Are your recruitment ads really gender smart?

Many organisations in Australia, particularly listed companies, are focusing on gender equity at board and executive levels. A gender balanced organisation is not just an outcome by achieving gender ratios, as there is also a need for a process to develop a more strategic approach.

Recent research by Roy Morgan Research highlighted specific gender differences for buyers of packaged alcohol. Female buyers are placing more importance on the service of staff, whereas male buyers are more influenced by lower prices.

The business implications are clear – females value service and males look for signs that advertise cheap beer.

In the world of recruitment, there is also a shift required to more gender smart recruitment advertising.

Changing your ads
Job advertisements on job boards would typically provide a brief paragraph with information about the company, followed by some description of the role, as well as some of the responsibilities attached to the vacant position. Some clues or filters would then be provided in terms of competencies that applicants should have, in order to be considered.

Despite the great advances we have made in technology, all that has happened today is that the same ads that used to be published in newspapers are now being replicated on job boards. As result, we have seen a massive increase in quantity, but quality has in fact deteriorated. Often ads would include some basic errors, and sometimes some grave ones.

Why Should I Apply?
These job ads are usually doing a reasonable job of providing limited information about the job, but usually fail to encourage the job seeker, particularly the passive job seeker that may just glance at an ad, that the recruiting company is offering a real career.

Often in job ads there is a discrepancy between what recruiting companies say and what they have done. This perception difference between external perception and internal reality is the driver for employer branding initiatives.

Lack of awareness
There is still a major lack of understanding or awareness of how job advertisements are demonstrating that the organisation was attractive to women and in what way. Recruiters would expect applicants to access the company’s web site, but not be thinking about how the organisation appears to women, when the board and executive team photo’s clearly highlights the lack of senior women leaders.

As an aside, there is ample opportunity with hyper links, to facilitate and influence this search process by directing prospective applicants to relevant information on the company’s web site.

Adapting the recruitment process
Gender balanced organisations have adapted their recruitment approach to include those themes that are the most likely to be of strong interest to women, focusing on flexibility, the culture, collaboration, and opportunities for development.

There needs to be an alignment and consistency of what the recruiting company is saying and what it is doing. Progressive organisations will always ensure that there is a person that applicants can talk to and discuss the role and potential opportunities in more detail, rather than directing applicants through the applicant tracking system, without any conversation.

Perhaps an example will better illustrate my point. Real estate agents have been very effective with advertising houses, using pictures and being able to tell a story. Now I am not suggesting that recruiters should apply the same creative license, but one thing real estate agents are doing well is to convince buyers that they are selling a home, not just a house.

This was really well illustrated by the popular Australian movie – The Castle. In this movie, the Kerrigan family is threatened by the compulsory acquisition of their family home, which is not just a house, but in their eyes – their castle filled with memories that can’t be replaced.

Telling a story
Writing a good job ad takes time, particularly we make the transition. Working with a HR team recently, we devoted half a day to finalise the ad for a role that was really difficult to fill. Every job advertisement should tell a story. It takes more than just a picture of a female.

Rather than using words such as challenge, drive, determination and results it may be more effective to use language such as opportunities, engage, contribution, partnership, team, relationships and outcomes. This is not about being politically correct, but to be more aware of the subtle messages we communicate to applicants.

A recent ad used some very effective descriptions:
- Make you feel like coming home
- Comfortable with relationship management
- Using your charms to influence outcomes
- Flair for effective leadership

Language is very powerful and unconscious bias may impact negatively on our ability to attract talented staff, particularly if a company is trying to attract and encourage more females to apply for certain roles. Gender smart organisations are aligning their HR systems and processes to achieve a better balance in talent management.

If you have any ideas or suggestions please share your views.

How to Use Social Media Strategically to Find Top Talent

Companies 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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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 are you wasting your time with reference checks?

The poor cousin of the recruitment process is the obligatory reference check. Too often it is nothing more than a perfunctory procedure to conclude an exhausting number of interviews.

Most reference checks are the outcome of a telephone conversation, as most recruiters will attach little weight to any written references. Many companies have policies prohibiting managers from providing written references, in light of potential litigation. Often the risks of providing references are overstated, resulting in limited information being provided, due to concerns about negligent referral or defamation. Privacy laws govern the contacting of referees and keeping of information. Though recruiters adopt a code of professional practice, the risk of hiring managers using their informal network to get anecdotal half-truths remains problematic.

A reference check is not a fishing expedition or idle gossip, but a structured and important part of the hiring process. Research has indicated that reference checks have about half the validity of structured interviews.

The declining value of reference checking is because it is badly done, rather than being of little value. The big challenge for recruiters is to develop a new and better way of conducting reference checks with a higher validity so that they can be more useful.

A Strategic Approach to Reference Checking
There are three very deliberate and strategic actions that recruiters can adopt to achieve significantly better results from reference checking. Having successfully implemented this approach in a number of companies, have also resulted in better retention of top talent.

(a) 360 Reference Checking
Extrapolating the benefits from 360 feedback systems, recruiters need to adopt a wider and more comprehensive approach by including:
Executives (one over one); Direct Manager; Peers; Direct reports; Clients and customers.
It is not sufficient to conduct only a minimum of two reference checks, which seems to be the general practice in many companies.

(b) Competence based Reference Checking
Often companies neglect the opportunity to assess competencies throughout the recruitment process. An ideal process would include screening, interviews, testing and reference checking– often the first and last are omitted or not performed as well.

Even during psychometric assessment there is often insufficient linkage to the specific position description and identified role competencies.

By clearly defining key competencies and developing structured reference checking techniques, a continuum of competence can be identified and validated throughout the recruitment process.

(c) Integrated Reference Checking
By consolidating the richer feedback of a wider group, information can be interpreted and validated. It is important to keep in mind that some referees may have worked with the candidate at different companies, which may add a different dimension in terms of performance results. Behavioural comments should however be consistent.
Requests for reference checking to be partly handled by an external recruiter and partly by the HR Manager or hiring manager should be strongly resisted. It is imperative that one person conducts all reference checks, otherwise the validity of the reference check will be variable.

Taking Action
In summary, companies can significantly influence the factors that determine the validity of reference checks. Recruiters can make a real contribution by improving the existing referencing checking process. There is no need for a non-rational fear that the reference checking process will capsize the recruitment just before landing the appointment.

Not only should reference checking assist to identify the competent but corrupt individual, but it actually reinforces the suitability and employability of good candidates, by providing a more complete process.
Reference checking is an important step in the recruitment process and needs to be elevated to equal status to other stages. The consequence of this for candidates will be to take much more time in discussing their career objectives and recruitment activities with their referees.

A well-prepared referee who has some understanding of the role that the candidate is being considered for will provide more useful and pertinent information during a more strategic reference check, making reference checking a more valuable recruitment activity.

Is an Appraisal the Same As an Assessment?

There are a number of core HR processes that are intrinsic to good and effective people management. The biggest challenge in companies today is the development of talent. Most companies apply a number of HR strategies to become an employer of choice and to be a great place to work.

There are five core people strategies that helps to a company to improve the performance of their employees:

1. How to attract top talent?
This strategy is all about building a strong employer brand, so that applicants are attracted to come and work for the company. Part of good recruitment is to attract applicants so that the company find and recruit the best employees. Best-in-class companies have good assessment processes. In a recent survey by the Aberdeen Group of 400 organizations, it was found that top performing companies are using assessment more broadly across the business, as well as more frequently and consistently.

2. How to motivate employees?
Most companies have an annual performance appraisal process. This is the usual process of conducting a performance appraisal, which is a formal process of reviewing the employee's performance over the last year. Unfortunately many performance systems are better at demotivating employees as supervisors are either reluctant or poorly trained to give constructive feedback to employees. Good performance discussions focus more on the future than on the past.

3. How to reward employees?
Reward systems have improved in the last ten years and there is a better understanding of the need to structure pay to reward both short and long term performance. By having an appropriate fixed pay, the company can then provide variable pay in the form of incentives to encourage performance. For pay systems to work, the systems have to be meaningful and transparent, with clear line-of-sight so that the employee can impact on their pay outcomes. If companies spend half the time in this area, and more time in developing and growing employees, we would have much happier and productive workplaces.

4. How to develop and grow employees?
Most training takes place to improve the employee's performance in the current role, typically technical training or on-the-job training. Far too few companies have good training plans in place for every employee to help them to grow and develop to their full potential.

5. How to retain talented employees?
If all of these five strategies are integrated in a coherent and logical way, this strategy is really about having an open culture so that talented employees share their dreams and aspirations with their managers, making it easier for a company to provide an environment where work is meaningful and rewarding.

Now that we have covered the five core strategies, it is much easier to answer our fundamental question.

What is an assessment?
Conducting an assessment, usually as part of recruitment, assists in the selection of top talent. Many companies only do assessment towards the end of the recruitment process, usually just before reference checking. However, there are a small number of employers that have realized there are significant benefits in pre-employment screening to identify top talent. If you are asked to participate in an assessment process, it is always advisable to understand what sort of tests are going to be conducted and to ensure you get feedback once assessment has been completed. Assessment typically includes a number of tests to determine and measure the person's knowledge, skills and abilities; as well as beliefs that impact on their behavior.

What is an appraisal?
Appraisal is part of performance management, an essential part of giving an employee feedback on their performance. There has been a significant shift in performance management in recent years. Employee feedback is a powerful way of motivating employees, however in most companies it has become an administrative process, rather than being an opportunity for the employee to do a self-assessment and sharing feedback with their manager. If you asked to participate in a performance appraisal, it is helpful if you agree with your supervisor on the process beforehand, so that you are well prepared so that you can fully participate in the appraisal of your performance - after all, you have been experiencing the role firsthand.

In conclusion, both these processes share one characteristic, receiving feedback. Assessment is useful to understand an employee's potential; and Appraisal assists to understand an employee's current performance. There is a clear correlation between these two factors - potential and performance. Like champion athletes, an employee with high potential could also be a top performer.

Finding a job in a difficult job market

Growing your career in 2010

The Many choices of Human Resources

Last week, a final year MBA student wanted me to coach him, as he was keen to move into HR, in itself a little unusual as a career choice. In talking to his university career manager, he was an excellent student with a passion for HR. Now HR is not always seen as the preferred choice for ambitious, talented and commercially orientated graduates, which is his profile.

At times, I am still amazed and also a little disappointed, when I read the criticism by HR people of HR and it’s value to the business. The ability of HR professionals to denigrate their own profession is simply a mystery, and a classical case of being your own worst enemy.

Choice of Industries
HR is one of the few career disciplines, where you can move from one industry to another, with little difficulty, using your HR toolbox to make a company a great place to work.
During my HR career of 30 years, I have been privileged to work in a multiplicity of industries:
- institutional sector (Air Force, a scientific research company, an university) – using the intricacies of precedents to develop policies;
- services sector (two IT companies) – trying to understand the complexities of frame relay systems;
- the tough world of manufacturing (a secondary steelmaking operation – explaining the shaking of the office building during interviews after the pouring of each heat; and a carpet manufacturer – getting used to the smells of making rubber underlay);
- the dangerous mining sector (drilling, shaft sinking and tunneling group – going 2 miles underground in a new gold mine shaft); with
- a major stint in FMCG (two dairy companies and an international brewer – hearing 30,000 bottles filling per hour on the packaging line and developing an incredible thirst).

Choice of Roles
Though the career path of HR has changed with various specialization fields, such as Employee Relations, Learning and OD, a generalist role really shapes the bread and butter operational skills, such as recruiting.

Working my way up from an entry position as a Personnel Officer with a Psychology degree, it didn’t take too long before manager was added to my title. As Industrial Relations was the fast track in the early eighties, I decided to do a post graduate degree, and soon after, got my first CHRO role at the age of 26, and the youngest executive in the company (who says you can’t be ambitious in HR!). Functional specialist roles in Talent Management and OD contributed to further studies, before moving again into CHRO roles in NZ and Australia.

Choice of Countries
Despite different employment legislation, it has been great to live and work in different countries, including South Africa, New Zealand and currently Australia. One major benefit with a change in government is a major review of employment legislation, which is presently the case with the Fair Work legislation in Australia. A similar situation occurred in NZ when Labour came into power in 1999.

Choice of Careers
Being in HR and wearing many hats, made the transition into a line management role with P&L responsibility possible. It is only when you have 500 real (external) customers, that you understand the various priorities our internal HR customers are facing on a daily basis. Due to specialization in OD, there has also been the bridge to external consulting, working with some great companies and clients.

A Final Observation
There are great opportunities to develop a long and rewarding career in HR, where you can play a significant role in developing capability within organizations, by attracting and developing people.

HR offers great choices, and if I could have my career over, I wouldn’t hesitate to again work and achieve success in HR. My oldest daughter is also working in HR. Would you recommend HR to your son or daughter or to a keen student?