A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Recruiting Data Management

Investing in the Right Talent

Freelance and Remote Workers

Recruiting and HR Technologies

Key Takeaways to Remember

Conclusion

A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

INTRODUCTIONThe recruiting industry is constantly changing and evolving, but keeping up on the trends can give you a leg above the competition. To keep track of these trends, RingLead’s partner company in the recruiting space, Broadlook Technologies, joined a webinar panel with JobScience, as well as many other great recruiting companies, to discuss the latest recruiting trends. This ebook is based on that JobScience webinar, moderated by Ted Elliott, CEO of Jobscience.

Many great questions ranging from HR technologies to hiring Millenials were discussed during this webinar, so we’ve pulled together the top questions and answers in an easy-to-digest guide to help you excel in recruiting this year and beyond.

Betsy RowbottomCo-Founder, The Good Jobs

Terry BustamanteSales Director, Daxtra

Tracey ParsonsFounder, CredHive

Paul MLadineoCo-Founder and Managing Director, HRNX

Dan HughesCo-Founder, Broadlook Technologies

THE PANELISTS INCLUDE:

A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

With more data available than ever before, how should recruiters organize all of this information?

Everyone talks about Big Data, but what does that really mean? Today, Big Data is a fire hose of information, and there are so many choices and options in the recruiting sector. It all comes down to how data can help architect strategies, to navigate and turn all of this data into actionable information.

TRACEY PARSONS

Portfolios are readily available, and social profiles are updated and maintained in real time. Strip down the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and

candidate experience so that you’re simply collecting a link. Make it easy for

candidates to show who they are.

PAUL MLADINEO

Boiling it down to a link, as Tracey mentioned, is not a security issue because there will be an opportunity for recruiters to collect

A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

information they need to validate various points about a candidate. Therefore, you’ll have opportunities to collect that information separately, even if it’s not traditional or conventional. If you’re starting with a link about a candidate with a great deal of information about them, make sure to still validate, verify, etc. Remember to do this in a logical way, or in a light and lean way, so that candidates aren’t bombarded with assessments. Glean the most important and most relevant aspects to the job for which they’re applying.

TERRY BUSTAMANTE

With all of the data available, organizations need to gain insight from the information existing in their internal databases. They’ve

likely invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in their existing data and technology; therefore, it’s crucial that they give their recruiters that autonomy and the ability to search existing sources.

TED ELLIOTT

I don’t think I met a single recruiter that doesn’t complain about having duplicate data in their system. I see recruiters who can barely handle their resumes in terms of their data, and I see the potential for confusion or doubling up on candidates because of that.

DAN HUGHES

The explosion of sources is not slowing down. Take all of those sources, and from a set of tools,

A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

technologies, methodologies, training, etc. bring them together for real insight. Bringing external, internal and historical data to one platform is a big movement. We are no longer about a name, a title, and an email for engagement. Using data, you must understand your audience, including their likes and dislikes. This is an essential differentiation as a recruiter. You can engage with them like never before. Platforms are going to be supportive of this extensive information.

TERRY BUSTAMANTE

Recruiters today are inundated with so many resources that they have to focus on implementing and finding high impact technology to improve their organizational structure or processes. They are looking for tools that will

give them insight into the data that they already have at their fingertips. Automation is key so that we can remove some of

these administrative tasks from the recruiters plate that, in turn, drive recruiter efficiency success.

A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Recruiters are experiencing some serious economic and generational shifts, and there are systems and processes available that can streamline recruiting processes and make it a lot easier to find those “purple squirrels” or top talent, as Betsy Rowbottom calls them.

BETSY ROWBOTTOM

The mindset needs to shift away from how candidates don’t fit us to how we fit them. One way is to publish videos and show a day in the

life of a candidate. One company that is really good at being transparent is

Zappos. They’ve done such a good job at positioning themselves as an employer that’s attractive to job seekers and, by the

way, attractive to customers, too.

How should recruiters commit to investingin qualifying the right talent?

A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

BETSY ROWBOTTOM

Invest in making the employment process really simple. Consider completely abandoning your applicant tracking system process altogether. If your ATS provides thousands of job seekers applying that are probably never going to be hired, then that’s a big loss of productivity.

BETSY ROWBOTTOM

Build talent communities in order to build relationships. Build your brand, and talk about who you are by communicating in a really meaningful way. Build relationships with talent that admire what you’re doing, and if they’re in the job market, they’ll remember you.

BETSY ROWBOTTOM

Not many companies are in the position to get rid of job postings or their ATS, but the company DNA is the foundation, so invest in hiring for culture. Then, communicating your culture is really important. You can invest in employees, training, corporate responsibility, etc., but if you don’t communicate it, no one will know you’re doing it.

A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

TERRY BUSTAMANTE

Small businesses need to learn to compete with some of the larger firms, whether they’re corporations or staffing firms or even startups that are offering unique incentives and environments to attract top talent.

BETSY ROWBOTTOM

Because of the changing market, companies are investing in a strong employment brand. Because brands impact the ability to attract talent, as well as retain talent, more and more companies are talking about who they are in a more transparent way.

A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

There is a rise in the freelance nation with 53 million Americans and about one-third of the workforce freelancing. That’s going to change the paradigm as they’re looking at different opportunities.

TED ELLIOTT

Everyone is going to need more recruiters because we’re going to need them to find talent. However, will recruiters know how to find this talent?

There is a challenge in the demographic shift, and the fact is that we have to recruit

Millennials, while Baby Boomers are leaving the workplace at an accelerating rate.

BETSY ROWBOTTOM

Millennials are born researchers. Employers must position themselves as an employer of

How Should a Recruiter Handle theGrowing Freelance Market?

A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

choice with helpful information on the web, so Millennials find this out while doing their research. Transparency is key. Candidates don’t understand vanilla messaging, such as: “We like to work hard, play hard,” or “We’re family friendly,” etc. Companies must come out and say how they invest in their employees, and how they invest in their community. Tell a story that a candidate can connect with. Millennials want to understand. Social responsibility is something that all generations in the workplace really care about. Think about those talking points. If you invest in messaging from an employment branding side, and tell that story, you are going connect with all different generations.

BETSY ROWBOTTOM

Having a strong employment brand externally helps internally as well. Your value proposition should be understood by your employees. You must be seen as an employer of choice internally, as well as externally. Employee engagement for new employees within a year is only 33%. The total overall engagement for the workforce is 29%. We’re looking at very low employee engagement numbers overall. There are great things happening in every industry, so it’s not to say that one industry is less than the other, but companies need to be thinking about a much more strategic way to position themselves and differentiate themselves as an employer of choice.

A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

TRACEY PARSONS

Hire in way that solves problems, and you will find the right role. Build on a company of mentorship with a little bit of a side hustle to teach everybody how to be hungry.

TRACEY PARSONS

It’s about being flexible and understanding the workforce. Think about what work selfies are going to look like, i.e. an image of people in their workplace and how that is going to impact the company.

TRACEY PARSONS

Focus on hiring adults and trusting them to do the job. Hire slow and fire fast. A lot of companies

are virtual and focused on hiring on fulfilling missions versus filling time. I would rather have an employee interested in

fulfilling missions all day long than sitting around the water cooler and gossiping for 15 minutes at

a time. This is kind of the shift that Millennials are driving because they are mission-driven.

TED ELLIOTT

In order for us to address the shortage of candidates in recent years, we have to

not only go after the Millennials and build a culture that people want to be part of, but we also have to figure out how to retain people

who feel they’re ready to leave.

A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

PAUL MLADINEO

If some of your workforce is nearing retirement, yet has a great amount of knowledge or experience, as well as an ability to mentor younger employees, put together a strategy to help retain those workers. One way of doing it is through job sharing so that this veteran employee can spend more time traveling or with their grandkids. This way they can still work, but they’re sharing their job with someone who wants to do the same thing. Rather than losing all of their accumulated knowledge, they can be still part of the workforce. It’s also an opportunity to blend in newer, younger employees who are progressing through their careers. It’s an opportunity to interact with those who have a great deal of knowledge and help them develop within those organizations.

A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

A billion dollars has been invested in HR technologies. If you’re buyer or user of HR technologies, it’s challenging to figure out where your mindshare is going to go.

PAUL MLADINEO

There have been many challenges in the labor market for the last decade, including talent shortages and the need for specific skill areas. What

has changed is the fact that this has become more pronounced, and there

is a proliferation of tools to help manage the hiring process. These tools are helping to manage recruiting, talent sourcing, and

more, all at once. Employers today are faced with a greater number of technology

choices that they have to bring into the recruiting process.

How do you plan for recruiting technologies?

A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

TED ELLIOT

There are more technologies that you could potentially buy or use because there’s been such a flood in the market. A lot of these technologies are based around helping you find the perfect candidate, but the reality is, you may just need to find a candidate, not necessarily the perfect candidate.

DAN HUGHES

Before you invest in technology, you must ask yourself, “What is our objective?” Is it retention, recruiting, replacement, succession planning, effective hiring of Millennials? With your objective in place, you can find the right technology to serve that need. A technology company cannot make that decision for the organization, however, we can certainly advise them.

A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

BETSY ROWBOTTOM

I’m seeing more and more marketing departments becoming involved with recruiting as a strategic part of their activities. There’s a lot more integration between marketing and HR, which is exciting. Marketers can utilize their skills to communicate more about their company culture, be strategic in messaging, and apply what we’ve learned over the last ten years from consumer branding. This can all be repurposed into employment branding.

TRACEY PARSONS

Become more active in managing careers in real-time versus managing issues and challenges. Keep current employees happy and engaged, and

give them the tools and the training they need. If you can cut retention, you

win, because you have fewer roles to fill. Nobody’s growing if they’re losing people.

PAUL MLADINEO

Keep it simple and ensure that solutions brought into the recruiting mix are

What is one final takeaway for recruiters?

A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

implementable. Don’t over complicate them, and don’t try to boil the ocean. Make sure that what’s implemented doesn’t ruin the candidate experience, or drive candidates to abandon an application process. Choose good tools, but keep them simple and optimize. TERRY BUSTAMANTE

Drive efficiencies around technology to reduce menial tasks. From an internal perspective, for corporate recruiting teams and staffing firms, that is going to be key to internal retention for your recruiting teams.

DAN HUGHES

Be brilliant at the basics. If you get back to the basics of blocking and tackling projects,

investing in the right technologies, and managing your time, you will be very productive in everything you do. PAUL MLADINEO

Don’t measure skills, but look at someone’s innate talents and interests. It’s not from a skills perspective, but from a strength perspective. There are tools that employers can use to measure skills, however, the most important thing to determine about a candidate is their interest in what they want to do. Then, match your culture, with the people who will strengthen that culture.

A RECRUITER’S GUIDE: YOUR BIGGEST HR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

CONCLUSIONRecruiters are going into the uncharted waters of having fewer people, more jobs to fill, describing incentives, hiring for culture, investing in talent, and being more flexible with approaches such as job share, freelancers and remote workers. This year, focus on hiring smart people over people who are ready to do the job, and remember the great insights from these experts. If you do that, you’ll be more successful than ever before.

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