Who says an old dog can’t learn new tricks..I learn something new everyday.
Did you know that Twitter users are known as “tweeple”?
Click the link below to read a recent story we were featured in on how online apps and social networking help connect employers, job seekers on web.
ok…maybe not yours…but so many others get a failing grade.
The economy is slowly gaining ground but many are still in downsizing and hiring freeze mode as the state of “cautious optimism” is still in effect. Few employers are thinking strategically about the current buyer’s market for talent. A year ago we were using the term “the war for talent.” Although there might be a cease-fire at the moment, the war will come back in full force - and I predict it will in fact be worse than it was. (Note: the state of the economy has not changed global demographics - retiring boomers…)
In order to prepare for the war that will resume, now is the time to look at your recruiting and selection processes. By improving your processes now, you will be in a better position to recruit and retain top talent in the future when others are scrambling to catch up. Here are the top 7 areas to review in order to ensure your process is top notch.
1) Plan: Develop a workforce plan - how many new people will you need when things pick up? What is your historical turnover? Know how these things impact your required future headcount.
2) Define roles: Don’t just rely on job descriptions - look at specific skills, knowledge and talents needed. What is the nature of the team and the workplace culture. All these impact how you will select the right candidate.
3) Sourcing: Develop a pipeline of candidates through the right channels - social networks, referrals, clients, suppliers. Develop the pipeline before the vacancy!
4) Screening: Develop standardized screening questions and avoid the “good guy” syndrome. You know…the gut feeling you get after you interview a candidate based on an informal conversation. DANGER!
5) The Offer: Make sure you describe the job realistically - the good and the bad. Be fair in creating offer packages and involve the right players in the process without dragging it out into a 26-step 12-week process.
6) All Aboard: Welcome new hires before they even start - have a co-worker call them at home 2 weeks before they start to ask if they have questions and to say we are looking forward to having you start. In the first few weeks, you need to set standards and expectations for performance and ensure new hires know how they will be evaluated.
7) Results: What metrics do you have in place for the recruitment and selection process? How long did it take from posting to start date? How long do your new hires stick around? Did you source 100 people - interview 10 or did you source the right 10 people and interview the top 3? Think of the time investment made in the process and the returns. Less is more - fewer, better candidates = time and money saved.
Review the above 7 key areas and ask yourself “does my recruitment process suck”? Even better, ask your recent hires what they thought of the process - they have the answer.
During these tough economic times, people need to work smarter, not harder.
We highly recommend making sure your team members have all the tools to deliver and be as productive as possible.
Take the opportunity to invest in current staff with training and development activities. To keep costs down you might want to develop some in house training. Here are the top 10 things you should keep in mind to make sure you see a return on your training investment.
1. Assess your needs: Define what you want employees to deliver. For example, if you are planning a course on customer service, what are the top 3 things you want employees to do when greeting a customer?
2. Content: Have a good mix of theory and practice. Make the delivery engaging by having a few role play/simulation exercises where participants can put the theory into practice right away.
3. Ask for feedback: Once you create the training material, run it past a few employees to get some feedback on the content. Make sure it is effective and hitting the mark.
4. Train the trainer: Make sure trainers have the skills and tools needed to deliver engaging content.
5. Evaluate and follow up: Look for ways the training is being applied on the job to ensure you are seeing a return. For example, ask specific questions to customers about employee service on your comment cards.
6. Clear expectations: When people leave the training, make sure they know what is expected of them. Look for opportunities to see them in action and align your expectations with performance review discussions.
7. Keep it practical: Make the material relevant and as actionable as possible by using work related scenarios that employees are likely to encounter.
8. Keep it short: Deliver your material in 2 hours or less to keep your audience engaged. Anything longer and you risk losing them.
9. Keep it top of mind: At morning huddles, weekly team meetings and on bulletin boards, re-enforce the concepts and remind people of your expectations. A great way to do this is to recognize people who are doing it right; say thank you or share a customer comment card.
10. Create Job-Aids: Want people to deliver a consistent experience to your customers? Create on-the-job-aids that can include laminated checklists, reminder cards or visual process flow charts.
Just in case you were wondering why should I bother using Twitter…they have now launched a job search application.
The New York Times calls Twitter “one of the fastest-growing phenomena on the Internet.” TIME Magazine says, “Twitter is on its way to becoming the next killer app,” and Newsweek noted that “Suddenly, it seems as though all the world’s a-twitter.”
Twitter is reported to have between 4 million and 6 million users each month, though the San Francisco-based company does not release figures.
The service is pushing a trend towards “real-time” search results as individual posts become more popular and show up within Google listings.
Want more free job postings and to increase your candidate flow, simply create a Twitter account and get your postings out.
Could this be the death of the big boards like www.monster.com?
Check it out at www.twitterjobsearch.com
How can you use Web 2.0 websites to get to know prospects before you make an offer?
If the only way you’re advertising your job vacancies is to buy space in newspaper career sections, you might as well dig a hole and bury those ads, along with the money you’re spending—because they won’t be found. Today’s job seeker is looking for much more than a help-wanted ad in Saturday’s paper. In fact, they’re probably not looking there at all.
But it’s likely that they’re highly active on at least one of the Web 2.0 websites that are fast replacing the old model of one-way communication with one based on interaction, sharing and collaboration. There are two key reasons it’s high time you started using these Web 2.0 tools in your recruitment efforts. If you don’t, you’ll risk being seen as so behind the times that potential employees might not even consider working for you. And if you do, you’ll be able to tap into the vast and fast-growing talent pool of those who communicate via their social networks on the Web.
But, with so many Web 2.0 recruiting tools out there, from blogs to Facebook to Ning, where should you start? Here’s a look at the fundamentals of this new approach to recruitment, the leading tools and how best to use them.
Click here to read the full story as published in Canadian Business Online
