It wasn’t so long ago that workers might have toiled for years in a role they didn’t like, all in the name of job security. Today, the landscape has changed, as seen in phenomena like the “Great Resignation” and the war for talent.
Lori O’Connor, new business developer for inbound marketing agency Vye, says her role used to focus on driving growth for companies using data technology and creativity, and creating warm leads for businesses to hand to their sales teams. In the past 18 months, however, O’Connor and her team began to hear clients telling them they couldn’t drive leads to sales staff without having enough workers to fulfill the orders and do the work.
That feedback helped Vye realize it could use its marketing processes to help drive candidates to apply for jobs. “What we’ve found is we can apply that same methodology that we use to generate leads, to the candidate pool,” O’Connor says.
O’Connor, who sits on task forces for both the NEW Manufacturing Alliance and New North, Inc., says she hears from companies all the time that say they have the capacity to grow their business by 20 to 30 percent, but they can’t because they don’t have enough people to carry out the work.
It used to be enough for businesses to post an ad on a site like Indeed, but the competition for talent has grown so fierce that companies need to come up with more sophisticated strategies. Many workers today want flexibility and eschew the idea of working a 9-to-5 job or taking a second-shift role, O’Connor says. “The power has shifted from the businesses to the consumer (job seeker).”
Ben Nelson, founder and CEO of Radix Leadership, has heard similar feedback from the manufacturing clients he works with. Given the dire need to fill roles, especially production positions, Nelson often hears clients say they “just need to bring in a warm body.” He cautions against that.
“I try to discourage that because if that’s the strategy they attack with, that’s the first person who’s going to most likely be disengaged, and that creates another host of issues,” Nelson says.
It matters because 64 percent of a company’s costs are its people, and 72 percent of its value comes from its people, Nelson says. One bad hire typically costs between 30 and 40 percent of that person’s salary to replace, and the average disengaged employee costs a company $3,400 for every $10,000 that person earns in salary, he adds.
Reliable recruitment
More effective hiring starts with attracting candidates. For the Vye team, that starts with researching the marketplace and creating a profile of an ideal candidate. O’Connor says it’s also important to understand what drives people in their decision-making about their career.
“They can look like an ideal candidate, but until we know why they would switch careers or start a new career … it’s difficult to reach them or get them to apply,” she says.
Companies also need to get more creative in how they market themselves, and that often starts with their website.
A manufacturer may tout itself as tech-savvy, but if its website is 20 years old, it won’t reflect that, O’Connor says, adding a company’s website often is the first place a candidate will visit to learn about the organization.
Vye helps companies fix the disconnect between their brand and what their website shows. That includes putting special focus on the careers page, which should be the company’s “billboard” to the candidate.
While traditional outlets like Indeed remain relevant and can’t be ignored, O’Connor says companies also need to look at other sources, including social media. That includes not just posting jobs but also using social media platforms like Facebook to establish the company’s brand and personality.
O’Connor also encourages companies to recruit their employees to appear in videos, as those testimonials can come across as more authentic and compelling. For example, companies shouldn’t just say no experience is required and that they’re willing to train. It’s more powerful to find an employee who followed that path and can share his or her own story, she says.
“What makes them excel in your environment? And then take that and communicate that out,” she says.
Sound selection
Scott Valitchka, managing partner at Neenah-based 15 Dots, LLC, says choosing the right candidate doesn’t have to rely on guesswork. 15 Dots trains teams to consistently select and hire the right personnel.
Valitchka works alongside Joe Nowlin, consulting partner at 15 Dots, who brings an industrial psychology background and 40 years of experience working with the wood products industry. Throughout that time, Nowlin has honed an interview selection process that includes both structured board interviews — which include multiple people from a team — and testing.
“There was ample research evidence that a structured interview would be better than an unstructured interview and that a panel or a board interview would be more reliable than a one-on-one interview,” Nowlin says.
The process involves having every candidate complete three to five cognitive tests and participate in a structured board interview and plant tour. To eliminate bias, the interviewers don’t know the results of the cognitive tests, which assess skills such as mechanical principles and numerical ability, prior to sitting down with the candidate. The selection team then analyzes the test scores and interview outcomes to predict how people will perform on the job.
The tests and interviews are weighted 60 percent to 40 percent, respectively. Through the process, candidates are rated on a 1-to-10 scale. The 15 Dots team encourages clients to select candidates in the top 20 percent of the distribution — those receiving a score of 7 or higher.
Nelson also uses tests as part of Radix’s AIM (Attract, Interview and Make the right decision) process. Assessing cognitive ability helps make the process more objective. Combining testing with assessing someone’s education and life experiences can take some of the guesswork out of hiring, he says.
“What we’ve found is that the cognitive ability predicts the job performance more than any other assessment tool,” Nelson says.
Once the right person is in the door, the work doesn’t stop, Valitchka says. Companies also must do a good job onboarding, and those first days, weeks and months are critical.
“Because the labor market is so competitive right now, if you don’t do a good job showing that you care about them by giving them clear expectations and mentorship and opportunities to participate in team-based activities, they’re going to start looking or get disenchanted quickly,” he says.
