Category: Talent Acquisition Strategy

Global RPO: Hiring Solutions for Hard to Fill Jobs

Posted on by akessler
Global RPO: Hiring Engineers with Niche Skills for a Global Manufacturer in LATAM and Europe

Global RPO: Hiring Engineers with Niche Skills for a Global Manufacturer in LATAM and Europe

A multinational automotive components manufacturer at the forefront of electric driving technology engaged PeopleScout for a full-cycle, multi-country Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) solution. To continue supplying automotive technology for millions of the world’s cars, they needed to source the next generation of engineering talent across 54 locations in 21 countries in Latin America, Europe and Asia.

100 % New Hires Completed Ahead of Schedule
80 % Candidate Submissions Invited to Interview
1300 Applications Received for 150 Positions
21 Countries | <br> 5 Languages |<br> 3 Continents
21 Countries |
5 Languages |
3 Continents

Scope & Scale

A global automotive parts manufacturer partnered with PeopleScout to initially source 150 hires across locations in Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany and India as well as facilities in Latin America. They needed a global RPO provider who could handle sourcing for niche engineering roles in English, Polish, Spanish, Italian and Hungarian languages.

Challenge

As the client expanded manufacturing into new regions to support their global growth agenda, they turned to PeopleScout to partner with their in-house talent acquisition teams to drive their transformational change projects.

Hiring in Latin America had stagnated as the region became the go-to region for automotive manufacturing. With major car brands moving more of their operations into the region, competition for talent became more and more steep.

Meanwhile in Europe, a shortage of niche engineering skills was impacting operations in Poland. The talent war between organizations in the area hiring for similar roles was driving up salary expectations, but the manufacturer lacked the labor market data to make informed decisions to adjust their strategy.

Solution

Analyzing Labor Markets on Two Continents

Our Client Delivery team started by undertaking labor market and workforce analytics in each region. We worked with the client’s HR and operational teams to support their workforce strategy through a competitive analysis which led to recommendations on salary bands for each role and level of experience. For roles in Poland, we helped them explore the possibility of relocating new hires in order to widen their talent pool to other parts of the country where there was more access to experienced engineering professionals.

“PeopleScout has done a great job to support the project, showing high commitment and flexibility in this difficult and changing environment. We’ve had great collaboration together.”

Senior Director of Engineering

Sourcing Passive Candidates with Personalized Videos

Meanwhile, our multilingual teams in Bristol and Krakow began sourcing experienced Product Application Engineers in Latin America and across multiple European locations, as well as Design & Test Engineers in Poland.

Not satisfied with one outreach, we employed a different approach with candidates who were unresponsive after the first communication. Our recruiters created and sent personalized videos introducing themselves and the opportunity to the candidate. This personal touch drove higher engagement and interest from talent who hadn’t engaged initially.

Over 80% of applicants were identified via passive sourcing, with the remaining candidates coming from ongoing advertising campaigns across job boards and social media.

Leveraging Social Media to Boost Employer Brand Awareness

Through our Social Network Awareness Package (SNAP) we identified the best social channels to reach the manufacturer’s audience and created tailored posts, including imagery and headlines. We used this social media content to boost awareness of the client’s employer brand among relevant groups and individuals based on their locations, professional details and interests. Throughout each campaign, we provided a reporting dashboard and analyzed engagement which helped shape recruitment marketing activity going forward.

Testing Technical Skills with a Custom Assessment Center

These highly specialized engineers, regardless of region, needed to have a good command of English as well as technical aptitude. We assessed for both by designing and executing a technical testing program. Our assessors administered these exams virtually, freeing up hiring managers to focus on running their operations.

Once offers were made, our team continued to keep in contact with successful candidates during their notice periods and onboarding. We notified the client’s HR team of any potential concerns of dropouts, working together to mitigate risks.

Results

In just 10 months, we filled 100% of the manufacturer’s niche engineering headcount, including all openings in Poland—two months ahead of schedule. Our team reviewed over 1,300 applications and screened over 250 candidates, supporting hiring managers with initial phone screens, technical assessments and post-offer communications.

The hiring managers were thrilled with the quality of the candidates they saw, with over 80% of candidates put forward by our team being invited to interview.

Following this success, we expanded our engagement with the client to their India operation, taking over from local third-party agencies. This Recruiter on-Demand solution will support volume hiring challenges and drive cost savings.

“PeopleScout did really great work across hard-to-fill disciplines. We had a fantastic sense of partnership across the whole project.”

Global Head of Talent Acquisition

At a Glance

  • COMPANY: Global automotive manufacturer
  • INDUSTRY: Manufacturing
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS: Recruitment Process Outsourcing
  • ANNUAL HIRES: 150+
  • LOCATIONS: 21 countries in Latin America, Europe and Asia
Let’s Connect

The Great Resignation: Turning Turnover Around

Posted on by edyson

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, employers across all industries faced difficult personnel decisions as organizations were forced to reduce their workforces. Now, as a sense of normalcy and stability returns, employers find themselves facing a new challenge: The Great Resignation.


According to the State of Employee Engagement Q2 2021 conducted by TinyPluse, human resources and C-suite leaders expect that only 8% of their employees will choose to quit once COVID-19 restrictions are fully lifted, while one-quarter believes no one will quit. However, executive optimism stands in stark contrast to employee behavioral studies. On the high end, career website Monster found that 95% of workers were currently considering quitting their current position, and Microsoft research found that 41% of the global workforce was debating leaving their current employer in 2021.


So, how can employers mitigate talent turnover and start building their workforces for the economic recovery? In this article, we’ll explain the Great Resignation, take an in-depth look at what job candidates are looking for from employers and provide retention strategies for navigating the current talent landscape.

What is the Great Resignation? The Great Resignation is Here and It’s Real

the great resignation statistics

The great resignation is here and it’s real. In the wake of the pandemic, workers are expecting more from their employers. In particular, they expect employers to help alleviate—or at least acknowledge—their concerns, needs and special circumstances. Notably, organizations that failed to do so have suffered.

While every sector is experiencing an increase in resignations, the healthcare, retail, hospitality and restaurant industries have been hit the hardest. For some workers in these industries, it’s because these jobs have extensive interaction with the public and employees are worried about the risk to their health. Meanwhile, others—specifically those in lower-wage jobs—are pivoting to new careers that promise better pay, benefits or rewards during the Great Resignation.

The Great Resignation is a term coined by researcher Anthony Klotz of Texas A&M University. It refers to the massive, economy-wide increase in job turnover that is expected to accompany the end of COVID-era regulations, business closures and work-from-home mandates. According to Klotz, there is no single factor responsible for the Great Resignation. Rather, numerous motivators are inspiring employees to consider changing jobs.

For instance:

  • Many employees who would have otherwise already quit their jobs stuck with their positions for the duration of the pandemic. And, now that job security is less important, people in this group are preparing to finally make the change they’ve been postponing.
  • The stress of the pandemic contributed to higher levels of employee burnout, which is associated with higher turnover rates.
  • Time away from the workplace has led some people to consider rebalancing their priorities to focus more on their families or hobbies. Others are reevaluating how their careers align with their values and interests.
  • Millions of employees experienced the flexibility and convenience of remote work for the first time during the pandemic. As a result, many do not want to return to the office, even after the Great Resignation ends.

Klotz’s assessment aligns with data collected from Achievers Workforce Institute’s Engagement and Retention Report. The report found that employees’ reasons for leaving were the following:

how to recruit employees

As you can see, the data shows that some workers are resigning based on how their employers treated them during the pandemic. Likewise, workers who may have been teetering on the edge of quitting pre-pandemic were also pushed to a breaking point with the additional stress brought on by COVID-19. And, although workers have always cared about their work environments, now there’s an entirely new dimension: An increased willingness to leave a role if dissatisfied. To that end, in the next section, we provide proactive strategies for retaining your workforce amid recovery.

external recruiting

Retaining Talent During the Great Resignation

the great resignation is here and it's real

With so much riding on successfully retaining talent right now, it’s particularly important for employers to get it right. As such, employers need to better understand what drives and sustains career satisfaction among their employees. Below, we outline strategies for gaining insights into your workforce that can help you better retain talent amid the Great Resignation.

Professional Development & Advancement Opportunities

Well-thought-out professional development and internal mobility programs can provide your employees with opportunities and clear direction on how to increase their skills and advance their careers within your organization.

“Career management continues to be a top driver of attraction, talent retention and sustainable engagement for most employees,” wrote Laurie Bienstock of Willis Tower Watson in an article published by HR Dive. “Effective career management at many organizations remains elusive. That’s one of the main reasons so many of today’s employees feel they need to leave to advance their careers.”

Fortunately, with an expanded skill set, not only will employees feel more empowered, but they’ll also have more tools to help your organization—a win-win scenario. When starting a professional development program, leverage the expertise you have within your organization.

For instance, senior employees can serve as mentors and help mentees sharpen both their soft skills and technical skills; gain practical knowledge, institutional insights and hands-on guidance; and become more valuable and versatile employees.

Reinforce Your Workplace Culture

As employers transition toward a hybrid workforce to address the challenges presented by the pandemic, fostering a workplace culture that is consistent both online and in-person has become more challenging. So, consider what matters
most to the employees in your organization. If diversity and inclusion is a priority, remote work can provide the opportunity to bring in hires from around the world who otherwise would not be available. Similarly, if professional development and
mentorship are most important, think about how online tools can be used to foster these types of relationships.

Employee Benefits & Wellbeing

The right employee benefits can be influential when workers are considering resignation. According to Prudential’s Road to Resiliency study, threequarters of all talent surveyed factor benefits into their decision regarding whether to stay or leave a job.

Namely, benefits can include items like insurance, equipment allowances or childcare, but can also cover things like gym memberships, reimbursements for phone bills or weekly coffee allowances. What’s more, benefits focused on employee wellbeing—such as providing therapy vouchers or additional paid time off (PTO) for leisure activities or to take care of themselves and their families—can go a long way to engender greater loyalty in your workforce

Conduct Stay Interviews

In some ways, “stay” interviews are similar to exit interviews; they’re both used to identify reasons employees like or dislike their job. They can also uncover concerns or issues that an employer may be unaware of.

However, stay interviews can actually be more valuable than exit interviews because they provide insights that employers can leverage to motivate and retain employees before they decide to leave. Questions to ask during a stay interview:

  • What keeps you working here?
  • What do you enjoy about your job?
  • What would cause you to leave the company?
  • What would you like to change about your job,
  • team or department?
  • If you could change one thing about the
  • company, what would it be?
  • Have you ever thought about leaving the
  • organization?
  • What motivates you at work?
  • Do you feel appreciated in your role?
  • Where do you see yourself in five years?

Employers can use the information gleaned from stay interviews to guide company policy; make improvements in corporate culture; and keep talent engaged and wanting to stay. COVID-19 has profoundly changed what employees expect from employers, and attributing record-high resignations simply to salary concerns misses the bigger trends in growing the workplace.

In truth, the pandemic has changed the way employees work and how they view their employer. Now, many workers are reflecting on what a quality workplace feels like—and many are willing to quit to find a better one. As a result, reversing the tide of resignations in your organization requires leaders who care; who engage their teams honestly; and who give workers a sense of purpose, inspiration and motivation to
perform.

Retaining Talent Begins with Reevaulating

Whether that is achieved through flexible work policies, improving benefits, sharing common values or unique career opportunities, it’s essential that you listen to your employees’ needs, keep checking in on them, and work together to create a workplace that is not only able to serve you both, but one that can also make you both happy, as well.


Talent Assessment: Bringing in Better with Passion, Purpose & Mindset

Posted on by akessler

Talent Assessment: Bringing in Better with Passion, Purpose & Mindset

Most employers are still using legacy assessment processes that are ineffective in today’s competitive recruitment landscape. With the cost of one bad hire reaching as high as $50,000, it’s imperative that organizations ensure they’ve assessed candidates’ current skills, future potential and cultural fit.

So, how can you adjust your assessment process to bring in talent that will support their business now and into the future? In this book, Talent Assessment: Bringing in Better with Passion, Purpose and Mindset, we explore how employers can rethink their assessments to hire talent that will thrive.

In this ebook you will learn:

  • Why assessing only for knowledge and skills puts you at risk
  • How investing in technology helped one retailer modernize their assessments and improve the candidate experience
  • How to customize your assessments to find the right passion, purpose and mindset

PeopleScout Jobs Report Analysis – November 2021

Posted on by nfuqua

U.S. employers added 210,000 jobs in November, missing analyst expectations and providing mixed signals about the state of the economy. The unemployment rate fell to 4.2%. Year-over-year wage growth remained high at 4.8%. 

peoplescout jobs report infograhpic

The Numbers 

210,000: The U.S. economy added 210,000 jobs in November. 

4.2%: The unemployment rate fell to 4.2%. 

4.8%: Wages rose 4.8% over the past year.  

The Good  

November’s jobs report is confusing, but there is good news. The labor participation rate, which has been largely flat, ticked up in November to 61.8%, the healthiest number since the pandemic began. As the New York Times reports, there was a large increase in labor force participation by both Hispanic men and Hispanic women, some of the hardest hit demographics. Additionally, the unemployment rate fell to 4.2%, despite the relatively weak jobs numbers. 

The Bad  

The headline number of 210,000 jobs significantly missed analyst expectations. As MarketWatch reports, economists had predicted a gain of 573,000 new jobs. The retail sector lost jobs, while the leisure and hospitality sector, which has led job growth in recent reports, showed a gain of only 23,000. Despite the strong growth in 2021, the economy still remains 4 million jobs short of pre-pandemic levels. Additionally, rising wages still point to a labor shortage, as wages in labor and hospitality soared 11.8% over the past year. 

The Unknown 

What makes November’s jobs report so confusing is the survey data used to come up with the 210,000 number. The Labor Department relies on two separate surveys to make those estimates, one of employers and another polling households. In November, employers reported 210,000 new jobs, but households reported that 1.1 million more people were working than the month before. Experts quoted in the New York Times say a gap that large is unprecedented, and it provides a much cloudier picture about the health of the economy.   

Supporting Service Members with Career Counseling for a Major Retail Chain

Posted on by jpatel
Supporting Service Members with Career Counseling for a Major Retail Chain

Supporting Service Members with Career Counseling for a Major Retail Chain

A major multinational retail chain partnered with PeopleScout to support its counseling program for transitioning members of the military, veterans, military spouses, and National Guard and Reserves who are looking to take the next step in their career.

Dedicated career coaches for all program participants

Customizable career paths for participants 

Virtual intake meetings and ongoing calls

Situation

This retailer has partnered with PeopleScout since 2013 to support its veteran hiring initiatives. In 2013 when the program launched, veteran unemployment was higher than civilian unemployment. PeopleScout supported the client with direct placement, helping veterans honorably discharged on or after Memorial Day 2013 to find jobs at the retailer. The spouse component was added in 2018.

In 2019, while the veteran unemployment rate had dropped to just under 3%, the retailer was aware of the challenges that military service members were still facing when transitioning to civilian employment. The client wanted to reinvent the program to put an emphasis on career coaching and counseling for all service members to help them apply their leadership skills and teamwork experience to new careers.

Solution

The new program, which officially launched in May 2021, broadens the umbrella of the program to include veterans of any era and actively serving members of all branches of the military, military spouses, and National Guard and Reserves as well. It connects program participants to a plethora of resources from various organizations that have been vetted by the client.

When a new member registers for the program, PeopleScout assigns them a coach who helps facilitate the transition into civilian work. The PeopleScout coach schedules a virtual coaching session with the participant to perform an initial intake. This intake assesses skills, helps identify goals and determines the time commitment they can make to the program.

From there, participants confirm three paths: employment, education, or entrepreneurship.

EMPLOYMENT

PeopleScout career counselors help participants assess their strengths, build their resume and translate their military experience in a way that it applies to the civilian workplace. They also help service members and spouses find opportunities that match their career goals—whether that means employment with the retail client or another organization.

EDUCATION

PeopleScout coaches help participants get the educational foundation they need to reach their overall career goals.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

PeopleScout helps connect participants with the right resources to start their own businesses.

This emphasis on career counseling allows the participant to drive the program at their own pace and use their coach as much or as little as they like. Service members and spouses can take what they want from the program as they build their future.

Results

  • 3,500+ registrants since program launch

At a Glance

  • COMPANY: Multinational retailer
  • INDUSTRY: Retail
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS: Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Talent Advisory
  • ABOUT THE RETAILER: This U.S.-based retailer operates in 24 countries with 2.3 million employees. The organization has a rich history of supporting and hiring veterans and their spouses.
Let’s Connect

PeopleScout Compliance Alert: Marijuana Testing

Posted on by nfuqua

While marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, states continue to legalize the substance for both medical and recreational uses. Medical use is legal in 36 states, while 18 states now have legalized recreational cannabis. Now, some states and local governments have passed laws implementing restrictions or limitations on drug testing for marijuana.

Those jurisdictions include:

  1. Boulder, Colorado
  2. Connecticut
  3. District of Columbia
  4. Nevada
  5. New Jersey
  6. New York
  7. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  8. San Francisco, California
  9. Rhode Island
  10. Vermont

Employers that operate in any of these areas should consult with an attorney about the specifics of each local requirement. For example, in New York, the law prohibits employment discrimination against people who lawfully use recreational marijuana off duty, and in New Jersey, employers cannot take adverse employment actions based “solely” on a positive marijuana test. Depending on the specific jurisdiction, there may be financial penalties for failing to comply.

Additionally, you may trigger other employment when evaluating workplace marijuana issues, such as discrimination and disability accommodation laws.

However, as marijuana remains illegal federally, state laws generally contain exceptions for employers regulated by federal law. There are also generally protections for “safety-sensitive” jobs like truck drivers or forklift operators. On-the-job use or possession of marijuana is not allowed in any jurisdiction, nor is impairment or working under the influence of marijuana.

Because of the growing popularity of these laws and a tight labor market, many employers have stopped testing for marijuana, according to Bloomberg Law. In one high profile case, Amazon announced that the company would stop testing workers for marijuana, citing the complex patchwork of state and local laws. Business Insider also reports that company officials have also tied the decision to the labor shortage, with Amazon senior VP of human resources Beth Galetti saying, “Eliminating pre-employment testing for cannabis allows us to expand our applicant pool.”

Progress in Action: Moving Toward A Globally Diverse and Inclusive Workplace

Posted on by edyson

Progress in Action: Moving Toward A Globally Diverse and Inclusive Workplace

Improving organizational diversity is a honorable pursuit for employers across all industries and should be a consistent point of focus for forward-thinking talent teams. Building productive teams from a pool of qualified job seekers irrespective of nationality, gender-identity, ethnicity, religious background and sexual orientation is essential to creating a workplace that reflects the communities that it serves.

So, how can you help your organization better connect with, source, engage and recruit a more diverse and inclusive workforce? In this ebook, we examine how your organization can update your DE&I program with modern diversity strategies.

In this ebook you will learn:

  • How to accurately measure your DE&I program’s progress and goals
  • How to source candidates from underrepresented groups
  • Real-world DE&I success stories and more

[On-Demand]: Data and Diversity: Using Technology to Achieve Your DE&I Goals

Posted on by edyson

[On-Demand]: Data and Diversity: Using Technology to Achieve Your DE&I Goals

Leading talent professionals understand that creating an inclusive, equitable and diverse workplace is more than just the “right” thing to do. In fact, implementing an effective diversity and inclusion program can change the game by challenging the status quo and creating a vibrant and more productive workplace culture. Positioning DE&I at the heart of your talent acquisition and management program now will equip your organization for long-term success.

But how do you know if you’re making progress against your goals? Do you have the data to fine-tune and optimize your recruitment process?

Join PeopleScout’s Elizabeth Karkula, associate product manager, and Jason Kaplan, business intelligence manager, for our on-demand webinar Data and Diversity: Using Technology to Achieve Your DE&I Goals.

Elizabeth and Jason will discuss practical and immediately applicable strategies that have the potential to transform your organization’s DE&I program.

This webinar will cover:

  • Three smart ways to leverage data for DE&I success
  • How to accurately measure your DE&I program’s progress and goals
  • How to optimize your sourcing channels for candidates from diverse groups
  • Real-world DE&I success stories and more

PeopleScout Jobs Report Analysis – October 2021

Posted on by nfuqua

The U.S. economy gained a strong 531,000 jobs in October, beating analyst expectations. The leisure and hospitality sector led with 164,000 new jobs. The unemployment rate fell to 4.6%. Year-over-year wage growth remained high at 4.9%.

Jobs report infographic

The Numbers

531,000: The U.S. economy added 531,000 jobs in October.

4.6%: The unemployment rate fell to 4.6%.

4.9%: Wages grew 4.9% over the past year.

The Good

October’s jobs report is full of good news. The 531,000 jobs added to the economy – the largest increase since July–beat analyst expectations, and the gains were spread across a wide variety of sectors. The government was the only sector that saw a decrease in jobs. The New York Times noted that with this report, the economy shows signs of normalizing.

The unemployment rate also fell to 4.6%, something that analysts hadn’t predicted would happen until the end of 2021. Other data shows that anxiety over the pandemic and the surge of the Delta variant has been decreasing. The percentage of people working from home because of COVID-19 fell to 11.6% during the month of October, the lowest number since the start of the pandemic.

The Bad

The one disappointing number in October’s report is that the overall labor participation rate remained flat, which means the strong job growth was not enough to bring sidelined workers back into the job market. On the other hand, The Wall Street Journal reports that 180,000 women did enter the workforce in October. Women were more severely impacted by the pandemic, and October’s increase represents modest progress—even though it was not enough to move the overall number.

The Unknown

Economists are watching to see what will bring more workers back into the job market. As MarketWatch reports, the labor participation rate is near its lowest level since the early 1970s. Business have been raising wages to try to attract more workers, and October’s 4.9% year-over-year wage growth represents the highest growth since tracking started in 2006.

Experts had also hoped the end of unemployment benefits in September and the start of the 2021-2022 school year would bring more workers back, but so far progress has been slow.

Overcoming Retail and Hospitality Recruiting Challenges

Posted on by edyson

Hospitality staffing teams and retail recruiters are finding it more challenging than ever to recruit and retain employees. While recruitment and retention issues have long beleaguered the retail and hospitality industries, the pandemic has exacerbated long-standing difficulties:

The unemployment rate has finally fallen under 6%, the lowest since March 2020, however retail, leisure, and hospitality were hit hard by this pandemic and are still facing a major challenge in attracting talent to their respective industries.

In this article, we’ll look at the hiring challenges that retailers and hospitality organizations are facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and provide talent acquisition strategies to overcome them.

The Retail Recruiting and Hospitality Staffing Landscape

With so many jobs available, why are retail recruiters and hospitality staffing professionals having trouble finding applicants? While there are numerous reasons why employers are finding it harder to fill these vacancies common candidate concerns include:

  • Patrons are not as generous as they once were. According to a Harris Poll conducted for Fast Company, 19% of Americans said they tip less now than before COVID-19. Even amid loosening restrictions, many restaurants still operate on a drive-thru or carry out-only basis – and tipping isn’t as generous or common. With waitstaff making an average of $7.00 per hour, tips are an essential portion of overall compensation. That bleeds through to hotel staff, too, as cleaners, bartenders and servers also rely on tips to supplement their salaries.
  • Loyal long-term employees who were let go may feel let down and underappreciated by their former employers and may be hesitant to reenter the hospitality or retail industry.
  • It’s a candidates’ market, despite unemployment numbers. With lessening restrictions, many businesses are re-opening – and they are all hiring at the same time, creating more competition for the same pool of talent.

To tackle these challenges, talent leaders must think outside the box. This means identifying new and non-traditional ways to incentivize potential candidates to apply for open positions. While improving compensation and benefits is a critical component to recruiting in the current talent market, there are additional strategies you can deploy. Below, we cover key retail and hospitality recruiting challenges and how your organization can overcome them.

Hospitality and Retail Recruiting Challenges and Solutions

Challenge: Hospitality and Retail Recruitment is Highly Decentralized

Large retailers and hospitality chains often have a decentralized recruiting process where managers are solely responsible for making recruitment decisions within their store or geographic location.

Decentralized recruitment processes vary from organization to organization. However, a common theme of this talent acquisition strategy is that it allows for greater autonomy and decision-making freedom for frontline managers. What’s more, a decentralized recruitment strategy is effective for geographically diverse organizations where each location may have specific, localized hiring requirements, labor laws and talent demographics.

Unfortunately, decentralization can lead to obstacles during turbulent labor markets. A lack of consistency, discipline and standardization across various locations can lead to a disorganized hiring process with varying policies, pay grades and a lack of coordination across geographies. This decentralization can make it difficult for talent leaders to ensure hiring practices are unbiased and ethical for every location within their organization.

Moreover, decentralization can run counter to an organization’s wider goals such as increasing compensation, diversity and inclusion initiatives and ensuring that new pandemic-related policies are being closely adhered to.

The Solution: Consider Centralizing Talent Acquisition

Centralized recruitment is a popular strategy among many employers outside of the retail and hospitality industries.

Operating within a more centralized recruitment infrastructure allows internal recruiting teams to develop reliable policies and universal standards for the hiring process across locations.

When hiring processes are standardized across an organization, all employees are hired using the same criteria, making it easier to share team members across locations if there is another store with employees capable of doing the same job.

What’s more, some organizations take a hybrid approach by having both centralized and decentralized recruiting functions, with some decisions and hiring policies deployed across the organization while others are implemented locally.

Whichever recruitment model you decide to pursue, a recruitment process outsourcing provider (RPO) can help retail recruiters and hospitality organizations centralize or hybridize their recruitment function. RPO providers work closely with internal talent teams to build out talent acquisition infrastructure and best practices enterprise-wide. RPO providers also lend support in sourcing, interviewing and hiring talent and can deploy advanced talent analytics technology for deeper insights into workforce trends.   

Challenge: Hospitality and Retail Recruitment is Often Conducted Face-to-Face

Traditionally, most candidates apply for retail and hospitality roles in person. However, as the pandemic persists, some would-be applicants may be hesitant to apply or interview face-to-face.

Solution: Take Hospitality and Retail Recruiting Interviews Virtual

Incorporating video interviewing into your talent acquisition toolbox can save your team hours of candidate sourcing and phone screens.

Virtual interviewing technology allows employers to have live, two-way video or a pre-recorded video interviews that candidates can do on their own time and from the safety of their home at their convenience. Video interviewing technology can be used to support a wide range of recruiting functions from candidate screening to offers and onboarding.

What’s more, the practice of virtually hiring and onboarding has been on the rise in retail and hospitality staffing in recent years as talent technology advances. Gap, for the first time, is allowing hires to apply online for any role in three minutes or less. Macy’s filled positions during a virtual hiring event and provided a convenient virtual process that allows candidates to interview from wherever.

Virtual interviewing, when paired with technologies such as text recruiting tools, offer enormous opportunities to improve recruiter efficiency, time to hire and build stronger relationships with candidates.

Challenges: Sourcing Hospitality and Retail Candidates with the Right Skills and Experience

According to a recent McKinsey Global Survey, the COVID-19 pandemic has made the question of how to address the skills gap more urgent. Nearly 90% of executives surveyed said current skills gaps are expected to increase in their workforce within the next few years, but less than half have a plan to address the issue.

To find the right employees, you should strongly consider expanding your definition of what qualifies as relevant experience. For example, if you have an applicant with no experience in retail, no experience operating a point-of-sale system and no experience managing other employees, you might be quick to write them off as an under-qualified candidate. However, you may be missing out on an ideal potential employee with the right soft skills to excel in the role, skills in short supply in retail and hospitality.

In fact, according to an SHRM report, talent and HR professionals in accommodation, food services and retail/wholesale were more likely than those in other industries to say that candidates did not have the right workplace soft skills such as problem-solving, interpersonal skills, communication, teamwork and leadership.

The Solution: Expand Your Talent Pool with Non-Traditional Candidates

A candidate who might not have the “right skills” at first glance could potentially become a top performer with a little on-the-job training and instruction. Instead of focusing so much on hard retail or hospitality skills and experience, keep your eyes open for candidates with transferable experience and skills such as customer-facing roles, managing finances, organizational skills 2 0789uiand other skill sets that may translate well. A Harvard Business Review article exploring the challenges employers face in “hiring low-skill, entry-level workers when economic conditions improve” highlighted how forward-thinking retail and hospitality organizations are boosting talent and business outcomes by adopting a recruiting model known as open hiring.

Open hiring looks for reasons to hire a candidate, rather than finding ways to exclude them. Major retail employers, including Ben & Jerry’s, Whole Foods and The Body Shop, have had success through open hiring strategies, including improvements in turnover, increases in productivity and a more resilient business continuity plan.

Here are a few questions you can ask candidates to better measure soft skills:

  • Has this person shown an ability to learn new skills quickly?
  • Does this person exhibit a positive attitude and the ability to work on a team?
  • Has this person displayed an aptitude for solving problems efficiently?

Hospitality Staffing and Retail Recruiting Is Crucial for Recovery

In retail and hospitality, every unfilled position represents missed opportunities to better serve your customers. While recruiting for retail and hospitality staffing at the moment might seem like a daunting task, implementing the right strategies and technology might just be the key to providing hiring managers and candidates alike with the tools to better navigate the industry’s new normal.