Effectively Delegate and Get More Work Done

Most of us refrain from delegating work to others. While doing everything yourself might make you feel confident about the quality of work, it isn’t always feasible. Whether you are a project manager, an entrepreneur, or holding a position of authority, today or tomorrow, you need to delegate your work.

Well, no worries. In this article, we delve into the effective ways to delegate and get the maximum work done in the best possible manner. 

Ways to delegate and increase the amount of work done

While there are countless ways to delegate effectively, some of the key strategies include:

Learn to let go of your work

A common perspective of most managers or leaders is their profound dedication to their work. As a result, they become somewhat possessive of their duties and tasks and feel insecure about letting go of them. In addition, some leaders suffer from the perception that they alone can complete the tasks efficiently, and others lack the necessary abilities. (desertrose.com)

Whatever the case, you need to get started with delegating. As a first step, you can start small by assigning simpler jobs to your teammates or subordinates and gradually work your way up. Gain the trust and confidence of your teammates so that you get accustomed to the idea of your team completing the tasks.

Always delegate based on the individual’s skills

Often, leaders assign tasks to those with a lighter workload. That’s not the correct method. First, understand the strengths and weaknesses of each member of your team and be sure of each one’s skill set and area of expertise. Next, delegate those tasks only to someone with interest and expertise. This would make them confident over time, and you can rest assured that the job will be done well.

Always provide instructions and guidelines

Even if you think a task is quite obvious, assign the required instructions to the respective teammates. If a task has a milestone or deadline tagged, mention all those details so that work gets completed on time.

Be ready to teach new skills

Spare some time and teach new skills required to do the task. Delegating includes imparting new abilities to the team so you equip them for any future responsibilities.

Keep a check on the assigned task

While you must trust the potential of your teammates, it’s not wrong to verify that the task is completed. Often, lack of communication poses challenges later, only to know that you missed the deadline. So before the final date of task submission, check with your teammate to ensure there are no lags.

Encourage Feedback

Feedback ensures two-way communication and lets you know what your co-workers feel about the delegation process. Always elicit feedback and identify areas where you or your team can improve.

Wrapping up

Delegating is essential for anyone, regardless of the nature of the job or position. Effectively delegating tasks reduces your burden, helps others learn new skills, and boosts everyone’s confidence. Follow the strategies outlined here to enjoy the benefits of effective delegation.

About the Author

BCjobs.ca is Western Canada’s largest job board, with majority of the jobs coming from Vancouver. For nearly 20 years, BC Jobs has connected job candidates with companies looking to add talent to their team. Here at BCJobs, we understand that looking for a job is difficult. To support our candidates, we recently launched a podcast to help you stand out during your job application. Listen to weekly episodes on our podcast to hear what recruiters are thinking and what companies look for when considering their next hire.

The post Effectively Delegate and Get More Work Done appeared first on BC Jobs Blog.

Top Tips on How to Avoid the Cost of Bad Hires

As an HR manager, you would certainly not wish to waste your valuable time and money only to end up in a bad hire. To avoid the financial implications and other losses that come with bad hiring, read through and check out the points to include in your hiring process if not done so far.

What is a bad hire?

In the human resources arena, a bad hire could include anyone but not limited to:

• Not a perfect match to the job description
• Misleads the hiring team by providing false data about one’s experience etc., in interviews
• Lacks the potential to grow and develop the skills needed on the job
• Showcases inappropriate behaviors like gossiping, bullying co-workers, and such

While these are some of the general attributes defining a bad hire, it could even be someone excellent in skills and who performed well in interviews but lacks the personality traits to gel well in a strong work culture.

Research indicates that the average cost of making a bad hiring decision is at least 30% of the individual’s first-year expected earnings.

Lack of productivity, dissatisfied customers, and damage to the company’s reputation are just some penalties resulting from a bad hire.

Top tips to avoid the cost of bad hires

Consider looking at the larger picture

Study the trends of hired candidates in your organization across various levels and check the percentage of bad hires. A couple or so would not lead to any solid conclusion. However, if you have significantly experienced bad hires, that may flag some shortcomings in your hiring processes. Besides, do look into the engagement levels of employees and if they are aligned with your company culture.

Focus your strategies on hiring the best fit, aligned with the culture 

Don’t get carried away only by the skill sets or professional qualifications on a candidate’s resume. While hiring, you need to focus on their future growth potential and not just meet today’s needs. Check the motivation levels, enthusiasm, and outlook of the candidate before you arrive at a decision. 

Be Clear on the Job Description and the Desired candidate

Quite often, employers end up wasting a lot of time and effort on screening thousands of profiles as most of them don’t match the requirements of the job. A primary reason is the unclear or ambiguous job description. Make sure to create a clear and crisp job description outlining what qualifications, experience, skill sets, certifications, etc., are expected from the incumbent.

Perform a rigorous screening and selection process

Different jobs demand different skills from the applicants. That said, to avoid the cost of bad hires, employers must resort to multiple tests, assessments, and interviews to thoroughly assess the potential candidate’s abilities. Adopting a laid-back attitude towards conducting interviews or screening procedures could prove costly later.

Conduct third-party background checks and collect references

Background checks carried out by professional vendors hired by the companies are the norm. These vendors collect all information on the potential candidate, including their personal details, education, work history, criminal checks, drug testing, and more. Besides, employers must collect details of the professional references of the applicant and speak to them before confirming the candidature.

Conclusion

The cost of bad hires could lead to considerable losses to the company as a whole. Check out the pointers outlined here and find the ideal fit for a job role.

About the Author

 BCjobs.ca is Western Canada’s largest job board, with majority of the jobs coming from Vancouver. For nearly 20 years, BC Jobs has connected job candidates with companies looking to add talent to their team. Here at BCJobs, we understand that looking for a job is difficult. To support our candidates, we recently launched a podcast to help you stand out during your job application. Listen to weekly episodes on our podcast to hear what recruiters are thinking and what companies look for when considering their next hire.  

The post Top Tips on How to Avoid the Cost of Bad Hires appeared first on BC Jobs Blog.

How To Measure Success in the Workplace

Measuring success can be challenging because everyone’s definition of success is unique. Some individuals view success as having a specific income, a certain number of clients on board, or a certain number of workers. Which of these three examples best fits you? All of them are pretty simple to measure.

It is simple to determine how successful you are at earning a given amount of money if you look at what you are now making, calculate how much more you need to achieve, and then monitor your progress. 

It is simple to determine when you become “successful” when you have a set amount of clients because you know how many you have and how many you desire. For your long-term job, figuring out how to assess success can be highly advantageous.

Steps to Measure Workplace Success

There are numerous ways to evaluate professional achievement. Smaller accomplishments, related activities, or the acquisition of abilities or habits that help you advance professionally can serve as indicators of success. A rigorous process is outlined in the following phases for gauging your effectiveness at work:

1. Utilize Peer and Feedback Evaluations

Asking for feedback from individuals around you is one of the best ways to evaluate how well you’re doing. Choose the people whose opinions you value, and occasionally ask them for their advice. 

Also, if you work with clients or customers, having reviews from them or comments from them can reveal a lot about your skills.

While it is helpful to ask for their feedback on your performance, you can gain a more accurate understanding of your advancement by asking how well you are doing compared to the previous year. 

Seeing trends throughout time is essential for figuring out whether you’re getting better and moving forward. The fact that you are becoming better is proof that you are succeeding.

2. Ask for Performance Reviews

Both companies and employees may benefit from the usage of performance reviews. It aids an employer in assessing whether their workers are providing satisfactory performance. A performance review can offer quantifiable measures to gauge your progress as an employee. 

After receiving a few of them, this becomes even more significant because you may utilize them to spot trends that require attention or advancements through time.

3. Finish Important Daily Tasks

Your job ambitions may frequently need you to invest time in learning new skills, working on particular projects, or obtaining specific certificates. You may gauge your progress by how frequently you do these tasks if you set aside specific hours of the day for them.

For instance, if you are a part-time student pursuing a higher degree, you could establish a daily study minimum of two hours. You can gauge how well you’re doing by keeping track of this on your calendar.

4. Note How Your Interactions Go

Having strong communication skills is crucial to your success in a wide range of professional settings. This is because the majority of work is collaborative or involves giving people goods or services. 

Active listening is a crucial skill that enhances your communication abilities. If you take the time to listen carefully to what others are saying, you could discover that your comments are a lot more pertinent and well-received. 

Listening can improve your speaking skills, just as reading can improve your writing. Even when having casual talks with friends, you might try to listen more intently.

5. Watch Your Career Trajectory

Growth and promotion might signify several things, depending on your line of employment. Growth can refer to how quickly you’ve moved up the corporate ladder or how much your pay has increased over time if you work for a firm. It might also be connected to new obligations you’ve been handed. 

If you operate as a lone proprietor, growth can relate to your company’s profitability, the number of loyal customers you have, or the number of employees you have. Both times, developing new talents or honing ones you already have can be a useful success indicator.

Conclusion

Success has several facets in today’s complex and multifaceted industries. Without a question, numbers will continue to be a crucial indicator, but don’t ignore the significance of intangibles. It’s not necessary for success to be all about you. You should be commended if you went above and above to brighten someone else’s day.

About the Author

BCjobs.ca is Western Canada’s largest job board, with majority of the jobs coming from Vancouver. For nearly 20 years, BC Jobs has connected job candidates with companies looking to add talent to their team. Here at BCJobs, we understand that looking for a job is difficult. To support our candidates, we recently launched a podcast to help you stand out during your job application. Listen to weekly episodes on our podcast to hear what recruiters are thinking and what companies look for when considering their next hire.

The post How To Measure Success in the Workplace appeared first on BC Jobs Blog.

Creating a Culture of Feedback Between Co-Workers

Employee engagement is significantly impacted by how a firm integrates feedback into its culture. 

According to research, highly engaged organizations are likelier to implement feedback efforts, including one-on-one meetings, formal award programs, and annual staff surveys. According to numerous studies, rewarding employees boosts productivity and retention.

When it comes to aiding a merger transfer, lowering turnover, or enhancing business communication, organizations with a strong feedback culture enable their employees’ voices to lead company improvements. Additionally, when businesses pay attention to employee feedback, their bottom lines often improve.

Tips to Build a Feedback Culture

A feedback culture is intentionally designed; it doesn’t just happen. So how can you strengthen the culture of feedback to raise employee productivity? (freeunlocks) Here are some suggestions for creating a culture of feedback:

1. Inculcate a Mindset for Growth

Individuals with a growth mindset think they can improve their skills with commitment and effort. They value learning and see their natural talents as a place to start.

Positive feedback cultures value this way of thinking. They place a high emphasis on learning and growth and see feedback as a chance to get better. Furthermore, they demonstrate their worth by incorporating it into their operations rather than merely declaring it.

2. Impart Feedback Training

Feedback-giving and accepting our abilities. They need to be developed and practiced, just like any other skill. Provide your staff training and materials to help foster a feedback culture.

3. Set the Example Right from the Top

Employees are more inclined to follow suit and practice strong feedback practices when leaders set an example for them to follow. Your leaders must improve their capacity for providing and receiving feedback and serve as role models. 

They must recurrently solicit feedback (both vertically and horizontally within the hierarchy) and demonstrate clearly that they do so.

4. Build a Feedback-Safe Environment

A key component in fostering a feedback culture at work is having staff members who are prepared to provide candid feedback. Workers need to feel secure and understand that providing feedback won’t result in negative consequences.

Various workers will be more or less comfortable giving and accepting feedback. Being courteous and refraining from coercing feedback is crucial. If you can’t tell if someone is prepared to provide or receive feedback, use emotional intelligence to make a judgment call.

5. Make it a Routine

Perfectionism is attained via practice. Feedback becomes expected when it occurs frequently. It becomes a part of routine activities, and we get better at it.

Traditions, customs, behaviors, artifacts, and language are all components of culture. Seek out chances to establish these cooperative experiences for providing and receiving feedback.

Conclusion

A crucial instrument for allowing staff members to communicate their opinions and feedback to superiors is the upward review. Via their supervisors and leaders, they may use this to alter the organization for the better. Employees significantly raise their job satisfaction and their manager’s performance by implementing a culture of upward reviews.

About the Author

 Simon Chou is the Vice President of Operations and Growth at BCjobs.ca. Over the course of his career, he carved a niche in brand development, marketing strategy, and online presence for startups. Prior to joining BCJobs.ca, Simon was an advisor for several global blockchain projects including Litecoin, NEM, and Ripple. In the past, he also worked with Fortune 500 companies in the healthcare space through SM Digital—a global marketing agency.

The post Creating a Culture of Feedback Between Co-Workers appeared first on BC Jobs Blog.

Doing Macro-Management The Right Way

Most of us don’t like to be supervised on each and every task we do. That’s quite natural. We all want some degree of autonomy and liberty in the way we work. This leads us to a new terminology – macro-management.

In this article, we delve into what macro-management is, effective ways to macro-manage, and more.

So, let’s get started.

What is Macro-management?

Macro-management refers to the practice wherein managers provide a broad outline of the strategic goals to their co-workers instead of giving directive feedback on each task. The concept underpinning macro-management is teaching how to do rather than telling what to do.

Once the leaders or managers provide a high-level overview of the objectives, the co-workers and teammates have great autonomy and control over their work, making them feel empowered. They choose the ways or methods to adopt to accomplish the objectives.

Effective Ways of Macro-management

Some of the best ways you could carry out macro-management include:

Define the context

All said, the final objective is to accomplish the larger organizational goals. That means the individual and team-level goals must align with the broader enterprise-level objectives. Make sure you, as a macro-manager, define the context clearly to the teammates. State clearly to your co-workers what needs to be achieved, what work is required to be completed, timelines to be met, and more.

Clearly state roles and responsibilities

Managers are the key drivers of projects or organizational initiatives. It is, therefore, imperative on your part to clarify the roles and responsibilities of all the teammates. In a usual scenario, you would be assigning tasks to them. But as a macro-manager, you give them the autonomy and control to decide. 

However, ensure that each teammate knows who is doing what and whom to approach for any concerns or issues. A RACI matrix would serve as an awesome tool.

Make your team uses time effectively

To achieve goals within the set timelines, it is essential that your teammates use their time judiciously. Teach them how to do this by using time blocks for focused work and disabling their notifications when they are completely engrossed in their tasks. By doing so, you can implement macro-management and ensure they remain productive.

Be Available

While macro-management grants autonomy in work to your co-workers, you as a manager must always be present to support, coach, and encourage. Besides, it helps when there is visibility on who is doing what, by when, and such. An example to achieve this is by deploying work management and collaboration tools so that all teammates work in tandem. (https://www.finnable.com/)

Address Stressful situations

As a macro-manager, your core responsibility is ensuring your teammates don’t suffer from extreme stress or burnout. Encourage them to take time to relax, revive and ensure they don’t overwork. One way to achieve this is by ensuring they don’t procrastinate and complete the most urgent and important tasks first. You can use a tool like the Eisenhower matrix to help.

Wrapping up

Macro management is a must-have in the dynamic work environments of today. Granting autonomy and control while encouraging team members would foster motivation and drive better outcomes. The ways to effectively macro-manage are outlined in the article.

About the Author

Simon Chou is the Vice President of Operations and Growth at BCjobs.ca. Over the course of his career, he carved a niche in brand development, marketing strategy, and online presence for startups. Prior to joining BCJobs.ca, Simon was an advisor for several global blockchain projects including Litecoin, NEM, and Ripple. In the past, he also worked with Fortune 500 companies in the healthcare space through SM Digital—a global marketing agency.

The post Doing Macro-Management The Right Way appeared first on BC Jobs Blog.

Case in point, I just came back from the Yukon. As an HR consultant and immigration specialist, I travel fairly frequently to present on various business-related topics and, in turn, to learn about the challenges and solutions of others. Most recently, that led me to facilitate a workshop on strategic recruitment in Canada’s true North.

What we touched upon on were the similarities and differences for employers in more rural parts of the country compared to their urban counterparts. Where we focused though was on strategy. While every geography and industry comes with its own challenges and opportunities, the strategic approach to recruitment remains a common success driver.

Authenticity Defines the Right “Fit”

Higher volumes of applicants willing to relocate from afar are not the ultimate benchmark of a recruiting strategy’s success; more key is the ability to identify those who want to be there and are motivated to perform.

Employers and candidates alike are always looking for the right “fit”. The key for employers is to be authentic, informed and involved. Creating a great recruitment strategy starts with understanding the organization and its business goals.

The employer needs to be clear about its company culture in order to know how to present itself to the right individuals; your culture is a living brand and plays an important part of this equation. It, therefore, also pays dividends to listen to the front lines and managers within your organization to gain even greater clarity—and better, lasting results.

Systematic Thinking vs. Systemic Failure

Hiring and retention requires a systematic way of thinking. Employers should always be in hiring mode; interestingly, successful recruitment correlates to effective retention and provides a strategic pool for succession potential.

Similarly, a failure to hire or retain might also be viewed in a systemic light. Business leaders need to participate and remain invested in evolving and fine-tuning their internal processes. After all, beyond the initial hiring and honeymoon period, there is the full career cycle to be considered.

Retention Built By Leadership (Some Assembly Required)

Those who think their job is finished when the applicant becomes an employee are missing the due diligence and opportunity. This is when everything is just getting started. Bringing the best and brightest into the organization is not enough if there is not a structure to support the rest of the employment experience.

In addition to bringing in the right people, maintaining the conditions in which they will thrive is essential. Employees need accurate job descriptions, onboarding, and ongoing feedback. These HR tools do not have to be complicated or time-consuming, but they need to exist in some form to maintain ongoing employment engagement—the key to productivity and profitability. (Tramadol)

Otherwise, the cost of bad hires or constant turnover is the price to be paid, along with further searching for the right fit.

Ongoing Recruitment Anchored in Relationships

Ownership in any business requires a connection and partnership with your employees beyond paystubs and approvals. Creating ongoing touch points for dialogue and feedback ensures engagement and retention remain high.

While this strategic approach brings with it changes to both the hiring and management systems currently in place, it also brings different results.

When specifically applied to hiring, it means that “recruiting” never stops, but is far more likely to be addressing growth than attrition issues. This is how to strategically recruit and grow your business from within.

Read more about Amelia’s fascinating experience travelling to the Yukon to speak about recruitment strategies for HRMA.

The post How to Succeed with Strategic Recruitment? Never Stop. appeared first on BC Jobs Blog.

This is something that I have learned from spending the last decade with a man who is terrible at little white lies.

Having your husband gaze into your eyes and tell you, “That haircut is weird!” or “You look kind of puffy, are you tired?” is no fun.

His annoying little habit, although hard on my ego, actually makes him an incredible employee.

Why?

Because he refuses to be a yes man.

My husband’s enduring candor means that he is unwilling to ignore problems in an attempt to keep feathers unruffled.

Today’s workplace culture is so determined to avoid conflict at all costs, that a simple willingness to point out cold hard truths can save companies from investing unsoundly, moving forward on flawed projects, and general self-destruction.

Denise M. Morrison, CEO of Campbell Soup blames “too much emphasis on reaching consensus” for lagging sales back in 2011. She credits the decision to shift from a “play it safe culture” to one that empowered employees to act boldly, and go against the grain, for turning the company’s fortunes around. (https://www.hanakaimaui.com/)

Read more about how Denise cultivated a bold company culture.

According to many top CEO’s, creating a company culture that invites honest feedback, and encourages employees to speak up, and challenge the status quo is vital to an organization’s ability to grow and innovate.

But, I still don’t think my husband would be doing his company’s CEO any favors by telling him that he looks tired. Thankfully (for our financial situation and my ego), he has gotten a lot better at learning the difference between constructive honesty, and brutal truth telling!

“There is a vast difference between picking projects apart and picking people apart.” – Gregory Ciotti, Help Scout and Sparring Mind

Pointing out previously missed, yet possibly fatal flaws when working on a project is constructive, even though it isn’t fun for anyone involved.

Pointing out every single rough patch along the way isn’t helpful, and it can be horribly demoralizing for your team.

Reaching a balance is difficult. Navigating employees’ emotions, navigating your own emotions, and maintaining positivity, whilst maintaining a culture that both accepts and encourages constructive critique is difficult.

Almost as difficult as finding a gentle way to tell your spouse that their favorite pair of pants are no longer flattering… But it can be done!

Here are a couple of tips:

Critique the project, NOT the person

Make sure that you direct your critiques towards the project, how it is moving, and the areas that need improvement, not towards individuals, or their character traits.

Once things get personal, rationality flies out the window, and any insights that may have been gleaned are lost to emotion.

For example:

“Honey, those pants are just too worn out, we should replace them.”

VS

“Honey, you just can’t fit into those skinny jeans anymore.”

Make it about the pants project, not the person.

Offer a solution

Notice the suggestion to replace the pants, this provides a new thing to focus on, a common goal that will bring the team together, and move the project forward.

Not to say that you always have to offer a great solution, but trying to provide some insight or general direction will make any negative feedback easier to swallow.

Maintain control

Just because you are encouraging your team to be real with you, and each other, does not mean you should encourage them to say whatever the heck they want.

You want to cultivate a company culture that encourages employees to challenge the status quo and ask hard questions.

You do not want to encourage bullying, or personal attacks.

Step in when you see team members cross this line, be firm with them so that they know that the behavior will not be tolerated, but also be very clear with them about why you are stepping in.

Not everyone has great, or even decent social skills. Your hard-truth telling employee may not even know that they have crossed a line. As their leader ,you must clearly explain the difference between being brutally honest, and constructively critical. You may even need to break down exactly how their behavior is inappropriate and  advise them on how to proceed in the future.

Be patient with your team, listen to their feedback (even when it stings), and, as always, lead by example.

You will be rewarded with innovation, growth, and success.

PS

I really like my new pants!

The post Why an Honest Culture is Essential for Growth appeared first on BC Jobs Blog.

This article was inspired by Tim Sackett’s awesome blog post: How to Keep That New Job Smell. In it, Tim talks about how excited we are when we begin a new job, how we start out with passion, drive, and inspiration! Basically most of us start out as highly engaged employees, then become more and more disengaged as time goes on, and tasks become rote.

In his post Tim shared some ways that we can maintain that kind of excitement towards our jobs for ourselves; this article will share some ways that you can help keep things exciting and fresh for your employees.

Because what more can we all ask for than to be happy at the prospect of starting our work day? A positive feeling towards our career and the company we work for leads to things like increased referrals, going above and beyond the scope of the job, and envisioning a long bright future with said company. 

Here are a few things you can do to keep work fresh, and exciting for your team: 

Handle the Basics 

Before you can begin to implement any new employee morale related policies, it is necessary to ensure that the basics of employee engagement are being met.

• Do your employees know exactly what is expected of them? Is your message to your team clear, unified, and purposeful? (luljettas.com)
• Do your employees have what they need to accomplish their tasks successfully?
• Do your employees feel supported by management and HR?

If the answer to any of those questions is no, then that’s where you need to invest your time and focus, because research has shown that if you can make it so that the answer to all of these questions is yes, then your employees “will commit to almost anything the company is trying to accomplish.”

If you are unsure about whether or not you have these basics covered, or wish to learn more about how to ensure that your company is meeting engagement requirements, then give this article a read. 

Diversify Tasks

Doing nothing but data entry, all day, every day is soul sucking. Minds start to wander, bathroom breaks increase, and brains begin to shut down. Henry Ford may have disagreed, but for the sake of team morale, diversifying tasks can be a very smart move.

Interestingly enough, this goes both ways.

Not only should you throw in the occasional challenging, or complex assignment for those employees stuck doing monotonous work, but you should also throw in some mindless jobs for those employees who must perform a great deal of highly creative, and/or mentally challenging tasks.

Giving those employees a chance to step away from the more demanding aspects of their work will actually increase their creativity, and promote problem solving according to Scientific American.  

Shift Your Focus 

Changing the way your staff view their jobs, daily assignments, and the challenges they face at work, can be a powerful tool for keeping them excited, engaged, and productive.

For example: Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you had way too much work to get done, and not enough time or resources to handle it all? This can make you feel as though you are drowning in a sea of tasks, with no escape in site.

Times like this are often unavoidable, but with a simple shift in focus you can transform these situations from morale destroying obstacles into team building challenges!

Instead of focusing on how much work needs to be done, or how behind you’re getting, focus on the work that has been completed, and how far you’ve come.

For a wonderful case study of perception shift put into action as a means of improving engagement and productivity, check out this article by Chief of Happiness, Alexander Kjerulf.

Next week’s article will share three more tips for keeping things fresh for your employees’.

Happy hiring!

The post How to Keep Work Fresh For You and Your Employees appeared first on BC Jobs Blog.

A well crafted Employer profile, with a high quality logo, company colors, and inviting welcome message converts jobseekers into applicants.

Your employer profile should be a glowing representation of your employer brand.

But how can you create a great profile, if you don’t have a fantastic employer brand to base it on?

And, the effectiveness of your BCjobs profile is not the only reason employee branding is essential to your recruiting success, although it’s probably the most important one!

There’s been a huge shift in the past few years when it comes to what attracts jobseekers to employers.

It used to be that people sought out companies based on industry. According to Kortney Kutsop, an employer brand specialist at Universum:

“We’ve really seen a shift over the last few years where students are no longer saying, ‘I’m going to work for a company because I want to go into this industry,’” Kutsop said. “They think, ‘I’m computer science and I can actually work anywhere I want,’ whether it’s a consulting company or an accounting firm or someone like McKinsey or Google.”

Today’s jobseeker wants to work with a company that promotes a culture they find appealing. It is your employer branding that lets those candidates know what your company culture is all about.

The only way to win the war for talent in today’s competitive market is by building an attractive, trustworthy employer brand that is in line with your ideal candidate’s values.

If you haven’t given much thought to employer branding, start by asking yourself these three questions:

What kind of company are you?

Google is all about fostering innovation, ability over experience, and hands-on participation from all employees. Zappos is about teamwork, customer experience, and being “a little weird”!

All the top employers know who they are, and express who they are in every aspect of their employer branding.

Knowing what kind of company you are is the first step in employer branding because is the foundation for every other brand related decision you’ll make

Who are your ideal employees?

Are they highly driven, with a strong desire for advancement, and business minded? Or are they creative, on trend, and motivated by the desire to innovate?

You need to know what kinds of employees thrive at your company, to build a culture that will attract similar candidates, and keep your current team happy too!

Once you have an answer to this question you can then ask…

What do your ideal employees want?

The best way to find out is by getting some help from your best employees.

Chances are the same things that appeal to them about your organization will appeal to your desired candidates.

Find out what those things are and make them a core part of your employer branding strategy!

By asking yourself these questions, you’ll quickly learn what makes your company stand out from the competition, and make your employer brand a talent magnet.

The post 3 Questions That Lay the Foundation for Employer Branding appeared first on BC Jobs Blog.

When it comes to employees, bad apples do spoil the whole bunch.

Team members who lack the skills to do their job well, or the social graces to get along with others: make more work for everyone else by forcing their peers to pick up their slack, are a huge drain on their superiors’ time, and are poison for overall moral.

Even worse, candidate failure can cost you up to one and half times an employee’s annual salary!

Your company’s culture, growth, and overall success depend on its people.

Hiring good apples is crucial, but it’s also an extremely difficult task, especially with the war for talent back on and quality candidates becoming an ever scarcer resource.

What can you do to create the best team possible in the face of a growing talent shortage?

Get active with your recruiting!

Job boards are one of the best ways to get candidates attention, especially niche job boards based on location, but posting on job boards is no longer enough if you want to hire the best.

Along with niche job boards, and social media; top recruiters today all incorporate sourcing into their candidate acquisition strategies.

(Check out this post for a definition of sourcing in relation to HR)

Making candidate identification a part of your recruiting is one of the most effective ways to get more good apples on your team. You can do this by leveraging databases, the internet, and social media to source, then connect with potential hires.

Here are 4 best practices to keep in mind when employing sourcing techniques for your own hiring process:

1 – Start with a Plan

Think through your strategy before you start searching.

Take twenty minutes to analyze the job you’re hiring for, this will help define your search. Then use this information to determine what skills and qualifications the position demands. Make list of the qualities you need your candidates to possess and keywords that relate.  You can also make a list of terms to exclude!

Don’t worry about being too specific, specificity is a good thing. In fact, when using Facebook ads (a highly effective sourcing tool) research shows that narrowly defined ads reach their target 90% of the time. The more picky you are, the fewer “bad matches” you’ll have to sort though. (Alprazolam)

2 – Use Niche Databases

Using candidate databases or searching sites that are specific to the type of job you’re hiring for is a great way to make your search more efficient.

When looking for qualified talent you want to fish where the fish are. For example if those fish are tech pros, you should source with a site like Stack Overflow.

Stack Overflow is an excellent choice because not only is it a favorite hangout for 2,000, 000 tech savvy programmers, but because it is a site where those programmers go to ask questions, learn new skills, and get better at what they do. This is a great indicator that those potential candidates are both motivated and passionate, two defining qualities of good apple candidates!

A problem you may run into when using a site like Stack Overflow is that the candidates you find their may live on the other side of the world and this is often a deal breaker. Using local databases can help you avoid this problem entirely.

Searching local job boards like BC Jobs eliminates this problem entirely. So you don’t have to worry about wasting your time on perfect candidates who are impossible for you to recruit because of their location.

3 – Skills Trumps Title

Never rely on job titles too heavily in your searches. Different companies use different titles for the same positions. If you only search based on job title or experience you’re going to miss out on a ton of qualified candidates.

Search for candidates based on skills!

Not only does searching for candidates based on skill make it more likely that you’ll actually find them, but because skill requirements often overlap, you may even find candidates qualify for multiple open positions within your organization with a single search.

(How to avoid the 15 worst sourcing mistakes)

4 – Make Contact ASAP

Once you find a great candidate DO NOT HESITATE! If you think they have potential, chances are your competitors feel the same way.

As soon as you find someone with the right skills, send them an email, or even better, engage with them from within the site you found them (messaging with Facebook for example).

Keep your message short and sweet, tell them how impressed you are by their skill set, and then sell the position with gusto! Ask them to send you a short write up on why they think they fit the position and an updated version of their resume, if you don’t have access to it.

Again, DON’T HESITATE…

Go out there and get that talent!

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