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5 Hiring Process Changes For Employers To Consider

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Employees are the lifeblood of a company, and an effective hiring process and employee retention is key to success in this area. The start of a new season offers an opportunity to assess what’s working (and what isn’t) in terms of recruitment, employment screening and hiring.

Hiring Process

Businesses and HR departments should consider addressing the following five areas to improve the hiring process going forward:

1. Choose and Implement Strategies Intelligently

When making decisions about policies and procedures, employers should consider each component carefully. Each aspect contributes to the whole and could make or break the success of a recruitment process. All precedents and parameters should be carefully tested and discussed with management, from application content to employer interview questions to employment screening.

2. Create a Consistent Hiring Process

Recruiting and interviewing each applicant differently may seem like a positive and flexible thing to do, but it can actually lead to issues with legality and consistency. For example, looking at social media accounts to determine the character of some applicants but not others can lead to a lawsuit down the road. Inconsistencies like these can also result in improper screening across a range of applicants.

3. “Brand” Your Workplace

When a company gets a reputation as a desirable place to work, they will naturally attract a larger pool of applicants from which to draw. To this end, “branding” a workplace can be just as important as the branding of a product or service. Building in natural procedures for branding from the marketing and HR departments can revolutionize the hiring process from the inside out.

4. Recruiting By the Book

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires consent from job applicants to look into their backgrounds and take a credit report, so care should be taken that a signed release form is garnered. It is also illegal to discriminate based upon qualities like race, gender and age. If an applicant is passed by, the employer must be able to link the reason to their inability to adequately perform the job, and not because of a personal characteristic.

5. Outsource Employment Screening to a Professional

Trying to do all screening in-house can lead to a host of problems, including legal ones. Employers who are not experienced with proper employment screening methods may do so in a way that is inadequate or not in compliance. Outsourcing employment screening such as criminal background checks and credit checks to a professional screening service can assist with the hiring process and ensure that these important steps are conducted correctly.

The start of a new season is the perfect time for employers to take stock of their recruiting and hiring processes. Addressing and refining these five areas can lead to a stronger, more talented and more effective workforce.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is never intended as legal advice and is for information purposes only.

Reading Between the Lines: Interpreting LinkedIn Profiles During Pre-Employment Applicant Screening

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A new job applicant might have an impressive LinkedIn profile with lots of interaction and hundreds of endorsements, but how does an employer tell the different between someone with social networking savvy and someone with actual, relevant skills and expertise? Find out how to read between the lines on LinkedIn so you can find candidates during the pre-employment applicant screening process that truly meet your needs.

Pre-Employment Applicant Screening

Understanding LinkedIn Profiles During Pre-Employment Applicant Screening

Endorsements Likely Don’t Mean Much

LinkedIn’s endorsement system lets users endorse each other for various skill sets and knowledge. On the surface, an endorsement is someone backing a user’s claim that he or she has a specific skill. In reality, it’s hard to tell whether endorsements are genuine or are just users patting each other on the back. LinkedIn’s system suggests users endorse each other, and agreeing with a self-stated skill on the platform is as easy as liking a post on Facebook. Take the skills and endorsements list with the same grain of salt you would take similar information listed in a resume.

Look for Knowledge Displays

As with information on traditional resumes, experience, education, and work history on LinkedIn can be falsified or inflated. It’s harder to pass off incorrect information in an online environment where past coworkers and bosses might also have profiles, but it’s not impossible. Instead of taking a profile at face value, dig deeper into the descriptions a candidate supplies on their profile. Look for industry or career-specific verbiage. Lack of any verbiage—or verbiage clearly used in improper context—is a clue that the person has inflated his or her experience. Other knowledge displays that help you decide if an applicant is genuine include links or lists of publications, education lists, and interaction in groups on the platform. Pre-employment applicant screening services can include verification options for past employment verification, education verification, and professional license verification.

Don’t Rely Solely on LinkedIn

Never rely solely on the information in a LinkedIn profile—or a traditional resume—when hiring a candidate. Verify professional references and work history and use pre-employment applicant screening services to ensure the candidate meets your requirements when it comes to issues such as driving records or criminal background checks.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is never intended as legal advice and is for information purposes only.

4 Tips for Effective Social Media Hiring and Marketing

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Social Media Hiring

Social media has saturated the online world, with users drawing value from it personally as well as when seeking out products, services and entertainment. Businesses can benefit from social media hiring as well as other social media usage in a number of areas from building and promoting a brand to drawing in quality new hires.

The following are some of the top ways to use social media hiring in business:

1. Business Branding

Social media allows companies to spread their brand message in a much more dynamic way than with just a static website. Social media home page designs should be consistent with the company website and other marketing materials. The tone and objective of all posts should mirror the company’s mission statement and brand ethos.

2. Spreading Goodwill

Business and customer relationships are a two-way street, and social media allows for an extremely effective way to communicate and share positive sentiment with current clients and potential new customers. Business promotion via social media should include:

  • Posting information and media that informs, uplifts, entertains, or otherwise adds value to the reader’s experience
  • Thoughtful, attentive responses to user comments
  • Hiring a social media manager if needed
  • Testing, assessment and fine-tuning results using metrics like built-in analytics

3. Workplace Branding and Recruitment

Social media isn’t just for business branding; it’s also a great way to “brand” and promote the company as a desirable, fun, or hip place to work. Posts featuring an insider view of what it’s like to work for a company can help to draw in ideal candidates. The social media site LinkedIn can be used to recruit quality talent directly, but spreading the word via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can be highly effective as well. These types of social media hiring practices are becoming more common. Companies have found social media hiring to be a cost-effective way of hiring candidates who are more likely to be engaged with the company’s mission and values.

4. Employee Screening

Social media can sometimes be used as a component of pre-employment screening. From their LinkedIn profile to their personal social media pages, the online postings of an individual offer a way for employers to determine if they will be a fit. However, care should be taken that this process is used fairly and consistently. It is also advisable to use reliable vetting tools like a professional employment screening service.

Social media is all but ubiquitous these days, and businesses have taken notice. Social media hiring and the other applications of social media can help any company to achieve new heights of success in the areas of branding, promotion, customer relations, and recruitment.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is never intended as legal advice and is for information purposes only.

The Rise of Social HR

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A workplace trend known as social HR continues to gain momentum in 2015. It proves that social media is for more than just entertainment purposes off-the-clock. Over the years, many employees have learned the hard way that their social media profiles can and do influence whether they get and keep a job. Unprofessional photos and badmouthing a company or boss on Facebook have led to plenty of careless employees getting canned.

Social HR

Now social media has permeated even deeper, becoming an aide to human resource professionals. Not only can it help to narrow down potential employees during recruiting, track employee arrivals, and promote and market to increase sales, but it is also a crucial component to attracting employees. According to MIT Sloan, a study published in 2015 and reported on in Forbes found that more than 50 percent of all employees want to work in a job where their bosses and managers have what’s called “social business sophistication.”

While some may dismiss this as another branch of millennial entitlement, doing so is foolish. With these millennials becoming a bigger and bigger part of the current workforce, some employers that have been stuck in their ways will have to change with the times to best benefit their company.

Social HR includes leveraging social media for the benefit of a company.

Social media is everywhere, and people literally take it with them whenever they go. Not only can you access Google+ or Facebook on your smartphone or tablet, but now with wearable technology like the Apple Watch, the world is around your wrist. Business Insider Intelligence reports through Forbes that in a few short years in 2018 that the wearable technology trend will grow into a $12 billion cash cow.

Employers shouldn’t shy away from the Apple Watch and related technology. Instead, wearables can benefit employees and employers alike, especially once the Microsoft Band surfaces, which can handle phone calls and emails on the go. Employees are always accessible, and if you can reach out to someone at any time, work gets done faster without stressful time crunches.

These wearable devices also have access to apps and can be integrated with social HR tools. While an employer may think that these are just time-wasters, many companies have created their own apps for their customers to use. Gartner through Forbes found that at least 25 percent of enterprise companies should have an app by 2017. Those without a wearable device can still social HR use apps, which are available on tablets, smartphones, and even some computers. Once again these streamline work. Of course, HR Pros will have to use social HR technology on a case-by-case basis.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is never intended as legal advice and is for information purposes only.

Source: http://www.hrzone.com/hr-glossary/what-is-social-hr

Searching For Talent? HR Employee Training Trends in 2014

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Find out how HR employee training is changing due to challenges and needs for managers and employees in 2014.

HR Employee Training Trends In 2014, companies are searching for talent. Talent is the new currency of human resources (HR) departments worldwide. The best HR departments are learning how to appeal to, recruit and retain talented employees. Technical skills are still in short supply from IT to science to analytics, therefore employees with excellent technical skills and ability will be highly coveted. Sourcing is moving to a global level due to the need for viable talent networks in business.

According to Josh Bersin, training departments will be renamed “capability departments.” Companies will learn to partner with colleges and universities, begin or expand apprenticeships, assign developmental tasks and concentrate on ongoing learning and development. These are the companies that will attract the best talent going forward.

In a survey published by BLR Training and Development, more than 1,050 businesses provided responses regarding employee training methods. From this survey, it was clear that training new and existing employees in a corporation has changed, exhibiting new trends for 2014. Here are some of the findings from this survey.

Compliance Training

Compliance employee training given to employees and staff in order of frequency:

  •    New hire orientation
  •    Sexual harassment
  •    Emergency procedures
  •    Safety/hazardous materials
  •    Discrimination

Compliance employee training given to managers and supervisors in order of frequency:

  •    Sexual harassment
  •    Discrimination
  •    New hire orientation
  •    Emergency preparedness
  •    Safety/hazardous materials

Professional Development

These topics were rated in importance for professional development of managers and supervisors. Managers and supervisors ranked leadership as the most important subject for formal mentoring programs.

  •    Leadership–82.6%
  •    Handling problem employees–76%
  •    Ethics and integrity–71.7%
  •  Communication–69.4%
  •    Team building–69.1%

Highest Training Need

Companies were asked what kind of training that they needed the most. The types of training are ranked below.

  •    Leadership and supervisory–20%
  •    Job skills–22%
  •    Compliance–12%

The biggest complaint, 27% of respondents, stated that there isn’t enough time for training. 39% of respondents said that training lasted one hour, 19% said two hours and 15% said all day.

HR’s Role in Employee Training

What is the role of the human resources department in your training methods and techniques?

  •    Decide what training is needed–86%
  •    Purchase training materials–80%
  •    Conduct the actual training–79%

Common training methods are:

  •    In-person by staff–60%
  •    Print materials–40%
  •    Online–36%
  •    DVD/Video–20%
  •    In-person by someone outside the company–19%

HR Technology

Bersin states that HR technology and content is booming and will continue to expand in 2014. Integrated solutions for HR are being developed while talent management companies offer end-to-end and analytics solutions. These include mobile apps, increase of video and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC). Technology is there to simplify the complexity of HR needs and methods in order to deliver value.

Challenges

HR teams need to be “reskilled” in order to go through radical change. It is no longer an administrative team rather a team that is needed to acquire, develop, retain and manage high-level talent. HR teams are being asked to become “data-driven” by using real data to understand the people under their purview. It is not good enough to just use judgment or common sense.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is never intended as legal advice and is for information purposes only.

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