Why are recruitment statistics important? Besides the fact that they keep us informed and help us guide our recruiting efforts, they can be powerful tools to improve.
In this statistics representation, we showed in numbers how easy/ hard it is to fill a position in the year 2018. Do you know what passive job seekers are? The following data will be of much help if you do a little research on how to direct your efforts when searching for talent. And the last item in our figures is related to the number of companies that promotes talent within the organization.
U.S. employers encounter difficulties when they want to fill new job openings. The statistics tell us that 50% of U.S. employers reported that it is taking them longer to fill jobs today compared to any other period of time. This trend in human resource speaks about who has the upper hand when it comes to recruiting.
Job seekers hold the strongest influence on the job market. Some decide to pursue jobs based on long-term personal objectives and others will hop from one job to another based on salary alone. In their search of the best talent, recruiters also need to consider candidates who are not actively searching for a job. According to the statistics, 73% of candidates are passive job seekers.
This turns out to be difficult for recruiters because passive candidates are not looking for new job opportunities since there’s typically a good reason: they are competent workers and they are happy with their current role. Convincing them to hop jobs might be difficult. But there are also more optimistic statistics. For example, 79% of organizations are focusing their efforts towards building and promoting their own talent from within, meanwhile only half are recruiting from the external labor pools. Hiring from within their own organizations comes with numerous benefits for employers because it saves up on time and not to mention money. This is an ideal way for organizations to retain talent and to grow organically.
How many of you are familiar with the term “resume”? This expression was first used in the United States and after that, it took place in the well known Latin expression Curriculum Vitae or CV. In other words, resumes are used to make the best impression on a potential employer. Consider it as an essential tool for marketing yourself. However, it is not just paperwork, it is more than that. It outlines not only your accomplishments but also your skills and your education. It helps others to see how your experiences contribute to a company’s success.
There are so many options to choose from when it comes to how you write your resume – and some of them conflicting. Therefore it could be pretty difficult for you, the job seeker, to decide which one is right. Still, having a rock-solid resume is critical to landing your next job.
We know it can be confusing, so most of you stick to the old traditional layout. It can be a great option! But how can your resume catch the eye of a hiring manager? An executive once said: “HR managers serve on the front lines of a company’s recruitment efforts and are often the gatekeepers of the interview process. Because they can receive a large volume of applications, you may only have a matter of SECONDS to make a lasting impression. “. For that reason, try to make sure that you have already included a career summary at the top, which provides a quick snapshot of your skills and accomplishments. It is your responsibility to make things easier for them. However, should we stick to the old traditional outline? There is nothing wrong with that, but let us give you a few tips before you get started. Having a great standard resume will help you every single time than a mediocre creative one. Here are 10 steps for you to make your resume stand out in the sea of applicants.
1. Be honest. If you are wondering if it would be alright to invent false stories on your resume, we assure you that it would not help you. Maybe in the short term, but you don’t want to take that risk. There’s never a good reason not to be honest when you’re writing it. You will get caught, and that would not make you feel great about it, you would probably get a bad reputation and, of course, not allow you to move forward in the recruiting process. Choosing the truth is important. The 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, once said: “ I know only one method of operation. To be honest with others as I am with myself”. You don’t have to be perfect to make something great. Be confident in your achievements, let the audience see the real you, in time you will gain respect and also inspire others from your team.
2. Don’t make it about yourself. We constantly believe that a resume is all about us, so we focus on showing all of our skills and abilities while we neglect the interests of our readers. According to a leading career advisor, Marc Cenedella, that would be a complete failure. However, he recommended focusing on how your work impacted your previous boss and how it could help your future employer, rather than what it meant to you. He also said: “You want to show your ability to succeed at the kind of job you’re looking for by advertising your past success in the kind of skills required for the job you want.” The plan is to get your foot through the door and not tell your life story. For recent graduates, professional experience can be replaced with memberships at university clubs and other social groups that denote your ability to be a top performer.
3. Write about your experience. This might be the most crucial component of the whole application. When employees are asking for your resume they are actually asking about your job history. The number one rule is to show only the most recent 10-15 years of your career history and also stick with the most relevant experience for the position to which you are applying. Keep it recent and relevant. Avoid listing irrelevant experience. Nonetheless, if you are early in your career, not all your work experience is related to your next job. It is your experience that can tell a story. Whether that is your ability to commit to a job for a long period of time, or simply the knowledge you gained through jobs during school, it’s worth mentioning. While you show off every accomplishment, keep one another thing in mind: do not exaggerate. Readers can spot exaggerations in a second.
4. Focus on relevant keywords. As we all know these days, the job market is tougher and your responsibility is to discover a way to stand out among the competition. To accomplish that, the first step is getting the person who is in front of you to focus on your resume, instead of throwing a lot of “maybes”. It is very important to avoid using empty words such as team player, hard worker, and detail-oriented. Your skills and achievements talk more about you than these words. Also, aim to use proactive action verbs. Some effective verbs are: supplied, developed, created, invented, stream lighting, trained, thoughtful. Furthermore, analyze your job description, see what words are used frequently and put them into your bullet points, and that will help you get noticed by the applicant tracking systems.
5. Careful attention to quality over quantity. Throughout your resume, pinpoint similar responsibilities presented in the job description as much as you can. Check your bullet points and see if there are any useful details for the company. You can also polish certain qualities by focusing on how you present the details. Before adding what, when and where: what roles and duties were performed, for how long did you work there, and where, remember that a large resume tells the audience the same thing. They do not expect that. You must go beyond telling what and start showing how. You can show your audience how you have added value to companies in the past by quantifying your accomplishments. From our perspective finding one highly qualified candidate is far more important than finding two good candidates that could fit the bill. A business author and speaker, Tom Peters, said: “You will be remembered, for the quality of your work, not the quantity of your work. No one evaluates Picasso based on the number of paintings he churned out”. We know that for every employer in the world it is hard to remain productive and engaged. Therefore we encourage you to be passionate and perseverant, it shouldn’t be hard when you are in the right place.
6. The power of bullet points. If you’re someone with a pretty plain career history and path, bullet points are here to the rescue, rather than a type of paragraph. Each bullet point is important, try to focus on your quantifiable achievements, not just on your tasks and responsibilities. It’s essential that your current job is as detailed as possible. As you go back in time, use a limited number of job description bullet points and add only relevant duties and accomplishments. Under no circumstances write about every task you’ve performed. Make each resume bullet point earn its place!
7. Show your personality by writing about your hobbies. Candidates commonly have a section at the bottom of their resume to describe what they like to do in their free time. Every hobby is unique and that is a good option for the employees to see what they have in common. But before rushing to fill it with your part-time hobbies, you can use it to show more about you than tell about what you like to do. Don’t get us wrong, your hobbies are important, but we care more about who you are. If you volunteer or have another important part of your life, sum it up, and say why you were enthusiastic to spend your time on that activity. This section gives you the opportunity to show a better perspective of you as an employee and indirectly describe your personality. While adding personality to your resume shows that you are a person and not just an employee.
8. Add the finishing touches. Is it necessary to include references or not? It’s questionable and not really that important. If a hiring manager deems you to be a great fit for the job, they will ask for them at the right time. Pay attention to your spelling and grammar. Save your resume properly, don’t forget to save it as “Mary Joe Resume” instead of “Resume”. And save it in PDF. It is one less step for the hiring manager to take. We highly recommend getting it reviewed by a professional. Also, we advise you to refresh it on a regular basis. Add any other new responsibilities and new skills, and keep it updated. And even if you’re not trying to find a new job, there are many good reasons to keep this document streamlined. Once a time, do yourself a favor, spend at least 30 minutes and give your resume the finessing it needs. No matter how enthusiastic and involved you are with your current position, always be prepared to take a step forward for a more senior one.
9. The more concise, the better. Your resume length shouldn’t be based only on your experience, you should also include the type of job you are looking for. For entry-level applicants, less is more. You should definitely drive for a one-page resume. When you’re trying to keep things to one page, you should know that only so many things can fit in on your resume. This can also work for most employees transitioning to a new career field. Except for mid-level candidates, with about 5 -10 years of related experience, you might need to write a two-page resume. This allows you the space to mention all relevant information and work history, while still making your resume definable. Being into a department that requires technical skills, your resume should be no longer than two- pages. This space is exactly what you need to include all your technical skills and experiences. As for executives or senior-level managers, they often have an extended list of accomplishments and experiences that they have to include. This is also applicable to people who are practicing science or academia. They will need additional space in their resume if they want to include their licenses, patents or publications. These job seekers cannot write a resume that is one or two pages, they will probably stick to the two or three pages or even longer.
10. Be ready for the interview. Don’t forget to have your application written properly and go get that dream job! And after you get the job, be the person who creates masterpieces. And inspire everyone from your team. Don’t do good things, make good things greater.
We created this piece to provide you all the information you need for writing a resume from scratch or, why not, updating the old one. Don’t forget that the first impression matters most, it says everything about you. The true fact is that the ancient Greeks spent a lot of time thinking and writing about the effects of one personality on another. They broke down the process of communication into three parts, which they called ethos(credibility), pathos(emotional) and logos (logical).
We know job searches can feel overwhelming, regardless of what stage you’re at in your career. Breathe. Take it one step at a time, and make sure you give your resume the right amount of attention.
Sifting through the huge volume of data that the internet provides can be exhausting. This may be especially true if you are not specialized in a certain field, but your job is tangent on different high-tech fields. So here you have curated findings that you can use as practical information for decision-making whether you are an expert from academia, a businessman, a government official or a proud member of the civil society. The following highlights will provide you with deep granularity for the Automotive, Aerospace, Supply Chain & Transport industry.
As companies in this field plan to adopt new technologies as part of their growth strategy, they find themselves wondering what type of technologies should they choose? While trying to implement new technologies another important stumbling block that these companies encounter is the havoc of disruption they bring about.
So here are three aspects tackled for you. They will show you how the Automotive, Aerospace, Supply Chain & Transport industries are affected by new technology adoption, they will indicate the barriers there are to the adoption of new technologies, and they will summarize the impact of new technologies on the workforce.
First, let’s look at the way technology adoption can affect the Automotive, Aerospace, Supply Chain & Transport industry. A huge share of survey respondents from the industry indicated that, by 2022, their company was “likely” or “very likely” (on a 5-point scale) to have adopted new technology as part of its growth strategy.
Secondly, if we look at the barriers to adoption of new technologies, we can see the five biggest perceived barriers to the implementation of new technologies across the industry, as ranked by the share of survey respondents. The following graphic will show you which were the obstacles that were selected by the surveyed people that were perceived as impediments to successful new technology adoption faced by their company.
Thirdly we have the expected impact of new technology adoption on the workforce. In the following graphic, you can see the percentages representing the share of survey respondents from the industry who expect their company to have adopted the stated measure(s) over the 2018–2022 period as part of their current growth strategy.
Technological advancements are very likely to present real challenges to existing business models and practices. But hopefully, in the next years, these dynamic changes, whether they are disruptive or constructive will be the exact reason why new opportunities of growth appear.
A candidate driven recruitment market coupled with negative employer branding can make a recruiter’s job a hassle. If you also throw in the mix the talent shortage, the recruiter’s work becomes quite the challenge. Hurdles that recruiters will face in 2019 are no less challenging than they were before. This being the case, social media strategies and social listening tools, if used correctly, can ease the hiring process overall.
Trends Understanding the statics regarding how the hiring process worked in 2018 is essential in understanding how to handle the challenges coming in the next few years. According to LinkedIn, the latest recruitment trends in the hiring process include diversity, new interviewing tools, data, and not last, artificial intelligence. Recruiting firms that harnessed the powers of these hiring processes had it good in 2018 and firms who want to strive must take notice of these trends.
A key statistical insight regarding diversity is that companies must not discriminate when recruiting. Companies who got on the bandwagon of diversity choose to do it because in their opinion it improved organizational culture (78%). Another statistical point of view is that when traditional points of view fail the most useful interviewing innovations that must kick in are soft skills (59%), job auditions (54%) and meeting in a casual setting (53%). The third major recruiting trend of 2018 was the increased use of data in the context of strategic hiring decisions. The numbers show us that 56% of the surveyed firms used data to increase retention rates. The fourth important HR trend of 2018 was the use of artificial intelligence in the hiring process.
Digital tools and automation Recruitment automation improves the hiring process by making it more error-free. Knowing all this, let’s follow up with some tips the can easily help to hire talented candidates using innovative hiring methods.
The main observation we would like to point out is that recruitment in 2018 has more to do with social media than ever before considering that 67% of employers say social recruitment is vital in finding passive candidates, 66% of social hires weren’t looking for jobs when they were recruited by HR professionals using digital tools, and 63% of hiring managers say they successfully hired with social media.
Here are the top 10 recruiting quotes that inspired us in the day-to-day operations and decision-making processes. We hope you find them useful, whether you are a recruiter or a hiring manager.
1. “People are not assets – they are highly valuable human resources that determine your competitive advantage. ” SourceMatch
Human resources can be the biggest differentiator for businesses in the marketplace, and hence should be a priority. Why? Products, decisions, strategies, brand, values, are all created and managed by people.
With all the challenges of today’s economy, businesses need the right people to address them, to innovate, and push the company forward. By doing that, businesses can develop a significant competitive advantage.
2. “Sourcing and finding people is very important. You can’t recruit, message, or network with someone you haven’t found.” Glen Cathey
As the workforce becomes broader and more diversified, recruiters need to cast a wider net and need sharper tools to find the needle in the haystack. We have to go outside of general recruiting channels that are flooded with very active candidates, and focus on the passive candidates. Most of them are not looking to change jobs and are successful in their current role.
3. “A recruiting company should be viewed as a business partner, someone who is critical to the success of the business.” Mathew Caldwell
You need two hands if you want to clap! The recruiting process should be viewed as a partnership where you get to know each other, you focus on everybody benefiting from it, and create long-term relationships. When that happens, a recruiting partner will boost your ability to reach the best talent faster and will make any cost associated with it easily justifiable.
4. “Trust your recruiters to be your digital warriors. Don’t second guess them.” Celinda Appleby
Recruiters, first of all, listen to your needs. You have to share the context of the role, the job description, the organization’s vision, values, and objectives. That will help them have a holistic view of the candidate that could be a perfect match. Achieving that at the forefront of the recruiting process will set it up for success, and clarify expectations.
5. “The more seriously you take your growth, the more seriously your people will take you.” John Maxwell
Employees are motivated by leaders, and if leaders see beyond the title and job description, so will the employees. If your employees understand your vision, the big picture, and know their part, they will be willing and capable of contributing exponentially to the company’s goals.
6. “Hire for passion and intensity; there is training for everything else.” Nolan Bushnell
What do you need to know about your future employees? Skills and experience are important but should only come second to their attitude. That’s what you need to consider first in the hiring process. For instance, when you review their resume, it’s quite easy to follow tangible outcomes, results, and facts. However, what matters is “HOW” they worked towards those results. Was it because of their dedication to client satisfaction? Was it because of their positive attitude despite challenges in the process? Was it because they proactively thought of potential drawbacks? Answers to questions like these will show you the true attitude of the person beyond the resume, and help you understand whether you need to hire them or not.
7. “Accept the fact that AI will change our work, but look at it as an enabler of your work and the future of talent acquisition.” Przemek Berendt
According to a Deloitte Bersin report, companies that use AI, predictive data analytics and other technology tools are more successful than those who don’t. However, AI needs to be a tool that complements our own abilities. In talent acquisition, AI is especially helpful in making sense of large volumes of applications, effective usage of time in reviewing the required skills and clarity of one’s experience in their resume. Naturally, there are still parts of the recruiting process which are inherently still most effective when handled by human resources. For instance, the interviewing process will allow the recruiter to get to know a candidate based on their nonverbal communication, which is estimated to account for up to 93% of all communication.
8. “Understanding what “best talent” looks like is a journey into your organizational culture.” SourceMatch
Think this way: there are great candidates out there. But hiring someone that matches your job description isn’t enough. What does “best” mean to you and to your organizational culture? They’ll need to align with your vision, mission, and values, to ensure that they are going in the same direction as the company. Otherwise, those new employees won’t be able to contribute to the company’s momentum for growth. This is why your vision, mission, and values determine what “best” means, how it’s measured and appreciated.
9. “Interviews don’t need to be stressful, neither for recruiter or candidate, but rather a pleasant incursion into one’s experience, personality, abilities, and potential.” SourceMatch
Beautiful isn’t it? Or at least it should be! Hiring managers are responsible for creating the right experience for candidates being interviewed. They will influence the candidate’s’ openness to be transparent and fair about their responses but also create the right setting for a two-way street. We are used to thinking that candidates show up at interviews just for the job, but the truth is that it’s the perfect time for companies to have a positive impression on them too.
10. “If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.” Red Adair
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the price of a bad hire is at least 30 percent of the employee’s first-year earnings. It’s easy to dismiss a candidate based on salary alone and the true cost of a bad hire is only visible after a few months. Not paying attention in the first place can lead to a mismatch of expectations, bruised personalities, useless conflicts, financial and sometimes motivation loss. So think well and evaluate what’s the trade-off between candidate salary levels, expertise, abilities, and especially attitude.
We have already noticed changes in the workforce due to Automation and Artificial Intelligence. Business leaders and policymakers can move forward and grow by understanding these shifts that change the fundamental nature of work.
Robert Solow argues in his publication: “A contribution to the theory of economic growth, Quarterly Journal of Economics”, that most of the increases in human living standards come from improved productivity. New technologies and new techniques of production and distribution lead to productivity growth.
So what does advanced technology promise? Higher productivity, which leads to economic growth, safety, reduced human error – as a result of efficiency, and the list can go on.
Does workforce automation result in job losses? The real value is brought by the affirmation: Jobs lost, jobs gained. Automation holds the promise of improving many jobs — and creating new, more satisfying ones. Let’s try and look at the bright side: AI and automation can reduce the workload of repetitive, tiresome tasks, allowing us to focus on the human’s part of work that we need for our brains to work more effectively and creatively.
What do statistics say when it comes to existing work tasks? Let’s take a look at the data below, based on a report that covers 12 industries.
We see a decrease in the number of hours performed by humans during this period of time: 2018 – 2022. This is when machines replace an additional 13% of human work.
Ravin Jesuthasan and John Boudreau argue in an article from SHRM.org that we should: “Start with the work, not the “job” or the technology. Much work will continue to exist as traditional “jobs” in organizations, but automation makes traditional jobs more fluid and an increasing amount of work will occur outside the traditional boundaries of a “job”.”
How did Automation and Artificial Intelligence influence your industry, business, and processes so far? Leave us a comment below.
Starting with the recruiter, the hiring manager, and any other decision makers in an organization, the greatest challenge in Talent Acquisition is related to people. Specifically, maintaining a clear understanding of why you are hiring and a human approach to the whole organizational brand, market presence efforts, and recruiting process. Not doing that, will lead both organizations and candidates to a mere transactional interaction that a) attracts the wrong candidates and b) gives the organization the wrong idea about the recruiting process’ quality. So how do companies lose grip on what really matters in searching and hiring for talent? 1. Focus on speed and KPIs only – it’s easy to look at numbers and say – we are doing good, but that’s just one side of performance in talent acquisition. A healthy process includes assessing behavioral traits and the candidate’s behavior in certain situations, assessment of skills in terms of real-life examples and situations (and correlated outcomes) when these were acquired or exhibited, and an evaluation of the basic values that are required to have a good cultural fit. Ultimately, the validation of all of these after 3, 6 or 12 months is what improves talent acquisition. You want to check in on how well you have been selecting candidates, and whether your expectations, observations, and predictions have materialized. Things such as dedication, initiative, and cultural adjustment take time to prove. Pay extra attention to how new hires (last 9 months) react to pressure, high risk or failure.
2. Superficial screening based on skills only – while skills are an important part in figuring out whether a candidate is a good fit for the organization, it’s insufficient. A candidate’s personality, resulting behavior, potential, expectations, ambitions and motivators, the capability to add value through different perspectives, etc., are all important. In essence, evaluating a candidate is more than mere math. Of course, it’s very useful to quantify all of the above through various assessments scores and different interviewers, but not at the expense of a complete understanding of who the candidate is and what they can bring to your organization.
“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.” – Benjamin Franklin
Some new hires might not have a lot to show for in terms of previous quantifiable results and performance. They bring all of their positive attitudes, determination, curiosity, and resilience to the table. When all interview conclusions and assessment scores indicate a high-potential candidate, despite the lack of experience, be straightforward with candidates about your concern. Let them know that you recognize their value, but that results are an essential part of long term success and fit in the organization.
3. The influx of data, easiness of access to dozens of resumes databases, and growth, by any means, are some other causes of poorly structured talent acquisition. Talent acquisition, beyond recruitment, is meant to create a clear representation in the market of who the organization is, and who it’s trying to attract. In other words, the organization’s brand and what a successful candidate looks like. Failing to paint the right picture in both these areas can significantly affect retention and performance.
If that’s the case you might think all companies might be prone to bad hiring decisions. You would be right! Organizations who intentionally pursue excellence in the recruiting process will attract the best talent in the labor market. It’s the only way to stand out in the crowd of poor talent acquisition practices.
It all needs to start with planning the recruitment process end to end.
When an opening is created – understand how it will fit the overall organization, departments or team it’s part of; how it contributes to a company’s or project’s goals; is it meant to be a long term position, and if so what career advancement will it offer; based on past experience with similar positions, there are factors that lead to success or the opposite way – know these before you look for people, etc.
How does the job description describe the requirements, complexity, and opportunity of the position? Do you have a clear description of the organizational environment with advantages as well as limitations (i.e. startup vs corporate)? Include factors you know will help new hires succeed. Some may not find themselves in the Job description, and if you’ve done your homework putting well it together, that’s exactly what you want.
Do you provide candidates reaching the interview stage an even deeper understanding of the company’s vision, mission and goals? Candidates (future employees for some) like to have clarity as to what they’re getting themselves in. Anything else and you are pursuing a transactional approach to recruiting. When you have clarity about the growth objectives of the company and can portray it clearly, candidates won’t have to wonder what’s their role in the “greater scheme of things”
“To be natural is such a very difficult pose to keep up.” – Oscar Wilde
Be human about it all – treat people with dignity and respect. Every single time. The more you do it, the more natural it will be. That implies the golden rule doing to others as you would expect others to do toward you. If you expect some kind of feedback after an interview, so do your candidates. Do you care to improve how well you control your emotions and anxiety when interviewing? So do they. Include genuine advice to help them for their next interview. If you are hiring someone while making a concession regarding the requirements, you have to be transparent about it so they know what is it that led to your decision.
Don’t take shortcuts. Shortcuts become huge further in the recruiting process. Anytime your talent acquisition team takes shortcuts, the organization ends up with a mismatch between people, jobs, and growth potential. That can cost your organization up to 2.5 times annual salaries for each poorly made new hire.
For a company to be successful it needs to have a team that is constantly improving. This is the ultimate goal of every company: to serve the market and create valuable results. But, in order to do so, the company must have a strong team of leaders. They are the ones who inspire other people to take action by showing them the way and taking the first steps towards a clear goal.
Be selective. This means to be discerning when choosing certain individuals to be part of your team. When you think of adding someone to your team, get know that particular person as much as you can before doing so. The best piece of advice would be to start first with the people you already know. They are the people from your office you interact with on a daily basis. You know their skills and how they work. At the same time pay close attention to their skills and how well they use them.
Good leadership drives the vision Best-selling author and keynote speaker, Jon Gordon, believes that people follow the leader first and the leader’s vision second. If the leader is not an individual who is followed by the people around him, then his vision won’t be taken into consideration by anyone. Another important aspect is to let your entire team know the vision of the company. If they truly believe in the company’s vision the will passionately work for it. Consequently, the growth of the company will be visible. As a company you need to identify a compelling goal and, in this way, your team will be focused to work well on the assigned tasks. However, having a number of goals will not determine the engagement of your team. Their motivation to work for the company is fueled by their belief in the company’s vision.
Ask, don’t tell Having a team of leaders means asking them questions and not telling them what to do. If you ask questions they will share their own opinions. In this way, they will be encouraged to think proactively as their responses matter to them. Seeing that you care about their answers they will be more and more involved. Every time you meet with them make sure you ask them about their insights, fresh ideas and other suggestions they might have. Your team won’t be able to develop if you are the only one who does the talking.
Nothing under the rug An important lesson every organization must learn is to confront the ugly. There will always be situations where employees make mistakes. The leader should understand that he can’t avoid difficult conversations. What he has to do is confront the issues as soon as possible to get things back on track as quickly as possible. It is very important how you talk with each individual and, remember, a good attitude is key. A true leader must pay attention to the attitude towards the people he is interacting with. American captain of manufacturing and magnate, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford used to say: Don’t find fault, find a remedy. When something wrong happens, the leader finds a way to make things work. Telling someone about a problem without giving a solution is redundant.
Be real with appreciation Last but not least, appreciation means a lot to the employees. Knowing that someone truly appreciates the work you are doing will give you a boost to do even a better job. A leader should know that his responsibility is to motivate the individuals he is interacting with, develop themselves and aim higher. That is why, he must not use cheap compliments that do not mean a thing, but genuine appreciation.
Recruiting is key At SourceMatch we are recruiting leaders for other companies, not just simple employees. We encourage you to do the same. In a great article in Forbes Magazine, Ken Sundhein expressed his opinion that, although recruiting leaders may be stressful, hard and time-consuming, it pays off in the long run. In his opinion, leaders are the ones who will enable a specific organization to reach its goals.
One thing you must understand is that true leaders get things done. We are not only referring to those people who work in top management roles but in every position. You need people who think and act like a true leader. Imagine what your company would look like if your teams would be formed by leaders.
People in management roles must know that a firm lives and dies by its ability to recruit leaders. If you are a business, one of your goals is to increase the level of productivity and motivate your employees to make quantifiable progress. You can’t do this unless you have a strong team of leaders who are able to act for the benefit of the company and with the good of the employees in mind. However, if you hire incompetent leaders, your clients won’t be satisfied and you won’t get any competitive advantage.
Thrive, don’t just survive Businesses can only thrive in each business when leaders don’t just replicate other people’s ideas but also create. Each business needs to be innovative so that is why you need to have creative leaders.
These are some important ideas you might want to take into consideration if you want both your company and your team of leaders to succeed.
Are your recruiting efforts ineffective and inefficient? Have you gone through bad hires, money and time-consuming talent acquisition processes? Adapt your current hiring strategy based on the latest trends.
If you want to hire the right people, make sure their experience with your brand is a positive one. Statistics show that job seekers consider the reputation of a company when applying to job offers. This means that offering good wages/packages won’t be enough to bring them to the table and especially if you want to attract the best people on the market.
Attract people that are talented and qualified by taking care of the employer branding.
There are books written about the subject, but we will only touch on 8 causes that we believe have the most negative impact on workplace efficiency:
Poor fit between the person, the position and the organization.
It’s no secret that companies make poor hiring decisions all the time. As an employer, you owe it to your employees to be transparent. Talk to them about how they feel about their job, how well they think they’re doing, and even be ready to work out a transition plan into a different position. It might be their strength aren’t aligned with their current role. There’s no reason why they or the organization should continue to pretend all is well.
A disconnect between cause and effect, work and outcome.
We tend to “give work” to our teams and expect them to understand the effect it will have on the organization down the line. However, when we tie outcome to work/input, it helps people understand the value of their work in the final product or service and give them a sense of urgency and importance. It can easily be explained by asking one simple question: “what would happen to the product/service if you stopped doing what you’re doing?”
Lack of clarity regarding how responsibility is assigned
Have you ever had to complain about something over to customer support and were passed on to the next “representative” for a solution, or told that “it’s out of our hands?” That’s what lack of clarity regarding responsibility looks like. In an organization where people have no idea who is responsible for what, or even worse, know they are responsible but they will pass it on anyhow, inefficiency reins! Responsibility needs to be assigned to people in the organization to the extent of roles – i.e. if someone is responsible to deliver a service and misses a deadline, then that’s their responsibility entirely. If they miss it twice, then it’s the manager’s responsibility. If the manager doesn’t feel compelled to address the issue, neither will their report. Assign responsibility and hold people accountable for the quality of their work!
Nepotism – it doesn’t matter how well I do if I’m not among the preferred
Unfortunately, there are still businesses that are run through nepotism. That is gross favoritism towards people who are close to a decision maker, someone of influence or importance in the company. It’s one of the common causes of inefficiency because people all of a sudden compare their work, results, and reward to the ones of those being favored. Any organization that doesn’t quantify and award effort according to clear criteria will suffer from inefficiency at the workplace.
Absence of feedback
There’s a direct connection between inefficiency and lack (or poor) of feedback. The unwritten rule is that what is encouraged is repeated. Managers who say anything about how well or poorly someone on their team is doing are in fact encouraging similar results. Constructive feedback requires clarity through facts and willingness to make someone (as well as yourself) feel uncomfortable. If it’s provided within the mind-frame of genuine care for the growth, and professional development of people, it can improve their performance and engagement too!
Deficiency in communication
Perhaps the most widespread of the causes of workplace inefficiency is a lack or poor quality in communication. It will affect people’s capacity to quantify how well they are doing, understanding of whether their efforts have any impact, and to act in due time to have any positive impact. It also causes frustration with the people a company needs to care about most (disclosure: not nepotism!) – those who want to work, be in time, have good results and want their job to be rewarding.
Time management
Of course, we all have 24h, and regardless of how we manage it, that doesn’t change. Leaders and especially managers have the responsibility of setting the importance and priority of projects, tasks, etc. (see the Eisenhower Matrix). Efficiency comes down to achieving your objectives with the least amount of time. The better the time management, the more efficient we are, and the more engaged we are.
Wasteful processes
We all follow steps and procedures as they are laid out in our organization’s processes. These are tremendous tools that used in the right order and provided enough attention will create the desired outcomes. However, when processes are the result of operational inertia, they can have a highly detrimental effect on an organization’s efficiency. Worst case scenarios include bottlenecks, redundancy, and misalignment. In other words, inefficiency.
All of these have deep roots in leadership but ultimately can be traced back to an organization’s mission, culture, and values. If the only purpose of a business is to create profit, then one must integrate into that equation the means to sustain and increase efficiency in the workplace!
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