Candidate Preparation

For recruitment and staffing agencies, good recruiters are not just a joy to work with but a strategic competitive advantage. As such, retaining your best recruiters has become a top priority of many successful staffing companies. This challenge of retaining top talent is especially difficult in the recruitment and staffing industry where turnover is quite common.

So why do great recruiters leave their staffing company? While every case of employee departure is unique, there are common themes. Reasons cited include career advancement, learning and development, poor work environment and a lack of recognition and appreciation.  These reasons should not surprise you since as a recruiter you hear candidates cite these very reasons for their own employment search.

Recruitment and staffing agencies are in unique position to understand the causes of employee dissatisfaction and eventually the reason why people seek to leave their employers. It is ironic that often staffing agencies are experts on the turnover problems of every other company but their own.

A common reason cited for employee departure is a feeling of a lack of recognition and appreciation at work.  As such, we have put a list for some creative ways in which staffing agencies can recognize your recruiters.

Quick Suggestions for Recognizing Your Recruiters

• Introduce a bring a kids to work day at the staffing agency
  Bring in some special treats for meetings
• Movie tickets, gift certificates, sporting event tickets are all good ways to recognize your staff
• Send them a voice mail thanking them for their contribution
• Remember staff birthdays and service milestones and take the time to recognize this.
• Take time out for recognition on a weekly basis. Schedule time-off to recognize employees.
• Get to know and understand what each individual on a personal basis.
  Write down 3 things that you appreciate about each member of your staffing team and then give it to them.
• Take them out for lunch, and spend some quality time with one of your employees.
• Ask employees for input or opinions. This shows that their ideas are important and valid.Lead by example - if you want a positive energy from your recruiters then give them and greet your team with a smile and an enthusiastic good morning everyday.
• Leave messages of appreciation, support and encouragement at their desk.
• Take the time to introduce new employees to all staff. Include a brief description of their background with examples of achievements and what they bring to your team.
• Buy your recruiters muffins, doughnuts, fruit, coffee on your way to work.
• Bring something special like a souvenir if you go on vacation.
• A simple thank you, by phone, email and in-person goes a long way.
• Don’t just focus on your star recruiters. Recognize recruiters that have made improvements - perhaps a most improved recruiter award.
• Massage therapy or spa gift certificates.
• A yearly or quarterly recognition event (awards night).
• Send item of recognition or thanks to someone’s home.
• Random office contests, (e.g. Candy jar to pass around).
• Lottery tickets, like a scratch and win ticket.
• Hold a potluck or food day (it is a great day to introduce different types of food).
• Casual dress day (e.g. every Friday).
• Circulating employee award. Rotate the award weekly to those who have made a positive impact on the team’s target, morale etc.
• A warm welcome to new staff - “Welcome to the team” chocolates, flowers or card on the first day of work.
• Introduce a recognition point program where staff can collect points or send them to others.  Eventually your recruiters can use the points to purchase merchandise.
• Always “tie” recognition to the behaviours that you are celebrating and rewarding. For example: a “best send outs to hire ratio lunch”
  Fitness Breaks for entire team, a walk, Yoga, tai Chi, etc.
• Involve your recruiters in a coed team sport like softball, golfing event, etc.
• Personal more formal document or letter of thanks, congratulations etc.
• Email or voicemail to the team with a word of thanks, congratulations regarding an outstanding contribution
• Flowers for your recruiter doing good work or when you get positive feedback from your client.
• Create a morale/recognition team. The priority is to introduce new ideas.
• Display staff awards, certificates, customer testimonials etc. on wall.
  Include their family - display employee’s children’s artwork, bake off and so forth.
• Staff bbq or pizza lunches.
• Weekend staff recognition getaway (e.g. cabin, ski resorts, Vegas etc.)
  Celebrate holidays and multicultural events not usually celebrated such as Diwali, Chinese, New Year, Eid, summer solstice, family day,
  Brighten up your office with pictures and posters

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Staffing and Recruitment:  Gifting Employees at Christmas Part 1

Are bonuses better than gifts or should they be given on top?

Again in my view, it is important to distinguish between gift giving, reward and compensation (see comments above).  As for monetary vs. non-monetary, I think monetary rewards should be given as part of the compensation package and employment contract while gifts can be used to reward and recognize within a program or practice.  Outside of that, there are the tax considerations from the employee’s perspective in that financial for example, bonuses are subject to tax and a gift certificate is not.

Again, it’s not so much which is better but more which your employee will value more.  For example, I met the owner of staffing and recruitment company who gives Rolex watches to staff on their 5 year anniversary!  In this case, the reward fits the company culture and the message that upper management wanted to communicate.  This company has gained recognition as Best Employer, fastest growing company and so forth so it looks like what they are doing works for them.

Is there an alternative way of gifting? Exchanges?

There are a million ways of gifting to build a culture of recognition in your staffing company.  It really just depends on your company culture, management style and so forth.  Many staffing managers make the mistake of just considering financial recognition but there are many effective non-financial ways to recognize and show appreciation to staff.  For example, it could be as simple holding a barbeque where Upper Management cooks and serves staff.  I have known of recruitment companies who hold sales contest where the winner(s) get to their car washed by a manager of their choice.

It also does not have to be formal, in fact informal recognition can be argued as more effective.  In one study I conducted on recognition, I compared the regional offices of the same department and looked at formal compensation and reward against the employee’s perception of appreciate and recognition.  I found significant regional differences in how employees perceived they were recognized.  This finding existed despite holding constant the recognition, reward and compensation budget and so on.  For the HR and Psych majors out there, this meant that both groups gave and received the same number “food pellets” to reward and recognize but one group felt they were appreciated and recognized while the other did not.  While the implications are beyond the scope of this article, the simple translation is, “don’t underestimate the impact of informal recognition and reward”.

Some informal ways to recognize include be as simple as sending a voice mail thanking someone for their contribution, taking time to remember birthdays and service anniversaries, welcoming new members to the team” with flowers or a card on the first day of work.

In summary, there a number of ways to gift and recognize, the key I believe is to choose a way that is as unique and special as the team that serves you.

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Why spend our hours searching for the best candidate, only to send them to clients unprepared. Click on continue in demo below to find out how EmployPrep software can help you.

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In November 2008, Susan Hollis of BCBusiness magazine approached Mike Lam of HRinmotion with questions regarding Gifting Employees at Christmas. Below we offer our experience from a corporate human resources perspective.

How and what do you budget for gifts/extras at Christmas?

I think it is important to separate any gift giving and bonuses.  While ultimately both items come out of the budget, they are very different in that Christmas gifts relate to the holiday season and bonuses relate to the employment contract and really fall under compensation.

As such, bonuses like all compensation should be tied to job performance, meeting objectives, exhibiting company values and so forth.  In contrast, Christmas gifts don’t relate to any behaviors at all.  If such a separation does not exist, the potential impact can be a blurring in the lines that your staff sees between their job performance and reward.  In such cases where employee reward is misapplied, the cost of the well meaning celebratory gift can become much greater than the gift price.  For these reasons, we make sure this separation exists for our team.  However I will touch on both gift giving and reward/compensation.

As for our Christmas gift giving practices, first we try to make it more inclusive so it  really is more a celebration of the holiday season and the year end.  Most of our team participates in a mystery gift exchange.  Our gift exchange works like your typical mystery gift exchange, where everyone purchases a gift within a budget, participants then take turns to choose an unclaimed mystery gift, take someone else’s, and so forth.  We have a lot of fun with it, our limit for the gift is $20 which helps to ensure participants are creative with their gift choice.  Whether our team members participate or observe, everyone laughs from all the gag gifts presented.

When is the best time to dole out the gifts?

Our mystery gift exchange happens sometime in December depending on vacations and so forth.

For reward and compensation, in addition to our annual bonus we sustain a culture of reward and recognition with acknowledgment when someone does a great job.  For example, when we asked our IT expert to complete an assignment and he went beyond our expectations, we gave him gift certificate for home electronics along with our personal thanks.  As for time, it is best practice to reward as soon as possible after.

Do you give each employee the same gift to avoid conflict or favouritism?

Fortunately we do not have this problem with the mystery gift exchange.

As for reward, I think this really depends on your team, the culture and individual team member.  If you are not sure, you can always take the gift certificate route.  In the example above, we try to strike a balance and choose something that suits the person while giving them choice.  In our example, we knew our IT person has a photography hobby and had his eye on a new camera so the choice was a no-brainer.  If you do not have the benefit of this type of knowledge about your employee, you can always try a gift certificate at a box store where there is a good chance they will find something suitable.  More importantly, if you do not know your employees well enough to make a general guess as to their interests, then there might be a greater challenge facing you beyond gift choice.

What if a few employees have really earned more than the rest?

We try to match the reward with the performance, such that someone who really exceeded expectations would receive more recognition than someone who didn’t.  So yes, we differentiate in our rewards to ensure that don’t discourage our high performers.  Having said this, I think it is vital that some thought is given to team rewards to recognize team efforts and encourage teamwork.  For example, we had a team member who was new to Canada and had never been to Victoria.  So we took the team for a weekend trip to Victoria.

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Why spend our hours searching for the best candidate, only to send them to clients unprepared. Click on continue in demo below to find out how EmployPrep software can help you.

Great recruitment and staffing companies know how to provide feedback to their candidates, especially when they are not placed.  In this article, we will focus on providing recruiter tips on easy ways to have difficult conversations.

Whether you are on the agency side or client side, staffing professionals often focus their attention on the candidates they place.  After all this makes sense since you rely on these individuals to help you get paid.  However it is just as important to pay attention to the people you place as it is with the people you bypass.  Remember that for every 1 person you place, you bypass many more.  Each one of these candidates will walk away with some impression of your staffing agency.  No doubt they will talk about their experience with you with other candidates.  Therefore, each candidate that you encounter represents an opportunity to build your staffing brand.  What kind of impression do you want them to walk away with?  What kind of experience are you wanting to create?

The impact on your staffing brand may not be as immediate but consider that the person you just bypassed might know of someone who is more suitable.  There is good chance that the candidate you bypassed might be able to refer to you to someone who may better meet your client’s requirements.  Re member they have spent years in their careers and have extensive networks from professional associations and alumni.  Wouldn’t it be nice if you can get a referral?  Especially if you are working on a specialized position that is hard to fill?  What if another job order came up some time later that better suits this candidate, wouldn’t be great if you had developed a good enough relationship with your candidate to call on them and they would be glad to hear from you?  I have heard my share of horror stories from candidates complaining about their experience with agency recruiters.  Below are some basic recruiter tips based on the top complaints I have heard.

3 Tips on Creating Positive Word of Mouth With Candidates

As I mentioned in the last chapter, show genuine care about your candidate’s career whether or not you decide to represent them. After all, they are likely making the biggest decision in the placement. There’s a good chance you are a good talker, but are you a good listener?  Take the time to listen to what your candidate is looking for in their career. This also means taking time to carefully review the candidate’s qualifications, giving feedback about resumes, and interviewing skills. If you cannot help them, refer them to another trusted professional whether this means to another staffing provider, resume writer, or interview coach or even a good career book.  By giving your candidates employment preparation resources, you demonstrate your commitment to their careers.

Open and honest communication. Be open and honest with your candidates. This means when you give feedback to your candidates, be honest. Candidates seek your employment expertise and appreciate your honest feedback. It goes a long way in establishing your credibility. This can also mean be upfront with details like pay rates. Not every staffing company tells their candidate what their commission is but some do. From my experience, the staffing companies who have an open compensation policy often have a positive reputation and are trusted more. If you don’t disclose this to your candidates, well I suppose you better hope they do not find out. This reminds me of a time when a staffing company marked up their fees by 100% but did not tell their contractors. When these consultants discovered what their staffing company was billing them out at, there was serious mutiny (and I hate to say it but I chuckled since it reminded me of the days when I handled compensation issues with the union reps.)

Set clear expectations. This kind of relates to the honest and open communication point above. Here simply create clear expectations on role and responsibilities for both you and your candidate. How often have I heard a qualified candidate, whose recruiter went MIA after promising to be in contact? Conversely, how many candidates went MIA, also known as the infamous no show for their interview? Set clear expectations to avoid misunderstanding and promote a harmonious candidate/recruiter relationship.

Successful recruitment and staffing companies focus not only on the candidates placed, but also the ones that were not placed.  Great staffing companies ensure that all applicant’s who touch their recruitment process have a positive experience.  If you do this, you will be well on your way to creating a positive Candidate buzz.

For more information about creating a positive a positive word of mouth advertising in recruitment and staffing, see the article “Building the Buzz for Your Recruitment Company”.

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Why spend our hours searching for the best candidate, only to send them to clients unprepared. Click on continue in demo below to find out how EmployPrep software can help you.

In today’s talent short employment market, it is wise to assess the possibility for a counter offer.  This is particularly true the more senior or specialized the position and if the candidate is a key player in the company.  It would be wise to have a discussion with your candidate about this possibility and how they might handle it.

Preparing your candidate for a counter offer is not sneaky nor underhanded.  It is simply acknowledging the fierce competition for resources that is happening in the current labour market and adopting prudent practice.  All recruitment and staffing companies have lost deals due to a last minute counter offer.

What Does The Counter Look Like?

So how does preparing your candidate for a counter offer look like in recruitment?  Well the best way to prepare is to engage your candidate in a discussion on this topic and ask how they might react?  Here you want to describe in as much detail as possible how the counter offer might look like.  If is a good idea to learn about the various “save tactics” and help your candidate prepare for them.  Former candidates from the organization would be a great resource.  In general, the approach of “employee save tactics” are generally similar.  They can include the following:

• An offer of more compensation and benefits
• An offer of increased responsibility
• Assignment to a high profile project
• A promotion
• A visit or several visits from upper management and respected colleagues persuading you to stay
• A visit from HR to act as mediator to resolve sources of dissatisfaction
• An offer for a leave of absence or time off for cooling off and reflection
• An offer of reassignment to another team where there is no conflict
• Promises of change with no concrete offer or definite details and timelines

In fact, some organizations have formed “employee save teams” that have been specially trained and are activated when key employees give notice.  These teams have strategies, tactics and authority to make counter offers.

Put on Your Career Counselor Hat - Ask Questions and Listen

When preparing your candidate for a counter, help them focus on the material points by asking questions and then listen.  Some of the questions to ask include:

• What do you think the motivators are for this counter offer?
• Will the counter offer address the symptom or the root cause?  Does it provide temporary relief or does it offer a long-term solution?
• Your role is help your candidate clarify exactly what made them want to leave or look for a new job.
• What have you done to resolve the issues?
• What is the likelihood for change?
• What are you looking for in your new job?  (Help them clarify exactly what type of change they are looking for)

Here you must engage your candidates in an honest and realistic discussion and listen.  It is very important to resist the temptation of a quick commission.  Instead, your goal is to help your candidate make the best decision for them, whether this means they take the job or not.  If you push your candidate to take the offer when it is not the right fit for them, chances are they will quit shortly or not perform well.  You will lost the trust that you have built with your candidate, as well as the chance of any referrals.  Your client will lose their confidence in your ability to find good people that fit into their company and culture.  So take off your salesperson hat and put on the career counselor hat.  Your candidate will sense it when you put their needs ahead of your own and it will go along way in building future business for your staffing company.

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Why spend our hours searching for the best candidate, only to send them to clients unprepared. Click on continue in demo below to find out how EmployPrep software can help you.