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Diverse Staffing: Challenges, Strategies and Benefits

Employees are a significant and essential investment at any organization. Diverse staffing can make a real difference to organizational effectiveness. However, many recruiters do not prioritize workplace diversity during the hiring process. 

Recruiting and retaining a diverse staff can yield many benefits for organizations. On the flip side, lack of diversity can have a negative impact. A diverse workforce involves having employees of all ages, ethnicities, physical abilities, races, religions, genders and sexual orientations. As simple as the definition sounds, many organizations still find it challenging to meet these criteria. 

“Endless studies show that diverse teams make better decisions. We are building products that people with very diverse knowledge backgrounds can use, and I think we all want our company makeup to reflect the makeup of the people who use our products.”

While Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, made this sentiment about Facebook, which has historically been a very diverse and successful company, the same principal can be applied to any type of business or offering.

 Let’s address some of the key challenges during the hiring process and how businesses can overcome them:

    • Recruiting not being data-driven: For successful hiring, the recruitment process must be data-driven rather than driven by emotions. Therefore, companies need to first capture accurate data regarding the current diversity ratio in the organization, as well as identify the most effective sources for seeking a diverse candidate pool. With this information available, companies can be more proactive and effective during their hiring initiatives to achieve their diversity goals.  
    • Organizational policies that do not appeal to diverse candidates: Many organizations current policies do not account for differences among employees. Therefore, it is important for organizations to re-evaluate their policies in consideration of shift timing, religious/community holidays and more. Having diversity-friendly policies and actively promoting them in hiring campaigns/sourcing efforts is a great way to attract a more diverse candidate pool during the recruitment process.
    • Lack of market segmentation and customization: Not all job offers and ads can be suitable to all cultural groups. Thus recruiters, along with marketing teams, must come up with advertisements that promote inclusivity. This can include designing ads with ethnicity/gender-neutral images and statements about diversity initiatives. 
    • Narrow referral pool: Recruiters only considering internal referrals end up hiring similar kinds of employees. When recruiters start giving preference to referrals from external network associations, diversity automatically improves. Once a company has reached its diversity goals, then it can encourage employees to refer their connections as its much more probable that your existing diverse workforce will have networks of people with similar backgrounds. Creating a diverse candidate referral program is a great way to enhance your diversity recruitment strategy.
    • Not using tools and channels optimally: Social media channels and talent communities are the best sources to hire a diverse workforce. But most recruiters still rely on conventional ways of hiring. Thus, posting job requirements online would not be enough for diversity inclusion. To overcome this challenge, recruiters should think out-of-the-box and leverage various social channels. 

Benefits of a Diverse Workforce

A diverse staff will usually provide better, more culturally appropriate customer service. Additionally, organizations that proactively address issues of inclusiveness and that have a diverse team tend to be more effective at problem-solving, specifically, when an organization values a minority viewpoint they can develop a more significant number of alternative solutions to problems. 

Furthermore, an organization’s growth rate and competitiveness depend upon embracing diversity. When organizations actively assess their handling of workplace diversity issues and develop and implement diversity plans, additional benefits can be observed, including:

    • Improved adaptability :Organizations with a diverse workforce have access to a greater variety of solutions to problems in service and sourcing. When employees from diverse backgrounds are hired, they bring individual talents and experiences. A diverse workforce further improves flexibility and allows the organizations and teams to adapt to fluctuating markets and customer demands.
    • Broadens the area of service: When employees from diverse cultural backgrounds and ethnicities are hired, a unique collection of skills and experiences come into the picture. This considers different languages, cultural understanding, local specific requirements and more, opening the door for companies to provide service to customers globally and locally.
    • Expands the pool of ideas: When the workforce is diverse, it brings a feeling of comfort and eliminates hesitation in communicating varying points of view. This automatically expands the pool of ideas and experiences. The organization can experience a lot of advantages with an expanded pool of ideas and perceptions to meet business strategy and customers’ needs more effectively.
    • Benefits the overall execution: Because diversity in the workforce promotes inclusivity and acceptance when companies encourage diversity in the workplace it can indirectly inspire their employees to perform to their utmost capability. 

Workplace diversity helps bring out the very best in every employee and allows them to reach their full potential. In turn, workplaces and organizations can benefit from prioritizing diversity during the hiring practice. If you are looking to add more diversity in your workplace or struggling to meet your goals, consider leveraging an external staffing solution.

From In to Out: The Outbound Recruitment Era Begins Today

While we’re presently one of the “it” professions, there’s still nothing easy about being a recruiter – or sourcer, talent advisor – or all other variants of our job title.

There’s no formal education. There’s barely any training.

Yes, there are several fantastic user-driven communities and a soupçon of “professional certifications,” but there are also an inordinate number of misconceptions surrounding what it takes to be strategically and tactically successful.

In a profession that combines sales, marketing, a little bit of human resources and far too much “subjective vibe,” this has always baffled me. As an engineer who crossed over to our dark side decades ago, the “architectural elements,” the rules that link together these elements and the processes that drive innovation have always baffled my engineering mind.

Why? Because the early-career engineer learns rather quickly that structure not only begets function, but that the elements upon which the structure is built profoundly impact structure and function.

I know this sounds a smidge academic, but I’ll explain in a bit. Nonetheless, this concept has been one of my driving principles to give back to our community for over two decades.

Generalized HR training and development aside, there has always been a lack of investment from organizations into recruitment *cough, cough, um…* talent acquisition.

By investment, I mean anything related to innovation, creativity and outlook of the profession. Add in the current state of our economy, and it has never been harder to be an exemplary recruiter.

For the past 15+ years, our profession has ridden a tidal wave of advancement in employer branding and technology, making it much easier to find and attract potential future employees. We’ve been able to pick and choose who we wanted to interview and pass them along to hiring managers as fast as we could.

Frankly, the ball has been in our court since I opened my LinkedIn account on February 6, 2004, as user number 204,092 (there were less than 1 million “registered members” at the time).

Companies once boasted about their “intellectual” interview questions (interpreted today as “ridiculous and meaningless”) and arranged loop and panel interviews which took longer to complete than refinancing your house.

Hiring managers demanded “thank you” notes from candidates and lowballed them as a badge of honor to be bragged about as a sign of “leadership.” The employer, the hiring manager and the recruiter were in control. It was common to see “thought leadership” discussing “how to prevent people from applying.”

I kid you not; this is the profession we’ve grown up in.

If you are still waiting on that “thank you” note and wondering why people are ghosting your interviews, then you don’t get it. If you believe that job seekers are here for your amusement and bank account, then you never will get it. And if you think you can fake your way through talent acquisition, this post isn’t for you.

I need to break something to you – the wave that’s been growing larger over the past 18 years has crashed onshore.

In the wake of its destruction are lower application rates, more demanding job seekers, confused hiring managers and talent acquisition is bearing battle scars.

With more jobs available than people, people are now in control – no matter how much we denigrate their behaviors and actions in our online comments. The recent shift in the market isn’t a fad, it’s our new reality. And thanks to the increasing number of early retirements and declining birth rates, we will be living in this reality for many years to come – not to mention the Great Resignation.

With these changes circling us, have you wondered why recruitment hasn’t changed in response?

I remember the glory days of LinkedIn, Indeed and other job boards turned-career-destination sites. I appeared on conference stages worldwide having large “fireside chats” with the community about ways to think and act more strategically about the people we coveted.

Heck, this was also the period when many made a living simply by teaching recruiters how to use LinkedIn – because it worked!

Back nearly 20 years ago, LinkedIn was the new kid on the block. It was the shiny blue object that we all had to have. Free resumes posted online with direct access to easily message people? No 100 phone calls each day?

Take all my money, LinkedIn. Please.

This is exactly what we did. Employers emptied their pockets for the most expensive license in our industry. A yearly license ultimately escalated to costing more than my annual mortgage.

We lived, breathed and died everything LinkedIn. It was our inbound recruiting drug of choice.

Unfortunately, we also believed everything they told us. We were led to believe that everyone is on LinkedIn and that people will see every message we send them. These are “quality” people they claimed – all the profiles are of real people. Send more InMails, give LinkedIn more money.

And we did – even though the product had never shown us the data to validate its claims. Since you asked, here are 81 reasonably current LinkedIn statistics. Not all are ugly but if you ponder most of them, I dare you to drink the blue Kool-Aid as your sole daily elixir.

Employers continued to invest in a solution that has created more problems – can you say InMail? – than solutions and made sure it was the only thing we used by slamming dubious metrics on us and forcing us to create a return on their large LinkedIn investments.

Think cost-per-hire but for recruitment technology.

It was all a big trap. We’ve sent InMails until we wore the writing off our keyboards. The people we covet are responding at a lower rate – and are even publicly lambasting our profession.

Even worse, when we complain to LinkedIn about quality and algorithms, we’re told everything is righteous according to the Terms of Service – and many of us are placed into LinkedIn jail.

In the present day, companies are continuing to invest more money into inbound recruiting solutions, like a consumer-based LinkedIn, while expecting the exact same response rates and engagement. Please, may I have another! I’m sure the Marquis de Sade would like to have a word with you.

Recruiters are unique creators who enjoy routine and habit. In an industry that is constantly evolving and changing, so many hesitate to stray from their comfortable routine. Their employers are likely no different – “Have you searched on LinkedIn yet?”

For the greatness of our profession, this mindset needs to change.

A core group of people within the global recruiting community have been talking about this need for change for 20 or so years. Yes, we have employed inbound recruiting strategies because, at the time, they worked pretty well.

But we also spoke about humanity, engagement, branding and data-driven methodologies – all core tenets of a more effective recruiting strategy.

Recruiters need assistance removing the shackles of single-minded inbound recruitment strategies. The entire profession needs to shift its mindset to a more proactive, human and data-centric approach with investments into solutions that will take you outside of your safety harness and into an uncharted treasure trove of untapped people.

It’s time to start investing in outbound recruiting.

Outbound recruiting isn’t new and “shiny” like LinkedIn, but it’s highly effective in a candidate-driven market. It’s a mindset and an array of skill sets recruiters and organizations need to adopt if they want a chance to excel in this new and often unrecognizable economy.

Remember when we were all scared that robots were going to take our jobs? Heck – we even had a person versus machine contest at a conference (by the way, Randy Baily won). Headlines splashed across industry publications that “…the end of sourcing is near!”

Today, sourcers and recruiters are more in demand than they ever have been. With the advancement of machine learning (ML) and advancing artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, sourcers and recruiters can now be connected to more potential future employees than ever before.

ML and AI are at the forefront of Outbound Recruiting, not to be feared but embraced and assessed. These will ultimately be part of a platform solution to make our jobs easier, more focused and more human.

I’m fine with ML and AI being the logos on the capes we wear because we’re now entering an era where we control these as instruments for change, not as our eventual replacement.

Outbound recruiting is the destination for our profession, and it’s not all about sourcing. ML/AI not only makes it easier to find people but also to differentiate and engage them. We constantly struggle to engage people and pique their interest, yet it’s exceedingly difficult to improve without measuring performance.

Rather than focusing on arcane and performance insipid metrics like cost-per-hire and time-to-fill, very few TA teams measure far more telling metrics such as response and conversion rates down to the granular level.

Why? Because without the right type of technology and planning foresight, it’s darn near impossible to deliver. No wonder why “spray and pray” – whether via platform messaging or 100-calls-per-day – is a commonality. It’s easy and feels like work, but it obfuscates our true mission and professional ethos.

Time is our most valuable asset, and it’s time we learn to spend our time wisely. We’re an inherently hard-working bunch who are not necessarily looking for ways to make our jobs easier but more targeted and efficient.

With this new human and data-centric era upon us, the rabbit holes we enjoy exploring for data will still be here but we need companies to continuously invest in outbound recruiting solutions that allow us to add to the models.

Embracing ML/AI means dramatically reducing the time-consuming and tedious tasks of reviewing resumes and profiles while enabling sourcers and recruiters to concentrate on engaging and communicating with those targeted to increase the likelihood of successful hires.

Outbound Recruiting opens the doors for conversation and eliminates the sloppy behavior that comes when deadlines are tight and responses are minimal.

Here’s the bottom line: This Era of Outbound Recruiting combines strategy, sourcing, engagement, data and integrations. It’s the arsenal needed to accelerate the luck and the timing sourcers and recruiters need to find the right person and deliver the right message at the right time – not the same message deployed on the same platform at the same time under the same constraints as everyone else.

Outbound Recruiting is a fundamental new movement that needs to be embraced if sourcers, recruiters, talent acquisition departments and companies want to see hires who deliver.

LinkedIn Xray Search Will Find Your Next Hire

LinkedIn Xray Search by Recruitment Geek lets you dramatically speed up your LinkedIn headhunting. 

You can easily sift through this database of LinkedIn profiles by combining a host of candidate characteristics. Take important factors like their field of work, role, location, etc, to narrow down exactly the type of candidate you’re looking for. You no longer have to sift through a list of ineligible people that don’t exactly meet your criteria, which is arguably the worst part of headhunting.

LinkedIn’s built-in search functions don’t let you get as refined as Xray Search, which is one of its biggest pitfalls. This is one of those tools where you can get your creative juices flowing by building some unique queries. For example, you could add “gmail” to your query and the tool will spit out all profiles that match your specifications AND have a Gmail address too.

This handy tool takes the properties you enter and matches them against the extensive supply of profiles on LinkedIn. As a result, Xray Search excels in offering a minimal yet clean interface that gets out of your way. The large blocky interface of LinkedIn’s own search is scrapped in place of a more streamlined approach. 

To try Recruitment Geek’s LinkedIn Xray Search for free, be sure to head on to their website. If you like what you see, consider supporting the dev by subscribing to their Patreon. Have fun refining your search across those 630 million LinkedIn users. To sum it up, we’re sure you’ll find exactly who you’re looking for.

What Communication Apps Recruiters Can Use to Improve Their Hiring Process

One way businesses can tackle the problem of worker shortages is to establish effective communication channels during the recruitment process. Good communication channels lead to recruiting efficiently. Experts believe that communication apps can improve the hiring experience for recruiters and applicants. Unfortunately, many companies do not use communication apps in recruiting workers.

In the United States and many other parts of the world, there are reports of employers struggling to find workers to fill up vacant positions. According to statistics from the National Association of Business Economics (NABE), nearly half of American companies say they are short on workers.

Recruiting the right workers is now a herculean task for many employers. While some companies complain of receiving few applications, others say those who apply lack the requisite skills for the job.

The Importance of Effective Communication During the Hiring Process

Research revealed that candidates preferred it when recruiters employ better communication during the application process. The most common communication channels for recruiters include phone calls, emails and text chats.

The following are some reasons effective communication is important during the hiring process. Some benefits of effective communication during the hiring process include:

      • Saves time for the hiring teams and the candidates

      • Brings transparency into the hiring process

      • Gives positive experience to all the candidates

      • Prevents unnecessary communication between recruiters and candidates

      • Keep recruiters informed about job openings

Below are the top communication apps that will help you overcome the challenges inherent in the recruitment process.

LinkedIn Recruiter

The LinkedIn Recruiter app enables companies to find the right candidates in record time. The app has communication features that let you contact candidates and schedule interviews through LinkedIn’s Inmail.

The LinkedIn app is available for iOS and Android operating systems. It not only provides a channel for communicating with potential candidates, the app also allows recruiting teams to collaborate.

WhatsApp Business

The WhatsApp Business app provides a secure messaging channel for businesses to recruit candidates. WhatsApp Business is a simple way for recruiting teams to communicate and connect with applicants from all over the world. Available on Android, this app lets job seekers share important documents like their resumes and certificates with employers.

TextRecruit

TextRecruit is a text messaging-based app available on iOS, Android, Desktop, and web apps. TextRecruit has changed the way people communicate about job opportunities. The app allows recruiters to attract candidates, engage with existing talent and report on all recruiters to candidate text conversations.

TextUs

TextUs is another text messaging service provider that businesses can use to engage in real-time conversation with candidates. TextUs is available on iOS, Android, desktop and web app. With TextUs, businesses can quickly communicate with candidates during the interview process. TextUs boasts of an automated texting solution for recruiters to contact candidates when there are vacancies.

JobAdder

The JobAdder app has agency panel management platforms that facilitate communication between recruiters and applicants. Hiring teams can create job advertisements and publish the same on social media platforms. When candidates apply for jobs, recruiters can review their resumes, schedule interviews and respond instantly to applicants. JobAdder has candidate matching tools that streamline the recruitment process and track the activities of the applicants.

Avionté

The Avionté applicant tracking system is a recruitment tool that can identify, group and analyze prospective candidates’ data. The app has mobile onboarding features and video interviewing tools to improve communication during the recruitment process. Recruiters can save valuable time by automating the candidate searching process. The app can automatically sort through candidates’ resumes and import a candidate’s profile from a professional network.

JobDiva

JobDiva is a recruitment software with an applicant tracking system. The app has unique search filters for screening applicants’ resumes. JobDiva’s staffing software has an application tracking system and a messaging platform for easy communication during the recruitment process. The app has a simple but rich interface with automated sourcing and onboarding tools that recruiters can use to provide an excellent candidate experience.

Sense

The sense software allows companies to engage candidates through various communication platforms, like text messaging and recruitment chatbox. Recruiters can use the app to simplify the job application process and create a delightful candidate experience. With the sense app, users have the ability to personalize every communication, maximize engagement with two-way texting, schedule interviews and respond to candidates instantly.

WorkN

Staffing firms use the WorkN app to engage and automate the distribution of job opportunities in real-time. The app allows candidates to apply, express interests and accept jobs. WorkN integrates with other tools, which enhance the recruitment experience for the candidates. The app also makes it easy for candidates to complete the necessary steps in the application and onboarding process.

ConveyIQ

The ConveyIQ app is an intelligent candidate engagement platform that automates communication during the recruitment process. Candidates receive personalized communication and can also schedule their own interviews. The app also has features for recruiters to use surveys to get feedback from candidates.

Staffing Engine

The Staffing Engine app helps businesses to speed up the recruiting process and connect with the right candidates. Recruiters can use the Staffing Engine app to scale the number of conversations they can manage, ask qualifying questions and source more qualified candidates. The app’s live chat feature integrates well with other communication tools like MS Teams, Slack and Google Chat.

XOR

XOR is a talent platform for automating the recruitment process. The platform can screen candidates, schedule interviews and perform most repetitive tasks. Recruiters and candidates can communicate through text messages, email, live chat and recorded videos. Recruitment teams can give their candidates a pleasant experience with the app. XOR has features that guide candidates through the application process and is available to answer questions round the clock.

Paradox Olivia

The Paradox Olivia app simplifies the hiring process by working alongside other tools to analyze candidates’ data. The app automates hiring tasks so your recruiting team can focus on other important activities. Paradox Olivia app is available round the clock to assist recruiters in screening resumes, answering candidates’ questions and scheduling interviews. Businesses can deliver transparent and magical experiences to candidates during the acquisition process.

Workable

The workable app, which operates on iOS and Android, helps companies of all sizes to hire at scale. The app enables hiring teams to collaborate in gathering feedback, assessing applicants and deciding on the best candidates. Workable has features that let you engage in bulk communication with candidates. Hiring teams can also create a structured interview process and schedule repetitive recruiting tasks and communication with candidates. This ensures that candidates have the same recruitment experience and go through the same evaluation for consistency.

Interview Assistant Pro HD

Interviewing the candidates is an important part of the recruitment process. The Interview Assistant Pro HD is an iOS mobile app that helps recruiters set interview questions and track the results. The app can create applicants’ profiles and compile audio and text notes during interviews. If your hiring team is struggling to come up with interview questions, the Interview Assistant Pro HD has 250 built in questions for candidates.

Conclusion

Hiring the right candidates for those vacant positions is necessary to increase productivity and meet your business goals.

Identifying the right talents and candidates can sometimes be difficult if you do not have the right productivity tools to spot them. Keep in mind that if you’re bootstrapped and aren’t able to afford a new app, you might want to repurpose current software you already use in your organization such as those used to run webinars or conference call software.

Finding the candidate with the correct skills and experience is a lot easier if you use communication apps to improve the hiring process.

The communication apps and tools considered in this article can make the difference in your recruiting process and give the applicants a wonderful experience.

Gaming the System: How Remote Workers Can Learn From the Success and Longevity of MMOs

Since transitioning to hybrid and remote work models, businesses have failed to conjure the same sense of community demonstrated in the virtue vigil to the master mangaka. MMO players have been interacting online for nearly two decades, building enormous and lasting communities. These communities are the soul of the internet, going back as far as the early days of chat rooms and forums. Remote workers can glean from these communities.

Kentaro Miura, acclaimed manga author and creator of the highly influential, epic dark fantasy series Berserk, died on May 6, 2021, because of an acute aortic dissection. Fans consider his magnum opus, Berserk, which began serialization in 1989, unmatched in storytelling and artistry.

Following Miura’s passing, players in the Square Enix MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) Final Fantasy 14 paid tribute in a virtual vigil. Across the online world of Final Fantasy 14, players lined the streets of large cities, and in the largest one, Ul’dah, there were so many that the MMO struggled to load properly. While tragic, this grassroots event was something truly genuine and unique.

Today, the formats and business models that characterized web 2.0 are starting to feel a little dated. Video conferences are more likely to serve as status updates rather than chances for brainstorming or honest opportunities for camaraderie. With people starved for social interactions, digital work communities need to connect teams in meaningful ways by leveraging the same tactics and strategies deployed by MMO players. Moreover, businesses can utilize gaming mechanics to promote teamwork, cultivate wellness and ensure employee retention.

Promoting Teamwork 

In terms of the in-game interactions, COVID-19 didn’t disrupt the teambuilding routines of MMO players as much as it did remote workers. What enabled these online communities to thrive was their careful efforts to contribute to teamwork through continuous communication in and outside of the game. MMO teams will use multi-modal forms of communication.

For in-game chat and voice channels, discussions stay focused and organized, but in conversions outside of the game, the topic discussions are free. Rather than using web conferences for purely work-related deliberations, businesses should emulate MMO teams by separating structured and unstructured dialogue sessions to build rapport among coworkers.

With the game mechanics of quests and raids, it is typical of almost every MMO to have teams work together to achieve a common goal; individually, players would get decimated by stronger foes. Like in any MMO team, businesses are comprised of people from widely different backgrounds. To facilitate camaraderie, companies need to establish and outline shared goals.

Rallying everyone behind communal purposes will cause teamwork to blossom naturally. Distributing smaller objectives based on departments will have greater operational efficiency and prompt cooperation on a smaller scale. Although these strategies are not novel, in the context of distant and isolated workers, setting up tasks like MMO team objectives would help to make those boring assignments meaningful and rewarding.

Applying MMO missions to the business world could also take the form of giving employees a challenge to solve together, like a humanitarian effort. Such a task would be meaningful to the organization and the team members.

Cultivating Wellness 

Loneliness has serious health effects; it is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Unsurprisingly, companies dedicate much of their attention to wellness. However, the pandemic restrictions and remote working constraints complicate wellness programs. Overcoming physical barriers will require the implementation of gaming mechanics such as player contributed content and completing ‘side quests.’

In some MMOs, the game is open to player contribution, allowing players to add and share content within their communities. Providing remote workers with the ability to contribute non-work-relevant content to the virtual workshare can be a great way to encourage wellness.

Additionally, having fun outside of work, or, in the context of MMOs, is the main quest, an essential way to help people step away from their tasks for stress-releasing activities. Even online, it’s important to make time for workers to talk about life and enjoy team happy hours to let off steam and have fun.

Already, companies are using VR meditation and other Meta gaming with the Oculus Quest to cultivate wellness amongst employees. Utilizing biometrics, the monitoring and measurement of neurological signals is also a form of nurturing health. Regardless of which MMO tactics companies decide to imitate, it is well-documented that these programs closely connect to employee retention.

A comprehensive study of the association between health program participation and employee retention revealed that retention rates were highest (71%) for employees with either telephonic program activity or health risk surveys but lowest (5%) for employees who didn’t participate at all.

Ensuring Employee Retention

MMO leaders will normally make shared time for their communities to celebrate their achievements and recognize the contributions of different members. Moreover, these MMO teams sometimes participate in huge town hall meetings with thousands of people. During this era of dispersed work, it’s not uncommon for companies to outright cancel Christmas parties or other such celebrations without providing a virtual alternative crippling employee morale and retention.

Although a “Zoom Christmas Party” may sound like a poor substitute, it is far better than nothing at all. And, if company events are given as much care as their MMO counterparts, employees are sure to be grateful.

In terms of game mechanics, there are various other strategies and methods businesses can leverage to create loyalty programs. Today, some enterprises have experimented with systems that accurately track and award employees for hard work. Like the customizable wellness programs, businesses use platforms that encourage employees to create and contribute content. Another application of game mechanics is an actual mobile game that inspired staff to dance; this game could get rebranded for another company and give employees the power to modify and tailor features.

Combating Loneliness in the Work Environment  

On top of aging populations in developed countries, increasing technology use and greater affluence (which can erode the interdependencies), the pandemic coincided with one of the loneliest points in human history. Historically, organizations comprise a significant chunk of a person’s life in the developed world. Now, they should be more conscious of their role in people’s lives.

Those with remote models must be willing to look past traditional teamwork, wellness and retention strategies and honestly investigate the success of MMO communities. Although it would be impossible to replicate the spontaneous outpouring seen in the virtual vigil for Miura in Final Fantasy 14, the world of MMOs stands as an untapped resource for companies big and small to copy to better engage and serve their remote workers.

Phenom Acquires Matching-Focused Tandemploy to Expand TXM

Phenom acquired Tandemploy, a Berlin-based firm that focuses on issues surrounding the employee experience. The acquisition, Phenom said, will enhance its Talent Experience Management (TXM) platform and grow its presence in Europe.

The acquisition is Phenom’s fourth in 16 months, according to media reports. The first three added video, data optimization and multichannel interview scheduling to the TXM platform.

This transaction will allow Phenom to establish a second office in Germany and add to its existing European operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. At present, Phenom supports customers across 134 countries in 43 languages.

Better Together

Phenom’s platform uses AI to automate administrative tasks and personalize the user experience for pretty much all participants in talent acquisition including recruiters, candidates, employees and hiring managers.

Tandemploy offers a matching algorithm that uncovers and recommends matches between peers, mentors, project leaders and subject matter experts by analyzing skills-based data and individual goals. Several of Europe’s largest organizations use the platform to help employees succeed individually while advancing the organization’s wider goals. The companies said Tandemploy’s solution strengthens Phenom’s employee experience solution with its mobility tools.

Tandemploy’s “extensive influence, remarkable technology and renowned company culture fit seamlessly with Phenom and will rapidly accelerate our growth in EMEA,” said Phenom co-founder and CEO Mahe Bayireddi. In a blog post, he called Tandemploy’s algorithms a “key differentiator.”

Tandemploy’s team – including co-founders and co-CEOs Anna Kaiser and Jana Tepe – will transition to Phenom. “This acquisition enables Tandemploy to reach a truly global audience while leveraging the vast coverage and functionality of Phenom’s talent experience platform,” said Kaiser.

In 2021, Phenom announced a $100 million Series D round to further develop the TXM platform. At the time, Bayireddi said the investment would position Phenom to grow its international presence and expand its platform to help enterprises prepare for “the post-pandemic talent economy.” He said Phenom was “scaling with conviction” as employers responded to “a seismic shift in how they approach and manage talent.”

Google Sheets Email Validation Is a Hidden Gem

For any outreach expert, email validation is one of those things that you can’t skip out on. Your outreach campaign could fall on deaf ears if you don’t weed out the bad contacts from the good. Every email address has an attached reputation, and having a spotless record is the cornerstone of outreach success. This raises an important question: how would one check the reputations of their contacts? The solution is none other than Google Sheets email validation.

Most people solve this problem by running their list through a validation app, usually a paid one. But what if you could validate emails for free from the comforts of your all-too-familiar Google Sheet? Well, There’s a neat little feature in Google Sheets to help you easily validate emails right in the spreadsheet. Simply put all the emails in a separate cell and then hover over each. Near instantly, the full contact card will [hopefully] pop up on your screen.

If nothing comes up, that means Google doesn’t have any info tied to that address. While that doesn’t necessarily make it an invalid address, any populated information suggests that the contact is an actual human being. From phone number to workplace, you can get a surprisingly good amount of details from Google Sheets email validation.

Email Validation can get quite tedious, so don’t bother with those third party applications if you’re already in a Google Sheet.

The Need for Speed: Becoming Agile and Flexible in the Post-Pandemic World

Becoming Agile and Flexible

 

The ‘new normal’ was a phrase thrown around quite a bit in the early days of the pandemic, always accompanied by the sentiment that eventually, we would largely return to the old ways of doing things. However, the return to the old ways seems highly unlikely, as many of the trends and behaviors of the lockdown era have stuck, including hybrid workforces, the dominance of the service economy and the reconfiguration of supply chains. This is where being agile and flexible comes into play.

Seeing the advantages of these ‘temporary’ movements, many enterprises flourished while others crumbled. Although hundreds of factors contributed to the success or failure of different organizations, one indisputable reality was that companies had to adopt a flexible business model capable of adapting to sudden and sometimes unforeseen and unanticipated changes.

Three areas in which organizations must build greater agility are new markets, emerging technologies and organizational structure. If implemented today, these three overarching pivots will mitigate risk and ensure a successful operating model moving forward into the post-pandemic world.

Market Agility

Organizations need to come to terms with the new market and the new level of adaptiveness required for success today. One concept businesses need to consider is Joseph Schumpeter’s idea of creative destruction, which describes the process of accumulation, annihilation and recreation of economic structures under capitalism.

Simply put, companies need to explore new market opportunities and business models even if those new paradigms inherently contradict their current systems. 

Businesses may not have a choice as the new market will manifest creative destruction regardless. Organizations must be ready to make sacrifices if they want to be effective. Of course, not all revenue streams need to be abandoned – companies can use leading indicators to determine products or services needing a tactical pivot.

Businesses can examine market adoption, revenues and customer expectations for key products and services, noting any significant changes since the pandemic. By thoroughly scanning the market for new information, organizations will understand customer behaviors and values to adapt accordingly.

Moreover, establishing greater market agility will require enterprises to invest heavily in new and existing partnerships. Being aware of the role partners fill in the business ecosystem helps focus on important markets, such as adjusting one’s portfolio to the segment(s) demonstrating the greatest returns.

Technology Agility

Just as the Space Race and both world wars resulted in the rapid development of new technology, so too has the pandemic. Companies have had to utilize a wide range of emerging technologies, resulting in self-service, automation, contactless systems and reduced human labor.

Today, organizations must continue to assume a flexible and mutable approach to technology. First, companies need to assess their productivity to ensure that their technology infrastructure can meet market needs.

For example, enabling the highest level of productivity may mean leaning into online capabilities and digitizing processes where necessary. Businesses should also scale up existing technology to support current and new business models, products and operations.

However, pivoting business rules, data flows and other operational elements in unexpected and novel ways can be highly complex and, sometimes “break,” or disrupt day-to-day operations.

Despite the difficulties and growing pains of re-building IT systems, making these critical adjustments is essential to responding effectively to the post-pandemic world. Technology must be fast, flexible and agile; the same rule applies to new products and services but to an even greater degree.

Organizational Agility

As was the case with markets and technology, the future organization will need to be adaptive to change, capable of moving resources rapidly from one unit to the next through an enterprise-wide governance model. Organizations must assume responsibility for maintaining high levels of agility through technology-enabled, cross-functional, future-proof teams.

These teams must work as close to customers and operating units as possible and have the power to drive organizational response for market developments. Similarly, new teams will need to be networked together, so that resources and talent can flow freely from one business unit to another, regardless of geographic or organizational constructs.

While networked teams can scale quickly and adjust to new challenges, they are only possible if businesses can retain their best talent. Losing key people hamstrings development and creates long-term problems.

Lastly, organizational agility necessitates transparency for business metrics, be those OKRs, KPIs, SLAs or other measures. Companies have to know how these metrics are affected by market demands; when the time comes to pivot resources, it is reckless to do so without having the appropriate knowledge and insights to support resource reallocation.

Don’t Forget Employees 

When organizations transformed their business models to survive the fluctuations of the pandemic, many did not fully understand the repercussions, especially for employees. Last year, more than half of employees reported burnout, with many of them attributing workload and the pressures of balancing work and personal life as the main culprits.

The new normal is erasing the fragile line between work and home life, and the lack of balance is seriously impacting companies and their exhausted staff. Businesses cannot forget their people, particularly those who stuck with them through the years of uncertainty.

Search Government Profiles With ICE Patrol by Wikileaks

The ICE Patrol by Wikileaks is an online database of over 9,000 ICE agents. You can use this tool to search ICE profiles for sourcing or recruiting government employees.

The team gathered publicly available data of these officials from LinkedIn. They put it online to help Americans learn more about those who enforce immigration and customs in their country.

The purpose of ICE Patrol

Apart from providing more clarity as to who is pulling the strings in our nation, ICE patrol does even more. This Wikileaks site lets you filter profiles based on a host of options like industry, position, and education.

This database also contains photos gathered directly from LinkedIn. What this means is you could run a reverse image search to find even more data about them. Also they list LinkedIn profile links, giving you one click access to their formal profiles.

This database has these user’s entire public work histories, so you can learn all you want to about these ICE workers. Want to know where this person worked in 2016? Wondering what exactly this lead’s work responsibilities are?  Heck, you can even see their entire work experience outside of gov’t work.

Basically, ICE patrol has it all covered in a neat little package. 

The amount of information about a person here is both staggering and refreshing. To explore this database and search ICE profiles, be sure to visit ICEPatrol at Wikileaks.

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Gain an Edge in a Competitive Labor Market: Implement Personality Tests

The current labor market is fierce as employers feel the pressure to attract, engage and retain top talent. The time it takes to recruit and hire counts but it is important to select the most suitable candidate for the job. Finding the right cultural fit is important enough that many business owners have implemented personality tests in their recruiting process to help build quality teams.

Personality tests reveal a candidate’s character traits, motivation, values and work preferences for a specific job role. However, the same information can be used throughout employees’ careers to identify new roles, development opportunities and improve retention efforts.

Pre-Employment Assessment 

Company culture is vital. During the pre-employment period, personality tests are practical tools employers can use to identify candidates who may or may not align with the company’s values. Employers know the type of candidate it wants to recruit for specific positions in their company and a test can show if they feature those character traits.

Some pre-employment tests, like the Predictive Index (PI) assessment can predict how a candidate will perform on a certain job. In some cases, knowing about a person’s strengths and weaknesses can be more beneficial than a candidate’s resume.

The Five-Factor Model test is a pre-employment test which can help employers determine the best candidate. This test focuses on the five most studied personality traits – conscientious, likeable, unconventional, extroverted and stable – so employers can gain personal insight and generate more meaningful interview questions.

This exercise is useful for employers who would like to help ensure a new hire may be a long-term fit for a company. More long-term hires translate to a lessening need for new employees, reducing the added expenses of training and on-boarding.

Employment Personality Tests 

The usefulness of personality tests transcends the hiring process. Current employees can take personality tests to help employers identify future leaders and to form high-functioning teams. While outspoken leaders are easily identified, personality tests help companies discover more employees with an aptitude for leadership. Armed with this information, employers may create opportunities for employees to reach their potential.

Employers can implement personality tests to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each employee at every level, helping them understand an employees’ motives, conflicts and strengths. This information can lead employers to create balanced workgroups. And managers equipped with this information can tailor their leadership styles to boost employee morale and engagement. 

A variety of personality tests can be used to assess employees’ potential, such as the CliftonStrengths, DiSC and Strength Deployment Inventory tests. Employers may determine their end goal and select the personality test accordingly. When used as a development tool, personality tests can lead to greater job satisfaction and higher employee retention.

Compatibility

Personality tests can improve the hiring process and help employers home in on the best candidate. However, there is the potential to rely too heavily on the assessments and not trust the current recruiting process. 

Any new tool needs evaluation. A few things to consider include costs and if the length or style of the test dissuades job candidates from completing the process. The positive benefits can outweigh negative effects. Proper research on each test and vendor helps ensure the assessment fits the company. This tool, among others in a company’s HR toolbox, may prove beneficial to find the right candidate and further develop and retain current staff. 

A Definitive Guide for Recruiters on Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)

Overview of an Applicant Tracking System

Applicant Tracking Systems have become a pillar for recruiting and hiring. An ATS should be the most crucial investment for your business, as it has become an indispensable tool for all recruiters. In this

Applicant tracking systems provide a plethora of tools to save valuable time, provide a better overview of applications, automate the hiring process and enable a much more efficient and productive hiring process.

Unfortunately, recruiters come across countless daily tasks which can become time-consuming and tedious. However necessary these tasks may be, the manual handling of these tasks prevents recruiters from performing the most critical job—connecting with candidates and nurturing the employer brand.

In addition, the more time your recruiters spend on repetitive tasks, the less time they’ll get to focus on sourcing top talent.

Fortunately, we live in a technologically advanced world where intelligent programs and software can complete tasks at the tap of a button, which is where Applicant Tracking Systems come into force.

According to statistics by Capterra, 94% of recruiters and hiring professionals say their ATS or recruiting software has positively impacted their hiring process.

Simply put, Applicant Tracking Systems are software solutions that organizations and recruitment agencies can use to facilitate and streamline the recruitment process. This kind of software is an excellent way to sort and store applicant data to simplify the sourcing process for recruiters.

In addition, an ATS can help identify the ideal candidate through keywords and helps maintain an entire candidate database.

The system is designed to optimize and manage the entire hiring process. It also offers an all-in-one solution for communication throughout the hiring process, ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks.

As a result, the process becomes immaculate for both the recruiter and the candidates, further improving the candidate experience.

Top Benefits of an Applicant Tracking System

Saves Time For Hiring

One of the most prominent advantages to using an Applicant Tracking System is the level of time it cuts down for performing tasks. Time is money, and an ATS saves precisely that. An ATS automates and manages countless tasks, reducing time spent on these tasks from hours to seconds.

With a variety of valuable features, from managing emails to resume parsing, an ATS is a must-have for all the busy recruiters who waste time by manually handling these tasks.

In addition, speeding up the recruiting process significantly improves efficiency and productivity for the entire team, which helps recruiters focus on other crucial aspects of recruiting like candidate interviews and communicating with clients and candidates.

Easy Job Postings & Communication

Applicant Tracking Systems provide an all-in-one solution for your job postings and social media, so you don’t have to keep multiple tabs and windows open simultaneously. Instead of opening separate tabs for each job posting or social media platform, an ATS allows you to get an overview of all your job postings in one single place.

In addition, an Applicant Tracking System can easily integrate with popular job boards and social platforms like LinkedIn, Indeed and Monster, so you can quickly post your job ads in just a single click.

Automation Of Tasks

Automation is a gift when it comes to the advancements in technology that have taken place over the years. Thanks to automation and AI technology, the tasks that used to take hours are now completed within seconds.

With the help of an ATS, recruiters no longer have to scan through piles of applications and resumes. Automation does the work by seamlessly scanning through candidate files and information, presenting you with the most relevant data.

Enhances Candidate Experience

It’s pretty evident that an Applicant Tracking System is a lifesaver for recruiters, but it also leaves a positive impact on your candidates! When recruiters work with much more efficiency and productivity, without a doubt, it leaves a positive impact on candidates as well.

In fact, studies show that 69% of candidates would like to see improvement in employer response time. Using an ATS can attract a larger pool of candidates by keeping them in the loop with communication updates!

With so much time being saved with the help of an ATS, recruiters are left with more time to focus on candidates and interviews. In addition, an ATS helps improve communication by providing a single space for all your communication and social needs, which directly enhances the candidate experience. Communication is key when it comes to a positive candidate experience, and an ATS provides just that!

Improves Cost-Per-Hire and Candidate Quality

Research shows 78% of recruiters who use an ATS have improved the quality of candidates they hire as well as improving their cost-per-hire.

Applicant Tracking Systems reduce the manual efforts to fill a position by automating a majority of tasks. This reduces cost-per-hire and makes your hiring process more effective. If you use an ATS to speed up your hiring process, you’ll increase your chances of attracting highly coveted candidates.

In addition, enhanced communication through an ATS allows recruiters to build a rapport with candidates, which can play a significant role in their acceptance for a position.

How Does an ATS Function?

An Applicant Tracking System is powered by AI technology that enables searching and sorting resumes and applications using keywords entered by the recruiter. An applicant tracking software sorts and stores applicant data to streamline the sourcing process and make it more straightforward for recruiters.

Once the resume is sourced, recruiters can evaluate it based on qualifications, experience and skill matches before determining if the candidate is a suitable fit for the position. Recruiters can also filter out candidates based on specific skills, educational backgrounds and work experience.

Best ATS Features

Powerful Search & Filtering Capabilities

A powerful candidate search in recruitment lets you leverage large databases like LinkedIn, Indeed and Google to perform searches that find relevant candidates quickly. It’s a massive time-saver, and a powerful tool for sourcing ideal profiles—allowing prime candidates to be identified and hired for positions faster!

Job Posting Board

A job posting board allows you to post and stay updated on open job position postings on different websites and platforms. This feature in an applicant tracking system allows recruiters to directly post on social media platforms through one page instead of keeping track of multiple accounts and tabs.

In addition, this feature makes it easy to keep track of all your postings on job boards and social media by providing a single place where information can be filled in all at once to help market your open positions.

Integrations

A crucial factor that should be considered when investing in an applicant tracking system is the availability of integrations. When an ATS easily integrates with social media, other software, job boards and email, the hiring process becomes much more streamlined and manageable. This way, you won’t have to keep multiple windows open, which can become confusing.

A good applicant tracking system should contain the necessary integrations; otherwise, you’ll end up with a fragmented system that makes the hiring process even more complicated. Here are some integrations that are usually present in most applicant tracking systems:

      • Job boards
      • Email and other communication apps
      • Social media platforms
      • Your website
Resume Parsing

Recruiters receive piles of applications, resumes and other candidate data on a day to day basis. In addition to this, segregating the relevant data from the sea of information can be an uphill task. The conventional route requires hours of manual resume scanning to obtain the relevant data, but this process has become much more simplified with resume parsers.

A resume parser completes the task of resume assessment in a much more manageable and streamlined manner. Instead of relying on the manual labour of recruiters, a resume parser automatically analyses the received resumes.

Resume parsing extracts the data of candidates onto a database where important candidate details can be identified, like keywords and contact information and turns the information into structured data. This allows recruiters to gather, store and organize large quantities of resumes online.

 

Candidate Relationship Management

An applicant tracking system has become an ideal tool for recruiters but have you ever considered integrating your ATS with a Client Relationship Management System? As a recruiter, maintaining a candidate database is a crucial part of recruiting; therefore, it’s essential to invest in an ATS that helps you manage your talent pool as well.

A CRM integration is highly essential for any recruiter. It helps maintain and create talent pools and build fruitful relationships with both active and passive candidates and current and previous candidates.

In addition, the integration of a CRM allows recruitment to become more cohesive, which further improves the recruiter and candidate experience. 

Key Takeaway On Applicant Tracking Systems

Applicant Tracking Systems have evolved in a great way. From simple tools made for gathering and parsing resumes to sophisticated software equipped with artificial intelligence and automation that can streamline the hiring process end to end. With more and more companies opting for ATS, their indispensability in recruitment is unequivocal.

An intelligent Applicant Tracking System will help raise hiring standards, cut costs, save time and enable automation in candidate sourcing and tracking. As a result, the candidate database of recruiters will be stocked with the top talent in the market, meaning a reduction in time-to-hire.

Why We Need to Rewrite the ‘Social Contract’ to Attract and Retain Top Talent

Prior to the global pandemic, the unwritten agreement, or social contract, between employers and employees was quite simple. Employers provided a living wage and safe working conditions and staff generally remained loyal in return. Over the years after joining a company, workers would grow within their organization, developing their skills and receiving commensurate pay increases and promotions.

Under this version of the “social contract,” it was generally easy for workers to keep their personal and professional lives separate. Employees understood that going into the workplace meant about eight hours of focused time on the clock, and when they walked out the door, they had the rest of the day available to run errands, cook dinner and spend time with their families.

Now with home office setups, employees are working around the clock and our personal and professional lives have become intertwined like never before. Even after two years of adjusting to remote work and relying on Zoom calls, dogs, kids and deliveries all frequently feature in business meetings.

 

The Social Contract Breaks

After more than two years of the pandemic, including several false starts on policies to return to a central office, employees have had a chance to reflect and reexamine the terms of the social contract. In the recent AI@Work study conducted by Oracle and Workplace Intelligence and surveying more than 14,000 workers and leaders, 93% of people used the past year to reflect on their personal and professional lives.

And as a result, many people decided their employers are not living up to their end of the social contract. In fact, as many as 75% of workers have felt “stuck” in their professional lives over the past year. This is not a surprise when you look at how many employers haven’t stepped up and adapted to their workers’ needs, despite having asked their employees to do so at the start of the pandemic.

For example, many employers are not taking into account their employees’ desires when they dictate how and where they work, once it becomes safe to work anywhere.

This is not a new phenomenon. It had been creeping up on the world of work for years before the pandemic. Stories about the increasing weight of workplace expectations including longer hours in the office and timely responses to work matters even out of the office have been building up for years.

Businesses had started putting in stop-gap measures such as yoga classes or catered lunches, and some governments even enacted legislation barring emails after work hours, but these were only band-aids on much larger problems around mental health and employee burnout. 

 

Renegotiating the Social Contract 

The time that employees spent reflecting on their lives over the last year has led many to realize they want to make major changes to their careers. According to the AI@Work study, 88% of people said the meaning of success has changed since the pandemic began, with work-life balance, mental health and workplace flexibility now top priorities. 

 

That mass reflection has led many workers to realize that they can jump ship for greener pastures, leading to what many have called “The Great Resignation” and creating a massive shift in the power balance between workers and businesses. The sudden rise of open positions has given workers leverage to help them get what they want or need when they ask for things like more flexible hours or new career opportunities. 

Whether these are current employees or new candidates looking for ways to align their career with their personal goals, it is up to businesses to step up and provide the support employees expect of them. A big part of that is listening to what workers have to say. As many as 87% of workers believe their company should be doing more to listen to the needs of their workforce. 

 

Listen and Take Action

Doing this successfully requires two equally important steps. The first step is to proactively collect feedback from workers at all levels, from executives all the way down to frontline line workers, and to do so in a way that’s natural in the course of their daily work.

The second step is to use that feedback in the decisions that affect workers. That will give employees a continual voice, help managers positively react in the course of their daily work and foster better relationships where individuals feel seen, heard and understood. 

Another thing companies can do to help attract and retain the right talent is to offer individuals unique opportunities to guide their own careers. Employees have the drive to succeed, with 73% saying that they are motivated to advance their career over the next year. Companies that help employees learn new skills and find new jobs within the organization and beyond the most direct career path can help keep employees engaged and focused.

It’s easier for employees to feel like they have an employer who wants to work with them if they have clear and easy ways to advance their careers. In fact, 55% of people said that they are more likely to stay with a company that uses AI to support career growth.

Businesses need to be aware that they have an important role to play in the bargain between employee and employers. They need to meet the needs of their workforce not only in terms of compensation, but also in flexibility and career development.

Companies that forget the power that employees have in advocating for and seeking ways to fulfill their needs will see their best talent flow away to their competitors. Employees have come to the table to renegotiate the terms of the social contract of work and businesses can’t afford to ignore them.

Reverse Image Search Helps You Find People

During your headhunting adventures, you may come across an interesting individual that checks all your boxes. But no matter how much you try, you just can’t find any way to contact them.  Have no fear, because Reverse Image Search by Google is here to help your headhunt. 

Reverse image searching can save the day by matching that person’s photo to every other picture on the internet and returning the most relevant results back to you. 

Since there are so many tools that can help you do this, we’ve tested many of them and hand-picked the most noteworthy options for you: 

  • Search Engines. Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, and just about every other popular search engine supports reverse image searching. You can either upload a copy of the prospect’s photo or paste a link to it. 
  • PimEyes. While the primary audience for this tool is individuals who want to track their photos online, it gets the job done for recruiters too. You can easily find online profiles of a prospect using nothing more than a digital representation of their face. 
  • Image Raider. This is another worthy addition to the arsenal of any headhunter. It gives you the option to either paste a URL or upload an image to get started. 

It’s also worth noting that reverse imaging tools don’t exactly have a stellar record of finding images. It’s a miss or hit process, but when you’ve exhausted every other option, it never hurts to give these tools a chance. 

Performing Under High Pressure as a Recruiter

High turnover rates are what keep many recruiters in business. At the same time, dealing with high turnover often requires performing under pressure, so it’s a double-edged sword. While higher demand means more business, it can cause recruiters to feel overwhelmed. However, there are strategies you can use to cope with this transformation and manage more effectively while under pressure. In this article, we’ll be sharing the strategies you can use. 

High Turnover Rates Cause High Pressure

A high turnover rate refers to the number of workers who opt to leave an organization. This could be for a number of reasons, including: 

      • Lack of progression 
      • Job dissatisfaction 
      • Low wages 
      • No learning and development opportunities 
      • Issues with management 
      • Lack of professional support 
      • No flexibility around working hours 

High turnover rates, especially those caused by the pandemic, put a huge amount of pressure on recruiters. Having to fill the roles of the departing employees can affect recruiters in the following ways: 

Mental Health and Wellbeing 

Since the coronavirus pandemic began, many people quit their jobs in what has become known as “The Great Resignation,” in which employees search for roles that offer more fulfillment. While this has been rewarding for many people, for those working in recruitment it has caused a surge in demand and put many recruiters under significant pressure. 

This surge in demand has made it incredibly difficult for recruiters to balance their existing commitments with an ever-increasing workload. As a result, many high performers are experiencing burnout, mental health struggles and even, in some cases,  an unhealthy reliance on substances.

“As many people know, high achievement can be a double-edged sword. While it comes with motivation, hard work, creative thinking and, often, success, it also can also lead you down a path toward substance abuse and other addictive behaviors. For many high achievers, substance abuse isn’t the problem — it’s simply a way to cope,” explains Kayla Gill, content director at LuxuryRehabs.com 

“Treating the underlying causes that can lead to addictive behavior, and learning about how your body handles substances, can be an invaluable way to find healing,” Gill said. “The more you know about yourself, the more easily you can break old patterns and discover a more successful, motivated and capable version of yourself.”

Low Quality Hires 

It can be difficult to find that perfect fit when you’re utterly overloaded with work and feeling under pressure. When recruiters are balancing high volumes of demand alongside the panicked requests for organizations to fill roles as quickly as possible, lower quality hires are inevitable. 

Neglecting Company Growth Goals 

It is not uncommon for recruiters to scramble for new employees to replace old talent. However, this often leads to recruitment teams spinning their wheels and panicking about replacing people, rather than focusing on the company’s long-term growth.

In cases such as these, recruitment can be like putting a plaster on a broken limb: It provides a short-term solution that delays dealing with the bigger issue. Ultimately, this only results in more work. 

How Recruiters Can Perform Under Pressure 

Recruiters have the challenging job of speaking with thousands of job seekers every single year. It is a demanding job that can quickly become overwhelming if the appropriate management strategies are not put in place. Below are some of the ways recruiters can perform well under pressure. 

Stay Up-to-date with Industry Changes

In the world of recruiting, things are constantly changing. Whether it’s the technology used, the legislation required or the best hiring strategies to employ, one of the most effective ways to manage the pressure is to stay up to date with industry changes. 

Another reason to stay up to date: Recruitment continues to evolve at a rapid pace. A great resource we recommend is LinkedIn’s Global Recruiting Trends Reports. They explain everything you need to know about the industry in a clear and concise way, so you can find out what you need to know and then get back to work. 

Get Organized 

There are only so many hours in the day and you want to use them as productively as possible. Organization is the key for any recruiter and will ensure even the busiest periods are more manageable. 

It might seem obvious, but keeping your calendar completely up-to-date remains one of the most effective ways to stay on top of things. In addition to the organizational and timekeeping benefits, ticking tasks off as they’re completed is extremely satisfying.

In fact, according to Trello, “when we experience even small amounts of success, our brains release dopamine, which is connected to feelings of pleasure, learning and motivation.” So, getting organized won’t just help you perform well under pressure, it will also keep you motivated. 

Focus on the Individual 

Often, when recruiters are faced with a high volume of demand, their process can become rushed. As we mentioned earlier, this can result in low quality hires. However, no matter how busy your job becomes, you can’t lose sight of the individual. If you’re not focusing on the individual, you could lose out on attracting the best candidates.

So much of recruitment relies on your efforts to build relationships. Delivering an omnichannel experience is a great way to stay in touch with candidates, get to know them and find the right person for the job. If you learn to focus on the individual, you’ll become an even better recruiter. 

Take Time Out 

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, the “recruiter’s role of serving others at the expense of expressing themselves and the constant interactions with many other people are additional factors that can lead to emotional fatigue and burnout.” 

If you want to manage the many demands and pressures of being a recruiter, let alone manage them during the pandemic, taking time out is essential. Whether it’s a half day away from work, a long weekend or a proper holiday, taking time off helps manage demand and provides the rest you need. 

Final Words 

Recruitment will always be a busy industry, with working under pressure a given. However, there are strategies you can use to cope. We hope this article has provided some helpful tips for managing your workload, connecting with potential candidates and taking care of yourself during busy periods. 

Performing under high pressure is always challenging. However creating proactive steps to manage these demands will prove to be one the best paths to your success and satisfaction within the role, too.

Survey: Your Remote Interview Process

How Effective are Remote Interviews?

Many organizations have made a complete transition to remote work and hiring. These changes have impacted us greatly within talent acquisition, especially in how we interact with our candidates.

Other adjustments we have made include scheduling to the tools we rely on, and even how we grade our job performance.

We’re interested in learning how your hiring processes have been affected. We’ve chosen to focus on how we interview candidates. Does your team have the proper tech, training, and data reporting to succeed in remote hiring? Are remote interviews effective?

We’d like to see how you feel. Please take a few minutes of your time to answer the following ten questions as transparently as possible.

(3 – 5 minutes)