As part of their effort to plan 2020 content, the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC), a nonprofit consortium dedicated to equity and inclusion in the academic workforce, put out a simple open-ended survey question to over 2,000 job seekers: “To help you advance your higher ed career, what topics would you like HERC to address in its job seeker materials?" The second-most common response – requests for how to combat ageism. Appearing 68 times in the 762 responses,

Hard skills (or ‘teachable’ abilities) are at the core of so many jobs. Which means verifying that your candidates have those hard skills is critical for the hiring evaluation and selection process. This, however, presents a challenge as there is such a vast array of hard skills, covering an endless variety of disciplines and experiences. Designing advertisements for social media, operating potentially dangerous manufacturing equipment, managing a sales team, coding in Java,

When selecting the right technologies for your hiring process, there are two main components to consider: the technology and the vendor. Evaluating the technology usually gets most of the attention. This is all the effort you put into ensuring the solution accomplishes what you need in the way you need it. It is all the steps to understand what it does, how it works, and how it will work within your system. Features and functions, usability, integrations, and adoption, are al

“We are having so much trouble filling positions – we just can’t get enough candidates.” “We can’t compete. People are getting drawn away from our jobs before they even start.” “Our attrition rate has skyrocketed. If feels like everyone is leaving.” And this begs the question – “why?” The reasons come pouring in - non-competitive salaries and compensation, lack of awareness or negative perception to the brand, lack of candidate flow, not having a good enough draw against majo

You’ve done everything you can – expanded your active and passive sourcing, removed every extraneous requirement, added generous relocation packages, benefits plans, and competitive salaries. But, with it all, the diversity is just not there. That nagging thought you’ve tried so hard to avoid comes bubbling back up: “There are no [demographic here] for this job.” Now what? Now you have an opportunity to become part of the solution to address the gaps in the candidate pool it

When it comes to hiring, there are those times when all the stars align and that single, perfect candidate pops out as the obvious and only choice. However, often, the stars align multiple ways and you are left with several great candidates that are great for different reasons. After careful and objective evaluation, you are left with a hard choice – the candidate that is strongest at the job, the candidate with the best potential, the candidate that has the most perfect cult

Return on Investment (ROI) is a highly valuable metric with a variety of uses. From convincing your boss or the c-suite to invest in the next big initiative to comparing the value of process improvement options, to showcasing how amazing your team is, ROI is at the center of it all. So… what exactly is ROI? The equation for calculating Cost ROI is: …. JUST KIDDING! At its core, Return on Investment is simple. It is simply the return (value) you get for an investment (cost) yo

In the 1980s there was a beloved secret among Nintendo game enthusiasts called the Konami Code. With this code you could unlock all sorts of cheats and extras in various games. Without it… well, you died more… a lot more. Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start The lucky ones who knew the code won far more often and more easily and with greater point scores than those who didn’t. It doesn’t seem fair, does it? So much advantage to those in the know vs. those

“And I know that we can be so amazing And being in your life is gonna change me And now I can see every single possibility…” Michael Bublé’s optimistic lyrics tell of fantastic, life changing love that is perfect in every way except one little detail… “I just haven’t met you yet.” What would happen to this beautiful future if that moment never comes? The day I met you It was the early 90s and I, along with group of other young teen-aged girls, were crowded into a conference

“One of the first and most important lessons I teach people new to Talent Acquisition is how important it is to say no,” said Jim D’Amico, head of Talent Acquisition of a fortune 500 chemical company. Jim held his hands palms up, perfectly framing his signature bowtie as he continued. “Most of us in TA are people-oriented, we like to please our customers – the hiring managers.” He lifted one hand higher. “But, if we are always saying yes and doing what they want in the moment

Superstar athletes were not amazing the first time they walked onto the field. A-list actors did not draw tears the first time the took to the stage. And fortune 500 CEOs were not effective leaders in their first leadership jobs. No matter how strong the raw talent and gifted the individual, greatness comes with practice and experience driven by a constant stream of feedback from coaches, teachers, mentors, peers, audiences, and customers. TA processes are no different. A gre

Candidate experience starts long before the first interview or resume review or the moment the candidate clicks on the big ‘apply now’ button. It begins the first time the candidate becomes aware of your organization and has the thought, ‘could I work there?’. That moment could be triggered by a job description they stumble across on a job board or it could be a news article or networking event or that catchy commercial they still remember from childhood. From that moment, th

These days many technologies offer ‘try before you buy’. These pilot or trial programs are designed to do one thing – to get you to want to buy the product. Just like a first date, the tech and the team will put their best foot forward. You will be dazzled by shiny features, pampered with attention, and no requirement is too large or unobtainable. When done right, trials are a great experience. The technology is shiny and exciting. The support team is helpful and insightful.

“This candidate is great and is only asking for 70% of what everyone else on the team makes – what a deal!” “If I promote that person into the team, I can save 20% vs. hiring externally – what a deal!” “I was able to negotiate the new hire down, so they are only 75% of what we budgeted for – what a deal!” You hire that person, and pay them 10%, 20%, even 30% less than anyone else in the department or team, saving the company money while getting that great new employee… or hav

While a rose by any other name still smells sweet, when it comes to jobs a name and description could be the difference between attracting great talent and falling flat. Job titles and descriptions are the first windows into the job. They allow potential applicants to imagine the stage of the organization, the role they would play, and determine if they would want to take on that role. When done well, job descriptions will resonate with those that will be great for the positi

The Lily pads or the stone It’s 2020 and, like many Americans, I decided to kick off my new year with a popular resolution – weight loss. But this year, rather than start with the gym membership that would ultimately go unused, I took it nice and easy and started with a brisk Sunday walk around the lake. As I walked along the lake side, I picked up a small stone and threw it into the water. The stone sent ripples through the water causing the lily pads to dance and shift. Wit

Five culprits of confusion for minimum ‘must have requirements’ on a job The first step to qualifying candidates for a job is to check that they meet minimum requirements. These are the basic knowledge, skills, abilities, and other attributes a person needs in order to be considered as a candidate for a job. When used correctly, checking for minimum requirements increase the rate of effective hires, drive diversity and inclusion, mitigate the risk of unfair practice and discr

Diversify at the source: three tips for driving diversity in your candidate pool While diversity challenges don’t always stem from the source, without diversity in your candidate pool, there is little chance for diversity flowing into the workforce. And with diverse workforces driving value such as competitiveness, profitability, and retention, ensuring diverse candidate pools is well worth the effort. So, how do you increase diversity in your candidate pool? Here are three w

Diversifying your workforce starts at the source… maybe. Here’s how to discover if your D&I goals are being hindered at the source. It’s not uncommon to incorrectly assign blame for a problem on the wrong step of the hiring process. For example, “We don’t hire enough women” does not necessarily mean that the reason is not enough women apply for positions. It could be that there are plenty of women applying, but few are making it through the screening or interview steps. Incre

There is no shortage of terminology describing the hiring process. Unfortunately, we aren’t all using the same ones to describe the same things. This often leads to inefficient (and sometimes amusing) misunderstandings. So rather than talking in circles or adding to the confusion, here’s a map of our interview process terminology. The five steps of the hiring process: Attracting = convincing people that they want to work for your organization Before spending time and energy c