hr Archives - Blue Signal Search

Social Media Best Practices for HR

January 17, 2020 by Lacey Walters

In a world where 1 in 5 page views occur on Facebook, and Twitter users generate 6,000 tweets per second, social media is no longer a small element of the modern community life, it’s the beating heart of how we interact. It might be tempting to just leave social media totally in the hands of your marketing team, but the reality is that the whole company—including HR—needs to be on board.

While the social media landscape is still in a state of flux, success in this area isn’t random. Social media best practices go beyond marketing and PR: they’re about how people interact. Since HR is the industry of people, human resources professionals need to have a social media strategy. What can an HR professional do to harness social media for a positive employee culture?

1. Know the channels your employees use. Listen to what they say.

Together, customers and employees are the two groups that shape the reputation and image of your company. Their voice is much more powerful than any marketing or PR effort. Find out what platforms your employees use, and what they’re saying about you. It takes very little time to get an impression of what the public thinks about you as a company and an employer.

The easiest social media platforms for managing your reputation are LinkedIn, GlassDoor, and the first few pages of Google searches. These are the first places your job candidates will be checking before they decide to work for you. Facebook and Twitter are less straightforward, but you can track buzz and interactions around your company to get an understanding of where you stand.

Social media should already be part of your hiring process. Not only should you source candidates through LinkedIn (or work with recruiters who do), you should vet potential employees’ social media profiles during the hiring process. It will give you an insight into their personality that may not come out in a formal interview.

2. Celebrate on social media.

Embrace opportunities to celebrate your company on social media. Use your LinkedIn page, Twitter account, and Facebook company page to share promotions, new hires, company outings, fun traditions, perks, and milestones. Post often and at many levels — new and senior employees alike deserve recognition for hard work.

Include photos or videos to boost your views and humanize your company. Since your employees already use social media every day, show your appreciation for them where they (and the competition) can see. Make your competition envious of your workplace culture.

The key to this approach is consistency. Decide on a social media calendar, then design a process for selecting an employee to celebrate. Keep the process fair so that other employees don’t feel left out.

This personalized, grass-roots approach costs little time and money and dramatically boosts retention and your online reputation. When you paint a clear picture of your company’s selling points, you will attract and keep top talent.

3. Form strong bonds with your PR and marketing teams.

They’re the ones who manage your company’s branding and voice on the front lines. If you don’t communicate, you’ll miss out on insights into your people and potential candidates. Share your visions with each other. Talk about ways you can help each other reach those goals.

Your goal is a strong correlation between your brand and your employee culture. There is no substitute for keeping your finger on your company’s pulse. When individuals and departments are dissatisfied, they talk, and they may not talk to you first. A culture disconnect comes off as disingenuous to your customers and makes it hard for you to attract and keep your top employees.

4. Don’t try to gag people.

You can’t monitor everything (nor should you want to), but you can get an idea of your employees’ social media habits before and after you hire them. Trying to shut people down will only fan the flames.

A hyper-strict social media policy never goes over well (and may actually be illegal): “The National Labor Relations Board has concerns about companies that run with these very broad gag policies that relate to things going on in the workplace,” says Jon Hyman of the legal advisory firm Kohrman Jackson & Krantz.

Instead, integrate social media into your employee communications. Make a space for employees to talk internally and confidentially. Don’t rely on traditional methods (the anonymous comment box in the break room is outdated). Today’s employees are vocal and have many tools at their disposal to be heard. Let them know that you hear them so that you can solve problems together before they feel compelled to take their frustrations to public arenas.

If you notice a negative trend in what employees are saying, you have an opportunity to fix the problem and build on your strengths. Turning around an unhappy employee is a win for everyone, including you: workplace morale improves, productivity goes up, and you don’t lose an employee.

5. Ask for good feedback.

In addition to sharing successes from your own perspective, encourage employees to leave employer reviews on GlassDoor, Facebook, and other social media channels. Job seekers are more likely than ever to research company culture during the interview process, and positive employee reviews are a powerful tool to give you legitimacy. Dissatisfied employees speak up more often than happy employees. Avoid asking when your employees are likely to be stressed or nervous–such as close proximity to annual performance reviews, audits, or looming project deadlines.

Another great tactic is to create avenues for employees to share their own good news, such as a perk-related Twitter hashtag, or encouraging employees to tag themselves and share company event photos on Facebook. Your marketing and PR teams may have additional ideas and resources. One note: offering incentives in exchange for good reviews is not allowed.

GlassDoor is the top platform for workplace culture reviews. Many job candidates read through these reviews during their company research.

6. Know when to tune out.

Some people are determined to say negative things. Inevitably, some will stick. The best policy is to treat your people well.

Good news is the best antidote for bad press. Take advantage of opportunities to spread good news and fix problems promptly. Truly listen to your employees to clear up issues before they become exacerbated. Manage expectations and company policies right from the start to keep your employees happy. Most importantly, show your company in the best light by celebrating success.

Your 4-Step Guide to Adopting New Hires into Company Culture

August 27, 2019 by Lacey Walters

As a hiring manager, you’ve done the hard part, going through endless levels of interviews to find the perfect candidate and now, it’s the start date. For a new hire, starting a new job can be exciting, overwhelming, and nerve wracking. Some people approach their new career with elation and confidence, ready to take on their responsibilities. However, some employees dread the first day - worried about the people they’ll meet, their supervisors’ management style and even where they will sit at lunch. Successfully integrating new hires into company culture is one of the most important hiring processes and can be a determining factor in your new hire’s career-span within the company.

Your new employee has already had a great first impression with their candidate hiring experience, now, it’s more crucial than ever to continue to impress them with your company culture and keep that excitement and momentum going. Here’s a 4-step guide to the process of making new employees feel comfortable and part of the team from day 1.

1. Begin Onboarding Before the Official Start Date

One way companies can introduce company culture to new hires is to start the process before they even arrive. When sending out materials to introduce them to the job, include internal materials that gives your new employee an inside look into the personality of the company. Take advantage of what is typically a to-the-point welcome letter to prepare your new hire for what they can expect on the first day in a fun and creative way. Providing them with a FAQ sheet, recommendations around the area, and a set first-day agenda can eliminate some of the worries and questions they may have upon arrival.

2. Create Fun Opportunities to Meet Fellow Coworkers

We’ve all played getting-to-know-you games as kids in school, and whether we liked them or not, they were undeniably effective at breaking the ice and encouraging interaction. Icebreakers and team facilitation activities are a great way to ease some of the tension your new hire may be feeling. Social media is also becoming a new and innovative way to create connections between employees. Help your employees merge into the company by encouraging them to follow company social media accounts, along with adding them to a private social network for your company. A private social network, such as a private Facebook group, allows employees to participate and feel active in conversations in a less formal setting. Ultimately, it comes down to implementing interactive opportunities to create a strong dynamic for your company culture.

3. Put Yourself in Their Shoes

Regardless of the amount of time your company has been established, company culture is something that is present from the very beginning. Unless you are the CEO or have been with the company from the ground up, chances are that you have had to go through the onboarding process as well once upon a time. It’s easy to forget the impressions and questions you had on your first day, but it’s critical to put yourself into their shoes and make them feel as comfortable and supported as possible. Remember, as a new employee, questions will be asked and mistakes will be made; these are expected and should be looked upon as a learning experience for both the new employee and manager. Putting in effort to realize that you were in the same position at some point in time allows a certain level of respect and rapport to be built.

4. Follow up

The number one place where companies fall short in the onboarding process is following up with your new hire to ensure they are understanding and enjoying their work. One of the easiest ways to guarantee long-term employment is to onboard them correctly and not let employees fall off your radar. According to the 2018 Recruiter Nation Survey from Jobvite, 39% of talent professionals dedicate between 1-3 business days to onboarding. Although it may involve increased efforts from larger companies, onboarding should be a priority and last weeks or even months as necessary. In addition to habitually checking up on your new hire, a simple follow up email is a valuable way to gain feedback and opens up an honest communication forum between all levels of authority.

Some of the biggest onboarding challenges are inconsistent applications, manager accountability and competing priorities. Adapting a new employee to the company culture and ensuring their success needs to be a priority to guarantee a positive experience. Keep in mind, helping your new hire fit into company culture can be simplified with these 4 easy steps: begin onboarding before the start date, create fun opportunities to meet coworkers, put yourself in their shoes, and follow up.

We Are Here to Help

Are you a hiring manager or talent acquisition professional looking to expand your team? Ask us how we can help coach your onboarding process as needed! Blue Signal’s search process continues to impress our clients and our recruiters are dedicated to finding top talent within any industry.

Ready for a free hiring consultation?

(480) 939-3200

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 [email protected] for a free consultation.

10 Tips to Attract Top Talent with a Good Hiring Process

July 20, 2016 by Lacey Walters

Many companies lose top talent due to a poor interview process.

Companies conduct interviews in the same way that they conduct business. Top talent knows what to look for in the interview process, so hiring managers should do the same. Below are 10 key tips to optimize the hiring process to attract top talent with a good interviewing process.

1. Do not treat candidates as mere applicants.

Top candidates know they are highly sought-after. They are regularly approached by recruiters or head-hunters and rarely apply to open jobs. Do not treat them as any other applicant; roll out the red carpet.

Respond to their inquiries and questions promptly. Be open and honest with them. If they are not a fit, or if hiring priorities change, let them know the real reasons why. In today’s fast-paced electronic world, news travels fast; if they are a highly respected professional in the industry, they will talk, and others will listen.

2. Respect their time.

Desired candidates are busy at their current company and do not have large windows of free time. Lengthy meetings during business hours are often convenient only for the hiring manager. Make the most out of their time. If they take time off to visit, be sure to make the most efficient use of their PTO with the line-up and meetings. Try to avoid multiple visits if possible. Use a virtual interview platform, if applicable. Virtual interviews save time, minimize scheduling hassles, and free up budget.

3. Train interviewers.

To land top talent, send the best. HR professionals with training in conducting interviews tend to ask robust questions to bolster excitement and engage the candidate’s interest. However, hiring managers and other interviewers may lack formal training in conducting an interview. Make training and resources available to interviewers well in advance, and present it as an employee development opportunity.

4. Make the most of each interview.

When possible, strive for a balance of interviewing styles, with a variety of personality types, interviewing experience, technical expertise, and tenure. A good strategy is to pair the candidate with a current employee who is succeeding in the role. An individual with energy, experience, and excitement around the opportunity promotes enthusiasm in the candidate, as well as giving legitimacy to the role.

A round-table discussion achieves many goals at once: it gets multiple interviewers on the same page and is an avenue for reviewing prepared questions, discussing interview strategy, and reducing haphazard preparation in busy departments where hiring managers are juggling multiple deadlines.

5. Prepare the interview environment.

The interview area will give the candidate a reasonable expectation of the company’s work environment. Candidates intentionally put themselves in hyper-observant mode and notice everything. Take a walk along the route an interviewee would take through the building, and observe the surroundings through their eyes.

Company perks—like a high-tech conference room, stunning office views, or trendy common area—should be on full display. Show off what makes the office unique and attractive.

6. Tailor the pitch.

Give each interviewee the courtesy of a personal approach. A list of 30 unoriginal interview questions grabbed hastily from a Google search will not only fail to impress, it will also waste the interviewer’s opportunity to build meaningful rapport. A good interviewer conveys that their hiring process involves thorough preparation.
Demonstrate that each candidate’s individual goals and interests are important to the company. How? Find out what is important to them, and then emphasize how the job will match those desires.

7. Tie everything back to career growth.

Top candidates do not change jobs, they make career moves. Most begin exploring new options in the pursuit of growth opportunities, often due to stagnant growth opportunities at their current employer. Explain in quantifiable terms how the position will benefit them beyond a mere paycheck. Hiring managers should have a detailed and compelling answer to the question, “Why would someone want this job?”

8. Listen more effectively.

Find out what this candidate cannot get from their current job, and then seek to highlight how this new role will meet those needs. Working with a recruiter is highly beneficial for this purpose. Candidates are generally more open to discussing career thorny points with a third party than during a formal interview. Professional candidates know better than to disclose the gory details about their current job in an interview, so avoid wasting time with transparent questions such as, “What do you dislike about your current manager?” Interviewees will easily sidestep with canned answers.

Ask inquisitive, open-ended questions to uncover a candidate’s motivators and goals. The goal is not to catch them off guard, rather to encourage the candidate to discuss their ideal work environment in frank terms. The details they omit are often useful clues to areas of dissatisfaction in their current jobs.

9. Time kills deals. Move quickly.

Candidates hear actions, not words. A prompt, efficient hiring process is evidence of the speed of daily business within the team. The most sought-after candidates stay busy. Time is money for candidates as well as for companies, and the time investment for a full interview cycle represents a substantial opportunity cost for them.

The length of the average hiring process nearly doubled from 12.6 days in 2010 to 22.9 days in 2014 (source: Forbes). Each of those extra 10 days is an opportunity for candidates to respond to interest from competitors, continue conversations with other recruiters, and discuss their interviews with family and mentors. All of this translates to dwindling interest in the role. In addition, most candidates are frustrated with the bureaucracy and red tape that slows them down today. Demonstrate your company moves fast and makes decisions quickly.

10. Keep momentum high in the final stretch.

After making a selection, close the deal on the new hire. Make them an attractive offer promptly. The sooner a company is able to commit, the more likely the candidate will sign on. Delays show doubt, especially near the end of the interview.

Do not allow the interview process to hinder obtaining top talent. Keep it short. Pay attention to details. Focus on meaningful ways that the company can meet the needs of top candidates. Many organizations are only interested in what a candidate can do for them. Companies who focus instead on how they can attract the best employees with a strong hiring process will naturally rise above their competition.

For personalized advice on improving a hiring process, contact [email protected].