Search Results

High turnover rates and the difficulty of finding qualified candidates are significant challenges for many businesses today. These issues not only disrupt operations but also increase costs and impact overall productivity. In this blog, we’ll explore these common recruitment challenges in detail and provide actionable solutions to help you build a more stable and qualified workforce. Understanding High Turnover Rates High turnover rates refer to the frequency at which employees leave an organization and need to be replaced. This can be a costly problem, both in terms of time and resources. Let’s break down some of the main causes and their impacts. Causes of High Turnover Poor Job Fit: When employees’ skills and interests do not align with their roles, they are more likely to leave. This mismatch often results from inadequate job descriptions and ineffective recruitment processes that fail to match candidates’ capabilities and aspirations with the job requirements. Lack of Career Advancement: Employees seek growth opportunities. Without clear paths for advancement, they may look elsewhere. Organizations that do not invest in their employees' development or provide clear career progression paths often see higher turnover rates. Inadequate Compensation and Benefits: Competitive pay and benefits are crucial for retaining talent. If employees feel underpaid or undervalued, they are more likely to explore other opportunities that offer better financial rewards and benefits. Unhealthy Work Environment: A negative company culture or poor management practices can drive employees away. Toxic work environments, lack of recognition, and insufficient support from management can significantly contribute to high turnover rates. Impact of High Turnover High turnover rates can lead to: Increased Recruitment and Training Costs: Hiring and training new employees repeatedly can be costly and time-consuming. Loss of Institutional Knowledge: When experienced employees leave, they take valuable knowledge and expertise with them. Lower Employee Morale: Constant turnover can create instability and negatively affect the morale of remaining employees. Reduced Productivity: Frequent turnover disrupts workflows and can lead to decreased overall productivity. Strategies to Reduce High Turnover Rates Addressing high turnover requires a strategic approach. Here are some effective strategies: Improving Job Fit Thorough Job Analysis: Ensure job descriptions accurately reflect the role and required skills. This helps in attracting the right candidates who are well-suited for the position. Robust Screening Processes: Implement comprehensive interviews and assessments to match candidates with the right roles. Utilizing behavioral and skills assessments can help in identifying the best fit for your organization. Career Development Career Progression Paths: Offer clear and achievable advancement opportunities. Employees should have a roadmap for their career growth within the company. Professional Development: Invest in training and development programs to help employees grow. Continuous learning opportunities keep employees engaged and equipped with the latest skills. Competitive Compensation Regular Salary Reviews: Stay competitive by regularly reviewing and adjusting salaries. Conduct market salary surveys to ensure your compensation packages are attractive. Comprehensive Benefits: Offer attractive benefits packages, including health insurance, retirement plans, and bonuses. Consider additional perks like flexible working hours and remote work options. Enhancing Work Environment Positive Company Culture: Foster an environment of open communication, recognition, and support. Regular team-building activities and recognition programs can boost morale. Work-Life Balance: Implement programs that support employee well-being and balance. Encourage employees to take breaks and provide resources for mental health support. Finding Qualified Candidates In addition to reducing turnover, finding the right candidates is crucial for any business. Here are some challenges and solutions. Challenges in Finding Qualified Candidates Skills Gap: The mismatch between available skills and job requirements. Rapid technological advancements and changing industry needs can exacerbate this gap. Ineffective Recruitment Strategies: Traditional methods may not reach the best candidates. Over-reliance on outdated recruitment channels can limit your talent pool. Limited Reach: Not utilizing all available platforms to find talent. Focusing only on local candidates or limited job boards can restrict your access to a diverse and qualified pool of candidates. Solutions Leverage Technology: Use AI and recruitment software to streamline the hiring process and identify the best candidates quickly. Tools like applicant tracking systems (ATS) and AI-driven screening can significantly enhance efficiency. Expand Sourcing Channels: Utilize job boards, social media, and industry events to reach a wider talent pool. Participating in job fairs and industry conferences can help in attracting top talent. Employer Branding: Strengthen your brand to attract top talent by showcasing your company culture and values. Use your website and social media to highlight what makes your company a great place to work. Employee Referrals: Implement a referral program to encourage current employees to refer qualified candidates. Referral programs can be highly effective as current employees often understand the company culture and job requirements well. Partnering with Emerge Talent Cloud At Emerge Talent Cloud, we understand the complexities of recruitment and offer solutions to help you overcome these challenges. Our Solutions Expertise: Our team has the knowledge and experience to help you find the right candidates and reduce turnover. We use best practices and innovative strategies to ensure successful hires. Technology: We use the latest recruitment technologies to ensure efficient and effective hiring processes. Our tools help in identifying and attracting the best talent quickly. Proven Strategies: Our methods have been tested and proven to work, as evidenced by our satisfied clients. We tailor our strategies to meet the unique needs of each client. Success Stories One of our clients, a mid-sized tech company, faced high turnover rates and difficulty finding qualified software engineers. By partnering with us, they were able to: Implement Better Screening Processes: We helped them refine their screening processes to better match candidates with job requirements. Offer Competitive Compensation Packages: We assisted them in restructuring their compensation packages to be more competitive. Improve Their Work Environment: We provided guidance on fostering a positive company culture and improving employee engagement. As a result, their turnover rate dropped by 20%, and they filled critical roles with highly qualified candidates. Conclusion High turnover rates and the challenge of finding qualified candidates can significantly impact your business. However, with the right strategies and support from a trusted partner like Emerge Talent Cloud, you can build a strong, stable, and qualified workforce. If you’re ready to overcome your recruitment challenges, let us help you build a team that drives growth and success. Contact us today to learn more about how we can support your recruitment needs.

Quality hires are essential for driving success and achieving long-term growth in today’s competitive business environment. However, many companies face challenges in maintaining high hiring standards, which can lead to increased turnover, decreased productivity, and a negative impact on company culture. At Emerge Talent Cloud, we understand the importance of quality hires and are committed to helping businesses overcome these challenges. In this blog, we’ll explore how we ensure high standards in recruitment and share insights into our proven strategies. Understanding the Importance of Quality Hires Quality hires are employees who not only possess the necessary skills and qualifications but also fit well with the company culture and contribute positively to the team. Here are some key benefits of quality hires: Increased Productivity:  Quality hires are more likely to perform well, leading to higher productivity and better business outcomes. Enhanced Team Performance:  A good fit with the team can enhance overall team performance and collaboration. Reduced Turnover: Employees who are well-matched to their roles and the company culture are less likely to leave, reducing turnover rates. Positive Impact on Company Culture:  Quality hires contribute to a positive and cohesive company culture, which can improve employee morale and satisfaction. Challenges in Achieving Quality Hires Despite the clear benefits, achieving quality hires can be challenging. Here are some common hurdles businesses face: Limited Talent Pool:  Finding candidates with the right skills and experience can be difficult, especially in competitive industries. Ineffective Recruitment Processes:  Traditional recruitment methods may not be effective in identifying the best candidates. Inadequate Screening Methods:  Poor screening processes can lead to hiring candidates who are not a good fit for the role or company. Poor Job Descriptions:  Vague or inaccurate job descriptions can attract the wrong candidates and deter qualified ones. Our Approach to Ensuring Quality Hires At Emerge Talent Cloud, we have developed a comprehensive approach to ensure high standards in recruitment. Here’s how we do it: Comprehensive Job Analysis We start with a detailed job analysis to create accurate and compelling job descriptions. This involves a clear understanding of the required skills, qualifications, and responsibilities for each role. By defining the role precisely, we can attract candidates who are genuinely qualified and interested. Advanced Screening Processes Our advanced screening processes leverage the latest AI and technology to streamline the initial screening of candidates. We use behavioral and skills assessments to evaluate candidates objectively and ensure they meet the necessary criteria. In-depth Interviews Our structured interviews use standardized questions and behavioral interviewing techniques to assess candidates thoroughly. This helps us understand how candidates have handled situations in the past and predict their future performance. Cultural Fit Assessments Ensuring a good cultural fit is crucial for long-term employee satisfaction and retention. We evaluate candidates’ alignment with our client’s values and culture to ensure they will thrive in the work environment. This includes assessing their attitudes, work style, and compatibility with the team. Case Studies and Success Stories Example 1: Tech Company One of our clients, a mid-sized tech company, struggled with high turnover rates and poor hiring quality. After partnering with Emerge Talent Cloud, we implemented our comprehensive job analysis and advanced screening processes. As a result, the company saw a 25% reduction in turnover rates and a significant improvement in employee performance and satisfaction. Example 2: Retail Business Another client, a growing retail business, faced challenges in finding qualified candidates for key positions. By utilizing our in-depth interviews and cultural fit assessments, they were able to hire candidates who not only had the right skills but also fit well with the company culture. This led to enhanced team performance and a more cohesive work environment. Partnering with Emerge Talent Cloud At Emerge Talent Cloud, we are dedicated to helping businesses achieve their recruitment goals by ensuring quality hires. Our recruitment solutions are tailored to meet the unique needs of each client, and we are committed to maintaining high standards in every aspect of our process. Client Testimonials “Working with Emerge Talent Cloud has transformed our recruitment process. Their thorough screening and assessment methods have helped us build a strong and talented team.”   – HR Manager, Tech Company “Emerge Talent Cloud’s focus on cultural fit has made a significant difference in our hiring outcomes. Our new hires are not only skilled but also a great fit for our company.”   – CEO, Retail Business Conclusion Quality hires are essential for business success and achieving them requires a strategic and thorough approach. At Emerge Talent Cloud, we have the expertise, technology, and proven strategies to help you maintain high hiring standards. If you’re ready to enhance your recruitment process and build a team that drives growth and success, contact us today. For more information, visit our website or get in touch with us at info@emergetalentcloud.com .

There’s a dichotomy in business. On the one hand, you have monolithic corporations that seem highly resistant to change. They stand firm, resist the influence of changing market pressures and trends, and take a very long view; they know the demand for their product will swing back around, and while they may suffer through lean times, they never entirely collapse and will always be there when the winds change. On the other hand, you have smaller, leaner, more agile businesses. Like minnows feeding around sharks, these businesses must adapt to swiftly-changing circumstances, or die. They don’t have the resources to resist change; they need to capitalize on those changes if they want to succeed. Change is inevitable in the economy, business, and society. Some changes are cyclical, while others are linear, but there will always be change. How your business handles change – and whether or not you change with it – is an important decision to make as a business owner. Often, it can be difficult to see change from inside an organization. When you don’t personally have experience with the coming changes (and few people do), you don’t know how to adapt to them or how your business will react to the changes as they are implemented. That’s where change management consulting comes in. What is change management, what do change management consultants do, and do you need one? Read on to learn more. What is Change Management? Significant changes to a business that affect processes, both external and internal, have a chance to fail. It may be something as simple as investing in a new technology that doesn’t catch on or as complex as changing management style, leadership goals, or social mores within the organization. Any business that wants to implement change should also want to minimize the chances of that change failing. Change management is the system wherein businesses do their due diligence to reduce the chances of that happening. “Change management is defined as the methods and manners in which a company describes and implements change within both its internal and external processes. This includes preparing and supporting employees, establishing the necessary steps for change, and monitoring pre- and post-change activities to ensure successful implementation.” – ASQ . Change management is a detailed, structured process for implementing and reviewing significant changes to a business. It involves: Analyzing the current state of the business. Defining the change that needs to be made. Determining who the change will impact. Picking the people who need to buy-in and sponsor the change. Engaging with stakeholders and the people affected by the change. Developing a plan to implement the change. Building, promoting, and deploying a vision to encourage the change. Implementing the change itself. Monitoring the human factor throughout the transition. Adapting processes to the pressures of the human element. Modifying, looping, and iterating on the change to reach the desired new state. Cementing the new state as a new normal. Depending on the size and scale of your business, you may want to handle this internally. However, many businesses do not have the perspective or resources necessary to envision these changes properly. That’s where change management consulting comes into play. What is Change Management Consulting? As you might expect, change management consulting is the process of outsourcing your change management to a third party. “When companies want to implement significant changes to the operation of their business, they must take steps to ensure the process is productive. Change management consultants can assist companies through this process to ensure that they transition in an effective and efficient manner. The practice of change management consulting relies on several key components that all serve to accomplish this goal. Some of the most important components include outlining a vision, involving senior leadership, developing a change management plan, engaging stakeholders, creating supportive infrastructures, and properly measuring progress.” – Norwich University . By bringing in an external resource, your company can better ensure a proper scope of vision, with experience in the potential repercussions of meaningful change. The end goal is always positive, whether it’s improving the company culture and your diversity and inclusivity , adopting new technology or business processes to improve efficiency or increase profits, or a restructuring brought on by a change in leadership. Change management consultants have the usual benefits inherent in consulting and outsourcing for any business process. That is, they can bring experience in making the exact kinds of changes you’re proposing. They know the common pitfalls, areas of resistance, and details that need to be addressed. They also know how to navigate the challenges that arise as part of a transition and can preemptively solve problems they know are coming. Every business is different, of course, and the way one business adapts to change will be different from how others adapt to the same change. However, human nature is human nature; much of the resistance and pushback will be similar across different situations. For any significant business change to be successful, it needs buy-in from the top to push a vision of a new, better workplace. It also requires buy-in from ground-level workers who will be tangibly affected by the change and who must be convinced that the change will benefit them. The changes must be beneficial from the start, as well, and not be a change for the sake of change. What, Specifically, Does a Change Management Consultant Do? Change management consultants come in from an external service, either individually or as a team, and work to properly and smoothly implement changes to a business. To an extent, their duties vary depending on the change’s scale, scope, and focus. For example, changing an internal customer service process, changing a core business process, changing management structure, and changing something customer-facing will have different considerations and repercussions. A big part of the duties of a change management consultant is understanding the scope and impact of changes. Some change management consultants use an established framework to analyze whatever change your business wants to implement. Others have specific changes they specialize in and implement them in a customized way for each business. The duties of a change management consultant include: Analyzing an organization to determine its readiness to implement a change, identify roadblocks in the way of that change, and options for overcoming those roadblocks. Developing communications strategies and messaging to reach the people affected by the change (be it management, specific departments, lower-level workers, customers, or other groups) and convince them of the value of the change. Buy-in is critical for any change to be successful in the longer term. Use change adoption tools to speed up and facilitate the implementation of the changes the business wishes to implement. Monitor and receive feedback, adjust priorities and messaging, alter the change, and repeat in a feedback loop until the change is implemented and settled. Any change of sufficient scope to need a change management consultant will need buy-in from senior leadership and the ground-level workers most affected by the change. One side or the other is often not enough; a change from workers without leadership buy-in is doomed to fail, and a change pushed by leadership that workers don’t adopt will fail to propagate. Thus, change management is about earning buy-in on both sides of the coin. What Are the Stages of Change Management? While there are several different models for change management, one of the most popular is a three-stage approach developed by Kurt Lewin in the early 1900s. The three stages of this model are:  Unfreezing the organization. This is the preparatory stage. In it, much of the time and energy spent by change management consultants goes into messaging, convincing stakeholders and leadership of the necessity of the change, the negative repercussions of not changing and the benefits of the change, and earning buy-in. Many organizations are calcified in the upper echelons of leadership. Leaders often like the way things work, as demonstrable success, and are hesitant to take risks that could damage the business. Thus, part of change management involves convincing these stakeholders that the risk isn’t as significant as they fear, the rewards are tangible, and the process of implementing the change is well-trodden ground.  Implementing the change. Change means uncertainty. Change management consultants work to implement any major change in phases, introducing elements of the change in a sensible and beneficial way. Each part of the change needs time, support, and avenues for feedback and optimization. If a change is detrimental, particularly due to unforeseen influences, an agile response from change management helps mitigate the issues before they become problems that lead to turnover, pushback, or business failure. The implementation phase is often the longest phase of the change management process. However, it can be accelerated if the change has an established framework, is demanded by people throughout the organization, and has demonstrable benefits to everyone involved. The less well-trodden the change, the longer it will take, and the more rounds of feedback will be necessary.  Freezing the organization. The third and final phase of change implementation is cementing the change in the organization. This phase involves monitoring and reinforcement while also resisting further unnecessary changes. The goal is to reintroduce stability to the organization, so there’s less chance of an unfocused dissolution or a regression to pre-change processes. Once the business has returned to stability in its new form, it can push for growth and other traditional business objectives using its new framework. Does Your Business Need a Change Management Consultant? Change is inevitable. Nearly every business can benefit from implementing changes to its culture, business processes, or messaging. A change management consultant is an external, third-party way to verify and implement changes in a positive way. Many companies, particularly SMBs, will find it challenging to identify the changes they need to make. Limited experience, limited scope of vision, and novelty in industry can all make it difficult to identify necessary changes. Additionally, many SMBs take an agile approach to business and may not know when to dial back and solidify particular changes as part of the core business model. Excessive change leads to a lack of stability and increased rates of burnout. When there’s no consistency, employees spend more time adjusting to change than they do working. Change management consultants can help guide a business to a stable state. That said, your business likely does not need to keep a change management consultant on staff and should not make changes simply for the sake of change. Changes must be deliberate, with specific goals and adaptations in mind. If you have identified specific changes that need to be made, or if your business is in a desperate situation and losing money, hiring a change management consultant to bring it back on track and implement those changes can be an excellent idea. On the other hand, hiring a change management consultant when you have no specific changes in mind and your business is working fine may not be beneficial. It’s still possible that changes can be valuable, but diving headlong into them without due diligence can cause more problems than they solve. Bear in mind, as well, that not all change management is created equal. Individual consultants and small firms may not have the same experience, processes, or resources that a larger firm like McKinsey, Booz Allen, Deloitte, or Accenture can offer. Luckily, the first step to any change management consulting is an analysis by the consulting firm to determine if a change is necessary and if it can bring value to the business. A consultation with such a firm helps you determine whether or not you can benefit significantly from a specific, tangible change. You can then do further research to determine the stakes. From there, the choice is yours. Do you have any questions about change management consultants, or are you wondering if your business could potentially benefit from one? If so, please feel free to leave a comment down below, and we’ll get a conversation started! We’d be more than happy to answer any of your questions and assist you however possible!

You’ve probably heard of major companies like Amazon, IBM, and Disney hosting virtual job fairs, but did you know most companies aren’t using some exclusive software that only works for major multinational corporations? Most business owners that are willing to hire people outside of their immediate area can take advantage of a virtual job fair. The current global conditions have pushed companies to consider remote and virtual alternatives to traditional in-person activities. You’re here to research virtual job fairs, potential solutions, and ideas to promote them, so let’s get into it! What Is a Virtual Job Fair? If you’ve never experienced a virtual job fair before, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking they’re just a fancy name for a careers portal or maybe an event that is centered around recruiting. This impression is close to the mark, but not quite accurate. When you think of a job fair, what comes to mind? Is it: An event hall or exhibition space filled with people? Rows of booths and tables, each hosted by a company looking to find qualified candidates? Panels and presentations meant to wow, encourage, and entice candidates? A job fair is similar in many ways to a trade show or convention. In some situations, more than one company may attend to set up their own spaces, with everything from flyers to multimedia presentations, vying for the attention of candidates who attend the fair. They can be regional, have a focus on a specific industry, or even be comprised of sponsors of the event. They have more in common with a festival than with a careers page. So what if you were to take this virtual? Imagine an event space with digital booths, 3D renderings of HR team members, and embedded multimedia right on the page. Imagine a virtual event hall with booths that don’t have to worry about size, weight, or space constraints, that aren’t concerned with technology to power embedded multimedia, and that can host information both interactively and attractively. Moreover, a virtual job fair can combine the best of both worlds. You get your digital event space, but that’s not all; you can mix in live webinars, one on one communication with recruiters, and immediate conversations with candidates. The information they add to their virtual presence can be linked directly to your applicant tracking system, with no need to refer them to another career page or handle paper transcription. Since it’s all virtual, the event doesn’t have time constraints. You don’t have to worry about an event venue’s schedule, the cost of lodging for your recruiters, or transportation of your booth setup. The benefits have been touched on, but let’s make it explicit: You don’t have to worry about the costs of transportation or lodging. In fact, the overall cost of a virtual career fair is much lower than a physical fair . You don’t have to worry about setting up technology at the fair. You can reach passive and distant candidates who wouldn’t attend an in-person fair. You don’t risk the privacy of candidates who wouldn’t want to be seen at a fair. You don’t have to worry about the constraints of physical space or physics. There’s no attendance cap or capacity maximum for a virtual fair. You can still take advantage of direct and in-person conversations with candidates via technology. Not to mention that, as long as the pandemic is a threat, physical job fairs will be shut down. A virtual job fair can be an excellent option for just about any business willing to hire outside of their local area, whether it’s for remote work or to pick up a candidate willing to relocate. They’re a great tool for pre-screening and qualifying applicants at the top of the recruitment funnel and for engaging more interested candidates in deeper networking and even one on one contact. If you’re interested in hosting a virtual job fair, you’re in luck. There are over a dozen different platforms available to choose from to host a booth, and the process is quite easy. Step 1: Identify Must-Have Features The first step to any good virtual system is identifying your needs. Virtual job fairs are no different; there are dozens of companies that provide the service, with a wide range of features on offer between them. You can take a look between these different companies – listed in the next step – to get an idea of what features are on offer. What should you consider? Do you want a simple web page with interactive chats and webinars, or a fully virtual environment with elaborate design? How much branding control do you get over your booth? Where is it displayed? Secure chat. Being able to chat directly with candidates is a huge benefit, and you want to make sure any chat provided to you is secure. Virtual swag bags. One of the more attractive reasons to attend a job fair, as a candidate, is the wealth of freebies companies give out. Keep this trend alive with a virtual briefcase of assets and goodies. Unstaffed compatibility. Your HR team won’t be staffing your virtual booth 24/7, so you want to see what it will look like when no one is there. A good platform should comply with WCAG standards for accessibility. Links or exports. How can you capture and import data you get from candidates and add it to your ATS? You should consider these and other must-have features for your desired virtual job fair. Then, when you’re investigating different platforms, check to see if they offer the features you want. Step 2: Choose a Platform There are a lot of different platforms out there. We don’t have specific recommendations for any given platform, because every company has different desires, so different platforms will work better for different companies. Here are ten options you can explore, but be aware that others are out there as well. Brazen , a virtual event space with a focus on career fairs. CareerEco , a virtual fair platform for businesses and grad school programs. vFairs , a platform for virtual events ranging from job fairs to product launches and more. 6Connex , a virtual fair provider with multiple styles and levels of presentation. Premier Virtual , a virtual fair platform with additional features for military and university customers. EventXtra , an event management platform with virtual event support. Paradox , an AI-driven virtual hiring event platform and software suite. XOR, a simple virtual job platform. BrandLive , a virtual event platform with a video focus. Easy Virtual Fair , a robust virtual fair platform with exposure in 35+ countries. While the basic offering of a virtual job fair presentation is the same, each of these platforms offers a different set of features and emphasizes different aspects of the job fair. With so many to choose from, there’s bound to be one right for your brand. Step 3: Choose a Style of Career Fair There are three main styles of job fairs you can choose from. The first is the full virtual job fair. These have virtual environments with virtual booths, interactive exhibits, connections to team members, and other digital benefits. They’re robust, full-featured, and are the most common at the moment. The second is the hybrid career fair. These are temporarily closed due to the pandemic, but when they return, they’ll likely be quite popular. They’re essentially a virtual accompaniment to a physical fair, linking the two with extra online content and even augmented reality features. The third is the evergreen job fair. Evergreen fairs are like career portal websites in job fair form. They exist in a passive form for weeks or months, or as long as you want to host them, with special scheduling for fully-staffed and more robust events. Again, there’s no right or wrong answer here; you can pick whichever form of fair suits your needs and your business. Step 4: Develop Custom Creative Every good virtual job fair platform will give you a template, or a choice of templates, you can customize to create your company’s booth. It’s up to you to do that customization. (Example digital creative to promote job fair on social media)Here’s a checklist of the kinds of information and assets you’ll need: Company logos and graphics. List of current open positions. Locations map for the company offices or franchises. Recent company PR and news information. Corporate-level and department-level videos. Downloadable packages of information on the company. Any specialized assets required by the platform. While the list may seem small, each of those can involve many documents put together by different teams. Essentially, anything that a candidate might want to know about your company should either be on display or available upon request. Step 5: Prepare Synchronized Information for Recruiters 6Connex has this to say : “Your virtual job fair will be considered a success if job candidates find a knowledgeable recruiter or hiring manager available to get their questions answered immediately during fair hours.” At any decently-sized fair, you’ll need more than one or two people staffing your virtual booth, to answer questions and talk to candidates about their concerns. People in your organization have different experiences, knowledge, and training in this kind of candidate interaction. In order to best capture candidates, it can be worthwhile to create a fact sheet, answers sheet, or an FAQ reference for your staff. This document should compile the frequently asked questions your candidates want to be answered, and provide the company answer to each. Sure, some of your staff might not need it, but most will, so having a consistent message becomes extremely valuable. Step 6: Identify Key Metrics to Monitor While you’re setting up your event, you need to determine what the overarching goals are for your job fair, and what metrics you need to monitor to determine if the event was a success. Do you want to promote your employer brand? You might want to monitor webinar attendance, successful chat sessions, or swag bag downloads. Do you have specific vacancies you want to fill? You might monitor applications for that position, leads generated, or interviews scheduled. Do you want to establish a broad candidate pool? You may want to monitor resumes collected, applications received, or chat sessions. The data you’re able to collect will depend in part on the platform you use and what analytics they offer. Step 7: Establish Communications Channels for Attendees How will you connect with your candidates during and after the event? You have a lot of different options. To begin, you have all of the same communications channels you have for candidates who apply through normal means, such as phone, email, and web chats. During the event, you also have one on one web chats and open chats in webinar formats. You can set up drip channels, record and replay webinar videos, release keynote workshops on demand, and even keep your event booth open in reduced or passive capacity to collect people who are late to the scene. Step 8: Promote Your Fair A virtual job fair, despite being digital, is still an event. It should be treated as such, with all of the promotion you would give any other event. In a way, you’re at a disadvantage here; unlike large physical events, you don’t have physical signage or a venue’s promotion to help you. You have to handle the promotion yourself. (Example poster promoting a digital job fair)Aggressively promote your upcoming event on your website, on your blog, through paid ads, on social media, through email newsletters, and through any other channels that you have available. You might even consider developing and releasing a press release. Step 9: Launch and Run Your Career Fair Check and double-check that all of your assets are available, your communications channels are active, and your representatives can access the job fair site. When the day of the fair arrives, launch early and test for any last-minute problems. Make sure to utilize any platform tools available to you to screen and reach out to attendees who haven’t specifically come to visit your brand. Be prompt and timely with communications. At this point, much of the experience is similar to a physical job fair, simply provided via webcam rather than in-person interaction. Step 10: Follow Up with Promising Candidates Don’t forget; that the end of the event is not the end of the interaction. Follow up with your candidates to keep them active and engaged, draw them further into the hiring process, and capture new leads. Identify people who registered but did not attend, and reach out to see if they’re still interested. Find attendees who didn’t apply, and reach out to ask if they have concerns you can address. Filter applications to identify the best candidates and invite them to progress to the next stage of the interview process. You have a wealth of information and communication available to you, so make use of it to ensure that your virtual event is a success .

It takes a lot of effort and dedication to become one of the best places to work, and there’s no magic bullet to make it happen. There are various avenues to take to get there, and the best companies make candidate experience a priority in their recruiting and retention practices. How you treat candidates matters because what they experience when they apply, interview, and onboard with your company makes an impression. If you don’t recruit with candidate experience as a priority, you can resign yourself to miss out on the best candidates. That’s because they’ll be lured away by the competition that is paying attention to communicating with candidates, making it easy for them to apply for their jobs, and offering opportunities to interact with people in their company. Take a look at what the competition is doing right now to draw off the best and brightest from the candidate pool that you all recruit from. Zappos! Zappos!  goes after the candidates long before the interview with their interactive Inside Zappos career page and candidate newsletter Zappos Insider . Their career page doesn’t list boring open position descriptions. It offers vignettes of real employees talking about their work in various departments. They highlight and demonstrate their company culture and employer brand. They expand on that with their candidate newsletter Zappos Insider where candidates can stay tuned in to what’s going on at the company and stay in touch with recruiters and employees. What does your career page look like? Do you have a candidate newsletter? Automatic Data Processing ADP has been a Candidate Experience Awards winner for several years running, in large part for its highly engaging careers page. Candidates can browse employee stories, watch videos about any aspect of ADP’s business, find out about recruiting events and how to apply if they have disabilities and need assistance, explore career areas with the company, and easily plug into ADP’s social networks which include the ADP Talent Network, Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, and Pinterest. Their application process is easy, fun, and interactive, and provides ways for candidates to easily find out about opportunities that interest them. Are you this plugged into the candidates that you need? W.L. Gore & Associates When job seekers land on W.L. Gore & Associate’s career page, they are invited to give feedback about their experience exploring opportunities with the company. They are then provided with tips about applying to Gore, explaining that the company likes to see tailored resumes, they phone interviews at the beginning of their recruiting process, and they interview candidates with interview teams. Candidates on the career page can browse stories about employees and how they work at the company, easily find answers to questions about the application process on the FAQs page, and find out about company culture and benefits as well as the latest news about the company. Do you help candidates understand your application and interview process on your career page? The Bozzuto Group The Bozzuto Group’s career page gives candidates a complete overview of their hiring process with interview tips, what kind of development opportunities they provide, benefits and internships, highlights of veterans and military employees, and employee testimony videos. Bozzuto is recognized as a military family employer and for being one of the best places to work in Greater Washington, and Kristen Reese, Bozzuto’s VP of Talent Management, says the company’s candidate experience is a metric for recruitment success and an area in which they seek continuous improvement to attract top talent. Is your company recognized as supportive of military families and veterans? Are you focused on continuously improving the candidate experience? Candidate experience is not just the latest buzz in recruiting. It’s a competitive advantage that companies develop to attract and retain the top talent they need to build their businesses and lead their industries. You need to pay attention to developing an outstanding candidate experience if you need the top - level candidate engagement that the competition goes after.

Recruiting today means keeping up with technology, tapping into a sea of passive candidates, building a talent network, developing a great candidate experience, promoting your company culture, and marketing your open positions. No employer or recruiter can afford to sit on the sidelines of social media and mobile technology. Old school just doesn’t cut it when you need a competitive advantage in recruiting. Everyone recruiting today needs top skills and resources to build the type of qualified, talented workforce required for business success. Emerge Talent Cloud discusses this in “ Top Recruiting Resources to Sharpen Your Skills ” and “ Best Resources for Recruiter Training in 2014 ”. Aside from continuous improvement to keep up with the latest recruiting technology and techniques, there are many sources of good information about the current state of recruiting to apply to your recruiting process. Here’s a sampling of a few of the most interesting facts about recruiting in 2014. 56% of all companies surveyed said they had a candidate reject their job. Career Builder’s Applicant Experience Study revealed that even in an unpredictable economy, candidates who have a bad experience when applying for a job will drop that employer or reject their job offer. Career Builder’s survey participants said they’d tell friends and family about their bad experience with a company’s recruiting process, discuss it in social media, and not buy the company’s products or services. How you treat candidates when they consider pursuing their career with your company can affect your reputation and your bottom line. Only 35% of applicants are actually qualified for the jobs they apply to. Th ese interesting facts come from research by CEB. With reports by the Wall Street Journal that companies like Starbucks get millions of applicants for their 65,000 openings, employers and recruiters have a huge job screening applicants before they ever get to the interviewing and hiring phase. That means that finding ways to clarify the openings and requirements so more of the right candidates are applying is very important to recruiting success and return on investment. Thousands of resumes are posted each month on Monster in each job market. Employers and recruiters have access to hundreds, even thousands of resumes for their openings. What was the response to your last job posting? How did you handle it? Screening resumes can quickly overwhelm even the most efficient recruiting staff, so the more concise your postings and more compelling your company’s career web page and social media messages, the easier it will be to fine-tune your recruiting campaigns. 18,400,000 applicants found their jobs on Facebook. One of the surprising results of Jobvite’s 7th Annual Social Recruiting Survey was how many people are finding a job through social media. More than 18 million applicants found their job on Facebook. LinkedIn is not the only place candidates are putting their professional profiles anymore. People are watching companies they’re interested in working for on social media including Facebook to find out when openings are posted, see the company culture, and interact with hiring managers and recruiters. There are five generations in the workforce today. Employers and managers are working with five generations in their employee populations today. Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, Millenials, and Gen 2020 are all in the workforce today, working together, building your company, and dealing with your customers. The workforce is more diverse than ever and requires a different approach to recruiting. Young managers have older workers reporting to them. Boomers and Millenials and Traditionalists all think differently about work and what they want out of it, and employers have to pay attention to generational differences when attracting and retaining employees, offering benefits, and communicating with candidates and employees. You need to consider these facts about recruiting when you’re planning your recruiting strategy for the coming year. You can’t afford to if you want to build the qualified workforce you need for a competitive advantage. #recruitingfacts #recruitingtrends

In 2020, many of the biggest companies in the U.S. announced initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion. There are many different strategies that organizations can use to increase diversity in the workplace, one of which is implementing blind recruitment in the hiring process. The idea behind blind recruitment is that hiring teams, even if they are unaware of it, might hold unconscious biases that could impact which candidates they choose to move forward to the next round of the hiring process. By anonymizing candidates’ resumes and applications, recruiters can focus solely on the skills and experience of those who have applied for a position. So how exactly does anonymous hiring work? What are the benefits and the drawbacks of this method? Let’s take a look at everything you need to know about blind recruitment. What Is Blind Recruitment? Blind recruitment is a recruitment method you can use to remove any identification details from the applications and resumes of candidates. This process allows your hiring team to evaluate potential candidates solely based on their experience and skills. The point of blind recruitment is to avoid an outcome where other factors are taken into account that can lead to biased decisions. With blind recruitment, many common identification details are often left out to avoid unfair hiring practices. These include: Gender: By leaving out the gender of a candidate, blind recruitment ensures that hiring teams aren’t choosing a candidate based on factors such as a preference for working with people of their own gender or other matters of personal bias. Ethnic background: Ethnicity isn’t usually shared on an application or resume, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t clues that can be used to determine a candidate’s identity. Things like a LinkedIn profile picture, for example, could potentially lead hiring teams to make a biased decision. Names: Some studies have found it’s easier to get hired if you have an easy-to-pronounce, common name. For this reason, blind recruitment can remove the names of candidates. In some instances, a name might also point toward the candidate’s ethnic background or gender as well. Age: You can’t entirely avoid getting a sense of how old a candidate is because their years of experience will point towards how long their career has been. However, removing information like the year someone graduated from college or the precise years they worked for a specific corporation can avoid biased decisions based on age. Education: In some blind recruitment processes, the particular colleges and universities that an individual attended are also blacked out on their resume and application. The idea here is that avoiding knowing the specific educational details of a candidate can ensure that biased decisions aren’t being made based on the way a school’s academic reputation can lead to speculation regarding their work ethic, intelligence, or abilities. Personal interests: Sometimes, candidates will include information about their interests or hobbies on their resume to give hiring teams a better sense of who they are. However, this can interfere with the ability to make a decision purely based on skills and experience. Hiring teams might identify with candidates with similar interests or equate certain hobbies with intelligence. What Is Unconscious Bias? Unconscious bias, also known as implicit stereotyping or implicit bias, is a concept in social identity theory that has been increasingly incorporated into workplaces worldwide. The idea is that individuals can hold stereotypes in their minds that impact the way they see other people, even if they don’t consciously realize that this is the case. An individual’s learned associations and experience can influence their expectation or opinion of particular qualities and social categories. This concept was first defined in 1995 by psychologists Anthony Greenwald and Mahzarin Banaji. The desire to eliminate unconscious bias in the hiring process is one of the primary reasons organizations choose to implement blind recruitment. The notion is that, by removing any of the qualities or identifying factors that could unconsciously impact how a member of a hiring team sees an individual, they are free to make decisions exclusively based on merit. When your organization is hiring to fill an essential role, it’s easy to focus mainly on your company’s needs. However, an equally crucial part of the process is the candidate experience. You can learn more about some of the best strategies to create a positive candidate experience in this article . What Does a Blind Resume Look Like? Also referred to as anonymous resumes or redacted resumes, blind resumes can look quite different based on the standard practices of your blind recruitment process. In addition, the method through which recruiters transform resumes into blind resumes can also vary. In the most simple form of blind recruitment, recruiters might use image-editing software or pen and paper to manually redact identifying information from a resume. However, this can be time-consuming and creates the potential for a recruiter to view this information before blacking it out. For this reason, hiring teams are increasingly using software to process resumes and turn them into blind resumes. This type of software goes through each resume and presents all of the candidates’ information in the same standardized format while redacting identifying information. What Are the Pros and Cons of Blind Recruitment? One potential solution to the problem of not meeting your diversity quota in the workplace is to implement blind recruitment. However, it’s worth understanding the drawbacks and the advantages before you decide to start removing all personally identifying information from your hiring process. The Pros of Blind Recruitment One of the significant advantages of blind recruiting is that it can ensure that your hiring process is based solely upon merit and not any other factors.  While you might not expect your hiring team to incorporate unconscious bias into their candidate selection, several studies have found that blind hiring changes which candidates are hired during the application process. For example, several symphony orchestras implemented blind recruiting back in the 1970s in an effort to diversify their orchestra. When they held auditions behind a curtain so that the hiring team couldn’t see the musicians, they found that they hired between 25-45% more women than they had in the past.  While blind recruiting can lengthen the screening process in some respects, it can also help to make the hiring process more efficient in others. For example, there is usually a skill assessment or some other kind of pre-employment testing with blind recruitment. Quite a bit of time can be saved by running these assessments as many organizations rely on algorithms to analyze the results. As you might imagine, this frees up a lot of time for your hiring team to focus their attention elsewhere. However, one question that often comes up regarding this type of assessment is whether it’s legal to give aptitude tests as part of the hiring process. To learn more about the legality of different types of pre-employment testing, check out this article . The Cons of Blind Recruitment There are some disadvantages to blind recruitment that are worth understanding before implementing this hiring process at your organization.  One of the most apparent issues is that you can only hide a candidate’s personal information during the initial stages of the process. The hiring team will eventually meet the candidate either in person or through a video call, introducing personal information into the equation.  While you can end up with a more diverse pool of candidates through blind hiring, you might find that biases still play a role in the outcome once individuals have made it through to the final stages of selection.  It is also impossible to hide all identifying details about candidates completely. For example, a person with decades of experience in your field will, obviously, not be fresh out of college. Similarly, men typically tend to use more technical phrases in resumes and highlight individual skills, while women more commonly discuss working cooperatively with a team and their broader achievements in their careers. Of course, these generalizations will not apply in every instance. However, recruiters can still be impacted by their inkling regarding the personal details of a candidate based on the information that does get through the blind recruitment process.  Another concern about blind recruitment is that it can disrupt your organization in its attempt to reach its diversity goals. Since you won’t know any of the identifying details of the candidates, it’s possible you won’t get the results you were aiming for through blind recruitment.  Anonymous hiring can also extend the application screening process, which can be problematic when you are working to have the most efficient hiring process possible. Finally, another criticism of this recruiting style is that it doesn’t allow for a candidate’s personality to be communicated during the initial stages of the hiring process. In some instances, the style of a candidate’s resume and application offers essential information about whether or not they’d be a good fit for the role. Similarly, blind recruiting won’t allow you to incorporate finding a good fit for your company culture into your hiring process. For some organizations, this might be a problem, while others might think it helps to diversify their team by avoiding the temptation to hire employees that fit within the existing culture. Blind recruitment alone likely won’t be enough to meet your organization’s goals for creating an inclusive and diverse company and culture. Having a more inclusive workplace can lead to happier employees, a better reputation, and an increase in the diversity of thought in your organization. Check out these eight easy ways to create a more inclusive work culture in your organization. How Does Anonymous Hiring Work? So, how exactly does an organization transform its hiring process into one that incorporates blind recruitment? One of the simplest ways to start utilizing this strategy is to select a team member who isn’t initially involved in the hiring to go through all candidates’ applications and anonymize them. You’ll want to create a standard list of information that they will redact from every candidate to ensure that the same type of personally-identifying information is hidden regardless of the candidate. On the other hand, you can create a template that the uninvolved team member can use to transfer information about each candidate onto an identical sheet. This template can have a spot where the candidate’s skills, work experience, degree, and other essential information is included without any of their personal information. If you want to make the process of anonymous hiring as automated as possible, you can utilize many different software tools to have applications anonymized and demographic information removed from resumes. If you choose to implement blind recruitment, you will likely want to educate your staff about why you’re integrating this system and how you think it will benefit the organization. What Steps Should You Take to Implement Blind Recruitment? While you could choose to redact personal information as a part of the hiring process, blind recruitment can be a whole system that you utilize to promote diversity in your company. Some other steps you might want to take include: Writing inclusive job descriptions. Avoiding pre-screening through social media. Setting standards of which demographic and personal information you will redact. Tracking your hiring stats before and after implementing blind recruitment. Considering anonymizing the initial interviews. Every organization is different, and you might find that your company would benefit from a strict blind recruitment process or one that only leaves out the most basic aspects of personally-identifying information. Do you have any questions about blind recruitment or whether or not it would be an effective strategy in your organization? Was there anything mentioned in today’s article that you would like additional clarification on? Or perhaps do you have any questions regarding recruitment, in general? If you answered yes to any of those, please feel free to share a comment below the article, and we’ll get a conversation started! I always respond to every comment and love to have conversations about every aspect of the recruitment process. I’d be more than happy to assist you however I possibly can!

The process of hiring a new employee is harsh and resource-intensive. Many competing interests are vying for the attention of every good candidate. At the same time, your organization must identify high-quality candidates from a sea of less qualified applicants. Thus, your company must establish a process whereby you can filter applicants, identify the most promising candidates, and assess them accurately. Only then can you be assured that you’re hiring the best available candidates for any given role? Your employee selection techniques need to have several qualities:  It needs to be comprehensive. Blind spots in evaluation can lead to sub-par employees, off-target choices, undue expenses, and poor outcomes. It needs to be nuanced. Making a critical business decision based on partial or generalized information leads to poor choices. It needs to be tailored to the positions you’re looking to fill. The selection process for entry-level data entry clerks is very different from a senior-level developer or HR manager. There are many tools and resources available for use in the candidate selection process . You might, for example, hire a cloud recruiter to handle your recruitment. You might use a heavily automated applicant tracking system to do resume filtering. You might invest in varying channels for marketing your job posting. And, of course, your employees can be a resource through referrals and recommendations. Because the employee selection process is so critical to business success, we’ve compiled a list of 13 of the most valuable techniques, with an analysis of their pros and cons—choosing which of these to implement and when is vital. 1: Cognitive Ability Assessment Cognitive assessments test the candidate’s mental acuity and ability to learn. They can include anything from logic tests to pattern recognition and more. They are common after studies have shown that cognitive ability is one of the top influencing factors in job performance. “Knowing a candidate’s cognitive ability is important for jobs at every level in all kinds of industries. It can predict how well a candidate will pick up on the training materials, how they will understand instructions, how efficiently they’ll be able to solve problems throughout the workday, and how easily communication will come to them.” – Harver. The pros of this method include the correlation between assessment and performance and the ease of automatically administering and judging a well-designed test. On the other hand, cognitive assessments can have a suppressive effect on candidates who don’t feel the test is worth the role. They can also be biased and introduce adverse impacts on your hiring process. 2: Job/Role Knowledge Assessment Like cognitive assessments, a job knowledge assessment is a test designed to evaluate the candidate’s knowledge of the role. These tests need to be tailored to the position. For example, when hiring a developer, you might ask questions about the programming language, system architecture, or software your company uses. These are excellent tests to evaluate the skills and knowledge of a given candidate. However, they must be tailored to the role, which means large companies may need dozens (if not hundreds) of different tests for different positions at different levels within the organization. 3: Personality Assessments Personality assessments are tests administered to evaluate a candidate’s character and traits. These tend to be most common for entry-level roles, where skills are trainable, and experience is not required, but personality and character are more critical. Personality assessments are often too generic and don’t correctly assess traits relevant to the role. Also, similar to cognitive assessments, they can introduce adverse impacts in your hiring process . However, when used properly, they can successfully filter for high-quality candidates. 4: Learning Agility Assessments Learning agility is the ability of an individual to learn, unlearn, and relearn tasks and skills in an ever-changing digital world. It is becoming more and more critical as the development of software, technology, and tools accelerates. These tests assess how capable a candidate is of adapting to changing situations and learning the skills necessary to succeed without hand-holding. While these assessments can be very potent, they are most relevant in fast-paced industries and roles and less so in low-level positions or slow-moving organizations. They can also be highly challenging to develop and administer in a way that gets tangible results. 5: Past Performance Analysis Some say that the best predictor of future performance is past performance. Thus, analyzing a candidate through the lens of their previous experience in related or identical roles helps you determine how well they will perform in your organization’s similar role. Experience alone is not enough. Performance must be considered. Additionally, this kind of analysis works best on mid and high-level roles. Entry-level roles typically don’t require previous experience, so filtering for it can eliminate good candidates. 6: Sample Assignments In many roles, the best way to determine how well a candidate can perform in your position is by asking them to perform. A developer might be given a task to create an app or fix a bug, or a writer might be asked to write a sample piece. Perhaps a sales agent is tasked with selling to an interviewer. These allow you to see first-hand how the employee performs in the tasks you’ll be asking them to perform. Many companies use uncompensated sample work as a way to get free labor. Sample work can, however, suppress certain applicants, particularly if they distrust your company. Also, when administered too early or takes too long, candidates may choose to look elsewhere rather than jump the hurdle. 7: Structured Interviews In many organizations, the interview process is informal, a free-form assessment from a skilled interviewer, manager, or HR representative meant to get an impression of the candidate in person. Unfortunately, these are unscientific and rarely effective. Meanwhile, a structured interview uses the same set of questions, the same structure, the same format for each candidate who reaches the interview stage. This process is graded objectively using a scorecard for a more scientific and rigorous evaluation of each candidate. 8: Physical Fitness Assessments A physical fitness assessment tests how well a candidate can perform physical tasks, such as lifting weights or endurance running. They are virtually required for some roles but are largely irrelevant for most current positions within a company. As such, they are not recommended unless the fitness requirements are genuinely required to perform the job’s duties. The primary drawback to a physical assessment is that the test can be deemed discriminatory if the fitness requirements are not truly necessary. 9: Peer Interviews Peer interviews are a style of interview conducted, not by a department head or HR manager, but by the team the prospective employee would be working with. Peer interviews can give deeper insights into how well a candidate fits with company culture , how well they know their role rather than studying for an interview and assessment, and how well they mesh with the others in the office. “Potential pitfalls are that it’s necessary to train the interviewers to be sure they ask the right questions. It can also be distracting, sometimes getting in the way of daily responsibilities.” – Harver. Of critical importance is ensuring that your interviewers do not ask the wrong questions. There are many protected categories of information, both on a federal level and at various state and local levels. Asking inappropriate questions and using the answers to make a hiring decision can open your company up to legal action. 10: Reference Checks Some view the requirements for candidates to list personal and professional references as part of their application as outdated. In a vast majority of cases, the references are never contacted. However, it may be worthwhile to use references as part of your candidate screening process . The trick to talking to references is asking open-ended questions that encourage the contact to speak at length. You can use the answers to better judge the skills, character, and potential pitfalls of the candidate. The primary downside is that references are often less professional and less put-together than candidates attending interviews. They may also be biased, as with friends and family references, and may not accurately represent the candidate. And, of course, interviewing references is time-consuming, meaning it should be limited to only your most likely candidates. 11: Temp-To-Hire Contracts One way to assess whether or not a potential employee can do the job is to hire them to do the job. While this may sound counter-intuitive, temporary contracts allow you to put the candidate in the deep end immediately, with the understanding that their contract will be renewed or converted into a full hire if they perform adequately. Since the risk is somewhat lower than a full hire and subsequent termination of a poor-choice employee, temporary contracts allow more flexibility to assess a candidate over a more extended period. The primary downside is that you will still need to process some level of assessment before hiring for a temporary contract. Additionally, the contract period necessitates a lengthy evaluation period before deciding. Some smaller and more agile companies will not want to invest in these things. 12: Sample/Portfolio Evaluation Many roles, such as designers, artists, developers, writers, and other object-oriented and creative careers, find employees developing portfolios of their past work. These portfolios include samples designed or tailored to be relevant to the company, niche, or role the applicant is interviewing for. Thus, it can be representative of the quality of work done by the candidate. Reviewing their portfolio, analyzing the quality of their work with the help of someone technically proficient in the same work, and making a judgment based on past work is a great way to assess a candidate. However, this type of assessment only works for roles where the employee is likely to produce samples, though some positions can be flexible with case studies and reports on past work. Some roles, however, have no way to distill past work into a portfolio or sample. 13: Automated Filtering Modern software offers companies the option to use machine learning to scan through resumes, applications, and other relevant documentation to evaluate and filter a candidate pool automatically. This option is in its relative infancy as a technology. As such, it has many drawbacks. It can be tricked if the applicant knows what keywords to use in their documentation. It can be biased – whether inherently by the training data or implicitly by past hiring practices. It also offers little rationale or nuance in its decisions, as explaining the inner workings of an algorithm is complex. For those reasons, automated filtering is best left for “unskilled” labor positions, entry-level positions, and bulk positions where nuance isn’t as important. Properly Evaluating Candidates The complete process of evaluating candidates varies depending on the situation, role, company, niche, organization, budget, technology, and more. Every company must develop its process using the tools available to them, internally and externally, within their budget. “Properly identifying and implementing formal assessment methods to select employees is one of the more complex areas for HR professionals to learn about and understand. This is because understanding selection testing requires knowledge of statistics, measurement issues, and legal issues relevant to testing.” – SHRM Effective Practice Guidelines. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to employee evaluation. Every screening process, from resume filtering to interviews, must be tailored to the role you’re trying to fill. The process that works for entry-level employees won’t work for directors or executives. However, at every level of an organization, the company must hire the best available candidates. Identifying those candidates is critical. There is no perfect strategy, so the typical hiring process involves multiple layers of assessment, screening, and interviews. When the cost of a poor hiring decision is high, off-target assessment is hugely detrimental. The key, then, is not just to implement a multi-layered hiring approach. It is to implement that approach, with appropriate monitoring of key performance indicators along the way, to determine which elements of a process work on a short-term and a long-term basis. Only then can a company rest assured that it has a process in place to choose the best candidates from a pool. Conclusion The journey to perfecting employee selection is ongoing and multifaceted. Organizations must navigate the intricate balance between comprehensive, nuanced, and role-specific selection techniques. The 13 methods outlined—ranging from cognitive assessments to automated filtering—each has their own advantages and drawbacks, making it clear that there is no universal solution to candidate evaluation. Ultimately, the goal is to identify and hire the best possible candidates, a task that demands precision, insight, and a willingness to evolve. As the landscape of work continues to shift, so too must the strategies for finding and securing top talent.  Ready to revolutionize your hiring process? Don’t let the best candidates slip through your fingers. Contact our team today to learn more about our tailored solutions and take the first step toward building your dream team.

Some companies treat hiring as a fickle, variable process. A position opens up, they put out a job ad for it, they hire the best candidate that comes along, and repeat the whole process when it happens again. Other companies treat hiring more like a science. Sociology dictates that there are going to be ebbs and flows in candidate interest. Seasonal trends in both hiring and job seeking can leave you wondering when the best time to hire new employees is.  So, which is better? Hiring at the start of the year, middle of the year, or at the end of the year? A Simple Answer The simplest answer is “whichever works best for your company.” If you have roles to fill at the beginning of the year, you shouldn’t wait until the end of the year to hire people; that leaves you with 10+ months of lower productivity, higher stress, and an understaffed workforce. As 37 Signal’s book Rework says, “Hire when it hurts”. Conversely, if you need to fill open roles at the end of the year, it’s easy to delay to the start of the next year, if various factors line up to make such a delay worthwhile. End of year bonuses, vacations, training, availability of candidates for interviews, and other factors are important in making these end-of-year hiring decisions. There are also considerations beyond just the start and end of the year. You can also think about the start and end of the fiscal year , or you can think about seasonal trends. There are pros and cons to hiring any time throughout the year, and different companies will view different timing in different ways. For example, a company like Spirit Halloween does not need to hire employees at the beginning of the year, as they’re only really active for a month each year. The majority of their hiring takes place in September in the lead-up to their roll-out in October, and by the end of November, their business has been put back into cold storage. There’s no clear best time to hire new employees , only the best time for your business. Instead, let’s go over the considerations each time of year brings. New Year, New Jobs (January, February) The beginning of the year is a great time to hire new candidates for long-term positions within a company. It’s also a great time to pick up candidates who are using the excuse of a New Year’s Resolution to seek out a new, better role for themselves. January tends to be slow for hiring. Companies put out job advertising, and employees decide to look for new jobs, but the two don’t meet and match until February. January also suffers from many workers still returning from holiday vacations, so the job search doesn’t begin in earnest right away. January is a good time to start figuring out what you’re looking for in a new employee. You’ll generally have the new year budgets and directives coming down the pipe, so you know what you’re working with. You’ll have a fresh allocation for salaries and benefits, you’ll have permission from above to fill roles or expand departments, and you know where you stand with your teams. The downside here is that January and February also tend to be leisurely for hiring. Companies have a lot of leeway and little time pressure to fill their roles. Candidates have applications out to dozens or hundreds of companies and can take their time receiving and comparing offers. There’s no crunch, for most companies, so hiring is not done quickly. It’s still faster than the holiday season, though. Paul Feeney, a partner with the international auto retailer AutoKineto, explains the surge in January: “The first quarter of the new year is always a busy time for recruiting because of new budgets starting. Staffers are generally taking less time off this time of year since they’re just coming out of the holiday season, which helps speed up the hiring process in quarter one, as well.” Some companies prefer to have their new employees starting in January, so they focus on hiring earlier; the previous November and December. Other companies don’t worry about the annual cycle as much, and pro-rate benefits or vacation days. Springtime’s New Growth (March, April, May) The end of a dreary winter and the start of the new growth of spring, edging through into summer, is also a time of new growth in hiring. According to a decade of data, both March and May are above average in terms of hiring rates , or at least in terms of job advertisement volume. March is the month of urgent hiring. The open roles from the start of the year that have not yet been filled now need to be filled, and there’s no more time left to spend hoping for that perfect candidate to come along. Where January sees passive candidates becoming active due to resolutions, March tends to see a surge in candidates dissatisfied with a lack of changes in their current roles. The dissatisfaction pushes them to seek out new opportunities. A high volume of candidates seeking new jobs makes this difficult for candidates, but a great time for hiring managers . The start of the spring is also when many summer-based businesses start their hiring surge as well. Tourism over summer break, summer destinations, beach, and watersport equipment; these sorts of industries see a summer surge, so they hire in preparation for it. Summer’s approach also brings a sense of urgency to late spring. Hiring managers and executives are planning their summer vacations, and they have less time and attention to spend on hiring. They want to get it over with and get people training as soon as possible. In fact, according to CareerBuilder data, 31% of summer seasonal employers finish their hiring before May, 34% during May, and 20% during June. Anyone looking for a summer job needs to be looking long before summer because hiring for those roles needs to be done early enough to train the employee in time for the summer position. The Summer Slump (June, July, August) Summer is one of the worst times to hire unless you’re specifically operating a business with an autumn surge. Many companies require additional employees over winter and the holidays, but that hiring surge doesn’t happen until fall. By the time summer rolls around, many companies have spent the majority of their HR and hiring budgets, so the flexibility and leeway to hire more have been slashed. Additionally, companies are looking at expenditures and trends and may start to look for cost-cutting measures to balance out their mid-year budgets. Hiring takes a back seat. (ZipJobs 2017 Hiring Trends Study) Many firms, this time of year, are starting to look at employee performance data and are preparing for seasonal trends. It’s a time of studying analytics, monitoring data, and waiting. Some hiring might be relevant for suddenly vacated roles and for new hires that didn’t make it through their probationary period, but in general, the volume is low. On the other hand, this can present an opportunity. Companies that have the flexibility and budget to hire during the summer can pick up candidates with relatively little competition, compared to the higher volume months. The top candidates may not be available, having already found their new roles from earlier hiring surges, but plenty of quality candidates are still on the market. There’s also a lot of overlap in August. It can just as easily be considered part of the Autumn trends and go in the next section as well. August hiring, particularly the end of August, leads up to winter jobs and end-of-the-year starts. Harvesting New Jobs (September, October) Autumn is traditionally another surge in hiring. It’s the time when nearly every company is ramping up for the holidays, including the much-vaunted Black Friday and Christmas sales times. While September is still coming out of the doldrums of summer, October is a surge with above-average job listings according to the same job data from above. Depending on who you talk to, it can take anywhere from four months to two years for a new employee to adjust to their new role and become “fully productive”. If you’re aiming for the shorter end of that scale, hiring in September or October gives you a functioning and adjusted employee at the start of the following year. Some studies also suggest that October may be the best month to hire new employees. At the very least, it’s among the busiest months for new jobs posted to LinkedIn. Nearly 90% of those jobs are filled within a month, as well. End of Year Hiring (November, December) The end of the year is by far the most contentious time to hire new employees. Some people consider it to be the worst time of year. The holiday season means the HR teams, executives, and managers who need to collaborate to hire a new employee are never going to be in the office at the same time. Likewise, holiday demands make it difficult for candidates to make time for interviews, and often the best candidates put their job search on the back burner for the holiday months. On the other hand, the accepted flexibility of vacation days during the holiday season gives candidates more flexibility. Some people argue that candidates who would suffer in their current jobs if they were caught interviewing for other jobs can use the holidays as an excuse to slip out without suspicion. Budget concerns draw a dividing line between types of companies as well. In companies where budgets roll over to the new year, the leftover budget can be saved for a hiring spree in the new year. In “use it or lose it” companies, an end-of-year hiring surge can make use of what remains of a budget to ensure it’s not cut the following year. The end of the year is also a time when many companies choose to promote internal employees rather than look for new employees to bring in. Internal employees benefit from the new position prior to holiday spending, and it’s easier to recruit for a lower-tier position when the new year surge comes. As Career Sidekick says: “Many companies also pay annual bonuses in December, so a lot of people wait until January to change jobs. Companies expect this, so they look to make new hires in January.” Current Events and Other Factors The global pandemic has created a new landscape for hiring. At first, the pandemic made the hiring market a lot slower. Many companies were cutting back on all spending, making it difficult for candidates to find a job. Nowadays, the hiring market is back to normal.  Some traditional surges, like the back-to-school end-of-summer surge, are in flux, as the state of education is unknown. Unemployment remains high, giving companies their choice of candidates, but remote work is virtually required for many candidates to even apply. It’s always worth mentioning, as well, that just because a month isn’t “the best” time to hire doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hire. There are no months where hiring is cursed. If you have a role open up and you need to hire someone for it, hire someone. In fact, it might even be rewarding to work against the grain and hire during slow months. The cost of hiring is determined, in part, by the competition on sites used to list job advertisements. Anywhere an ad auction is involved, the amount of competition is going to be a strong factor in how expensive it is. Another factor to consider is cultural norms. Much of what is written above is relevant primarily from a United States perspective. Companies with an international or global presence, including offices in other countries, will have different schedules, different routines, and different norms to consider. Christmas isn’t as big a deal elsewhere, for example, and the end-of-year hiring surge is less disrupted by expected vacations and travel. Conclusion  The optimal time to hire new employees depends on your company’s specific needs. Seasonal trends and market dynamics can guide timing, but ultimately, hiring should align with your organization’s growth and productivity goals. Flexibility and adaptiveness are crucial, especially in response to changing global conditions like the pandemic.  The right hiring decision balances external opportunities with internal requirements, ensuring the best fit for your company’s future.  In the end, it all comes down to what works best for your company. Hire when you need to hire and when you find a compelling candidate to fill a role. Ready to optimize your hiring strategy? Stay ahead of the curve by understanding the best times to recruit new talent. Contact our team today to start transforming your hiring process today!

In business and, specifically, in HR, specific terms often have very similar meanings in everyday language but very specific, different definitions within the HR sphere. Two such terms are Employee Attrition and Employee Turnover. Both turnover and attrition have to do with employees leaving the organization. However, both metrics have specific definitions that measure different aspects of the overall health of a business. Why the Confusion? The truth is, that turnover and attrition are tricky to define because so many different organizations fail to stick to conventional definitions. LinkedIn has people posting industry standard definitions , but their Insights reports describe attrition using the definition of turnover. Companies like SpriggHR define attrition with a slightly more expansive definition that includes involuntary departures. What’s important is that you know what the metrics mean within your company and what they mean with any company you’re comparing yourself to. Any benchmarking requires you to compare apples to apples, after all. What, then, are the industry standard definitions? What is Employee Turnover? To start, let’s talk about employee turnover. Many people believe that turnover is simply a measurement of the number of employees who leave an organization in a given year. However, this isn’t strictly true. Employee turnover can be defined as “the rate at which employees leave and are replaced.” It’s also defined as a percentage of your total workforce. Turnover can include employees leaving voluntarily or involuntarily. Turnover is a percentage of your company’s average headcount during the time you’re measuring. Turnover isn’t necessarily bad but can be a measure of overall company performance when benchmarked against other industry players. To calculate your turnover rate, you need to know the number of employees who leave whose roles you intend to fill. Whether or not you’ve filled them doesn’t strictly matter, but if you “intend” to fill a role but leave it unfilled for over a year, well, you don’t intend to fill it, do you? The equation for the turnover rate is this: Turnover Rate = (# of Departures / Average Headcount) * 100 Let’s say your company is a mid-sized business with an average of 170 employees over the last year. During that time, 22 employees left. Some were fired, others left of their own accord, but they all filled essential roles that you want to be filled, so they’re all valid for replacement. Turnover Rate = (22 / 170) * 100 Turnover Rate = (0.1294…) * 100 Turnover Rate = 12.9% It’s important to note that turnover rates vary extremely widely. Retail employees have an extremely high turnover rate, at around 60%. Conversely, industries like the Energy or Chemicals sectors have approximately 12%. You can see a comparison and a more detailed breakdown from SHRM here . What is Employee Attrition? Employee attrition is the number of employees who voluntarily leave the organization and who you choose not to replace. For example, say your organization has four middle managers. One of them decides to leave to take an upper management role at a different company. Upon evaluation, you determine that you don’t need that fourth manager role, and a simple restructuring will divide their reports amongst your remaining three managers. This loss of a role is attrition. Attrition requires that the employee leave voluntarily; terminating or otherwise letting an employee go does not constitute attrition. Attrition requires that you do not fill the role. It is, essentially, a shrinkage in your workforce. Attrition brings with it particular challenges, such as declining interest in your products or an impending knowledge-transfer crisis. There’s an interesting line to draw here. Since attrition requires you to have no intention of filling the role, it can be very similar to a case where you’re eliminating a role. However, eliminating a role and terminating the employee in that role wouldn’t fall under attrition because the employee departing is not leaving of their own volition. That quirk catches many people, even HR professionals, off-guard. Is Turnover Good or Bad? Many people have an inherent view that turnover is bad. The truth is, that employee turnover isn’t always bad, and to understand it, you need to understand the context surrounding it. Take, for example, a customer service position. Such a position is likely to have an extremely high turnover rate. Very few people want to work as a cashier for Burger King or as a Walmart greeter for an entire career. These positions are expected to be a) always filled, and b) have strong demand, as entry-level employment (or as employment of last resort for those who need income, no matter how they find it). An industry, or a department within a company, can have very high turnover rates and not be at risk in any way. Consider a company like Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe’s has a company culture of promoting internally, boasting that 78% of their managers started as entry-level workers and 100% of store managers were promoted from department managers. Their entry-level roles may have high turnover, but they aren’t losing institutional knowledge; many of those employees are still employed by the company and are building loyalty through career progression. Turnover can also be planned. Significant seasonal shifts in hiring in retail, for example, are planned turnover. The roles will be filled (even if it takes until the beginning of the next season to fill them), so it’s not a bad thing to have a high level of turnover; it’s expected as a way to handle seasonal shifts in demand. “A host of factors influence turnover. Voluntary turnover happens when employees unexpectedly find a better opportunity elsewhere. That may mean fewer hours, greater pay, better work-life balance, or even closer proximity to their house. It’s up to you to start sorting through the data to see how to reduce it.” – David Cusick, via Lattice . Turnover is only bad if and when it is unplanned and when the job market is poor. If large numbers of employees leave for reasons like unequal industry pay or poor working conditions, that form of turnover is bad. If large numbers of employees leave and you can’t find people willing to work for you despite wanting to fill their roles, that isn’t good either. The key to adequately learning about turnover, and using it to your benefit, is understanding the context. You can ask yourself questions about it, such as: Which departments have high turnover rates? What pressures result in higher turnover, such as compensation? Are there individuals potentially responsible for excessive turnover, like a problematic manager? How does the turnover rate for this department and industry compare to similar rates for other companies? Some amount of turnover is inevitable. After all, no company in the world has a 100% retention rate. The key is to make sure your turnover rate isn’t inordinately high, and if it is, figure out what the problem is and how to solve it. “Turnover metrics are valuable from a legal perspective because they can uncover unconscious bias , discriminatory practices, or reveal a workplace climate that deters women or persons of color from remaining at the company,” said Robert C. Bird, a professor at the Academy of Legal Studies in Business , via Lattice Is Attrition Good or Bad? Attrition is defined as employees who voluntarily leave and whose positions you choose not to fill. It’s already better than other employee churn metrics because it’s voluntary on both sides: the employee isn’t being terminated, and you’re choosing not to fill the role. However, the pressures that inform those choices can determine whether attrition is good or bad. Attrition typically can provide an opportunity. For example, when interest in your product or your company is on the decline, attrition can be an amicable way to reduce overall labor costs and workforce size without resorting to downsizing. You benefit from lower operating costs without making it feel like your business is collapsing under external pressures. The decision of an employee to depart is typically more amicable, though it doesn’t have to be. An employee choosing to quit, because your pay rates are sub-standard, is still, technically, an amicable departure; however, the realization that better things are possible can drive many other employees to leave for similar reasons. Attrition is also a sign that you need to ensure that your company has a central knowledge base and that knowledge and skills can transfer to new employees without losing institutional knowledge. One of the worst risks of attrition is departing employees bringing essential business information or skills with them, leaving the company worse off without them. Attrition isn’t indefinite, either. Understanding when you want to fill a role and when to eliminate it in the future is an important decision to make. Choosing not to fill an open role in the short term can be beneficial, but you may still want to have someone in that role a year or two from now. “The question isn’t whether employee attrition happens when employees leave—it’s really how long the period of attrition should last. An immediate rehiring effort turns a departure into a turnover event, with costs and anticipated benefits of its own. An indefinite period of attrition saves money in the short run but has long-term impacts due to the reduction in staff.” – Bamboo HR . Using Turnover and Attrition to Scale Business Businesses need to be balanced. If you don’t have enough employees to meet demand, your business will suffer. Customers may go unfulfilled, orders can take ages to ship, and customer service falters; critical understaffing can be a death knell for a company with an otherwise significant amount of demand and potential. Conversely, if your business has more employees than are necessary, you run into the opposite problem. Expenses for maintaining your workforce skyrocket compared to income and profits. Employees may find themselves sitting on their hands with nothing to do. You end up with a “too many cooks in the kitchen” situation and can even inhibit the productivity of your teams by trying to influence too many voices on too few decisions. Additionally, departments within a business must be in balance. If you have too few customer service employees and too many sales employees, customers may find promises being broken and service sub-par. Too much marketing can build too much demand that the rest of your workforce isn’t prepared to handle. The key is to recognize that turnover and attrition are not inherently bad. Attrition can be a helpful tool to adjust the scope of a business downward without inhibiting business growth. Indeed, limited availability can even increase demand, and a waitlist can be a potent marketing tool. Monitoring these metrics is also crucial for predicting future performance and watching for potential problems. For example, if your business is expecting a 15% or lower turnover rate for Q4, but afterward, you find that your turnover rate hit 22%, you can start to look into what happened and why. You had an expectation, which was off-base. Was it poor predictions, or was there another factor that influenced turnover and increased it? Moreover, is that something you can fix for the benefit of your business? One key is communication. You can’t tell whether turnover or attrition is good or bad without understanding why an employee is leaving. If you’re terminating them, you know the immediate reason why. However, you may want to dig deeper to determine if external or internal pressures led to the problems you terminated them for. Ideally, of course, you will know this before you reach the point of termination, but that isn’t always possible. The crux of the issue is that both turnover and attrition are similar metrics and serve similar purposes but are distinct and valuable in unique ways. Using them appropriately begins with measuring them correctly, and to do that, you need to know precisely what they are. Do you or your business have any questions about the differences between employee turnover and attrition, or about either one separately? If so, please feel free to leave a comment down below, and we’ll get a conversation started! As we mentioned earlier, it is pretty easy to mix up the two, so we would be more than happy to clear up any confusion you may be having.

Sooner or later, every manager has to contend with an employee who fails to meet expectations. Perhaps their performance has dropped, they have been assigned new tasks and are unable to handle them, or they handle their tasks, but their behavior is disruptive to others. Many companies turn to a warning system, followed by termination in these cases. However, this response lacks nuance and does little besides imposing the threat of penalty to resolve the situation. Is there another way? Indeed, an alternative exists; the Performance Improvement Plan. What Is a Performance Improvement Plan? A performance improvement plan, or PIP, is a framework and strategy designed to guide an employee with performance or behavioral issues toward resolving those issues. It is: A formal document, not an informal agreement or discussion. A set of goals and deadlines, with specific timelines for improvement. A framework for resolution of the issues, on both success or failure. PIPs are used to help struggling employees realign themselves, learn what skills or techniques they may be missing, and restore their good standing position with the company. Upon the successful resolution of a performance improvement plan, the employee is absolved of risk; conversely, if they fail to produce results, the plan offers a resolution to the problem in other ways. Some may view a performance improvement plan as the first step to firing an employee with cause, by putting them “on notice” such that any failures can then be recorded and used against them. While some companies use them in this manner, a real PIP has significant benefits beyond “an excuse to terminate an employee.” Moreover, since most of the country uses at-will employment, such excuses are not typically necessary. A performance improvement plan should instead be viewed as a good thing . It’s an opportunity for growth, training, and alignment of skills and behavior, not a looming threat of termination. It’s a sign that the company views the employees as valuable enough to invest in and keep them around. An employee who has proven they can handle some tasks, but not others, may be demoted but kept on staff, where they can be effective but not disruptive. Others whose talents push them in one direction may find that they are transferred to a department more in line with their abilities upon resolution of their PIP. The best performance improvement plans, in fact, often have potential outcomes other than “return to the norm” and “termination.” Creating and implementing a good performance improvement plan is a six-step process. Step 1: Determine If a PIP is Warranted As mentioned above, a performance improvement plan is meant to be a tangible framework for improvement and realignment with business objectives. It is not meant to be little more than a paper trail for impending termination. Thus, HR needs to determine whether or not a PIP is warranted. Questions to ask can include: Is the employee’s behavior or productivity in question? Some issues may not have a root cause in behavioral or productivity adjustments and thus cannot be addressed with a PIP. Is the issue new, or has it been mentioned in past performance evaluations? The longer it has been going on, the more likely it is that past attempts have been made and failed. However, it’s also possible that the employee did not know they had a problem until now. Is the employee’s manager dedicated to helping the employee improve and succeed? A manager at the end of their rope, frustrated with an employee who doesn’t listen to feedback, may not be capable of managing a PIP properly. Can a framework with tangible goals help improve the situation? Sometimes a problem is outside the control of the employee, manager, or business. Other times, it relates to behavior that cannot be fixed with a PIP. Has a factor been overlooked that can explain the problem? For example, if an employee took time off for illness and missed critical training, the issue can be solved by recognizing and providing the missing training instead of a PIP or as part of a PIP. Is there a valid and warranted excuse for this behavior? For example, personal, family, or health issues can cause problems in the workplace. Accommodation or understanding may be more valid than a PIP in these cases. This analysis aims to determine whether or not the issue can likely be solved with a performance improvement plan or if it would simply waste time, and termination is a better option. Additionally, a PIP should never be a surprise. It is a formalized “last resort” for the employee. Before reaching this point, their manager should attempt to work with them in varying degrees of formality to identify, address, and solve their problems. Step 2: Decide on Potential PIP Outcomes Typically, the best outcome of a performance improvement plan is a return to form. The employee should, through the framework, be able to adjust their behavior such that they can accomplish tasks, avoid unnecessary conflict or abrasive behavior, or otherwise adapt to the requirements of their job. However, this is not the only possible outcome of a PIP, nor is it the only “good” outcome. The “failure” outcome of a PIP is, obviously, termination. If an employee proves that they are not capable of adjusting their behavior to suit the goals and needs of the business, then terminating their employment is the best option for the business. There is also the option for the employee to dispute or refuse the PIP. In some cases, this can bring to light a failure of management, another team member stealing credit for the employee’s work, or another systemic issue. Otherwise, it can be a sign of refusal to improve or adapt and result in termination. That said, two other potential outcomes can be viable for both the business and the employee. The first option is a demotion. The employee may have been hired for a role they were not genuinely fit to handle, or they were promoted beyond their means. In many cases, such an employee struggles to find their place and may benefit mentally and in career terms by reducing their role and responsibility. This realignment of responsibility with skill level may be disheartening for the employee, but it’s still better than firing them. The second option is a transfer to another department. For example, perhaps an employee is put on a PIP for consistently being unable to meet sales goals in their role as a sales representative. However, throughout their employment, they have discovered a passion for data analysis and the back-end office worker that facilitates the success of the sales staff. The PIP can identify these skills and lead to transferring the employee to a role where they are a better fit for the company. The key is not necessarily to set a goal for the PIP; it’s to provide and watch for the possible outcomes. The employee should also know that the PIP is not a binary “improve or be terminated” program, which gives them more opportunity and flexibility to succeed. Step 3: Build the PIP Framework Next, it is time to draft the PIP agreement. A PIP should: Be SMART: That is, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound . In other words, the goals must be tangible, the deadlines for achievement set down, and everything must be measurable and achievable. Include a space for a specific description of the issue , including documented instances of failure to meet expectations, which expectations need to be met, and how. For now, this can be blank or a template, as we’re only developing the framework for a PIP in general. Include guidance on how to adjust behavior to improve , and offer resources and opportunities for training and other information necessary to make that improvement. Set a schedule for check-ins with the manager overseeing the PIP , to keep on track of progress (or lack thereof). Depending on the situation, this manager may need to be someone outside of the department to avoid conflicts of interest. A listing of the PIP outcomes , including the requirements for achieving them, as necessary. You can see examples of what PIPs look like here. As you can see, a PIP doesn’t need to be an exceptionally long or complex document. In fact, the more complex the scenario, the less likely a PIP is to be applicable to the solution. Step 4: Fill Out and Review the PIP to Remove Bias Armed with a template PIP, you can now fill it out and make it relevant to the individual employee with issues. Fill out the area that needs improvement, the goals for improvement, the timeline, any resources you can provide to assist, and the deadline with possible outcomes. Before approaching the employee about the PIP, the document should be reviewed to remove any potential bias against the employee. This “sanity check” helps avoid problems such as: A manager with a grudge sets unsustainable or unachievable goals. A PIP aims to “solve” issues that cannot be solved through training, like emotional, health, or other problems. A PIP that demands success when no support was given to reach it. A common example is an issue where improper onboarding led to an employee not knowing what they should be doing. A PIP is not the ideal solution to this situation. Additionally, it may be helpful to review the overall workplace and see who has received PIPs in the past, looking for trends that could be construed as discriminatory. While this should not be the case, there’s always the risk of individuals in power with biases causing issues. Step 5: Implement and Monitor the PIP The meeting wherein an employee is presented with a performance improvement plan is never fun, but it’s a necessary first step. It should be stressed that a PIP is positive; it means the company wants to give the employee an avenue to improve and a chance to do so, rather than terminate them. The employee should also be made aware of the tangible goals, desires, and steps included in the PIP and given a copy of the document themselves. This time is also an opportunity to discuss the situation in candid terms. In some cases, this may be where an employee can present their case and the evidence that exonerates them. Depending on further analysis, this may be the opportunity for the PIP to be withdrawn pending further investigation or adjusted to consider new factors. As the PIP is implemented, perform regular check-ins to ensure the employee is progressing and that any questions are answered and any resources are provided. A performance improvement plan is, after all, designed to facilitate success, not enforce consequences for failure. Step 6: Review and Conclude the PIP with Relevant Action As the PIP progresses and nears its conclusion, decisions must be made. If the employee has improved, the PIP can be closed with no further issues on their file. If the employee shows improvement, but not to the point required, some leeway may be granted, alternative avenues for improvement can be offered, or the employee’s position may be adjusted. And, of course, if the employee fails to improve or regresses, proper action can be taken, and termination proceedings can begin. Bear in mind that adjustments to the PIP can be made at any point in the proceedings. You may discover, for example, that the outcomes you’re measuring are not actually within the employee’s control and that punishing them for failing to meet them is unnecessarily harsh. The PIP can be closed as a success even in such instances if the employee demonstrates improvement in other areas or if such improvement is not necessary. Upon closing the PIP, proper action must be taken. If the framework indicates that the only valid response is termination, and the employee has shown no other argument for an alternative, then proceed. After all, a performance improvement plan is predicated on that middle word: Improvement. Do you have any questions about the performance improvement plan or if your company should implement it for an employee? If so, please feel free to leave a comment down below, and we’ll get a conversation started. As mentioned, a performance plan may not be helpful in every situation, and it’s important to understand how and when to use it. We would be more than happy to assist you in understanding it better however we possibly can!

For the last several years, the winds of change have been blowing through the job market. Moreover, the pandemic has put significant pressure on the labor market, pushing it away from one dominated by companies.  The balance of power has shifted in favor of the candidates, who are now in comparatively short supply and high demand. They have the luxury to pick and choose between their roles, finding the company that best suits them to work for.  Companies, meanwhile, need to struggle and compete with one another to hook the candidates they need to keep going. This change has led to a rise in one of the most annoying, expensive, and time-consuming situations for a company to be put into. You put out a job ad and start pulling in applications. You filter through the applications and identify your top candidates. You conduct interviews and choose the best candidate from among your pool. You send this candidate a job offer and begin the process of hiring. The candidate accepts the job offer. Then, a few days or a week later – before they onboard – they decide to rescind their acceptance and take a different job with another company. You’re left without your candidate and need to move on. How does this happen? The Candidate’s Perspective   In the current job market , candidates – especially the top ones, who may be passive candidates already comfortably employed, or candidates supported by savings or a spouse who have the luxury to look – often interview with multiple companies at once. They put out numerous applications and do interviews with whoever gives them the time of day. Since candidates are in short supply, this is likely to be most of them. They then have the option to compare the companies they engage with. They can compare compensation offers, benefits packages, workplace culture , how well they got along with the interviewer, and more. They have their pick of job offers. The candidate has no concern for the expense you racked up in the process of reviewing, interviewing, and preparing to hire them. And, honestly, it shouldn’t be their concern. It’s part of the cost of doing business. This difference in perspective is what makes the whole situation such a contentious issue and why the hiring manager and the candidate have such differing opinions. The hiring manager knows that the company has invested significant time and money into this candidate already. So the hiring manager is left in a challenging position and asks the question, “What should I do after a candidate backs out of a job offer”. Especially if the person they wanted to hire backs out when hiring needed to be done by a deadline. The candidate doesn’t know or care about any of that. They want what’s best for themselves, and if another company gives them a bigger, better offer, why would they turn it down? They don’t even have to worry about burning bridges with you because the chances of them having to come back to you are relatively slim. Many hiring managers like to convince themselves that candidates view this situation as unethical and exploitative but do it anyway out of greed. The truth is, candidates only want what’s best for themselves and their families. Companies are machines worth no affection or remorse, and indeed, that’s what companies have built up for themselves over the past decades. We’re reaping what we sow. None of this changes the situation. All you need to do is know how to deal with it. Two Different Situations Generally, there are two different situations where the candidate decides to rescind their acceptance of a job offer. If you’re not looking closely, you might not notice the difference. In one, the candidate tells you that they’ve received a better offer and are choosing it over yours. After that, they ghost you, and that’s that. In the other situation, the candidate tells you they received a better offer and then tells you what it is. This is important because, in this situation, the candidate is interested in working for you but received a more compelling offer from a less compelling company. They’re giving you the opportunity to counter-offer, improve your offer, and rope them in. It’s essential to recognize which situation you’re dealing with and whether or not you want to hire that candidate after they pull such a stunt. These candidates are just as likely to keep their feelers out and be willing to either jump ship later or use the threat of a better offer to fish for a raise. If they’re talented and beneficial to keep on hand, it can still be worth keeping them, but it can be expensive and stressful. If the candidate got a better offer and is informing you they’re not going to work with you after all, there’s not much you can do about it. A counter-offer probably won’t keep them around. Legality, Ethics, and Morals Is it morally correct to take the better offer and leave the company floundering? Is it ethical? Is it even legal? These are questions the candidate might be asking themselves, and they’re questions you need to understand to know what your options may be. First, let’s talk about legality. In purely legal terms, most of us live in “at-will” employment states. “At-will” employment is a form of employment that can favor the company and the labor market at different times. The company can use the threat of termination as leverage in virtually every situation, using that power to keep employees in place despite less favorable conditions. Since jumping ship is difficult in a competitive labor market, the employee has little choice. Unfortunately for companies, since the tides have turned, that same framework is used against you. Just as you could terminate an employee at any time, so too could the employee, and now you have no leverage to keep them around. Legally, nothing is stopping them from rescinding their acceptance of an offer, no matter how far along in the hiring process it is, even into onboarding. In fact, probationary periods often give further leverage to the employee in this situation; they’re always at risk of being let go in the first six months anyway, so choosing to leave during onboarding for a better offer is no skin off their back. There’s one single exception to this: contracts. IF, and only if, you have produced a legally-enforceable contract that says the candidate will not accept a different offer and will work for a specific contract period (usually at least six months, sometimes a year), then there’s more of a leg to stand on. And no, an offer letter is not a legally binding contract. It can accompany a contract, but it is generally just a statement with a signature to acknowledge the terms of employment, with further paperwork to come down the line. IF there was an actual contract, and IF you choose to pursue it, you could sue the candidate for breach of contract. If you do so, there are three possible outcomes. The candidate wins, your contract is labeled void, and you gain nothing while losing the time and money spent on the suit. The candidate loses, but you only gain damages, forcing the candidate to repay some portion of the expense they accrued in the loss of the hire and possibly legal expenses. But, you also take a dramatic hit to your reputation; who wants to apply to a company that sues candidates? The candidate loses and is told they must honor the contract and work for you. And, work for you, they will, with as much resentment, anger, and implicit sabotage as they possibly can. Chances are, they’ll do more harm than good. So, even if the law was on your side – which it isn’t – there are no positive outcomes from pursuing it. The Morals and Ethics of Declining an Accepted Offer Is it moral or ethical for the candidate to rescind their acceptance of a job offer? The truth is, it doesn’t matter. That’s because perspectives differ, and there’s no such thing as an objective morality when it comes to negotiations in a situation like this. If anything, since the candidate is the one who risks their shelter, security, and health, their self-interest is of much greater concern than the interests of a company, which risks none of those things. Regardless, morality and ethics don’t play a serious part in this situation unless you’re planning to try to emotionally blackmail a candidate into dropping a better offer to work for you. And, again, there are no positive outcomes from such a ploy since the employee you’ll end up with will be regretful and resentful at best. What Should You Do Next? With legal action off the table, as the hiring manager responsible for filling an open role , you have to figure out what to do next. The first step is, as mentioned above, to verify whether or not the candidate is trying to push for a counter-offer. If they are, and you can offer it, you can still hook the candidate. This isn’t always going to be the case, but when it is, it can be a favorable outcome for both you and the candidate. However, if the candidate is well and truly gone, you’re left in a lurch. Luckily, you have options available to you. Remember that candidate pool you built up? It’s time to turn to your second choice. Incidentally, this is why it’s a bad idea to send rejections to your other candidates before your role is filled. Even the offer letter being signed isn’t always enough. Wait until the candidate is truly onboarded before informing other candidates that the position has been filled. If the initial candidate doesn’t work out, you can reach out to one you previously rejected and send them an offer. Many candidates who were passed over for a position will still be at least somewhat interested. Some might reject you, either because they found another job in the meantime or because they don’t want to always feel like the “second choice” (even if they are). While you’re at it, you might consider looking over your hiring process and your company to see if there are changes you can make to encourage candidates to not jump ship, despite a signed offer letter. Make your company culture more enticing , as a benefit that can outweigh a slightly higher salary at a worse company. Examine your pay and benefits package and ensure that it’s more competitive, so this kind of poaching is less frequent. Tweak your hiring process to be more emotionally and cognitively engaging, so your candidates have a more personalized experience, building a connection that is harder to drop. You can also talk to the candidate who left and ask what factors played into their decision. Often, they had received a much better offer from another company, and if you can’t increase your offers to be competitive, there’s nothing you can do. In some cases, the candidate ghosts because their circumstances change, such as a health or family situation that gets in the way. You may still be able to “hold” a position for them or keep them on the top of the list if they come knocking again. This outcome is rare, however. In other cases, the candidate might be able to talk about specific issues they had, red flags raised, or problems they encountered. For example, a minority candidate might have been introduced to an interview panel of all white men and gotten a bad impression of your leadership or company diversity . They may have encountered an interviewer or future coworker in a casual setting and had a bad social experience. Or, maybe, your hiring process was uncommunicative or delayed and inconsistent, and they didn’t want to work for a company that disorganized. In these cases, you can often take steps to minimize the issues and remove the barriers for future hires. You’re unlikely to recapture the lost candidate, but you can allow them to pave the way for other candidates after them. Ghosting is an unfortunate fact of doing business; how you handle it helps determine if you’re a great place to work. Conclusion In the rapidly evolving job market where candidates now wield more power, companies must adapt to the reality of candidates rescinding job offers. When faced with such a situation, it’s crucial to act with pragmatism rather than emotion. While the impulse may be to pursue legal action or counter-offers, these are often not viable or constructive paths. Instead, companies should focus on strengthening their hiring processes and company culture to be more enticing and competitive. Turning back to the candidate pool and engaging with your second-choice candidates is a strategic move. This approach, coupled with introspection about the company’s offerings and recruitment tactics, can mitigate the fallout from a candidate’s withdrawal. Learning from instances where offers are declined and taking proactive measures to improve can prevent future occurrences. Don’t let a withdrawn job offer set you back. Take this opportunity to revitalize your hiring strategy and strengthen your team. Reach out to us today and pave the way for a more resilient and attractive workplace.  Act now—because the right candidates won’t wait, and neither should you. Page updated on November 6, 2023.