CareerBuilder’s Senior Director of Talent Intelligence, Sanja Licina, and Director of Employment Branding, Keith Hadley, recently led the webinar, The 5 Step Approach to Identifying and Attracting the Right Employees. In it, they provided a practical five-step plan you, as a small- or medium-sized employer can use to  identify and attract the engaged, passionate employees who care as much about your organization’s success as you do. Check out some of the highlights below.

• Employee surveys can unlock the secret to attraction and retention. There’s a huge disconnect between what executives believe their employees want and what workers actually want. In order to understand what compels employees to work for you – and stay with you – it is crucial that you administer employee feedback regularly through companywide surveys.
• Surveys are only as good as your follow-through. Follow-through is critical. Once you’ve surveyed your employees, be sure to tell them how and when you’re going to take action on their feedback. Provide regular updates on the progress you’re making.
• Stop talking about your company first. All too often, companies begin their story by talking about their company, when they need to start by talking about their employee value proposition. You only have 10 to 15 seconds to capture job seekers’ attention and compel them to dig deeper. Talk about what’s in it for them first, then get into the details about your company later.
• Job boards open doors for companies, but social media takes job seekers inside. The majority (68 percent) of job seekers use job boards to search for jobs, creating a way for smaller companies to get in front of job seekers. Ninety-two percent will of job seekers will then visit the career site of a company in which they’re interested, and 70 percent will go on to use social media to verify the claims companies make on those sites. Social media, therefore, is less of a place to advertise jobs and more of a way to build your company’s reputation.
• Mobile isn’t a luxury – it’s a necessity. Anywhere from 13 to 20 percent of job seekers are conducting searches on mobile devices – and these numbers are rapidly increasing. Employers need to recognize the increasing importance of mobile technology and structure their recruitment strategy accordingly. By next year, mobile may very well be the main way people search for jobs.
• Embrace your unique employee value proposition. Small companies can and should leverage the benefits of working at a smaller organization to appeal to job seekers who desire more ownership of their work or the chance to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond.
• It’s not enough to look like a good employer. You have to actually be a good employer. Getting talent into your company is only the first step. To retain the talent you bring in, you have to make good on the promises you make during the recruitment process.

Want to learn more? Download the complete webinar for free here.

What is #HFChat, and why should you participate?

#HFChat, for those of you who don’t know, is a weekly chat focusing on helping job seekers through topics ranging from resumes, to cover letters, to networking — and much more. It’s also a way for employers and recruiters to connect with these job seekers and give them live answers based on their own expertise, in 140-character bursts.

As hosts of the 3/30 chat, we chose to talk about “The next step – how you plan your long-term career goals.” We not only enjoyed discussing long-term career goals with everyone on the chat, but also received really interesting questions and feedback from job seekers and excellent advice from employers and recruiters who participated.

The questions “officially” discussed (aside from the great side discussions mixed in):

Q1: How and when do you identify long-term career goals?
Q2: In a job search, how can you ensure a job or industry isn’t a dead-end?
Q3: How do you supplement lack of experience if switching careers?
Q4: What are ways you can position yourself to move up in a career?
Q5: How do you adapt your current skills to new or other industries?

A few favorites from the chat:

@ChrisFleek Visibility within org is YOUR responsibility. Hard to learn, but subtly sell yourself around org at all times.

@FordCareers Show up early, stay late and never, ever say “its not my job”.#workethic

@TheResumeSmith To move up, dont just do the job you have, do the job you WANT. Show competency.

@WorkResults when in career transition, focus on transferable skills, expanding networks, working hard – it worked for me!

@Victoria_mpc The job you love today, may not fit tomorrow. Keep aware as your goals and aspirations develop.

@ChrisFleek People who focus on tasks have trouble changing careers – those who focus on skills & processes more easily transition.

@RobinResumes Before switching, make sure you are unhappy with the career rather than the company environment.

If you’re interested in seeing how Friday’s discussion unfolded, check out the transcript of #HFChat.

Eric and Hope discussed everything from the latest sources in the market to help you find the top IT talent, to ways to make sure your IT department growth is up to speed with your overall company, to building an IT team with a reputation for excellence and keeping your current IT employees engaged and motivated.

A few highlights of how to attract and keep your best IT employees:

•  Companies hiring IT employees today can’t afford to be in the dark about what candidates are expected to get paid & what their competitors are offering.
• As an employer, you must know the top IT employers in various geographical markets in order to be competitive in your strategy.
• Give your IT employees disciplined freedom — don’t box them in. Give them goals to achieve & let them formulate the solution.
• Let your IT employees see the value in their work by tying projects to overall business goals.
• Your IT recruiter can gain an advantage by truly getting to know your IT team and experiencing a “day in the life.”

Ahead of their upcoming webinar, The 5 Step Approach to Identifying and Attracting the Right Employees, CareerBuilder’s Senior Director of Talent Intelligence, Sanja Licina, and Director of Employment Branding, Keith Hadley, recently sat down for a Q&A to discuss some of the content of the webinar, as well as offer hiring advice small business owners and hiring managers can apply today.

What’s the biggest obstacle that businesses face today in terms of recruiting the right people?
Keith Hadley: I think small business are too reactive. They don’t typically have large numbers of vacant positions, so they go from requisition to requisition. And because they are so reactive, they don’t set down some of the basics you need to have in place to attract top talent.
Sanja Licina: I agree. I’d also add that sometimes the biggest challenges for small businesses are the obstacles they create for themselves, such as the perception that they’re always going to lose out to bigger businesses. Or the thought that they can only recruit in their location or that there’s something inherently about them that makes them inferior to other companies; however, our research has shown that that’s just not the case. I think it’s really important for them to not use that as a deterrent to reach out to the people they think would be the best fit for their organization.

Because in many ways people are attracted to small businesses precisely because they are small, yet small businesses don’t necessarily see that as being an asset, right?
KH: Yes, I know a lot of people who would love to find a lower-pressure job closer to home at a smaller company, where you can be a bigger fish in a smaller pond.

In your upcoming webinar, you talk about the need for small businesses to “tell their story” to appeal to job seekers. What exactly do you mean by that?
SL: Telling your story is about understanding what makes working for your company better than working somewhere else, and then saying it aloud, and saying it with confidence. The medium could be everything from word of mouth to social media – there’s really no limit.
KH: One mistake businesses make is talking about your company from the perspective of your products, your services, your industry, et cetera. That’s the most boring story.  Small businesses need to sit back and say, “How are we approaching talent? What is it that talent is looking for?”  A good story answers the question, “What’s in for me?” because it engages job seekers and makes them want to learn more.

Aside from the chance to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond, as Keith mentioned, what are some other assets small business can leverage when telling their stories?
KH: I think one thing that makes small- and medium-sized businesses unique is they really are like families.  Because they’re small, everybody knows everybody else.  People are very connected, and there tends to be more loyalty in a small business because people are still very much people. And that’s a real strength.
SL: There’s more upward mobility in small business. Smaller organizations can often offer people much higher levels of responsibility much more quickly than bigger businesses.
KH: Another thing is that small businesses are more agile. Right now, I’m working with a big company that is just bogged down in multiple layers of decisions. Our point person on the project keeps giving us “yesses” and then coming back later with a change, because somebody above them in that hierarchy we don’t even know keeps changing things. There are so many layers of bureaucracy to navigate in bigger businesses that you don’t have to deal with in smaller companies.
Sanja: Yes, and that agility also makes it easier for them to adopt trends a lot faster than other organizations, because they can implement them a lot quicker. That’s a huge strength.

Could you speak a little bit about the importance of recruiting even when there aren’t positions open currently?
KH: Everybody gets that product marketing is an ongoing thing, and they proactively make a plan to put together a marketing presence. Small businesses need to do the same for their recruiting presence and really think of it as an ongoing thing they need to invest money in and focus on. 
SL: Yes, I think sometimes people look at the cost of doing something, but they don’t think about the cost of not doing something. Ongoing recruitment gets more people to know about your organization. When you realize you need to hire somebody it’s almost too late, because if nobody knows who you are and what you’re doing, the time it takes to get someone good is going to be that much longer. But if you’ve already talked with people about the benefits of working for your organization, you already have a lot of warm candidates you can bring on board a lot faster.

Do you believe it’s better to leave an open position unfilled or to hire someone who’s not qualified and hope it works out?
SL: I think it depends on the supply and demand, and understanding how difficult it is going to be to find these people. There’s data out there to show you whether the talent is out there or not, and if you see that there are a good number of people out there who you’re looking for, you need to get smarter about how to get in front of them and how to tell your story better. So in that case, my recommendation would be to wait and hire. Now, if it’s a position that’s extremely difficult to hire for, then you probably need to look at your requirements and determine what it is you’re willing to train for.
KH: But you definitely minimize the likelihood of hiring the wrong person by being proactive and increasing the pool of people you have exposure to, which feeds back into everything we’ve talked about.

Want to hear more? Join Sanja and Keith on Wednesday, March 28 for The 5 Step Approach to Identifying and Attracting the Right Employees. They’ll discuss more best practices for identifying and attracting the engaged, passionate employees who will help your small business grow. Registration is free. You can also follow the conversation on Twitter at #cb5steps

Roll out the red carpet and call Joan Rivers: awards season isn’t over yet!

CareerBuilder just announced the launch of its Big Strides in Small Business Award contest – an effort to recognize the small businesses that have done a particularly spectacular job of fueling job growth and fostering economic recovery this year…and we’re asking YOU to nominate your small business today.

Think your small business is a big deal?

The contest is open to small businesses with 250 employees or less located in the fifty (50) United States plus the District of Columbia.  In order to be eligible, the small business must have added a minimum of 10 employees to its company in 2011 and must plan to add a minimum of 10 jobs to its company in 2012. As always, some restrictions may apply, but you can get all those details – and fill out an application form – by going to the contest page now.

Did we mention there are prizes?

(Not that there needs to be, right? Because really, isn’t it an honor just to be eligible for nomination?) Okay, but for realz, the prize package is pretty sweet: the winner of the Big Strides in Small Business Award (see how the selection process works here) will receive a grand prize worth $12,000, including a complimentary pass to CareerBuilder’s upcoming User Conference in Chicago in October, and a slew of free CareerBuilder services. (I hear there was talk about throwing in a date with Nick Lachey, too, but apparently that’s been done.)

Did we mention you only have until April 15? So get on it! Nominate your small business today.

I was at 2012′s HRPA conference last week, tweeting, blogging, jumping into sessions       about everything from the importance of cultural fit to the prevalence of age discrimination (more to come on those soon). I was also busy sneaking some peach gummy candy (CareerBuilder Canada had the most delicious booth ever, as evidenced by the picture on left of two of our CareerBuilder Canada employees, Jean and Brin, with a myriad of candy).

The conference was filled with engaging and thought-provoking keynote speakers and session discussions, so I thought I’d share some of the best tweets mixed in with my jotted-down favorites, all in short snippets. If you were at the HRPA conference (or even if you weren’t!), let me know your favorite takeaway in the comments below.

From Marshall Goldsmith’s “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There” keynote: 

On motivation:

@pamelamaeross ”Are you too successful? Do you say
“great idea! Now let’s add __.” May make idea 5% better, decrease motivation 50%.”

From Emmanuel Gobiillet’s “Leadershift” keynote:

On leadership:

“Leadership is dead, in the way we currently know it.”

 “Most leaders you have are there because they’re good at what they used to do.”

“Leaders are readers!”

On social media in the workplace:

“By banning social media, saying to employees, ‘I’m going to let go of your attention.’ If you let it go, you’ll never get it back.”

On your employment brand:

“Forget your mission statement. What’s your story as a company?”

From Amanda Lang’s “The Canadian Economy, Business, & HR” keynote:

On curiosity:

“Little kids are taught very early that asking ‘why’ is going to irritate people, rather than that inquiry is a great thing.”

“Is asking ‘Why?’ welcome at your workplace?”

On passion:

“How do we get our employees as passionate about their jobs as they are about their lives?”

“You can’t force people to want to come to work; you can only create an environment that encourages it.”

On innovation:

@joannawoo HR and IT have been identified as the 2 biggest blocks to innovation in an organization.

“Your best assets are your employees’ brains.”

From Josh Linkner’s “Disciplined Dreaming: Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity” keynote:

On creativity and imagination:

@jenniferaking People get hired based on their resume but they get promoted by being creative and unconventional.

@pamelamaeross Asked kids are you creative in kindergarten 95% said yes. Asked high school grads. 2% said they are. We grow out of creativity.

@HRPATO Try Rolestorming – brainstorming as another character like Steve Jobs to encourage imagination in team meetings.

@geofframey Biggest inhibitor of creativity is fear. HR should help our teams crack through that fear.

On taking risks:

@joannawoo ”So many of us run our companies and lives by ‘playing it safe’, but that may be the riskiest thing of all.”

From Kevin Carroll’s “Rediscovering Play: Bringing Fun and Passion to Your Work… and Life” keynote:

On naysayers:

“Haters are just confused admirers.”

On hiring:

@JoanneRoyce ”Hire for passion & creativity. The rest will fall into place. Nike hires Kevin w/o having a defined position for him.”

On courage:

“Be courageous enough to speak up about your career, even when it’s terrifying.”

On including play in our lives:

@d_dimo  ”Play is as important to life as eat, drink, and sleep… A ball can change the world.” #PlayitForward

On leadership:

“The only question which should matter to you as a leader when regarding your success with employees: ‘Have I made them feel stronger and more capable?’”

From Peter Sheahan’s “Talent ® Evolution: Future Focused Strategies For Leveraging Human Capital” keynote:

On getting a seat at the table:

“You’ve got a seat at the table – I’m so sick of hearing about that – talent is the issue.”

On job hopping as the new normal:

@CJSearch4TO @PeterJSheahan says “get a job, leave that one, get a better job leave that one” the new normal to work your way up.

On your employment brand:

@weffythistle ”What are your employees saying about you after they leave? And they will leave!”

@HRPATO “Your employment brand is what everyone says about you when you’re not there.”

Other favorite tweets and ideas:

On trust:

“You don’t gain trust as a leader until you give it.”

On pay:

@JoanneRoyce ”Money sucks as a motivator. Only good for people to show up.”

@CBforEmployers ”Unintended consequence of being underpaid: Orgs develop undesirable culture, high turnover, difficulty recruiting.”

On culture:

@lizzpellet: “Employees either buy into your culture or they get out–it’s the best of the self-selection process.”

On employee engagement:

@raehanbobby “#1 element driving global Employee Engagement: The belief that management is sincerely interested in my well-being.”

On success:

@d_dimo “The gravity of success: learning a new strategy is quite easy to do, the hard part is unlearning the old strategy.”

@pamelamaeross Don’t take advice from people who don’t have what you want. Great advice from @paultobey.

On introverts:

Here was one of my favorite pictures from the conference, on understanding introverts.

Run the Ultimate Fly Pattern Sweepstakes
“Like” CareerBuilder for Employers on Facebook and then enter your name, address and e-mail for a chance to win $1,000 in complimentary airfare from CareerBuilder; the ‘Run the Ultimate Fly Pattern’ sweepstakes runs from January 30, 2012 to midnight, February 12, 2012.

We know your work is important, but everyone deserves to take a break to unplug, kick up their feet and get lost in a good book. And many (including CareerBuilder’s own VP of HR), say traveling across the world or just setting up camp in your house — and away from your office — is good for your health and may translate to better work while in the office:

“Taking advantage of vacation or paid-time-off benefits is critical not only to your well-being, but to your overall job performance,” said Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder.  “Workers who set aside time for R&R tend to have less burnout, more creative energy and higher quality output.  While financial challenges and heavy workloads may make vacation planning difficult, it’s important to find time to recharge away or at home.  It can ultimately translate into a more gratifying work experience that benefits you, your family and your employer.”

Where would you go if you won $1,000 in complementary airfare?

The way we consume our information is more fragmented, because we have so many places to get it.  And with each technological innovation that comes along, adoption of that technology gets quicker and expands into other areas of our lives. Radio took 38 years to reach 50 million users, for example, yet Facebook reached 50 million users in nine months. With these rapid market changes, we’ve seen an evolution in recruitment — perhaps more quickly than we ever imagined. Here are some highlights of what Beth and Chuck discussed; scroll down to listen to the full webinar or to check out the slideshow.

Future of Recruiting Highlights:

• You’ve got to fish where the fish are: Job seekers are already spending time on social media sites, search engines, and mobile devices, so it’s important to reach them in these places.
• The job search is now like buying a car — job seekers are consumers, and they’re accustomed to the process of making decisions and engaging with a brand.
• According to a Q2 Inavero study, 98 percent of candidates reported using search engines at the beginning of their research phase (when they’re searching on a more broad level, and not yet researching specific companies).
• Only 14 percent of candidates believe what a company says about themselves, yet 78 percent of candidates believe what users or employees say about a company.
• 58 percent of candidates say they complete all research before they ever apply to an organization.
• Retention today doesn’t begin when a candidate is hired into a job; it actually starts when a candidates learns about your organization, researches your company, finds interesting opportunities, and begins the application and interview process (can start 3-6 months before a candidate applies to a job at your company).
• The No. 1 reason employees leave their organization, according to a Deloitte study, is due to their relationship with their direct manager.
• Prospective candidates can research your company completely anonymously.
• It’s vital to survey and find out things like: “What do prospective candidates want in an opportunity?”, “Why did current employees join my organization?”, and “Why did former employees leave my organization, and in hindsight, do they believe it was the right decision?”

Three factors critical for successful recruiting in 2012 and beyond:

• Engaging with your candidates like consumers
• Building your recruitment strategies by position and geography
• Evaluating how — and when — your organization retains candidates

While discussing ways companies can bring in better quality candidates and eliminate hiring mistakes during his recent webinar, Hire With Purpose, small business expert Jay Goltz suggested companies pay more attention to the content of their job postings.

While it might not seem like it, job postings play a major role in the hiring process. After all, consider how much time you take to scan a resume – that’s probably about the same amount of time a job seeker takes to review a job posting. In other words, you have mere seconds to grab – and keep – a job seeker’s attention, so what you say – and how you say it – matter.

With a little effort, however, you can turn your ordinary job posting into one that truly stands out in the eyes of job seekers, drives more applications and leads to better hires. All it takes is knowing what to include – and what to avoid – when creating your next job posting. Consider the following tips:

DO THIS: Utilize keywords as often as possible. NOT THAT: Get keyword-happy.
The more keywords your job posting contains that are relevant to the position – and that job seekers might use to search for jobs – the easier it is for search engines to find it; in effect, the higher it will appear in organic search results. Look at your job posting and consider where you can substitute keywords job seekers might use in their searches. (For example, instead of saying, “The person in this position will be required to…” say, “The Marketing Manager will be required to…”) Just don’t flood the posting with so many keywords that you lose the message.

DO THIS: Go traditional with job titles. NOT THAT: Advertise for “rock stars” or “rainmakers.”
Not only are these terms nondescript, but job seekers aren’t searching for these terms. Stick to advertising for more traditional job titles, which will increase the ability for your postings to show up in search results on job boards, search engines and social media sites.

DO THIS: Think beyond healthcare and 401(k)s. NOT THAT: Leave out “Free Bagel Fridays”
What may seem like small perks are really a window into your company’s culture. And that, for job seekers, plays a major role when considering potential employers. While you should definitely still include traditional benefits like healthcare and retirement, remember that the little things count, too – and are often what differentiate you from any other organization. In fact, when considering which benefits to include in your posting, seek the advice of those who know best – your current employees.

DO THIS: Break it up. NOT THAT: Pile everything into one block of text.
The challenge with creating any job posting is finding a way to maximize what small amount of space you have in order to ‘sell’ your company to a prospective applicant. And again, most applicants are probably skimming your job posting for relevant key words – at best. Make the most of the space you have by creating categories (such as “qualifications” and “responsibilities of the role”) and utilizing bullets (to list required skills, responsibilities and company benefits, for examples). The easier the job posting is to read, the more likely a candidate is to read the posting in full and recognize whether or not he or she is truly qualified for the position.

DO THIS: Show. NOT THAT: Tell.
Text alone won’t grab job seekers’ attention. Create a visual experience. CareerBuilder data finds that job postings that include logos bring in 13 to 21 percent more applications. The number goes up to 34 percent when the job posting is accompanied by a recruitment video. Why? Videos help you communicate your employment brand more clearly than any other medium, because potential recruits get to “see, feel, and hear” what it’s truly like to work at your organization from the employees and leaders themselves.

DO THIS: Address the elephant in the room. NOT THAT: Leave salary information out.
Research shows that job seekers are turned off when companies fail to include salary information in their postings, so reference compensation information whenever possible—even if it is only a salary range or a statement such as “competitive pay,” “salary negotiable” or “compensation commensurate with experience.” It’s important that you let job seekers know your organization understands that money is, if not everything, at least pretty important.

DO THIS: Proofread. NOT THAT: Assume candidates don’t hold you to the same standards as them.
If you wouldn’t give a resume with a mistake in it a second look, why should job seekers treat a less-than-perfect job posting any different? Even the best, most thorough writers aren’t immune to the occasional typo, so proofread your postings yourself – or better yet, ask a colleague to check for errors that you might have missed.

DO THIS: Double- (or triple-) dip. NOT THAT: Post your job under one industry and call it a day.
If applicable, associate your job posting with multiple industries to increase visibility. Many professions can be cross-posted, such as public relations, accounting, web design and programmers, just to name a few. Doing so allows candidates to pull up your job posting in more searches – just make sure the industries are relevant to the position.

Got any do’s and don’t's of your own to share?

In case you were busy with any of the aforementioned activities – or simply want to hear it again – lucky for you, we’ve got two ways to make sure you don’t miss out on the webinar’s great content: Simply download a recording of Hire With Purpose here or keep reading to check out some of Jay’s best sound bytes on the following topics:

On why hiring the right people is crucial…

• “If you want to have a great company, you can’t do so without great people.” Seventy-five percent of management is hiring the right people in the first place, Goltz says. Unfortunately, most small businesses don’t have a hiring protocol, which can be dangerous, when, according to Goltz’s estimates, only 1 out of 10 applicants will be a great hire.
• “People might forgive bad service, but not bad attitude.” Case in point for why you need to have great employees – they are the face of your business. You can’t always account for things going smoothly in the world, but when you have great people in place to deal gracefully with occasional mishaps, your business will be all the better for it.

On three things to do now to hire great employees…

• “Create a compelling ad.” “We want an ad so compelling that makes someone say, ‘That seems like a cool company. I want to check that out.” Great job ads include things like, “You’ll love our culture,” “Our people are valued,” and “our environment is open and challenging with plenty of freedom.” Talk to your current employees to see what they love about working at your company and include that. “You want to inspire people to apply to your company.”
• “Conduct great interviews – or find someone who can.”Ironically, Goltz says, the very qualities that make people great entrepreneurs – a love of talking, the desire to see the best in people – make them terrible interviewers. They often do not dig deep enough to see why someone might not be a good employee. Fortunately, there’s likely someone at your organization who has a talent for the craft and can dig deep to find great employees. A key to conducting great interviews is to ask better questions. Below are some of Goltz’s personal favorites, the answers to which offer insights into a candidate’s personality, work ethic and drive:
•  “Why did you leave your last job?”
• “How did you handle a difficult situation at your last job?”
• “If you were in charge of your last company, what would you change?”
• “Check references. Always.” “Not only is reference-checking one of most important things you can do as part of the hiring process, but it’s also one of most unused resources out there,” Goltz says. Hiring someone without checking references is “like playing with fire.” When checking references, listen for the red flags. Great candidates’ references are often forthcoming with information and compliments; not-so-great candidates, however, have references who are less willing to talk (whether because they don’t want to be unkind or perhaps fear legal ramifications, etc.).  Whatever you do, however, do NOT skip this step, Goltz says. “Trust me, it’s better to make 20 reference calls to guarantee right employee than deal with nightmare of dealing with a bad employee.”

On the crucial first day…

• “Make sure employees walk away from their first day knowing they made the right decision.” Few things are as important to keeping new employees around as giving them a great first day on the job. To ensure this, to the following three things:  Introduce them to everyone they’ll work with; Have their work area prepared for them ahead of time; and have someone take them out to lunch (or take them yourself!)

On one final thought….

• “If you don’t love them, don’t hire them.” I can think of lots of people we weren’t sure about who didn’t work out. If you put a little more time into the front end of hiring, your life will change dramatically. You’ll have less grief in the long run if you hire people you love during the interview process and get great references. Don’t lower your standards.

Did you hear the webinar? What did you think?

Related links:

Hire With Purpose: Q&A With Small Business Expert Jay Goltz

From Q&A to A: The Hiring Manager’s Complete Interviewing Guide