Compliance.  It’s no one’s favorite subject, but it’s a necessary and imperative part of Human Resources.  One mistake can cost hundreds of dollars, and lots of mistakes can cost, well, A LOT.  Yikes.

Every single company is required to accurately maintain and store compliant I-9 records.  Adding on to that, all federal contractors and subcontractors are required to use E-Verify®, in addition to there being several state and local government mandates.  Further, should The Legal Workforce Act pass, 99% of employers (that includes public AND private companies) would be required to use E-verify®.

Just to give a little background, E-Verify® is an internet-based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security in partnership with the Social Security Administration that allows participating employers to electronically verify the employment authorization of their new hires within seconds.

Staying compliant means making sure each document has the correct information, including correct dates, candidate information, signatures, and more.  Without a doubt, keeping everything straight would be an overwhelming task for anyone.   How does your company handle compliance?  If you’re still using a manual process, you have a much greater chance of being at risk for audit violations than someone who has automated their processes.
 
Fortunately, technology is available to help streamline your I-9 processes by guiding candidates and HR personnel through form completion, ultimately reducing administrative paperwork and eliminating oversight errors.  With these benefits available, there’s no better time than right now to reform your manual compliance initiatives and embrace technology, or potentially face the wrath of the ICE.

Here are a few tips to help get you started:

• First, take a look at this map to discover what your state’s laws are regarding E-Verify.  Is your company in compliance with existing regulation? 
• Second, evaluate your current process.  If an audit was conducted at your company today, how well would you fair?  With technology that alerts users to inconsistencies and errors throughout completion, take the risk out of the equation.
• And third, STAY EDUCATED!  Remember, legislation is constantly changing, so make sure your HR department has the appropriate policies in place. 

 

It is the start of the spring semester, also known as the final 4 months of freedom for a large number of students anticipating graduation this May. You can assume these individuals are basking in what remains of their care-free lifestyle. However, for most of us, this time is even more stressful than the prior 4 years combined. What could possibly be hanging over our heads, you ask? … The daunting task of securing a career!

For recruiters, on the other hand, this is an exciting time because the availability of top talent is at its highest. The question is: how can you be sure your company will attract and retain these recent grads? During frequent discussions regarding this topic with my friends, I have noticed recurring complaints regarding the application process, all of which can be easily prevented and improved upon.

1. What company am I applying for again? More often than not, my friends will glance over at me while completing their application and ask this question. Each time I think to myself, how do they know they will be an optimal employee for this position? And also, why would this company want an employee who isn’t certain what the company is all about? Avoiding these fundamental pitfalls is simple with consistent site branding. Make sure that your organization’s name, description, logos, and trademarks are all highly visible and easily found within the application process and description pages.
2. Similarly, what job am I applying for? I know…an unbelievable, yet still regularly asked question during the application process. After proceeding past the initial page the job title and description often disappear, making it difficult for candidates to reflect on relevant tasks or positions. Keeping a short overview of the job and the title in plain sight will allow candidates to describe important skills relating to the position, as well as, discourage candidates who lack certain requirements from submitting the application and cluttering your inboxes.
3. Lastly, the most frustrating question of all for students – why haven’t I heard anything?! As recruiters, it is impossible to touch base with each and every candidate that has applied for your position. Still, you do not want candidates to be frustrated or develop any negativity toward the position or your company.  Try setting up automatic emails that thank candidates for applying, provide a time frame for application review, or even notify them if they lack the experience you were searching for.

These quick-fixes will not only attract a larger qualified talent pool, but will also result in positive communication between recruiters and candidates. Ultimately, you can rest assured knowing you have retained the best employees and maintained open communication with potential future references. 

 

 

We all know that the larger a company gets the more difficult it is to manage all recruitment initiatives. In 2011, most recruiters were tasked with finding the right staff and helping to keep that staff productive and engaged. And, with the economy as it was/is, there were a few challenges that recruiters had to overcome in order to reach those goals. According to a 2011 article on ERE, some of the top challenges for corporate recruiting departments were:

1. Requisition Load
2. Incentive Structure
3. Recruiter Skill Set
4. Poor Recruiting Process - Disorganized Applicant Flow Process
5. Distractions

How are recruiters expected to find top talent and keep them productive when faced with the challenges above? Of course, they had to overcome them. According to a study by Deloitte:

70 percent of mid-size organizations that responded saw improved productivity during the time period study (since the onset of the recession). 62.2% attributed the increase in productivity to improvements in business processes and 50.3% attributed it to improvements in technology.

If we can take this data as any indication of what recruiters did to overcome these challenges and/or could have done, I think we would have seen a lot more productive recruiting (and employees for that matter) in 2011. But let’s not waste this valuable information. How can you improve your business processes for 2012 and what sort of technology could you leverage:

Business Processes: Eliminate administrative work. The more paperwork your recruiters have to sort through and fill out (especially at a mid-size+ company), the more likely things will get lost. Misplacing or misfiling paperwork could prolong the time it takes to respond to a candidate’s application. Poor communication during the initial pre-hire stages can dishearten a future employee, causing productivity to decrease. Excellent communication can prepare the future employee better - helping them reach expectations faster and surpass goals more quickly? Find a way to streamline the process from start to finish. How you ask? Well, have you written out your current process and documented it for all recruiters to follow or do you rely on word-of-mouth training. Creating a simple word document that’s available to all can help cut down on the communication gaps that can often happen in the recruitment process.

Communicate with candidates

Technology: Start implementing technology to drive those business processes. When you become a mid-size company, you can't get away with doing everything manual anymore. First analyze what your current processes are. Then see which areas could be automated. Perhaps resume collection? Maybe the onboarding process? Figure out which processes are seeing the biggest administrative challenges and improve them with technology.

What are you waiting for? It’s never too soon to start optimizing your recruitment program. What are some of the ways that you are improving your recruitment program? And, have you seen a positive impact on your productivity?

We are about 17 days into 2012 and you are most likely well into implementing your recruitment strategic plan. How is it working out? Are you seeing any improvements compared to 2011? You may need a bit more time to evaluate your current plan, but one important recommendation I would make is: remain flexible in regard to your strategic plan. If you notice that certain initiatives aren’t working – don’t waste your time and money. Nip them in the bud and move on to your next initiative.

Further, if you haven’t considered technology in your 2012 strategic plan, perhaps you should. Managing your recruitment program can be easier with Recruitment Technology and Assessment Science. With these solutions you can direct all of your candidates to an online application process. This allows you to store data electronically while simultaneously performing a thorough assessment test to ensure that the best fit for the position is selected.

If you clicked on this blog, you have probably already considered leveraging technology to facilitate these processes. But since there are so many options out there, the idea of choosing which providers can seamlessly integrate with one another is quite daunting. Well, HR professionals - I’ve just the webinar for you! iCIMS is hosting a free webinar highlighting how our client Aspen Dental enlisted the help of iCIMS and Chequed, a leading assessment provider, to completely streamline and revolutionize their hiring processes. Here are the details:

Registration Link: Click Here
Date: Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
Time: 2:00pm EST
Cost: Free

Look forward to having you there!

There is something about a new year that is very intriguing to me, maybe it’s the idea of getting to start fresh or maybe it’s the concept of not knowing what is coming next. Either way, I assume this is why year after year we make resolutions to improve, change, or alter what currently is. According to a poll on http://www.usa.gov/index.shtml, the top three (3) most popular New Year’s Resolutions for 2012 are to get fit (1), to save more money (2), and to find a better job. Here are some ways to tackle these resolutions and make 2012 a year of success, personally and professionally.

Resolution #1: Get fit.  Now, I’m no fitness expert; however, what I have noticed is the more you exercise, the better you look, and ultimately, the better you feel.  I only started going to the gym a couple of weeks ago, and I have already noticed a huge boost of energy to my daily routine. Unfortunately, I understand how the gym isn’t right for everyone, so why not start small and use your lunch break as an opportunity to become more active by walking around the nearby department store?  After all, it is the little steps taken that go a long way. In the workspace, more and more HR departments are becoming “socially fit”. What does this mean? Leverage social recruiting tools to attract top candidates. The more visibility your job postings have, the more candidates you will reach. Here’s a secret: Streamlining your HR processes is much easier than streamlining your fitness schedule. Start in the workplace and hope to see results fast!

Resolution #2: Save more money. If your resolution this year is to save money, here is a great tip that I received from a coworker. I was told to automatically divide my direct deposit into two separate bank accounts, the “primary pay the bills” checking and the “build a house, a home, and a family someday” checking. By using this innovative idea, I was able to save money without too much effort at all.  Similarly, an onboarding solution allows HR to get online documentation from new employees prior to their first day of work. This allows companies to save on time, paper, and money during the onboarding process and helps get employees started faster!

Resolution #3: Find a better job. Well if this isn’t right up a recruiter’s ally, I’m not sure what is!  If you are looking for a new job, leverage your past experiences to get noticed. Optimize your Linked In, Facebook, and Twitter accounts by updating job information and specialties that can allow you to shine.  If you’re looking for a great growing company to work for, check out the iCIMS career portal (Note: they didn’t tell me to put this in, I did it all on my own!).  If you are happy with your current job (which I hope you are), meet this resolution from the other end of the spectrum and optimize the opportunity presented by adding talented employees to your own staff! What should you do? Positively influence the candidate experience by creating a company-branded and user-friendly career site. It is important to find the most qualified candidates, but also ones who understand the company’s mission and culture.

Today could be the day you make the decision to change your life and/or your HR processes. Only you can decide! Feel empowered by the New Year so much that you make the change to create a more fantastic YOU and a more fabulous HR!  When change is for the better, how can you choose not to?

 

Adventure is my middle name when it comes to food. And lucky for me, I got to chow down at some great restaurants over the holiday break. At one of the restaurants I went to, I decided to order their holiday tasting menu. I was so excited to try some great dishes that I could hardly wait for the first course to arrive. After what seemed like forever, the tinniest crab cake was set before me. Another eternity passed when the second course arrived, and it was then, that I realized that this was going to be a very long dinner. The time between each course seemed to be increasing, and I just wanted the next dish to be the last dish, dessert. As I waited for the thousandth dish, my mind couldn’t help but wander off into HR space. I started thinking, “I would never survive an application process if it was as long as this dinner!” 

Many recruiters and HR professionals forget that the candidate experience is a crucial part of a hiring process. Long and tedious application processes can have a negative effect on a candidate’s experience.  If you want to ensure that your candidates have a positive experience, the application process should be no longer than a 3-course meal.

Appetizer
Prospective applicants come to your career site because they are interested in your company.  For an effective career site, it should be like a restaurant menu. Provide the right information to entice your reader to order something (apply for a job). Applicants should be able to easily find and read information about your company’s history, corporate culture, available jobs, and more. The more interactive and branded your career site is, the more traction your job opportunities will get. It is also great to add your company’s Twitter and Facebook to your site, to increase candidate engagement.

Entrée
The job application is the meat and potatoes, and it should be an easy and efficient process. This is the step where you can either win or lose a candidate. No one likes filling out the same information over and over again. It gets tiring and frankly, it gets boring. Many recruiters avoid this problem by implementing an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). With an ATS, an applicant can upload his/her resume and the information will pre-populate within the application form. This avoids redundant and time-consuming manual data entry. Another key factor in the application process is communication between the candidate and the recruiter. The number one frustration for a candidate is not receiving a response. This can be easily fixed by utilizing a Communications Center, like the one offered by iCIMS. Recruiters can send out emails to all applicants, while maintaining a personal and positive experience. Email communications will also allow candidates to know exactly where they stand at all times, in the application process.

Dessert
If your candidate toughs-out the entrée course, they’ve made it to dessert, and it’s time to bring them onboard! To ensure that your new-hire has a seamless transition into your company, utilize an onboarding portal. Post electronic forms to your onboarding portal so your new-hires don’t spend their first day filling out paperwork. Also, help save time for you and your hires by allowing them to work and manage their own training sessions. Give them flexibility and control over their own work schedule. With a positive outlook from the application process and onboarding process, your new-hire will be ready to jump right into work with increased productivity!  

Use these 3 key ingredients and your candidates won’t leave the application process with a bad taste in their mouths!

 

A 2010 study of 1,500 CEOs indicated that leaders rank creativity as the No. 1 leadership attribute needed for prosperity. Companies must seek out individuals who challenge the status quo and contribute groundbreaking ideas in order to survive in today’s fast-paced and increasingly complex business environment. Just as importantly, the must establish a culture of innovation to foster those ideas and bring them to fruition. Companies with a culture of innovation adapt repeatedly to stay ahead of the competition. They develop creativity at all levels of their organizations, and develop new ideas to tackle problems large and small.

But how do you build a culture of innovation??

1)    Hire the right people
During the interview process, don’t limit yourself to asking questions about a candidate’s specific experiences or skills. In addition to determining if the candidate is a good fit for the job, it is important to make sure that the candidate will also fit in with the company. Be sure to ask questions about the company’s values. If you are fostering a culture of innovation, then innovation should be one of the company’s top values. Ask the candidate to give an example of a time he or she was innovative in solving a problem.

2)    Put them in the right jobs
In addition to hiring the right people, it is important to hire them for the right jobs.  The quickest way to stifle creativity is by putting people in jobs that don’t incite their passion.  Look for ways to give employees ways to follow their interests and express their talents. Provide opportunities for employees to take on additional responsibilities to accomplish organizational goals. Allow employees to gain exposure to other departments and learn how they function.

3)    Meet people’s needs
Managers should always meet with employees and ask them what they need to accomplish their best work. Some people may be motivated by challenge, while others by appreciation. Some people may like quiet working conditions, while others appreciate noise. The more people are worrying about their unmet needs, the less time they will have for developing creative ideas and attacking problems.

4)    Make work meaningful
To be truly motivated, we have to believe that our work really matters. Everyone needs to feel like they are working for some larger purpose. To create this sense of purpose, a leader should define a mission that transcends each individual’s self-interest.  For example, at iCIMS, it is our mission is to be the top provider of HR software for small and mid-sized businesses. Our client, Whole Foods, was founded with the goal of becoming the world's leading natural and organic foods supermarket retailer. By establishing an important purpose, you will incite passion within your team.

5)    Encourage autonomy
Autonomy means ” independence or freedom, as of the will or one's actions.” Give your employees challenges, but give them freedom in how they accomplish them. Define what success looks like and hold people accountable to metrics, but let people design their days as they see fit to achieve those outcomes. By micromanaging or hand holding, you will only stifle your employees’ creativity.  An employee who has to run every detail by his or her boss for approval will lack motivation to contribute in innovative ways.

6)    Encourage people to ask questions
People need to be aware of an organization’s processes to improve them, and aware of challenges in order to solve them. Encourage employees to ask questions about what your company has done in the past, as well as what your company is doing today. Encourage them to look for contrarian ideas and insights. 
You should also encourage your employees to provide feedback. By reaching out to your team and asking them what they think, or if they see any issues arising from the company’s current direction, it will demonstrate to your employees that your company doesn’t want to simply maintain the status quo, and it is open to new ideas to improve the business.

7)    Encourage people to explore and take risks
Provide employees with the freedom to take creative risks without a fear of judgment. Experimentation is an absolute essential part of  discovery. Of course, many experiments will fail, but it is important to see the value in failure.  One of my favorite quotes is by Thomas Edison: “ I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” Nearly every innovation in history has come after countless “failures.” Encourage your employees to not fear failure or let it extinguish curiosity, but to keep trying. Eventually, it will pay off.

The New Year is right around the corner and about half of the working population is either physically or mentally out of the office. You know what that means…it’s a great time to sit down and think about your HR New Year’s resolution without any distractions (well minimal distractions). As an HR professional, you have probably compiled a long list of challenges you face throughout the year.  This week before the end of the year is always a good time to evaluate those challenges and create a “Not-to-Do” wish list or resolution for next year.

Every year at iCIMS, the company awards one employee with a “Not-to-Do” award. What does this mean? Employees are charged with eliminating a current process that is inefficient. The employee that comes up with the best process elimination/improvement is awarded at the end of the year. Why not have this same competition in your HR department. What are the challenges you are facing? Try listing out the processes you are currently doing and decide which of those you shouldn’t be doing.

How about non-compliance issues? Be honest, how many applications, resumes, and paperwork do you get in a day?? A ton. Paper storage is costly and inefficient. Loose paper can get lost or filed incorrectly.

What about trying to eliminate paper collection in 2012. How? Go electronic. Find a way to have staff and applicants complete all of their paperwork online. Use an online career site that funnels information into an online database that is easily searchable.

How about high turnover? Do you have trouble retaining personnel? Perhaps, it’s time to look at what inefficiencies are in your training program and eliminate those.

Eliminate costly training programs that employees don’t participate in and try new programs that provide staff with the right tools to power their career. Offer more training programs online so all employees can attend on their own time. The possibilities are endless, but the bottom line is, eliminate what isn’t working and try out more beneficial programs.

So what does your “Not-to-Do” wish list and New Year’s resolution look like?

Happy Holidays from iCIMS! As a special treat, we’ve compiled our top 5 HR blog posts from 2011. Hope you enjoy them!

			Retail's Role in Job Creation March 2011 - How can the retail industry tackle the challenges associated with creating new jobs? Learn tips on how to execute a successful retail recruitment strategy.
			Recruitment Marketing – Starting with Social Recruiting March 2011 - Do you have a social recruiting program? If you don’t, maybe you should. Three simple questions to ask yourself on how to make recruitment marketing desirable and attainable for any business.
			Finding Answers to Your HR Questions June 2011 - Scared to let an HR software company in the door? Discover how being “social” can help HR professionals lower cost-per-hire and time-to-hire by implementing recruitment software
			Match Maker, Match Maker, Make Me a Match July 2011 - Best practices for hiring managers- does your company have them in place? Great takeaways on how to develop internal relationships between HR executives and hiring managers.
			What Can HR Recruiting Teach Us about Fantasy Football November 2011 - Cha Ching! What if all fantasy football players (like resumes) could be tracked in one configurable system that could easily be filtered?

If you have already seen these posts and would like to learn more about the iCIMS Talent Platform, view our free online demo or call 1-800-889-4422 today! We will see you in the New Year!

The other day, I set aside some time to listen to HRHappyHour Episode 128, titled The Consumerization of HR. Having a background that has little to do with technology, I have found myself taking roles in companies that are very much technology driven. What I’ve consistently found in each of these roles is that you do not have to be an expert in technology to work in technology. In some cases, being a consumer with a passion for detail is just enough. While it takes the work of experts from various areas to build a successful product, I like to believe that consumers also play a big role on how technology evolves.  So, as soon as I saw this title, I thought it might be right up my alley.

As a consumer, we all know that there are certain things that just catch on and spread like wildfire. Over the course of the last 10 years, social media is one of them, and I know we’ve only hit the surface. According to Constellation Research, 75% of the workforce is mobile – with 45% of that workforce retiring in 10 years. Those retirees are making room for a new wave of workers; most, who I’m sure, choose to make social media a part of their daily lives. With more than 800 million active users, the average Facebook user is connected to 80 community pages, groups and events.

A few years ago I was tasked with working on a project that defined employee policies associated with social media usage. Those guidelines seemed more like restrictions. Shortly after, the company reversed its position, largely due to the fact that the Marketing Team jumped on board and began to create a social media team, with the goal of increasing the brand’s social presence. The guidelines that once stood as restrictions were refreshed and we were on a new task to actually build the organizations’ social media presence from within the company – starting with the employee base - our brand ambassadors. Designated brand ambassadors were identified and asked to lead the way and set an example for the rest of the organization to follow suit. While some thought this might open an area of risk for the organization based on what employees may post while on the job, the majority of employees took this as an opportunity to spread a good word about the organization.

With everything that is new, there is always an associated or perceived risk. However, as time marches on some of these items that were once risky, become the norm. I’m sure there were few people in 1903 who expected the Wright Brother’s invention of the first successful airplane to evolve into full fledged fleets of 747s with Direct TV access. While it’s hard to compare the airline industry to the infiltration of social media, it’s safe to say that social media is here to stay and will continue to expand our options for driving actionable plans in various sectors.    

As organizations continue to find useful ways to put these personal and professional networks to work, I look forward to seeing how the landscape continues to evolve within HR. How does your organization utilize social media to build your employee brand and employee engagement levels? What successes have you seen by incorporating social media into your recruitment plans?