Recruiting (2)

Recruiting

Social Media Recruiting

Are you recruiting on social media? If not you are probably missing out on a recruiting channel that can help you hire. A new study conducted on behalf of CareerArc by The Harris Poll among more than 2,000 U.S. adults ages 18+ who have ever had a job, reveals some interesting data points about the state of employers and social media. Younger jobseekers are turning to social media to find work: 58% of jobseekers search for information about potential employers on social media and 48% of both Gen Z (ages 18-25) and Millennials (ages 26-41) with work experience have applied to job opportunities they found on social media. The research further showcases how jobseekers interact with social media in the recruiting process as well as employees’ involvement in sharing their company’s social media content on personal social channels. “With US employers adding 528,000 jobs in July – surpassing economists’ forecasts and returning to pre-pandemic levels – the war for great talent and how organizations are recruiting continues to be at the forefront of business goals,” said Jim Bramante, Chairman and CEO at CareerArc. “This data presents a clear picture of how critical a tool social media is for today’s jobseekers and the companies trying to recruit them.” Social media is an important resource for jobseekers The data found that more than 2 in 5 jobseekers (45%) say social media is very important to their job search. When breaking down how candidates search for jobs by generation, Boomers (ages 58-76) with work experience are the least likely generation to have discovered job opportunities on social media (12%) with Gen Z (62%) and Millennials (56%) being much more likely to have discovered job opportunities on social media and Gen X (ages 42-57) sitting in the middle at 31%. Further supporting the use of social media for job searching by younger generations, Gen Z (48%) and Millennials (48%) with work experience are vastly more likely to have applied to job opportunities they found on social media than Gen X (24%) or Boomers (7%) with work experience. Aside from discovering and applying to jobs found on social media, about half of Gen Z and Millennials with work experience use social media to tap their networks for the best opportunities: Gen Z (48%) and Millennials (47%) with work experience are more likely than Gen X (23%) and Boomers (8%) with work experience to have connected with recruiters/employees through social media and/or employees of prospective employers on social media (e.g., Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn), and 49% of Gen Z and 47% of Millennials with work experience have reached out to peers on social media for job leads. Social media recruiting attracts diverse candidates When surveying how job seekers interact with social media by race/ethnicity, the data showed that Hispanic and Black Americans with work experience are far more likely than their White counterparts to say they have discovered job opportunities on social media (49% and 46% vs 28%). Additionally, Black and Hispanic Americans with work experience are more likely than their White counterparts to say they’ve used social media to apply to job opportunities(42% and 39% vs 21%), connected with recruiters and employees at prospective employers(42% and 35% vs 21%), and reached out to peers for job leads (42% and 37% vs 21%). Employees are open to participating in social media-based employee advocacy programs With this many jobseekers turning to social media as a major tool in their job search, the way organizations present themselves on platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook – and the extent of their reach with jobs and career-related content – is central to their success in recruiting top candidates. When it comes to getting employees involved in social media, half of employed Americans (50%) say they would share their company’s social media content (e.g., job postings, employee spotlights, team events, news articles) on their personal social channels, with nearly a third of employed Americans (30%) saying they already have. That number skyrockets by generation with Gen Z (66%) and Millennial (67%) employees far more likely to say they would share their company’s social media content on their personal social channels than Gen X (43%) or Boomer (19%) employees. “This begs the question of how organizations can do a better job of encouraging employees to share employer content and be active participants in their talent acquisition strategy,” said Bramante. The survey found that 26% of employed Americans say they would be more likely to share their company social media content on their personal social channels if their company (e.g., my manager, senior leadership) simply asked them to. In addition to this, 24% say they would be more likely to share company social media if they had a direct connection to the content (e.g., open position in their department, business update for the work they were involved with). Furthermore, just over 1 out of 4 Gen Z (27%) and Millennial (27%) employees would be more likely to post their company’s social media content if their company made it easier, such as by providing the content and/or templates. “The value candidates are placing on a company’s social media content and presence makes social recruiting and employee advocacy more important than ever,” said Bramante. “It’s clear that when it comes to hiring, Gen Z and Millennials are turning to social media, whether it’s to find job openings or to assess what your company culture is like, and they’re willing to get involved in company social media if employers simply ask.” Employers can check out the full report here. The stats above prove that companies should take a fresh look at their social recruiting strategy. Creating content for these channels that resonates with potential candidates is a must have in today’s competitive hiring environment.

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Chris Russell

Recruiting

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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Stephanie Mauney

Recruiting

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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Stephanie Mauney

Recruiting

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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Chris Russell

Recruiting

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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Stephanie Mauney

Recruiting

The Recruiter Experience

Internal talent acquisition teams are often the fuel for the success of any business by being the source who brings the strongest employee talent to the organization. Employers must know how to support and manage an internal recruiting team by optimizing their abilities and leveraging their strengths. This is called the recruiter experience and it should be an ongoing focus of talent leaders. Full-time recruiting day in and day out can be a tough job. Recruiters are often faced with last-minute rejection, no-shows, pressure to fill many roles at a time, and the stresses of a tight labor market. There are several ways employers can strategically support their talent acquisition team. Provide the Necessary Tools Recruiters must have access to the best technology the industry has to offer to match competitors. To effectively capture the attention of both seeking and passive candidates, recruiters need to be utilizing many forms of technology. Companies should provide them with access to some or all of the following; social media platform visibility, a well-run applicant tracking system preferably with integrated AI technology, mobile reaching software, video operated pre-screening tools, talent pool marketing via Candidate Relationship Management, and analytic tools to verify success factors. Being equipped with state-of-the-art technology aids recruiting teams by increasing their effectiveness and benefits the organization by ultimately reducing the cost of being short-staffed and decreasing time-to-fill. Recruiter Experience Means Ongoing Training Internal recruiting teams need ongoing training to be well educated in current trends and industry standards. It may be valuable to provide recruiters with marketing training. They could advance their skills in creating eye-catching job descriptions, high-quality employer branding materials, and wide-reaching job advertisements. Additionally, talent acquisition teams are the first touchpoint for candidates to the organization. They may require training on how to remain unbiased, recognize valuable transferable skills, and create a diverse candidate pool. Maintaining and growing these skills will aid the organization when the recruiter can bring the top of the market and diverse applicants to the hiring team. Empower Your Recruiters Being able to source for a wide range of job requisitions and have a consistent candidate pipeline to pull from often largely stems from access to a broad network of connections. Providing a recruiter with networking opportunities within the industry could be beneficial in creating those crucial connections. Companies could sponsor talent acquisition teams to attend a local chapter meeting of professionals, travel to industry conferences, or even host a regional networking event. Realistic Workload Every company has unique needs and varying requirements for its job requisitions. Keeping a realistic number of jobs to fill per recruiter is an important factor in maintaining job satisfaction for the talent acquisition team. There are many metrics that companies can use to analyze the number of requisitions an individual recruiter can efficiently carry at a time. An organization needs to assess outside factors such as the current labor market, industry competition, and candidate availability. Internal metrics such as average time-to-fill, number of members on the team, acceptance rate, hiring urgency, responsiveness by hiring managers, and cost per hire can all help decipher the appropriate number of job requisitions per recruiter for specific departments. Connecting to Business Objectives To retain an engaged talent acquisition workforce, all employees of the recruiting team must understand how their job works to achieve the goals and objectives of the organization. Recruiters with business acumen can effectively communicate how both their position and the positions they are working to fill help the organization succeed and contribute to the bottom-line revenue. Talent acquisition teams should be familiar with employer branding. Communicating the company culture, CSR initiatives, long-term goals, benefits packages, and overall business tone is critical to successful hiring and onboarding. Providing opportunities for recruiters to be involved in understanding marketing strategies would be beneficial. Team Building Lastly, talent acquisition team leadership must cultivate a culture of team mindset amidst their recruiters. To be the most effective possible, internal recruiters should be able to work together effectively and step into each other’s roles to fill the gap if necessary. The best teams are consistently led by servant leaders who understand the value of everyone as well as the importance of a collaborative work environment. The workload for talent acquisition teams can often be variable throughout seasons of market difficulty or high turnover, but preserving a united group effort can go a long way in taking the team to the next level. Your recruiter experience can be an attraction tool for top recruiting talent. Recruiters gossip a lot in their inner circles and if you aren’t prepared to empower their work, they will look elsewhere. Stephanie Mauney is a freelance writer and content curator specializing in Human Resources.

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Stephanie Mauney

Recruiting

Recruiter Interview Questions

The demand for high quality recruiters is on a major growth trajectory with the job market tightening. So called ‘unicorn’ recruiters can make a huge impact in a company’s ability to attract and hire top talent. What should your company look for in a good recruiter? Rock star recruiters have several qualities that hiring managers can look out for. Network Quality recruiters have a wide network of people they can tap into. You should look for someone that knows the right people and can pull from across the industry for candidate sourcing. A wide ranging network of not just connections but the right connections can be priceless in attracting talent. Hiring managers should ask candidates about their networking strategies, follow up on social media platform visibility, and ensure candidates know how to reach people in their industry. Skills Recruiters need to have certain qualities and skillsets in order to be successful. Companies looking to hire recruiters should look for people who exhibit excellent communication skills and attention to detail. They should have familiarity with the popular ATS, sourcing techniques, and Boolean search queries. They must have the ability to make authentic connections with candidates. Recruiters must be able to operate well under pressure. They must be able to think critically and exude confidence. Specs Finding a great recruiter means looking for someone with a creditable history of successful hires. Hiring managers will want to look for solid quantifiable proof either in a resume or during the interview process. It’s important to know what recruiting load the candidate has experience with. Are you looking for an applicant used to filling one or two high level positions or someone who has experience sourcing for high volume positions? Business Acumen Knowing and understanding the innerworkings of the business is essential for recruiters to be successful. Organizations should be searching for candidates that have experience with the industry they will be sourcing for. Understanding how the business is successful, where the business revenue stream comes from, and the business growth strategy can make a recruiter more efficient in bringing in the right candidates. Recruiter should be subject matter experts in the industry they are working for. Recruiter Interview Questions Recruiters are well versed in the interview experience. Catering an interview specifically to an experienced recruiter is important. Below are example questions that may prove helpful in gaining valuable insight while interviewing recruiters. Experiential Questions How many positions are you typically filling at any given time? What was the average stick rate of candidates you helped hire? What is your relationship like with your hiring managers? What industry are you most familiar with recruiting for? Situational Questions Describe a time when you had a great working relationship with a client. What made the relationship thrive? Tell me about a time a successful candidate declined an important role. How did you pivot to fill the position? Describe how you respond when you must let a candidate down. When was a situation where you disagreed with the hiring manager’s decision? How did you react? Tell me how you would pitch our company to a highly desired applicant. Describe a time you used data to improve your ability to recruit successfully. Process Questions Describe your process of building a candidate pipeline. How has your recruiting process changed over your years of experience? Tell me about your method of keeping track of applicants and your follow up procedure. Describe a time when your typical sourcing strategies were not working. How did you fill the role? What tools and technology do you utilize to reach, communicate with, and update applicants? Where do you look to make connections in your industry and widen your network? How do you keep up with industry trends and the latest recruiting methodologies? Personal Questions Do you have a personal brand? If so, what is it and how are you building a network subscribed to you? What do you love about being a recruiter? What gives you joy to wake up and start work? What excites you about the future of recruiting in our industry? How do feel building relationships is tied to being a successful recruiter? Average Salary for Recruiters How much does a recruiter make? Depends on what type of recruiter you are. Corporate recruiters are generally salaried employees while those that work for staffing agencies typically work on commission. If they place a person in a job the employer pays the agency a percentage of yearly salary, anywhere from 10-30%. A quick check of Indeed’s salary pages show the average salary for a recruiter is $51,489. Stephanie Mauney is freelance writer and content curator specializing in Human Resources.

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Stephanie Mauney

Recruiting

Stay Interviews 101

Employees are increasingly looking to work for companies who go above and beyond to keep them engaged. Employee engagement levels may be one of the best indicators of employee satisfaction and future retention. There are multiple avenues employers can take to get employees talking about their professional desires and level of current happiness with the employer. One way to gauge employee satisfaction is to conduct stay interviews. What is a Stay Interview? A stay interview is an honest two-sided conversation an employer has with an employee with the goal to encourage and gain feedback from the employee in order to keep them retained. Stay interviews have gained traction and popularity over the last couple of years as the job market tightens and the ‘great resignation’ continues. Recruiters are aggressively reaching out to passive candidates. For employers who want to make sure their employees know why they want to be at their current job, stay interviews may be a great tool. To be clear, a stay interview is not the conversation that is had while an employee has one foot out the door. It is not the talk management has with an employee to negotiate them not leaving. It is pre-emptive to that. It is a preventative step with hopes to avoid that possibility. Who Should Use Stay Interviews? The stay interview process is not an optimal strategy for every company. Organizations with trust issues, failing culture, or workplace toxicity will not want to open up two- way conversations for employees to give feedback. They would need to focus on primary objectives initially. Stay interviews are perfect for companies with well established trust, open door management, and stable retention. Open communication must already be an established value in order for the stay interview to be successful. Being Prepared for Stay Interviews Before conducting the stay interview, it would be helpful to complete a needs analysis to determine goals in mind. The goals will be a necessary benchmark for an evaluation following the stay interviews to understand whether they were effective or not. It is always important to have a process in place prior to implementing a new engagement or retention strategy, otherwise there would be no way of knowing whether it made any difference or not. Employers must have a plan in place to evaluate responses that need action. Companies preparing for stay interview must be ready for the challenges that may come with asking employees for transparency. Management must be willing to hear about difficult and complex issues that may arise. Unpleasant realities may come to the surface that are unexpected. Managers may have to accept accountability for situations that employees are dissatisfied with. The interviewer conducting the stay interviews must be mature, possessing advanced relational and communication skills. They must be an active listener, ready and eager to make employees feel heard. How to Conduct a Stay Interview? Prior to beginning, the structure of the interview should be determined. Decide who will be involved in the process. How will interviews be announced? Providing advance notice and preparation advice will allow employees to provide honest feedback without being caught off guard. Although stay interviews should be conducted in an informal conversational manner, the questions should be predetermined and structured. Interviewers should be well trained on how to conduct the interview properly. Conduct all the interviews within a few weeks of each other to obtain the most up to date response. The interview should be no longer than 30 minutes. For employees who seem nervous, interviewers should work hard to be vulnerable and help put the conversation at ease. Be sure to thank employees for their time and willingness to share openly. Offer them an opportunity to follow up should there be anything else they feel needs to be shared in the future. What questions to ask? Below are example questions that can be asked during the interview. Always begin the conversation with an opener that promotes casual open communication such as: “Thank you for taking the time to speak with us. This is an informal open conversation. I’d like to gain more understanding about how you feel your job is going so that I can support you and help this be a great place to work.” “What makes you look forward to coming to work?” “In what ways do you currently feel professionally challenged?” “How comfortable are you with your current workload?” “What do you like most and least about coming to work here?” “How do you feel about the impact of your work?” “If you could change anything about working here, what would it be?” “Do you feel recognized and appreciated for your contributions?” “What do you see yourself doing with our company over the next 5 years?” “In what areas could you learn more?” “What can management do more or less of to create increased satisfaction for you?” “Over the last year, what has caused anxiety or frustration for you here?” “What would be your dream job here?” Stephanie Mauney is freelance writer and content curator specializing in Human Resources.

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Stephanie Mauney

Recruiting

How to Become a Recruiter

The human resources field is filled with specializations. For those who are people centric, they may consider a path to recruiting. In the current job market, the demand for both internal and agency recruiters is on an exponential trajectory. Companies are realizing the value of hiring recruiters who can dedicate their full-time work to sourcing, screening, vetting, and bringing on new talent. Not only can they bring in talent quickly, but they can begin to optimize a candidate pipeline that makes hiring even more efficient and effective. Recruiters tap into their wide ranging network to increase hiring efficiencies. For those wanting to specialize in talent acquisition, there are a few ways to narrow your path, acquire the right skills, and inject yourself into the recruitment industry. Lay the Foundation Depending on the current level of career, it may be helpful for someone wanting to enter recruiting to gain basic human resources knowledge by obtaining a PHR (Professional in Human Resources) certification. This will lay the foundation for understanding legal compliance, industry terminology, and standard hiring protocols. Find a Recruiting Niche Recruiters are typically focused on a niche. Whether its tech, finance, manufacturing, or healthcare, talent acquisition partners typically have a niche market in mind when filling roles. A good first step to becoming a recruiter would be to analyze the desired niche market. Become a subject matter expert in the industry. Follow recruiters who are succeeding in that industry. Learn the insider language of the industry. KNOW the business. For example, if it’s an inspiration to be an IT recruiter, find out what the companies who hire primarily in tech look for. How does the technology department fit into the grand scheme of the business? What are the primary required skills for tech hires? Answering all these questions will level up the ability to hold knowledgeable conversation with those in the industry. Immersion in the desired niche market will take you from average to expert in the minds of those hiring for the talent acquisition team. Network, Network, Network Take two candidates. One has an outdated, never touched, LinkedIn profile and little proof of interaction with professionals in the industry market. The second has a large LinkedIn network, an expertly designed profile, and a community of already engaged employees to draw on. Who will look more desirable to a recruiting hiring manager? Obviously, the second. All would-be recruiters should begin by updating their LinkedIn profile to begin attracting a wider network. Start connecting with both other recruiters and those in the desired market in a meaningful way. This doesn’t mean hitting ‘connect’ with as many people as possible. It means engaging in a way that provides value. Be curious. Provide helpful information. Begin to build a marketable skillset that people find useful. Upskill Your Recruiting Skills Both soft and technical skills are required to be a successful recruiter. In the category of technical skills, its necessary to understand the basics of online research. Talent acquisition applicants should be competent in Boolean queries and sourcing techniques. It would be additionally advantageous to have familiarity with applicant tracking systems. More difficult to learn are the required soft skills. According to Forbes, there are six required soft skills in recruiting; communication, conflict management, succeed under high pressure and flexibility, teamwork, confidence, and critical thinking. In order to leverage past experience towards a future career in recruiting, it would be helpful to perform a gap analysis. In what ways has past experience demonstrated one or all of these skills? Write down quantifiable ways to define situations that put these skills on display. Go For It For anyone considering a jump into the recruitment sector, NOW is the time. Consider your passions. If that list includes helping people, analyzing data, or problem solving, you may be the right fit for a career in recruiting. Don’t let having a mediocre career path hold you back from jumping into an exciting and challenging career. Recruiting is not going to be an easy road, as with any job that deals primarily with other humans. But, the rewards are endless. Recruiting holds the possibility to change lives, build meaningful relationships, foster diversity and inclusion, educate employers on best practices, and more. Stephanie Mauney is freelance writer and content curator specializing in Human Resources.

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Stephanie Mauney

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