Month: December 2014

Why You Should Not Neglect Applicant Tracking Systems

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image_016While some estimates are higher, a conservative estimate of the percentage of companies using Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) is 75 percent of large organizations and 60 percent of mid-sized companies [1]. Unfortunately, you could be missing out on some qualified candidates if your system appears to be out-of-date. Statistics show that 40 percent of mobile candidates will forgo the application process if the ATS is not mobile-friendly [2].

Job Order Tracking is an Important Part of Applicant Tracking

A job order tracking feature acts as a central repository for recruiters, allowing them to quickly identify and share open jobs on social media or job boards. Most applicant tracking systems can produce job order reports of successful placements, source of hire, time to fill, and diversity. Weekly monitoring can provide valuable metrics to help identify recruiting efficiencies as well as weaknesses.

Managing All Those Applicants

With the average number of applicants per job opening at 250, your recruiters can’t afford to review and contact all that would come up in a search. With an ATS, you can thin the qualified candidate pool by as much as 75 percent, allowing your recruiters to focus their time on those with genuine potential [3].

Successful recruiters understand the value of networking with a core group of professionals who were qualified applicants that for one reason or another didn’t get the job. Checking in with that group can sometimes produce an equally qualified referral. Most ATS’s allow recruiters to create personalized groups to easily access these valuable but often overlooked contacts.

Time is Money

Taking full advantage of an ATS streamlines the process around applicant comparisons, makes it easy to match candidates to open positions, and keeps your candidate pipeline flowing. The time-savings that come from a robustly used ATS can be proven through the many reporting tools available and can even justify ROI if your Human Resources department is thinking of upgrading.

Bottom Line

An ATS can positively affect your bottom line by reducing your hiring time, improving the quality of new hires and easing the recruiter’s workload. With the reporting tools available with your ATS, your can measure the results for yourself.

 

[1] http://recruitingdaily.com/applicant-tracking-system-selection/

[2] http://www.slideshare.net/cbforemployers/upward-mobility-careerbuilder

[3] http://recruiterbox.com/blog/18-things-you-dont-know-about-applicant-tracking-systems/

 

Google Searches: Ensuring Your Presence on the Most Common Job Hunt Tool

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image_08Job seekers have a multitude of online tools for sniffing out new opportunities such as SimplyHired, Monster and HotJobs. Their preferred job search tool, however, is often Google. With Google, job seekers can find specific positions not listed on common job boards and perform their own research on the companies as well.

It is vital for your recruiting efforts that your job openings rank high on Google search results. If your openings are not on the first two or three pages of results, candidates are probably not seeing them.

Optimizing Job Advertisements

Search Engine Optimization is essential for top search rankings. Many books have been written about SEO, but a few basic techniques can push your job adverts toward qualified candidates.

Keywords That Perform

Settle on two or three descriptive keywords for a particular opening. Use these keywords in the job title. Keep it short, neutral and general. For instance, instead of “Level 3 Product Design Technology Marketing Specialist,” “Senior Design Consultant” will do.

Use Google Adwords to test your keywords. The results reveal how many people use your keywords. Alternatives are provided that may perform better. Use the main keywords once or twice in the job description. Add in a couple of the viable keyword alternatives. Apply the same rules above for one or two key job skills required for the opening.

Meaningful Content

Pertinent content value is measured by Google in various ways:

  • Relevant headings and layout in the description
  • Natural use of keywords or keyword phrases in text
  • Linked anchor text that is descriptive
  • Relevant but sparing use of outgoing links
  • Quality inbound links
  • Images with brief, descriptive alt tags

Outgoing links to relevant company content should also be SEO friendly. Links from an active company blog are examples of strong inbound links.

Leverage the Employer Brand

Job seekers are particularly discerning consumers. They not only search for the right position but for the right company culture as well. Leverage your company’s employer brand within your job postings to increase their SEO weight and improve rankings.

Boosting Productivity with Self-Predictive Analytics and Social Media

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image_05What Is Self-Predictive Analytics?

By analyzing known facts, predictive analytics makes assumptions about future events. Self-predictive analytics technology utilizes your company’s internal data to learn from your company’s experience and produce a predictive score for the organizational elements examined. Based on those scores, an organization can use that internal business intelligence to increase productivity.

Predictive analytics is much more than a data summary. The technology predicts future outcomes by finding relationships among variables from both inside the organization and data from outside. In the insurance industry, for example, a direct correlation was discovered between credit scores and auto claims — variables both internal and external to the industry. Exploring those relationships can increase a recruiter’s chances of identifying and targeting the right people for the job, even if they haven’t actually applied.

What Does Social Media Bring to the Table?

When you add the mining of social media to the mix, you’ve moved from predicting your organization’s productivity and performance to predicting changes in job-seeking behavior, the causes, locations and many other actionable analytics. Data is collected, analyzed for relationships and integrated as a component of predictive intelligence. With the right technology, you can turn an overwhelming amount of raw social media data into a sensor network that provides insights to help with workforce planning, talent attraction and employee attrition.

By mining social media data, businesses are provided with unfiltered conversations about not only their own brand but their competitors as well. Sentiment analysis technology sorts social mentions as positive, negative or neutral. These insights can be invaluable to a company’s brand and reputation among potential job candidates.

What Are the Applications of Predictive Analytics and Social Media?

Predictive analytics may be new to the recruiting sector, but weather forecasters, marketers and insurers have been using it for years. Analytics are superior to HR metrics, which can only tell you about the past. Analytics take into account all the data to reveal trends and patterns for future use.

In the competitive world of talent management, analytics provide your organization with a quantifiable advantage in both talent management and business decisions.

 

Top Employer Branding Tips from Major Corporations

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image_04Employer branding is a concept that every large company should be familiar with. It is the idea that your business is a desirable place to work. Creating an appealing workspace is an integral part of the equation, but it is also important to broadcast the appeal of working at your company. Here are some insightful tips from major corporations who have mastered the art of employer branding.

Use Real Stories in Your Branding Strategy

Bryan Chaney, an attraction and staffing specialist working for IBM, says, “An employer brand is not created; it can only be revealed [1].” This is a reminder to use real stories from current employees in your brand strategy. Get real quotes, take actual photos and focus on the genuine appeal of your corporation rather than crafting a story about it.

Use Your Career Page to Your Advantage

One of the first things that prospective employees will see is your company’s career or employment page. Rather than simply listing out available jobs, take out a page from Google’s playbook. The page has a company overview, a clear summary of what employees do and a list of what they believe in. In addition, Google’s career page includes information about the company culture along with the following quote: “Although Googlers share common goals and visions for the company, we hail from all walks of life and speak dozens of languages [2].” This paints an attractive picture for future job applicants. Edward Jones, another of the nation’s top places to work, uses its career page to remind browsers about the huge investment that the company puts into their employees [3].

Don’t Settle for the Industry Standard

Jeff Bezos, founder of billion-dollar company Amazon, has a strong opinion on how to create unbeatable employer branding. According to Bloomberg Business Week Magazine, Bezos believes, “A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well [4].”

Although the tips and tricks above can be helpful, there is no substitute for simply focusing on making an incredible workspace for employees and then relying on positive word of mouth.

 

[1] http://www.slideshare.net/lizonomics/employment-branding-stats

[2] http://www.google.com/about/company/facts/culture/

[3] http://www.careers.edwardjones.com/explore-edward-jones/index.html

[4] http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2004-08-01/online-extra-jeff-bezos-on-word-of-mouth-power