8
Recruiting From Outside of the Organization
Jim Collins wrote in his landmark book, Good to Great, “Those who build great companies understand the ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not markets, or technology, or competition, or products. It is one thing above all others: the ability to get and keep enough of the right people.”1
The challenge organizations face today is how to find the talented people who can take them to the next level of performance. If you’ve decided to go outside the organization to find a new hire, you will learn that most external recruiting today is done by using the Internet in some way—be it via social media sources such as Facebook or LinkedIn; using one of the many job boards, such as Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Craigslist, or Monster.com; or using the organization’s own website. We will discuss each of these in detail, but it is also important to understand that the Internet is not the only way to find qualified applicants. It is important to “cast a wide net” to find the best and brightest to join your organization. Consider these sources in addition to the Internet (and we’ll get to Internet recruiting as well!):
Networking. Other than employee referral programs and the Internet, networking is the best way to find good employees. Everyone in your organization should be attending networking events and be on the lookout for potential talent. You can set up a quick and easy way for your employees to feed the leads back to HR or hiring managers by putting a form to capture the referral contact information on your organization’s intranet. It is highly recommended that you personally develop a strong network of colleagues that you notify of your job openings. They may be able to refer qualified candidates to you from their own network. They also may be able to pass along qualified applicants who applied for positions in their firm, but were not selected for reasons other than their qualifications.
New hires. Ask how they heard about your organization, and what websites or what sources they used to look for a job. These sources should move to the top of your list. Also ask new hires if they are aware of any colleagues from their previous employer who might be interested in making a change. This source is especially valuable if you have a vibrant employee referral program (ERP; see below).
Former employees. If you have a solid exiting process, you will have identified employees who voluntarily resigned from your organization. If those employees were solid performers and you’d like to have them back, keep in touch with them.
See Chapter 30 (Ending the Employment Relationship).
It’s a good business practice to keep in touch with former employees you’d like to have back and, when the time is right and there is an opening in the organization, you can re-recruit them. Former employees can bring a lot to the table. They already know your organization’s culture and how you operate. You know them, and their skill set and work ethic. They may come back with increased ability or talent they have picked up at where they work now. Some organizations call these returning employees boomerangs!
Handle returning employees carefully. What will you do about breaks in service for your insurance programs or retirement programs? Don’t overlook the morale impact on current staff if someone comes back to a higher position than what they had when they were here before. How will the current workforce who stayed with you react?
Retirees. It is increasingly difficult for retirees to survive without some income. Consider bringing them back to do special projects in their area of expertise or to work part-time for you. The benefits they bring are similar to those described in the discussion of former employees. This can be a very cost-effective method of getting high-quality talent for a reasonable price and no benefit costs.
Good employees who left for work/life balance issues and whose situations have changed. This may be a man or woman who left to take care of children or an aging parent. If you keep in touch with former employees, you may find this is a good pool of talent for your organization.
Laid-off employees. When your business picks up, contact them to see if they would come back to work for you again. Work with your legal counsel to review how and who you bring back so that you are not violating any laws or putting your organization at risk for legal action from those you don’t bring back.
Applicants who weren’t selected. They may be qualified for another opening, and, if you have an applicant tracking system, you can keep in touch with these people when the right opening presents itself—and no cost is involved. Keep in mind that these applicants must have had an excellent experience in your hiring process—even if they didn’t get the job. If they don’t think highly of your organization, they won’t be interested when you contact them again.
Trade associations. Most trade associations maintain low- or no-cost job posting systems that are extremely valuable recruiting sources. The people who belong to those associations have the skills you need in your industry. Be sure your organization’s reputation is excellent so that when applicants see your name, they want to apply.
Executive search or contingency agencies. There are many excellent firms you can pay to find talent for you. The best way to find the right search firm that will work best for you is through networking. Ask trusted colleagues what firms they use or have used.
State employment offices. All states have offices where you can (and if you are a government contractor you must) list open positions. Don’t discount the referrals you can get from these offices. They do an excellent job of helping job-seekers link up with open positions.
Outplacement firms. Many firms will send out job openings to their clients who have been downsized from organizations. Maintaining good relationships with outplacement firms can be a good source for you—they may put your organization at the top of their list and steer their best candidates to you.
Radio/TV. Depending on your budget, you may want to investigate using these sources. Many organizations use radio in particular to drive applicants to their job postings on their website or to invite applicants to an event such as a job fair or open house.
Colleges/universities. These can be great sources for entry-level management positions or other positions within your organization. The key to a successful program is to invest time in establishing relationships with key placement officers and professors in your line of work. They will help lead you to the best talent available. On-campus recruiting is time-and labor-intensive, but can result in finding employees with valuable skill sets. Don’t expect to show up once or twice a year on campus and walk away with the top students; it takes time and effort to establish a presence on campus, but the payoff can be huge. Also, post open positions with their career offices so that alumni have access to your openings.
Job fairs. Most major newspapers hold periodic job fairs. You pay a fee to have a table or booth where you give out information about your organization and collect resumes. There are other job fairs held around the country, and they can be a good way to collect information about available talent. However, they can be costly and time-consuming for a limited payoff. There are virtual job fairs in which applicants visit your company’s booth virtually, and you have an opportunity to ask them questions about their skills and abilities. These can be cost-effective, but many recruiters still like to meet candidates face-to-face.
Consider holding your own job fair when you have a significant number of open positions. You’ll need the support of hiring managers so that they attend and can interview candidates on the spot. This is an excellent way to also publicize your organization, as you’ll want to advertise the job fair to get participants to attend. Some organizations also do invitation-only job fairs, where they select passive candidates and invite them to a special event.
Internships. Internships can be a real “win-win” for both your organization and the student, as you get a talented person to work for you and he/she gets experience they can use on resumes. Additionally, both parties get a chance to evaluate each other. It is critical that you offer interns meaningful work so that they gain experience and aren’t just doing work no one else in the organization wants to do. Remember: They will be going back to campus and will tell everyone about their summer internship with your firm. You want them to have had a great experience!
Co-op programs. These are used primarily in technical fields where the student takes a semester off to gain work experience. As stated about interns, this is a great way to have talented students work for you while you evaluate whether you want to offer them a full-time job when they graduate.
Minority sources.There are many places you can post open positions to target specific minority groups.
Appendix: Sources for Minority Applicants.
You may also want to check the Department of Labor’s Employment
Resource Referral Directory on the DOL website at www.dol.gov/ofccp/ERRD/errsrvs.htm.
Religious organizations. Many churches or other places of worship have job-seeking support groups and/or post jobs in their bulletins. For example, McLean Bible Church in suburban Washington, DC, hosts a weekly Career Network Night, at which attendees can have their resumes reviewed, practice interview skills, and meet with professional recruiters. This program is not focused on any religion and is open to all. It is a great place for local recruiting professionals to volunteer and to meet top-notch candidates in a relaxed setting. Check for similar programs in your area.
Retiring military. This can be an extremely good source for highly trained employees who have strong work ethics. And, hiring military retirees and those transitioning from the military can be a real source of pride for your current employees! There are several organizations you can contact for more information or to learn about their job fairs, including virtual job fairs. Check out organizations such as MOAA (www.moaa.org) and the Transition Assistance Program (TAP; www.turbotap.org). The TAP program was established as a partnership among the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs and Transportation, and the Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service to give employment and training information to armed forces members within 180 days of separation or retirement.
Senior centers. Check with your local centers to see if they do job postings. Seniors, like retirees from your firm, come with great deal of experience and may be looking for ways to supplement their income or to add more purpose to their lives. Also check www.aarp.org for ideas on hiring and working with seniors.
Passive or non-active applicants. You should definitely focus some of your attention on finding candidates who aren’t looking for a job. These might be people you’ve met at conferences or heard speak at networking events, and whose contact information you kept. They probably won’t apply to a job announcement on an Internet site, so you will have to be creative to determine if they are interested and, if they aren’t readily so, recruit them. LinkedIn is a great way to target passive candidates. Creativity and perseverance are the keys to recruiting passive job-seekers, but it may pay off with a great hire.
Employee referrals. One of the most effective ways to fill open positions is by having an employee referral program (ERP). Referred employees can be hired faster than those from other sources and usually at a lower cost. Referred employees usually stay longer than people from other sources and, because they already know someone at your organization, they typically on-board faster than others. New platforms exist, such as Sherpa.us, to help organizations design and manage effective employee referral programs. These platforms are cost effective and easy to incorporate into an existing ERP or to start one from scratch.
Employee Referral Program Basics
Have clear policies and practices so that everyone understands how the program works.
Post job openings, including required skills, education, etc.
Develop a brand for the program and use it on all communications.
Treat referred candidates with care.
Communicate often with both the referring employee and the candidate.
Recognize referring employee publicly.
Pay referral fee quickly.
Update the program often to keep it fresh and top-of-mind for employees.
Sample Employee Referral Program Design
Hiring of referred employees must be within six months of the referral.
Management, HR, and Business Unit Directors are excluded from receiving referral bonuses, but are encouraged to submit referrals anyway.
Rewards are paid when referred employee has reached the 90-day mark.
Fees are based on the position to be filled and change from time to time based on need.
The first employee to refer a candidate will be the only referring employee eligible for payment.
EEO Staffing Issues to Consider
Being consistent in your staffing efforts is a primary defense for EEO discrimination complaints. As an example, if your internal transfer/job posting policy, says that all positions will be posted internally for five days prior to going to external sources, be sure that is what you always do.
See Chapter 7 (Hire From Inside or Outside the Organization?).
Global Staffing Challenges
Many organizations are now faced with being part of the global economy. Some U.S. firms have been acquired by international organizations; other U.S.–based companies do business all around the world. There are issues around work visas, relocation costs, different ways of doing business, language, and more that impact how global staffing is accomplished. As with so many things, there is no right way to do it, but it helps to understand the different types of international employees. Some organizations use the term international assignee to refer to all employees asked to work outside of their home countries. Others use the following terms to categorize international employees:
Expatriates (or expats)—people sent to work in a country other than that of their national origin. Typically, expats work for a specific period of time with the intent of returning to their home county. For example, an American employee of U.S. firm who accepts a four-year assignment in Spain is considered an expat.
Local nationals—employees hired for a job in their own country. For example, a French national who is hired by an American organization for a job in Lyon, France, is considered a local national.
Inpatriates (or inpats)—employees who are brought in to work in the headquarters country for a specified period of time. For example, a citizen of Scotland who has special technical skills required at the corporate headquarters of an American company is considered an inpat.
Third country nationals—employees who are citizens of countries other than the organization’s headquarters or the ones in which they work. For example, a Japanese national who works in Australia for a U.S. firm is considered a third country national.
“Assuming that you already have a solid understanding of how the laws work in your home country, state, or province, it is now time to start learning what is going on elsewhere,” says Lance Richards, GPHR, SPHR, vice president of global workforce solutions at Kelly, OCG. “Certainly, obtain appropriate local legal counsel, but it is important to educate yourself as best you can. Remember: Employment laws and protections vary widely from country to country. In many countries, you are not so much employing people as you are marrying them.”2
So whether you are recruiting internationally or locally, it is critical that you understand the issues, both legal and personal, around hiring people in different countries. This is a challenging area for HR and for mangers alike. The SHRM website (www.shrm.org) has a wealth of information on global challenges, says Melanie Young, GPHR, SPHR, vice president of Global HR, Corporate and Global Business Group at Arrow Electronics.
Knowing When You Need Outside Help to Fill a Position
Many of us struggle with admitting we need help, although some of us are quick to pay an expert to do our recruiting for us. There is no exact answer to this question; it must be made on a case-by-case basis, and budget plays a big part in the decision. Possible times when you may want to engage an executive search firm or use a contingency agency for candidates might be:
To hire a senior level executive.
When you want to hire someone from a competing firm.
When the pool of candidates is very small due to the requirements of very narrow skill sets.
When you have a very short time to hire a lot of people (new contract, acquisition, new plant).
Carefully select a firm to work with by doing the following:
Ask your professional network for recommendations.
Meet with them to learn how they operate, what research capabilities they have, what successes they’ve had in your field, and to meet the team that will be assigned to your organization. You want a firm that will partner with you—not one that has a “cookie cutter” solution to what they think you need.
Check references.
Select your final candidates based on your research, meetings with them, and references.
Make your selection, notify those who didn’t get the work, and move forward.
When you’ve selected your partner or partners, be honest about what you need them to do and the time frame you need them to deliver. Let them know how often you want updates on their progress and whether you want the updates via email or quick phone calls, or whatever works best for you and your schedule.
Using Social Media to Recruit
Using social media to recruit new hires is a highly effective method to attract qualified employees. Social networks help recruiters quickly identify and connect with people who qualify for open or future positions. And, for the most part, using social media for recruiting is free! You know the importance of your employment brand: It’s critical to your ability to attract and retain top talent. Nothing provides a clearer picture of what your organization stands for than social media. The messages you send through these online networks can be extremely effective at engaging even passive job candidates.
According to Sherrie A. Madia, PhD, co-author of The Social Media Survival Guide4 and director of communications at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, the key to using social media to recruit is not to limit yourself to one network; effective talent sourcing is about “networking the networks” to provide ways for applicants across communities and platforms to find you and for you to find them. She says, “Researching blogs, niche communities, and groups within networks can give HR information to plant content seeds within these sites to attract more qualified applicants.” To be able to compete, organizations should explore social media “as at least one component of the broader strategy,” she says.
As you develop your social media recruiting strategy, be sure your organization’s website is well-designed and colorful, and that your corporate jobs/careers page is lively, current, and easy for candidates to find. Take some time to look at other companies’ careers or jobs pages on their websites and get ideas. At a minimum, include information such as:
Corporate culture—what it’s like to work at your organization.
Open positions with complete descriptions of job content and job requirements.
Employee benefits.
Ways your organization contributes to your community, including any recognition you’ve received for your charity work or community activities.
How to apply, including an online application that includes a digital signature.
Links to your organization’s Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook pages.
Savvy organizations include videos of actual employees in their work environment as part of their social media strategy. This is a great way to let potential job applicants know what it is like to work in your organization. Post new videos as often as possible to showcase what your organization does. The most powerful messages come from your current employees, so include informal interviews and testimonials. Include parts of presentations from the CEO on the future of the organization or from a town hall meeting to showcase how open and transparent you are. Whatever you decide to do, be sure it is an honest reflection of your organization—today’s applicants can spot “spin” from a mile away!
Using Twitter to Recruit
Twitter is the most common network used by job seekers.
Set up a separate organization career account.
Be sure to tweet relevant information. If you don’t, people won’t follow you.
Twitter is amazingly easy to use and highly effective.
Search for relevant people to follow by using the search tool. Many people will automatically follow you back.
Be sure the link to your Twitter feed is visible on your job postings, your organization’s career page, your email address, and any other place you advertise your open positions.
Use hashtags when you Tweet. Hashtags allow tweets to be easily found. For example, add #jobs to the end of your Tweet because people will search #jobs and find your Tweet—and then may click on the job or follow you.
Be sure to join “chats” related to your industry.
Using Facebook to Recruit
Set up an organization career page separate from your business Facebook account that includes posts about what it’s like to work at your organization and what type of candidates you’re looking to add to your team.
Include a link to your online application to make it easy for people to apply.
Passive job seekers check out employer’s pages to keep up-to-date on what’s happening in organizations.
Be sure your recruiters follow up quickly on any request from a potential applicant.
Publicize your Facebook page wherever you post jobs or look for candidates.
Respond to posts on your wall and formulate a policy on how to respond to negative comments. Don’t ignore them. You can delete them, edit them, or respond to them, but you must do something!
Encourage interaction among your followers by encouraging conversations. This take some work because you need a large number of people to create the community needed for this type of interaction, but it can pay off.
Update frequently to keep in front of your competitors and top of mind!
Using LinkedIn to Recruit
LinkedIn is the social network used most often by recruiters to find talent—either active or passive job seekers.
Create a company/organizational profile and ask your employees to use it.
Expand your LinkedIn contacts as quickly as possible, remembering to link only to people you know and/or admire. Connect to other employees, customers, friends, colleagues, former coworkers, people you meet at networking events, people you interview for jobs, and family members. The more first-degree connections you have, the better!
Use LinkedIn People Search to source candidates. This is a valuable way to find people with particular skill sets.
Use the free job postings available and consider upgrading in order to have greater access to information/candidates.
Join LinkedIn groups in your industry or where you want to source candidates.
Use your status to alert your network when you have jobs open or to promote an event such as a job fair or open house you are hosting.
Once you have your accounts set up on the social networks, you can import your email contacts. These platforms make it easy to connect to your current email database, but be careful as some will literally include every person/organization to which you’ve ever sent an email.
Find the biggest influencers in your industry and follow them. The more you follow or connect with people, the more people will follow or connect with you.
Social Media Policy
Consider developing a social media policy or guidelines for your employees to follow to ensure consistency of message. It should:
Link to your Code of Conduct and Privacy Policy.
Say what is allowable. For example, can employees blog about their work as long as they don’t disclose anything confidential, or is blogging prohibited in general?
Describe the consequences. What happens if the organization doesn’t like what an employee posts on a website?
Update frequently. Technology changes so quickly, you need to have a procedure that looks at your policies often.
Remind employees to be careful to only write about what they know, and to evaluate whether or not what they are posting will add value.
Include contractors in your guidelines.
See Chapter 27 (Employee and Labor Relations) for additional information about social media policies.
Employment Branding
If your organization is going to compete for the best talent available, having an employment brand is important. Employment branding is the process of positioning your organization as an “employer of choice” in the marketplace and should encourage people to want to work for your firm.
You want to control what is written or said about your organization to the extent that is possible in today’s media-driven world. This means you need to actively keep your website up to date with announcements of your successes, your new products, and your great employees. Being a good community citizen is another way to enhance your employment brand. Sponsor community events and provide opportunities for your staff to volunteer for their favorite cause. Apply for local and national awards. Many communities have “best places to work locally” programs. Find out what it takes to get on one of those lists. Remember that your employees will be contacted by the sponsors of those programs to verify if what you’ve said about your workplace is true, so be sure you can back up your claims of being “an employer of choice.
Elements of an Effective Employment Brand
Creates a positive and compelling image of the organization that includes reputation and social involvement.
Provides a clear description of what it is like to work at your organization.
Links the brand to the organization’s brand.
Provides a sense of pride to current employees.
Reinforces the organization’s public image.
Your employment brand must be aligned with the organization’s strategic plan, vision, mission, and values so that you create an image that attracts and retains the best talent available. The organization’s value proposition is the foundation of employment branding. It must provide information for applicants who want to submit their resume/application and any inconsistencies between what is said about the organization and what is real can be deadly!
Your employment brand should be consistent with your organization’s brand and reflected in everything you say and do on the job/career page on your website, job postings or ads, brochures, or any material used for recruiting purposes or for any employee communication. Consistency is the key to a successful employment brand!
Discussion Questions
1. How can your professional network help you with finding good sources for applicants?
2. When might you consider asking a former employee to return to work? What are some areas to consider if you re-hire a former employee?
3. Name three or four sources for applicants other than networking and the Internet. Which sources do you think would garner the best applicants for your organization and why?
4. Why is an employee referral program an effective way to measure morale?
5. When might it be a good time to use a recruitment agency?
6. What are some of the issues to consider when recruiting globally?
7. What are some of the ways to link your website to social media sites, and why is this an important step?
8. Discuss some of the benefits to the organization of having a well-defined employment brand.