Use this Indeed Trend to Optimize Your Job Postings

Indeed is one of the most valuable tools in the TA professional’s toolbox. Accounting for 58% of all job-related traffic, Indeed offers easily accessible candidate resumes, job postings, and sponsored listings.

However, Indeed’s impressive traffic stream makes it one of the most targeted job search websites, and making job postings stand out is increasingly difficult. In his article “Using Indeed Trends to Optimize Your Job Postings,” Patrick Ward examines how Indeed’s “Job Trends” tool can be utilized to improve your job postings.

The most important metric to look at in the “Job Trends” tool is that of “Jobseeker Interest vs Job Postings.” This metric presents each job title as a ratio of job seekers to job postings.

• A positive ratio indicates that there are more candidates with (or at least interested in) that title than there are listed job openings.
• A negative ratio indicates “candidate supply is diminished, or the market is saturated,” Ward explains.

When choosing a title for a job description, pick one with a positive ratio of job seekers to postings- this ensures your posting will stand out from the crowd. And if there are two applicable titles to your job posting, use both. “Combining the top two performing titles… will help cast an even wider net of qualified candidates,” Ward explains.

Find Patrick: Twitter

2. Everything is Becoming Digital: Talent, Business, and HR Predictions for 2017

“For investors and executives, business models are being disrupted everywhere,” Josh Bersin begins. “70% of CEOs believe their core business model is under attack, and 90% of them believe they do not yet have the right leadership team or technical skills to adapt.” Those are some pretty scary numbers.

But contrary to popular belief, the future of work is not a slippery slope to AI and robotics-driven workforces. Human elements are critical to business success- it just so happens that technology can be used to improve performance.

AI and robotics have an extraordinary capacity to perform menial, repetitive tasks, but are horribly deficient when it comes to portraying emotion and other elements critical to customer service.

Bersin makes the distinction between “augmentation” and “replacement.” The average McDonalds employee will not have their job “replaced,” rather their performance will be “augmented” with tech, allowing them to focus less on repetitive burger-flipping and more on customer interaction. “We are rebuilding companies into ‘digital organizations’: businesses that empower people to use their skills and leverage their best abilities, breaking down the traditional ‘job description’ and upward career model,” Bersin says. Since 70-80% of business value is now based on service and IP, it is becoming clear that taking care of employees can have the most direct impact on an organization’s bottom line.

“If we take care of our employees first, they in turn take care of our customers, who in turn take care of our shareholders,” the CHRO of a large retailer explains.

This puts HR in the hot seat. In a world where the focus is shifting from “life-long careers” to “temporary gigs,” employees are citizens first and employees second. And citizens have strong opinions that they are not afraid to express.

Find Josh: joshbersin.com

3. 4 Reasons to Abandon Anonymity in Employee Surveys

“HR insists that employee surveys and other feedback tools need to be anonymous, but when we take a closer look, anonymity doesn’t have a great track record,” Jason Laurtisen states in his article “4 Reasons to Abandon Anonymity in Employee Surveys.”

He compares anonymous feedback he received in the workplace to anonymous internet comments. “I still affectionately refer to the feedback I received as my “you SUCK list,” Laurtisen says. “I didn’t react well to the feedback. I was angry. I was hurt. I was confused.” Not exactly the building blocks of improvement.

 

Jason’s situation is not unique. We expect leadership to be open and transparent, yet many employees utilize anonymous surveys to levy unhelpful (and often hurtful) criticism on their peers. These are four benefits to removing the veil of anonymity from your workplace feedback:

1. Greater Accountability. When employees have to stand behind their feedback, they are required to offer specific examples and evidence, not just angry accusations. If employees are afraid to put their name to feedback, this implies a problem with vindictive leadership.
2. Decency. In an analysis of hundreds of randomly chosen comments from online newspapers, 53% of anonymous comments were uncivil. “When our name is connected to our words, we behave better,” Laurtisen explains. “Take away anonymity, and even your most disgruntled employees would probably put down the flamethrower and provide more constructive feedback.”
3. Higher-Impact Action. Surveys gauge individual opinion and experience, and this is lost in anonymity. “Bob wants a coffee machine” carries a lot more weight than “somebody wants a coffee machine.”
4. Increased Quality. “A study comparing anonymous versus non-anonymous feedback by university students of their courses and instructors found that there was no meaningful difference in the quality of feedback between the two groups.” What’s more, the non-anonymous students were more specific and detailed in their comments, so feedback quality was actually improved. It stands to reason the same will be true in the workplace.

Find Jason: Twitter

4. 7 Deadly Sins Your Managers May Be Committing

A recent Gallup study determined that “managers account for 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores across different business units,” Lauren Stead begins. She continues to identify seven aspects that play a role in this disengagement.

1. Failing to treat people with enough respect or enough care. “People don’t like thinking they’re viewed as just another cog in the machine,” Stead explains. “Good managers connect with their teams on a personal level by asking questions about work needs, home life, interests, etc.”
2. Being envious of a job well done and not recognizing employees’ efforts. Make sure credit is given as it is due: unappreciated employees will take their talents elsewhere.
3. Assuming employees are gluttons for punishment. Let employees take breaks as needed, and understand that most do not “live to work.”
4. Betraying employee’s trust. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Own up to mistakes and follow through on your words. If managers create a precedent of ownership, employees will follow suit.
5. Taking shortcuts on hiring and procedures. Hiring the wrong people and neglecting procedure creates havoc in the workplace. Take the time to identify the best cultural fit.
6. Having a forceful and tough-love management style. “Trying to motivate the workforce through fear should have gone out of style years ago.”
7. Failing to help ensure people are paid fairly. At the end of the day, most people work to live and provide for their loved ones. The manager who does not facilitate these basic needs won’t hold onto top talent for long.

Find Lauren: LinkedIn

5. 6 Ways to Give to Your Employees that Increase Fulfillment

“Fulfillment” is one of the most important aspects of employee engagement. “It leads to more productive employees,” William Schiemann explains. “Yet over 80% of employees sought more fulfillment in their lives.” And since most employees spend over 50% of their non-sleep time at work, experiences that take place on-the-job influence fulfillment to a substantial degree.

Given that it is the holiday season, there is no better time to start implementing a policy of fulfillment-fulfilling. Here are six ways Schiemann contends will increase fulfillment:

1. Recognize People. “Recognition is one of the most powerful forms of motivation,” Schiemann says. Employees are doing what they can to make the company successful- recognizing their efforts can go a long way toward making them feel fulfilled in their work.
2. Celebrate. Building camaraderie is crucial for increasing fulfillment.
3. Remember Employee’s Families. Most employees are breadwinners for their families. Not overlooking what is many employees’ primary reason for getting up in the morning is sure to increase fulfillment. Create a family-friendly event, or simply send a gift to each employee’s household.
4. Remind People About Your Company’s Mission and Vision. People like working toward a purpose, and disdain laboring in Sisyphean doldrums.
5. Tell Employees How They Will Grow in the Future. “The end of the year is often a time when employees take stock of how they have grown over the past year,” Schiemann explains. “End the year discussing some new opportunities for your people to grow next year.”
6. Give Back. The most fulfilled people give back, and this is reflected in their perception of their employer. Do something for your community, and give your employees something to boast about around the dinner table.

Find William: Twitter

Indeed is a powerful tool for any talent acquisition specialist. To evaluate the whole toolbox, check out the eight recruitment metrics you should be tracking in 2018.