Every talent acquisition professional is kind of an economic expert. In the process of filling positions, you become aware of local unemployment levels, current rates of compensation, and the competitive landscape in the sectors and markets in which you work. And, while understanding these specific conditions may be essential aspects of successful talent strategies, there are always larger economic forces at work. In this article, we cover three of economic trends and their impact on Talent Acquisition in 2020.
Understanding these economic trends can help develop an effective workforce strategy. To illustrate this point, PeopleScout has identified three economic trends that will affect talent acquisition and workforce management in 2020 – and potential ways to respond to the challenges and opportunities they bring.
Trade Disruption & Uncertainty
Uncertainty over trade due to Brexit,
ongoing trade disputes between the U.S. and key trading partners, and other
global commerce issues dominated the headlines in 2019. How will these
yet-to-be-resolved issues affect talent acquisition?
Imagine planning a budget without knowing the future costs of goods and services. Due to current uncertainty over trade, this is the dilemma that many enterprises are facing. The imposition of tariffs in the U.S.-China trade dispute has caused shifts in both the price and availability of products, according to TheNew York Times. Uncertainty over whether Brexit will happen – and, if it does, what the consequences will be on nearly every aspect of the UK economy and other nations – remains uncertain. One way to respond to uncertainty is to make flexibility a key component in workforce planning. Flexible workforce planning can include contingent staffing, sourcing strategies that promote rapid onboarding and employee cross-training in anticipation of potential downsizing.
Sourcing Candidates from Alternative Talent Pools
While low unemployment still characterizes many of the world’s leading economies, trade disruption has also led to some job losses and displacement. For example, in Great Britain, a number of companies have closed, moved or are planning to, as reported by Metro in the UK. In both the U.S. and the UK, the manufacturing sector has seen job losses due to tariffs and trade uncertainty. Fortunately, many of those who work in manufacturing possess transferrable skills that can be used in other industries. Employers that can identify and attract this newly available source of talent will have a competitive advantage in tight labour markets.
The Migrant Workforce & Shifting
Talent Landscape
The era of growing immigration to many
advanced economies has been disrupted. The Guardian reports that thousands
of European Union nationals have left the UK since the 2016 Brexit referendum,
in large part due to the uncertainty over their legal status after an eventual
exit from the EU. And, in the U.S., a tightening of available visas and
selective immigration bans have caused the number of legal immigrants to plummet.
On the other hand, 29% of Australia’s population is foreign-born, but the
economic growth in many Asian countries – the source of much of Australia’s
immigrant population – has contributed to its decline in net migration in
recent years.
Know the Affected Sectors
One important way for employers to
respond to changing immigration patterns is to know which jobs are most affected
and to plan accordingly. The reality is that immigrants comprise a significant
portion of workers in a range of sectors. For example, nearly one-third of hotel workers in the U.S. are
immigrants, and more than one in 10 healthcare workers in the UK are non-British nationals (half of these are from the EU),
according to the Office for National Statistics. Understanding the sectors and
markets that are affected by the falling rates of available talent from abroad
may play an increasingly important role in developing effective talent
acquisition strategies.
Talent Without Borders
The pool of available talent is exponentially expanded when work can be done outside of a fixed location. Advances in technology and communications have greatly reduced the need for many processes to take place in brick-and-mortar workplaces. For this reason, recruitment strategies may increasingly include a review of job descriptions to determine which positions can work from virtual locations, including those that are abroad. By doing so, employers can move beyond the constraints of limited talent pools and the wage pressures that tight labour markets generate.
OK, Boomer?
According to Glassdoor’s Chief Economist,
Dr. Andrew Chamberlain, baby boomers, born between 1944 and 1964, are now the
fastest-growing segment of the U.S. workforce. Dr. Chamberlain notes that “A ‘gray
wave’ of senior citizens will be impacting the workforce in coming years, both
in the United States and the United Kingdom.” In Canada, the percentage of
workers aged 55 and older more than doubled in a little more than two decades; they
are now more than one in five of all Canadian workers. Similarly, the number of
Australians aged 65 and older who participated in the workforce in 2018 was 13%,
compared to only 8% in 2006. And, in New Zealand, 22% of retirement-age people
worked in 2016, an 87% increase in just 10 years.
Candidates with a Silver Lining
Given these striking statistics, an increasing number of applications from older candidates should be expected. In addition to the talent that these older candidates bring in their own right, they also help employers adopt a holistic approach to upskilling.
Take the case of a recent college
graduate who has strong technical skills, but lacks industry knowledge and even
critical soft skills, such as effective communication. These deficiencies can
be offset by pairing this new hire with a seasoned industry veteran. The
ensuing mentoring can go both ways; a tech-savvy new hire can help an older
worker who may be challenged in this area, while the seasoned worker can guide
and instruct the younger employee on important industry knowledge and work
skills. This symbiotic pairing can also become an important element in an
enterprise’s succession planning strategy.
Partnering for Success
Responding to economic trends can be
daunting for those under constant pressure to fill positions and manage talent.
However, tracking newly available workers due to shifting tariffs and treaties,
knowing how to find candidates in unknown and far-flung locations, and
navigating the process of recruiting from a broad range of age groups may seem
overwhelming to even the best-equipped team of talent professionals. This is
precisely why leveraging the expertise and resources of a talent acquisition
partner can be the deciding factor for success in a complex and rapidly
changing economic environment.
How could one of the UK’s best known and most trusted brands have no employer brand presence? It might seem hard to believe, but that was the situation the AA faced when they approached PeopleScout’s Talent Advisory practice to develop a new employer brand.
In the past, the AA had been affected by inaccurate perceptions of who they’d be as an employer. With 15 million members and more than 7,000 colleagues, they’re the UK’s largest motoring and breakdown cover organisation. However, being known for doing one thing very well was proving to be a barrier to candidate attraction. People thought the only jobs they had to offer were their famous roadside roles. That was far from the truth, but the AA was struggling to attract the talent they needed for their wide range of career opportunities.
The AA needed to challenge misconceptions and engage a much broader audience. And, with a bold new employer brand message at the heart of an ongoing series of innovative attraction campaigns, this is how the AA and PeopleScout did just that – with award-winning, record-breaking results.
Ready for Change
Back in 2016, the AA’s talent acquisition team faced a number of challenges.
Before the arrival of Craig Morgans as their Director of Talent Acquisition, Emerging Talent & Employee Experience, they had no senior talent expert at an influential level. There was no robust workforce planning, a lack of innovation in candidate generation, and an inconsistent approach to selection.
On top of that they had no discernible employer brand. And, at nearly four years’ old, their careers site suffered from a clunky candidate journey and outdated visuals, compounding their problems with engaging the right talent.
A change in thinking was needed. The AA had to find more imaginative ways to reach and engage with target audiences. At the heart of it all was a plan to develop the employer brand with a strong, authentic central message that would underpin all attraction and engagement activity.
The AA partnered with PeopleScout to develop their dynamic employer brand message. One that would challenge perceptions, do justice to their innovation as a business, and bring the AA culture and diversity of opportunity to life.
Getting The Message Right
We undertook in-depth research to analyse the AA’s culture, offering and opportunities, to articulate the “give” and “get.” Carrying out extensive employee interviews enabled us to understand the key differentiators of all roles in the contact centre, road operations and corporate job families. We also looked outside the company, to get a fuller idea of competitors’ market positions and understand what the public thought about the AA.
We developed the emerging themes into pillars that we could validate with real stories from the business, and that could support an engaging creative approach. We refined our thinking to a proposition that really encapsulated the spirit of the AA. Leading everything was a message that we’d heard over and over.
Working for the AA, people thrived on going the extra mile to help customers with unexpected challenges – and across a surprising variety of opportunities.
This insight became the AA’s employer brand core message, Ready for ANYTHING? It also acted as the perfect counterpoint to their corporate brand message to customers and members, Because anything can happen.
Putting Our New Platform Into Practice
As the gateway for people to understand the opportunities that might be right for them within the AA, the careers site was the obvious starting point for rolling out the new employer brand. And by launching with this digital shop window, not only could we get the brand experience right, we could also give the site a much-needed technical and UX overhaul.
The new site was launched in February 2017. Creating an engaging, interactive and easily navigable user experience, it’s built around rich content, inclusive photography and video interviews – enhanced with numerous responsive, interactive elements.
The site has evolved, with new elements added over time. As well as showcasing the Almost every role you can imagine employer brand video, the site engages and informs visitors with stories of current employees and realistic job profiles. All of which combine to bring the story of being Ready for ANYTHING? and working with the AA to life. Meanwhile the AA social hub also brings the worlds of social media and blogs into the site, providing an at-a-glance, continuously updated feed of all things AA.
More recently, we’ve added new features, to give site visitors an even more immersive experience – including an insightful 360° tour and assessment tool, plus some interactive 3D imagery to add depth to the visual impression. theaacareers.co.uk is a site designed to surprise, inspire and educate.
The Chatbot That Shows the Human Side of the AA
The Ready for ANYTHING? tone of voice was woven into the site and became the voice of the first-ever appearance of the innovative AAbot – a cheeky, wisecracking chatbot that guides users on life at the AA. Demonstrating technological innovation as one of the first of its kind, AAbot was an efficient way to serve visitors the content they were after – and equally importantly, he represented the playful side of the business, showcasing the fun culture that people hadn’t associated with the AA before.
For visitors to the site, this was an unexpected and charming way of bringing the employer brand to life, and together with the improved candidate journey and overall experience, was a rousing success. Site traffic increased 320% and applications increased 266% over an 18-month period. Visitors are engaging with the site for longer too, with page views up 12%, bounce rates dropping 8% and a 10% increase in pages viewed per session.
Tapping the Energy of the Internal Audience
As important as it is to engage an external audience, an employer brand has to reconnect and be embraced internally to mobilise the existing employees as active advocates. AAbot’s charm was used internally, featured on the walls and windows of AA offices and reinforcing the expect the unexpected messaging of the EVP. ReadyforANYTHING? also became increasingly popular with employees who were supported to play an active role in bringing in great new colleagues.
Did You Say Canine Consultants
This new sense of playfulness and surprise would then underpin our next step towards changing perceptions. Having effectively used honest video of employees to convey job opportunities, we wanted to now use video to grab attention of passive audiences, entertain and educate them.
We developed a script that highlighted the diversity of roles the AA offers, creating pretend roles such as Canine Consultants, Rapid Response Pizza Officers and Outer Ozone Patrollers to interrupt the long list of real AA roles. We shot the entire video in a single, continuous take within an AA office, and made sure to feature real employees. AA colleagues were enthusiastic advocates of the content, with more than half of the entire AA workforce watching the video and sharing it widely. The result? The video increased careers site visits by 16%
Getting Out Into the Community
With the success of the video, we became bolder. We’d learned that pushing boundaries helped us succeed in changing the perceptions of passive audiences. So, we decided to take our message to the streets.
We suggested an experiential event for a number of reasons. We wanted a way of raising general community awareness of the AA easily, effectively and creatively. Using a broad brush public approach, we knew that that anyone we engaged might also know others who’d be suitable and interested. We wanted to create an event to take the AA’s employer brand message and see just who was Ready for ANYTHING?. Whatever we did would have to be a great fit with the AA’s fun and friendly culture.
In September 2018, we ran two live events in Birmingham and Newcastle, UK city centres, areas where the AA has a big presence as an employer and lots of roles to fill. We grabbed attention of passers-by in the proud tradition of game shows, inviting audience volunteers on stage to take on a series of increasingly messy mystery challenges. Wasabi toothpaste, a barefoot Lego walk and gallons of slime came together with a celebrity host in a pop-up competition to bring the spirit of Ready for ANYTHING? to life.
There were lots of laughs, big prizes – and our strategy paid off. The communities local to our contact centres were made aware of the AA as an employer with a really fun culture, visits to the careers site surged, and month-over-month application numbers increased significantly. After the Newcastle event, applications rose from 576 to 1026, with 12 hires. In Birmingham, applications rose from 898 to 1341, with 13 hires. And this was all starting with completely passive audiences.
The Social Side of Talent Engagement
Before working with PeopleScout, the AA had no employment-specific social channels although research shows that candidates expect to be able to shop prospective employers on social. So, we launched separate social media channels for recruitment, recognising that both the audiences and messaging would be very different from the AA corporate and customer-oriented channels currently in place.
Based on the channel demographics and content structure, we initially selected Twitter and Instagram, and spent the early part of 2018 scoping out a launch programme with content pillars, content calendar, internal sponsors, and training for the PeopleScout social media team to give them full responsibility for managing and curating content.
The key advantage of having a team devoted to the AA careers social channels is being able to capture the immediacy that’s vital with any recruitment content – and with built-in knowledge of the AA’s employer brand and talent agend.
Social media has also played a key role in the promotion and delivery of our most recent projects: the augmented reality app-based #wheresbotbeen campaign and competition, as well as Ant Middleton’s 24-hour, live interactive challenge – our biggest, boldest campaign to date.
24 Hours to Prove You’re Ready for Anything
The Ant Middleton 24-hour, live interactive challenge was easily the most ambitious project of our partnership. Aligning with the AA’s long-lasting connection to the armed services, as well as embodying the Ready for ANYTHING? brand, this campaign was boosted by a relevant celebrity influencer and engaged the general public through live streaming and social media voting.
Six brave employees were chosen to take part in this 24-hour challenge, living and breathing the Ready for ANYTHING?spirit – following the former Special Boat Service soldier through a series of grueling challenges in the Lake District wilderness.
The final lucky half-dozen were chosen from hundreds who responded to an internal communications campaign and applied to take part, in what was highest engagement level ever for a story on The Hub (the AA’s intranet).
We wanted the public and AA colleagues to really root for our chosen contenders during the event, so to get the interest level rising, we filmed their life stories, ready for sharing on social media. They spoke eloquently and compellingly on camera about their lives. We got first-hand stories of drama, heartbreak, courage and transformation.
These videos were posted across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and they clearly made a connection with people. At the start of the event, colleagues and strangers alike were rooting for particular contenders.
The event began at 4 p.m. on July 25, 2019. The next 24 hours were packed with unpredictable drama. Events were live-streamed, the pace was relentless, and the AA people got into it just as much as the watching public – commenting, voting, watching and sharing across social media.
We decided to involve the audience throughout. In an unusual twist, viewers could select tasks for the contestants while watching the live stream on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or on the dedicated site we built for the campaign, Ant24Live.com. Selections varied by type and toughness of tasks such as rafting versus quad biking, or a swim at dawn versus a planking marathon – keeping audiences engaged throughout the 24 hours (although we did allow the participants to sleep!).
The whole show was streamed to AA contact centres, garages and the corporate office, and thousands of AA employees tuned in, acting as social media cheerleaders and social media amplifiers.
Venturing Into Another Dimension
Using 3D animation and augmented reality (AR) technology, our next project took Ready for ANYTHING? into new territory, with a fun-packed, bespoke-built AR app launched at experiential events.
Keen to embrace new technology to develop innovative ways of boosting brand engagement, the AA asked us to create a fun, unexpected and interactive experience that would help them reach a new audience.
So, we looked at the increasing use of AR to change the way audiences connect with brands. And, we considered how we could use it to engage a passive audience – mainly families, as flexible working patterns at AA contact centres can work around their lives – and increase the AA’s potential talent pool.
When it came to what we’d build our AR experience around, there was a clear direction to take – the AA chatbot, aka AABot, seemed like the perfect character to take us to the next level. Until now, AABot had existed only as a 2D cartoon head. So, we gave him a 3D animated body and made him the star of his own AR app – AABot Drop – compatible with both iOS and Android devices.
We created a fun, interactive installation featuring the AR trigger images, in the form of postcards from AABot, at the Manchester Trafford Centre and Birmingham Bullring shopping centres – close to the AA’s Cheadle and Oldbury contact centres.
Using the AABot Drop app, people could see AABot’s animated postcards come to life – either on their own phones, or the iPads we supplied. AABot lives up to the spirit of the AA’s EVP, Ready for ANYTHING? in six animated AR adventures, from space and deep-sea exploration to crowd-surfing his own rock gig. Animations end on a careers message, driving to theaacareers.co.uk.
Downloading AABot Drop also gives users interactive, animated images of Bot to play with and position in fun and unexpected places. Sharing their images using #wheresbotbeen, people could enter a competition to win holiday vouchers. Promoting the app and competition across social media got more people involved – and amplified our message. Bot’s postcard trigger images and #wheresbotbeen photo gallery are now housed on the AA careers site –along with app download links – supporting longer term engagement beyond the initial competition.
Both events saw good interaction with both young people and families – two key AA contact centre demographics. The Manchester event boosted careers site visits by 869%, with applications up 40% week-over-week. After the Birmingham event, careers site visits increased by 535%, with applications up 820% week-over-week.
With hundreds of app downloads and ready for more, we plan to run further AABot Drop-based campaigns with updated AABot scenarios. So, much more than a one-off AR adventure, this can help promote the AA’s employer brand and opportunities to an even wider audience during a longer period of time.
Taking the EVP 2,620 Miles Further
The AA also sponsored adventurer and influencer Anna McNuff’s Barefoot Britain challenge. As someone who champions the idea of being Ready for ANYTHING?, Anna undertook the mammoth task of running the equivalent of 100 marathons barefoot through all kinds of terrain, weather and unexpected challenges to inspire young women. She wants to encourage them to have the confidence to step out of their comfort zone – to see just how much they can achieve when they reach for what seems impossible.
A series of short videos sharing her adventures, along with Anna’s own social posts and support from PeopleScout, have helped to raise brand awareness and promote AA careers to more female talent.
Groundbreaking Activity Leads to Record-Breaking Results
Since the launch of Ready for ANYTHING?, the AA’s internal employee and social media engagement, site visits and application numbers have soared across all brand-led activity. This strong employer brand, combined with a desire to innovate and brave campaign execution, has enabled the AA to move from 60% agency use to less than 5% in 30 months, saving nearly $9 million per year. Meanwhile, the AA’s Ready for ANYTHING? attitude helped it to win 17 recruitment industry awards in two years, including Best Employer Brand at the Recruitment Marketing Awards 2019. And, of course, the AA is always ready to do more.
“This is transforming how we engage candidates, and it wouldn’t have been possible without a true partnership. PeopleScout has risen to our challenges with some genius, wacky thinking!”
– Craig Morgans, Director of Talent Acquisition, Emerging Talent & Employee Experience
Change is hard. But, despite all its challenges, change also brings innumerable benefits. So, when it comes to implementing an recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) program, it’s important to remember that no transition will be seamless. RPO transitions come with changes, both minor and foundational, that will present new challenges each day during an implementation. While this might seem daunting at first, know that these challenges come with a predictable and manageable pattern; the best way to approach change during an RPO implementation is with the knowledge of what to expect and how to succeed in the face of obstacles that appear along the way.
Before Your RPO Implementation Starts
It’s no secret that people are hesitant when it comes to change—especially when that change is likely to affect their day-to-day routine. To address this hesitation, it’s important to get everyone on the same page, consider the affect on each stakeholder and educate people on what they should plan for once the implementation begins.
Some stakeholders will be early adopters who are hungry for change; utilise them as ambassadors for the new process. Others will be resistant, and these are the people from whom you want to gain buy-in for RPO. Once you identify the more cautious stakeholders, try to help them see the benefits of change from their perspective. Then, they can serve as primary communicators to others who are hesitant and explain the value of the change in ways resistant team members will understand (and you may not have thought of).
The best way to get people on the same page is to address pain points and questions early on so people know exactly why a change is being implemented. Begin that process by answering these key questions:
What specifically is changing? Tell people what you’re going from and what you’re going to.
What
does this change mean for what I do?
Explain how daily operations will be affected.
Will
this make a difference?
Show people how the change will bring value.
How
will success be measured?
Set clear calendar goals and openly address when these goals are not met.
Where
do I go to find more information? Designate
point people to address all updates regarding the transition.
Continue to communicate these Q&As to your team throughout the RPO implementation to further drive buy-in for the new process.
During the RPO Implementation
We’ve identified four definitive phases that will take place during the first 120 days of any RPO implementation. Understanding these phases will help keep you on track during the implementation process.
Introduction & Learning
This is the time to educate people on, what RPO is and what changes are going to take place. People are excited, energy is high and everyone is working hard to be open-minded about the changes. Some people might feel an initial shock, as though changes are already starting, but this is the time to get everyone used to the idea of new processes and people before any big changes are made.
Optimization
In the
second phase, you address lessons learned in phase one and can begin operating
at the new normal day by day. Energy remains high as people become more
proficient in using the new processes. Issues decrease, but small concerns begin
to go unreported. While morale is still high, minor frustrations occur while
not everyone is up to speed yet.
Measurement & Consistency
This is the phase your client delivery leader will warn you about; believe them when they say you’re going to get frustrated! Phase three is the toughest because it’s when people start becoming impatient with the way things are progressing. Everyone expects everyone else to be fully competent in the new processes and performing according to plan. Minor issues that went unreported in phase two often turn into bigger issues that come to light during this phase, leading to amendments to current processes and a review of the team structure.
For one client, during the first three months small changes were made to the process almost every day. At first, it felt frustrating, but it was the way the client was able to make progress quickly versus waiting for designated biweekly meetings for issues to be addressed. It was a new process for the client and a customized way of approaching change from our side, as well. Through careful documentation, the client was empowered to successfully combat candidate fallout by continually adjusting the order of steps in the hiring process.
Scale & Grow
After
adjustments are made to the team and process, things finally start to move more
smoothly. People are now highly competent, wins are gained more consistently,
and issues are reported and resolved as they occur. The team gets along and
feels positive because it is at the correct size and structure. Phase four
begins a state of steady growth, which leaves room to evolve.
While these
phases are fixed, people in your organization will complete them at different
rates. It’s okay that some people might still be getting adjusted in phase two
while others are already becoming more competent in phase three. However, phase
four means the entire team has mastered the changes and is ready for innovation
and further growth. To ensure everyone reaches the final phase, encourage weekly
or daily check-ins to get everyone on the same page about the way the
transition is progressing.
Open Communication is Key
Communication is a two-way street, and it only works if both parties are actively communicating throughout the entire implementation. Because outsourcing your recruitment function means people from across the organization will be affected, be mindful not to overlook a specific group when communicating information about changes. A forgotten conversation about what to expect could be the difference between someone feeling neglected versus feeling like they are a part of the solution.
As much as you need to be transparent with people about the goals and progress of the transition, they need to be open with you, as well. Be mindful of the fact that many of the people affected by the transition have been using a different system and coming up with workarounds when those processes fail. A map of the new process on every employee’s desks is a handy way to compare their actions to those on the process and document whenever an adjustment needed to be made. As people begin reporting exceptions, you’ll be able to determine whether incidents are isolated issues or part of a larger trend.
In one client’s RPO implementation, one team member kept adjusting the process without letting anyone know. While it was commendable of her to take on that responsibility, we had to remind her that as her RPO partner our job was to optimize the process and help save her time. She had an understandably hard time letting go of that need to fix the process, but eventually realized any exception to the established process—no matter how small—should be reported to ensure the overall RPO implementation success.
As issues are addressed and people start performing in accordance with the changes, be sure to publicly recognize and reward their behavior to further reinforce the idea that each team member brings value to the success of the implementation.
Beyond RPO Implementation: Ensuring a Successful Transition
An RPO implementation may feel like an uphill battle, but it’s important to remember that it’s a good thing. Through every growing pain along the way, you’re still moving forward, and that’s what an RPO transition should feel like. There’s always going to be some level of discomfort with any change, but remember, your RPO partner is there to help guide you throughout the implementation. You should feel excited by the idea of the value your RPO partnership will bring, and if you ever stop feeling value, that’s when you know something needs to change.
With any RPO engagement, you always want to be evolving and changing. As you’re working with your provider
Hi. My name is Vanessa, and I have an
addiction to 1Rebel.
Despite having no real desire to exercise
five years ago (beyond a very self-indulgent, free yoga class at the Hoxton
hotel every Saturday), I joined 1Rebel as a founding member after just a
handful of classes.
The triple concept gym that offers Ride
(spinning), Reshape (weights and running) and Rumble (boxing) from 6 a.m. each
day was – and still is – the only thing that gets me up before dawn. When you
consider how unmotivated I was before, this is no small feat. So, what is the attraction?
While the next-level equipment and the opportunity to take your morning shower
with the Spice Girls blaring through the surround sound was noteworthy, the real
pull was the employees. From a front of house team who remember your name and
sign you in before you get to the front desk to the instructors who can make
you feel like you’re the only person in the room, there’s a real sense of
belonging.
Over the years, instructors have become
friends and the space itself has become a place of emotional significance –
especially for my sister and I, who, with busy and often conflicting schedules,
sometimes only find time to sit next to each other on a bike on a dark Wednesday
morning.
I should note that in 2015, Casper ter
Kuile, a Ministry of Innovation Fellow at Harvard Divinity School, co-authored
a report titled “How We Gather,”
which looked at how brands like SoulCycle and CrossFit have replaced the role
of traditional religious institutions, particularly among younger people who
feel isolated in their digital lives. I get it. 1Rebel trainers have changed
over the years (I still mourn the loss of some of my favorites), but the brand
ethos and loyal community have remained constant, and that’s what makes it
works.
A
recent study by the research firm YouGov found that one in five millennials
believed they had no friends. Similarly, a new report published by the American
Psychological Association showed that depression in 18- to 21-year-olds had
climbed more than 46% between 2009 and 2017. Brands are wise to be aware and
tap into this, and it explains why inclusive group exercise is leaving
exclusive “no pain, no gain” gyms in the dust. “Don’t side-eye the person on
the bike next to you; you don’t know what their journey was to get here,” said
a 1Rebel trainer in one of her classes.
I am confident that 1Rebel will continue to be
a success as the brand lives and breathes its values. But, what happens when
the brands we feel a deep-seated connection to behave “off-brand”?
There are plenty of examples of companies that rally the troops through their brand . For instance, there are the Chinese makers of air conditioners, Broad Group, who still chant their daily anthem, “I love our clients and help them grow their value,” and Japan’s Yamaha with their 1980s company song.
Along the same lines, the 2019 article “Is Your Corporate Culture Cultish?” published in Harvard Business Review described the weekly get-together of a leading U.S. tech company. Company-imposed “cheer” pops up again here – although, this time, it was a bit more contrived, with employees chanting the name of the company three times, all dressed (like the CEO) in matching black and gray. The author, curious about the employees’ enthusiasm, was prompted to explore the lived reality of the people working there. It became clear that people didn’t really have a life outside of their work. Many were divorced or separated. “One executive said that he only went home to change clothes, adding that he might just as well stay at work using the facilities in the wellness center,” the author wrote.
It’s the perfect example of a company that is externally portrayed as an employer of choice, but the internal the reality is something quite different.
If a brand is leveraging an emotional
connection, it needs to practice what it preaches.
This
is possibly even more important for employees of a brand than it is for their
consumers. After all, they are the people influencing, creating and building
your product. There’s no shortage of research proving the relationship
between company culture and performance. By hiring employees based
on their ideological alignment to your company mission rather than their raw
skill set, you can begin to build a brand loyalty seen in the consumer world.
This is something that IBM has a legacy of doing well. A 1973 global survey of IBM found that, despite national and regional nuance, employees had more in common than they had expected; they behaved and acted similarly. The researcher Geert Hofstede concluded that organisations had a personality, meaning that the character of the organisation was constant even when employees come and go. This “character” – which exists to a greater or lesser extent at all organisations – is what we now refer to as company culture, which, in its simplest form, describes “the way things are done around here.”
So,
what can employers learn about company
culture from cult brands?
Develop
an employer value proposition (EVP) that shows everyone the give and the get
for being part of your mission, as well as an employer
brand that brings it all together.
This helps candidates and employees understand the emotional contract of your organisation and get a feel for your company culture. It helps the wrong people self-select out of applying and gives your employees something to believe in – whether that’s encouraging more people to exercise, bringing healthcare to millions or developing the technology solutions of the future.
Assess
candidates against the company vision and values, rather than just competency.
When values are well-embedded in an organisation, they help people make decisions that are right for the business and encourage the behaviors that will help you achieve your mission. It’s easier to up-skill employees than to change what they believe in, so recruit those who have the right behaviors to succeed, rather than those who have done a role before. Even though colleagues and managers will move on and new people will join, if the ethos and values are embraced, the company culture will remain.
Shape
your incentives and benefits to reward mission-related achievement, reinforcing
the behavior.
Benefits and rewards typically recognise individuals for personal achievement. If your business success is reliant on entrepreneurship or collaboration, find ways to identify and recognise those behaviors instead of arbitrary targets.
Build
a community around your brand.
At a time when trust in corporations is declining and social media algorithms make it more difficult for your followers to see your content, employee advocacy is vital. On average, employees have a network that’s 10 times larger than your company’s follower base. What’s more, brand messages are shared 24 times more frequently when distributed by employees as opposed to the business account. Engaging employees throughout your EVP process naturally builds brand champions who can leverage your brand. Encourage them to share examples of your brand values on social media and be advocates when talking to suppliers or clients, or attending conferences and events.
But, above all …
If you are going to stand for something as an organisation, make sure your actions align with your words.
Just as believers can build a brand, they can also tear it apart.
Around 15 to 20 years ago, the first
millennials entered the workforce – frustrating and sometimes frightening the
baby boomers and Gen Xers who hired and managed them. Since then, the world of
work changed, and millennials grew up and advanced in their careers. In that same
time, Kathryn Minshew moved from her roles at McKinsey & Company and the
Clinton Health Access Initiative and founded The Muse, a career platform headquartered
in New York City and used by more than 75 million people to research companies
and careers.
Kathryn also authored “The New Rules of
Work,” which made it to TheWall
Street Journal’s (WSJ)
national bestseller list. She has spoken at MIT and Harvard, contributed to the
WSJ and Harvard Business Review, and appeared on TODAY and CNN. She has
been named to SmartCEO’s
Future50 Visionary CEOs and Inc.’s
35 Under 35. Additionally, The Muse was named one of Fast Company’s 50
Most Innovative Companies in the World in 2018.
Kathryn is an expert on the workforce
transformation she observed and helped drive as a millennial herself. But now,
the process is beginning all over again as Gen Z starts entering the workforce.
We talked with Kathryn about how these new workers will influence the way
companies attract and retain the best talent.
What are the biggest similarities and differences you see between current workers and those who are just now entering the workforce?
It’s a really interesting time right now
because the workplace is in flux. While I’m not a big believer in the idea that
the millennial generation is fundamentally different, there are a few trends I’m
seeing in The Muse’s community and the employers we work with.
First, there‘s a strong interest in flexibility and work-life balance. The younger generations are pushing employers to recognise their work based on output and not the number of hours sitting at a desk. I actually think that change benefits us all.
Secondly, a lot of younger workers are
willing to relocate for the right job. We surveyed The Muse community, which is
very young and diverse with two thirds under age 35, 55% women, and 50%
nonwhite. We asked them, “Would you relocate and consider moving for the right
company and role?” An overwhelming number – 89% – said yes.
As millennials went from entry-level workers to the biggest cohort in the labour market and now into leadership roles, we saw the conversation change. How do you expect the conversation about Gen Z at work to change?
There’s one pattern I’m very confident will play out, which is that we’ll see a bunch of people predicting the end of the workplace as we know it. Then, over time, some of the hysteria will quiet down, and people will realise that we’re all fundamentally more similar than we are different. A few years ago, there was a lot of, let’s just say, pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth about millennials. Now, many of those same millennials are managers and some of them are becoming executives.
The workplace has changed. Companies are
forced to compete for talent. There is a bigger emphasis on connecting the
overall purpose and mission of a company with the individual roles of workers.
When I look at the changes that I believe we’ll see with Gen Z, there’s the classic one – which is that Gen Z is very mobile-first. So, I think we’ll see less and less tolerance for legacy technology products and more of a push for the adoption of consumer-grade products. Gen Z is starting to look for workplace tools that are built on data and personalised for their needs.
How will employer branding change?
I think we’ve evolved through a number
of phases of employer branding, starting with what I call phase zero, where
companies just posted jobs online without any marketing or information. Then,
phase one was stock photos and companies trying to pretend they were perfect,
using jargon like, “we’re a team of innovators committed to excellence.”
Now, we’re in phase two, in which companies are realising the need to be more authentic. With Gen Z, we’re going to see an increasing trend toward personalisation. Platforms and tools that can provide a more personalised experience are going to win. That’s something I’m very focused on at The Muse.
I think there are platforms out there today that deliver volume, but give you very few opportunities to really build a relationship with talent and explain your company, your values, and your opportunity. My money is on the platforms that are allowing different channels for candidates and job seekers to research companies and for employers to build relationships – and, of course, I count The Muse among them.
Employer brand is ultimately just brand, right? It’s not like you get to have a consumer brand and employer brand that doesn’t interact with each other. Employer brand has the potential to be powerful, but only if you recognise that it’s a piece of your larger brand and the lines between your applicants, candidates, employees, customers, and users are blurring in the modern world.
Ultimately, I think the holy grail for
employer brand is going to be giving candidates more information and a better
experience up front. That leads to tangible business results through better and
longer-retained hires.
How will employers change their retention strategies for Gen Z?
Retention is directly linked to how much
information people receive and how accurate that information is before they come
through the door. We’ve seen companies that work with The Muse increase
retention when they’re more transparent about what it’s like to work there.
Many people earlier in their careers are looking for clarity and guidance around what the future holds. Companies that are successful in retaining millennial and Gen Z employees often layout very explicit career paths. Employees can see what milestones they need to hit to get promoted to the next level and what those steps look like. By documenting a clear career path, younger employees can understand what the future will look like if they invest in your company.
If you had to boil this entire conversation down to one piece of advice for employers, what would that advice be?
When I started The Muse, I had this deep
belief that both job seekers and employers would be better off if they found
matches based on fit. Even the same person might look for different things at
different points in their career. I want The Muse to help create fit – to help
individuals research companies and careers, and help employers hire great
people on the strength of their employee experience and employer brand.
If I had to pick just one piece of advice on how to do that, I would say focus on storytelling. Humans love stories; we can connect with them. So, think about employee storytelling – whether that’s telling stories on your career site, through The Muse or through another channel. The more you can communicate the uniqueness of your opportunities and your organisation through the real human stories of people who work there, the more successful I believe you’re going to be.
Talent acquisition teams
and hiring managers are always on the hunt for candidates who check all of the
boxes: the five-star talent with all of the right skills and experience to
excel in a role, but who also fits the culture of the employer. When these
candidates are screened, interviewed and assessed, they pass each phase of the
process with flying colors, leaving hiring managers eager to extend an offer of
employment. However, there is one catch: will the candidate accept?
When you make an offer to a candidate, you hope they want the position as much as you want to hire them. But, sometimes, you nurture a great candidate through the entire recruitment process only for them have a change of heart. Candidates declining job offers can be disheartening for recruiting teams – and costly for organisations trying to fill vital open positions. In this article, we’ll cover candidate expectations and key points in the employment offer process, as well as explain how to connect with candidates on a more personal level.
Meeting Candidate Expectations: Then & Now
Candidates Expect an
Inviting Company Culture
In the past, candidates applied for positions without knowing or expecting to know much about an organisation’s inner workings or culture. As a result, when candidates were extended an offer, an organisation’s culture played less of a role in whether they would accept the position.
But now, candidates want to know about the work environment and company culture so they can assess whether they think the organisation is a good fit. Help candidates get that information by having a section on your careers page that provides cultural insights into your organisation, and include videos and images that display what it’s like to work for you.
Candidates Expect
Greater Transparency
It used to be that a
candidate applied for a job, sent in their résumé and waited patiently for a
response from the employer. All too often, candidates were left in the dark
regarding timelines, with few ways to find out where they were in the hiring
process.
Now, candidates expect rapid responses to their inquiries and greater transparency into a potential employer’s hiring process. Therefore, make sure that you inform the candidate about when they can expect an offer or rejection and deliver on it. This shows that the organisation is respectful, responsible and disciplined. Plus, if you make transparency a core piece of your recruitment strategy, you can improve your offer acceptance rate.
Candidates Expect More
from Your Employer Value Proposition
Your employer value proposition (EVP) is the distillation of what you offer candidates and what you expect in return. In the past, organisations relied heavily on brand recognition and compensation as their primary EVP. But, more than ever, candidates expect flexible work options, formal succession planning, mentorship programms, open communication, and real-time feedback to be part of an employer’s value.
Before candidates reach
the offer phase, make sure you have clearly communicated what makes you
different as an employer. When candidates understand your story and how you
view your role as an employer, they can get a picture of what they can expect
if they accept your offer.
Plan ahead to ensure that
candidates have information about the team they’ll be working with and the
types of projects they’ll work on. When appropriate, you can also create an
opportunity for the candidates to meet their future coworkers during the
recruiting process.
Compensation, Benefits & Perks
Presenting benefits and compensation begins with your job postings. According to a survey conducted by Glassdoor, more than half of the respondents listed salary (67%) and benefits (63%) as top factors they looked for in job ads. By listing the salary range, benefits and perks this early on, you are less likely to lose a candidate at the end of the process solely because the salary and benefits offered are less than they are willing to accept.
When making a job offer, begin with an in-depth discussion with the candidate to determine which benefits and perks they value the most; it may be possible to create an offer package that is personalised enough to meet their needs. Furthermore, it’s important to know the difference between a perk and a benefit, as they are two different categories of non-wage compensation items.
Benefits: Benefits are best described as a form of non-wage compensation that complements salary. Health insurance, transit assistance, stock options, and retirement contributions are some of the most popular benefits offered by organisations.
Perks: Perks are above-and-beyond offerings that may sway a candidate to value one organisation over another. Think about these as the “icing on the cake.” Perks at work may include a company car; retail discounts; summer hours; gym memberships; standing desks and off-site, team-building activities. These perks can really sweeten an employment offer and increase the likelihood of acceptance.
Non-Traditional Perks &
Benefits
A survey released by TriNet found that 91% of respondents at small- and medium-sized businesses view non-traditional benefits as an important aspect of their job satisfaction. According to the survey, non-traditional benefits include perks such as flexible work schedules, commuter benefits, unlimited paid time off, paid volunteer time, remote work options and more.
If your organisation offers non-traditional perks and benefits, leverage them to sweeten job offers. These days, candidates are becoming less concerned with salary alone and more concerned with overall compensation – including a better work-life balance and greater workplace flexibility. If your organisation offers employees access to a gym, the option to work from home or other alluring perks, make sure to mention these when discussing benefits with candidates.
Entwining Benefits &
Employer Branding
Fusing your benefits package with your employer brand gives your benefits programme a distinct identity and purpose aligned with your core values. It’s something that candidates should be able to recognise in every aspect of your benefits presentation. In particular, your benefits mission statement should be clear and concise, but also unique to your organisation. Strive to make it a natural extension of your broader organisational values. For instance, if excellent customer service is an area of focus at your company, craft your benefits mission statement to highlight how your benefits seek to anticipate and meet the needs of employees.
A financial services client of PeopleScout’s is one example of blending employer branding and benefits. Specifically, the client provided a comprehensive and generous maternity leave policy for expecting mothers. However, when communicating its maternity leave policy, the benefit wasn’t featured in a way that effectively highlighted the company’s commitment to supporting new parents. While informative and to the point, this approach to educating employees about the policy was misaligned with the client’s employer brand of empowerment.
PeopleScout worked with this client to craft new and more brand-aligned communications about the maternity leave policy. The new messaging shared in the excitement of expecting employees, while also highlighting the challenges expecting mothers face in the workplace. Employee communications about the maternity leave policy centered on the values of empowerment and support for employees – inside and outside of the organisation’s walls.
Engaging & Communicating With Candidates During the Employment Offer Process
Initial Conversations
Once you’ve decided on a candidate, don’t waste time reaching out and sharing the good news. Otherwise, the candidate may accept a position elsewhere or develop a negative attitude about your organisation if they are left waiting too long.
When you contact the
candidate, discuss the details of the job offer. If the candidate is satisfied
with your offer, ask for verbal acceptance and let them know a formal offer of
employment will be sent shortly.
Follow Up & Keeping
Candidates Warm
After verbal acceptance of
your offer, stay in contact with the candidate to keep them engaged and
interested in the role. When following up, don’t be overly eager or too pushy;
instead, allow the candidate some time to think about your offer. While the
candidate considers your job offer, stay in touch through the candidate’s
preferred method of communication. The purpose of your follow-up correspondence
should be to reinforce your enthusiasm about having the candidate join your
team.
Follow-ups with new
details about the offer, like “You will be working at X location” or “Would you
prefer to work on a Mac or a PC?” allow you to stay connected while relaying
information that is relevant to the candidate. What’s more, keeping in touch
enables you to continue to build a positive relationship with candidates after
the offer.
The Official Offer
Letter
An offer letter represents the final stage in your recruiting process and is the legal document that defines the employment relationship between your organisation and the candidate. For those reasons, it is critical to get it right.
Think of the offer letter as a formal invitation for the candidate to become an employee of your organisation. Like any invitation, your offer letter should send a warm and positive message to the candidate. Articulate a friendly, welcoming tone and indicate your anticipation of the candidate’s future contributions to your organisation. The offer letter should inform candidates of their compensation and benefits, as well as include a description of their role and responsibilities.
Consider creating multiple templates for offer letters, especially if you have distinct categories of employees. Then, personalise them to match the candidate and to ensure that each candidate receives the right information for their situation.
Organisations that want to fill open roles with qualified and talented employees need to approach recruitment in the same way that sales and marketing teams approach engaging and closing clients. Look for creative ways to show why your organisation is a great place to work.
And, finally, solicit and provide feedback to candidates; this communicates that you value their input and that your organisation – like the candidate – is using the exchange as a teachable moment meant to foster growth, which is an indicator of positive workplace culture. By focusing on your brand, culture, and benefits, as well as keeping in touch with candidates, you’ll maximise your ability to land – and keep – the best talent.
On a sleepy Saturday morning, you grab
your laptop and spend two hours applying to your dream job. It’s worth the
extra cup of coffee because you like this role and company enough to ignore the
annoyance of a long application. Finally, you submit your application. An
instant later, you receive a reply in your inbox. “We regret to inform you that,
after careful review, you are no longer being considered for this role.”
Maybe that PowerPoint proficiency question you skipped was a disqualifier? With such a general response, it’s hard to know. In the modern candidate’s world, rigid automation rules that lead to a message like the one above rarely make sense. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 82% of candidates report the ideal recruiter interaction is a mix of innovative technology and personal, human interaction. Employers should be on notice, too, as 72% of candidates who have a poor experience share it online, according to the Human Capital Institue.
In this article, we’ll define what automation is, the overall benefits of it, and specific examples of what to do and not do like the use of automation in talent acquisition grows.
What is Automation?
Automation is not new, but it is
rapidly evolving. In the industrial
revolution, for example,
local weavers were replaced by machines that could perform the same tasks in
factories. This was an example of a manual task that was replicated into a
process and automated. At its most basic definition, automation is:
“The technique of making an apparatus, a process or a system operate automatically.” – Merriam Webster
What, then, is the relationship between
automation and artificial intelligence (AI)? The two terms are sometimes
confused and used interchangeably, but AI is defined as:
“ … the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think like humans and mimic their actions.” – Investopedia
Types of AI include machine and deep learning. Machine learning involves computers that learn without being explicitly programmed; an example of this is sentiment analysis, in which computers make decisions about how individuals feel based on their activity on or offline. Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that teaches computers to take the next step and learn in the same way that humans do. For example, machine learning is displayed when a driverless car recognises a stop sign and stops.
Today, modern automation almost always involves AI. Finding and scheduling candidates via chatbots, for example, is a type of AI-infused automation in the world of talent acquisition. Automation using AI also includes tasks that were neither quantifiable nor automatable five years ago – such as measuring the interest level of passive candidates from social media metrics.
How Does Automation Affect Talent Acquisition?
When designed correctly, the right
levels of automation help the recruiter and candidate create a better candidate
experience.
While automation can be a game-changer, there is such a thing as too much or the wrong type of automation. Each stage of the recruitment cycle has an “automation opportunity,” as well as an associated risk to the candidate experience; the risk may be low in the case of automating a candidate’s onboarding experience, for example. In comparison, the final stage of the hiring process is rarely automated and instead involves interviews conducted by humans.
The most effective automation tools
have one or more of the following attributes:
Ability to reach candidates in a more meaningful way. With automation, recruiters can have more timely, personalised interactions with candidates. For example, a retail candidate working at a pharmacy can receive email alerts about new roles matching their skills at another pharmacy as soon as the roles are posted.
Ability to make the hiring process convenient and simple. Long gone are the applications that take two hours to complete. Instead, candidates fill out auto-populated applications catered to their interests and backgrounds in just five to 10 minutes.
Ability to maximise recruiter productivity. As previously mentioned, automation can complete more manual tasks – such as passive sourcing 24/7 – freeing up more time for recruiters to work on activities that benefit from the human touch.
Ability to deliver better performance metrics. With more data comes the opportunity to measure it more effectively. The digitisation process helps make these metrics part of the recruiter’s ongoing dashboards to measure success.
How to Avoid Candidate Experience Automation Flaws
Automation without the correct supervision can go awry. Consider the programmer who created a social media profile of a fish that was looking for a job. Algorithms took the bait and sent these qualified catfish profile requests for interviews based on keywords and a falsely construed online account. It certainly was fishy.
Here are some common automation
mistakes to avoid so you don’t get caught on the hook:
Putting your automation on auto-drive without ongoing input can create unintended bias. While the catfish profile is a more humorous example, you may recall the case study of what not to do from a leading online retailer. The company was hiring programmers, and while well-intentioned, accidentally built bias into the programme based on patterns in its database of résumés from the past 10 years – which were mostly male. The company responded quickly, scrapping the programme and retooling its efforts to make its profiles more gender-neutral. These types of mistakes are not only bad for your recruiting process and candidates, but can also create issues for your compliance and legal teams, as well.
Too much automation can cause candidates to lose interest. This can occur when interactions lack a human element, causing candidates to tune out during the hiring process.
Too much communication may make candidates disengage. Once a tipping point is reached, it’s hard to come back from a failed interaction; most people have experienced applying to a role and then receiving an influx of unwanted emails. Furthermore, for candidates looking at multiple job opportunities, less personalised forms of communication can create a quick change in interest.
How can these automation flaws be avoided? Test every automation step you incorporate into your hiring process – from both the experience of the recruiter and the candidate – all the way through the candidate journey. Are there any gaps you need to review or hazards you encounter? You can also pilot larger, more disruptive automation with a control group of internal employees to assess results. Make your mistakes upfront, fix them, then release to a wider audience. If you think your automation strategies could create biases or a negative hiring experience, stop and retool.
You can also bring your partners along with you on your automation
journey. For example, consider establishing an advisory committee to make sure
concerns are alleviated, and conduct candidate evaluations to make sure the
candidate experience is improved.
When Automation Works
So, when is automation helpful? In
addition to eliminating manual tasks and creating time for recruiters to be
more strategic, there are five key instances when automation benefits
candidates and recruiters.
Automation helps when:
It enhances the candidate experience. An example of this is sending an email to passive candidates asking them to apply. If this process is automated, the candidate gets an identical email, but the recruiter can focus time on other recruiting activities, instead of sending individual emails to multiple candidates.
Flexibility or convenience is added to an existing recruiting process. This benefits recruiters by reducing manual work, by using text reminders to the candidate to select and systematically schedule an interview, for example. This way, the hiring manager and the candidate avoid playing phone tag.
A recruiter can add a personal touch in an automated way. As an example, candidates interested in accounting roles can receive personalised content through career pages and only see positions that apply to their personal skillset when they search.
High-volume positions create hundreds of applicants with a short interview process, such as during the holiday retail hiring season. Quick “yes” or “no” text screens with lower thresholds can help sort candidates through specific questions, such as availability and hourly salary requirements. Doing so helps bring in a smaller, more qualified applicant set to the interview process.
Recruiters need to send reminders to a specific group of candidates. For instance, perhaps you want to invite to a hiring event candidates from the Midwest who have engineering degrees. In this case, automation rules can help determine a discrete set of candidates that meet these requirements and then send the alerts on your behalf.
Automation works well in specific parts of the recruiting process, depending on your target hire. For example, high-volume roles benefit from automated sourcing, screening, and basic assessments, whereas only automating the search for passive candidates may be necessary for highly-skilled roles.
Your Guidelines to the Dos & Don’ts of Automating Your Candidate Experience
Keep these guidelines as you scale your
automation rules to meet your talent acquisition goals.
Do:
Measure, phase in automation and measure again to determine effectiveness.
Involve everyone in the process to determine where automation makes the most sense.
Take advantage of A/B testing to help measure different ideas.
Treat every situation as unique; don’t assume that what works for one will work for another.
Remember that candidates want a personal touch, and what you don’t automate is as important as what you do.
Use your people to make critical decisions.
Don’t:
Proceed if it doesn’t feel like it’s best for your candidates.
Influence the candidate experience in a negative way.
Assume that automating your entire hiring process is the right thing for your business.
Make an automation change and assume it will work forever. Always be reevaluating!
When facing a tight and highly competitive talent market, employers find it even more difficult to hire for hard to fill jobs. What’s more, the dearth of highly skilled talent in critical industries can lower an organisation’s productivity, which, if left unabated, could have a major effect on the global economy.
According to a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) report, vacancies for jobs requiring highly skilled workers or in-demand skills are among the most difficult to fill. The talent acquisition professionals surveyed in the report said the following job categories are most difficult to recruit:
In this article, we’ll cover how organisations can identify, source and hire highly skilled talent more effectively.
Creating Candidate Personas for Hard to Fill Jobs
Before you source, recruit and hire highly skilled talent, you must first outline the skills, attributes, experience, and tendencies of your ideal candidate by creating a candidate persona. A candidate persona is a semi-fictional illustration of a candidate who exemplifies what you are looking for in a specific role. An accurate candidate persona will help your talent team tailor its strategies and approach to best suit the talent you are looking to hire. This is especially important when recruiting highly skilled candidates who have diverse and unique requirements, drivers and employment expectations.
Your candidate persona needs to answer key questions. Begin by answering these questions using existing data from your applicant tracking system (ATS) and customer relationship management (CRM) databases on candidates and employees. You can also interview current employees – especially those who align with your ideal candidate – for their feedback. Below is an example of a candidate persona template:
Make sure your personas are representative of actual human beings – rather than a portrait of an overly idealised, fictional candidate. Also, be cautious when creating candidate personas; giving your personas names and pictures to make them seem more realistic and multi-dimensional is great, but it may also lead to bias. Instead, keep personal identifiers to a minimum to avoid discrimination and maximise diversity.
Sourcing Highly Skilled Candidates
Leveraging Social Media
LinkedIn is a favorite social media recruiting tool for talented professionals. However, oversaturation is the predominant reason that many hiring managers claim that recruiting on LinkedIn has become less effective. Despite being inundated with competitors, LinkedIn is still one of the most important tools in a recruiter’s toolbox. However, sourcing talent on other social media is also a vital part of a modern recruiting strategy.
Twitter: Use Twitter’s advanced search function to hunt for user profiles that use industry-related keywords and hashtags. Then, refine your search based on location and other important criteria. For example, if you’re looking to fill a developer position, search Twitter for specific software and developer-related keywords within your organisation’s target market. This search can uncover developers in your area with the experience you’re looking for.
Facebook: Facebook’s targeted search capabilities enable you to find high-quality, skilled workers who align with specific criteria. For example, if you search “copywriters with packaging marketing experience,” Facebook will return a result with matching profiles. Reach out to these candidates to see if they would be interested in interviewing with your organisation.
The power in using your social media accounts goes beyond sourcing candidates for hard to fill jobs; you can also showcase your organisation’s employer brand and culture to entice and engage talent.
Employee Referrals
To gain a competitive edge, look to your employees. An employee referral programme can help your organisation expand its network with a ready-made talent pool. Employees have contacts with former classmates and co-workers, and their referrals are more likely to be qualified and a good fit with the company culture.
Additionally, consider
posting open positions in office areas, announcing openings at company meetings
and sharing them in company-wide communications to help employees keep
referrals top of mind. Also, regularly remind employees about the rewards for
referrals, such as financial compensation or other perks. Even if a referred
candidate is not a good fit for a particular position, you can still consider
them for different roles, which can help supplement a robust talent pipeline.
Leverage Recruiting Automation & AI
Tools to Source Candidates
Innovations in
talent technology have transformed every phase of the recruiting process. One
phase that has seen enormous change due to technology is candidate sourcing.
Candidate sourcing is the most important phase in recruiting highly skilled
talent because the talent pool is more constricted.
Today, talent tools powered by artificial intelligence can locate passive candidates for hard to fill jobs much faster and more efficiently than ever before. AI technology crawls the internet to collect and analyse a wide variety of candidate data – from résumés to social media activity. Based on this data, AI-based tools can help make predictions about which candidates will be open to switching jobs, making it easier for recruiters to prioritise those candidates.
Selling Your Hard to Fill Jobs
When it comes time for the interview, you’re not just interviewing highly skilled candidates; they’re interviewing you, as well. To effectively “sell” your opportunities, outline and communicate the benefits of working for your organisation. Effective communication on the front end can save your company significant time and effort.
Understand What It’s Like to Work for Your Organisation
To properly sell the role, make sure that you have an accurate view of your organisation from the perspective of your employees – both current and former. Consider deploying surveys to obtain feedback from current employees and make sure to conduct exit interviews with departing talent. Take the feedback you receive and craft an objective report of your employee experience. When you understand the day-to-day experiences of your current and former employees, you can better sell an accurate and positive depiction of what it’s like to work for your organisation.
Understand Your Employer Value Proposition
Your employer value proposition (EVP) is what you are selling to the candidate. Recruiters and hiring managers need to know – and be comfortable articulating – the value proposition of your organisation. In other words, you need to answer the question, “Why would someone want to work for you in this position?” Your employer value proposition includes a range of tangible and intangible benefits of working at your organisation, such as work/life balance, flexibility, culture, values, compensation, and benefits. Know the benefits of working for your company, and make sure that you effectively “sell” it to highly skilled candidates.
For instance, PeopleScout helps a client to maximise its employer brand to attract a healthy pipeline of top talent. The client, which has a global presence in the construction industry, works with PeopleScout to highlight its unique culture to potential employees. During the hiring process, hiring managers communicate the client’s mission of minimising environmental impact and maximising sustainability; creating innovative approaches to complex industry problems; and promoting the well-being of its employees.
As an example, the client offers three days of “well-being” PTO that can be taken in addition to the traditional leave offered by the client. These days are seen as necessary for employees working in a physically and mentally taxing industry, and illustrate the client’s commitment to the well-being of its staff. What’s more, the client also offers multiple flexible work arrangements to increase work-life balance – a prudent, yet uncommon, benefit in the industry. By helping our client weave in its mission, culture, and brand into the recruiting process, the team has been able to establish the company as an employer of choice for highly skilled talent.
Be Careful Not to Oversell
In addition to the perks, it’s also important for candidates to have an objective understanding of the challenges that may come with working at your organisation. You don’t have to paint an unflattering picture of your hard to fill jobs, but it is important to provide accurate information upfront. Overselling or omitting information will start the employment relationship off on the wrong foot should they accept your offer, and could lead to higher turnover. It won’t take a new hire long to figure out that what they were told before they were hired is not the reality of the role. For example, if your role requires irregular or long hours, communicate that to the candidate. This allows the candidate to make a fully informed decision and mitigate the risk of immediate disengagement.
What Candidates Want to Know
Just like you want to know about a candidate’s background and experience, highly skilled candidates also want to know what they can expect from employment at your organisation. In particular, during the recruiting process, they may be interested in:
The candidate’s potential for growth: Highly skilled candidates want to know how leaping to a new organisation is going to benefit them – especially in relation to the growth and overall well-being of their careers.
The role’s potential for growth: Candidates may want to go beyond the position in its current form and discuss what the position could be and how the role ties into the organisation’s plans for the future.
Your organisation’s potential for growth: Highly skilled candidates want to be part of a winning team, so show them how your organisation is driving success.
Your organisation’s culture: Candidates want to know that the position is going to be a good fit, and that includes how they fit into your organisation’s culture.
The evolving landscape of talent acquisition requires a more proactive, multi-touch approach to attracting highly skilled talent and converting them into applicants and, ultimately, hires. As the global economy continues to grow and the demand and competition for highly skilled talent rises as a result, organisations need to stay abreast of the scope of talent available in the market.
There
is no doubt that the internet has forever changed the way customers shop.
Despite this, in-store sales continue to trend upward. In fact, in-store
sales revenue growth has outpaced
e-commerce sales steadily over the last decade. To support in-store demand and continue
growth, retail employers need top-performing talent in the right positions.
Unfortunately, with a tight labour market and various retail recruiting challenges, it is now harder than ever for retail recruiters to find the right candidates. In this article, we cover the best hiring practices for retail recruiters to help you source, attract and hire the best retail talent.
Defining Your Hiring Goals as Retail Recruiters
Regardless of industry, the first step in the recruiting journey begins with outlining how many hires you need to make, what positions you are looking to fill and the timeline you need to hire by. By outlining these goals early on in the recruitment process, you develop a clear strategy that helps you meet your organisation’s talent needs.
As a retail recruiter, your organisation’s hiring goals may fluctuate or change depending on seasonality and store openings, so in addition to your current hiring needs, also anticipate future needs when creating your hiring goals.
Do
not be afraid to change your goals as you go. Outside factors, such as new
competitors, a change in demand or opening of a new store, might influence the
goals you established. If you need to make a shift to your strategy, remain
agile enough to do so.
Sourcing Retail Candidates
For a retail organisation to thrive, it takes a diverse range of individuals working together towards a common goal. So, it should come as no surprise that when searching for top retail talent, retail recruiters need to cast a wide net.
While some companies may focus on hiring high school or college students looking for part-time or seasonal jobs, others may want to experienced full-time candidates in search of careers. If you’re hiring low wage, low skill labour, community sites like Craigslist or standard job boards can help you attract students or young individuals looking to gain some experience. If you’re looking for more experienced retail workers, try more targeted job boards like iHireRetail or LinkedIn.
It
is essential to know where your potential candidates are active and advertise
your open jobs strategically. Use location-specific job boards, local papers or
blogs, or other targeted strategies to help pinpoint your area for the best
candidates.
When sourcing for seasonal positions, using digital and social media ads along with email as a way to find and attract talent can pay huge dividends. Just make sure you create a specific careers site to send seasonal candidates too. This way it will be easier for them to find information on the opportunity without having to navigate your full careers website.
Finally,
you can also look at your customers as potential candidates when recruiting new
employees. When your employees are passionate about your brand and products,
like loyal customers often are, they can help increase sales and educate new
shoppers about what you offer.
Retail Recruiters Need to Go
Online
Retailers
of today are operating in a competitive space that requires forward-thinking as
well as online and social savviness. If you want to attract applicants who have
those traits, you should take your recruitment efforts beyond traditional
channels such as job boards. Social media is known to be an effective recruitment
tool. LinkedIn, for instance, has a number of talent solutions that enable you
to find, vet and contact candidates.
Social
media channels such as Facebook and Twitter, while not specifically made for
recruiting, can also help you find new hires. Use Twitter to spread the word
about your openings and put a special careers tab on your Facebook page where
your fans can browse and apply for jobs.
Even
Instagram has proven to be a good platform, particularly for companies looking
for young and fresh talent. As Software Advice cited
in this piece on Instagram recruiting,
a study by the Pew Research Center found that the largest group using Instagram
is adults between 18-29 years of age with some college education. This makes it
an ideal platform to attract a new generation of applicants.
So, make it a point to spruce up your employer profile on social media. A good way to do this is to share fun team photos on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. And if you are actively recruiting, spread the word by posting “we’re hiring” images on your accounts and running targeted social media campaigns to attract the right candidates. You can also show your company culture and promote things such as flexibility in the workplace you provide, your commitment to diversity and inclusion and more.
For Retail Recruiters, Attitude
is the New Experience
When
hiring in retail, which is a bigger predictor of a candidate’s success: attitude
or experience? In the case of
industries like retail, an employee’s attitude is often more important than
their experience. What’s more, The
Future of Work: The Augmented Workforce
study conducted by Deloitte found that “skills such as empathy,
communication, persuasion, personal service, problem-solving, and strategic
decision-making are more valuable than ever.”
Whether it’s assisting customers at a department store or managing an automotive supply store, each role within the retail industry requires the right attitude. So, how can retail recruiters ensure they hire candidates who have the right attitude? You can start by assessing candidates’ soft skills in the workplace.
Key soft skills to look for in retail candidates
Willing and eager to learn
Patient
Inquisitive
Competitive
Problem-solving skills
Responsible
Good communicator
Strong listener
Team-oriented
Emphatic
Can-do attitudes
High emotional intelligence
The
good news is that many of these soft skills go hand-in-hand, so finding retail
candidates who exhibit these qualities and attitudes will not be as difficult
as it may seem.
Group Interviews and Assessing Soft Skills
A great way to find candidates with the right soft skills is to conduct group interviews. Candidates at Disney’s retail Store go through a group interview process where they are quizzed on Disney trivia and are asked to sell a product to the rest of the team.
Conducting group interviews provides you an opportunity to glean insights into someone’s soft skills by observing how they conduct themselves around other people, how they handle a stressful situation and you get to an understanding of how they will fit with your team.
The Gist
Retail recruiters and the industry as a whole face a unique set of challenges when attracting top talent with the right skills. With the majority of the retail workforce comprised of hourly, part-time and seasonal employees, recruiting quality workers quickly is a tall order.
There is no one-size-fits-all strategy or tactic to retail recruiters. However, armed with the tips we have shared you can develop a retail recruiting strategy that fits your organisation’s unique issues, needs and culture. Remember, get to know your candidate pool, create a robust employer brand, utilise the internet and talent technology tools. If you cover all of these bases, you can improve your recruitment process and make smarter hiring decisions.
