Why Customer Experience Should Matter to Recruiters

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Recently I was asked, “When you are working on a search for one of your best clients, and the resumes come to you, how quickly can you determine if it is someone your client will be interested in?”

I was honest and admitted it only took about five seconds. He gasped on the other end of the phone and asked what I do with the people who don’t cut the mustard. I told him our process was telling candidates that they are not a fit for our current role, but that I will keep their information for other opportunities and imply that we will likely have something for them in the future.

He calmed down, but pointed out that what really frustrates him is that quite a few hiring managers only look at resumes for a few seconds after many of them prolong the application process, which can take candidates multiple hours to submit. It is no longer just sending in a resume. He said it disgusts him that they are only spending five seconds looking at an application that likely took two hours to apply to.

He made a great point; it’s not a fair tradeoff. This got me thinking; are we really being fair to people who want to work for us? Candidates have spent two hours of time filling out an application for the chance to join your company, yet we are only giving them five seconds of review before we make a decision.

Today, everyone is talking about customer experience management; creating a consistent, desirable and differentiated experience across all touch-points with your organization. According to a Walker study, by the year 2020, customer experience will overtake price and products as the key brand differentiator.

Customer Experience 2020

 

The reality is that every time you or someone in your company engages a customer, it creates an experience that they remember. A positive emotional experience anchors them to you, whereas a negative experience will encourage them to head straight to your competitor. Where are the hidden opportunities to add enough value for our customers that it begins to offset the effort they’ve expended for us, thus forging a more equitable exchange?

Big box industries say that the key is Voice of the Customer (VOC) tools like reviews and surveys. Hotel chains and software companies ask their biggest customers, “What can we do differently?” and “How did we do?”

But how do you encourage your customers to take the time to volunteer this type of feedback? You try to dangle a carrot. Entice them with a discount, money, gift card or future services. Valuable comments are only going to be offered if something is in it for them, right? Never is a customer going to say they will drop everything to give a company advice on their service. Everyone is money-driven, and everyone is time-driven.

In recruiting; we are trying to best service our clients and candidates. But rarely do recruiting firms solicit clients  to ask how they can service them better. From a recruiting perspective, a question that is always asked from our clients is, “How do you differentiate yourself?” We go into recruiter autopilot, explaining very quickly what sets us apart: “We offer a full year guarantee, access to great candidates, we are fast, and we have a winning success rate. We are available 24-7 and offer a human touch, etc.….”

Yes, these are all positive ways to set your firm apart. But are they really differentiating? Probably not.

When it comes to customer experience management how do we as recruiters better ourselves and put the client first? The answer can be applied to every business interaction, and that is:

Ask better questions.

Questions such as:

  • “What can we be doing differently?”
  • “What are you looking for from a recruiter?”
  • “Can you fill the role on your own?”
  • “What type of talent are you searching for?”
  • “Does a full-year guarantee mean anything to you?”
  • “Do you want your industry’s #1 sales player in this industry? Or do you need someone in the chair who’s capable of doing the job?”

I have learned over the years that if we ask the right questions and understand the client’s needs, we create better relationships and earn long term results.

The truth is that dangling a carrot in exchange for reviews doesn’t work. Once you have formed a relationship with them, they will offer genuine feedback and ways to help. The best way to manage your customer experience comes back to better questioning. Dig deeper. Ask questions like:

  • “What is important to you in your career?”
  • “Where do you want to be in ten years?”
  • “How will you get there and why?”

Over 90% of professionals won’t know the answers to these questions. But that is okay, because we as recruiters are here as sounding boards to help them better understand companies, industry trends, and even their own needs.

At the end of the day, the most valuable reviews come from asking the right questions. No one truly tells you how to do things differently until they are upset or realize that things went wrong.

When you think of customer experience management, are you really listening to your customer? Here at Blue Signal, we pride ourselves on asking the right questions and are always open to hearing how we can improve.

Feel free to hear our full line of questions on the client side by reaching out at info@bluesignal.com .

Job Ads Should Look More Like Dating Profiles – Here’s Why.

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Picture seeing an online dating profile like this:

Requirements:

  • Must do all chores (laundry, all cleaning, bills), plus more as needed.
  • Must be willing to make sandwiches on demand and cook all meals 5+ times per week.
  • Minimum 700+ credit score and excellent budgeting skills required.
  • Must be able to handle difficult in-laws.

Who would swipe right on a profile like that? Any sane suitor would swipe left on that person as if their life depended on it because no one in their right mind would list requirements like that on a dating profile. It just isn’t a feasible way to find a successful match. So why are job ads being written like this?

Take a look at the description below, taken from real job postings:

Requirements:

  • Minimum 10 years of experience.
  • MBA required.
  • MUST be willing to work long hours on nights and weekends.
  • Must handle all regular duties plus others as needed.
  • Self-starter who can work with minimal direction.
  • Proven success in consistently landing top-level enterprise clients.
  • Natural ability to thrive under high pressure.
  • Please do not apply if you do not have qualifications listed above.

 

More like a prison sentence than a job ad. Not a single top performer would be tempted to apply to a job like this, and yet this continues to be the standard in the job ad world. Instead of showcasing a company’s passion, mission, and opportunity, they aim to scare off all but the most dedicated candidates. Demanding job ads became the norm during the 2008 financial crisis. Job ads were full of intimidating lists of hefty requirements, because the labor market was so bad that even top people were willing to take any jobs they could get.

The trouble is, this approach has stopped working.

The economy has shifted to a candidate-driven market, and companies are finding that the talent market is more competitive than ever, especially in fast-growing market segments like emerging technology, wireless/telecom, and programming. And due to tightening work visa restrictions, employers cannot always rely on the pool of H-1B workers. As a result, companies are having a harder time attracting talent.

 

Better to have too many choices than not enough.

Of course, there are some non-negotiables in both dating and employment. Everyone has standards. But highlighting the negative aspects of the job to “scare away” unmotivated applicants will make a top candidate question why they would bother applying to an apparently horrible job.

Experts estimate that up to 80% of candidates are passive. This means they keep options open but usually stay put unless something great comes along. Companies who write hardline job ads cut out 80% of their possible applicants. The best employees almost never have to make a career move, so companies with bad job descriptions automatically eliminate the best candidates right off the bat.

 

Ernest Shackleton's 1901 ad for the North Pole expedition. Not exactly a welcoming job description.

Image: Ernest Shackleton’s 1901 newspaper ad for the first successful trip to the South Pole.

Writing more attractive job ads will naturally cause an uptick in the number of applicants. Sometimes this is the reason companies write harsh job ads – they want to reduce the flood of applications. However, this strategy is flawed. In the world of easy online applications, companies who demand too much will still get flooded with applicants, but the majority will be desperate or underqualified applicants. It is better to have too many choices than not enough.

By the way, getting overwhelmed by applications is one of the best reasons to consider using a recruiter to weed through hundreds of applicants. Recruiter fees are expensive, but so is a hiring manager’s time.

 

Bad attitudes are expensive.

Focusing on the minimum qualifications is insulting to top candidates who have worked hard to build their skillset and bring extra to the job. Telling someone that they have met the minimum standard is hardly motivating in the dating world, and even less in the professional world. It is far better to tell them what the reward will be if they exceed expectations. Instead of focusing on the minimum bar, focus on the things that will set the job apart and how the company rewards its best people.

If employees have to jump through hoops during the hiring process, expect to pay a lot more than market rate to attract high-performing employees. Even then, many people will eventually leave a high-paying job for a job that treats them well. High turnover might work for minimum-wage employees, but it gets very expensive for salaried employees. Consider the direct costs of replacing an employee (advertising the job, interviewing, travel costs, background checks, and onboarding), plus the indirect costs of low morale, poor branding, decreased service quality, and the negative effects of stressed and dissatisfied employees.

Just like in real life, there is a spectrum of what works. Antagonistic, authoritarian work relationships can sometimes produce results (take Amazon’s notorious work culture, for example), but candidates in today’s market have lots of options. Companies who take a hardline attitude should not count on attracting top performers.

 

Show personality, not gimmicks.

Once upon a time, “Coding Ninja” job titles and ping-pong tables were the hottest way to attract up-and-coming talent. It worked for a while, but in the end, employees mostly want to make sure that a job will meet their real needs. That means money, time off, career advancement, and a good workplace environment.

What should companies focus on instead? Start with opportunities, rewards for top performers, career paths, benefits, work culture, and brand ideals. The top attractors in the United States have strong branding around how they’re changing the world. They don’t always pay the most or have the best benefits, but they maintain strong ideals about their mission.

Most companies only put effort into considering what they want out of an employee, and no time thinking about why anyone would want the job. This is unfortunate, because every company has something unique to offer. Start with the hard numbers, like salary package, benefits, PTO, and bonus structure. Go on Glassdoor to see what people are already saying, and pick out some of the top positive comments describing the culture. Plan out the realistic career path for the person who will fill this position, and note in the job description what opportunities they will have.

 

Focus on the relationship.

Even the most formal professional relationships are still relationships. They are based on people understanding each other and cooperating. When someone takes a job, they sign up to spend hundreds or thousands of hours of their life to pursue the company’s goals, and the company agrees to be that employee’s livelihood.

Investing in employees is expensive, but it also produces great results. Many studies have shown that unhappy employees do a bad job at work, and happy employees give better service. It takes time, effort, and hard work to attract top people, but the payoff is enormous.

Want more tips on how to write a great job ad? Check out Blue Signal’s top 5 tips for building a better job description.


Sales Reps: Ask These Questions in Your Next Sales Interview

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Many sales reps are great interviewers, since they excel at building relationships and having targeted conversations. One of the best ways a sales rep can stand out from the competition in an interview is by asking great questions. Research the company’s products and brands well ahead of time (try out the products firsthand, if possible), and then spend the interview time asking questions that will help both parties to determine whether the job is a fit.

These questions are designed to jumpstart conversation about company culture specifics. Listen carefully to what is said, and what is not said. Be ready for a range of possible answers, and have responses to guide the conversation.

 

“What is the usual progression for top performers in this job?”

Sales roles often have high turnover, especially at the lower levels. But asking simply about tenure can give a bad impression in an interview. Instead of asking a question that focuses on the worst performers, ask about the best performers. This question does double-duty: it demonstrates a commitment to succeed, and it also uncovers how the company treats its highest-performing salespeople.

Another variant on this question is, “What do the most successful salespeople do in their first month on the job?” Both variations of the question emphasize that the candidate has every intention of doing a good job.

 

“If you had an extra 20% added to your budget, how would you spend it?

An engaged hiring manager will know what they would love to spend more money on – product training, marketing materials, extra reps, prospecting software, or extra incentives, for example.

There is no right or wrong answer to this question, but it will indicate the top priorities (and possible pain points) of the team’s management. Someone from a technical background may prioritize product knowledge and technical support.  A manager who is actively engaged with their team may focus on skills development. A data-driven manager may invest in analytical software and tracking tools for the team to find out where the problem is. Listen carefully to the “why” in the interviewer’s answer, and think about what was not said as well as what was said.

“What is the top skill you wish you could improve in your sales team?”

Every team has weaknesses, and most sales teams struggle with a similar set of challenges across the board. This question gives insight into which weaknesses the manager focuses on. Common answers to this question include: product knowledge, prospecting, actual salesmanship, and better documentation/follow-up. An engaged hiring manager will answer this question in detail because they know where the team’s weaknesses are.

A sales rep who is interviewing can use this information to guide future questions, especially if they are strong in an area where the rest of the team is weak. It pays to follow up with a question about how the sales department compensates for this weakness—additional training, regular coaching, bigger incentives? It says a lot about the overall approach of the team.

 

“Which departments does the sales team work with on a regular basis?”

Some sales teams operate in a bubble and focus purely on selling, selling, selling. Other companies have a more collaborative culture, and their sales teams meet with R&D to brainstorm solutions to common customer complaints, or with marketing to come up with better materials and marketing strategies to help reps sell better. Neither approach is right or wrong, but it says a lot about how the company integrates sales into the rest of its culture.

“What kind of support personnel does your sales team have?”

Sales is not an easy line of work, and it gets even harder when reps are bogged down with non-sales work. Support personnel help a sales team to run like clockwork. This includes sales engineers, technical support, customer service, admin, data entry, product managers, and pre-sales/post-sales support coordinators. Even a small number of support personnel can mean a huge difference in a rep’s workload, and that translates to more sales and more commissions.

 

“What percentage of reps hit their quota each year? How does the top 10% perform?”

Not all sales departments set realistic quotas for their team. If the annual quota is $5 million, but the average rep only closes $3 million, the target is unrealistic. A very high OTE is great, but only if it is achievable. This question also helps to feel out how in touch a hiring manager is with their team’s numbers.

It pays to know how the top 10% performs compared to the average rep, to get a realistic idea of how much to expect in sales and commissions.

 

“What is the sales workflow?”

This question gives the hiring manager a good opportunity to talk about what tools and procedures the company uses in its sales process. A good sales funnel is straightforward and simple. Beware of a complicated process with unnecessary twists and turns. Another red flag is a high amount of follow-up, which takes a rep’s time away from selling.

Get an idea of the company’s sales stack. Even the best salesperson can have a hard time selling if the company’s software platform is outdated or difficult to use. On the other hand, a modern fully-loaded CRM shows that the company is serious about investing in its sales team.

 

“Why are you hiring for this role right now?”

The easy answer to this question is, “We’re growing,” which is what most hiring managers will answer. But instead of stopping there, dig a little deeper. Ask how much they have grown, and how it compares to past growth. Why now? This is also a good opportunity to find out the size of the sales team.

The other possible answer is that someone left. This is not automatically a bad thing – the hiring process usually moves much faster for replacement roles than for newly created roles. If the role is open because someone resigned, see how the hiring manager responds. If they speak negatively about the employee or air grievances (which tends to be uncommon), take it as a red flag. The best professional response is to briefly explain that the person moved on to other opportunities.

 

“What is the biggest challenge your team has faced in the last year, and how did your team overcome it?”

The sales profession is not easy, especially in the roller-coaster market of the past 10 years. Every team has faced challenges. Find out how they responded, and more importantly, how the hiring manager speaks about the difficulties on the job. Some managers ignore or minimize problems, some face them head-on, some like to get their hands dirty on the front lines, and others like to analyze the problem carefully and take a targeted approach. Again, this question is all about getting down to the personality and work culture of the team.


“Tell me about some of your key metrics.”

Selling is a numbers game, and a great hiring manager is on top of their team’s metrics. Good metrics to talk about include the cost of acquiring a new customer, conversion rates, and average deal size. For long-cycle sales, be sure to get an estimate of how long deals usually take to close.

The interviewee should have their own numbers ready to discuss, so that once the hiring manager begins talking about their metrics, the interviewee can respond with how they can improve those metrics. This is a good opportunity to trade stories about big milestones and key successes in the past few years.

 

“What keeps you motivated and excited to come to work every day?”

This is an easy one to pull out to break tension or to follow a complex question. People who work in sales are all about motivation and excitement (if not, they are probably in the wrong profession). What they say is less important than how they say it. If their answer is motivating and exciting, they are probably a good match.

 

Interviewing soon? Read more about how to excel in a sales interview. Find even more interview tips here.


How America’s Most Popular Companies Are Winning the War for Talent

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LinkedIn recently released its report listing the Top Attractors, the US-based companies with the strongest power to attract top talent. This list of the 40 most popular companies was compiled from billions of actions of job applicants, employees, and industry professionals. Find the full list on LinkedIn here, along with data for the world and selected other countries.

How does a company become a Top Attractor—the employer equivalent of a celebrity?

 

Their brand is idealism.

The main driver behind the success of Top Attractors is not their financials—or even their products—so much as their mission. Top Attractors have powerful branding that supports a lofty mission statement.

In 2009, Simon Sinek gave a clairvoyant TED Talk that described how the top companies of the last decade had succeeded in doing the impossible. It was called Start with Why, and it described how “people don’t buy what you do—they buy why you do it.” Many Fortune 500 companies have a large market share but fail to inspire top talent because people cannot trust or connect with their vision. On the other hand, Top Attractors want to change the world, and they convey it clearly to their customers.

Two-thirds of the companies on the list are run by founders. This is important: entrepreneurial founders have strong ideals and a gift for inspiring people with their mission. Elon Musk famously said he focuses on company rules at Tesla, because company ideals are “fairly obvious.” But even at Tesla, lofty ideals reign supreme. Elon Musk excels in harmonizing an environmentally friendly problem-solving message with beautiful technology that customers feel good supporting: stylish electric cars, affordable solar panels, reusable rockets, and self-driving technology.

Image: A $150,000+ investment in brand ideals. Tesla is #8 on the Top Attractors list.

A $150,000+ investment in brand ideals. Tesla is #8 on the Top Attractors list.

 

Uber describes its mission directly in its job descriptions, offering applicants “the rare opportunity to change the way the world moves. We’re not just another social web app, we’re moving real people and assets and reinventing transportation and logistics globally.”

 

Top Attractors create meaningful buzz.

Company size matters a little, but not much. The more important factor is their reach. These companies employ just 1.6 million people altogether. By contrast, the #1 Fortune 500 company (Wal-Mart) employs 2.1 million people worldwide, more than all 40 Top Attractors put together. However, the company has to have a big enough reach to create buzz and reach people deeply and often.

Even the most popular companies are not above negative press. The New York Times sharply criticized Amazon in 2015 for its “bruising workplace,” and Tesla faces possible bankruptcy if its Model 3 does not perform to standards. Apple has showed up in the media several times for horrendous factory conditions in China. But these same companies know that if people believe in them strongly enough, no bad press is strong enough to deter them.

Many of the founder-CEOs are household names: Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos. People follow them on social media and know what they think about politicians. They make outrageous claims about what projects they plan to tackle next. Sometimes they even tweet back. By comparison, Wal-Mart, Exxon Mobil, and CVS Health from the Fortune 500 list are faceless—and faceless corporations are not popular with many people.

 

Glamorous employers are stylish, surprising, and almost always B2C.

People want to work for the brands that make products they love, and so consumer-facing brands dominate the list. Out of the top 10 companies, 9 are omnipresent B2C brands, like Google, Facebook, Apple, and Amazon. All invest heavily in delighting customers and providing a seamless user experience loaded with helpful, free features. Their brands prioritize sleek innovation. People trust them because they always seem to be ahead of the curve.

Consumer products have the power to be status symbols, which holds incredible brand power. By contrast, B2B companies have a much harder time attracting top talent through brand value. People want to work for the companies whose mission and products align. Salesforce and Tableau are two notable exceptions. They achieve high brand visibility by putting themselves in front of top employees every day with a fresh, sleek product line and a forward-thinking philosophy.

[Image: iPhone progression]

Image: iPhone’s touchscreen technology amazed the world in 2007. Touchscreen technology was invented in the 1960s, and IBM released the first true smartphone in the 1990s, but Apple usually gets credit for both.

The element of surprise is fundamental to these brands. Apple’s culture of innovation has trained people to expect to be surprised and amazed at every new product. Each of the Top Attractors has magic in their brand, an appearance that they can do the impossible. This also drives competition. When competitors fail to delight and surprise their customers, Top Attractors gain both customer base as well as top talent looking to make a move to more exciting and popular companies. They are not loyal to the product as much as they are to the company and what it represents.

 

The most popular companies promise skills, not tenure.

Image: Jeff Bezos came under fire in 2015 for Amazon’s high turnover and troubled workplace culture.

Image: Jeff Bezos came under fire in 2015 for Amazon’s high turnover and troubled workplace culture.

Pressure is intense inside the halls of Top Attractor companies. Less than 15% of Amazon’s workforce survives beyond the 5-year mark. Even with huge perks, the fast-paced workplace forces many employees out after a short stint. Not only that, but salaries are not always the highest in the industry.

How do these popular companies continue to attract the best of the best? Because even a few years at a rockstar company like Facebook or Amazon can guarantee an employee success for years after they leave. The talent war has many layers, and companies compete strongly for alumni of top-performing companies to get access to their skills. Therefore, candidates feel that even if they burn out at a Top Attractor company, the skills they learn there will pay dividends for the rest of their career.

 

Need to attract better talent? Blue Signal can help. Contact us with your hiring need at: info@bluesignal.com.


[Guide] Researching Job Candidates on Social Media

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Nearly three-quarters of internet users have a social media footprint, making social recruiting one of the top ways for today’s employers to fill their open positions with the best talent. The majority of employers (at least 60% as of April 2016) use social media recruiting as part of their candidate sourcing process, and many conduct additional research on candidates’ social media profiles before making a hire.

Each platform has its own nuances and advantages. Here are tips for where to look, and how to find the right information:

LinkedIn and Professional Networks:

LinkedIn social media researchLinkedIn is a treasure trove of information about a candidate’s professional life. Many professionals post blogs, articles, publications, past work, and professional updates on their pages. A vibrant LinkedIn page signals that a candidate has invested time in staying up-to-date with his or her industry and in networking with the professional community. The variety and breadth of material on a candidate’s page provides insight into their influencers and professional interests. The same principles apply to niche professional social networking sites similar to LinkedIn.

How to check them:

With the exception of premium members who opt for total privacy, all LinkedIn members have a public page that anyone can view; simply search by name and current employer. Closer connections have access to more information, but it is preferable not to send a connection request solely for the purposes of seeing more information on a candidate.

Blogs:

Nearly every job requires strong written and verbal communication skills. Hiring managers can gauge verbal skills from an in-person interview and written skills from a candidate’s thank-you note, however, the interview process mostly reflects the candidate’s communication skills under pressure. Writing samples such as professional or personal blogs reflect a more complete picture of the candidate’s written communication style. Professionally themed pieces better indicate the level of communication that a hiring manager can expect to see from the candidate during his or her employment.

Personal blogs, while not as relevant, are a valuable window into the candidate’s personality, special interests, and the kind of audience they seek to engage.

How to check them:

A simple Google search of “(Candidate name) blog” will sometimes return relevant results. If not, it is generally easiest to ask the candidate during an interview if they have a blog URL they are willing to share.

 

Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and more:

candidates social mediaPersonal social media profiles offer a previously unavailable window for employers to explore a candidate’s personal life. Normally, a potential employer would see only a faint glimpse of this during the interview process, filtered heavily by what the candidate chooses to reveal. Social media profiles involve far less control on the candidate’s part and can provoke a dilemma for a potential employer who may see more than they bargained for.

How to check them:

It is legal to view a candidate’s public social media profiles as part of a job search process without a waiver, but the best practice is to wait until after meeting a candidate in person and to verbally disclose that the hiring protocol includes a review of public social media channels. Why? A hiring manager and a candidate each have time to prepare themselves before an interview; a candidate deserves the same opportunity to prepare his or her social media footprint for scrutiny by a potential employer. Additionally, it adds a layer of protection against potential accusations of unfair discrimination. Proceed cautiously, and when in doubt, seek professional legal advice.

As a general rule for all social media interactions, be consistent. Use the same searches and processes for each candidate to ensure fairness, and formally document any positive or negative hiring decisions made with information gathered from a social media profile, including screenshots. The interviewing process is still the best format to judge a candidate’s fit; treat social media as an extension of the in-person interview.

Lastly, be aware that candidates conduct their own social media research on prospective employers and hiring managers. It is well worth it for hiring managers and their HR departments to consider their own social media footprint during the interview process.

 

Additional reading:

Watch out for pitfalls, risks of using social media in hiring – Read More

Employers: Social Media is Your Friend – Read More

 

Need help with your hiring process? Contact our team of executive recruiters at info@bluesignal.com.

How Successful Hiring Managers Prep for Interviews

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Many hiring managers think of the in-person interview as a meeting where it is the candidate’s responsibility to impress them. However, an effective hiring cycle is a process that starts with attracting applicants, followed by identification of candidates, evaluation, selection, and acceptance. In a candidate-driven market, a hiring manager must also impress the candidate, because the best candidates do not need to make a move.

 

Set up a pre-interview call with their recruiter.

Hiring an employee is a huge investment of money. Most interviews last only an hour or so, which doesn’t give the hiring manager much time to make such an important decision. Never waste time during an interview by asking basic questions that a recruiter can answer. A day or so before the interview, spend time on the phone with the recruiter to gather details about the candidate. Cover all logistical information such as salary expectations, relocation, and potential resignation difficulties.

Questions to cover during this call:

  • Why do they want to make a move?
  • What are they lacking in their current job?
  • Why this firm?
  • What concerns do they have?
  • What is most important for them to learn?

 

Look at the physical office space through their eyes.

What will the candidate see when they walk into the building? Is the space dated or cluttered? Just as a candidate’s outfit should create a professional first impression on the interviewer, the physical office space should create a professional first impression on the candidate. Use the office space to sell the candidate on the job. Reserve the best conference room available, and showcase selling points such as new technology or state-of-the-art workspaces. Make sure that clutter is out of the way and that the office is on its best display.

Greet them warmly when they arrive.

Prep all staff to receive the candidate warmly and professionally – few things are more disorienting to a candidate than a receptionist who was not expecting them and has to fumble to figure out where to send them. While some firms ask candidates to fill out forms when they arrive for an interview, try to minimize paperwork, as it eats up valuable interview time. Expect them to arrive 5 to 15 minutes early and be prepared accordingly.

Hiring managers - interview prepWhen they arrive, offer them bottled water, coffee, or tea. Instead of having the receptionist send them to find the office through an unfamiliar building, walk down to meet them personally. Make pleasant small talk on the way up to the office, and compliment them on something. The interview should be in an office or private conference room, and all devices should be switched off or silenced. Have their resume printed out and a notepad ready for jotting down a few notes.

It is a nice gesture to give the candidate some printed materials to review after the interview, or even some small company-branded items.

 

Balance talking and listening.

In interviews, the person who does the most talking usually has the most positive impression of how the interview went. Aim for a 50/50 balance of talking versus listening.

Resist making a snap judgement in the first 3 minutes, which is the time that the subconscious usually kicks in to make a “gut decision.” Open with some friendly selling points about the job and the company that the candidate may not have discovered during their research, and avoid the temptation to open with hard-hitting questions. Stay positive, and get a complete understanding of the candidate’s history, work style, and accomplishments. Have a strategy and an outline of which questions to ask.

Salary is best discussed through the recruiter. Verify the candidate’s current compensation if necessary, but do not negotiate in the early stage. The candidate does not yet know if they want the job. The point of this meeting is to gather information and to make the candidate want the job.

 

Afterwards

At the end of the interview, clearly articulate the next steps and the timeline. Follow up with the recruiter within an hour of the end of the interview to discuss how it went.

The overall point of the hiring cycle is to decide whether a candidate is a good fit for the organization, but the goal of an interview is to make the candidate want the job. A hiring manager might get all the information that they need to make a decision, but if the interview turns the candidate off, there is no chance of a hire. Presenting the job in the most positive light will attract the best candidates and encourage a high level of motivation from day one.

 

Hiring soon? Set up a free consultation with us at info@bluesignal.com.

6 Reasons to Use a 3rd-Party Recruiting Firm

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When a family sells their home with no middle-man, there is a small chance that they could make a quick sale for a good price, but they are almost guaranteed to sell the house faster and for more money when they use a qualified professional realtor. In the same way, a business may stumble on a star candidate with in-demand skills for just the right price at just the right time, but these candidates are difficult to find on short notice. A 3rd-party recruiting firm can find better candidates in less time—and often are less expensive than hiring the wrong person.

The New York Times recently suggested avoiding recruiters because companies should always be building their own candidate pipelines.Unfortunately, this is unrealistic for most companies. In fact, building a successful candidate pipeline in a competitive industry takes more time than a full-time job (one informal poll calculated an average recruiter’s work week at 55+ hours).

6 Reasons to Use a 3rd-Party Recruiting Firm:

1. Access to an actual candidate pipeline.

3rd-party recruiting firm - pipelineThe “candidate pipeline” is a popular buzzword, but in practice, it is difficult to build one as an employer. For starters, most top job candidates will not talk to a potential employer unless there is an actual job opening—which defeats the purpose of building a pipeline. By contrast, a recruiter has a much easier time building a rolodex of candidates who may be interested if the right opportunity comes along.

No one ever gets hired from the mythical database where “we’ll keep your resume on file in case something else comes up.” By contrast, the heart of a third party recruiting firm is their candidate database, built over years of networking and collecting resumes. The trick here is to build a relationship with a recruiter who works in the right industry. A telecom-focused recruiter will not have a great pool of candidates in the finance vertical, and vice versa.

 

2. Save time. A lot of time.

The math is simple, here. Job openings with lots of active candidates receive hundreds of resume applications. It takes a huge amount of time to sift through them and screen the good ones. Some jobs rely on passive candidates. These candidates take a lot of searching and persuading to recruit, which also takes a lot of time. In the middle of a busy project, many firms just do not have the time. A third party firm can conduct both types of searches quickly and efficiently.

 

3. Lower chance of costly bad hires.

3rd-party recruiting firms - thumbs downRecruiter fees are expensive, but so are hiring mistakes and never-ending hiring cycles. Recruiters also make the hiring process cheaper in several ways. For starters, they source within the hiring manager’s target salary range whenever possible, keeping costs down.

Secondly, many (if not most) recruiters work within contingency agreements, meaning they work for free. This makes them a cheap and highly motivated source of candidates, and frees up HR to focus on other tasks.

Most of all, recruiters source carefully, because they have skin in the game. If the candidate does not work out during the trial period, they lose their fee.

 

4. Attractive temporary staffing solutions.

A company may have an immediate need but cannot afford to hire someone underqualified. They may not have the ability to sponsor a visa. They may be working on a short-term project that requires in-demand skills. When deadlines and quality are at odds, a third party recruiter can offer a contractor solution. This makes it easy for the company to hire and let go with reduced liability, and it avoids the messiness of benefits packages. It may also solve an immediate need while the company searches for a permanent employee.

 

5. Quality candidate screening and onboarding assistance.

Recruiters do not just find candidates, they also phone-screen them, prep them for the interview, call references, conduct background checks, and many other screening methods. Recruiters want to make sure a candidate is interested and qualified before they send them in.

 

6. Strong hiring and interviewing skills.

Not every company has a well-established HR department to carefully screen candidates. It is often up to the hiring manager, who may not have the time to hone their interviewing skills. Recruiters source and interview candidates as a profession, and often they can spot problems and personality clashes well ahead of time. This is a benefit for the hiring manager, because candidates are more likely to open up to a recruiter about problems and concerns than to a hiring manager or HR department. This can help to reduce the number of offer rejections at the last minute.

 

Need a head-start on building a candidate pipeline? Contact us at info@bluesignal.com for a free consultation.

Building a Better Succession Plan

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Many companies look at succession planning only at the executive level – something that C-levels submit to the board once per year. This approach makes it easy to fall into a routine that does not reflect the reality of business today. It puts companies into the dangerous position of scrambling to find good talent when a valuable employee is promoted or takes a leave of absence.

There are many reasons to build a solid succession-management process. A competitive employee-driven market means employers are struggling to fill vacancies with qualified talent. Baby boomers are retiring in huge numbers (about 10,000 per day), leaving many vacancies in senior positions.

Employers will face new industry-disrupting regulations in the coming decade: employer healthcare, cybersecurity, net neutrality, consumer privacy, mobile data regulation, and more. Emerging technology such as IoT/M2M, near field communications, and consumer geolocation require a very different skill set and strategy than what would have worked even just 5 years ago.

Succession planning is not complicated, but it does take some time and analysis.  To build a robust succession planning program that aligns current talent development with future leadership demands, follow these five steps:

5-Step Action Plan:

1.     Identify which jobs need in-depth succession planning.

Some roles naturally have a large pool of internal candidates who could step in seamlessly (for instance, a lead engineer role in a team of several dozen engineers). For other roles, losing the employee would cause a crisis. Many large companies use a third party to conduct a risk assessment of the organization as a whole. Smaller companies can often assess their own risk.

2.     Evaluate the purpose of each job.

Start high-level. Each job should have a clear role to play within the company’s strategy. This role should align with the employee’s performance review goals.

 

3.     Identify mission-critical job functions.

In the case of succession, it should be clear what the successor will need to accomplish on a daily, quarterly, and annual basis. Document these tasks, and make sure that critical information and processes are not “locked up” in the current employee’s head.

4.     Have candidates ready to fill gaps.

An “irreplaceable employee” is a big red flag. Managers should be concerned when there is no internal candidate to take the reins if a key employee suddenly left or took an extended absence. Potential strategies for addressing succession risks include grooming internal candidate pools and building trusted relationships with outside recruiting firms.


5.     Keep dialogue open.

Good communication should already be part of company culture. It facilitates problem-solving (while bad communication leads to employees becoming frustrated and leaving). Give employees opportunities to open up honestly about their plans for the future. Good listening may save the company tens of thousands of dollars down the road.

 

Final Tips:

Accept that some things will change, and mistakes will happen.

Not only is it impossible to find the perfect “plug-and-play” carbon copy replacement, it is a bad strategy. A successor will face different goals and market challenges. There will be differences in personality, work style, and career experience. All of this is necessary for an organization to grow and change.

Do not make emotional or rushed decisions. Take a methodical approach.

It is much easier to do the planning ahead of time, instead of waiting for a crisis to hit when tensions are high. Succession planning often gets bogged down in politics, especially when evaluating internal candidates. The bottom line is that a successor will need to reach a set of goals set by the company. Either an internal candidate can get the job done, or they cannot. Politics have to take a back seat.

Look beyond succession.

An in-depth analysis is a good opportunity to address other employee-level issues, such as lack of training or poor documentation practices. For instance, a competent employee may keep all the information in their head, but the team would be thrown into chaos if this employee were suddenly absent and left no paper trail.

Building a strong succession plan is a time investment, but the benefit is that it keeps the organization strong and focused on achieving its goals. Blue Signal evaluates succession plans free of charge—contact us at info@bluesignal.com for more information.

Hiring Managers: Have a Better Consultation Call with Recruiters

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The typical job order procedure goes something like this: Fix up an old job description or use an HR-provided template. Send to the recruiter of choice, sometimes with a quick consultation call, but often with a short email with one or two details that pop to mind before hitting “send.”

Analyzing a job order takes hard work, but a bad hire is lot more expensive and difficult. A good employee is one of the best investments a company can make, so it pays to plan the decision carefully. A good recruiter is able to tap into the passive candidate pool, where some of the best employees are. Setting up a consultation call with a recruiter is the first step in accessing these top candidates, but that is not the end of the story.

Consider these questions beforehand to have a more effective consultation and position the recruiter to find the best candidates.

 

7 Questions to Ask Before a Consultation Call:

 

#1 – “Why should a successful candidate leave their job to work for us?”

This can be an intimidating question, but it is critical to ask in today’s candidate-driven marketplace. Remember that every company has its strengths and weaknesses, including competitors that are employing the best of the best. What one candidate considers a drawback, another candidate might consider a bonus. For instance, one candidate may be looking for a large salary increase and open to heavy travel, while another may consider taking a pay cut if it means a short commute and a more relaxed office culture.

It is not feasible to know each candidate’s exact priorities (although it pays to ask during the interview!). The best approach is to build a list of all the selling points of the job. Frame as many aspects as possible in a positive light. This gives recruiters better ammunition to sell the job to the best candidates on the market.

 

#2 – “What is the market rate for candidates who can do this job well?”

In the end, every company has budget limits, and the best candidate on the market may be more firepower than what the job really requires. Get a firm grip on the job requirements, then research the average market rate for people who do that job (Glassdoor.com is a good start, but check job boards for advertised salaries as well). Check the national average as well as the local average.

If there is a big gap between the budget and the market rate, there are some options: discuss raising the budget for the job with management, or lengthen the hiring timeline to allow more time to find the right fit. Another option is to revise the role expectations, such as hiring a more junior employee and building additional training into the first year of the role. Keep in mind that salary is not everything—a candidate may be interested in other selling points for the job.

 

#3 – “What challenges will this candidate face at my company?”

Be honest about the difficult aspects of the role. Every company has different challenges. Consider what traits and experience an employee will need in order to thrive on these challenges.

For example, Company XYZ has two candidates for a product manager position. Candidate A has decent product marketing skills but excellent technical skills and knows the technology inside and out. Candidate B has okay technical knowledge but has a track record of outstanding product marketing strategies and top-notch market analysis. If the company already has a strong technical team in place but consistently struggles with product launches, Candidate B is likely a better choice, despite how impressive Candidate A’s technical knowledge may be.

This is an obvious example, but many hiring managers allow themselves to be wowed by candidates whose top skills are not that relevant to the company’s biggest challenges. Do not pay for “features” that are not useful. Know the company’s pain points, and determine how this new employee will need to contribute to solving them. Then consider what accomplishments and past obstacles the ideal candidate will have faced that will prepare them to meet these challenges head-on.

 

#4 – “What frustrations do the top candidates have?”

Consultation call - candidate frustrations
Know the common obstacles that top candidates are facing. What are the downsides of working with the competition? What are the top candidates in the industry complaining about—outdated technology, a lack of resources, bad internal communication?

Wherever possible, put together an action plan to resolve (or at least compensate for) employee pain points to attract top candidates. Recruiters will use this information to draw candidates who have excellent skills but are frustrated with their current jobs.

 

#5 – “How will this candidate complement my team’s strengths and weaknesses?”

Another way of saying this is, “How will this person be different from me?” Everyone has a bias towards people that are similar to them, but this can lead to an office monoculture and eventually a skills gap that is very difficult to correct. Strong teams have a variety of talents and perspectives. Hiring managers should be wary of candidates who have the same background, same skills, and same personality as themselves or other people on the team—they most likely will not bring new skills to the table!

 

#6 – “Have I written the job description well?”

A list of demands and must-haves will not attract top candidates who are already successful in their current jobs. Write a job description that includes selling points and conveys the company culture. Give the recruiter details on how the career advancement opportunities, so they can attract results-focused and motived candidates. More tips here.

 

#7 – “Have I budgeted ample time to work with the recruiter?”

Consultation call - Man with Mobile phone connected to a smart watchA good recruiter will request a consultation call to get detailed information on the job. They will prepare questions and get as much information as possible on the role and the company landscape, especially if this is one of the first job orders they are filling for the company. A consultation call usually takes half an hour to an hour. Additionally, recruiters benefit from detailed feedback after resume submissions and interviews. This helps them to hone their search and locate a good fit. Clear expectations help everyone to do a good job.

 

Have a job order? We can help. Book a free consultation call with us here, or call us directly at (480) 939-3200.