iCIMS Hire Expectations™

(Now try saying that 5 times fast!)

As a college senior, I feel as though recruiters and job fair coordinators are stalking my every moment. Between the multiple emails I receive every day from my school’s career center and the banners displayed on every building advertising upcoming career fairs - it can definitely get a little overwhelming. If it is this overwhelming for me, I can only imagine how stressful it must be for recruiters during this time. So how should a company go about standing out from the crowd and attracting top talent to their company? While there are many different strategies to do this - I researched and found what I believe to be the most effective approaches.

1. Attend Industry-Specific Job Fairs: They are so many general college fairs that attract students from every major and every interest. While these can definitely be effective, often times both the student and employer can get overwhelmed by the mass attendance and variety of options. One way to avoid this is to search for industry specific career fairs in your area (or even virtual fairs!). Many colleges offer specific fairs that cater especially to certain majors such as technology, business, etc. This gives the recruiter a higher quality candidate pool to choose from because all attendees are interested in the recruiter's own industry.

   

2. Arrange Personal Meetings Prior to Fairs: College fairs are a great way to get introduced to quality talent that may be perfect for entry-level positions at your company. However, asking students to fill out resumes on the spot can be time consuming and may cause them to move on to a different company’s booth. In order to avoid losing potential candidates, promote that your company will be in attendance, and ask for students to submit their resumes before the fair. Also, if you have implemented an applicant tracking system with prescreening functionality, you can easily search through resumes for ones that possess the skills you are interested in. Reach out to the best applicants and arrange personal meetings while at the fair to ensure you get the chance to meet them. 
3. Branded Giveaways: Who doesn’t like free stuff? While giveaways may seem over done or insignificant; according to Tim Andrews of Advertising Specialty Industry, ‘Studies have shown that students are inspired to apply for jobs where recruiters have given them a little memento.’ Whether your giveaway is something useful (like a pen) or fun (like a bobble head) they will bring more traffic to your booth and motivate more students to apply for your company.
4. Make it Social: Take advantage of social networking and recruiting sites to advertise open positions at your company. Also, implementing an ATS with social capabilities in the near future will allow for applicants to upload their resumes right from their LinkedIn profile, making it a quick and easy process for both the recruiter and the applicant!

Following these tips can make college recruiting much less overwhelming for both parties involved! Recruiters, what strategies are you using to stand out from other companies and attract top talent?

As a kid who grew up in the ‘90s, saying that I am familiar with Nickelodeon would be a serious understatement. Popular Nick shows, including everything from Rugrats and Doug to All That and Hey Arnold!, were all a part of my daily television routine. All of these amazing cartoons that shaped who I am today sadly disappeared shortly after I hit my teen years. Millions of other twenty-somethings (myself included) have been pining over these shows ever since they went off the air and finally someone has taken action!

After years of petitions and fan-made web pages begging Nickelodeon to bring back these life-changing cartoons, TeenNick (formerly known as the N) finally decided to make a move, scheduling a two-hour block from midnight to 2 AM called The ’90s Are All That featuring all of our favorite Nickelodeon shows from the ‘90s.

The first run of The ’90s Are All That aired on July 25, 2011 and resulted in a much greater reaction from fans than ever expected by the creators. Seven of the ten trending topics on Twitter on July 26 were about the new Nick programming. Facebook statuses and Twitter updates were consumed by thoughts and feedback from the ‘90s shows. In one night after just two hours, a huge effect was made on the internet from the millions of people who finally got their wishes granted.

Now how does recruiting have any connection to cartoons from the ‘90s? Well maybe not the cartoons exactly, however TeenNick listened to the requests of millions of viewers and gave them exactly what they wanted- and guess what? They were THRILLED! Maybe, recruiters and companies can see more successful results if they start listening to what the people want.

An article in EW.com (Entertainment Weekly) discussed how TeenNick came up with the idea after seeing the huge interest in early Nickelodeon programming on social media sites. There are several Facebook pages — followed by millions of fans — that are devoted to Nickelodeon shows from the ’90s.

While sometimes all it takes is a simple Google search of your company’s name to see what people are thinking, other times you need to do more. Making a company page on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter gives millions of users easy access for voicing their opinions. Using social media can be a great outlet to encourage customers, prospective customers, and even former customers to express their feedback about your company. Making a list of the most common topics that people discuss and using that list when making product changes is a sure way to guarantee happy customers and a successful product.

Many companies also have an area on the company website for their customers to submit ideas and suggestions about the product. This allows you to know exactly what they want and how to give it to them. On the iCIMS Customer Care site, the idea exchange tab allows clients to submit a form about any idea they have for iCIMS and it gets sent straight to us. In fact, iCIMS’ just recently introduced the 11.2 Customer Release - the most recent release of the iCIMS software and it was inspired entirely by our clients’ feedback and suggestions.

The same concept goes for the needs and wants of your employees. Many companies have internal portals that only employees have access to. This is a great spot for employee feedback or an anonymous suggestion tool so employees have an outlet to discuss what they want or need. The iCIMS employee portal has an iDEAS tab, which allows iCIMS employees to post their own ideas about how to make iCIMS better. This is a great way to make every employee feel involved in the final product of iCIMS no matter what department they work in.

The easiest way to ensure that your customers and employees will be satisfied is by asking them exactly what they want and then most importantly, LISTENING! Nickelodeon is reaping the benefits from doing so, why shouldn’t you? Maybe we could all still learn a little from cartoons…

I’m afraid to say that the rising internet technology has spoiled us into thinking all we have to do is ‘Google it’ to get the answer to our questions. While this may be true for finding out where to get the best cheesecake or how to lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks, there are still some answers that cannot be found so simply. Every day, HR professionals are trying to learn more about HR software, but unfortunately, they just don’t know where to look. And, while many of these people are aware of what HR software is, there are still too many other questions left unanswered.

‘Why should I implement HR technology when I haven’t in the past?’
‘Which features are most important in an applicant tracking system?’
‘What is a reasonable price for my size company to spend on HR software?’ and most importantly…
‘Which vendor is right for me?’

These are a just a few of the many questions that come to mind when inquiring about HR technology, but where do you go to find these answers? Sure, you can call different vendors and inquire about each one separately, but how do you know you are getting bias-free answers with your company’s best interest in mind?

Many HR Professionals are taking this matter into their own hands and using various social media websites to find their answers. Websites such as LinkedIn and Recruiter.com that have boards for questions and answers are great for neutral answers. Most people are leveraging the answer boards to receive feedback and suggestions from other users who have HR needs similar to your own. Most people who have had either an excellent or horrific experience using HR technology are eager to share their opinions and advice with others. By doing this, recruiters and hiring managers are gaining bias-free answers and also networking and contacting these people for any other HR software questions.

Another advantage of using social media outlets to ask questions is that they generally provide quick turnaround. With LinkedIn having over 100 million members, Facebook having over 150 million active members and Twitter having about 2.5 million members, there is a good chance that your question will get noticed by someone who has the experience to give you a valuable answer.  Here’s an example of someone on LinkedIn who was looking for feedback on the iCIMS Talent platform and received 8 responses from iCIMS clients who had experience implementing and using the system.

Joining recruiting websites is another way to get your HR answers. Recruiters and hiring managers alike are joining websites such as ERE.net in order to stay informed on top HR technology news and join community groups with topics that interest you. For example, one informative community group on ERE.net is ‘ATS Implementation’. In this group, contributors “discuss all aspects [of ATS implementation] from vendor selection to ‘Going Live,’ best practices, and all the issues associated with adding an ATS to recruiting function.” Even without writing questions or posts of your own, simply reading through other questions can give you insight and answer questions you hadn’t thought of.
    
Although these social media sites can facilitate the evaluation process, it is also essential to identify your own specific needs. What sort of processes do you need to incorporate into your ATS? Make sure the vendor you choose is configurable enough to meet those needs. Need more help? Check out this ATS Handbook Whitepaper that can help you find the perfect HR solution for your company!

Although starting a new career can be exciting, I think that everyone would agree it can also be very stressful. Whether it is searching for a position, completing a tedious application form, or getting accustomed to the company, the candidate is rarely ever at ease. Most companies would probably say that they want their new hires to feel comfortable, but are they doing anything to make their transition easier?

New recruitment technologies allow for some of this ‘new job stress’ to be alleviated, however will making an applicant less stressed really help your company?

The answer is YES!

An article on ERE discusses how, “mobile phones and social networks now make it amazingly easy for unhappy candidates to almost instantly spread a message about their negative application and hiring experiences”. A negative comment about working for a company posted on the web could scare away top talent from pursuing that position. On the other side of the spectrum, who wouldn’t want to work for a company that is branded ‘the best company to work for’? Candidates’ feedback can either hurt or help your company, so improving your candidate experience may not be a bad idea.

In order to avoid negative publicity, recruiters should focus on how to make the candidate experience a positive one. At iCIMS, recruiters and employees go out of their way to make sure new hires are comfortable and enjoy the transition experience.

Below are some easy-to-implement and highly-effective ways to improve the candidate experience at your company:

• Make it easy for applicants to apply to your jobs online – Implementing an applicant tracking software makes it easy to apply to your company, while also allowing recruiters to easily track each applicant.
• Communicate with every applicant – Receiving a rejection letter leaves a much nicer impression on the applicant than simply never hearing from the company again. 
• Explain the company and the position accurately – Applying for a job offer only to find out that the position is nothing like what was advertised can be a bad reflection on the company.
• Implement a strong onboarding process – A flawless onboarding program allows new hires to feel comfortable in their new positions so they can start contributing to the company immediately.

Large and small sized companies are seeing how making minor changes to improve their candidates’ experience can result in big changes for the company’s branding and reputation. What other tactics is your company using to ensure positive feedback from candidates?

As jobs are becoming more and more difficult to find, job seekers are taking extreme measures in an effort to make themselves stand out to employers. Where formality was once the best way to get noticed for a position, now creativity may be the key to landing the perfect job.

I will admit that I, myself, have seen the movie Legally Blonde probably close to 40 times. For those of you who share my love for romantic comedies, you might remember that ‘Elle Woods’ was one of the first to take part in this creative approach to the application process. When applying to Harvard Law, she decided to send a video expressing herself, in lieu of a personal essay, which helped her gain a spot at the school even though her credentials may not have been the most impressive. Later on in the movie, she gives out her resume which was printed on pink, scented paper. Was Elle Woods on to something with her daring alterations to standard procedure?

In an article on Careerbuilder, advertising professional, Alec Brownstein, was fed up with applying for jobs in the usual matter, especially since he was getting zero response from recruiters. Brownstein thought about how everyone “Googles themselves” and came up with an idea. He bought sponsored links attached to the names of top advertising professionals. This way, when they Googled themselves, Brownstein’s ad would come up saying, "Hey, [creative director's name] Goooogling [sic] yourself is a lot of fun. Hiring me is fun, too" with a link to his website. This idea was very inexpensive, six dollars to be exact, and in a few months he was hired at top-advertising firm, Young & Rubicam.

Other creative ideas include t-shirts that read “Hire Me” and heat-sensitive resume paper, so the paper will change color when touched.

Although some of these ideas have proven successful, there is a fine line between creativity and desperation. Employers want to see that you are clever and will use this intelligence if hired at their company. Some people are going above and (maybe a little too far) beyond in hopes of getting noticed. One employer wrote about a candidate who taped a plastic spoon on their resume and wrote “Need to Eat” on it. While this may be ‘cute’ it came off as desperate to the employer and didn’t illustrate any accomplishments or qualifications. There have also been cases of people getting billboards put up for $1200, advertising the person’s resume or even getting tattoos that say “Hire Me”.

To all of you recruiters out there…What is the most creative way someone has applied to your company? Did an “out of the ordinary” application make you more or less likely to hire the applicant?

Although the pink, scented resume worked in the case of Legally Blonde, job seekers must take into consideration the type of job in which they are hoping to land. Although creativity and ingenuity may work for some professions, others still stick to protocol. There are still ways to get noticed in an interview even without using any crazy tactics.

Some important things to remember before an interview:

• Timing is everything- Showing up late to an interview can cost you the job before you even say hello. Many companies view showing up on time as being late, and showing up early as being on time. So play it safe and be early!
• Dress the part- No matter what type of position you are applying for, it is always good to dress more formal than usual when going for an interview. Wearing a tuxedo (like in the move Step-Brothers) may not be the best idea, but looking somewhat professional will show the employer you are serious about the position. Also, try accenting your outfit with a few bold colors. Colors like red and royal blue exude power and will help you stand out to the interviewer. 
• Relax- While being interviewed, the most important thing is to stay calm. Avoiding eye contact and fidgeting tells your interviewer that you are not confident. Also, never lie! Your interviewer will be more interested in hearing your real experience and what you want to learn in the future, than hear embellished information and find out later that you were dishonest. 
• Personality- In my opinion, personality is everything. Jobs that deal with any type of customer service or sales require employees with great people skills. Answering questions robotically might show that you know your stuff, but showing that you are friendly and personable can also be what sets you apart from other candidates. 

"Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships."
--Michael Jordan

It is always nice to see that the 3 hour lecture hall classes we were forced to sit through in college actually taught us something besides ‘how to fight to stay awake’. My minor in college is entitled, “Labor Studies and Employment Relations” which most people give one of those side head nods, not having a clue what it really means. Honestly, when I first started taking the courses it may just have been because the professors all got smiley faces on ratemyprofessor.com, however I have found the subject and the courses are relevant in almost every and any job position you may be in. 

As a marketing intern at iCIMS, I am beginning to discover that a positive work environment can motivate employees to stay on task and achieve higher goals. While customers and clients are what keep the business thriving and moving forward, employee satisfaction is vital to keep the company running smoothly.

In my previous experience, I have seen both good and bad working environments and the way it affects the productivity of work is incredible. My first job was at an ice cream shop. While the endless amount of ice cream was mouth-watering, the work environment brought a whole new meaning to ‘rocky road’.

Some of the negative aspects of work environment included:

• No Supervision- The owner was barely ever at the store, so he had no idea what needed to be done in order to keep the business in top shape.
• No Communication- The employees were told not to speak to one another while working, as it would distract them from what they needed to do. 
• No Teamwork- We didn't have meetings, goals, or anything to keep us feeling involved in the workplace. Without the initiative to work towards something, many employees worked as little as possible.

When employees (or interns for that matter) feel like they are apart of a company, they want to see it succeed. Employee communication is an important part of having a positive work environment. When employees feel like their opinions matter, their concerns are being met, and their work has a significant role in the overall success of a company, they are more likely to excel in their positions.

A few things iCIMS does to keep a positive work environment include:

• Weekly training sessions- Every week employees have a training session about something new or interesting that can help them with their work. This keeps everyone on the same page and allows for the company as a whole to progress together.
• Weekly department meetings- Although this may not seem like much, this allows everyone to share what they have been working on and express any questions or concerns they may have.  
• Monthly Goals- Goals give every employee a reason to work their very best. No one wants to be the reason why a goal wasn’t met.

These small things may not seem too important; however, a positive environment can put everyone in the right mood to succeed. I, for one, know that I feel a lot more comfortable expressing ideas and working to surpass my goals in a company that embraces a positive workforce.