How to Reduce Cost Per Hire Through a Talent Pipeline

How to Reduce Cost Per Hire Through a Talent Pipeline Talent pools have been all the rage recently in the in-house recruitment world. Recruitment leaders focus on developing a talent pool for two main reasons: 1. Data the data from a talent pool provides insight into trends; such as availability of talent, industry salaries and geographical hotspots for talent. 2. Future a supply of candidates for future vacancies. A talent pool is often just a fancy way of describing a database which has ATS or CRM software that a recruiter can use to receive and progress candidates through a recruitment process. Unfortunately, there is often a massive amount of un-tapped value in a talent pool. Many organisations talk about the total number of people in their talent pool. The real impact is delivered through the total number of people who are engaged in their talent pool. What’s the difference? ATS systems are regularly described as a black hole by recruiters, TA leaders and, worst of all, candidates. This means that once a candidate enters an ATS or recruitment process, then they tend not to be communicated with in the future, unless they are hired. Even when people are hired, the engagement is minimal. When a talent pool is engaged with, it stays warm. Through publishing engaging content, top TA teams are retaining the attention of their talent pool long after the first application or recruitment process. This has a profound effect on the future activities of a  talent acquisition team. The compounding effect We have all heard of compound interest and the effect it has in either making borrowing money so expensive or investing wisely so powerful. The compounding effect of engaging talent pools has the same effect, but is a little simpler to understand: A disengaged talent pool Many ATS’s become black holes where candidates disappear, never to be found again, until they apply for another job. The challenge is that they are very unlikely to apply for a job through your website and so you need to attract them again and again. This all  costs money: 1st application job board $ 2nd application job board $ 3rd application paid social post $ 4th application agency $$$ hired The candidate may not have been suitable nor had the experience for applications 1 â€" 3, but it still costs money  to attract the candidate and, eventually when they were suitable, they were placed with an agency. You might say “this doesn’t happen”…IT DOES…I am living proof, I applied to the same company four times and was eventually placed by an agency. Yes, I went on to have a good career at the business. I was promoted several times, but I was a very expensive hire! An engaged talent pool This takes effort, content and the right systems. To make your talent pool useful, you need to start being able to segment it into useful skills/experience sets  that are relevant to the roles you recruit; then, you need to communicate with these people over an indefinite period of time. Finally, you need to be able to select the right people out of your talent pool to hire into new positions in your company. So, what impact would this have… 1st application or interaction with a recruiter $ Engagement automated no cost Selection for suitable role in your talent pool no cost Clearly, the systems and recruiters are a cost, but most companies have these in place already. By removing all the future costs of attracting, you will be saving a lot of time/money  and create a pipeline of engaged people. Hold on, it was a pool and now it is a pipeline? This is where it gets really interesting. I like to think of a talent pool as a  pool of water; one that doesn’t have any flow towards your business. Fairly soon, the talent pool goes stagnant and has no value, and, in fact, it can cause some serious indigestion in the future! A talent pipeline still has the same people as the pool, but you have a clearly defined way of feeding the pool (marketing channels) and a way of moving the pool closer to your business (pipeline). This is done through placing the right content, in front  of the right person, at the right time, to influence them to view you as an employer of choice. The great thing is that it has become possible to do all of this. To find out more, I  have even put together a  free video series  showing you how easy it is to use your recruitment data to create a modern recruitment funnel, one that even marketers would be jealous of.

4 Kinds of Job Hunters; Which are YOU - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

4 Kinds of Job Hunters; Which are YOU - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career IT’S BEEN SAID THAT, WHEN IT’S TIME TO TAKE ACTION OR ESTABLISH A POSITION ON IMPORTANT LIFE ISSUES, THERE ARE ESSENTIALLY FOUR  GENERAL KINDS OF PEOPLE, THOSE WHO . . . 1. MAKE things happen; 2. WAIT for things to happen; 3. WATCH things happen; and 4. WONDER what happened! Just coincidentally, there are also FOUR general kinds of job hunters and they tend to mirror these same four attitudes and/or approaches. At any given point during a job search you may exhibit any one or even a combination of these four attitudes/approaches, depending on the level of urgency with which you seek a new job. It’s been my professional experience as a headhunter, though, that the attitude/approach that predominates during a job search is a very reliable predictor of how successful you’re likely to be in your job search. Sadly, the overwhelming majority of job hunters today tend to fall into categories 2 through 4, i.e., those who wait for things to happen; those who watch what happens; and those who  wonder what happened. THOSE WHO WAIT  FOR THINGS TO HAPPEN Those who wait for things to happen usually take this approach . . . they . . . Go online (where they spend the majority of their job-hunting time) and identify a few career opportunities that “look good,” and for which they HOPE they might actually qualify. Submit online applications to the hiring companies they have “targeted,” rarely taking the time or making the effort to learn much if anything about the companies or the names of the people in the companies who will do the actual hiring for the position(s) they seek. Send the same “tired” (READ: old and not updated for quite some time)  résumé and a “one-size-fits-all,” “To Whom It May Concern” cover letter, if they even bother to send a cover letter. Sit back and wait . . . and wait . . . and wait, hoping to hear back something  from someoneâ€"anyone?!â€"representing one of the hiring companies they contacted. THOSE WHO WATCH  THINGS HAPPEN Those who watch things happen essentially take a very, very passive approach to the possibility of exploring career opportunities. Usually, they . . . Are well aware that career opportunities abound all around them, but either lack the belief that such opportunities could be theirs or they simply won’t take the initiative to step out of their comfort zone to explore any of these opportunities. Watch friends and colleagues move to new, better, more exciting jobs, but don’t think they, themselves, are quite ready for such a “drastic” move. Ultimately decide that they, too, may want to explore some of the many new career opportunities, but just not now. Maybe next month. Or maybe the first of next year. Sometime soon, though. THOSE WHO WONDER  WHAT HAPPENED! While there are many, many uncertainties in any job market, there is one constant  certainly: It can and often does seem to turn on a dime. Opportunities that may be in abundance today can quickly disappear tomorrow. The really good jobs will attract HUGE numbers of fully qualified candidates and normally will be filled relatively quickly. Although the competition will be exponentially much, much fiercer, the really GREAT jobs will also not last long in an expanding economy and job market, such as we’re currently experiencing. So, take your pick of relevant adages: Strike while the iron is HOT! Seize the day! Act NOW! In other words, if you are a job hunter who chooses to wait for things to happen, or to watch things happen, you’re quite likely destined at some point in the not-so-distant future to also find yourself in the group of men and women who will wonder  what happened! How you got left behind! SUPER STARS MAKE  THINGS HAPPEN! It should come as no great surprise that the type of job hunter you ought to beâ€"need to be!â€" if you are really serious about continually advancing your career is one who makes things happen. It’s in this rarified group that you will find the Super Star job hunters. Among many, many other things, this is how these men and women prepare for and conduct a new job search . . . they . . . Fully realize that it is they who are primarily responsible for their own career advancement and enrichment, not the company currently employing them. Always keep an open mind when presented with career opportunities to consider. Create and diligently maintain a professional online presence. Use the Internet primarily as a research tool to identify positions that have the potential to advance their careers, as well as to glean pertinent information about the professionals doing the actual hiring. Understand and fully appreciate the value of a résumé (and personally addressed cover letter!) that sells their key career accomplishments/achievements. Become and stay intricately involved in appropriate professional associations, allowing them to build and maintain a robust network of men and women who usually are key players in their profession. Always take the initiative to reach out to hiring companies and hiring professionals, via the telephone, email, direct mail and, when possible, on a face-to-face basis. That is, they choose to interact with real people, not just with a computer. Know they have skills, talent and experience that can be of significant  value to a wide variety of hiring companies and are never shy or hesitant to reach for new career opportunities that they believe can advance their careers. Are persistent to a fault, i.e., they never give up or allow the negativity of others to adversely influence or unduly affect their continual quest to manage and advance their career. WHICH KIND OF JOB HUNTER ARE YOU? If you are currently conducting a new job search, or soon plan to conduct one, what kind of job hunter are you now or will you be? Unless and until you totally commit to becoming one who makes things happen, it is very likely that you will end up doing a lot of “wheel-spinning” and waste a considerable amount of valuable time and effort. On the other hand, with proper preparation and intelligent, informed execution, you, too, can count yourself among the Super Star job hunters, the ones who consistently make things happenâ€"and, by the way, the ones who most often get hired for the really GREAT new jobs! ______________________________________ This post is based on career management information and advice featured in  Career Stalled? How to Get YOUR Career Back in HIGH Gear and Land the Job You Deserveâ€"Your DREAM Job!, professional headhunter and bestselling job-hunting book author  Skip Freeman’s  NEW book in the “Headhunter” Hiring Secrets Series of Career Development Management Publications. ______________________________________ Would you like to receive a FREE  evaluation copy (PDF format featuring entire  book content) of  Career Stalled? via email? Email the editor and co-author, Michael Garee, at mlgaree@att.net. (Copy paste email address into your email client.)  By requesting the evaluation copy, you agree to write and publish a timely,  honest  review of the book on Amazon.com. ______________________________________ The HTW Group currently is recruiting for over 0 job openings! Click here to view all openings! ______________________________________ Going on a job interview soon? Know someone who is?  Check out Skips  How to ACE the Job Interview!  Kindle publication on Amazon.com.

Leveraging the Holiday Season for Personal Branding - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Leveraging the Holiday Season for Personal Branding - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career The holiday season is one of the few times in the year when every professional has a good excuse to connect with all contacts. A simple physical holiday card or gift is a great way to say, “hello,” and stand out in a world that has gone almost completely digital. However, simply purchasing generic holiday cards is a waste of a wonderful opportunity to strengthen your brand in the eyes of your customers, decision makers and business contacts. Six tips for holiday personal branding Do donate money to a worthy charity in the name of your contacts. Gift your business contacts with the gift of giving by donating in their name, and sending them a card with information about how the gift will impact the lives of those served. While we all know many amazing charities, consider giving to one that is connected to your industry or in some way connects with your brand. If you are in the building industry, Habitat for Humanity may be a good choice. If your brand encompasses empowering youth, Big Brothers Big Sisters  may be a good option. Think carefully about the organization(s) to support and steer clear (unless related to your brand) of organizations that are highly political in nature or that could be seen as controversial. Do create customized holiday cards that incorporate your brand. One of my friends, branding speaker Karen McCullough, creates customized cards every year that are not only hilarious, but remind her contacts that she is a speaker with photoshopped images of her doing holiday-related things. Avoid creating a cheesy or overly promotional card. Do not send branded tchotchkes. Refer to the cheesy/ overly promotional comment above. Do send customized gifts to top contacts. While many organizations have rules regarding the value of gifts employees may receive, you can find a large selection of engraveable or otherwise customizable gifts under $25. Do send edible office gifts that underscore your brand. I enjoy sending cookies and treats that have social media icons or mobile phones drawn with icing. Do be thoughtful. Sending a wine, cheese and meat basket may not be a good idea if you have contacts with religious restrictions regarding those items. Also, bear in mind that some contacts may not have family. Be mindful of gifts and/or the wording that you use in cards. Bonus: Do remember that this is the season of giving. No matter your budget, be sure to do something to put a smile on your contacts faces and spread a little cheer.

Improve Your Performance at Work in 5 Easy Steps

Improve Your Performance at Work in 5 Easy Steps Do you easily lose focus at Work? Do you find yourself being unproductive at the workplace? Does this severely affect your efficiency and incentives? Well, now you can bid goodbye to these challenges and improve your performance at work in 5 easy steps. Everyone likes the sound of minimal efforts maximum returns. You need to follow a few steps in order to garner improved efficiency and optimum utilization of time and resources at hand. Staying motivated and focused is the base to achieve enhanced performance levels at work. Here are five simple steps that you can follow in order to boost your performance at work: Set Goals You need to determine milestones and set goals. Goals serve two major purposes. The first purpose is it provides a sense of clarity. The second purpose it achieves is by giving you a direction. When you have a sense of direction, your functions are efficiently directed and aimed to achieve your goals. You plan out your activities accordingly thus optimizing the time and resources available at your disposal. This increases your efficiency and eventually improves your overall performance at work. Motivate your way to Focused Goals As an employee foremost you need to be clear in terms of goals you would want to achieve. Keep yourself motivated through the entire process in order to reach your  pre-determined goals. The simplest life hack here would be motivational quotes. You can read these quotes and motivate yourself to persist and work harder. You can get inspired by the works of scholars and achievers and believe that you have the ability to accomplish your goals. The Never-Ending Cycle of Improvement As there is always room for desert, there is always room available for improvement. There are a number of ways through which you can improve. You could incorporate better habits in your daily routine.  And, you could also improve your behavior towards yourself and your colleagues at your workplace thus creating  a positive environment. By inculcating good habits, you would also avoid being in a rut. Read a book, organize your workstation, declutter, learn a new skill and efficiently map out a schedule to be in control of your decisions and actions. Brim with Positivity Positive attitudes do more good than harm and trust me when I say it can do wonders. If you constantly doubt yourself, you would find simple tasks difficult to complete. You need to maintain a positive attitude towards other employees and motivate them when they do something right. Encourage the members of your team and appreciate their efforts and contributions to the workload. Avoid self-boasting and be humble. This would encourage team spirit and also a sense of belonging to the organization. Identify your Weaknesses Weaknesses are a sign that proves we are humans. You need not blame yourself or shy away from it but rather embrace it. Identify your weak areas and embrace your weakness so that with the help of your strengths you could turn today’s weakness into tomorrow’s opportunity. Ask yourself the question ‘Where did I go wrong?’ You would answer this question yourself which would help you work on your weakness. This would help you excel in your performance at the workplace. You could optimally improve your productivity at work by simply working on your identified weaknesses. Prioritize your activities and efficiently organize your routine according to a pre-determined schedule. Take initiative to follow the schedule. Being humble, positive, motivated and courageous to accept your weakness are few of the many ways to improve your performance at work with minimal efforts. Image Source