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NetHire News is published monthly and emailed to Recruiters, HR professionals and Managers with hiring responsibilities. It contains information on the latest hiring trends and best practices - particularly in the areas of online and social media recruiting.
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Organic Recruiting - Is It For You?
Organic recruiting uses search engine optimization and various forms of social media to drive traffic to your career site. In organic recruiting, the emphasis on job boards is decreased. Instead, the employer establishes an audience through social media such as Facebook, Twitter, web forums, Google+ etc., which all bring the user back to their own career site. Basically, it's the idea that through normal, every day web searches the people you need will “organically” find your job posts. That is, through searching their own interests they will be driven to your available jobs through your expert mastery of social media.
Organic recruiting has both positives and negatives. Organic recruiting is great if you have ongoing positions. Posting the same job over and over onto job boards will yield weaker and weaker results. However, driving a constant flow of new users to your career site will provide you with fresh applicants. Organic recruiting is also great for attracting passive candidates. People who have jobs, and who aren't necessarily actively looking for a new position probably won't be searching job boards. However, if they are brought to your job listings through their normal Internet use they are more likely to apply to available positions. Additionally, if someone comes across your job postings on your own site, they're most likely to be interested in working for you as a company, rather than just needing job, meaning it is more likely they will be more loyal and hard working employees.
Like anything else, organic recruiting also has it's downsides. Having an effective organic recruiting campaign means that you have to have strong employer branding and online presence. It is possible to build up an online brand and presence, but it does take time. For companies that don't want to take the time or resources to maintain their social media accounts, organic recruiting can be somewhat time consuming.
Organic recruiting creates a direct channel of communication between your job openings and the online community that you are involved in. Organic recruitment is also an investment. Taking the initial time to build an audience and maintain involvement in the community you create will make recruiting easier in the long run. Once that channel of communication is established, it's easier to draw on the people you are connected to and to find the great employees you're looking for.
NetHire has organic recruiting solutions and social media managment options that fit your needs. Our packages provide a long term solution to your recruitment demands. See an account manager today for details.
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The HRPA Trade Show is Almost Here
NetHire is excited to be back at the HRPA Annual Conference and Trade Show this year.
The show will be held January 23-25 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. We would love to see you there, so come visit us at booth 710 and pick up some awesome NetHire swag!
And if you can't make it out to see us, don't worry. We will be live tweeting during the entire trade show! Follow @nethire to find out all the exciting things happening at NetHire's HRPA trade show booth!
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2013 - The Beginning of the End
The coming new year is going to bring many changes to the labour force, including the beginning of a shift in employee generations. As Baby Boomers begin to retire and those in Generation Y (Gen-Yers) start to take their place, employers need to assess their current work environment and hiring practices to ensure they are not alienating workers based on the generation they belong to. Only those employers who are able to adapt will be able to hire the right people and meet their staffing needs.
Despite a new trend in which older workers are waiting longer to retire, the next year will see a large number of Baby Boomers retiring. According to Statistics Canada, just under 400,000 Canadians will turn 65 in 2013. Extrapolating to the U.S., that means that 4,000,000 people this year will reach retirement age. And even though the average retirement age is increasing, it doesn't mean that employees are staying in their current roles. Many Baby Boomers are leaving to start their own businesses or moving to roles with less responsibilities. As we've noted in previous articles, this mass retirement of the population has serious implications for businesses. Many key staff will retire, leaving businesses short staffed and in need of employees who have the expertise they require to continue to be competitive in today's economy.
The inability to find qualified candidates, however, is made worse by a job market and employer assumptions that favour middle aged workers. Many employers are unable to find the people they need not only because of a lack of people, but also because they are not accommodating the people that make up a large percentage of the workforce. If companies are to thrive they need to assist older workers to adapt to new roles and to nurture and mentor the youngest generation in the workforce.
Generation Y has a bad reputation as being entitled, having short attention spans, and being over-focused on new technologies and methods of communication (ex: smartphones and Facebook). These descriptions, however, are often born from generational differences, rather than an accurate depiction of a generation. The fact is, there is a large resource pool of candidates to draw from if you are flexible and willing to adapt your current workplace to accept and welcome younger workers.
Striving to attract and retain Gen-Y workers doesn't mean making one-sided compromises to your work environment. Understanding the main ways Gen-Yers differ from Baby Boomers can help you alter your workplace to accommodate new additions to your staff.
One reason why Gen-Yers are painted as entitled is because they often place a high value on a work-life balance. Many know what it's like to grow up in dual-income households where the parents worked long hours. As Gen-Yers are now of an age where their starting their own families, offering flex-time and the ability to work from home is an attractive perk to this group. Those that are unattached, however, are often willing to work extra hours, making the transition to less senior staff easier.
Gen-Y is also known for growing up in an age of constantly changing technology and ways of communicating. Many articles have been written on the short attention span of people in the Y generation, however this can also be seen as a generational gap. Gen-Yers are used to always multitasking, always having to learn something new, whether it be a new computer program, new piece of technology like a smartphone, or new software. Organising your workplace so that they are free to explore and use new technologies and methods of communication as they come out means that not only will they be continuously engaged at work, but your company will remain at the cutting edge of new trends.
Younger workers won't want to work for companies that do not accommodate their generational work habits, and companies will not find qualified people if they do not expand the profile of who is considered a star employee. If companies want to survive the shift in generations that is now occurring in the workforce, they will have to adapt themselves to the expectations of younger workers and the needs of the baby boomers.
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Social Media and Customer Service
Most companies know that if they want to be competitive in today's market they need to be involved in social media in some way. Knowing how to use social media effectively, however, can sometimes prove to be challenging. The result is that companies create social media accounts and don't use them, or else use them only to post sales or product updates. Social media platforms, however, can be a great way to engage with consumers and establish innovative ways to approach customer service.
The rise of anonymous communication through the Internet has given rise to what many are calling a culture of complaint. Consumers can easily voice concerns about products and services, whether they be minor or major issues. This culture of complaint is one reason why companies are not using social media to its full potential: they're afraid of negative comments being left in public forums so adjust settings so that users cannot post comments. However, as many businesses know, leaving consumer concerns unacknowledged can damage brand loyalty.
People generally just want to know they are being heard and taken care of when they are upset, so addressing their issues efficiently can maintain and even increase consumer loyalty. Social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and website forums provide direct communication channels to consumers, allowing you to address customer complaints or concerns as they occur. For example, Kraft Foods has an entire Twitter channel devoted to answering questions about products, promoting products and recipes, and directing consumers to customer care departments that can solve whatever problem they have. Similarly, ModCloth, an online clothing store, has staff that monitor all of the site's forums. When they find any concern a consumer has with an online purchase, even if it's a simple comment that a dress was too short, the moderators contact the consumer and direct them to someone who can address the issue. The customer service that Kraft and ModCloth provides is swift and public. As a result, customers know that if they have a problem, however small, their concerns will be addressed.
Social media, if used proactively, provides transparency to your service. Customers know that if something goes wrong they will be able to go to you to fix it.
Using social media to provide excellent customer service isn't hard. Being on social media is the first step, but it is your approach to social media that matters. Letting your accounts just sit there is a waste of this potentially valuable resource. Approach social media as direct communication channels to your consumers. Use social media to not only communicate what is happening with your company, products, services and industry. When someone posts a comment about your service, whether positive or negative, respond.
Creating areas where consumers can leave comments often makes businesses nervous, and consequently they turn off the ability for others to comment. However, by doing so you are stopping discussion with your consumers. Instead, have someone moderate your discussion forums. Responding immediately to comments, whether positive or negative, shows that you are involved in that community and care about their well-being as consumers.
Effective use of corporate social media is recognizing the beginning of a problem before it turns into a problem. For example, if someone gives a low rating of your service, use it as an opportunity to enter into a discussion with that consumer: what is the root of their problem, what can be done to avoid or improve the situation next time, what can be done to rectify the situation now. Not only will you ease that consumer, and probably cement their loyalty, but others will see your control of the situation. Assuring consumers that they will be taken care of is one great way to instill brand loyalty.
Many companies have social media accounts because they feel they have to to compete in today's economy. However, few use their accounts effectively. Social media, if used correctly, can lead to innovative customer service. Viewing social media as a proactive form of customer service, a way to enter into discussion with the community who uses your services, will allow you to drive consumer loyalty and stand out among your competitors.
NetHire has several social media packages that address your company's needs. Packages range from set-up to creating and managing various social media accounts, including (but not limited to) company career pages, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Contact an account manager today for more details.
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Hiring Criteria: Education vs experience
 For a long time, employers have regarded job experience as the final, and sometimes only, criteria when hiring new staff. If someone has been in a job for 5 years, they are usually assumed to be more qualified than someone who is fresh out of school. Of course, that's not always the case. This line of thinking over simplifies the recruiting process by defaulting to valuing experience over education without taking level of training, personality, drive or actual ability into account. In today's job market, this simplified approach to hiring is no longer effective.
While the hiring process needs to evolve, it can sometimes be difficult to know what criteria to use when evaluating candidates. There are distinct advantages and disadvantages to favouring experience or education.
Hiring for experience is appealing because it means that person has hands on knowledge of how the job and industry works. As most employers know, an individual with 10 years experience isn't necessarily extremely skilled, but many view this experience as more desirable than someone with related education but little on the job training. Other than experience not guaranteeing quality, the problem with requiring a certain amount of experience when hiring is that these workers are already employed. And depending on the skill level you're looking for, these workers may also be close to retirement. As such, hiring for experience requires investment in the recruitment process in order to find and attract employed persons. These workers need to be given a reason to leave their current employment. Those reasons could be more money, better working environment, telecommuting or other benefits, but it requires investment from the employer.
Another option when hiring is to consider candidates with little job experience but comparative education. These candidates have to learn how to work in the real world, but are probably more up to date on new methods in your field. Employees with less experience often have more to prove, since they are still building their career and reputation, so are likely to take more risks and try new things. An added benefit is that because they are still forming they professional experience, you are able to mould their progression by offering career development and training incentives. In this sense, they have the building blocks of the skills you need through their education, while being junior enough that you can train them to be the ideal employee you're looking for. Offering career development training also works as a recruitment bonus. Many younger workers look for work environments where they can move up. Candidates with less experience but more education will be a bigger investment of time than more experienced workers, but they are a long term investment as you can train them to your standards.
Today's economic and employment climate makes hiring qualified people difficult. Skills shortages affect many industries, and attracting top talent isn't always easy. If you are only looking for candidates that have extensive experience, you will have to make serious investments in recruiting and retention to attract employees to leave their current employer and if you are focusing solely on education you are missing out on the wealth of experience and knowledge that only time can provide to someone. The best option for organizations is to prepare their workplace to recruit both experienced and newly educated workers. This means having compensation and benefit programs geared for experienced workers and training programs for young and educated workers, thus providing the immediate skills needed by the employer and the potential provided by a younger generation.
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The Truth About Hiring Sales People
Great sales people are hard to find these days. Fewer people are interested in sales jobs any more, they often have little experience, or aren't assertive enough. However, the sales skill crunch isn't all to do with a lack of qualified people. Employers are also to blame. A culture of nurturing closers has also made great sales people hard to find.
A closer, the person who can convince anyone into a sale, who can change a hard no into a yes, is often seen as the ideal candidate by sales recruiters. The problem with closers, however, is that they're not focused on sales as a process. Closers are after a one-off end result, not building a long term relationship based on trust. Yes, closers get sales, but these sales are focused solely on the needs of the company (and the commission), rather than on the needs of the client. Focusing on only the company's goals is nearsighted. If a salesperson is focused on their service as a solution, on entering into a partnership with the potential client, then the results could be a long term sales relationship rather than one sale.
Finding salespeople who can strike a balance between the needs of their employer and the needs of the client should be the sales stars that recruiters look for. Clients want to know that they're being listened to, and that their needs are being considered. Great sales reps know this. They can tailor each sales pitch to a specific client. Closers simply close a deal; they're focused on this week's sales, not on next year's growth.
People who can sell based on a specific client's needs are also able to manage the account after the initial sale. Knowing what the client wants and needs means they can suggest more products to their client. And because they've gained the client's trust, they will be able to sell them additional services. That means multiple sales from one client, rather than just the one the closer made.
Hiring only closers is a narrow approach to sales. Hiring individuals who can promote your services as a solution and give individual attention to each potential client will ensure that you build a solid base of clients. Closers can get hard sales, but balanced salespeople can maintain long term clients.
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New Federal Changes to EI
Changes to Employment Insurance (EI) benefits came into effect this month. The purpose of the changes is to get workers on EI into the workforce soon. The changes bring stricter rules to keeping the benefits.
People claiming EI benefits have always had to prove they're searching for a job. However, the criteria for that search has been expanded under the new changes. Claimants now have to show that in addition to applying to positions they are also preparing resumes, attending job fairs and registering for job banks.
The criteria for accepting a job has also changed for long term users of EI benefits. Prior to the changes people did not have to take any job that paid less than previous positions or was not in their line of expertise. A claimant now has to accept any job offered to them within an hour's commute of their residence.
An interesting addition to the job search process is that individuals on EI will now be emails daily job alerts of jobs in their area. The details of how this process will work have not been released, but the new system will establish a larger pool of candidates for employers looking to hire. Not only will there be more people actively looking for work, but if your jobs are part of the email alert they will be actively distributed to more people on a regular basis.
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Employment Numbers
Canada
The unemployment rate fell again this month as 40,000 jobs were added to the market. The unemployment rate for December decreased 0.1 per cent to 7.1 per cent, the lowest unemployment rate in four years.
United States
The unemployment rate held steady this month at 7.8 per cent. This is the fourth month in a row that the unemployment rate has been under 8.0 per cent, an indication that the economy is slowly improving. Employment rose by about 155,000 jobs in December.
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NetHire is a hiring process. It includes profiling and benchmarking to create a job description that targets the ideal candidate and then uses the entire Internet including social media, search engines and
hundreds of job boards to reach out to those qualified people. In turn, you get the best candidates
in the right area, even for the hardest to fill positions in Canada or the US. NetHire puts your open job postings in front of more of the right people than any single job board or newspaper in Canada or the US.
If you have suggestions for content or inquires regarding this newsletter please email editor@nethireinc.com.
If you would like to post a job immediately or speak with an account manager regarding your hiring and recruiting needs please contact us.
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