Employers: Here’s How to Attract Top Talent

According to the latest “Employment Situation” release from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate is down to 3.8 percent. This means that there are fewer available candidates for each job opening, thus putting the power into the hands of the job seeker. As an employer, this makes it challenging to attract top talent, since many of the most competitive candidates are already employed.

Most companies will prefer to hire top talent, as according to the Harvard Business Review, a high performer is estimated to have a 400 percent higher productivity level than the average performer. Additionally, hiring average talent just to fill open jobs can be costly for a company. It has been said that the cost of replacing a departed employee is their salary plus half. For example, if a salaried employee making $40,000 per year left, it would cost approximately $60,000 to replace him or her. Because of this, employers must attract (and retain) top talent.

To attract top talent companies must have a “robust people strategy, an innovative and well-structured recruiting program, a strong value proposition and employer brand,” according to recruitment media company Nexxt. There are four ways that employers can do this:

Evaluate Your Current Talent Pool

To figure out where you want to go, you must look where you have been. Take a look at your current employees and assess their strengths and weaknesses. You can use a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis to make this process easier.

When evaluating your current staff, you will figure out a framework of an ideal candidate. Additionally, you can determine areas that need improvement and create a training program to help your employees continue to develop in their careers.

Learn from Competitors

You should always be monitoring your competitors to stay ahead of the game. By conducting research on how they are attracting top talent, you can alter your hiring strategies to do something similar. Not only do you get to learn what the competition is doing, but you can develop your employer value proposition, according to the team at Nexxt.

Reaching Your Target Market

Knowing your target market is one of the first things you must do when creating a business. Once you have realized who this market is, you must figure out how to reach them. In today’s constantly-connected society, if your company does not have a digital strategy, it will likely fall behind. As it has been said, “adapt, or die,” and reaching your target market is no different.

You must create compelling content that will resonate with your audience. Do some in-house research and ask employees what they like and do not like about your current website/content. Then ask them what they like about other sites that they frequent the most. You can take this research to revamp your content strategy and stay up-to-date with society’s rapid changes.

Appeal to the Needs of Top Talent

Once you’ve attracted top talent, how do you get them to stay? Research shows that today’s employees are valuing flexible work environments more than they did in the past. Being able to maintain a healthy work-life balance has become increasingly valuable for employees in many industries. In order to figure out what your employees value, conduct a survey.

If your company has outdated protocols surrounding vacation time, etc. chances are employees will eventually lack the motivation to continue working for you. Additionally, top performers are usually career-focused and enjoy opportunities to continue developing their careers. Offering professional development opportunities is a way to not only attract, but also retain top talent.

Wrap Up

Companies everywhere strive to attract the most talented workers to their staff. With today’s candidate-favored job market, figuring out how to stand out from the competition to hire these top candidates has become fairly difficult. Not only do companies have to figure out how to attract top talent, but also how to retain these employees. By using these four tips, you can change your hiring strategy to attract top talent in this candidate-friendly job market.

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Where Are The Candidates?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ “Employment Situation – December 2018,” the national unemployment rate is 3.9 percent. While this is great for the nation, it makes hiring increasingly difficult for employers. If you’re an employer and have found it difficult to fill your open positions, one way to make the process easier is enlisting the help of recruiters.

The current job market is in favor of the job seeker. Given the low rate of unemployment, candidates can pick and choose what jobs to apply to, as many are currently already employed and just casually looking for new opportunities. Because of this, hiring can be seen as an uphill battle and a burden for many human resources departments. To put this in perspective, let’s take a look at some of today’s hiring statistics:

  • 42 percent of employers are worried they won’t be able to find the talent they need.
  • 86 percent of the most qualified candidates for your open positions are already employed and not actively seeking a new job.
  • 26 percent of candidates feel the hiring process takes too long, and;
  • 46 percent feel their time is disrespected during an interview.

By enlisting the help of recruiters, human resources professionals can focus on other responsibilities that the company requires. Since the job of recruiters is to find and place top talent in open roles, they can focus all their efforts on the hiring needs of their corporate clients and alleviate their stress in addition to speeding up the interview process for their candidates.

According to our very own Chris Bancsi, NexGoal’s VP of Sales and Recruiting:

“With the unemployment rate so low, employers are hurriedly getting offers out to candidates and counter-offers to current employers who have accepted other positions. In this job market, potential employees need to be identified, interviewed and extended competitive employment offers at an expedited pace. Employers don’t have weeks to make a decision, they have days. It has become a ‘if you snooze, you lose’ mentality.”

At NexGoal, we work with corporate clients of various sizes. Big companies may struggle with their hiring practices just as small-to-medium size companies do. Although the reasons for these struggles may vary, companies of all sizes rely on recruiters to find quality candidates for their open positions.

When the competition for open positions is so fierce, recruiters can do three things to help employers with their hiring needs, according to Inc.com.

Think Globally, Recruit Globally

Although not every company is willing to hire international talent, especially smaller companies, this tip can be broken down to a smaller scale. For example, if your company is in Chicago and the local candidate pool is dwindling, recruiters can search elsewhere for the best candidate.

Larger companies with higher budgets might be more willing to expand their search for talented candidates. When this is the case, recruiters can tap into the international candidate pool to fill these open positions. Not only will the client get a great candidate, but they can also improve diversity of thought, experience and culture within the company.

In the Cleveland area, hiring globally is a hot topic. The primary focus from a technology perspective is trying to keep local talent in the area

Pony Up More Perks Rather Than Pay

Employees look for new jobs for a variety of reasons: higher salaries, better benefits and shorter commute to name a couple. When putting in a two-weeks’ notice, it is common for employers to counter-offer whatever a new company is offering their employee. However, one of the most underrated workplace perks is a work-life balance.

While 68 percent of candidates still consider compensation (salary + insurance benefits) as the main factor when weighing their opportunities, additional benefits are becoming increasingly popular. These include: flexible schedules, work-from-home options and professional development opportunities. Employers don’t want to take the time to interview a candidate just to find out that the salary and benefits expectations and actual offerings aren’t aligned. Candidates echo this sentiment, with 46 percent feeling that their time is “disrespected” during an interview. By working with a recruiter, candidates can be pre-screened before being sent to the client. This means that only qualified candidates with expectations in line with the employer will be sent over to be interviewed, thus limiting the waste of time.

Be Willing to Teach New Skills

These days, candidates are more career-driven than previous generations. While Millennials tend to get a bad rap, they are the largest segment in the work force. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this generation will make up 50 percent of the US workforce in the next two years. That number will grow to 75 percent by 2030. As a result, employers need to be willing to teach new skills. Candidates in this generation will seek opportunities that offer career development opportunities (seminars, conferences, webinars, lunch and learns, etc.).

If your company provides career development strategies for its employees, communicate this with the recruiter. He or she will be able to paint a picture of your company and pitch it to potential candidates to pique their interest and excitement before you ever meet them.

Wrap Up

The record-low unemployment rate is a great thing for today’s society. More people have jobs so they’re able to provide for their families and make a decent living. However, considering how many people have jobs, employers are struggling to woo candidates to work for them when they already have a steady job that they are comfortable in.

If you’re an employer struggling to meet your hiring expectations, it is time to consider working with a third-party recruiter. Not only do these individuals understand the struggles of hiring during low unemployment, but they take the burden of the hiring process off the shoulders of the company. As Bancsi put it, “Companies need to factor in the cost of vacancy and ask themselves, ‘How much money are we losing with no one in this position? What services are we not being able to provide without this employee?’ NexGoal and companies like us can devote multiple resources to each position in order to get a rapid turnaround time at mitigate losses endured by vacancy.”

Ready to enlist the help of a recruiter and learn more about NexGoal? Schedule a call with Chris today!

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The Benefits Of Working With A Recruiter To Find Your First Job

Growing up, people around you always stress the importance of going to school and getting good grades so you can get a good job. As you progress through school (college or even graduate school) and get closer to the “real world,” the anxiety surrounding the job search slowly starts to creep in. Finding that coveted first job doesn’t need to be such an arduous process! Thanks to the efforts of recruiters, finding a job, whether it is your first or just a change of scenery, can be made easier.

Working with a recruiter can be intimidating for both rookie and job veteran job seekers alike. Although there are a variety of resources available, there remains a lot of unknowns about the process. At NexGoal, we specialize in placing former athletes and job seekers with the athlete mindset in new careers nationwide. Our recruiting team works tirelessly to take the stress out of the job search and help you find your first or next job.

We asked our recruiting team for some advice they would give to job seekers of all experience levels and how they can aid your job search. Here are some of their responses:

“One misconception I come across is candidates think they have to pay to work with a recruiter. That is not the case with NexGoal.”

“Recruiters take the stress of job searches off recent grads by matching them up with interested clients and making sure we help them through the steps of the interview process.”

“Some companies only use recruiters for filling open positions, which means candidates wouldn’t even know the position exists without working with the recruiter.”

“We help them [job seekers] gain confidence in interviewing and make them fully aware of employer expectations.”

“Recruiters can provide valuable information about the company including interview prep, company background, etc.”

“We are another resource to get job seekers the best chance at receiving a job offer as soon as possible.”

Our recruiting team is not alone in recognizing the benefits of working with a recruiter. In an article for TheMuse, Erin Doyon, a Talent Acquisition Consultant at Philips, shared some ways to leverage a relationship with a recruiter when trying to land your first job.

Optimize Your Resume And Cover Letter

Your first impression to employers comes in the form of your resume, so it is crucial to make sure that it stands out in a positive way. Many employers use an applicant tracking system to weed out job seekers that fit their mold. An ATS identifies candidates whose resumes fall into certain parameters, often using keywords that they are looking for. A recruiter can help you tailor your resume to best stand out to employers. If you want a head start on this process, Doyon recommends using a tool like Jobscan to optimize your resume and cover letter with the right keywords based on the job description you’re applying for. When tailoring your resume, make sure you include these five essentials but eliminate these overused phrases!

Communicate Your Interests And Goals

What is it that you want to accomplish in your career? What kind of jobs are you looking for in order to meet that expectation? It is important to ask yourself these questions prior to not only applying to jobs but also working with a recruiter. If you can’t figure out what you want to do, chances are a recruiter won’t be able to help you.

One way you can get an idea of what you want to do is through informational interviews. Not only can these help you figure out your career goals, but informational interviews are also a great way to build your network. In doing so, a recruiter can essentially play “matchmaker” for you and connect you to people in your industry of choice.

Make It Easy For Recruiters To Advocate For You

A recruiter’s job is to essentially sell the best, most qualified candidates to various hiring managers. To help them do their job correctly, help them help you. In your discussions with a recruiter, be forthcoming and honest with information. If you aren’t interested in a certain job, tell them as such. Ghosting is becoming more and more popular in the hiring process and is one of the top frustrations for recruiters and human resources professionals alike.

The more information you give a recruiter, the easier it is for them to advocate for you throughout the hiring process. Doyon recommends “humble assertiveness,” and says, “Be willing to do anything, especially because the stereotype of the millennial is that they’re too good for some entry-level jobs. This dream job you want comes from dedication and enthusiasm. If you really want a job, express that to a recruiter. On the other end of the coin, if you aren’t interested in the opportunity, you should express that as well. This is information the recruiter needs to know in order to best portray you to the employer.

One of the easiest ways to stand out to both employers and recruiters is to be diligent in your follow-ups after a conversation. Chances are most people don’t think to follow up with a recruiter, but are more focused on impressing the employer with a follow up. In doing so with a recruiter, you are continuing to make it easier for them to advocate on your behalf.

Wrap Up

Recruiters can take a lot of the stress and anxiety out of your job search, but it all starts with being open and accepting of their help. There are things you can do to make their job easier, which in turn, will also improve your chances of landing a job. If you’re a recent college grad looking for your first job and haven’t considered enlisting a recruiter’s help, now you know some things to consider when creating a relationship with one!

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3 Reasons Why NexGoal is Your Choice for Recruiting

The word “recruiter” has earned a negative connotation as the years have gone in the hiring community. Job seekers seem to be turned off when they find out the job they want to apply for is through a recruiter, and hiring professionals hit delete on emails when recruiters reach out to them with a potential candidate for their jobs.

Just like in any business, there are good and bad sides of those who are in it. However when it comes to recruiting, it seems like you only hear the negative experiences. What you may not know, is that there are recruiting companies out there who actually care about aligning their candidates with a job or career that is a good fit for them—and not just earning their next commission check.

Part of that last sentence is the key to this article. “There are recruiting companies out there who actually care about aligning their candidates with a job or career that is a good fit for them.”

We have all dealt with the recruiting companies who seemingly leave message after message on the phones of job seekers, or send unqualified candidates to companies and waste the hiring manager’s time. That is the opposite of the approach here at NexGoal—and one of the reasons why I left the B2B medical realm to embark on my endeavor with the team here.

No, I am not a recruiter. In fact, I am the person who sends you the fantastic emails, schedules those informative social posts and writes the majority of the content for the NexGoal website. However, NexGoal’s senior management team was very thorough with me throughout the interview process—which is one of the many reasons why I joined the team here.

In fact, in an interview with NexGoal COO Brad Mullins, he outlined three very important reasons why hiring professionals should be using recruiters like NexGoal.

Dedication to Finding the Right Candidates

One of the first questions I asked Mullins was, “Why should a company work with a recruiting company to fill their open positions.” I felt this was a good place to start, because like many job seekers I usually went around the recruiters and directly to the company—it just seemed easier. However, his response made me think I could have been doing it all wrong.

Mullins stated, “NexGoal dedicates resources and time to finding the right candidates. Our unique model of working with former college and professional athletes brings ‘A’ talent candidates to fill a variety of positions. Our staff consists of former athletes that have been highly trained in identifying the right candidates. Our thorough screening process associated with the attributes of a former athletes identifies outstanding candidates.”

There is a lot of information about the NexGoal process in that quote, but the main thing that stood out to me was that the good recruiters take the time to vet a candidate before even sending them to a hiring manager they are working with. If I owned a business and was focusing on growing it and expanding my reach in whatever market I was in, I would not want to waste my time sifting through resumes and cover letters—I would want someone to know my culture and present me with the top candidates to fit that culture—and that is exactly what NexGoal does for their clients.

Need More Information on NexGoal? Here’s Some Testimonials From Our Clients!

How to Identify These Candidates

Most people think recruiting is just a game of sending out open jobs to major job boards, getting people to fill out applications and forwarding them over to clients. But that could not be further from the truth—I have witnessed this first-hand. So it made me ask Mullins, “How does NexGoal identify candidates for open positions?”

“We ultimately seek passive candidates,” said Mullins. “This means they are already employed and have expressed an interest in speaking with the recruiter. We don’t just rely on job boards to fill positions. Our unique database and network of former college and professional athletes allows us to reach the hard to find candidates.”

The NexGoal approach makes sense because it is exactly how they attracted me. So when you are wondering if a company uses the same model they preach to potential clients, I can answer that question with a firm yes.

Candidate Recruiting

Recruiting is all about finding that candidate that stands out from the crowd.

What Happens if a Candidate Does Not Work Out

This is one of the biggest questions you see out there in terms of concerns from companies who use recruiters. So I acted as the client and asked Mullins, “What happens if the candidate NexGoal places with my company does not work out?”

Mullins responded, “NexGoal recognizes the cost associated with making a ‘bad hire.’ We are very confident in identifying and sourcing the right talent in our unique niche in recruiting. Our contract states that NexGoal will replace the candidate at ‘no cost” to the employer. The guarantee is based on contract terms and can range from 60 to 180 days from the start date based on fees.”

First off, kudos to Mullins for calling out the cost associated with making a bad hire. It was something our content team really focused on a few weeks ago, because the numbers were staggering. If you did not receive that email, or maybe it got lost in the 100s of emails you get per day, let me break it down for you really quick.

• 50% of hiring professionals have felt a negative impact on their company from poor fits
• 27% of those hiring professionals reported the cost of ONE bad hire being more than $50,000

As you can see, bad hires cost your company valuable time and money—but NexGoal is guaranteeing their work during the time period that was mentioned above. To me, that is a game-changer when it comes to making a hire, because if something goes wrong with the candidate that is placed, NexGoal will do the work to make sure the position is again filled with a highly-qualified candidate.

At the end of the day, NexGoal’s model and approach to recruiting stands out from all of the recruiters I have dealt with in my professional life. If you are a company that values not wasting your precious time on hiring the wrong candidates, wants to attract highly-qualified candidates into your organization and understands the value former athletes can add to your team—then you need to set up a meeting with Brad Mullins and the NexGoal team to see what they offer for yourself.

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3 Recruiting and Hiring Mistakes Your Company is Making

Steve Jobs once said that a small team of A+ players can run circles around a giant team of B and C players. The majority of companies would tend to agree with Jobs’ observation but many struggle to attract the A+ players.

To find these A+ players takes an effective and efficient recruiting strategy that exceeds industry standards. Businesses must lose the mindset that it is solely up to the candidate to impress them and not the other way around.

Perhaps the best place to begin when revamping a recruiting strategy is to first identify mistakes that might be discouraging A+ candidates from applying. Here are three common mistakes our team has identified that companies make time and time again that severely hurt their chances of recruiting the cream of the crop.

Communication

This is probably the biggest area where businesses fail in recruiting. The reason for this failure can be traced to the fact that there are a lot of moving parts in the communication between a candidate and hiring authority.

The first two areas that companies should look at when evaluating how well they are communicating with candidates are job descriptions and company description. Candidates value clarity when they are about to take a new job. The less questions they have about the job and company when they are about to make a decision the better. Whether it is online or during the interview, the company’s vision and purpose should be clearly defined and it should be easy for the candidate to see how the job they applied for fits into that vision.

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Once a candidate understands how the job fits into a business’s vision, it’s important to communicate how the candidate can fulfill the role. If a candidate isn’t quite clear how their skills are relevant or applicable to a position, it’s very likely they will continue to search for other opportunities.

Effective communication is just as important post interviews. Candidates want to know where they stand in the process and how much longer they have to wait for a decision. They also may have lingering questions they may want answered post interview, and it should be someone’s duty to follow-up on those questions in a timely fashion.

Timeliness  

Being timely can be a tricky balance for companies when it comes to making a hiring decision. Certainly, companies want to take time to properly weigh all candidate options. But if they take too much time, companies risk losing the candidate’s interest and allow rival companies to recruit them.

When recruiting elite candidates there is no time waste. It is fair to assume that multiple companies will be recruiting the very best candidates. Showing speed in the recruiting process sends a strong message to a candidate that they are wanted.

To strike an even balance between thorough evaluation and speed, companies should impose deadlines on when a position needs to be filled. It should be fairly easy to set a timetable for hiring, as hiring managers can simply examine how long it took before to fill the same or similar position. Setting a deadline is a great way to prevent overthinking and gives candidates a time frame for how long the hiring process will be.

As mentioned in the previous section, being timely is also important when communicating with candidates. Any questions should be answered within 24 hours of them being asked. Humans by nature can be very impatient, so the quicker you can put their mind at ease the better.

Transparency

The very best candidates will know everything there is to know about a company. They will be just as aware of a company’s strengths as they are the weaknesses. Hiring managers who try to hide weaknesses or problems the company has will only isolate top candidates and raise doubts in their mind.

Honesty can go a long way in the recruiting game.

If there is something unflattering that is being said about a company, hiring managers should be straightforward about the issue. Bringing this up before a candidate does shows that the company has nothing to hide and is proactive in confronting the issue.

Transparency is also important when describing the position to a candidate. It does not look good when a candidate shows up the first day on the job and they are handed responsibilities that were never mentioned in the hiring process. Chances are that person will not last long with the company, which could create a glaring turnover problem for a business.

Hiring authorities need to be able to clearly explain job duties throughout all parts of the hiring process. The position should first be clearly explained on the application and then during the interview.

A very helpful way to paint a clear picture of job duties is to have the candidate talk to someone that works in the same or similar position that the candidate is applying for within the company. This person should have a substantial amount of experience in the position and should be able to clearly explain the position and answer any questions.

If your company is already avoiding these three mistakes, that is a great way to ensure you are attracting top talent to your open positions. If not, the team here at NexGoal has plenty of tips and proven knowledge on the recruiting and hiring process–and we are only one click away.

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