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HR Best Practices in a COVID-19 Working Environment

by Veronica Blatt

Today’s guest blogger is Ed McConnell with HUB International, discussing best practices for HR departments during the coronavirus pandemic. HUB International provides a wide range of business and personal insurance options including liability, health, life, and more.

COVID-19 has quickly become a malady of its own for human resources departments, as employers across the U.S. struggle to make sense of new HR and employment practices liability (EPL) issues.

In the wake of the pandemic which has affected more Americans than any other country to date, employee benefits (EB), pay continuation, employee medical information confidentiality, Family and Medical Leave Act, Americans with Disabilities Act, layoffs, furloughs and more are a concern for just about every industry. We have provided some HR department coronavirus considerations in this new, ever-evolving world. Read the rest of this entry »

Company Culture: Hiring and Onboarding During a Pandemic

by Dave Nerz

Our recruitment network just completed a survey of our global recruiters regarding trends during these days of the COVID-19 pandemic. What we found is that there is still hiring activity out there, but much reduced from more normal times. Some of this reduction in activity allows recruiters and employers the time needed to hire, onboard, and showcase company culture in a completely new way.

So during a pandemic, the dinner meetings, lunches with prospective new hires and even the basic face-to-face meeting preceded by a solid handshake are things of the past. Good candidates and good matches for open positions are still out there, but the process to find and attract this talent needs some updating. Read the rest of this entry »

As A Small Business, Should I Hire a Recruitment Agency?

by Sarah Freiburger

These past few months have likely impacted your small business in one way or another. Many businesses experienced some level of layoffs or employee changes and as they look to find a new normal and anticipate what is to come, it might seem that hiring a recruitment agency to fill vacancies is an expense you should cut.

Smaller employers often think the following in regard to hiring:

  • You should search for candidates yourself
  • Working with recruiters is a waste of time
  • Reviewing resumes for the “right candidate” should be done by yourself as you know best who to interview, and
  • Hiring a recruiter is too expensive for a small budget.

However, the reality is when you speak with a small employer who has successfully used a recruitment agency, the comment you most often hear is that they cannot believe they had spent so much time and energy trying to find the “right candidate” even though they thought they had been saavy by using a variety of ways including placing ads on large and specialized job boards.

What many do not understand is that if you first try a recruitment agency on a contingent basis, you would only pay the recruiter if you hired candidate presented by the recruiter. BAM! All of that time and frustration spent trying to learn HOW to recruit a candidate for your company is returned to you as the professional takes over.

Our member’s clients comment that by using a recruitment agency they:

  • Filled the position faster.
  • Spent less money considering the overall cost of hiring which included the cost of their time to search for candidates.
  • Had the “right candidate” for the position delivered to them.

Bottom line: If you have not yet tried to use an independent recruitment agency, these next few months would be the time to find one that can help you come out stronger.

Relationships and Recruiting

by Veronica Blatt

Our guest blogger is Pam Robison of J. Gifford Inc. in Tulsa, Oklahoma. J. Gifford Inc. is a small, quality conscious firm providing highly individualized recruiting services to clients on a local, regional, national and international basis. The firm’s recruiting activities are focused on professional, technical and managerial placement, as well as contractor and international staffing for clients. Pam is a member of the NPAworldwide Board of Directors.

I’ve been in the recruiting industry for nearly 20 years now. I actually “stumbled” into this career after deciding to leave a large US-based manufacturer during a downtime in the industry. For 2 of my 17 years there, I was the human resource manager where one of my responsibilities was recruiting. Back in those days we would network as much as possible to gain referrals. We also placed ads in local papers and sat back waiting to receive resumes by mail. It wasn’t really much different when I began full-time recruiting in 2001, except technology had advanced to the point of website job postings and email. The advances in technology certainly helped reduce the lag time between the posting of a job and receiving responses from potential candidates. Read the rest of this entry »

The 14 Pitfalls We See Most in Recruiting

by Veronica Blatt

Today’s blogger is Ryan Winemiller, with TopFunnel, the automated sourcing platform that is enabling talent teams to attract and engage the most qualified candidates with a single click. TopFunnel’s suite of products helps teams unlock their talent pipeline with solutions built for streamlined sourcing, pipeline development, and fully automated scheduling. TopFunnel is an NPAworldwide Endorsed Program.

Pitfall #1: You require a pre-interview test or case study right after you’ve reached out to a potential candidate

Remember, when sourcing candidates via outbound recruiting it’s your job to sell the candidate on the position, not the other way around. If a test or case study is part of your interview process, save it until later on in interview rounds for outbound candidates.

Pitfall #2: Your messages sound inauthentic

While it is essential to paint the available opportunity in good light, you must also remember that this isn’t a sales prospect. Differentiate yourself in a crowded marketplace by being personable, and most importantly authentic. Read the rest of this entry »

Returning to Work After the Pandemic

by Veronica Blatt

If you’re a business owner or manager whose team is currently working remotely, have you started to think about what returning to work will look like? You will need to have a plan in place to ensure worker safety, even in an office environment. This will be true whether you own a building or rent space. Some things you may need to consider in your plan:

Maintaining social distancing in your office

Those in an open floor plan will need to create physical separation between work spaces. Ideas include moving work stations farther apart (if feasible), installing “sneeze guards” or other barriers, and working in shifts. This could mean some people work from home while others work from the office. It could mean having people working at different times of the day. Read the rest of this entry »

Marketing Activities for Recruiters

by Veronica Blatt

digital propertyMany recruiters are wondering what they can DO right now while placement activity is slow-to-nonexistent. You may be wondering whether it’s OK to make sales calls or ask your clients about their hiring plans. Some recruiters are working to offer outplacement assistance or resume coaching to candidates. I would like suggest there are valuable marketing activities that you can be doing, especially since some (most?) of these tend to get pushed to the bottom of your priority list in better times. Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t Panic … With Temp and Contract Placements!

by Veronica Blatt

Today’s blogger is Judy Collins with Evergreen Contract Resources, which becomes the employer of record  with complete back office services.  Judy helps recruiters start and expand their temporary and contract placements throughout the US. Evergreen Contract Resources is an NPAworldwide Endorsed Program.

Natural, and man-made, disasters can strike at any time. We know from the Boy Scouts’ motto that we should “Be Prepared.” The current crisis brought about by the COVID-19 virus demonstrates the wisdom of this advice. Sadly, we now realize that our preparedness for this biological disaster was lacking and we find ourselves in reaction mode, struggling to keep our businesses and daily lives going in the face of ever-mounting upsets and challenges. We must stay calm and carry on.

Businesses will strive to operate in the face of these challenges. With revenues down they will face serious cash flow problems and the very survival of many businesses may be jeopardized. Cost cutting is likely to be brutal. Ramifications of the expected paring down may include reduction in direct hire staff through layoffs, furloughs, or perhaps a sharp reduction in hours worked. Where possible many workers may be asked to work from home to help maintain the “social distancing” mandated by health authorities.

Don’t Panic. Americans are fighters! We can expect our business owners and entrepreneurs to use their ingenuity to stay in business if humanly possible. And people want and need to work. To reduce their costs and minimize their risks many businesses may re-hire laid off workers on a contract basis until the economy fully recovers. Use of contract workers will allow businesses to adjust quickly to the present situation. Overall labor costs and benefits burdens can be reduced and the risk of maintaining direct hire staff in the face of uncertainty minimized. This has serious implications for the recruiting industry’s direct hire placement fees and may lead to a significant spike in the use of contract workers.

What to do? As a recruiter, you can be prepared for the scenario which is likely unfolding before our very eyes. You can respond in a manner that ensures continuity of service to your clients in the face of calamity. Letting your clients know that you have a thought-out means of helping them ride out or recover from the present situation will increase their confidence in your ability to serve their needs. Partnering with a back-office provider can equip you with the ability to fill your client’s labor needs with contract workers. Get set up now so that you can move swiftly and stay ahead of the crowd. As the economy improves and confidence rises, these contract workers may possibly be hired direct, in which case you can earn a conversion fee.

Prepare yourself now by having an agreement in place which includes temp and contract as well as temp-to-hire options as a supplement to your direct hire offerings. With a back-office provider such as Evergreen, you can be ready to provide these services immediately…if you are set up in advance.

We are here to help the nation weather this crisis. Call Evergreen Contract Resources today and we will set you up. No cost. No obligation. Use us when you need us, so you DON’T PANIC…WITH TEMP AND CONTRACT PLACEMENTS!

Recruiters, Now’s the Time to Innovate

by Liz Carey

With Covid-19 shuttering the doors of retailers and restaurants alike, many businesses are thriving by thinking outside the box – sit-down restaurants have shifted to carryout service, grocery markets and butchers are now offering home delivery, salons are selling do-it-yourself dye kits, breweries are now manufacturing hand sanitizer, and apparel companies have shifted operations to make masks.

As a recruitment firm, you have likely been affected as well. Maybe your clients have shifted to Zoom video interviews, rather than bringing candidates in. Or, they may have slowed the hiring process or stopped it altogether. This means that, like the businesses mentioned earlier, you might want to start thinking creatively as well.

During an economic downturn or period of turmoil, some organizations will innovate and make adjustments, from which they will see the success continue long after this pandemic passes.

According to this article about wholesaler retailers thriving during the pandemic, “a successful long-term strategy involves identifying the aspects of your operation that you simply cannot afford to lose and focusing on the big picture.” Instead of scrambling and cold-calling and pushing sales on those who may not be interested… focus your efforts on your top clients or candidates. Call your client to assist with ideas on how to manage the crisis. Start a conversation with them, even if they are not hiring now.

If your client is hesitant to bring candidates in due to social distancing efforts, offer to facilitate video interviews. If your client has instituted a hiring freeze, think outside the box and ask them if they would consider contract/temp hiring, which often comes from a completely separate budget. Or, offer to build a pipeline of candidates for when the economy bounces back. If you are in an industry where jobs have completely dropped off, ask your clients if you can help them in another sector that hasn’t seen a dip – you can be their ‘one stop shop.’ If there really is just no job reqs you can work on for them, offer them other services, like competitor assessments or salary mapping. For candidates, offer resume reviewing, social media profile tidying up, or a salary benchmarking chat.

This is the time to think creatively and offer solutions, when most everyone else is scared and panicking. When this pandemic is all over, people will remember those recruiters who reached out and offered help.

What You Should Be Working on Right Now on Collections

by Veronica Blatt

Today’s guest blogger is Wilson Cole. He is the CEO of BackdoorHires.com and Adams, Evens & Ross, the nation’s largest credit and collections agency designed exclusively for the staffing and recruiting industry. In 2008 he was inducted into INC Magazine’s, “INC 500” for being the CEO of Adams, Evens & Ross, the 307th fastest-growing privately held company in America. Adams, Evens, & Ross has helped more than 3,000 staffing and recruiting firms recover more than $1 billion in past-due debt and is an NPAworldwide Endorsed Program.

With the pandemic sweeping the nation, here is some advice on what you should be doing regarding the collections side.

Reach Out to Your Clients

If you have been working with a company to settle their debt over a long period of time, the best thing you can do is to reach out to them. Let them know that there is still an invoice and see if they can make a good faith payment. Most companies will be able to make these as payroll protection loans are being offered by the government.

Jump on Problem Accounts

In all my experience regarding downturns, the one common aspect between them is that companies having trouble even before the downturn, are going to end up in deeper trouble and evaporating before the pandemic is over. This means that they could end up closing their doors. This is why you should be collecting the dues of problem accounts as soon as possible. Another reason why you should be quick is due to the payroll protection offered by the government.

The payroll protection loans offered by the government will help not only the companies that are going to struggle during the pandemic, but also those who already were struggling before it. Companies that were never able to take government loans will suddenly be able to take those loans. This means that they will suddenly have several months’ worth of payroll on their laps. That money isn’t going to last very long, so you have to make sure that you’re at the top of the list of people they have to pay with that money. (The original money for payroll protection is already committed, but more may become available in the future.)

Check Whether an Account is a Problem or Not

If you’re not sure whether an account is a problem or not, AER Collections is offering free credit checks on any company that is 45 days past due. This will let you check how they’re paying their bills since September 2019. If your debtor was having trouble paying bills in December, then you’re going to have a much more difficult time collecting from them.

The Economy Will Take Time to Recover

I mentioned that a large amount of money was pulled out of the economy because of the pandemic. The economy will be slow to start, and it could take around six months for the economy to resemble anything normal. It will take its toll on many businesses and those struggling will not be around by the end of the downturn.

Please call me at 800 452 5287, extension 6578 if you’d like to discuss your collection needs.

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