Report on Recruitment Advertising: Where is it going?

by Devan Perine

Internet-based recruitment advertising has changed drastically over the last couple years. Talk about changing fast – we’ve seen Indeed.com increase it’s referral visits by 377% in just the last year!  Where it was once sufficient to buy a Monster ad, recruitment advertising is now fractured into a variety of job boards, social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. Cost-Per-Click (CPC) Campaigns are now also competing for your money and the attention of job-seekers.

Online recruitment advertising is changing rapidly. We keep an eye on industry trends and generate reports to help you when considering the best recruitment advertising medium for your next hire.

Job boards are here to stay, but will evolve.

Some would say job boards are declining and fading out, but they still remain the most effective and widely used way to source candidates. Job boards play a role in 45% of new employees. [1]  Massive job board sites like Monster.com have declined in popularity and effectiveness in sourcing candidates, while major job aggregator sites like Indeed.com have really gained momentum.

NewHire gets hundreds of thousands of visitors from referred sites, and we compile the data each year to see which are performing the best, are most cost-effective and produce the most. We had some interesting results this year – here they are:

• Indeed.com is growing – FAST. We had a 377% increase in referred visits from Indeed since last year – and dramatic influx from 2010.
• Monster.com is fading. Referred visits from Monster.com decreased 34% from 2010 to 2011. We still receive a good flow of applicants referred from Monster, but it’s decreasing over time.
• SimplyHired is growing faster than Monster. We partnered with SimplyHired this year and already saw it outperforming Monster by 159% this year alone.
• CareerBuilder is also growing. Referral visits increased almost 42% from 2010-2011.

Job aggregators seem to be performing the best this year, but it’s an incredibly volatile market/industry and it’s hard to confidently predict what will happen in years to come.

CPC campaigns on LinkedIn have been effective for certain kinds of positions, including sales representatives, management positions and some technical positions.

Where is recruitment advertising going next?

There’s talk that mobile is the next platform for recruiting, but online recruitment advertising will still be dominated by job boards, despite what critics think. They will continue to evolve – some boards will grow and others will fade out, but they’re not going anywhere anytime soon. The 377% spike in Indeed is evidence that things are changing fast.

Social media recruitment advertising isn’t gone either – in fact, it just started. It made a big surge in recruiting in 2011. But people are still working to understand how social marketing works and not just for recruiting, but in the B2B and B2C world as well. It’s definitely not going away anytime soon.

And lastly, PPC & CPC recruiting campaigns are also in focus for 2012 and beyond. It’s proved to be a great alternative way to target and attract candidates.

Where do you think recruitment advertising is going? What are the best forms of online recruitment advertising for you? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

NewHire offers a variety of recruitment advertising packages including  Sponsored/CPC campaigns, social media, and top-performing job board packages. To learn more about our recruitment advertising, click here.

---

[1] http://www.workpuzzle.com/workpuzzle/2011/04/how-do-candidates-find-jobs-dont-believe-the-hype.html

How Long Should You Give Candidates to Consider a Job Offer?

by Devan Perine

We get anxious when hiring a new employee – we want our candidate to start right away so we can move on to the next thing on our to-do list. But first we need the candidate to accept our offer of employment. So how long should we wait to get an answer back?

Well… it depends.

While a standard turn-around time to respond to a job offer is 3-5 days, the answer depends on a couple key questions we need to ask ourselves before we make an offer of employment:

1. How urgent is this hire? If the company needs to make an urgent hire, it’s acceptable to give the candidate a near term deadline for responding. For example, make the offer on a Monday or a Tuesday, and ask for a response by the end of the week. Alternatively, make the offer on Thursday or Friday, and give the candidate the weekend to think it over. Either way, set a firm appointment time for a follow up conversation.

2. Is the candidate considering other offers? The job market IS heating up in some fields, and top candidates are getting multiple job offers! If we suspect that the top pick is handling multiple offers, it’s important to act fast. Give the candidate a specific date to respond. If they are considering other offers, they’ll most likely ask for longer to consider the offer. If the candidate is worth the risk of waiting, respect their wishes for additional time.

3. Do you have a “hot standby”? If you have a strong viable number two candidate, you can put a bit more pressure on your top choice. In the meantime, keep a conversation going with the hot standby. If you don’t have a reasonable second option, continue your recruiting process and develop your pipeline. (Read more about “hot standbys” here.) 

Asking for a response within 48 hours is not considered best practice. The candidate needs time to make arrangements and think the offer through. If the candidate makes a quick decision they come to regret, it might also hurt the employer & the business. Studies show that employees who are unhappy are not as productive at work, take more sick leave and happy employees tend to stay in their job twice as long.[1]

Every situation is different – but it’s important to think all of these factors through before making an offer of employment.

---

[1] http://blogs.wsj.com/source/2011/09/18/the-five-drivers-of-happiness-at-work/?mod=wsj_share_linkedin

What Does Justice John Paul Stevens Look for in an Employee (Law Clerk)?

I had a chance to attend a discussion with US Supreme Court Justice (retired) John Paul Stevens. Stevens, 91 years old, is the third-longest-serving justice having spent more than three decades on the court. A native Chicagoan and graduate of the University of Chicago in 1941, Stevens proved to be a charming and witty conversationalist. (Here’s a link to the video provided by UChicago).

Of course, I’m no expert in the law. Though, I do claim some expertise in recruiting. So I was interested in Justice Stevens’ answer to a question from a first-year UChicago law student. He asked the justice, “What do you look for in a law clerk?” At 4 clerks per year over the course of 35 years, Justice Stevens had time to form an opinion and his answer to the law student was simple:

“I look for brains, and somebody I’d like to work with.”

My son Max, a first-year undergraduate at the University turned to me and said, “Dad, that’s what you always say… you should put that in your blog.” So here it is and it’s hard to make it much simpler.

IRS Promises Amnesty; But Did You Do the Crime?

If you’ve been worrying that you have been paying employees as contractors, but afraid of the consequences of fessing up, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has a new program just for you.

Making use of the carrot-and-stick approach, the IRS has promised small business owners a chance to correct the employment classification of contract employees. At the same time, the IRS is promising to crackdown on mis-classifications with fines, penalties and back taxes.

For a limited time, the IRS will allow an employer to re-classify contractors to employees with about a 1% back tax payment, according to the IRS website. There are certain eligibility requirements that must be met and you should definitely consult with you accountant and employment attorney before applying for the program.

Of course, the issue that most employers face is the ambiguity of the classification process. Who should be a contractor and who should be an employee? Here the IRS is not providing much help. As quoted in today’s Wall Street Journal, below is the IRS guidance on that subject:

There is “no magic or set number of factors that ‘makes’ the worker an employee or an independent contractor.” Here’s a link to the IRS guidance on the subject and good luck…

So it remains up to the employer to decide on the correct classification. Going forward, the IRS promises a crackdown on misclassification, leaving business owners in a familiar, “You can pay me now or pay me later” conundrum. Employees, with their associated costs like payroll taxes, benefits and unemployment costs, are expensive. Independent Contractors are less expensive – unless an employer is found to owe back taxes, insurance, penalties and fines.

Remember to Leave ‘em With a Smile

This article from the Wall Street Journal serves as an important reminder to employers that their employees’ perspectives matter. More than 75% of “departing employees” say they would not recommend their employer to others,” a 33% increase since 2008.

While helping hundreds of companies recruit thousands of employees we’ve learned firsthand what happens when an employer’s reputation is “bad” or their employment “brand” is tarnished. Job candidates know; they find out through the grapevine or read about the company on-line.

Indeed.com has a “forum” section filled with negative comments by employees about specific named employers! Worse yet, there are websites allowing publication of “rants” about jobs and bosses. These “rants” are not edited, reviewed or verified, but they are on the web and can cause you harm.

When former employees speak negatively about their experience, future recruiting is impacted. What looks like a great job to fill on paper, can become very difficult to fill in fact.

Not long ago we worked with a client to fill an operations management job in a manufacturing environment. While we got about 200 candidates for the job, very few were local. The job, in a rural location on the east coast, had great salary and benefits. The job description read well too.

As the recruiting process dragged on, I had a chance to ask a friend who lived and worked in a related industry nearby our client’s plant if he knew anyone to refer for the position. His answer said it all: “No one I know would work there.”

A little more digging revealed that the company suffered from high turnover and low morale. Management tended to be erratic and alienated employees. Everyone is familiar with these work environments and tries to avoid them.

This can become a vicious cycle: poor employers attract poor employees, who bad-mouth the employer (while working at the company and after leaving).

What to do?

Focus on making your place of employment the best it can be for employees. Treat employees with respect at ALL times, but especially when they are departing.

If an employee leaves for a different job, thank them for their service and wish them well in their future. Don’t complain that you trained them and now they’re taking what they know and moving on.

If you must fire an employee, thank them for the service, acknowledge their feelings, sympathize when possible and help them toward their next job as best you can. Don’t yell, threaten, or scold. Don’t engage in a conversation rehashing past problems or reasons for the termination. When possible, ease them out of the position, do what you can to make it an amicable separation. Remember, if the employer is unhappy with the employee, the converse usually applies.

Understand the legal liability around each particular termination situation (and you should always consult an employment attorney). But it is probably more important to ensure that employees, exit with no hard feelings.

Working to build goodwill and a good employment reputation, leads to better employees and happier customers… a virtuous, rather than a vicious, cycle.

If you have specific questions please call or write!

Sales Reps Recruiting: Looking for the Right Personality Traits

It’s a never-ending debate and a never-ending topic of interest. Who are the best Sales Reps and what characteristics do they share?

I believe that “pleasant persistence” should be a key behavior characteristic in the Sales Reps we hire. How do I define this trait? It is a willingness to engage in repeated interactions with many, many people in a way that communicates that the Sales Rep simultaneously values the prospect’s time and values the product/service the Sales Rep is selling.

This stance contradicts certain conventional wisdom. Many people believe that the best sales people are aggressive and extroverted, often called “Hunters” who eat what the kill. This makes the prospect “game!”

A recent Havard Business Review blog post adds some data to the debate: Seven Personality Traits of Top Salespeople – Steve W. Martin – Harvard Business Review. The result? Modesty and Conscientiousness are the two behavior traits most highly correlated to success in sales.

What do you think of this result?

Now, everyone has their favorite behavior/personality assessments. (Meyers-Brigg, DISC, Devine, Caliper… the list goes on and on) I’ve been exposed to many and find them valuable when used appropriately. Here’s what I consider an appropriate use of behavior assessments. Use them to:

- understand the behavior requirement of the particular position for which you are recruiting
- integrate the identified behaviors into your job description
- assess candidates against the benchmarked behaviors
- engage candidates in a conversation about the behaviors you require
- determine whether or not the candidate models the required behaviors during the entire recruiting process
- say “No” to candidates who don’t match your require profile

Please note that I did not recommend that you use your assessment of choice as a “knockout.” Behavior assessments are NOT math tests. They are not 100% accurate and are best used as guide during the recruiting process.

WSJ: Manufacturing Picks Up, Let’s Get Optimistic

Today’s reports from the Institute of Supply Chain Management indicate that manufacturers had better than expected results for June, especially in the Chicago Region.

We already knew this from the activity of our clients. In fact, we are seeing surging recruiting activity across several sectors. And, lots of folks continue the hunt for good sales reps.

No doubt that sectors (construction, for instance) are still in trouble. No doubt that we all have a long way to go to get back to where we want to be, but…

It’s time for some OPTIMISM and courage in the face of adversity. We can’t let every setback cause us to think that world is going to come apart again tomorrow.

So let’s celebrate the Fourth all out and let’s get back to building something together on Tuesday!

Guest Post: How to Fire Problem Employees

Thanks to Kevin Brozovich for allowing us to share his insightful blogpost:

Last month I wrote about hiring the perfect employee. But what do you do when you make that bad hiring decision? At this point in my career, I’ve released over 1,000 people either through layoffs or terminations. While my physical resemblance to George Cooney is striking, I have no plans to be like his “Up in the Air” movie character.

What I have learned are ways to do it well. Here are six key points:

1. Don’t wait to fire: Once you’ve done what you can to help the person and have decided that he or she is truly not a fit for the organization, don’t wait to remove them. You don’t want to frustrate your good performers.

2. It shouldn’t be a surprise: If you are communicating performance results, attendance concerns, and company financial information, no termination should be a complete surprise.

3. Treat them with respect: Many years ago, a neighboring company pulled all of their employees together into a conference room and announced that the plant was closing. Employees were required to stay until a security guard came and escorted them out of the room, collected their possessions and then off the premises. When I interviewed them, even years later, they were still angry about how they were treated.

4. Don’t blame the person: The employee being terminated is going to be feeling bad enough already. Don’t point out their weaknesses as failures, but do explain why they aren’t a good fit for the organization.

5. Let them blame you: You aren’t going to win an argument with the person at this point, so why try? Let them state their opinions.

6. Put the reason for the termination in writing: They say the average person retains only 10% of what they hear. I would argue that number is even lower when the previous words were “You’re being let go…” Give the employee something to refer to when they get home. More importantly though, draft the letter as though you were writing it to a plaintiff’s attorney. If you carefully explain that the employee is being terminated because this was the fourth sexual harassment complaint filed against them in a 12 month period, few attorneys are going to be interested in taking the case.

The majority of people remain professional throughout the process. In fact, many times, it’s our own anxiety about having the meeting that drives the process over the edge. I had one forklift driver who knew she was going to be laid off. She came into the glass office where I was doing layoffs and she was carrying a large cardboard axe. She handed it to me before throwing herself on the desk. Realizing she thought I was the executioner, I pretended to use the axe to “take off her head.” Several years later I received a thank you note from her stating that she had gone back to school, gotten her degree in accounting and that she loved her new career.

As difficult as the process may be, many times it leads to good things for the person and helps to motivate them to find a spot that really is a great fit.

Surprise: Help Wanted in Manufacturing!

It may be surprising to some, but not to us, that U. S. manufacturers are getting desperate for skilled labor. It recently took a client 8 months to fill a Production Manager role because so few candidates knew welding. I attended a meeting on April 28 where one business owner lamented their ability to hire ANY CNC machinists. A maker of package-testing equipment can’t find a mechanical or electrical engineer.

When clients ask what’s going on, I’ve pointed out three trends:

1. Increasing (NOT decreasing) demand for skilled labor
2. Baby boomers retiring and taking with them combined centuries of knowledge and experience
3. No replacements being trained

The Wall Street Journal addressed these same issues in a front page article on Friday, May 6.

For years and years the bad-mouthing of manufacturing in the U. S. has driven thousands of potential workers from learning the skills and crafts needed for the future production. “All our jobs are going overseas,” has been the claim. Guess what? The United States manufacturing output is higher than ever. Sure, net jobs have decreased over time with the application of technology to the manufacturing process. But there are still great jobs to be had.

Who’s at fault? There’s plenty to go around:

Business owners have been busy squeezing out hard-to-maintain profits by keeping costs down. One cost to go has been “investment in the future.” No training programs. No internship programs. Union bashing. Recently a business owner shared a revelation with me: he said that he was as guilty as any for bashing unions for all the standard reasons. But, he said, one thing that unions did really well was to invest in the training of the next generation of union labor. That’s changed too.

Workers haven’t done their homework, learned the skills and competed for the jobs for multiple reasons. If you are constantly being told that manufacturing is going away and you see jobs disappearing it is easy to write-off the industry.

Schools have not done of good job of guiding technically inclined students to train for high-skill, high-pay manufacturing jobs.

What’s to be done? First off, everyone involved has to stop complaining and start working toward solutions. We have got to pay the older generation (now in retirement mode) to train inexperienced, but talented, youngsters.

Business owners must look out beyond the next quarter or year and invest in inexperienced but talented workers who will be the next generation of high-skill, high-pay manufacturing employees. The employers who get this first and move on it will have a COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE for years to come.

Not Just a Job, But a Living Wage

There’s a feeling afoot that the economy is improving. We’re certainly seeing evidence in the hiring activity of our clients. No one will be sorry to put the events of 2009 and 2010 in the rear-view mirror. New statistics on what cost-of-living by state.

But, as we start to hire again it’s important for us to make sure that all of our jobs provide a living wage. It’s not just a moral imperative; it’s good business. Here’s a link to an interesting new study that gives details on just what constitutes a living wage today. I’d love to hear your feedback.

When we create jobs that a real person can do in a reasonable workday for a decent amount of money, we create stability within our companies. When our companies retain stable employees our clients are happy. This causes clients to do more business with us and refer us to their friends and colleagues.

Way back when in the history of our temp agency we had a contract with a large Chicago bank which had a contract with the IRS. The bank provided tax form processing to the IRS for 941 quarterly taxes. To fulfill the contract the bank hired temps who would work 60 hour weeks for 3 weeks around the quarterly tax deadlines. The IRS, and therefore, the bank were insistent that the same temps work once a quarter for 3 weeks making about $8 to $10 per hour.

We didn’t last long providing temps to this project because we always hated the fact the client wasn’t providing a means for the employees to earn a living wage. In fact the IRS expected that these temps would use government resources like Unemployment, Food Stamps, TANF and Welfare to make up for the periods when they weren’t needed to process taxes.

So, where possible, it’s incumbent on us to do our best as employers to create jobs that provide a living wage. Your thoughts?