5 Proven Hiring Tips From A Top Recruiting Firm

Human Recruitment  

Hiring the right people will eventually contribute to the overall success of a business. On the other hand, a bad employee has the potential to cost you thousands of dollars.

"The single most important driver of organizational performance and individual managerial success is human capital, or talent," says Bradford Smart, author of the book, "Topgrading: The Proven Hiring And Promoting Method That Turbocharges Company Performance" and president of Smart & Associates.

In his book, Smart says that only 25 percent of hires are considered top performers, but business owners can increase that number to 90 percent by following his Topgrading methods, which have been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Fortune magazine, and more.

Here a few of his tips on hiring:

Calculate your successful hires and cost of mis-hires. Smart advises business owners to be as meticulous and calculating with new hires as they are with equipment and technology. “For a piece of equipment costing $500,000, we’re disciplined in calculating ROIs, doing comparative shopping and planning installation," he says. Companies should proceed to hire with the same caution.

To aid business owners in measuring the success and mis-hires rate of employees, Smart devised four online calculators: the hiring success calculator (calculates percentage of high performers hired and promoted); the talent projection calculator (calculates the number of people you'll have to hire and fire in order to achieve a 90 percent success rate); the mis-hires calculator (calculates your typical cost of mis-hires, and your typical number of hours sweeping up after mis-hire); and the organizational cost of mis-hires (calculates how much it will cost you to replace underperformers with your current methods versus Topgrading methods).

Create a vivid job description. The job description in an ad determines the type of people it attracts. Hiring managers should put in the extra time to make the description as vivid as possible.

"Job descriptions are so vague that hiring managers and others who will be affected aren't really clear about what they are hiring someone to do and candidates are equally confused, hoping to figure it out once they're on the job. Avoidable, costly mis-hires are the result."

According to Smart, the staff at Smart & Associates often get job descriptions from hiring managers that are so vague, they have to call the client to clarify the duties associated with the job.

Recruit from your networks and have connectors. "The advantage of recruiting from your networks is that it is faster (pick up the phone, email, use your social media), better (because you know the people to be high performers), and cheaper than running ads or using recruiters (no fees)," says Smart.

Aside from having a network of A players you've worked with, Smart recommends having a separate network of people called connectors. "Connectors are people who know A players they can refer. We recommend that every manager build and maintain a list of 20+ A players and 10+ connectors — people who are not suitable for your business, but who know a lot of high-performers you might hire. This connector group can include retirees who stay in touch with lots of talented people, vendors with an eye for talent, professional associates, and former peers who know lots of As."

Avoid generic competency questions. Smart considers the face-to-face interview to be the weakest step in the hiring process. "Competency interviews fail because a typical competency question is, 'Pat, can you give me an example of when you had a lot of passion for your work?' Of course anyone can come up with an example and anyone can claim more passion than exists."

Smart once met a senior manager at a recruiting firm who coached candidates on how to successfully oversell themselves and lie during the interview process.

For this reason, he believes the key during the competency interview is to not allow the candidate to "put [one's] best foot forward." Smart suggests asking questions that show initiative. For example, "What actions would you take in the first few weeks, should you join our organization?"

Have the candidate set up a reference call. This method is done using what Smart refers to as the TORC (threat of reference), which involves arranging for the candidate to set up the reference call between the hiring manager and the previous employer or referral.

"This 'threat of reference check' scares C players away," says Smart. "C players can't get their former bosses to talk to you and C players wouldn't want their former bosses to talk to you anyway. Decades of experience confirm that high performers do get their bosses to talk and are happy to make the arrangement." Smart advises recruiters to remind candidates throughout every step of the hiring process that they will be the ones to set up the reference call between the two parties.

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How to Answer the Salary Question in an Interview

There’s a bunch of things you’re not really supposed to talk about in interviews. Politics, religion, that weird growth you noticed on your arm this morning. Ideally, we could add salary to that list as well.

The job application process has a number of separate stages: applying, interviewing, job offer, then salary negotiation and acceptance. Most employers stick to this, and let the money talk wait until things are further along. But if they jump the gun and ask you up front for a) your current salary or b) desired salary, what do you do?

DON’T bring up salary first

It can be tempting to wrap up a great interview with, “So what would my salary be?” The interview is about selling yourself, and packaging yourself, so keep the emphasis on your awesomeness as a candidate. Putting a dollar figure on that awesomeness comes later, after they decide they want to hire you, so it’s best not to appear too eager.

Also, it shifts the focus away from your skills and qualifications and puts a price tag square on your forehead. And the interviewer just might not be the appropriate person to discuss salary in the first place. Many companies keep the financial negotiation part limited to HR, while your interview might be with someone who has little control over that aspect.

DON’T feel obligated to talk numbers.

If they ask you what you expect the salary to be for this position, it’s okay to defer by saying, “I’m sure the company offers a fair range, and I look forward to discussing that in the future.” Answering the question directly can be risky: go too high, and they may stop considering you. Go too low, and you may get low-balled on the salary after you get a job offer, if they know they can get away with a lesser amount.

DO keep things vague.

If the interviewer asks you what your current salary is, you can estimate a range, and bump it up slightly to include any benefits you might have. Don’t lie—if you tack on $10K to what you’re currently making, the true numbers will likely come up later, making you look look both foolish and shifty.

DON’T bust out your W-2 from last year.

Even if you’re asked about your current salary, it’s not really appropriate for anyone to ask you for specific documentation at that point.

DO shift focus away from money as quickly as possible.

Emphasize that while the salary is obviously an important part of any job, you’re more concerned about opportunity and growth. You can say that right now, you’re more interested in talking about how you’d fit in with this position.

DO some research up front, and have a number in mind.

Even though there shouldn’t be extensive talk about the salary at this point, you should already have a good idea of the range, whether it’s from the initial job description or some basic research about the job title or company. That way, if the subject does come up and you name a number because you feel put on the spot, you’re working with reasonable figures.

In an interview, the focus should be on you, not on the financial bottom line. But if it does come up, being prepared to deflect it and move on like the smooth operator that you are will help you get through an awkward moment.

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A Successful Business Depends on a Healthy Relationship Between the Employers and Employees

A successful business depends on a healthy relationship between the employers and the employees. One of the best ways to establish this is through employee handbooks. The handbook is a compilation of company policies, procedures, and expectations clearing up confusion and avoiding conflict down the line. Furthermore, they create a structured work environment in the organization.

Employee handbooks can also be a reason for its downfall. They can ruin the prestige of a reputable company if it is poorly written and can create a hostile environment in the workplace, making people blame your organization for promises that are even unknown to you. It will create a false or wrong image about your company in the minds of your employees.

Thus, proper steps must be taken to be on the safe side. Under proper guidance, you are sure to create an employee handbookthat not only establishes a concrete relationship between employer and employee, but also to the target audiences whom you want to reach. A statement is signed between the two (employer and employee) stating that the employee understands the norms and conditions of your organization and has received a copy of the employee handbook.

An organization must clarify all the doubts of the employee regarding work. This will resolve issues quickly, allowing employees to work more productively. It also sends a good message to employees, letting them know that you care about them. This in turn creates a healthy atmosphere to work in.

Companies with low manpower may face a problem to meet the demands or to clarify the problems of those they employ. A structured HR can help to solve these issues increasing the company’s reputation, making the company have a positive image in the mind of the people working in your company, which will immediately reflect upon how your clients will perceive you. A good HR team can help to manage this image, whether the company has 10 or 1000 staff or volunteers working for them.

As employers, the organization should look at retirement plans, health insurance, holiday plans, and maternity/paternity leave issues and implement plans that satisfy the staff’s needs. A proper and structured HR team can guide them regarding these issues, as well.

Employee rights should not only be maintained but should be checked and modified from time to time. Consumers now are increasingly more socially aware and thus, the constant support from the organization to satisfy their needs helps increase their external image, as well. This concern includes workers to know their rights, thus you should aim to be an organization that looks after their employees and the surroundings out of choice, but not in compulsion.

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The Top 10 Things Job Seekers Don’t Like to See on Your Website

Anyone who has ever spent any amount of time as a job seeker can attest to the fact that when it comes to corporate career websites, there are the good, the bad and the ugly. Career websites are often the only point of contact between a prospective employee and a company, so it is crucial to get it right. Here, I uncover the Top 10 Things Job Seekers Don’t Like to see on a Website.

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1.    A hidden careers site. Companies that don’t provide a direct link to their careers site on their homepage have already lost a large part of the battle. Unfortunately, those who do provide a “careers” link often place it at the very bottom of the page in tiny font. Unless advanced proficiency in Where’s Waldo? is part of the job description, a company’s careers page should be clearly accessible from the homepage – a reasonably sized link or tab placed above the fold.

2.    Complicated navigation. Congratulations! An interested and qualified job seeker has managed to locate your company’s careers page. But now what? If the applicant has to click more than once to begin their application, you’re doing it wrong. I’ve stumbled across countless corporate career sites with convoluted layouts with links that take me everywhere but the actual job listings. Navigation should always be as intuitive and as simple as possible – don’t scare away your best candidates with a poor user interface.

3.    Poorly written or vague job descriptions. Using a boring, generic job description is one of the quickest ways to make an applicant lose interest. Job descriptions should be specific enough to allow applicants to self-select, interesting enough so as not to portray a boring job, and perhaps most importantly: no typos!

4.    No information about benefits. Many job seekers are just as interested in benefits as they are in a job’s salary. While many companies understandably don’t reveal salary information during the initial recruitment process, those who offer generous or unique benefits should disclose at least some of these when advertising vacancies.

5.    No social features. A social presence is more important now than ever, and it is something that Generation Y job seekers look for. I have actually changed my mind about applying to a company because they weren’t on Twitter. It might sound harsh, but it is today’s reality: applicants want – and expect – a way to connect with the company in a social way, be it through LinkedIn, Facebook, or any other platform.

6.    No signs of employer branding. Often, a corporate career site is nothing more than a façade for a generic applicant tracking system; once you hit the “apply” button, you’re taken away from any semblance of the company’s own culture or brand. Incorporating your employer brand (including company culture, values and mission) into a careers site is another way for applicants to self-select based on fit.

7.    Very little information about life at the firm. A simple “day in the life” video or “meet our people” page can go a long way in increasing the attractiveness of a company to potential applicants. People want to know what it will be like to work there, and this goes beyond the information provided in a job description.

 8.    Bad web design. I asked one of my friends, a recent college grad and graphic designer, what her biggest pet peeves are when it comes to career sites. Her response: “You know a bad website when you see it.” No one likes a poorly designed website, especially in 2012 when platforms like WordPress make web design easy for anyone. Among the most offensive mistakes I’ve seen: poor readability, unprofessional fonts (I’m looking at you, Comic Sans) and corny, irrelevant stock imagery.

9.    Overly complicated or outdated application systems. There is nothing more frustrating to a busy job seeker than having to manually type your entire job history, personal biography, education details, etc. into an online application system. Multiple times. After uploading your carefully crafted resume in the requisite .doc format as prompted. Employers should stay on top of the latest application technology – not only does a sophisticated process make the applicant’s life easier, but it also signals that your company is tech-savvy, and that is a crucial requirement for the Gen Y workforce.

10.No details about the recruitment process. People don’t like uncertainty. The best career websites acknowledge this by explicitly laying out their recruitment process, including a timeline with details of each step. At the very least, corporate career sites should have the functionality to send an automated email confirming the receipt of an application.

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Hr Services for Small Businesses

Atkku provides Hr Services for Small Businesses where we have developed an efficient strategy to manage your employees as per your company policy and law.

Our HR Record-keeping Process:

Pre-Hiring
Maintenance of Records for pre-hiring such as job advertisements and job postings.

Hiring
Maintenance of Employment application form, resume, offer letter and visa filing copy (if any) will be maintained.

Public Access File (PAF)
Maintenance of Certified Labor Condition Application(if any), LCA Acknowledgement, LCA Posting Documentation, Prevailing wage determination (if applicable).

Employment
Maintenance of payroll enrollment, insurance enrollment, timesheet records, benefit management(such as paid vacation etc.), Employee notification such as salary review or termination records.

Termination
Maintenance of termination records, accounts & payroll settlement letter and withdraw visa petition (if any).

Benefits:

• Huge Cost Savings
• Paperless office Environment
• Dedicated Fax number to Each clients
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• Secured servers with SSL – VPN Access