The Talent Scout

A change of pace as Shane talks this week about some positive things that organizations are doing to help their employees during this time. 

The world is changing quickly. Far quicker than some of us would like it to. Who knew during the holidays last year or hell, even a month ago that this is what 2020 was going to shape up to be. Who knows where we’ll be in a couple of weeks or maybe even a couple of days. I’m sure what I’ve just said is hardly reassuring but I truly am not trying to scare you. The environment has changed around us, we must accept it, and we adapt to it as best we can. Fighting against it just isn’t a viable option anymore. 

That said, it seems the theme of the moment or method of adaption in the business world right now is, control. Everyone’s trying to weather the storm by closing their fist tighter and holding on to what they’ve got. 

If control is what you’re after then outsourcing your recruitment may be the way to go. 

That probably seems very counter intuitive, how does outsourcing give us control. Well, bare with me for a moment while we talk this through a little bit.

At it’s most basic level, an applicant tracking system is a tool that recruiters and hiring managers use to collate and keep track of the roles they have open for the available opportunities within their organization.

There are a whole host of other add ons and bells and whistles that can and should help to improve your overall recruitment process, but at it’s simplest, an ATS keeps all of your applicants and candidates in one place and most importantly it helps to prevent candidates from falling between the cracks.

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In 2020 we’ve got automation, machinery, AI, and countless other tools and tricks to make our Recruitment Processes simpler and easier. New and exciting tools are appearing every day that are allowing us to segment our applicants and find top talent quicker than ever before. It’s pretty awesome. But it’s not everything.

Time and time again studies have shown that AI and automation are most effective when partnered with a skilled human. That couldn’t be more true in the case of recruitment because fundamentally recruitment is human.

Join Shane this week as he walks you through how best to keep the balance between automation and the human element in your recruitment.

Right now the Corona Virus is testing us in so many different and unexpected ways. From a purely business perspective the rapid spread of the virus has caused economic uncertainty and the looming shadow of a global recession. At a more granular level some of us are struggling to even get to work in the first place. 

If people can’t even make it to work, then what does this mean for recruitment?

Join Shane this week as he tries to explain some simple ways you can help keep your recruitment efforts on track and prepare for any future times of crisis.

Recruitment is incredibly hard and headhunting in particular is probably one of the hardest and most time consuming types of recruitment you can undertake. Which probably begs the question of; why do we do it?

Join Shane this week as he gives you a crash course in how to ensure your headhunting efforts are being focused in the correct direction!

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Join Shane this week as he walks you through how to write job descriptions that really work to help attract your perfect candidates. 

For those of you that may not know, the purple unicorn, sometimes referred to as the purple squirrel, is what Recruiters and Hiring Managers refer to as their ideal candidate. The one that checks every single box along with several that you didn’t even realise you wanted. They’ve got the exact right experience, the exact right skillset, the perfect background, and they were a delight to interview. And much like a purple unicorn. They don’t exist. Or at the very least they don’t exist for the vast majority of us.

 Join Shane this week as he explains why finding your ideal purple unicorn may not be necessary and how to attract the next best thing.

When it comes to screening your candidates, there are a myriad of approaches that people use. From the simple phone call to the more sophisticated screening questions powered by an Applicant Tracking System.

Which method you use will usually come down to what suits your organization and the role in question and nearly all methods can work in different situations except those pre-interview tests and assessments that some of the job boards like Indeed and LinkedIn have started to role out, those are absolute garbage!

I mean imagine the disrespect a candidate feels when they try to apply for a role with you, only to realize they have to complete a time consuming examination prior to completing your application process and submitting a resume and cover letter. That doesn’t exactly represent your company in a great light, and if you think it does I beg you to realize the error of your ways. Imagine expecting a candidate to spend an hour or more of their time applying to your company without them ever having received even a phone call. That’s an insane expectation to have.

Here at Scout Talent when it comes to screening candidates as part of our recruitment process we find the combination of screening questions and video interviews to be a real cornerstone of our recruitment process. It’s not the whole process, we do see the value in face to face in person interviews as well, but given the cost in time and productivity involved in an in-person face to face interview we feel it’s best that you save that only for your cream of the crop candidates.

Our starting point is screening questions. Most Applicant Tracking Systems like Scout Talent will allow you to ask applicants pretty customizable questions. There is a caveat to this. Respecting your candidates time. You’re going to want to restrict yourself to between 5 to 7 screening questions. I’d say as a rule of thumb you’ll want to ask a few yes no functional questions like ‘do you have x degree’ or ‘do you have 10+ years of experience’ before going on to a more open-ended long text question to give you a flavour of the candidate’s motivation and communication skills.

Between that information and the resumes you gather it should give you a pretty good insight into which candidates you want to interview and depending on your role that may be too many to invite in for a face to face meeting. Or if you’re in a remote location it’s likely too expensive to bring individuals in for a face to face meeting after just a quick review of written information.

This is where video interviews come into play and they’re something we’re really passionate about here at Scout.

Using free software like Skype you can have an impactful face to face conversation with a candidate that’s convenient for both of you in terms of time spent. I know a lot of people are married to phone screening because change is scary and wifi is unreliable in some areas. Sure, I get it. But give video interviews a go, I promise you won't regret it.

When we’re thinking of candidates, which hopefully we always are to a certain extent. Video interviews are much more candidate friendly than face to face interviews are. With video interviews candidates don’t necessarily have to get time off of their work. We all have a smart phone now and candidates can easily step into another room or out to their car. Internally at Scout we seem to interview a lot of candidates in their car. But that 20 minute conversation in a car is much more preferable to a candidate than having to book half a day off of work.

We often forget the candidate effort that goes into the recruitment process. People invest a lot of time into applying for the jobs we put out and jumping...

Recruitment in Canada In 2020

As a subject of many forecasts and market predictions, the year 2020 has been greatly anticipated. This is especially true for HR consultants, companies, and employers as a whole who have been paying close attention to expert opinions and predictions on recruitment in 2020. 

Over the last five years, HR experts and industry stakeholders have analyzed and proposed drastic measures to mitigate the looming recruitment horror that is based on the skills shortage in Canada. However, the fact remains that hiring and managing a workforce will be a challenging feat in the year 2020. Throughout this article we're going to share two powerful strategies to future-proof your organization so you can continue to attract the best talent.

Amid the turmoil, experts project that only the prepared and focused employers will prove successful. Thus, the question is what should you focus on? and where should you begin as a brand? 

As an employer or human resources manager, a good place to begin will be to consider the current state of recruitment in Canada in an effort to understand and identify the critical measures to take in 2020. The unemployment rate in Canada is down to 5.5%, and on the whole, recruitment in Canada is quite. In addition to that, employees across Canada have employment tenure of 8.5 years on average before moving on to the next job. This is being reduced by the influx of millennials into the labor market as millennials move from job to job in search of better opportunities or to advance their professional career. 

Amid the shortage of skilled labor, hiring and retaining individuals in certain professions can prove to be even more challenging for a number of reasons. Prime among these professions are registered and licensed practical nurses, truck drivers, college-level lecturers, and welders to name a few. These professionals are highly aware of their value, and it shouldn’t be a surprise to any employer that hiring and retaining one can be tricky.

There are various reasons for the short employee tenure and the rising complexity in recruiting a skilled workforce. This could be profession-dependent or not. Largely, it can be blamed on the aging workforce, and partly on the lack of interest to go into this profession on the part of new individuals. 

Plumbers, for instance, can make a lot more money working for themselves on average than they can while working for someone else, which makes it difficult to recruit for such roles. The situation is so pronounced that institutions even offer students automatic employment on completion of their program. This is done in a bid to attract skilled labor. 

In the current decade, employers of skilled labor will need more than attractive job descriptions to attract competent personnel in any field, be it sales, project management or even plumbing. To recruit the professionals you need, you must develop a strong employer offering, knowing that you are competing with other companies to attract professionals. 

Employer Branding is the Key

Starting off as a buzzword, employer branding has become a requirement...