onboarding

Recruiting Tips To Build Your Best Team

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recruiting tips

Helping companies with staffing needs is our business and we know the challenges of recruiting talent in today’s labor market.  Our clients have found significant value in staying focused on their core business by outsourcing much of the recruiting burden to us.

But for those who want to tackle recruiting internally, this post shares some basic tips for critical recruiting fundamentals that will help you build your best team.

1. Have an Effective Job Posting

Everybody has a job posting as you can’t really post a job without one; but, you need a good job posting.  What makes a good job post?

  • • An appealing post will describe some positive attributes of the employer
  • • A job post should be clear and concise about the description of the job role
  • • A good post will sound appealing to the target candidate pool
  • • The job post should provide enough detail to clarify required candidate qualifications

2. Advertise Your Job Post to Reach Your Target Audience

Armed with effective job posting copy, you are ready to promote or advertise your job.  There are a few things to consider when promoting your job posts.

  • • Target the right audience and best platform to advertise your job. Different job boards appeal to different candidates so you need to put your jobs on the most appropriate board or combination for the target audience.
  • • Consider the “key words” for search engine optimization, SEO, in the title of your job post. Using effective key words will put your post higher in search results which affects how many people see your job.
  • • Sponsor or promote your post where available to maintain a page one to page two position in search results. Different recruiting sites have differing costs for sponsoring job posts so the optimum dollar amount will vary by recruiting site and the competing or similar jobs on each site.

3. Phone Screen Selected Candidates

A prepared phone interview to screen candidates selected from your applicant pool is an important step in the recruiting process.  The phone screen assures the candidate matches their resume and can communicate the same.  A thirty minute conversation by phone saves time by avoiding wasted time in bad interviews.

  • • The phone screen should include the required candidate qualifications.
  • • Review both parties’ expectations of the job to minimize risk of obvious deal breakers from turning up in a face to face interview.
  • • Get a broad feel for salary expectations from the candidate

4. The Face-to-Face Interview

Be prepared for the face to face interview.  There are several parts to the face to face interview that we focus upon.

  • • Use a written interview guide to ensure you cover all the key points to support a robust interview.
  • • Have more than one employer representative participate in the interview process if practical. It’s good to have more than one perspective for the best results.
  • • The first and most basic element is confirming the person matches the resume or application. Some people look great on paper but struggle to tell you the same story in person.
  • • Include a few behavioral questions along the line of work problems they have solved, communicating in difficult situations examples, obstacles they have overcome, etc.
  • • Character and integrity; arguably the most important traits after basic competency for building a good team. Pay careful attention to character, integrity and reliability indicators throughout the interview.  Ask a few charged questions about doing the right thing even when it costs you personally or how they respond to authority for example.
  • • Be open and honest about challenges of job or work environment. In over 20 years of management, I’ve never seen a job that was not challenging in multiple ways.
  • • Ask the candidate to score their interest level for you at the close of the interview. I am very weary of a candidate who can not sincerely tell me they are interested and want the job.
  • • Lastly, score the candidate privately immediately after the interview. A simple 1 – 10 score with 10 being a perfect candidate and 1 being “really bad fit.”  We are naturally biased toward the most recent interviews so it’s important to score the candidates at the time we meet them.

5. Take the Hiring Process Seriously

This may sound obvious and it should, but I see business peers short cut a robust hiring process with regularity.

  • • Don’t hire a friend or relative because you know them. Interview a friend or relative because you know them every time and encourage them to perform well through the interview process. Hiring a friend is easy while firing them for poor performance is painful for the business, the employee and the friendship.
  • • The hiring process is part of the public relations and branding of your business. Be professional and represent your business as professional to the industry you serve.  It’s a small world.

Following a consistent and effective recruiting process for your business is fundamental to strong performance.  It’s good for the business and good for the employees.  Invest the time to make sure recruiting is done well or find someone to help you.  The strength of your team depends on it.

On Boarding: Why the Bother?

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on boarding employees

There are as many approaches to On Boarding an employee as there are employers.  Some have a methodical process that slow rolls the employee into their new position while others apply the sink or swim technique with a steep curve right to action.

Wherever your business falls along the On Boarding continuum, there are a few fundamental On Boarding process elements that pay large dividends in contributing to the success of your employees.  Technical skills and ongoing training are beyond the scope of this post.  Here we are covering the general steps to ensure a new employee integrates into your work environment well and as intended.  I recommend your check your current process to confirm the following are included.

1. Employee Files.

All required employee data, forms and signatures should be checked and completed as step 1 upon employment.  This may sound obvious, but I have seen employers allow employees begin work without I-9 documentation; thinking it is ok for the worker to bring it in later.  I have other examples but this one makes the point.

The data and form requirements to hire an employee all have purpose.  Any missing form, data or signature imposes risk to the employer, employees and customers.  Under the example of missing I-9 data, an accident involving the new employee may not have insurance coverage.  Employer liability normally protected may fall squarely upon the employer without the protection of insurance you pay for.  Any medical expense to the new employee may also go without medical benefit protection if they are not proven legal as an employee.

Step 1 in the On Boarding process is to review and confirm all required data, forms and signatures are complete and on file with the employer.

2. Orientation

Once you have confirmed that any new employee is properly processed and documented into your work environment, you should provide an Orientation session.  Orientation should be designed to communicate what the employee should expect, how they can seek help and what you are looking for from them through the On Boarding process.

Employees who are comfortable and confident in their surroundings are better learners. Your goal as an employer through Orientation is to ensure the new employee learns what you need them to know as effectively and quickly as practical.  Help the employees by making them comfortable and familiar with where they are, what they should be doing and what you expect of them through the On Boarding process. Smaller businesses don’t often have well organized Orientation programs for new hires but the needs are the same in small or large organizations.  The costs of new employees stumbling and bumbling through their first few days or weeks on the job is as negatively impactful to a small company as it is to a large company, maybe more so.

Make Step 2 of On Boarding a clear Orientation including:

  • • Familiarity with the physical environment
  • • What the employee should expect
  • • How the employee can seek help
  • • What the employer expects from the new hire through the On Boarding period

3. Supervisor One on One.

Every job is a distinct but a common need amongst employees is they benefit from a coach.  Whether a high level professional position or a line level worker, we perform better when we have someone to lead us in the right direction and talk us through obstacles.

The Supervisor One on One is a great time to take Orientation to the details of the individual job requirements.  Have the Supervisor or Manager position themselves as the “Coach” who is there to lead and ensure the success of the new employee.  The Supervisor One on One serves a dual purpose regarding establishing accountability.  The Supervisor One on One establishes the accountabilities of the new employee while also making the Supervisor accountable for the success of their individual team members.

Step 3 of the On Boarding process is to establish the relationship between a new employee and their Supervisor or Manager as one of mutual accountability.

As mentioned at the beginning of this blog, every situation is unique and On Boarding processes will vary widely by company and role.  I recommend you review your On Boarding process if you have one or create one if you don’t.  Take the time to maximize the likelihood that your new hires come up to speed safely and confidently so you and they wind up being successful.

How To Effectively (and Easily) Onboard Temp Workers

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temp workers

We have a long-term client who wasn’t crazy about using temporary staffing agencies before he met us. I remember the first time I was sitting face-to-face with Dave. Based on his previous experiences, he had many objections for using temp workers to staff his safety needs.

  • • “They don’t follow our procedures for taking time off.”
  • • “They don’t fill out the time sheets properly.”
  • • “They always get lost and then show-up late.”
  • • “They aren’t pro-active like our employees. They wait to be told what to do.”

Many of the objections seemed like they would occur for current employees, too. I asked Dave why it was different. He said that it wasn’t and that was his point.

This was a challenge for me because I had not had similar complaints from our customers.

Digging a little deeper, we figured out the problem. When I asked what they did to onboard temp workers, he looked confused.

“I am hiring temp workers so I don’t have to onboard them.”

I get that. I do. And we specialize in providing trained staff.

However, they are trained in safety. There are many things that the temporary workers will not know about your specific company or facility.

I explained to Dave that our workers know confined space procedures or are qualified safety techs with all of the appropriate certifications, but they may not know the client’s specific internal procedures.

However, I did offer a quick solution.

We, ResponsAble, have a standard orientation program with all of our employees to ensure that they know our processes and general information about the job.

I explained that we can also review Dave’s onboarding information during this orientation, as we do regularly for many other customers. We typically meet with clients and gather information about the employees’ responsibilities and the company’s internal protocols.

“Really? The other staffing agencies have never done this.”

Proper Onboarding of Temp Workers Improves Performance

 

Fortunately, it is part of our hiring process.

We want to please the customer, but we also have a responsibility to our employees. They don’t like being confused or uninformed either. And believe me, many of them are frustrated when they are not given proper instruction.

After our meeting and through a couple of specific job opportunities, Dave came back and said that proper onboarding of temps greatly improved the performance and experience.

Tips for Preparing an Onboarding Plan for Temporary Workers

 

If you are hiring temp workers for a safety job, or a laborer, here are several items you may need to review with them:

  • • Upcoming work schedule for the next week and how/where future schedules will be communicated to them.
  • • Proper procedure on the job for calling in sick, communicating if late, etc.
  • • What documentation or written excuse is required to come back from a sick day.
  • • Where they should report to for each shift.
  • • Who their direct supervisor is on the shifts.
  • • What to do if they complete what they are working on (i.e. clean work area, let supervisor know, etc).
  • • Dress code.
  • • Vacation and holiday protocol and pay, if applicable.
  • • Who to speak with if they are having any difficulty or have questions.
  • • What time keeping device or form to fill out.
  • • Who approves their time sheets.
  • • When and where do time sheets need to be turned in.
  • • Any other facility specific rules or protocols.

This is just a beginning list.

However if you are the manager in charge of temporary workers, developing a standard checklist and reviewing with new employees’ “Day One” will enhance their performance and your experience with temp workers.

It’s a win-win and you are able to gain all of the other advantages of using a safety staffing company:

  • Get safety trained staff.
  • Avoid time-consuming administrative and payroll setup for short-term needs.
  • Eliminate workman’s comp insurance and other requirements for full-time employees.
  • Send one check to pay the temp agency rather than several, weekly payroll checks.
  • Replace true poor performance immediately without all of the HR red tape.

 

If you’re in need of safety techs, confined space attendants, or laborers, call us for an estimate and a review of the personnel we have available in our extensive database. And, if you want to focus on your upcoming job, give us the details and we will onboard our team for you.