Author: yoctoo-admin

As the world wakes up and some companies are starting to recruit again it is hugely important to have a robust onboarding process in place to save you time and money.

I speak to many people who honestly believe that recruiters love clients with a high staff turnover, this is definitely not the case as we’re often judged based on whether a candidate stays with their employer or not.

According to research a staggering 28% of candidates drop out within the first three months and although as recruiters we have a level of responsibility to get the match right in the first place, companies can drive this percentage down by having a strong onboarding process in place.

Here are our top tips to onboard new starters successfully:

1. Onboarding starts between offer and start date, stay in touch!

• Ensure the candidate has a contract; this offers the candidate peace of mind and reassurance that the opportunity is genuine and the company operate with good integrity.
• Meet up for a coffee or a glass of wine.
• Find excuses to call; follow up contract delivery and receipt, let them know their new work email address, check they know the dress code. Anything to keep the lines of communication open.

The candidate who is joining you has been a job seeker, maybe registered with multiple recruitment agencies, may still have their CV online so will be seen as an active job seeker- other people will be tempting them with opportunities. Give them every reason to join you and your company.

2. Ensure you have all the equipment, stationery, IT and telecoms in place. I can remember starting a new job and the MD built my desk from flat pack furniture in front of me. Additionally, my email address for the first two weeks was sharon@… Needless to say, I wasn’t made to feel like part of the company straight away!
3. Prepare a timetabled induction and training programme which offers comfort and structure to the employee’s new venture.
4. Set the scene from day one, clarify your expectations and what they want to get from the role. Set soft/very achievable targets/milestones which give opportunities to praise.
5. Integrate them into the company, use different members of the organisation or team to deliver training, 1-2-1 bonding is so important, maybe assign them to a mentor. We always go for a team lunch on the first Friday whenever we have a new starter, this provides an opportunity for the team to get to know each other in a non-work environment, find common ground and generally helps the newbie settle in.
6. Review things regularly; meet at the end of the first day, ask them to review the training at the end of the first week, diarise end of probation meeting and follow it through. Most of all this offers an excellent opportunity tom take an interest in the wellbeing of your team.
7. The onboarding process should naturally flow into a performance management structure which is also vital to staff retention. Weekly/monthly/quarterly reviews/annual appraisals will all help with direction and progression for your staff. Training should also be ongoing to assist with employee engagement.

Whether recruiting through TN Recruits, ME Recruits or elsewhere you will definitely improve your retention with the right onboarding process.

Why diversity can add value to workplace – and how you can improve it within your business?

More and more employers are recognising the strong business case for improving the level of diversity and inclusion within their own workforce. Recruiting professionals from a range of backgrounds at all levels can give businesses access to a wide variety of viewpoints and perspectives.

Past research has shown that companies with staff from a broad spectrum of backgrounds do outperform firms with a less diverse workforce. By attracting and retaining a diverse range of staff, you can identify opportunities and explore new solutions.

Developing, implementing and promoting a diversity strategy is the challenge that all employers now face. Securing the most talented professionals will require you, as an employer, to take on a new, innovative approach to access more diverse talent pools.

What does diversity mean?

The most focussed on and discussed type of diversity is gender.  Studies consistently back up the theory that more diverse firms perform better – one found that gender diverse businesses can deliver superior financial outcomes to businesses led by a single gender, due to a greater range in decision making and different approaches to challenges.

But gender is just one small part of diversity – others include age, sexual orientation, race, religion, weight and political preference.  The less obvious, or sometimes less considered could include personality and cognitive diversity. Using behavioural analysis tools such as Myers Briggs and DiSC can help to not only understand your team’s personalities and how they work together, but where the gaps are for your recruitment.

Why do some businesses struggle to improve diversity?

Even when you do appreciate and understand, as a business, the gains that can be achieved when a diversity of opinion, outlook and background is embraced, it can be easy to fall prey to the natural human tendency to hire people who are similar to yourselves.

We tend to hire and promote ‘in our own image’ – selecting, developing and sponsoring people who are like us, have similar backgrounds, or who have attributes similar to our own which we tend to value over others.

An unconscious bias can also have an underlying effect on hiring decisions following the interview process – for example, past research has showed that 25 percent of Managers who identified as graduating from a top university say they prefer hiring candidates from similar schools.

Consciously improving diversity

Breaking out of this cycle must be a conscious decision and is the first step to improving diversity within your workplace.

Some high-profile companies have tackled the issues head on and shared their strategy, leading the way for others to follow. Among these is the BBC, which have pledged to increase the number of ethnic minority staff conducting interviews and has banned ‘All White’ shortlists for middle and senior ranking roles.

Diageo, the biggest spirits company in the world has introduced a new policy to all its 4,500 employees across the UK granting them all, male or female, 52 weeks of parental leave – with the first 26 on full pay.

Promoting diversity through your recruitment

Implementing your diversity strategy starts from the top down and must be considered during all recruitment. Here are some areas to focus on:

• Consider diversity when writing your job adverts : If you want to attract a more diverse candidate pool, the language you use in your job posting makes a difference. For example, a study on job postings found those using masculine-type words like “ambitious” and “dominate” were less appealing to female applicants. Make sure the advert concentrates on selling your organisation and not just what you are looking for and try not to include a long list of skills and experience requirements – just keep it to the minimum.
• Offer workplace policies that are more appealing to diverse candidates : Research has found that one of the best workplace policies to attract diverse candidates is flexibility – millennials place more importance on a company culture that promote work/life balance and the top company cultural value that women are most attracted to is a flexible schedule.
• Accept blind CVs from Recruiters : This approach allows hiring managers and other key stakeholders in the recruitment process to evaluate individuals based on merit alone, which is becoming more and more common. This eliminates all unconscious bias and natural sway.
• Use personality assessments during recruitment : The usual criteria for recruiting candidates – what company they worked at, what school they went to, who they’re connected with – can often work to decrease the diversity of the candidate pipeline, but by using a valid and reliable personality assessment you can measure a candidates’ personality traits, motivations, and skills
• Appoint decision-makers who represent diversity and inclusion : Making sure the interview panel is diverse and represents different backgrounds, gender and experience increases the likelihood of bringing in employees with new ideas to create a highly inclusive, diverse and productive workforce.

Helping you in the recruitment process.

Attracting and increasing diverse talent is an important competitive differentiator and can be tackled head on during the recruitment process.

At TN Recruits, we always take time to understand your business, your values and culture – and what you are looking for in a candidate We like to build a solid relationship with you, so we can be your brand advocates  and offer objective advice and guidance when helping you to find the right person for your business.

We have a wealth of experience in recruiting office staff from trainee to board level in many sectors including financial services, law, marketing, insurance, accountancy and currently have a pool of 4,000 candidates.

Why not call us today on 01892 571105 for a free consultation.

How do you conduct an efficient and effective hiring process?

A good hiring process conducted in an efficient and effective manner can save you and your business time and money. Without proper organisation and the right support, the process can be time consuming and distract you from your day job. Making sure you find hire the right candidate first time will avoid problems and additional costs further down the line.

So what are the key elements of the hiring process?

Know who you want

You will need to define the sort of person that you are looking for. For this, you will need to have an in depth understanding of the role you are recruiting for and must consider your company’s brand values and work ethic.

Have a clear picture of the type of person who will succeed and excel within your organisation, be productive and complement your current workforce.

Above and beyond qualifications and experience, consider personality traits that will be required such as compassion, honesty or humour – and although these would not necessarily be detailed in the job description, you should be looking for them during the interview.

Consulting with others in similar roles can provide valuable insight into the best type of person for the role. This may take a little more time, but in the long run getting it wrong will cost you more time and money.

Present what you offer

All too often companies will write a job description that describe the role and duties well but doesn’t tell the candidate ‘what’s in it for them’.

It’s important to include anything your staff like about working for you; opportunities to progress, social elements, up to the minute facilities, benefits.

Write a good job description

If you find you are always being contacted by the wrong candidates – whether they aren’t meeting minimum qualifications or just don’t seem to “fit” within your culture – how you are writing job descriptions might be the culprit.

A common problem while writing job descriptions is that they fail to clearly and accurately articulate the requirements and the specific characteristics of the job that would make it noticeable and attractive to the right candidates. Many job ads can be generic and bland.

A good job description should not only clearly define responsibilities and requisite qualifications, but also the challenges that the role will face, the working style, the temperament required, details of the company culture and vision – all so that you can attract the right people.

From here you will be able to develop high impact interview questions and your interview evaluations.

Efficient screening

Pre-interview screening is essential as it will save you precious time and shorten the process. For this you will need to ascertain the basic and minimum qualifications and skills that candidates require.

A big help here can be automation via applicant-tracking systems which streamline the process – applicants can be filtered automatically based on the criteria that you put in. But if you do not have this functionality in place, it can take time to set up from scratch.

Taking on a Recruitment Consultancy can make your hiring process more efficient. They will already have both automated tracking systems in place to identify the relevant candidates on paper and, more importantly, most reputable consultants will undertake face to face pre-screening interviews before they even send the candidate’s details on to you.

Clear evaluation process

Consistency is key here so that you can make accurate comparisons. Making sure that you have a well-defined selection process and standards, and that all involved in the hiring process are briefed in the same way, will make it easier to compare candidates.

Don’t ask unusual questions

Stick to questions that will showcase or demonstrate they skills and experience, and whether they can perform the tasks required.

Getting to know them is far more important than throwing in a curve ball question to see how they react under pressure. Asking anything unusual that is totally unrelated to the job could put the candidate on the back foot and skew the rest of the interview

Sell your opportunity, company and role

Interviews are a two-way thing, that candidate should leave the interview with an eagerness to join you. Build relations, make them feel comfortable and talk to them to reinstate all the things your staff like about working for you.

When interviewing sales and marketing staff, describe the bonus scheme to ensure it’s transparent as you want to attract the best possible candidates.

In the current competitive job market, good candidates are in demand, if you don’t sell your opportunity, your competitors will sell theirs!

Fast Decision-Making

Poor communication, not setting clear timelines and a lack of consistency can all lead to slow decision making when it comes to recruitment. Making sure your hiring team know the timescales you are working to and have all the relevant information can speed up the process. A faster decision can lead to an early offer, improving your chances of securing the best talent before someone else takes them on. It will also allow you to get back to your work – and with a full team.

Getting Support

Hiring the right people can be a time-consuming process but if you plan ahead, stay focussed and maintain the momentum, you will get results.

If work is busy and there never seems to be enough time in the day to give your recruitment needs your full focus, outsourcing to an agency can be the best option. They can manage the whole process for you to keep the energy going, provide professional guidance at every step and help you make the right decision.

How we can help

At TN Recruits we always take the time to understand your business, your values and your culture, and with a pool of over 4,000 candidates, we can always source the best candidates.

Our recruitment consultants are experienced in finding the right people from trainee to board level in many sectors such as finance, marketing, IT, customer service and law and are always happy to help.

Call us now on 01892 571105 to talk through what you are looking for.