Here are a few recruitment stats I found interesting:
The number one day for hiring managers to post opportunities is Monday, so be on the lookout at the beginning of the week for new job postings. Professionals who are among the first 25 to apply to a role are 3x more likely to land the job, so being an early applicant gives you a clear advantage. Read the rest of this entry »
ManpowerGroup has released the results of its newest Employment Outlook Survey. The survey asked some 58,000 employers in 43 countries and territories to forecast employment changes from the current quarter to the next. While survey answers are decidedly mixed, global hiring growth is expected in 42 of the 43 surveyed locations. On a quarter-over-quarter basis, 15 countries report stronger hiring prospects, while 23 are expecting slower growth, and 5 are unchanged. The next survey results will be available in March 2020.
Here are some of the notable items in each geographic region:
While questions about salary history are top of mind for recruiters and candidates looking to be considered for jobs, employers are struggling with salary transparency issues every day. Pay has long been a confidential topic in the workplace. In fact, most conversations about pay are limited to review time or when an employee is being given a raise or adjustment. With some employers, salary transparency is beginning to change.
Current studies show that in the US only about 27% of employers share salary information with employees and early-stage candidates. Another 22% indicate they are likely to start sharing this information with both employees and candidates. So, the workplace is very evenly split on this topic of salary transparency, or will be, as those planning to share actually start doing so. A full 51% do not share salary info and do not intend to do so.
So, what are the advantages to greater salary transparency? Those that currently share details, they find it speeds the hiring process, streamlines the negotiation process, ensures fair pay, filters out and saves time spent with those that would likely decline and offer, and creates an environment where more interview time is spent on other topics.
The future is sometimes driven by the market and other times government intervenes. Governments worldwide are interested in fair pay and are busy pushing forward transparency laws. Even from an employer perspective, the goal is not really about transparency. The ultimate goal is fair pay; transparency forces that faster than good intentions alone. Fair pay then instills trust in the company and the process. Lack of transparency creates lack of trust and can create pay inequity that is systemic. Leaving employees in the dark can create candidates that are suspicious and employees that are distrustful. It has been found that many employees incorrectly assume they are being underpaid relative to market conditions. PayScale, LinkedIn and Salary.com are driving market transparency that will require employers to share more if they do not want to be compared solely against generic industry/marketing data. A clear picture of rates and ranges will give employees an awareness of standing within their current job and what upside exists. This can all be used to retain and motivate when used appropriately.
Transparency comes with both risk and complications. Each employer needs to make fully informed choices that have been strategically thought through and implications considered. No doubt recruiters will save considerable time on candidates that may be a mismatch on salary where employers are fully transparent on salaries.
It is certainly an interesting trend that while employers are in the process of becoming more transparent about salaries, recruiters and employers on the other side of the equation are becoming limited in what they can ask employees. Salaries are trending toward transparency while salary histories are trending toward completely obscurity.
Today’s guest blogger is Paulette Steele with Real Resumes located in Queensland, Australia. Real Resumes is educating people from beginning to end on getting a job. Short videos cover all aspects including: where to look for a job, writing effective resumes, researching and preparing for the interview, and most importantly, mastering the interview itself. Paulette has 15 years of recruitment experience and a vast career in various industries.
We’re told to think outside the square, the box or whatever. Yet, we try to pigeonhole people in many situations and particularly in interviews. Read the rest of this entry »
Today’s guest blogger is Wilson Cole. He is the CEO of BackdoorHires.com and Adams, Evens & Ross, the nation’s largest credit and collection 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.
The most common excuse we hear from debtors that do not want to pay a recruitment fee is, “We already knew the candidate.” In most cases, these types of backdoor hires are the easiest to collect. The biggest hurdle for us to jump is to help the debtor understand that knowing the candidate and knowing they are looking for a job are two very different things. We also have the backdrop that the owner of the company is MAD; they are not really angry with the recruiter, but they are mad at either themselves or their HR manager because they did not have a better pulse on what candidates were actually available. Read the rest of this entry »
Recruitment is a sales profession. Getting clients and passive candidates to respond and take the action needed to complete a placement is not for those unwilling to commit to a recruitment process. Define YOUR PROCESS and repeat it; repeat it again and again until you get a result. If it is not working, change your recruitment process.
On rare occasions, you make a call and a candidate answers. Rare. Sometime luck shines on you and the first well-crafted email hits your target and they respond. Most are very happy just to get a response, even if the response is less than favorable. The answer is a result. Most times more is needed to get a response. Any sale begins with an introduction. Make sure you have a great one.
If you are not so lucky, consider a second email that suggests a phone call and then an actual phone call. Yes, the phone. I know it scares some of the more modern recruiters using AI, social media and robots to get their work done. Meanwhile, old school headhunters are upset passive candidates and clients would rather email than pick up the phone. Somewhere in between is the truth. But certainly use the phone as one of your tools. In addition to live conversations, the phone can be used to text. Be cautious and careful about jumping into text. Make sure to look for some acceptance from candidates and clients on the use of text. One of your emails could suggest that you will be calling or texting in the next few days. If you have a process that is different and works for you, stay the course. If not, reinvent your process or consider an update.
We are not done yet. Good recruiters have the expectation that it will take more than a few contacts to get a response from truly passive candidates. Great recruiters have even more persistence. If you have exhausted email and phone messaging without a result, it may be time to go to social media. I prefer LinkedIn InMails as the next step. It comes at people differently than your typical email. Maybe your email is blocked or going to junk mail.
No response? Before you jump back to your traditional methods, find an even more creative way to move it forward. Try a fax, send a gift card from Starbucks or a letter via post. I have used post cards and the gift card method successfully in sales situations. It is a $5 coffee card and saves you $10 of time and may lead to a $30,000 fee.
Finally, you need to go back to your preferred method, voice or email, and let the passive candidate or client know you got the message. Confirm that what you offer, propose, suggest is not a fit for them AT THIS TIME. Keep the door open while reminding them of what they are missing. Wish them well and move on…I call it the “Close the File” email. Gets about a 75% response rate if you have done all the work required to earn the right to do this close.
You might be surprised by what a good process can do for your results. If you do this with every situation you will be getting more call backs and more yes or no responses. Review metrics you have. Track email open rates and click-through rates. Maybe something as simple as A/B testing of a subject line could change your results. Stay committed to your process and be persistent.
Economic cycles come and go, and we have been fortunate in the US to have enjoyed a decade-long recovery following the Global Financial Crisis. Recent headlines might have you thinking a downturn is imminent. If you’ve never worked through a slow economy, or haven’t spent much time thinking it about recently, here are a few things to keep in mind for your recruitment firm.
Confidence is an important tool in handling economic uncertainty. Pundits and media outlets can dominate the news with alarmist reporting on economic signals. That reporting can impact both business and consumer confidence. In turn, businesses slow down hiring, investors delay investing, and consumers stop spending. So while it’s smart to pay attention to experts, it’s also important not to talk yourself into a downturn. In the USA, we’re experiencing our longest-ever bull market, hiring demand remains strong, and the economy continues to grow. A slowdown in growth is STILL growth. Read the rest of this entry »
Today’s guest blogger is Bill Benson with WilliamCharles Search Group located in Grand Rapids, MI. WilliamCharles is an executive search and professional recruiting firm specialized in finding managerial and executive talent in finance, HR, operations, sales/marketing as well as president/CEO roles. They have a concentration of clients in Michigan but they also work across the US. Bill is the chairman of the NPAworldwide Board of Directors. Bill shares his thoughts on bad job orders and how to reduce the amount of time you spend working on those.
Can we agree that time is our most important commodity? More time is wasted on bad job orders than any other aspect of our business. What determines a good job order? Below are concepts, suggestions and questions to help you evaluate the investment of your time! Read the rest of this entry »
Today’s guest blogger is Kate Ashford, Monster contributor. Monster Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:MWW), is the global leader in successfully connecting job opportunities and people. Monster uses the world’s most advanced technology to help people Find Better, matching job seekers to opportunities via digital, social and mobile solutions including monster.com®, our flagship website, and employers to the best talent using a vast array of products and services. As an Internet pioneer, more than 200 million people have registered on the Monster Worldwide network. Today, with operations in more than 40 countries, Monster provides the broadest, most sophisticated job seeking, career management, recruitment and talent management capabilities globally. For more information visit about-monster.com.
Anyone who’s relied on the kind of talent afforded by the H-1B visa program (think programmers, engineers and scientists) is probably feeling the pain of recent changes—and struggling to fill the hiring gaps these new rules have created.
The H-1B visa program provides temporary visas to educated foreign professionals to work in “specialty occupations” – think mathematics, engineering and technology. For the tech industry, workers on H-1B visas are a huge commodity, as the U.S. doesn’t have enough skilled tech workers to meet demand. Read the rest of this entry »
There are millions of jobs openings that go unfilled each month. The global talent shortage is one reason, but other factors contribute to this condition.
Studies done by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) have shown there is a disconnect between what job seekers, recruiters and hiring managers think is important to secure a job interview. The interview is obviously a critical step in the process of filling a job. Candidates are focused on work experience as the most critical factor, while only 37% of recruiters say work experience is the top factor in filtering candidates. In still other studies, hiring managers list “accomplishments” as the top consideration and “skills and abilities” before “work experience” as determining factors. Read the rest of this entry »