How 2010 changed the scope of Recruiting

Recruiting space is becoming aggressive day by day. The changes are so dynamic that what was good yesterday may not be so today. Recruiters say that technological boom is the biggest contributor for this trend. Technology in recruiting has shaped up in different mediums like Social media recruiting, Online job search, Blogging, HR and even e- mail recruiting.

ATS (Applicant tracking system), is one such software which has streamlined the recruiting process even further. Mergers, Acquisitions and takeover segment in recruiting segment also saw some up new tidings and trends like

• Monster Buying Out Yahoo Jobs
• Kenexa Acquiring Salary.com
• ATS being the new frontrunner for staffing solutions

Recruiting related domains although have changed hands, but when you add in the major job seeker, HR, and salary transactions, you can see that something’s are still the same. This seems to be a trend beyond coincidence as we have precise insight into the causes.

But the real reasons why the Internet Recruiting has changed so much is that is

1. The jobs and economy experienced dramatic shifts prior to 2010. This along with increasing usage of Internet changed the monetization equations and metrics around job search and online recruiting.
2. Easy, immediate distribution of content in the online segment leveled the playing field. When every individual is a publisher, the brand becomes more important which makes it easy to establish a big brand.
3. Professional networking, job referrals had been an important source of job placement, However Social media drove that process online, thereby creating new opportunities and expectations for the future of online job search.
4. Mobiles and consumer devices furthered the penetration of the Internet as the primary vehicle for job search thereby making online job search even more important and thereby changing the scope of recruiting and made Internet Recruiting a reality.

 

Why performance of HR departments should be evaluated

It seems that no one can deny the importance of effective HR management.  Sure, there are some business managers who still think and work on the assumption that the supreme value for their company is money, investments, equipment and production facilities etc.

However the recent economic downturn has proved that companies which possessed the best human resources managed to survive, and even managed to conquer new potential markets in the form of attracting new customers, thus making us re-think on the fact that “Business is run by people, no matter how efficient and smart the IT solutions are”.

For this tactical reason, it is important for every organization to measure performance of its human resource department.  The problem is that HR or the personnel department does not earn money unlike other departments, and to the contrary it spends financial resources in order to hire, educate and retain the best of professionals in a strategic business area.

Human Resource departments believe in human resource investment, which has time and again proved to be one of the most effective long-term investment tools.

However not many HR departments can be effective in this and can be more of a bane than a boon for many companies. The reason being they misuse the company money for cheap and unproductive training programme.

Hence it makes us consider many factors to take into account when working with personnel. Thereby using a balanced scorecard system, it is possible for the management to evaluate the human resource performance and thereby align the HR goals with the strategic goals of the company, its mission and values.

Evaluation of HR performance is a must for any companies as it in turn contributes to improvement in effective “two- way communication” and proper feedback system, the system of education, training and coaching.

Proper HR policy even improves the organizational climate and employee satisfaction. Use of a balanced scorecard for HR performance is recommended for heads of human resource departments and top managers of big companies who want to optimize work of their enterprises and firms.

 

5 simple steps to create an Effective Online Resume

A resume is a very important tool highlighting your achievements, strengths and core areas of work in a detailed format. However not many people are so confident when it comes to creation of an Online resume, and are left fumbling for details.

Hence, we created a small write-up on how to effectively create an online resume databank. This will not only help in gaining maximum visibility, but also gets a higher stance of getting noticed by recruiters in job portals and professional networking sites.

Few Steps to effectively create an online resume to gain maximum visibility are

1. Selection of the platform: – Personal branding on the Web is about the Pull factor. The challenge lies when you pull them into your network, which you’ve built through forum participation, feedbacks and social networking. Platforms range from forums, blogs, websites, and social networking sites to the simple e-mail.
2. Create a positioning statement: – After selecting your platforms, try creating a positioning statement in your online resume. This not only helps in showcasing your unique personality to potential employers. It helps in engaging the recruiter as it is a unique way of branding yourself, which is what recruiters would prefer.
3. Enhance your resume with Goodies: – Multimedia goodies, this is the one of the advantages of an online resume creation. This increases the ability to enhance your online presence with recruiters, and allows your potential employers to see you in a more complete manner. Thereby allowing recruiters to connect to your resume, thereby making your profile more appealing. Video or audio testimonials from previous clients and coworkers are a very innovative idea that can be included, which can be linked to your YouTube channel or a Flickr page which support you activities when representing yourself to recruiters.
4. Integrate your resume with Leading Social Networks: – Now that your resume has started to take shape try linking your resume with your favorite social network profiles. Make sure you keep the resume fresh, professional and constantly updated.
5. Start Promoting Your New Resume: – Now that you’re online resume is created, start aggressively promoting it in multiple channels and modes like adding it to your paper resume, business cards, email signatures, social networks etc. The possibilities are endless. It’s about how smartly you brand yourself.

 

 

 

How Performance and Implemetation of HR policies can impact the entire Company’s Growth

There is no universal success recipe for business anymore, what may be succesful at one point of time will not even work out in today’s context. But there are few intangible factors which contribute to the success of the company in a long-term perspective.HR management is one such vital factor as any company is associated with the people who are working there.

Even companies who have the best talent can fail to achieve success because they cannot work together in an efficient and productive manner.Hence many companies are investing in efficient HR departmental policies, thereby ensuring the productivity of the employees, which in turn helps the companies to expand more.

HR is about learning and a growth perspective which deals with improvement of personnel, professional skills, knowledge, organizational  climate, employee satisfaction etc.This in turn helps to implement a balanced scorecard on a departmental level. Something that is good for human resource department is good for the company in general, as it’s about simultaneously ensuring employee and organizational productivity.

This is where Strategic HR can help as they show cause and effect ties between indicators of different categories/perspectives, For example if company decides to focus on employee hire turnover rate, strategic HR along with the help of applicant tracking system will connect these indicators with other measures and goals in a balanced scorecard metric.

When implementing a sound HR Framework it is really important to keep in mind that you are dealing with people and is really difficult to measure certain human resource management things along with numbers.

HR at the end of the day is about ensuring employee productivity and retention, alongside with meeting of the organizational goals.

 

 

 

 

 

Popular Sources of Recruitment

Recruitment is a challenging task, and many people are left in the lurch when it comes to finding new sources of finding potential candidates. However in my point of view, there are ample sources of recruitment sources available, which can be used by the recruiter to select the best candidate.

The most popular sources of recruitment are :-

1. Social Media Recruitment
2. Incentive based referral program
3. Community recruitment
4. College recruitment/placement
5. Talent sourcing in the crowd

• Social Media Recruitment :- One of the most popular sources of recruitment currently. It has grown tremendously because of its ease of use, multiple sourcing channels and low cost of usage. Recruiters now are able to double up as online reputation mangers and get the best talent for the hiring manager or the company, which they are working for.Social media also helps in getting the best talent for the company as we can get to know the likes, strenghts and any other special characteristic possessed by the individual.

• Incentive based referral programme :- This is one of the frequently used sources of recruitment, wherein Organizations ask current employees to recommend skilled and competent employees within their network to expand their potential pool of candidates.If the candidate is duly selected the person referring him duly receives a small percentage of payout from the organization.

• Community recruitment :- Many organizations follow community recruitment programs, wherein they hire people from within the community they are catering to. It is a way of maintaining corporate social responsibility. It also has the ability to build a superior workforce, with great loyalty and low turnover, at a reduced cost.

• College recruitment/placement :- College recruiting includes internship or rotational programs to give students a taste of real work as well as a way to evaluate and assess students for potential recruitment as regular employees. There are many other elements that could be added to this list, but the idea is not to create a list of everything. It is to show , what happens if all of these elements are combined to create a bulletproof, flexible, and expandable ability plan to find good talent.

• Talent sourcing in the crowd :- Very much similar to employee referral programme, but works in a broader group of network to recommend and select candidates with the right criteria. Common examples are Facebook pages, Groups and twitter etc, which promises to be a rich source of candidate selection in a targeted audience.

 

 

“New Age Recruitment Skills”

1. Be fast in spotting rare talent: – New age recruiters should be highly aggressive in spotting talents in an individual. They should simultaneously be highly skilled in using the internet and searching for candidates on multiple social networks, job portals and even blogs. Today’srecruitment trend depends a lot around what’s happening in the economy and the industry to which they are catering. They not only have to build a large network base which helps them in getting the right talent, they have to simultaneously ensure that they add value to the company through the right hire and thereby gain credibility in the market.
2. Relationship and Rapport Building Skills: – Today’s Recruiters have a knack of building relationships and rapports, with complete strangers over the phone itself. This shows their convincing skills, and ease of handling the situation. People possessing these skills are good at analyzing who are the best performers. They know how to co-ordinate with them, get the information from them, which is a required skill for today’s recruiter.
3. Ease of Technology usability: – Today’s recruiters have the competitive advantage of ease of technology use. From Social, Professional networking to e-mail to job portals to Blogs toApplicant tracking systems and recruitment websites, Online Technology has acquired the recruitment space. Successful recruiters always make it a habit to be constantly updated on trends happening around Internet to successfully implement them in their work, and thereby make it more streamlined.
4. They don’t just develop Rapport with the candidates but make sure that they close the hire: – Today a recruiter sees that not only does he develop a good rapport with a candidate, but he makes sure that they close the candidate for a job of his liking. They know how to turn objections and turn negatives into positives and offer solutions, work out compromises, negotiate, and in the end, make the hire happen successfully.

 

I-9 Audit= Is your company ready for it

Today recruitment process is growing at an ever increasing pace rapidly fuelled by Globalization. This in turn has turned the whole world into a massive talent pool. Location is not a problem anymore and people are found working around the clock in various geographies.

LinkedIn has become a useful recruitment tool for recruiting the right candidate as it helps in presenting our profile to the right audience. It even helps us grow our professional network and in easy information exchange in groups. It acts as an online database in knowing the profile of the companies and people associated with it beforehand.

After successful recruitment processes and induction of an employee is done, due care should be taken up in filling up of the I-9 form. The I 9 form verifies the identity and employment approval status of the employee, which is becoming an integral part of the federal immigration regulatory process.

The I-9 form process has become a crucial component in today’s organizations, and recruiters are helping their organizations in the audit process, which is periodically conducted by the Immigration and customs department, which compels them to surrender their I-9 forms to the government.

Human Resource department in Organizations, who want to keep themselves free from unwanted I-9 audit troubles, can use the following suggestions.

1. Making sure that new employee irrespective of their work authorization status completes Section 1 of the I-9 form fully and leaves no details unfurnished. If found incomplete later, The employee has to pay the fine
2. Make sure that the employee joining has either an employee authorization document (List A) or an Identification document (List B) or an employee authorization document (List C) in the section 2 of the form.
3. Keep the I-9 forms separate from employee record files, as they can be demanded any time for Inspection.
4. Create a reminder for employees working temporarily to update their I-forms periodically.
5. Do not violate the antidiscrimination provisions of the law by treating employees who may look or sound foreign to you.
6. Businesses/Hr departments should hand out “Handbooks” to employees which outlines the various rules and regulations pertaining to that state relating to employment related immigration laws.
7. Hire a legal representative, who has prior experience in I-9 laws and procedures and can help organizations in reviewing all the I-forms periodically.
8. Last, but not the least the recruitment process doesn’t end, when the new employee signs a contract, It extends to the retention phase of the employee. Properly Filled I-9 forms form a successful retention strategy in many organizations.