Benefits of Video Interviewing

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The interview process is changing rapidly. We’ve learned more in the last few years about interviewing effectively than we knew in the decades before then, and candidate expectations have also evolved. As more and more companies start to adapt, even more will be pushed towards new, more innovative interviewing strategies in order to find the best talent.

Technology Changing Interviews

Savvy companies learn to adapt to changing technology and a changing recruitment environment. One way you can see this change is with video interviews, which are becoming much more common and are now an innovative product of Employment Office.

Video interviews can be either a one-way or two-way process.

The one-way video interview is a hybrid of the phone interview and the candidate application. They take place using some type of video technology, like Skype, Google Hangout, or one of the many video interview technologies in the market that have been built specifically for recruitment. The one-way video interview allows further insight into the candidate application, but is a static tool that captures pre-determined information only.

Employment Office has developed a two-way video interview technology that is unique in the recruitment marketplace. The two-way video interview is a sophisticated tool administered and conducted by a recruitment expert, thus allowing a very thorough and professional in-sight into a candidate that overcomes the limitation of location.

Advantages of Video Interviews

Video interviews have several advantages for modern companies. A small sample of these benefits include:

  • Accuracy – Allows the recruitment expert to fully assess, clarify and probe into a candidate’s responses, which is significantly more accurate than a one way video application. The hiring manager gets to view a live interview conducted by a recruitment expert without having to be in the room.
  • Positive Employer Branding – Video interviews provide a professional and sophisticated process for a candidate to engage with a potential employer, which could be the competitive edge they need to secure the best talent.
  • Easy Scheduling – Video interviews tend to be easier to schedule and are not affected by distance or transportation. They’re also one of the only affordable ways to interview national and international candidates.
  • Personal – Video interviews are far more personal than traditional telephone interviews, and allow for more feedback and data on the candidate. They allow the recruitment expert to fully engage with the candidate, thus gathering a better understanding of their motivation and background whilst building a strong relationship.
  • Efficient – It’s difficult to bring candidates in and out of the company quickly. Video interviews allow you to interview multiple candidates while minimising travel time and concerns around availability and scheduling. Our video interviews can also be viewed at any time.
  • Revealing – Adding a visual element into this stage of the interview process allows the recruitment expert to assess non-verbal communication skills, professional presentation and to ensure a thorough understanding of what is being communicated. Video interviews create a more complete picture that provide you with a more revealing look at potential candidates.
  • Shareable – Video interviews, especially those recorded by Employment Office, can also be saved, shared, and re-viewed so that you can make sure you missed nothing about the candidate. This can also create consistency in the recruitment process when multiple hiring managers or decision makers, such as Board members, are involved in the process.

Video interviews are also easier to do now that most laptops are equipped with their own cameras, and the technology has improved so dramatically that some of the traditional pitfalls of video interviews (like a freezing screen or troublesome sound) are near obsolete.

Video interviewing is quickly becoming a popular strategy among recruiters, and those that want to stay ahead of the curve should consider video interview strategies as part of their recruitment process. If you’d like to learn more about the video interview shortlisting services from Employment Office, contact us today.

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Use Video Interviews in your next Recruitment Campaign

Employment Office is proud to offer a new service to companies looking to gain a competitive advantage through the use of modern technology. We are now offering a first in class recorded

Recruitment Campaign

product – a style of shortlisting that has proven to be more effective for screening applicants, and a great choice for your business.

Read more about our Video Interview Product here

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What To Do When You Have More Than One Great Applicant

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By the time you’re interviewing applicants, you have shortlisted your applicant pool down to the people that look the most qualified. That means that you have created a smaller pool of very talented individuals, and are simply looking for the one that is the best fit.

The idea that only one applicant can fit inside your organization, however, is a myth. It’s quite possible that there are several great applicants, each of whom represents a phenomenal talent that your company may need. This represents a good, but by no means simple problem: What are you supposed to do when you have multiple qualified applicants?

How to Handle Several Excellent Applicants

  • Create a Position for Them – If an applicant is qualified for your business, they’re qualified for a competitor as well. Remember that there are no rules about how many people you can hire. You can create an identical position, or even create a new position just to keep them within the organization. Any solution that both keeps them in the company and not working for a competitor is a good solution, provided your company can use their services and afford it.
  • Put Them in An Applicant Tracking System – So you can’t hire them now. But you may be able to hire them later. Let them know that you someday want to add them to the company but you do not have the space, and you would like to put them in an applicant tracking system, like SCOUT, in order to hire them if/when a position opens. Then make sure they are first to be considered for nearly every role.
  • Outsource Work to Them – An intriguing way to keep them in the organization is to have them work as contractors or consultants. This will send them work, but you’ll be under no obligation to hire them, and then should the person you hire not work out or a position opens in the future, they’ll have a direct line into your organization. In this increasingly digital world, this idea can be very beneficial.

Having more than one great applicant is a problem every company wishes they had. But it’s still a problem, because if you hire only one you may be turning away someone that could have been a great contributor to your company. Make sure you explore ways to either bring them into your company or to keep them connected to your company in some way, and you’ll be able to keep your organization flush with talent for years to come.

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Webinar: How to Choose the Right Applicant

When: Thursday March 26th 2015 Time: 12:00 PM – 12:45 PM AEST (Brisbane)
Join Samantha Gellis, Recruitment and Shortlisting Specialist for this practical and insightful webinar in which our Recruitment expert will share her experiences in candidate assessment and give practical guidance and tips on the effective assessment of candidates.

[button link=”http://employmentoffice.com.au/free-stuff/upcoming-webinars/webinar-how-to-choose-the-right-applicant/” size=”medium” target=”_self”  icon=”arrow-right” color=”alternative-3″ lightbox=”false”]Join the webinar (It’s free)[/button]
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For more tips on recruitment marketing and employer branding, you can contact us at info@employmentoffice.com or visit out website at www.employmentoffice.com.au.

What Sets Your Job Advertisement Apart?

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When it comes to recruitment, your job advertisement is essentially all you have. While some potential employees may find you through networking and recommendations, most are going to find you through our job ad, and that’s why it’s so important to make sure you’ve created a job ad that is going to attract them.

But most employers see the job advertisement as a nuisance. They tend to do one of the following:

  • Cut and paste information from someone else’s job ad.
  • Create a job ad in list form with everything you need and no other information. 
  • Design a fast job ad to get it up right away.

You may be able to find a good employee if you post a sloppy or hastily thrown together job advertisement. But what you need to ask yourself is: why would someone choose to apply to your job over someone else’s? What is it that makes you special?

You’re Not Naturally Special

Most companies will answer something about their products or their potential. They’ll talk about their name in the industry, or something about why they are expecting growth. But to a potential employee that means absolutely nothing. You’re a name on a paper. They want to know what will make them happy, and what makes you different from other employers.

You have to figure out what sets your job advertisement apart and is going to attract more top talent to you than to any other company. You can do that by:

  • Offering Better Benefits – Giving employees better benefits, perks, and pay, and writing all of that information on the job advertisement is one basic way to set your job ad apart. Applicants that know that they’re going to receive amazing things if they apply to you are going to prefer your job over a company that advertises or offers almost nothing.
  • Engaging Writing – Writing a boring job ad will get you boring people. Writing an engaging job ad will get you the best people. Talk about all of the great things about your company and its products. Be positive. Make people want to learn more about you. This strategy is not only great for finding talent – it’s also great for branding.
  • Genuine Information – You should also work on giving your job advertisement character and personality. Tell people exactly what they can expect in your workplace. Be honest, but remain positive. If it’s going to be a fast paced place, then share that with people. If it’s going to be fun with a lot of growth potential and casual atmosphere, share that too. Give people information that lets them make a real decision (as long as you remain positive about it all) and you’ll get more applicants.

These are just a few of the ways that you can improve your job advertisement in general. The most important thing to ask, however, is whether or not your job ad is more or less likely to attract applicants than others. If all you have is the same exact style and information, then your advertisement isn’t special, and you will attract the same people as everyone else.

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Webinar: How to Choose the Right Applicant

When: Thursday March 26th 2015 Time: 12:00 PM – 12:45 PM AEST (Brisbane)
Join Samantha Gellis, Recruitment and Shortlisting Specialist for this practical and insightful webinar in which our Recruitment expert will share her experiences in candidate assessment and give practical guidance and tips on the effective assessment of candidates.

[button link=”http://employmentoffice.com.au/free-stuff/upcoming-webinars/webinar-how-to-choose-the-right-applicant/” size=”medium” target=”_self”  icon=”arrow-right” color=”alternative-3″ lightbox=”false”]Join the webinar (It’s free)[/button]

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For more tips on recruitment marketing and employment branding, you may contact us at info@employmentoffice.com or visit our website at www.employmentoffice.com.au.

Is Your Job Advertisement Arrogant?

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Your job advertisement is more than a tool you use to fill an open position. It’s also the first impression of a potential employee with your company. That’s why it’s so important that your job ad says positive things about your company, and unfortunately, many companies write job advertisements in a way that doesn’t make a great first impression, and in some cases can be described as “arrogant.”

What Makes An Arrogant Job Advertisement?

There are several different ways your job advertisement can seem arrogant to the potential applicant. These include:

  • No Idea Who You Are

There are some companies that everyone knows. Google, Intel, and more, are all names that 80% of the country is aware of. But those represent about 0.1% of employers. Most other companies are a complete mystery to job seekers. Yet many job advertisements give no background, because they arrogantly assume that everyone knows their name.

Even though you think your name may be well known in an industry, some of the best talents may have no idea who you are, and you need to make sure that you’re talking about yourself, explaining what you do, and getting people excited about working for your company.

  • Talking Down to Applicants

Many job ads also use language that talks down to the applicant. They may talk about all of the things the applicant “must” have in order to work for you. But they only talk about what the applicant must have, and not what they provide. This is a form of arrogance, because it makes the employee think like they need to be “good enough” to work for their company. You want everyone to feel as though they are good enough, and then you can select the ones you need the most.

  • Extremely Detailed and Complex Job Ad

Similarly, a job advertisement that is extremely long, complicated, and asks the applicant for thousands of different requirements can also be seen as an arrogant ad by the potential applicant. While you may have requirements, the most complicated job ads say to applicants “we are so important that only those with all of these qualifications will be able to work here.” That’s rarely true, and is going to turn off some talent.

How to Make a Less Arrogant Job Ad

Your job ad needs to get people excited about working for you. It needs to talk about what you can do for the employee, how you benefit them, and more about who you are. Above all else, when writing the job ad it needs to emphasize the idea that the employee is seen as valuable, and should be written by those that know how important the employee is to the company. That’s how you’ll be able to write an inviting job ad for potential talent.

For more recruitment and branding tips you may contact us at info@employmentoffice.com.au or visit our website at www.employmentoffice.com.au.

Common Mistakes Companies Make When They Choose Where to Advertise

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As soon as a position opens up in your company you need to try to fill it. Every day that job goes unfilled is a day that you’re not getting the production you need at your business.

Most companies rush to fill the position, advertising at some of the most popular locations in order to attract applicants the fastest. But this rush to advertise can also lead to many mistakes. The following are several mistakes that companies make about where they choose to advertise their job openings.

Mistakes About Job Posting Locations

  • Quantity-Only Locations – The most common mistake is posting to a location only because it gets a lot of candidates, not because it gets the best candidates. Recruitment is not a competition for who can receive the most applicants, but rather whether or not you can find the perfect one for your needs. Quantity locations are good, but focusing only on the places that get the most applicants will cause you to miss out on a lot of better locations.
  • Highly Competitive Ads – Similarly, when you post on these mass job boards, you have to make sure that your ad is even going to be seen. Often you’ll find that your own job ad is pushed to the bottom of the pile in a few hours, and the best applicants may not even see it. It may also be surrounded with similar job openings from companies that sounds like they pay more, which means that great applicants may choose not to apply to your job in favor of the better paying one right above you.
  • Limiting to One Job Board – You also have to make sure you’re not limiting yourself to a single job board, regardless of how much traffic it receives. Even if one job site helps you receive thousands of applicants, your perfect candidate may be browsing some other site and seeing one of your competitor’s placements instead.

What Should You Be Doing?

Ideally, you need to make sure you are advertising open positions in places where your best possible candidates will see them. Look for websites that speak directly to your ideal audience, like specialty job boards and job posting areas of industry relevant websites. Don’t be afraid to take the jobs to applicants on social media, and make sure that if you are posting on the mass job boards, you’re making sure that your posts are going to be seen as desirable by the candidates you want.

Where you advertise is almost as important as how you advertise, because you need to make sure that the right pair of eyes sees your ad and wants to become a part of your organization.

For more tips on recruitment and employer branding you can contact us at info@employmentoffice.com.au or visit our website at www.employmentoffice.com.au.

How Do You Evaluate What Your Company Needs Out of a Position?

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Job ad creation can take a lot of experience, which is why we offer job advertising services here at Employment Office. One of the most common places people make mistakes is figuring out what you truly want out of an employee in the position:

  • What they need to know.
  • What they need to be best at.
  • What they have to be comfortable with.

Often times you can think up a few necessary “skills” or experiences, but in some cases those may be overstated. Does an applicant really need 3 years of experience? Or is it more like 5? Or is it only 1? The qualifications you put on the job advertisement affect who’s applications you receive, and so if you’re putting the wrong qualifications you run the risk of turning off qualified applicants or attracting the wrong kinds of applicants.

How to Decide What Should Go On the Job Ad

So you need to figure out what absolutely must go on the job ad. You need to figure out what should go on there, what should not go on there, and how it matches your ideal candidate. The following are some strategies to figure out this information:

  • Survey Supervisors/Coworkers Independently

One of the simplest strategies is to have everyone that works with that position provide a list of the things they “need” from someone in the job independently, without the influence of the other supervisors/coworkers. Once you have a list, you can figure out what themes there are, what is unique, etc., and then as a group you can all gather and have everyone explain their responses. Together, you can then decide what should go on the application and what should not.

  • Ask the Previous Employee

No one is going to know their position better than the person that was previously working there. You can ask them what they think is necessary from someone that fills in the role. What experience do they think is necessary (if any), what skills should a person have, and what are some of the day to day experiences that they may need to have knowledge of that perhaps are not even on the job description? The previous employee is in the best position to answer this, and in some cases you can learn more about what their job was like for them by their responses.

  • Review Other Job Descriptions

You can also consider reviewing the job advertisements of others in the field. Often these will differ from yours, and you should not treat it as gospel (after all, if you advertise in the same way as everyone else, you will attract only the same people), but the job advertisements of similar jobs can be a great way to identify qualifications that perhaps you hadn’t considered before.

Writing a Great Description

Job advertisements are the key tool used to attract talent, and so what is on the job description can have a significant impact on the types of applicants you receive. Consider the qualifications carefully, and make sure that every single qualification you’re providing relates back to what the ideal candidate will have.

For more tips on recruitment and employer branding you can contact us at info@employmentoffice.com.au or visit our website at www.employmentoffice.com.au.

 

Do Reference Checks Still Matter?

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“References Available Upon Request”

This sentence is placed smack dab at the bottom of almost every resume and CV you’ll collect. Employers like references. Applicants hate asking for them and do not like to bother their friends and coworkers. So what you get is a compromise – the acknowledgement that if you want references, you can have them, but only if you remember to ask.

How Much Do References Matter?

Reference checks have been an important part of the recruitment process for decades. But how much do they really matter? The original purpose of a reference was to get any other information you could about an employee that they didn’t share on their resume. But with the internet, and the legal protections that applicants have preventing negative information, enough information is already online that that’s become less useful. So what are the benefits of reference checks?

Benefits of Reference Checks

Reference checks still can hold a lot of information, and are a great tool for recruiters. Benefits of reference checks include:

  • Verifying Claims – One of the remaining benefits of reference checks is the ability to verify claims that the applicant made on their resume. For example, if an employee claims “I created the company website,” you can talk to a reference and ask “who created the company website?” in an effort to verify the accuracy of that statement. That can be very valuable for those that are hiring someone based on specific experiences or achievements.
  • Showing Preparation – It’s not always the quality of the reference check that matters. Sometimes it’s “did they prepare their references, and are their references prepared to vouch for them?” Applicants that ask their references, prepare the numbers and contact information, let them know you’re calling, etc., are the ones that are going to be better employees, no matter what the references say.
  • Genuine Praise – This can be hard for most people to hear on the phone, but those that are very good at figuring out what is genuine and what is not will often find that genuine praise has a greater impact on their hiring decisions than fake praise. If you call someone’s boss, and they sound like they truly valued that employee, that’s a good sign.

Each of these would not be possible without the benefit of a reference check.

How to Get the Most From Your Reference Checks

Reference checks haven’t lost their value. The problem is that most people do not use reference checks correctly. They ask only a few vague questions and aren’t listening for the intricacies of the answer. Reference checks can be invaluable, as long as you know what to ask and how to manage them correctly.

For your recruitment and branding concerns you can contact Employment Office at info@employmentoffice.com.

Justifying the Cost of Candidate Background Checks

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In 2010, the Chief Executive Officer for ITL, a leading medical technology firm, approached his recently hired Accountant, Sonya Dollman, to discuss a troubling discovery. It had recently come to his attention that Sonya may have falsified information on her resume to obtain the position, namely by omitting her tenure as Payroll Manager with failed whitegoods retailer, Clive Peeters.

While it may come as no surprise that a candidate had falsified information on their application in order to secure employment, the case of Sonya Dollman, known to Clive Peeters as well as the Victorian Supreme Court as Sonya Causer, should send chills down the spine of every hiring manager who has ever on-boarded a candidate without conducting a Criminal Background Check.

During Causer’s two year stint with Clive Peeters, she manipulated the company’s financial accounts in order to embezzle nearly $20,000,000 from the main bank account. The embezzlement began as a way to feed Causer’s Beanie Baby obsession but quickly escalated to larger purchases including 44 different properties, multiple vehicles and jewellery.

Dollman/Causer was hired by ITL while awaiting trial for the embezzlement. She has since pled guilty and will be spending a considerable amount of time in a Victorian correctional centre.

The vast majority of Australian businesses don’t have the capital to survive the loss of nearly 20 million dollars. Clive Peeters certainly didn’t. While the company was able to secure the return of all but 3.3 million dollars, the embezzlement was the final nail in Clive Peeters’ coffin. The business went into voluntary administration in May of 2010, never able to fully recover from the damage inflicted by Causer’s actions. At the time of the fraud’s discovery, Clive Peeters had 1300 employees and 44 stores across Australia.

Upon discovering that Sonya Dollman was indeed Sonya Causer, ITL immediately terminated her employment. Fortunately, the business was able to emerge from the bad hiring decision relatively unscathed. From a financial perspective, Causer didn’t defraud the business or embezzle any money but, from a public relations perspective, ITL’s hiring processes were thrust into the spotlight and widely ridiculed in the Australian public sphere.

The embarrassing public exposure associated with the hiring of Sonya Causer could have been easily avoided with a simple Criminal History Background Check. The organisation would have immediately found discrepancies in Causer’s report and would have been able to move on the next preferred candidate.

Employment Office’s team of Shortlisting Specialist’s recommend background checks are completed before any hiring decision has been made. We offer a wide range of competitively priced Background Checking options including National Police History Checks, Employment Verifications, Professional Qualification Verifications, Bankruptcy Checks, Financial Regulatory Checks and Credit Default Checks.

If you’d like to learn more, please don’t hesitate to contact your Account Manager on 1300 366 573.

5 Reasons You Are Unable to Fill Open Positions

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Recruitment is expensive. Every day you go without a new employee is a day that you are losing money, because that employee’s productivity is suffering and you are still trying to get the employee hired.

Hiring can be difficult. But there are millions of people looking for work and millions more that would be willing to work for you if they thought you’d be a great change of pace. So why is it that you’re not able to hire? The following are five of the most common reasons that your company may not easily hire new people for open roles.

Common Reasons for Hiring Struggles

  1. You Have No Branding
    Your company needs to have some type of “employer brand” – a way that potential applicants see you so that they are attracted to your business. Without that brand, you’re asking applicants to take time to apply to a company they don’t know, for pay and perks that are a mystery to them. Many won’t.
    You’ll want to take time to develop your employer brand. Market yourself online, offer incentives and perks that make you attractive to the applicant (and show you care about them), and create a presence that will attract far more applicants.
  2. You’re Starting From Scratch
    Companies without a hiring process already in place are putting themselves in a worse position for hiring than those that do not. You should make sure that you have a process for hiring. Some companies go out there and attract talent before a position is even opened, so that they’ never have to start from scratch. At the very least, you should have some type of process in place so that you’re not starting from scratch each time.
  3. Your Job Description Isn’t Attractive
    Your job advertisement is extremely important. It’s a form of branding (which we noted earlier is crucial), and it shows applicants who you’re truly looking for. Chances are you’re getting applications but not from the people you want to hire. Maybe the problem is that your application isn’t attracting the right people. Consider changing it to improve the quality of your applicants.
  4. You’re Not Advertising Where Your Employees Are
    Imagine you are hiring for a new employee to move to your office in Sydney, and you want someone local. You would not put your job advertisements on US or Canadian job boards. That would be nonsensical.But it’s not just as simple as location. If you’re looking for executives, you wouldn’t use a job board that appeals to blue collar workers, and vice versa. You need to make sure you’re advertising your job on places that potential employees can see it.
  5. Your Pay Stinks
    Of course, the elephant in the room is compensation. Are you offering benefits? Good money? Perks? Are you valuing the employee correctly? Your ideal employee is going to be highly valued by your competitors. If you’re not paying them their fair share or offering them reason to start working for you, you’re not going to get their application.
    Improve Your Hiring Success

There are countless issues that can stand in the way of finding a great new hire. But there are also plenty of ways you can overcome them. Learn how to target your ideal employee better and prove to them that you’re a great place to work, and you’ll have new people working for your company in no time.

The occupation identity crisis – What’s in a name?

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Remember the days when it was easy to tell a person’s job from their title?  A simple time when the name of a job was clear and uncomplicated, without ambiguity or grandiose descriptions making it virtually impossible to determine what the person actually does?

Some of us can barely remember those days, and it’s no wonder considering how carried away employers are getting with increasingly “creative” job titles.

Window Cleaners are now going by the title of Transparent Wall Maintenance Engineer, while Trolley Pushers are becoming known as Logistical Shopping Cart Technicians.

Whether these titles are supposed to sound more impressive, or simply be memorable and eye-catching, they are causing confusion and bemusement for many.

Employment Office Managing Director Tudor Marsden-Huggins has seen some eyebrow-raising job titles in his recruitment career.  Although some inflated job titles may seem creative and fun, he says it’s important for employers to ensure the title accurately reflects the position, and can be taken seriously by clients and colleagues alike.

“A job title’s primary purpose is to communicate what the employee does and who they do it for.  It needs to make sense and accurately reflect the job’s responsibilities. A title needs to be functional first and foremost, before you think about injecting a little fun, humour or more impressive language,” he said.

Some companies follow a set formula when assigning job titles, but it’s a growing trend to throw the book out the window and grant employees the power to choose their own title, with mixed results.

“There are obvious issues with professionalism if a job title is outrageous or exaggerated.  It can also be overwhelming and confusing to deal with a company where everyone’s job title is ambiguous or humorous. The more complicated the title, the more confusion surrounds the role which could eventually lead to unrealistic expectations from customers, colleagues and even the employee themselves.

“Despite being a nice way to inject some personality into your work, a creative title may not suit every industry or organisation.  Be mindful of your company’s branding and reputation, and make sure you present yourself and your role in a manner consistent with the rest of the organisation.

“If you work in a creative role, there is likely to be more scope for an innovative title, but be mindful of the boundaries,” Marsden-Huggins said.

Often, it can be the CEOs and Managing Directors who are the worst offenders, with some branding themselves as ‘Head Honcho’, ‘Chief Troublemaker’, ‘Head Cheese’ and ‘Innovator-In-Chief’.

Here are some examples of interesting job titles that caught our attention at Employment Office:

  1. Receptionist – Director of First Impressions
  2. Window Cleaner – Transparent-wall maintenance engineer
  3. Nightclub Bouncer – Eviction Technician
  4. Bartender – Beverage Dissemination Officer
  5. Trolley Pusher – Logistical Shopping Cart Technicians
  6. Deputy Manager – Grand Master of Underlings
  7. Counsellor – Problem Wrangler
  8. Call Centre Manager – Chief Chatter
  9. Recruiter – Talent Delivery Specialist