Ways to Hire & Onboard Remote Workers Recruiting remote workers has shifted to become a main focus for many businesses. Prior to the pandemic, many companies had little to no best practices in place for recruiting, hiring and onboarding remote workers and had to...
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How to Provide the Best Candidate Experience
The biggest part of a candidates experience takes place before even making contact with them. Oftentimes, this process begins the moment they find a job post from your company. Ensuring that this process is smooth for job seekers sets the tone for how they approach the job opportunity!
What does this look like in 2021?
The Post-Pandemic-Pandemic candidates market has allowed many to switch careers in a year’s time. The pressure has mounted on companies to be able to share their values, culture, and appeal to top talent.
Candidates are out there trimming down their CV’s, making tailored cover letters and doing interview preparations. With the influx of applicants, these can still look the same across the board as a hiring manager. However, there are real people behind these applications.
One of the best things you can do to ensure you’ve got your bases covered as a company is to have a great candidate experience. Here are some ways you can do that:
Make Contact
There is nothing more demoralizing than not receiving any messages back from a company after applying. With all the work that goes into some applications for jobs, the last thing applicants want is a lack of response. If they came back qualified later, they may disregard your hiring process completely because of this bad experience.
Something as simple as a reply that says, “Thank you for applying, we have chosen to go with other candidates” is better than nothing at all. By putting something like this out there for candidates – they’ll come out of the experience with a better sense of what the company is like as a whole.
Getting a generic message such as the one above can still come off as condescending and treat a candidate as just another applicant in the pool. No matter how qualified, the candidate will appreciate the sentiment in a message.
Make it personal
For candidates who make it past the screening stage of an application process, this is crucial. Again, at the very least they deserve an email that notifies them about the outcome.
Personalization can make this process much better. Just getting a firm “Sorry, you haven’t been selected” without any feedback can feel like a slap in the face. Instead, reaching out with strengths and weaknesses identified, contact info or other resources could be a huge help.
By treating the candidates as more than just an application, you are helping both the person and your companies reputation moving forward. It doesn’t take much to help a person, but it can mean the world to them in their job search.
Late-Stage Rejection
Depending on the job, company, or situation, there could be multiple rounds of interviews via phone, in-person or over video conferencing. At this point, the applicant has typically invested a great deal of time and effort.
The gold standard for this stage is typically a phone call from the recruiter or hiring manager. With this comes constructive feedback based on their performance and the reasons they didn’t succeed in getting the job.
Unless the company has done a lot of hiring in bulk and can’t call every candidate – they should really be called each and every time. Even a video message recorded with feedback would be better than an all-text email.
Consider Using an ATS
With a great number of applicants, qualified candidates can get lost. By taking advantage of the recruiting software that is out there for hiring managers – you can ensure you are getting the best candidates.
Part of an effective recruiting process involves planning out the candidate experience that lies ahead for candidates. Why not use some digital tools along the way to assist you?
When it comes to the details of getting hires on-boarded or a background checked, an ATS can help streamline those processes and make it a smooth process for all stakeholders.
The Rise of the Remote Workforce
If we have learned anything in the last year, it is that remote work has brought with it a new way of working. While many have sour opinions of remote work life, many are up and leaving their jobs if they don’t allow some flexibility around it. Given that there was a global pandemic, remote work had to be adopted in many industries that could support it. Without it, many industries would have suffered much greater loss as a result.
Why is remote work so appealing or not so appealing for others?
Whether it was home situations, having the kids home during workdays, juggling mundane tasks with business meetings and more. The result of all these combined made for a very challenging time for some who were WFH. Along with the struggles of technology, lack of regular in-person communication, and being in a physical office, this all made for a difficult 2020 working situation.
For others however, it was a breeze. Working from home allowed people to save their commute times, complete other mundane tasks on breaks, and be more productive than they might have been previously. So while many had their struggles, some were living their best WFH lives.
What does this mean moving forward though?
Remote work is here to stay
Many employers plan on keeping hybrid/remote work models in their future. This will allow some people to work in their offices, while others work from home. Many HR managers are trying to exercise their options in this scenario. According to Robert Half, 34% of hiring managers note that the biggest benefit of this work structure is the retention of employees wanting flexibility and work-life balance. They also noted the biggest challenge would be engagement and productivity among team members.
From the workers standpoint, Accenture had survey results of 83% of workers said a hybrid model would be optimal. According to their results, workers felt they had better mental health, stronger work relationships, and a better overall feeling throughout the pandemic.
Flexibility is #NowTrending
63% of high growth organizations are enabling the work-anywhere business model, which is making it a popular choice as a trend. Along with that, 85% of respondents noted that feeling productive anywhere with a company went hand-in-hand with long-term employment.
High-growth companies are acknowledging that flexibility is best for workers after the crazy year. Additionally, employees are more likely to be comfortable in situations where that flexibility is granted. Given this fact, it is clear to see that the future of hiring is flexible and remote.
One of the critical questions they pose is “What unleashes a person’s potential, allowing them to be healthy and productive, regardless of where they work? Below is the spread from the respondents answers and you can clearly see that many are on either end of the spectrum.
What does this mean for hiring managers?
The time for flexible working is now! It seems wise to go along with the trend of hybrid work, especially as many as 9.3 million employees leaving their jobs in the spring of 2021. Workers are looking for better work-life balance along with their work-from-home opportunities.
If your company is open to these sorts of opportunities, this is a great place to start to lure in top talent. Making these apparent on any job listings or job posting sites could prove beneficial for hiring efforts.
Conclusion
As a result of the pandemic in 2020, remote work has become the topic of concern on many worker’s minds. With many people given the ability to potentially return to work in the future, most are opting to have choices. Those they have the flexibility are also found to have a better overall mindset and feeling towards their work-life balance.
The Gen Z Effect on Hiring
Through the pandemic, many were furloughed, let go and suspended due to the work environment or costs that could not be upheld. Workers under 25 experienced furlough rates 73% higher than those older than 25 and were let go at rates as high as 79% higher according to Gusto.
For many hiring managers and companies, it has been said that for younger talent it just takes a job with perks and a fun environment. However, the data according to Alight is that this generation cares more about what a company stands for and how consistent the employer is with that message.
For anyone born around 1997 and beyond, these job seekers according to Pew Research Center will account for about 60 million job seekers in the next decade, which is a huge influx of new talent. For a generation that is social media savvy, cares more about flexibility than PTO, and holds companies accountable — this is something to consider throughout the hiring process.
From a Gen Z perspective – here are some ways hiring managers can try to adapt or review their hiring practices:
Be Open and Honest
Usually in interviews, it can be easy to scan over job details and what is in the description. Even when it comes down to talking about a company, it usually boils down to how the hiring manager was taught to describe the company. Explaining what sorts of things the company values should be done ahead of time and thought out to be able to really explain to a candidate. This shows that you care about the candidate and are really trying to convey a sense of commitment to your values.
Be Flexible
I think this tip can sometimes be a little vague and hard to come by. But being flexible can be really easy for most employers, they just don’t acknowledge it. For many, going to work at the same place for 40 years and working the same way in the same fashion is just how they have done things. Gen Z is coming in with a different mindset. If you have a good candidate in your midst, they will be willing to put forth the amount of work that is required to get the job done. Sometimes things such as working from home or last minute PTO is necessary and being open about things like that are part of a flexible work environment. Especially when it comes to topics such as mental health awareness in the workplace. With mental health overall plummeting during the pandemic, 46% say it had gotten worse over the last year.
Help them help you
For many Gen Z workers, going through school is a completely different experience. With the amount of changes to the school system, online coursework and other institutions, there’s no telling where someone could come and go. For many, this means that giving qualified candidates a chance to learn more skills or abilities that are already available within a workspace could be really valuable.
Putting the emphasis on the employees really makes all the difference, after all, you want the top talent to stay around, don’t you? So while salaries and benefits are still important to most, empowerment and helping someone learn and grow is just as important as ever in the hiring marketplace.
How to Utilize LinkedIn to Recruit Top Talent
With the power of the internet, mobile apps, and social media platforms – it is only going to get harder to recruit top talent with all of the demand being generated. Long gone are the days however of putting up paper job ads or leaving your inbox open for hundreds of resumes.
With over 575+ million users, LinkedIn is the place where professionals go to update their job profiles, leave personalized work updates and connect with others. This social media platform acts as a front door to a business, with all of the current employees typically being present in some fashion within the organization on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn has tried to make the often grueling process of hiring much easier, more efficient and ready for recruiters to start using today!
Follow these tips on LinkedIn to help you acquire top talent more efficiently as a recruiter:
Make sure your profile is updated regularly
Creating a strong professional profile can be tough at first, but after some work, it will be well worth it. Some best practices to keep in mind are:
- Have a professional headshot as your profile picture
- Have descriptions of your jobs/roles in your experience section
- Keep an accurate headline at all times to ensure people know your current role
- Engage with posts at least once per week, to show up in your connections feeds!
One of the most important things you can do on any social media platform is be who you are. With so many people, it can be an overwhelming place for people to be. Especially if you do not know your connections or you are planning on connecting with strangers, you’ll want to represent who you are.
To make sure you do just that, you should ensure that your profile is kept up to date and professional. Once you have covered the best practices, you can start to put testimonials or even your own content onto your LinkedIn profile for people to share.
Make a Group and Keep at it!
Often, it can be really beneficial to create groups with people who you share similarities with. These similarities could be in schooling, interest area, outside hobbies, etc. It could really be anything.
However, creating a group and sticking with it is the first step. Once you have a group, the rapport can only grow from there. With blog posts or other content shared between the likes of you, it can help you establish credibility with any number of people in your group.
As a recruiter, this can even become a gold mine if you are sharing job orders and candidates. Using these can be really beneficial if you are in a split recruiting network!
Use InMail to Reach Candidates
Inmail is a feature LinkedIn has to allow people to send messages to people outside of their connections. Typically now, you can purchase InMail credits for a certain rate to be able to send these messages outside of your circle.
According to LinkedIn’s research, the average response rate to LinkedIn InMail is 85%. Compared with email open rates, this can be pretty high and almost a guarantee that you’ll get some sort of a response. If you are out trying to recruit a candidate you found – this can be something that gets heavily used!
Use an Applicant Tracking System to gather Candidate Information
As a recruiter, an ATS can be really beneficial to your efforts. One that can utilize LinkedIn is even better. Applicant tracking systems such as TAM have the durability and space to be able to save these candidates you find for future reference and contacting. Utilizing one can save you time and effort in the long run in making sure that your outreach is as effective as possible!
Conclusion
With these tips you can be sure to gain some success in using LinkedIn as a tool for recruiting success. By using these with both active and passive candidates, you are able to make sure you always have a pool of candidates ready for positions. As your network and connections increase, so will your ability to make these placements easier!
Job Posting Best Practices for Hiring Managers
The number of job openings have reached a 15-year-high, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In fact, there are an estimated 15 million active job postings on LinkedIn alone. With so many postings online, it can be a challenge for yours to stand out—especially as it’s currently a candidate-driven market. Just having a simple job posting is not enough to attract a suitable candidate. Rather, you need to be smart and creative about how you write your posting. By following the provided best practices, you can ensure that your job postings will stand out and attract qualified candidates.
Effective Job Posting Guidelines
A job posting may be the first interaction that a candidate has with you. For that reason, it’s important that your posting is concise, descriptive and well-written. To help your postings meet those standards, review the following guidelines:
- Don’t use any extra words with the job title. For example, Graphic Designer.
- Don’t use “spammy” job titles, as these can cause you to be flagged by some job boards and restrict how many posts you can make. For example, “URGENT NEED !! Project Manager !! Boston MA !! Long Term contract”
- Don’t use special characters (such as &, ! and $), as these can prevent the posting from being identified by search queries.
- Don’t use buzzwords as part of the job title, such as “Wizard”, “Guru” and “Ninja”, as candidates are less likely to search for those terms.
- Don’t use internal titles, which could mislead or confuse candidates. For example, using Senior Graphic Designer instead of the in-house title of Graphic Designer III.
- Don’t use job titles that are connected to a “general application” posting, as these can impact how your posting is ranked on the job board. The keywords to avoid include the following:
- Opportunities
- General interest
- General application
- Inquiry
Job Descriptions
- Be concise and provide enough information in a job description to avoid ambiguity or follow-up questions.
- Capture the personality of your client’s business (such as why the staff enjoys working there and the kind of work that they do) and why the position is worthwhile (such as what sort of projects and impact will it have) within the first paragraph.
- Be honest about the expectations and responsibilities of the position, as this will reduce potential turnover. This should include details about how the position operates within your client’s business and who the candidate would report to.
- Include all education, years of professional experience and certification requirements that are necessary for the position. In addition, ask that candidates only apply to the position if they meet all the requirements, as if they don’t, their application will not be considered.
Job Locations
- Be specific about the job’s location. Most free job boards will not accept the posting if you do not include the country, city and state, which would make the job board unable to index your job posting in its search results.
- Don’t post multiple identical jobs to different cities in the same state, as many job boards will flag this as location spamming and can result in your jobs being blacklisted.
- If you post telecommute and work from home positions, some job boards require that you use the following guidelines:
- The job title and description must clearly indicate that the job is “telecommute” or “work from home”.
- The job needs to be advertised in a specific location.
Job Post Formatting
- Include line breaks between paragraphs.
- Use section headers (such as “Job description”, “Day-to-day responsibilities”, “Company description” and “Qualifications”) to help break up the flow of information.
- Use bullet points to easily list required education, professional experience and certification requirements.
- Include a link to your client’s website.
An Example of a Well-written Job Posting
Job description:
ABC Company is looking for a highly creative Graphic Designer to work with our Creative, Marketing and Product Development teams. The Graphic Designer would create and design content for our clients in a wide range of industries. We are looking for someone that can create a wide variety of print and digital content.
Day-to-day responsibilities:
- Print pieces (such as ads, flyers and handouts)
- Digital content (such as ads, banners and infographics)
- Social media content (such as infographics, designed images, photos and videos)
- In-house content (such as photos as well as company news and announcements)
A snapshot of the organization:
ABC Company is a creative agency dedicated to bringing our clients’ dreams to life. Through design, marketing or brand work, we are the driving force behind delivering dynamic, inventive and unmistakable storytelling to our clients’ audience.
Basic qualifications:
- At least 5 years professional experience.
- Physical or web-based portfolio.
- Must be proficient in InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop.
- Effective visual and verbal presentation skills.
- Open to feedback and able to quickly and easily make necessary changes.
- Action oriented with ability to prioritize tasks and drive results.
If you would like more information about ABC Company, you can visit its website here.
How an ATS can Help with Job Postings
A staggering 60 percent of job-seekers say they stop filling out an application if it takes too long, according to employee engagement software company Officevibe. This drop-off in potential candidates can exacerbate the already lengthy recruitment process, making it even more difficult to find the best candidate for the position. Designed to automate your recruiting process and dramatically reduce your time-to-hire, your applicant tracking system (ATS) should be able to help your job postings to stand out.
The most effective applicant tracking systems are those that have a career portal integration. Which a career portal, you are able to craft effective and well-written job postings and distribute them to various job boards. While each career portal integration may include different features, the most beneficial include the following:
- A mobile-friendly job portal, which can enable candidates to find and apply to your job postings using any device.
- The ability to tailor job applications with specific questions to help you collect all the necessary information to find the ideal candidate.
- The ability to automatically post to Google for Jobs to ensure that your job posting is seen by as many candidates as possible.
- The ability to swiftly parse information from a candidate’s resume to complete their application.
If you’re curious about what features TAM offers that can help with your recruiting, you can view our features page.
Ensure that Your Job Postings Stand Out Every Time
There are millions of active job postings online and unfortunately it can be far too easy for yours to get lost. If you want candidates to not only see your postings but apply for them as well, you need to be smart and creative with how you handle them. With the right practices, you can ensure that your postings are effective and well-written.
How to Get the Most out of your HR Software
Many recruiters make use of an applicant tracking system, otherwise known as recruiting software. This investment in a software can help keep track of candidates, job orders and even help make the placement process much more efficient.
Along with it are features that typically try to stay flexible and helpful for the recruiters use case. Often though, there may be features that are simply overlooked or not taken advantage of quite as much – but could be used in a really powerful way. Sometimes it’s enough where it can be considered a return on your investment.
Here to possibly help you find a new way to use an applicant tracking system, here are some features that can be used to make the most of your experience:
Pre Screening questionnaires
This can be really helpful for both recruiters and corporate staffing. When you are out trying to find that perfect candidate, it can be a challenge to really grasp what a person’s qualifications are just based off of a resume. When it comes to hiring a professional with a specific area of expertise, often it is best to have some pre-screening questions to get to know them.
Typically, this is a feature that applicant tracking system’s use. With the amount of time that is put into a candidate being placed, it is worthwhile to use some of these questionnaires to make the process go smoother. This can not only save the candidate time in their job search, but it saves you time as a recruiter being able to have only the most qualified candidates going after your position.
Seen pretty often in computer science for example, there can be pre-screened questions that include a candidate’s experience with certain programming languages. With many different questionnaire formats, it is possible to shape them for your individual needs as a recruiter.
Have preset email templates and triggers
With any candidate coming into a job pipeline, there can be many stages to go through. There is the pre-screen, background check, interview, follow-up, second interview, and so on. Between each stage and with multiple candidates, it can be hard to remember to send out timely emails to each individual.
With a feature such as email triggers, you can be saved both time and attention to the emails that go out to candidates. Each time there is a hiring stage change, there is the opportunity to utilize these emails which can save you time in the long run.
This can also be really beneficial to you and your brand. Whether you’re a single recruiter or an HR staffing specialist, having really good communication with applicants is important. Oftentimes, many candidates can be left in the dust waiting for any response at all!
Utilizing the Reports function
Reports often are really helpful when in an agency setting for recruiting. When it comes to reporting on your weekly, monthly or even yearly performance – reports are going to have your back. Certain Applicant Tracking systems have a built-in center for both reports and Key Performance Indicators.
By making sure that your candidates are logged correctly and get organized into specific groups, you can utilize reports to its fullest potential. Some of the things you can track are:
- Qualified candidates
- Cost-per-hire
- Placement ratio
- Retention rate
- Offer acceptance rate
Job Boards + Job posting
This feature is usually well used by corporate or in-house users — and for good reason. It usually is a really great tool for getting your job information out there. If you have certain jobs in your company that are open, using these job board features can bring candidates straight to you.
For many recruiting software platforms, they automatically post to the big job websites out there. But often, this is a good alternative and having your own website to gain credibility. In some cases, this also lines up with the scheduling that is done for interviewing and beginning onboarding.
Segmenting and Boolean Search
One feature that often gets overlooked is the ability to use a specific search. In applicant tracking systems, there is usually a system in place to be able to group your candidates. Whether it’s based on experience, education level – different talent pools can be created to make it easier for you to find them when you need them most for a placement.
Boolean search operations come in really handy also when you are doing some searching within your database. Using the AND and OR operators is something that doesn’t always get used frequently but is very powerful when you have too many candidates or job orders to sort through.
Making use of Lists
Whether you are by yourself or on a team of hiring partners, there is always the function of lists that can come into play. Especially in a team setting, this can be used to keep track of onboarding procedures, legal proceedings, important contacts or candidates coming through – you name it!
Lists often go unnoticed in recruiting software because of all of the other functionality. But forget your pen and paper, use the built-in feature! Keeping better track of the processes that go on within your recruiting can help you save valuable time and help you be more efficient.
In Conclusion
Following these tips can help you squeeze every last ROI out of your ATS investment. With overlooked features and different use-cases, recruiting software is designed to streamline your placement experience — so why not make the most of it?
5 Tips to Improve Hospitality Recruiting
As a wide industry that often gets thrown around in conversation, hospitality is quite large. One of the main factors of any hospitality company is that they have customer satisfaction as one of their goals. Examples include sectors such as entertainment, travel, food industry, events, HR, sales, marketing and even education.
In such a wide range of fields, there is always an increased demand for the upkeep of these operations. This can also make it hard to have a strategy because there is such an array of industries tucked under the hospitality umbrella.
Follow these tips to help you within the hospitality field:
1. Leverage Referrals
Referrals typically make for pretty good employees as they have had a referenced entry point. They typically perform up to 15% better than other hires and have a higher retention rate as well, making them worthwhile hires for a company.
If a staff or company has a plan in place to create a referral program for employees, this can help encourage messaging to their respective networks. This makes the whole recruitment process much easier and gets possible candidates to the front door. Then once they are there, all you need is an HR software to help manage and organize them.
Tools such as Linkedin can be really powerful tools. With a few employees sharing a job order to their connections, you can easily garner thousands of valuable impressions to get some traction from potential candidates.
2. Peer Interviewing
Typically recruiters make some placements outside of their area of expertise – but that’s where your peers come in handy. If you know someone who is more capable or knows good hospitality talent when they see it, listen to them!
Handing the reins over to another trusted person can be the saving grace of finding a good candidate. It is also typically like a referral in that it can lead to a great hiring process and even better retention.
This process is similar to split recruitment in that if you team up with another recruiter, you can both succeed in making the placement. One of the best Split-fee networks to do so is the Top Echelon Network, filled with over 1000 candidates and job orders – the opportunity is there!
3. School recruiting & Apprenticeships
For a little bit more of an active approach, you can always go out and search for candidates to fill these positions. There are often school job fairs designated throughout the year. Even during the last year of the pandemic, events were held in an online event setting.
This can help you target students who are specifically looking for part-time work or experience within the hospitality industry. This is definitely a more proactive approach to recruiting, however it could pay off in the longer run in getting placements.
Taking care of these employees matters as well. Ensuring them what the jobs offer and what sort of experience they can achieve would be a really great way to just open up the communication regarding the position.
4. Create Giveaway Marketing Materials
Getting brochures, small newsletters or even just business cars can help get the word out there. In some ways, it can help to market your HR or recruiting firm. By giving your staff these materials, they can be free to hand it out to anyone they feel fit for certain positions that come their way.
This leads the recruiter free to find some easy leads in their down time and can create another avenue for potential candidates.
5. Utilize Social Media
Rather than traditional routes of finding jobs, many people are out using social media in an attempt to find job opportunities. In 2019, 79% of job seekers looked for new jobs on social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn before going to traditional job sources. This makes it a really good place for recruiters to gather contacts and candidate information for potential placements.
So while you or your company also promote yourself, there is the chance for outreach and doing some gathering of candidates from social media. Go into it with a strategy to connect with these potential candidates and stick to the ones that will be relevant!
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are many different ways you can develop your recruitment strategies surrounding the hospitality industry. This is a sector that will continue to remain wide and increase as more and more people need personal services.
Some strategies can be more tough than others, it is all about what you think will work best for you. We are in a constantly changing world, so some of these might be more effective than others in 2021 – but rest assured it will be a great area for recruitment.
How COVID-19 shaped 2021 Hiring Trends
The past year has no doubt been an impactful one. Still in 2021 and beyond, we will see and feel changes to our processes in the workforce. This includes the recruiting and hiring industry. As 2020 wasn’t the greatest year for job outlooks, we look forward to different approaches to hiring and new talent acquisition trends to ease us along.
As COVID vaccinations become more and more common and it is more dealt with, businesses will be able to return to somewhat of a normal state. For many this may be the same as before the pandemic – for others, not so much.
What are some of those changes you ask? Here are some to note:
Virtual Hiring
For many, this was a change that had never been done on a big scale before. Sending workers home to work remotely was a first, and could remain common now that employees have had a taste. When it comes to the hiring processes, it was safe for both parties to remain in their own locations. With the use of technology, it was possible to interview and facilitate the majority of onboarding without ever having to meet in-person.
Interviews will most likely continue to be done largely from remote locations, simply due to the fact that it saves time and costs. According to a LinkedIn survey, around 70% of professionals said that hiring processes will become increasingly standard.
The marquee question is: when will post-COVID begin? Since there could never truly be a definite “end” to the COVID virus, the virtual recruiting will look to continue to also act as something of a safety measure for both parties in the hiring process. Even more important through this process, is the use of an applicant tracking system. Being able to manage your job postings, send out pre-screening questionnaires and have paperless onboarding are huge benefits.
While these times of remote work are essential now for safety, many also speculate that we will return to workplaces with regular face-to-face interaction at some point. Humans are social beings, and so therefore it will be in our best interests to create some sort of balance.
Internal Hiring and Mobility
According to LinkedIn Data, internal mobility and job changes are up by 20 percent in the last year. With hiring budgets immediately slashed by many organizations last March, an increased look at already available talent was the way to go. Since many businesses will have the engagement of internal employees already, there are fewer costs and shorter hiring processes.
Another benefit of this process is greater retention. Retention and churn is something that many companies have tried to focus on in recent years with their own employees. As time goes on and people are well equipped to take on more challenging roles, they expect mobility options. This benefits both the employee and the company in the grand scheme of things. By working together to create mobility through additional skills and technology, this is an area that can gain pace in the new year.
Choosing to decide between building talent and adding headcount in your company can be a real challenge with uncertain times ahead. Ensuring you have flexibility and the means to react to immediate business needs would be the best strategy to approach 2021 with.
Diversity and Inclusion
For many individuals looking at job openings, one of the key things they tend to look at are its values. With this, comes its responsibilities towards its employees, greater society, its shareholders and so on. A focus for many organizations in this matter will include diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. According to Workplace Intelligence, 70% of job seekers said they want to work for a company that demonstrates a commitment to diversity and inclusion.
Advocating for more diverse pipelines will come through recruiting funnels. With any potential for bias being removed, creating this diversified workplace is imperative for many companies. For the opportunity awaits for recruiters to take lead on this initiative. Whether it be through interview panels, using data-driven reports or just having diversity goals to set forth – there is work to be done.
Expanded Skill Sets
Being able to adapt to the times is an increasingly important skill, especially if something such as 2020 happens. Through challenges, there will be ways to persevere and grasp at opportunities for some. For many recruiters, this meant learning and self-growth within the first months of the pandemic.
By providing new ways for outreach, talent acquisition and networking skills, hiring professionals can expect this to see results of this big wave in 2021 and beyond. One of the best investments you can make is in educating yourself, and that is seemingly what many did amidst COVID-19.
With this learning process, come tools that often make these challenging hiring needs easier and more timely. In using an applicant tracking system such as The Applicant Manager, the tools you need as a hiring professional are right at your fingertips. Given the ability to keep tabs on current applicants, update a job portal or even provide onboarding paperwork remotely – this is something that can make 2021 even easier.
4 Strategies to Get Volunteer Prospects
It comes as no surprise that non-profit organizations always need volunteers. This can be tough at certain parts of the year, or dependent on how the job market looks. An organization’s engagement with their audience can also fluctuate throughout the year, so they will always be in need of help in one way or another.
This is where driving prospects comes in. Volunteers come and go, move and retire, leave for another cause, experience life changes, etc. So how can you keep your volunteer count fresh and always reliable?
Here are some strategies to help drive new prospects:
1. Retention
A starting place for finding volunteers is to look where they already are! If you have already gained workers through different channels and have varying levels of rapport, there are good chances there for retention. Some may stay longer than others, but with the option for future contract work, they can still be made useful. Especially during times where remote work is possible, technology makes it easier to stay connected, stay productive with teams, and drive a mission forward!
Utilizing a staffing software helps streamline this process and helps keep your candidates managed in one place. With other features such as job boards, screening and onboarding tools, an applicant management system is really helpful when keeping tabs on candidates. So whether they stay or leave, they can always be reached via their stored contact information.
2. Utilize Technology
Running a contest or offering an incentive for volunteering is a great way to give back to those volunteers who donate their time. While they might do it out of the good of their hearts, this is something that might help get the word out initially to help bring them in. Having something such as a gift card giveaway to one volunteer or another prize could be really effective in getting people excited for helping a cause.
Another way to hype up your job opportunity is with the chance to get free swag. By that, I mean shirts, bags, mugs, keychains, etc. Anything free! People love free is stuff given away at a moments notice. These can also double as free advertising for your organization!
Last but not least, you can strive to do something incredible. Set a goal that is extreme, yet realistic. This can help gain attention among people, the media, and others around your organization. Making your event seem like a special and important opportunity will help volunteers stick around!
3. Word of Mouth
Someone being referred to a job or role is typically a better fit than a candidate just passing through and looking. The same goes for volunteers. Getting some word out to people about these volunteer opportunities can come in many forms and work wonders for driving applicants to your front door.
One of the first ways is to create some PR buzz. Traditional sources include the radio, TV and newspaper ads – however younger segments will be better reached on social media. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are key for these demographics, as this is typically a source of entertainment and news for the age group.
There can also be simple way to get more people to assist in your volunteer efforts. Just like referrals, someone can bring a friend or have donors volunteer. With things such as incentives to bringing volunteers that are friends, this can double and even triple your efforts. If they end up having a great experience, trying campaigns that can easily be shared on social media would benefit your organization by getting more free publicity out there.
4. Keep New Recruits Engaged
Sometimes volunteers will initially reach out, interact or even help out in some way. Engagement is important at this step because the more engagement they feel, the more likely they are to feel accepted and appreciated. This simple act of gratitude in the form of a text or email can help keep volunteers around for the long-term.
Using these tips can help you strategize when it comes to recruiting volunteers, as well as finding ones that engage with your organization. Following these tips and related ones will help keep volunteers driving to be recruited and helping out with efforts across the board.