Smart Recruiting Through Candidate Experience

Do you struggle with your hiring, or worse yet with retaining those hires?  Unfortunately, you are not alone, however, several companies have begun a different approach to their hiring and retention efforts.  They have implemented some smart recruiting techniques that are centered around the candidate experience. 

Job candidates today are looking for companies that have a culture that fits their lifestyle and goals, therefore, it makes sense to incorporate that culture into your hiring process.  Here are a few ways you can use your company’s culture to enhance the candidate’s experience: 
 

• Is your company culture one of excellent communication, meeting goals, and setting expectations?  No matter what type of culture you have, it is important that you communicate that during the hiring process.  If communication is one of your strong points – show that off during hiring process by communicating effectively and efficiently.  If meeting goals is a strong point, show candidates that their career goals are important and how aligned they are with your very own goals. 
• Consider using various points throughout your company to showcase the culture.  This could be anything from holding interviews in an outside gazebo, inviting candidates to company functions, and allowing candidates to sit in on team meetings. 
• Many companies that have implemented smart recruiting have incorporated a work week candidate experience.  Allowing top candidates to “come to work” for a week and get the true experience of being there is eye opening to many candidates.  They get to experience work life first hand, versus hearing it from anyone. 
• The number one complaint among job candidates is the onboarding process, therefore, make sure that the onboarding process is also an experience.  Ask these candidates what they need when starting, listen to what they say, and give them the tools they need to succeed. 

The job candidate’s experience during the hiring process can have a profound effect on your hiring efforts and your retention.  Understand that smart recruiting and the candidate experience go hand in hand.

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Tools and Tactics of Networking

You have heard it a million times before – networking is critical to your job search.  In fact, recent studies indicate that more than 85% of all jobs are acquired through networking.  Just this statistic alone is enough to show you the importance of networking and why you must have the proper tools and tactics. 

Here are some of the most important tools and tactics you need for networking during your job search: 

• You must have business cards when you network.  Yes, that means you too!  You need to have something to hand out to people when you meet them, and a business card will provide them with your contact information. 
• Want to take it a step further than business cards?  Consider creating a one-page handbill.  This is a great document to have at a networking event.  It does not replace your resume, but instead is just a quick glance type of document that will summarize your skills and experience, and has all of your contact information.  It can also refer people to your website or social media profiles.  A great way to “wet the appetite” of a potential employer. 
• It is important that you send thank you notes to everyone you meet while networking.  Immediately after a networking event, take out the business cards you collected and make notes about your conversations for each.  Then you can personalize your thank you cards. 
• Remember that your connections from networking should be quality connections – it is not about the quantity.  Quality connections will help you! 
• One of the most important things you can do while networking is listen.  The information you collect at a networking event can help your career more than talking with everyone there.  Make sure you listen carefully, take mental notes, and contribute to the conversation when appropriate. 

There are many valuable tools and tactics when networking, however, these will help you during your job search, as well as help you grow your career. 

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Ways to Keep Your New Hires

The hiring process has become drawn out and costly for many companies today, therefore, it is important that you find ways to keep your new hires happy so they will stick around for a long time.  Happy employees are typically great for your hiring process, which helps with not only retention, but with your overall hiring costs. 

Here are a few ways you can keep your new hires happy and increase your retention rates: 

• Most employees today are looking for challenges, and a feeling of belonging.  They want to feel like they make a difference, therefore, it is important that you understand why you need each employee.  Each employee brings something different and each has a unique reason why they are important.  Take the time to know what that reason is for each employee, and then communicate to them your understanding of their importance. 
• Make sure that you “roll out the red carpet” at the appropriate times.  Show your employees, especially the new hires, just how much you care about them and their success.  It is important that you take the time to converse with your employees, and personally introduce new hires to others. 
• Communication is the number one reason why employees and new hires often leave positions.  It is critical to a happy workforce that the communication throughout your company be the number one priority.  Make sure that communication is clear, open, and available for everyone! 
• Culture has become extremely important in the workplace today.  It is important that you embrace and support the culture you are trying to portray.  Foster relationships, support company outings, and communicate your culture for others to see. 
• Micromanaging is a touchy subject with many companies, however, those companies that have learned to not micromanage, have the happiest employees.  It is one thing to supervisor and manage, but quite another to micromanage.  Make sure you know the difference! 

Learn how to keep your new hires happy and you will see your retention rates skyrocket.  It all starts with you and understanding what your employees and job candidates want from you!

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What Eye Contact Can Tell You

It is unavoidable, you must have eye contact at some point during your job search, whether it is while you are networking, at the interview, or on your first day.  Eye contact is an important part of life in general, but especially important in determining how you are doing during your job search. 

When you are able to understand the common eye contact signs, you can adjust how you handle certain situations.  Consider these eye contact specifics: 

• If you experience a hiring manager or networking contact close their eyes longer than a normal blink, while you are talking, most likely there is something they disapprove of.  It is important that you are aware of this, as when you notice this eye behavior, you can offer more information to try and persuade them from their original feelings of disapproval, or simply ask them how they feel about your last statement. 
• Next time you are at a networking event, look for those that seems to gaze around the room while talking.  While these gazers are typically not good to network with, they can help you find the top networkers if you follow their gazing. 
• If you notice someone you are speaking with that is constantly looking up while speaking, they are usually trying to recall information.  While this may seem distracting, more importantly, if they do this constantly, they may have problems retaining information.  Be careful you do not have this as a habit when you are interviewing. 
• Just the opposite of someone always looking up to recall information, if you encounter someone that is constantly looking down, it usually means one of two things – they are processing what they just heard, or they are intimidated.  Again, this is something that you need to be careful you do not do. 

Understanding eye contact can be important to your job search success.  It is important that you understand these eye contact specifics, not only so you know how to handle the situations should they arise, but to make sure you do not do any of them.

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