The need for records and notes is becoming an increasing demand for legal, ethical, and references. Specific documents used in HR departments include:

• Performance reviews
• KPI developments 
• Proofreading of existing contract templates 
• On and off-boarding documentation 
• Video recording interviews
• Also, documentations you may prefer for outsourcing and securing transcription to avoid in-house work 

Keep in mind that there are laws associated with video recording an interview. Some states are two-party consent states, meaning that both parties must consider it lawful to conduct the video recording. Alternatively, a state like Texas offers a one-party consent state. This means that you can conduct interviews without the interviewee’s consent. 

There’s much to learn about transcription services in the hiring process, so let’s dive deeper into this article to learn more! 

Benefits to Your Recruiting Process

Makes Content Easily Consumable and Searchable 

Once the content is transcribed, people will find it easier to reference and review the content. Job-seekers might visit your website and want to learn more about your business, so they might start listening to webinars. Having a transcript will make it easier to find you on Google, so your audience will expand. 

Watching a video with transcription is easier to understand since it promotes hearing and sight rather than digesting information in only one way. Roughly 70% of viewers watch videos without sound in public areas. Consider that most people are somewhere, so they might only sometimes be available to watch videos with sound. Moreover, job seekers might want to consume more of your content but can’t do so if they aren’t free to do so both in hearing and sight. 

Let’s not forget that most job seekers will read about your company before applying. For example, did you know that 86% of users who use Glassdoor will read reviews and ratings before they apply? 

Promotes Accuracy and Efficiency 

Some business owners might find it challenging to hire an in-house transcriptionist and will try to delegate tasks to colleagues who type fast but need to gain experience in transcription services. However, highly-skilled transcriptionists ensure that accurate work is carried out and is produced in the shortest time possible. Therefore, transcription services allow you to focus on time efficiency and delivering an error-free file. 

Also, let’s not forget that hiring professional transcription services will save you time by not managing work independently and allowing you to streamline your business processes. 

Simplifies the Data Collection Process During Academic Research

More than ever, businesses conduct transcription services for academic research (interviews, focus groups, seminars). Academic research is used in all industries, and the HR industry needs it a lot because of the recruiting interviews conducted. Research provides you with enough alternatives for identifying new improvements you can make to your hiring strategies. 

It’s essential to record and analyze your discussion with the target audience you want to hire. In this case, transcribing audio to text is helpful and simplifies the process. It takes much less time to re-listen to conversations and to scan written pages for necessary information. Overall, you’ll easily search for crucial information across several sessions and save enough time while accumulating the data. Then, after you gather all the data, you can report it to higher powers in the hierarchy. 

Saves You Time and Money 

Especially during the hiring process, you need to save as much money and time as possible. Outsourcing transcription services give you a chance to do so. However, let’s not forget that an in-house team for transcription with the right tools allows you to conduct the hiring process effectively. 

Transcription services might be an issue since it takes time to produce high-quality files. However, hiring a professional transcriptionist allows you to get accurate transcripts and eliminate unnecessary costs. Another advantage is that professional transcribers might have years of experience transcribing files, so this is a win-win situation for you. 

The hiring process requires you to save as much time and money as possible. However, the long-term costs might add up to two times the employee’s salary, especially when the turnover rate is high. Therefore, it’s important to consider using transcription services to save time and money. 

Increases the Ways You Can Provide Information to Job Seekers 

The way we deliver and receive information has changed due to technological advancements. Almost everyone has internet now, which gives them more opportunities to access wealth details. 

Business transcription services have many technical improvements and have adjusted how we live our lives and how businesses conduct themselves offline and online. However, while picture and video content are popular and exciting, audio doesn’t offer the same enthusiasm. 

Speeds Turnover Time 

Time is money and delays can cost you a lot in the long term. Therefore, the faster you can speed up your documents, the better it’ll be for you and offer you a higher level of competitiveness. If you don’t have enough time to conduct transcription services, you can hire a transcription company that’ll do the work for you. 

Eliminates Repetition 

Much time and effort are invested in ensuring all readers have the same level of information available. But unfortunately, repetition can get quite annoying; the worst part is that it’s time-consuming and tiresome. 

Taking accurate notes during an interview, meeting, or conference will take time and effort. After all, whether you are conducting an interview with candidates online or in real life, you still have to take notes. However, transcription services are recorded and transcribed to help acquire information the job seeker needs, saving you from speaking too much and becoming repetitive. 

You can share your transcripts in a view-only or edit mode form with anyone, regardless of where they are. Comparatively, human-made transcription services help relieve the stress you put on yourself. This will free up enough resources for the organization to focus entirely on primary business activities. In addition, no matter how many files you need to transcribe, transcription software allows you to streamline the transcription process. 

However, manual transcription software is best if you are considering transcribing a highly critical file. 

Grants the Freedom to Focus on Other Business Activities 

Transcription services save you enough time to focus on other activities while hiring new candidates. Time-to-hire is an important factor, especially when hiring top business talent. In other words, employees won’t need to spend many hours listening to audio files to transcribe, leaving their most important job responsibilities. 

Without interruptions in the flow of responsibilities, your company can effectively operate and save time while hiring new candidates. The best option is to consider delegating this work to a professional transcription service. This is primarily for saving time and money while keeping your daily responsibilities on track simultaneously and providing enough flexibility for everyone at the company. 

Increases the Time Spent on Your Site 

There’s no guarantee of how long users might stay on your site. You can make tons of videos, but nobody guarantees the time users will take to watch your videos. Sometimes, the reason might be a lack of interest or onboarding issues. 

Job seekers will visit your website when they want to learn more about you, so when introducing your company, make sure to make it a good one. Transcription services make your life easier in this part and engage visitors. This is precisely what you need when you are trying to hire candidates. 

Keeps You Organized 

While you run a business, the last thing you want to happen is not to be organized enough. This helps you stay concentrated throughout the hiring process, increases productivity levels, and saves enough time. Being organized becomes a simple process when using transcription services since your files and folders are customized, allowing you to drag and drop by moving folders and files around. Nevertheless, you can print, store, or even display them publicly. 

However, keep in mind to always keep them in a private or public e-folder. You can do this by either saving them on a Word or PDF file, restricting unauthorized access. Being organized with transcription is easy because it allows you to keep files and folders anywhere you want. After all, the last thing you want when hiring someone is to not know where your folders and files are located. 

The Final Cutdown 

Transcription services have come a long way and are making our lives much easier, giving most of the work to AI and reducing time consumption. However, it can be challenging to hire someone and transcription services immensely help us in this part. 

Therefore, whether you are using manual or automatic transcription services, it’s important to use them to your advantage. 

The post 10 Ways Transcription Services Can Be Beneficial When Recruiting Employees  appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

When it comes to developing women leaders, I often wonder why companies have specific programs for women, especially ones that only include women. There is a perception that women need something different than men — help with “imposter syndrome,” or how to present powerfully, and that somehow only networking with other women is the winning strategy. Of course, some women might need this, but some men might need this as well. Women do not have an inherent lack of confidence or ability to organize and present ideas. All potential leaders have strengths and areas for development. 

Developing Todays Leaders, Regardless of Gender

Developing leaders with a personalized approach makes sense. Leadership coaching is a fantastic way to do this. But not all women have the same needs, and it’s strange to think they do when we don’t have the same frame of reference for men. Do companies have men-only programs for how to tame aggressiveness or how to collaborate and not compete? Of course not! Because all men don’t have the same developmental needs — neither do women. 

Early in my career, employers kept trying to sign me up for imposter syndrome classes. At that time, these classes were called “assertiveness,” and I never needed or wanted them. I’m not shy and have been told my entire life that I need to employ some restraint and not overshadow others. Me in an assertiveness class? It was a disaster. I ended up leading it, and guess what? There were a number of men in the class too. Yet this was the curriculum for women. 

Creating separate programs for women implies that women are different from men and perpetuates existing biases. The reality is that women should get developed, just like men, from day one with a company. To anyone thinking, “but men and women are different!” Of course, they are, and personalized development through coaching handles this because men are also different from each other, just as women are. From a leadership perspective, the most significant difference between men and women is that women leaders often deal with a majority of men and may need help with that. The reverse is not typically true. 

Analyzing the state of global entrepreneurship, World Bank noted, “The gender gap in entrepreneurship reflects recurring underlying disparities and tends to signal strong inequalities in access to institutions.” You will notice they did not say anything about capabilities and skills. That’s because leaders, regardless of biological sex or gender identity, need the same capabilities and skills.

Build Equality Programs

So, what can we do instead of creating programs isolated to women? For starters, companies should build programs rooted in equality. Coaching is a development accelerator. If the goal is to have a balanced pipeline of leaders, you can’t have 80 percent of men being promoted and think that adding a development program for women will change this ratio. The results will always be unbalanced, and parity will be impossible. If an organization needs to catch up because they don’t have gender balance in the leadership ranks now, this is the opportunity to promote more women; there is no need to create another program to do that. Use what is in place for the male employees. 

With regard to possible pushback, my stance remains that naysayers and skeptics are simply feeding into an existing bias against women. We do not need special development programs. We need the same development and promotional opportunities that men receive, starting at the same point in career trajectory as men, with the same championing and support that men receive. 

Given that women are not compromised when it comes to business, a unified approach to leader development can open up new avenues for employers and enable them to rethink how and when development programs start. Even the perceived challenges, such as imposter syndrome, dismissive attitudes from counterparts, interruptions in meetings, and skepticism of decisions, all go back to coachable capabilities like confidence and presence. I have coached a lot of women and have never once worked on imposter syndrome. But I have worked to develop self-confidence, decision-making confidence, and how to generate confidence in others with each and every coachee and anecdotally, for the first 15 years of my career as an executive coach, I only worked with men. Why? Men were — and still are — the dominant cohort at the senior leadership level in many organizations and industries.

Capabilities for Coaching

Capabilities are at the core of successful leadership coaching. Companies need to focus on fostering those capabilities throughout the employee lifecycle. That means developing leaders earlier to be available when the need arises. To accomplish this, employers need to recognize abilities and potential as part of the talent acquisition process and offer coaching immediately post-hire. That way, everyone is equally prepared. Likewise, by starting earlier, employees also have the ability to build out new networks, and networks have been proven to impact professional advancement. Supporting access for women to professional networks traditionally enjoyed by men can also make a big difference. 

A piece published by Harvard Business Review indicated that high centrality, a key measurement in social network analysis, tends to drive placement more than other factors. The author wrote, “Centrality, in this context, is less a function of how many people you know but who those people are. Identifying and connecting with people who are connected to multiple networks is a key strategy.” By sequestering women into gender-specific programs, companies limit their networks and, ultimately, their career development.

Final Thoughts

From what I’ve seen and what the research indicates, if organizations want to create a balanced pipeline, that starts the moment all employees are hired. That is why I advocate for the term gender neutral. Gender is no longer a factor in the decision of who is promotable. Skills and capabilities are, and leadership coaching is a proven way to develop them. The sooner companies realize the value coaching offers employees from the outset, the less likely women and other underrepresented populations are to fall behind.

The post Stop Coaching for Women and Start Developing a Gender-Neutral Leadership Pipeline appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

In this post, we will explore the different ways in which video technology is transforming recruitment and the benefits it offers to both employers and candidates. From virtual interviews and video resumes to employer branding and candidate engagement, we’ll examine how video technology is revolutionizing the way we approach recruitment and what it means for the future of hiring. 

The use of video technology in recruitment offers a number of advantages for both employers and candidates.

Time-Saving for Both Employers and Candidates

Employers can review video resumes and conduct video interviews at their own convenience without the need for scheduling in-person meetings. 

Similarly, candidates can submit video resumes and participate in video interviews without having to take time off from work or travel to the employer’s location.

Cost-Effective

Traditional recruitment methods often require employers to pay for advertising, travel expenses for candidates, and even the cost of renting a conference room for in-person interviews. 

With video technology, these costs are eliminated, as employers can conduct video interviews remotely and review video resumes online.

Allows for Remote Interviews

Video technology allows for remote interviews, which is particularly beneficial in today’s world, where remote working has become a norm due to the pandemic. 

Employers can conduct interviews with candidates from anywhere, regardless of their physical location, which expands the pool of potential candidates and increases diversity.

Facilitates Better Communication and a More Personal Connection

Through video interviews, employers can observe candidates’ body language, facial expressions, and communication skills in action, which provides a more accurate assessment of their qualifications and fit for the role.

There are several types of video technology used in recruitment, each with its own unique purpose and function.

Video Resumes

Video resumes are a modern twist on traditional written resumes. They allow candidates to create a clip that showcases their qualifications, skills, and work experience in a dynamic and engaging way. 

This can be done using a simple smartphone or a more advanced camera and editing software.

Video Interviewing Platforms

Video interviewing platforms are online tools that allow employers to conduct video interviews with candidates remotely.

These platforms often include features such as scheduling, recording, and playback functionality, as well as the ability to share the interview with other members of the hiring team.

Virtual Reality for Job Simulations

Virtual reality technology can be used to create job simulations that allow candidates to experience what it would be like to work in a specific role or at a specific company. 

This technology can be used to create a realistic and immersive experience, giving candidates a better understanding of the job requirements and company culture.

AI-Assisted Video Analysis

AI-assisted video analysis is a form of technology that uses artificial intelligence to analyze video footage of candidates during interviews. 

This can include analyzing facial expressions, body language, and speech patterns to identify patterns and make predictions about a candidate’s qualifications and fit for the role.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, video technology is transforming the recruitment process by providing a more efficient and effective way to screen candidates. By embracing video technology and keeping up with the latest trends, companies can gain a competitive advantage in the hiring process and find the best candidates for their organizations.

The post How Video Technology is Transforming the Recruitment Process appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

Despite the headlines about tech layoffs, the war for top talent is more competitive than we’ve experienced in decades. Job seekers have more power over when, where and how they work – including how they engage with prospective employers during the recruitment and hiring process. 

Companies are competing furiously for talent, and while some companies have adapted to this highly competitive landscape, others are falling behind in terms of competitive offerings and a new level of authenticity needed to attract the best talent. But, one thing remains blatantly clear: a strong employer brand is a deciding factor for prospective employees.

Now more than ever, companies need a well-defined employee value proposition (EVP) to showcase they’re a values-driven organization focused on more than just profits. Coupled with a strong engagement strategy to target this message to prospective employees and a commitment to a positive and smooth candidate experience, EVPs will be a key ingredient to winning the ongoing talent wars.

What is an EVP and Why is it Important?

Defining and building an employer brand is not a task that should be taken lightly – it’s a meaningful way to showcase what your brand stands for, and can impact many facets of the business. While it’s often mistaken for sentiment about company culture and employee engagement, it is far more about what the employer offers to its employees; much like a product value proposition is to the consumers who purchase said products.  

The EVP is how businesses market their value to new talent and retain current employees. It’s the benefit employers offer to employees about why they should come work for their company. Think about the standard interview question “Why should we hire you?” and turn it around: “Why should you choose us as your employer?”

Your EVP sends a consistent message to customers, partners, the community, etc., about who you are as a company and what you represent. Strong employer branding exercises will consider a combination of company identity, mission, values and workplace culture. However, a succinct, impactful EVP will be the differentiating factor to elevate the brand above countless other companies vying for the candidate’s attention. 

If you don’t have an explicit and authentic EVP you’re communicating strategically to prospective employees, you could be missing out on the right talent to drive your business. Surprisingly, even though most people recognize EVPs as critical to a healthy talent acquisition strategy, 41.4% of companies still don’t have one established. So, the problem is not necessarily that companies don’t realize the importance of EVPs. The disparity lies between knowing it’s important and actually investing in creating one, which leads us to believe establishing and implementing an EVP is the main barrier. For the organizations that may have an EVP, they are often slung together in a few slides and don’t have the foundational research needed to be in tune with reality.  

How to Create an EVP

First, an EVP is part of a much larger discussion around employer branding. It’s not just what you can offer to employees, it’s what your company stands for. Here are just a few steps you can take to establish and implement your own EVP: 

Introspection:

Ask yourself what your company has to offer an employee. Why would they want to work for you versus another company with similar pay and benefits? What can you do for them in the long run? If this proves to be challenging to answer, consider asking existing employees via surveys, focus groups and interviews what they find most valuable and rewarding about working for the company. This is also a great time to reflect on areas of company culture that can be improved upon to attract more talent in the future, while creating a better overall experience for existing employees in the process.

Boil it Down:

Boil the answers down into a few simple sentences or a short paragraph, explaining what you offer employees. It’s easy to just mention good company culture and competitive pay, but it’s more constructive to make it unique to your specific company. Does your company offer flexible work hours (appealing to parents) or unlimited PTO (appealing to millennials)? Is the company involved in any community or charitable organizations? How can you demonstrate the company is a people-first organization with a focus on employee well-being and development?

Establish and Market:

Once the EVP is finalized, establish it within your company first, leading by example and ensuring it’s aligned with current organizational goals and culture. Next, develop assets to market it externally as a part of your employer branding and awareness efforts, careful to strategically target key types of job seekers who can become the future employees you want. It is important to target candidates both on and off the job boards so you are not only targeting active job seekers but also trying to reach them during their daily lives. To stand out, it is important to be proactive about bringing your message to them versus completely relying on the job boards to deliver the best hires. Evaluate the results regularly and tweak as necessary to make sure it’s authentic and resonating with internal audiences and external candidates. To answer ‘why should someone want to work here,’ an EVP is not something that should remain static. Just as the dynamics of the job market continuously change, companies should be aware of the evolving work environment, their employee sentiment, and tweaks to their values as time progresses and cultures and priorities evolve. 

When you break it down, EVPs aren’t as daunting of a task as they might seem, and can make all the difference in your hiring practices. 

The job seekers of today have different priorities and it is still critical to understand this is an employee-dominated market.  It’s not enough to just skate by, you need to stand out. Today, millennials have changed the workplace and Gen Z candidates are rapidly entering the workforce  looking for more than just a paycheck and simple benefits. They want to work for a company that has a mission and purpose, but also puts them first. Strong, authentic EVPs build trust, transparency and excitement about an employer brand – and in the end, will encourage the strongest candidates to apply regardless of the type of workers you need to power your business.

The post Without a Strong Employee Value Proposition, You Can Kiss Top Talent Goodbye appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

Skills-based hiring continues to trend.

As you know, skills-based hiring focuses on screening candidates based on their capabilities rather than education or employment history. In today’s hiring environment, if you’re not hiring for skills, you’re missing plenty of potentially high-performing job candidates.

The Benefits of Skills-Based Hiring

When it comes to the benefits of skills-based hiring, the results speak for themselves. In a survey of more than 2,700 employers by TestGorilla, they found dramatic improvements in hiring practices and outcomes when employers shifted to skills-based hiring, including:

• 89% reduction in the cost-to-hire
• 91% reduction in the time-to-hire
• 92% reduction in mis-hires
• 91% increase in employee retention
• 91% increase in hiring diversity

A skills-based hiring strategy also creates a better job-fit for employees, which produces greater job satisfaction, employee engagement, and performance appraisal ratings. Those with high job-fit also tend to better adapt to challenges, seek upskilling, and develop transferable skills.

Shifting Hiring Requirements

In an effort to fill spots in several industries, LinkedIn launched a program guaranteeing job seekers an interview with recruiting teams if they can pass a skills-based test. Look for expansion of this type of strategy in the future.

For years, companies have practiced “degree inflation,” demanding four-year college degrees for positions that didn’t require them. This kept many skilled workers out of the talent pool due to the high cost of higher education. This disproportionately impacted those in lower-income communities, especially people of color, leading to a lack of diversity in the workforce in upwardly-mobile positions. With fewer diverse candidates in entry-level jobs, fewer diverse candidates were being promoted upward in companies.

That’s changing.

A review of job descriptions by the Harvard Business Review showed that employers have started to reduce degree requirements by more than 45% for mid-level employees and about a third for high-skilled positions. Job ads showed a marked shift towards skills rather than specific degrees.

Companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple, IBM, and GM have all shifted their hiring practices and offer some high-level positions to employees without college degrees in an attempt to widen the talent pool and attract different types of candidates. Today, about half of the jobs at IBM do not require a four-year degree.

There’s also a greater emphasis on finding candidates with transferable skills that will help them grow within the organization and upskilling current workers to provide more opportunities for internal movement.

Continuing Need for High-Quality Employees

Employers need workers with the right skills and many are desperate to find quality candidates. Despite some companies cutting back, there are still 11 million job openings in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the same time, turnover continues to be an issue with monthly layoffs, separations, quits, and discharges topping 11.5 million monthly.

Employees Want to Develop New Skills

The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania reported that nearly a third of tech workers, for example, say skills and self-improvement are what they value most about their job. 92% of professional says having access to professional development is important or very important.

Current employees are also seeking more upskilling opportunities to stay ahead of changing work environments. A study by Amazon and Workplace Intelligence showed that seven out of ten employees say they do not feel prepared for the future of work.

By providing opportunities for employees to adapt and learn new skills on the job, employers can retrain and retain workers at a higher level.

More Opportunities for Skills Development

One piece of good news for employers and job seekers is that there are more opportunities for skills development than ever before.

Colleges are offering online courses and boot camps in greater numbers than in years past. The number of massive open online course (MOOC) platforms has risen, offering free courses and unlimited participation. Many employers have started their own training and certification programs to attract the next generation of workers.

Skills-Based Hiring Will Continue

Hiring based on skills is on the rise and will remain that way into the future. Employers need to reassess their hiring practices to see whether they are leveraging this growing trend.

The post Why Skills-Based Hiring is on the Rise and Should Remain that Way appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

Companies are increasingly supplementing or replacing these methods with assessments, which are intended to mitigate bias and provide more rigorous evaluations of candidates. While assessments often serve these functions, there are many questions hiring managers should ask themselves before using them: are they focused on soft skills, hard skills, or personality traits? When should assessments be deployed? What characteristics is the company looking for?

Assessments are powerful hiring tools, but they aren’t an automatic solution to the problems recruiters face. They have to be carefully calibrated to pursue specific outcomes, and they need to be used in a way that won’t discriminate against or alienate candidates. With these guidelines in mind, recruiters can fully leverage assessments in their hiring processes.

How Assessments Can Enable Evidence-Based Hiring

Recruiters are increasingly outcome-oriented – they want to make sure that new hires will perform well on the job, contribute to a healthy organizational culture, and remain with the company over the long term. This has led some to question conventional hiring methods such as unstructured interviews, which have a poor record of predictive validity.

On the other hand, pre-employment assessments have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to accurately predict job performance. One reason for this finding is the generalizability of certain traits. A review of the relevant research by the American Psychological Association reports that general cognitive ability and conscientiousness, for instance, “appear to be relevant to performance in virtually every job studied.”

Pre-employment assessments are especially important at a time when companies are prioritizing diversity and inclusion. Traditional hiring methods are prone to bias, which is why some diverse candidates even mask their identities on resumes to land interviews. This is a status quo recruiters shouldn’t accept, and assessments can help them move beyond it.

The Risks Posed by Assessments

Although assessments sometimes allow recruiters to objectively measure candidates on a level playing field, this isn’t always the case. The quality of assessments can vary dramatically depending on how they’re constructed. They can actively work against a company if they aren’t designed to track the right skills and traits.

For example, companies sometimes develop assessments that aren’t sufficiently relevant to the role in question or fail to account for important variables. These problems arise when the developers of assessments make unwarranted assumptions about which characteristics new hires should possess – characteristics that frequently turn out to be counterintuitive. When companies emphasize traits unrelated to job performance or responsibilities, this can be a source of discrimination and lead to poor hiring outcomes.

Companies should develop assessments with the same critical perspective they apply to every other stage of the hiring process. If recruiters rely on flawed assessments, they won’t just confront the costs of bad hires – they’ll also bear the opportunity cost of missing out on employees who would have been a great fit.

Maximizing the Value of Assessments

Not all assessments are created equally. While it makes sense for recruiters to take assessments seriously as a strategy to avoid the pitfalls of conventional hiring, they need to think carefully about why and how these assessments are being used. There are several guidelines recruiters can use to make these determinations, all of which will help them build a more predictive and fair hiring process:

• Recruiters have to decide when an assessment will be deployed. In many cases, early assessments make sense, as they filter out candidates who aren’t a good fit before the company (or candidate, for that matter) has invested too much time in the process.
• Need to systematically consider which skills and traits are necessary for each role – as well as the company’s broader culture and operations.
• Can use this information to establish how those skills and traits will be measured – a process that will be consistently updated as they compare hiring decisions with outcomes.

The best way to take full advantage of assessments is by subjecting them to a constant process of review and reconfiguration. This will ensure that they’re always directly applicable to the company’s hiring goals and capable of producing the outcomes recruiters want.

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According to a recent McKinsey/LeanIn study, women are re-evaluating their careers and switching jobs in unprecedented numbers. The global pandemic highlighted challenges associated with child care, family time, and mental health.

But, many of these workplace challenges began for women long before the pandemic started. We just finally seem to be talking about it – out loud and in front of decision-makers.

Are companies listening?  Well, women aren’t waiting around, twiddling their thumbs, waiting politely for an answer. Instead, they’re communicating with their feet – as they walk away from a job (and maybe a career) that doesn’t serve them.

Keep reading to learn more about the Great Breakup and its implications on hiring in 2023 and beyond.

Why Are Women Changing Jobs in Droves?

According to the McKinsey/LeanIn study, women are changing jobs for three primary reasons:

• Women leaders want to advance, but they face more challenges than men
• Women are underrepresented in their organizations but overworked
• Women demand a better work culture focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), overall well-being, and flexibility

Let’s look at each.

1.    Women Leaders Want to Advance, But Face More Challenges than Men

Just like men, women want to grow professionally, advancing in their careers. However, women face unique challenges that men don’t. Here are some examples of these headwinds from the McKinsey/LeanIn study:

• Women leaders are twice as likely as men to be “mistaken for someone more junior”
• 37 percent of women leaders have had a co-worker take credit for their idea, compared to 27 percent of men leaders
• Women are more likely than men leaders to have co-workers who imply they are unqualified or question their judgment
• Women leaders are more likely to claim that their personal characteristics (such as being a mother or caregiver and/or their gender) have negatively impacted their ability to advance (through receiving a raise or promotion)

2.    Women are Underrepresented, Unrecognized and Overworked in their Organizations

Anyone feel this one? Statistically, women are still underrepresented in their organizations – especially in leadership positions. McKinsey/LeanIn’s Women in the Workplace 2022 Report says that women are “dramatically underrepresented in corporate America with only one in four women serving in an executive, C-suite role.

And, despite this underrepresentation, women are still unrecognized and overworked, giving way to burnout and mental health challenges. In fact, 43 percent of women leaders feel burned out compared to 31 percent of men in similar positions.

But here’s the rub. Women spend 2x more time and effort than men on supporting employee DEI initiatives – both of which improve employee retention and satisfaction rates. However, 40 percent of women leaders say this additional DEI work isn’t acknowledged in performance reviews. While work in DEI helps to attract and retain talent while improving corporate brand, this work doesn’t help women advance – it just stretches them thin.

3.    Women are Demanding a Better Work Culture

Finally, women are demanding a better work culture and changing jobs when they don’t find it. Women are more likely to change jobs to find a culture with more flexibility and commitment to DEI and well-being.

And although these demands were present before 2020, the global pandemic just emphasized the importance of these demands.

Here are some examples to consider:

• Women leaders are 1.5x more likely than their male counterparts to have left a previous job for one that prioritizes DEI
• 49 percent of women say that flexibility is a top reason they consider when accepting a job offer or staying at a job

To attract and retain female talent, especially in leadership positions, employers must support women.  If not, women will continue leaving in droves, setting diverse employment and leadership back decades.

Are Younger Generations of Women Changing Jobs Too?

So, what about our future female leaders? Well, the news isn’t much better there. With mid- and senior women leaders leaving for more flexible, diverse, supportive positions, there will be fewer female mentors at a majority of companies – leaving younger women with no one to watch advance up the ranks.

And young women want to advance.  According to the McKinsey/LeanIn study, more than two-thirds of women under 30 want to advance to senior leadership positions. Additionally, more than half of these women say that advancement has become more important to them over the pandemic. Finally, just like their more experienced counterparts, younger women also want to work for an organization that prioritizes flexibility, DEI, and overall well-being.

Companies that fail to focus on these issues will have difficulty retaining women leaders they already have while potentially losing out on recruiting young talent, creating a weak (or broken) leadership pipeline for attracting the next generation of leaders.

Instead, companies must continually embrace flexibility and commitment to DEI and well-being all while providing women with opportunities to advance – free of headwinds. After all, a diverse and inclusive company will continue to attract and retain the best talent while keeping its well-deserved competitive edge.

The post Why Are Women Leaders Leaving their Jobs in Unprecedented Numbers? appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

All’s not lost though. Here are four tips you can leverage to achieve win-win outcomes. 

Be Well Prepared

You’re selling your company to the candidate as much as they are selling themselves to you. So be well-prepared so you can make a dazzling impression. Being well-prepared also helps to build trust and create a healthy interviewing atmosphere.

So, once you lock in a time and date for your meeting, do your homework. Refresh your memory of the candidate’s background and skills. Showing that you remember the details of their career history can create a feeling of admiration and respect.

Also, develop a list of targeted questions to ask during the interview. This can ensure the conversation is meaningful and productive. It will also let the candidate know that you are invested in understanding their needs and wants.

Break the Ice

Before jumping into a negotiation, help the candidate feel at ease. You can begin with a casual chat. According to Recruiter, small talk can be a powerful tool to build rapport, connect and foster trust.

According to SHRM, casual talk can also help you gain insight into a candidate’s feelings towards you, personality, and social skills. Here are some examples of questions that can help lighten the mood.

• How was the traffic on your way here?
• Was it hard to find the office?
• What are your hobbies?
• How long have you lived in the area?

Avoid Dominating the Conversation

When recruiting, you can gain more traction by giving the interviewee the floor. By giving them free rein to express their thoughts, values, and goals, you’ll gain an idea of their needs, motives, and desires. Then, you can use that insight to craft an attractive offer. 

Also, by listening attentively, you show you value their contribution to the conversation, which helps build goodwill and rapport. However, beware of the discussion going off track. Balance the conversation with your insights and point of view to steer it in the right direction.

Give One, Take One

Refusing to budge on an unsuitable offer is a surefire way to get handed a rejection. So, be open to making some concessions. However, for every request you receive and are willing to grant, be sure to ask for one in return. 

For instance, if you are open to bumping up the salary, ask for a longer notice period. Trading concessions ensures that the agreement arrived at is mutually beneficial. 

To avoid making rush decisions, identify what you can offer ahead of time. Also, make sure that the concessions being traded are of similar value. 

Be Transparent

Transparency is a key skill for recruiters, say negotiation trainers. Being hazy can create feelings of mistrust and misunderstanding. Not only can this cost you a great hire, but you run the risk of damaging your reputation and making it difficult to attract talented individuals in the future. 

So, be crystal clear about what a role entails and the attached benefits. Do your best to provide answers to all questions. Circle back to the hiring manager or HR team if there are any questions you’re unable to answer. 

Be Patient

The recruitment process can be a long and drawn-out affair. The more complex the role, the more discussion is involved. According to Workable, the average time to hire ranges roughly between 20 and 30 days. 

Leaving positions unfilled can create a few hiccups in the business. However, rushing to fill roles can create an ill-fit all around. Plus, it can lead to an abrupt resignation shortly after the hire.

So, to create a win-win hire, allow sufficient time to dissect the offer’s pros and cons. Being patient also gives recruiters the opportunity to catch any red flags that pop up along the way. Remember, successful negotiating is a two-way street, so taking the extra time can go a long way.

Recruiters usher in talent and skills to the organization. As such, they’re an integral part of any company’s success. These are a few tips using negotiation skills training that can help carve out win-win outcomes.

The post The 6 Best Tips for Recruiters to Achieve Win-Win Candidate Negotiations appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

Modern organizations have to process a staggering number of applications to build a shortlist for each open position. Businesses receive an average of 250 applications for each corporate-level role. The best of these applicants are usually interviewing with more than one company at any time. It is, therefore, in the best interest of businesses to quickly find the right candidates and confirm their employment to prevent losing them to a competitor. 

Why Businesses Should Focus On Optimizing Hiring Pipelines

As businesses compete more aggressively for talent, experienced and motivated candidates are in high demand. Recent research has revealed that 57% of job seekers lose interest in a job if the hiring process is too lengthy. The longer the consideration process is, the higher the chance the applicant will go elsewhere. The best move for these organizations is to optimize their hiring processes to quickly gather the information they need and make a decision. 

Businesses that keep the hiring process short and optimized also experience significant economic benefits. The average American employer spends approximately $4,000 and 24 days on a single hire in labor, software, and outreach costs. These numbers can add up quickly for companies that look to expand or need to manage high turnover rates. Optimizing the hiring process can reduce this cost by freeing up resources such as recruitment personnel and meeting rooms. Hiring managers are also often pulled away from their regular job to interview promising candidates, so reducing the time spent on hiring gives them more time to focus on high-value business activities. 

4 Ways to Spend Less Time Hiring

Identify and Automate Repetitive Tasks

The first step for businesses that wish to eliminate inefficiencies is to identify areas that are ripe for modernization. Hiring teams must report tasks that they find repetitive and time-consuming. These usually include essential steps such as providing candidates with visitor and check-in information, vetting resumes for basic qualifications, coordinating interview schedules, and more. 

HR teams now have access to digital tools that can help them save time when organizing interviews and finding the best candidates. AI-powered tools can scrub resumes and weed out applicants who don’t have the appropriate qualifications for the position even before hiring teams do their initial reviews. Once a shortlist is produced, visitor management software can help hiring teams find the best room for the interview, send the relevant information to candidates and recruiters, and optimize the registration process once the candidate arrives at the office. This can significantly improve the candidate experience—and can position a business as an employer of choice for talented candidates. 

Build Talent Pipelines Ahead of Time

Businesses often know their expansion plans and can anticipate their staffing needs. However, there is often no standardized process to track openings and applicants across business departments. Instead of merely posting job descriptions on job boards as necessary, businesses can build talent pipelines to help them fill open positions faster. Candidates who interview for one position can sometimes be directed to other roles where they might also be a fit.

Keeping records of past applicants and making them accessible across business silos can make it easier for recruiters to build a strong shortlist of candidates early in the hiring process. Recruitment teams must avoid waiting until there is an open position to fill before they build a pipeline that can deliver highly qualified candidates to them ahead of time. 

Streamline the Interview Process

There are many things to consider when planning an interview. Hiring teams must develop the interview questions, form an assessment rubric, find an appropriate location for the interview to take place, find interviewers who are available, and choose the best time for both the interviewer and the candidate. These processes can be streamlined by making this information easily accessible to all team members. Even better, providing this information on an integrated platform also makes it easy for the point person to convey relevant data to the candidate. 

Track Time Spent on Hiring

Once effective and efficient systems are in place, hiring teams may assume that the work is done. However, as tools modernize and new solutions are introduced to the industry, hiring processes can be optimized further. Companies must build a culture of constant improvement. The easiest way to do this is to improve recording and reporting. Hiring teams should track exactly how much is spent on each part of the hiring process. This can help business leaders identify areas of inefficiency and account for recruiting costs better. 

The hiring landscape is unlikely to get any less competitive in the coming years. Businesses must use all the tools at their disposal to ensure that their hiring practices are effective and efficient. Modern software can help businesses reduce hiring costs, focus on high-value activities, and fill open positions faster. Companies that wish to hire the best candidates must put the best practices in place to attract and retain them more effectively.

The post Are You Spending Too Much Time on Hiring? appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

For 2023, the official IWD theme is #EmbraceEquity, because equal opportunities aren’t enough, and true equity means creating an inclusive world. Over the last three years, I have marked IWD by talking to women in the HR and recruiting industries, amplifying their voices and sharing their advice for doing the work. Here is what they had to say:

Dr. Denise Caleb, PHR, President of the HUMAN RESOURCE STANDARDS INSTITUTE, on where to start:

“Create a practice of equity within the people, processes, practices, procedures and profits of the business. This requires organizations to review the internal and external approaches to equity by placing accountability and measures of the policies and governance that guides the organizational behaviors. An organization’s work in the DEIAB space needs to be measured, systemized and follow a path of continuous improvement.”

Building on this, Daniela (Dani) Herrera, Director, Recruitment Operations and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at R/GA, talks about best practices:

“It starts with pausing and reviewing all the systems, processes and platforms we have in place in our organization so that we can design them anew – with equity, inclusion, accessibility, transparency and accountability in mind.

Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, but there are a few best practices to help your organization get started. You could, for example, ensure that you’re using inclusive language in all company communications, review your performance and salary raise processes to ensure transparent and equitable processes, deconstruct all your interview questions to identify and minimize biases and continuously work on your company benefits offerings.

Doing this work takes time, effort, flexibility and, more importantly, unwavering commitment!”

Freelance Technical Recruiter Dayna Ciarfalia on understanding how we, as individuals, factor into equity initiatives:

“Breaking biases in hiring and retention is anything but simple. A skill I’ve found to be particularly helpful in decreasing bias across the board is self-awareness.

From identifying unconscious belief systems that drive assumptions of others to snap judgements we make based on “gut” feelings, learning to challenge our beliefs, assumptions and feelings rather than accept them as truth can help mitigate bias and promote equity.”

Elliott White, Director of Recruiting and Onboarding at RemoteBridge, on creating sustainable change:

“The only way to #EmbraceEquity in the workplace is by taking an objective look at where biases already exist in your systems – because they do. Too many times, the wrong efforts are made simply for the sake of making change.

Consider this: Your team implements a tool to lessen bias in initial screenings. Every subsequent candidate then experiences vastly different questions during interviews with your company due to unconscious, or even conscious, bias from interviewers – nothing has changed. Your candidates and employees should be experiencing an honest, unified voice of equity and inclusion, encompassing everything from a job posting to an annual review. If you aren’t moving with intention, you will only ever be moving to the side, never forward.”

With regard to participation, Susan Lowe, Global Chief People & Sustainability Officer for Fuel50, shares:

“I think we often don’t talk about discrimination, whether we witness it or experience it, for a multitude of reasons. I heard a phrase last week that resonated, which I have adapted for this as

‘it’s not enough to be a non-discriminator, we must be anti-discriminators.’ We can all play an active role in forging a discrimination-free world!

I am passionate about enabling a world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive, where everyone feels that sense of belonging, even if I can only impact my own ‘backyard.’ But I believe it ‘starts at home,’ so at Fuel50, we are focused on a culture that enables everyone to thrive, especially women in the world of tech.”

Claire Fang, Chief Product officer at SEEKOUT, on flipping the script:

“Human brains like to be ‘lazy’ and make quick judgements based on our prior knowledge, bias, or expectations. To break the biases, we need to intentionally fight the ‘lazy’ brain and approach each person with curiosity and an open mind, to learn about what makes the individual special.

When evaluating women for job opportunities, we need to catch that whispering voice in our head that says, ‘she can’t handle our situation because she is too soft-spoken’ or ‘she won’t be able to handle the demanding workload because she has three young kids,’ and give women an equal chance.

Furthermore, we all need to proactively refer women for jobs, promotions, and special projects in the workplace so that we all get to see women shine in a variety of differentiating situations.”

Emphasizing the need for action, Jennifer Cobo, SVP & Global Head of Enterprise Transformation and Cloud Modernization for Virtusa, offers:

“Equity is not about fulfilling a basic need but understanding unique requirements and providing the exact resources to succeed. Equity paves the way for achieving your goals and preparing for success.

This IWD, in efforts to close the gap in gender equity, Virtusa orchestrated the Engineering Equity Hackathon – ‘a hackathon made for her.’ The hackathon aims to address and solve societal problems by creating a platform for women STEM students to develop solutions that directly address the challenges they face in technology. The event also provides mentoring, training, certifications, scholarship, and job opportunities.

With this contest, we intend to drive gender equality by empowering women to take charge of their careers and providing tools to enhance their talent. We also hope this event sets an example for the industry and inspires other companies to take action in establishing their own gender equality initiatives.”

Katrina Purcell, Chief of Staff at Harri, on the culture connection:

“Diversity of thought breeds better outcomes for employees and the organization. When an organization creates and fosters an environment of psychological safety – where employees can have open and honest conversations about passions and life choices on a professional and personal level – it provides the opportunity to discover commonalities across generations and career areas and connect on a deeper, more meaningful level.”

And finally, Ayishah F. Williams, MBA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, Director, People & Culture at Sounding Board, on recognizing the humanity of it all:

“I am a huge proponent of holistic HR. When practiced consistently, it ensures that you embrace equity because you hire human beings. We need to understand that we get the whole person at work and embrace everything that comes with it. Understanding the needs of your entire employee population, being able to connect and address their specific wants and goals, and then providing services and programs that support them is a holistic HR leader’s primary function in today’s changeable, disruptive marketplace.”

From choosing to challenge to breaking the bias, the annual occurrence of International Women’s Day reminds us that we need to continue to raise awareness and find new ways to take action within our spheres of influence. No matter your role, experience, or gender, we all have a part to play, and I hope this article offered inspiration to help you embrace equity in your workplace this year.

The post International Women’s Day 2023: Actionable Ways to #EmbraceEquity appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

A Criminal Record Does Not Automatically Equal Dangerous

Let’s clear the air. It’s crucial not to assume the worst in someone simply because they hold a criminal record, but rather to keep well away from any discrimination and give them a second chance. A criminal record doesn’t automatically mean someone has a murder or theft conviction. They may have been charged with possession of marijuana, which is now legalized. They may have been part of a protest and ended up on the wrong side of the law.

There’s a strong wave of opinion promoting upping our efforts in second-chance hiring. We should be open to employing those with criminal records who find it tough to obtain gainful employment due to their criminal record status. However, the issue bothering many employers is the stigma associated with employing someone with a criminal record. Are we putting our current staff in danger? Are they trustworthy and reliable? Of course, much of this sentiment is a narrative playing out in the employer’s mind rather than the actual reality of the situation.

Why Pursue a Second-Chance Hiring Strategy?

Let’s divide this into two thought directions. One direction is more altruistically concerned, while the other deals with the positives of the second-chance workforce.

The Altruistic Mindset

Altruism is defined as a selfless concern for the well-being of others, even at risk or cost to ourselves. With the stigma around hiring those with a criminal record so prevalent, it does seem like there are risks to second-chance hiring. As humans, we do, however, like to give people a second chance and provide opportunities for those who find it challenging to find employment due to their circumstances.

It is important to point out that much research and gathered statistics point to the fact that most US citizens who are the not-so-proud owners of a rap sheet have yet to actually be convicted of a serious crime. They are perpetrators of misdemeanors, possibly even once-off moments many of us without criminal records have been through often but have managed to get away with.

Offering candidates a second chance because they deserve it is good enough. Of course, rigorous interview processes and screening, as you would for any potential employee, are essential.

A Potentially Motivated Workforce

Obtaining gainful employment is not easy for those with a criminal record. They have to work far harder to gain employment, and often, the job they get is below their skill level.

When you employ someone in this situation, they are more likely to be more motivated to keep their job, making sure they are an asset to the company. Previously incarcerated citizens or those with a bad track record tend to want to alienate themselves from their past. They are eager to build their careers and write a new, more positive chapter in their lives. As the employer, you will have an employee who is highly motivated and eager to learn and develop.

Just a quick online search, and you’ll find many success stories of second-chance employment candidates who have thrived and moved up through the ranks in a company. Let’s not be naive, though. There are, of course, many for who it has yet to work out, but isn’t this the case with any other potential employee?

Industries that Could Benefit from Second-Chance Hiring

It’s important that don’t see second-chance hiring as only trade and labor based. As recruiters, we should screen potential candidates based on their expertise, skills, and motivation. Many candidates with a criminal record have incredible intellectual knowledge and skills to add to the workplace.

However, there is still a deficit and many opportunities available in the labor sector. According to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, about 3.5 million workers are “missing” from the workforce, nearly three years after the pandemic took hold of the world. There are opportunities aplenty, and embarking on a second-chance employment strategy could help alleviate the huge labor force deficit.

You know, the typical movie scenario. We’ve all seen it; the notorious hacker turns good and helps the government unearth the devious plots of the enemy with a few swift clicks of the computer keyboard. While this is part of the cinematic world, it could be a reality for many, taking skills used for ill gain and turning them into positives, adding value to businesses and, yes, governments too. Data capturing, research and many remote work opportunities could be an excellent fit for those who might not fair so well in a person-to-person office environment.

Second-Chance Hiring, Looking Ahead

The positives far outweigh any perceived negatives around second-chance hiring. With rigorous screening systems and interview processes in place and stigmas about criminal record holders put aside, there is an untapped workforce of just over 77 million eager to fill positions and grow in their careers. Second-chance hiring should be given the chance it deserves.

The post The Benefits of Second-Chance Hiring appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

Brilliant women of all races, sexual orientations, and disabilities navigate bias and question unfair treatment in the workplace daily. They’re keen to lean into their strengths, gain leadership positions, and are fueled with the ambition to succeed. But there are still pipeline challenges and workplace environments holding them back.

According to LeanIn.Org CEO, Rachel Thomas, “Women leaders are not only underrepresented. They’re more likely to be investing in good people management, fostering inclusion on their team, and showing up as allies.” She says that from their research, they’ve seen that “business results are better when there are more women and more diverse leadership.”

This article will examine the state of the pipeline for women and answer questions about the current situation. We also look at the call to action for recruiters and businesses to address the root cause and the reaction, known as the “Great Breakup.”

Cracks in the Leadership Pipeline: Gender and Hiring

The ‘leadership pipeline’ that we’re referring to is the steps taken to “get to the top.” The broken rung on the ladder to the top makes up the foundational issue in the state of the pipeline.

A Women in the Workplace report from McKinsey, in partnership with LeanIn.Org, surveyed and interviewed 33 participating organizations and more than 40,000 employees. The 2022 report concluded the following stats that continue to see men outweigh women at management levels:

• For every 100 promoted men from entry-level roles to manager positions, only 87 women are promoted
• 40% of the women surveyed said it was commonplace for other people to take credit for their ideas
• There was a 2% drop from 2018-2022 in female employees in technical roles, with only 16% of the position share going to women
• Women are repeatedly “stretched thinner” than men in leadership, with 43% of women leaders burned out, compared with only 31% of men at their level
• 40% of women leaders say their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work isn’t acknowledged

Understanding the “Great Breakup” in the Workplace

The Great Breakup in the workplace is a reaction to the state of the pipeline and the “broken rung.” It refers to a trend of women, particularly those in leadership positions (but also young, ambitious women), leaving their places of employment and seeking new opportunities. Ten percent of women leaders quit their jobs in 2021, with only around 8% of male leaders.

A range of factors affecting women drive this “Great Breakup”:

• The desire for greater work-life balance (flexibility, well-being)
• Underrepresentation of females in leadership
• Dissatisfaction with pay gaps
• Career advancement opportunities elsewhere
• Prevalence of gender discrimination
• Bias in the workplace limits their ability to advance
• Lack of DEI

The Bad News of the Great Breakup

The result of the Great Breakup is a significant loss of female talent and expertise in the corporate world, which can have negative consequences for both individual women and the organizations they leave behind.

Can The Great Breakup Have a Positive Impact?

Certainly! When people stand together to say “enough is enough,” eventually, they’re heard. And women have been chanting this phrase for decades. The Great Breakup allows women an opportunity to pursue careers that better align with their values and goals and to create more inclusive and equitable work environments.

Enough is Enough! What is a Recruiter’s Call to Action?

The Great Breakup in the workplace will hopefully see attitudes and expectations shift when it comes to promoting or hiring female leaders or young women in leadership. It calls for employees to repair the “broken rung” as the root cause of inequality and create a more supportive, unbiased, and empowering workplace for everyone. Companies need to recognize, incentivize, and reward the valuable contributions of their leading ladies. It’s in their interest to foster an environment that gives credit where it’s due. Without change, companies risk losing the future generation of woman leaders too.

As a recruiter, it’s vital to learn how to build a more inclusive candidate pipeline and represent companies that desire to build diverse teams, no matter the field. When you find these businesses, build solid relationships so that you can direct young, ambitious women to the environments they want without compromising their work-life balance.

As a recruiter, you’ll come across many influential female leaders. They are the ones who are willing to drive the shift. Learn from them, present them to employers when they’re suited to the job, and stand behind the trends that push for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The post “It’s Not Me, It’s You”: Understanding the Great Breakup in the Workplace appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

Today, the best employees are looking for businesses that advertise themselves as employee-centric and supportive. Most people want to work for businesses that can improve their work-life balance and value social well-being. 

As a recruiter, you can take advantage of this trend by focusing on social well-being and balance during the recruiting process. 

Benefits of Social Well-Being

Employees around the globe have had enough toxic work environments that undervalue their efforts or disparage their identity. Employees are jumping ship, and are looking for businesses that value social well-being. 

Meeting the demands of today’s employees can be tricky. However, creating a supportive work environment can help your business land more talented applicants and find your dream candidates. Better social well-being can also improve your business’s brand, too, as everyone wants to buy from a business that values its people. 

Companies that cherish their people are also more open and honest. This can help employees discuss workplace health concerns and improve the lives of all employees. Employees that feel supported will willingly come forward with issues like workplace safety concerns and won’t feel intimidated by managers or HR. This can help business leaders run a safer, healthier business and minimize the risk of lawsuits or high staff turnover. 

Survey Your Current Benefits

You can’t authentically advertise your business as employee-friendly if you don’t have robust benefits and programs that improve social well-being in the workplace. However, that doesn’t mean you need to convince the finance department to spend a fortune on new employee wellness programs. Instead, audit your current programs to ensure you’re making the most of your current offering. 

If, after surveying your current benefits, you find that your business is behind competitors, you can pitch low-cost benefit programs that target younger employees and have a high ROI. Consider initiatives like: 

• Fully/partial gym membership funding
• Subscription to apps for meditation/mindfulness
• Flexible working hours
• Resource/affinity groups at work

Most of these programs only cost a few dollars per employee but make a major impact on your recruiting efforts. Paying for wellness apps or offering flexi-time shows that you care about employee wellbeing, even if you’re working on a limited budget. 

Advertising Yourself

Advertising yourself as an employee-centric employer is about more than listing a few perks and benefits at the bottom of a job listing. Your entire listing should prove that your business cares about the health and well-being of your staff. 

Start by writing more inclusive job descriptions. Using language that promotes diversity and inclusion ensures that you gather applications from all demographics. It also shows that you are aware of how a person’s background might impact their experience at work. 

Avoid using personal pronouns and reconsider your “values” subheading. Instead, focus on performance-based descriptors and role-specific language. If in doubt, reach out to the department you’re hiring for to gather more research so you can write a comprehensive, inclusive advert. 

You should try to publish your job adverts in non-traditional venues, too. Job forum sites like LinkedIn and Indeed will yield hundreds of applicants, but you need to go above and beyond the normal sites if you want to find the right employees. Consider posting to forums like Black Jobs or your state-wide autism society website. These sites help you find employees who are traditionally underrepresented in some fields and can help you exceed your DEI targets. 

Mental Health-Friendly Application Processes 

Applying for a job is a time-consuming, taxing process. Prospective applicants are looking for employers who value their time and will turn away if faced with unnecessarily convoluted forms and questionnaires. 

Revise your recruiting process to become more mental-health-friendly. Start with the basics, and ensure that applicants do not have to re-write any information that is already included on their CV or resume. Make it clear that you are willing to make reasonable accommodations before the applicant begins the process and try to minimize the rounds of interviews that applicants must go through. 

These steps show that you value applicants’ time and well-being. A robust, mental-health-friendly process may also save you time, as you won’t have to dig through forms or discard unnecessary information every time you open a new application packet. 

Final Thoughts

Businesses that value social well-being appeal to today’s applicants and will draw the most talented prospective employees. As a recruiter, you can take advantage of this trend by writing inclusive adverts and highlighting perks like flexible work hours, wellness programs, and affinity groups in your workplace. Try to make the application as straightforward as possible, as your application is a reflection of your entire business. Make sure applicants don’t have to repeat information and try to cut down on the number of interview rounds you plan on holding.

The post The Benefits of Focusing on Social Well-Being in the Recruiting Process appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

Regardless of the subtle differences, recruiting strategies should be designed to attract candidates where they are in life and tailored to their unique preferences for job hunting. Employers who want to maintain, build and attract a multigenerational workforce need to understand their audience, the best messaging and medium for recruiting.

Organizations eager to learn how to recruit across generations and attract top candidates should take the following topic tactic for each generation into account. 

Recruiting Gen Z 

Gen Z includes individuals born between 1997 and 2012, and though many are just beginning to enter the workforce, this segment will balloon over the next few years. Therefore, recruiting Gen Z has quickly become a priority for recruiters.

To successfully recruit and attract GenZ, recruiters should consider: 

• Content marketing – Leverage social media channels to boost the company’s presence. Developing helpful content about core values, the company’s mission, non-traditional benefits, retreats and social events for the potential candidates will pique this generation’s interest and allow recruiters to connect organically. However, once engaged, recruiters should personalize communication through email, social and text. For many in this generation, candidates need to visualize how their personal and professional lives can blend. Through content marketing, recruiters can intentionally showcase the company and how candidates can add value with their unique perspectives and experiences.

Recruiting Millennials 

Millennials are candidates born between 1981 and 1996. As technology continues to evolve, this generation of tech natives and early adopters of the newest tech trends are assets to today’s workplace. 

To attract Millennial candidates, recruiters should consider: 

• Hiring timelines – Millennials tend to value communication and feedback, especially during the interview process. Many within this generation value faster interview processes and frequent check-ins. Recruiters should communicate with this generation during each stage of the hiring process to keep candidates engaged. Engagement steps might include creating communications triggered by each recruitment step and being clear about the next steps and expectations. This generation values personalized communication and engagement through text messages, emails or direct messages from social sites like LinkedIn to build rapport quickly. With immediate and constant communication, talent acquisition teams can build rapport among millennial candidates, garner interest and attract top talent.

Recruiting Gen X 

Generation X includes individuals born between 1965 and 1980. As more boomers retire, candidates within this generation are starting to take on more senior-level roles and fill top leadership positions, making Gen X recruiting key to business succession. 

To add more Gen X candidates to the talent pipeline: 

• Clearly define career paths – Collaborate with human resource personnel and research the career path of past candidates who are still with the organization. As a generation that values transparency, Gen X wants to know what it takes to succeed in the role and how others progressed before them. Although some within this generation can be skeptical about opportunities through social media, recruiters can build credibility with direct, one-on-one communication through these channels. 

Recruiting Boomers  

Baby Boomer candidates were born between 1946 and 1964, making them some of the most experienced talent, particularly in leadership positions. 

To find more Baby Boomer candidates, recruiters should consider: 

• Direct communication – Individuals within this segment care about the day-to-day aspects of the position and generally less about company culture, therefore when communicating with candidates, recruiters should explain why a candidate’s experience makes them an ideal candidate for the job, what they stand to gain from the opportunity and present a comprehensive job description. Through direct phone or email conversations, recruiters and candidates within this generational pool can further discuss opportunities for leadership positioning, mentorship and relationship building.

Recruiting for a multigenerational workforce cannot be taken with a “one-size-fits-all” approach. Before recruiters deploy their strategies, they should identify the talent they need and want. Then, develop and target the messaging to the audiences based on their unique needs, how they communicate and what they want from a job. By considering and prioritizing a candidate’s generational nuances, recruiters can successfully build a multigenerational workforce to withstand the future.

The post Generational Recruiting: Know Your Audience  appeared first on RecruitingDaily.

Is your language advancing your organization’s approach to recruiting, hiring, and advocating for all genders? Or are you hurting your brand without even knowing it?

Keep reading to learn more about the impact of your brand on gender.

What is the Impact of Brand on Gender and Sex?

We know that word choice is essential to a product or service’s perception. It’s no different for your organization’s brand and how the brand impacts views on gender and sex.

First, let’s understand the difference between gender and sex. Sex is typically categorized as female or male; however, organizations should keep in mind that sex includes variations in biological attributes (and how individuals express those attributes).

Gender, on the other hand, “refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, expressions and identities of girls, women, boys, men, and gender diverse people.”

According to the Association of National Advertisers, “[w]hile many brands are embracing LGBTQ+ inclusivity in their marketing, tackling gender nonconformity authentically can still present a challenge or missed opportunity for some. However, this is a necessity for brands existing in the now and moving into the future gracefully.”

Not only is this an opportunity for brands and branding, younger generations demand it. According to Gallup, “35 percent know someone who prefers a gender-neutral pronoun and 59 percent believe forms should include options beyond the binary (‘man’ and ‘woman’).”

And as far as the workplace? Deloitte has found that Gen Z will surpass Millennials in population numbers while taking the torch as the most diverse generation in U.S. history. Further, “[a]s Gen Zers are about to step onto the world stage, the impact of their entry will be swift and profound, its effects rippling through the workplace, retail consumption, technology, politics, and culture. Radically different than Millennials, this generation has an entirely unique perspective on careers and how to define success in life and in the workforce.”

And this “swift and profound” entry includes employers’ brand and branding, causing employers to question how and when to market to different sexes and genders – without being “insensitive and outdated.”

Why are Language and Branding Important in the Hiring Process?

Job seekers respond differently to language and branding, including as it relates to job searches – causing some applicants not to apply at all. For example, studies show that “gender-coded language” in job ads deters female applicants. Specifically, in an oft-cited LinkedIn study, if the word “aggressive” was included in a job ad, 44 percent of women and 33 percent of men would be discouraged to apply.

Additionally, LinkedIn found that 92 percent of hiring professionals believe that soft skills are more important than hard skills, including job ad language such as leadership, collaboration, critical thinking, and adaptability.  However, 61 percent of women associate soft skills with the female gender, 52 percent of men associate soft skills with the male gender, and more than 55 percent of c-suite professionals associate soft skills with the male gender.

As you can see, language can impact genders and sexes at all levels of a company – from the job seeker to the hiring manager to the c-suite executive. But, which companies are doing a good job of being more descriptive about the specific job candidate they’re looking for – whether through job descriptions, job ads, or other employer branding language?

For example, Aubrey Blanche, the Global Head of Diversity & Belonging at Atlassian, stated that when it came to using truly inclusive language, they “focused on bringing in more balanced teams as it relates to gender, race, and other underrepresented backgrounds . . . [they]  discovered that we had used language that subtly biased on job ads in favor of white and male candidates, and [technology] helped us more closely align our language to our culture and message more inclusively to a broader set of candidates.”

Promoting an inclusive brand is not always an easy task. Employers must pay attention to language (and reactions to language) across all sexes and genders. However, paying attention to your employer brand’s terminology when recruiting and hiring talent can help you attract more diverse talent while setting a more relevant tone for your employer brand.

The post How Your Language Hurts: The Impact of Brand on Gender appeared first on RecruitingDaily.