Skills testing offers a reliable way to pinpoint the best candidates, increases hiring accuracy and validates hiring decisions. Therefore, when hiring in a tight labor market, you want to create a positive relationship between you and your job candidates so as not to lose their interest. How can you make skills testing that engages, rather than bore, your candidates? How can you create employment skills tests that candidates actually have fun completing? Engaging skills tests need to be relevant to the job (and aligned to EEOC compliance rules!), and they need to be constructed in a way that won’t make candidates feel as if they are wasting their time.  Engaging skills tests also need to have easy-to-understand questions or tasks th [...]
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Everyone wants to save a buck.  We’re always looking for that next best great deal.   Unfortunately too often, despite all the hype surrounding great deals, we find cheaper isn't always better.  In this article, we will uncover what price bargains really mean in the skills assessment industry, what the most common questions are that people ask before choosing a skills assessment vendor, and why are organizations willing to pay more. The Hidden Costs of Price Bargains in the Skills Assessment Industry When choosing a skills assessment provider to help you screen candidates at the beginning of the hiring process, streamline the hiring process or legally defend hiring decisions, the wrong choice can have a dramatic effect on your bus [...]
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If you were to conduct a brief google search on “benefits of upskilling employees” you would discover article after article covering benefits from saving money to improving employee morale. Thought leaders and vendors alike agree that upskilling can improve your retention rate, increase customer satisfaction, attract new talent, and contribute to strategic succession planning. It’s a widely accepted idea that upskilling your employees is a benefit to both you and your employees, but how do you go about upskilling in a strategic way? 1. Make it part of your culture. Make upskilling part of your culture so that it is accessible for all employees. If it’s hard for employees to take advantage of your benefits/resources, they won’t [...]
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Working from home is one the top perks in today’s extremely competitive job market. According to Indeed.com, candidates searched for jobs using the term “Remote” increased 85% in two years. As someone who works with job seekers often, I can tell you the requests for remote or virtual opportunities are more and more frequent. And why not, the employee gets the flexibility to stay home and save money on gasoline, clothes, food, and other work-related expenses while earning a stable paycheck with benefits and having the ability to handle other matters. The employer benefits from remote workers as well, for instance, a case study developed by Nicholas Bloom and graduate student James Liang found that employees who worked from home [...]
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You have a lot to consider when determining how much you should invest in employees. Will they stay with the company long enough to make their highest contributions? Will they continue to improve their skills once they are hired? While it is expensive to screen and hire people to find the right fit a position, one bad hire can cost you in terms of productivity and new hiring expenses if you have to let them go. In this article we are going to discuss: the factors that influence employee attitude the single factor that makes people want to stay with a company longer “employee lifetime value” and how it influences your ROI the four best practices for increasing your company’s ROI in employees Factors that influence em [...]
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Cultural fit - a buzzword in recruitment Though the term cultural fit has gaining popularity in recruitment, many employers are still perplexed by its meaning. So what exactly does a cultural fit mean? Cultural fit is a congruence between the values and behavioral norms of a company and a candidate. It means that candidate’s core values, actions, and goals match yours. A certain candidate might have an impressive skillset and valuable experience. However, this candidate won’t be able to perform his best if he doesn’t fit in with your team, department and company culture. This is why it is crucial to assess cultural fit in the selection process. What is more important in the selection process: A job fit or a cultural fit? [...]
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“I was working for a production company and I was on a shoot for an exercise video… In between takes, I had to clean up their sweat off the floor on my hands and knees.” “I worked at a radio station… the DJ I was working with made me get coffee every day, specifically with one teaspoon of cream and two sugar packets. She fired me for not finding a second sugar packet.” “I had to run an “errand” aka pick up weed.” Those are real quotes from a BuzzFeed article, “17 Intern Horror Stories That Will Make You Want To Quit Your Job.” Sugar packets, cleaning sweat, and running “errands” are not effective uses of an intern’s potential nor does it reflect positively upon the employer. Not only are inter [...]
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With 6.7 million jobs open in the U.S., employers cannot help but take their recruiting strategy back to the drawing board. That drawing board has more and more employers looking at lowering/dropping qualifications and focusing on entry-level hiring. In other words, if the candidate we want isn’t out there in the current labor market, maybe we need to reconsider our requirements. Great employers will use this as an opportunity to play the long game and maximize benefit to employees and the organization. As we continue to see statistics reporting minimum qualifications drifting lower and lower over the last six years we are shifting into a market where entry-level candidates have a greater chance of getting hired. To refocus your orga [...]
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