10 mistakes to avoid while hiring new candidates

Employees are the strong foundation of any organization that contributes to the rising heights of success. Adding value to this foundation paves a way to explore new avenues of success. So right fit for the right post at the right time is the key to success for any organization.

Hiring a new candidate is like including a new member to your family. A family that has a set of common values, principals, ethics but different people with individual approach. Selecting the right candidate is a very crucial aspect of people management as on boarding, grooming, training demands a lot of time which in turn is a cost to the company.Best hiring services in India that are adapted by majority of the companies to attain quality manpower have some key points in common. These key factors that should be kept in mind while hiring a new candidate are as stated below.

10 Mistakes that can destroy Employee Engagement

Employees are the backbone of any organization. For any organization to fly high in the horizon of success it is important that they have a strong foundation of manpower support. A channelized effort of all the employees towards accomplishment of a common goal leads to success in a short span of time. But any association, be it personal or professional requires care and commitment from both the sides mutually. A satisfied employee is a secured employee and a secured employee would be dedicated and productive and would surely align his activities towards achievement of the organizational goal. Certain key points that should be taken care of by the management companies in India to retain the employees and align their efforts towards company’s vision are as stated below.

•  Personal Connect: The HR department should make an effort to build a personal rapport and connect with the employees as it would boost up their dedication level. If the management values the personal interest of its employees to some extent and stands by them in their good and bad times, it helps promote a good work culture. Celebrating birthdays and any other special days related to them will make them feel important and recognized as individuals and not just an employee. In this case small efforts have a big impact on the mindset of the work force that increases aligned productivity.
•   Rewards and Recognition: An effort made is an effort waste if not recognized on time. The motivation behind good work is the rewards and recognition attached to it.Unless and until there is a driving force behind any work assigned people might not put in their best efforts. Efforts and good results of the employees should always be recognized and rewarded on time. This keeps the motivation level high and acts as a lever for the driving force to perform better every time. A sound rewards and recognition policies help the company in attaining and retaining valuable talent and enhance the goodwill and brand value of the company.
• Communication Gap: A strong communication network aligns the management and the employees towards common goal. The employees should be well aware of the communication channels and should feel free to speak their heart out if they have any concerns. A two way effective communication system gives clarity of thoughts to both management and the employees and helps them know and understand each other better. Communication gap leads to disparity in the thinking process which in turn hampers the trust factor and work culture of the company.
• Proper Metrics for Grievance Handling: Trust is a basic attribute of any association. An employer employee relationship built on trust has a strong foundation for long term future endeavours. Employees should be well aware of their rights and correct channels to address their concerns. There should be a well maintained link with all privacy settings intact to address grievances of its employees without highlighting the person concerned.
•  Regular Interaction:There should be regular interactive sessions between the employees and the management specifying the short term goals and the milestones achieved. This gives a bigger picture to the employees and helps them associate their individual targets to that of the company. These regular interactions can be in the form of Seminars, Webinars or Hi-tea corporate get together where ideas can be exchanged and employees get a platform to share their input on important matters related to the organization. This boosts the initiative and participation level of the employees and involves them more in the organization.
• Cultural Respect:With the changing market dynamics companies have adapted a cosmopolitan culture where people from various religious and cultural backgrounds work together. The companies should be well aware, respect and inculcate all respectful values in its workforce for these diversified cultures. All the festivals related to these cultures should be known and celebrated to respect the feelings and beliefs of employees belonging to them.   
•  Mundane work Culture: If an organization sticks to a work structure where employees are expected to work continuously without any recreational activities being included in the work schedule slowly the productivity level goes down. In such a work culture after a point of time the employee reaches a saturation level and is bound to leave the organization or is accused of poor performance. Recreational activities like team outings, company get together celebrating family day or various festivals together keeps the employees happy and motivated. At times it also helps reduce the attrition rate for the company.
• Security: With so many women entering the corporate world it becomes the prime responsibility of the organization to take care of their security needs. With the need of the hour at times they have to be away from home traveling, or working late night.In such cases it becomes the prime responsibility of the company to take all possible measures to provide them with a safe work environment. There should be a quick and firm action with regard to their safety issues if they have any.
• Hygiene of the work place: Employees have to be healthy to perform and give their best. A hygienic and neat work place is required to keep the employees healthy and hearty. An organized and messy work station kills the motivation and decreases the productivity level of the employees. Proper cleanliness should be maintained at the work place that includes the dining and wash room area also. A properly lit and airy workplace lets the positive energy flow in and keeps the employees spirits high.
• Work Timings: Work timings should not be unnecessarily exaggerated as it might at times be difficult for the employees to cope with it. This aspect should be taken care of especially for female employees.People work for their families and have to balance both these aspects at the same time. After the scheduled work time if the employees are asked to stay back and work on a regular basis they are bound to feel disconnected and would start looking for other opportunities. This might lead to high attrition rate in turn hampering the image and goodwill of the company in the market. 

         Article originally posted on Article base

7 Best Recruiting Strategies for Hiring Success

Finding the right candidate can be like playing Russian roulette; if not planned correctly, you might be stuck with the wrong candidate. There is an apparent dearth of qualified candidates and that does not seem to be changing. Organizations are now realizing that they need to develop new and innovative strategies to hire the best candidate. The success of the company depends on the right talent pool, candidates and an effective recruitment strategy, which has its roots in within the company’s philosophy.

Organizations need to adopt the right methods to ensure that every ‘route to recruit’ is fully employed. Whether they employ a direct hiring strategy, work with Human Resource outsourcing agencies or People outsourcing agencies, they need to adopt the strategy that suits their company.

Here are 7 recruiting strategies for hiring success.

Checklist for Success in Hiring Employees

It is essential to hire and recruit the right candidates, which would fit into your company’s culture and who will contribute within that environment. It is important to retain the candidates who fit into your mound. If you are able to understand what they need, it will be easier to retain.

The interviewers

The company needs to determine who would be interviewing the potential employees and judging them based on their qualifications and qualities. For instance, there needs to be an HR recruiter who can judge the candidates technical skills, another for assessing whether s/he can work within the environment and finally someone to check s/he interpersonal skills. 

Improve your candidate pool

It is imperative to forge and develop relationships with university and college placement offices, HR outsourcing recruitment agencies, People outsourcing agencies and Temporary Staffing agencies as well as use your website and other social media platforms to attract more candidates. Also, using external sources such as People Outsourcing agencies and Temporary staffing agencies is helpful.

Be Known as a Great Employer

Candidates need to know that the company they are applying has good reputation not just as a company as well as an employer. Introspect and rejig your employee practices, which include retention, motivation, accountability, reward & recognition, flexibility in work-life balance, promotion, and involvement. These are the areas that candidates take into consideration when presented with several offers from different companies. Having your employees brag about you is a good sign and helps attract more candidates.

Build Elasticity and Consistency into Your Hiring Model

Companies need to determine the workload for the coming months and build a team around that, in order to understand the pressure and the workload. If the internal HR team is unable to cope up with the large number of applicants, it is wise to employ a HR outsourcing agency to help with the influx. 

Diversity

You need to ensure that the recruiting process is diversified in order to get the best talent. However, diversity doesn’t mean that the company hires or recruits candidates just to prove that they believe in diversity. Diversity and inclusiveness are no longer just corporate legal terms but have become an integral part of the business process.

Referrals as a Company-Wide Initiative

Referrals are good way to source good talent by using the networks of the entire company, not just the hiring team. Using the networks of the entire company will remarkably boost recruitment results and give you access to more candidates. To get the most of the referral campaign it’s imperative to run a well-crafted and well-supported campaign.

Companies need to stay on top and adopt new and innovative recruiting trends. Otherwise, they will lag behind and won’t have access to the best talent pool to build a profitable and successful company.

The Future Challenges of Recruitment and Hiring

Companies need to prepare themselves to attract and retain the workers they will need for the growth of their organization. However, they also need to navigate the choppy waters of growing globalization and the emergence of social media to attract the right talent pool through best practices.

Firms are facing several challenges due to the ever-changing nature of the workforce as well work itself.  Therefore, Human Resource managers need to stay on top things to ensure that they are able to retain as well as hire the right candidates.

Human Resource outsourcing firms need to keep a check on the changing nature of candidates along with their skill set, because of lack of standardization of education and globalization. Human Resource outsourcing firms also need to understand major future demographic, technological and societal shifts. For example, online job boards provide companies with a varied candidate pool, however it proves quite a task for the HR staff, as they have to sift through a large number resumes for limited positions.

Here are a few challenges that HR companies face.

Retaining Talented Candidates

Retaining and rewarding critical talent is one of the biggest challenges faced by Human resource firms. In this age of globalization, it is very difficult to retain and engage strong performers, as they are not afraid to jump companies for better opportunities. It is important for companies to devise innovative practices, which would reward their star performers according to their achievements and in turn retain them.  In this globalized economy, the human capital creates the base of the future of an organization.

Social Media

Websites like LinkedIn, Facebook and other social websites are easy avenues for job seekers to go job hunting and post their resumes. However, easy access to these websites makes it a difficult task for recruitment process outsourcing firms to sift through the candidate pool.  HR mangers need to understand the importance of such websites and gain knowledge about them to make the most of the talent pool.  Having in depth knowledge of social media tools can help mangers grab the candidate before the competitor does, because candidates usually have privacy settings of their social media sites and knowledge is needed to navigate them.

Technical Talent

Lack of technical talent has made it increasing difficult for companies to hire candidates for specialised positions.  Even during periods of high employment, technical knowledge based companies find it difficult to find people with the right education background and experience to fill the positions in niche jobs.  Companies are laying emphasis on a stronger education background and specialized training in niche sectors.

Globalization

Adhering to policies of inclusion is very important for organisations. Due to, globalisation candidates from different demographics, race, ethnicity, gender and religion all work under one roof.  It is also important to create a conducive work environment, which will improve employee morale and improve productivity. It is essential for the HR staff to create an environment of inclusion and keep up with the changing needs of the employees.

The business world is moving at lightning speed but the recruitment processes are lagging behind.  In future, candidates will have multiple offers from different avenues and won’t wait around for hiring managers to make their decision. Therefore, recruitment processes need to change and adapt to the new ways to have access to the best talent pool.

Boosting Work Culture through Festivities

Work and fun are two words that are rarely spoken of in the same sentence. However, organizations are looking at bringing the fun element back into work.  They want to explore the link between fun, creativity and productivity.

Companies today are depending on celebrating festivals within the confines of the office to encourage camaraderie among employees along with bring employees from across all the hierarchies together in a fun way.

Modern–day organizations take their festivals rather seriously – from Holi to Christmas and even Women’s Day, no occasion is sent packing. The cheer around the festivities makes a mundane workday fun, taking away from the monotonous routine we follow every day. Organizations see it as way to bring the fun element into work, as employees can share a good laugh and bond together. 

Traditionally, organizations have stuck to celebrating only pujas and other religious ceremonies. However, the festive cheer is moving beyond pujas and the traditional and conventional ways of doing things. It is giving way to more fun and enjoyable celebrations.  Companies are finding innovative and entertaining ways to get their employees together to celebrate various occasions, using it as a means to promote positive work culture and boost productivity. 

Organizations are using festivals as a means to boost employees to go ahead and meet new people across the board. This helps employees meet new people and also move out of their cliques and comfort zones.  Through these get-togethers companies hope to foster a very inclusive and cohesive bond amongst their employees, hence promoting positive work culture and productivity within the company.

Holding events like Secret Santa during Christmas, helps employees to get to one another better, without being in the limelight. Also, certain companies that have their own traditions during any festivals, this helps the management seem more approachable as they too, take part in the festivities. It allows the employees to be more relaxed, as it makes them feel great about working in the company that is open-minded and welcoming.

Organizations are all for diversity, whether, its gender or cultural, they are becoming more inclusive. All organizations have employees who belong to different faiths and by celebrating different festivals and occasions, the employees feel more part of the organization.  Women in the corporate setting, try to blend in rather, than wearing their gender on the sleeve.  It is heartening for all women employees to be given special treatment on Women’s day as they feel that company acknowledges their identity and their contribution.

Reveling in the festive cheer and celebrating special occasion and dates is a great way to get the employees together and move away from the mundane tasks. After all, most organizations want to appear friendly and not stuck up.

HR outsourcing companies, people outsourcing companies and other organizations are pleased when their recruits give them good feedback about the companies that have hired them. It is a satisfying feeling for them to know that companies they have on record have good work ethics and culture.

Ten Questions to Ask When Choosing a Business Advisor

It is important to know what you want and what you need from a business advisor. Do you need him/her to help you with Manpower outsourcing, HR Outsourcing or Temporary Staffing, Payroll service or another service to help you achieve your company’s philosophy? You need to take into consideration these questions before hiring a consultant. You need to look for someone who has proficiency and experience, specific to the needs of your organization and the type of project you are offering.

Here are few questions that can help you choose the right business advisor/ HR consultant.

• What are your credentials and what references can you offer?

This question will help you identify if the consultant has the right expertise as well as the right credentials to help achieve the goals of the project. Having knowledge of past clients will help you understand whether the consultant will be a fit for your company.  It is good to ask past clients to discuss the consultant’s productivity, approach ability, communication style, attention to detail, expertise, timeliness and any other questions to determine whether they will be a good fit.

•Do your consultants have background knowledge of our industry?

It is important to hire consultant that understands your industry and can help you find the right candidates for the job.  The consultants need to have their own pool of candidates if they have been hired as part of a Recruitment Outsourcing Process or People Outsourcing Process.  Consultants need to be able to judge the situation accurately to give the right advice.

• How much time can they devote towards the company?

The answer to this question will determine how much attention the consultant will be able to give your project. It helps you determine whether the consultant will be able to give you a same day response or not. Even if they can’t, at least you will be assured there someone looking for a solution.  The best way for a consultant to understand the needs of a company is spend time at your workplace.

• What systems do you use when scouting for talent?

A good Recruitment outsourcing company or a Temporary Staffing company needs to have good insights in order to find the right candidates for the job. They need to conduct a variety of methods to find potential talent, which include using social media, direct advertising and both formal and informal approaches. This is a good way of attracting enough candidates to sift through and then find the right candidate.

• Will you sign a letter of confidentiality?

It is a safe option to have consultants sign confidentially documents, as they could be privy to sensitive information, which could hamper the company reputation, if leaked.

•How are their clients better off after they leave?

A good consultant will be able to tell you the benefits they deliver at the end of the project. The company after the parting with a consultant should be able to determine their strengths and weaknesses and use it to their advantage.

• How will I pay for your services and documentation?

Make sure you have read the documentation carefully and you are fully aware of what you are getting into. Also, find out how you will be charged and the terms and conditions of it.  Furthermore, make sure that you have all the documentation to carry out the HR processes put into place by the consultant.

These questions will help you choose the right consultant for the job and will help you determine whether this relationship will be beneficial to company or not.

10 Reasons to Outsource Recruiting

The global economy is fast changing and newer technologies are taking over thus making hiring and recruiting the right candidates is a difficult task. The newer economic conditions include fast changing business condition, high unemployment, skills shortage and global competition. Finding and hiring from the right talent pool requires Human Resource managers to keep up with new recruiting technology and social media, also helps in developing a good rapport with the candidates and asking the right questions. Hiring managers are able to cover all these areas with the help of HR recruiting outsourcing companies.

With the need to focus on core business operations rather than jobs that can be outsourced to improve efficiency, outsourcing tasks such as payroll, hiring, customer service, creative design and other recruiting tasks will put the reins in the hands of experts that will sift through the best talent pool, to acquire the right candidates within the criteria set by the company. These are just a few reasons why companies outsource. Other reasons that companies outsource include the smooth running of the recruiting process, increase retainment of employees and reducing the high turnover rate and coordinating recruiting and on boarding.

What is outsourcing?

Outsourcing is a process wherein, one company shifts or delegates certain process within the company to external service providers, done with the intention of lowering costs, getting better quality and increasing their competitive edge. When a company shifts or delegates business processes to firms in foreign countries, it is referred to as offshore outsourcing.

How do these outsourcing processes help companies? Here are the benefits:

•        Rapid Growth: helps to combat seasonal spikes and reduces pressure on in house staff.

•        Simplify your operations: too much energy is spent in dealing with personnel and employment management issues. Instead, the same time can be spent on increasing business.

•        Increasing productivity: if attention is divided doing non–core business activities it affects business and reduces productivity.

•        Accuracy and speed: increases the speed and accuracy in disbursing payrolls and finding the right candidate.

•        Identifying and recruiting candidates: as per you criteria and requirement and the job profile also finding candidates for casual or seasonal employment.

•        Help maintain employee volume: helps the business to cope up with spikes/sudden increasing hiring volume as well as helping them reduce team sizes during lean periods.

•        Increased savings: outsourcing helps with reducing hiring and recruiting costs.

•        Decision making: helps you acquire better reports and results to aid in better decision making.

•        Best practices: helping you get the best knowledge and understanding for benchmarking your operations and making laws and guidelines for best practices.

•        Mitigate risks: helps you adhere to compliance, liabilities and risks pertaining to employees and the business.

An HR outsourcing company and Recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) aids in recruitment by screening potential employees, navigating regulations and law pertaining to the government and other activities as directed by the company. Thus, with the help of HR outsourcing and RPO’s, companies have access to the best candidates and other business services.