This is it, the finale of our New Year, New Hire article series. To recap, we’ve taken you through the entire hiring process, from the job posting to the candidate selection decision — which leads us to the final installment: the employee onboarding process.
Candidate experience is everything. Now, chances are, if they’ve gone through the application process and accepted a job offer, their experience has been positive thus far. But your work as the hiring manager doesn’t end with the employment agreement. The onboarding process is the final step of the talent acquisition process and often the first step of the talent development process. To build excitement, loyalty, and trust, your onboarding experience needs to be positive and constructive, building a solid foundation for your new hire’s place in your organization.
What is the onboarding process for a new employee? We’ve put together some employee onboarding tips to help.
Employee Onboarding Best Practices
Step 1: Organize the First Day
To start things off right, it’s integral to ensure that the first day is well planned. While the new employee’s specific needs will vary by industry, every employee onboarding checklist is made up of a few common items, including making sure that they are able to access your systems, given clearance for tools or programs, issued IDs, etc. By laying the groundwork for a good first day, you’re helping to establish a good impression for your organizational skills as a manager and for the organization as an employer.
Step 2: Book One-on-One Meetings
Building business relationships is at the foundation of a successful team dynamic. To accomplish this, one-on-one meetings have become a staple of the modern workplace. These encounters give a new hire the chance to learn about the experiences of others in the company in a relaxed and humanizing way and can help them slowly settle into the work culture. To paint the best picture of your organization, be sure to book meetings with employees at all levels, from coworkers to managers, and even those they may not work with directly — while making sure not to overwhelm them with too many faces at once.
Step 3: Identify a Buddy
The buddy system doesn’t apply only to school field trips: it’s a valuable tool in the manager’s arsenal for helping an employee navigate the nuances of their new role. Choose someone whose job is closely aligned, if not overlapping, with your new hire’s, and who will make sure the newest member of the team feels welcomed. The buddy system can help informalize the first days and weeks of a new job, establishing trust and a more relaxed dynamic where the new hire can feel more comfortable asking questions.
Step 4: Outline Your Expectations
One of the most important steps in the onboarding process is setting expectations for your new employee. The probationary period should be a time devoted to well-paced learning and assimilation, and setting expectations is a key element of this employee education. Bring them up to speed on what specific tasks and projects they’ll be tackling once settled, identify potential learning opportunities, and make it clear that you and your team are there to support as needed. This is also the stage where you may elect to debrief the new hire on personality test results to begin creating a personalized talent development plan.
Step 5: Set Milestone Goals
Finally, as with all good strategies, it’s important to plan for the future by setting highly attainable goals for your new hire. The new hire’s personality test results should be filtered through the lens of the role and organization to inform these goals. Depending on the role and organization, you may wish to engage the services of a professional coach, such as one of the experts within the Hogan Coaching Network.
What is something they can strive to accomplish during the first day? Week? Month? Three months? Year? To reiterate, the key word is attainable. If you set goals that are too lofty, the hire may not reach them, which will set a negative precedent. By giving them things to work toward that are realistic and grounded, you can help them feel accomplishment as they progress through their employment milestones.
To summarize, if you’re wondering how to onboard an employee, the best first step is to place yourself in their shoes and contemplate what specific strategies will help make the transition smooth. Don’t forget, this is a new experience in a new environment with new people — so be patient, nurture the relationship, and equip them with everything they need to start off their new role confidently.
Picture it: you just wrapped up your interview, and you’re confident you’ve found your ideal candidate. They’re smart, hardworking, qualified, socially skilled, and you know they’re going to blend well with the team. You’ve even got the personality assessment results to prove it. You send them the job offer, and they accept. Everything is great, right?
Not so fast.
Unless they’re the sole person you brought to the interview stage, chances are that there are a few (maybe even several) other candidates who didn’t quite make the cut. To avoid joining the ranks of companies that leave their applicants with a negative opinion (rejections are one of the biggest factors that lead to this), consider this option: the rejection letter.
To be clear, the purpose of the rejection letter is to deliver bad news, so you shouldn’t expect cheers of joy from the recipient. But that doesn’t mean that the letter can’t serve a constructive purpose.
How to Write a Rejection Letter to a Job Applicant
The key to a good job candidate rejection letter is being honest, kind, and compassionate. Your letter should build the candidate up and let them know that, even though they may not be eligible for this role, they will find more opportunities. Remember that this rejection reflects on you and the organization as a whole. The tone you set will determine if the candidate will consider applying again in the future, and it also impacts your organization’s reputation and employer brand.
Here are the four steps to write a job interview rejection letter that will send the right message.
Step 1: Thank Them
It should be self-explanatory, but thanking the candidate is a good idea. Studies show that saying “thank you” has ripple effects that directly and indirectly benefit the health and happiness of those who experience it. Remember that the applicant has given their time and effort to apply, take personality assessments, and interview for the role. Acknowledging this and showing your gratitude for their candidacy will cast your organization in a more positive light.
Step 2: Break the Bad News
This is it — the hardest part of the entire letter. While it may not be possible to alter the essence of your message, the words you use to let the candidate know that they did not get the position are important. Of these two examples of a rejection, which do you think would be better received?
I regret to inform you that we have chosen a different applicant for the position.
After careful review and a difficult decision, we’ve decided to move forward with another candidate for the role.
If you chose B, congratulations: you’re correct. The key here is that we’ve let the candidate know that it was a challenging decision and that their application was legitimately considered. Additionally, note the subtle difference between the phrasing, “chosen a different applicant” versus “decided to move forward with another candidate.” The latter gets the point across more gently.
Step 3: Explain Why
Still with us? Good. Now that you’ve broached the subject, it’s time to explain why they didn’t get the job. In most cases, it’s a best practice to be open and honest, but this should be determined by how your interactions with them went.
Good interview – As great as they are as a candidate, it’s possible that some factor meant that they just didn’t make the cut. Was it insufficient experience that made the difference? Let them know gently (follow a similar methodology to Step 2).
Bad interview – If the candidate made a negative impression during the interview, you shouldn’t call them out on it. Instead, say nothing and skip to Step 4.
Step 4: End on a High Note
We’re in the home stretch. After you’ve thanked the candidate, broken the news, and explained your decision, end the message positively. Ideally, you should highlight strengths that stood out in the interview and/or their personality assessment results, point out their valuable qualifications, and express your interest (if you have any) in keeping their application on file for consideration for future roles. Positivity in your closing note will establish a good foundation for any future conversations you have with them.
And that’s it. With those four steps, you will have a thoughtful, constructive rejection letter for a job applicant that may leave them disappointed but thankful for the experience and hopeful for future opportunities.
If you’ve been following our series about refining your talent acquisition process, you likely know that after our last article on how to weed out unqualified candidates, it’s time for the main event: the interview. There are many resources out there on both good and bad interview questions — but there is more to effective interviewing.
A job interview goes both ways. While the employer is gauging the applicant’s qualifications and their potential alignment with the organization’s objectives and culture, the interviewee is trying to get a feel for the type of working environment they might expect and the personality and working style of the hiring manager.
Wondering how to interview someone for a job while making a good first impression? We’ve compiled a list of tips that interviewers can use to win candidates over.
Tips for a Good Job Interview in Person
Choose a Good Location
Location, location, location — its benefit isn’t reserved only for real estate. The location of the interview sets the tone and should be chosen thoughtfully and carefully. A quiet, well-lit space that is free from distractions — without feeling sterile — is the best environment for a constructive interview.
Be Relatable and Relaxed
As serious as an interview’s outcome may be, the language you use and the direction in which you drive the conversation should always be relaxed and conversational. It’s easy to sound too direct as the interviewer, so don’t skip the small talk and informalities. Intimidation isn’t going to win anyone over, so be personable.
Come Prepared
Just as you would expect the candidate to come prepared for the interview, your level of preparedness will speak volumes to your organization’s culture and your level of interest. Here is a short checklist of essentials:
If you’re interviewing a remote candidate, a couple of considerations can make a big difference.
Be Prepared
Preparedness, as it relates to virtual interviews, is based largely on one thing: making sure your video-call technology is working properly. Whether you’re using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or any other conferencing platform, there’s no faster way to set a bad example than by running into technical difficulties when trying to connect to the call. Take the time to test the process so that you run the smallest risk of incident, while also being considerate of any issues the candidate may run into when connecting.
Don’t Get Distracted
It’s easy to get distracted when working from home. Whether your phone notifications are sounding or a team member is messaging you, the candidate will assume you lack interest and commitment if you allow yourself to be distracted. To be respectful, turn off any secondary monitors and set your phone to Do Not Disturb.
Conclusion
The interview is a vital part of the hiring process, and it’s a chance for both the interviewer and interviewee to distinguish themselves from their respective competition. These are just a few tips to get you started in considering how to prepare for interviews to convince top talent that your organization’s open position is worth their time, investment, and loyalty.
Of course, the questions you ask are important too, and organizations that use personality tests in hiring tend to structure their interviews with better questions. To name just a few benefits, these interviews are a more productive use of everyone’s time, they minimize the potential for unconscious bias, they make a better impression on the candidate, and they lead to more successful hires (and fewer bad hires). Stay tuned for upcoming content on how to conduct a structured interview effectively, as well as Part 6 of our series, which will cover rejection letters!
Our series on how to refine your hiring process and how to find qualified candidates continues. In the previous blog, we identified the top five résumé red flags that hiring managers should know. However, résumé red flags are only one layer of the vetting process — after that, it’s time to sort through the candidate pool and identify the top talent. To do this, employers need to be vigilant in having the right criteria to evaluate candidates and ensure they have a positive experience.
How to Get a Pool of Qualified Job Candidates
A good hiring process will lead to a pool of qualified candidates from which you, the employer, can select. While it’s true that the hiring environment is competitive, you can use a few key elements to filter.
The Job Posting
Make no mistake — much of the difficulty finding candidates for a job comes from a poorly written job posting. This introduction of your role to prospective applicants is the face of your company and the first good impression you can make. Beyond this, though, the job posting is key in outlining the exact kind of candidate you want to hire. When writing a job description, be sure to mention specific qualifications, skills, and competencies that the role will require, and avoid vague language that can leave room for misinterpretation. When prospective candidates read your posting, it should be explicitly clear whether their skills align with your criteria.
The Interview
Much like the job posting itself, the interview is an integral step in finding candidates who love their job. Make sure to structure your interview with questions that are specific enough to the nuances of the role while leaving enough room for the interviewee to elaborate on their relevant skills. Be careful — if your questions are too open-ended, you run the risk of either confusing the candidate or receiving answers that won’t illustrate the candidate’s skills.
One way to ensure your interviews will be effective is to incorporate scientifically validated personality tests into the hiring process. This is helpful because interviews, especially when they aren’t structured, are subject to bias and therefore are not very accurate in identifying the best candidates. Using personality tests prior to interviews can help you minimize interviewer bias, target your interview questions to explore candidates’ potential strengths and shortcomings as related to the role, avoid hiring ineffective but charismatic candidates, and even predict which candidates are most likely to be engaged in your organization.
Put in the Work
Although the methods you use to find qualified job candidates may differ based on the industry you’re working in, the fundamental idea is the same: provide the candidate with detailed information about the role and ask pointed, guiding questions to learn more about them. While these may seem obvious, they’re among many common hiring mistakes that run the risk of scaring off top talent and ineffectively weeding out unqualified candidates.
You know the story: The skills gap is cavernous. The Great Resignation is here. Baby boomers are retiring at record pace. The employment climate is changing too quickly, and you have jobs to fill — you need to adapt. But how?
First, know it’s not just you. Organizations across industries and around the globe are confronting these issues and more. As Industry 4.0 technologies change how businesses operate, employers are seeking candidates who have strong digital skills, including the ability to quickly and easily learn to use new technology and aptitude for data and analytics.
Meanwhile, major demographic shifts are occurring within the talent market. Through 2030, 10,000 baby boomers will reach retirement age every day, leaving a plenitude of open positions in their wake.1 Worse, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this phenomenon, with more than 2.4 million early retirements as of fall 2021.2
Of course, ability to use technology or learn new skills is not limited by membership to a specific generation. However, this combination of trends has many employers wondering about hiring Gen Z, also known as Generation Z.
Who Is Gen Z?
The most recent generation to join the workforce, Gen Z consists of people who were born from 1997 through 2010.3 Gen Zers grew up knowing the ubiquity of the internet, smartphones, and social media, so expected fluency with technology is one reason many employers consider them to be desirable as candidates.
Another reason organizations are hiring Gen Z? Gen Zers make up a substantial and growing portion of the talent market. In 2021, 24% of the global workforce were members of Gen Z.4 By 2030, Gen Zers are expected to account for nearly one-third of all workers.4
Although they were expected to come of age with good employment prospects, Gen Zers instead have begun to launch their careers during a global crisis.5,6 While human resources and talent acquisition professionals have been lamenting the Great Resignation and the retirement boom, the effects the pandemic has had on the employment market have disproportionately affected Gen Z. Between March 2020 and April 2021, Gen Z experienced 79% more layoffs and 73% more furloughs compared to the rest of the workforce.6 In other words, they’re open to work.
Building trust will be essential to hiring Gen Z. So, what kind of measures can you take to attract Gen Z job candidates and, more importantly, retain them?
Prioritize Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Gen Z is the most racially, ethnically, and gender diverse generation in history, and its members are more likely than any previous generation to expect organizations to have diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DE&I, programs in place.5 In fact, 99% of Gen Z workers consider workplace DE&I to be important,7 and they won’t necessarily wait for you to hire them before they evaluate your organization’s efforts.
If your DE&I initiatives are insufficient or nonexistent, your leadership team appears homogenous, or your brand doesn’t appear to celebrate diversity, Gen Z job seekers might not even apply in the first place. Concerns about not being accepted due to race, sexual orientation, or gender identity have stopped 37% of Gen Z job seekers from applying for a job, and one in five say they’ve elected not to apply for a job because of concern about the hiring organization’s ability to accommodate neurodivergent individuals.7
While no perfect solution exists, a simple starting point does: talent management. If your talent acquisition strategy relies solely on human judgment, you could be missing out on qualified candidates due to unconscious bias. Using scientifically validated personality tests, hiring managers can evaluate candidates objectively to make the hiring process more equitable. Personality can also be used to develop leaders who will promote diversity and inclusion efforts, which is important for creating lasting cultural change.
Look Beyond Hard Skills in Hiring Gen Z
Gen Z workers are just starting out in their careers. Although many already have acquired some experience, don’t limit your consideration of their candidacy to technical skills. The pandemic has been a formative event for this generation, interrupting their education, their transition to the professional world, and more. They’re likely to bring a unique style of emotional intelligence to their work, but they might need and even expect flexibility in finding a role that is both motivating and fulfilling.8
Gen Zers understand professional success depends on qualities such as curiosity and willingness to take on new challenges, and 81% believe it’s important to develop relationships with potential employers even when an open position isn’t available — an increase from 22% before the pandemic.9,10 A 2019 report by Deloitte and the Network of Executive Women concluded that one of the best ways for employers to attract Gen Z is to select smart, talented people, and then figure out how they align with the organization’s objectives.11 Other strategies some businesses are taking include establishing an internal talent marketplace or job rotation program.12
Well-validated personality tests can facilitate any of these approaches (and mitigate risk) by giving hiring managers detailed insights about candidates’ so-called soft skills. The Hogan Personality Inventory, for example, can predict how a candidate is likely to behave at work on an everyday basis. Its data offer nuanced information about adaptability, interpersonal style, learning approach, and more. As another example, the Hogan Development Survey can show how candidates are likely to derail if they cease to self-manage during times of stress or pressure. This kind of intel can help you ensure people are matched with roles and projects that suit them.
Offer Professional Development Opportunities
In this competitive hiring market, refining your talent development programs might be the last thing on your mind, with talent acquisition taking precedence for obvious reasons. But don’t underestimate the power of development opportunities when it comes to attracting Gen Z talent. Opportunities for development are a key factor Gen Z candidates consider while job hunting, and they’re critical to provide if hiring Gen Z is an objective for your organization. In fact, 76% of these candidates see learning opportunities as a must-have.13
To make your organization more attractive to this population of job seekers, consider investing in talent development initiatives. These might include mentorships with more experienced employees (which could be reciprocal or “reverse” mentorships), coaching, or personalized development plans supported by personality data. It’ll pay off — more than one-third of Gen Zers expect to stay at their first job for at least four years.10
Define Your Organization’s Values
As you might assume, many Gen Zers care about your business’s social and environmental impact, and they want you to care too. In a 2021 Deloitte survey, 49% said their personal ethics inform the type of work they’re willing to do, and 59% said they believe businesses have no ambition beyond wanting to make money.”14
Gen Zers fear being stuck doing work that doesn’t feel fulfilling, and they want to work in environments where the organizational culture reflects their personal values.15 If you’re interested in hiring Gen Z workers, it’s crucial to know what motivates your employees and how those motivations shape your organizational culture. After all, what drives your employees is what drives your business.
At Hogan, for example, every employee has completed our three core personality assessments. This includes the Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory, which sheds light on the types of jobs and working environments people will find most satisfying. Although we’re a diverse bunch, our collective personality results show that most of us share one key value: altruism. Given that our business’s core purpose is to help people and organizations succeed using data-driven talent insights, and that our company was founded on social justice principles, our shared desire to help others is fundamental to both our organizational success and our employees’ personal fulfillment. Perhaps we can help you sometime?
Continuing our series on using the start to the new year as an opportunity to refresh your hiring process, we’re tackling one of the pillars of a job application: the résumé. In Part 2, we discussed how the cover letter is a somewhat outdated and irrelevant tool in the HR arsenal, which means that the résumé is more important than ever in vetting candidates.
Combing through an applicant’s résumé is key in gathering an understanding of their work history, contributions, and specific skills. In addition to revealing professional assets, résumés can also reveal warning signs. While there are many potential red flags on a résumé, we’ve chosen the top five you should know.
What Are the Top Résumé Red Flags?
1. Grammatical Errors and Spelling Mistakes
As shocking as it may seem, it’s estimated that more than 50% of U.S. adults struggle with spelling even simple words.1 That means one of the most identifiable red flags that can be found on a résumé is the presence of spelling mistakes or simple grammatical errors. Did the applicant spell the name of a previous employer incorrectly? Has punctuation been misused? Are words capitalized incorrectly?
Mistakes happen, but these kinds of errors can suggest the candidate typed up the résumé hastily and didn’t take time to proofread it to ensure quality.
2. Gaps in Employment History
Another important — and easily spotted — red flag is a gap between jobs on a résumé. A few weeks? It could simply mean they took time off before starting their new role. A few months? It’s worth inquiring about what led to that period away from work. A year-plus? That’s a large amount of time that, unless otherwise explained, should be seen as a legitimate red flag, because it may indicate a detachment from the pulse of the industry.
3. Job-Hopping
Short of contract work, which is becoming more common, employers expect to retain employees for more than a brief stint.2 While it’s not unlikely or unacceptable to make changes to your career path and job in order to find a more appropriate fit for your skills, a pattern of job-hopping is a red flag. Has the employee spent less than two years at multiple organizations back-to-back? Depending on the industry, that may indicate a lack of commitment. Considering the cost of onboarding a new hire, it’s in your best interest to choose a candidate who will stay long-term.
4. Inconsistent Information Compared to Other Sources
Résumés are no longer the only source of employment history available to the HR professional. Social media, and more specifically platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook, are popular places to keep up to date on where someone has worked. As a general rule, it’s advisable to cross-reference a résumé with a candidate’s social media to ensure that the dates, contributions, and other important details match up. To put it in perspective, one study found that 75% of HR managers have found a lie on a résumé before.3
5. Embellishment or Résumé Padding
How far back should a résumé go? How many jobs should be on a résumé? What jobs should be included to be industry-relevant? These are subjective questions, to say the least, but they’re important in differentiating a padded résumé from an unpadded résumé. Too few jobs, and an applicant might have a lack of relevant experience. Too many, conversely, may show that the candidate is either making up for a lack of experience with volume or unsure of which roles are most relevant to highlight.
How to Explain Red Flags in a Résumé
To put it plainly, red flags may come up in a résumé for many clear and understandable reasons. Specifically, disruptions related to COVID-19 are extremely common, with hundreds of millions of U.S. adults’ jobs affected over the course of the pandemic.4 As a hiring manager or HR specialist, it’s important to factor these nuances in when reviewing someone’s résumé, realizing that life may interrupt career trajectory.
Although certain red flags may point to a need to rule out a candidate, red flags are often just signals that further investigation is needed. Incorporating other evaluation methods into the talent acquisition process can help meet this need. While a résumé can provide an idea of what a candidate has done, well-validated personality tests offer an objective look at who a candidate is — their strengths, weaknesses, values, and unconscious biases. Using personality tests in tandem with a thorough résumé review and a structured interview, it’s even possible to predict how a person is likely to perform in a given role.
In Part 1 of our series about refining your hiring process in 2022, we discussed the importance of a good employer brand for candidate attraction. However, that’s only the first step — once you attract that talent, the pressure is on to identify the top candidates from the applicant pool.
In order to accomplish this, hiring managers often turn to two elements of an application: the resume and cover letter. While it’s hard to debate the value of a good resume, the cover letter is a far more controversial part of the modern application routine. From an employer perspective, it’s not necessarily helpful in providing accurate insight about the candidate. In fact, 68% of recruiters think cover letters are unimportant.1 From an applicant perspective, it can be a time-consuming step and slow the overall job search.
If both sides dislike cover letters, then why are they used at all? First, it’s important to understand where cover letters came from and why they may or may not be necessary for talent acquisition.
A Brief History of the Cover Letter
The cover letter is believed to have existed for hundreds of years, with speculation that Leonardo da Vinci wrote the first-ever cover letter in the 1480s when he applied to work for the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza.2 In it, he described his eagerness to work for the Duke and listed his applicable skills and the ideas that he would implement if hired for the role. You can read the full letter here. Not only did his cover letter get him the job, but it also led him to be commissioned by Sforza to paint The Last Supper.
Although the subject matter of da Vinci’s cover letter may not be relevant to today’s workforce, the structure and talking points he includes are still commonly used. This similar format has been present throughout history in one form or another, and for many, it is weighed as heavily as the resume itself in determining a candidate’s worth.
Should You Require a Cover Letter?
While the cover letter worked for Leonardo da Vinci, how necessary are cover letters in 2022? Due to the unique demands of certain job roles, some hiring managers may find them to remain a necessary part of the hiring process. But for most, they’re not needed.
Cover letters are often a barrier for even talented applicants who are legitimately interested in a certain role because of the time and effort they require. Standing out in a competitive job market requires removing as many barriers as possible to allow the prospective employee to apply quickly and easily.
The best litmus test is to consider the job seeker’s perspective: if you were to find similar open roles at two different companies, would you take the time to apply to the one that requires a cover letter or one that does not?
The Alternative
In the absence of a cover letter, how can you measure a candidate’s likelihood of success? The most proven method is through scientifically valid personality tests. Simple to administer and easy to complete for the candidate, personality tests can make the hiring process more efficient and more effective.
By reducing the likelihood of bias and the potential for human error, personality tests make the hiring process more objective and improve the odds of making a successful hire. A well-validated personality test can give hiring managers insight as to how a candidate is likely to perform on an everyday basis — for example, how they will be likely to interact with others or how they will approach organizational and personal objectives.
Cover letters have served their purpose in the workplace for hundreds of years, offering applicants the opportunity to elaborate on their unique skill set beyond the limitations of a resume. However, in today’s fast-paced and competitive hiring landscape, more refined solutions for talent acquisition exist that yield better results, making cover letters a thing of the past.
January always brings a wave of New Year’s resolutions, fresh starts, and new opportunities. As people set goals for this upcoming calendar year, both employees and employers will find that it may be time to make changes to how they work — and who they work with. Many organizations have taken this new year as an opportunity to refine their talent acquisition process, particularly in light of the ongoing talent shortage and the wave of quits many are dubbing the Great Resignation.
This article is the first in a series we’ve put together about refining your talent acquisition process to find, impress, hire, and onboard talented employees who are looking to grow in a new and exciting workplace. To kick things off, we’re starting at the foundation of a successful hiring process — your employer brand.
In a competitive employment environment where organizations around the world are competing for a small talent pool, your employer brand can either be your greatest asset or biggest weakness. It may come as a surprise that 75% of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before applying for a job,1 meaning that your organization’s digital reputation is one of the most integral elements of attracting top talent.
If you’re unsure of what to look for and how to improve your employer reputation, we’ve put together a step-by-step system for you to follow.
The Employer Brand Strategy
Assess
Before anything can be done to bolster your employer brand, it’s crucial to gauge your current level of success. From social media to employer review platforms such as Glassdoor, how your company presents itself and how others interact with your organization is the clearest sign of a positive or negative employer brand.
Measuring Employer Brand
To help capture the current state of your employer brand, take a moment to answer the following questions:
Do you have a business profile on Glassdoor, Indeed, Comparably, etc.? If so, how many employee reviews do you have?
What feedback, if any, do you see consistently mentioned — either positive or negative?
Are current or ex-employees leaving most of the feedback?
Does your Google My Business profile have employee reviews?
Are employee reviews drowning out customer feedback?
Do you have a company LinkedIn page? If so, are employees connected to it? Do you post frequently?
Does your website have a robust About Us page?
Does your website highlight the benefits of working for your organization?
These questions should help you understand what specific pros and cons a prospective employee might be looking for or notice during their research. If you’re missing one of these elements or answered in the negative, don’t worry — identification is only the first step.
Act
Now that you’ve asked the right questions and potentially found some weaknesses, it’s time to make one more assessment: does your employer brand need to be built, or does it require fixing?
How to Build Employer Brand
As previously mentioned, you can target a few specific platforms to make your employer brand more robust:
Glassdoor, Indeed, Comparably, and other HR-focused employee review platforms
Google My Business
LinkedIn
Your organization’s website
If you are missing one of these profiles or pages, the best first step is creating it and developing it with thoughtful content, related company images, and other relevant information.
For LinkedIn, as a platform to engage with professionals, it’s recommended that you create relevant, thought-provoking posts at a frequency of two to three times per week.2
For Glassdoor, Indeed, Comparably, and Google My Business, it will likely take time to gather reviews. To help start the process, encourage your employees to leave honest feedback at their discretion.
These actions will help searchers find your company, gather more information, and gauge your level of engagement with current and past employees.
How to Improve Employer Brand
If you identified negative feedback while assessing your employer brand, you can take steps to help counteract its effect. While you might not be able to delete negative employee reviews on most platforms — a practice that can actually do more harm than good3 — responding to them is the best form of damage control.
When responding to a negative comment, just remember that it’s important to stay calm, cool, and collected. A prospective employee will read the original review and judge your response to measure your organization’s level of compassion. If you are quick to deny or shut down any criticism, you will paint your organization as cold and heartless. Failing to address the reviewer’s specific feedback can also be damaging to your organizational reputation.
The best response is structured in the following way:
Acknowledge the specific issue being raised.
Offer up a solution, if possible, to remedy the situation.
Thank the reviewer for their feedback.
Following this simple template should defuse the situation and provide a positive representation of your organization’s commitment to conflict resolution.
Attract
With these steps, you will have redefined your employer brand as an enticing opportunity to job hunters. The best employer brandis one that is present, thoughtful, and actively engaged with current and ex-employees. While the circumstances of talent acquisition in 2022 might be challenging, being proactive about understanding and managing your organization’s reputation can help position your organization to weather the storm and come out on top.
Barone, L. (2010, November 19). 5 Reasons Not to Delete Negative News. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/5-reasons-not-to-delete-negative-reviews-2010-11
A book on the history of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) made waves back in 2018 by putting the media into a feeding frenzy over the accuracy and validity of personality assessments. This criticism specifically extended into the popular use of personality testing for careers and their HR applications. As we’ve seen before, the feedback tended to fall into one of three generic claims:
Hiring personality tests are biased and discriminatory
They aren’t relevant for the job
They simply fail to predict performance
Many articles that came from this discussion echoed these themes, going so far as to state that many of the benefits of personality tests are actually myths. However, the talking points raised in this discussion seem to miss one critical detail: It’s difficult, but necessary, to distinguish scientifically proven, reliable tools from those that are of poor quality.
So, should personality tests be used for hiring?
Yes, and here’s why.
Contrary to what these articles are claiming, high-quality personality assessments do, actually, predict performance, surpassing the quality of alternative, more traditional talent acquisition methods such as resumés and interviews. For these reasons and more, there are clear advantages of using personality tests in the hiring process — so why does controversy still exist? The true criticism of personality assessments actually stems from the widespread popularity of inexpensive, ‘trendy’ tools that lack science-based conclusions.
In a flooded market of personality tests that claim to be accurate, how can you know which assessments are truly effective? In short, looking at the validity and reliability of an assessment tool.
Validity
Validity indicates the predictive ability of an assessment by measuring the correlation of one thing with another, such as the correlation of personality with job performance.
To break it down, validity is measured with a coefficient between 0 and 1 (absolute value). The closer to one, the more accurate the predictive power of the assessment. A robust assessment tool, such as the Hogan Assessment suite (HPI, HDS, and MVPI) has a predictive validity of .54. Comparatively, the structured interviewing of candidates has a predictive validity of only .18.
In other words, validity is a measure of accuracy.
Reliability
Reliability, on the other hand, can tell you if the assessment can properly measure the same thing time and time again. The reliability of an assessment can be evaluated in two broad ways: 1) internal consistency and 2) test-retest reliability.
Internal consistency relates to the questions that are used in each assessment; by asking a question in a few different ways, the tester helps ensure that the assessment is getting an accurate measurement of the concept.
Test-retest reliability is a measure of the consistency of responses over time. Are people responding to questions the same way each time they take the test? Inconsistent responses can indicate that assessments results are not actually measuring personality, which should be relatively stable over time.
To put it plainly, reliability is a measure of consistency.
While there’s no doubt that, in some cases, there are pros and cons of personality tests, it’s important to make the distinction between tests that are ‘flashy’ and those that are science-based. In your search for a high-quality assessment tool, pay close attention to the following topics to ensure efficacy:
Validity and reliability — Ask the vendor for information on the reliability and predictive validity of their assessments. These two things can tell you if the assessment is accurately and consistently measuring what they say it does.
Scientific background — Quality assessment tools should be heavily researched and built on a sound theoretical framework. If this information is not readily available, there’s a good chance the quality of that assessment is poor.
Accordance with employment guidelines — Many countries have employment guidelines to protect employees from discrimination. Any assessment used for recruitment purposes should demonstrate how they follow those guidelines.
Predictive ability for job performance — Often, assessments feature questions that measure identity or self-perception of oneself, which can often be flawed. A better approach is to use objective measures of reputational factors that predict performance.
Adaptability for different cultures/languages — Be sure to find out if an assessment is adapted to your specific language and culture. Proper translation is important but not sufficient to account for all cultural differences.
The next time you hear someone highlight the problem with using personality tests for hiring, urge them to look deeper into the options available and equip them with the means to properly vette an assessment tool. As Adrian Furnham, internationally acclaimed management expert and Professor of Psychology at University College London emphasizes:
“There are two criteria for a good assessment: evidence of test validity and quality of feedback on questionnaire. It should be useful for the employer and the employee alike: It measures clearly what you need it to measure; it is clear and straightforward for the respondent; the test has considerable evidence of reliability and validity, and the employee gets rich and useful feedback. In my experience, the three Hogan measures (HPI, HDS and MVPI) are the ones that have proved to be the most effective, because of the above reasons.”
Everything is getting more expensive these days, and bad hires are no exception. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, employees who fail to live up to expectations usually cost their organizations at least 30% of their first-year earnings.1 And the indirect costs of a bad hire? They can be even more draining.
While there are wide-ranging reasons why bad hires are so expensive, let’s review four of the most common reasons why bad hires cost so much.
1. Compensation
Employees are paid salaries in exchange for services they’re expected to render. If a bad hire delivers subpar services (or doesn’t deliver at all), other employees must fix the bad hire’s work or repair additional problems that the person causes — meaning they have less time to perform their own work responsibilities.
Add the cost of the bad hire’s benefits to the equation, and the financial hits can really add up. While an entry-level employee’s salary and benefits might not bankrupt an organization, multiple bad hires or a bad hire in a leadership position threaten forward momentum.
2. Onboarding
Savvy employers know that investing resources and energy into the onboarding process will deliver returns in employee productivity later on. Therefore, they encourage managers to spend substantial one-on-one time integrating new hires into their teams. Employers also use resources from HR and other central departments to provide new hires with a comprehensive orientation, process their documents, and equip them with office supplies, software, and equipment.
In all, the costs of onboarding can equal 16% to 20% of an employee’s annual salary.2 When you consider the fact that it takes up to eight months for a new hire to be productive in their role and that 23% of these employees turn over before their first anniversary, the loss of resources from onboarding bad hires can be staggering.3
3. Opportunity
People power is the center mass in the work-worker-workplace trio, and a single bad hire has the potential to throw an entire organization off balance. Every second that a bad hire spends not living up to their job description represents a rising opportunity cost for employers. With a talent shortage in full effect that has no sign of slowing anytime soon, employers cannot risk losing out on candidates who would be better aligned with organizational goals.
Some bad hires can clog talent pipelines. A particularly charismatic one might even cause employers to overlook more effective employees in succession planning. If an ineffective employee is in a role that influences revenue generation or customer retention, opportunity costs can be astronomical. For example, a salesperson who consistently alienates customers can drive business to the competition.
4. Engagement
Bad hires can erode the engagement of other employees. Their behavior can impact overall productivity. For example, a bad hire might slow or sabotage workflows, spread contagious negativity, or introduce bad work hygiene into the organizational culture. And a poor review posted on a job forum by a disgruntled ex-employee? That could surely undercut talent attraction efforts.
With employee engagement rates at just 49% as of 2020, employers cannot afford to let a bad hire incite disengagement within their organizations.4Lost employee engagement costs the United States $1 trillion, or 10% of GDP, per year, and employers bear the brunt of these costs.5
What Can Be Done?
You get the point: bad hires are not cheap. In some cases, they can even be dangerous or fatal. Unfortunately, they’re not uncommon either, as nearly three-quarters of hiring managers admit to having made a bad hire.6 Often, this happens because they need to fill a role quickly but don’t have a sound talent acquisition strategy.
Effective talent acquisition requires more than simply finding people with the appropriate experience and hard skills. Instead, soft skills are often what determine who is a good hire: Do they get along with others? Do they enjoy the work, and are they motivated to do it? Do they have values that align with those of the organization?
So, how can hiring managers find employees with suitable soft skills? Take an evidence-based approach to talent acquisition. Interviews are well documented to have insufficient predictive validity for effective job performance, so exhaustive interviewing is not the solution. Moreover, nearly one-quarter of hiring managers say they just don’t have the skills to avoid bad hires and select the right people.7
But well-validated personality tests offer proven insight into candidates’ soft skills and even shorten time to hire. Paired with structured interviews and other complementary evaluation methods, personality tests can help employers root out bad hires from the candidate pool and identify the ideal candidate for nearly any job role — saving money, time, and of course, morale.
References
Brandwein, S. (2021, January 19). What Is the Cost of a Bad Hire? Higher Than You Think…. Ladders. https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/what-is-the-cost-of-a-bad-hire-higher-than-you-think
Kuepers, J. (2021, February 28). How to Calculate Employee Onboarding Costs. Clickboarding. https://www.clickboarding.com/how-to-calculate-onboarding-costs/
Ferrazzi, K. (2015, March 25). Technology Can Save Onboarding from Itself. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2015/03/technology-can-save-onboarding-from-itself
Clifton, D., & Rath, T. (2004, July 8). The Power of Praise and Recognition. Gallup. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/321965/employee-engagement-reverts-back-pre-covid-levels.aspx
Abel, A., Levanon, G., Li, A., & Rong, C. (n.d.). Job Satisfaction 2021: Job Satisfaction Remains High Even in the Midst of the Pandemic and Economic Chaos. The Conference Board. https://conference-board.org/research/job-satisfaction/job-satisfaction-2021?mkt_tok=MjI1LVdCWi0wMjUAAAF80KUm7sd6Z0BJuD7-
Bolden-Barrett, V. (2017, December 8). CareerBuilder: 74% of Employers Admit Hiring the Wrong Candidate. HR Dive. https://www.hrdive.com/news/careerbuilder-74-of-employers-admit-hiring-the-wrong-candidate/512577/
Frye, L. (2017, May 9). The Cost of a Bad Hire Can Be Astronomical. SHRM. https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/cost-of-bad-hires.aspx
