{"id":8,"date":"2013-11-14T15:55:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-14T15:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ceo-worldwide.com\/blog\/?p=8"},"modified":"2024-05-23T06:23:50","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T06:23:50","slug":"top-executive-file-hiring-the-a-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ceo-worldwide.com\/blog\/top-executive-file-hiring-the-a-team\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiring the \u201cA\u201d Team"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Right Ingredients for Recruiting Success<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no doubt that the well-established race for talent will continue to intensify. Shifting demographics are significantly impacting the composition of the talent pool, to the harsh extent that some companies are even leaving positions unfilled because they cannot locate the \u201cperfect fit\u201d candidates. Yet, in this global economy where the most critical competitive differentiators are derived from a higher performing workforce, this approach simply isn\u2019t viable. Plus, when the mandate from the board clearly states that \u2018our people are our greatest asset,\u2019 HR professionals need to support the organization with a firm strategy that addresses hiring challenges. Simply put, to sustain and drive a market leader position, hiring the \u2018A\u2019 team is a necessity, not an option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly, the game has changed. Gone are the days when posting to a job board resulted in a flurry of qualified candidates. Even social networking sites \u2013 such as LinkedIn and Facebook \u2013 aren\u2019t fresh ideas when it comes to sourcing candidates. Even when you\u2019ve sourced properly, how do you determine whether a candidate is a good fit? Fortunately, there are new ways of addressing hiring challenges, if you start with three main ingredients: employment branding, creative sourcing and pre-hire assessments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, when was the last time that you checked your employment brand? While we\u2019re all familiar with readily recognizable consumer brands \u2013 such as McDonalds, Tim Horton\u2019s and Loblaws \u2013 when a job candidate peers from the outside looking into your organization, what do they see? Is your company the brand \u2013 such as Hewlett-Packard or IBM \u2013 or is your company a house of brands \u2013 such as Crest, Tide and Bounty? Is your company socially responsible, a purveyor of environmental and community best practices? Or, has your brand been tarnished by workforce reductions and high profile litigation? Is your company an employer of choice or one that candidates chose to avoid?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A positive employment brand must be as carefully crafted as the company\u2019s marketing brand. Researchers at McKinsey encourage employers to apply the same \u201crigor and precision\u201d to their employment branding efforts as they do to brand the overall company. However, establishing an employment brand isn\u2019t as simplistic as linking the company\u2019s brand to HR\u2019s efforts. Knowing what motivates your ideal candidate is an important component of creating the brand that will attract, retain and motivate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also worth noting that generational differences drive candidate expectations so whereas a baby boomer might be more receptive to a \u201cstability\u201d brand, the millennial candidate is more concerned with training opportunities and company innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another important aspect of brand management<\/a> is to consider what other companies compete against you for talent. Whether you\u2019re sourcing candidates against each other geographically, or within a specific field of expertise, a \u201cwin- loss\u201d analysis will help determine why other companies are attracting the candidates you\u2019re seeking to hire. This analysis should also include examination of how your brand messages are being delivered to candidates, from radio, TV and newspaper advertising, to the reception that a candidate experienced the first time they step into your lobby, and to how the hiring manager supported the brand messages during the interview process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employment branding is a strategic initiative that requires constant tending. Creative sourcing of candidates requires the same level of attention, as without a healthy candidate pipeline, HR cannot possibly serve the needs of its internal customers and support overall organizational goals. The time to source candidates is now, proactively; not reactively when the position goes open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Logically (and conveniently) when one thinks of sourcing candidates, job boards are the first place to start. The proliferation of job boards has made it the predominant sourcing tool; however, with all good things, it has run its course. That\u2019s not to say that job boards are dead but, as every HR professional will attest to, they cast the net too wide and far and the resulting deluge overwhelms already busy HR departments. This \u201cspray and pray\u201d approach also backfires by sullying your employment brand when earnest candidates expect to hear back from the company on their submission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many times, the most effective means of sourcing candidates is right in front of you. Your existing workforce and relationships are rich sources of referrals. During my recent conversation with the vice president, Human Resources for a Canadian company with 25,000 employees, he mentioned that they\u2019re offering $6,000 per new referral. He added that this approach was previously relegated to salaried positions only and, on top of that, only for those jobs in Alberta, where it\u2019s more difficult to recruit. Now, this approach is being used to recruit for the entire organization. While this might sound pricey, consider how expensive it is to have an unfilled seat! Add the unfulfilled potential to the expense of job board postings, recruiter time and meetings with irate hiring managers. Implementing a referral program that incents your employees for candidate referrals will also result in more engaged employees, which directly impacts retention and productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which brings us to the third ingredient in our recipe for success: how do you know a candidate is really the right fit? After making the investments in your employment brand and sourcing programs, make sure that you have the right pre-hire assessments in place to qualify candidates. For example, are you recruiting for frontline positions that require outstanding customer service skills? Or, is the job requirement to spend hours, if not days, alone and heads down on extremely detailed projects? Taking this scientific approach diminishes variances in hiring and interviewing practices, and also supports other key programs, such as succession planning and building a pipeline of high potentials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good example of using pre-hire assessments comes from a custom designed assessment for the recruitment of McDonald\u2019s U.K. and Northern Ireland hourly- paid staff. Each year that organization receives over 400,000 applications for its crew, customer care, and maintenance positions and the new assessment is an integral part of its \u2018Hire the Smile\u2019 recruitment process for the organization\u2019s 1,225 U.K.- and Northern Ireland-based restaurants. The assessment measures candidates against the key competencies necessary for a successful career at McDonald\u2019s namely: customer engagement, personal interaction, teamwork, and speed and accuracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBest fit\u201d candidates become engaged employees and research supports that the more engaged your employees are, the longer they stay with and the more valuable they are to the corporation. Research indicates that engaged employees are more likely to recommend their employer as a place to work and have pride in the organization. Pre-hire assessments enable employers to determine if they\u2019re advancing the right candidates in the hiring pipeline and investing in those candidates that have high probability of staying with the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of economic fluctuations, the recruiting game has changed. Even public sector employers are feeling the pinch. A major Canadian city that only 10 years ago had turnover rates of 2.5% is struggling with turnover exceeding 10%. Well-planned and executed recruiting programs are the only means of \u201cseeing around corners\u201d to make certain that your company\u2019s efforts aren\u2019t casualties. Assembling and mixing the right ingredients will help ensure recruiting success!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

About the author: Chris Chambers is a Principal at LC Management Consultants with over 25 years of business experience. He has helped organizations improve everything from the management of their human capital to operations and development of Sales & Marketing teams and strategies. In the spirit of mixing the right ingredients, he is also the president of Les Marmitons\u2019 Toronto Chapter, an international men\u2019s chefs club. View Chris’ short bio<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Right Ingredients for Recruiting Success There\u2019s no doubt that the well-established race for talent will continue to intensify. Shifting demographics are significantly impacting the composition of the talent pool, to the harsh extent that some companies are even leaving positions unfilled because they cannot locate the \u201cperfect fit\u201d candidates. Yet, in this global economy … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":5308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[117,463],"ppma_author":[614],"class_list":["post-8","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-executive-recruitment","tag-global-economy","tag-recruiting-success"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ceo-worldwide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/4v8umzx8fya.jpg?fit=1600%2C1071&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7XjMV-8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5480,"url":"https:\/\/www.ceo-worldwide.com\/blog\/recruitment-process-outsourcing-hr\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":0},"title":"The Impact of Recruitment Process Outsourcing on HR Practices","author":"CEO Worldwide","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"Talent is critical to the growth of any business, and this has always been the case in the staffing industry; however, today's challenge is much more challenging than in the past. 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Could hiring Interim-to-Perm allow you to attract great C-Suite candidates? Here's what we learnt from interviewing Ghislaine Couvreur, who has recently been placed as a CEO in a swiss company in the AI sector.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Newsletter"","block_context":{"text":"Newsletter","link":"https:\/\/www.ceo-worldwide.com\/blog\/category\/newsletter\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"man holding smartphone looking at productivity wall decor","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ceo-worldwide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/gzb-i-da6ns.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ceo-worldwide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/gzb-i-da6ns.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ceo-worldwide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/gzb-i-da6ns.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ceo-worldwide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/gzb-i-da6ns.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ceo-worldwide.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/gzb-i-da6ns.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3763,"url":"https:\/\/www.ceo-worldwide.com\/blog\/executive-recruitment-firms\/","url_meta":{"origin":8,"position":3},"title":"The Great Benefits of Hiring an Executive Recruitment Firm","author":"CEO Worldwide","date":"","format":false,"excerpt":"In this article we will give you a complete guide to executive recruitment firms and how they are disrupting hiring. 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