Employee Retention Strategies to Boost Your Recruiting Efforts

Employee Retention Strategies to Boost Your Recruiting Efforts Employee retention plays a big part in how recruiting, and sourcing strategies are created and executed. That’s a given. However, there’s a lot of conversation and noise in the industry about how everyone wants to find and hire top talent, while the retention aspect often gets assimilated or assumed as part of that process and forgotten.  Having highly engaged employees also leads to employee referrals. While referrals might be the smallest population of candidates, they are much more likely to be hired and fit the company culture.  The reality of the recruiting and sourcing industry is retention is the foundation recruiting, and sourcing are built on â€" we all want to add the best people to our teams and keep them active, productive and satisfied in their space, but we need to have a mindful and proactive strategy in place to retain them so they will stay with our organization in the long run. However, employee retention and candidate engagement aren’t just items to cross off at the end of your recruiting and sourcing to-do’s â€" it’s how your employees and their unique personalities fit into your strategy. The truth lies in your employee and candidate voice. Here are some ways to better get to know your team, empower their employee voice and boost your retention strategies: Advocate for your team Employee engagement is the most significant hurdle that can make or break your hiring strategies, but it’s the underlying foundation for building a strong relationship with your candidates. It’s the culmination of all the hard work you’ve accomplished throughout your hiring efforts. You’ve developed all these relationships with candidates, but how can you know whether your efforts are having a substantial impact on whether the candidate stays in your organization longer than a year, three years, or even five years and beyond? That’s where culture and calibration come into the engagement process. You can’t expect to keep top-performing employees in a single role or position forever. If you aren’t actively helping them find ways to grow and develop, they’ll do so on their own â€" and likely look for opportunities outside of your business. You need to help your team build their careers if you want them to place increasing value on their position with your organization. Invest in your team Investment is more than just throwing money at development programs or the latest and greatest technology. Companies spend more than $750 million a year in attempts to boost employee engagement, but 1 in 3 American workers are engaged in their jobs. Due to this fact, US businesses report $450 billion to $550 billion in lost productivity each year. One solution to this issue is employee empowerment: Employees are 26% more satisfied with their work when they have an element of authority and/or autonomy in their position. 70% of employees rank empowerment as an essential element of their engagement. Highly empowered employees showed engagement levels in the 79th percentile, whereas disempowered workers rated in the 24th percentile for engagement. Going beyond making your team feel important and valuable in their roles, making your team feel critical to your company culture is a great way to invest in your employees. They’re more than just workers â€" they’re team members, i.e., your friends and work family. “One way we empower employees at IQTalent Partners is by allowing them to own and lead in areas where they have a personal passion.  Our team members initiate our quarterly corporate community outreach programs. They evaluate nonprofits within the Nashville community and then become a part of the process in deciding which charity will receive our firm’s financial and volunteer support.” Kendra Deas, Director of Human Resources, IQTalent Partners, Inc. While empowerment is very much related to engagement, it’s crucial to acknowledge that they are also separate retention strategies. After all, it’s entirely possible for employees to be engaged without being empowered. If your focus is retention, you want your team to know they can speak up when they feel disengaged and burned-out, but more importantly, you want them to trust that you will do something about it to meet their needs. The idea with empowerment is to tackle employee issues like frustration, burnout, disengagement, low productivity, and even attrition at their roots and give employees the means to overcome these issues. Empowered employees are 67% more willing to put in extra effort on the job, meaning these are the people your team needs. Why? Because they take creative risks, driving business growth that results in higher revenue gains. They’re your “go-getter” rockstar employees. So how can hiring managers, recruiting and sourcing teams, and HR executives empower within their organizations? Grant employees autonomy over their work. When employees are allowed to make decisions on their own, it enables them to perform their best, unhindered work. Delegating authority to your team members shows them they are trusted.  We trust them to make decisions and let them know that it’s OK to make mistakes, as long as they are learning and don’t repeat the same ones again and again. Part of empowering your team is giving them the ability to solve their problems. We can be there as a resource, but they are the decision makers. Have your team’s back Arguably the most crucial retention strategy you can incorporate into your recruiting and sourcing strategies is relationship building. It’s the vital trust that lets employees know that you always have their best interest in mind. Hiring and onboarding processes can be a whirlwind, so it’s essential to devote a good chunk of your interactions with your team to get to know them in and out of your recruiting and sourcing strategies. Different personality types have different work styles, and youre bound to have some combination of introverts and extroverts on your team. Empowering your team by giving them importance and autonomy in their roles enables them to decide how to go about meeting goals and benchmarks. This helps foster a positive and inclusive work environment for your company culture while allowing your team to unleash their creativity and unique ideas. The overarching theme here is the employees’ needs matter. As hiring managers and leaders, we can use our influence and reach to empower them. An investment in employee retention will pay dividends in the long run. Building relationships, strengthening trust, and engaging employees in ways that cater to their unique lifestyles and personalities will create team members who become long-term, valuable employees for the future. About the author:  Chris Murdock is the Chief Sourcing Officer and Founder of IQTalent Partners. Chris has over 12 years of executive recruiting experience and leads search execution and client relationships along with supporting searches across the firm. Prior to Founding IQTalent Partners, Chris was a Sourcer with Yahoo!’s internal Executive Recruiting team in the corporate offices in Sunnyvale, California. Previous to Yahoo!, Chris was an Associate in the Menlo Park, California office of with Heidrick Struggles, where he recruited for software, hardware, professional services, and semiconductor clients. Before Heidrick Struggles, Chris worked in the Retail Practice of TMP Worldwide in Atlanta, Georgia. While with TMP Worldwide, he worked on CEO, General Merchandise Manager, and various VP and Buyer level searches. Chris earned a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University.

Tips For Writing a Resume Cover Letter

Tips For Writing a Resume Cover LetterNow that you've come up with the idea of writing a resume cover letter, the next step is to put your mind to it and write it correctly. You don't want to bore your potential employer with a resume cover letter that isn't grammatically correct or well written. You want to impress them with how much you know about your job search and what you are looking for in the company.When I started my job search, I was working from home on the internet. It was very easy to send out resume cover letters and fill out applications. My mother got me started when I emailed the company and let them know I was interested in the position. She had already learned a little of what I was looking for when she sent me the job description and the required information.Now I use the old school way of sending my resume cover letters by mail. I send it out by snail mail and have a handwritten letter attached. This is a much better way to go if you want to impress someone, but still show that you care about the resume.For resumes, there are a few tips when writing resume cover letters. The first tip is to choose a company or individual that is well known in your field. You want to make sure that they have the same name that you do or else you'll sound kind of desperate.The second tip for writing a resume cover letter is to create a resume that is friendly to the reader. There are many who feel that when writing a resume cover letter, you need to be 100% serious. The reason is because many times resume cover letters do not make the cut.While this may be true, resume cover letters will make the cut if you provide them with all the necessary information. Give the readers a quick glimpse of you and your skills and the kind of organization that you have when applying for the position. Do not dwell on what you don't have because this will make you look unprofessional.Once you have a resume cover letters completed, you should save it somewhere so that you can ed it it later. You should look for any typos or grammatical errors so that you can update the cover letter. Once you get into the job hunt, you should keep your resume cover letters in a folder that you can find quickly when you need to.These tips for writing resume cover letters are just some of the many to help you with the basics. There are more ways to market yourself and get the interview you deserve, but you need to learn how to write a great resume cover letter first.

Superwomans Networking Handbook Elevate your Elevator Speech

Superwomans Networking Handbook Elevate your Elevator Speech HELLO AGAIN, my networking apprentices.   Im not addressing follow up yet but I do promise that will be next.   I noticed a theme in the words many of you used in your comments on the last post, daunting, intimidating, and awkward, to name a few.   So I want to address that before we move on to the follow up to make sure your extra-super-well equipped to make an excellent impression at events and functions (since your follow ups will yield a less than desirable response if youre not). I recently attended an event for female entrepreneurs hosted by Marie Forleo (kick ass business coach for female entrepreneurs, works on projects with Tony Robbins and Richard Branson!) called Rich, Happy and Hot LIVE.   Imagine networking in a room of 150 female entrepreneurs representing all kinds of products and services.   To those of you who mentioned being intimidated at times, there were a few power sluggers at this event.   Women whos books I read and websites I idolize like Gabrielle Bernstein, Latham Thomas, Katie Freiling and Danielle Laporte.   I was definitely stomping around Donna Karans Urban Zen center in my extremely-nervous-afraid-to-introduce-myself shoes (size 7 1/2) around those ladies.   So let me just say, I feel you. I walked away feeling more comfortable and knowing that its not only normal, but totally okay to be nervous.   Its important to be tough too though, just push through the nervous, get in there, make those introductions, have that mildly awkward (and sometimes not so awkward, yes!) small talk and I assure youthere is so much opportunity waiting for you on the other side. A guaranteed way to mitigate nerves and the intimidation in any situation is by ramping up your preparedness.   I did some digging around for you.   Heres the comment that resonated with me most from last week, I think your tips about elevator speeches and first impressions are true in these situations, though I think it’s more important to be friendly and memorable than super professional. I never actually said be super professional, which is why this comment stuck out to me.   I want to be 100% clear this time Im a huge believer that you must be yourself, communicate in your way, and never try to shove yourself into a mold that doesnt feel right to you.   That a person gets an understanding of your personality through your quick introduction or elevator speech is the most important point of emphasis.   Especially women.   We are feelers, more so than thinkers.   We are blessed with gut feelings and intuition that are usually right, so be genuine, be authentic, be yourself-because people can tell when youre not.   Do you ever get that icky feeling when you meet someone? Like, hm, I dont know who they were trying to fool with that BS but Im not falling for it?   Lets strive never to be that person! Here are some DOs and DONTs to answering What do you do? (huge thanks to the blogs of Danielle Laporte: White Hot Truth, and Yvonne Bynoe: Soulful Affluence whos tips Ive fused into what youre about to read): 1.   DONT: just give your job title. I have to be honest, titles drive me crazy.   There are no 2-3 word descriptions that fully describe the depth of what you do.   Titles truly allow people to make judgments (not because theyre bad people, but thats just how it works), based on those few words.   So dont do it (keep reading to learn how to avoid it)! 2.   DO: be prepared with an answer you actually feel good about saying.   Whether you love what you do, hate it or could care less, be sure to include a quick nugget about something you love and are interested in.   Peoples interests after all, Danielle Laporte explains, are what makes them interesting. 3. DO: Formulate a list of your interests, your dreams, and what you do to earn money. This is how youre going to come up with something you feel good about saying.   Make a list of words and phrases to mold into your elevator speech. I spent a lot of time on this exercise so Ill walk you through my example: Words: health and fitness, writer, coach, consultant, trainer, fithealthyandbeautiful.com, writing a book, want to open a studio, work with really busy women, teach them how to take better care of themselves. End Product: What do you do Liz? Well, you can find me at fithealthyandbeautiful.com and I write for several womens online magazines as well.   Ill be opening a boutique health and fitness studio in NYC late in 2011 and Im building a platform for my first book. And here Ive been telling people Im a personal trainer, or a health and fitness coach, depending on whatever came flying out of my mouth at that moment.   See how much better that was? 4. DO NOT: for a second think that people care about the minutiae of what you do (unless of course, they ask).   There is nothing worse, than having to feign interest in someones long-winded, energy sucking description of their job.   People care about the end result of your work, not particularly how you get from Point A to Point B.   So go ahead and leave those details out. 5.   DO:use your own vernacular. Please when youre coming up with your new fabulous answer to What do you do? say it however youd say it to your closest girlfriends or your family.   Theres no need to put on heirs, and like Leslie said, be super professional.   Real people who do not apologize who they are make the most connections in this life.   Its super refreshing on a planet where so many people are trying to shove themselves into molds that arent made for them. Work on these tips, grab a notepad, write down your words and formulate your amazing description.   I guarantee you will feel less intimidated and nervous, and that pit in your stomach will be slightly smaller when you enter the room, knowing you have this little gem in your back pocket. Stay tuned for my next post on following up(I mean it this time!) and please feel free to share your comments and introductions with us!

12 days of Careers Christmas University of Manchester Careers Blog

12 days of Careers Christmas University of Manchester Careers Blog Here at the Careers Service the decorations are up and we are  preparing for the Christmas vacation. Although Christmas is a great time to kick back and relax there are loads of careers related activities you can do to give yourself an edge in the labour market as we head into the New Year. Network â€" Christmas parties and family get together are a great time to find new contacts. Who knew that your cousin’s fiancée was able to give you so many useful tips on   applying to their organisation! Volunteer During the festive period there are lots of opportunities to volunteer. From working in a soup kitchen to helping out at children’s holiday playgroups there are lots of ways to get useful work experience on your CV. Check out the Volunteering opportunities listed on Careerslink or for more national opportunities see websites such as Do-It.org or TimeBank. Apply for Graduate Schemes â€" Most offices will be staffed between Christmas and New Year, in fact a lot of graduate schemes have closing dates at the end of December or beginning of January.  Get into the habit of working between bank holidays, if you start a grad scheme you might be working this time next year! Check out our list of major grad scheme closing dates to see which deadlines are around the festive period. Use your new diary â€" Every year I get a diary and promise myself I’ll use it   but by the middle of January I’ve usually given up! Don’t let that be you. Keep track of application deadlines, interviews and assessment centres to keep your careers life organised. Raise your commercial awareness â€" Most publications will do some kind of review of the year around this time. Read the ones related to the sector you are interested in, you’ll gain commercial awareness you might need to draw on during interviews.  Starting Point Series â€" If you have finished your new novel by Boxing Day why not try these Careers Service bestsellers? Practice psychometric tests These tests are becoming more common with a range of employers. With all those chocolates to eat exercise seems pointless but you could exercise your brain with these resources! Join LinkedIn So you’ve been putting it off for a while but there really are benefits to joining LinkedIn.   Need to get away from the hustle and bustle downstairs? Why not spend an hour creating the perfect profile? Join Professional Associations â€" Hopefully my previous blog post has got a lot of you thinking about joining a relevant association. If you couldn’t find anything in the sales why not spend the money on joining? It may be to most useful thing you buy all year. Develop your self-awareness â€" Start the New Year with a new, more self-aware you! Using tools such as Careers KickStart and Prospects Planner will help you become more aware of the types of jobs which might suit you as well as helping you to create an action plan for the year ahead. Have a facebook clear out  Over Christmas you can guarantee someone will get the camera out and that these pictures will turn up on your facebook.   When you’re checking out which pictures you’ve been ‘tagged’ in think about what these pictures, and others on your account might look to employers and remove any you think might be inappropriate. Most importantly have a merry Christmas and a happy New Year from the graduate blog team! All Graduate Getting started

Writing a Resume For Middle School Students

Writing a Resume For Middle School StudentsWriting a resume for middle school students can be hard if you are not prepared. Some are so careful about everything that they need to know that they neglect to mention that they did not go to any college. They just try to fit everything into their head and forget to include the important things.One important thing to get on your resume is a high school diploma. It will give you more freedom when you start college, because you know where you stand. If you have a high school diploma, you will have a much better chance of getting into colleges that you want to attend.As you start looking at colleges you should have a list of colleges you would like to go to. You can make a list of colleges based on what your personality is. This means that if you are more of an extrovert, then you might want to focus on getting an engineering degree. Or if you are introverted you might want to concentrate on getting a psychology degree.You should also have a list of colleges that will accept you based on what your GPA is at each grade level. There are two types of grades: A's and B's. Students are usually separated by grades of A's and B's. This is because a C is a C.When you are writing a resume for middle school students, remember that you are writing the same thing as college students do. They write their own resumes and they include all the information that is needed for colleges to notice them.With a curriculum vitae you need to have a professional look. If you are not trying to get into college then this will not be important but if you are it will help you.Students have really busy lives, so they need to be able to stay organized. It is easy to lose track of the information that you need to write down for the curriculum vitae. Keeping all the data in a digital organizer will help you keep track of everything.These are some tips that you can use when you are writing a curriculum vitae for middle school students. It is not that har d to write a curriculum vitae but you want to make sure that you have the information that is needed on it.

Motivation Monday Where Do You Find Yours

Motivation Monday Where Do You Find Yours I was searching for a video, quote or post that would jump start my week (and hopefully yours) and I came up empty handed. I thought, reading all the stuff that I do, it would be easy to share something worthy of your attention this morning alas, not true. Just as I was about to give up and started posting this brief paragraph, I realized, the act of just starting somewhere- anywhere- with something- moved me forward. My brain started connecting some dots and voila! Todays motivation is about taking action without knowing where you are going. We all get stuck. You and me! Ive been stuck for over a year. Fear, doubt, uncertainty.   These emotions have held me back and Ive seen them hold back other job seekers too. Shit or get off the pot Youve got to love this! It says so much. Take action and stop stalling. You say you dont know how to get started Will you find a job hiding in your house Will you suddenly discover your dream job Are you meeting new people every day Learn something new Tap into the wide-eyed wonder of your youth Remember, job search is a journey, not a destination You wont be the best you can be unless you take action, today- this week, right now! Did you click on any of the links for more information, advice and tips? What are you waiting for? Go back on click! Or, if you would prefer to leave a comment, go ahead, do that!

Obituary - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Obituary - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog One of the exercises we did at the DSN course I took last weekend, was to write our own obituaries. This sounds kinda morbid, but the point is to realize that one day youll die, and thus be able to focus more on whats really important to you. So heres what Id like my obit to be. Alexander Kjerulf died last week at the age of 97 in a tragic motorcycle accident. He will be sorely missed by his family, his girlfriend Patricia, his children and grandchildren and by all who knew him well. Throughout his life, Alexander was known for his generosity, his positive outlook and his willingness to share. People around him knew: If you needed a good idea, advice, a shoulder to cry on or a helping hand, Alexander would be glad for the chance to help. His goal in life was to leave the world a better place, and noone can deny that he has contributed to this. He was never afraid of trying something new, and never backed away from a challenge. You could see that he was a happy man, and that happiness spread to the people around him. Somehow, that happiness reamins, even now that he is gone. Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related