The Talent Scout Episode 61: Amplifying Your Employer Brand With a Positive Candidate Experience
Your Employer Brand can be a tricky thing to measure and manipulate. We know that to get a sense of how it’s performing you can measure your time to hire, cost per hire, number of internal referrals, Glassdoor and Indeed review ratings, or even something as simple as employee feedback when surveying your employees on
3 Crucial Soft Skills: Why They Matter And How To Hire For Them
The national skills shortage is predicted to grow to 29 million skills in deficit by 2030, and organizations are feeling the squeeze. While technical skills, knowledge and qualifications are essential drivers for your organization’s success, soft skills are the currency of the future. According to LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends report, 92% of talent acquisition professionals state soft skills are equally or more important to hire for than hard skills. 89% stated when a new hire doesn’t work out, it’s due to a lack of critical soft skills. Two-thirds of jobs created in the next ten years are expected to be strongly reliant on skills like communication and empathy. While specialized knowledge and hard skills are essential to an efficient, qualified workforce, it’s soft skills that will determine how your people will handle problems, communicate with colleagues and clients, and respond to different business situations. Soft skills are often the deciding factor if you’re struggling to differentiate between top candidates with the same hard skill sets. Here are three top-rated soft skills and how recruiting for these skills will give you a competitive edge in today’s market. Communication Communication is seen as the foundation of every other soft skill. Why? Because communication is the “umbrella” covering other skills such as “speaking, active listening skills, presentation skills and more.” It provides the foundation for relationships between employees and their senior team members. Managers should be able to communicate effectively with their team members about tasks, improvements and when providing praise. Emotional Intelligence Emotional Intelligence (often abbreviated to EQ) is the ability to understand the reactions and perspectives of others and handle this with empathy. Besides communication skills, emotional intelligence has become an important attribute for candidates in the current job market. Today, more organizations are looking for people with EQ skills. This includes the ability to work within a team, the ability to motivate and persuade, empathetic listening and building consciousness. You can determine whether someone has high EQ abilities by the way they present themselves during interviews and the way they demonstrate their value. They don’t rely purely on their past experience and accomplishments. They will have actively researched your organization and be able to provide examples of potential contributions that are directly relevant. They are really good at making a great impression. Critical thinking This skill is subtle but highly valuable. Critical thinking and the ability to question assumptions is often lacking in today’s world; the abundance of technological innovation, tools and information has made certain traditional problem-solving methods redundant. There is a subtle difference in the way someone identifies a challenge, without assuming it can be solved the same way it was a year or two ago. Someone skilled at questioning assumptions will consistently question how decisions are reached, without straying from standards and regulatory requirements. Successful candidates who survive and thrive usually have a combination of excellent communication skills, troubleshooting skills, the ability to work under pressure and integrity. While the combination of soft skills required in your organization may differ from role to role, it’s important your potential hires can demonstrate they have these skills – even if their ability to use these skills in harmony will develop in their role over time. Your organizational culture is unique. Be mindful that it can be challenging for candidates to take their soft skills and apply them to a new context immediately. Making a new hire comes down to solving an organizational challenge in one way or another. What matters is whether you can see the candidate being able to use their hard and soft skills to be able to solve these challenges.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: 7 ways to tailor your job ad to attract a more diverse talent pool
A recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that 57% of recruiters say their talent acquisition strategies are designed to attract diverse candidates. Like many organizations, you may be prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) in 2021. A commitment to DE&I is not only the right thing to do, it’s also smart leadership and good business. The evidence is clear: organizations that effectively recruit and manage a diverse workforce have a clear competitive advantage. Organizations with strong DE&I strategies retain engaged, innovative and dedicated talent. These environments drive productivity and cultivate employee satisfaction, leading to increased financial performance. If you’re responsible for recruitment in your organization, you should make hiring for diversity a priority. As a recruiter, you’re the gatekeeper with massive control over how diverse your organization is. Failure to attract and recruit diverse talent, due to conscious or unconscious bias, or a lack of strategy, will likely result in decreased levels of creativity and innovation and can impact other areas of the business. As we shared in The Talent Scout podcast episode about why diversity matters in the world of recruitment: diverse companies on average enjoy 2.3 times higher cash flow per employee and diverse teams are 87% better at making decisions. Here are seven ways to tailor your recruitment advertisement to bring more diverse talent into your organization. 1. Ensure your jobs are consistent with your overall Employer Brand Before diving into specific job ad tips, it’s important to note DE&I is not a one-off initiative. It should be a holistic, long-term priority that aligns with your overall Employer Brand. For example, if someone reads your job ad, then visits your careers website, the brand messaging and imagery you share and promote should be in alignment. (Do you actually care about diversity, or are you just saying you do? Do you have a diversity statement? Do you support employees with disabilities?) Your employer brand should promote support and equal opportunity for your job ads to be truly effective at attracting diverse talent. 2. Define your recruitment marketing strategy Improving diversity is more than choosing, for example, a female, from your candidate pool. It must be front of mind and a goal before you begin the recruitment process. Speak to experts in attracting different groups of candidates. Who are you targeting? How can you speak to them authentically? The types of candidates you are looking for will determine your strategy. For example, your strategy to increase gender diversity will require a different strategy to attracting more Indigenous Australians. Here’s how Alex Fraser and Hanson recruited female drivers by strengthening their employer brand and using targeted recruitment advertisements. After their first successful campaign, reaching 137% of their female hiring target, they used imagery and employee profile interviews with women to recruit for their next program. 3. Go to market If you’ve ever outsourced recruitment to typical external agencies, they’ll often draw on their existing database. Doing this severely limits your ability to attract a diverse applicant pool. Your recruiter should use different recruitment processes and sourcing channels, including niche job boards, and both active and passive advertising channels. One of Scout Talent’s key differentiators as a recruitment partner is that our Recruitment Marketing Specialists go to market to source talent from a wide range of channels. This gives you a far greater chance of improving diversity in your organization and finding those who are a cultural add (not just a “cultural fit”). 4. Use the right language Language choices in your recruitment advertisement absolutely impact the applicant pool you’ll be capable of attracting. In particular, remove coded language that can lead to gender bias. Take Buffer, for example, striving to understand why they were struggling to attract female developers. They discovered the word “hackers” was limiting female applications. Removing this word and other gender-coded words enabled them to increase gender diversity in their applicant pool. (For example, “rockstar”, “leader”, “ninja”, and “dominate”.) Consider using online tools to assess the language in your recruitment advertisements. You can also benefit from avoiding unnecessary jargon. While experienced candidates may understand your corporate lingo and terminology, studies show jargon and corporate language in job postings is one of the biggest barriers keeping talented young people from applying to entry-level positions. Use clear, concise language. 5. Limit your selection criteria Research reveals women are less likely to apply for roles unless they meet 100% of selection criteria (even if some criteria states “desirable” – females are still less likely to apply.) Interestingly, this may not be necessarily due to a lack of confidence, but rather a mindset that recruiters wouldn’t hire them for not meeting their selection criteria and not wanting to waste their time and energy. Recruit more diverse talent by tightening up your selection criteria list and including only the non-negotiables. You never know the great candidates you’ll be able to attract who may be your ideal match. 6. Reference your organization’s commitment to DE&I Some organizations prefer to include a line in their recruitment advertisements about their commitment to DE&I; others prefer to weave this messaging throughout the copy. Hubspot, for example, include the following paragraph in their jobs ads to attract a diverse field of applications: “Confidence can sometimes hold us back from applying for a job. But we’ll let you in on a secret: there’s no such thing as a ‘perfect’ candidate. HubSpot is a place where everyone can grow. So however you identify and whatever background you bring with you, please apply if this is a role that would make you excited to come into work every day.” A simple, but effective, personalized statement such as this can drastically improve the diversity of your talent pool. 7. Share inclusive benefits What benefits do you offer that could make your role more attractive to a diverse talent pool? Benefits such as flexibility, parental leave, childcare subsidies, health insurance and more can make your ad more attractive to groups such as working parents and those with accessibility issues. Draw attention
How to Recruit and Hire Interns in a Remote-Working World
Do you recruit and hire interns in your organization? If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all of the sudden changes that have come about due to the Covid-19 pandemic, don’t worry. These tips will give you the knowledge you need to recruit and hire interns in a remote-working world. Since the pandemic, the internship recruiting and hiring process has completely changed. Given the shift to remote work, hiring teams must find and evaluate potential hires without in-person networking events and face-to-face interviews. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by all of the sudden changes, don’t worry. Here are a few ways you can effectively recruit and hire interns in a remote working world. Tools and tactics to improve your intern search process 1. Build a strong brand online so interns come to you If you’re hiring remotely, your online presence may be the most prominent way for internship candidates to learn about and form an impression of your company. If you want to attract talented interns, you’ll want them to be excited about applying for the position after viewing your website, social media, and other online resources. After some quick searching, job seekers should be able to have a clear understanding of your company’s mission and values, work culture, and internship expectations and responsibilities. The more information available to potential hires, the more they’ll be able to assess how much their passions and strengths align with your needs. Ultimately, this saves you time by maximizing the chance that people who apply for your internship are a good fit and genuinely want the position. 2. Use online resources like job boards and social media Recruit and hire interns using online channels. While it’s difficult to engage in in-person recruiting and networking for internships at this time, you still have many online resources to support your recruitment efforts. One 2019 survey found that 41% of recent hires found their current position through an online job board. Another 14% discovered their job through social media, and an additional 5% through email newsletters. That means that 60% of recent hires connected with their current employers online. It’s definitely possible for you to recruit valuable interns remotely. Tools and tactics to vet interns and seal the deal 1. Implement low-effort screening Making your job posting unique will help it stand out from the slew of postings that job seekers search through. One specific way to make your job posting more unique and effective is to include a low effort requirement such as including a fun word in your application subject line. For example, something as simple as asking potential interns to include “penguin” in their subject line can help you easily weed out applicants who won’t even take the time to completely read through your job posting, or at the very least don’t pay much attention to details. 2. Conduct virtual interviews Virtual interviews are a great alternative to in-person interviews to recruit and hire interns. Virtual interviews are also convenient for interviewing interns who may be in a different time zone or a completely different country — just remember to specify the time zone when scheduling interviews. When conducting your virtual interviews, make sure to evaluate applicants on their remote work skills. It’s hard to say how long remote work will be the norm, so it’s important to hire employees who can thrive in a remote working environment. Tips to ensure your intern has the best possible experience 1. Continue building community It can be difficult to build community while everyone’s stuck at home, but it’s important to continue making efforts to do so. Virtual coffee breaks or lunches give employees a chance to chat with their coworkers and let your new intern get to know people. Team hangouts that include interactive activities like games can also be a fun way to build community. 2. Encourage feedback and communication If you want to know how to deliver the best possible internship experience, consider asking your intern for feedback. Feedback is valuable for determining what they like about the internship and what you can do better to support them. Promoting open communication is great for building trust as well as making your intern feel like a valued member of your team.
The Talent Scout Episode 52: How to Eliminate Unconscious Bias from Your Recruitment Process
Unconscious Bias, or implicit bias, is often defined as prejudice of unsupported judgements in favour of or against one thing, person, or group as compared to another in a way that is usually considered unfair.Many researchers suggest the unconscious bias occurs automatically as the brain makes quick judgements based on past experiences and background. In
Why More Women Don’t Get To The C-Suite And What To Do About It
Despite many powerful women in leadership, only a few reach the C-suite level. Find out why this happens and what companies can do to move the needle.
The Talent Scout Episode 47: Shortlisting and Selection for Executive-Level Candidates
Learn how to work effectively on shortlisting and selection of your executive-level candidates.
Is Offering A Signing Bonus The Solution To Your Recruitment Problems?
Find out if by offering a signing bonus your recruitment problems will go away and how to attract great candidates for your job posting.
3 Must-Use Recruitment Automation Features (and Ones to Avoid)
Check out the recruitment automatio features you can’t miss out and the ones you should avoid.
Win and Wow Top Talent: Video Interview Techniques to Market Your Vacancy
Don’t use video interviews as boring a Q&A. Take full advantage of the opportunity to get your candidates excited about your organisation and the role.
