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There comes a time in every manager’s life where they must discuss performance with an employee. Not everyone performs at 100% all the time, and not everyone is ideally suited to their job. There are innumerable reasons why an employee might be performing poorly. While it’s essential to maintain sympathy and understand circumstances, a business is a business at the end of the day. It can’t run on pity and poor performance. When performance issues start to hamper the company, it’s helpful to tell an employee that they need to improve performance. How can you handle this situation? Here are five tips to make it easier for both you as a manager and your employee. 1. Fully Understand Context The first thing to do is do your research. When you recognize that an employee is underperforming, where are you getting that impression? Is another employee over-performing and making the rest of the team look bad in comparison? Are there metrics pointing at sub-par performance, like sales numbers, number of tickets closed, or number of phone calls handled? Sometimes, bias sneaks its way in. It’s easy to accidentally form an impression of poor performance when the employee does most of their work “invisibly” or when metrics don’t tell the whole story. For example: An employee who closes 25% fewer tickets than other employees in your customer service team might not be a poor performer. They may be exclusively working on the harder-to-handle tickets that require more time and care to solve their issues. A call center employee closing fewer calls than those around them might have a better sales record because they spend time addressing customer concerns. This example is why call metrics are often off-target. Inherent bias can mean that an employee is judged to be performing poorly when their performance is identical to their peers, but they stand out in some way, such as being one of the few minorities or women in the workplace. Examining bias and forming data-driven conclusions is the first step towards understanding the context of an underperforming employee. From SHRM : “For example, what might be the problem with labeling one employee as “too emotional” and another as “too rigid”? If you guessed possible gender and age discrimination, respectively, you are correct.” Make sure to examine the source of your data. When metrics go wrong, many employees learn how to work within the system rather than cause a fuss. Those who choose to do what is correct rather than what is asked of them may stand out as poor performers when they point out flaws in the overall system. On the other hand, this isn’t always the case. Metrics exist for a reason, and when they’re adequately engineered, those metrics point out fundamental flaws. Some employees will underperform. Your goal is to identify whether the issue is with the employee or the systems in place to measure them. When the issue is with the employee underperforming, you must take action. Avoid delaying, as that will only exacerbate the problem and make the issue more difficult to handle later. 2. Determine Root Causes (Within Reason) The other side of the coin is learning and understanding if anything is going wrong with the employee or their work situation that might inhibit their performance. For example: An employee may be struggling with a health issue that leaves them in chronic pain, distracting them and reducing their ability to engage with their work. A family problem could be causing mental distress, anxiety, or other issues with the employee. It may be temporary, but a significant performance drop may be to be expected. The root of the problem may not be with the employee; an unscrupulous team leader taking their credit, for example, can make a stellar employee look terrible and the rest of the team made to look good. Be careful about directly asking about these kinds of problems, however. Per SHRM : “It is critical that managers do not inquire or speculate as to whether a physical or emotional condition or a work/life management issue may be giving rise to the performance deficiency. For example, if you ask an employee whether they are depressed, the worker may answer, ‘Not anymore. Now I have a perceived disability claim under the ADA.’” Understanding context, as much as you’re able to, allows you to offer accommodations without causing discrimination issues . Instead of speculating or directly asking, instead, make an offer. “Is there anything we can do to help? We want you to succeed.” It’s crucial that, if you’re offering assistance with issues, your company can provide support for those issues. It does you and your employee no good to offer, for example, grief counseling or a mental health support framework if your company doesn’t provide such services. That said, it can often be valuable to allow some time off to avoid burnout, more flexibility in scheduling to account for childcare, or even a bonus to help with the financial hardship that is causing undue stress on an otherwise great employee. While it might seem strange to hear “give your worst employee a bonus,” it legitimately can help in some situations. That said, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to an underperforming employee. Sometimes they aren’t capable of performing in their role, don’t have the skills required to do their job, or otherwise aren’t suitable for the position. Hiring managers can make mistakes or lie on their applications, and sometimes everything looks good on paper, but an employee isn’t motivated to work above the bare minimum. 3. Approach the Issue with Calm Empathy The actual act of discussing a performance issue with an employee is difficult. Most managers are empathic people, and it’s unpleasant to have to discuss unpleasantries. Worse, sometimes, an under-performing employee feels like a personal mistake. If they’re your direct report, is it something you’re doing wrong? Is it your fault? Many managers get defensive at this prospect. This situation is why there are a million horror stories about performance reviews. Relentlessly opposing managers, managers who get angry or defensive, managers who raise their voices; are signs of a poor process for discussing performance, delivering feedback, and helping employees improve. Another common problem is managers who avoid the issue or can’t handle discussing it in person. Managers who send emails or paperwork to an employee discussing performance issues can come across as passive-aggressive or hiding behind an impersonal means of communication because they’re conflict-averse. If this sounds like you, it’s worth confronting the unpleasant prospect and learning how to deal with it. While you can reach out to your employee to discuss performance issues via email or office communication channels like Slack, it’s essential to have an actual, face-to-face meeting (or as close as is possible for remote workers) to discuss the issues at hand. “Set the expectation that you want to revisit the conversation with them tomorrow, once they’ve had time to process all of the information you’ve shared with them. It shouldn’t be a re-hashing of the original conversation. Still, it should give the employee a chance to ask clarifying questions once they’ve calmed down and can think more clearly.” – Jessica Donahue, PHR. The truth is, when an employee is told they need to attend a meeting about their performance, they will immediately think about all the ways it can go wrong. They may worry about being fired and all of the cascading worries that go along with it. They may not be fully “present” at the meeting, so following up later, providing documentation with everything you want to discuss, and making a point of assuring them that they aren’t about to be fired is essential. All of this primarily applies to first-time discussions. If you’ve had several meetings with an employee about their performance and they have not improved, it’s likely time to escalate or even fire the employee. 4. Speak on Specific Results, Not Intent It can be valuable to review your thoughts as a manager before holding a meeting to discuss performance. It’s common to assume intent behind performance issues, even if you’re wildly off-base. For example: “He’s a slacker; he just doesn’t care about the company.” “They aren’t trying. “She probably has issues at home affecting performance.” “They’re probably looking for another job and have checked out.” In a business environment, performance is the goal, and intent doesn’t necessarily matter when you’re evaluating an underperforming employee. While you can offer them support, you shouldn’t attempt to assume or guess the reasoning. One common reason why an employee under-performs is simply not knowing what the performance metrics are. For example, if your company doesn’t have a robust onboarding process , the employee may have essentially been fumbling in the dark the whole time, not quite knowing what to do. Again, there are plenty of reasons why an employee might be underperforming, both with the employee themselves and the frameworks they operate within. Your job as their manager is to identify when the problem is with the employee, when it’s with a team or manager, and when it’s with the company’s frameworks. Then, do what you can to solve those issues. Be careful about admitting fault, even if it’s an attempt to soften the blow, however. Again, from SHRM : “…too often managers say things like, “It’s probably just as much our fault as it is yours,” to soften the blow. That can come back to haunt you. In fact, in a case I handled many years ago, an employee used a similar statement from his employer as evidence that the organization was at fault rather than the worker and that the reason given for terminating the employee was a pretext.” Consider providing a packet with a record of your discussion with the employee. This method is a wise idea for several reasons. This packet discusses specific issues, why they’re issues, and what potential solutions might look like. It may help to explain your issues and to give them context. It also gives you a record of the discussion and the topics discussed, and it provides the employee with information to take home and process once the initial shock and anxiety wear off. 5. Try Coaching and Training, Not Punishment The hardest part of a discussion about performance is figuring out how to guide an employee to improve. Coaching is both essential and very difficult to do. One of the defining features of a good manager is the ability to coach employees successfully. It helps to begin by identifying where an employee is on the growth ladder. Biz Library , for example, identifies five levels: Novices are the employees who need a lot of instruction and constructive feedback. Generally, this is the level where most employees start, and the best employees don’t stay in this phase long. Doers are the employees who put their training into practice but might not yet be dialed in on what the business expects. They need coaching to guide them to alignment with business objectives. Performers are the employees who are fully-fledged team members holding their own. When their performance falters, coaching should focus on feedback that nudges overall performance in the right direction. Masters are the employees who grow in both skill and institutional knowledge. These are also the people who tend to onboard and mentor new employees or provide helpful examples. Experts are the most valuable employees who become team leaders and managers themselves. They’re self-sufficient but still benefit from feedback and positive reinforcement. Coaching may involve more training, advice, or instruction. It can also include using better employees as examples of what to do. It leverages feedback and positive reinforcement while also pointing out ways that an employee falls short and – this is critical – how to adjust to solve the problem. Good coaching also involves the adage: “you can bring a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink”. Rather than tell your employees where they’re going wrong, ask leading questions and help them understand by thinking it through themselves. By leveraging all of these strategies, you can help identify problems with underperforming employees and your established frameworks. Solving those problems comes naturally from there. Conclusion  Discussing performance improvement with an employee is never an easy task, but it’s a critical one. As a manager, your approach can make all the difference between an employee who feels defeated and one who is motivated to improve. The five strategies we’ve outlined – understanding context, determining root causes, approaching with empathy, focusing on specific results, and coaching over punishing – provide a compassionate and effective framework for these tough conversations. Remember, your role is to guide and support your team towards better performance, and sometimes that involves difficult but necessary discussions. It’s not just about pointing out flaws; it’s about fostering an environment where employees feel valued and understood, even when there’s room for improvement. If you found these tips helpful and wish to become a more effective leader who empowers their team to achieve their best, take action today. Don’t let another performance review go by feeling unprepared.  Equip yourself with the tools and skills to inspire excellence in your team. Contact us now – let’s make every employee’s success your business’s success.

The first step of any recruitment process is building up a candidate pool. Without a pool, no amount of filtering will bring you qualified candidates, and no amount of hiring will fill your roles. It’s no shock, then, to find that there are hundreds if not thousands of tools, platforms, apps, and services that help build and manage a candidate pool. With so many possible tools at your disposal, it becomes a unique decision to pick the right one for your organization. There’s never one “best” tool; you need to balance the needs of your organization with your budget, your resources, and your training. The best we can do is provide you with information and recommendations. How Sourcing Tools Work Sourcing tools work in two different ways, generally. The first is the set of tools similar to the ever-familiar LinkedIn Recruiter ; a tool that finds potential candidates, both active and passive, and gives you enough information that you can reach out and contact them. This can be through a platform-specific communications channel, or it can be through a social media message, or just through email, which is by far the most common. The second form of tool is the curated platform . Some of the tools below are essentially just networks of job seekers who register their own profiles, and you pay the privilege of accessing the network and the candidates. Some other tools on the list are much smaller, because they’re accessories to your normal web browsing and talent search processes. Think Google Chrome extensions that let you scrape data on the fly to record and track down any potential candidates you encounter during the course of other work. There are a few things to keep in mind about these various forms of recruiting tools. For one thing, many of them target passive candidates. Without the proper outreach, many of those candidates are going to ignore your messages, or simply won’t be interested. Such is the way of passive recruitment. Businesses of all sizes can make use of sourcing tools, though the specific tools will change. Some tools and platforms work best for large businesses, while others only work for smaller companies. It’s important to choose a tool that fits your needs. It’s also worth mentioning that, with the exception of candidate networks, candidates have not opted in to your emails. They aren’t signing up for your mailing list and giving you permission to contact them. Therefore, you need to be careful, respectful, and valuable for your outreach. Otherwise, your messages can even be branded as spam and discarded automatically. Many of the tools below are designed for filling your candidate pool, but not much else. It’s up to you to use the pool you generate to populate other contact management apps to follow through with the rest of your hiring funnel. You’re also not limited to a single tool or platform. While there will always be overlap between them, you can use as many tools as you want and can get to work together nicely. With so many possible tools and platforms out there, it can be difficult to know where to begin. Enter this list: a curated selection of excellent tools, services, platforms, and apps that can help you fill your candidate pool in a way that makes sense for your business. Contact Us The List Avature – This is a large set of tools for finding candidates, managing contact information and relationships, tracking applications, and recruiting through various platforms, including campus recruiting and employee referrals. They also have tools for retail recruiting, agency management, and onboarding. They have a lot of available options for large businesses in particular. Beamery – Beamery’s offerings are split into three categories: attract, with career sites, conversion management, and events; engage, with talent CRM and marketing; and retain, with internal mobility and satisfaction surveys. They also have compliance and connection products as part of their overall “talent operating system.” They use a unique “talent DNA” system of categorizing and filtering candidates that is extremely robust. Contactout – This is a small tool that allows you to scrape contact information for an individual via a Chrome extension, utilizing LinkedIn and hundreds of other data sources. Information is available publicly and is in compliance with regulations, stored securely in their database, and matched with nothing but a name and the context of a page when you’re searching. Find a person on a website you want to recruit. Use this tool to find their contact information if it’s not readily available already. Entelo – This is a platform with tools that include a candidate management app, a candidate search engine, an analytics suite, and candidate tracking. Perhaps most importantly, they have a strong focus on a diversity of hires, allowing you to ensure a diverse and represented team while still recruiting the best talent for any open position. They work with many international companies, including Target, Cisco, and Sony. Fetcher – This tool is an automation engine that helps you streamline the top-of-funnel tasks that would otherwise eat up dozens of hours every time you need to refresh your candidate pool. They do this by building a pipeline of data from live talent profiles, email creation using automation and templates, and candidate nurturing through re-messaging and tiered engagement strategies. Gem – Gem has two tools. The first is a sourcing platform that serves to aggregate data from all of your other tools, including GSuite apps, Calendar programs, LinkedIn, and raw data spreadsheets, and allows you to automate following up with those candidates in your pool. The second is a candidate relationship management platform with predictive analytics to manage your talent pool and filter out the top candidates for any position. Greenhouse – This company provides several tools for various recruiting processes. These include a recruiting tool, an inclusivity tool, an onboarding tool, an events app, and a CRM platform, along with tiered service for businesses of all sizes, large and small. Smaller companies can use the Core service, while larger businesses that need high security, single sign-on, or scale workflows can use higher tiers. HireArt – This is a hiring platform with a curated selection of candidates, whose profiles are analyzed for more than just education and experience. They upload and analyze work samples, take cognitive ability tests, and participate in structured interviews to help generate an AI-based predictive recommendation for candidates most likely to not just pass the interview stage, but thrive after they’re hired. Hiretual – This company provides a platform with sourcing, screening, and engagement options. They also help manage contacts and delivery options, rediscovery of candidates that have fallen out of the pool, and analytics for the whole system to see where it’s working and where it’s falling short. The platform can be customized to suit your business’s needs, as well. Hunter.io – This is a contact information search engine. You can plug in a domain name for a company and get a readout of the people involved, along with their roles and their contact information. They also have an email verifier that can help you check if an email you located elsewhere is a valid email for a given contact. The whole thing is very cheap as well, with pricing tiers dependant on the number of contacts requested monthly. Pipl – This offering is a SaaS product providing a people search engine. They have a database of detailed personal profiles for potential candidates, including personal information, professional information, social links, demographics, contact information, and related information as it relates to recruiting. They also offer an API version of their data access for automated access from other tools or for custom software, if your company develops in-house. Rakuna – Rakuna is a recruiting platform to redefine how top employers are attracting younger generations. This company offers a comprehensive package of services for campus recruiters to streamline their processes and improve efficiency. The solution includes Recruit Mobile app to help recruiters cut out their work of having to sift through thousands of resumes lists, Recruit Dashboard, Event Management, SMS Recruiting, Interview Scheduling and Recruiting CRM for campus/event recruiting. This streamlines the process of collaborating together to find the best talent and saves time for recruiters. Recruitifi – Recruitifi is a platform of platforms. They serve as a central hub for aggregating and managing data from other agency vendors. You can work with many other vendors through this one central profile complete with a career page to vet and onboard candidates from any source. You can use it to manage roles and assign specific roles to specific agencies as necessary to get the best candidates for any given position. Seekout – A combination of candidate management platform and candidate pool itself, Seekout has over 400 million candidates sourced from public pools, as well as search capabilities to find and filter over 600 million more. AI-driven search finds the best potential passive and active candidates for a given role, with customizable filters and Boolean query support. They also have an advanced feature for developers specifically to search GitHub for specialized, professional roles. Sourcing.io – This is a candidate pool search engine with a specialization in software engineers. Searches can be filtered based on a variety of different data points, from professional skills to their location and past work history. Extremely useful if you’re recruiting in that specific role, but if you’re not actively looking for software engineers, you won’t get much out of it. Talentbin – Another candidate search engine with a massive database, powered by Monster funding the technology used to search and index people for a wide variety of roles. This search specializes in finding passive candidates with robust natural searching. Tools that link to the platform allow you to export and manage the data you find and collaborate with a hiring team. TopFunnel – This candidate search and relationship management platform specializes not in finding candidates, but in engaging with them and communicating with them in a modern way. Rather than focusing on having the largest possible candidate pool, it strives to provide the best engagement and interview rates in the industry. Visage – Visage is a unique take on recruiting; rather than relying on obtuse tools and institutional knowledge to search for ideal candidates, this platform crowdsources your candidate recommendations. You post a job, and their network of sources recommends potential candidates, filtered by AI, delivered to you. You can then choose and interview the most promising candidates. vsource – Talent sourcing solutions provider for organizations that are facing complex hiring challenges and looking to transform their sourcing function, enabling adaptive and less-biased hiring processes. It combines human expertise and state-of-the-art technology to accelerate talent sourcing. Wade and Wendy – Wade is a personal AI-based career guide for individuals seeking jobs, which learns over time and recommends more specific positions to individuals. The flip side is Wendy, the recruiter of the duo, which ingests and analyzes job postings to work with Wade’s system to recommend candidates from their network for specific roles. Very innovative, to say the least. WayUp – A specialized candidate search and pool, WayUp specializes in college students and recent graduates, for when you’re looking for fresh young talent and new ideas. WhiteTruffle – Another specialized platform, WhiteTruffle maintains a broad pool of tech-based candidates. Candidates can apply for “all jobs” on the platform, filtered and matched to their skills and desires. You post your open jobs and have a candidate pool already there waiting for you. 2022 Update Here are a few more tools that you can consider adding to your arsenal: Gilead  (Formerly Gild) – How do you determine if the developer candidates you speak with have the necessary skills? Can you tell what quality of code they write? Do you get enough information from the hiring managers to know if the candidates will pass a technical interview? Gilead is a candidate sourcing tool that enables recruiters to identify the best developers evaluated for their code and social media participation. The information on developer candidates is available in Gilead’s database of more than 6 million developers worldwide, which has candidates scored by their skill level, so their evaluated experience is readily available for IT recruiters to search, as well as developer profile rankings comparing them to all other developers in Gilead’s database. Suppose searching for developers and verifying candidate skills is a big part of your recruiting work week, and you’ve had problems with candidates you thought could write the code your clients wanted. In that case, Gilead eliminates a lot of guesswork. HiringSolved  – If finding passionate, engaged IT candidates is your pain point, HiringSolved is a great tool to consider. HiringSolved compiles dense candidate profiles from candidate activity across the web and social media. They quickly and easily reveal exactly those candidates with a comprehensive search function. Hence, IT recruiters see skills, abilities, passions, and creativity at a glance rather than after hours (or days) of search and communications. It provides contact information on candidates – another time-saver for IT recruiters in the sourcing stage. Talenthook  – TalentHook offers several advanced and automated sourcing and recruiting process solutions for busy IT recruiters interested in cutting some serious time out of their recruiting processes and getting closer to the best candidates faster and easier than many other automated recruiting tools. • The TalentHook Internet search feature in TalentHook Cloud uses spider search technology to scour free and paid job boards, the open web, colleges, flip search, and social networks with one tool. It allows recruiters to set up and store automated search agents, eliminates resume duplicates, and offers advanced search techniques to find hidden and obscure resume content. • TalentHook Cloud enables IT recruiters to quickly set up practical and ongoing email contacts and campaigns when prospective candidates are identified with automated processes, templates, reminders, and other compelling email features. • TalentHook’s candidate management features include prospect candidate generation tools such as stored search strings, automated custom search agents, and smart resume filtering to eliminate manual search and duplications. Candidate marketing tools like drip email marketing campaigns to encourage candidates to call and drive prospects to your company website stop cold calls, voice mail tag, and losing candidates to competitors. Vetting Your Choices When it comes time to actually pick one or more of these tools, it’s generally a good idea to contact the vendor and ask about a demo . You can also ask them specific questions to get a feel for how they operate, what risks you might be taking with their tool, and any other repercussions. Here are some example questions you can consider: Is the tool compliant with CAN-SPAM regulations on email messaging? Is the tool compliant with Europe’s GDPR regulations? Is the tool a self-service tool, a managed platform, or a hybrid of the two? Are there options? Does the tool include automation features? Does the tool have integrations with other tools or platforms you’re already using? How does the tool export or pass along data on candidates? What are the average response times for the candidates found through the tool? Will applicants need to interact with the tool, or is it all HR-facing? Does the tool manage multiple kinds of open positions at once, and can it prioritize important roles over less important openings? Does the tool interface with or help with interview scheduling? What analytics does the tool provide your team? What analytics does the tool provide the tool provider? You can, of course, add any questions and concerns you want to your interview of a potential vendor. Vendor representatives will be more than happy to discuss different aspects of their platform to try to make a sale, so take advantage of this to get the information you need before signing any sort of contract. That’s the best way to make sure you’re satisfied with your choice.

In today’s competitive business landscape, effective professional staffing services helps companies find the right talent to drive their success. This comprehensive guide aims to provide a deeper understanding of professional staffing services, their benefits, the process involved, best practices for engagement, and the latest trends and innovations in the field. Whether you’re a business owner or a hiring manager this guide will equip you with valuable insights to make informed decisions and maximize the potential of professional staffing services. Key Benefits of Professional Staffing Services Professional staffing services involve the process of connecting businesses with qualified individuals for temporary, contract, or permanent positions. Staffing agencies serve as intermediaries between job seekers and employers, ensuring a seamless match based on skills, qualifications, and cultural fit. These services cover a wide range of industries and positions, such as IT, finance, healthcare, marketing, and administration. Here are four of the major benefits of professional staffing services: Flexibility and scalability for businesses: Professional staffing services offer businesses the flexibility to scale their workforce according to fluctuating demands. Whether it’s seasonal projects, special initiatives, or unforeseen gaps in staffing, these services provide access to temporary or contract professionals who can seamlessly integrate into the team. Access to a diverse pool of talent: Staffing agencies maintain extensive networks and databases of qualified professionals. This enables businesses to tap into a diverse talent pool , ensuring they have access to candidates with the right skills and experience for their specific needs. Time and cost savings in the recruitment process: Recruiting and hiring can be time-consuming and costly for businesses. Professional staffing services alleviate this burden by taking care of candidate sourcing, screening, and evaluation. They streamline the process, saving businesses valuable time and resources that can be redirected towards core operations. Expertise and industry knowledge of staffing agencies: Staffing agencies possess deep industry knowledge and expertise in talent acquisition. They understand the intricacies of different roles, skill requirements, and market trends. Leveraging this expertise, they can provide valuable insights and guidance throughout the staffing process. The Process of Professional Staffing Services Before a staffing process is initiated, there are key factors to consider. These include assessing the current situation of the company, understanding the company’s goals, and evaluating the staffing requirements. To do this, staffing agencies work closely with their clients to identify their specific needs. Some of the things they look at include how many positions need to be filled, the types of skills required, the levels of experience needed, as well as any unique qualifications or certifications that might be necessary for the roles. Moreover, they conduct a thorough review of job roles and responsibilities. This includes a detailed analysis of the job descriptions provided by the client. The aim is to ensure a clear understanding of responsibilities, expectations, and the qualifications needed, enabling them to find the most suitable candidates. Successful professional staffing services depend on effective talent acquisition strategies . Part of this phase involves sourcing strategies. To attract the best talent, staffing agencies use a variety of channels such as online job boards, social media platforms, professional networks, and their own existing database of candidates. They adopt a comprehensive approach to ensure they have a diverse and high-quality pool of talent. Next, they screen and evaluate candidates to see if they are a good fit. Initial screenings are conducted to assess candidates’ qualifications, experience, and cultural fit. This could involve reviewing resumes, conducting phone interviews, or evaluating references. Through this process, they can narrow down the list of candidates that align with the client’s requirements. Once the initial screening is over, further evaluations are carried out on the selected candidates. This could involve in-person or virtual interviews, technical assessments, behavioral tests, or competency-based evaluations. The goal is to make a thorough assessment of the candidate’s abilities and see if they are suited for the desired roles. After identifying suitable candidates, the staffing agency then helps with the placement and onboarding process. They match candidates with the appropriate job positions based on the assessment results and the client’s requirements. The client is then able to review the profiles and select candidates for further consideration. Staffing agencies also help facilitate the hiring process and negotiate terms of employment. They assist in coordinating the hiring process between the client and the selected candidates, helping with salary negotiations, contract agreements, background checks, and handling any necessary legal documentation. Finally, they assist with the onboarding process to ensure a smooth transition for new hires. Onboarding is crucial as it helps new hires fit into the company culture and environment. Staffing agencies provide support during this process to ensure a seamless transition for both the candidate and the client. Best Practices for Engaging Professional Staffing Services To derive the most from professional staffing services, you might want to consider these practices. Firstly, it’s important to make the right choice when picking a staffing agency . There are a few key factors to keep in mind while making this decision. For instance, it’s a good idea to gauge the reputation of the agency, take a close look at their level of experience, and understand their industry expertise. You should preferably select agencies that either specialize in your particular industry or have been successful in filling positions similar to yours in the past. In addition, you must also thoroughly assess the agency’s reputation, experience, and industry expertise. For this, you can carry out detailed research, read testimonials from clients, and ask for recommendations from sources you trust. Ideally, the agency you choose should be well-reputed and have a deep comprehension of the dynamics of your industry. Secondly, it is crucial to ensure clear communication between you and the staffing agency. This entails setting up channels for open and transparent communication, conveying your requirements and expectations clearly, and making note of any specific considerations. Regular feedback and updates can help keep your goals aligned and ensure a smooth hiring process. You should also actively maintain a dialogue with the staffing agency, swiftly address any concerns or issues that might crop up, and provide feedback regarding the quality of candidates as well as your overall experience with the recruitment process. This kind of collaboration can help foster a successful partnership. Lastly, it is beneficial to build a long-term partnership with the staffing agency. Instead of simply seeing the staffing agencies as entities for carrying out transactions, consider fostering lasting partnerships. Invest time in nurturing relationships, understand their capabilities, and ensure open lines of communication. This approach will help them gain a deeper understanding of your evolving staffing needs. Moreover, staffing agencies can serve as valuable strategic partners beyond simply fulfilling immediate hiring needs. Take advantage of their expertise and seek their advice on industry trends, insights into the talent market, and workforce planning. Their knowledge can greatly contribute to the long-term success of your organization. Trends and Innovations in Professional Staffing Services The solutions provided by technology play a vital role in staffing services. One way this is seen is through the use of artificial intelligence and automation in the screening of candidates. Staffing agencies are now using tools powered by AI to improve the way they screen candidates. These technologies provide efficient parsing of resumes, automated ranking of candidates, and the use of predictive analytics to identify the most suitable candidates swiftly. Applicant tracking systems , or ATS, also have a profound impact on the staffing process. These systems help streamline the workflow of recruitment by automating the management of resumes, scheduling of interviews, and communication with candidates. The use of ATS platforms enhances efficiency, organizes data effectively, and fosters better collaboration between the client and the staffing agency. The trend of remote work and the ability to tap into the global talent pool have a major influence on professional staffing. The growth of remote work has given businesses the chance to find talent without being limited by geography. Staffing services have adapted to this trend by aiding in the placement of remote work and the effective management of virtual teams. The advancements in technology have allowed staffing services to connect businesses with top-tier talent from all corners of the world through virtual recruitment. These processes enable smooth communication, assessment, and onboarding of candidates irrespective of where they are located. Conclusion In today’s fast-paced business world, professional staffing services offer invaluable support to companies seeking the right talent. By leveraging the expertise and extensive networks of staffing agencies, businesses can access a diverse pool of qualified professionals, save time and resources in the recruitment process, and benefit from industry knowledge and best practices. It’s essential for businesses to choose the right staffing agency, establish clear communication, and build long-term partnerships for ongoing success. Embracing technological innovations and adapting to remote work trends further enhances the effectiveness of professional staffing services. To take advantage of these benefits, reach out to us and explore how our professional staffing services can elevate your organization’s talent acquisition efforts.

Pre-employment screening is an important step in the hiring process for any organization. It helps employers identify the best candidate for the job, while also ensuring the safety of their employees and the organization as a whole. This article will outline the essential benefits of pre-employment screening, how to conduct it, and the types of screenings available. What is Pre-Employment Screening? Pre-employment screening is a process of collecting and verifying information about potential new hires. This process is conducted before any hiring decisions are made. It includes background checks, drug tests, reference checks, and other screenings to ensure that the candidate is a good fit for the position. Pre-employment screening can also help employers avoid legal issues, as it helps to protect their businesses from negligent hiring practices. Benefits of Pre-Employment Screening Pre-employment screening can be a game changer for any organization. Taking the time to examine someone’s credentials before bringing them onto the team can truly help employers identify and attract the best candidates for a position. Additionally, it is key for preserving the company’s long-term health and productivity by uncovering unwanted surprises down the line. Employers often feel reassured that their vetting processes have helped evaluate risks from previous associations, placing the utmost priority on workforce safety. So, through diligence in pre-employment screening employers and business owners alike are spared from difficult potential problems hurtling down their way later. Protect the Health of Your Organization Pre-employment screening is a valuable tool for protecting the health of your organization. It can help you identify individuals with a history of criminal activity, drug use, or other risky behaviors that could be harmful to your organization. By screening potential employees, you can ensure that your organization is hiring trustworthy and reliable individuals who will contribute positively to your team . Pre-employment screening can also help you to avoid costly legal issues. By conducting background checks and other screenings, you can ensure that your organization is not in violation of any laws or regulations. This can help you to protect your organization from any potential liability issues. Fewer Wasted Resources Pre-employment screening can make a huge impact to reduce the number of resources that are thrown away. With careful planning during the recruitment process, you can guarantee that those hired are suitable for the positions they’re filling. That’s true economic value– enabling the team to meet their goals with confidence and making the best hiring decisions right from the start. Solid pre-employment screening gives organizations a major edge, providing them with insight into each potential hire before they step foot in the company. A proactive approach here sets companies up for success at every turn, cutting down on misused resources and salary costs. Improved Workplace Safety Pre-employment screening can make a real difference to the work environment. By conducting rigidly enforced background checks and leveraging multiple sources of data, it is possible to detect any past indiscretions or risky behaviors that may have been overlooked when recruiting. These small yet important investigations can reveal red flags previously unexplored and could lead to more unsafe conditions in the workplace. Thus, pre-employment screenings are essential tools in helping to keep employees safe, as well as upholding the integrity of the entire organization. Verify Candidate Information It’s the final stretch: a pre-employment screening can offer you the peace of mind to trust your new hire. Yes, these screenings are conducted with thoroughness and accuracy, helping to ensure that your potential new employee’s credentials match their resume and application. Put briefly, it helps you to verify anything from backgrounds to experience levels registered within the answered documents–turns out diligence really does pay off here. Do it right and finally be sure that you’ve chosen the best person for your ever-so-dynamic team. The Types of Pre-Employment Screening There are several types of pre-employment screening available. These include background checks, drug tests, reference checks, and other screenings. Each type of screening can provide valuable information about a potential employee, so it is important to understand which type of screening is best for your organization. Background checks are a type of pre-employment screening that can provide valuable information about a potential employee. A background check can include a criminal background check, credit check, and other screenings to determine if the candidate has a history of criminal activity or financial instability. Drug tests are another type of pre-employment screening that can provide valuable information about a potential employee. Drug tests can help to identify individuals who may be using drugs or alcohol while on the job, which can be a major risk to your organization. Reference checks are another type of pre-employment screening that can provide valuable information about a potential employee. Reference checks can help to verify the information that the candidate has provided about their past work experience, qualifications, and skills. Other types of pre-employment screening include EEO-compliant personality assessments, aptitude tests, and physical exams. Each type of screening can provide valuable information about a potential employee, so it is important to understand which type of screening is best for your organization. How to Conduct Pre-Employment Screening It is important to have a thorough process for conducting the pre-employment screening. This includes setting clear expectations with the candidate, collecting the necessary information, and verifying the information. Here are some tips for conducting pre-employment screening: Set clear expectations with the candidate: Make sure that the candidate understands the process and what is expected of them. Collect the necessary information: Collect the necessary information from the candidate, such as a resume, references, background information, and any other relevant information. Verify the information: Conduct background checks, verify references, and perform any other necessary screenings to ensure that the information provided by the candidate is accurate. Follow up: Follow up with the candidate if there are any discrepancies or issues with the information provided. Make an informed decision: Use the information gathered from the pre-employment screening process to make an informed decision about the candidate. Conclusion Pre-employment screening is an essential part of the hiring process for any organization. It can help to protect the health of your organization, reduce wasted resources, improve workplace safety, and verify candidate information. It is important to understand the types of pre-employment screenings available, as well as how to conduct them properly. By taking the time to conduct pre-employment screening, you can ensure that you are hiring the best candidate for the job and protecting the health of your organization. If you are looking to hire the best candidate for the job and protect the health of your organization, pre-employment screening is an essential step. Make sure to follow the tips outlined in this article to ensure that your pre-employment screening process is thorough and effective.

If you’re a hiring manager looking for the right candidate for a vacant position, then you already know that the selection process is key to success. The selection process is a series of steps that companies use to identify and hire the best candidate for the job. It involves several steps that help the employer assess a candidate’s qualifications, skills, experience, and other relevant factors. In this article, we’ll discuss 7 steps that companies use to find the right candidate. Keep reading to learn more about the selection process and how you can use it to find the perfect fit. The selection process is an important part of the recruitment process. It’s the process that employers use to identify and hire the best-suited candidate for a job. What Is the Selection Process? The selection process is a series of steps employers use to find the right candidate for the job. It involves several activities that help employers assess a candidate’s qualifications, skills, experience, and other relevant factors. It’s a multi-step process that involves several activities like screening, interviewing, assessment, and more. It’s important for employers to get it right as the wrong hire can have serious consequences. The 7 step selection process: Application Screening & pre-selection Interview References & background checks Assessment Decision Job offer & onboarding The selection process can vary from company to company and job to job. Some companies may have additional steps like psychological tests or group activities. Step 1: Application The first step of the selection process is the application. This is when the employer collects the necessary information from the job seeker. Job seekers submit their resume, cover letter, and other relevant documents. This helps the employer get an overview of the candidate’s qualifications, skills, and experiences. Next, the employer may also ask the job seeker to fill out an application form. This helps the employer get more detailed information about the candidate. Application processes also help the employer identify potential candidates for the job. The job seeker needs to make a good impression with their application. Step 2: Screening & Pre-Selection Next we have screening and pre-selection . This is when the employer reviews the applications and selects the most suitable candidates for the job. The employer looks at the qualifications, skills, and experiences of the candidates. They may also consider other factors like gender, ethnicity, and disability status. A phone interview or an online assessment to get a better understanding of the candidate is usually a good idea. This helps them weed out unsuitable candidates and narrow down the list of potential candidates. At this stage, the employer may also invite the shortlisted candidates for an in-person interview. Step 3: Interview Interviewing the candidate is the next step in the selection process. This is when the employer meets the candidate in person to get to know them better. The employer will ask the candidate questions about their qualifications, skills, experience, and other relevant factors. This helps the employer assess the candidate’s suitability for the job. The employer may also ask the candidate to complete a task or a test. This helps the employer assess the candidate’s skills and abilities. At the end of the interview, the employer will ask the candidate if they have any questions . This allows the candidate to ask questions about the job and the company. Step 4: References & Background Checks References & background checks are up next. This is when the employer checks the references and background of the candidate. The employer will contact the references provided by the candidate and ask them about the candidate’s qualifications, skills, and experience. They may also conduct a background check to verify the information provided by the candidate. Candidates need to provide accurate and up-to-date information. Providing inaccurate information can disqualify the candidate from the selection process. Step 5: Assessment Assessment. This is how you determine the candidate’s skills and abilities. The employer may ask the candidate to complete a task or a test. This helps the employer assess the candidate’s skills and abilities. The employer may also assess the candidate’s personality and behavior.  Identifying whether the candidate is a good fit for the job and the company is the point of this step.  Step 6: Decision And now it’s time for the most important step in the selection process: The decision. This is when the employer makes the final decision on who to hire for the job. The employer will consider all the information they have collected about the candidate. They will also consider their preferences and the company’s needs. At this stage, the employer may also consult with other stakeholders in the company. This helps ensure that the decision is an informed one. Step 7: Job Offer & Onboarding The final step in the selection process is the job offer & onboarding. This is when the employer offers the job to the candidate and onboards them. It is time to inform the candidate about the job offer and go over the job details. The employer may also provide the candidate with information about the company and the job responsibilities. The employer will also provide the candidate with information about the onboarding process . This helps the candidate prepare for their new role and get acclimatized to the company. Conclusion The selection process is a series of steps that employers use to identify and hire the best candidate for the job. It involves several steps that help the employer assess a candidate’s qualifications, skills, experience, and other relevant factors. Understanding the selection process is critical for employers. It helps employers find the right candidate for the job and it helps your candidates understand what to expect when applying for a job. By following the 7 steps of the selection process, employers can find the perfect fit for the job, and job seekers can find the perfect job for them. Are you looking for help finding the perfect fit? Reach out to our team so we can give you even more help.

We all know that a strong candidate pool is essential for any successful business. Without a reliable source of potential hires, companies can find themselves struggling to fill positions quickly and efficiently. But even if you already have a strong candidate pool, there are still plenty of ways to take it to the next level. In this blog post, we’ll look at six amazing ways to supercharge your candidate pool and ensure you’re always ready to take on the best talent. Having a solid candidate pool is essential to ensure you can always fill any positions quickly and effectively. But even if you already have a reliable source of potential hires, there are still plenty of ways to supercharge your candidate pool and make sure you’re always ready to take on the best talent. In this blog post, we’ll look at six amazing ways to supercharge your candidate pool. From leveraging social media platforms to connecting with professional organizations, we’ll cover everything you need to know to ensure you always have the best and brightest talent at your disposal. So, let’s dive in and take a look at our six amazing ways to supercharge your candidate pool! Building a Stronger Candidate Pool Through Social Media Social media has become an essential tool for building and managing candidate pools. With so many potential hires now active on various social media platforms, it’s important to leverage these networks to ensure you’re always connected with the best and brightest talent. When it comes to building a stronger candidate pool through social media , there are two main strategies you should consider: leveraging social media platforms and creating a careers page. The first strategy for leveraging social media to build a stronger candidate pool is to use the various platforms available. From Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn and beyond, there are countless platforms you can use to connect with potential hires. When it comes to using social media for recruiting, it’s important to focus on the platform that makes the most sense for your company. For example, if you’re looking to hire software developers , you may want to focus your efforts on LinkedIn, as this is the social network most commonly used by software engineers. Regardless of the platform you choose, there are a few key steps you should take to ensure you’re leveraging social media in the most effective way possible. First, you should create a profile for your company on the platform you’ve chosen. This will allow potential hires to learn more about you, your company, and the positions you’re looking to fill. Next, you should use the platform to engage with potential hires. Whether it’s responding to messages, joining conversations, or simply sharing relevant content, it’s important to be active and engaged on the platform. Finally, you should use the platform to advertise your open positions. This can be done through sponsored posts, targeted ads, or simply sharing the positions on your company’s profile. The second strategy for leveraging social media to build a stronger candidate pool is to create a careers page. A careers page is a dedicated page on your website that provides potential hires with more information about your company and the positions you have available. Creating a careers page is an effective way to attract potential hires and ensure you’re always connected with the best and brightest talent. When creating a careers page, it’s important to focus on the information you include. Your careers page should provide potential hires with all the information they need to make an informed decision, including job descriptions, company culture, and benefits. It’s also important to focus on the design of your careers page. You want to make sure the page looks professional and is easy to navigate, as this will ensure potential hires can quickly find the information they need. Finally, you should consider using social media to promote your careers page. By sharing the page on social media and encouraging potential hires to share it, you can ensure you’re always connected with the best and brightest talent. Connecting With Groups and Associations In addition to leveraging social media to build a stronger candidate pool, it’s also important to consider connecting with groups and associations. By connecting with professional organizations, trade associations, and previous applicants, you can ensure you always have access to the best and brightest talent. Let’s take a closer look at some of the groups and associations you should consider connecting with. The first group or association you should consider connecting with is professional organizations. Professional organizations are groups of individuals who share a common interest or profession. Examples include the American Bar Association, the American Medical Association, and the Society for Human Resource Management. Connecting with professional organizations can be an effective way to find potential hires. By networking with these organizations, you can gain access to their members, who can provide referrals and recommend potential hires for your company. The second group or association you should consider connecting with is trade associations. Trade associations are organizations that represent a specific industry or profession. Examples include the National Association of Realtors, the National Automobile Dealers Association, and the National Retail Federation. Connecting with trade associations can be an effective way to find potential hires. By networking with these organizations, you can gain access to their members, who can provide referrals and recommend potential hires for your company. Utilizing Previous Applicants In addition to leveraging social media and connecting with groups and associations, it’s also important to consider utilizing previous applicants. By reaching out to previous applicants, you can ensure you always have access to the best and brightest talent. When it comes to utilizing previous applicants, there are a few key steps you should take. First, you should create a database of previous applicants. This database should include information on the applicant’s qualifications, skills, and experience. Next, you should reach out to the applicants in your database regularly. This can be done through email, direct mail, phone calls, or other methods. Finally, you should consider offering incentives to previous applicants. This could include discounts, referral bonuses, or other forms of compensation. Re-Engaging Previous Employees In addition to utilizing previous applicants, it’s also important to consider re-engaging previous employees. By reaching out to former employees, you can ensure you always have access to the best and brightest talent. Re-engaging previous employees can be an effective way to find potential hires. Not only can former employees provide referrals, but they may also be interested in rejoining your company. When it comes to re-engaging previous employees, there are a few key steps you should take. First, you should create a database of former employees. This database should include information on the employees’ qualifications, skills, and experience. Next, you should reach out to the employees in your database regularly. This can be done through email, direct mail, phone calls, or other methods. Finally, you should consider offering incentives to previous employees. This could include discounts, referral bonuses, or other forms of compensation. Encouraging Referrals In addition to utilizing previous applicants and re-engaging previous employees, it’s also important to consider encouraging referrals. By encouraging referrals, you can ensure you always have access to the best and brightest talent. Encouraging referrals can be an effective way to find potential hires. Not only can referrals provide you with qualified candidates, but they can also be a cost-effective way to recruit. When it comes to encouraging referrals, there are a few key steps you should take. First, you should create a referral program. This program should include an incentive for employees who refer potential hires. Next, you should promote the program to your existing employees. This can be done through email, direct mail, phone calls, or other methods. Finally, you should consider offering incentives to referrals . This could include discounts, referral bonuses, or other forms of compensation. Reaching Out to Retirees In addition to utilizing previous applicants, re-engaging previous employees, and encouraging referrals, it’s also important to consider reaching out to retirees. By connecting with retirees, you can ensure you always have access to the best and brightest talent. Reaching out to retirees can be an effective way to find potential hires. Not only can retirees provide you with experienced candidates, but they can also provide valuable insight into the industry. When it comes to reaching out to retirees, there are a few key steps you should take. First, you should create a database of retirees. This database should include information on the retirees’ qualifications, skills, and experience. Next, you should reach out to the retirees in your database regularly. This can be done through email, direct mail, phone calls, or other methods. Finally, you should consider offering incentives to retirees. This could include discounts, referral bonuses, or other forms of compensation. Conclusion Having a strong candidate pool is essential for any successful business. With the right strategies in place, you can ensure you always have access to the best and brightest talent. In this blog post, we looked at six amazing ways to supercharge your candidate pool. From leveraging social media platforms to connecting with professional organizations, we covered everything you need to know to ensure you always have the best and brightest talent at your disposal. So, what are you waiting for? Start supercharging your candidate pool today !

A key part of attracting candidates to any role is establishing a reasonable salary for that role. A position that pays under the area salary average needs to have something very worthwhile to tip the scales, whether it’s great benefits, or something else. Conversely, a role that pays far above the average can be quite attractive for candidates, but less so for the company, and it can warn off a few savvy candidates who worry about why it pays so much. Does the company have trouble with retention or culture, and hopes their money will solve the problem? Hiring managers and HR staff don’t have some golden book with salary information to pull from. We have to research salary information just as much as people looking for jobs. The difference is, we often have access to salary benchmarking tools to help perform that research. Tools such as the ones we’ve compiled below. Remember that the people applying to a role will have an idea of the kind of salary they’re looking for. Some of them will use tools, including some of what we’ve listed below, to figure out average salaries. Others will talk to friends in the industry, coworkers at their current job, or other HR reps to learn how to negotiate. Some companies try to hire people at unusually low salary rates and make discussing salary against office policies. Pay secrecy policies are usually illegal , though. The fact is, people will talk about money, and it’s important that you offer fair salary rates for your hires, new and old. When you and your candidates are getting salary information from a similar set of tools, you both start on the same page. You can adjust the average salaries from there.  How can salaries adjust? Cost of living. A company paying software developers in Kansas City can pay them less than a company paying software developers in Seattle, a much more expensive city. Experience. The more experienced a candidate is, the higher the initial salary you can offer them – or they might demand. Benefits adjustments. A lower-than-average salary can still be competitive and acceptable if you offer benefits like 401k matching, work from home time, or high-quality healthcare. Setting reasonable salary ranges before you enter negotiations from either side of the process is important. We’ve all had cases where a candidate has much higher expectations than we’re able to provide and vice versa. So what tools can you use to research salaries? Here are our top 11 options. 1. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics A sub-department of the Department of Labor, the BLS is where all of the various employment and labor data sources are aggregated, analyzed, and presented to the public. Information can be found in raw form or in processed graphs, easy to read blog posts, and everything in between. The BLS data helps with general salary information, but it also helps put that information into context. Other useful data for this includes regional employment data, job outlooks, employment trends, and even demographic information. All of this can be used (within reason) to make salary determinations for open positions you want to fill. 2. CompAnalyst by Salary.com Salary.com is a public-facing website and app suite aimed largely at job seekers, to allow them to look up salary information for specific roles in a specific region. It allows job seekers to refine positions based on education, experience, performance, and other factors – it also has very granular information about specific roles. CompAnalyst is the business-side platform of the same information. They have both an offering for small businesses and an enterprise-level platform with program compensation analysis. They boast over 800 million market data points to make compensation data both granular and accurate. Salary Benchmarking Tool Honorable Mention: SHRM One of the more popular recommendations we see for salary and compensation research is SHRM, which is a membership platform with tools, reports, data, and training for HR staff in any industry. They have access to a ton of great data and can generate custom reports, at $245 per report for non-members or $220.50 per report for members. So why is it only an honorable mention rather than an item on this list? All of their data comes from Salary.com . You can get the same information and the same reports directly from CompAnalyst without having to pay for it through SHRM. Now, SHRM has a ton of added value and information available, so it’s far from worthless, but it’s still not a unique source of data. 3. Glassdoor Glassdoor is typically considered a candidate-side tool because it’s part of the overall research pattern when looking for a new job. Individuals on the job hunt use it to research the reviews of specific businesses, looking for warning signs, hints of company culture, and so on. Glassdoor also has its own job board, tons of tips and information for interviews, and more. For the business side, Glassdoor allows you to search the same data sets that your candidates will be searching for. You can see what others have posted about your company, including public salary information and reviews. You can also develop an idea for what level of compensation a candidate will be looking for, so you can develop a competitive offer. 4. Indeed Indeed is good for many of the same reasons Glassdoor is good. The two companies evolved from different directions into very similar end results. Glassdoor started as a company review site and expanded to include salary information and job postings , while Indeed started with job postings and expanded to include company reviews and salary information. You can use Indeed’s salary search to look up and compare salary information for a wide range of jobs, though they do have a slight bias. If your company isn’t likely to put a job posting up on Indeed, other similar companies might not either, which means Indeed might not have a lot of accurate salary information for them. Still, with over 600 million salary records to search through, they probably have enough to give you a decent range. 5. PayScale PayScale started as a compensation analysis and management company in 2002, and has expanded to become one of the industry leaders in compensation data management in the decades since. They have three different offerings as part of their overall platform. “MarketPay” is a survey engine aimed at compensation-related data harvesting, coupled with insights to allow a company to refine its salaries for both existing and new hires. “Insight Lab” is its strategy, management, and analytics platform that handles all of the data from surveys and other sources. “Team” is, as you might expect, a team-based platform to allow collaboration with multiple hiring managers and HR staff at once, so everyone is on the same page. 6. Salary Expert Powered by the Economic Research Institute, Salary Expert has a handful of different offerings available. The most generally and broadly useful is Salary Assessor, a platform with competitive salary survey data you can tailor and customize to match your own industry, location, and company size. Other versions of the platform include the Executive Compensation Assessor (aimed, as you might expect, at executives and C-levels), the Geographic Assessor to analyze variance between regions, the Global Salary Calculator, a Cost of Living Comparison tool for people looking to relocate, and more. Several of these tools are under the overall banner of the ERI, not just of Salary Expert, but they can all be accessed relatively easily, and data is updated daily. 7. JSI’s Data Reports Educate to Career is the portal for Job Search Intelligence. The company is primarily focused on data aggregation for new college graduates and fresh-from-education job seekers, so it’s narrow in scope.  However, if your company is looking for data about that specific set of salary ranges, it’s an invaluable resource. One of the biggest benefits of these data reports is their flexibility. You can pull data from their system manually using any of the searches available on the linked page, or you can access their API and pull data algorithmically as you need it. It’s also quite affordable, at only $25 for all of the data about a specific job title, which is cheaper than most platforms offering similar data. 8. Harvest HCM Harvest HCM has a handful of different talent management tools, for different aspects of the hiring and management process. The one we’re looking at today is the compensation management tool, but they also have performance, succession, and rewards systems as well. The Harvest compensation management platform is a system that helps maintain and manage all of your own compensation data, including bonuses, stock options, equity, variable pay programs, and more. It integrates with other apps you may already be using for financial systems, as well. 9. Robert Half Robert Half is a company founded in 1948, specifically created for professional staffing and employment interests. Throughout the last half-century, they have evolved to keep up with modern trends and technology. The Robert Half Salary Guide is a downloadable report they produce once a year, compiling employment and compensation data on a variety of industries. This salary guide can be downloaded for non-commercial use, but they also offer a salary calculator that makes use of that data on the back end to generate specific salary information on a job-by-job basis. 10. Total Jobs The Total Jobs salary checker is a database with jobs and salary information, able to be sorted by job title, region, and industry. It pulls data from its own jobs network, which is actually somewhat limited. In fact, this isn’t a great resource for most people, but it’s excellent for some. Why? Total Jobs is based in the UK. The salary information is all in pounds, the regional sorting is UK regions, and the data is limited to UK data. For those looking for compensation information in the UK, it’s an excellent resource. For anyone outside of the UK, it’s only useful if you’re looking to open a branch or otherwise move to the UK. It’s narrow, but it’s good for those who can use it, so we included it on the list. 11. Dartican Dartican is a company focused on compensation-based HR software. They have three segments to their solutions; KnowledgePay, CompAccelerator, and Value Proposition . KnowledgePay is a job analysis and market pricing research tool. This helps you develop an awareness of what particular roles are likely to offer throughout your industry and your region. CompAccelerator is a platform where you can take that information and plan a compensation package for potential new hires. This takes into account salary, bonuses, equity, and more. Value Proposition helps analyze shortcomings in your current compensation packages, to offer better value to employees while saving money on expenses. Conclusion In the competitive landscape of recruitment, salary benchmarking is not merely an HR task but a strategic tool that ensures a company’s offer is attractive and realistic. It’s the bridge between candidate expectations and company budget, balancing industry standards with organizational capabilities. The eleven tools we’ve highlighted offer a robust foundation for any HR professional to construct a fair and enticing compensation package, whether it’s by tapping into comprehensive databases like the BLS and Salary.com or leveraging tailored platforms like PayScale and Robert Half. As you dive into the wealth of data these tools provide, remember that an informed salary decision is a powerful magnet for top talent. Embrace these tools to make data-driven salary decisions that reflect both the market’s pulse and your company’s unique offerings. Whether you’re crafting a new role or revising existing pay scales, these resources are invaluable in securing the best talent while maintaining fiscal responsibility. Take the first step towards a more strategic salary approach and choose the right tools to empower your decisions.  Secure the future of your organization by investing in the right people. Contact us today and discover how you can enhance your hiring strategy to build the dream team that will lead your company to new heights.

Because of the pandemic, the shape of the modern workforce is changing. Thousands of companies have been forced to transition to some manner of work from home, partial or total, and many of them will not come back. Many other businesses already used remote or distributed teams for some or all of their business. What is remote work? What are distributed teams? What are the differences of distributed teams vs. remote teams? I answer all of these questions in this blog post.  While these terms are often used interchangeably, they have different definitions, and it’s useful to understand the distinction when building your team. What is a Distributed Team? A distributed team is generally a hybrid team. Some of your employees work in a central office or a coworking space , while others work from home or other locations. They might be local to you and come into the HQ as necessary, or they might be as far away as another country. Distributed models are increasingly common throughout all manner of businesses today. They may hire remote workers for specific categories of tasks, like data entry, virtual assistance, or tier 1 support. There is a lot of overlap between this kind of distributed team and companies that outsource those same tasks to contractors or service providers. What are the Benefits of a Distributed Team? What makes a distributed team a practical choice for a business? It comes with a variety of benefits. ✅ Some employees treat working from home as a benefit. This can be a selling point for hiring workers who would otherwise want to negotiate a higher salary, have you expense their move, or reimburse them the cost of a commute. According to Sarah White on Monster.com , working from home has numerous benefits, including health benefits for the employee. Remote work is also becoming more and more common in many roles and industries. Even without the influence of the pandemic, remote work was on the rise. Companies are increasingly discovering that many roles no longer need to be directly supervised. Many employees are more motivated, happier, and more productive when given the flexibility to work from home. ✅ A distributed team reduces office needs. A larger team in a traditional workplace means large space requirements. Everyone needs a cubicle or office; everyone needs computer hardware and tools; everyone needs access to restrooms and facilities. Your location needs adequate parking, adequate climate control, and adequate IT infrastructure . With a distributed team, these needs drop considerably. What would formerly require a full floor of an office building might only require a couple of rooms with a suitably distributed team. Many modern businesses with dozens of employees run out of the equivalent of a two-bedroom apartment. ✅ Distributed teams promote the use of cloud applications, reducing IT costs. With the increasing prevalence of cloud services and software, IT costs drop . You’re no longer required to maintain on-premises infrastructure for your team. An MSP can provide hardware support for your company, while cloud services can provide everything from storage to accounting to development environments.  Overall, it’s frequently cheaper to operate a distributed team than an entirely on-premises team. What are the Drawbacks of a Distributed Team? Distributed teams do still have a few drawbacks stemming from their nature as a hybrid solution. 🟥 Many distributed teams still need to maintain a central office. Depending on your company, you may not be able to move to a fully remote structure. Shipping and fulfillment, manufacturing, hands-on testing; these tasks cannot be performed remotely in most situations. If you have to maintain a headquarters, you still have the expenses associated with it. In a way, you end up with the worst of both worlds. 🟥 Distributed workers may feel left out of company culture. Whenever there’s a clear divide between two groups of people in the workplace, care must be taken to ensure both are treated equally. Igloo Software’s State of the Digital Workplace survey from last year reports that 80% of remote workers feel left out of the workplace. Be aware of common issues that occur in hybrid workplaces. Employees who have to commute may be jealous of those who don’t. Workers who work remotely may feel left out of company events they can’t attend. The onus of inconvenience can all-too-often fall entirely on the shoulders of the remote workers, whose schedules get ignored. These issues foster differences and disagreements between parts of the team, which leads to a disgruntled workforce. 🟥 You lose access to regular in-person meetings. There are quite a few benefits to having everyone in the office. Among them is the ability to call an impromptu meeting when an issue comes up. It’s a lot less convenient to call up a dozen Zoom participants or set up a conference call for a similar purpose. There are other perks to in-person work as well. Don’t underestimate the power of small talk in the break room or around the water cooler as a source of social connections within the team. We covered some remote team building exercises to alleviate these issues in another post. What is a Remote Team? The term remote team is often used interchangeably with distributed teams, or as a general term for all styles of partial and completely remote teams. A partially remote team would be partially not remote, so, exactly like a distributed team. A fully remote team, meanwhile, has no centralized headquarters. Everyone, from the owner to the intern, works from home. In our definition, a remote team is a business that operates entirely from home offices. There is no centralized headquarters, just a registration address for business purposes. One example of a successful business operating as a remote team is Buffer. According to CEO Joel Gascoigne, it has worked out well. “I am happy to report that I am in love with the choice we made to be distributed all across the world.” Buffer has operated as a fully remote team since its early days in 2012, with almost 100 people working for the company in nearly every time zone around the world. What are the Benefits of a Remote Team? Fully remote teams have a variety of benefits, as espoused by companies like Buffer. ✅ You do not need a home headquarters and all of the costs associated with it. Rent, heating and cooling, power, dedicated internet, maintenance; all of these costs are eliminated when you don’t have a headquarters. AJ Agrawal, CEO of Alumnify, writes: “No matter where you happen to be in the US, you are going to lose thousands of dollars every month by having an office. For many entrepreneurs and startups, this is unacceptable and risks bringing down the fragile success they have achieved.” ✅ Employees can work from anywhere, giving them the freedom to travel. There’s a sort of life cycle to the successful remote worker. Initially, they feel stifled and stuck at home all the time, and their work-life balance suffers. Eventually, they realize they have the freedom to travel, so long as they can access their tools and get their work done. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities and is where many remote workers genuinely shine. ✅ There’s no divide between office and remote, so there are no social or cultural differences to worry about. As mentioned above, one of the most significant risks of a partially remote workforce is the divide between the office workers and the remote workers. When everyone is remote, everyone is on equal footing. No one feels left out, and it’s easier to share the burden of scheduling and communication when everyone is in the same situation. ✅ Remote teams can hire from anywhere in the world, putting talent and experience above location or mobility. Timely, a Norway-based company, writes: “When you need to hire employees from a set location, you limit your talent pool . In contrast, remote work lets you access the very best talent across the globe – especially when the flexibility remote working brings is becoming expected by employees.” Not only is remote work a selling point, but it also broadens the candidate pool you can use to find new hires. A global reach also helps fill positions for which there is a shortage of local candidates. Many extremely skilled workers in STEM fields are located outside of the US, but that poses no problem when you can simply hire them to work remotely. ✅ Remote teams have people everywhere and are thus very responsive around the clock. Joel Gascoigne cites it as one of his primary benefits in bringing Buffer together as a fully remote team. “A key part of our vision is to set the bar for customer support. We obsessively track the happiness of our customers and our speed to respond to them. We have more than a million users and we reply to 80% of emails within 1 hour. We couldn’t achieve this level of service without being spread across multiple timezones.” While this is most prominent in customer-facing roles, such as support, it’s beneficial for most companies. What are the Drawbacks of a Remote Team? Fully remote teams have a few drawbacks. Some of them shared with distributed teams, and some unique to them. 🟥 Some otherwise excellent employees can’t cut it as remote workers. Make no mistake; working remotely is difficult. The atmosphere of being stuck at home, particularly during a pandemic, is stifling. Time management and self-motivation are vital in remote workers. The research director for 451 Research, Chris Marsh, says this . “An outcome of what’s happened over the past couple of months, and this massive shift towards mass remote working, is just a huge loss of context around work. That context would otherwise have been captured by employees through meetings, through attending events, through water cooler moments.” Fully remote workplaces can simulate some of this by maintaining casual “off-topic” communications channels, like Slack. Buffer, and many other remote companies, also host annual all-hands get-togethers for face to face time, which helps knit the team together. 🟥 Distributed schedules can make communication more challenging and leave some people feeling excluded. A common issue with remote teams is focusing schedules around the majority, which leaves people in distant timezones bearing the burden of getting up early or staying up late for a meeting. Additionally, different groups of employees may have different communication preferences. Some are used to picking up the phone, others rely on email, and yet others take to Slack or another IM program as their first choice. Unifying communications channels, workflows, and processes throughout your whole workforce is a significant hurdle for many businesses making the transition. 🟥 Remote teams are usually dependent on reliable internet access and are at the mercy of their ISP. When you have a central office, you can pay for high-end business internet service with uptime guarantees. With a remote workforce, you can rarely extend that same luxury to your team. Standford reports : “Many Americans also lack the facilities or sufficient internet capacity to work effectively from home. More than half of those surveyed who are now working from home are doing so either in shared rooms or their bedrooms. And only 65 percent of Americans reported having fast enough internet capacity to support workable video calls. The remaining 35 percent have such poor internet at home – or no internet – that it prevents effective telecommuting.” Remote workers are forced to use what they have, and with millions of Americans operating with sub-par internet service, it can become a problem for businesses that need certain team members online at specific times. A Wrench in the Gears Before we wrap up the debate of distributed teams vs. remote teams, there’s one thing that throws a wrench into the works. It’s simple: many companies have contradicting definitions for these terms. Nadia Hlebowitsh at Tecla concurs with our usage, defining distributed teams as hybrids and remote teams as fully remote. Remo disagrees, calling distributed teams fully remote and remote teams a flexible hybrid term. Other people, such as John O’Duinn , add in terms like “teleworker” and “virtual worker” to the mix. The fact is, the definitions we’ve used above are sometimes used interchangeably, but few people use the term “distributed team” these days. Instead, the distinction is more between fully remote and partially remote teams. Conclusion  No matter what terminology you decide to use, the benefits and drawbacks are still the same. It doesn’t matter what you call a fully remote team, so long as everyone involved understands that everyone is remote. Indeed, the only thing that matters is that your company has communications channels, procedures, and tools in place to facilitate whatever organizational structure you settle on. As you navigate the future of work in your organization, remember that the right strategy is less about the label you use and more about how well you adapt to the evolving needs of your team and business. Embrace the change, leverage the benefits, and mitigate the drawbacks to build a resilient, productive, and satisfied workforce. Ready to take the next step in optimizing your team’s structure and productivity? Contact us to learn more about our tailored solutions and services, designed to help you thrive in a world where work knows no boundaries.  Whether you’re just starting on your journey or looking to refine your existing remote or distributed team strategy, we’re here to guide you to success. Get in touch today and transform the way you work!

There are many business apps, processes, and services out there to help businesses of all sizes grow. Unfortunately, there’s a persistent myth that small businesses can’t use or access these benefits. Sure, some of them are priced prohibitively to limit their customer base to high-end enterprises, but that’s a minority. Small businesses can, and should, make use of any possible advantage they can get. Among these advantages is the RPO. A Recruitment Process Outsourcing firm is a company that offers recruitment and hiring services to other businesses. This can range from recruitment referrals to a full, opening-to-hire process. They can provide their own staff, or work with your staff and existing processes to recruit the best candidates for any given role you need to be filled. What are the benefits of using an RPO? Speaking entirely in terms of a small business looking to grow, here are the benefits you may enjoy. Learn About Our Modern Approach To RPO 1. RPOs Scale In fact, an RPO can scale up and down with the whims of the market and the ebb and flow of business. If your business is booming, investors are interested, and revenues are going up, an RPO can scale up to help you fill new roles quickly and smoothly. If your business dips during the off-season, a recession, or a loss of interest, an RPO can dial back without consequence. Compare this to an in-house team, which draws a salary regardless of the status of your business, it is much harder to scale without going through the hiring process for your HR team before hiring the people you need to grow. The RPO has an undeniable advantage. 2. RPOs Have Defined Processes Building your own hiring team means hiring people to handle recruitment, but it also means developing an entire hiring process.  You can adapt guides you find online, make use of the workflows present in whatever applicant tracking system you use, and leverage the expertise of the people you hire, but you still need to build your entire process and refine it. An RPO has already done all of this. They have an established, defined process ready to go. All you need to do is enlist their help and they can either work with you or take over your hiring process entirely, with their own proven and effective techniques. That’s a ton of work done for you right out of the gate. 3. RPOs Reduce Time to Hire The longer your hiring process takes, the more problems you’re going to have with it. Good candidates accept other offers before you even make yours. The building, filtering, and refining of your candidate pool grows more expensive while the most skilled candidates lose interest or are recruited elsewhere. The overall quality of candidates drops, so the people you hire aren’t as talented as they could be, and they may be less satisfied and more prone to leaving. Increased turnover means an increased need for hiring, starting the whole process anew. An RPO helps with all of this in two ways. First, they have their own processes in place for speedy hiring. More importantly, though, they generally have candidate pools for various industries and roles already built. They don’t have to start from scratch when you contract them; they can start feeling out talented candidates immediately. 4. RPOs Have Access to Better Tools While sure, a lot of business apps and tools are available to small businesses, there are some undeniable advantages given to larger businesses. An RPO is likely larger than your small business and can afford to pay for better tools. You could buy the same tools they use, but it could potentially cost you thousands of dollars. After all, the RPO has many different clients paying them, so they can split the cost of their tools amongst all of their clients. Those costs are harder to justify for a small business in the short term. Top-end RPOs may also develop their own in-house tools to better fit their own processes. A custom solution can be more effective than a boxed solution that doesn’t consider specific needs in a given niche or role. 5. RPOs Maintain Compliance Do you have a lawyer on retainer? Many small businesses do not. Yet the world is constantly changing, with new hiring practices, new trends, and more importantly, new laws and regulations that apply to hiring practices . Whether these are diversity initiatives or equal opportunity regulations, an RPO makes it their job to keep on top of these changes. By contracting a capable RPO, you help make sure you’re taking advantage of initiatives and promotions that put otherwise difficult to find candidates at your fingertips, while also insulating yourself against making a mistake due to not knowing a new law or regulation in your area. 6. RPOs Often Specialize Some RPOs will specialize in specific areas with their own regulations or requirements, like healthcare and law. Rather than requiring your own hiring team to become experts on employment law, you offload the burden to an RPO and take advantage of their expertise. Hiring skilled employees requires being able to evaluate those skills, which can be extremely difficult if you don’t have a team capable of accurately testing and judging those skills. An RPO will know what to look for, what warning signs to avoid, what certifications and training are most important, and even which institutions provide a better education. It’s all part of getting the best candidates into the right roles for them and for you. 7. RPOs Reach a Broader Talent Pool Small businesses have a limited amount of resources available to be spent on hiring. Whether it’s the fees associated with job listings, paid advertising to build your brand or the costs of bringing in candidates for interviews, it can all add up. When you lack the resources to fully fund these processes, your talent pool might not be as broad or as far-reaching as would be ideal. An RPO, meanwhile, can focus their efforts on building their candidate pools as much as possible, since it’s the core of their business. They can reach communities and locations you otherwise could not. They can contact candidates who might otherwise never know you existed. They can even leverage resources like referrals much more easily than your business can. All of this results in a larger talent pool, which in turn means a larger number of high-quality candidates for any given role. 8. RPOs Can Improve Diversity Workplace diversity is interesting. When it’s considered normative, it’s hugely beneficial to a company, according to research from Harvard . When your organization or your hiring team views it as a burden or a quota to be filled, however, merely hiring diverse candidates isn’t enough: In numerous studies, research has shown that employees in pro-diversity regions, like the U.S. and Western Europe, prefer diverse work environments. In a survey of 1,000 respondents… 67% of job seekers overall look at workforce diversity when evaluating an offer. An RPO will generally have diversity initiatives and considerations built into their processes. They can provide diverse candidates to fill your open positions without making a big deal out of it, which helps normalize workplace diversity and thus improve business performance across the board. 9. RPOs Handle Brand Advertising A big part of successful recruiting is building an employer brand , which often involves a lot of outreach, a lot of marketing, and a lot of investment. Worse, the return on that investment is often invisible or difficult to quantify, since it’s reflected in the size and quality of your candidate pool more than anything else. Contracting an RPO generally means that RPO is going to be performing all of that outreach for you. More importantly, they’re doing it under your name, not under theirs, so you reap the benefits of the branding and outreach without having to put in the legwork yourself. 10. RPOs Keep Their Candidate Pools Active When a small business has a role to fill, you have to build a pool and find a candidate to fill it. If you don’t have open positions, or you have to go into a hiring freeze, or you otherwise don’t need that pool, it can be difficult or impossible to keep it active. Then, the next time you need to hire, those leads have gone cold. An RPO keeps their candidate pools full of fresh talent, and keep the people who don’t land jobs active and engaged to keep them ready for when a position opens. They build pools for roles and industries and have them available when your open position needs someone in that industry and role. 11. RPOs Are Consistent One of the best benefits of contracting with an RPO is that they’re consistent whenever you need them. With a small business, your hiring needs may be variable and inconsistent. Rather than having to stop and start your own hiring processes as necessary, you can keep the RPO available to hire on an as-needed basis. They don’t have to scale their own efforts up and down, because their array of clients means they always keep active. They’re ready to offer you some interested candidates, virtually as soon as you need them. 12. RPOs Can Take Time to Analyze a Candidate Since an RPO is actively recruiting for roles similar to the ones your business has open, they can spend their time developing and issuing skills assessments, personality analysis, and histories for experience and education for each candidate they engage. This is all stuff that your hiring team would need to do to fill a role properly, but it takes enough time that it often falls by the wayside in the rush to fill an open role as soon as possible. By contracting with the RPO, you streamline this screening process down to a few specifics of your company and role, rather than starting from the ground up. 13. RPOs Are Flexible to Work With A talented RPO has a variety of levels of offering available for businesses with different needs. If you want to offload every aspect of your hiring process, they can oblige, and all you need to do is provide a job opening and requirements list, and accept the candidates that come in. Conversely, if you want to maintain most of your control while offloading the legwork to the RPO, you can do that too. Working with and RPO is a matter of combining your needs with their services, putting together a defined SLA, and getting results. 14. RPOs Provide Analytics and Data Part of making sure your hiring process is as smooth and effective as possible is harvesting data about every step of the process. However, harvesting this data from disparate sources such as career portals and applicant tracking software can be a full-time job just to set up, not to mention analyzing it properly. It’s not enough simply to track the data; you need to know how to interpret it and how to put that information to use. RPOs have two benefits here. First, they have teams dedicated to doing this data analysis, which your small business might not be able to afford if you were putting it together on your own. Second, they have likely analyzed their data – from a much wider data source set than you would have on your own – and used that information to optimize their processes before you even hire them. They’re starting from a more advanced position than you would spend months or years reaching. 15. RPOs Are Generally Cheaper Virtually all of the benefits listed above will impact the cost of hiring. Any time a process fails, a candidate reaches the interview stage and falters, a skills assessment is failed, or a potential hire drops out, it costs you time and money. Worse, time is money when it comes to hiring, so your costs keep ramping up the less effective your hiring process is. RPOs do everything they can to streamline your process, making it faster and more effective while pulling in the best-qualified candidates most likely to be satisfied in a given role. Sure, contracting an RPO means paying an ongoing fee, but that fee is almost always going to be lower than the cost of doing it all yourself .

Recruiting is a complex and time-consuming process. It requires a deep understanding of the job market, the ability to identify the right candidates, and the ability to attract and retain the best talent. With the ever-evolving job market, it’s essential for businesses to stay ahead of the curve and stay competitive. This is where data comes in. By leveraging data and utilizing data-driven solutions in the recruitment process, businesses can reap the rewards of a successful hiring strategy. The Benefits of Using Data When Recruiting Data-driven recruitment strategies allow businesses to gain insight into the job market, identify the right candidates, and improve their hiring process. Companies that use data-driven recruitment strategies are more likely to find the best-suited candidates for the job and improve their retention rates. The recruitment process can be broken down into a few key components: collecting data, examining trends and spotting patterns, informing retention strategies, measuring success, utilizing automation, leveraging AI, and implementing data-driven solutions. By leveraging data in each step of the recruitment process, businesses can ensure that they are getting the most out of their recruitment efforts. Collecting Data During the Hiring Process Using data during the recruitment process allows businesses to collect valuable information about candidates that can help inform their hiring decision. This data can include things like education, work experience, skills, and other qualifications. By collecting this data, businesses can gain insight into the job market and develop a better understanding of the types of candidates they should be targeting. Moreover, collecting data during the recruitment process can help businesses identify potential areas for improvement. For example, if a business finds that a large portion of their candidates don’t meet the job requirements, they can use this data to adjust their recruitment strategy and target candidates who are more likely to succeed in the role. Examining Trends & Spotting Patterns By collecting data during the recruitment process, businesses can gain insight into trends in the job market and spot patterns that can help inform their hiring decisions. For example, if a business finds that the majority of their candidates have a certain degree or qualification, they can use this data to inform their recruitment strategy and target candidates with similar qualifications. Examining trends and spotting patterns can also help businesses identify areas for improvement in their recruitment process. For example, if a business finds that their candidates are not responding to their recruitment emails, they can use this data to adjust their recruitment strategy and target candidates who are more likely to respond. Informing Retention Strategies Data can also be used to inform retention strategies. By collecting data on the types of candidates that are most likely to stay in the role, businesses can target candidates who are more likely to stay. This can help businesses reduce turnover rates and improve their retention rates. In addition, businesses can use data to identify areas for improvement in their retention strategies. For example, if a business finds that their current retention strategies are not effective, they can use this data to make adjustments and develop more effective retention strategies. Measuring the Success of Your Recruitment Efforts Data can be used to measure the success of a business’s recruitment efforts. By collecting data on the number of applicants, the number of hires, the success rate of hires, and the retention rates of hires, businesses can gain insight into their recruitment process and identify areas for improvement. In addition, data can be used to measure the success of a business’s recruitment marketing efforts. Utilizing Automation to Collect & Analyze Data Utilizing automation in the recruitment process can help businesses collect and analyze data more efficiently. Automation can be used to collect data on the number of applicants, the success rate of applicants, and the cost per hire. Automation can also be used to analyze data and identify patterns and trends in the job market. Using automation can help businesses save time and resources. By automating data collection and analysis, businesses can focus their time and resources on other aspects of the recruitment process. The Impact of AI on Recruitment AI is revolutionizing the recruitment process. AI-driven tools can be used to automate the recruitment process and make it more efficient. AI-driven tools can scan resumes and identify the best-suited candidates for the job, eliminating the need for manual screening and making the recruitment process more efficient. AI-driven tools can also be used to identify patterns and trends in the job market, providing businesses with valuable insights into the job market. Leveraging Data to Improve Your Hiring Process By leveraging data in the recruitment process, businesses can gain valuable insights into the job market, identify the right candidates for the job, and improve their hiring process. Data can be used to target the right candidates for the job . By collecting data on the types of candidates that are most likely to succeed in the role, businesses can target candidates who are more likely to stay in the role. This can help businesses reduce turnover rates and improve their retention rates. Data can also be used to measure the success of a business’s recruitment efforts. By collecting data on the number of applications, the success rate of applications, and the cost per hire, businesses can gain insight into the effectiveness of their recruitment marketing strategies and make adjustments as needed. Implementing Data-Driven Solutions for Recruiting Data-driven solutions can help businesses streamline the recruitment process and make it more efficient. Automation can be used to collect and analyze data, identify patterns and trends in the job market, and identify areas for improvement in the recruitment process. AI-driven tools can be used to automate the recruitment process and make it more efficient. By leveraging data-driven solutions in the recruitment process, businesses can reduce costs, save time, and improve their hiring process. Data-driven solutions can help businesses identify the best-suited candidates for the job, reduce turnover rates, and improve their retention rates. Conclusion Leveraging data in the recruitment process can have a profound impact on a business’s success. By leveraging data, businesses can gain insight into the job market, identify the right candidates, and improve their recruitment process. Data-driven solutions can help businesses automate the recruitment process and make it more efficient. By implementing data-driven solutions in their recruitment process, businesses can reap the rewards of a successful hiring strategy. Data-driven solutions can help businesses identify the best-suited candidates for the job, reduce turnover rates, and improve their retention rates. Start leveraging data today and reap the rewards of a successful recruitment strategy! Ready to start leveraging data in your recruitment process? Click here to learn more about how data-driven solutions can help you achieve success.

LinkedIn has quietly become one of the most significant social networks globally. When Microsoft acquired it in 2016, few people thought it would amount to much. More likely, it would go the way of Google+ and slowly die off. Or, it would go the way of Skype and be supplanted by a Microsoft-based offering. Instead, it has stayed more or less the same platform it was before, just powered with more money, better technology, and more dedicated development. While other social networks have chased trends and tried to set themselves apart (and some have failed because of it), LinkedIn is quietly chugging along as one of the best hubs for career development online. Virtually any company that wants to hire employees – particularly tech, business, and other STEM employees – checks LinkedIn first. Whether they’re actively looking for a job or are just passively open to the idea , any potential employee has a LinkedIn profile. The site has been growing, pruning off features no one used and adding more practical options for everyone, year after year. Now you’re here. You’re a business owner looking to hire employees, and you know that LinkedIn is one of the best ways to do it. So, how can you stand out from the rest of the pack? 1: Build a Strong Foundation The first thing you need to do for success on LinkedIn is to make sure your presence is polished to a mirror shine. When you reach out to a prospective candidate, you’re asking them to look into you. If they do, and they see a profile with ancient data, poor writing, and little attention to detail, are they going to apply? Probably not, unless they’re desperate. What can you do to improve your LinkedIn presence? Update your company profile. Start with your company profile. Make sure all of the details are accurate. If necessary, upload a new profile image and banner. Update your business name if needed. Specify your brand headquarters and any other relevant locations. Same with business size. You can also consider using the blog feature of LinkedIn to keep your profile up to date. This option is tricky, though, because it looks worse than having never used it at all if you stop down the line. However, you can use LinkedIn to syndicate content from your website on a delay, so it shouldn’t be that difficult to keep running. Update your personal profile. Remember that candidates will likely be concerned about cultural fit with your organization. One way they can check that without digging into your company through other sites is to check into the people who work for you. Do they keep their LinkedIn profiles up to date? What do they tend to post about? Where have they worked in the past? You might not be able to mandate that your employees keep their profiles updated, but you can at least keep yours up to date. Write or buff up your About section using keywords. Your company About Us section on LinkedIn is one of the most prominent opportunities you have to work in career-oriented SEO keywords into your profile. While these won’t be as relevant for the people you identify and reach out to directly, it can help them see what you’re about when they read it. More importantly, it can make you more visible in LinkedIn’s search engine and can get more people coming to you in the first place. Specify your business page URL if you haven’t. When you first register for LinkedIn, they give you a long URL made out of numbers and ask you to change it. You may have changed it in the past, but it may not fully reflect your brand today or may be ambiguous. Just give it a look and make sure it’s accurate and relevant. This page has guidelines on what your primary URL can look like and what it should contain. Collect (and give out) endorsements. Endorsements are the lifeblood of LinkedIn. For individuals, they’re verification of the skills and abilities the person has earned and demonstrated, as presented by their peers and bosses. For companies, they’re similar to testimonials, but for the employer rather than the company or product. Get endorsements from employees, and leave positive endorsements in return . Even if your endorsement helps the employee leave later, it’s better than not having the endorsements now. Get endorsements from partners and associates . B2B companies especially can benefit from endorsements from clients and business partners. Get endorsements from customers . A testimonial praising the company rather than the product can be hard to come by, but they can be pretty helpful when you get them. Wherever you get them, make sure they’re high quality, that you’re returning the favor when possible, and that they’re not faked for the sake of boosting your profile. 2: Make Use of LinkedIn Groups The second tip we can give you is to use LinkedIn groups. As far as small social communities go, they can be very powerful when used appropriately. The trick here is to join and contribute to these groups as an individual, not as a company. Make sure you’re participating all the time, not just when you need something. People in these groups will be a lot less skeptical about you if they recognize you from spending time in their group. Plus, it helps you gain a better and more nuanced appreciation for the behaviors of the people you’re networking and engaging with in the group. Different groups have different sets of rules, expected behaviors, and norms. Spend some time getting to know them before you start trying to hire people from those groups. 3: Make Your Messages Personalized LinkedIn gets heavily used by recruiters, especially recruiters who don’t put much time or effort into recruiting people. Time and again, we hear stories like: “A recruiter approached me about a job that was so far under my pay grade I couldn’t help but laugh.” “I was promoted out of my job, and a recruiter approached me about the job I just left.” “I’ve received the same template message from six different recruiters for different companies.” People on LinkedIn are very used to just ignoring messages from recruiters if they don’t have something special about them. Your messages need to be personalized to the individual, and care needs to be taken to make sure they’re not someone who has previously been removed from the candidate pool (or employee list) for one reason or another. It helps to mention something specific about the individual’s history and skills, but, make sure it’s relevant. All too often, templates advise picking a skill and mentioning it, which leads to situations with messages like “We think your experience as [CFO of Big Company] would make you a great fit for [Entry level help desk role].” It just doesn’t work. 4: Look at Existing Employees and Search for Lookalikes One advanced technique comes from Perry Monaco via LinkedIn itself . His tip is to encourage all employees to have robust, well-rounded LinkedIn profiles. Do whatever you can to encourage participation. Then, when you need to hire someone, take a look at the employee you have who most closely matches the role you’re hiring for. Maybe it’s the employee who left, and you’re replacing. Maybe it’s someone you’re promoting to a higher position, and you’re looking to fill their spot. Maybe it’s someone else on the same team with roughly the same duties. Whatever the case is, look at their LinkedIn profile. It’s going to have skills, abilities, and keywords that fit what you’re looking for. LinkedIn even has a feature called the “Similar Profiles” feature. When you run a search for potential employees, you can plug in your standard keywords for job titles, skills, and so on, and add the profile of the target employee to the advanced search. That way, the profiles you get in your search results will be algorithmically similar to what the target employee represents. 5: Avoid the Common Mistakes Perhaps the biggest tip we can give for LinkedIn recruiting is not something you should do, but rather, things you shouldn’t. There are a lot of mistakes that, if you make them, will relegate your InMail directly to the trash, possibly even unread. LinkedIn users, particularly those in middle and upper-level positions and whose skills are in high demand, will be bombarded with attempts to recruit them. You have to do a lot to stand out, and avoid the mistakes that get you dumped in the old circular file.  Avoid ambiguous messaging. Communicating online can sometimes feel like a game of “telephone”; your words, direct messages, and even the job description can be interpreted much differently than you intended. Unlike a phone call, which is more dynamic and where you’re able to clear up any confusion quickly, messages are more permanent and are often read literally. It’s sometimes difficult to convey tone when reading emails and direct messages. Try to keep your message as clear, concise, and easy to understand as possible to eliminate any possibilities of misinterpretations. If you’re interested in a candidate, start your messaging off by saying something that will grab their attention and immediately let them know that there is an opportunity to consider. If there’s a limited timeframe, or if there’s a preferred way to contact you, share that information with them as well. There is also a lot of spam on LinkedIn, so there is more than one reason why you’ll want to cut through the ice as quickly as possible.  Don’t focus entirely on yourself and your company. This one is a subtle language tip, but it’s noteworthy in that it has a more significant effect than you might guess. Consider these two statements: “We have a top-tier marketing department.” “It’s marketing skills like yours that make you the perfect fit.” One of these is all about you and your company. The other is all about the candidate and their skills. Which one do you think the candidate will respond to better when they read it? Make things about “you,” as in, using “you,” “your,” and “yours” in your messaging. Don’t use templates for your messages. We mentioned this one above. Templates can be a fine place to start if you have no idea what you’re doing, but they will not get you the best candidates. Consider: when you search to find templates for hiring InMails, the content that comes up will be the same content other people see when they look. Every one of those templates is already used by dozens, hundreds, or thousands of recruiters. You might think you’ve customized it, but candidates receiving dozens of recruiter messages will be seeing the same framework over and over and will still recognize it. If you absolutely must use a template, make it as bare-bones as possible, and write it on your own. Don’t take templates from other sites. Don’t leave a response open-ended. Making the candidate come up with a response is unlikely to work. Instead, lead them towards an answer you want. For example, instead of asking, “when would be a good time to schedule a call with you?” ask, “would Friday at 3:15 p.m. be a good time for a call?” On the one hand, the candidate could say yes, and you’re in the money. If they say no, they might have the opportunity to provide a better time.  Don’t restrict yourself to just what’s on LinkedIn. One of the best techniques you can use is to research your candidate deeper than just skimming their LinkedIn profile. Doing so can show you mean it when you say you’re reaching out specifically to them. For example: Check if they’re active on Git and comment on a recent project. Check if they’ve published on Medium and mention a recent article. Look for a personal blog they may have, and bring it up. Not only does this help you filter for candidates with ambition and personal projects, but it also shows the candidate that you’re invested enough to dig into them. Just make sure you’re not being creepy about it. No commentary on a recent unrelated Reddit post they made, for example. If you can nail these do’s and don’ts of LinkedIn recruiting, you’ll start to stand out from the pack, and that gives you a significant advantage on the social network.

Not too long ago, targeting a specific group of people might mean picking a neighborhood to mass mail from the post office. These days, location-based targeting on the internet is more powerful and is executed with far more precision. These techniques are useful for more than just your basic product advertising and service offers. It’s powerful for recruiting as well, allowing you to target specific neighborhoods, universities, companies, hospitals, and any other location that might be valuable for your talent search. Two such techniques are geofencing and geotargeting. Though the terms are similar, they function differently and serve different purposes. Let’s dig into the differences between these two, how they work, and how you might use them for recruiting. What is Geotargeting? Geotargeting uses the data from user’s computers and cell phones to find their approximate location from their IP address. This allows you to filter your search to individuals in a certain geographic area. Simple geotargeting is very similar to the example above; picking a neighborhood and mass-mailing everyone within that neighborhood. Replace mass mailing with web advertising, and you have the right idea. As an example, you are exposed to geotargeted ads every day, and just about every one of those ads is geotargeted (whether it’s targeted to specific countries, states, or cities). If you aren’t using geotargeting on your ads, then people that are of little value to you in other locations could potentially see your ads and click them which would drain your ad budget. Any time you see an ad for a local business, that ad is targeted to a specific area around that business; people within 20 miles, people within city limits, or another definition allowed by the ad network. Complex geotargeting adds additional advertising targeting options to the mix. You’re not just broad-spectrum targeting everyone within the geographic area; you’re targeting all the people who are in that area who also meet other criteria, such as demographics, income levels, education levels, or interests. Essentially, it’s a set of layered filters where your ads show to everyone in the city who is a young professional in IT with an interest in Windows administration – to use an example. Complex geotargeting is all about precision in reaching specific people within an area. There’s no outward indication to the recipient that they’re the target of geolocated ads, other than the reasonable expectation that a local business is probably not advertising to people who aren’t likely to stop in. It does little good for a restaurant in Kansas City to advertise to people in Los Angeles, after all. Geotargeting is nothing new. Even television and radio ads are geotargeted, to an extent. A local affiliate of a national station runs local ads and national programming, so everyone sees the same shows but different commercials between them. The internet simply makes advanced, complex geotargeting much more plausible and useful. A modern example is Hyundai, the automobile company. Hyundai was facing a sales problem and identified the geographic locations around Toyota and Mazda dealerships. Using those locations, they could identify people in the market for a vehicle by targeting people within those areas, drawing in an additional 41,000 leads . You can start to form a picture of how this might be useful to recruiters by targeting specific areas, companies, and universities that have candidates matching your requirements. What is Geofencing? Geofencing might seem like basically the same thing, but it’s different in a functional way. Geofencing essentially establishes a “fence” around a given geographic area. It identifies people within that area based on IP address, RFID, and sometimes their connection to cell service towers and other location-based data like social network check-ins and maps usage. The fenced-in area is your geofenced location. You then run ads targeting only people who pass through the boundary around your targeted area. This area can be as large as a city or as small as a neighborhood or even an individual business area of operation and can be used on a large scale to draw people to a major event, or a small scale to draw people to an individual business. Geofencing is very similar to simple geotargeting, except it’s more active. Ads trigger as soon as someone traveling enters the fence, though there’s no pop-up, push notification, or email to signify it. To the user, it’s simply a different set of ads they see while they’re inside the fence. Geotargeting’s additional complexity can make it a more specific tool for reaching a subset of people in an area. Geofencing, however, tends to record more data about the users entering and leaving the fence, with correlations of when and where to allow for habit tracking and other data you might find useful. Neither option is strictly better or worse than the other. One is just more temporal while the other allows for ongoing regional targeting. A recent example of geofencing in action is this healthcare provider , who used geofencing across a marathon’s pathway to target specifically athletes prone to running injuries so that they could offer their services. How to Use Geotargeting for Recruiting One of the biggest challenges of modern recruitment is the proportion of candidates who are mostly or entirely passive. They’re satisfied with the roles they have, so recruiting them requires finding them and reaching out to them. As Adam Godson of Cielo says : “There aren’t enough people looking for jobs, so you’ve got to use Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Google, ad networks – all the things that consumers are using – to be able to find the right candidates at the right time.” Seek out local passive candidates. Where active candidates may be primed and willing to relocate for a job, passive candidates are typically much more entrenched. Thus, it can be very useful to seek out passive candidates around your location, so you don’t need to convince them to overcome that additional hurdle of distance. To properly use geotargeting for recruiting, you need two things: an idea of the geographic zone where your candidates may live, and an idea of what the candidates look like in terms of demographics and interests. Build up a candidate profile . You want to put together a picture of the demographics, interests, existing income levels, and other bits of data that narrow down the group of “everyone in the area” to “the people suitable for the open role”. You want to specify as much data as possible, because you’ll be using different ad networks like Google and Facebook, and they don’t all offer the same range of user data. Facebook has a lot of interest and demographic targeting, while Google tends to have more location and activity data, though of course there’s a lot of overlap. While you’re developing this candidate profile, think about the value proposition you’re offering the potential candidates. The primary benefit of a geo-targeted ad campaign is being able to promote a short commute and proximity to amenities and local services in the area, though the candidates may already have access to many of them. Using income level targeting, you can also filter for candidates for whom your intended pay range is a raise, making the role more enticing. As in the Hyundai example above, you can also target the campuses and offices of specific entities. For example, if you want to reach impending college graduates, you can use geo-targeting to reach the area surrounding a university campus , including dorms and the student apartment regions nearby. Reach out to candidates currently employed by competitors. Alternatively, if you want to poach talent from your competitors, you could target their office location to see if anyone bites on targeted advertising. If one of those employees happens to be looking for a new employer, there’s a strong chance that they will reach out and apply to your open position. Enhance office and team diversity with geographic targeting. Geotargeting can also be useful for diversity hiring. Modern cities tend to be somewhat segregated, due to a variety of historic and modern pressures. While this isn’t ideal, it does form a great opportunity to use geotargeting explicitly to reach out to diverse neighborhoods. You can’t exactly filter applications by specific protected classes, but by advertising a job opportunity in a diverse neighborhood, you’re able to increase the proportion of minority applicants, giving you a broader and more diverse candidate pool . This kind of marketing is valuable, but must be used with caution to ensure that you’re not violating laws and regulations relating to equal opportunity and discriminatory hiring practices. Remember: use it to broaden your applicant base, not narrow it. How to Use Geofencing for Recruiting Where geotargeting reaches everyone who meets your criteria within a specified area, geofencing allows you to target people as they enter or leave a given area. Moreover, you can build a list of those people, as their device data usually lasts for 30 days before expiring and being removed from the target audience. So how can you take advantage of this fence and trigger setup for recruiting? There are a lot of possible options. Use geofencing as remote recruitment. For example, maybe you want to recruit college grads who attended Harvard, but you can’t send a recruiter directly to the university, and you don’t have a relationship with the administration so you can’t advertise on campus directly. Geofencing allows you to set up a virtual ad campaign around the campus to reach students and visitors with your messaging. Use geofencing to enhance a local event. While you can use geo-targeting to target people near a job fair or industry event passively, geofencing allows you to reach out and engage with the people who enter the immediate area of the event when they enter the area. Someone who might be interested, and who is entering the area for other reasons, will suddenly see your ads promoting the event happening now.  They may divert their attention and visit, allowing you to engage with them directly. Geofenced advertising can build an implicit list of people who attended an event, even if those people didn’t visit your booth. You can build up a contact list from people who missed you in person and still attract them. This is also a great way to make up for a poor position in a conference center; after all, not everyone can afford the prime real estate front and center. Capture active candidates from closing companies. Thousands of businesses are closing their doors, and people who formerly had stable work are being forced to look for new jobs suddenly while unprepared. If you can identify a competitor who is closing or laying off large parts of their staff, you can geofence their location to capture people in the area and pick them up when they’re desperate. Emphasize a “grass is greener” campaign. Identify a location that competes with your own, and geofence it. Employees of that area who may be disengaged, bored, or disappointed with their position, see your advertising, allowing you to attract them at a time when they’re at their most receptive. The state of Montana did this with their skiing tourism. They geofenced ski slopes in the Midwest, to reach skiers when they’re actively disappointed by their current experience. Advertising a better experience in their own resorts, they spent $25,000 and ended up with nearly $7 million in revenue . While recruitment isn’t quite the same value proposition , the principle is the same: reach people when they’re disappointed and give them a glimpse of greener grass (or better ski slopes) on the other side of the fence. Johns Hopkins did something similar to recruit neonatal nurses. They geofenced hospital systems that handled pediatrics and used targeted advertising to promote their own workplace for neonatal nurses. This took them from less than a single application per week to 3-4 per week from qualified nurses . Geofencing Tools and Services If you’re looking for tools and services to help you with your geofencing campaign, there are a few options available. Here are some of the most popular: LocalVox: LocalVox is a geofencing tool that helps businesses target potential customers in a specific area. It provides detailed analytics and insights, so you can understand how your campaigns are performing. GeoFli : GeoFli is a geofencing tool that helps businesses target potential customers in a specific area. It provides detailed analytics and insights, so you can understand how your campaigns are performing. xAd: xAd is a geofencing tool that helps businesses target potential customers in a specific area. It provides detailed analytics and insights, so you can understand how your campaigns are performing. PlaceIQ : PlaceIQ is a geofencing tool that helps businesses target potential customers in a specific area. It provides detailed analytics and insights, so you can understand how your campaigns are performing. Wrapping Up Geographically-based advertising is extremely useful for timely, targeted, and specific audience selection. While there is a wide range of possible uses, they can all help filter the applications you receive to allow you to reach highly qualified passive and active candidates in a given area. Make use of both geotargeting and geofencing in both local spaces and locations further afield. Has your company had a positive experience with using geotargeting or geofencing? Have you used either in a novel way and successfully recruited high-quality candidates?  Ready to revolutionize your recruiting strategy with cutting-edge location-based technology? Tap into the power of geofencing and geotargeting now – Contact us today to learn how our team can help you.