10 Actions to Manage Agency Recruiters

10 Actions to Manage Agency Recruiters As an in-house recruiter in an SME, it can be expedient to engage one or more external agencies to help fill a critical role. This is most appropriate when suitable candidates have proved hard to find or where you dont have a good network in the field youre recruiting for. If youve got the budget and youre in a hurry, it would seem to be the no-brainer option. However, those external agencies can turn into a titanic millstone, sinking your hopes of filling that vacant role anytime soon. Delegate, dont abdicate Lets be clear about your recruitment objective its to fill the defined role promptly with a rock-solid candidate who will actually turn up on day 1 and then be effective. That seems simple enough, but if saving money, recruiting faster or extending the job scope creep into the equation during the recruitment process, risks will rise, delays will ensue and costs will markedly increase. Unfortunately, saving money and recruiting faster are the primary interests of external agencies. In some cases, their only interests. Theoretically, a recruitment consultant working on a contingency basis can be left to get on with it, since they dont get paid unless they deliver a result. The same argument implies its worth commissioning several agencies and pitting them against each other. It’s an enticing picture, but there are several potential problems. Longer time to hire. If good candidates are hard to find in your field, an agency#39;s most effective strategy is to initially hit the assignment very hard, but then switch off activity if no solid candidates emerge promptly. For them its highly cost effective. They can move on to other prospects whilst keeping this vacancy alive in the background. For you, it’s very costly, since youre unknowingly being hung out to dry in the desert. Engaging multiple agencies heightens the initial frenzy of activity, but shortens it, because the agencies know theyre competing and wont spend one penny on a potentially lost cause. Lower candidate quality. Agency recruiters have no interest in finding the best candidate. Any candidate that roughly fits the spec will do. They’re a commodity, to be packaged up and sold as quickly and cheaply as possible. Theres no immediate premium to be had for quality and no benefit to be had from spending further resource looking for a better candidate. Poorer candidate experience. Candidates can also feel hung out to dry by a time-pressured, bonus-driven, cost-conscious agency. Tales of no application acknowledgement, sporadic communication, misleading promises, endless delays and zero feedback are legion. Even successful applicants can come out feeling abused before they even start work. The loser is your company. Reduced employer-brand value. From the second the candidate knows whos hiring its your companys reputation on the line. Poorly treated candidates will refuse to consider future opportunities with you and social media networks make it easy for them to poison your reputation with literally hundreds of their online contacts. If you work in a tight-knit field, your well can literally run dry as good candidates avoid you like the plague for years to come. There are clear reasons why delegating some activities to an external agency may accelerate your access to more candidates, but many SME companies naively pass over responsibility for a key section of the recruitment process without understanding the difference between delegation and abdication. They risk later finding theyve engaged the brides of Dracula as baby-sitters, and given them free rein. 10 steps to take control Taking full responsibility for the process requires time-consuming effort. That might rankle when you’re paying a third party to work on your behalf, but sadly there are no free lunches. If you do choose to commission multiple agencies: Ensure a level playing field by giving them all the same information, and simultaneously. Make it clear which other agencies have been engaged and whether or not you’ll also be continuing to compete against them all by potentially recruiting directly, if you can. Be open about all previous recruitment activity on this post by you and by any other agencies. State your policy on any submissions you might receive from non-commissioned agencies. Separately from the agreed terms and conditions, produce a written outline of how conflict will be resolved when multiple agencies end up trying to submit the same candidate. Be open and clear about candidate must-haves and nice-to-haves, stick to them and judge fairly. Outline clear timescales and milestones and manage the agencies accordingly. From the outset, state your review and feedback process and run it at least weekly. If problems or changes from your side arise, communicate to all immediately. If problems arise from an agency’s behavior, terminate them, ensuring you have clauses to do so. This is all vital to establish because the second an agency realizes they’re terminally disadvantaged is the exact point at which their commitment to the assignment evaporates. It would be nice to believe that you can operate as a partnership to achieve a win-win result. Unfortunately, that’s literally impossible with multiple agencies involved. Clearly, there is considerable merit in carefully selecting just one agency to work with and aiming to build a close working relationship. However, almost all of the points above still apply if you want to maintain control whilst fostering trust and commitment. Finally, and regardless of whether you use one or multiple agencies, if you want timely results, for the love of God, answer your telephone and respond to emails immediately. Nothing is more frustrating for an agency than finding things seem to have changed and they’ve consequently become confused about your requirements. If they then have to wait a week to get even an acknowledgement from you, they risk candidates de-camping and other agencies poaching on their territory. The loser is always your organisation. About the author: Jon Gregory an experienced management consultant, re-organisation specialist and recruitment professional. He currently works with both organisations and individuals, helping to get the right people working effectively in the right jobs.. He’s also the editor of www.win-that- job.com.

Why Well-Slept Employees Perform and Feel Better at Work

Why Well-Slept Employees Perform and Feel Better at Work As an employer, there are many things you can do to help ensure your staff are working to their full potential. Whether it’s employee perks, free fruit or a comfortable working environment, you can often have a big influence on the motivation and positivity of your team. One thing you can’t change however is the quality of sleep they get. Bed and furniture specialists Time4sleep recently conducted a study, speaking to sleep experts, as well as surveying 2,000 UK residents asking how their sleeping habits affected their well-being at work. The results could help employers provide support to employees and understand how their working lives are affected by sleep. The Effects of Poor Sleep at Work Feeling Positive Members of staff that complain all the time can have a damaging effect on those around them. The research from Time4Sleep suggested that lack of sleep could be what’s behind the negativity in your workforce. Of the workers asked, 49% who said they felt positive about work in the morning rated their sleep between eight and ten â€" only 3% of those who rated their sleep between one and three said they felt positive at work. Following this trend, a third of those who said they felt negative about work in the morning rated their sleep below a three. As an employer, this shows that there should perhaps be some empathy shown towards those who struggle at work due to lack of sleep. Getting Motivated It can be difficult to keep employees motivated throughout the whole working day, and a similar trend between motivation and the amount of sleep we get was evident in the survey. 49% of those who rated their sleep between eight and ten also rated their motivation at the same level. On the other side of the coin, only 3% of those who rated their sleep between one and three said their motivation was above seven. There’s science behind this behavior. Sleep science coach Jason Piper explained that: Poor emotional regulation and impaired decision making might be affected by sleep. Sleep deprivation has been associated with reduced blood flow in the area of the brain responsible for attention, alertness, and cognitive processes such as self-control, emotional responses, and decision making. Being Content in Their Careers As an employer, it’s vitally important that your staff feel content and happy in their careers. It leads to decreased attrition rates and helps to build a positive mood in your workplace amongst other things. One factor that might influence this could be the quality of sleep they’re getting. 40% of respondents who rated their sleep between eight and ten said they were happy in their career, this is compared to 9% who rated their sleep between one and three. So, for employers and HR departments who are dealing with unsatisfied workers, asking them how well they’re sleeping could be a good starting point. How Can You Help Employees? Most employers probably don’t see it as their responsibility to help workers with their sleeping habits â€" employee’s lives outside of work are a personal thing. However, helping your staff with some tips on getting a good night’s sleep could make a huge difference in their working lives and performance. Sharing some of this guidance with your team will set you apart from other employers. Wind Down for Bed We’ve probably all been guilty of spending some time looking at our smartphone or tablet after lights out or watching TV in bed. However, this could be one of the worst ways to prepare for sleep. 49% of respondents who admitted to watching Netflix or TV before bed said they’re not getting at least seven hours of sleep â€" with 22% getting five hours or less. It was a similar story for smartphones and tablets, with 48% of users getting less than seven hours sleep and 24% getting five hours or less. As an employer, actively encouraging your employees to stay off company emails after a certain time could make an important difference. Counting Pillows The survey showed that the number of pillows you use is much more than just a personal preference, suggesting that using fewer pillows is conducive to a better night’s sleep. Only 41% of respondents who use three pillows get at least seven hours sleep in a night, this is compared to 49% of those who use two pillows and 56% who use one. Jason Piper explained this: You should only need one. Pillows help to offset differences in your mattress. If you are needing to use multiple pillows, your mattress may be too firm which is keeping your head too far from the mattress or you’re putting your neck in an unnatural position. Find the Right Position Getting a good night’s sleep could well be linked with the position that you choose to sleep in. The research asked what side of the bed respondents slept on, with 36% of those who slept on the right-hand side rating their sleep as eight or more, compared to 29% on the left-hand side. More important, however, is the position that you lay in at night. The perfect position for sleep is on your non-dominant side in a fetal position. This is an evolutionary choice, like your heart, internal organs, and reproductive organs are protected. Leaving your dominant arm free to defend yourself. As an employer, your care for employees should go well beyond office hours. Helping your team understand their difficulties with sleep and offering advice on how to overcome them can have huge benefits for you and your business. Not only that, as an employer it’ll help you be more understanding and empathetic when your team is struggling. About the author: Mark Wiggins is a writer from Leeds, England. With years of experience in people management, he specializes in writing about workplace motivation and staff retention.

Three Great Reasons to Invest in HR Software

Three Great Reasons to Invest in HR Software Running a business is complex, especially once you start taking on employees. Taking care of your people, and complying with all of the necessary employment regulations, is time consuming. Unsurprisingly most firms end up setting up a dedicated human resources department to deal with all of this, once staffing levels make doing so cost effective. This is a very wise move.  Studies show that small firms who take the step of setting up a proper HR department sooner rather than later do much better than those who delay the process. (Read more about it here). However, simply employing people to take care of your personnel tasks is not enough. It is also important to equip your HR team well, which means investing in a Cascade Human Resource management package. Using this specialist software has the potential to benefit your firm in many ways.  Weve outlined the most important of those below. The ability to work efficiently Using a single suite of software modules will enable your HR team to work more efficiently. It means they no longer have to set up and maintain employee records across several databases. The necessary details can be keyed into one place, and kept up to date there.  Which will save time, and improve the accuracy of your employee data. This also decreases the risk of important things being missed. It benefits your employees The fact that your HR team is able to work more efficiently greatly benefits your employees. It means that your managers have the time to identify training needs, and help each person to fulfill their full potential, and thus contribute to the overall success of the business. Your human resources personnel can also identify problems early and deal with them quickly. For example, it enables them to notice the fact that a member of staff is having health or emotional issues at an early stage because of an increase in absenteeism. Once the issue is known your HR team can find out what the underlying problem is and offer help to the employee if that is appropriate, or feasible. Standardises and simplifies procedures Using HR software not only streamlines processes, it standardises them. It makes everyone in your business to gather and input data in the same way. This is good for interdepartmental communication, and helps with accuracy. If you purchase HR software that includes a workflow module, you can use it to develop clean, clear and fast processes for every aspect of your business. Doing so will save you money because everyone will be working more efficiently. It will also help you to identify weaknesses in the way you do things, so that you can constantly improve and update your processes. Having this culture in your business will ensure that you are always looking for the best way to do things.  Which means you will be more likely to take advantage of new technology. Above we have covered some of the most important benefits of using HR software in your business. In truth, we have only scratched the surface. There are many other good reasons to use it. Therefore, if you are not already using this type of software in your business, now is a good time to consider doing so. Image credit Counseling  

Shifting Your Talent Focus Through Employer Branding

Shifting Your Talent Focus Through Employer Branding Tech talent is in high demand. More and more companies are shifting their focus to becoming digital and hiring the best tech talent out there has become a major priority. That’s why they need a super strong employer brand. We chat with Sarah Dovlo, the Head of Employer Branding Europe at ABB, a big Swedish-Swiss engineering company to learn how ABB have gone from a traditional company with a rich heritage to a future-focused and digitally relevant employer. Have a listen to the interview below, keep reading for a summary and be sure to subscribe to the  Employer Branding Podcast. Listen on  iTunes,  Stitcher Radio,  Google Play  or  SoundCloud. In this episode youll learn: What the culture is like at ABB What talent challenges ABB faces right now Why the EVP is It begins with you and how they activate this message How ABB leverages social channels like Instagram, Facebook, and Sapchat to reach young talent Why ABB goes to events and meetups to seek out talent Why data is the most important aspect of employer branding How ABB measures their employer branding efforts Why Allianz and  Deutsche Bahn inspire Sarah Whats next for ABBs employer brand

Some Advantages and Disadvantages of Using a Professional Resume Writing Service

Some Advantages and Disadvantages of Using a Professional Resume Writing ServiceThere are many companies offering resumes in different ways and each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, you can get it online, off-line or offline. In case you are doing the job of writing a resume yourself, you may be able to save more money by opting for it online. However, if you require printing of your resume, then offline method will be more economical.Your resume is very important to your future. If you decide to employ a professional resume writing service, you can be rest assured that you will get the best results. This is because the writing service is responsible for matching your skills with the required skills of a job. Before you hire a company, make sure that you have done adequate research on them and have tried their services. This is necessary in order to come out with the right decision.The companies usually provide help to their clients to prepare their resu mes. This means that you don't have to be worried about the details. You just have to fill the form and submit it. Many companies offer you this opportunity in order to save your time and effort. If you wish to save money, then it's not difficult to give them this option.The cost of hiring a KS writing service is not much and also has no limitations on the number of resumes that you can produce in a day. There are some companies that allow you to have up to 20 pages and then they can start working on the rest of the forms. This way, you can save a lot of time as you don't have to go back and forth. Another benefit is that the company doesn't charge you for the turnaround time. This means that you will be free from worrying about the delays that you might be facing.If you need to deliver a resume to a particular company, then it is possible to find a professional KS writing service to do the job for you. Most of these services will charge a small fee but the amount depends on the len gth of time that it takes to prepare your resume. Once you've chosen a company, make sure that you keep an eye on its progress. This is possible if you have the referral service of your employer. It's always better to be safe than sorry.The time taken to prepare the resume also varies with the size of the company that you're seeking to hire a KS writing service for. If you are in a position to afford such a service, you should be able to get a short turnaround time. However, the number of resumes that you produce will depend on the size of the company that you are trying to get the resume to. The person who is writing the resume should be familiar with the requirements of the company.Before you consider hiring a KS writing service, it is advisable to check its credentials. This is necessary in order to check how professional it is. A service provider that has been around for many years will most likely be a reliable one.If you have been thinking of hiring a resume writing service, t he first thing that you should do is check the credentials of the company that you have in mind. Make sure that you hire a company that can work according to your needs so that you don't waste time and effort in creating the required resume.

How personality types and color psychology can help determine your ideal job - Sterling Career Concepts

How personality types and color psychology can help determine your ideal job How personality types and color psychology can help determine your ideal job There are a lot of characteristics that make up a personâ€"strengths and weaknesses, personality, and history and some of those characteristics end up making people better suited for certain positions and areas than others. There are different ways of thinking about and measure personality. Some of them are more well known than others. For example, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality test talks about characteristics such as introversion and extroversion, sensing versus intuition, and thinking versus feeling. There are other tests, such as color psychology, that aim to do the same sort of things as the Myers-Briggs. In fact, if you combine results from both tests, you can often get some unique insight into yourself, including jobs for which you may be well suited. For example, did you know that people who love blue are often the same sort of people that are classified as INFJ on the MBTI test. For which jobs are they well suited? This graphic explains it. Its not necessarily the most scientific way to define your target job, but its a fun way to consider how your personality influences which types of jobs might be a good match. Where do you fall on the chart?   Do you see parallels between your personality and the recommended career tracks? How your favorite color can help you find the perfect jobInfographic by Quill

Keep Your Bridges Intact - CareerAlley

Keep Your Bridges Intact - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Who seeks shall find. Sophocles Very few people will make it all the way through their careers without changing jobs at least once. Whether you leave because you want to or because the employer makes you, the separation process is awkward and uncomfortable for everyone involved. When you leave a job, you always have a choice: to burn the bridge or leave it standing. As satisfying as it may be to burn your bridges, it is usually best to leave them intact. Reasons to avoid burning the bridge: You arent just burning a bridge. You are eliminating a connection that could prove useful in the future. When you insult your previous employer, he is unlikely to give you a positive recommendation when another potential employer calls him. You may want to come back. When you leave a job, it may seem like it is behind you forever. However, the day may come when you want your old job back, especially if you are being laid off. If you burn your bridges, it is unlikely that the company will rehire you in the future. You may work with the same people again. Your coworkers, supervisor, or even your subordinates may show up in a future work environment. If they remember you as that guy who went off on the boss before leaving for good, they may be less than friendly. Word gets around. Even if your boss or least favorite supervisor was the only one present when you did your damage, that doesnt mean that he isnt going to tell anyone. News of your outburst may reach friends, family, and people you have never met. In some cases, the story may even reach a potential employer, who may be less likely to hire you as a result. How to leave without burning bridges: Dont take it personally. Whether you resigned or were fired, try to keep the situation in the business perspective. Remain professional and dont let your personal feelings influence your actions. Write a letter. Regardless of the circumstances of the separation, write a letter to your employer or supervisor thanking him for the opportunities he gave you while you worked there. Stay positive and focus on the future. Instead of dwelling on the negative aspects of the separation, make an effort to use your energy in a positive way. Prepare for your next job by improving your resume, filling out applications for new jobs, or visiting a career counseling center. You can find quality career counseling services through an institution of higher learning. You can also get assistance through your state unemployment department or certain nonprofit organizations. Regardless of whether it is your decision or your employers, leaving your job is never easy. No matter how angry or hurt you are, its never a good idea to eliminate connections you may need in the future. By controlling your emotions and channeling them in a positive way, you can leave your bridges intact and move on without regrets. About the author: Matt Herndon is a freelance writer living and working in the Indianapolis area. His undergraduate and graduate work was done in Upper East Tennessee where he studied communication and institutional leadership. He writes on behalf of American InterContinental University. This is a Guest post. If you would like to submit a guest post to CareerAlley, please follow these guest post guidelines. Good luck in our search. Visit me on Facebook