Follow These 5 Steps:

Be Social.

1. First of all, creating a Candidate Experience should begin even before the candidate knows they’re applying. Employer branding is the foundation of your candidate experience. This means your company has strategized and is committed to creating transparency between the office and the public. You’ve found creative ways to tell your company story and mission, and employees are dedicated to sharing the details of your great workplace. You’ve made an effort to be visible on social media, and you’re committed to responding to your fans and soon to be candidates.

Be Inviting.

2. An awesome careers page filled with awesome job ads. If a candidate has made it to your careers page, they’re interested. If they’re viewing your job ad they’re invested. The last thing you want to do is turn them off with a boring page that tells them nothing about your company and the people they will be working with. Use job ads as an opportunity to market your company culture, and the details of the jobs. Job ads and branded careers pages are the introduction to your company as an employer, create something as dynamic as your business and something you can be proud of.

Be Efficient.

3. Make it as easy to apply as possible. If you’ve gone through all the trouble of creating a positive employer brand, you’ve made an amazing careers page (using the SmartRecruiters’ widget, of course), and you’ve created the most appealing job ad ever – then why lose a candidate with an hour long application process that makes them repeat the same information over and over, again? Let’s face it. The best candidates are not going to spend more than 10 minutes filling out an application, and why should they? They have options. Which you won’t have if you scare off qualified candidates with a lame application process. Applying to a job should be as easy as one-click.

Be Thoughtful.

4. Respond to all candidates regardless of the fact of them getting an interview or not. Far too many candidates go unanswered, and you know what people think of companies that don’t take the time to respond? They hate them. I know I do. In the past, I’ve literally stopped buying their product because I did not get any acknowledgement of the fact I had applied. Candidates deserve to know the status of their application. They’ve taken the time to apply, and follow-up. You can take the time to give a simple yes or no (PS it’s simple because we’ve made it simple.)

Be Awesome.

5. Last but not least, send a great job offer. It’s kind of like asking a candidate for their hand in marriage so it has to be good. Let the candidate know as their employer you’re here to support them. Accepting a job offer is not just about the money, it’s about the mission of the company and the hopes of the candidate. To ensure a candidate will say yes, emphasize how your company can help them achieve their personal goals, career goals, and professional goals.

Your perception is your reality. If you create a great candidate experience, whether the candidate gets the job or not they will always perceive you as an employer worth working for, worth buying from, or applying to again in the future. It’s not just the candidate that needs to put their best foot forward, it’s you too. The last thing you want is a candidate going around telling everyone they know how horribly they were treated as a candidate; we all know what that can do for a reputation. As easy and tempting as it is to think the candidate is the only one with something to prove, it’s just not the case.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 195,000 jobs were added to the workforce in June 2013. Jobseekers can increase their chances of getting a job by looking in the industries with the most job growth. These 5 industries have created the most over the past month:

5. The financial services industry added 17,000 jobs last month.

Insurance agencies are looking for remarkable talent while banks and financial istitutions are adding more and more jobs everyday in a variety of positions like relationship management or loan officers.

4. Health care added 20,000 jobs to workforce in June.

This field is not limited to doctors and nurses but also ambulatory care, pharmacists, anyone promoting good health among the people.

3. The retail trade industry added 37,000 jobs last month. The wholesale trade industry continued with upward growth adding over 11,000 jobs, while most other new positions fell in the auto and building-goods sectors.

This is an indication people are shopping and someone needs to be providing the goods. Join the auto industry or look into exciting retail opportunities.

2. Employment in professional and business services rose by 53,000 in June. Over the past year this field has added over 600,000 jobs!

This industry has jobs that range far and wide from management positions, ranging from technical services to computer systems and everything in between.

1. The leisure and hospitality industry added 75,000 jobs in June and monthly job growth in this industry has averaged 55,000 so far in 2013 doubling last year’s growth.

If you’re a people person maybe you have a future in this line of work? Think jobs like front-desk supervisor at great hotel or maybe you’ve always had a passion for food and becoming a chef has always been something on your radar.

The American labor market performed strongly in June 2013.  While ADP reports numbers slightly different numbers than the BLS (188,000 jobs added in the month of June and a 39% increase since May) both sources show positive workforce trends. In addition to which industries are creating the most jobs, also check out the cities with the most job growth. Knowing what is in demand is half the battle.

Photo Credits Philadelphia University, Gordon Hospital, Click&Inc, TheVolunteerCenter, & TFHLegal.

SmartRecruiters is the hiring platform with everything you need to source talent, manage candidates and make the right hires.

5. Rally House gets the holiday hiring spirit with this job ad! We all know there’s a significant spike in the labor market during the holidays to fill seasonal positions. Also, Pinterest is more heavily trafficked during the holidays for crafters and cooks alike looking for fun holiday projects. Rally House is a sports goods store, and while they may not be looking for crafters specifically, they’re expanding their talent pool.

Follow SmartRecruiters on Pinterest.

4. “All those who try to go it sole alone,
Too proud to be beholden for relief,
Are absolutely sure to come to grief.”

If an employee is going to be working with every department, or at least a few, why would one person make the hiring decision? Collaboration in hiring is key. Making the best decisions for your company and growing team is not something that can be achieved alone.  Let’s say for instance you decide to go about the hiring process by yourself. You hire someone you think will be a great fit, he or she meets the team they will be working with and everything flies off the handles. It’s just not a good match. Now you have spent time and money training, and interviewing someone who will end up costing you more than they had time do produce. Moral of the story – don’t do it alone; Frost predicts, “grief,” and he’s right.

3. “Pressed into service means pressed out of shape.”

Quality of Hire is a driving factor in the success of your company. Hiring someone quickly – just because – isn’t the answer. Hire the best. Pressing someone into a certain roll is not going to work in the long term unless they have the will to learn. People who are not invested in what your company is doing or aren’t passionate about the roll you have placed them in WILL get bent of out shape about it. And we all know the costs of a bad hire. Avoid that mistake entirely by hiring people invested in your company’s purpose.

2. “There are two kinds of teachers: the kind that fill you with so much quail shot that you can’t move, and the kind that just gives you a little prod behind and you jump to the skies.”

I am going to respond to a quote with a quote, “When you hire people that are smarter than you are, you prove you are smarter than they are.” As the leader of the company or as hiring manager what is most important is your ability to identify talent and amplify your employee’s abilities. You can’t teach talent, but you can find talent. There are two kinds of leaders: the kind that have to be at the top of the totem pole and stifle those beneath them, and the kind that want to see the people around them flourish and empower them to do so. Spoiler alert: you want to be the latter.

1. “I always entertain great hopes.”

When I started at SmartRecruiters, I was an intern. I was supposed to be coming in part time, but I took the initiative to change my internship into 5 days week. When all was said and done, SmartRecruiters created a position for me as Community Manager, a brand new job in the company. I wanted more for myself, and SmartRecruiters did too. If the right person comes along you do not want to miss them. David Smooke says, “Always keep the funnel open, and create jobs for new great talent.” Avoid the frame of mind that says, ‘Well, we’ll never get bigger than 10 people,’ or ‘We’re not hiring right now.’ A new person can always help you grow and improve. Keep jobs open on your career page to ensure you won’t miss the people who are going to help you do this.

Robert Frost Quotes

As a business you rely on your people to keep the wheels turning and the business innovating. You cannot learn a lifetime’s wisdom overnight but Robert Frost’s words can take you in the right direction. Having big dreams for your company and your people is the first step, and execution is the second. Use these quotes and words of wisdom to make the most of your hiring.

As an HR professional, I can tell that there are many things that we do on a day to day basis. Most of the time it really depends on what hits the desk but we’re going to approach this from a slightly different angle.  We are breaking down the 5 things that really SMART HR people do.

Let’s go!

1. Start from the bottom: Not so much in career path but in analysis of problems. Often times an organization’s problems arise because someone dropped the ball or mishandled a situation and it goes on and on. It just gets worse and no one wants to take responsibility or time to get to bottom of it. The problem gets bigger and bigger until it comes to ahead and then there’s either a gigantic loss or major embarrassment – sometimes both.  These things happen in HR departments too; making a bad hire, worker’s comp claims go unfiled, FMLA goes uninvestigated, employee abuse goes unnoticed and productivity slips. Smart HR folks get down and dirty, they uncover the problems and face them head on, before they become bigger issues and part of organizational culture. Bad habits are integrated quickly into workforce DNA and that’s why smart HR nips that mess in the bud!

2. Stay Connected: HR – human resources – human capital management; by definition we manage the human assets of the organization. And the human assets are the most important and also the most volatile pieces of the company. It is critical that HR stays connected and informed to people both internally and externally. HR professionals understand why it’s important to connect with and engage the employees and other business professionals. It’s all about building relationships and problem solving.  By connecting with others you get a unique perspective on the problems and also resolutions to those problems. Also HR professional understand it’s important to connect with other colleagues through networking and professional development associations – I’m looking at you SHRM!

3. Ask What’s Next: There’s this great Lexus commercial where the narrator says “Awards and trophies can hold you up but they can also hold you back, unless you ask the question, ‘What’s Next?’” (think about it) HR professionals must always ask “What’s Next? What’s next with technology? What’s next with employee relations? What’s next with talent acquisition? What’s next with the candidate experience? What’s next with communication? What’s next with social networking? What’s next in worklife balance benefits? You’ve got it right?” In HR once you’ve think you’ve seen it all or done it all – BAM! There’s something else. Even when things are going well, we wonder, can it be better?

4. Humanize: Recently, SmartRecruiters published an article titled “H.U.M.A.N. in Human Resources” and the “H” stands for humanize. Humanizing is the process of integrating empathy and sympathy in the employee performance process. Everyone has obstacles to overcome and challenges that they must force. Basically things happen and we must understand and offer support to those employees that need it the most. Yes it’s true, SOME people are messy and will try to take advantage of you but mostly people are decent and just need support. Humanizing can be as simple as taking time to interact and collaborate with employees to really understand what they are dealing with on a daily basis. Humanizing can be creating a policy to drive engagement and boost morale.  Show some compassion for your employees, it will pay-off.

5. Know Their Stuff: Smart HR pros don’t rely on “gut feelings” and “common sense” they use HR principles; the compliance laws Title 7, ADA, FMLA, EEO, FSLA; they connect all processes back to the mission and vision statements. If you want to be the best then hire the best. If you want to find a niche market – they recruit, promote and produce for that niche. They create compensation and benefit strategies to acquire the type of workers that best fit. Smart HR knows where to go to find the answers or who to talk to get those answers, because being smart does not necessarily mean knowing it all – you’ve got to be resourceful too.

Chris Fields is an HR professional and leadership guy who blogs and dispenses great (not just good) advice at Cost of Work. Connect with Chris via email at chris@costofwork.com.  

The slogan of my community, AristocracyHR,  is, “HR Otherwise Would Be Uncivilized.”  That is to say that practices that are anything other than smart, common sense, innovative, and humane in application would be uncivilized and therefore lacking the value that an effective HR function should provide.

Anyone who is hired at a company is usually brought in through the recruitment group or the group eloquently called Talent Acquisition. Talent Acquisition from my perspective is the alpha and omega of HR and the entire organization. Any misstep by them and it is a grave reflection on the rest of the bunch.

The interesting thing is Talent Acquisition is only as good as the resources put into the function by decision makers. If poor practices are handed down from the top; it will be passed on to jobseekers and later to new hires. We can get into the conversation about who should nudge who when it comes to shaping the organization so that it exudes culture and value at a later date. However, there are a few things that have occurred to me in my travels around HR; some best practices that that can make every company’s hiring strategy civilized.

Here are five tips for deploying a successful hiring strategy in 2013:

1)     Pay particular attention to the “human” aspect of human resources and make sure that every process, policy, practice, initiative, and experience takes on a “human” perspective. All too often, organizations get wrapped up in a law, a piece of compliance, policy, and let’s not forget their bottom-line. I’m not saying look at every situation with rose colored glasses. I’m simply saying to stop and think about how this new initiative or way of doing things will affect the human that will ultimately live through it. Heck, ask an employee or two before you roll out one of your masterful plans- you may be surprised at their answer.

2)     Embrace technology, but do not overcomplicate it. Whether it is your applicant tracking system or your new employee self service rollout. By all means spring into the 21^st century, but be mindful that everyone is pressed for time and attention span. Make anything you do with your technology for hiring is intuitive and simple. It should not require a 2,000 page manual and a Computer Science degree.

3)     Stop wasting jobseekers time. Yes, I said it. Stop showing up to job fairs with no jobs or jobs no one there could qualify for. If no one out there is good enough to do your job openings, pull the posting and wait for the backlash of the employees that are now overburdened with the extra work. My point is stop the cheap tricks. People talk and they aren’t as dumb as you think. Actually they aren’t dumb at all. They can see the trick coming before you say, Ta-da! This right here will kill your brand and any chances you have of attracting top talent.

4)     Put the dollars and cents behind the strategy. The companies whose hiring strategies have impact are the ones who are putting dollars and cents behind the strategy. That doesn’t mean be foolish in spending your money – it simply means money well spent within the hiring function can do wonders for your recruitment and employer branding efforts. Like most budgets, there is almost always an area where money is wasted either on a worthless initiative or just because the money has to be spent before the end of your fiscal year. Putting money behind the strategy can be as simple as springing for a continental breakfast at a local venue for new hire orientation or advertising the opening on a new niche website. It sure beats the humdrum, transactional orientation you hold in a conference room where the highlight of the new hire’s day is signing up for benefits and boring presentations.

5)     Check in with your employees (whether new or tenured) before they check out. People get hired, they get an offer letter, they arrive for orientation, they report to their departments and then they disappear into the deep, dark crevices of the organization. Things for that new employee usually goes well and they thrive. Yet other times they ask themselves one month into the job, what the heck am I doing here? It is an internal conversation that gets more infuriating with time, because no one has the courtesy to do a customer satisfaction check in. Without periodic interviews, an exit interview of tenured employee simply doesn’t tell the whole story. Do spot checks even if things look good from where you sit. You don’t want any Op-Ed’s floating around the internet airing out your dirty laundry or better yet you actually want to retain your employees.

Deploying a hiring strategy for 2013 without taking these five tips into consideration would truly make for uncivilized hiring and poor outcomes. If you can incorporate 50% of these suggestions, you will see a remarkable change in your employees and how job seekers see you. It’s all about making  many small strides for big results. Baby steps people, baby steps.

Janine N. Truitt (@CzarinaofHR) is an HR Professional based in Long Island, NY. Learn more of her expertise in Recruitment, HR Technology, Talent Management, Employee Relations, and HR Policy/Compliance on her blog, The Aristocracy of HR.

At Network, Getwork I had a conversation with a guest about the importance of social media outreach. He thought it was unusual that a software company could possibly have any use or relevant content for social sites. I reminded him that SmartRecruiters is social software and that applies to office life as well, then I directed him to SmartRecruiters’ Pinterest and Instagram. The point is that even though we are a software company we have a personality and our employer brand should be shared! Every brand has personality.

Lately we have been spending a lot of time pinning and sharing our employer brand.  We’ve collected our Top 5 Coolest Startups Pinterests. These guys are doing a great job representing the personality of their company. And even though they may not have 100,000 followers, their boards are a fun place to be.

5. Eventbrite: They make sharing, creating, and customizing an event easy and accessible. Bringing people together for awesome events is part of their mission and their Pinterest represents that clearly. Eventbrite shares infographics on every subject, civic engagement projects, photos of vintage events, and so much more. Don’t just toot your own horn on Pinterest, it’s about establishing your employer brand but also finding shared values and interests.

4. Trulia: A residential real estate search engine that gives buyers, sellers, owners and renters the inside scoop on properties, their unique approach to the property search isn’t just about logistics, but personal touches as well. This Pinterest Employer Brand is filled with amazing property pictures and design ideas worth repining. Remember Pinterest is about photo-sharing, so you don’t want to overwhelm you readers solely with words.

3. Chegg: An online textbook rental company. Their founders were frustrated with policies and procedures of university bookstores. With the student in mind, they created a faster more cost efficient method of acquiring textbooks. Chegg’s Pinterest is student focused giving tips on everything from study habits to microwave friendly recipes. Know your audience and don’t be afraid to cater to them.

2. Minted: Printed paper products have never been more digital. Minted crowd sources graphic design from the global digital community, and sells great products. This is social commerce on every level. Minted’s products are perfect for the Pinter-verse, showing off paper craft ideas, holiday inspirations, and amazing designs for every event. Update your boards regularly because more activity on more topics is greater reach.

1. SAY Media: A digital publishing company that creates amazing brand campaigns. They’ve created another successful way for their brand to interact with the audience, and even potential clients. SAY Media’s Pinterest is truly a lifestyle page there is something for every techy, foodie, fashionista, music junkie, and animal lover alike. Don’t pigeonhole your brand! It’s a way to represent every aspect of your company, even the interests of potential employees.

These 5 companies are Pinterest stars of successful employer branding and social sharing. While there are many big brands on Pinterest,  these startups are not short on engaging content. We are looking forward to watching them grow and seeing how other startups will take advantage of this awesome photo sharing site.

Is your company using Pinterest to share its brand? Let us know, and share it below by leaving a comment. In the mean time, we love pinteracting with all of you!

Recruitment in the federal contractor space is tricky. There are so many nuances and regulations that you need to abide by before you even get down to the actual recruitment. The government sees the federal contractor arrangement as a “privilege.” The privilege is that you – meaning the business – is privileged to do business with the government. In return for this great “privilege” there are expectations. The overarching expectation is that you will make every effort to hire women, minorities, veterans, and the differently-abled wherever possible. This doesn’t mean that for every position you must hire a woman, minority, veteran or differently-able person. It means you will make a good faith effort to make sure your hires are representative of the available pool. This means you need to make sure your applicant pool is diverse.

Please be clear this is not a quota system. It’s not about hiring one Asian, one African-American and one woman and patting yourself on the back. Your job isn’t done. In fact it is never done. The point of the OFCCP regulations as it pertains to federal contractors is it is a day-to-day guidance on hiring and recruitment efforts not a one-time effort. In this way, making sure your applicant pool is consistently diverse becomes a habit and not a numbers game. The guidance of the OFCCP is in place to eliminate inequity in hiring practices. While I’m no stranger to days of pulling my hair out trying to navigate this federal contractor space; I find the cause noble and quite simply the right thing to do.

Working in the federal contractor space doesn’t have to be grueling. If you look at it from an altruistic perspective, you will see benefits to the regulations. To ease the pain of your recruitment efforts, below are five tips on effective recruitment in the federal contractor space no matter what industry you are in:

 

1) Make sure your job description doesn’t overshoot requirements. This is important because you want to make sure that you are always hiring for the minimum knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to adequately perform the duties of the job. The duties of the position should have reasonable requirements attached to it. Asking for higher qualifications than the duties of the job requires could pose adverse impact.

2) Research and Post Job Openings Wisely. Do your due diligence by researching websites, associations, journals and other publications that cater to a diverse pool when looking for venues to post your positions (e.g. Society of Women Engineers). The more diverse the readership or subscribers are the more likely you are to attract diverse candidates. [Editor’s Note: SmartRecruiters is partnered with 100+ job boards and publications, and has aggregated data across 120,000+ jobs posted to predict the best performing job board for you.]

3) Get Up and Get Out There. Recruitment is more fun and best done out there in the world. Get out of the office and participate in diverse job fairs, university career center activities, join an association or local chapter of a national group. OFCCP is no longer interested in federal contractors posting to hundreds of diverse websites and calling this a good faith effort. They want recruiters and hiring professionals out there engaging with the industry professionals they seek. Involvement in these groups brings attention to your company and is yet another way of procuring a diverse applicant pool.

4) To the extent that it is possible – try to have a consistent hiring process. The OFCCP knows that the show must go on i.e.  your business must run. Every business is not made equal and has its own policies and procedures. However, they do take exception to inconsistent processes and procedures. Try to minimize the variability in your process to prevent unnecessary questions when audited.

5) Document Your Hiring. It is imperative that you document any and all good faith efforts made. It is equally important to document any deviations from your usual process so the what, when, who and why is answered when you are audited.

 

Janine N. Truitt (@CzarinaofHR) is an HR Professional based in Long Island, NY. Learn more of her expertise in Recruitment, HR Technology, Talent Management, Employee Relations, and HR Policy/Compliance on her blog, The Aristocracy of HR.

• Using Social Media as a Background Check. Sometimes the curiosity is just too great or a situation has taken place surrounding social media where the hiring manager will never let that happen again.  Using social media as a form of hiring background check opens the employer up too many risks including employment discrimination or wrongfully identifying your candidate on the Internet.

• Blocking Social Media at Work.  As social media grows in importance, so does your employee’s use of social media as their primary form of contact with the outside world.  My mom follows me and my sister’s family happenings via Facebook, and today I connected with my friend, Carrie who recently moved to Dallas. Man, I sure miss her.  Forty percent of generation Y workers rate social media access above receiving a higher salary.  These workers will decline (or accept) job offers based on employee access to social media at work.  Be prepared to answer questions about your company’s social media policy throughout the hiring and interview process.

• Only Relying on Social Media.  Depending on your social media recruiting strategy, these online tools can be extremely cost effective.  The problem is that these mediums still only reach a limited number of job seekers many who still rely on more traditional and established methods.  Using only social media in your recruiting efforts can open you up to other employment law and discrimination problems as well.  If you are only recruiting on Twitter, Quantcast cites the demographics as 67% Caucasian, 17% African American, 12% Hispanic, and 3% Asian.  In effect, you are purposefully limiting your recruiting pool and are potentially guilty of adverse action.

• Not Responding to Job Seekers on Social Media.  If your company chooses to create a social media presence for recruiting and hiring, it’s important to provide support as needed.  Job seekers will use Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms to engage and ask questions.  You need to follow up and respond in a timely manner, meaning 24 to 48 hours.

• Deleting Negative Threads and Conversation.  With social media comes the good as well as the bad.  Companies who remove negative comments and content from visitors on social media pages like Facebook at looked upon unfavorably.  Social media is like the corporate water cooler, and by removing the content online you are fueling the conversation.  Removing content – instead of providing an update or thanking the visitor for their insights – damages your credibility.

While in all likelihood you can’t avoid all this potential social media pitfalls, you can be prepared.  Arm yourself with answers and prepare for situations that arise on social media including negative postings and questions about your social media use, and then, you are 5 steps closer to maneuvering pitfalls and other potentially bad hiring and recruiting situations when it comes to social media.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a workplace and technology strategist specializing in social media.  She’s an author who writes at Blogging4Jobs. When she talks, people listen.  Also, connect with her on Pinterest @blogging4jobs.  Photo Credit Intuic.

 
5. The New Traditionalists.  Furniture company located in new York city uses their funky and unique style to help recruit employees to their organization through Pinterest.

 

4. WIU Careers.  A university career services department that provides career advice and assistance for both students and alumni on Pinterest.  Their boards provide insights into the organization but also help for the job seeker.

 

3. Flex Jobs. Niche job board for the telecommuting and freelance comunity are taking notice of Pinterest and the opportunity for job distribution, SEO and web traffic benefits it provides as well as the reputation one can build with passive and active job seekers.

 

2. GE Careers.  General Electric not only has a strong employer brand, but their use of Pinterest board to tell a story about their organization and the diverse programs and projects that make up the company that are very compelling.

1. Taco Bell Careers.  The restaurant industry often times in my mind adapts very quickly to the ever-changing social media and technology landscape when it comes the field of employer branding and workforce marketing.  Taco Bell’s Pinterest boards don’t disappoint.

The bottom line is that Pinterest is still early in its consumer branding and marketing stage.  These 5 companies are on the right employer branding path. This means that many companies – while interested – are still taking a wait and see approach over experimentation when developing their employment brand strategy when it comes to recruiting on Pinterest.  Is your organization using Pinterest to reach this audience for candidate and workforce marketing purposes?  If so, I’d love for you to leave a comment below and share your company’s Pinterest page.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a workplace technology and social media analyst who is the chief blogger at the leading HR and workplace blog, Blogging4Jobs.  You can follow Jessica’s pinning passions at @blogging4jobs.