A Recruiter s Roadmap to Hiring Success
A Recruiter s Roadmap to Hiring Success CONTENTS 2 About the Author 3 Introduction 4 The 3 Truths to Hiring Trends 6 The Problem 7 Recruiter s Roadmap to Hiring Success 8 Identify and Nurture Your Top Performers 9 Enhance Your Referral Network 10 Let Your Words Work for You 12 Use Multi-Channel Targeting for Outreach 13 Create Relationships with Each Applicant 14 Train Your Interview Teams 15 Build Elasticity in your Hiring Teams 16 Watch the Webinar 17 About Us 18 References
ABOUT THE AUTHOR John Younger, Accolo Inc., Founder and RPOA Co-Founder - John has successfully conceived, developed and implemented three successful recruitment solutions over the last 25 years. John is a recovering software developer who came to recruitment from a systems engineering and programming background. As a VP of human resources for Bank of America, John led technical recruitment for an organization of 16,000 people. He also designed and implemented the first on-site facilitator program with Olsten Corporation for the delivery of temporary services. John is the co-founder of the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association and a frequent speaker for RPOA and other top industry organizations. ABOUT THIS EBOOK The information presented here was authored by John Younger, founder of Accolo, Inc. The contents of this document were produced and published by the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association. All rights reserved 2015. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. - 2 -
A Recruiter s Roadmap to Hiring Success Introduction SUMMARY In 2014, unemployment was the lowest it s been since 2008, yet it took companies an average of 25 days to fill open positions (39 days for technology-related hires). In this book, you ll learn about the changing landscape of recruiting in 2015, and what the best recruiting strategies are to keep you competitive in a high-demand labor market. This book is designed for Executive HR and Talent Acquisition leaders looking to win in a competitive recruiting environment with successful recruiting strategies. - 3 -
Roadmap to Hiring Success The 3 Truths to Hiring Trends The Landscape of The U.S. Labor Market 46% of jobs posted in 2014 were for newly created positions There were at least 5MM open jobs on last day of Nov 2014 800,000 new tech positions launched in 2014 (5% YOY growth) THE 3 TRUTHS TO HIRING TRENDS 1) The Demand for Talent is Growing Unemployment is the lowest it s been in a number of years. Yet, the number of openings are at a 14-year high. 2015 will arguably be one of the most difficult recruiting environments we will have ever seen. 1 Bureau of Labor Statistics (2015). Employment Statistics Survey The labor force participation rate workers currently employed or who are actively looking for work lowest since 1978 2) The Candidate Supply is Shrinking In addition, there s a corresponding decrease in the number of people that are unemployed and there a lot of recruiters footing to get them. Recent college grads aren t meeting expectations for raw skills 1 Bureau of Labor Statistics (2015). Employment Statistics Survey - 4 -
Roadmap to Hiring Success The 3 Truths to Hiring Trends THE 3 TRUTHS TO HIRING TRENDS Employees today are more comfortable leaving their current jobs and rejecting job offers. Candidates have become harder to reach because they aren t responding to traditional recruiting 3) The Candidates are in the Drivers Seat Some of the hardest jobs to fill are also projected to be some of the top hiring areas moving forward. TEN HARDEST JOBS TO FILL NATIONWIDE 5 TOP HIRING AREAS 1. Skilled Trade Workers 2. Restaurant and Hotel Staff 3. Sales Representatives 4. Teachers 5. Drivers 6. Accounting and Finance Staff 7. Laborers 8. IT Staff 9. Engineers 10. Nurses 36% Sales 33% Customer Service 26% Information Technology 26% Production 22% Administration 2 CareerBuilder (2015). U.S. Job Forecast for 2015 5 Manpower (2014). Nationwide Survey - 5 -
Roadmap to Hiring Success The Problem THE PROBLEM IS ESCALATING With unemployment at a record low and job openings at a record high, there s tension within organizations. The speed in which jobs are being filled and the quality of those hires is a concern at the C-Suite and board levels of organizations. WHAT ARE SOME OF THOSE CHALLENGES? Organizations are missing corporate objectives Hiring managers are angry and overwhelmed Turnover rate is rapidly increasing Hiring costs are escalating - 6 -
7 Tips to Hiring Success - 7 -
Roadmap to Hiring Success Tip #1 8 Ways to Lose Talent 1. You ve overloaded your best people with too many responsibilities. 2. You re a micro-manager. 3. You re never around. 4. You re not in touch with how some of your hires or promotions are driving your best people nuts. 5. You ve never given your people a sense of where they can go in their careers. 6. You run terrible meetings. 7. You communicate that you care more about yourself than the team 8. You ve never given them the big picture vision of where your group is heading or you are constantly changing the big picture. 4 Jackson, E. (2014). The Top 8 Reasons Your Best People are About to Quit -- And How You Can Keep Them. Forbes People quit their bosses, not their jobs. #1: IDENTIFY AND NURTURE YOUR TOP PERFORMERS The best way to fill empty slots is to keep them from being empty in the first place. As we now know, candidates are in the drivers seat when it comes to filling positions. And when people feel more confident about their job prospects they re more likely to leave. So how do we keep them from doing that? IDENTIFY THE TOP 20% OF PERFORMERS IN YOUR COMPANY If you ask executives for a list of the top 20% of employees in their company, maybe 1/20 can actually do it. Work with your hiring managers to make a list and develop an action plan to retain each one. FIND OUT WHAT EMPLOYEES LOVE ABOUT YOUR COMPANY Spending time understanding the genuine likes and dislikes about your organization can go a long way towards keeping them happy and keeping them under your roof. EDUCATE MANAGERS ABOUT WHY PEOPLE LEAVE Far too many managers don t have the slightest clue about why their team members leave when they go. It s a shame that the first time a manager hears about doing a poor job is during the exit interview. ESTABLISH CLEAR FLOW OF COMMUNICATION WITH KEY STAKEHOLDERS AND MANAGERS If there are top performers in an organization, the hiring managers should know about it. Understand what makes them valuable to the organization and seek to nurture their talent and career development. - 8 -
Roadmap to Hiring Success Tip #2 #2: ENHANCE YOUR REFERRAL NETWORK Theme Ideas The Big Hire Theory Batter Up! The Walking Hire Hire Dynasty American Hire Tesla Time Two and A Half Hires So many organizations fail to take full advantage of their referral networks. As it turns out, some of the best resources for finding candidates to fill open positions are right inside your office walls. USE THEME BASED, TIME-BOUND PROGRAMS AND THEY LL NET YOU 5X S THE REFERRALS AND HIRES Not only do these programs gain you more referrals, but they work great as internal and external marketing programs. Key Elements of a Successful Referral Programs Executive Support Internal and external employer branding People will work 5X s harder for a cool RC car than $5000. It s about creating a competitive thing that you can t duplicate with just cash. Timing & duration 3-Month Burst with 1-Month off work well Theme Makes it really enjoyable for organization 1-on-1 s Sit with top performers and go through their contacts Awards Weekly, with real-time dashboard to keep people engaged Finale with grand prize For example, one company s grand prize was a 1-year lease on a Tesla. - 9 -
Roadmap to Hiring Success Tip #3 #3: LET YOUR WORDS WORK FOR YOU Carl Icahn s Hiring Dilemma Carl Icahn was looking for a Chief Information Officer to manage all the technology initiatives across his portfolio of companies. He was ready to spend 160K on an executive retained search. The team wanted to craft a personal love letter to the sort of candidate they were looking for. They proposed marketing it online first to try to find the right candidate. Carl s reaction was that it s unlikely you ll know them unless you re already playing golf with them. And there s no way in hell the person I m looking for will apply online. The team convinced Carl to give it a try for two weeks. The eventual candidate heard about the position through his neighbor who saw the description after it was shared with him by an agent on Monster.com and said, this is you. The way that positions are described online can hinder getting them filled as much as they can help. On LinkedIn, there are 116,069 jobs for software engineers. Yet, so many job postings look like this: We are looking for a Software Engineer to work in a team made up of Software Engineers Here are 4 essential questions to help you better understand the essence of the positions you re trying to fill. When you know exactly what you re looking for, writing descriptions to help identify the right candidates becomes that much easier. 4 ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS 1) What needs to get done by when? 2) How will this person s success be quantitatively measured? 3) Why would the right person want the job? 4) What are the common attributes of the top performers? He wasn t thinking about changing jobs but when he read the description, he said that it spoke directly to him. That person was introduced to Carl Icahn in 4 days. - 10 -
Roadmap to Hiring Success Tip #3 EXAMPLES OF JOB TITLE DESCRIPTIONS THAT WORK C/C# Software Engineer - Improve Response in 911 Computer-Aided Dispatch It took 2 days to find the candidate hired In 12 days the candidate accepted an offer A total of 185 candidates were contacted with similar skills 33 applicants total Senior Software Engineer for the Cloud Computing Pioneer! It took 5 days to find the candidate hired In 34 days the candidate accepted an offer 316 candidates were contacted with similar skills Interview began 6 days after the job launched 25 applicants total Senior Software Engineer, Enterprise-level Web Apps It took 6 days to find the candidate hired In 69 days the candidate accepted an offer 211 candidates were contacted with similar skills Interview began 23 days after the job launched 70 applicants total Source: - 11 -
Roadmap to Hiring Success Tip #4 #4: USE MULTI-CHANNEL TARGETING FOR OUTREACH Top 3 Reasons People Aren t Using Broad and Targeted Outreach Organizations don t have the contracts and/or relationships built in order to do it. They have biases that are fundamentally hindering the companies recruiting process. i.e. I ll never find the candidate I m looking for on Craigslist They have no mechanism to deal with the response of sourcing from multiple channels. Often times, we ve seen human resources departments using singlesource hiring. That leads to spending more time and money on searches. So how do you avoid that? TOP SOURCES OF APPLICANTS AND HIRES THROUGH 2014 SOFTWARE / APPLICATION DEV JOBS Candidate Source Applicants Hires Applicants per Hire Direct Sourcing 9,908 98 101 : 1 LinkedIn Jobs 3,546 29 122 : 1 Dice 11,607 93 124 : 1 Craigslist 18,480 147 125 : 1 Monster 24,301 157 154 : 1 CareerBuilder 21,640 107 202 : 1 3 Hiremojo (2014). Top Sources of Applicants (Software / Application Development Jobs) through 2014 Take a look at Craigslist. The unlikely source for such a skilled position had 147 hires! Some people might ask, well, who has the time to look at 125 applicants for every hire? That s a valid question. The answer is, nobody does. The take away here is that in order to a more effective multichannel approach, you have to do two things: 1) Select the right technologies to help you filter through the applicants. 2) Ask better questions to drill down through to the right applicants faster. - 12 -
Roadmap to Hiring Success Tip #5 #5: CREATE RELATIONSHIPS WITH EACH APPLICANT AND OUTREACH Elements of a Healthy Relationship Trust Mutual Respect Honest Communication Follow-through Common Purpose Effortless Building Trust with Your Communications In this true story, a client that was having trouble staffing an internship position posted online. The client found that they weren t finding the right fit for the role. After the team evaluated the position, they discovered that the interns were worked extremely hard but that they walked away with terrific real life experience. Armed with this new information, they re-titled the job posting, Intern: Over worked and Underpaid. Shortly after, numerous qualified applicants were lining up for the position, thrilled with the transparency and honesty of the company. The role was filled within a week. Every applicant that you interact with is a potential employee or referral source for your organization. That means it s important to try and build a positive relationship with everyone that you interact with. And how do you build a relationship? It starts with trust! COMMUNICATE THE POSITION ACCURATELY AND HONESTLY Don t over or undersell your job postings. Tell people exactly what it is they re signing up for and you ll be rewarded with candidates interested in what you re offering. ASK BETTER QUESTIONS OF YOUR APPLICANTS Ensure that the application questions are designed to help identify the right candidates before advancing to the next step in the process. ENSURE YOUR ATS IS DESIGNED TO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS Your applicant tracking system isn t supposed to be the black hole that candidates have come to think it is. It should be a relationship building technology that allows for a two way conversation to begin. Did you know that as many as 94% of people that apply for a job never hear back If that has ever happened to you, how did it make you feel? If anything, it created negative associations with your organization. Do you think that person would be likely to give you a referral later when you ask. Not likely. - 13 -
Roadmap to Hiring Success Tip #6 #6: TRAIN YOUR INTERVIEW TEAMS FOR MAXIMUM EFFECTIVENESS Interview Process Gone Rogue The team at Accolo had a client whom was having trouble staffing sales positions in various locations across the country. They were getting plenty of applicants in to interview for the positions, but when it came time to make an offer, the candidates were rejecting them. After evaluating the process, they found that the hiring managers had been trained to make the interview process as strenuous as possible to see how the candidates performed under pressure. An interesting idea in theory, but after speaking to some of the candidates that had rejected offers, we found that they simple thought the people at the organization were jerks. After that, Accolo engaged the client in a top to bottom interview training process to make sure interviewers were properly prepped for the task. Effective interview teams interview quickly, know exactly what to look for, what questions to ask, and they understand that every candidate interviewed is potentially a brand advocate for the organization. INTERVIEW CANDIDATES CAN BE A BIG SOURCE OF REFERRAL TRAFFIC You never know who s in the network of someone you re interviewing. Although the applicant might not be the right fit, he might know someone who does. If he or she refers them for the position, it might make your job that much easier INTERVIEWS ARE A CHANCE TO PUT YOUR BEST FOOT FORWARD Good candidates are not only applying for the job, but evaluating the individuals and the organization they re hoping to work for. So interviews can also be an excellent opportunity to sell your organization and show them that you work for a great company. You always want them to walk away thinking, I really want to work there They filled half the jobs in just two weeks! I really hope I get it - 14 -
Roadmap to Hiring Success Tip #7 #7: BUILD ELASTICITY IN YOUR HIRING TEAMS In today s hiring landscape, it s vitally important to be able to adapt to changing circumstances and workloads. The old saying goes, proper planning prevents poor performance. Forecasting the needs of your department will better set you up for success. VOLATILITY IS CONSISTENT: EXPLORE BOLD SOLUTIONS 1 Bureau of Labor Statistics (2015). Employment Statistics Survey We don't know exactly what's going to happen from an economic standpoint in the next couple years. Given that, it's important to look at your department and think about what you're likely to see. For information on recruitment process outsourcing, visit the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association at www.rpoassociation.org What can your staff handle? Are these roles going to be filled with contract recruiters or recruiting agencies? And for those in the RPO industry, consistency and repeatability are the key measures that clients are looking for. - 15 -
Roadmap to Hiring Success Watch Our Webinar THANK YOU! - 16 -
About Us Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association The Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association (RPOA) is the leading organization for companies who find themselves in the consideration and decision-making process with regards to RPO services. The RPOA provides a variety of tools and support to educate companies on the benefits and risks associated with outsourced recruiting; including access to certified service providers, connecting new and existing members, and releasing exclusive online content. Accolo Accolo is a US-focused Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) company that was founded upon a simple premise: there had to be a better way to connect the two people who matter the most in the recruit-to-hire process the hiring manager and the candidate. Given the unpredictable nature of hiring and the rise of web-based applicant tracking systems, job aggregation sites and social networks, we set out over 14 years ago to develop a unified and streamlined recruiting platform to identify, recruit and hire your most critical asset high performing employees. Since our inception in 2000, Accolo has refined our data-driven, patented recruiting process to now offer our clients full service, scalable Recruitment Process Outsourcing solutions for mid-size and enterprise businesses. Accolo was founded in 2000 and is headquartered in Larkspur, California 14621 Charter Walk Place Midlothian, VA 23114 Email: info@rpoassociation.org Lamees Abourahma Executive Director lamees@rpoassociation.org Ph: 804-897-1310 535 Mission Street, 14th Floor San Francisco, CA 94105 Email: support@accolo.com Toll free: +1 877.422.2656 Direct: +1 415.785.7833-17 -
References 1 Bureau of Labor Statistics (2015). Employment Statistics Survey 2 CareerBuilder (2015). U.S. Job Forecast for 2015 3 Hiremojo (2014). Top Sources of Applicants (Software / Application Development Jobs) through 2014 4 Jackson, E. (2014). The Top 8 Reasons Your Best People are About to Quit -- And How You Can Keep Them. Forbes 5 Manpower (2014). Nationwide Survey - 18 -