The Importance of the Recruiting Process

Variety and diversity are generally good to have in any situation. In fact, the Forbes Human Resources Council in their article Five Ways to Reach and Recruit More Diverse Job Applicants say, “Diversity is essential to improving the makeup of any organization.” With a varied range of kinds of people, your company will gain a competitive edge and they will provide new insights. The Council gives advice on strategies to attract diverse applicants. They are:

1. Offer Testimonials From Current Employees. Ask your employees to voice their experience in the company; maybe have them complete a survey.
2. Take Advantage Of Your Team’s Network. Ben Martinez writes, “When it comes to recruiting talent, people follow people, not policies. Ensure that your recruiting team and hiring managers come from diverse backgrounds in terms of education and experience, they have a network, and they will be able to attract diverse job seekers. You should also look for people who have been through times of trial in their work like or people who moved to America and had to figure out their own way to succeed. These people often have strong characters and can bring contagious enthusiasm to your organization.”
3. Post Jobs In Nontraditional Ways. Post job openings on some non-professional outlets.
4. Emphasize Cultural Fit. Make sure the culture of your company is set with core values and ethics.
5. Recruit Through Refugee Settlements. Sarah O’Neill writes, “One service that serves as a gold mine for applicants is refugee resettlement programs. Often times, these programs have multiple people with great skills waiting for an opportunity. If you reach out to these organizations, they can help you find your candidate, pre-screen them, and even help that candidate gain skills to excel at the work.”

2. How Tech Giants Are Devising Real Ethics for Artificial Intelligence

In John Markoff’s article, he starts by reminding us of recent science fiction movies. They have all lately been about artificially intelligent machines hurting humans in the end, hurting those who created them. He writes, “But for the next decade or two, our biggest concern is more likely to be that robots will take away our jobs or bump into us on the highway.” Five of the world’s largest tech companies are trying to create a set of ethics around creating artificial intelligence. Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, IBM, and Microsoft are meeting to discuss the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs, transportation, and warfare. Artificial intelligence has made progress in recent years with self-driving cars and other inventions, including new weapon systems. “The specifics of what the industry group will do or say – even its name – have yet to be hashed out. But the basic intention is clear: to ensure that A.I. research is focused on benefiting people, not hurting them.” This report which might be released in September, will explore eight aspects of life including: health care, education, entertainment and employment. They won’t look into warfare, but they might in the future. At HireVue, we believe AI and Deep Machine Learning are the next wave of innovation in HR, people strategies and smart talent acquistion. Check out a recent presentation from our team on the powerful combination of machine learning and predictive analytics for talent decisions: 6 Weeks to 6 Days: How Hilton Worldwide is Building Customer Care Teams with Hirevue Insights. You can find HireVue's AI Hacker, Ben Taylor: LinkedIn

3. Culture Fit Is The First Step To Successful Onboarding

In HR, we talk about company culture a lot and Sharlyn Lauby’s article is no exception. She writes, “…in order for employees to be engaged, they have to fit with the culture. Meaning that cultural fit needs to be an important part of the recruiting process.” Hire for attitude, and train for skills. SilkRoad recently came out with ‘cultureboarding’ which essentially is when “the onboarding process focuses on instilling workplace culture. And it’s not limited to regular full-time workers. Cultureboarding includes contingent workers and strategic partners.” Onboarding is important, as is making sure new employees know what’s going on and know what they can expect. Cultureboarding is important as a subset of onboarding. This way new employees get a culture component to the fun environment they are now going to work in. Find Sharlyn: Twitter LinkedIn

4. You Can’t Deliver a Marathon Project at a Sprint

In Gary Wyles’ article, Wyles talks about change in the workplace. He writes, “When the pressure is on and the project clock is ticking, the first thing that we all want to do is delve in and get started. Odd as it seems, action puts us at rest…We feel that we’re doing something tangible.” But, this isn’t the starting point we need to have. We need time to prepare. Imagine you’re training for a marathon when the goal is to cross the line ahead of the competition. Imagine spending a year training for this. Not just physically, but also mentally. “They’d take a strategic view of the best way to win the race bearing in mind their own fitness and style, how their competitors like to run and, of course, the terrain or track they’ll be competing on.” Rarely do we spend time preparing in our organizations, but we need to. Here are the steps in the process:

1. Understand the why. Don’t lose sight of the bigger picture. Why are you doing this, fixing this, or choosing this certain problem to focus on? Link it to personal objectives of each team member so they know their own role.
2. Plan the how. How will the team work together? What are everyone’s responsibilities?
3. Know what to do. Knowing what to do is planning the detail. We already know the how, we know need to specifically know the plan. Vary the pace.

Find Wyles: Twitter

5. Talent Acquisition is the Only HR Function That Matters

In Dawn Burke’s article, Burke argues that Talent Acquisition is the only HR function that matters right NOW. Why? She gives three reasons:

1. It provides the most visible and immediate impact to an organization.
2. It is one of the biggest components to engaging team members for the long term.
3. Employees don’t need your company.

Your value prop is not filling in paperwork about policies. “Your value prop is connecting team members.” What starts the engagement process, ensures you are engaging the right folks for long term fit, begins employee trust, and makes the most important first impression? Your recruiting process. It’s that important. Find Dawn Burke: Twitter LinkedIn