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Instagram Profile Search With Ease using Toolzu

Having crossed a monumental milestone of 2 billion monthly active users recently, Instagram is one of the biggest social platforms out there.  Knowing how to Instagram profile search is now a skill that a prudent sourcer really should lock down. However, there are a host of reasons why using their built-in search tool just doesn’t come close to cutting it. Gone are the days of infinitely scrolling through Instagram profiles, knowing deep down you’re on a fools errand. Good thing Dean Da Costa has found a solution to your social media hunting problem.

Instagram profile searching made easy

With such a massive user base, this visual-focused Instagram Profile Search site has an endless stream of potential candidates, more than any recruiter could ever wish to ask for. At the same, Instagram is also one of the most underutilized platforms when it comes to headhunting. What gives?  If you’ve ever tried searching on Instagram, you know why. There are very few filter options on the Instagram search platform, so it gets a bit messy and cumbersome to sift through. Frustratingly enough, the search bar on Instagram makes the proverbial needle in the haystack look fun and easy. 

That’s where Toolzu can help. It’s a simple and straightforward tool that lets you search Instagram profiles through an intuitive interface. Basically, all you need is to enter your target keyword and the tool will spit out pages after pages of profiles that match. You can even streamline your searches by using filters like: 

  • Category
  • Gender
  • Number of followers

To tap into the 2+ billion user base of Instagram, give the Toolzu Instagram Search tool a shot today. For other Instagram related content, the esteemed Brian Fink joins our host Ryan Leary in an in-depth podcast on the benefits of Instagram in the sourcing world. So, if you plan on using social media for headhunting definitely give that a listen! Today’s content is brought to you by Dean Da Costa, the industry’s leading expert in search based technologies. He’s constantly digging through the depths of the internet to show us unworthy souls the gems he finds. If you’re interested in watching more of his content, click here.

Everything You’ve Heard About Compensation Is Wrong

Salary, healthcare and retirement remain the three cornerstones that hold up any solid compensation package. Creatively using these in constructing a salary package is one of the best ways to ensure it’s both fair and right. While not always an easy task, it is what separates the myth holders from the fact finders. 

Myths are everywhere. They exist in every aspect of life and business. Some myths are fun to talk about. Like the one that bulls get angry when they see the color red and that’s why matadors use a red cape to entice the bull. The fact is that bulls don’t like bright colors. 

Or that George Washington had wooden teeth. He didn’t. But he did suffer from dental problems. His false teeth were composed of ivory, gold, lead, and even other human teeth, but never any wood.

Compensation Myths

The dictionary defines a myth as a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon. Myths can also often involve supernatural beings or events. But the not-so-fun myths, like those traditionally believed in the world of compensation, can be detrimental to the health of an organization. 

Unfortunately, the evolution of these myths strengthen over time and become tradition for compensation professionals to rely upon. These widely-accepted “truths” become institutionalized. Even compensation professionals are not immune to the fact that if they hear something over and over again, they tend to stop questioning its truthfulness and accept it as a matter of fact.

The following are five of the most common compensation myths. Understanding the truth and not falling into the myth-trap will help you to better serve your organization and its employees.

Compensation Surveys Will Always Tell You How Much You Should Pay

The fact is that market data is one ingredient you can use to help you decide how much to pay a particular employee, but it’s not the entire recipe. The data is certainly helpful and can provide good benchmarking, but you also have to consider what is in the data. 

Does the data cover the same required skill set, knowledge and talent needed? Is the survey including similar benefits offered by your organization? Is it from your organization’s region or one similar? In other words, only your expertise and that of the company leaders can make the final decision. Only you can decide what would be a competitive rate to keep good employees and attract future talent. Surveys only help to provide a good starting point.

The Gender Pay Gap Inside Companies is 20%

The fact is that gender pay gaps within individual companies tend to be in a range of 2% to 5%. Still not right, but not as large of a gap as most often reported in the media. Any pay gap is unacceptable if the pay is different between male and female or any other comparisons if based on the same job performed with the same skill set.

According to a study by Payscale, in 2021, women earn 82 cents for every dollar earned by men. However, when comparing two people in the same profession, with the same seniority, and working the same number of hours, women earn $0.98 for every dollar that a man earns. Again, there should not be any gap, but the gap generally isn’t as high as the myth.

A lot of organizations broadcast loudly that they will not accept any gender pay gap, but many do not perform their due diligence in studying variations. A recent study found that two-thirds of compensation professionals say pay equity is important at their organizations, but only 46% plan to conduct a pay equity analysis in 2021.

CEOs Need High Pay to Motivate Them

The fact is that most high achieving CEOs will work hard regardless of amount paid. Most CEOs are at a certain level of self-motivation and tend to be high achievers already. If they’ve made it to the top, they are probably determined to perform well if only for the sake of their reputation.

When deciding the salary for a CEO, it’s tempting to pay top dollar so as to not lose the candidate to the competition. But if the job is a challenge, as in a turnaround, the qualified CEO candidate would probably accept the position with a reasonable salary. Overpaying to make a statement would not be necessary in this case. 

Salary is the Most Important Factor for Job Applicants

The fact is that although pay is important, it is not the only factor considered when accepting a job. Of course salary is important for supporting families and lifestyles, but it is not the most important factor.

A recent study of employees conducted by CEO Magazine found that:

      • 84% want flexible working arrangements 
      • 67% want career development and potential growth
      • 49% want work/life balance
      • 26% want recognition

Compensation professionals have to be creative in today’s competitive talent search. Part of a good salary package could include flexible hours and paid education that would help with career advancement. 

Performance Reviews is When Employees Get a Raise

The fact is that the annual performance review is an outdated tool. It was conceived in the 1960s when carmakers, steel manufacturers and other industrial giants needed a system to help them keep up with their thousands of employees. It was thought to just give everyone an annual review once a year. Over time, it became what the employee looked forward to because that is when they received a raise.

Today, companies like General Electric, Accenture, Deloitte, Adobe and Microsoft have thrown out the annual review. Instead, they give daily or weekly or whenever performance reviews. The thought is that companies should not wait all year to tell an employee where they are failing or succeeding.

Many of these companies are handing out raises based on performance at various intervals. The employee isn’t waiting for June 1 or whenever to receive feedback and/or an increase in salary.

Stick to the Facts

There are so many complexities involved in compensation and so many more compensation myths not covered here. In today’s competitive market environment, it is important that we look at pay strategies on a case-by-case basis.

We don’t need to follow the herd and buy into the common myths of yesterday. Since it’s probably the organization’s largest operating expense, we need to make the extra effort (and investment), into making sure we get it right.

Leverage the Big Dance Framework to Create Recruitment Marketing Madness

If someone told you sports and recruitment have something in common, you would probably find that idea unbelievable. What possible similarities can the process of identifying, attracting and hiring people and competitive physical activities have?

Diving deep beneath the surface and using the compatible context will reveal various similarities. NCAA March Madness is, perhaps, the best example for drawing an analogy between recruitment and sports.

March Madness is a men’s basketball tournament that features 68 college basketball teams fighting for the national championship. As an event, the NCAA receives almost equal attention in the U.S. as the Super Bowl and Olympics.

Even those who dislike college basketball and sports gather and follow this tournament, making it one of the most significant sporting events every spring. It’s no wonder the NCAA generates astonishing revenues and has one of the most prominent brands.

As a profession, HR requires more than technical knowledge and strategies. It also invites recruiters to get creative and think out of the box. Human resources professionals can use the framework of The Big Dance to get a better understanding of recruitment and its stages.

With these insights, they can attract more compatible job applicants and enhance their candidate experience. Here’s how you can leverage NCAA Madness to improve your recruitment game:

Take the Lead, Maintain Control

To be successful in basketball, you can’t take your eyes off the ball and you have to learn how to control it. Otherwise, the game is already lost. 

In the HR world, recruiters have to control the recruitment process and candidate experience by being consistent, attentive and engaged. First, you should ensure you can keep communication steady and straightforward. 

Establish a message that explains the company culture and what it would be like to work in your workplace. Hence, everything you communicate should manifest the unique value proposition of the organization.

That requires taking the lead and controlling the process to make it swift and streamlined. Moreover, implement effective communication across different channels, targeting the most compatible candidates, including search optimization. 

Remember to make the candidate experience look more authentic by adding compelling visuals, storytelling and testimonials. Reach different career sites and identify where your ideal job applicants like to spend their time to ensure they can hear about your company and want to be a part of the game.

Make the Most Of Your Powers

Focus on your company’s strengths and leverage them. For instance, use relevant hiring marketing material from previous cycles to shorten the time and money you spend on advertisements and new products. 

However, if you’re reusing ads, email marketing or other similar content, keep it up-to-date. Check the language and optimize your communication and practices. That way, you’ll have material that still feels fresh while also being easy to share and understand. 

You can also repurpose high-quality content or ignite old conversations that still need addressing. Avoid creating new products or data if your company already possesses something that can help you accelerate recruitment.

Get to Know Your Enemy

All sports players need to know their enemies to understand which strategies, moves and actions could defeat them. It’s not much different in recruitment. 

Ensure your strategies are top-notch by comparing them to those of your most successful competitors. Identify which procedures they leverage, what kind of content they post and how their time-to-hire rate compares to their quality-of-hire. 

That can help you discover their weaknesses and gaps your recruitment can fill to reach the best candidates. If you crack their game, you’ll always be a step ahead.

Include Emotions in Your Recruitment

Sports fans are highly passionate when it comes to their favorite competition, team, or player. They get excited about the game because it makes them feel like they are a part of something larger than life. The same happens once March Madness kicks in.

It’s why you should make your candidate experience more human-centric and include emotions. Strive to develop job ads, content and application processes that help job seekers establish a bond with the company or the need to know more. 

Share how employees feel working in your company, what experiences candidates can expect and how you nurture a sense of belonging. That will take your recruitment and candidate experience to a whole new level.

Boost HR Technology

Without advanced tech, the public wouldn’t see close-ups of significant moments during the game or replay the best moves. Thus, it allows everyone, despite their geographical location, to see the game and enjoy it.

That’s why you can never make a mistake if you leverage HR technology. Use it to streamline the process and personalize the candidate experience. HR technology allows you to track and measure your results or search for the most compatible job applicants using artificial intelligence. 

Recruitment Technology

Moreover, efficient recruitment requires keeping up with time and recruiters have to align hiring with automation. Thanks to HR technology, you can automate your recruitment process, speed it up and mitigate tedious tasks and activities. 

Thinking outside the box and borrowing techniques and lessons from seemingly unrelated industries are among the most efficient ingredients of reaching the goal. Recruitment may appear to be worlds apart from the world of sports, but these two often use similar strategies, albeit in a different form.

As a result, you’ll improve your game substantially, resulting in an improved candidate experience and employee journey. 

How to Solve the High-Volume Recruitment Crisis

High-volume recruitment relies on speed, efficiency and rapid data processing. But many current applicant tracking systems are incapable of meeting this recruitment need in the UK– a problem exacerbated by the “Great Resignation,” Brexit and the pandemic.

Some 65% of companies are dissatisfied with current ATS tracking systems and, problematically, six in 10 have high-volume recruitment needs. David Bernard, the founder of behavioural assessment firm AssessFirst, believes that high volume recruitment requires a complete overhaul.

For recruiters, the challenges presented in the past 18 months are incomparable. Even for long-term recruitment professionals, the pandemic, the Great Resignation and the ongoing adjustments to Brexit make this period one of unmatched difficulty.

Perhaps the biggest challenges are found in high volume recruitment. Sectors that already relied on mass hiring have seen their needs increase as staff levels have fallen.

In retail, the trend that began with Brexit is continuing with COVID: fighting for candidates from a diminishing talent pool. Between June and August in the UK, there were over 1 million retail vacancies; the first time on record that numbers were in excess of a million. Despite the industry’s mass recruiting efforts, the problem persists.

But consider the typical environments in which high-volume recruitment occurs and this is unsurprising. The retail industry is in direct competition with hospitality for skilled staff. UK Hospitality estimated last summer that 84% of businesses had front-of-house vacancies.

And both hospitality and retail compete with the travel sector: Each one wants to hire experienced customer-facing, customer-serving shift-working employees.

As these sectors deploy new rounds of employment, the pool from which they recruit will become ever-shallower. 

The quick fix in years gone by has been better pay and incentives. But incentives and wage increases are not enough to find and retain employees when the problem is as complex as it is today.

If better incentivisation was the golden ticket out of this problem, the issue would be less concerning. However, many sectors, including retail, have more vacancies since attempting to incentivize positions.

Is an ATS Helping or Hindering Business Hiring?

Many businesses are hindered by their applicant tracking systems. Like any technology, there are good and bad examples of an ATS available to industry. Without being supported by the right tools, an ATS will simply reflect the market.

Even working optimally, in isolation, good ATS solutions will adequately screen “experienced” candidates with “hard” skills. Yet, in the current job market, the talent pool is diminished and those with experience have left (or are leaving) these sectors in vast numbers.

High-volume recruitment must be able to identify, at speed, skills that an ATS in isolation cannot. Now is the perfect time for recruiters (in-house or otherwise) to move away from the templates that worked for previous employment drives, replacing them with a search for the transferable skills in candidates that want to commit and develop.

Behavioural science and AI-led recruitment, often used in conjunction with an ATS for high volume hiring, can help them to achieve this.

Soft Skills

The fact is this: Recruiters in these sectors can no longer get what they have previously sought.

Retail, travel and hospitality must avoid a reliance on younger, part-time workers who have acquired “hard” skills. Instead, the solution is to process not tens or hundreds, but thousands of applications at rapid speeds, identifying crucial soft skills (emphasis on the interpersonal) in highly motivated individuals. These individuals, correctly identified, are more likely to stay with a company for the long term.

It can no longer be the norm to scour CVs for on-paper experience over skillset. Pret A Manger, for example, has targeted 3,000 staff to be hired by the end of 2022. They have invested in increased pay and benefits for their employees and in the past have stated how they emphasize soft skills and use behavioral analysis to personalise development plans.

How it Works

Customizable algorithms and behavioral assessments, processed at rapid speeds, deliver an ongoing identification method, highlighting employer-compatible motivations over experience.

Which is more valuable for an employer in a sector with staff shortages? A low number of experienced entry-level workers in high demand or a larger pool of candidates with behaviors that prove them to be more likely to stay with an organization and have the motivation to develop within it? 

Understanding that certain behaviors are more inclined to quickly acquire “hard” skills in service sectors is essential to easing recruitment volume. Prioritizing experience over other factors doesn’t make sense when a behavioral profile, viewed in the context of unique company culture, is a more accurate indicator of likely success.  

SeekOut Insights Update is Here

SeekOut Insights is one of those tools that just keep getting better and better. With another major update, this recruiter’s swiss army knife is back with some powerful new features. 

The Insights update will give you search access to over 100 million professionals across the United States. This update also improves upon one of the most intuitive interfaces we’ve ever seen. 

Here are some of the most notable features of SeekOut Insights: 

  • Organization Insights. You can select an organization like Apple and get aggregate data on all their talent. For instance, you can see the concentration of their workforce across locations, diversity, distribution of skillsets, educational backgrounds, and much more. 
  • Role Insights. You could also search by general role instead of a specific organization. By filtering it down to a client’s location, you can share insights on their area and craft a hiring strategy accordingly. 
  • Company Comparison. Benchmarking your client’s company against local competitors is one of the highest ROI activities you’ll ever do. For instance, you can see if competitors are investing into onboarding industry veterans and outpacing them through that talent acquisition. 

Looks like SeekOut’s $65 million round of fundraising is being put to good use. Request a demo today to see why this is easily one of the top 5 recruiting tools out there. 

Looking Back, Moving Forward: A 2022 Recruiting Outlook

In the pre-Covid-19 era, the beginning of every year was marked by prediction pieces. Industry insiders and experts would offer their two cents on the trends they expected to take hold in the coming months and what that meant for practitioners.

But two years into this global health crisis, it feels unwise to try and predict anything that solid data can’t back. Instead, I’d like to propose a slightly different approach to recruiting for 2022, examining the lessons learned in 2021 to inform and understand our current landscape and how that might change in the near term. 

Recruiting Lessons Learned in 2021

There’s no denying the Great Resignation prompted the biggest learnings for employers in 2021, and I suspect that if we went back to last January, there were rumblings though few predictions that could have prepared us for the size and scope of this labor movement.

To start, the Great Resignation taught us that candidates have power. Sure, the market will fluctuate periodically, but what 2021 showed us was that the power candidates wield will last for some time. It is their power that propels businesses forward.

Without candidates, we are unable to scale our efforts, tackle new initiatives or boost revenue. We’ve already seen the immediate effects of this paradigm shift as organizations have started to offer higher compensation and better benefits as a way to attract candidates.

Research from Gartner has shown that year-to-date salary increases in the U.S. have been more than 4 percent compared with a norm of 2 percent. 

Given how quickly that happened, candidates remain in a power position, which means talent acquisition teams need a first-mover advantage. We saw that play out again and again in 2021. The faster a company can get to a candidate, move them through the hiring process and make an attractive offer, the sooner they seal the deal.

As a result, companies started to eschew credentials like college degrees or minimum years of experience. Even formal resumes have become less important as recruiters rely on AI to identify factors that improve candidate conversation rates, such as remote vs. on-site, salary requirements, educational benefits and so on.

At the same time, recruiters saw firsthand how these technologies help streamline what Gartner refers to as “repeatable managerial tasks,” noting that up to 65 percent of this work has the potential to be automated by 2025 in favor of creating space to build more human relationships. 

What Happens Now 

If 2021 taught us that candidates have the power, TA and recruiting needs a first-mover advantage and technology drives outcomes, what can we expect to see in 2022? For the time being, it’s likely to be more of the same, but as Josh Bersin cautions, “Everything is about to change.”

One of the reasons he believes this is because of the innovation we see emerging from two years of living and working through the pandemic, saying, “We are about to witness the unleashing of the most incredible technology I’ve ever seen.

Not only do we have AI under the covers of every HR too, but Talent Intelligence systems are also getting incredibly good at matching, predicting and selecting people.” 

Bersin’s point is well taken, as we see the rise of the metaverse unfold before our eyes. For many, their first introduction to the metaverse was Facebook’s announcement that it had changed its name.

However, there is way more to the metaverse than Mark Zuckerberg, and CNBC writes that companies including Hyundai and Samsung are already using virtual worlds to recruit, offering candidates immersive experiences from that first point of contact through to meeting coworkers during the onboarding process. 

Echoing Bersin’s sentiment, with AI and machine learning already baked into TA, we will only see the technologies improve in the months and years to come. The metaverse offers a preview of the next logical step for forward-thinking companies eager to retain that first-mover advantage discussed earlier.

At the same time, this also supports insight PandoLogic had last year about where the candidate experience is headed. 

Listening to what candidates have to say about the job search, we found a massive conversation taking place. That conversation is full of actionable insights that can help HR technology companies improve their solutions and help employers improve their processes.

Going back to the point about power, we know candidates have it and we know that the competitive job market we see will continue. Running parallel to that are our own motivations to hire first and hire the best, using intelligent technologies to work smarter, not harder.

Barring anything unforeseen (which, to be fair, is likely in today’s world), the situation we’re in will continue to evolve in 2022, allowing employers the opportunity to reimagine recruiting in this universe and others. 

Result Tree Metasearch Is All About Flexibility

Let’s be honest. On some days, it feels like you’re a productivity machine ready to conquer the world. But there are also days where turning on the computer feels like a bicep-blasting superset-laced workout routine. Today’s selection is all about bringing some ease and automation into your search-fu routines with Result Tree Metasearch

Result Tree is a flexible metasearch tool that lets you run queries across multiple websites. Gone are the days where you search goo without having to rewrite them on every site. At the same, it lets you pick which sites to search on so you don’t have to sift through everything at once. 

There’s a wide variety of supported search sites, ranging from the most popular search engines to social media, shopping, and many other websites. 

If you’re feeling particularly lazy and don’t want to deal with the hassle of finding quotation marks and parentheses on your keyboards, Result Tree has got your back. They have two checkmark options that magically add special characters for you. This is probably how it made it as ProductHunt’s #5 Product of the Day on August 13, 2021. 

To see what the fuss is all about, head on to ResultTree.com and start amplifying your search skills today.

A Candidate’s Perspective: Biased (and Even Illegal) Interview Questions

First impressions are difficult to overcome, and the interview sets the tone for the organization whether the candidate is hired or not, especially when biases, discrimination or even just inconsiderate interview questions comes into play. This article takes a look at a story that one candidate shared regarding how bias affected her interview experience.

In terms of hiring, the interview is the ballroom moment for candidates and interviewers alike. First impressions are difficult to overcome, and the interview sets the tone for the organization whether the candidate is hired or not, especially when biases, discrimination or even just inconsiderate interview questions comes into play. 

For the sake of perspective, let’s take a look at a story that one candidate shared regarding how bias affected her interview experience. 

The Story

My interview was the common live virtual setup. We used Zoom, a recruiter took center screen and the hiring manager joined in the background. Of course, we all said hello, talked about the weather then commenced. 

The interview started off okay.  I was asked to walk through my resume and then describe my responsibilities in my most recent role.

But then the questions became more personal, uncomfortable and potentially illegal: 

      • How do you spend your weekends?
      • How long have you had your TikTok account?
      • Are you married?
      • How many children do you have?
      • How are you going to spend your Christmas?
      • Do you smoke or use alcohol?

I felt the questions were invasive and as if I was being judged on aspects of my life that had nothing to do with my skill set. This made the situation very uneasy for me. There were even a few minutes when the interviewers made a joke about an internal situation that I should not have been privy to. 

Speaking from a candidate’s eye-view, I felt disrespected and as if my time was not valued, wasted even. I was offered the position and did not accept. Based on the interview and the people responsible for making me feel welcome at the organization, there were too many red-flags to abide by and I don’t think it would have been an inclusive environment where I would feel comfortable working. 

 

What Went Wrong in This Scenario?

Unfortunately, the scenario above is repeated frequently in various organizations and throughout multiple industries. Many times the hiring team members conducting the interview are not properly prepared and are simply ignorant to what can and cannot be asked during a job interview. 

If the interview isn’t planned in advance and interviewers are not trained on how to conduct themselves, the organization may be held liable for any damages.

If not informed on how to conduct an interview, most interviewers naturally default to their own biases. It’s been reported that lawyers, bankers, consultants and other professionals tend to look for someone like themselves in interviews. This can obviously lead to gender-biased hiring based on job titles, racial discrimination, ageism as well as many other biases.

And it’s not just candidates witnessing biases in interviews. Recent data reveals that 42% of recruiters believe interview bias is a problem in traditional interviews. The fact is, some questions just simply should not be asked by a hiring team. There is no in between; questions are either okay or they are not.

A safe, inclusive and legal hiring practice may feel like an out-of-reach ceiling when we read stories like the above. The truth is, however, properly trained hiring teams have the tools at hand to ensure best practices are being used. Interview questions should not be a guessing game.  

 

What You Can Do

The first thing a hiring team can do is strive to remove bias from the interview process. Organizations can use technology platforms like Clovers.ai to help hiring teams deliver a consistent and compliant interview process that helps remove bias and unconscious influencers that create it.

Once the candidate answers a question, the interviewer tends to take side roads to dive deeper into that particular topic. They go down certain paths in hopes of learning more about the character of the candidate. They ask questions like, “What are some of your hobbies?” and, “Do you enjoy living in the city?” to get to know the candidate. 

There are many interviewing tools the hiring team can use to help guide them in the process of asking the right questions of a candidate. Clovers provides interviewers live, guided questions in real-time to help them stay on track. You can also check out their Essential Checklist for Inclusive Interviewing that offers guidance on how to avoid asking biased, discriminating and illegal interview questions. 

A candidate will (hopefully) come prepared for the interview and the hiring team should do the same. Being casual is not a negative, but it is the responsibility of the hiring team to protect the integrity of the candidate experience. This interview guide from Clovers.ai provides a list of to-dos for hiring teams.

 

Survey the Candidates

Feedback on a hiring team’s performance from the candidate, hired or not, helps the organization understand better where they are passing or failing in the interview process, as well as be better organized and informed in the future. This is especially important in terms of biases, which are often unconscious. 

What a candidate experiences, especially if negative, will be shared. Spreading a bad experience via word-of-mouth is one of the most damaging “reviews” a company can receive. 

From a candidate’s perspective, it’s stressful enough job-hunting and going through all it takes to get to the interview. The hiring team should be professional and prepared to ask job-related questions and treat each candidate as if they’re just as important as any new employee.

To keep a flow of great talent, a company needs to maintain a clean reputation, understand the candidate’s perspective, follow-up respectively and be conscious of biases during the interview process and beyond, of course.

Make Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Part of Your Recruiting and Retention Practice

At the beginning of 2020, it would have been difficult to envision the kind of business world we live in today. Of course, the global pandemic has significantly changed the way so many things are done by organizations and their employees, but even with the difficulties and uncertainties revolving around lockdowns, PPP loans, remote workforces, safety measures, vaccine policies, etc., many people were caught somewhat off guard by what is now termed the Great Resignation. 

If you consume news just about anywhere, including right here on Recruiting Daily, you’ll run across a selection of hypotheses, hot takes that the sky is falling, hot takes that it’s not and everything in between. 

Rather than asking why employees are leaving—often with no new job to go to—it might be a good idea to ask what makes them stay. 

UpCity surveyed workers across a variety of industries in the U.S. and Canada about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace and what it means to them.

Seventy-two percent of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that DEI was important to them at work, and it looks like employers have taken notice. Of the individuals surveyed, 58% strongly agreed that their company valued diversity, equity and inclusion, and another 17% fell into the “agree” category.

That’s great news as businesses and their employees share the same feelings toward DEI, but we wanted to take it a bit further and see if it affected chose to apply for a job or decline or reject an offer of employment. 

Asking if respondents were more likely to work for a company that is either minority-owned, veteran-owned, LGBTQIA+-owned, woman-owned, or not a factor in their decision, 49% said it wasn’t a factor in their search and acceptance of an offer. 

It’s an interesting contrast between employees valuing DEI in the workplace, but also being willing to look past it to some extent when it comes to acquiring and holding a paid position.

Granted, despite the aforementioned Great Resignation, there are many people still trying to get back on their feet who are willing to work somewhere even if their values aren’t a perfect match.

It’s completely understandable, especially as we see new rises in COVID-19 cases, inflation and difficulties in foreign policy putting a strain on economies around the world.

Even so, employees want to feel valued, and the survey showed they would prefer an inclusive environment that offers a range of perspectives. Frankly, this just makes good business sense. 

A Harvard Business Review report examined several studies that illustrated the benefits of workplace diversity. From a revenue angle alone, companies with greater diversity in management positions saw increased financial returns and meaningful income growth.  

A wide spectrum of life and career experiences begets new ideas, deeper understanding, greater empathy and perspectives that may not have otherwise been considered. A diverse team helps eliminate blind spots and removes obstacles that have hampered critical decision-making in the past.   

An organization that embraces diversity, equity and inclusion—and not one that is simply going through the motions—is one that will see higher employee satisfaction rates, improved employee retention rates and even sustainable business growth as diverse minds come together to achieve the best possible outcomes.

Diversity, equity and inclusion should never be viewed as a game having a winner and a loser. In fact, when we listen to one another, begin to develop new ways of thinking and lift each other up, we all win.

10 Employee Retention Strategies to Retain Top Talent During the Great Resignation

The Great Resignation made it clear that employees are not leaving because an opportunity elsewhere is better, but because they want more fulfillment from their jobs. Here are 10 employee retention strategies to help keep people on board.

Throughout 2021, social media was abuzz about the “the Great Resignation.” In the wake of the pandemic, much to the surprise of organizations, employees started quitting jobs in droves. 

The people who’ve been leaving are mostly mid-career workers, predominantly in the tech and healthcare industry. While reasons for the Great Resignation range from the pandemic to greater mobility employees found after remote work, a significant factor contributing to the mass attrition is that many don’t feel valued.

The pandemic’s effect on people’s perspective about their lives and purpose has pushed job satisfaction to an all-time low. 

Why are Employees Quitting in Alarming Numbers? 

People quit jobs for many reasons, such as seeking change, higher pay or a prospect of growth. However, the recent wave of mass resignations is driven by the sudden shift in priorities precipitated by the pandemic.

Employees who have endured uninspiring careers are more likely to quit and pursue their “dream job” or transition into lifestyles they believe will add more meaning to their lives, such as being stay-at-home parents. Unsurprisingly, a catalyst for the change in how their employers treated them during the pandemic. 

A recent Stanford University study that examined the relationship between the governance model of organizations and their negative demand evidenced that companies with lousy work environments experienced the highest attrition. Workers, who were already on the verge of quitting, finally became willing to make the leap. 

Conversely, organizations with good culture and supportive employee treatment did well in employee retention. It is now clear that employees care most about how their employers treat them in terms of wages, benefits, opportunities and security. The pandemic highlighted the need for organizations to care more about their people. 

Why is it Essential to Retain Employees? 

Retaining employees is essential for multiple reasons, especially when those in question are top performers.

Here are the most important reasons why employers must focus on employee retention:

    1. Losing the top performers means the organization is losing critical knowledge and skills. The top performers contribute the most to any organization. When they leave, they take their expert knowledge without fully transferring it to others. 
    2. Losing employees impacts team cohesion. New people take time to bond with the rest of the team and reach their peak performance. It also affects the morale of the other team members when they have to put in extra time to train the new hires. 
    3. The cost of turnover is higher than most companies realize. One Work Institute report highlighted that the cost of employee turnover was $600 billion in 2018. SHRM estimates that the cost of replacing an entry-level employee is about 50% of their annual pay. 
    4. Finally, the loss of one organization is a gain for the other in terms of knowledge, skills and experience. 

Employee Retention Strategies to Retain Your Top Talent 

In light of continuing mass attrition, organizations must do their best to retain their best. Here are 10 employee retention strategies to help with those efforts:

Build Better Manager-Employee Relationships  

Managers have the most significant impact on employee attrition. The manager’s skill in handling teams can make or break employee engagement. Encouraging a healthy manager-employee relationship is the best way to curb improper communication, micromanagement, inappropriate advances, favoritism and other issues.

Managers who have high turnover rates need to be retrained on better employee management. Offering opportunities to bond through employee rewards and team outings can help in reducing attrition. 

Offer Competitive Compensation Packages 

The need to offer competitive pay cannot be overstated. Remote working changed the dynamics for large and small organizations as employers now face stiff competition to retain their talent. 

When choosing a job, 47% of workers say that the company’s policy on remote work is important.

Employees are opting to go with the highest bidders in the market so organizations need to look at offering competitive salaries. If an increase in pay is not a possibility, the company will have to find other ways to reward its top performers with offerings. For example,  company stock or equity plans so they do not become disgruntled with most of the bonuses going to the new workers. 

Have a Great Rewards and Recognition Program   

Considering that employees feeling undervalued was one of the factors that led to the Great Resignation, the need for rewards and recognition has never been greater. Everyone loves being appreciated for a job well done, hence rewards and recognition have a huge impact on employee motivation and engagement.

Organizations need to establish a rewards and recognition program that frequently appreciates employees on achieved milestones. Recognition has to be “social” and even opportunities such as work anniversaries and birthdays need to be considered to highlight individual employees.

Invest in Employee Up-Skilling and Development 

Internal promotions are one way to ensure employees are satisfied with their compensation and career advancement. The other way is to equip them for the future by helping them learn and up-skill.

In a Workplace Learning Report, it is shown that 94% of employees are willing to stick with their employers if they are invested in employees’ professional development. Millennials and Gen Z workers see professional development as one of their highest priorities and feel that their organization cares for them when it invests in their future. 

Establish Strong Internal Communication 

In the era of instant social access, having a strong internal communication strategy is imperative to employee engagement and productivity. Unlike earlier generations where teams remained in information bubbles, the modern workforce needs regular and instant updates on the state of the organization and news.

Having a platform for robust internal communications where employees have instant access to information and a way to express their thoughts and opinions is the ideal way to improve transparency and build trust. 

Encourage Transparency and Adherence to Organizational Values  

It is important to be as transparent with employees as soon as possible. They are less likely to quit if they have a comprehensive understanding of their roles and responsibilities. This is also true for existing employees, as nobody likes being in a cocoon closed off from important updates regarding changes to organizational structure that can affect their roles.

Organizational values define teams and how they operate. Combined with transparency, it can boost employee trust and morale, making workers more loyal. 

Identify and Value Candidates Who are Loyal and Share Your Vision  

Every organization goes through its fair share of “job hoppers” who will jump at the next opportunity. Recruiters need to be on the lookout for those who share an organizational outlook and have a record of staying for the long haul.

This also means recognizing and valuing existing loyal employees and offering them incentives to stick around. Workers whose values align with the organization tend to stay longer.

Solicit Feedback and Act on Improvement  

Feedback is critical to gauging whether your employee retention efforts are working. Without a reliable feedback system, employers will be left with incomplete information and thus ineffective programs.

While yearly and twice-yearly feedback sessions have been around for a long time, they are not appreciated by the existing generation, who are used to voicing their opinions instantly. What’s needed is a system of weekly or monthly feedback that recognizes pain points and opportunities for development.

Once an issue is recognized, immediate attempts should be made to address the situation so the employees know that their voice matters. Taking immediate action improves employee morale and removes impediments to productivity. 

Value Employee Health and Well-Being 

It is imperative to have a healthy workforce to maintain productivity. Poor physical and mental health increases sick leaves, causing delays across the organization. Investing in wellness programs works out to be more economical than losing productivity regularly.

Establishing programs that help employees cope with stress can go a long way in making them feel less overwhelmed and overworked. There is plenty of research to show that stressed employees are less productive. 

Offer Perks and Be Flexible  

Perks such as flexible schedules, extra vacation and other benefits motivate employees to stay longer. Since the pandemic lockdowns proved that remote work can be productive, it will be one of the most sought-after perks among new hires.

Remote working helps employees have better work-life balance and even travel and pursue a more fulfilling lifestyle. Work flexibility scores the highest with the new generation of workers who seek more fulfillment from their jobs, not just compensation. 

Conclusion 

The Great Resignation made it clear that employees want more fulfillment from their jobs. They are not leaving only because an opportunity elsewhere is better, but because they have a new set of requirements for their employers.

People are more likely to stay in jobs that value them as employees and inspire them to contribute toward something significant. As they settle into roles that resonate with them, employers have an opportunity to make them feel valued, even as they increase engagement. 

Look Up Skype Accounts with Skypli

Skypli is a barebones, no-frills tool that does one thing and does it really well: searching Skype accounts. 

All you need is to enter someone’s name in the search bar and this tool will immediately return a list of all matching accounts with a similar name. 

The creator claims that Skypli can let you search for Skype users without an account of your own. So, if you really have a bone to pick with Microsoft but still want to look up prospects on Skype, this tool will let you do that effortlessly and present all their profile data too (like email, contact number, and any other public data). Without creating a Skype account of your own, of course. 

That’s about the extent of what this tool offers. You can run a quick search right now at Skypli.com. 

Trends Shaping Cultural Sensitivity Training in the Workplace

Starting with President Kennedy’s Equal Opportunity Executive Order in 1961, which protected federal employees from discrimination, to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prompted the creation of the equal opportunity statement on job applications, the importance of inclusive language and diversity and inclusion awareness slowly came into the collective consciousness.

Progress in inclusive language has been made since those laws were enacted, driven by changes in social attitudes. But there’s still much work to be done to make sure our language is free of bias, intended or otherwise.

As companies look for ways to reflect their values around inclusion in everything they do, they are paying closer attention to what they, and their employees, say.

Here’s a breakdown of what companies are doing to ensure their language is inclusive:

Anti-bias Training

As more research into bias is done, effective programs have been created to combat it in the workplace. Now, nearly every Fortune 500 company offers some form of diversity or anti-bias training. 

The approaches vary depending on the program, but innovative approaches include InQuest’s gamified Contineo and Cornerstone OnDemand’s  microlearning program. The goal is the same: to create a culture of inclusion, starting with the words we use at work. 

Part of that formula is refining communication skills. That means learning how to incorporate inclusive language through real-time feedback and activities that show what biases sound like.

For example, in an exercise called “Just by looking at me” — which was put forth in an inclusion guide from MIT — a participant might disclose a learning disability and practice requesting from colleagues to avoid using the terms dyslexia or ADHD in a cavalier way.

AI Tools for Inclusive Language

For organizations or individuals who don’t have the time or the money for intensive anti-bias training, organizations like the Linguistic Society of America, GLAAD and the National Center on Disability and Journalism have put out great resources for inclusive language. These resources are updated guides on what language is appropriate and preferred by various communities.

“If you use terms that are inaccurate like ‘wheelchair-bound’ or calling an Indigenous person an ‘Indian’ you lose credibility with sources and audiences,” says Rachele Kanigel, editor of The Diversity Style Guide.

Resources like the Diversity Style Guide can help educate employees on the right language to use, and why even more under-the-radar insensitive terms like ‘elderly’ or ‘exotic’ can contribute to creating non-diverse cultures.

But remembering all of these guidelines is tough, especially as guidelines change. 

In response, a new crop of AI tools are helping companies keep track of ever-evolving best practices around inclusive language. These are tools that correct language right in the browser, so employees never have to worry about whether they’ve unintentionally been biased or insensitive.

Job Description Anti-bias Tools

While the equal opportunity statement was the first national push to combat bias in the hiring process at private companies, tools like Textio, and Taprecruit have emerged to help address the issue of gendered language in job descriptions. 

These tools aim to target explicitly biased language, like changing the word manhours to person hours or engineer hours. They also weed out implicit bias.

Implicit bias can come in the form of gender-coded language, words like ninja and aggressive. Words like inspire and collaborate can help to attract a more gender-balanced applicant pool. 

By addressing these issues at the outset of the hiring process, companies can not only signal to potential hires that diversity and inclusion really matters, they can also help foster a feeling of belonging, too. This is especially important in industries and companies where minorities are already underrepresented.

Data-driven Diversity and Inclusion Tools

Good intentions can’t take a company very far when it comes to diversity and inclusion. With tools like Ascending, which helps companies measure and improve equity, diversity and inclusion, companies can back their plans with data.

In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, many large companies like Ubisoft and Mondelez have launched diversity and inclusion initiatives with fancy microsites to market their commitment to diversity and inclusion.

But without data that actually measures the proportion of their workforce drawn from diverse backgrounds, as well as the retention of these employees, they may not have much impact.

What Ascending does is allow companies to audit and rebuild their culture through tactical training and specific hiring and retention standards around diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).

“DEI is the frontier of software, human capital management, and HR resources systems,” says Jeremy Evans-Smith, Ascending’s Founder and CEO. “At the beginning of ‘this is a thing,’ DEI was considered a luxury at some companies. Now DEI is business critical.”

OSINT Essentials Helps You Search Like an Investigation Specialist

There are so many interesting OSINT tools available today. That’s both good news and bad news. On the one hand, you can find software for practically any use case that you can think of. But on the other hand, keeping track of all those tools is easier said than done. What usually happens is that you’re left scratching your head trying to remember the name of that perfect tool when you need it. Now you don’t have to with OSINT Essentials.

OSINT Essentials is Eoghan Sweeney’s, an open-source investigation specialist and trainer, contribution to this space that’s putting all the free tools in an accessible place. 

With several dozen hand-picked tools, the website lays everything out in neatly defined categories. Here are some notable mentions: 

  • People Search. There are half a dozen tools in this category to help you find people online based on the limited information you have. 
  • Facebook. A worthy example from this category is the “Who Posted What?” tool. You can use it to find people who shared a post with your target keyword and filter the results by time. 
  • YouTube.“Youtube GeoFind” from this category has potential for creative applications as it lets you uncover videos from any location. You can filter results with radius parameters, keywords, dates, duration, and more. Although this only works for videos with geotags attached to them. 

Dean Da Costa has reviewed a whole host of OSINT based technologies. For more of him diving into these systems, click here. To see the entire suite of solutions available within this pack, you can visit the OSINT Essentials site here.

How Direct Sourcing Can Unlock Opportunity

What would you do if you suddenly lost 40% of your workforce to competitors? With the number of unfilled jobs climbing daily and predictions of massive job exits, employers need to pull out all the stops, pushing every lever possible to build robust talent pipelines to fuel growth. That might mean regaining the muscle memory of direct sourcing.

In rebuilding that capability, be aware that approaches to finding and engaging talent have changed. Today, you can leverage technology to automate time-consuming and repetitive tasks, scale for broader reach, and accelerate results.

Has Reliance on Talent Acquisition Partnerships Diminished Employer Capacity for Direct Sourcing?

Over the past decade, talent supply has grown tighter and skills gaps have widened. Many large employers addressed this challenge in partnerships with talent acquisition experts.

These sourcing partners leveraged disciplined processes and innovative technologies to efficiently source both contingent labor and traditional employed talent.

Outsourcing recruitment to VMS, MSP and RPO solutions partners allowed large employers to downsize internal teams and shift their focus from talent acquisition to other important areas of workforce management, such as employee engagement, development and retention. It may also have dulled their proficiency in direct sourcing. 

The onset of the pandemic further weakened the internal recruiter bench for many employers who put a halt to hiring plans as many in the workforce hunkered down, some working remotely or at diminished capacity, with others furloughed indefinitely.

Where Has All the Talent Gone? 

As a hiring fever overtakes the labor market, employers are no longer battling for talent; they are begging for it. The market is contending with more than 10 million unfilled jobs, about 2 million more than before the pandemic, according to the BLS.

Before the pandemic, the overall talent supply was already restricted due to Baby Boomer retirements and the resultant brain drain, as well as an increasing skills gap due to the rapid pace of technology change.

As we round out year two of the pandemic, employers are struggling to fill open positions for a new slate of reasons, starting with a lingering reluctance by many workers to return to the workforce, still fearful about the chance of infection beyond their own doors.

Additionally, widespread demand for remote options is putting pressure on employers, workplaces and jobs for which flexible work isn’t feasible. Finally, workers are changing careers at a higher rate than ever as they reassess what they want to spend their days doing.

All of this job leaving shouldn’t come as a huge surprise.  We’ve witnessed the highest resignation rates on record, shifting from 1.9% at the beginning of the pandemic to 2.9% more recently. In its 2021 Work Trend Index, Microsoft predicted an attrition rate of more than 40% in 2021.

The surprise is more likely linked to the fact that people who might have considered career mobility in early 2020 shelved their plans in uncertain times. Now that the future seems somewhat more secure, they are actively on the move.

The Best Source of Talent is the Current Workforce

People are looking to change jobs, so how do you leverage that mobility? You do it by tapping into networks and people you already know: referrals, referrals, and referrals, boomerang employees, retirees, and re-engaged alumni.

One of the most effective ways to build loyalty to your employer brand is to tap into talent pools populated by people that already know you.

Regaining the Muscle Memory of Direct Sourcing

The Great Resignation is fueling the revival of a once routine recruiting practice ⎯ direct sourcing. By reactivating your database and generating leads and referrals, you reduce reliance on job boards and recruitment agencies, while supporting diversity through the reduction of internal bias.

Technology can help make it happen at an accelerated pace. Beyond the appeal of AI and machine learning to automate some of the most time-consuming, repetitive sourcing tasks, such as matching jobs to candidates, it offers scale, engagement with your brand and improved candidate experiences.

That leads to better results: referrals are 9 times more likely to be placed on assignment. An extra bonus? As you increase candidate reach, employer brand awareness and your reputation as an employer of choice, you can expand your talent pools. Strong referral programs can drive a 46% average increase in new candidates.

Technology Accelerates Direct Sourcing Results 

With so many people looking to change jobs, there is no better time than the present to reach out to advocates for your brand. What are you doing to harness these networks?

While direct sourcing never fell fully out of favor, in recent years, many recruiting teams overlooked these sourcing methods, relying instead on outsourcing firms and conventional resources such as job boards.

Now, when teams really need to get back into it, they’re rusty and may not have the right processes and technology in place to do it effectively.

As you rebuild your capability to leverage direct sourcing and referrals, keep in mind that approaches have evolved in recent years. Rather than simply dusting off and refreshing dormant policies and practices, empower your team with innovative technology to do the heavy lifting in an increasingly challenging search for talent.

Better Employee Retention in 2022

As 2022 begins, it’s clear that a lot of workplace trends, like employee recruiting and retention, have began popping up last fall will take hold and grow into a bigger deal during the New Year. 

Here’s one that a lot of organizations will suddenly be compelled to focus on: employee retention. 

It’s the logical outcome of the “Great Resignation” (aka, the Big Quit), and even if it seems that companies are slow to respond — only 16% of organizations rank employee retention and engagement as a top priority, according to a survey in VentureBeat — even those that haven’t been paying attention will soon discover that it’s a lot better to work on keeping the employees you have than trying to recruit new ones to take their place. 

The Harvard Business Review describes it like this: 

The challenge is severe. Some (say) they’re seeing upwards of 30% attrition in certain job categories. Some industrial clients have told us that some of their plants have had more than 100% employee turnover since March 2020. In other segments, especially technology and data science, employers describe the turnover and churn as “unrelenting.” … (And) the current turmoil in the labor market isn’t likely to subside anytime soon.  

Employers need to recognize that it takes significantly longer to recruit someone than it does for them to give their two-week notice and depart. The solution, then, is to immediately bolster retention while ramping up recruiting. To do so, companies need to get on the same page with employees by reconceptualizing what it means to be part of their organization. 

55% of Employees Say They’re Likely to Look for a New Job 

Fuel50, an AI-driven talent marketplace platform, made the case for better retention in its Global Talent Mobility Best Practice Research, saying:  

People are actively looking to grow and develop and are seeking opportunities to move forward in their careers. Organizations need to power up their leaders to be ready, willing, and able to support with their employee’s learning and development. … The more people feel supported in their individual goals, the more they will be engaged and feel the organization is doing everything possible to offer them growth experiences, help build their career, and, ultimately, keep them on board.

Internal recruitment, career development and upskilling are all absolutely in demand right now. People are willing — some might say dying — to learn more within their current organization and even their current role. They are actively looking to grow and develop and are seeking opportunities to move forward in their careers. 

As Fuel50 explained in its Best Practice Guide to Internal Talent Mobility:

Driven employees want transparency into opportunities to learn new skills, take on different assignments, shadow on projects, find mentors and volunteer opportunities, and work with different teams and managers — looking internally for personal growth journeys and new challenges.

All that sounds good, but the bigger issue is pretty simple: Why aren’t organizations doing more to foster better employee retention by working to offer them better opportunities for career growth without having to go somewhere else? 

It’s a good question, especially given some other data points that came out of the research: 

  • 50% of employees said it’s easier to find a new job outside their organization than inside. 
  • Less than 33% of organizations have the technology to see their talent.
  • Only 29% of HR leaders said employees had the tools to explore career paths internally. 
  • 55% of employees said they are likely to look for a new job in the next 12 months. 
  • Social networks are the No. 1 source of hires followed by job boards. 
  • Over 75% of organizations have strategic priorities to increase internal mobility. 

The Future of Work is… Providing a Flexible Work Environment 

My Take on Employee Retention

Recruiting has always been a critical talent acquisition and management function, but if anything it has been overemphasized as the primary way to build a staff to the exclusion of any meaningful retention efforts by far too many organizations. 

Or to put it another way, finding and hiring new employees seems to be the primary focus for most, while working to retain the people you already have mostly gets ignored. 

HBR probably described it as well as anyone when they wrote: 

The future of work is going to be providing flexible work environments in terms of place, time, job description, and career paths. Embrace it. Better yet, have employees form teams to create their future of work. If people help build their dream home, they’ll want to live in it. … We don’t have to resign ourselves to the empty chairs and a continuing tide of resignations. Decisive action is what’s needed, and it’s needed now.

In other words, recruiting is important, but retention is the way to not only build a better workforce but to relieve the pressure on your recruiters by easing their load as well. 

Recruiting and retention should be joined at the hip and equally important for smart organizations. In 2022, and beyond, you really can’t have one without the other.