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5 Reasons Freelancers Might Not Want to Join Your Team

A recent survey noted that 75% of companies are reporting talent shortages and difficulty hiring, and these numbers are projected to grow in the coming years. With roughly 1.57 billion freelancers worldwide, the solution to this problem seems obvious.

However, many U.S. businesses need help attracting top talent, even in the freelance market. If your company is struggling, here are five major issues that could make independent contractors hesitant to join your team.

Getting Paid on Time is a Hassle

A recent report found that 74% of freelancers get paid late, and 59% are owed upwards of $50,000 for completed work. Overall, the issue of timely, simple payment is probably the top pain point of freelance workers. 

In addition, freelancers always have the looming threat of a client possibly disappearing and not paying them for finished work. 

Unfortunately, there’s yet to be a perfect solution for this. However, companies can introduce automated payment processors to eliminate the human factor and make payment schedules more reliable. 

Alternatively, working with a service like Solar Staff can offer peace of mind for both sides because a mediator can handle all payment issues and smooth the process for each party. Involving a mediator implies “freezing” money on their account so that the freelancer is sure they will be paid for the job and is not left without the deserved money.

They Don’t Feel Like They Can Set Boundaries

There’s an all-too-accurate joke that reflects how many contract workers feel: “I didn’t want to work a 9-5, so I started freelancing, and now I work 24/7.” 

Freelancers often feel insecure and unable to say no to a client when asked to work overtime or go above and beyond the agreed-upon tasks because the client has their money. This leads to a terrible work-life balance, extra stress and unbilled work hours.

The solution here is twofold. First, companies should set up clear, transparent billing systems that include contract clauses for overtime. Second, escrow services can also help freelancers feel like their money isn’t “held hostage” unless they complete hours of unplanned work. 

Companies can also utilize time management services to correctly budget working hours, eliminating confusion or miscommunication.

Admin Tasks Are a Burden

According to in-house data, 58% of contractors say administrative tasks take too much time. The same pool of contractors cited proper documentation as the number-one most annoying activity related to their work. 

Without access to professional assistance via software or accounting departments, freelancers are left to create and manage invoices, perform all reporting tasks, accurately record taxes and manage other documentation manually.

Only 40% of contract workers use dedicated invoicing software, while the rest create their invoices by hand, and 73% have to pay at least $20 for a tool to assist them with invoicing and documentation.

Offering an easy, user-friendly service or app that removes the burden of paperwork would go a long way toward attracting top freelancers. In fact, 67% of freelancers would readily pay for a tool that eliminates administrative obligations, so any company that solves this issue will have a competitive advantage.

Inflexible Deadlines and Unclear Expectations

Companies and contractors may have differing views on a reasonable deadline. If neither party is willing to compromise, this can cause significant problems. 

Often, the root of the issue is that each side has different expectations for the outcome, and there needs to be more clear understanding. Additionally, deadlines may shift if the project has complex goals, making it hard for both sides to keep track. 

Solving this problem is relatively easy. First, companies should set clear deadlines and expectations immediately so the contractor knows if they can provide what you need within that time frame. Second, there should be a list of acceptable reasons to extend a deadline, and both sides should agree. Using a freelancer-specific tool puts all this communication in a single, accessible place.

Communication Barriers Make the Work Complicated

Differing time zones and languages can often cause freelancers only to accept local work. For instance, 42% of freelancers in Indonesia say language barriers are the problem they face most often.

In addition, different cultural backgrounds can sometimes lead to complications. Some cultures expect working past a deadline; others may prefer tight, consistent communication and some may need more emotional motivation to complete a project. 

This is why it’s essential to have written agreements that clearly state a project’s goals, deadlines and expectations. It’s also critical to have a staff member with good emotional intelligence and a similar cultural background to most of your contractors to help smooth communications.

Shore Up Your Weaknesses to Attract Top Freelancers

According to Upwork, the U.S. freelance market earned $1.3 trillion from 2020-2021, and the number of skilled workers continues to climb. Independent contractors are highly educated, motivated and optimistic about their career prospects, so the companies that address freelancers’ concerns will be able to attract top talent and close the talent gap sooner.

The Insider’s Guide to Job Boards

Regardless of whether you’re looking to hire a single person, build a new team or plan your organization’s talent pipeline, job boards are the place you’d most likely start. 

Despite talk of their irrelevance, there are more job boards today than ever before. And for good reason. Job boards are the most popular channel among applicants, with 60% of people using them to look for open roles. And for recruiters, advertising on job boards helps cast a wider net and reach more candidates. 

Let’s take a closer look.

Understanding Job Boards

Job boards are not just a place for adverts anymore. Because recruiters are able to control the narrative, job boards offer a world of opportunities:

    • Employer branding
    • Access to resume databases
    • Candidate search superpowers
    • Advanced technology that maps candidates to the right jobs

They are a competitive space for recruiters racing to find talent. Hence, it’s crucial to be intentional, strategic and thoughtful about how to stand out from the crowd. 

That said, job boards are evolving and moving toward providing users and customers with more than just a digital classified page. Platforms like LinkedIn and Glassdoor exemplify this shift. The focus is a content-first approach to curating networks of highly-qualified talent, delivering consistent value. In other words, job boards are becoming better at matching jobs and skills. 

Job boards can be classified into two major categories – mass market and niche.

Top Mass Market Job Boards

Indeed: 

    • Monthly active users: 250 million
    • Resumes: 17 million
    • 10 jobs added every second
      • Indeed is a job aggregator which can automatically list the jobs from your career portal on its site. You can also reach out to Indeed to get your career pages indexed, if necessary. If you have listed your job in multiple places, Indeed takes care of scrapping the duplicates.
      • You can showcase culture, people experiences, achievements and more, so candidates can get to know more about your company. Additionally, you can include links to the company website, social channels and forums, and use custom calls to action to attract candidates. 
      • Indeed offers a handy mobile application that enables recruiters and candidates to keep moving forward with jobs and applications from anywhere, anytime. 
      • Offering ready-made work assessments, Indeed helps make screening a breeze.
      • You can also gather valuable intelligence into relevant salaries, making it easy for you to create convincing job descriptions and ads. 
      • Note: For paid job postings, in addition to pay-per-click ads, Indeed offers a cost-per-application model where recruiters/employers only pay for applications that meet certain criteria from the job ad.

ZipRecruiter: ZipRecruiter is another job board application that is extremely popular with candidates across sectors and industries. 

    • Monthly active users: 25 million
    • Resumes: 36 million
    • Active jobs: 9 million
      • When you post a job, ZipRecruiter’s smart technology automatically invites the right candidates to apply. Even better, if you rate candidates, the job board learns from your ratings and sends you candidates that match your preferences. 
      • The Invite to Apply feature allows recruiters to proactively send candidates a personal, pre-written invite to nudge them into pursuing jobs with you. 
      • Unlike many other job boards, ZipRecruiter offers customers 24/7 assistance. You can call, email, or ping on live chat and find a human at the other end. 
      • Also, screening questions attract the candidates with the right skills, experience, and attitude. In this process, you can mark questions as ‘deal-breakers’. When a candidate doesn’t answer them or answers incorrectly, ZipRecruiter automatically rejects them.
      • The ZipRecruiter App gives you the flexibility to review applicants and act on them even if you are on the move.
      • Note: Unlike Indeed, ZipRecruiter has slot-based pricing where you can purchase reusable job slots. The number of slots depends on the plan you purchase. The job ads can be changed as needed.

 

LinkedIn: Even though LinkedIn is a professional networking site, it has turned into a goldmine for recruiters. A LinkedIn recruiter account further empowers recruiters with highly-targeted search capabilities, InMail management, profile management, collaboration and productivity functionalities.

    • Community members: 740 million
    • Monthly active users: 310 million
    • Registered companies: 55 million
      • Arguably the best channel to reach both active and passive professionals. 
      • Employers/recruiters can create a company page and build a network. This is also a perfect platform to communicate employer brand stories, organizational achievements, open positions and build connections with potential candidates. 
      • LinkedIn is one of the very few platforms to combine content and social proof for recruiters. You can read candidate endorsements from their colleagues, managers and leaders. You can also view and validate their work history details and skills. Candidates are unlikely to stretch the truth in a public forum that can be easily spotted/verified by their connections. 
      • LinkedIn’s search capabilities are highly targeted – its algorithm matches requisitions with related content that applicants post or share to deliver more high-quality leads.  

Adzuna: Adzuna is a classifieds site that is popular for its network reach. Job posters can also reach candidates across affiliated/partner networks and job boards. 

    • Job adverts: 2 billion
    • Monthly active users: 20 million
    • Availability: 16 countries
      • If you are an organization that’s constantly hiring, Adzuna can also use an XML feed to update your job listings. 
      • Apart from showcasing open jobs, the platform provides valuable insights on comparative salaries and labor market trends. 
      • Adzuna partners with 100+ national and local job boards such as Mumsnet, LinkedIn and Jobstoday to further broadcast jobs to a wider audience. 
      • Note: Employers can post several jobs each month to Adzuna for free. When candidates apply, they are sent directly to the applicant tracking system. Organizations are charged based on the number of candidates they respond to.

Facebook: Facebook is the most popular, populated and active social media channel, opening the door to a large pool of passive candidates. 

    • Monthly active users: 2.8 billion
    • Daily active users: 1.6 billion
    • Third most visited website
      • Facebook empowers employers to broadcast jobs in two main ways: directly to a company page or post to jobs on Facebook (posting to Facebook jobs is available only for business pages.). The jobs you post will also appear on the feeds of people who engage with your posts or follow you.
      • In addition to this, you can also regularly engage in relevant groups. For example, a group of job seekers in the same state with whom you can share open opportunities or a group of designers/engineers/marketers where you can find niche talent. 
      • Build rapport with the audience by engaging with them with good content, videos or even the occasional live session, where you can showcase culture, people stories or even have your hiring managers talk about an open role.
      • To top it off, walk-ins and career fairs can be promoted through Facebook events and promoted to reach the right audience. People can also show they are interested by clicking on an ‘Interested’ button. You can start checking out profiles right at this stage and make the in-person conversations more personal. 
      • Given the high rate of engagement, Facebook can be leveraged to drive employee referrals – especially when your hiring is running on a limited budget. Employees can like and share job posts or tag people they think will best suit the role.
      • One of the greatest advantages you will have with Facebook is the ability to target very specific groups of people through ads, including demography, age group, behavior, prior interactions, connection with your page, interests and so on.

Top Niche Job Boards:

    • Poached helps recruiters and hiring managers find highly-skilled line cooks, sous chefs, restaurant managers, servers, bartenders and baristas. With features that allow employers to filter our unqualified candidates, this site is key to creating a kitchen dream team.
    • SalesJobs is one of the largest sales job boards around. You can post and distribute your jobs to over 200 niche sales job boards to find the candidates you are looking for through a single platform.  
    • Medzilla is a popular job board for employers and jobseekers in healthcare and pharmaceutical fields, Medzilla allows you to search for scientists, researchers and clinical experts. Medical staffing pros and applicants post their needs and credentials on this user-friendly platform and listings are mailed out to selected candidates who hold the relevant qualifications.
    • AllRetailJobs allows retail employers across every imaginable product category to post their job listings on this platform. Also, the platform boasts a resume database of over 1.5 million, with thousands more being added each month. 
    • Behance is a great platform for those looking for a creative type in industries like architecture, web design or fashion. It’s is a free resume database with a twist: the online platform is designed not just to show PDFs of resumes but to actually showcase creative work to give it the exposure that it deserves. 
    • HigherEdJobs connects jobseekers and employers across all aspects of academia. The website logs more than 1.5 million visitors per month and claims that each job posting averages 655 views. And, of the site’s users, more than 60% have five or more years of experience in higher education.
    • InsuranceJobs offers employers the opportunity to use a simple solution to connect with jobseekers in the insurance industry. The site boasts a searchable resume database of over 300,000 insurance industry candidates and allows employers to post insurance jobs on the site, which are then automatically distributed to other job boards via the site’s database.
    • CDLJobs is there to help employers address the shortage of drivers across the United States, you can find CDL-qualified drivers. The site has nearly 10,000 trucking job listings and often encourages veteran drivers to find new trucker job opportunities. You can also specify trailer types and have your company’s own listing page for all jobs. 

Making the Most of Job Boards: Programmatic

Posting and tracking jobs across multiple job boards can be cumbersome, especially if you don’t use a programmatic job advertising platform. A programmatic platform can help publish and manage jobs on multiple job boards in a single click. 

You can also make use of ad exchange networks and intelligent automation capabilities to spread your job advertising spend across the most efficient job boards – where you can hire the most candidates at the least amount of cost. 

What’s more, applications directly flow into your ATS where they can be managed, shared and discussed with other hiring team members. 

Finding the right match for your job openings is important in order for your organization to reach its goals and objectives. Job boards are a valuable resource for finding quality talent, and vital to a successful recruitment strategy.

To learn more about how Joveo can help you ace the job board game, schedule a demo today! And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to see how Joveo can help you get the most out of your recruitment advertising.

My Interview With GPT-3 About the Future of AI in Talent Acquisition

Below is my Q&A with GPT 3 about the future of AI in Talent Acquisition.  I’ve chosen to use Synthesia.io to automate some of the more interesting parts of the discussion.  

Can You Define Talent Acquisition for Me

Sure! Talent acquisition is the process of finding and acquiring skilled workers for an organization. This can include activities such as recruiting, screening, and hiring employees. The goal of talent acquisition is to build a strong and capable workforce that can help the organization achieve its business objectives.

What Are 3 Applications for AI in Talent Acquisition?

There are many potential applications for AI in talent acquisition, but here are three examples:

    1. Recruitment: AI can be used to automate many of the tasks involved in recruiting, such as sourcing and screening candidates, scheduling interviews, and managing job postings. This can help organizations save time and resources, and enable them to find the best candidates more efficiently.
    2. Employee assessment: AI can be used to evaluate job candidates and provide insights about their suitability for a role. This can be done through the use of algorithms that analyze candidates’ resumes and other data, such as job performance reviews, to identify key skills and experiences.
    3. Retention: AI can be used to help organizations retain their top performers by providing personalized feedback and coaching. For example, AI can be used to monitor employee performance and provide recommendations for career development, helping to keep workers engaged and motivated.

Can You Give Me 3 Good Interview Questions to Ask a Python Developer During an Interview?

Sure, here are three good interview questions to ask a Python developer:

    1. Can you explain the difference between a tuple and a list in Python?
    2. How do you handle exceptions in Python? Can you provide an example?
    3. Can you explain the purpose of the “self” keyword in Python, and how it is used in method definitions?

These questions can help you evaluate a candidate’s knowledge of basic Python concepts, as well as their ability to think critically and problem-solve. It’s also a good idea to ask the candidate to write some code on a whiteboard or laptop to assess their practical skills.

Can You Give Me a Good Technical Interview Question for a Python Developer?

Here is a good technical interview question for a Python developer:

“Can you explain how Python’s garbage collector works, and how it affects the performance of a Python program? Can you provide an example of how you might use the garbage collector in your own code?”

This question tests the candidate’s knowledge of Python’s garbage collection system, which is an important aspect of the language’s performance and memory management. A good answer would explain how the garbage collector works, how it affects program performance, and provide an example of how to use it in code. This can help you evaluate the candidate’s technical expertise and problem-solving skills.

Can You Give Me a Good Technical Interview Question for a Python Developer?

Sure, here is another good technical interview question for a Python developer:

“How do you manage dependencies in a Python project, and why is this important? Can you provide an example of how you have implemented dependency management in a previous project?”

This question tests the candidate’s knowledge of dependency management in Python, which is an important aspect of developing and maintaining complex applications. A good answer would explain the importance of dependency management, describe a specific approach or tool that the candidate has used in the past, and provide an example of how it was implemented in a previous project. This can help you evaluate the candidate’s technical expertise and experience in Python development.

Can You Give Me 3 Examples of Things I Should Not Ask During an Interview?

It’s important to avoid asking certain types of questions during an interview, as they may be unlawful, discriminatory or simply inappropriate. Here are three examples of things that you should not ask during an interview:

    1. Questions about an applicant’s age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or other protected characteristics. These types of questions are unlawful under federal and state anti-discrimination laws, and can create a hostile or uncomfortable environment for the applicant.
    2. Questions about an applicant’s religious beliefs or practices. These types of questions are also unlawful under federal and state anti-discrimination laws, and can create a hostile or uncomfortable environment for the applicant.
    3. Questions about an applicant’s medical or health history. These types of questions are generally not relevant to the job, and can be seen as intrusive or inappropriate. Additionally, asking about medical or health information may violate federal and state laws that protect an individual’s privacy.

In general, it’s best to focus on questions that are directly related to the job requirements and the candidate’s ability to perform the tasks required. This will help you evaluate the candidate’s qualifications and experience in a fair and legal manner.

In Your Opinion, What Impact Will AI Have On Talent Acquisition?

It’s difficult to predict exactly what impact AI will have on talent acquisition, as it will likely depend on how it is used and the specific context in which it is applied. However, some possible impacts of AI on talent acquisition include:

    • Improved efficiency and speed: AI can automate many of the tasks involved in talent acquisition, such as sourcing and screening candidates, scheduling interviews and managing job postings. This can help organizations save time and resources, and enable them to find the best candidates more efficiently.
    • Enhanced decision making: AI can be used to analyze large amounts of data related to job candidates, such as resumes, job performance reviews and skills assessments. This can provide organizations with valuable insights and help them make more informed hiring decisions.
    • Improved candidate experience: AI can be used to provide a more personalized and engaging candidate experience. For example, AI-powered chatbots can be used to answer common questions and provide real-time feedback to candidates throughout the recruitment process.

Overall, the impact of AI on talent acquisition is likely to be significant, as it has the potential to improve many aspects of the process and help organizations build a stronger and more capable workforce.

How Would an AI Be Used Fairly to Screen a Candidate During a Job Interview?

AI can be used fairly to screen candidates during a job interview by following a few key principles:

    1. Ensure that the AI system is designed to be unbiased and fair. This means avoiding the use of data or algorithms that could potentially discriminate against certain groups of people.
    2. Use a diverse and representative data set to train the AI system. This will help ensure that the system can accurately evaluate candidates from a variety of backgrounds and experiences.
    3. Regularly evaluate and test the AI system to ensure that it is working as intended and is not producing biased or unfair results.
    4. Provide transparency and accountability around the use of AI in the hiring process. This means clearly communicating to candidates how the AI system is being used, and providing them with an opportunity to challenge or appeal any decisions made by the system.

By following these principles, organizations can use AI to screen candidates in a fair and unbiased manner, and ensure that all job applicants are treated equitably throughout the hiring process.

Do You Think AI Could Make  Hiring Decisions in the Future Without Human Input?

It’s difficult to predict exactly how AI will be used in the future, but it is possible that it could be used to make hiring decisions without human input. However, there are several factors that could impact the extent to which this happens, including the availability of reliable and unbiased data, the development of advanced AI algorithms, and legal and ethical considerations.

It’s important to remember that AI is a tool, and it is ultimately up to humans to decide how it is used. Therefore, if AI is used to make hiring decisions in the future, it will be important to ensure that it is done in a responsible and transparent manner, and that it is subject to regular evaluation and oversight. This will help ensure that the use of AI in hiring is fair, unbiased, and aligned with the organization’s values and goals.

What Are Some of the Ethical and Legal Considerations of Using AI for a Job Interview?

There are several ethical and legal considerations that organizations should be aware of when using AI for a job interview. These include:

    1. Bias and fairness: AI systems can be trained on data that is biased or unrepresentative, which can result in unfair or discriminatory decisions. Organizations should be careful to avoid using biased data when training AI systems, and should regularly evaluate and test the systems to ensure that they are not producing biased results.
    2. Transparency and accountability: Organizations should be transparent about how AI is being used in the hiring process, and should provide candidates with an opportunity to challenge or appeal any decisions made by the AI system. This will help ensure that the use of AI is fair and accountable.
    3. Legal compliance: Organizations should ensure that their use of AI in the hiring process complies with all relevant laws and regulations, including anti-discrimination laws and privacy laws. This will help protect the rights of job applicants and prevent legal liabilities for the organization.

Overall, it’s important for organizations to carefully consider the ethical and legal implications of using AI in the hiring process, and to take steps to ensure that it is done in a responsible and transparent manner. This will help ensure that the use of AI is fair and beneficial to both the organization and job applicants.

The Current Time to Fill of a Job Is 42 Days on Average According to SHRM, How Much Time Could Using an AI Save in This Process?

It’s difficult to say exactly how much time using an AI could save in the job recruitment process, as it will depend on a variety of factors such as the complexity of the job, the size of the organization, and the quality of the AI system being used.

However, in general, AI has the potential to save time in many of the tasks involved in recruiting, such as sourcing and screening candidates, scheduling interviews, and managing job postings. By automating these tasks, AI can help organizations find the best candidates more efficiently and reduce the time it takes to fill a job.

For example, if an organization currently spends an average of 42 days to fill a job, using an AI could potentially reduce that time by automating some of the tasks involved in the process. However, the exact amount of time saved will depend on the specific circumstances of the organization and the AI system being used.

What Are Three Use Cases for AI in Talent Acquisition?

Here are three potential use cases for AI in talent acquisition:

    1. Automated resume screening: AI can be used to analyze resumes and other job application materials to identify candidates who are most likely to be a good fit for a particular role. This can help organizations save time and resources by quickly identifying and prioritizing the best candidates.
    2. Predictive hiring: AI can be used to analyze data about job candidates, such as their skills, experience, and performance reviews, to predict their likelihood of success in a particular role. This can help organizations make more informed hiring decisions and improve the overall quality of their workforce.
    3. Candidate engagement: AI can be used to provide personalized and engaging experiences for job candidates throughout the recruitment process. For example, AI-powered chatbots can be used to answer common questions and provide real-time feedback to candidates, helping to keep them engaged and motivated.

Overall, AI has the potential to improve many aspects of the talent acquisition process, from identifying and assessing candidates to engaging and retaining top performers.

How Could an AI Be Used to Source Passive Candidates for a Job?

An AI could be used to source passive candidates for a job by using algorithms to analyze data about potential candidates, such as their skills, experience, and professional networks. This can help identify individuals who may be a good fit for a particular role, even if they are not actively looking for a job.

For example, an AI system could be trained on data about job requirements, industry trends, and the skills and experiences of successful candidates. The system could then use this data to search for potential candidates who match the desired profile, and identify individuals who may be interested in the job but are not actively looking for new opportunities.

The AI system could then contact these potential candidates and provide them with information about the job and the organization, and encourage them to apply or learn more about the opportunity. This can help organizations find and engage with passive candidates who may not be easily identifiable through traditional recruitment methods.

Write a Short Example of Outreach to a Potential Candidate About a Software Engineering Job

Here is a short example of outreach to a potential candidate about a software engineering job:

Dear [Candidate],

We came across your profile and noticed that you have experience in software engineering and a strong background in [relevant technologies]. We are currently looking for a software engineer to join our team at [Company], and we think you may be a good fit for the role.

At [Company], we are working on exciting projects that use [relevant technologies] to [achieve business objectives]. Our team is made up of talented and passionate engineers who are dedicated to [achieving company mission].

We would love to learn more about your experience and see if there may be an opportunity for you at [Company]. If you are interested, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

Best regards, [Your name] [Your contact information]

What Are the 3 Technologies That Will Make the Most Change in Talent Acquisition?

It’s difficult to predict exactly which technologies will have the most impact on talent acquisition, as the field is constantly evolving and new technologies are being developed all the time. However, here are three technologies that could potentially make significant changes in the field:

    1. Artificial intelligence (AI): AI has the potential to automate many of the tasks involved in talent acquisition, such as sourcing and screening candidates, scheduling interviews, and managing job postings. This can help organizations save time and resources, and enable them to find the best candidates more efficiently.
    2. Virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR): VR and AR technologies can be used to provide immersive and engaging experiences for job candidates, such as virtual job interviews or simulations of the work environment. This can help organizations provide a more personalized and engaging candidate experience, and give candidates a better idea of what it would be like to work at the organization.
    3. Blockchain: Blockchain technology can be used to create decentralized and secure systems for storing and sharing data about job candidates, such as their resumes, skills, and experiences. This can help organizations maintain a comprehensive and up-to-date database of potential candidates, and make it easier to share and access candidate information across different departments and teams.

Overall, these technologies have the potential to significantly change the way that talent acquisition is done, and can help organizations build a stronger and more capable workforce.

Should AI Be Allowed to Conduct Job Interviews either Now or in the Future?

Whether AI should be allowed to conduct job interviews is a complex and contentious issue, and there are many different perspectives on the matter. Some argue that AI can provide a more objective and unbiased approach to interviewing, and can help organizations identify the best candidates more efficiently. Others argue that AI lacks the empathy and human interaction that is essential to the hiring process, and that it could lead to unfair or discriminatory decisions.

In general, it’s important to consider the potential advantages and disadvantages of using AI in job interviews, and to weigh these against the organization’s goals and values. If an organization decides to use AI for interviewing, it should be done in a responsible and transparent manner, and should be subject to regular evaluation and oversight to ensure that it is fair and unbiased.

Overall, whether or not AI should be allowed to conduct job interviews is a decision that should be made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the specific context and circumstances of the organization and the job candidates.

What Should a Company Consider Before Implementing an AI in Their Recruitment Process?

Before implementing an AI in their recruitment process, a company should consider several key factors, including:

    1. The goals and objectives of the organization: It’s important to carefully consider why the organization is considering using AI in the recruitment process, and how it aligns with the organization’s overall goals and objectives. This will help ensure that the use of AI is aligned with the organization’s strategic direction and priorities.
    2. The potential impact on candidates and employees: The use of AI in the recruitment process can have significant impacts on job candidates and existing employees, both positive and negative. It’s important to carefully consider these impacts, and to take steps to mitigate any potential negative effects.
    3. The availability of reliable and unbiased data: AI systems rely on data to make decisions and predictions, so it’s important to ensure that the data being used is reliable and unbiased. This will help ensure that the AI system is able to make fair and accurate decisions.
    4. Legal and ethical considerations: The use of AI in the recruitment process is subject to a variety of legal and ethical considerations, such as anti-discrimination laws and privacy laws. It’s important for organizations to carefully consider these considerations and ensure that their use of AI complies with all relevant laws and regulations.

Overall, it’s important for organizations to carefully consider these and other factors before implementing AI in their recruitment process, in order to ensure that it is done in a responsible and effective manner.

Can You Write Me a Job Advertisement for an RN With a Focus in Oncology?

Sure, here is a sample job advertisement for an RN with a focus in oncology:

Job Title: Oncology RN

Location: [City], [State]

We are seeking an experienced and compassionate Oncology RN to join our team at [Hospital]. In this role, you will provide care and support to patients with cancer, and work closely with a team of oncologists and other healthcare professionals to deliver high-quality care.

Responsibilities:

      • Provide direct nursing care to patients with cancer, including administering medications, monitoring vital signs, and coordinating with other members of the healthcare team
      • Educate patients and their families about their condition, treatment options, and self-care
      • Collaborate with oncologists and other healthcare professionals to develop and implement individualized care plans for patients
      • Monitor patients for changes in condition and respond to any potential complications or emergencies
      • Participate in ongoing training and professional development to maintain and improve clinical skills and knowledge

Qualifications:

      • Current RN license in [State]
      • Bachelor’s degree in Nursing or related field
      • At least 2 years of experience as an RN, with a focus on oncology
      • Knowledge of oncology nursing principles and practices
      • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

If you are a dedicated and caring RN with a passion for oncology, we encourage you to apply for this exciting opportunity. Please submit your resume and

Thank You, This Has Been a Very Informative Discussion

You’re welcome! I’m glad I could help you. If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask. I’m here to help!

Source Social Media Accounts In Just One Click

Dean Da Costa loves saving time at all costs. Optimizing his workflow is Dean’s passion, and he wants to share a tidbit with you on how to source social media accounts faster. When you do something a million times a day, every little step can help. Social Friend Finder removes some of the annoyances of hunting down a particular person.

Basically, this app takes your query and filters a search for only socials. It’s more than likely just constraining your search with some straightforward boolean phrases, but it gets the job done quite effectively.  There’s not a whole lot to be said about this service, other than it gives you a quick and straightforward way to source social media accounts with the push of a button.

The chrome extension, while helpful, isn’t strictly necessary to use this search function. Their main search page does the same thing if you don’t want to bother with having YET ANOTHER extension bloating your browser bar. We get it, the sourcer’s toolbox only has so much room in it.

In the tutorial, Dean Da Costa goes through a few steps to take advantage of Google Lens as well. If your curiosity is piqued, then you’re in luck! Dean made a video on Google Lens and how to take advantage of their tasty Reverse Image Search features.

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! You gotta really love sourcing to appreciate the infinite hours of work Dean has put into it. For all of the Dean Da Costa videos and articles on RecruitingDaily, click here!

How to Leverage LinkedIn for Lead Generation and Recruitment

Leveraging LinkedIn for lead generation is ideal, especially for B2B startups. Not only does the platform provide many opportunities to network, but it also promotes content that’s geared toward professionals. Plus, there are so many ways to communicate with potential customers.

But LinkedIn isn’t just useful for client acquisition. It also helps startups meet their recruitment goals. LinkedIn now has 850 million members and over 58 million registered companies. Fifty million of those members search for jobs on LinkedIn, and 60,480 are hired every single week.

These numbers have caused 40% of companies to rely on LinkedIn skills filters to identify high-quality candidates. It’s clear that LinkedIn can be a valuable resource for any company.

How to Use LinkedIn for Recruitment Marketing

For recruitment managers, even the free versions of LinkedIn can open doors to new hiring possibilities.

Here’s how any business can use LinkedIn to build a recruitment pipeline.

Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile

The first step of recruitment marking is building a brand. This can take several months, as you’ll need to establish a positive brand reputation, build a talent network, and rework your website. But if you’re one of the 78% of companies that can’t fill their open job roles, it’s worth the effort.

Once you’ve done this, you can start working on your personal and business profile. Be sure to incorporate SEO, as it’ll help candidates find you and increase your chances of connecting. Try to utilize keywords or key phrases that are more likely to be searched by people in your industry.

Here are some other tips you should use to optimize your LinkedIn profile:

    • Write a LinkedIn headline that describes who you are and what you do
    • Write a 200-500 word summary that incorporates keywords naturally
    • On your personal profile, add your experience and job details
    • Ask for endorsements from your employees, colleagues and partners
    • Ensure you’re connected to your company page (and share content to it)

You’re allowed to invite 100 people to your company page each month, while a personal page can connect to 100 people per week. That means you can send messages to 500 extra people.

Post Relevant and Valuable Content

Content marketing is an essential part of inbound marketing. Businesses should get into the habit of posting content that’s valuable and relevant to their industry, such as blogs or videos.

Encourage recruiters to learn everything about new hires’ paperwork, or you can focus on content that helps candidates write resumes. This type of content can attract a specific type of worker (i.e., HR staff and recruiters) or benefits a wide range of candidates.

By posting regular updates and worthwhile content, you’re establishing yourself as an authority, which makes you more trustworthy. New posts show up on feeds, making it more convenient to interact with you. Both initiatives increase your exposure to new audiences and candidates.

If you’re unsure what to post, look at your competition and review their content. Once you have an idea of what your customers may like, review your analytics and adjust if it isn’t working. Create a content syndication strategy that will generate new leads and educate prospects.

Ensure Key Players are Active

Key players in your company, such as the CEO, CFO and COO, should maintain a strong LinkedIn presence. This shows that they’re willing to network with and engage with candidates.

Authenticity is very important for your brand, and several modern candidates expect it. If you’re an executive or essential shareholder, you may be too busy to post content or interact with others. Instead of doing this, hire a social media marketer to handle your LinkedIn account.

But if you’re a recruiter, ask yourself the following questions about your executives:

    • Are they joining enough relevant LinkedIn Groups?
    • If they are, should they be contributing more often?
    • Do they routinely post to their own LinkedIn feed?
    • What type of content are they posting? Is it relevant?

While company employees can help prop up what the executives are saying, your key players have to lead the way. Discuss with your executives the importance of posting consistently.

Join and Use LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn Groups present multiple opportunities to interact with other industry professionals or talented individuals. You should participate in group discussions regularly to build your brand.

However, you can’t just choose any LinkedIn Group. Before joining a group, take a look around. Are the people commenting related to your target audience or company interests? Do your ideal prospects spend a lot of time here? Is the group large, and if it is, is engagement pretty high?

Once you’ve joined the group, commit to doing the following:

    • Post updates about your industry
    • Comment and share posts
    • Ask questions to encourage discussion
    • Be helpful by answering people’s questions
    • Don’t pitch all the time
    • Pay attention to common pain points in the group
    • Address these pain points by making new content

If you want to use LinkedIn Groups for talent acquisition, ask if you’re allowed to post a job directly to the group. If not, search for groups that act as a secondary job board for candidates.

Grow Your Following to 500+

Your success on LinkedIn hinges on how sizable and active your followers are. High-caliber content can do a lot to bring more eyes to your page, but it won’t make them log in. With that said, be careful when using automation tools to connect with potential candidates or clients.

LinkedIn’s Terms of Service prohibits the use of automation tools to send messages or post content. In some cases, LinkedIn will send a warning even if you aren’t using automation tools, so you have to slow down when adding new people or mass sending InMail messages.

It’s possible to use these tools if they mimic human behavior, but there’s still a chance you’ll get banned. It may be wise to spend 10 minutes a day manually adding people to your network.

When you run out of connection requests, visit other people’s profiles. If they have their “viewed” notifications on, they’ll see you looked at their page and they may send a request to connect.

12 Creative Ways to Source Candidates In 2023

What’s one creative way to find excellent candidates?

To help you discover creative ways to source candidates, we asked hiring managers, recruiters and business leaders this question for their recommendations. From asking your clients for referrals to holding an open house, there are several creative ways to locate job candidates outside traditional sources.

Here are 12 creative ways these leaders source candidates:

    • Ask Your Clients for Referrals
    • Reach Out to Conference Presenters/Hosts
    • Check Expat Hubs
    • Host a Pink Slip Party
    • Use Social Media to Source Passive Candidates
    • Check Retirement Communities
    • Find Appropriate Facebook Groups
    • Do an Audit of Past Candidates
    • Use Online Billboards
    • Recruit Diverse Talent at Historically Black Colleges
    • Engage College Faculty
    • Hold an Open House

Ask Your Clients for Referrals

One of the best ways to source great candidates is to call your clients (and competitors of your clients) to see who else they use in your space. 

Who is the best person they have dealt with outside of your company in the role that you are seeking? If you approach someone with a compliment that you have heard that they are great at their job, you will find the discussion starts a lot easier!

Ineke McMahon, Director, Path to Promotion

Reach Out to Conference Presenters/Hosts

I always review professional association annual conferences and professional developments for the speaker line-ups. 

Generally, these sessions host colleagues in the field who showcase their expertise and share their best practices. In this reach, you might also receive generous referrals to other potential candidates. Conference presenters tend to be well-resourced.

Diane Fennig, Senior Consultant, The Gallagher Group 

Check Expat Hubs

One of the best ways of picking up above-average talent is to hunt for expat enclaves online. A bit of Googling will likely locate an expat or transplant group for your city/country/etc. and these groups are usually filled with various experts that are often looking for work but having a hard time finding one due to visa restrictions or something similar. 

If you’re willing to put in the extra time to get them online and operational, then these expat groups can be a substantial source for qualified candidates.

Dragos Badea, CEO, Yarooms

Host a Pink Slip Party

If you are looking for one creative way to source candidates that are available and actively looking, then host a party. The Pink Slip party is an open call to viable candidates who have been laid off, let go, or are considering their options from their current location.  

By shaping a business social scene, you and your team can connect with potential team members in a more meaningful way before a traditional interview process occurs. Here’s how you do it: 

    • Create a call to candidates through social media promotion. 
    • Check the resumes submitted and invite the candidates who better align with the role of the party. Notify those who do not.
    • Communicate with individuals on the team that’s hiring to be in attendance.
    • Create an intentional atmosphere where the company’s culture & sense of community can be experienced.
    • Consider food and drinks. It is a social event. 

If you want to source ready and available candidates and get buy-in from them, create a unique experience—throw a party.

Khalilah “KO” Olokunola, Chief People Strategist, khalilaholokunola.com

Use Social Media to Source Passive Candidates

Hiring managers and HR professionals have a hugely demanding role to play, in that they need to be constantly on the lookout for new talent, maintain their current supply and ensure that they keep hiring processes and systems up to date. 

One of the most creative (but still underutilized) ways to source passive candidates is via social media. Potential new hires are typically relaxed when scrolling social media and are more likely to curiously engage with a job posting. 

Of course, the difficulty lies in being able to pinpoint the exact type of candidate suitable for the role, but with more precise targeting and testing of variables, this can quickly become a go-to creative method for hiring the best candidates.

Tracey Beveridge, HR Director, Personnel Checks

Check Retirement Communities

Resourceful recruiters will find unlimited, untapped talent in retirement communities.

 Having retired, many seniors are more bored than they expected to be. This is especially true after being so isolated during the pandemic. With benefits such as four-day workweeks and remote work (great for those who love traveling), going back to work for them is more attractive than ever.

While you may have to invest in training them in newer technologies, you’ll have experienced talent eager to re-enter the workforce. Sourcing candidates creatively means looking beyond job boards and going into retirement- theirs.

Raina Kumra, Founder & CEO, Spicewell

Find Appropriate Facebook Groups

A company I worked with was having a hard time finding dozer operators for their mining sites. A lot of these candidates are not on LinkedIn or other traditional job sites, especially specialized ones. 

There are, however, multiple Facebook groups focused specifically on dozer operators. One of these groups has over 7,000 members, and some of them are pretty active. So, beyond being able to source candidates directly, you might also get help from the group members in terms of referrals.

Atta Tarki, Founder & Author, ECA Partners

Do an Audit of Past Candidates

The number of times I’ve seen hundreds of excellent candidate profiles go to waste simply because they weren’t accepted for the position they applied for is, quite frankly, shocking. 

Many companies do at least a version of this, by asking candidates to sign up to their employment portal so that they are kept in mind for future opportunities, but I would recommend a more hands-on approach where candidates are filed into various buckets for future role opportunities. 

There are various bits of HR software that can do this, but I don’t see them used to their full potential all too often. Finding new candidates is always a challenge, so why do that when you can mine the ones that you already had some contact with?

Kate Kandefer, CEO, SEOwind

Use Online Billboards

One creative way to source candidates that we just recently started using is online billboards. 

We are trying to catch candidates’ attention by posting a generic job announcement on an online billboard. This job announcement will feature our benefits and direct them to the link to view our job postings.

Lindsey Hight, HR Professional, Sporting Smiles

Recruit Diverse Talent at Historically Black Colleges

One creative way to recruit diverse talent is to host career days with on-site interviews at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to encourage students to apply for jobs at your organization. 

Not only does this allow recruiters to target a diverse channel and access underrepresented populations, but it also allows recruiters access to the next generation of talent entering the workforce and opens up an entirely new pool of potential candidates.

Dr. Shirley Knowles, Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer, Progress

Engage College Faculty

Engaging with local university or college deans and professors can provide you with both student and alum candidates. 

These faculty members have built and maintained relationships with students and business leaders in their fields. They know the students’ work ethic and abilities. Once you have established a trusted relationship, they will encourage their students to apply with you. 

As alumni often maintain relationships with their department faculty even after graduation, they may reach out to see if they know anyone hiring. Networking in this way provides an inexpensive way to recruit talent.

Andrew Adamo, VP, Bullion Shark

Hold an Open House

Tech companies are more than businesses; they’re brands (or, at least, they should be). People want to see the behind-the-scenes magic. How are apps developed and tested? Who came up with that genius code? What new and cool perk have you added to the office? 

Reach out to local colleges, coding camps, and competitors and let them know you’re offering a sneak peek into the inner workings of your company. Promote the event on social media so even customers can get in on the fun. Then, at the end of the tour, let everyone know you’re hiring and encourage them to apply, or spread the word to someone who’s looking. 

Rob Reeves, CEO & President, Redfish Technology

5 Ways to Avoid Recruiter Burnout

Let’s be honest here, recruiter burnout is real. I’ll be the first to admit it.

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And high-volume recruiting can be particularly draining. In my early career, I was tasked with hiring around 30 desktop engineers within a week. Booked for countless on-site interviews a day with just a 30-minute lunch, if that.

Needless to say, it was exhausting, but once the project was completed, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment. But even with its success, the model used was not sustainable.

Not every recruiting story ends in success. And with that, candidates, hiring managers and companies are going to have to change their plans, and it’s going to happen at the worst possible time. Hence the burnout.

So how the hell do you avoid recruiter burnout?

Accept What You Can Control And Influence 

It’s completely normal to feel spread so thin. You could be or are likely wearing multiple hats, communication is probably all over the place and you may even need to scream into a nearby pillow. But before grabbing that pillow, take a pause.

Accept you’re not an all-powerful being, even if you’re tasked to be. And start to categorize what you can control and what you cannot. Things will start to become very clear as to who owns or should own what. And trust me, even though you may think it, it’s not all on you. 

Start by creating a solid foundation with the hiring managers you support. Knowing what your manager needs and understanding what they need can be two different things. If the hiring manager knows you understand their needs, they will involve you earlier in conversations. Being involved earlier means getting ahead of changes that could be coming and being in control of the conversation. No need for the pillow. 

It’s critical to have a relationship with every candidate you recruit, even with high-volume recruiting. You have to understand what motivates your candidates. Yes, money is a key component, but look past the money element (without completely dismissing it).

Think and ask the following: 

    • Why are you open to having this conversation with me today? 
    • What are you looking for in your next role? 
    • Are you looking to work in a specific vertical, team size, company size, etc.? 

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These questions may seem obvious but can influence the process, conversations and ultimately your relationships. Understanding what motivates your candidates can lead to more transparency and limit the chances of becoming blindsided by things that change for them throughout the recruiting and hiring process.

Focus On Your Professional Development

Another important tool to avoid burnout is to focus on your professional development. Aside from what many may think, professional development can be anything that makes you better at what you’re currently doing in your career. The best leaders I’ve worked for always made sure that I was focusing on my professional development. And the best leader for your life is you. 

Set aside an hour or so a day to learn something new. Not sure where to begin? It helps to start somewhere you have a good foundation. For example, if you’ve done tech recruiting for your entire career and want to learn more about healthcare recruiting, that’s a manageable transition. 

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Personally, I love to look at Recruiting 101 videos. They’ll often give me a new perspective on how recruiting is changing or even remind me of basic things I haven’t thought about in a long time. Share the best videos you watch with your team or network, they’ll certainly appreciate it.

The Recruiting and Sourcing community has a ton of free events throughout the year and often they’re recorded in case you can’t attend them live.

Learn More About Your Company’s Products And Services

Dig deeper into your company’s products or services. Learning more about the company you work for is never a bad thing. It’s easy to assume you know all you need to after a couple of years working somewhere. But, things change quickly. 

What products or services has your company added since you started? The last company I worked for had half a dozen or more product sets with many more features within those product sets. 

Jump on Special Projects

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Get involved with special projects. Look, I get it, who wants to volunteer for more work? You can either be part of creating something, or you can be part of adopting something later on. 

When you’re involved on the ground floor, you can generate more influence on things at your organization in the future.

Fight for that seat at the table, and if you can’t get it, it might be time to look for a role where people appreciate your input more.

Dust Off Your Resume

Work on your resume. This may seem counterintuitive, but working on your resume will achieve a few things. It’ll show you how much you’ve learned or how little you’ve learned in your current role.

This task will help you reflect on how happy or unhappy you are and leave you better prepared in the event you’re laid off or decide that you’d like to look at other opportunities. 

TLDR:

    1. Focus on the things you can control, and double down on offering value in your relationships.
    2. Make sure you’re doing something for your own professional development weekly.
    3. Dig deeper into your company’s products and services.
    4. Get involved with special projects at your company.
    5. Work on your resume.
    6. Bonus: Get more involved in the Recruiting and Sourcing community

You are not alone! And you’re definitely not the first to experience these challenges in recruiting. The best people in our industry are incredibly approachable and will happily connect with you, all you have to do is reach out. If anything, I love swapping recruiting war stories!

Easy LinkedIn Salary Information for Software Engineers

We love that the industry is gravitating towards a more equitable and honest display of people’s salary. Pay transparency comes with a certain degree of fairness towards both new employees and those already within an organization. Now, tools like Estim8 can leverage this by finding LinkedIn salary information and packaging it into an easy-to-use chrome extension.

As a potential hire, pay transparency comes with the opportunity to negotiate without trying to play a game of battleship. But, as a sourcer, this means you can now find people within your target salary range a hell of a lot easier. Make the Blue Devil turn green by pulling salary information from LinkedIn!

When the pot boils down, nobody’s trying to move to a new company for less money. With tools like Estim8, you don’t have to waste your time on individuals who are already raking in more cash than what you can offer them.

Has this happened to you lately? You get a nibble, start communication, and then have to go back to the drawing board because the candidate already makes 15k more than the role your offering? Well, if you’re trying to find candidates in the tech industry, we recommend pulling LinkedIn salary information with Estim8.

To clarify, at the moment this tool only sources salaries for software engineering roles in the US. They have plans to extend their abilities to other industries so if you aren’t sourcing these positions keep them in mind.

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!

Lianne Gong: Recruiting is Very Feast or Famine

We all know it. We all see the consistent posts in Linkedin each day. Layoffs. Layoffs, specifically in tech. And sadly, it seems almost unavoidable. Tech has and will likely always remain an electric and unpredictable industry. But, it’s also a highly desirable industry to work within. With the ever impending recession and economy, companies always take a hit and tech is no exception. 

lianne gongWe sat down with Senior Manger of G&A Recruiting, Lianne Gong at Gong. And by sit, we mean at our computers to have a ‘fireside’ conversation. Among it all, we discussed the tech layoffs, its affects on recruitment, Gong’s current state and how the hell she wound up where she is today. 

 

RecruitingDaily: So let’s cut to the chase and just get this out of the way. What brought you into the world of recruiting? Was it always the goal or something you fell into and just ended up loving? 

Lianne Gong: Recruiting was never on my radar. Truthfully, I didn’t know it existed when I was in school. I started my “business” career at a financial services company, doing telemarketing as my internship while in school. That transitioned into a full time sales role upon graduation, which I did B2C and then B2B for a few years before transitioning into Talent Aquisition. 

I was given the opportunity to move into a full time recruiting role at the same company, hiring sales reps… and I loved it. That was 15 years ago! 

RD: Now, there’s this ongoing statement that those in sales sometimes make the best recruiters. Do you agree or disagree? And how might sales translate into the recruitment process holistically? 

Gong: [I] 100 percent agree. Sales people and recruiters are both are masters of identifying their target audience, sourcing and/or cold calling that said audience, understanding pain points, selling to those pain points, navigating a relationship with expectations and closing. 

[Gong may have said it best in her self-published blog post, Recruiting is like Sales. Here, she’s very clear on the similarities, while also pointing out to do what you love.] 

RD: You’re currently at Gong and have been there for some time now; what brought you to Gong? And what keeps you there? 

Gong: For me, being in TA (corporate recruiting) means representing the company you work for. So, when I look for roles, while I want to know my skills will be utilized, I am truly looking for a company fit. 

I go from a bottoms-up approach [and] evaluation: 

● Do I like the team I’d be working alongside? 

● Do people like working here? 

● Do I think I’ll be supported by the person I’d be reporting to? 

● Is success defined and clear? If not (because startups sometimes don’t have this), what is the plan to define success? 

● What does the mission, values and purpose statement look like? Does the executive team support it and drive it? 

● Is this a bottom-up led or a top-down? 

Personally, I love building the teams and infrastructure for a hopeful IPO, hypergrowth chaos, fixing broken things and being the trusted advisor and subject matter expert (SME) to the business. I want a team who wants to work hard, but knows more about each other. 

[For example], a manager who understands I’m a mama first and an employee second, executives who live and breathe the vision, values and purpose of the company and a company whose ‘commands’ come from the top. Meaning, the CEO drives the culture, not the People Team. Gong fits all of these. 

RD: Now, for the main course. Tech right now is an interesting and even scary place for some folks. How has Gong differed and continued to hire at a time like this in your own words? 

Gong: I think it’s a combination of things. Gong is in its own class of revenue intelligence, which makes it a very attractive company to target as a candidate. Our leaders are true advocates for the company and for their people. We have a stellar marketing team. And, TA provides white glove service to all candidates. [The] Candidate experience is important to us! 

RD: With the recent tech layoffs at Meta, Shopify and Microsoft to name a few – how do you and/or your teams approach potential candidates within the recruiting process? Is there a difference at all? 

Gong: No difference. White glove service and a commitment to communication. We are forthcoming with all information, candid with our feedback, and timely in our touchpoints; be it email, phone call, text, etc. Just to treat others the way you’d wanted to be treated as a candidate. 

RD: What is the candidate’s experience to you? How important is it and how does it expand beyond the obvious process and technology to pure humanization? 

Gong: To me, candidate experience means putting yourself in the candidate’s shoes. To understand the process of recruiting, the ups [and] downs, the communication, the process and the joys of the full cycle. We’ve all been candidates before in our careers. 

I think it’s important for us to recognize that we, in TA, are in a position of power so to speak. We hold the information. We hold the opportunity to treat those candidates in a way that lets them know they mean more to us than [just] a hire. 

RD: It’s been an interesting past couple of years with a global pandemic, workplace shift from in-office to home and/or hybrid for some, the great resignation, layoffs and many people breaking into tech. How has your perspective shifted within recruiting more broadly and in tech specifically? 

Gong: The whiplash! That’s all I have to say. 

In the couple years, I’ve gone from, “Hell yeah. Working in TA in the SaaS startup space is on fire!” to “Should I rethink my career?” Ultimately, recruiting is very feast or famine. It always has been, and this all is cyclical. My feelings for recruiting in tech and SaaS hasn’t changed. While I’m still uneasy at the moment, I’m confident in my decision to continue pursuing this path. 

RD: In the recruiting space directly, many have been impacted as of late. What’s your mantra or philosophy to keep pushing? What advice do you have for those in the talent acquisition space that may have been recently impacted by layoffs? 

Gong: I find solace in the fact that a ‘bounceback’ is a very realistic thing that has happened time and time again. From a personal perspective, I find the motivation to keep pushing because I have to. For myself and for my family. 

This is all a blip in time. I’ve seen my fair share of recessions, corrections, bull/bear markets, etc. to know that everything is temporary, even if it doesn’t feel that way in the moment. 

Hacking All Talent at #HRTX December 2022

RecruitingDaily presented the final HRTX event of the year, the free virtual training program for recruiters.

This HRTX, Hacking All Talent, featured nearly 30 industry trainers presenting their tips and tricks for hacking highly sought-after talent in eight fields. Each trainer brought their expertise and experience to teach attendees how they approach sourcing and recruiting for roles involved in:

  • Nursing and Allied Health
  • Data Science and Analytics
  • Digital Marketing/Sales
  • Finance
  • Engineering
  • Cybersecurity
  • Government/Cleared Contractors
  • Pharmaceuticals and Life Science

Over the course of the two-day event, attendees had their pick of a wide array of content. Each day started with a kickoff presentation – hosted by Brian Fink and Rachel Duran – to discuss broader topics and issues in recruiting today. Daniela Herrera and Shally Steckerl also hosted Ask Me Anything (AMA) sessions to discuss where the industry experts got their brains picked for more detailed information. There were also sponsored sessions for paid tools including Seekout, Clinch, Greenhouse, Filtered, Gem, Hired, Qualifi and HireEZ.

The through-line of this HRTX was coming to terms with recent months’ economic instability. With layoffs hitting a high in the tech industry, many people – including some sourcers and recruiters – are switching industries or seeking new jobs.

We also saw first-hand the effects of downsizing in the tech industry and beyond. Rachel Duran kicked off day two with a presentation about resilience and ditching toxic positivity in the wake of layoffs – including her own. As she said, change is inevitable but that doesn’t mean we can’t be ready for it.

Takeaways

  • Many of the sessions examined new places for people to source from. Long-time industry expert Brian Fink recommended using A9 – or as we know it, Amazon – by searching for books related to a role and scraping information about the people who reviewed it. The usage of online libraries to find researchers was shown by M&T Bank vice president Greg Hawkes. Industry expert and Lockheed Martin enterprise Sourcer Dean Da Costa brought up looking to Federal Election Commission (FEC) database for donations for potential talent.
  • Among other presenters, Shally Steckerl proposed using attendee lists of events to find candidates. Sourcing cleared candidates from contracts and contract numbers was mentioned by both Junius Currier and Todd Davis. And Alan Fluhrer, talent acquisition manager at W.E. O’Neil Construction, brought the discussion back to recruiting roots when he suggested building relationships in-person in order to attract loyal, top talent.
  • One of the topics trainers really hit hard was understanding the role before beginning to source or recruit. Lindsey DiCello recommended that her audience gather information on the company and the team as well as build a relationship with the hiring manager. Similarly, there was talk of understanding the roles themselves and the people that are in them. Alla Pavlova of Riot Games gave insight into data scientists: Among other things, they don’t need to have a specific degree and often come from different backgrounds, making them a trick to find. A crash course in finance was given by sourcing and technology consultant Steven Rawlings. In addition, AMS’s Katie Gentry discussed knowing why pharma employees leave their current roles citing academic interest and passion.
  • Automating and optimizing the sourcing was, of course, a large part of the sessions. A large portion of presenters shared their best Boolean search strings. They included Dean Da Costa, who showcased natural language in Boolean search strings. A system of automation using CODΞ’s candidate lookup extension was shown by Balazs Paroczay,

Coming Up

Sign up now to be notified when tickets are available for our HRTX Events in 2023, both virtual and in-person.

Don’t forget you can register for The 12 Days of Sourcing through December 23, 2022.
Register to receive a daily email with the link to a newly unlocked sourcing tip, trick or hack that’s being shared exclusively for this event. We’ll do that for 12 days. You’ll learn secrets of some of the industry’s best-known sourcing leaders, leading talent acquisition at some of the best-known companies.

Beamery Morphs Into Unicorn

There was a time when the idea of recruiting tech companies having valuations over a billion seemed rare – impossible, even. With the impact of labor shortages and loads of VC money entering the recruiting industry as a result, unicorns are becoming more like regular horses vs mythical creatures.

Enter Beamery. The UK-based talent platform just closed a $50-million D-round to achieve that triple-comma designation and joins the ranks of the ta-tech elite (or, at least deep-pocketed).

Led by CEO Abakar Saidov, Beamery provides an their AI-tech powered Talent Lifecycle Management platform that empowers companies to understand the skills and capabilities they have, build more agile workforce plans, and attract, retain, upskill, and redeploy their workforce. The company’s product provides employers with intelligence to make more effective decisions about their workforce, supporting customers through recruiting, to talent mobility and development, to upskilling.

The funding round was led by Teachers’ Ventures Growth, part of the C$242 billion Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan. TVG also made a Series C investment in Beamery in June 2021. TVG focuses on late-stage venture and growth equity investments in technology companies.

“With this new funding, we will continue to develop groundbreaking ways for companies to better understand their workforce today and be able to plan for tomorrow,” said CEO Abakar Saidov. That will  help them “create truly agile organizations ready to withstand any market turbulence,” he said.

Momentum

Beamery has seen a notable increase in Fortune 500 clients during 2022. Indeed, the company claims its Fortune 500 revenue has risen by more than 250% during the year while net retention of Fortune 500 rose to more than 135%.

The company has also launched a Universal Skills Platform to help employers understand the current and potential skills of their workforce, and enhancements meant to help talent teams reduce bias and identify the best internal or external candidate for any particular role.

Earlier in December, Beamery rolled out additions to its product suite that were meant to help companies personalize the candidate experience during the hiring process. The features included a new candidate portal as well as a preference center, enhanced campaign editor and AI-powered browser extension.

With the update, the company aimed to help employers create a “deep” personalization of their talent lifecycle.

DorkSearch Might Be Too Powerful of a Free Boolean Builder

Sourcing and boolean go as good together as tomato soup and grilled cheese. However, it seems like when it comes to learning this conditional language, there’s a little bit more “copy paste” and not so much retention. We get it…you want to do your job and leave the anxiety of climbing the boolean mountain for another time…but, what if you could learn along the way? Dorksearch, a free boolean builder, might just be the way to learn without slowing you down.

This website has broken down the entire boolean language into its basic components. Every one of these phrases has a detailed description and use case pinned next to it, so while you build your search string you can learn in the process. There’s a handful of phrases that everyone seems to be able to wrap their head around, but building your vocabulary is gonna send you so much further! “Insite:” “or” and “filetype:” will only get you so far.

It has list of recommended file name extensions to work along descriptors like “filetype:”, as well as definitions for how Google likes to interprets wildcards (such as “*”, “.”, and “+”). In all honesty it’s a pretty rad piece of free technology, so much that it even comes with a “Warning: for educational use only” clause at the top. Not too shabby for a free boolean builder, huh?

There are pre-built boolean phrases for searching less than honorable things like people’s passwords and detecting hackable websites, so please use this with care. Dean recently told us a story about how he facilitated an FBI bust on a scammer, so if you aren’t virtuous with the tech he shares…HE’LL FIND YOU.

Dorksearch is great, it’s free, no ads, no login nonsense, and you learn stuff. Easy recommendation. Check it out now!

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!

 

12 Best Practices For Intern Recruiting

Recruiting for internships is a whole different ball game when compared to traditional roles. To help you adopt the best approach in recruiting interns, we asked recruiters, hiring managers and business leaders for their best advice. From treating interns as you do all employees to using LinkedIn to recruit internship prospects, there are several tips that you may follow as your best guide for recruiting interns to work in your organization.

Treat Interns as You Do All Employees

The best practice for recruiting interns is to stress to them that they will be able to experience working on a real-life project that is important to your company. Whether it be an inner-office project or working on an actual job site, the ability for them to contribute to the company can be a deciding factor on whether they join your company for their internship experience. This type of internship experience enables thek to see that they are valued, looked at as a long-term investment with the company, and that there’s a possibility for full-time hire upon graduation.

Ronald Kubitz
Director HR & Recruiting, Forms+Surfaces

Reveal the Chances of Being Hired Full-time

Every industry works differently and has different uses for its interns. These parameters also differ from one company to another within an industry. While some companies are known to hire interns with the primary aim of recruiting them as full-time employees, others are known to approach interns as primary resources to take on mundane tasks at the workplace. As a fair practice, it helps when companies reveal their hiring policy to interns and specify the chances of an intern bagging a full-time position with their brand. This will help interns make well-informed decisions.

Riley Beam
Managing Attorney, Douglas R. Beam, P.A.

Give a Guest Lecture

Giving a guest lecture at a university is a triple win. The professor is happy to have valuable content for his/her course. The students get to know you and more about your company. All the while, you can promote your company, give an idea of your company culture, explain what you are doing as well as what you are looking for in terms of interns. Plus, you can start to spot some clever students that might be the perfect fit for your internship!

Bjorn Verbrugghe
Marketing Manager, Unigift

Hire Interns as a Team and Offer Collaborative Experiences

When recruiting high school or college interns for your organization, keep in mind their experience throughout their education – it’s all about the team! Budget for more than one and hire as many interns as you can. Create a true description of duties that are expected to be performed, including those that involve working in a team.

The benefits of this include: your interns gain valuable insights from each other, you have the value of shared insights from your interns and they are getting additional time to learn about the dynamics of teams.

Creating this kind of experience will lead to more engagement and retention of interns, and you’re providing an educational environment that your interns will not soon forget.

Linda Dausend
Senior Consultant and Account Manager, FlashPoint Leadership Consulting

Consider Recruiting Early

College students are one step ahead when applying to internships so they can coordinate their class schedule around the opportunity. Post on job boards at least one semester ahead to recruit top talent. This allows you to move forward with a proper interview without rushing the process.

Natália Sadowski
Director of Aesthetics, Nourishing Biologicals

Host On-Campus Events

Many universities hold internship fairs where companies can meet with candidates face-to-face. You can tell them about the business and what you’re looking for, as well as talking about the work they would be doing. This gets straight to the point and eliminates the informational interview that usually comes after an application.

Jodi Neuhauser
CEO, Ovaterra

Emphasize Mentoring Opportunities

The best interns are eager to learn. What they really want most of all is knowledge. Tell them you will pack as much vital information into their brains as possible. If you can promise them that – and deliver on it – you’ll have a steady stream of motivated interns at your disposal. Additionally, your seasoned team members will be the ones to show them the ropes. Those employees who aspire to be managers themselves will enjoy the opportunity to serve as a mentor for one or more interns. This would be good practice for them. In the end, you may wind up hiring some interns full-time down the road, which would be an added benefit.

Trevor Ford
Head of Growth, Yotta

Interview Applicants for Their Potential, Not Their Experience

Interviews can be a fantastic way to evaluate the candidates’ job-related knowledge, skills and attributes, but only if the interviewer is well-prepared. Behavioral questions are useful for digging deep into a candidate’s professional experience and domain expertise, but only if the candidate has the experience to talk about.

For intern recruitment, go for situational interview questions instead. A general format you can use to create questions for almost any situation is: “Imagine that X. What would you do?” Just replace X with any situation that the intern candidates are likely to face on the job. Situational questions are great for evaluating the candidates’ problem-solving skills. Facing new problems will be a daily occurrence for interns, so make sure you assess their approach already during the interview stage!

Max Korpinen
Co-Founder and CEO, Hireproof

Build a Relationship With University Staff

Years ago when I worked for a regional non-profit, I proposed and successfully launched my employer’s first internship program, which opened the door to more internships being created and launched within the organization later on. But launching the first internship was possible only through the relationships I built with key university staff at the career and volunteer centers.

How did I do this? First, I reached out to them about our goal of hiring interns and how they would have an impact on our mission as a non-profit. Then I gave them tours of our facilities, which was an eye-opening experience for them to see the breadth of the help we were providing our community. But also helpful was running our internship by them to get their feedback on what could be improved. Then when internships were available, I emailed the university staff about the new openings.

By reaching out and building trust with university staff, we were able to fulfill our need for interns on a regular basis.

Justin Vajko
Principal & Chief Strategy Guy, Dialog

Attend University Career Fairs

With so much happening in the online world today, it can be easy to forget about universities’ career fairs. However, they are still very much a thing. Career fairs allow you to access some of the brightest young minds while they are still studying. They also allow you to interact with students in-person which can give you a good feel for who they are and whether they would be a good fit for your company in the future.

Loredo Rucchin
CEO, Jukebox Print

Focus on the Value a Student Can Bring, Not on Grades

Eliminate the belief that GPA or where a student goes to school is an effective assessment of their work ethic, potential, future success, intelligence or grit. These factors do not determine whether or not they will be superstars on the job.

There are plenty of nuanced reasons for why students don’t or can’t attend a “top tier school” or don’t deliver straight A transcripts. Give students the opportunity to show you who they are and the value they can bring to the table, regardless of what access they’ve had.

Lean on qualitative tools like short answer questions and interviews to assess if applicants have the right combination of skills that are perfect for the roles you’re filling.

Kayla Michele
Co-Founder and COO, PeduL

Use LinkedIn to Recruit Internship Prospects

High-performing go-getters, even while in college, may have a LinkedIn profile. A best practice is to use this site to find students whose interests and goals closely align with your business. You can learn about their school, major, coursework and post-graduation goals. Then, you can reach out to them directly about an internship instead of waiting for them to find you. Utilizing LinkedIn to recruit interns is a proactive approach that can yield the perfect fit.

Raina Kumra
Founder and CEO, Spicewell

Pre-Employment Tests: Mistakes or Marvels in the Recruiting Process?

Pre-employment testing seems par for the course for many recruiters or employers seeking to fill positions. These tests often involve technical assessments that gauge skills specific to the advertised role. As part of the recruiting process, pre-employment assessment sounds like a great idea – in theory. But there are cracks in the recruiting process when tests are a foundational deciding factor to a successful application. 

In this article, we uncover the truth about pre-employment testing and assess when and if they should play a role in the recruiting process. 

Are Pre-Employment Tests Worth It?

Firstly, are creating tests worth your company’s time and resources? To create a robust and comprehensive examination, you need staff to design well-constructed, unbiased and relevant evaluations. Are the team assigned to develop these tests including questions that reach the scope of expertise required? Unfortunately, this is only sometimes the case. 

Finding an online solution with pre-designed tests can also take time, and you risk dispatching tests that do not suit your hiring needs and goals. 

Are They Genuine Reflections of The Applicant?

Pre-employment assessment can help in testing some skills. But they are in no way capable of providing details. Skill tests will never compare to a face-to-face interview and conversation where instinctive feelings and sociability play a role. 

Sure, you want someone who has job-specific knowledge. But when the first step in the recruiting process is to automate a compulsory assessment, you can sideline someone who shows initiative, wants to improve their skill and technical expertise, shows grit, responds to constructive feedback and is genuinely personable. A skills-based assessment risks neglecting these desirable soft skills and personality traits.

A conversation with an applicant can more honestly judge personal and genuine representation.

Is Pre-employment Testing Inclusive?

Do assessments consider the capable expert with years of experience but scoring poorly in your test because they have dyslexia? 

Neurodivergent individuals use their brains differently from others who do not have these differences. It’s estimated that 15-20 percent of the world’s population displays some form of neurodivergence. 

While neurodivergent individuals may encounter some challenges socially and in the workplace, they possess strengths that can make them highly apt at specific job roles. Some strengths include incomparable memory and information retention, the ability to mentally picture objects easily, impressive problem-solving skills and other highly specialized skills. 

Conditions most common among neurodivergent applicants include:

Level the playing field and debias your recruitment process by deciding whether pre-employment assessments are fair for everyone – neurodivergent individuals and bad test-takers included. 

Can Pre-Employment Assessments Help?

Dean Kulaweera, an IT and Tech Recruiter in Canada, suggests a few ways pre-employment testing can aid in searching for the perfect match. His advice is to those who insist that pre-employment assessments need to be a part of their recruitment process. 

  • Prioritize interviews. When you meet applicants as a first step, they can sell themselves in a conversation and ask questions about the role.
  • How long is the test? Lengthy pre-employment assessments can deter top-tier candidates. Or ambiguous and rushed answers can cause them to fail.
  • Tests can come later once the candidate has more knowledge about your business. An interview can motivate them and help them realize whether they’d be a good fit or not. This can make them more inclined to put effort into a test that assesses their skill within a reasonable amount of time. 
  • Consider your complete recruitment process. If potential candidates have to jump through multiple hoops, this can delay hiring a great person for the job. Exercise efficient and quick recruitments and improve the candidate experience by considering whether pre-assessment tests are a worthy use of your and their time. 

Should Tests be Vital to Your Hiring Decisions?

Finding the right person for your team who will work hard, possess the required skill and fit into the culture of your workspace is a challenge. We get it. Pre-employment testing might have its place when it’s not the main determining factor between a hire or no hire. Along with personality tests, you can roll out skill testing after hiring someone to assess gaps for learning opportunities or to understand their character traits. But when these skill tests are more valuable than an interview, you risk excluding capable and brilliant candidates for various reasons. 

Practicing unbiased, inclusive recruitment processes that consider the candidate’s experience is in your hands. This will make for more successful hires and happier applicants from day one. 

Let’s Talk About The “Open To Work” Banner

The reality we face, post-pandemic, is that many individuals feel far more willing to shift positions, seek out new challenges and change employment gears. Job seekers desiring a more flexible work schedule where they can catch some early morning surf then head to the local coffee shop, and even remote workers looking for more freelance opportunities. And, it’s likely they have that green Open-to-Work banner on their LinkedIn profile picture.

Sometimes the best candidates aren’t always those deeply committed to a full-time position, who need to be subjected to the poaching and enticement process. Sometimes they are. But, that banner doesn’t tell you their story. So, do you engage or ignore?

Recruiting And ‘Low-Hanging Fruit’

It is obvious and understood that employers will always desire the best candidates to interview and then offer employment to. I mean, why wouldn’t they? It is important, however, to understand where we glean those top-tier candidates.

While cherry-picking from the top of the tree might seem like the best approach, are you, as a recruiter missing out on some premium, available and more reachable fruit? Yes, this fruit analogy can be taken too far, but you wouldn’t want to suggest a rotten apple as a potential candidate to your employer who has faith in your abilities and skills to pick the best for the position.

So the question for many of us becomes whether seeking out those with the Open-to-Work banner is worth it. Are these candidates just low-hanging fruit?

Of Course, They Are Open To Work

There seems to be less fear and trepidation about an employee’s openness to other opportunities than a few years ago. Employees feel less obligated to a company and sense more freedom to be open to new opportunities. Not to mention the unfortunate layoffs many have encountered recently.

As recruiters, we should understand this mentality. Feeling less obligated and advertising their open-to-work status does not diminish their value in their current position or the position you are searching to fill.

Most would agree that candidates would definitely consider it if a recruiter came knocking with a tempting offer. Whether they currently have a full-time position, recently let go or simply doing their own thing. They’re clearly open to work.

So does using the banner make the potential candidate seem desperate for work and less desirable to an employer? If we as recruiters have a more open mind, then most definitely not. Unfortunately, some of us are a bit closed-minded about this.

The open-to-work banner signals to LinkedIn sourcing and us as recruiters that the candidate is willing to consider an opportunity that might suit them. After all, if a potential candidate has opted for the banner but their skill set and experience are not up to standard, we won’t even give them a second look anyway.

Discarding The Stigma Associated With The Open-To-Work Banner

The open-to-work banner seems to be disassociating from the stigma previously associated with it. Many were initially skeptical about it, saying it does not speak well of the candidate or could put employment seekers in a difficult situation should their employer find out they are looking for alternative work.

While the jury is still out on whether using the photo frame is a good option, opinions on using the open-to-work to recruiters are swinging in a far more positive manner. As it should.

After all, it’s about the candidate’s skill set, their first impression on LinkedIn, and if their abilities and experience fit the required position. So why do we ignore candidates with the open-to-work banner? I suggest discarding that mentality and opening ourselves up to the many talented individuals out there searching for new opportunities. Let’s not let this LinkedIn feature work against potential quality candidates or better yet, us.

Yes, they are open to work. Not low-hanging fruit, but eager and passionate for new opportunities.