Job seekers have a myriad of options laid out; they likely won’t choose to move forward with an employer who fails to meet expectations during the interview process. How can you frame the interview experience to guarantee potential employees walk away with an optimistic opinion? Be punctual. Candidates have likely taken time away from their current job to interview with you. Be respectful of that. If you expect the applicant to show up on time, you should do likewise. For goodness’ sake, smile. If you can’t at least pretend to enjoy talking with someone who could become your next colleague, you may not be in the right field. Attempt a genuine connection. Showing an interest or merely connecting over a trivial mutual interest puts the candidate as ease. When the candidate is at ease the employer experiences a more authentic response. Glimpsing who the applicant truly is an advantage to your company. Don’t use a Zoom background filter. Whether you work from home or the office, this interview showcases the work environment your company has built. Give the candidate a chance to see what that environment, real or virtual, could be for them. Be sensitive about the discussion surrounding compensation. Upfront pay transparency is the ideal direction by avoiding this issue altogether. However, if that’s not your organization’s policy, don’t make pay the initial center of conversation. If the applicant isn’t already nervous enough, bringing up the most uncomfortable topic of discussion may leave them shaken or questioning their response for the rest of the interview. Understand your company, the benefit package, and the details of the job. How does it look if the employees leading your interviews aren’t able to explain the ins and outs of basic benefit, culture, or job duty information? Be prepared to answer questions concerning parental leave, the product or service you provide, the PTO offered, or how your company build its culture. Are the recruiters, hiring managers, and interview panels your company uses leaving candidates with a positive memory of your organization? If not, you may need to rethink how you view attracting your most important business asset: the future of your success. Contribution by Stephanie Mauney
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Recruiting
3 min read
How to Recruit the Recruiter
Recruiting recruiters is a huge challenge right now. They are in exceedingly high demand right now. A quick search for recruiter openings on various job boards yields: 26,350 openings on Glassdoor 49,676 openings on Indeed 319,690 openings on LinkedIn And these results are only for “recruiter” and not the other titles that are often used like talent acquisition specialist, talent consultant, headhunter, and more. The pandemic caused a perfect storm for recruiting. Companies were forced to downsize while others placed freezes on hiring. HR professionals and recruiters were frequently included in the layoffs. And despite still being in a pandemic, hiring has started to pick up for industries. The Muse says there’s a 332.12% increase for recruitment consultants. Because of this high demand, recruiters saw a 14.2% inflation-adjusted pay increase in 2020-2021. Therefore, if it’s currently a candidate’s market then recruiters are at the top of the candidate pool. But what exactly do recruiters want? Security. Almost weekly there’s a company announcing layoffs. HR doesn’t typically generate revenue, so it isn’t uncommon for recruiters to feel as if they’re constantly on the chopping block. Recruiters want assurance they won’t be included in the next layoff. Recruiters want to work for companies with a solid financial foundation. They want to know their role is not only pivotal to the success of the company, but also a role that will remain vital to the company years from now. A mission they can get behind. Recruiters are often the candidate’s first impression of the company, as they’re the one that primarily interacts with candidates. They set the tone for the candidate’s experience during the entire hiring process. When you have a mission a recruiter can support, it makes marketing your company to candidates easier because they support the mission and they’re also passionate about the mission. Candidates are often searching for companies with missions they can support and so are recruiters. Autonomy. Have you ever seen a company where recruiters are looked at as glorified administrative assistants or order takers? Or when the non-recruiters tell recruiters how to do their jobs? Well, recruiters don’t want to work there. Recruitment is a partnership between the recruiter and hiring manager. When the entire hiring team values the knowledge and often years of honed experience a recruiter has, the hiring process has clarity, and everyone knows the role they play. The candidate experience is often elevated because of this. Flexibility. The pandemic has shined an uncomfortable but necessary light on mental health and work/life balance. No longer are employees willing to sacrifice their mental and physical health for their job. Employees requires flexibility for their own health, but flexibility to support their families in ways that matter to them. Employees are juggling parenting, caregiving, living in a pandemic, and more. A company that truly values work/life balance and allows employees the autonomy to shift their schedule as needed is a company that truly puts their employees first. Real fringe benefits. Gone are the days where swag and ping pong games are attractive to candidates. Candidates don’t want to work at your company because you offer happy hours with alcohol. Recruiters want remote work, quality healthcare, unlimited paid time off, 16+ weeks of parental leave, student loan paydowns, fertility and transgender support, and more. They want professional support at work and personal support at home. So how do you recruit the recruiter? The reality is that recruiters have more options today than they’ve ever had. Recruiters are also familiar with the hiring process because they recruit. They will figure out what isn’t right with the process because they know how to read the room and pick out red flags in company culture. Recruiters simply aren’t jumping from job to job because they can, they’re looking for something meaningful that has long-term promise. If you’re looking for where to promote your recruiter openings, any job board will do. A few that stand out are: LinkedIn HR Lancers RecruitignJobs.com However, I think two reliable and underused sources are LinkedIn and Twitter. Of course, you can use both to post jobs, but you should also use both to nurture passive recruiters. You can do this through several ways: Deliver engaging content about your company and culture. This is in addition to whatever’s typically posted on your company’s page. Join trending conversations and add to the conversation. Spend time searching for influential recruiters, following them, and adding value to the content they post. When you nurture the relationship before you need it, it’s easier to secure a passive candidate when you have an opening. And don’t be surprised if through this recruiters try to recruit you as well. Contribution by Timara Nichols
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Human Resources
3 min read
Flexible Hours Are What Employees Want
With the Covid-19 pandemic still raging on two years in we are seeing a huge shift in the core desires of employees. You can’t have a worldwide long-term crisis happen and not experience an overhaul of cultural norms. Values have changed. People want different outcomes from life. Most families want to spend more time together now that they got a taste of what life looks like when they actually interact with each other during weeks long lockdowns in the homestead. Working moms and dads realized the priceless experience of seeing their kids for more than a couple hours a day. These new values mean changed demands from the workforce. We already know the demand for remote work has skyrocketed. The companies who are able and have caught on to this trend are seeing steady success. The organizations able to adapt to remote work may not be experiencing the hardship of hiring during ‘the great resignation’ or ‘the great reshuffle’ as CEO of LinkedIn, Ryan Roslansky, has coined it. But what about those industries and organizations that are not able to adapt to a remote work environment? The nature of some operations, whether it be healthcare, manufacturing, retail, etc., simply require in person human interaction. Flexible Hours Survey Results According to a recent New World of Work survey from Workable, 44.9% of businesses plan to go a different route to maintain and retain talent during this new world of working environments. They are implementing flexible scheduling. The data from this survey prompted Workable to do a deep dive into the desire for and feasibility of flexible scheduling by researching the origin of discontent from employees. In comparison to the appeal of remote work, their survey suggests that there is a larger trend – 58.2% of respondents — citing flexibility in their schedule as completely or nearly completely necessary to them. The researchers at Workable wanted to know not only how many people are longing for a flex schedule but also why. According to them 55.8% of US workers say the ease of integrating personal and professional priorities is a major benefit of having a flexible work schedule. 40% of all US families live with children under 18.1 When parents recognize there are companies willing to hire them, pay them a higher wage, AND allow them to schedule work duties around personal life, they are walking out the door… quickly. What can employers do to adapt to this change in demand? How can they stay relevant when their progressive competitors are dangling promises to allow employees to “Do whatever you want?”2 That’s what CEO Dan Price told his employees when he ran the numbers and found that his company would save money by allowing employees the choice on how and when they would work. How Employers Should React The truth of the matter is that our work environment has been upended. If you aren’t on board with adaptation, you will soon start to lose quality talent if you haven’t already. What can companies do to offer flexibility AND keep operations running profitably? LISTEN. Don’t be out of touch with what your employees really desire. Roll out a survey that asks them how you can adjust to their changing values. As the saying goes, you don’t know what you don’t know. Are there any areas where occasional flexibility can be offered? Allowing employees to switch shifts with one another is a great way they can find the time off they need without causing a void in operations. Can your employees flex their lunch time? Can your staff be given extra time in the morning or afternoon hours by starting their shift earlier or staying later? Would it be possible to move a portion of the job to an at home environment? Maybe an employee has administrative duties that can be completed from home one day a week. How about a job share? Many workers are looking for part-time opportunities. Can any of your positions be shared between two workers? A job share likely takes away the cost burden of providing company sponsored benefits and gives the ability to offer the kind of flexibility that many parents are looking for. If flexibility in schedules can absolutely not be offered, something else is going to have to be on the table. Companies may have to ramp up their PTO policy, parental leave opportunities, or offer insanely competitive pay. The basic 8 to 5 simply isn’t going to cut it anymore. Article contribution by Stephanie Mauney, PHR, SHRM-CP
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Recruiting
3 min read
How to Optimize Your Recruitment Funnel
The employment market looks much different today than it did a year ago. It’s a candidate’s market and the employer that provides the best candidate experience while remaining agile is in the best position to win. Symphony Talent summarizes the recruitment funnel as: Career Website Application Process Interview Offer Hire The goal of a recruitment funnel is to find the best hire in a large candidate pool. Here are a few tips to perfect your recruitment funnel. Be clear on what’s included in your recruitment funnel. Your funnel can be as long or short as you wish; however, you need to be clear on what each step means, why each step is important, and the expected outcome of each step. Without clarity in each step the last step may not result in the best hire. Have buy-in from all partners. There is nothing as frustrating as starting a process and then mid-step needing to change the entire process because something new is revealed that wasn’t known before. When this happens, you can taint the entire funnel, decrease candidate satisfaction, add unnecessary time to time-to-hire, and more. This often happens when there is a lack of transparency in the process. When all partners – within HR and especially outside of HR – are in alignment the overall process is more effective. Automate were possible, without decreasing candidate satisfaction. At the end of the day, your candidate is your customer. It may not seem like it, but their satisfaction is just as important as your customer’s satisfaction. When you automate in a way that makes the process more efficient for the company and the candidate, you keep candidate satisfaction. An example of automation is correctly parsing a resume’s information into an application. Another example is automating the interview scheduling process by using a SaaS that allows the candidate to view the interviewer’s availability and schedule accordingly. When automation is used this way, it enhances the candidate experience and shortens time-to-hire. This should also include the use of texting to speed candidate communication. Have standard processes that you do not delineate from. Every step in your process should have a standard operating procedure. The procedure should clearly define the process, supply step by step instructions for how to complete the process and show what a successful outcome looks like. This should not only be for every step in the funnel, but for the treatment of every candidate. If you need a process for each department or function, as hiring an engineer can look different than hiring a customer success manager, then do so. You want every candidate to receive the same treatment because creating a fair and unbiased process is not only the right thing to do, but often, is tied to your company’s mission or core values. Minimize where possible. Minimization is not the same as automation. Minimization simply means to trim unnecessary fat in your hiring process. Does a candidate really need to go through five interviews before you know whether you want to extend an offer? Is an assessment necessary to decide whether a candidate can do the role? The goal of minimization is to deliver the best candidate experience in the shortest amount of time. This isn’t just important for the candidate’s sake, but also your company’s sake. In today’s market, candidates are often juggling multiple offers at once. Don’t let an overly long and unnecessary process be the reason why you lose a great candidate. Be clear on when one part of the funnel ends, and the next part begins. The best job postings I’ve seen have an application deadline and an outline of the hiring process. It sets expectations for candidates while making the process transparent for all involved. While the first level of the funnel – candidate website – may not have an end date, the rest of the funnel should. This ensures that a curveball isn’t thrown at the last minute that deviates from the process. Treat each candidate as if they are a customer. Often, your candidate is your customer. They’re familiar with your company because something piqued their interest before applying to your opening. Far too often the candidate who is hired is the only candidate to receive great treatment. But when you consider each candidate as your brand ambassador, it changes how you perceive their treatment. A great candidate experience not only has the potential to amplify your brand, but ensuring every candidate gets a wonderful experience also ensures successful sourcing for future roles. Have you assessed the effectiveness of your recruitment funnel lately? If you haven’t, today’s a great day to start. Article contribution by Timara Nichols
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Recruiting
2 min read
Major Gaps in the Hiring Process
When it comes to the hiring process many employers are failing to live up to candidate expectations. They ask for too much information and take too long to make key decisions. Our friends at Greenhouse, the hiring software company have a new report out that contains some numbers to be aware of. Entitled the Greenhouse Candidate Experience Report, a survey of over 1,500 employees and job seekers, Greenhouse discovered a staggering statistic; It found that over 60% of job seekers are unimpressed by time-consuming recruitment processes and are demanding companies create a more modern recruiting experience. Candidates who face lengthy initial applications, slow recruiter response times and follow-ups, unprepared and late interviewers, inconsistent feedback, and ghosting will be quick to move on and companies will suffer as a result. 60% is a huge number considering the state of the current job market where companies cant find enough talent to staff their organizations. Hiring technology is holding these employers back as candidates get lost in the system. Other findings in the survey showed consistent themes around poor candidate experience and recruiter responsiveness: More than 70% of job seekers said they will not submit a job application if it takes longer than 15 minutes to complete. Almost 58% of candidates expect to hear back from companies in one week or less regarding their initial application. Over 70% of job seekers want feedback on an interview. More than 60% said that receiving feedback during the interview process, even if they do not receive a job offer, would make them more inclined to apply to future jobs at that company. More than 75% of job seekers have been ghosted after an interview. The survey results also found that many employers are failing to create a positive and inclusive interview experience. Almost 43% of candidates have had their name mispronounced in a job interview. Pronouncing every candidate’s name correctly is not just common courtesy, it’s a crucial behavior for achieving true workplace inclusivity and creating a culture of belonging. “The results of our latest survey are a call to action for all companies. We’re in the midst of a real role reversal, and the talent pool has never been more selective and vocal about what they want from an employer,” said Daniel Chait, CEO and Co-founder, Greenhouse. “Whereas employers previously ruled out candidates for trivial issues like spelling errors on their resume, now it’s the candidates who are rejecting employers. Companies who are too slow in responding, are careless with how they treat candidates, or who don’t show their commitment to DE&I are losing out on talent.” In 2021, the average Greenhouse customer created 46% more job listings than in 2020, meaning that job seekers have more options in open roles available. During this same timeframe, the data shows the volume of applications per job has decreased by 21%, showing that candidates are becoming more selective on how they spend their time searching for jobs. “In 2019, just before the start of the pandemic we had historic low unemployment and just had hit the plateau of more jobs than those on unemployment,” said Tim Sackett, TA & HR Expert and President at HRU Technical Resources. “We should have predicted The Great Reshuffling, which is about opportunity. Opportunity for candidates who have been stuck in a job and company they didn’t like. Because now, it’s companies who are being interviewed by candidates. From the job application to your website and every communication touchpoint, candidates are making decisions on who they want to work for and companies need to up their game. Companies who deliver a great candidate experience and a great employee experience will reap the benefits of this great reshuffling.” As demand for talent intensifies, companies need to do better at making the hiring process as seamless as possible for prospective employees. Not doing so imperils your efforts.
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Recruiting Automation
2 min read
Robotic Process Automation Making Recruiters More Efficient
On boarding new hires is one of those tedious tasks that is important but time consuming. It involves having new hires fill out multiple HR forms covering everything from work eligibility to a parking pass. In a large organization with many new hires joining at the same time, the process can take all day. Suppose there was a way to automate it all. Instead of requiring HR to walk each new person through each step of the process, what if a robot could handle it all? That’s the promise of robotic process automation (RPA). In many large companies robots are taking over the most tedious tasks, freeing up HR professionals to handle more high value work that is best handled my humans. Defining Robotic Process Automation RPA isn’t artificial intelligence, though it may resemble it. RPA can weave together multiple complicated, but repetitive tasks, performing each in the identical fashion efficiently and flawlessly. While AI does many of the same things, it employs a more sophisticated system of analysis that uses unstructured data. In that way, RPA and AI are complimentary technologies to improve recruiting and make it more efficient. The use of RPA to streamline repetitive processes has been growing rapidly. According to Sierra-Cedar HR Systems Survey, the use of RPA in HR increase by more than 50% in 2020. Automating repetitive work is a significant benefit for recruiters who frequently juggle multiple tasks. “Tasks go away with RPA,” says Mike Pino, partner and workforce learning strategies leader with PwC. “HR tasks present a lot of automation possibilities. I think as use of RPA and other automated technologies grows, HR professionals will find what they do each day on the job will be very different than in the past,” he told the Society for Human Resource Management He said that by eliminating having recruiters do such routine tasks as data entry, it frees up time for them to have more personal and valuable conversations with candidates. PwC says 40% of the HR functions internationally have adopted recruitment process automation. In one use case, L’Oreal Group recruiters say RPA algorithms have helped them achieve an 84% job offer ratio for interviewed candidates. RPA Is Still Evolving In most companies, RPA is still in its infancy. Recruiters still not entirely comfortable working with AI processes, now are wondering what robotic process automation is and how it can help them. A primer compiled by Talkpush provides an easy way for recruiters to learn the fundamentals while taking small steps toward automating the most time consuming of processes. The company recommends beginning by deploying a chatbot to take over some of the more routine questions candidates have and keeping them informed of their status. The next step is to set up a simple set of screening questions that the automation program can handle without requiring help from the recruiter staff. What’s Next for Robotic Process Automation As recruiter comfort with automation grows, more sophisticated steps can be introduced. One valuable use of RPA, Talkpush points out, is to automate the logging in to multiple databases by recruiters. Another good use is to automate the scheduling of interviews. As writer Ivanha Paz points out interview scheduling is one of the more time consuming and frustrating of the tasks recruiters handle. Automating the steps allows recruiters and candidates to stay in sync. “This eliminates human error and facilitates notifications of cancellations, changes, and reminders of when the interview is coming up,” Pas writes. Recruiters are just beginning to learn what robotic process automation is and how it can help them become more effective. Just as applicant tracking systems replaced paper and spread sheets, and artificial intelligence is now making candidate selection more sophisticated, robotic process automation will relieve recruiters of routine tasks allowing them to get back to doing what they do best which is to find and hire the best candidates. Contribution by John Zappe
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