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In an Employee’s Market, Investing in Talent Long Term Pays Off

A great deal of emphasis is put on Human Resource (HR) departments to hone in on recruiting practices that help identify and target desirable talent. Talent acquisition is a necessary investment to make sure your team is able to source reliable new hires, but with only 1 in 3 employees strongly agreeing that they belong at their organization, it’s essential that HR cater to their existing talent as well. In today’s employee’s market, retaining talent is crucial to avoid unnecessary turnover and keep your organization’s progress on track. Plum has launched a Talent Assessment Platform designed to help recruiters avoid such a crisis.

More than 80% of professionals say that their current employers do not provide enough growth opportunities with another 92% communicating that access to professional development resources is very important to them. When employees complete Plum’s Discovery Survey, they will gain an in-depth understanding of their unique work ethic and skill set. These self-insights can help chart unique career paths geared towards an individual’s assets that will help them thrive long term.

After completing a single assessment, talent will have a framework to self-reflect what skills they have developed, a discussion into what drives and what drains them, and a pathway for developmental action. With the help of Plum’s Talent Guide, employees can then map out action steps, such as relationship building and increasing collaboration to help them reach a new level of growth in their career. Employees will see areas of work ranked in order of what increases their motivation the most. Plum provides all the tools necessary for success, including a platform for talent to track their progress as they work on refining their capabilities.

Stop Disengagement in its Tracks

Approximately 51% of the country’s 100 million full-time employees report being unengaged at work, indicating they are not sufficiently motivated to do their work and may tend to do the bare minimum that is required of them. Disengagement is known to adversely affect work productivity and contribute to higher rates of turnover among staff. Research has shown that with an increase in work engagement, employee’s emotional, cognitive and forward-thinking behaviors will positively improve, leading to better work productivity. Even negotiations over pay rates are easier done with engaged employees as opposed to disengaged workers.

With turnover and lost productivity costing U.S. business $1 trillion annually, building up your staff’s sense of wellbeing is a worthwhile investment. Plum helps employees communicate effectively about their strengths and areas of focus for development with their team’s leaders, eliminating what can be a barrier of communication for some. When replacing an employee can cost between 33% and 150% of the position’s annual salary, boosting talent morale with tools for career growth can end up saving your company tens-of-thousands.

You Have Acquired Talent. How Do You Retain It?

Fifteen percent of employees report higher rates of engagement when provided with professional development opportunities. Employees that show an interest in advancing in their career, or are highly motivated, should be presented with opportunities to expand their skill set and take on new challenges. Plum’s assessment can help talent managers identify individuals with high achieving potential and leadership qualities. This can help managers create opportunities for their leaders to rise to new challenges and add to their talent portfolio.

Building a succession plan is an invaluable practice to meet business needs head-on should an unexpected vacancy occur. Having known talent flagged for their leadership potential is essential when critical positions become vacant. Identified talent can begin to be prepared, or coached for potential openings, providing a layer of certainty for Human Resources in times of heavy turnover.

Organizations can also see what areas of growth their employees struggle with and provide training programs to meet those needs. Similarly, if many employees report wanting to professionally develop in a particular area, such as conflict resolution, talent managers can pursue options to provide coaching in that area for the staffers interested in participating.

A recent Gallup study found that managers can decisively impact employee morale and retention, primarily within professional growth and career development. Plum’s Talent Assessment can help identify growth opportunities across the organization which, in turn, can help managers effectively plan for short and long-term goals. When managers know how to meet their employees’ needs, both talent and company have a greater chance of success.

The Fluid Boundaries of Future Hiring: Keeping Up With the Best Talent

Hiring and engaging the next generation of top talent is a compelling challenge for contemporary recruiters. Gen Z is poised to flood the labor market, and they come already fluent in remote technologies. Today’s workforce is attuned to principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion, they wish to be socially responsible and they are amenable to restructured systems of productivity. Close attention to key trends of future hiring will equip HR professionals to attract and retain these bright and formative minds.

Gen Z Enters the Workforce Digitally Native

As the first wave of Gen Z workers step into junior-level roles, HR leaders must step up to their technological expectations. As digital natives, Gen Z applicants are accustomed to fast-paced virtual communications. They won’t wait for belated correspondence or outdated hiring schedules. They watch for automated affirmations, electronic messaging, mid-process checkpoints, and multi-platform scheduling – and they understand their responsibility to participate in kind. Gen Z applicants will be attracted to recruiters and employers who communicate in 21st century forms.

Global EOR Helps Expand and Navigate New Talent Pools

As remote work has become enculturated, many Gen Z workers see international or geographical boundaries as irrelevant to meaningful employment. Recruiters and employers, however, must be on top of the resulting legal complications. Mistakes can be hazardous and expensive.

Fortunately, corporate services are catching up with new patterns of remote employment. Global Employers of Record (EOR) offers reliable solutions for companies seeking to seamlessly employ individuals in foreign locations. Collaborating with an EOR streamlines hiring processes, ensures compliance with national and international regulations, and reduces in-house administrative burdens. EOR services facilitate access to a pool of global talent while navigating otherwise complex bureaucratic procedures.

Fresh Talent Answers To Virtual Recruiting

The rapid shift to remote work has made virtual recruiting essential for companies aiming to connect with super-skilled candidates. Best HR practices must continue to incorporate targeted virtual outreach, effective virtual interviews, and reliable assessment tools. While live video conferencing tools, pre-recorded video interviews, and interactive assessments may seem novel to older generations, today’s workforce has largely naturalized on-screen collaborations. They understand that similar technologies will facilitate their professional output. The workplace has, in striking ways, become a place without walls – and recruiters who seek the best talent must know how to interact with a rising workforce within technological, rather than physical, structures.

Millennials and Gen Z See DEI As a Pragmatic Reality

Building diverse and inclusive teams remains a top priority for today’s companies. Whatever the deeper philosophy, astute DEI practices attract remarkable collaborative workers in a competitive global market. Prioritizing DEI principles is simply the most effective way to find, retain, and nurture human talent. It is crucial for HR pros to systematically evaluate hiring practices for biases, omissions, or blind spots. Deploying blind resume screening, credible training tools, and clear checks for underutilized talent pools will keep the finest candidates coming your way.

Promoting DEI not only strengthens the company’s brand, but enhances overall performance, innovation, and organizational longevity.

Gen Z Understands the Allure of Employer Branding

In a competitive talent market, a robust employer brand calls to an image-savvy Gen Z. Skilled applicants search for work from a diverse international menu; organizations must differentiate themselves in compelling ways to attract top talent. HR and recruiting leaders can respond by building a compelling employer brand – showcasing corporate values, culture, and growth opportunities. Gen Z tends to consider an organization’s commitment to employee development, work-life balance, and social / environmental responsibility. Leveraging social media platforms, highlighting authentic employee testimonials, and participating in industry events can help promote an attractive employer brand.

Conclusion

To successfully attract the next generation of talent, HR and recruiting leaders must navigate the shifting recruitment landscape with agility and foresight. Embracing the technological preferences of Gen Z, harnessing the power of virtual recruiting, prioritizing diversity and inclusion, and crafting an organizational brand founded on up-to-date social values will attract the best talent the planet has to offer. Gen Z is on the rise, and while we may have a lot to teach them, we have a lot to learn from them as well.

Recruiting for Senior-Level Job Opportunities

Senior-level recruitment requires a different approach than for entry- and mid-level positions. Recruiters must do much more than copy-paste job descriptions and schedule interviews to solidify top-level talent.

External hiring for positions generally obtained by internal staff climbing the ladder is stressful yet exhilarating, as it brings fresh perspectives into potentially stagnant roles. How can recruiters ensure they have the right person for the job for such influential upper-level opportunities? Here are the most important things recruiters should consider.

What’s Different From Entry- and Mid-Level Hiring

Hiring senior-level talent signifies applicants with vastly different priorities, expectations and experiences. Entry- and mid-level candidates will likely have a greater sense of urgency, begging for and relying on consistent communications to fire motivation. Senior-level positions require talent acquisition to focus on passive candidates — workers not actively seeking new employment. Still, they could be convinced if the right offer comes along.

Senior-level applicants often have connections from previous jobs or multiple offers as a safety net when on the hunt. Automated messages might work for lesser positions but won’t entice experienced professionals with human-driven, personalized communications who appreciate more respect.

Ideally, they want recognition instead of vying for it during a job application process. Recruiters can use tactics like attraction marketing to interest potential senior-level candidates without them feeling overtly targeted.

Recruiters must also consider the competition. Only well-known names in the industry fill senior-level roles, and sourcers must get creative in making their opening stand out among others. More market research is essential for senior-level roles, which can be done through market mapping. It hones the talent search to narrow the scope of ability and company priorities. Recruiters must know how similar job descriptions read and how successful their competitors are at solidifying top talent that falls into similar funnels as they do.

What Recruiters Can Do to Better Hire Senior Positions

Hiring for senior-level jobs is a delicate balance between skill specificity and branding training. In many circumstances, high-ranking roles are held by dedicated company tenures who have acclimated to the business for decades. They have a rapport with staff and have intimate familiarity with policies and workplace culture.

Recruiters performing external hiring must find a way to translate those details into the sourcing process. Otherwise, candidates will feel disadvantaged walking into a role where they suddenly manage people they’ve never met.

Companies must ease the concerns of high-ranking candidates who almost certainly have the hard skills and qualifications to back up the reason they’re applying. Still, they may not have the internal advantage others below them might possess.

Recruiters can also include information in descriptions about tech stacks. Many companies use niche programs or software with a high learning curve until internal training primes someone for its requirements in higher-level positions.

Precise information about these technologies will help locate more specified talent — especially if the rest of the job description is highly detailed without drowning in text. Outside applicants for high-level roles have years of experience behind them. The more accurate and clear a job description is, the better it will be for hyper-specific job-seekers. Here are some key points to highlight in a senior-level job description:

  • List a specific starting salary without drastic ranges
  • Place job specifics first, company information and culture information second
  • Describe day-to-day operations
  • Note what’s essential versus desired
  • Explain who they will communicate with and manage

How Pipeline Reinforcement Secures Talent

Recruiting for senior-level jobs doesn’t start when the previous tenant puts in a notice — it’s a constant obligation. Having a list of previously screened candidates eases stress, mainly if a hiring opportunity arises unexpectedly. Executive positions cannot remain vacant for too long. Otherwise, corporate structures degrade, potentially scrambling as the chain of command remains altered for a lengthy time.

These stressors affect internal morale and mobility, as workers wonder what will happen with team dynamics as people move around to fill positions.

However, senior-level recruitment in the talent pipeline can’t become strong with data. Acquisitions teams must leverage technology like AI and machine learning to streamline obtaining employees by reviewing analytics.

Clarity on the types of people succeeding in roles and comparing them to competitors will further hone what requirements and soft skills incoming C-suite candidates can possess to prevent quick turnover.

Crafting Customized Roles for Senior-Level Positions

The talent from outside an organization is full of potential. These new individuals could have more sway in a company than people with years of experience there. Understanding the nuances of advertising to high-level positions is necessary before curating job descriptions and performing outreach. It could make all the difference in attracting the ideal candidate for the job.

Leveraging Our Recruiting Brands to Create Allyship

Organizations have a unique opportunity to leverage their recruiting brands to spread positive messages and create allyship to a broader audience. I spoke about this at the 2022 Tribal Fintech Forum in Colorado Springs, a one-of-a-kind gathering of businesses, Sovereign Nation leadership, educators, and thought leaders.

A recruiting brand is the first step in communicating organizational culture to candidates. It not only attracts people to the organization, but also communicates the values and expectations for it. By attracting the right people and aligning them early on with the organizational culture, we can increase buy-in and gain multiple benefits.

A fundamental requirement for any recruiting brand’s success is its alignment with the overall organizational brand. This means if our “go to market” brand is differentiating on service, our recruiting brand must reflect a service-focused experience. For non-profits, this will hopefully result in candidates buying into the overall mission of the organization.

This is great news since now more than ever, candidates seek meaningful work, not just a paycheck. Results show that meaningful work correlates to happiness at work. Research also shows that having a job that contributes to people’s life purpose reduces turnover and increases employee engagement. By communicating important aspects of the mission, non-profits can create cultures that increase organizational outcomes.

For most talent acquisition leaders, this is nothing new. But here is the key: What about the people we don’t hire? How can we use them to move the needle while advancing your recruiting brand?

Making Allies

We cannot hire everyone. My last two organizations only hired around 4% of total applicants. This means for every four hires, 96 people were not selected. That is 96 opportunities for ongoing communication that not only drives future interest in the organization, but also awareness on key issues.

Taking those 96 applicants and leveraging the brand to move them towards allyship with the mission is critical. This starts with purposeful acts within the recruiting strategy focused on awareness of important issues. Most companies spam out open jobs that may (or may not) align with candidates’ target roles. Instead of spamming jobs, create drip campaigns that provide engaging content about key issues that not only raise awareness but show how jobs are meaningful.

During the Tribal Fintech Forum, we spoke about using the recruiting process to dispel stereotypes that exist throughout Indian Country and creating awareness about the unique nature of tribal economies and working with or for a Sovereign Nation. We also discussed creating processes to better educate the public and candidates on differences in organizational and tribal cultures they may be unfamiliar with (e.g., a tribal leader may be referred to as Chief, Chairperson, President, etc, in other words, each Nation is unique.) These messages not only drive candidate engagement but help create allies.

This doesn’t have to be restricted to non-profits; for profit driven businesses can leverage their efforts to improve the community as part of their recruiting brand.

There is no better time to consider this than Pride Month. What if our teams used June as an opportunity to talk about supporting the LGBTQIA+ community in the areas we serve? Creating awareness of issues the LGBTQIA+ community faces and how we’re trying to have a meaningful impact both internally and externally. Instead of simply posting Pride flag images, we push out content about real issues LGBTQIA+ communities face, how we are addressing them within our organizations, but also include a specific call to action that candidates can take to help.

It starts with asking how we can leverage our recruiting brands to make a difference in the communities we serve – How will we move the needle?

How to Optimize Your LinkedIn as a Recruiter

To help recruiters make the most of their LinkedIn presence, we’ve gathered insights from top professionals, including founders, CEOs and career coaches. From positioning yourself as a thought leader to developing a value proposition, discover these 10 expert tips on optimizing your LinkedIn profile for maximum impact.

Position Yourself as Thought Leader

Standing out from your competition is imperative if you want to work with top talent. In the realm of LinkedIn, positioning yourself as a unique voice in your field is the key.

To achieve this, it is crucial to establish yourself as a person of influence and value, focusing on showcasing your unique perspectives, knowledge, and experience. Craft a compelling summary that highlights your expertise and demonstrates your personality. Create your brand; people buy from people, so ensure your profile and all your LinkedIn interactions are personable

By sharing valuable insights, industry trends and thought-provoking content, you can position yourself as a thought leader. This not only helps to build trust and credibility with both clients and candidates but also lays the foundation for long-term relationships. Recruitment is NOT a one-time transaction.

Sammy Altman
Global Head of Marketing, EC1 Partners

Add Multimedia to Your Profile

Recruiters can optimize their LinkedIn profile by adding multimedia, such as images, videos, presentations and documents, to showcase their professional achievements. Adding multimedia not only makes the profile visually appealing but also helps highlight the applicant’s expertise and skills.

This can help the recruiter capture potential candidates’ attention and improve their profile’s discoverability on LinkedIn searches. Additionally, multimedia can serve as a conversation starter or icebreaker to help build a stronger professional relationship and network.

Therefore, adding multimedia to your LinkedIn profile is a simple yet effective step that a recruiter can take to make their profile stand out and optimize their online presence.

Jefferson McCall
Co-Founder and HR Head, TechBullish

Utilize Relevant Keywords

Use keywords throughout your profile. You can use keywords that apply to the industries and roles you specialize in. This will help your profile be found by potential candidates who are searching for those keywords.

Here are some crucial places to include keywords in your LinkedIn profile:

  • Headline, summary and experience sections
  • Skills and endorsements
  • Recommendations
  • Blog posts and articles

This can help you connect with more candidates and find the best talent for your clients. And remember to stay active and inspiring!

Bowen Khong
CEO, GameDayr

Highlight Success Rates

As a small business owner, showcasing your success rate is crucial for attracting potential employers and employees. By highlighting metrics, such as hiring percentages or the length of time of successful placements, you show your ability to consistently find the right fit for both parties.

This not only builds credibility but also instills confidence in potential clients and candidates, showing them you have a track record of delivering positive outcomes. It’s important to remember that recruitment is about more than just filling positions—it’s about creating meaningful connections and long-term partnerships.

Diane Howard
Founder, Esthetic Finesse

Incorporate Video Introductions

To maximize their impact on LinkedIn, recruiters can take a transformative step by leveraging video introductions on their profiles. Traditional text-based profiles often fail to capture the essence and personality of a recruiter. By incorporating a video introduction, recruiters can create an authentic and engaging connection with potential candidates.

Research shows that videos on LinkedIn receive five times more engagement than static content. By showcasing their passion, expertise and company culture, recruiters can attract top talent and build stronger relationships.

For example, Sarah, a recruiter, added a video introduction to her LinkedIn profile, where she highlighted her dedication to finding the perfect fit for candidates and employers. This personal touch resulted in a 40% increase in connection requests and a 25% rise in messages from potential candidates

Himanshu Sharma
CEO and Founder, Academy of Digital Marketing

Share Relevant Content

Recruiters can take advantage of sharing relevant content with their audience. With so many people searching for new jobs, candidates are craving tips and tricks to stand out during their job search.

Hearing that information directly from a recruiter is helpful and a great way to build trust with new candidates while impressing hiring managers for future recruitment opportunities.

Kelli Anderson
Career Coach, Resume Seed

Complete Your Profile Fields

One common problem that I see with LinkedIn profiles is the fact that recruiters do not utilize all the fields on the “profile” page. And that means you’re skipping out on potential opportunities.

So, the one step a recruiter should take is to ensure they fill out all the fields. Having a complete profile creates a more professional look. It’s also something that can showcase some of your work, what you do, what you are capable of, etc.

Joe Flanagan
Founder, 90s Fashion World

Craft an Engaging Summary

To optimize your LinkedIn profile, start with an engaging summary that clearly conveys your professional summary to recruiters. Your summary should highlight your skills, experience and achievements in a clear and concise manner.

Use industry-specific keywords to help recruiters find you easily on LinkedIn. Avoid using jargon and buzzwords that may not be relevant to your industry. Keep your summary updated with your latest achievements and goals.

By crafting a compelling summary, you will increase the chances of engaging with recruiters and finding relevant job opportunities on the LinkedIn platform.

Basana Saha
Founder, KidsCareIdeas

Write an Impactful Headline

The headline appears right below your name and serves as a brief summary of your professional identity and expertise. Instead of simply stating your job title, use this space to highlight your unique value proposition and capture the attention of potential connections and candidates.

To create an impactful headline, consider incorporating keywords relevant to your field or industry. This can help increase your profile’s visibility in search results when recruiters or job seekers are looking for specific skills or qualifications. Additionally, emphasize your specialization or niche within recruitment to differentiate yourself from others in the field.

While crafting your headline, focus on showcasing the value you bring to the table. Highlight any unique expertise, achievements or industry recognition that set you apart. This will pique the interest of professionals seeking your services or potential candidates who want to connect with a skilled recruiter.

Harsh Verma
SEO, CodeDesign

Develop a Value Proposition 

To optimize your LinkedIn profile as a recruiter, start by crafting a compelling value proposition that sets you apart. Your value proposition should focus on the problems you solve, the value you add and the positive impact you make on clients and candidates. It serves as a key differentiator, showcasing why you are the most qualified candidate for the job.

Authenticity is crucial. Avoid generic descriptions and infuse your bio with genuine emotion. Let your audience know why you are passionate about what you do

Next, invest time in building a comprehensive recruiter summary. This section should clearly communicate your area of expertise and position you as the solution to your clients’ challenges. Highlight your credibility and showcase what sets you apart from other recruiters. When crafting your summary, aim for conciseness. Keep each point to 1-2 sentences, allowing you to convey your POD without overwhelming your readers.

Luke Cheetham
Founder, uRisk

Use ‘Pointing and Calling’ To Reduce Interview Bias

The “pointing and calling” method is a safety protocol used by the Japanese railway system to reduce the risk of human error and ensure the trains operate safely.

The method involves train drivers and station staff verbally confirming the position of signals, doors, and other critical components before departure. This helps to ensure that everyone is aware of the train’s status and prevents accidents caused by miscommunication. The “pointing and calling” method is recognized widely as a key factor in the Japanese railway system’s high level of safety and efficiency, influencing other countries and industries to adopt the method.

Here is an example of how the method looks like in practice:

  1. A train driver approaches a signal and stops the train.
  2. The driver physically points to the signal and confirms its status with the conductor or other train personnel.
  3. The conductor or other personnel affirms the signal status by repeating it back to the driver and physically pointing to the signal.
  4. The driver then acknowledges the confirmation and continues with the next step, which could be opening or closing doors, checking the train’s brakes, etc.

How Is the “Pointing and Calling” Method Related to Job Interviews?

In an interview, our “safety hazards” are our unconscious biases that often cause us to make inaccurate and unfair decisions.

There are many unrelated factors, conscious and unconscious, that affect our judgments during an interview, such as our mood, the time of day (there is a research by Dan Simon from the University of Southern California showing that supreme court judges give harsher verdicts before they go on a lunch break!), our energy level, irrelevant information mentioned by the candidate, and many more.

Utilizing “Pointing and Calling” in Interviews

Here is how you can use the “pointing and calling” method in an interview context. If you are interviewing by yourself, you can “point and call” yourself by taking mental and written notes. If you are interviewing with others, you can “point and call” each other.

Before:

Acknowledge your state and ask yourself:

  • What is my mood? (Am I happier/sadder/more agitated than usual?)
  • Is there a physical trigger affecting my concentration? (am I tired? hungry?)

In most cases, you won’t be able to reschedule an interview because you are tired or hungry, but what you can do is acknowledge you are not at your best and that this can affect your judgment. This will immediately make you more alert to these possible effects.

In addition to acknowledging your mental and physical state, ask yourself questions about your pre-conceptions of the candidate:

  • Am I coming into the interview with a firm opinion about the candidate?
  • Am I really open to changing my mind about the candidate or am I just looking to confirm my current observations?

If you are coming to the interview with established opinions about the candidate, make sure you write them down and collect both confirming and refuting information.

During:

During the interview itself, there might be different triggers for bias to creep in. Ask yourself:

  • What is my first impression with the candidate? First impressions tend to stick with us and have a disproportionate effect on our final decision. Make sure you write down your first impression with the candidate during the interview’s first three minutes. At the end of the interview, check your notes to see if you were able to change, refine, or adjust your impression of the candidate based on the additional information you collected during the interview. We do not recommend sharing your first impression with your co-interviewers in order not to bias them.
  • What is the similarity level between me and the candidate? We tend to like and hire people who are similar to us. Pointing to yourself that you like a candidate because they remind you of yourself can help you manage your feelings and assign less weight to them.
  • Am I affected by my co-interviewers? While interviewing together, interviewers tend to share their impression of the candidate (either verbally or non-verbally by eye rolling, kicking each other under the table, smiling etc.).

 After:

When the interview is completed, it is usually the time for you to decide whether to move forward with the candidate. Ask yourself:

  • Am I integrating all of the info I acquired during the interview to make an informed decision or am I deciding based on my gut?
  • Is there a specific skill or impression I assigned more weight to than I should? For instance, I might appreciate highly articulate people, but it is not a must-have skill for the position I am interviewing this candidate for.
  • Am I affected by my co-interviewers? When interviewing with others it is common to exchange impressions with other interviewers as soon as the interview ends. This often results in groupthink and in biasing each other. It is important to have a discussion to reach a common decision, but this should be based on each interviewer’s individual and independent recommendation which they wrote down beforehand.

By adopting even one of these “pointing and calling” techniques you will improve the accuracy and fairness of your decisions during an interview.

Don’t Risk This Costly Mistake: Hire the Right Team the First Time

Finding the right talent to grow your business is an investment that ought to be measured thoroughly before moving forward. Hiring the wrong individuals can impact a business’s bottom line more than expected. In fact, an unfit hire can waste up to five times their annual salary before being dismissed. A business’s budget is not the only element strained by a poor hire. The consequences can include a frustrated workforce and a decrease in your company’s product quality as a result. It’s essential to your business’s bottom line to hire right the first time around.

Plum’s assessment applies industrial and organizational psychology in its data modeling to predict how a unique individual may fit into a particular company’s culture. The solution identifies what management styles a participant may strive or struggle under. There are no wrong answers. The assessment is structured in three simple parts. A job analysis identifies what behavioral factors are required of an employee to succeed in a particular role. Plum’s online assessment then measures an individual’s personality, social intelligence, and problem-solving habits through a series of conditional questions. Plum will next compare the employee’s self-assessment with the job requirements outlined in the initial stages. In this format, Plum offers a bias-free tool to help your company efficiently gauge a candidate’s qualifications.

There’s A Lot on the Line in Today’s Job Market

Despite recent layoffs, Harvard Business Review has identified the labor market as a worker’s market. The truth is that layoffs in 2023 have been historically low, meaning that hiring managers will be recruiting from a smaller talent pool than in years past. It’s more important than ever to invest in tools that will optimize the hiring process and leave your team assured that they are selecting the right person for the job.

Now is the optimal time to look at your business’s existing talent pool and try to hire from within. Plum’s assessment can also be utilized to identify if current employees may be the right fit for both long-term and short-term projects or assignments. Businesses can use Plum’s assessment to acquire a full picture of what their employees bring to the table and identify any talents that may have gone underutilized. Employees can also gain insight into how to best make use of their skillset with Plum’s Talent Guide, which can be used to chart a career path each would find success in.

Considering promotions can help your business save time and resources that would otherwise be spent searching and advertising an open position in an overcrowded job market. Companies that operate either in-person or utilize a hybrid work schedule may also face fees associated with relocating an employee. The time current employees must take to train talent new to your operation would also work against your overall bottom line.

Use Data to Choose your Business’s Leaders Thoughtfully

With 42% of employees citing a lack of upward mobility at work contributing to their exit, hiring from within can be a great advantage to a business’s bottom line. Offering promotional opportunities can boost morale and improve productivity. When talent believes that their employers want to invest in their growth, they are less likely to explore the job market.

As much as 80% of turnover is due to poor management choices, which can affect a business’s ability to retain talent. Choosing the right leaders to implement proper oversight measures can determine your company’s ability to succeed. Plum’s employee assessment can identify employees that possess leadership qualities that will help their team thrive. The right manager will boost their team’s morale, reduce burnout and maximize their team’s productivity by understanding their strengths and weaknesses. When team leaders possess the ability to motivate their teams, less turnover is likely, which means less time and money is spent replacing talent.

Plum’s Talent Resilience Platform includes assessments for leadership potential selection. Plum’s Talent Resilience Platform for multiple scenarios, such as hiring, professional development planning, leadership potential selection, career pathing, and strategic workforce planning. It can measure an employee’s ability to adapt to changes in the workplace, communicate ideas effectively, resolve conflicts, make high-quality decisions, understand unique perspectives, and execute goals effectively.

In a changing landscape, it is essential for businesses to adapt and modernize. In a job market that is becoming increasingly difficult for recruiters to navigate, Plum offers a solution that encourages businesses to invest in their existing talent as well as save valuable resources in the process of onboarding new team members. With these tools, both employers and employees can identify their strengths and find roles suitable to their growing skillsets.

This post is sponsored by Plum that initially appeared on Plum.io

Keeping Up with the Times: Adapting to Talent Acquisition Tools

Technology is fundamentally reshaping the talent acquisition landscape, bringing a new level of speed, efficiency, and sophistication to the recruitment process. Today’s recruiters have access to an unprecedented array of tools and technologies that enable them to source, screen, and hire candidates with greater precision and agility than ever before.

According to recent studies, a significant proportion of HR leaders, specifically 44%, consider enhancing business outcomes as their top strategic priority for HR technology transformation within the next three years.

Advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning algorithms allow recruiters to quickly identify top candidates, predict their likelihood of success, and personalize the recruitment process to suit their needs.

Meanwhile, social media and other digital platforms have revolutionized the way employers engage with potential candidates, allowing them to build stronger employer brands and reach a wider audience than ever before.

The talent acquisition realm is in a constant state of flux, with new technologies and methodologies emerging at an ever-increasing pace. From recruitment automation to virtual reality and gamification, the possibilities for innovation in TA tech are endless. It thus becomes hugely crucial for recruiters to stay abreast of these talent acquisition technologies and not fall behind in their hiring decisions.

Embracing Change

With the breakneck pace of competition, keeping up with talent acquisition technology and embracing the TA tools is the little secret for organizations to stay on top of their recruitment game.

“Technology is driving a shift in the talent acquisition landscape towards a more candidate-centric approach,” says Robin Erickson, Vice President – Human Capital of The Conference Board. “The use of personalized communication, virtual reality, and gamification is enhancing the candidate experience and making it easier for employers to attract and retain top talent. But it is important to remember that technology is only one piece of the puzzle – it must be combined with effective employer branding and a strong candidate value proposition to succeed.”

It is paramount for organizations to realize that recruitment is not just a means to find new hires but it is also an important component of their overall brand and reputation. The cutting-edge TA technology is here to stay and companies who start adapting to it can enhance their reputation as an employer of choice, and attract top talent that shares their values and vision for the future.

But of course, implementing new technologies comes with its own challenges and welcoming talent acquisition tools can bring a set of discomforts. However, the rewards of embracing change and adopting new TA tech trends can be significant.

From increased recruitment efficiency and accuracy to a more positive candidate experience and enhanced employer brand, the benefits of staying ahead of the curve in talent acquisition are massive.

Companies must be willing to invest in the right tools and technologies and ensure that their recruiters are equipped with the skills and knowledge necessary to harness the full potential of these indispensable TA tools. Moreover, it is imperative for companies to ardently prioritize the ongoing evolution and refinement of their recruitment processes to ensure maximum efficacy, productivity, and competitive advantage.

The Tangible Benefits of Adopting Talent Acquisition Tools

When we talk about talent acquisition, there is no denying the importance of staying on top of the latest trends and technologies. Beyond the intangible benefits of talent acquisition technology such as a positive candidate experience and enhanced recruitment efficiency, unfolds an array of tangible benefits that organizations can expect to see when they make TA tech a top priority.

1. Increased Productivity & Efficiency

It is one of the most obvious benefits of embracing TA technology. By automating repetitive tasks and streamlining key aspects of the recruitment process, such as candidate sourcing and screening, recruiters can save time and focus their attention on more high-value activities, such as building relationships with candidates and conducting in-depth interviews.

2. Marked Improvement in the Quality of Hires

With the advanced AI-powered candidate matching algorithms and video interviews, recruiters can now effortlessly sift through a vast pool of candidates and identify individuals with the right skills, experience, and cultural alignment. The upshot of such precision in candidate selection is that companies can expect to attract and retain top-tier talent, thereby fortifying their position in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

3. Substantial Cost-Savings

According to a Gartner survey, the yearly expenditure on HR administration per employee has increased from 155$ in 2021 to 194$ in 2022. In times when HR professionals are keen on saving per employee cost, this increase is catastrophic and gives a cry for improvement.

Organizations that decide to implement talent acquisition tools in their recruitment strategy can reap a sizeable amount of savings in the long haul. By streamlining and optimizing the recruitment process, TA tools can considerably reduce the time and resources required to fill open positions. Furthermore, the ability to pinpoint the ideal candidate, with the right skill set and cultural fit, mitigates the risks of making bad hires that could result in exorbitant training costs, lost productivity, and potential legal liabilities.

4. Enhanced Candidate Engagement & Experience

The talent acquisition tools such as chatbots and video messaging softwares enable recruiters to create a tailored and captivating recruitment experience that resonates with candidates and engenders a positive relationship right from the start. This unparalleled level of personalization instills in candidates a sense of value and importance, making them more likely to stay engaged throughout the recruitment process and eager to accept an offer once extended.

5. Reduced Unconscious Bias

With the aid of AI-powered sourcing and screening tools, companies can decrease the influence of demographic factors such as age, gender, ethnicity, nationality, disability, or sexual orientation and instead shift the emphasis to identifying the most qualified candidates based on their skills and experience.

This approach not only eliminates the potential for bias and discrimination in the recruitment process but also promotes inclusivity and diversity in workplaces and augments the company’s reputation as an equitable and progressive employer.

The Ascendance of Technology in Talent Sourcing

Up till the last decade, recruitment was believed to be a reactive process where companies posted job ads and waited for candidates to apply. But with the advent of talent acquisition tools and technologies, the tables have turned and talent sourcing has become a crucial step of recruitment.

Talent sourcing is more of a proactive process where organizations can leverage automated sourcing tools to identify potential candidates even before there is a job opening. This significantly means that the recruiters have a robust talent pipeline in hand when a vacancy opens up.

This proactive approach to talent sourcing has remarkable implications for both companies and candidates alike. For companies, it means being able to identify and engage with top talent before their competitors and giving them an upper hand in the highly competitive job market. And for the candidates, it means being able to access a wider range of job opportunities and being approached by companies that may not have been on their radar before.

Amongst the myriad recruitment tools available, LinkedIn search stands out as the quintessential platform for discovering exceptional candidates. However, relying solely on LinkedIn’s native search functionality can be a limiting factor, leading recruiters to miss out on hidden gems that lie beyond the surface-level search results.

Enter talent sourcing tools – the game-changer for recruiters on the hunt for the best talent. These powerful tools harness the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to augment LinkedIn’s search capabilities, unleashing a whole new realm of possibilities.

With the ascendance of fully automated talent-sourcing tools, companies can leverage a wide range of data sources, including social media profiles, job boards, and online communities, to build a comprehensive database of potential candidates. And moreover, the use of technology in talent sourcing is also helping to break down traditional barriers and create more inclusive recruitment practices.

With talent-sourcing tech tools plus LinkedIn search in hand, recruiters can now create more personalized and engaging recruitment experiences for candidates. And with the tools such as customized messaging and chatbots, recruiters can engage with candidates in a way that feels natural and authentic, building rapport and trust from the outset

The combination of LinkedIn search with AI-powered talent sourcing tools has significantly amplified the search for relevant candidates. With the use of these talent acquisition tools, recruiters can identify candidates based on their skills and experience, rather than relying on traditional markers such as education or employer referrals.

Overall, the emergence of technology in talent sourcing has sparked a paradigm shift in the recruitment industry. It’s no longer sufficient for recruiters to rely solely on LinkedIn’s search capabilities; instead, they must embrace a proactive approach to uncover the best talent. Talent sourcing tools represent a seismic leap forward, offering a turbo-boost to already existing LinkedIn search capabilities.

How to Leverage Talent Acquisition Tools for a Better Hiring Experience

Technology will keep evolving at its own pace, it is we humans who will need to make an extra effort to keep up with it. Adapting to talent acquisition tools can be a game-changer for companies looking to enhance their hiring experience, but it’s not always an easy transition.

To successfully integrate talent acquisition tools, companies need to cultivate a culture that values innovation, experimentation, and continuous improvement. This means encouraging employees to experiment with new tools, allowing them to make mistakes and learn from them. It also means creating a safe space for employees to voice their opinions and ideas on how to improve the recruitment process.

Furthermore, companies should recognize that technology is not a silver bullet solution to all recruitment challenges. The human element of recruitment, such as empathy, relationship-building, and intuition, cannot be replaced by technology. Instead, technology should be used to enhance and streamline the recruitment process while empowering recruiters to focus on building meaningful relationships with candidates.

The Final Word

By addressing the ever-dynamic technological landscape of talent acquisition, organizations as a whole can elevate their recruitment process and create a lasting impression on candidates. This will not only help in positioning them as torchbearers and innovators in their industries but also give them an edge over their competitors.

By proactively utilizing talent acquisition tools, organizations can circumvent hiring challenges and attain superior business outcomes. The use of advanced TA technology can drive improved efficiency, profitability, and employee retention rates, all of which are crucial factors in achieving long-term success. It is essential to understand that the adoption of TA tech is not merely a short-term expense, but rather a long-term investment that can significantly impact the bottom line of an organization.

Welcome to People GPT: A New Tool for Efficient People Search

In today’s fast-paced recruiting jungle, where finding the right people for your organization feels like searching for a mythical unicorn, we bring you a ray of sunshine. Get ready to meet People GPT, the superhero tool that will transform your search process from “Where’s Waldo?” to “Eureka!” In this article, we’ll embark on an adventure to uncover the features, functionalities, and jaw-dropping benefits of this tool for recruiters and sourcers. Efficient people search is now a reality

Step right up, folks! People GPT comes in both free and paid versions. Sure, the free version is like a taste test at the supermarket, but the paid version is where the real magic happens. It’s got all the bells and whistles, like finding people’s secret email addresses and even downloading search results. And for those big shots out there, we’ve got an enterprise version that’s sure to make your competitors green with envy.

A Fresh Approach to Efficient People Search

Prepare to have your mind blown. When you fire up People GPT, you’ll be greeted with some sample queries that are so mind-bogglingly amazing, they’ll make Einstein jealous. Customize these queries to your heart’s content, and watch the search gods smile upon you. The tool scours the vast realms of LinkedIn and other platforms to conjure up potential candidates. It’s like having a magical crystal ball that shows you the perfect candidates on the left and their associated companies on the right.

Leveraging the Power of LinkedIn

Behold the almighty LinkedIn, the lifeblood of People GPT! Almost everyone in the search results has a LinkedIn profile, making this tool a godsend for recruiters who practically live on this professional networking platform. You can highlight these fascinating creatures and dive deep into their profiles to uncover hidden talents.

Streamlining the Outreach Process

Wait, there’s more! People GPT has an email outreach feature that’s smoother than a jazz band playing at sunset. It can whip up emails faster than you can say “abracadabra,” saving you time and effort. And if you want to add a personal touch, the tool offers email templates that you can tweak to match your unique style.

Enhancing Efficiency and Cost-Effectiveness

Sure, you could search for people manually, but that’s like navigating a labyrinth blindfolded. People GPT is your trusty guide, slashing through the tangled mess and leading you to the treasure. By automating the search, email creation, and contact info retrieval, it transforms your workflow into a well-oiled machine. At just $49 per month, it’s a steal compared to LinkedIn’s gold-plated membership.

Limitations and Considerations

Every superhero has their kryptonite, and People GPT is no exception:

The search results have their limits, and even the paid version puts a cap on the number of profiles and queries per month for efficient people search. The enterprise version is the VIP lounge, but it’ll cost you more than your morning coffee addiction. LinkedIn alone won’t uncover every hidden gem. Sometimes you’ve got to spread your wings and explore other platforms like Facebook or GitHub. It’s like searching for buried treasure on multiple islands instead of sticking to just one.

Final Thoughts

People GPT is the sidekick you’ve been waiting for, the Robin to your Batman. It won’t replace your trusty old methods entirely, but it’ll make your life so much easier that you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it. So whether you’re ready to splurge on the paid version or just want to dip your toes in the free functionalities, give People GPT a whirl. It’s like adding a turbocharger to your recruitment toolkit, taking you on a wild ride of discovery and helping you assemble the ultimate dream team.

Other Dean Da Costa Content:

Dean has a free page of sourcing tools, links, and other recruiting resources that we highly recommend you check out! That page has an overwhelming amount of stuff, so you gotta really love sourcing to appreciate the infinite hours of work Dean has put into it. For all of the Dean Da Costa resources on RecruitingDaily, click here!

Three Tips for Being an LGBTQIA+ Ally Year-Round

Pride Month typically serves as a reminder for organizations to create a welcoming culture for LGBTQIA+ employees, however, these efforts should be applied year-round.

A recent study from EY found that LGBTQIA+ employees believe diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) equates to a culture that focuses on belonging. And a second survey from Deloitte underscored that nearly 40% of LGBTQIA+ employees are actively considering changing employers to find one with a more inclusive culture. Implementing DEI strategies that allow employees to show up to work as their authentic selves can serve as a differentiator for organizations in the eyes of new talent.

This culture of belonging can be activated through organizational allyship, which translates into ensuring your employees feel safe, valued, and supported. There are several best practices organizations can use to foster an inclusive workplace:

Bridging the Internal With External for Improved Inclusion

The divide between work and home is not as clear as it once was – making it all the more important for employers to make space for conversations on what happens outside of the workplace that impacts employee well-being inside the workplace, even if they are not the most comfortable topics. This fosters an inclusive environment of continuous learning for employees and sends a strong message to prospective talent about an organization’s values.

Similarly, meaningfully acknowledging nationwide diversity observances, like Pride Month, showcases how your organization uplifts certain individuals. However, supporting diverse talent, including the LGBTQIA+ community, should extend beyond these moments to build allyship and belonging – such as making room for conversations around current news impacting employees, teaching employees how to be allies through ongoing education, partnering with nonprofit organizations, or integrating discussions across certain moments in time such as, recognizing individuals that are Black and LGBTQIA+ during Black History Month or Pride Month shows support for the intersectionality of your workforce. 

Establishing Policies and Benefits That Drive Support for All Employees

For true allyship, organizations must build tangible benefits that support their LGBTQIA+ talent. Benefits like these contribute to the way current employees and job candidates evaluate how an organization aligns with their values. However, benefits are not one-size-fits-all and require greater thought and intentionality.

For instance, LGBTQIA+ people are twice as likely to experience mental health issues compared to heterosexual men and women. As a result, employers can increase access to mental health resources that directly address these needs, which benefits all employees, including LGBTQIA+ team members. At DeVry University, employees have free access to a 24/7 service that provides mental health resources, general wellness information, and much more.

Learning and Growing Through Continuous Employee Feedback

While important, it is not enough to simply achieve diversity key performance indicators to achieve genuine allyship. Organizations should ensure their culture of belonging remains intact and continuously improve how they support LGBTQIA+ employees through ongoing feedback.

The first step is ensuring there are opportunities for LGBTQIA+ employees to participate in employee resource groups and take on leadership roles that support company-wide DEI initiatives. From there, organizations should conduct regular pulse checks and surveys of LGBTQIA+ employees, employee resource groups, and their employee base at large to gauge where DEI efforts resonate well and where there is room for improvement.

The insights gleaned from this feedback allow employers to align resources, benefits, and internal conversations with what LGBTQIA+ employees actually need. In turn, organizations have an engaged employee base because they are directly involved in driving a workplace environment of belonging – strengthening their position as an employer of choice for LGBTQIA+ talent.

Cultivating an environment where LGBTQIA+ employees are encouraged and empowered to show up as the truest version of themselves has far-reaching benefits, including how your organization is perceived by job candidates. Furthermore, aligning your DEI and recruitment strategies will also help ensure you bring in talent that aligns with your organization’s values – whether by recruiting in certain communities or emphasizing DEI during a recruitment screening process.

As DEI and belonging continue to hold solid footing as foundational requirements within an organization, employers must embed a culture of allyship that extends beyond awareness months like Pride Month to set themselves apart with today’s talent pool.

6 Ways to Harness GPT-4 for Recruiting Today

Are you experiencing déjà vu? Indeed, you might be. Not long ago, on February 7th, an article titled “6 Ways to USE ChatGPT for Recruiting Today” was featured. So, what’s happened since? I’d say, practically everything. As someone who lives by the motto “nullius in verba” – take nobody’s word for it, allow me to demonstrate rather than narrate.

I put GPT-4 through its paces, feeding it a selection of what I considered my best pieces. With these inputs digested, I then tasked it with reimagining the original article published on February 7th, 2023. What you’re reading now is GPT-4’s creative reinvention of that initial piece, maintaining my unique voice and perspective.

This collaboration reflects an inspiring and unprecedented event – a proactive human approach to harnessing AI in a thoughtful and united manner. As we stand on the brink of this new era, I anticipate the emergence of regulatory agencies dedicated to overseeing AI usage. One such regulation I foresee is the mandatory disclosure of content created in conjunction with AI tools, such as in this very instance with GPT-4. Since GPT-4 has been entrusted with enhancing my original work, this piece represents a fusion of human ingenuity and AI’s transformative power.  Without further ado, I give you:

Six Ways to Harness the Power of GPT-4 for Today’s Recruitment

Even if you’re sequestered in a cave, there’s no way you’ve missed the hype about GPT-4. This sensational development had a cool million users within its first five days of going live. While AI chatter is all the rage, solid examples of practical applications are still few and far between. So, I’m going to shed light on some key ways you can put GPT-4 to use in your day-to-day operations as a more efficient Talent Acquisition professional. Before we get into that, let’s decode what GPT-4 truly is.

GPT-4, a language model devised by OpenAI, is essentially a type of machine learning model trained on a mammoth dataset of human-generated text. It’s adept at generating text in a similar style and is perfect for a host of natural language processing tasks, like language translation, text summarization, and text generation. GPT-4 can be tailored to specific tasks or domains and can even be integrated into other applications like chatbots or virtual assistants.

Though individual users can enjoy the tool free of cost, *ChatGPT is free, GPT-4 is $20/month* businesses making extensive use of the API will face charges. Moreover, it’s worth noting Microsoft’s recent announcement of an additional $10 billion investment in the company. Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella, in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal’s Editor in Chief Matt Murray, disclosed that OpenAI will be integrated into all future Microsoft products. Intrigued? You can check out GPT-4 here: https://chat.openai.com/chat. But let’s move on from the talk and jump into the action. Here’s how GPT-4 can be used in recruitment today:

Use Case Example Prompt Example Modifier Sample Output
Outreach Email “Generate a professional outreach email for a Python developer for our upcoming project.” “In the voice of Steve Jobs, concise and inspiring.” “Dear [Developer’s Name],<br/>Your passion for coding, specifically Python, has caught our attention. We at Apple, believe in turning the impossible into reality. We invite you to join us in this journey of innovation and relentless pursuit of excellence…[rest of the email]”
Resume Summary “Summarize this resume of a Java developer.” “Keep it concise and factual.” “With over 8 years of experience, the candidate has a proven track record in Java development, excelling in Spring framework. They have led multiple teams and completed several successful projects…”
Candidate Pitch “Write a compelling pitch for a data analyst candidate based on their resume.” “In a professional and persuasive tone.” “Our candidate is a skilled Data Analyst with 5 years of experience in translating numbers into impactful business strategies. They are adept at data collection, analysis, and interpretation…”
Job Description “Draft a job description for a Machine Learning Engineer role.” “Make it concise and in Yoda’s voice.” “Machine Learning Engineer, we seek. Master of Python, you must be. Building and deploying ML models, your task will be. Apply, you must, if make a difference, you wish to…”
Interview Questions “Generate thoughtful interview questions for a Software Architect.” “Questions should assess both technical and leadership skills.” “1. Can you discuss a recent project where you made a significant architectural decision? 2. How do you ensure your designs are effectively understood by development teams?…”
Boolean Search String “Generate a Boolean search string for finding Full-stack developers.” “Keywords should include: Python, Django, JavaScript, React.” “Full-stack developer” AND (Python AND Django AND JavaScript AND React)”

The above table of example use cases and prompts are copy paste examples you can take to your desk and use today. However, these are only templates.

The essence of GPT-4 lies in its adaptability. You can use it to generate text in diverse styles and tones, from Shakespearean verse to the tone of Steve Jobs. Your imagination is the limit!

Language models like GPT-4 aren’t mere blips on the radar; they’re here to stay, promising to profoundly shape our industry. While we can’t redirect the currents of this emerging technology, we can become adept swimmers in this expansive sea. So, let’s plunge in, master these tools, and be the trailblazers in this brave new world of recruitment.

Here are some Pro Tips for Effective GPT-4 Usage:

  • Leverage persuasive language.
  • Introduce questions between paragraphs.
  • Personalize the content.
  • Incorporate a call to action.
  • Dictate the text’s length or structure (like 3 paragraphs, 256 words, etc.)
  • Ask for text in certain styles (like a sonnet, haiku, or iambic pentameter)
  • Request for text “in the voice of” someone (like Plato, a seasoned recruiter with 20 years of experience, or GPT-4.)
  • Define the tone (make it humorous, light-hearted, sarcastic, ominous).
  • Include or mention specific things.

There are abundant tutorials on YouTube that explore more advanced techniques and uses of GPT-4. I highly recommend taking some time to expand your knowledge of this groundbreaking tool.

GPT-4 is not a fleeting phenomenon; it’s heralding a new era in advanced language models. Those who’ve been in this industry for a while understand this pace of change. The most effective strategy is to embrace and learn to navigate these tools rather than resist them.

Having spent years SCUBA diving, I’ve learned that while you can’t change the ocean, you can indeed learn how to swim in it. With that in mind, I encourage everyone reading this article to dive into the sea of technological innovation. We can’t deflect the wave that’s arriving, but we can equip ourselves to surf it expertly. Let’s welcome this new era of advanced tools and harness the wealth of opportunities they present.

Author’s final note: As you can see GPT-4 still needs some clarification as it was rewriting an article about GPT-4 based on an article on ChatGPT it didn’t know to update the information on the cost. GPT-4 is not connected to the internet at this time and it had no way of knowing there was a cost associated with GPT-4. Incorrect information remains a challenge in all communication. However, the rest of the content was updated correctly and the overall article was more concise than the original.

Navigating Take-Home Assignments for Effective and Equitable Hiring

While technical assessments have been common in tech for a long time, take-home assignments have become increasingly popular for all roles in recent years. They’re now a standard part of the hiring process at many companies.

There are many good reasons for the increase in their popularity. Research confirms that take-home assignments can help evaluate candidate skills and predict job success better than interviews alone. A well-designed assignment can give candidates a taste of the work they would be doing, and help them decide if the role and organization are a good fit for them. Finally, assignments can help reduce bias in the hiring process as they help hiring managers focus on the work product rather than a candidate’s appearance, similarity to their interviewer, or other biases that plague interviews.

Unfortunately, poorly designed take-home assignments are bad for candidate experience and can actually negatively impact your diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals. In this article, we’ll show you how to design take-home assignments that help you hire the best person for the job, are fair to all candidates and lead to a positive candidate experience.

Crafting Effective Take-Home Assignments

The most important aspect of a take-home assignment is that it actually helps the hiring team evaluate key competencies needed for the role. It’s simply a waste of everyone’s time to give candidates random busy work that doesn’t reflect what they will be doing in their role. Recruiters and TA leaders can demonstrate expertise and add value by encouraging managers to craft a meaningful exercise.

Once the hiring manager has come up with an exercise, ask them to create a rubric for how to score it. In creating a rubric, they will quickly figure out whether the assignment is relevant or not. If they struggle to create a rubric, it’s likely because they can’t articulate what they are looking for, and it’s not the right assignment.

As a recruiter, some questions you should ask the hiring manager include: What competencies is this assignment meant to evaluate? What does a “good” answer look like? These types of questions are the building blocks of an inclusive hiring process.

Designing Take-Home Assignments For Fairness

Take-home assignments should not be overly burdensome. Assignments that require more than 1-2 hours present an equity issue. Not everyone can fit five hours of unpaid work into evenings or weekends, especially applicants with caregiving responsibilities. Long take-home assignments are especially burdensome for underrepresented candidates, who often have to apply to more jobs to get an offer than their majority peers.

We recommend a 2-hour time limit for nearly all roles. For lower-paid and entry-level roles, we recommend even less time because candidates applying for those roles generally have to apply for more jobs and have fewer resources. For example, a 30-minute to 1-hour take-home assignment is appropriate for SDR positions.

If the hiring team insists on an assignment that takes more than 2 hours to complete, pay candidates for their time. This is the approach we take at Peoplism, where we pay final-round candidates to spend 10 hours working on a project. Even if this isn’t currently feasible at your company or for high-volume roles, it’s a powerful exercise because it forces hiring managers to confront just how much free work they are asking for from candidates.

Ask hiring managers: What kind of work would you be willing to pay for? When you pay candidates for take-home assignments, you’re much less likely to assign irrelevant busy work that doesn’t actually evaluate the skills needed for the job. It also sends a strong signal to candidates that you value and respect their time.

Next, carefully consider your stance on time limits. On one hand, unlimited time frames can lead to disparities in the effort and time candidates put into the assignment. How can hiring teams fairly judge an assignment that one candidate spent 10 hours on while another completed in the recommended 2 hours? Conversely, strict time limits can add undue pressure and don’t reflect the way work gets done in the real world.

We lean toward prioritizing candidate experience, so our advice is to use recommended time limits rather than strict time limits. To make this as fair as possible:

  1. Ensure that the assignment can be successfully completed in the 2-hour or less recommended time limit. Ask someone in a similar role to complete the assignment to check.
  2. Be transparent with candidates in your expectations. For example, in the instructions, you could say: “It is important to our company that we treat all candidates as fairly as possible. Therefore we ask that you please stick to the 2-hour time limit for this exercise. We are not secretly looking to see if you will spend more time on the assignment than we recommend.” Of course, that needs to be true! So make sure to communicate this expectation with all hiring managers, too.

Finally, it’s crucial that you give candidates an adequate amount of choice about when they complete the take-home assignment. We recommend giving candidates at least 2 weekends to complete a take-home. You can ask candidates to let you know ASAP if the proposed 10-14 day period is an issue.

5 Key Takeaways for Successful Take-Home Assignments

To sum up, we recommend the following guidelines for take-home assignments in order to ensure an effective and equitable process:

  1. Create meaningful assignments that measure 1-3 specific, pre-identified skills or competencies that are needed for the role.
  2. Limit take-home assignments to 2 hours or less. Have someone on the hiring team do the assignment to ensure it can successfully be completed in that amount of time.
  3. Give candidates a 10-14 day window to complete the assignment that includes at least two weekends.
  4. Clearly communicate expectations for the assignment with the candidate. Tell them directly that you are not looking for them to spend more time on the assignment than the recommended time limit.
  5. Use a rubric to ensure that all candidates are being evaluated on the same criteria. Provide guidance on what good looks like to whoever is grading the assignment against the rubric. If the hiring team is evaluating more than one candidate, grade each assignment anonymously to reduce bias.

Take-home assignments have become standard practice, but few companies are using best practices in this area. In fact, many candidates are tired of burdensome and irrelevant assignments. By implementing these guidelines, you will promote fairness, improve candidate experience, and increase the chances of hiring the right person for the job.

How to Use an ATS to Improve Your Recruitment Process

To help you optimize your recruitment process using an applicant tracking system, we’ve gathered insights from experienced professionals, including vice presidents, CEOs and founders. From automating tasks and leveraging data to conducting candidate verification and background checks, here’s how these experts have successfully improved their recruitment processes with the help of an ATS.

Automate Tasks and Leverage Data

Our ATS allows us to streamline the recruitment process by automating certain tasks, such as posting job ads, tracking and managing applications, scheduling interviews and collecting feedback.

This has enabled us to reduce manual effort and focus more on the candidate’s experience. We have also been able to use data to improve the recruitment process, such as by identifying which job postings generate the most interest and which sources provide the best quality candidates.

Ranee Zhang
VP of Growth, Airgram

Streamline Sourcing With Automation

One use case I’ve experienced with my ATS was to streamline the sourcing process. By setting up automated searches in the ATS, we could identify qualified candidates quickly and track their progress through the recruitment process.

We also used the ATS to send out automated emails to potential candidates, which allowed us to track how many candidates responded and even how many of them were qualified for the position. This allowed us to identify which candidates were the best fit for the job quickly and move them to the next stage of the recruitment process.

Span Chen
Growth Director, Notta

Filter Candidates for Cultural Fit

We use our ATS to improve our recruitment process by making sure we’re only hiring candidates who are a good fit for our company and culture.

One use case I’ve experienced is when we were looking for a candidate to fill an open position in account management. This role requires strong people skills and communication skills, as well as an ability to work well within a team

We used the ATS to filter out candidates who seemed like they would be a poor fit based on their past job experiences, their education and some other factors. We then invited the remaining candidates to come in for interviews with members of our team, who had different perspectives on what they wanted from this candidate. The interviews were successful—we found someone who was exactly what we needed!

Samuel Fletcher
Co-Founder, SupplyGem

Track and Optimize Your Candidate Pipeline

The ATS, or applicant tracking system, has been an indispensable tool for modern recruitment processes. At our brand, we make the most of our ATS to streamline our recruitment workflows, improve hiring efficiency and minimize time-to-hire.

One of the best uses of our ATS has been candidate pipeline tracking. By maintaining a well-segmented candidate pool along with their relevant talent acquisition stage, we can easily monitor candidate progression across the pipeline, identify blockages and optimize individual touch points of the recruitment process.

With our ATS-generated recruitment reports, we can track metrics such as applicant volume, conversion rates, offer acceptance rates, average time-to-hire and much more, which helps us make data-driven hiring decisions and continuously improve the recruitment process.

Tarun Saha
Co-Founder and CEO, StallionZo

Monitor Candidate Engagement Metrics

Using an applicant tracking system can significantly enhance the recruitment process. With an ATS, recruiters can automate tedious tasks, simplify resume screening and improve the overall candidate experience. In my experience, one particularly effective use case of  an ATS is the ability to track candidate engagement metrics.

For instance, we implemented an ATS that tracks metrics like email opens, clicks and application status updates. By analyzing these data points, we can identify which candidates are most engaged with our company and tailor our recruitment efforts accordingly. This helps us save time and resources by focusing on candidates who are most likely to convert.

In addition, by tracking engagement metrics, we can identify any bottlenecks in our recruitment process and make data-driven improvements. Overall, harnessing the power of an ATS can help recruiters streamline the recruitment process, make informed decisions and ultimately hire the best candidates.

Himanshu Sharma
CEO and Founder, Academy of Digital Marketing

Use an AI-Enabled ATS for Efficient Hiring

A powerful applicant tracking system can help immensely in streamlining talent acquisition and recruitment processes. Our organization has successfully implemented an AI-enabled ATS for resume parsing, automated filtering of candidate applications and short-listing relevant candidates based on predefined job criteria.

As a result, we could reduce manual efforts/costs and minimize human errors significantly while handling high volumes of applications. A specific use case where this proved beneficial was during a global hiring campaign where we received over 20,000 applications for multiple vacancies within a week.

Our ATS could categorize and prioritize candidates based on their location, qualifications and relevant experience quickly, resulting in a considerable reduction in the time-to-hire and improved candidate experience.

Basana Saha
Founder, KidsCareIdeas

Customize, Automate and Analyze

We customized our ATS for our recruitment workflow by defining the stages in our recruitment process and configuring our ATS to accommodate each stage. This helps streamline tracking candidates and ensures candidates move efficiently through the different stages.

We then leveraged automation for candidate communication by using automated emails and messages to keep candidates informed about their application status and the progress of their application.

Last, we used analytics to optimize and improve our recruiting efforts by utilizing the reporting capabilities of our ATS to analyze our recruitment data and identify trends, bottlenecks, and areas that need improvement.

Brenton Thomas
CEO, Twibi

Integrate Data for Better Hires

One particularly impactful use case has been the integration of ATS data with our candidate-matching algorithms. By analyzing candidate profiles and resumes with previous ATS data, our algorithms can more effectively identify and match candidates with the right skills and experience for our open positions.

This has not only yielded better quality hires but has also reduced the time and resources spent on the recruiting process. Overall, integrating our ATS data into our hiring decisions has been a game-changer in terms of both efficiency and quality of hires.

Anirban Saha
Founder, MrPlanter

Verify Candidates and Run Background Checks

Our ATS saved us from hiring fraudulent candidates, which would have cost us a lot. Sometimes we need to hire and onboard candidates within a thin time window, and the chances of mishaps are highest at those moments.

Especially if you are outsourcing talent, it becomes difficult to keep a tab on all necessary legal documentation and modes of verification. Having an ATS has helped us verify all legal documentation and run background checks on both national and international applicants.

It also helped us judge the authenticity of the data (like prior work experience) that the candidates have put in their resumes in minutes, which would otherwise take hours if done manually.

Sajna VM
Head of People and Customer Success, WebPipl

Four Ways Recruiting Can Shift from a Cost Center to a Strategic Function

The field of talent acquisition has undergone a series of massive changes over the last few years. A focus on efficiency across every industry means that companies are under significant pressure to deliver profits, rather than just top-line growth. The heady days of hiring way ahead of business needs and spending lavishly on perks to get candidates through the door are gone (at least for now). TA and recruiting leaders are now being asked a new set of questions: Is your budget being spent effectively so that the team is achieving a reasonable cost-per-hire? Are you operating efficiently with a smaller, leaner team?

Increasingly, the solution to many of these questions can be found in using the right data and the right tools. And regardless of whether you’re experiencing a hiring slowdown and have some time on your hands, or you’re firing on all cylinders and need to ensure everything works at scale, now is the perfect time to do a deep dive into your processes to figure out where you can make changes. The good news is that the sophistication of the technology available to recruiters has increased significantly in recent years, which means you can really drill down into your hiring funnel and understand where there’s an opportunity to be more efficient, use your budget wisely and generate data that proves out your ROI.

Here are four tactics that can help you accomplish all of those goals and help move your team from a cost center to a strategic function.

Calculate the ROI of Every Candidate Source and Prioritize Accordingly

TA leaders are increasingly being asked to be good stewards of their budgets, which is why it’s more important than ever to take a critical look at all of your different candidate sources – job boards, social media campaigns, agencies, events – and determine which have the highest ROI. Today’s tools allow you to track cost per application and cost per hire across channels, so you can optimize spending based on which channels are driving the most impact. Agency spend is a particularly good place to pay close attention given the high costs associated with them. If you can find ways to make your in-house recruiting team more effective, you can very quickly eliminate tens or even hundreds of thousands in spend. And one of the best ways to improve your team’s efficiency is to…

Apply Data to Every Step of Your Hiring Funnel

An optimized hiring funnel is one of the single best tools in your toolkit – it can help you do everything from cut down on time to hire and cost per hire to helping you make better use of hiring managers’ time. Recruiting leaders should spend some time digging into their historical hiring data so they can identify pockets of inefficiency and lost productivity in their hiring process, which can then be eliminated to ensure employees are spending less time getting stuck in unproductive interviews, and more time carrying out their job functions. Is one department seeing lower than average passthrough rates from onsite to offer? Does one of your sourcers do phone screens with 25% more candidates than average? If so, now your team knows precisely the stage of the funnel it needs to optimize for efficiency. 

Make Sure Your Recruiting Tech Stack Is Delivering Value

Now is a great time to do a comprehensive evaluation of the recruiting tools you’re currently using. This might include your email finders, sourcing platforms, applicant tracking system, customer relationship management tool, sourcing platforms, video interviewing platforms and employer branding tools and platforms. Take time to evaluate each one. Is it delivering real value? How widely is it adopted? How critical is it to your team? How well does it integrate with the other tools in your tech stack? Evaluate each tool on its merits and cut those that score low or are redundant.

Build a Capacity Planning Model

In addition to looking at data retroactively to identify where you can make improvements, you should also spend some time looking forward to create a model of how many people you’ll be able to hire based on your current team composition and your historical time to hire, which can vary greatly by role. This is where you’ll need to work very closely with your finance team to create a model that helps you identify the ceiling on the number of people you can hire. They are forecasting your organization’s costs and revenue based on your rate of hiring, so if you’re not able to meet your hiring goals given the historical throughputs of your current team, now is the time to flag that. A good CRM can help you gather that data, so that your recruiting capacity is an input into your headcount forecasts, rather than a reaction to it.

Although the last few months have provided their fair share of challenges, I’m a firm believer that all of these changes will ultimately help move our industry forward. The pressure that many recruiting teams are under to prove out their impact and ROI for the business will propel all of us forward to a more strategic, data-driven future, and I am eager to see it come to fruition.

Check Your Bench: How Talent Data Helps People Flourish and Business Thrive

Plum knows that when people flourish, business thrives. That’s why the revolutionary talent assessment platform uses predictive psychometric data to inform objective talent decisions, which means companies do not have to venture far to find new talent. Instead, organizations can look for untapped potential in their existing pool of employees. To support this thinking, Plum developed a single psychometric assessment able to empower you to mobilize your talent and invest in your current workforce.

Known as the Plum Assessment, the platform was developed by industrial and organizational psychologists who have thoroughly studied human behaviors and the environments in which those personalities most thrive. Using this science, the assessment gauges a participant’s personality, social intelligence, and problem-solving ability. The solution then compares the data points provided by participants to the needs of an available role. Its goal is simple: match a candidate with a job that suits their personality and work ethic to help them thrive in their professional development.

The approach has shown success. Over 93% of hiring managers who have used the platform say that they would hire their Plum candidate again. For a successful result, a candidate has to simply complete a short survey in order to find a job match. Hiring teams are equipped with their own survey called the Match Criteria Survey. The results of which can help employers like you assess which traits are necessary for a candidate to possess in order to succeed in a role.

Helping Employers Navigate a Difficult Employer Job Market

The Plum platform is helping businesses navigate a difficult employer job market. The US economy is facing its lowest unemployment rate in over 50 years, with about twice as many job openings as there are unemployed people. In an effort to retain talent in a narrow market, businesses are offering pay boosts to retain talent, meaning there are fewer candidates on the market. Plum’s assessment can be offered to your current employees to identify skills and talents that may have not been utilized in their current roles.

Promoting Within Promotes a Positive Work Culture

Organizations that promote employees internally are 32% more likely to be satisfied with the quality of their hires. Plum’s assessment can be used to identify leaders in your talent pool for promotional opportunities. Identifying human potential within a business’s workforce can help match existing employees with both full-time and short-term emerging opportunities, projects, or assignments across an organization. Employees also show more productivity when their employers demonstrate a desire to promote internally. When a pathway for growth exists, productivity increases. Your employees are also more likely to take advantage of organizational training and educational opportunities as well.

Employee empowerment is at the forefront of Plum’s success. More than 87% of millennials say that professional development and career growth are very important. Plum’s assessment offers a personalized Talent Guide for employees to dive deep into their results. They will have access to an in-depth understanding of what facets of their character and abilities make them unique. Talent can utilize these self-insights to think about a career path where their skills would make them successful. Your employees can also utilize Plum to effectively communicate their strengths, gaps, and areas they would like to focus on for their professional development.

Taking the Bias Out of Performance Reviews

Plum’s assessment tool also eliminates any bias that may interfere with an employee’s growth. Traditional performance reviews can be highly subjective, especially when only one layer of management is responsible. An employee’s full potential may go unrecognized and underutilized if bias is able to tamper with an employee’s evaluation, even unintentionally. This may lead to talent being overlooked for promotional opportunities. Over 29% of workers claim a lack of promotion opportunities led them to leave a company in the past. The current job market is very competitive for employers, and losing talent could mean major revenue losses for employers. Plum’s objective data offers a full scope of an employee’s potential, which means talent is given a fair shake when promotional opportunities arise.

The traditional hiring model can have a recruiter on the hunt for new talent for three to six weeks at a time, costing your business time and money. Plum’s assessment equips businesses with the resources needed to mobilize their existing workforces to achieve their fullest potential. The data it provides works to benefit both a company’s need to innovate and identify capable talent and an employee’s desire to be recognized for what they bring to the table. A business’s needs are constantly changing, and Plum helps to ensure that your employees align with what’s needed now.

This post is sponsored by Plum that initially appeared on Plum.io