We asked our network what they’ll be doing differently this year to attract talent. Several people responded with some good ideas for tweaking your hiring in 2016.
Employers and recruiters do well when they learn from each other and that’s what this post is all about. To make you and your team better at hiring.
Jess Beyer is the Office Administrator at the The Schroeder Group, a law firm in Waukesha WI. She told us that they reviewed their process from last year and are making the following 5 changes to their hiring process.
1. 90 day on-boarding process: employee, hiring manager and mentor meet every 30 days during the first 90 days of employment to communicate and ensure milestones and expectations are being met
2. Leverage our employee base by assigning a mentor to each new employee.
3. We are doing a better job of interviewing candidates by conducting phone screenings, in person interviews with hiring manager and managing partner, second in person interview with remaining partners (and sometimes a dinner meeting that includes spouses/significant others) and finally when an offer is provided and accepted the candidate is brought in to meet the support staff, tour office and go over benefits/employee handbook prior to first day of employment.
4. We are a small office so it’s important for all employees to get along. So we started using personality profile assessments and created a culture of inclusion by hosting various firm events from simple pot luck luncheons to out of office social events (which include spouses/significant others)
5. We have not had much luck using recruiters for our hiring process, so we have begun listing our positions on job boards, legal publications, our website and LinkedIn. We have hired one attorney candidate so far and have one more in the pipeline.
Focus on Employer Brand
Marina Byezhanova is the co-founder of the headhunting firm Pronexia based in Quebec. She says this year they’ll be doing more proactive recruiting with their employer brand. “2016 is a pivotal year for my firm as we continue expanding both at our head office and geographically.
Our ideal candidate is usually not looking for a career in headhunting. So this year, our focus will be to show that our industry can be edgy, multifaceted and engaging. To do that, we will be increasing our online presence via thought-provoking blog posts, entertaining videos and polemical discussions. In short, our strategy will revolve around employer branding.”
In Depth Interviews
This owner of an online UAV training center has a different approach. Alan Perlman is building a 90-day plan to share in his interview process, “where I detail all the goals, projects, milestones, and expectations I have as a manager. This will allow me to better vet candidates and also let them get a stronger sense of what joining our team will be like.”
Tweaking the Apply Process
“The job market is definitely tight, but that doesn't mean you won't get flooded with resumes”, says Marc Process the owner of a small business web company. “We posted one job notice a week ago that already has 136 applicants and counting. It's easy for people to apply to dozens of jobs at a time online, without seriously considering the position or the company or even reading the job description. So one change we've already implemented has been to ask more of our applicants.
Now, we require all candidates to fill out a short form where they answer 5-6 questions about the company, about how they fit the position, and how they would handle certain scenarios that the job would entail. By completing the short questionnaire, they show some commitment to and understanding of the position. That way, you can easily sort out applicants with a real interest in a position from those that are just speed-applying to everything in sight, whether or not a fit is plausible.”
Better Interviewing Techniques
“Train your people how to conduct interviews”, comments Lori Dernavich, a leadership coach. “It's not just about teaching them how to ask behavioral interviewing questions, it's also about having a plan. If you throw employees into interviews with no plan, you're going to get five interviewers asking a candidate the same poor questions for 5 hours and you won't end up with the depth and breadth of information you need. It's a waste of everyone's time. Devise questions ahead of time and assign them to interviewers. Having an employee ask the same question to all candidates also allows for benchmarking.”
Get Your Referrals On
Rachel Charlupski, Founder of The Babysitting Company is turning up the heat on their referral program. We personally interview, hire and train professional babysitters. In the past, we had a very informal referral program for sitters referring friends and family. Just recently we implemented a plan where a sitter that refers another sitter gets a $50 bonus after the newly hired sitter works 10 assignments.
So far only 2 weeks into the year this has been working great. We have hired 25 new sitters since Christmas, which is way more than usual. It’s also cut down on our training time and costs because their referral preps them even more than we do!
Thanks to all respondents who contributed to this article. Happy hunting recruiters!
