iCIMS Hire Expectations™

With many nations moving into a post-industrial stage, we are beginning to see more organizations move into the service sector. Because of this, there is less of a need for a physical presence for employees at the office. Whether it is to allow carpenters to take their tools home to begin working on their clients earlier in the morning, or to allow technical and sales people to log into their corporate networks, this is a tremendous perk that many people benefit from today.

There are benefits to both sides of this equation. Employees get to engage in work in a more “at-will” manner, sometimes they are even able to make their own hours, so to speak. They also might be able to work in a more comfortable environment. It may even enable them to tend to needs at home or in their personal lives more easily. The benefit for the employer is that their workers feel more flexibility around their job, and in turn have a higher satisfaction rating, and will perform better overall. Studies have also shown that individuals who regularly work remotely will work more hours in a day and often times at no additional cost. Organizations can also save budget on eliminating the need to house and maintain physical assets on site. Companies could lease smaller buildings for the reduced number of on-site employees and equipment.

While working remotely may prove beneficial to both employee and employer, there are also issues that a company should be aware of.

1. Preparation: It is important to prepare employees to embrace activities that keep them productive. It’s much easier to get distracted while working in the environment of their choosing, but with the right mindset these environments can be much more soothing and (surprisingly enough) distraction free.
2. Ideal Workspace: It is important to encourage employees to set up a “work area” that is away from major attention grabbers (perhaps away from the Xbox?), but still within a comfort zone.
3. Accountability: It’s equally important to maintain a system that allows management to ensure that employees are staying accountable. If their work is project driven, having a project management system with time logging works, if performance is sales driven, strict quotas can work. Most scenarios should have a method to ensure that management is aware if productivity is slipping, and that it can be addressed before it becomes a major problem.

I’ve personally had the joy of working from home on occasion many times over the past few years. At first it was very easy to get distracted, but once I trained myself to get into the mindset, I began producing at a level even greater than when I was present in the office. I also accessed my projects during off hours more often, especially if I realized a new idea on the weekend or late at night. Some days, I’d even begin working much early in the morning and keep going until the close of business. As long as an employee is interested in their work and realizes that they may need to adjust some of their working habits, allowing them to work remotely can be beneficial for everyone.

Get Social! (And, you won’t even have to use Twitter or Facebook to do so.)

When I talk to my friends, more often than not I find that they do not look forward to heading into work on a daily basis. Granted, this could have a lot to do with the fact that they are not doing what they love, but I firmly believe a huge part of it is due to the lack of extra-curricular activities available to them as well. These activities can come in a variety of formats and can really be started by anyone, but having a strong foundation and support from the corporate level is a huge help.

iCIMS provides that strong foundation with events such as monthly corporate luncheons, Friday morning gatherings for free bagels, and two corporate-sponsored environmental clean-up events per-year. There is a strong culture around being social with colleagues here, which really makes it easy to look forward to coming into work. These get-togethers are something to look forward to, and the social bond created with my colleagues makes me look forward to come in on Monday to find out how their weekend plans went.

The corporate sponsored and organized events aren’t all though. These events tend to attract a large number of our in-house employees, and when I was a new hire, this was a bit intimidating. Nevertheless, the spirit of these events inspired me to arrange my own event. I started a fitness challenge to lead into Memorial Day weekend to inspire my co-workers to get fit for the summer. This was also a great opportunity for me to meet other employees, which up until then, I had relatively small amounts of face-time with. Every Monday for 8 weeks the participants would weigh-in and measure body fat percentage to track progress. As the challenge went on, there was quite a bit of competition and even side bets between participants. It really gave us something to look forward to on Mondays when we arrived back in the office.

Point being, it’s particularly important to have small activities to keep employees interested in their workplace, beyond their work. Holding events that lead to lasting friendships is just one example to give employees an incentive to come in every day. It helps make the workforce feel like a big family, and helps make daily tasks and projects go a lot smoother.

Being in the HR industry, we get to see what exactly is going on in the talent managment software space. It is true…there are a lot of solutions! Generally speaking, they range from the basic standard recruitment database to full on candidate and employee management solutions. If you are looking for one of these solutions, it is important to keep some things in mind.

Is the functionality too basic/standard that there may be risk of undelivered candidates?

The simple solutions, such as an in-house email-based solution, may be limited by scalability and functionality. Should you grow out of your small business status, your solution may not be able to handle mid-market recruitment volume, leaving you, the end-user, forced to buy a new solution. Further, it could also impact the other end-user's experience: the candidate's. The lacking solution could transpose on to the clarity of the career site. This could in turn make the candidate feel a lack of confidence in the tool's ability to deliver their application and resume effectively, which unfortunately, may make them hesitant to even submit a resume in the first place. Many organizations do take the time to follow-up on submissions, but with the possibility of a resume being flagged as spam, there is a chance that a even the most diligent recruiter might miss the resume of a great candidate.
 
Your system should not deter the candidate from applying on your career site. The candidate should be able to easily identify a potential position and then, submit their resume and cover letter with confidence.

Are there too many bells and whistles to leverage the Talent Management System effectively?

With the more advanced options, the complexity of the platform can sometimes inhibit the end-user’s (candidate and recruiter!) experience as well. With a talent management system that is cumbersome and full of too many features and fields, candidates may find the application process difficult and confusing to navigate. The extra bells and whistles may also be difficult for you as a recruiter. Paying for unnecessary functionality that’s difficult to mine through…well, that’s just terrible.
 
These problems could extend into employee management as well. For example, if your employee management site is difficult to peruse and employees are finding that they are unable to easily access their performance stats, they may become disenchanted and not use the portal to its fullest potential.

Keeping the end-user in mind!

When looking for a talent management system, it’s important to find a solution that has both the recruiter and candidate in mind. If you are currently using a talent management system, how intuitive is it to you and the candidate??

When implementing a solution for employee and candidate management, sometimes you may be inclined to choose the tool that works best for the HR representative, but may not be so good for the candidate. But, I promise, there are tools that cover both! A great solution takes into consideration both the needs of the HR rep, as well as the employees and candidates.

Don’t forget: The solution should have an intuitive tracking tool, a layout that quickly displays candidate data, an easy yet comprehensive reporting tool, and an intuitive career/employee site.

Why go for the solution that’s easier for the end-users?

The benefits of such an implementation are numerous. HR representatives will gain greater access to more candidates and therefore, increase the possibilities of finding someone who is the perfect fit for a role. Candidates will have more confidence in their submission, and be more willing to apply. Employees will be able to easily access necessary forms and documents and be better prepared for their experience within your organization.

So what’s the moral of the story? Find a talent management solution that has the end-user in mind! You’ll be happy you did.

There is a lot of talk about going green these days. The great part about the green movement is that many eco-friendly solutions can help increase efficiency as well. Organizations have the option of purchasing carbon credits or they can implement an approach that is much more hands on. Most organizations are taking a greener approach internally, and it is having a resounding effect on how we interact within the workplace. These changes can even be evident before you conduct your first interview. The onboarding process is the first place, and one of the best places, an organization can implement a green approach.

As a recent job seeker, I noticed that many advances in technology are allowing people and organizations to use less paper. No longer do we submit resumes via snail mail, but instead conduct the entire search via job boards and corporate career portals. This has been the norm for close to a decade now, and helps greatly reduce waste created from printing and mailing resumes. The ease of creating an online portfolio also contributes here. Not only is this approach completely paperless, but it also makes one’s career more accessible and easily shared.

More recently, organizations are beginning to use online portals for onboarding documentation as well. This significantly reduces the amount of paper normally used once an offer has been accepted. A new employee can now fill out all of their paperwork via online forms, and save their progress should something else come up. This also allows for access at an employee’s own convenience, instead of having to take time out of orientation or training sessions.

As much as going green for the sake of the environment might not appeal to everyone, the ways in which you can go green can even help make a job search and onboarding process occur more smoothly. The benefits of thinking green extend into the everyday culture of an organization, too. Document sharing becomes easier through the use of technology, and once you are part of a green organization, taking part in green initiatives can be really great networking and social experiences.

Although your experience will vary by organization, green initiatives will greatly increase your satisfaction with an organization from the very moment you begin communicating with them.