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Building an Effective Recession Hiring Plan

December 21, 2022 by Lacey Walters

As the end of 2022 rapidly approaches, many companies are beginning to look forward to the new year. This is the best time of year for planning and goal setting – which includes curating a hiring plan! It is exciting to anticipate future growth and accomplishments, however, we would be remiss to not address the impending recession. While experts agree a global recession is likely coming at some time in 2023, it is nearly impossible to predict its severity or length. No matter the case, many companies will likely feel the effects of the upcoming recession.

Not all hope is lost, though! In fact, a report from NACE provided an encouraging statistic showcasing that employers project a 14.7% increase in hiring for the class of 2023 college graduates. With all of that in mind, it is crucial to build an effective recession hiring plan to not just survive, but thrive through the recession and beyond. As a senior leader, it’s important to create a recession hiring plan, commit to it, and follow through. In times of uncertainty, your team will be looking to you for guidance, so it is crucial that you remain transparent and carry out your recession hiring plan. But how?

Bar grpah showing NACE study on hiring trends fro college graduates with 2023 outlook

2023 Hiring Outlook

The first step in building an effective recession hiring plan is to evaluate the future hiring landscape. The US talent acquisition outlook is always challenging, and that trend will likely prevail in 2023 due to the fear of a recession and its effects. One positive prediction from experts is the expectation that demand for workers in America will continue to outpace supply in 2023. In addition, businesses will also face greater demand for highly skilled workers that local talent cannot cover. This means the 2022 trend of remote work dominating job openings is here to stay. This is an advantage when building a recession hiring plan as hiring managers will be able to source and hire talent outside their area!

Why It’s Important to Have a Recession Hiring Plan

It may seem counterintuitive, but a recession can be a great opportunity for a company to grow. Hiring and retaining high-quality workers is an essential growth strategy amid an impending recession. In fact, Bain & Company's research of past recessions showed a glaring difference in the outcomes of businesses that remained assertive in a slow economy, compared to those that took a more conservative approach. Also, companies that have continued to hire during a recession have been able to take advantage of the market. If you can, make it a priority to look for new hires during a recession — you may find the best talent is suddenly available. Since this type of financial climate can ultimately impact your bottom line, having a clear sense of your needs and filling and retaining your crucial roles first can help you streamline your budget without sacrificing essential hires. Therefore, it’s important to be even more strategic when it comes to your recession hiring plan in order to stay ahead of the challenges of a recession.

Three women working collaboartively with ideas ona whiteboard. Reasons to have a recession hiring plan listed in the foreground

Strategies for Building a Recession Hiring Plan

Thus far, we have addressed concerns regarding an impending recession and looked at predicted hiring trends for the coming year. Also, we’ve discussed the “why” behind building your company’s recession hiring plan. Now it’s time to look at the “how.” Both facets of your recession hiring plan will help you determine the best path to hiring and success through the recession, as well as beyond it.

Look Beyond Layoffs

Companies that emerged from prior recessions the most successful, leaned less heavily on layoffs to cut costs, and relied more on operational improvements as a part of their recession hiring plan. It is well known that layoffs can hurt team morale and dampen productivity. Across-the-board pay cuts or hiring freezes that fail to consider employee productivity have been found to backfire, damage morale, and drive away the most valuable employees. However, some layoffs are inevitable during an economic downturn. If your company layoffs are unavoidable, consider utilizing an outplacement program like the one provided by Resume and Career Services. This program strives to soften the impact of displacing employees by providing expert resources, tools, and skills needed to find a new position fast.

Diversify Talent Sourcing

A recession can serve as a time for your company to seize the opportunity for recruiting new and unique talent. In fact, 44% of business owners who participated in a Universum survey said they would cast a wider net to attract new talent. There are two ways to go about diversifying where you find talent to enhance your recession hiring plan. One way is to look outside of local regions in which you typically recruit. By removing geographic limitations on job searches and considering remote applicants, you can truly hire the best of the best — not just the best of who’s located nearby. Another way is to be open to candidates who may not be an exact fit for the role but are looking for growth opportunities and have the drive to learn a new skill in your industry. While focusing on work experience alone may make them look less qualified on paper, transferable skills are valuable and often make up for any gaps in experience. These candidates also give you the opportunity to train them on your specific business processes without their sometimes biased, past experiences interfering.

Leverage Recruiters

According to a LinkedIn article on 2023 job trends, we can expect an uptick in candidates partnering with recruiters. Therefore, companies should consider partnering with a recruitment agency that already has a thorough recruiting process — one with the expertise, experience, time, and resources to pitch your organization to top talent and successfully attract those individuals to your company.

Partner with Blue Signal's Recruiting Team!

Good recruiters will specialize in an industry and have a finger on the pulse of hiring trends affecting that market, as well as a network of top talent looking for new opportunities. It is especially important to keep a recruiter in your back pocket that has solid relationships with sought-after, passive candidates. This will give your recession hiring plan an advantage in the recruiting process without spending valuable time sourcing candidates on your own.

BAckground is group of employees wokring together to develop a recession hiring plan. The foregraound lists the three main points to keep in mind when developing the recession hiring plan.

As leaders in the recruiting industry, Blue Signal is uniquely aware of hiring challenges, especially during an economic downturn. However, there are ample opportunities for growth and a lot to look forward to in 2023 despite overall projections showcasing a daunting landscape. The number one thing hiring managers and departments can do in the face of these predictions is formulate a strong recession hiring plan and follow through. This recession hiring plan should include strategizing beyond just layoffs, casting a wider net of potential candidates, and leveraging recruiters to gain access to industry trends and top-tier candidates. Not sure where to start? Reach out to the team at Blue Signal today for an intake call to address your hiring needs.

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

May 26, 2017 by Lacey Walters

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.

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

May 11, 2017 by Lacey Walters

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.

Before You Hire an AWS/Cloud Engineer, Read This.

March 10, 2017 by Lacey Walters

Cloud computing is growing faster than ever. The cloud market reached almost $150 billion in 2016, and is growing at 25% annually. Traditionally, companies’ top concern was security. But this year, the #1 challenge reported by cloud adopters is a lack of people with the right skills.

At the forefront is Amazon Web Services (AWS), the public cloud division of Amazon. Their business-friendly cloud options ranked #1 in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant. AWS has been around since 1999, however, with the spike in cloud migrations, demand for qualified people has exploded.

The natural response is to scramble to get approval for a new top AWS/cloud migration expert. But many companies run into trouble by hiring the wrong type of person, hiring without a plan, or hiring before their infrastructure is ready. This leads to poor retention and an expensive cloud-based disaster.

How to lay the groundwork for a new AWS/cloud project:

What is the goal?

AWS has many modules; its tagline is “A platform for virtually every use case.” It is the CTO’s job to set a goal and narrow the focus. Too many companies jump into new technology because everyone seems to be doing it, but the reality is that no project can succeed without a clear, realistic goal.

The worst possible approach is, “We need to invest in cloud. What should we do with it?” The goal should address an existing problem that ties directly to revenue. For instance: streamlining a data center, improving security, speeding up data processing, or meeting compliance standards. AWS and cloud-based technology cannot solve every problem, but it brings many exciting tools to the table.

What are the options?

Cloud technology is not an all-or-nothing investment. After defining the goal, choose the features and modules that make sense. For many companies, a hybrid solution is best for their needs, especially for companies with existing infrastructure and assets. Smaller companies can simply rent or buy into existing cloud platforms and software, especially for data storage and security needs. Enterprises and companies doing large cloud migrations will more likely need to hire an expert.

Who is driving?

Without a clear leader to head up the effort, a cloud project will quickly fall apart and become a chaotic, over-budget mess. A director or department head may seem like the obvious choice, however it may not be the best choice if this person already has a totally full schedule, travels a lot, or does not understand the technology.

The best person to lead is someone who is highly project-oriented and a big-picture strategist who communicates well with many types of people. Someone detail-oriented risks getting lost in the weeds. Ideally, they have technical experience or manage technical people.

Now what?

With the groundwork in place, the hiring need should be clearer.

Before interviewing, know the right questions to ask, and have at least one interviewer who can ask technical questions on the AWS technology. This is for two reasons: it screens out underqualified candidates, and it gives the interviewing company legitimacy. Experts gravitate towards companies who have done their research and ask the right questions. It is an indication that the company will treat them well and respect their expertise.

Beware of hiring a complete team of outside people to manage a brand new big-budget technology project. Even if they are experts in the technology, they are not familiar with the company culture and team. Even the best person can run into problems if current employees perceive that an “outsider” is coming in and trying to change everything overnight. A more neutral strategy is to hire an engineer or architect who reports to a trusted leader within the organization who can act as the liaison.

Train some, hire some. Who can be retrained? Competition is so fierce that some companies will inevitably be stuck with a person who has the technical skills but is not the best cultural fit, or vice versa. Therefore, the lower the budget, the greater the need for flexibility.

Work to change technophobe attitudes before the project starts. Share responsibility and ownership in the project with the whole team, and get as many people as possible on board. Take their ideas and try them out, where possible. New technology can feel like a threat and a burden, so open communication does wonders to make current employees feel more at ease.

Lastly, have a follow-through plan. Once the cloud project is complete, have a plan in place for who will maintain it and run it. Hire or train them with plenty of time. Success in the early stages is critical for employees to get on board.

As with any complex project, it pays to work with a recruiter who knows the space well and can locate the best talent for the company’s budget. If your company is considering a large-scale cloud or AWS project, contact us for a free evaluation of your hiring needs. Reach our cloud specialists directly at info@bluesignal.com or give us a call at (480) 939-3200.

7 Subtle Motivation-Killers of Top Employees

February 17, 2017 by Lacey Walters

“Highly motivated” is a common requirement on job descriptions, but in reality, “built-in” motivation is a myth. While an employee’s internal drive is important, the other half of the equation is a joint effort by the employee and the manager to foster a productive workplace.

Employee engagement is a top buzzword of recent years, and there are many obvious killers of motivation: below-market pay, crushing workload, delayed wages, unfair management practices, and oppressive bureaucracy. But for highly paid top performers, some team managers miss more subtle killers of motivation. In an increasingly competitive job market, these top employees have more options than ever, so it is important to address motivation killers and build a productive, healthy environment that lets high performers shine.

1. Unclear advancement plans

In the modern high-level interview, hiring managers often ask for a prospective employee’s career goals. Not everyone wants to go into management, so this interview question is critical in uncovering what motivates the employee. However, many managers never follow up on this initial conversation.

Regularly discussing where the employee wants to go and how to get there is important, but it is only the start. High achievers are good at setting and reaching goals, so they need to have measurable targets to hit and a specific timeline. If an employee feels they are indefinitely treading water, or that they have no prospects for advancement at their current company, they will move on. Tip the balance by giving top performers a realistic idea of their growth timeline and what they can expect as a reward for their hard work.

2. Unaddressed conflict

High performers often have well-rounded communication skills and are good at coping with set-backs and frustrations. That said, a toxic work environment will quickly frustrate someone who is trying to focus on achieving good results in their job. A sudden change in an employee’s performance or an abrupt drop-off in communication is a telltale sign of a toxic situation. Toxic workplaces kill employee engagement.

Promptly address conflict. Meet face-to-face with involved employees and be prepared to discuss what is bothering them in honest, blunt terms. Many times, good communication with a mediator will take the fire out of a bad situation. At other times, more drastic measures are required. Either way, when a top employee is sending distress signals, ignoring the problem destroys trust along with motivation.

3. Lack of feedback and/or indifference to new ideas

When employees come up with new ideas and find new ways of doing things, it is a sure sign that they have good motivation and are engaged in their jobs. A quick way to kill that motivation is to gloss over their ideas. Even if the idea is totally unworkable, enthusiastic acknowledgement of their effort is critical.

Meet regularly with high-performing employees, not just to assess performance, but to build trust so that the employee feels confident enough to share new ideas. Top performers often provide advice that is just as good as a pricey consultant.

4. Poor industry reputation

A company rarely has a bad reputation without something else being wrong. Negative press or a poor financial outlook can cause employees to start searching before a crisis hits. This correlation is stronger with senior executives. Executives are generally more in tune with market conditions and the company’s industry reputation. Senior employees are also impacted more strongly by performance-based bonuses and budget cuts, so a stream of bad press can jumpstart a new job search.

Interestingly, the past few years have seen the market become much more politicized. In a report titled “The Dawn of CEO Activism,” KRC Research found that almost 40% of American consumers say CEOs have a responsibility to publicly address hot-button political issues. Depending on whether employees support or oppose their company’s views, political involvement can bolster or kill motivation. Senior executives in particular may come under fire for comments by the company, or have to clean up messes as a result of an unpopular comment.

In fast-moving industries with shorter tenure, especially technology, top performers look ahead to make sure that the experience they are building now can get them a job down the road. Tech professionals have learned the hard way that even giants like Myspace and Netscape can hit hard times and turn a star resume into one that looks dated and unfashionable.

5. Being passed over for a key promotion

Top performers are less of a flight risk than underperformers. However, sudden departures are often due to missing out on a promotion or award. If a hiring manager is interviewing internally and interviews three top performers for a juicy promotion, and only one of them gets it, the hiring manager risks losing his other two top performers. The solution is to take time to give them a good explanation as to why they were passed over. Reevaluate their career path within the organization together with them.

Ironically, top employees sometimes leave because of a promotion or salary increase! The HR analytics software Workday found that a significant percentage of high-performing employees had a higher risk of leaving the company after a promotion.

Several scenarios can cause this phenomenon:

After transitioning into the new role, the employee runs into one of the problems above.
The employee takes on more responsibility than they could manage.
The promotion or raise comes too late or fails to meet expectations.
The new job title or award makes the employee more attractive to recruiters or motivates them to explore even better options outside the company.

When interviewing internal candidates for a high-level position, it is critical to spend time with the rejected candidates to reevaluate their growth plan within the company, so they do not take it as a sign to move on.

6. Insufficient mentorship or development opportunities

Networking is still the #1 way that people get a new job or advance at their current one. It is important to help top employees build mentor relationships within the company.

A mentor fulfills many roles in an employee’s professional life: they coach, train, give advice, brainstorm, encourage, and correct. Having strong professional relationships within an organization is a powerful incentive for a high achiever to work hard and stay with the company.

By contrast, companies who fail to invest in their top employees’ growth lose twice. Their top people gravitate to the competition, and they fail to attract top employees to replace them. Today’s employee knows that demand for new skills is fierce. Top employees have to reinvent themselves several times in the course of their careers. If an employer is not investing their skills, they lose the motivation to invest their best effort in growing the company.

7. Too little work or uninteresting projects

A mediocre employee will happily take a paycheck without enough work to keep them busy. Top performers want to be challenged. Even if an employee believes wholeheartedly in the company’s mission and loves their work, they will quickly become frustrated if they are bored or perceive that their work is unimportant.

If a high performer is consistently hitting goals without much effort, they have outgrown their current role. It can be tempting to keep them where they are to save the cost of replacing them when they move up the ladder, but this will frustrate the employee and usually lead to a drop in performance or a resignation letter. Reward employees’ growth by helping them to reach their desired career goals.

Many employees would rather leave than complain, so pay attention to early warning signs. Do not rely on employees to set their own workloads. It is the manager’s job to invest time in the employee to match their workload to their ability, drive, and personality. Find out what aspects of a project or of a client the employee enjoys working with, and seek out ways to maximize it for that employee. The investment is well worth it. Motivated employees who like their jobs will happily go to bat for their company to get the best results.

Change is difficult, and even top employees are reluctant to jump into a long job search process that may or may not pay off. A high performer will send many signs before they feel frustrated enough to start job-searching. Employee engagement takes an investment of time, thought, and resources. But the reward is that a manager who engages employees will have far better results to show than a manager who focuses on the results instead of on the people who produce them.

Why Successful People Take Recruiters’ Phone Calls

February 8, 2017 by Lacey Walters

Recruiters sometimes have a reputation for reaching out at inconvenient times. It can be tempting just to delete the LinkedIn message or reject the call. But overcoming that natural aversion and taking the call can pay big dividends.

Many companies cannot keep up with the flood of resumes in response to their job postings, and they use recruiters to fill their most critical openings. Many of the top openings are never even posted on job boards. Successful people know that a good recruiter can hold the key to their next great role.

Here are 10 more reasons that successful people take recruiters’ calls:

Successful people are proactive.

There are four professionals that everyone should know before they need them: a doctor, a lawyer, an accountant, and a recruiter. A crisis is not a good time to be looking for one of these people! Take a call when things are good. Candidates who wait until they desperately need to change jobs often find themselves boxed in without many great options.

They get free market intelligence.

Some recruiters are generalists, but most have a specialty focus. Recruiter who hire within a specialized niche are tuned into which parts of the market are growing, and who will be hiring or firing in the near future. A good recruiter relies on industry news to drive their business. They can pass on that industry news to hard-working candidates who might not have time to catch up on the market trends.

It’s a good investment of time.

An investment of 10 minutes can turn into a dream job. Not only that, it can pay big money. Employees get an average pay increase of 8-11% when they change jobs. This is a lot more than the 3-5% annual raises offered by most companies. Young workers see the biggest gains when they change jobs.

Consider the opposite. If proactive candidates are changing jobs and getting those pay increases, there is less money available for the people who stay put. Occasionally changing jobs has become more common

Recruiters work for free.

The hiring manager’s company pays the recruiter, so the candidate benefits from a recruiter’s hard work for free. It never hurts to listen. Searching for a job is stressful even in the best of times, but a recruiter does a lot of the difficult leg-work, including getting the attention of the hiring manager, negotiating salary and relocation packages, selling the candidate’s skills, and coordinating all of the logistics.

Passive talent gets the best jobs.

“Passive talent” is a buzzword that has gained popularity in the recruiting world in recent years. Hiring managers have come to understand that top performers almost never need to leave their job, and are more likely to be passive in their job searches. Often, hiring managers are willing to pay more for passive talent. Not only are they willing to pay a fee to a recruiter, they often have higher salaries than advertised job postings.
Many companies cannot keep up with the flood of unqualified applications that come with job postings, so often a recruiter is their best path to top candidates.

They can double-check their career strategy.

Successful people have a set of written goals to map out their career. However, no one has a perfect perspective of the industry. Many employees have no mentor for their careers. A recruiter’s job is to talk to a lot of people, usually at a high level. They can give valuable insight on what is happening in the industry, as well as general workplace trends. Is it too soon to ask for a raise? What technologies are up and coming? Is it better to change jobs for growth, or stay put to avoid job-hopping? A specialized recruiter can answer these questions and more.

Recruiters often know industry salaries better than the hiring managers.

Managers who do a lot of hiring often have a very good idea of the market rates. However, most hiring managers only hire a few people per year, and many have limited information about current salary ranges. Since it is in the recruiter’s best interest to get the candidate the highest possible salary, candidates can learn where their salary falls with regards to the market rate. They can also discuss what salary range to ask for.

While some jobs naturally develop good negotiation skills, like sales, candidates in industries like technology and engineering often do not get as much opportunity to hone their negotiation skills. A recruiter can not only give them salary information, they often do the negotiation on the candidate’s behalf.

They want privacy.

Online job applications require a lot of information—name, current company, and often salary. Working with a recruiter adds a layer of privacy for candidates in small industries. Ask a recruiter on the first call what their confidentiality policy is. Good recruiters work with NDAs and can run protected searches that keep the client and/or candidate names confidential throughout the process. It pays to work with recruiters with strong confidentiality policies and to have a signed confidentiality agreement in place to protect everyone involved.

They know what upgrades they want.

No job is perfect. Top employees know the benefits and shortfalls of their current role, so that if something significantly better comes along, they can quickly evaluate it and act decisively. Every candidate has slightly different priorities: work-life balance, shorter commute, salary, benefits package, company culture, location, or more exciting projects. Candidates who talk to recruiters regularly are more likely to know what they want and to have clearly defined career goals, preparing them to handle any crisis that might come up.

Not every recruiter’s call will lead to a job change, but that is not the only benefit. Candidates owe it to themselves, their families, and their careers to keep an open mind about potential opportunities. It is a time investment that more than pays for itself.

Salespeople: How to Sell Yourself Better in a Sales Interview

February 1, 2017 by Lacey Walters

When it comes to interviewing, salespeople have a natural advantage over employees in other departments: they talk to people every day, they are naturally persuasive, and they have a strong internal motivation. That means that any time they interview for a sales position, the competition is stiff.

Not every salesperson is good at pitching themselves, but this is no reason to get tongue-tied. It is not worth leaving it to chance that the hiring manager will notice all shining qualities from the resume. Before an interview, after doing research on the company, salespeople can tweak their mindset to put themselves in the best possible position to sell their skills effectively to a hiring manager.

6 Interview Tips for Salespeople:

1. You are a solution, not a product.

Salespeople sell products and services every day, but many of them find it distasteful to think of “selling” themselves to a company like a product. Products get used up and eventually thrown away, and they are static—not a great way to describe a person. Instead, take a page from the modern sales playbook and sell a solution, not a product. In this interview, the employee is the solutions package. Tailor the pitch of the “solution’s” features and capabilities to match with the company’s business needs, and show them why they should expect a good ROI if they make the hire.

This also helps to dampen some of the personal feelings that can creep into interviews. Interviews are stressful, but their purpose is to determine whether or not a candidate is a good fit for the job in question. Analyze the job’s goals and present the solution—you. There are no hard feelings if the job ends up not being a good fit.

This shift in mindset sets the best possible tone for the interview, and puts the interviewee in a position to speak from firsthand experience and practice.

2. Tell a story with a timeline.

Every employee should have a set of career goals and a career timeline (if not, start one now). In the interview, the interviewee should tell a story that shows the hiring manager where they started, what goals they have already reached, and what goals they hope to reach at this new position.

Be honest and be flexible. Anyone who is hiring a salesperson is going to be able to see past a fluff response.

The solutions selling mindset is the starting point. Salespeople who practice consultative solutions selling know that a static, rigid solution will eventually become obsolete and lose its value. People are not finished products; they grow and change. Likewise, a good hiring manager recognizes that to attract the top talent, they will need to provide growth opportunities for their people. Be ready to describe what that looks like.

3. Have numbers ready.

Many departments struggle to quantify their ROI. Not sales! Salespeople are fortunate to have easy access to the impact they have had on their company’s bottom line. Most companies publish regular reports showing rankings, quotas, revenue, and other metrics. This is a key advantage because it is direct proof of success.

Start with these numbers:

Percent achieved of quota
Number of financial quarters of hit/exceeded quota
Ranking amongst other salespeople in the company
Records hit (e.g. Presidents Club)
Revenue generated
Marquee clients or biggest contracts signed
Travel percentage (local, regional, nationwide, international)

These metrics will not have their full effect when fired out all at once. Use another sales tactic here: incorporate these numbers into a narrative that tells the story of career growth.

After the interview, crunch the numbers the hiring manager provides. Consider the OTE vs. base salary split, any commission caps, the ramp-up time, sales cycle length, and other factors. Avoid negotiating hard during the interview, when the pressure is on.

4. Go above and beyond references.

Hiring managers generally contact references after the second interview, when they are fairly sure they want to make the hire. Don’t wait that long! Get colleagues, managers, and star customers to write endorsements on LinkedIn (this is good practice even for salespeople who are not interviewing, as it gives legitimacy when a prospect looks them up). Verbally quote satisfied customers in the interview. Consider sending a letter of recommendation from a marquee client or a senior management executive.

Coach references before submitting them to the hiring manager. Many people are not sure how to give a good reference over the phone. At a minimum, provide them with the job description, resume, and key facts that the hiring manager needs to hear.

Be sure to adhere to all privacy agreements, both of the current employer, customers, and hiring company. Violating the privacy of a customer or employer is grounds for termination.

5. Sell “brand value.”

When pitching a solution to a prospect, salespeople have to differentiate their solutions package from the competition. Whoever presents the best value to the customer is usually the one who wins the deal. Not all customers are looking for the lowest price, but almost every customer wants good value for their money.

After getting their attention with sales numbers, move to demonstrate personal brand value. Highlight key differentiators such as niche market knowledge, experience, and any unique approaches that fit well with the company’s goals. People outside of sales sometimes see salespeople as interchangeable. Prove them wrong with a demonstration of why this is the best possible investment they can make for this position.

Some companies incorporate a mock sales presentation into their interviews. If so, take full advantage. Do intensive research on the company’s products and solutions. If they have an online trial, spend time getting to know it. Find out their customers and pain points. Prepare a sales presentation and show them unique and exceptional sales skills.

6. Overcome objections

Top salespeople have to be big-picture and detail-oriented at the same time. When it comes to closing high-profile deals, they need to anticipate a prospect’s objections and overcome them with solid, compelling data. The same rule applies in an interview.

No one is perfect, so find weak spots in job history or skills and have a defense ready. Ask for the objection, and then overcome it enthusiastically. This gives the hiring manager further evidence of how they can expect their customers to be treated if they go through with the hire.

While many employees have to learn a totally new set of skills when they go into an interview, salespeople have a tremendous advantage with highly developed interpersonal skills in negotiation, solutions proposals, needs analysis, and overcoming objections.

An interview is a hiring manager’s opportunity to make a decision about an investment in a person. What they need in order to make this decision is evidence that the salesperson can deliver on their promises, uphold the company’s reputation, and close deals. Give them the proof that the person sitting in front of them is the best fit for their job.

Looking for a new sales job? Check out our open positions here.

How Successful Hiring Managers Prep for Interviews

November 18, 2016 by Lacey Walters

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.

When 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.

How to Deliver a Better Performance Review

November 8, 2016 by Lacey Walters

Performance reviews are a discussion on what both the employee and manager can improve on, and how to create an action plan to accomplish those goals. While employers have traditionally given reviews annually, many companies are changing the format to allow for feedback on a more regular basis. The modern performance review is an optimal time to visit long-term goals and create an action plan to meet them.

Tips for giving effective performance reviews:

Set employee expectations.

Give the employee an agenda and an idea of what to expect so they do not feel nervous. Employers can provide an outline or topics ahead of time to allow the employee more time to think about detailed responses to questions.

Every review should include an action plan for the future. Agree on a set of goals with the employee, and use it as a roadmap for their performance. That way, they know what metrics the manager expects from them, and the manager has an agreed-upon guide for the employee’s future performance.

Pick a good date.

Give plenty of warning. Never surprise someone with a performance review. Preferably set them at regular intervals through the year so that employees know when they are coming up.

Avoid scheduling reviews during busy project deadlines.

Give them often, and on time.

Frequent feedback helps the employer to resolve problems and improve morale on a regular basis, before they become serious. A brief weekly or monthly meeting keeps communication open, is better for employee morale, and reduces the pressure for annual reviews.

For formal performance evaluation, consider giving employee reviews each quarter, rather than on an annual basis. Employees (especially millennials, according to a study by PwC) want to know how they are doing =in real-time, not just once a year.

Give reviews in a timely manner. Once a review is scheduled, honor the commitment and do not reschedule or cancel it.

Keep it relaxed and brief.

Employees rely on their jobs for their livelihood. They have a lot at stake during a performance review. Even good performers are often very nervous before a review. Try to put them at ease with a relaxed tone. Start positive, get right to the point, and end on a positive note, even when the review covers uncomfortable topics.

Set an appropriate amount of time for the review and stick to it. Reviews should not last multiple hours. If the discussion gets thorny, set a follow-up meeting to allow both parties to regroup.

Encourage honest feedback.

Just as employees should not take criticism personally during a review, managers should also be open to hearing where they can improve. Aim to prompt honest dialogue about how the role can improve. When employees are unhappy or feel suffocated, everyone hurts. Productivity drops, and dissatisfied employees may leave in frustration.

Avoid simplistic yes/no questions such as “Are you happy?” or, “Is the project going well?” Why? Because smart employees will often say what they think employers want to hear, in order to protect themselves and avoid a difficult conversation. A better approach is to ask open-ended questions that encourage the employee to share their perspective.

Open-ended questions to ask:

“What are your goals for (the year, a project, their team, etc.)?”
“What can we do to help you with your project?”
“What do you see as our strengths, and what can we improve?”
“What is the one thing we can change to make your job better?”

Anticipate emotional reactions.

Employees can react strongly to changes in salary, benefits, rank, and responsibility—both positively and negatively. When possible, allow the employee time to process their emotions privately. Additionally, it is important to be totally clear. Do not be vague, and do no sugarcoat. For any positive or negative change, the employee will have immediate questions about the logistical details. Be ready to answer.

Do not cave in to emotional pressure during the review. An employee may say things they do not mean in response to an unexpected change. It is important to stay on track and not change course based on an employee’s reaction.

Document the conversation.

It may not be necessary to document regular informal feedback meetings, but formal reviews should be documented. Give the employee a copy of the agenda ahead of time to prepare, and give them the notes for the completed review. Revisit this same document at the next review to track progress.

Performance reviews are a critical tool for employers who want healthy and results-focused relationships with their employees. Instead of an annual stressful event, make it a continuous process to reduce tension and address problems as they arise, instead of once a year.

6 Reasons to Use a 3rd-Party Recruiting Firm

November 4, 2016 by Lacey Walters

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.

The “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.

Recruiter 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.