iCIMS Hire Expectations™

76 million members strong, the Millennial Generation is a powerful entity ready to take the job market by storm! But recruiters be warned, these job seekers are savvy and connected; engaging top talent means skipping the job boards and going straight to social media sites and smart phones. According to the Pew Research Group, over 75% of Millennials are leveraging social networking sites and 62% are connecting to these and other internet sites through hand-held smart phones and wireless devices. So how do you effectively connect with the connected?

According to a recent survey posted on ERE, 63% of respondents said they were already using mobile technology in their recruiting efforts. I’m a big supporter of mobile recruiting and am excited to see that over half of recruiters are already using some facet of mobile usage in their hiring processes. Promoting job openings through multiple touch points delivers the greatest impact. Mobile may be the missing link in your online and offline recruiting efforts. Still not convinced? Check out “Top 10 reasons why mobile recruiting is here to stay and some say, if you don’t hop on board, you’ll be left behind” - maybe not the catchiest title, but there’s some good stuff! Here are my favorites:

• Mobile phones are portable, well-connected, relatively inexpensive computers providing the primary or sole internet connection to a majority of the people across the world.
• Text messaging (sending & receiving) is up 450%, in the past two years. In the USA, 262 million subscribers send over 75 billion text messages a month.
• The average response rate to a mobile call-to-action is 12% versus 2% for traditional media.

Ideally, pairing mobile recruiting with social recruitment (social media postings) would be the most effective way to reach the Millennials. Research shows 80% to 90% of companies are leveraging social networks for recruitment. If you’re still using these tools manually, you might not know that integration with your applicant tracking system can be a seamless solution. When integrated, you can easily promote your positions on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other sites. More over, fully-automated smart scheduling optimizes the frequency and times the posts appear. Want to learn more? iCIMS offers social recruiting tools that completely integrates with iCIMS' applicant tracking system. You can view a demo by clicking here.

Looking to add some part-time employees for the holiday season/new year?

Before your organization can count the money saved with adding part-time workers vs. full-time, it’s important to educate yourself on the logistics and legality behind it.

Whether your retail business is looking to add seasonal hires or your mid-sized organization is growing, part-timers may be the key to keeping costs down and productivity high. Before you start recruiting, take a moment to review the basics:

Recruiting for Part-Timers:

Despite the down economy, students may still be your best bet for part-time help, especially for summer, evening, or weekend hours.  Allbusiness.com suggests:

To tap into this applicant pool, try advertising in local and student newspapers/websites, as well as on bulletin boards at nearby high schools and colleges. You can also call nearby schools to see if they have employment offices that match students with potential employers. Other resources include temporary agencies and websites targeted at seasonal or part-time employment. In addition, retirees are good candidates for part-time help; consider advertising at local supermarkets or calling nearby retirement associations. 

Leveraging an applicant tracking system can be a big part in keeping your part-time and full-time talent pools separate during the recruitment process. Use an ATS that constructs a dynamic workflow within the Applicant Flow to mimic the client’s hourly/part-time recruitment strategy. This includes additional Bins and Status Levels designed to match the hiring process for part-time candidates. Additional process includes screening questions focused on availability and experience to limit and manage large applicant volumes.

Hiring Part-Time Workers:

A recent article in the LA Times offered some “Did you Know” tips for organizations looking to add part-timers to their workforce:

Did you know…

• Part-timers qualify for overtime, and meal and rest break rules might apply to them too. In California, which has a daily overtime rule, even an employee who comes in one day a week could be due overtime if he or she works more than eight hours in one day.
• Some benefits, including certain retirement plans or leave laws such as the Federal Family Medical Leave Act, can be triggered if a worker exceeds a certain number of hours in a year, regardless of the employee's part-time status.
• Even a single part-time employee must be covered by workers' compensation insurance, and minimum-wage laws must be followed.
• Bringing a part-time worker aboard might bump up a business' status with regard to employment laws. For example, if adding a part-time worker boosts the workforce from four to five, the business might have to comply with a state's workplace disability rules.
• If a small business expects to add part-time workers, it's important for the owner to learn the rules that apply ahead of time and put the proper procedures in place.

Again, the benefits of utilizing a Talent Management system greatly facilitate the headaches of paper-work (automate it!) and compliance laws (track it!). So before you amp up your work force with part-timers for the holiday season, make sure you have a plan in place! Familiarize yourself with state laws for part timers, and make your life easier by having an applicant tracking/talent management system in place.

Additional Resources:

Part Time and Temporary Employees – Employee Rights Center (findlaw.com)

Part Time Employment Overview (United States Department of Labor)

Understanding the Federal HIRE Act (White Paper)

Wouldn’t it be fantastic if your recruitment message could remain the same when sourcing passive candidates from around the world? Life would be much easier…

I say this because I’m currently in the process of researching best practices for sourcing passive candidates. And, in all of my findings it seems that what works for one group of people, may not necessarily work for another. Solution: targeted messaging. I am sure you have heard this all before, but I think one of the most effective ways to source passive candidates around the world is to 1) understand what they value and 2) speak their language.

When passively recruiting, whether through mass email or other channels, it is important to modify your recruitment messaging to reflect your target audience’s interest. With a little research, you can determine what company principles these candidates value. In a discussion with one of my coworkers, I found out that in India some candidates prefer the financial stability of a company and the popularity of the brand name, as both will help them better network in business circles. While other candidates might be more interested in monetary benefits such as a retirement savings plan.

Further, one of the more basic, yet interesting, fumbles that recruiters can make when recruiting international candidates is word choice. Let’s take a simple example:

You recruit for a best-in-class company with an outstanding onboarding program. You want your new recruits to succeed, so you therefore provide a seamless onboarding program with the right training to help them transition successfully. Well, now you are opening an office in the UK, and you need some local talent to support your endeavor. When targeting a certain sector, choose the right words! So, while the word “onboarding” may be used in the UK, you might want to try using a more common word: “induction”. Why not try changing your messaging to say: “We provide an unmatched induction programme because we want all of our personnel to succeed.”

Also, it is essential to have the right tools in place to drive your messaging. Sourcing and CRM tools usually make it pretty easy to send frequent, targeted messages to the right people. There is nothing worse then sending a message intended for Italian candidates to Japanese top talent.

Although you are an HR Professional, it’s important to leverage those basic Marketing skills when sourcing passive candidates. Target your messaging and you may just find you are sourcing the top talent needed to drive your company’s success.

THIS BLOG COMES TO YOU IN TWO PARTS, CHECK BACK ON THURSDAY, MAY 6TH, FOR THE CONCLUSION!

Somewhere in between cramming for finals and moving out of their dorms for the summer, college students find the time to search for a summer internship.  As a former multiple-time intern and a current intern coordinator, I thought it might be a good idea to make this post two-fold: 1st part for potential interns and 2nd part for potential organizations looking to recruit interns.

Whether your interest is invested in the legality of paid vs. unpaid internships for your company, or the summer’s approaching and you’re a student in need of some experience, keep reading…

It’s no secret that internships are on the rise: according to a national 2006 study, 84 percent of college students at four-year institutions had completed at least one internship before graduation.  Whether its’ evolving college requirements, post-grads looking to gain an extra edge on the competition, or simply the market’s lack of available entry level jobs, internships are becoming more competitive and more important for both students and organizations.  


Part I: The Quest for the Summer Internship

First and foremost, whether your school requires it or not, you need at least one internship prior to graduation…but as with most things in life, the more the merrier.  Just recently, I’ve interviewed two candidates from the same schools, with the same classes and the same clubs…but the differentiator was their prior internship experience.  As a (kind of) recent college grad, I speak from experience that it’s a tough world out there, and any edge you can get will help you land a job (and thus help you pay off all of those student loans).  So, now that you know why you need an internship, let us learn how you attain the internship.

First off, if your school requires an internship make sure you know all of the details surrounding it.  How many hours? Do you need to keep a journal? Interview directors? Create a portfolio? How many credits will you get? All of these details are good to know for yourself and for the company you’re interviewing at.  Once you’ve got the background down, start searching.  I began my search by looking at companies I would potentially like to work for or admired.  Depending on their career sites, many even had their own section devoted to all things interns.

Not sure where you see yourself?  Check your student email accounts for internship suggestions from your schools’ job placement center or department heads.  Job boards are another great outlet…and there’s even some niche ones for interns and entry-level professionals like InternWeb and Career Rookie.  And, who could forget social media?  I always use “#intern” when posting opportunities on our twitter page. So now, search some hash tags and let the internship hunt begin.

When you eventually land the internship interview at your dream company, come prepared.  Internships are competitive!! Just because you are interviewing somewhere does not mean you’ll  automatically be selected.  Internships are meant to benefit the student – which means LOTS of time spent with current employees teaching and mentoring the newbies.  Before you’re brought on board and share valuable company time, an organization wants to make sure you’ll be a good fit for the position.  Here are a couple of quick interview tips:

1. Bring your resume or portfolio and, if possible, make copies.  If you’re meeting with multiple employees, you don’t want them squinting over a single copy of your 12-point font resume.
2. Do your research!! It’s always impressive when an intern knows about your company and then references recent news or blog posts about the company.  It shows you care and are a quick learner who pays attention to details.
3. Practice, Practice, Practice.  If this is your first interview take the time to have a couple of practice run throughs with a friend.  There are TONS of sample questions on the internet and you’re bound to be asked one of them.  What’s your greatest accomplishment? Describe a time you overcame an obstacle? If I were to ask your professors to describe you, what would they say?  Don’t make these questions any more awkward then they have to be… have some answers prepared. And hey, if you think these questions are bad, how much does a 747 weigh?
4. Keep eye contact with your interviewer.  Like I said, don’t make this any more awkward then it has to be by looking at the floor or the ceiling or both.
5. Follow up with a thank-you after the interview.  Nothing makes you more memorable post-interview then when you remind us that you interviewed.  A simple email will do it.   

Once you’ve got the perfect internship, take advantage of it! Here at iCIMS, we’ve had an amazing number of interns turned employees.  When you go the extra mile, you get noticed. And hey, even if your internship doesn’t turn into a job at that specific company, you now have real world experience.  Remember those awkward interview questions?  Now you have some substance to back them up!  Looking for an example of someone who did it all right?  I think her title says it all: Intern Queen Lauren Berger and the news of her 15 completed internships across her 4 years of college, is all over social media outlets. After starting her own Intern company, the Queen now educates others through her college tours and conferences. Oh hey, speaking of which, iCIMS is hiring interns!! Sales, Marketing, Customer Support – you name it!  Take a look here for a list of our available internships.

For Part II, click here!

I always start off my morning the same: get up, take out/feed the dog (Penny), get myself together for work, pour my cereal and coffee and grab my copy of Entertainment Weekly…I mean the New York Times. Yesterday was no different. Cereal was in place, newspaper was in line. All I needed was my coffee and I was good to go. I stood up from my chair, went about seven feet and bam…sneak attack…the dog went for the newspaper. (Oddly enough, not the food…) Even the dog wanted to read all the news that's fit to print! Or eat it anyway. Slow to react, the dog shred the paper in about 2.53 seconds. In a huff, I got the newspaper away from her, dumped it in the recycling and opted for the entertainment magazine instead. Penny lives and breathes the very definition of troublemaker, but there is one other word that I like to describe her as: a Doer. Penny is proactive. She searches for what she wants and she gets it. I chose to write about this little anecdote because 1) I find any chance I can to talk about my dog and, 2) what Penny did made me think, ironically enough, about my job. By studying my movements and waiting for the exact moment, Penny was one step ahead of me. I was unprepared for her move and thus, she gained an advantage over me. Now, let me subtly link this to Human Resources. It reminds me that HR thinkers need to stay one step ahead in order to develop a competitive advantage in the “war for talent”.

Everyone is competing to become an expert in their position. And, being in an industry that connects directly with Human Resource topics, I, too, find myself on this quest for absolute knowledge. Through research and analyses, HR professionals can stay one step ahead and create a competitive advantage that will lead to a more effective HR department.

Creating a competitive advantage can be process or employee specific. Let’s look at an example:

Company X and Company Y both operate in the Retail Industry. Both have stores in all fifty states and both require 30 employees per store. Company X has a 75-person talent pool to acquire candidates from while Company Y only has a 45-person talent pool. With a larger talent pool, Company X is more likely to source qualified talent quickly; thus lowering time-to-fill and improving employee retention. Obviously, Company X has developed some sort of competitive advantage causing an increase in candidate engagement as compared to Company Y.

The main question is: what did Company X do differently? Well, there are a number of possible answers. For example, Company X has an:

• Easy-to-complete application process
• Notably positive corporate culture
• Correctly targeted recruitment campaigns

But the real answer is they took the knowledge they gained through research and applied it to the challenges they were facing with departmental efficiency.

Human Resources is an age old department with age old processes. What companies CAN do is take those standard processes and learn how to effectively deploy them. And, as time passes, so do techniques. Bigger and better techniques surface (i.e. social media, applicant tracking systems, CRM tools, etc.) enabling companies utilizing them to create larger talent pools, acquire more specialized candidates, lower recruiting expenses and create a competitive advantage in the war for talent.

Here are a few examples (as you know, there are many):

Global Competitive Advantage:
Global firms can focus on a more diverse employee base when targeting top talent. In a SHRM study, more than half of the companies evaluated found a greater competitive advantage after focusing on diversity. The greater the diversity, the larger the scope of backgrounds and skills; thus, companies were able to effectively operate in a more global environment.

Hourly Competitive Advantage:
Companies that rely on hourly hiring can drastically reduce paper expenses and lost document error associated with high application volumes. By installing on-site web-based application kiosks that enable all walk-in candidates to directly send their information to an online database, these companies can eliminate the time and money spent on application data entry and printing. More time can be spent on sourcing top talent.

Employee-Type Competitive Advantage:
Healthcare organizations, for example, require a wide variety of workers often with necessary certifications. These companies can target LinkedIn focus groups to source specialized employee types such as nurse, part-time and volunteer.

So, stay one step ahead by researching, analyzing and implementing. Acknowledge the challenges you face, research solutions, and implement for a more effective department. Create a competitive advantage within your HR department to acquire top talent before your competitor does. As for Penny, I think it is time to practice “Stay”.

According to a recent SHRM Report March 2010 shows a net total of 21.3 percent of HR Managers who reported an increase in hourly hiring for the month. While the job market still has quite a way to go, an increase is always good news. As the economy prepares for more and more hourly positions, it is a good time for Recruiters and Hiring Managers to evaluate their hourly hiring process.

Hourly employment often sports a notoriously high turnover rate, and thus, it may seem difficult to ease the hiring process. Think again! Start by evaluating how well you find quality candidates. Finding top talent is important not only for worker productivity, but for worker retention. Sourcing workers willing to dedicate themselves to the job will bring you one step closer to an optimal hiring process and a lower turnover rate. As obvious as the following may be, here are three questions to ask yourself:

1. Are you utilizing the data taken from your Workforce Planning Analysis?

Regardless of if your business has pressing seasonal hiring demands, planning is quite important. Analyze your past hiring trends either through a computer program like Excel or more advanced talent management systems, as past data may be the key to preparing for future hiring surges. Highlight which months see a rise in turnover and which months see a lull in candidate engagement. By doing so, you will be more prepared to proactively source top talent. You will be one step ahead of the rest and your company will be able to hire top talent before your competitor does.

2.  Where are you posting your open positions?

Post positions where your target candidates will see them. Hourly candidates usually apply to jobs that are located within a five mile radius of their home. Therefore, post appropriately. Utilize local print publications, post on local web-boards, use social media sites and of course, have plenty of applications available for walk-ins.

3.  How long is your application process?

Simple is better. By having a straight-forward, concise application process, candidate engagement is likely to improve. Higher candidate engagement=Larger talent pool=Easier to source top talent. Go one step further and make your application an automated process. Nowadays, many hourly hiring businesses are utilizing applicant tracking systems to create an entirely web-based application process. Additionally, for those who have a lot of walk-in candidates – install online application kiosks in-house. Candidates are more likely to fill out an easy-to-complete application; and bonus for the manager: candidate information is stored on a web-based location so you no longer need room for employee data storage. Efficient and effective hourly hiring process means fewer headaches for the recruiter and hiring manager.

Your company could be next in the SHRM hiring analyses; therefore, start evaluating your hiring process today. Be proactive and begin building your quality workforce!

What are some other good ways to ease hourly-hiring processes? Does anyone else have any suggestions?