Archive for Assessment
Using Social Media Strategically to Find Top Talent
Posted by: | CommentsCompanies will be able to attract top talent more effectively by leveraging social media using four key strategies. Though many companies are keen to explore social media, there is an underlying wariness as policies are trying to control the flow of information. This article provides an overview of social media and the potential application to attract top talent.
Underneath the iceberg of vacant jobs being advertised on job boards and newspapers, a strong invisible current of talent is ingeniously using social media to identify and strategize their next career moves. Prior to the popular rise and rise of social media, such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, the talent sourcing process was limited to a linear process – where a vacancy is filled in transactional fashion, embedded in a perpetual recruitment environment of sourcing in new talent.
The advent of job boards have resulted in a significant shift away from print media, but compounded the overload of thousands of job boards, with job aggregator sites promising candidates to identify vacant roles. Though the cost of recruitment has been reduced, the process remained reactive.
Integrating Technologies
The convergence of a number of technologies and the establishment of a talent pipeline has created the opportunity to develop relationships with talented candidates through an effective just-in-time recruitment model.
LinkedIn is the preferred social networking site from a business perspective, with more than 72 million users across the world. In Australia about 25% of all employed people are using LinkedIn. Users can create a brief profile with recommendations, making it easy for recruiters to search for talent.
Facebook is by far the most popular social media site, with more than 300 million users. Most professionals demarcate their social media presence, with limited access to Facebook restricted to friends and family, with a dash of business added for interest, though Facebook offers a level of granularity to separate friends and business contacts. Companies are increasingly using Facebook to create a social media presence. A weekly email report provides HR recruiters with statistics to track a summary of activities by fans.
Twitter is being used by a large number of companies to post job openings, though smart employers are also using it to share interesting news and to strengthen their employment brand. By using a tool like Tweetdeck, companies can easily monitor channels and track activity.
Companies can use creative ways to find talent through social media, by running competitions, surveys, blogs and email updates. The importance of reputation management cannot be overemphasized and a high level of authenticity needs to exist. Most companies will have a Social Media policy that determines the flow of information, with Internal Communication often reporting to HR, though there is a strong connection with Marketing departments.
Though some companies tend to use social media as just another distribution channel, a strategic sourcing strategy provides the challenge and opportunity to connect with potential future employees in ways exponentially more effective than reactive recruiting for job postings.
Building a Talent Pipeline
Companies can and should use social media to find top talent, by building a talent pipeline:
- Leveraging LinkedIn to create a company network with alumni employees, staying in touch as these ex-employees have an excellent understanding of the business. Alumni should be able to register for events, finding about jobs and connecting with others. The boomerang effect extends beyond savings in recruitment costs, as alumni can move to customer organizations, or become ambassadors through their extended networks.
- Engaging interested fans through Facebook and LinkedIn to track the company and maintain a watching brief about interesting company news and developments. Companies can enhance their employer brand by positive influencing interested applicants through regular updates.
- Integrating the various social media in a deliberate and authentic fashion. By adopting a consistency in the information flow to potential future employees, companies can engage and connect with passive applicants in more meaningful ways that develop positive talent relationships.
- Investing in technology rather than just banking the cost savings of recruitment without third party recruiters (TPRs). Using a good applicant tracking system (ATS) is not enough, as companies need to invest in resources such a researcher or social media recruiter, in order to maximize the benefits of social media to attract top talent.
Looking ahead to future talent needs
With the advent of technology, top talent are empowered to research their target company beyond annual reports to a level of detail where they will research the profiles of their future manager and the interviewer.
Companies need to invest and explore how they can tap into social media to find and attract top talent, long before they need to fill a specific role, rather than fighting fires by being stuck in a transactional recruitment system, where they are to busy to plant the seeds so they can enjoy the harvest.
Social media is much more than just another channel and by integrating it with the overall employer branding strategy, companies can attract top talent that can grow with the company.
Why numeracy and literacy testing is good for everyone
Posted by: | CommentsThere are some basic skills that are critical for success – being able to read and write and count are all core skills to get ahead in today’s world. But beyond being proficient, there are clearly some people that are better with numbers than others.
According to recent research at Melbourne University, numeracy and literacy testing can be good for your bank balance.
The latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey was recently released. The survey follows the same households since 2001.
Key findings
Though the HILDA survey is very comprehensive, results from the survey includes the following interesting key findings:
- Men and women who greatly improved their numeracy skills had a significant increase in pay.
- Improved literacy had a particular benefit in lifting the earnings for females by 14%.
- Improved numeracy lifted the earnings for women by 15%.
- For males moving from poor to excellent numeracy contributed to a substantial 39% increase in earnings.
- Interestingly, there was no significant impact of literacy evident for males.
Though many people often find testing a little threatening, it is only through regular testing that we can establish those gaps in these core skills. The good news is that we can improve our numeracy and literacy skills.
How do we define Literacy and Numeracy?
Literacy is the ability to understand use written information. By assessing a person’s knowledge of the language and their ability to communicate business messages, it possible to determine their effectiveness and likely job performance.
Numeracy is mathematical ability, and from a job perspective it is the ability to apply basic math knowledge.
Why is it impacting on earnings?
Strong and well-developed skills in numeracy and literacy are likely to positively impact on employment and earnings outcomes. Let’s analyse this a bit further:
- There is a direct correlation between employability and literacy and numeracy skills.
- Increasingly a number of employers and recruiters are now using skills tests.
- From an employment perspective those with higher literacy and numeracy skills are more likely to be interviewed and employed.
- Those with better literacy and numeracy skills are also likely to perform better, which may result in further promotions and increased responsibility.
How literate are your employees?
According to a new Report (the National Workforce Literacy Project Report) by the Australian Industry Group, based on a survey of 338 companies and roundtable discussions with another 58 employers, more than three in four employers in Australia are affected by low levels of literacy and numeracy.
The consequences of this lack of skills are particularly concerning in two areas:
- Impacting on workplace safety as poor skills are impacting on employees’ ability to read standard operating procedures and follow safety instructions; and
- Inability to perform some tasks to the necessary standard through poor email communication and inappropriate language with other employees and customers.
Taking Action with Solutions
Nearly 40% of employers agreed they had a part to play in improving workplace literacy and numeracy.
- The first step is to identify those employees with development needs.
- Skill development needs to be aligned with the specific needs of the individual.
- Support needs to be provided by supervisors and other staff.
About one in three employers are addressing the problem with in-house training, such as short courses on report and business writing, offering English as a second language training and rewriting some materials to make them more accessible.
Recruitment Screening
There are significant consequences for companies in recruiting employees without adequate numeracy and literacy skills. Only 8% of employers have adequate capacity to assist with the improvement of literacy and numeracy skills.
The more likely solution for the majority employers will be to use literacy and numeracy tests to assess the skills of prospective employees in the screening phase.
Job seekers will also benefit from improving their skills and not only improve their employment opportunities, but also their earnings.
