Category: Talent Acquisition Strategy

Managing Change During an RPO Implementation: What to Expect in the First 120 Days & Beyond

Posted on by skatz

Change is hard. But, despite all its challenges, change also brings innumerable benefits. So, when it comes to implementing an recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) program, it’s important to remember that no transition will be seamless. RPO transitions come with changes, both minor and foundational, that will present new challenges each day during an implementation. While this might seem daunting at first, know that these challenges come with a predictable and manageable pattern; the best way to approach change during an RPO implementation is with the knowledge of what to expect and how to succeed in the face of obstacles that appear along the way.

Before Your RPO Implementation Starts

It’s no secret that people are hesitant when it comes to change—especially when that change is likely to affect their day-to-day routine. To address this hesitation, it’s important to get everyone on the same page, consider the affect on each stakeholder and educate people on what they should plan for once the implementation begins.

Some stakeholders will be early adopters who are hungry for change; utilize them as ambassadors for the new process. Others will be resistant, and these are the people from whom you want to gain buy-in for RPO. Once you identify the more cautious stakeholders, try to help them see the benefits of change from their perspective. Then, they can serve as primary communicators to others who are hesitant and explain the value of the change in ways resistant team members will understand (and you may not have thought of).

The best way to get people on the same page is to address pain points and questions early on so people know exactly why a change is being implemented. Begin that process by answering these key questions:

  • What specifically is changing? Tell people what you’re going from and what you’re going to.
  • What does this change mean for what I do? Explain how daily operations will be affected.
  • Will this make a difference? Show people how the change will bring value.
  • How will success be measured? Set clear calendar goals and openly address when these goals are not met.
  • Where do I go to find more information? Designate point people to address all updates regarding the transition.

Continue to communicate these Q&As to your team throughout the RPO implementation to further drive buy-in for the new process.

During the RPO Implementation

We’ve identified four definitive phases that will take place during the first 120 days of any RPO implementation. Understanding these phases will help keep you on track during the implementation process.

Introduction & Learning

This is the time to educate people on, what RPO is and what changes are going to take place. People are excited, energy is high and everyone is working hard to be open-minded about the changes. Some people might feel an initial shock, as though changes are already starting, but this is the time to get everyone used to the idea of new processes and people before any big changes are made.

Optimization

In the second phase, you address lessons learned in phase one and can begin operating at the new normal day by day. Energy remains high as people become more proficient in using the new processes. Issues decrease, but small concerns begin to go unreported. While morale is still high, minor frustrations occur while not everyone is up to speed yet.

Measurement & Consistency

This is the phase your client delivery leader will warn you about; believe them when they say you’re going to get frustrated! Phase three is the toughest because it’s when people start becoming impatient with the way things are progressing. Everyone expects everyone else to be fully competent in the new processes and performing according to plan. Minor issues that went unreported in phase two often turn into bigger issues that come to light during this phase, leading to amendments to current processes and a review of the team structure.

For one client, during the first three months small changes were made to the process almost every day. At first, it felt frustrating, but it was the way the client was able to make progress quickly versus waiting for designated biweekly meetings for issues to be addressed. It was a new process for the client and a customized way of approaching change from our side, as well. Through careful documentation, the client was empowered to successfully combat candidate fallout by continually adjusting the order of steps in the hiring process.

Scale & Grow

After adjustments are made to the team and process, things finally start to move more smoothly. People are now highly competent, wins are gained more consistently, and issues are reported and resolved as they occur. The team gets along and feels positive because it is at the correct size and structure. Phase four begins a state of steady growth, which leaves room to evolve.

While these phases are fixed, people in your organization will complete them at different rates. It’s okay that some people might still be getting adjusted in phase two while others are already becoming more competent in phase three. However, phase four means the entire team has mastered the changes and is ready for innovation and further growth. To ensure everyone reaches the final phase, encourage weekly or daily check-ins to get everyone on the same page about the way the transition is progressing.

Open Communication is Key

Communication is a two-way street, and it only works if both parties are actively communicating throughout the entire implementation. Because outsourcing your recruitment function means people from across the organization will be affected, be mindful not to overlook a specific group when communicating information about changes. A forgotten conversation about what to expect could be the difference between someone feeling neglected versus feeling like they are a part of the solution.

👉 Learn how to talk to stakeholders about RPO with our conversation guide.

As much as you need to be transparent with people about the goals and progress of the transition, they need to be open with you, as well. Be mindful of the fact that many of the people affected by the transition have been using a different system and coming up with workarounds when those processes fail. A map of the new process on every employee’s desks is a handy way to compare their actions to those on the process and document whenever an adjustment needed to be made. As people begin reporting exceptions, you’ll be able to determine whether incidents are isolated issues or part of a larger trend.

In one client’s RPO implementation, one team member kept adjusting the process without letting anyone know. While it was commendable of her to take on that responsibility, we had to remind her that as her RPO partner our job was to optimize the process and help save her time. She had an understandably hard time letting go of that need to fix the process, but eventually realized any exception to the established process—no matter how small—should be reported to ensure the overall RPO implementation success.

As issues are addressed and people start performing in accordance with the changes, be sure to publicly recognize and reward their behavior to further reinforce the idea that each team member brings value to the success of the implementation.

Beyond RPO Implementation: Ensuring a Successful Transition

An RPO implementation may feel like an uphill battle, but it’s important to remember that it’s a good thing. Through every growing pain along the way, you’re still moving forward, and that’s what an RPO transition should feel like. There’s always going to be some level of discomfort with any change, but remember, your RPO partner is there to help guide you throughout the implementation. You should feel excited by the idea of the value your RPO partnership will bring, and if you ever stop feeling value, that’s when you know something needs to change.  

With any RPO engagement, you always want to be evolving and changing. As you’re working with your provider to fine-tune the changes, you’ll start to look at things with an innovative eye. As soon as you find yourself thinking about trying something new or adding in an extra piece to the program, that’s a good sign that you’re moving forward in the right direction.

The AA: Bot-Powered, Brand Boosting Innovation

Posted on by edyson
The AA: Bot-Powered, Brand Boosting Innovation

Chatbot for Talent Acquisition

The AA: Bot-Powered, Brand Boosting Innovation

The AA brought PeopleScout on board for a major redesign and rebuild of their careers site, including developing a cheeky chatbot to increase engagement and improve the candidate experience.

30,000 applications, up from 8,000—a 275% increase
60 % increase in career site traffic year-over-year
17 % reduction in bounce rate

The AA is often referred to as “Britain’s fourth Emergency Service.” But, being known for doing one thing very well is both a blessing and a roadblock when it comes to attracting brilliant candidates. We developed a new employer brand for the AA to help them overcome this challenge. The next step was a major redesign and rebuild of their careers site. With a totally new way to navigate and a recruitment industry first—a website-based chatbot—we helped them boost not only their employer brand, but their number of site visits and applications.

Situation

Say the AA and a lot of people can’t see beyond roadside recovery. Heading to the careers website, visitors are overwhelmed by choice or jump straight to the same old roles. Which means they miss out on the impressive variety of careers they offer (from customer advisers to digital professionals), and the AA loses the opportunity to engage with excellent candidates.

The AA brought PeopleScout on board for a major redesign and rebuild of their careers site. We were set a sizeable task, to attract and engage more visitors and increase applications – all underpinned with innovation.

Solution

Solution Highlights

  • Navigation Innovation
  • Bleeding-Edge Software
  • Booting Site Traffic
  • Huge Increase in applicants

At a Glance

  • COMPANY
    The AA
  • INDUSTRY
    Roadside Recovery Services
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Talent Advisory
  • ABOUT THE AA
    The Automobile Association (The AA) has been supporting motorists in the United Kingdom since 1905. With over 14 million members, breakdown cover is always their number one priority, but The AA has branched out into finance, insurance, leisure and lifestyle services.
Let’s Connect

A RECRUITMENT INDUSTRY FIRST

When is a website not a website? When it’s chatbot-powered. We launched a reimagined careers site that could do justice to the new brand proposition, “Ready for ANYTHING?” At its heart is a totally new way to navigate and a recruitment industry first: a website-based chatbot.

BLEEDING-EDGE SOFTWARE

To achieve it, we sought out bleeding-edge software—Microsoft’s Bot Framework—which was still in beta and constructed new bot pathways even as the core code changed under our feet. The result, AAbot, is your guide to the world of AA.

ENTERTAINING, INFORMING & ENGAGING

By asking questions, candidates can access all website information from within the chatbot—utterly tailored to their interest—and, if desired, full job listings. With expressive animations for (almost) any occasion and banter full of cheek and surprise, AAbot is packed with personality. He takes the employer’s tone of voice in a bold, playful new direction. And he shows that functional UX copy can entertain and build a brand, as well as inform.

Results

BOOSTING SITE TRAFFIC

Site visitors are now engaging with the wider AA story and roles. We’ve successfully boosted candidate interest, as site traffic has risen by 60 percent year-over-year, while the bounce rate has fallen by 17 percent.

HUGE INCREASE IN APPLICATIONS

Applications, meanwhile, have increased from 8,000 to more than 30,000, taking direct hire numbers from 55 percent to 95 percent of all applicants. And it’s just the start.

MULTI-CHANNEL APPEARANCES

AAbot is already a breakout star, appearing in digital ad banners and social media communications. You’ll already find him at the Wycombe Wanderers football stadium, emblazoned all over the AA offices and popping up on LinkedIn. And we have big plans to let AAbot loose across the end-to-end recruitment process.

Talking Talent Leadership Profile: Kathryn Minshew

Posted on by nfuqua

Around 15 to 20 years ago, the first millennials entered the workforce – frustrating and sometimes frightening the baby boomers and Gen Xers who hired and managed them. Since then, the world of work changed, and millennials grew up and advanced in their careers. In that same time, Kathryn Minshew moved from her roles at McKinsey & Company and the Clinton Health Access Initiative and founded The Muse, a career platform headquartered in New York City and used by more than 75 million people to research companies and careers.

Kathryn also authored “The New Rules of Work,” which made it to The Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) national bestseller list. She has spoken at MIT and Harvard, contributed to the WSJ and Harvard Business Review, and appeared on TODAY and CNN. She has been named to SmartCEO’s Future50 Visionary CEOs and Inc.’s 35 Under 35. Additionally, The Muse was named one of Fast Company’s 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World in 2018.

Kathryn is an expert on the workforce transformation she observed and helped drive as a millennial herself. But now, the process is beginning all over again as Gen Z starts entering the workforce. We talked with Kathryn about how these new workers will influence the way companies attract and retain the best talent.

What are the biggest similarities and differences you see between current workers and those who are just now entering the workforce?

It’s a really interesting time right now because the workplace is in flux. While I’m not a big believer in the idea that the millennial generation is fundamentally different, there are a few trends I’m seeing in The Muse’s community and the employers we work with.

First, there‘s a strong interest in flexibility and work-life balance. The younger generations are pushing employers to recognize their work based on output and not the number of hours sitting at a desk. I actually think that change benefits us all.

Secondly, a lot of younger workers are willing to relocate for the right job. We surveyed The Muse community, which is very young and diverse with two thirds under age 35, 55% women, and 50% nonwhite. We asked them, “Would you relocate and consider moving for the right company and role?” An overwhelming number – 89% – said yes.

As millennials went from entry-level workers to the biggest cohort in the labor market and now into leadership roles, we saw the conversation change. How do you expect the conversation about Gen Z at work to change?

There’s one pattern I’m very confident will play out, which is that we’ll see a bunch of people predicting the end of the workplace as we know it. Then, over time, some of the hysteria will quiet down, and people will realize that we’re all fundamentally more similar than we are different. A few years ago, there was a lot of, let’s just say, pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth about millennials. Now, many of those same millennials are managers and some of them are becoming executives.

The workplace has changed. Companies are forced to compete for talent. There is a bigger emphasis on connecting the overall purpose and mission of a company with the individual roles of workers.

When I look at the changes that I believe we’ll see with Gen Z, there’s the classic one – which is that Gen Z is very mobile first. So, I think we’ll see less and less tolerance for legacy technology products and more of a push for the adoption of consumer-grade products. Gen Z is starting to look for workplace tools that are built on data and personalized for their needs.

How will employer branding change?

I think we’ve evolved through a number of phases of employer branding, starting with what I call phase zero, where companies just posted jobs online without any marketing or information. Then, phase one was stock photos and companies trying to pretend they were perfect, using jargon like, “we’re a team of innovators committed to excellence.”

Now, we’re in phase two, in which companies are realizing the need to be more authentic. With Gen Z, we’re going to see an increasing trend toward personalization. Platforms and tools that can provide a more personalized experience are going to win. That’s something I’m very focused on at The Muse.

I think there are platforms out there today that deliver volume, but give you very few opportunities to really build a relationship with talent and explain your company, your values and your opportunity. My money is on the platforms that are allowing different channels for candidates and job seekers to research companies and for employers to build relationships – and, of course, I count The Muse among them.

Employer brand is ultimately just brand, right? It’s not like you get to have a consumer brand and employer brand that don’t interact with each other. Employer brand has the potential to be powerful, but only if you recognize that it’s a piece of your larger brand and the lines between your applicants, candidates, employees, customers and users are blurring in the modern world.

Ultimately, I think the holy grail for employer brand is going to be giving candidates more information and a better experience up front. That leads to tangible business results through better and longer-retained hires.

How will employers change their retention strategies for Gen Z?

Retention is directly linked to how much information people receive and how accurate that information is before they come through the door. We’ve seen companies that work with The Muse increase retention when they’re more transparent about what it’s like to work there.

Many people earlier in their careers are looking for clarity and guidance around what the future holds. Companies that are successful in retaining millennial and Gen Z employees often lay out very explicit career paths. Employees can see what milestones they need to hit to get promoted to the next level and what those steps look like. By documenting a clear career path, younger employees can understand what the future will look like if they invest in your company.

If you had to boil this entire conversation down to one piece of advice for employers, what would that advice be?

When I started The Muse, I had this deep belief that both job seekers and employers would be better off if they found matches based on fit. Even the same person might look for different things at different points in their career. I want The Muse to help create fit – to help individuals research companies and careers, and help employers hire great people on the strength of their employee experience and employer brand.

If I had to pick just one piece of advice on how to do that, I would say focus on storytelling. Humans love stories; we can connect with them. So, think about employee storytelling – whether that’s telling stories on your career site, through The Muse or through another channel. The more you can communicate the uniqueness of your opportunities and your organization through the real human stories of people who work there, the more successful I believe you’re going to be.

Creating a Compelling Employment Offer

Posted on by edyson

Talent acquisition teams and hiring managers are always on the hunt for candidates who check all of the boxes: the five-star talent with all of the right skills and experience to excel in a role, but who also fits the culture of the employer. When these candidates are screened, interviewed and assessed, they pass each phase of the process with flying colors, leaving hiring managers eager to extend an offer of employment. However, there is one catch: will the candidate accept?

When you make an offer to a candidate, you hope they want the position as much as you want to hire them. But, sometimes, you nurture a great candidate through the entire recruitment process only for them have a change of heart. Candidates declining job offers can be disheartening for recruiting teams – and costly for organizations trying to fill vital open positions. In this article, we’ll cover candidate expectations and key points in the employment offer process, as well as explain how to connect with candidates on a more personal level.

Meeting Candidate Expectations: Then & Now

Candidates Expect an Inviting Company Culture

In the past, candidates applied for positions without knowing or expecting to know much about an organization’s inner workings or culture. As a result, when candidates were extended an offer, an organization’s culture played less of a role in whether they would accept the position.

But now, candidates want to know about the work environment and company culture so they can assess whether they think the organization is a good fit. Help candidates get that information by having a section on your careers page that provides cultural insights into your organization, and include videos and images that display what it’s like to work for you.

Candidates Expect Greater Transparency

It used to be that a candidate applied for a job, sent in their résumé and waited patiently for a response from the employer. All too often, candidates were left in the dark regarding timelines, with few ways to find out where they were in the hiring process.

Now, candidates expect rapid responses to their inquiries and greater transparency into a potential employer’s hiring process. Therefore, make sure that you inform the candidate about when they can expect an offer or rejection and deliver on it. This shows that the organization is respectful, responsible and disciplined. Plus, if you make transparency a core piece of your recruitment strategy, you can improve your offer acceptance rate.   

Candidates Expect More from Your Employer Value Proposition

Your employer value proposition (EVP) is the distillation of what you offer candidates and what you expect in return. In the past, organizations relied heavily on brand recognition and compensation as their primary EVP. But, more than ever, candidates expect flexible work options, formal succession planning, mentorship programs, open communication and real-time feedback to be part of an employer’s value.

Before candidates reach the offer phase, make sure you have clearly communicated what makes you different as an employer. When candidates understand your story and how you view your role as an employer, they can get a picture of what they can expect if they accept your offer.

Plan ahead to ensure that candidates have information about the team they’ll be working with and the types of projects they’ll work on. When appropriate, you can also create an opportunity for the candidates to meet their future coworkers during the recruiting process.

Compensation, Benefits & Perks

Presenting benefits and compensation begins with your job postings. According to a survey conducted by Glassdoor, more than half of the respondents listed salary (67%) and benefits (63%) as top factors they looked for in job ads. By listing the salary range, benefits and perks this early on, you are less likely to lose a candidate at the end of the process solely because the salary and benefits offered are less than they are willing to accept.

When making a job offer, begin with an in-depth discussion with the candidate to determine which benefits and perks they value the most; it may be possible to create an offer package that is personalized enough to meet their needs. Furthermore, it’s important to know the difference between a perk and a benefit, as they are two different categories of non-wage compensation items.

employment offer letter

Benefits: Benefits are best described as a form of non-wage compensation that complements salary. Health insurance, transit assistance, stock options and retirement contributions are some of the most popular benefits offered by organizations.

Perks: Perks are above-and-beyond offerings that may sway a candidate to value one organization over another. Think about these like the “icing on the cake.” Perks at work may include a company car; retail discounts; summer hours; gym memberships; standing desks and off-site, team-building activities. These perks can really sweeten an employment offer and increase the likelihood of acceptance.

Non-Traditional Perks & Benefits

A survey released by TriNet found that 91% of respondents at small- and medium-sized businesses view non-traditional benefits as an important aspect of their job satisfaction. According to the survey, non-traditional benefits include perks such as flexible work schedules, commuter benefits, unlimited paid time off, paid volunteer time, remote work options and more. 

If your organization offers non-traditional perks and benefits, leverage them to sweeten job offers. These days, candidates are becoming less concerned with salary alone and more concerned with overall compensation – including a better work-life balance and greater workplace flexibility. If your organization offers employees access to a gym, the option to work from home or other alluring perks, make sure to mention these when discussing benefits with candidates.

Entwining Benefits & Employer Branding

Fusing your benefits package with your employer brand gives your benefits program a distinct identity and purpose aligned with your core values. It’s something that candidates should be able to recognize in every aspect of your benefits presentation. In particular, your benefits mission statement should be clear and concise, but also unique to your organization. Strive to make it a natural extension of your broader organizational values. For instance, if excellent customer service is an area of focus at your company, craft your benefits mission statement to highlight how your benefits seek to anticipate and meet the needs of employees.

A financial services client of PeopleScout’s is one example of blending employer branding and benefits. Specifically, the client provided a comprehensive and generous maternity leave policy for expecting mothers. However, when communicating its maternity leave policy, the benefit wasn’t featured in a way that effectively highlighted the company’s commitment to supporting new parents. While informative and to the point, this approach to educating employees about the policy was misaligned with the client’s employer brand of empowerment.

PeopleScout worked with this client to craft new and more brand-aligned communications about the maternity leave policy. The new messaging shared in the excitement of expecting employees, while also highlighting the challenges expecting mothers face in the workplace. Employee communications about the maternity leave policy centered on the values of empowerment and support for employees – inside and outside of the organization’s walls.

Engaging & Communicating With Candidates During the Employment Offer Process

Initial Conversations

Once you’ve decided on a candidate, don’t waste time reaching out and sharing the good news. Otherwise, the candidate may accept a position elsewhere or develop a negative attitude about your organization if they are left waiting too long.

When you contact the candidate, discuss the details of the job offer. If the candidate is satisfied with your offer, ask for verbal acceptance and let them know a formal offer of employment will be sent shortly.

Follow Up & Keeping Candidates Warm

After verbal acceptance of your offer, stay in contact with the candidate to keep them engaged and interested in the role. When following up, don’t be overly eager or too pushy; instead, allow the candidate some time to think about your offer. While the candidate considers your job offer, stay in touch through the candidate’s preferred method of communication. The purpose of your follow-up correspondence should be to reinforce your enthusiasm about having the candidate join your team.

Follow-ups with new details about the offer, like “You will be working at X location” or “Would you prefer to work on a Mac or a PC?” allow you to stay connected while relaying information that is relevant to the candidate. What’s more, keeping in touch enables you to continue to build a positive relationship with candidates after the offer.

The Official Offer Letter

An offer letter represents the final stage in your recruiting process and is the legal document that defines the employment relationship between your organization and the candidate. For those reasons, it is critical to get it right.

Think of the offer letter as a formal invitation for the candidate to become an employee of your organization. Like any invitation, your offer letter should send a warm and positive message to the candidate. Articulate a friendly, welcoming tone and indicate your anticipation of the candidate’s future contributions to your organization. The offer letter should inform candidates of their compensation and benefits, as well as include a description of their role and responsibilities.

Consider creating multiple templates for offer letters, especially if you have distinct categories of employees. Then, personalize them to match the candidate and to ensure that each candidate receives the right information for their situation.

Organizations that want to fill open roles with qualified and talented employees need to approach recruitment in the same way that sales and marketing teams approach engaging and closing clients. Look for creative ways to show why your organization is a great place to work.

And, finally, solicit and provide feedback to candidates; this communicates that you value their input and that your organization – like the candidate – is using the exchange as a teachable moment meant to foster growth, which is an indicator of a positive workplace culture. By focusing on your brand, culture and benefits, as well as keeping in touch with candidates, you’ll maximize your ability to land – and keep – the best talent.

Hiring for Highly Skilled Workers and Hard to Fill Jobs

Posted on by edyson

When facing a tight and highly competitive talent market, employers find it even more difficult to hire for hard to fill jobs. What’s more, the dearth of highly skilled talent in critical industries can lower an organization’s productivity, which, if let unabated, could have a major effect on the global economy.

According to a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) report, vacancies for jobs requiring highly skilled workers or in-demand skills are among the most difficult to fill. The talent acquisition professionals surveyed in the report said the following job categories are most difficult to recruit:

In this article, we’ll cover how organizations can identify, source and hire highly skilled talent more effectively.

Creating Candidate Personas for Hard to Fill Jobs

Before you source, recruit and hire highly skilled talent, you must first outline the skills, attributes, experience and tendencies of your ideal candidate by creating a candidate persona. A candidate persona is a semi-fictional illustration of a candidate who exemplifies what you are looking for in a specific role. An accurate candidate persona will help your talent team tailor its strategies and approach to best suit the talent you are looking to hire. This is especially important when recruiting highly skilled candidates who have diverse and unique requirements, drivers and employment expectations.

Your candidate persona needs to answer key questions. Begin by answering these questions using existing data from your applicant tracking system (ATS) and customer relationship management (CRM) databases on candidates and employees. You can also interview current employees – especially those who align with your ideal candidate – for their feedback. Below is an example of a candidate persona template:

Hard to fill jobs

Make sure your personas are representative of actual human beings – rather than a portrait of an overly idealized, fictional candidate. Also, be cautious when creating candidate personas; giving your personas names and pictures to make them seem more realistic and multi-dimensional is great, but it may also lead to bias. Instead, keep personal identifiers to a minimum to avoid discrimination and maximize diversity. 

Sourcing Highly Skilled Candidates

Leveraging Social Media

LinkedIn is a favorite social media recruiting tool for talent professionals. However, oversaturation is the predominate reason that many hiring managers claim that recruiting on LinkedIn has become less effective. Despite being inundated with competitors, LinkedIn is still one of the most important tools in a recruiter’s toolbox. However, sourcing talent on other social media is also a vital part of a modern recruiting strategy.

  • Twitter: Use Twitter’s advanced search function to hunt for user profiles that use industry-related keywords and hashtags. Then, refine your search based on location and other important criteria. For example, if you’re looking to fill a developer position, search Twitter for specific software and developer-related keywords within your organization’s target market. This search can uncover developers in your area with the experience you’re looking for.
  • Facebook: Facebook’s targeted search capabilities enable you to find high-quality, skilled workers who align with specific criteria. For example, if you search “copywriters with packaging marketing experience,” Facebook will return a result with matching profiles. Reach out to these candidates to see if they would be interested in interviewing with your organization.

The power in using your social media accounts goes beyond sourcing candidates for hard to fill jobs; you can also showcase your organization’s employer brand and culture to entice and engage talent.

Employee Referrals

To gain a competitive edge, look to your employees. An employee referral program can help your organization expand its network with a ready-made talent pool. Employees have contacts with former classmates and co-workers, and their referrals are more likely to be qualified and a good fit with the company culture.

Additionally, consider posting open positions in office areas, announcing openings at company meetings and sharing them in company-wide communications to help employees keep referrals top of mind. Also, regularly remind employees about the rewards for referrals, such as financial compensation or other perks. Even if a referred candidate is not a good fit for a particular position, you can still consider them for different roles, which can help supplement a robust talent pipeline.

Leverage Recruiting Automation & AI Tools to Source Candidates

Innovations in talent technology have transformed every phase of the recruiting process. One phase that has seen enormous change due to technology is candidate sourcing. Candidate sourcing is the most important phase in recruiting highly skilled talent because the talent pool is more constricted.

Today, talent tools powered by artificial intelligence can locate passive candidates for hard to fill jobs much faster and more efficiently than ever before. AI technology crawls the internet to collect and analyze a wide variety of candidate data – from résumés to social media activity. Based on this data, AI-based tools can help make predictions about which candidates will be open to switching jobs, making it easier for recruiters to prioritize those candidates.

Selling Your Hard to Fill Jobs

When it comes time for the interview, you’re not just interviewing highly skilled candidates; they’re interviewing you, as well. To effectively “sell” your opportunities, outline and communicate the benefits of working for your organization. Effective communication on the front end can save your company significant time and effort.

Understand What It’s Like to Work for Your Organization

To properly sell the role, make sure that you have an accurate view of your organization from the perspective of your employees – both current and former. Consider deploying surveys to obtain feedback from current employees and make sure to conduct exit interviews with departing talent. Take the feedback you receive and craft an objective report of your employee experience. When you understand the day-to-day experiences of your current and former employees, you can better sell an accurate and positive depiction of what it’s like to work for your organization. 

Understand Your Employer Value Proposition

Your employer value proposition (EVP) is what you are selling to the candidate. Recruiters and hiring managers need to know – and be comfortable articulating – the value proposition of your organization. In other words, you need to answer the question, “Why would someone want to work for you in this position?” Your employer value proposition includes a range of tangible and intangible benefits of working at your organization, such as: work/life balance, flexibility, culture, values, compensation and benefits. Know the benefits of working for your company, and make sure that you effectively “sell” it to highly skilled candidates.

For instance, PeopleScout helps a client to maximize its employer brand to attract a healthy pipeline of top talent. The client, which has a global presence in the construction industry, works with PeopleScout to highlight its unique culture to potential employees. During the hiring process, hiring managers communicate the client’s mission of: minimizing environmental impact and maximizing sustainability; creating innovative approaches to complex industry problems; and promoting the well-being of its employees.

As an example, the client offers three days of “well-being” PTO that can be taken in addition to the traditional leave offered by the client. These days are seen as necessary for employees working in a physically and mentally taxing industry, and illustrate the client’s commitment to the well-being of its staff. What’s more, the client also offers multiple flexible work arrangements to increase work-life balance – a prudent, yet uncommon, benefit in the industry. By helping our client weave in its mission, culture and brand into the recruiting process, the team has been able to establish the company as an employer of choice for highly skilled talent. 

Be Careful Not to Oversell

In addition to the perks, it’s also important for candidates to have an objective understanding of the challenges that may come with working at your organization. You don’t have to paint an unflattering picture of your hard to fill jobs, but it is important to provide accurate information up front. Overselling or omitting information will start the employment relationship off on the wrong foot should they accept your offer, and could lead to higher turnover. It won’t take a new hire long to figure out that what they were told before they were hired is not the reality of the role. For example, if your role requires irregular or long hours, communicate that to the candidate. This allows the candidate to make a fully informed decision and mitigate the risk of immediate disengagement.

What Candidates Want to Know

Just like you want to know about a candidate’s background and experience, highly skilled candidates also want to know what they can expect from employment at your organization. In particular, during the recruiting process, they may be interested in: 

  • The candidate’s potential for growth: Highly skilled candidates want to know how leaping to a new organization is going to benefit them – especially in relation to the growth and overall well-being of their careers.
  • The role’s potential for growth: Candidates may want to go beyond the position in its current form and discuss what the position could be and how the role ties into the organization’s plans for the future. 
  • Your organization’s potential for growth: Highly skilled candidates want to be part of a winning team, so show them how your organization is driving success.
  • Your organization’s culture: Candidates want to know that the position is going to be a good fit, and that includes how they fit into your organization’s culture. 

The evolving landscape of talent acquisition requires a more proactive, multi-touch approach to attracting highly skilled talent and converting them into applicants and, ultimately, hires. As the global economy continues to grow and the demand and competition for highly skilled talent rises as a result, organizations need to stay abreast of the scope of talent available in the market.

Retail Recruiters: Creating a Winning Retail Recruiting Strategy

Posted on by edyson

There is no doubt that the internet has forever changed the way customers shop. Despite this, in-store sales continue to trend upward. In fact, in-store sales revenue growth has outpaced e-commerce sales steadily over the last decade. To support in-store demand and continue growth, retail employers need top-performing talent in the right positions.

Unfortunately, with a tight labor market and various retail recruiting challenges, it is now harder than ever for retail recruiters to find the right candidates. In this article, we cover the best hiring practices for retail recruiters to help you source, attract and hire the best retail talent.

Defining Your Hiring Goals as Retail Recruiters

Regardless of industry, the first step in the recruiting journey begins with outlining how many hires you need to make, what positions you are looking to fill and the timeline you need to hire by. By outlining these goals early on in the recruitment process, you develop a clear strategy that helps you meet your organization’s talent needs.

As a retail recruiter, your organization’s hiring goals may fluctuate or change depending on seasonality and store openings, so in addition to your current hiring needs, also anticipate future needs when creating your hiring goals.

Do not be afraid to change your goals as you go. Outside factors, such as new competitors, a change in demand or opening of a new store, might influence the goals you established. If you need to make a shift to your strategy, remain agile enough to do so.

Sourcing Retail Candidates

For a retail organization to thrive, it takes a diverse range of individuals working together towards a common goal. So, it should come as no surprise that when searching for top retail talent, retail recruiters need to cast a wide net.

While some companies may focus on hiring high school or college students looking for part-time or seasonal jobs, others may want experienced full-time candidates in search of careers. If you’re hiring low wage, low skill labor, community sites like Craigslist or standard job boards can help you attract students or young individuals looking to gain some experience. If you’re looking for more experienced retail workers, try more targeted job boards like iHireRetail or LinkedIn.

It is essential to know where your potential candidates are active and advertise your open jobs strategically. Use location-specific job boards, local papers or blogs, or other targeted strategies to help pinpoint your area for the best candidates.

When sourcing for seasonal positions, using digital and social media ads along with email as a way to find and attract talent can pay huge dividends. Just make sure you create a specific careers site to send seasonal candidates too. This way it will be easier for them to find information on the opportunity without having to navigate your full careers website.  

Finally, you can also look at your customers as potential candidates when recruiting new employees. When your employees are passionate about your brand and products, like loyal customers often are, they can help increase sales and educate new shoppers about what you offer.

Retail Recruiters Need to Go Online

Retailers of today are operating in a competitive space that requires forward-thinking as well as online and social savviness. If you want to attract applicants who have those traits, you should take your recruitment efforts beyond traditional channels such as job boards. Social media is known to be an effective recruitment tool. LinkedIn, for instance, has a number of talent solutions that enable you to find, vet and contact candidates.

Social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter, while not specifically made for recruiting, can also help you find new hires. Use Twitter to spread the word about your openings and put a special careers tab on your Facebook page where your fans can browse and apply for jobs.

Even Instagram has proven to be a good platform, particularly for companies looking for young and fresh talent. As Software Advice cited in this piece on Instagram recruiting, a study by the Pew Research Center found that the largest group using Instagram is adults between 18-29 years of age with some college education. This makes it an ideal platform to attract a new generation of applicants.

So, make it a point to spruce up your employer profile on social media. A good way to do this is to share fun team photos on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. And if you are actively recruiting, spread the word by posting “we’re hiring” images on your accounts and running targeted social media campaigns to attract the right candidates. You can also show your company culture and promote things such as the flexibility in the workplace you provide, your commitment to diversity and inclusion and more.

For Retail Recruiters, Attitude is the New Experience  

When hiring in retail, which is a bigger predictor of a candidate’s success: attitude or experience? In the case of industries like retail, an employee’s attitude is often more important than their experience. What’s more, The Future of Work: The Augmented Workforce study conducted by Deloitte found that “skills such as empathy, communication, persuasion, personal service, problem-solving, and strategic decision-making are more valuable than ever.”

Retail Recruiters

Whether it’s assisting customers at a department store or managing an automotive supply store, each role within the retail industry requires the right attitude. So, how can retail recruiters ensure they hire candidates who have the right attitude? You can start by assessing candidates’ soft skills in the workplace.

Key soft skills to look for in retail candidates

  • Willing and eager to learn
  • Patient
  • Inquisitive
  • Competitive
  • Problem-solving skills
  • Responsible
  • Good communicator
  • Strong listener
  • Team-oriented
  • Emphatic
  • Can-do attitudes
  • High emotional intelligence

The good news is that many of these soft skills go hand-in-hand, so finding retail candidates who exhibit these qualities and attitudes will not be as difficult as it may seem.

Group Interviews and Assessing Soft Skills

A great ways to find candidates with the right soft skills is to conduct group interviews. Candidates at Disney’s retail Store go through a group interview process where they are quizzed on Disney trivia and are asked to sell a product to the rest of the team.

Conducting group interviews provides you an opportunity to glean insights into someone’s soft skills by observing how they conduct themselves around other people, how they handle a stressful situation and you get to understanding of how they will fit with your team.

The Gist

Retail recruiters and the industry as a whole face a unique set of challenges when attracting top talent with the right skills. With the majority of the retail workforce comprised of hourly, part-time and seasonal employees, recruiting quality workers quickly is a tall order.

There is no one-size-fits-all strategy or tactic to retail recruiters. However, armed with the tips we have shared you can develop a retail recruiting strategy that fits your organization’s unique issues, needs and culture. Remember, get to know your candidate pool, create a robust employer brand, utilize the internet and talent technology tools. If you cover all of these bases, you can improve your recruitment process and make smarter hiring decisions.

Healthcare Workforce Planning for Improved Patient Care

Posted on by epadmin

According to U.S. census data, the senior population will experience unprecedented growth in the coming years, with the population of individuals aged 65 and over projected to be 83.7 million by 2050. The projected growth of the senior population and the rise in insured individuals as a result of the Affordable Care Act, present both opportunities and challenges for healthcare organizations. To meet the rising demand on the healthcare system, it is imperative for healthcare organizations to proactively plan for the future. In this post, we outline the steps organizations can take towards healthcare workforce planning to ensure they are well-equipped to handle the changes and challenges in hiring for healthcare.

The Case for Healthcare Workforce Planning

According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report, 439,000 new nursing jobs will be added to the economy by 2024, along with 700,000 nursing vacancies created by retiring Baby Boomers. Nursing is not the only healthcare profession facing a talent shortage, a study conducted by the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that the U.S. will face a shortage of between 40,800 and 104,900 physicians by 2030. As the healthcare sector grows, so too does the shortage of essential clinical staff.

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Healthcare organizations that lack a clear healthcare staffing plan may experience an imbalance in staff that can result in an inability to achieve business objectives and hinders the ability to provide adequate care for patients in the face of growing demand.

By developing a healthcare workforce plan that is responsive to hiring needs, healthcare organizations can more effectively manage recruiting and staffing challenges. What’s more, healthcare workforce planning can give organizations an advantage in attracting top medical talent. In turn, helping improve patient care.

Challenges in Healthcare Workforce Planning

With dramatic shifts occurring in the healthcare workforce, the leadership of healthcare organizations needs to identify challenges to their respective organizations and lead the discussion on workforce planning and development. Leaders need to ensure that healthcare workforce planning is a part of comprehensive strategic planning for their organizations, not a far-off solution to future issues not yet manifested.

The American Hospital Association’s Committee on Performance Improvement surveyed healthcare leaders and experts in the field to identify the key workforce challenges highlighted below:

  • Rural communities are facing challenges in recruiting healthcare professionals and providing education and training opportunities to current staff.
  • Healthcare leaders report facing an inadequate supply of behavioral health professionals to fill roles within their organizations.
  • The need for an improved educational pipeline and partnerships between academic and medical institutions need to be strengthened.
  • Identifying and harnessing technology to meet future workforce needs.
  • Improving commitment to workplace diversity in all aspects — race, ethnicity, gender and age.

While addressing these challenges head-on with healthcare workforce planning is a step in the right direction, healthcare leaders need to also effectively communicate the importance of upcoming changes to their organization.

Navigating Healthcare Workforce Imbalances

Effective healthcare workforce planning takes imbalances in available talent and resources needed to meet organizational staffing requirements into account, whether those imbalances are due to insufficient financial resources to recruit healthcare professionals or a shortage of qualified candidates to fill positions. To address imbalances, healthcare organizations should conduct an internal review of resources available for recruiting and survey the healthcare talent market for insights.

To properly understand potential imbalances, healthcare organizations should take the following factors into account:

  • Traditionally, the unbalanced distribution of the healthcare workforce resulted in greater disparity in available healthcare professionals between rural and urban locations. As the healthcare talent gap widens, urban communities are now seeing similar imbalances between available talent and open positions.
  • The availability of healthcare workers and financial resources is influenced by whether a healthcare organization is public or private. Depending on an organization’s alignment, they should plan to address limitations and capitalize on advantages respective to their private or public status.
  • The government can also influence the healthcare worker talent market by creating laws or establishing public policy to regulate the talent market.
  • The healthcare educational system and professional institutions are verdant talent pipelines and also play a role in healthcare imbalance, impacting the number of candidates available.

Once a review has been conducted, healthcare organizations can then draft a plan of action to address challenges in healthcare recruiting.

Defining Workforce Planning Roles and Responsibilities

Before creating a healthcare workforce plan, stakeholders need to identify why a workforce plan is needed and for whom ownership of the planning process belongs. Stakeholders should clearly communicate the intended use of the healthcare workforce plan and its scope; whether it will cover a single service area, a particular patient facility, or an entire nationwide healthcare network.

Once need and scope are established, stakeholders should communicate who will be responsible for ensuring the plan is delivered and who will be involved in the planning process, including senior and executive staff, physicians, HR professionals, community relations and outreach staff and others who may have a role in the plan’s implementation.

Defining the Required Workforce

After establishing roles and responsibilities, healthcare workforce planners must assess their organization’s hiring needs and what skills and specialized labor are required to fill positions. Workforce planners will also need to determine the number of workers needed to fulfill the healthcare organization’s workforce demand. In order to estimate workforce demand, planners must consider their existing workforce, turnover rate, current hiring model and average time-to-fill metrics.

Assessing Healthcare Workforce Availability

This step involves surveying the existing healthcare workforce both nationally and regionally, the number of credentialed candidates available to fill positions and assessing issues arising from retirement or turnover. Healthcare workforce planners should consider the practicalities and cost of any retraining, redeployment and/or recruitment activities that could increase or change their organization’s workforce.

Developing a Plan

A crucial element of healthcare staff planning is the development of a plan to acquire and retain the necessary number of qualified candidates and employees to fill an organization’s talent pipeline. To achieve this, workforce planners should identify the specific policies and practices for acquiring, developing, assessing and retaining talent and look for areas of improvement.

While identifying policies and practices, planners should outline specific recommendations and changes they believe will improve planning and share them with leadership for future action. Planners need to take into account the potential effects and outcomes of new policies and practices when making suggestions to ensure that short-term solutions do not mask long-term and reoccurring issues.

Community Partnerships

The role of healthcare providers is changing, and to meet the needs of patients and the communities they serve, each organization needs to evaluate its role within the community and how they can better partner with local organizations.

Community partnerships are not just outreach vehicles; they can also enhance talent pipeline sustainability and help an organization’s recruitment efforts. The primary partnerships that should be considered are local universities and community colleges.

In addition to partnering with educational institutions, healthcare organizations should consider partnering with public health departments, social service organizations, law enforcement and community development groups. Developing relationships with both private and public institutions should become a key to any successful healthcare workforce plan.

Monitoring and Refreshing the Healthcare Workforce Plan

After a healthcare workforce plan is implemented, periodic reviews and adjustments are essential for continued success. Workforce planners need to establish a review and monitoring process so they can amend the healthcare workforce plan according to changes in the organization’s healthcare hiring needs. The plan should be explicit about how success will be measured so stakeholders and leadership can have transparency on the success of the workforce plan. What’s more, a proper monitoring program can help identify any unintended consequences of changes and offer leadership the opportunity to take corrective action if needed.

A well-crafted monitoring program should take into account the future strategic direction of an organization and how specific successes and failures will affect workforce needs in the future. Assessments are also useful in evaluating the skill sets of current staff, determining the future needs of patients and identifying the actions needed to build partnerships for a steady talent pipeline.

Conclusion

For the success of any healthcare organization, workforce planners must continually assess the impact of their hiring model, employee retention strategy and talent sourcing methods. Workforce planners should be clear about what they expect to achieve through planning. Their objective should allow the development and maintenance of a health workforce with the skills to support their organization.

Global Implementation: Is Your Talent Program Ready for the World Stage?

Posted on by skatz

The shift toward global expansion is top of mind in many of today’s organizations, and for good reason: going global brings opportunities that may otherwise go untapped—such as new revenue sources, cultural diversification, economies of scale and greater access to talent. So, as your talent program grows, you may be considering expanding beyond your current borders.

Similar to traveling internationally, there are many steps to taking your business’ talent acquisition program global. As you plan for a trip abroad, you may make a packing checklist, get your passport and prepare accommodations. There’s anticipation as you near your trip date, and even some nerves as you take flight. You don’t quite know what to expect, but you’re excited about the possibilities of what you’ll discover. After an invigorating visit, you recount your trip and replay all you’ve experienced – good and bad. Global talent acquisition deployments are similar, and in this article, we’ll outline factors to consider throughout the different stages of implementation.

Choosing Your Global Talent Acquisition Deployment Type

The first item on any traveler’s checklist is determining where to go. When it comes to global implementations, get a good handle on the location or locations you’ll be expanding into before taking off. After considering talent supply, cultural nuances and how easy (or difficult!) it is to do business in a certain location, selecting a deployment type should be straightforward.

There are two main types of global talent acquisition deployments:

  1. “Big Bang” Approach: If you opt for this method, you’ll be launching all operations at one time on a singular date. This might be the choice for you if the main goal is compliance to global policies and procedures that align with a specific set of dates and standards.
  2. Phased Approach: This type of deployment type favors a slower rollout of operations over time – which might be helpful for first-generation managed service provider (MSP), recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) or total workforce solutions programs that you want your organization to ease into.

Factors to Consider

After choosing a travel destination, you’ll start looking into the details of the location you’re visiting. What’s the weather like? What language do people speak? Where are the best food spots in town? In essence, seemingly small aspects tend to have large effects on the success of your trip. Likewise, once you’ve taken all of the initial expansion considerations into account, you’re better equipped to further assess pivotal factors that will greatly influence the success of the overall deployment, including the following significant global and local influencers.

Key Stakeholder Identification & Support Capacity

It’s crucial to align organizational expansion plans with regional cultural norms and any specific local nuances. For example, when initially organizing the details, are there any types of communication styles that are considered rude or offensive? This is crucial to ascertain for positive program adoption from the start. Also, be sure to frame that local focus to stakeholders, as opposed to communicating a message that essentially states that a new program will be laid over local operations. Stress the fact that you’ll be interweaving existing operations with new features and benefits to ensure maximum success for the program and all involved.

Additionally, focus on ensuring that all voices are heard—from local teams to individual hiring managers—to avoid any passive resistance; you’ll want to fully understand how people work in that particular location and what day-to-day norms mean to ensure the success of the program. Try putting yourself in the shoes of the end-user; a seemingly simple concept like shadowing can go a long way in showing the local constituency that you’re invested in the success of the program at their specific location.

Availability of Talent

We’re currently seeing low unemployment rates paired with skills shortages across the globe—a trend we haven’t seen consistently in the past. Because of this, consider shifting your focus to soft skills when it comes to assessing the talent landscape in a given region. This means concentrating on skills like critical thinking, problem solving and adaptability to new environments. No matter whether you’re introducing a new industry to the area, carefully decipher what the competition for talent looks like. From there, you can start developing a well-thought-out sourcing plan to align the resources necessary for a successful deployment.

Change Management and Global Talent Acquisition

global talent acquisition

When done right, change management can have the greatest effect on deployment success. A critical component of managing change in global talent acquisition implementations is gaining buy-in from key, local stakeholders. Then, you can depend on these stakeholders to translate (literally and figuratively), the feedback needed to take into consideration.

Another vital part of managing change is ensuring the right amount of frequency to ensure consistent alignment. Rather than one initial message followed by months of silence leading up to the “go-live” communication, consider a layering approach. Keep communications frequent, consistent and to the point to get people excited about what’s coming and interested in what the changes mean for them.

And, as important as it is to keep communication consistent as you prepare for launch, it’s just as critical post-launch. Reinforce the benefits people should be seeing, ensuring everyone is comfortable with the changes and collecting feedback around any training or functionality that may need revisiting. A high level of communication and comfort translates into successful program adoption.

For more on change management, check out our Talking Talent Podcast.

Technology Readiness

When it comes to talent technology, several different factors need to be considered. For an MSP program, the main component is the vendor management system (VMS). Along the same lines, with an RPO program, you’ll be focused on the applicant tracking system (ATS) and any other systems that may need to be integrated for either or both. Similar systems may be utilized across an organization with varying local versions, so it’s important to understand what consistencies exist, as well as gaps that need to be addressed.

Ensure the pros and cons are carefully weighed across the systems the technology will interface with, then try to choose one as a “source of truth” for compliance, data validation and data integrity. In doing so, you’ll see consistency across the talent technology, giving you a true, holistic view of the workforce when it comes to analytics and reporting.

Finance & Tax

What’s important here – and heavily dependent upon the workforce population at hand – is ensuring that there is clear visibility and guidance around cross-border implications, such as supplier and provider payments, global and statutory requirements, or arrangements in which a hiring manager sits in a different location than the resource. This becomes especially important when there is an integration with an invoicing system and effects on back-office operations.

The Stages of a Global Talent Acquisition Launch

After months of preparation, you’re finally leaving for your much-anticipated trip. You just have to check in to your flight, print your boarding pass and you’re on your way! After a two-week experience you’ll never forget, you return home to tell your friends and family every detail of your getaway (even down to the hotel mishap on night three). Your global deployment will go through similar stages, as outlined below.

Pre-launch

At the pre-launch stage, all stakeholders should have a good working knowledge of what’s coming and when, and you should have a good sense of how everyone is feeling. Are people comfortable with what’s coming? Are they ready for it? What needs to be adjusted now based on the feedback collected?

Ensure that all technology components are operating as planned, and that enough time has been dedicated to testing different scenarios that will be realized upon launch. The quickest way to do this is by running through predetermined scripts and observing how the technology responds. If time allows, some organizations also subscribe to a “break the system” approach by trying out every possible or one-off scenario – including erroneous field data – to assess the outcome. While this takes more time, it also tends to be the most thorough, especially if multiple technologies are at play.

Successful Launch

global talent acquisition

When it comes to executing a successful launch, the biggest components are represented above. As you progress in the implementation, it’s wise to consistently refine change management, calibrate resource alignment and pivot as needed, so as not to lose momentum as progress is made. Remember to share successes along the way, and not to lose sight of the overall goals of the program.

Furthermore, whether you’re evolving your program or expanding into additional locations, consider the overall maturity of the labor market market and generation of the program you’re launching. For instance, if this is a second-generation program, what do you need to consider from the first launch and potentially change? It’s also important to communicate the fact that unexpected issues may arise and, if they do, it’s critical to address these obstacles transparently.

Post Launch

Once the program expansion has launched, consider the following recommendations:

  • Dedicate time to complete a thorough audit: Assess how well the goals were met, taking into account that they may have changed over time.
  • Schedule a “lessons learned” meeting: Identify and capitalize on best practices acquired throughout the launch.
  • Check in at all levels of the operation: Work to understand what is and isn’t working.

As data starts coming in regularly, analyze for trends that may not have been visible before to determine any adjustments that need to be made related to resources, processes or technology.

After any trip, you spend some time at home reliving the experience and getting reassimilated with your day-to-day life. You think about what you did and didn’t like, go over what you learned, and naturally decide whether you want to take another trip. Maybe the destination was so great that you want to go back, or perhaps you’re ready for something new. Global talent acquisition implementations are similar, and whether you’ve met your needs with one deployment or are planning for further expansion, the right talent partner can help take you there.

Finding the Right Partner

Choosing a partner to help you through your global talent acquisition deployment is like choosing an airline. Are they reputable? Dependable? Can they get you where you need to be? Most important, can you trust them with your bags? When you’re looking into viable partners to work with for your implementation, ask yourself:

  • Do they align with our business needs?
  • Will they deliver value across every level of the organization?
  • Are they flexible?
  • Do they have any proven standards?
  • Do they have the ability and experience to tailor operations as needed?

Don’t be shy about asking your potential talent partner to prove their value. Request case studies and demonstrated expertise that illustrates that they have the experience you’re looking for. Finding a partner that is a good fit for your organization is a huge undertaking and you want to make sure you get it right. You’ll likely be working with them for a long period of time, and the success of your implementation will depend on the strength of your relationship and the trust you have in your partner.

PeopleScout Canada Jobs Report Analysis — December 2019

Posted on by nfuqua

Statistics Canada reported that the nation’s unemployment fell to 5.6%. In December, the economy added 35,000 jobs, beating analyst expectations. The total number of jobs added in Canada in 2019 was 320,000. Average weekly wages increased 3.7% on an annual basis. Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and Prince Edward Island all posted job gains, while declines were recorded in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Canada jobs report infographic

The Numbers

35,000: The economy gained 35,000 jobs in December.

5.6%: The unemployment rate fell to 5.6%.

3.7%: Weekly wages increased 3.7% over the last year.

The Good

Statistics Canada reported that 35,000 jobs were added to the national economy in December, which in great part reversed the losses recorded in November. In 2019, employment increased by 320,000 or 1.7%. This was primarily due to gains in full-time work which grew by 283,000 or 1.9%. In contrast to the United States, Canada added more jobs in 2019 than in 2018. 

From an annual perspective, Ontario, Canada’s most populous province was a clear winner in job growth. Employment in Ontario increased 243,000, an impressive 3.3%. This was the largest year-over-year increase measured in December since 1987, and the growth was driven by full-time jobs in a range of industries. Quebec also posted healthy gains in 2019 adding 63,000 positions growing 1.5% over the year and was driven by full-time work. The strongest gains were from the two groups at opposite ends of the age spectrum, youth aged 15 and 24 and people aged 55 and over.

Weekly wage growth dipped in the final report of the decade on an annual basis, but it is still one and a half percentage points higher than the rate of inflation. Canada ended the year and the decade on a positive note with unemployment dropping three-tenths of a percentage point to 3.6%.

The Bad

At 3.6%, Canada’s unemployment rate was the same in December 2019 as it was in December 2018. In May, the unemployment rate dipped to 5.4% which was a record low since the start of comparable record-keeping in 1976. The ensuing months produced uneven results which disappointed observers hoping for an extended period of historic low unemployment. 

While the job gains in December were generally considered strong, they did not completely make up for the November losses. In addition, the strongest sectors for job gains was in accommodations and food service and in construction. While an increase in construction jobs in the midst of winter is considered to be a positive indicator, growth in foodservice and the hotel sector may be short-term since they are closely tied to the holiday season. Even the robust growth in Ontario posted losses in one troubled sector, posting losses for jobs in manufacturing. Most other large provinces had little significant change in their job levels in 2019.

Wage growth, while still strong, has been fluctuating throughout the year so there is no clear trend that has been established. Annual pay increases at the hourly level in some key sectors of the Canadian economy were well below that national rate of 3.6%. For example, the increase in the sales and services sector, stood at 2.6% in December, a full percentage point below the national figure.

Future Job Growth:  Geography as Destiny?

Over the past year, Ontario accounted for 76% of Canada’s job growth.  Based on last year’s numbers, almost all job increases are taking place east of Manitoba. However, when viewed on a provincial basis, these numbers can be misleading. It is instructive to look at some local growth rates to get a more accurate picture.  While British Columbia’s job market may be stagnant, Abbotsford and Victoria were ranked third and fourth, on BMO’s ranking of cities with the strongest job markets. Alberta’s relatively sluggish job market is contrasted with Calgary which added 3.3% new jobs last year, vastly outpacing the national rate.

And despite the surface geographical contrasts, the variance between the best-performing and worst-performing parts of the country is narrowing. As BMO’s senior economist Robert Kavcic notes, “job convergence is taking place all over Canada.” Canadian employers should look beyond the headlines to assess the accurate jobs situation in their markets and sectors as they plan their strategies for recruitment and retention in the rapidly evolving labour environment.

PeopleScout U.S. Jobs Report Analysis — December 2019

Posted on by nfuqua

The Labor Department released its December 2019 jobs report which shows that U.S. employers added 145,000 jobs in December, which was below analyst expectations. The unemployment rate remained at 3.5%. The labor force participation rate was also unchanged at 63.2%. Year-over-year wage growth slipped to 2.9%. U.S. employers have added to payrolls for 111 straight months, extending the longest continuous jobs expansion on record.

U.S. Jobs Report infographic

The Numbers

145,000: The economy added 145,000 jobs in December.

3.5%: The unemployment rate held at 3.5%.

2.9%:  Average hourly wages increased at a rate of 2.9% over the last year.

The Good

The final jobs report of the decade showed another month of solid job growth. The average monthly gains for the last three months of 2019 were 184,000, which is close to the quarterly averages earlier in the year. In the last year, 2.1 million jobs were added, which is more than sufficient to keep up with the demands of population growth. There were notable monthly increases in the retail sector with 41,200 jobs added, in healthcare which was up by 28,000 and in leisure and hospitality which grew by 40,000.

From an annual perspective, many key sectors recorded job growth or were little changed.  Growth in healthcare was especially impressive. The sector added 399,000 jobs in 2019, increasing by 49,000 more positions than in 2018. Even some industries which experienced setbacks over the course of the year posted modest gains overall in 2019. Manufacturing grew by 46,000, and retail jobs increased by 9,000.

The year began with an unemployment rate of 4.0% in January and ended at a 50-year low of 3.5%. Significantly, an alternative measure of unemployment which captures those underemployed and marginally attached to the workforce known as the U-6, fell to 6.7% in December, the lowest on record going back to 1994.

The Bad

The December report confirmed that a decade of robust job growth ended with a notable slow-down. The 2.11 million jobs added last year was a drop from the 2.68 million added in 2018, and 2019 was ranked eighth for job growth in the past 10 years. With the exceptions of healthcare and leisure and hospitality, most key sectors added significantly fewer jobs in 2019 than in 2018. The transportation and warehousing sector which is closely tied to the overall economic health of both the nation and the world, added just 57,000 jobs in 2019, approximately one-fourth of the 2018 gain of 216,000.

The labor participation rate at 63.2% remained steady. However, this rate is still below the levels posted before the Great Recession. The stall in participation may indicate that no matter how low the unemployment rate falls, additional Americans who are out of the labor force are not being drawn back into it. Some economists have suggested that an underlying reason for this is the changing age demographics of the United States due to its low birth rate and aging population. This trend is not expected to change anytime soon.

Instead of posting strong wage gains at a time of historic low unemployment, the rate of growth actually decreased in December. While the 2.9% annual wage increase is still ahead of an inflation rate of just less than 1.5%, workers in many sectors are having their wages grow at a rate much lower than the national average. 

Easier to Get a Job Than a Raise

As Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton noted: “It’s easier to get a job than a raise in this economy.” While some employers may benefit from attracting those who are seeking a new job due to their stunted paychecks, they may be just as likely to lose talent for the same reason. Adding to the challenge of extremely low unemployment, the most recent jobs opening report showed an increase in vacancies which continues to be higher than those who are unemployed.