How often do you find yourself retuning a meal at a restaurant? Not that often, right? In fact, it’s usually only when the food has a pretty big issue: maybe it tastes terrible or is severely under-cooked. I think this serves as a perfect analogy for involuntary turnover.
These days, most of us are working from home. But how can we work smarter (and even better) than we did in the office? Sean Rehder, Checkster Community Manager and host of Let’s Talk Recruiting explores this new working reality with recruiting professionals Andy Loyd from Sonatype, Elizabeth Allen of Satellite Healthcare/WellBound, and Blick Art Materials’ Amanda Albrent as they discuss their best tips for working remotely now and in the future. Watch the webinar here!
This event is part of the “Let’s Talk Recruiting” series where a panel of recruiting practitioners get together online and have a conversation on a variety of topics related to corporate recruiting.
In today’s conversation…
Over 1 billion people around the world have some form of disability, according to The World Bank. That’s 15% of the global population. If you don’t happen to be part of that 15%, you probably haven’t thought much about accessibility. Until now.
As we enter a new decade, we’re seeing accessibility move closer and closer to a tipping point. Digital natives are gaining influence, and voices on social media are louder than ever. On top of that, diversity has evolved from a conversation to a full blown revolution.
These things have converged and are all directing out attention to the issue of accessibility. Frankly, it doesn’t make business sense to ignore it any longer.
According to a recent poll, 30% of HR leaders said they’re making accessibility improvements. Forty-one percent said “I know it’s important and want to learn more,” and 28% said “Eager to make improvements, just need budget and a plan.”
If you haven’t started on your accessibility journey, you’re not alone. But, that’s no excuse to throw it on the back burner. Here are 3 reasons why you should make accessibility a priority in 2020:
Remember GDPR? When GDPR became law in the EU, companies all over the world went frantic. One day the switch was flipped, and if you hadn’t been proactive about it, you were suddenly out of compliance with data privacy laws effecting a major chunk of the globe. It can happen that fast, or at least it seems fast when you don’t see it coming.
So here it is. We’re telling you now. Accessibility is following the same trajectory as GDPR, and it won’t be long until we see suggestions and guidelines turn into laws.
At this point, you have to ask yourself, What kind of business do I want to be? What kind of culture do I want to create? Choosing not to be accessible sends a message that diversity isn’t important enough to take action on.
Picture your logo, stamped with a big red disclaimer that says:
The last thing you want is to be ‘found out’ for allowing this to happen. Luckily, no one expects you to achieve a 100% accessibility overnight. As long as you’re taking steps, even baby steps, you’re moving in the right direction.
A good mantra to follow is:
Beyond the hit to your brand reputation, think about what your losing when you don’t provide accessible experiences. While the war for talent rages on, can you really afford to exclude 15% of the population from applying to your jobs? Can you risk losing 15% of your talent to companies that are more inclusive?
In a world where innovation is king and curiosity is an employer’s #1 competency, even a small improvement can make a world of difference. Imagine increasing diversity of thought in your company by 15%. Based on research, you can bet you’d see more than a 15% return.
Since accessibility matters for web apps, mobile apps, digital media, and basically everything your candidates and employees touch, it can feel like an impossible project. Here are some tips to help you get started:
To learn more about accessibility and how to get started, watch our webinar: How to Get a Win for Diversity & Accessibility in 2020.
Engaging top candidates today isn’t easy. Blame Millennials or Gen Z if you like, but the fact is, the candidate market is completely different than is was 10 years ago. All of us (yes, you included) now have incredibly high standards for the experience we have when doing something, be it streaming TV or applying for a job.
Whether your candidates are ‘digital natives’ or ‘digital immigrants,’ everyone in today’s workforce expects and appreciates a simple, personalized hiring experience. If you want to be a competitive employer, you need to give them that.
Your next challenge is to find a way to get the data you need for sharp, unbiased decision-making without sacrificing the experience. Do that, and you create a win-win for everyone. Here’s how:
You can’t expect candidates – who enjoy rich, vibrant experiences online and nearly everywhere they go – to raise their hand for a less-than-exciting job opportunity. Generalities, like saying, “This is a great place to work!” won’t cut it anymore. (Did it ever?) To get candidates to click APPLY, you must first give them a taste of your company, the job, and the team they might be working with. Do this by telling stories.
First, craft a narrative about your company’s history, vision, or culture, and weave it into every experience through the hiring process. Then, look for ways to spotlight company wins and employee success stories. A video about an employee’s growth within the company, a great relationship with a client, or a community outreach event are just a few ideas. Whatever it is that makes your company interesting or unique, that’s the story you should tell.
Because everything is on-demand, the days of applying and waiting are nearing their end. Candidates need to be nurtured, gratified, and kindly escorted from one step in the process to the next. Your job is to make the job of applying for a job easier than ever.
That means all the great storytelling videos you create should be accessible and easy to find up-front. After than, think about how to architect a seamless workflow that will keep candidates engaged and moving forward – such as, auto-launching an assessment at the end of the application, or providing the option to schedule a video interview immediately after the assessment.
It goes without saying that everything should be mobile-optimized. And, the more flexibility you give candidates to complete steps when it’s convenient for them, the better.
Interviews are your chance to get to know candidates on a deeper, more personal level. They’re also a chance for candidates to get to know YOU. So make sure your interviews give back to the candidate as much as they take – which can be easy to forget when using technology.
For example, if you use pre-recorded video interviews, you can help make the experience feel two-way by having real employees on screen, introducing themselves before asking an interview question. This way, candidates will have ‘met’ a handful of team members in your company, and will be able to put faces to names.
Candidates can tell the difference when hiring managers are prepared with questions, and when they’re winging it. By providing on-demand interview guides with questions that are tailored to the candidate and job, you ensure the interview is a good experience for busy managers and potential hires.
Ideally, you want interview guides to be structured and align with your company’s core values, and at the same time, be relevant and personalized to the candidate. Asking the right questions leads great job-related conversations, and makes the most of everyone’s time.
If you’ve implemented a good hiring workflow, then you’re nurturing candidates throughout the process. It’s important to have built-in touch points to let candidates know they’ve successful completed a step and what’s coming next. Much of this can be automated. But, you don’t want your process to be completely robotic.
Make sure at least some of your candidate outreach or follow up comes from a real recruiter or hiring manager. Savvy candidates know the difference and will appreciate a little undivided attention. Your goal should be to automate the mundane, repetitive tasks so that hiring teams have more time to personally connect with candidates.
See how Verisk, a Forbes’ Best Employer, is attracting and engaging top college grads.
The hiring process can be incredibly precarious. A candidate’s resume is, of course, a start — but how much can you actually learn about the true skills and employability of an applicant from just this one document? Surveys show that 84% of reviewers found exaggerations, manipulated facts, or overt lies on the resumes or applications they have screened1. This unfortunate statistic will make it difficult for anyone to discern the top talent from a mediocre job seeker.
Enter the reference check. This simple action which is so often taken for granted, even misunderstood and advocated against, is actually the golden ticket to better hiring practices. The risk of relying on a resume, your gut reaction, or a charming interviewee is mitigated the moment you corroborate and elaborate information with your candidate’s former company, colleagues and managers. Simple. Not only that but performing a thorough reference check may contribute to a higher people retention rate, and ultimately a higher ROI for your business.
The reference check: this vital step in the hiring process isn’t as easy as it used to be. Previous employers are legally obligated to disclose only the bare-minimum on hopeful candidates. Some businesses have even faced litigations for disclosing too much, or too little, information about a former worker, which makes the phone-call reference check a little tricky. And with social media checks, pointed interview questions, and running backgrounds, there’s a lot of other points to cover to ensure you’re hiring the right person. (more…)
The chief officers at any company are always going to be focused on the big-picture stuff. Members of the C-suite speak their own language, and have a specific set of priorities: it’s all about strategy, strategy, strategy, tangible results, and major business impact. The language they speak is fast, broad, and gets straight down to the bottom line. And HR metrics reports is one dialect that might not always go down easy.
Most of us agree that diversity is a very good thing. Whether we’re talking about a stock portfolio, a sports team, movies, or the types of meals we enjoy, diversity makes for a more interesting, smart and stimulating world.