IS YOUR RECRUITMENT PROCESS MILLENNIAL FRIENDLY?

Employees are your most valuable asset, and if you want your business to thrive, you need to find and hire top talent. However, despite the different channels that you can use to identify and get in touch with the right people for the job, it can’t be denied that there are various challenges that you’ll have to overcome during the process.

Given that millennials are currently the largest generation in the labor force, it’s clear that you need to adjust your recruitment process to appeal to them. Here are a few strategies that you can incorporate into your current hiring process.

Create a Sense of Purpose

Although this generation has been frequently maligned for their alleged laziness and entitlement, making a social impact and having a sense of purpose is very important to them. That’s why they’re attracted to companies and brands which promote some kind of social awareness.

A job which puts food on the table is ok, but millennials want more than that – they would like to contribute to your company’s growth with their skills and expertise and it’s essential to show them how to do that.

A big, fat paycheck and cool perks won’t be the only reason why a talented and hard-working millennial would find your job offer appealing, so make sure to mention your company’s mission and values in your job description, as millennials want to find meaning in their work.

Personalize the Experience 

Personalization is all the rage in every industry, and millennials, who expect their purchasing experience to be highly tailored and personalized, want the same from the recruitment process.

You can see whether they’re the right fit for your company and win them over by conducting the interview at the office where they would work. This will allow them to get a test taste of what it is like to work for you and get a glimpse of the work environment that they will potentially be a part of.

Ask them a lot of questions, and let them do the talking. Active listening is essential for learning as much about them as possible. Plus, being heard is something that they highly value, and it would send a positive vibe if you give them the time of day and hear what they have to say.

Include Your Team

It’s a good idea to include your team in the recruitment process and have them interview your candidates. First of all, they are the ones who will be closely working with the new member of the team. Don’t forget that it’s them who’ll mentor the new hire, show them the ropes, and train them until they’ve gotten the hang of everything, so it’s important that they participate in the selection process.

Besides that, this approach will show your current employees that you value their opinion, and that’s something that will definitely present your leadership in a positive light.

Needless to say, your millennial candidates will notice and appreciate the way you treat your employees and that will undoubtedly appeal to them.

Offer them an Opportunity to Build Their Personal Brand

Millennials are keen on personal growth, and they want a job that will help them develop their professional skills and expertise.

According to a Gallup report, 59% of them mention opportunities to learn and grow as extremely important factors when it comes to applying for a new job. This is why you need to let them know that they won’t be stuck in a dead-end job if they decide to work for you. It’s essential that they understand that they’ll have an opportunity to learn new things and build their personal brand.

Get Creative With Benefits 

Essential perks are a must, which means that minimum healthcare, dental, and retirement plans should be a regular part of your employee benefits package.

As you know, tech giants like Google and Apple have earned their reputation as the most desirable companies to work for with their generous employee perks such as gyms, free snacks, and spa centers on campus.

Not many companies can afford such luxuries, but luckily, there are other ways to attract millennial employees. For example, the stat saying that 78% of millennials are more likely to spend their money on a desirable experience instead of a desirable thing speaks volumes about their mindset.

In other words, you don’t have to offer expensive material things if you want to appeal to them – telecommuting and flexible hours could be just what will make them happy. This flexibility which allows them to plan their schedule and spend more quality time with their loved ones could mean more to them than other perks.

It’s also a win-win for both parties because studies show that working from home positively affects productivity, which means your company will benefit from this perk too.

Millennial employees might be demanding in terms of what they expect from their job, but that’s actually good for your company because they’re ready to commit and work towards your shared goals. That’s what your recruitment process should reflect in order to attract and keep them.

It would be best to create an in-house recruitment process that works for you and invest in an in-house piece of software for that process. That way you’ll have your applicants’ resumes and other important information in one place so that you can study them and effectively personalize the recruitment experience.

Source: vervoe.com

5 COMMON INTERVIEW MISTAKES RECRUITERS SHOULD AVOID

By Emily Heaslip

Nightmares focusing on poor performance at work, especially job interviews, are common among adults in the US – and it’s easy to see why. Job interviews are stressful. Horror stories of interviews gone wrong are all over the internet. While they may be fun to read, it’s not easy to get through a job interview without making at least one mistake.

What does a “perfect” interview really mean anyway? Interviews have disqualified candidates for everything from being late to “being too attractive.” Candidate error is just one factor in the overall equation; and it’s all too common to make a mistake under pressure. At the end of the day, it’s up to the recruiter to decide whether a mistake is due to anxiety or a sign that the candidate is a bad match for the organization.

Here are some of the most common, but forgivable, job interview mistakes that recruiters should overlook.

A candidate sounds rehearsed

Many candidates don’t make it through the first-round interview because they sound too stiff. Recruiters lose interest when a candidate sounds like they’ve memorized their answers. It’s hard to get a good sense of who that person is when they answer questions robotically.

However, recruiters should consider that the problem isn’t the candidate’s presentation. It’s the questions they’re asking. Candidates apply to dozens of jobs during their search. Eventually, all the interview questions start to sound the same. Recruiters should avoid asking outdated, all too common interview questions that applicants answer at nearly every job interview.

There’s a certain script that’s easy to fall into. If you find your candidate sounds a bit canned, try a different approach in the next round.

A candidate talks too much

The opposite of a candidate who sounds rehearsed is a candidate who is too chatty. Anxiety or under-preparation is usually the driver behind a candidate who talks at length. Talking too much is usually seen by recruiters as a red flag – what if a candidate talks too much in a client presentation? Will this person be a distraction when working in teams?

It’s not necessarily fair to assume that chattiness is a sign of weakness. It could be a sign of under preparation, or it could be a lack of experience: two factors that job training can address. But for recruiters who don’t have time to spend all day in an interview, using a one-way video interview can help. Generally, we’re against putting restrictive timers on pre-recorded videos. What if the candidate has technical difficulties? But, you can set the time to be long enough to account for technical glitches while still cutting down on nervous chatter.

A candidate immediately responds to an interview request

Some recruiters consider replying to an interview request right away to be a red flag. Likewise, following up “too much” can make a candidate seem needy or desperate. In today’s hyper-connected society, expecting a candidate to wait an appropriate amount of time is a little too selective.

It could be that a candidate follows up because so few companies are transparent about their process. While talking to your job interviewee, make sure to be upfront about your timeline and next steps. Managing expectations can help prevent any lingering confusion or excessive follow up from your potential new hires.

A candidate is asking questions “on the fly”

It has become almost cliché for hiring experts to recommend candidates prepare their own questions. Recruiters disqualify candidates who ask questions “on the fly” – but why? Asking questions that are not pre-rehearsed can show genuine interest. A candidate who comes up with questions on the spot is engaged, paying attention, and quick on their feet. Recruiters should prefer that over a candidate who simply pays lip service to the interview script.

A candidate doesn’t bring a hard copy of their resume

It’s time to go green! If recruiters want a hard copy of the candidate’s resume, they are capable of printing it out themselves. Some recruiters see this as a sign that the candidate is under-prepared or careless. In reality, many people don’t have access to a printer. It’s an arbitrary ask that recruiters use to disqualify a candidate from making it to the next round. Wouldn’t you rather see an employee show their real-world skills rather than their ability to press print?

HOW TO HIRE CALL CENTER REPS

Forget robots: super agents are coming.

Call centers across America are training so-called “super agents.” These are call center representatives who are able to deal with any and all customer problems that come through the line. In an effort to reduce industry-high rates of turnover, call center recruiters are investing in hiring candidates who can go the distance.

The role of a call center representative is one of the few positions where assessment metrics during the interview process can reliably predict on-the-job success. Super agents need to have high achievement in things like communication skills, multi-tasking abilities, analytical skills, and more. As more companies begin to hire these super reps, the hiring process can begin to quantify the skills necessary to rise to the challenge.

Hiring great call center representatives starts with writing a job description that stands out. Meanwhile, training super agents requires an investment from call centers – in time, money, and resources. Therefore, recruiters need to make sure their job description is sending the right signals to candidates who will stick around. Focusing on the benefits and perks of working at a call center can help bring in candidates who are interested in long-term growth potential within an organization. These are the employees who will make it as super agents and can help improve the organization and reach its goals.

Attracting talent with a great job description is just the first step. A candidate who seems like a strong fit for a call center position is only on the market for an average of five business days. This is an extremely competitive talent market in which call center recruiters need to be agile and consistent in vetting their top candidates.

Talent Trials are a critical tool that many call centers use to help identify the qualities that make a call center rep successful. Talent Trials combine all types of assessments, from skills tests to immersive assessments and job simulations to give candidates an opportunity to showcase their talent. Each Talent Trial can be built to automatically grade and stack-rank candidates based on how they perform. This way you can streamline your interview process by focusing on those who perform best on three to five real-world scenarios.

Here are a few mock situations real call centers are using in their Talent Trials to help identify super-agent potential.

This article by Emily Heaslip originally appeared on Vervoe.com

HOW TO MAKE YOUR JOB DESCRIPTIONS STAND OUT

Job seekers will spend an average of 11 hours a week looking for a new job. That’s a lot of time spent reading job descriptions, and eventually, the endless lists of preferred qualifications and responsibilities start to look the same. 

We ask a lot of our job candidates during the application process. Just to get an interview, applicants need to submit a resume that caters to the open listing; personalize a cover letter; provide references; and more. However, many companies don’t go the distance to give their job descriptions the same level of attention they ask of a job seeker. 

More importantly, formulaic job descriptions can cause companies to miss out on top talent. Conversion rates on career sites are down: of those who visit a company’s site, fewer than 9% apply for an open position. Job descriptions just aren’t getting candidates excited about the opportunities that are available out there. In a competitive job market where unemployment is at a low 3.9%, making your job descriptions stand out is more important than ever. Here are some of the ways a recruiter make their job descriptions stand out.

Focus on the big picture

It’s important for millennial workers to feel like their work is contributing to something bigger. The next generation of workers seeks opportunities that allow them to grow, contribute meaningfully to an organization, and feel like management decisions are transparent and inclusive. Recruiters can tap into this desire by linking job descriptions to overall organizational goals. Keep the listed job functions limited to five to seven bullets and spend more time describing how the position can contribute to key business objectives. Sentences like “Be a part of the marketing team that works toward X% growth this year” or “Help us as we roll out X new products by the end of 2019” can spur goal-minded candidates to submit their resume.

Use video, graphics, and other visuals

Some companies try to stand out by using job titles like “ninja” or “rockstar”. Not only does this sound cliche and inauthentic, but it doesn’t make a job opening easily searchable. Stick to straightforward language and lean on visuals or video to provide the brand identity you’re looking for. Video can be a great way to show the culture of your company without sounding lame or inauthentic. A great example of this is Twitter’s very tongue-in-cheek employer branding video from 2013.

Other ways to spice up your job description is to have an employee testimonial from someone who’s been in the position before; an infographic laying out the key qualifications and requirements; or even just some pictures to break up the text a little.

Give them a reason to apply

Remember: candidates are scrolling through dozens of job descriptions each day in search of a new job. Salary and benefits are the top two factors a candidate considers before accepting a job offer. So, be transparent in your job description about what those specific perks are.

What are the benefits that come with being an employee at your company? These can be as simple as the chance summer Friday afternoons off or a great work culture. Don’t feel as if you have to compete with the Googles and the Facebooks that offer free breakfast and video games. Opportunities for advancement or to learn a new skill can be the thing that sets you apart from other companies. Do a little recruitment marketing and boost your brand by showing off what awaits if someone applies for the position.

Get rid of buzzwords

One of the reasons why all job descriptions blur together is that they all sound the same. Recruiters in every industry love using terms like “enthusiastic and motivated” and “willingness to learn.” Buzzwords are brutal and can turn away candidates who are looking for a forward-thinking, innovative company. Often, buzzwords are inadvertently used as a crutch to avoid explaining the real requirements of the position. Does “enthusiasm” really refer to someone who vocalizes support and positive feedback to their team, or is it someone who isn’t afraid to meet deadlines and works diligently? Most recruiters or hiring managers wait until the interview process to vet candidates with their specific brand of enthusiasm, but with a better job description, this process can be streamlined.

Don’t go crazy on the requirements

Purple unicorns don’t exist. Neither do regular colored unicorns. Unicorns aren’t real, period. Many recruiters write job descriptions that simply aren’t realistic. That laundry list of unrealistic expectations could be hurting your recruitment efforts more than you realize. Research shows that women are unlikely to apply for a position unless they meet 100% of the requirements. If you’re hoping to be more inclusive in your hiring this year, scale back the qualifications in your job description to those which are absolute requirements. The “nice-to-have” skills should be left out – otherwise, you could be scaring away perfectly well-qualified candidates who are intimidated by the description.

Write for inclusivity and diversity

Speaking of hiring inclusively, the way you write your job description could be unwittingly sending the wrong message to a potential candidate. Of course, you want to include language or images that showcase your company culture; however, don’t try to write in a way that attracts “people like us.” Ensure your descriptions are free from gender bias using tools like The Gender Decoder, which tells you whether your description is feminine-coded (written with more of a leaning towards a female candidate), masculine-coded (written with more of a leaning towards a male candidate) or neutral (no leaning). Using more neutral wording can help open up your candidate pool by 42% and improve your application rates dramatically.

This article by Emily Heaslip originally appeared on Vervoe.com

AGILE GROWTH: EMPLOYEES VS. FREELANCERS

If you want to grow your business, you will undoubtedly face the following dilemma: should I hire someone or use a freelancer? For a start-up with scarce resources making the right choice can be the difference between gaining traction and wasting valuable, and finite, time and money.

The case for using freelancers usually sounds something like this: “Need new talent, but don’t have the resources or desire to take on a full-time employee?” … and that’s a great reason by the way.

Other good reasons for using freelancers include value for money, needing specialist skills and surge capacity for an ad hoc project. Some of the arguments against are quality control and the time it takes to get a freelancer up to speed.

There are some great articles about the main pros and cons of using freelancers. But there is no point telling you what you already know or can easily find out with a quick Google search. Instead, we wanted to share some of the lessons we have learnt through our own experience at vervoe.com, as well as the feedback our clients have shared with us. Employees versus freelancers: Which is best for you?

Here are some of the less obvious, but equally important, considerations when trying to decide between making a permanent hire and engaging a freelancer.

Retained Knowledge

Even if a freelancer does a great job, at the end of the assignment she is gone. She won’t call you next week with another idea or come back to fix something that was overlooked, at least not for free. While you will benefit from the outcome, you are unlikely to be privy to all of her thinking and preparation. So, it’s worth considering whether the task you are outsourcing is isolated or will have an ongoing impact on your business.

For example, it might make sense to outsource the task of sharing content on your preferred social media channels and even creating some of that content. But preparing your content marketing strategy requires buy-in from the founders or management because it involves deep product and market knowledge and a strong understanding of your company’s objectives. It is also a document you will likely want to revise over time so you need to understand it intimately.

Occasionally you may find an absolute gun who will only work freelance and it’s clear that she will provide greater value than an equivalent employee. Don’t dismiss working with her on strategic tasks just because she is a freelancer.

But structure the arrangement with two things in mind. First, be heavily involved in the thinking process rather than just waiting for the outcome and ask for all the draft materials. This may cost more but it will be well worth it. Second, try to retain her services on a long-term basis and treat her like she is part of the team. This will hold you in good stead.

Product Knowledge
The biggest cost associated with using any freelancer is the time it takes her to understand your product and market positioning. Therefore, your return is likely to increase over time and the first engagement is usually the riskiest for your company.

Really good freelancers will do their homework and tell you upfront what they require in order to make the assignment successful. They may ask to interview your customers. They may go through every page of your website. They may look at all your competitors. They will most certainly consult with their network. Good freelancers “get it” quickly because they prepare.

Unfortunately, only a very small minority do this. Most freelancers learn about your product and industry on your time and at your cost. Sometimes that is unavoidable. If you are paying someone under $100 you can’t expect them to dedicate hours to gaining a strategic understanding of your business. It’s simply not worth it.

The arrangement needs to be mutually rewarding. If you need a short video, a few lines of quick copy or an icon or two then a site like Fiverr makes sense. But if you need something impactful and you want a freelancer who will understand your business then prepare to pay more or make a permanent hire.

Motivation
When people do work for your company, how invested do you want them to be? A freelancer, even one with amazing dedication, is committed to a specific task rather than your entire business. She is unlikely to be as incentivized as your staff. Having said that, it’s all a matter of degrees. Your staff will not be as incentivized as people who have equity in your company and certainly not as incentivized as the founders. So is the answer to only hire employees and give them all equity?

That’s certainly one model but it’s not necessarily the right one and it assumes that financial gain is the main source of motivation. Your team members, from the founders to the freelancers, are likely to be motivated by a range of factors, including intellectual stimulation, learning new skills, working with like-minded people, building something exciting, doing a great job and of course having fun. And obviously money.

If your number one criterion is having people who are heavily invested in your business then hire them permanently, give them equity and lock them up. But that comes at a huge cost, especially for early-stage start-ups. And it’s not always necessary to get great results. The right freelancer can add enormous value and there are no guarantees your employees will always deliver.

Access to Elite Skills

One of the biggest advantages of using a freelancer is gaining access to someone you can’t hire. It’s not just the individual. It’s the level of seniority, the experience, the contacts and perhaps even the location. It might be the money or maybe your company hasn’t yet got enough runs on the board to attract elite talent. For whatever reason, you are not in a position to hire someone at that level.

But by using a freelancer you can get access to super talent and immediately inject value into your business. There are some amazing operatives in the market and under the right circumstances they can help you grow your business. When you find them don’t let go, freelancer or not.

First, think about the skills your founding team already has. Then figure out what you are missing. Keep in mind that “missing” in this context doesn’t mean the things you prefer not to do. It needs to be something that is genuinely critical to your success and you can’t do yourself. Something that you wish one of the founders could do. When this happens, you are in need of an expert.

Finding the right one isn’t easy and trawling through the freelancer sites is not likely to yield results. There are two good ways to find a true expert you can rely on. The first, and most likely safest way, is a referral. Contact a friend or someone from your network who has been in a similar situation and ask for a reference. Reach out to people in your network with the expertise you need and ask them for advice.

This article is by Omer Molad, co-founder and CEO of Vervoe.

7 MONEY MISTAKES THE MIDDLE CLASS NEVER STOP MAKING

by STAN EDOM

Moving from the rat race to the fast track is one of the biggest problems the middle-class population in every part of the world faces. They dream of financial freedom and talk about what they’d do if they “luckily became rich”, but still continue to make the same money mistakes that keep them trapped in their financial situations.

Kids these days are too focused on the fastest way to make money, rather than the smartest way to make money. They make mistakes trying to get rich overnight.

What money mistakes are these? And how can a large part of the population stop making them?

If you feel you’re currently in this position and don’t know how to break out of this group, here are 7 money mistakes the middle-class never stop making:

 Buying Things They Want, Instead Of What They Need:

The most successful organisations in the world market their products around people’s wants, not just their needs. They appeal to the masses’ fantasies and use their brilliant campaigns to make them desire the need to settle their appealing wants before their core needs.

The problem with this is it does nothing but keep a large part of the masses in degrading financial situations, while the owners of the businesses running these campaigns continue to get wealthier.

When you place you wants above your needs, you activate misplaced priorities, which in-turn negatively affects your financial situation.

By spending more money on what you don’t need over what you need, breaking out of the rat race would be very difficult for you to achieve.

Piling Up Excess Debts:

The people who borrow money the most are the middle class, and a large part of them haven’t realised that yet. In underdeveloped countries where credit cards aren’t rampant, people borrow so much from family and friends to settle their immediate wants and needs, and as these debts pile up, they realise they have little to nothing to save after repayments at the end of every month.

It gets even worse in developed countries where credit cards are the norm. Too many people swipe-away with their cards for almost everything they need. Thereby piling up extraordinary debts that can only hardly get settled.

One money mistake to avoid no matter what class you belong to in the society is to stray far away from debts that are not taken towards making you more money. If borrowing will only build up your liabilities, you should avoid it at all costs.

Not Having A Retirement Plan:

A retirement plan is what determines how well you’ll be taken care of in your later years. It ensures you have all you need even if you have no other means of income, and it guarantees that your basic concerns surrounding financial independence in your later years are to a great extent, solved.

Most people have no retirement plans. They look at it as a long-term process, and instead, choose to live for the now, because after all, “You Only Live Once (YOLO)”.

When you have the YOLO mentality, regrets will almost inevitably build up in your later years when reality sets in and there’s no way for you to raise money.

Having a retirement plan is planning for the future. And planning for the future, is one of the first steps to make a move out of the rat race.

Having Little To No Savings:

Most people have little to no savings. They spend everything on their immediate needs and make little to no efforts to put out at least 10% of their monthly income in an emergency fund or a form of savings.

When you have no savings, you’d have no money to take advantage of any sudden opportunities that come your way. Likewise, you’d also have no funds to take care of any unexpected emergencies that also hit you.

A key money mistake the middle class keep making is having little to no savings. And until they can learn to put aside at least 10% of their monthly earnings, breaking free from their financial situations would prove to be very difficult.

A recent report from Frugaa revealed how over 30% of the middle-class families around the world have no savings at all, with 69% having savings of under $1,000, meaning most people have little to no savings. They spend everything on their immediate needs and make little to no efforts to put out at least 10% of their monthly income in an emergency fund or a form of savings.

Depending Purely On Salaries:

A large part of the population lives pay cheque to pay cheque. Their lives revolve around their next salaries, and the only thing they aspire towards is to attain a promotion at work, so they can earn an even higher salary.

They brag about whose organisation pays better, complain about most of their bosses who do nothing but frustrate them, and spend a large part of their time talking about people they know are doing big things.

If you find yourself in these circle, change your association as soon as possible. People are infectious, and their way of life will affect yours. You need to be amongst people who motivate you to act, who push you with their success, and who do nothing but help each other grow.

Putting Their Children In Expensive Schools:

Every parent wants the best for their kids. But when they go as far as putting the family’s finances in harm’s way because they want their kids to attend one of the most expensive schools, they do nothing but threaten the family’s financial future.

The people who make this mistake the most are those who earn a considerably fat salary. They equate a huge monthly pay cheque to success, and so, ensure they step up most of their expenditures, including the class of schools their children attend.

Instead of putting your kids in the most expensive schools, you can put them in really good schools that charge a modest fee. A $4,000 a term school will never guarantee your child would be better off in life than a child attending a $400 a term school. Afterall, some of the wealthiest people around the world today didn’t even have any form of education.

Making Financial Decisions Solely Based On How They Feel:

One of the biggest mistakes people make in life is to make decisions based on how they feel, and not based on what is practical. There’s always a time to follow your guts, but when that time feels like every time, you’d always find yourself ending up with mistakes.

Hope is not a strategy, and making financial decisions based on emotional connections will do you no good. Brands build emotional connections with their customers so they can keep selling more products. The emotional appeals of their campaigns confuse the prospects and drive them into making decisions they think they’re completely in control of.

Experienced marketers also know this, and so, design their sales pitches around getting a sizeable number of people to act immediately.

When you make financial decisions based on how you feel, you lose money. And when you lose money, you push yourself deeper into the rat race. By realising your emotions could be your biggest enemy in making financial decisions, you can better understand how to control it, tame it, and shape it into what could become your best bet in avoiding many money mistakes that the middle class never stop making.

Source: startuptipsdaily.com

BASKETMOUTH ANNOUNCES ‘ONE MAN’ COMEDY SHOW IN LONDON

By Murtala Abubakar

Bright Okpocha, professionally known as Basketmouth, will headline a one-man comedy show at the Indigo at The O2, London.

The show, scheduled for February 2019, will be the first of its kind by a Nigerian comedy at the venue.

“I’m saying it as it is, things I’ve never said before, the truth….nothing but the truth. Believe me…..you’ve not seen anything like this one before,” the comedian wrote about the show tagged ‘The Son of Peter’.

Basketmouth, who celebrated his eighth wedding anniversary on Tuesday, will perform at the upcoming Global Comedy Fest in Dubai.

Eddie Kadi, Bovi, Salvador, and Acapella are among the lineup of comedians for the festival.

Basketmouth is also expected to host Wande Coal’s London concert on November 11, at the Indigo at The O2.

On the same day, another Nigerian singer, Simi, will host her maiden UK concert at O2 Academy Islington.

Basketmouth was recently named Pan African comedian of the year at the 2018 Savanna Comics’ Choice Awards.

He has won the award for two consecutive years.

Source: thecable.ng