Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 210,000 in November.
Unemployment rate edged down by 0.4 percentage points to 4.2 percent.
Job growth was widespread, with notable job gains in professional and business services, transportation and warehousing, construction, and manufacturing.
Employment in retail trade declined over the month.
The number of unemployed persons, at 6.9 million, continued to trend down.
In November, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more), at 2.2 million, changed little in November but is 1.1 million higher than in February 2020.
Looking Forward:
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 210,000 in November, following a gain of 546,000 the previous month. The number was well below Wall Street expectations of 573,000.
Professional and business services and transportation and warehousing led gains, while hiring in leisure and hospitality was sluggish and retail lost jobs despite the traditional holiday hiring season.
The U.S. economy created far fewer jobs than expected in November, in a sign that hiring started to slow even ahead of the new Covid threat, the Labor Department reported Friday, December 3rd.
The household survey shows accelerating employment gains, workers returning to the labor force, and low levels of involuntary part-time work. The payroll survey shows a significant deceleration in job growth, particularly in COVID-affected sectors.
Employer demand for workers has been strong for months but the labor shortages have held job gains to solid but less-than-blockbuster levels. In September, COVID’s delta variant kept many Americans cautious and many schools from fully reopening, forcing parents to put off their return to the workplace or job hunts.
The effects of the COVID Omicron variant remain to be seen.
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 531,000 in October.
Unemployment rate edged down by 0.2 percentage points to 4.6 percent.
Job growth was widespread, with notable job gains in leisure and hospitality, in professional and business services, in manufacturing, and in transportation and warehousing.
However, employment in public education declined over the month.
The number of unemployed persons, at 7.4 million, continued
to trend down.
In October, the number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) decreased by 357,000 to 2.3 million but is 1.2 million higher than in February 2020.
Looking Forward:
Hiring has seesawed this year along with the pandemic, especially in vulnerable sectors like hospitality and retail, where workers must deal face to face with customers. White-collar employees have fared better, since many can work remotely.
Some employers are complaining of a shortage of workers, as many people remain on the sidelines of the job market. The labor force participation rate —the share of the working-age population employed or looking for a job —was flat in October.
In theory, the demand for workers should be drawing more people into the labor force, but the participation rate is nearly two percentage points below where it was before the pandemic. Early retirements have been a factor.
Supply chain problems are another headache for employers. Automobile manufacturers have been particularly hurt by a shortage of semiconductors, while many companies are dealing with rising prices for raw materials and transportation.
The Commerce Department reported last week that the economy grew by 0.5 percent in the third quarter, compared with 1.6 percent in the second quarter. Economists attributed the slowdown to the resurgent pandemic and the supply chain holdups.
4 Core Pillars for Building a Thriving Company Culture
When your team comes together to complete a project or accomplish a company goal, it feels great! The synergy between leaders and employees makes a huge difference, especially when it’s crunch time—so, how can you create and maintain a close-knit and productive company culture?
Your company culture is influenced by many facets; company principles and values, style of management, and employee personalities, to name a few. How positive and productive your company’s culture is depends on how you nurture it.
There are high productivity company cultures where amazing feats seem to happen each week, but everyone is stressed and overworked.
There are laid back company cultures where no one cares, there is no growth, and nothing gets done.
Then there are places where people come together, grow professionally, and thrive as an organization.
If your workplace carries a stressful vibe, constantly misses deadlines, or fails to retain great talent, follow these four pillars as a foundation for how you can build a thriving company culture.
1. Know Who You Are as a Company
Do you have a clear grasp on who you are as a company? Or, what it means to represent your brand?
Company cultures can be strong and very defined or loosely written and inconsistent. The strength of yours depends on how much effort you put in to defining and nurturing it.
Have Clear-Cut Principles and Values
Some companies put little thought into their culture and allow it to simply form organically, however, this doesn’t guarantee a positive culture or one that matches your vision. To help your company grow and keep everyone on the same page, you will want to define a specific list of your company’s principles and values from the start.
When defining principles and values, every company will differ. Nowhere does it say you have to offer flexible hours, a casual dress environment, or career development incentives to be a great company. Each of those things contribute to a specific company culture, but it doesn’t have to be your culture.
When shaping your company’s core ideals and beliefs, consider some of the following questions:
What do you want to see and do when you go to work every day?
What commonalities do each of your current employees share?
What makes you and your employees proud to come to work?
What’s something you would change about the company if possible?
Defining clear principals and values will guide your company culture closer to what you envision it to be.
Defining Company Principles
Principles are a framework for running your business and letting employees know how to operate within your system. A strong set of principles will drive how your employees act and work together. You will want to create principles that will drive productivity and that you can see yourself working in.
Consider these examples:
Teach, don’t give
Don’t try to please everyone
Communicate what is expected
Advocate for what’s best
Lead by example
Defining Company Values
Values are a framework for what your company believes and have a big impact on your company’s culture. These are the traits and qualities you consider worthwhile and can help define the type of people you prefer hire.
Consider these examples:
Family first
Self-improvement
Teamwork and collaboration
Career development
Personal accountability
Diversity
2. Share Your Business Vision
When principles and values are clearly defined, it makes it easy to share your company’s story—the ultimate vision of what the company is set out to achieve. Organizations start thriving when everyone on all levels is clear on the expectations of their role, how to facilitate work as a group, and what the end goal should look like. It’s the role of your leaders and veteran employees to live the company’s story and share it with their peers.
Have a Common Story
It’s easier for people to get onboard if they can get behind the “why” of your story. Whether it’s the story of your services, products, customers, or a charitable cause, company cultures thrive when everyone understands the “why” behind what they are doing; it gives employees a common goal and helps to create an attachment to the work at hand.
Think about what your company’s services or solutions are helping people to achieve and the why behind it—that “why” is what drives teamwork and a sense of community.
Ingrain It In Your Training
You will want to demonstrate your company’s story and goals early on, especially during the interview process, so that potential new hires can get a feel for what the workplace is like and truly understand if the organization is a fit for them or not. The stronger and more apparent your culture is, the faster new employees will catch on.
Look to find ways you can ingrain you story into your training, such as teaching about your company history and looking at future initiatives.
Live It Every Day!
Talking about what you’d like your company culture to be is easy. Living it daily takes practice. You should be setting an example and living your company’s culture every day!
Thriving company cultures have leaders who believe in what is being accomplished and emanate the company’s principles and values. For your culture to grow, you need leaders to demonstrate principles and values through their decision-making. By leading through example, your entire employee base will be more likely to positively embrace your company culture.
Having the right people as your culture champions is important, as you don’t want leaders who are not embodying your principles and values to the fullest.
3. Balance Talent and Character
You have a vision for your company culture, you and your champions are living it every day, now you just have to hire the right people. Easy, right? Right…
Just as people loathe the job search process, businesses also rather not have to go through the hundreds or even thousands of candidates it can take to fill one position. To make your search easier, try not to expend all your time searching for the perfect resume (the “unicorn” employee). Often, and employee’s character can play just as large of a role, if not larger, than talent. Shift your focus on searching for someone that might not have all the skills, but that fits your culture and who is willing to work on molding to the role you need.
Don’t Chase the Unicorn
That perfect employee you are searching for may not be a unicorn after all! More often than not, the perfect talent match you are dreaming of is not the right fit culturally, and vise-versa. You may find out in the first interview that the person’s character is way off or out-of-balance with the rest of your team.
The moral here is not to judge an interviewee on their resume alone. The best way to find out more about their character is by bringing them in for an interview.
You Can’t Teach Character
You can teach a new employee how to use a technology, follow a process, or even a new skill, but you can’t change who they are—you can’t change their character. As you narrow down your list of potential candidates, character needs to play a large role in your selection, because it’s something you can’t change.
Character Creates Culture
Employee character and company culture are mutually supportive. When your organization is built of unique individuals with great character, you’re going to have a better chance for a great company culture.
“I’m not looking for the best players, I’m looking for the right ones.” – Herb Brooks
If you put a team together base on talent alone, you may be left with a lack of communication, collaboration, and synergy.
4. Focus On Employee Retention
Long-term, experienced employees are the backbone of company culture. They are the champions of your vision, the people that others are sad to see go, and the ones that other companies are waiting for an opportunity to hire. You need these people to succeed!
Companies with great retention rates that hold on to these champions give the impression of stability, something most workers want. It also shows job candidates the potential for building their career and long-lasting work relationships.
Benefits add a lot of value to a company’s culture and can help your company stand out from the rest. Why you may not be able to compete with the “Silicon Valley” style of offerings (fully stocked lunchroom, employee lounge and gameroom, flexible work hours), be realistic and consider things that can directly benefit the employee while benefiting your company in return.
Consider…
Paying for continued training (certifications, conferences, degree programs).
Transit benefits—great for city businesses and saves gas money.
A stocked coffee bar—save employees money while showing them you care!
Your provided benefits should reflect your company’s values and the type of job-seeker you are trying to attract.
Dress Code and Technology Usage
A bearded millenial in jeans and a hoodie, walking around texting on his phone!? The office environment has drastically changed over the last decade, and it’s important that your organization keeps up with the times.
Beards, jeans, hoodies, cell phones are all acceptable… In the right workplace—and that’s the key! The rules around what’s appropriate in your work environment will play a big impact on your culture, so create something that you can see yourself working in. Do what makes sense for your work environment.
Many job positions with no customer interactions are becoming more lenient towards attire and appearance, leaving judgment to an individual’s talent, work ethic, and character.
Jobs with front-facing customer interaction should still dress to the level that meets customer expectations while giving off the impression your business is going for.
Promote From Within
Promoting employees to higher positions within your company can benefit both your bottom line and the company’s culture. First, it helps with retention, as employees will feel assured they can continue their career paths with you. Second, you will benefit from the expertise of an employee you have nurtured through the ranks as someone who doesn’t have to be brought up to speed on the company’s values, goals, plans, or message.
Staffing Services In Greater Philadelphia
J & J Staffing Resources is a professional staffing agency that connects local businesses to job seekers throughout the Greater Philadelphia area, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
We bring over 45 years of expertise in office, industrial, technical, and professional staffing placements as well as payroll management, and offer a wide range of services for both employers and job seekers.
Need help? J & J Staffing has offices in Newark, Bridgeport, Woodbury, Cherry Hill, Ewing, Princeton, Langhorne, and Horsham. Visit your local J & J staffing center or get started below.
Hiring Seasonal Employees Can Bring Success in Peak Periods
Has your business been experiencing a spike in workload recently? Maybe your peak season is just around the corner and you want to make the most of the increased opportunities.
Adding seasonal employees can bring a much-needed boost to your in-house productivity so you can meet demand and expand your business. In fact, having a flexible temporary workforce available can effectively scale your team’s capability without impacting the efficiency of your full-time staff.
To highlight the benefits of seasonal employees and help you get started, we’ve gathered some key resources to help attract, hire, and retain a valuable temporary workforce perfectly fit for your business needs!
Attracting the Right Candidates in the Right Season
Finding good help is hard, especially when it comes to the busiest seasons. Depending on your industry you may see influxes of workload before the holiday season, right before the tax deadline, or even around back-to-school time.
However, getting the most productivity out of your seasonal hires can be a difficult task, especially if your workflow requires a decent amount of training.
Incentivizing the choice of your company over other temporary options goes a long way in attracting a dedicated, hardworking team, but the benefits you provide can be so much more than a higher pay rate. Here are some additional quality of life benefits you can use to better attract and retain the right seasonal employees:
♦ Signing Bonuses – Most temporary employees are looking for a quick and stable source of secondary income, so any available bonus is likely to pique the interest of applicants. It is best to offer this bonus with a condition, like awarding it after the completion of ten shifts. These terms will generally protect your seasonal expenses from employees that want the bonus with a minimal amount of work.
♦ Same-Day Pay – This perk is especially important during the holiday or back-to-school season. Some of your seasonal employees may be home for the holidays, preparing to leave for school, or trying to gather extra money for gifts or supplies. Offering faster cash than your competitors will give you another competitive advantage when looking for new hires.
♦ Offer Flexible Scheduling – Many holiday hirings include longer or later shifts to accommodate for increased traffic, so accommodating employee schedules can go a long way to making your temporary hires happy.For example, if a new hire already has a day job, starting their shift around 7:00 PM can allow time for dinner and rest before a second shift. If you operate a retail store, this can also give a break to your full-time employees, allowing some afternoon shift workers to leave earlier!
♦ Increase Pay for Undesirable Shifts – If your business operates 24/7, or simply has later hours than most, you may want to consider offering greater benefits to those employees who work the least enjoyable shifts.More qualified or experienced applicants may be looking to work more normal shifts, so adding the prospect of higher pay can put highly efficient employees in positions all throughout your working hours. For more information on how to retain highly skilled employees, continue reading or read our blog on how to retain great talent!
♦ Offer a Referral Bonus! – Who wouldn’t want to work with their friends? Offering a referral bonus to both current and new employees creates a win-win-win scenario for everyone involved. While bonuses should still not be given right away, incentivizing referrals can relieve some of the stress from HR and energize your employees to become recruiters for qualified and like-minded candidates!
While the application to your business may vary, implementing some of these tips can go a long way to improving the quality and quantity of applicants you are recruiting. Now that you’ve got the right people on hand, it is time to determine the best time to hire, so you can receive the maximum benefit for your team!
Hiring and Training Candidates at High-Impact Times
Even though having a strong temporary workforce can do a lot for your business, hiring at the wrong time or being unprepared for onboarding can have a harmful effect on your productivity and efficiency.
It is important to note that seasonal employees are not plug-and-play, especially if they are being brought on for the first time. Even experienced temps will need some time to acclimate to your work environment, so it is best to make the best effort you can to properly onboard and train your employees.
Here are four keys to keep in mind when setting up new employees for success!
Connect with a Top Staffing Firm – Even if you are running job ads in traditional spaces like Indeed or LinkedIn, you may not always be receiving a truly complete list of qualified candidates. Starting a relationship with a scouting or staffing company can remove some of the hassles of the job search, while also acting as an effective way of prescreening other applicants. Taking this step ensures you are always getting the best employees available!
Hire Before the Season Starts – If your industry requires a significant amount of training, it is important to begin looking for temporary employees early so there is sufficient time to train them. Untrained or inefficient workers can severely harm productivity and quality of labor, posing an extremely high risk to your business. Even if the jobs you are hiring for are not extremely technical, it is best to start the search for temporary employees about two months before peak season. This buffer allows for a selective search for employees while also retaining enough time to allow them to gain proficiency with the work they are doing!
Train with Top Performers – Do you already have high-efficiency workers? Maybe long-term employees that have become masters of their craft? Training your temporary employees with these top performers can instill good work habits and extra attention to detail when compared to general training. While it may be difficult to remove this high-value employee from the floor at times, the return on investment often consists of a deep roster of well-trained and proficient employees!
Reward Success and High Efficiency – While a lot of your temporary employees may only stay temporary, creating bonus incentives for certain levels of performance, attendance, or success can encourage a strong level of healthy competition between employees and better to identify a path to full-time employment for the highest performers
The overall goal when hiring these new employees is to make sure they are making the maximum impact for your business while minimizing the risks to quality and productivity. Taking these proactive steps prior to bringing on some new talent will better ensure that you are getting as great of a return as possible!
Working to Retain a Loyal Temporary Workforce
Even after peak season ends, there may be some standouts from the new employees. Working to retain these team members, even if they leave during the slower months, will help build a long, reliable list of skilled workers with high-value experience.
However, it is still important to treat your temporary workers with respect. Although some of them may seem expendable at first, the long-term prospects of a well-trained seasonal employee can bring a ton of value to your company in the long run.
Whether you’re looking to retain or promote some of your most talented short-term employees, here are a few important notes to keep in mind when throughout their term:
Treat Temps Like Full-Time – Your seasonal hires are performing a great service to your business. While they are not the highest impact members on your payroll, they are allowing you to capitalize on the increased traffic that comes with your busy seasons. Make them feel at home, invite them to team meetings, or provide benefits that your full-time employees also get around these times. Identifying them as valuable parts of your organization will go a long way toward motivating your short-term hires to work hard during their current term and make them more likely to return at another time.
Offer a Path to Promotion – Depending on your industry, the part-time work you provide may be a valuable resume-building tool for the younger members of your seasonal staff. Allowing them to make the most of this experience over time not only increases their potential for company-wide impact, but also long-term retention and success. You should provide clear and attainable goals that highlight a path to increased responsibility, better pay, and even short-term or full-time promotions. What may originally start as a need for seasonal employees can quickly become career growth and change for any of your temps. Empowering these new team members can make a positive difference in their life while also encouraging some healthy competition with your full-time employees. For more resources on how to get started promoting your seasonal workers, check out our blog on hiring temps as permanent employees!
Be the Employer of Choice – Just like you aim to be the best in your industry, you should also desire to be the best working environment for all of your employees, especially part-timers. Even though a seasonal employee is not plug-and-play from the start, multiple seasons of experience can forge a truly versatile team member that can continually contribute to your business efforts. To better achieve this goal, you should be seeking out new perks or accommodations that give your seasonal employees a positive experience that encourages and empowers them to return.
Staffing Services In Greater Philadelphia
J & J Staffing Resources is a professional staffing agency that connects local businesses to job seekers throughout the Greater Philadelphia area, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
We bring over 45 years of expertise in office, industrial, technical, and professional staffing placements as well as payroll management, and offer a wide range of services for both employers and job seekers.
Need help? J & J Staffing has offices in Newark, Bridgeport, Woodbury, Cherry Hill, Ewing, Princeton, Langhorne, and Horsham. Visit your local J & J staffing center or get started below.
Temp, Temp-to-Hire, & Direct: How to Choose the Right Recruitment Method for Your Business
Do you know the difference between the types of employment available when looking for a job?
Do you know the difference between the types of employment available when looking for a job? In this article, you’ll find the definitions of tricky terms like temp-to-hire and contract hiring. You’ll also find information about the advantages of using temporary workers vs. hiring full time workers based on the situation.
Finding and hiring the right employees can prove to be a challenging task that can impact your business both positively and negatively. A lot of decision-making goes into the process, and if you use the wrong recruitment method to secure the talent you need, it can hurt your retention rate, employee moral, and bottom line.
Choosing between short and long-term hires depends on your business’s custom needs.
To help you determine the best placement method for your situation, we created this helpful resource that covers the benefits and challenges of a range of employee situations including:
The Department of Labor considers an employee whose term lasts a year or less to be temporary. Temporary jobs are often available for a variety of reasons and allow employers to obtain help they need without having to add new employees to the payroll. There is usually a deadline or a target date associated with temporary work that marks an end to the period of labor agreed upon by the employer and employee.
What are the benefits of using temporary employees?
Temp Employees can become Full Time Members of your Staff
Temporary employees are not full time employees, but they can become one!
Many temps have a fresh outlook at the company they are working for and can bring a ton of value in a short period of time. If management takes notice, they can decide to bring them on full time to continue to boost their company staff and morale.
Saves Your Company Time and Money
Hiring a temporary employee can get you the help your business needs quickly without the cost and effort of recruiting and hiring staff and adding them to your payroll. Temps work on site under your supervision while remaining employees of the staffing agency. That means there are a lot of costs you don’t have to deal with including hiring, firing, unemployment, workers’ compensation, and benefits.
Offers Staffing Flexibility
Temporary employees help businesses by quickly filling openings caused by seasonal demand or employee absences like vacation, illness, maternity, or disability leave. Employers can stay current and meet demands, while not overstaffing to fill temporary positions.
Provides Time to Builds Skills
Temporary employment not only helps employers, but employees too by allowing workers to explore new career paths and opportunities without a long-term commitment. Temporary work can be an excellent way to build skills and gain experience while making connections in a particular field of interest.
Disadvantages of hiring temporary workers
There is always an adjustment period whenever a new employee starts, and training is required no matter their level of experience or skill. Hiring a temp worker might be a good move depending on the amount of training needed to get the employee up to speed and your industry.
For example, if you work in an industry like retail that has a seasonal rush around the holidays, and the same temps return every year, you might not have to spend a lot of time training employees. However, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, temp workers have between 24% to 54% higher rate of injury than standard arrangement workers. For those in the construction or manufacturing industries, the risk of costly injuries might not justify the accessibility of hiring temp workers.
Low Morale
Morale problems can occur among your employee base, especially if temporary and permanent employees are working together for an extended period. Temporary workers can start to feel under appreciated if they are performing the same job, putting in the same hours, but do not receive the same compensation or benefits as permanent employees.
Temp Employees are Not Eligible for Benefits
Because temporary employees are not directly hired employees, they are not typically eligible for benefits.
In fact, they are paid directly from the temporary staffing company and are not on payroll at the company they work for.
What is a Temp-to-Hire Employee?
A temp-to-hire employee is usually recruited for about a six-month period or more. During this time, the employee’s status stays on the staffing agency’s payroll so employers can evaluate the candidate’s performance before committing to hiring them full-time or decide to seek a different individual.
Why do companies hire temporary workers?
Temp-to-hire jobs can be made available for a variety of reasons. Many companies need someone in between a temporary worker and a direct hire worker so they opt for temp-to-hire employees.
Life can get in the way easily from:
Long vacations
Maternity leave
Disability leave
Illnesses
Current employees finding other jobs
Temp-to-hire employees can help fill this vacuum for a short amount of time until the job is not longer needed or another more qualified direct hire employee fills the spot.
Benefits of Temp-to-Hire Employees
Offers Flexibility and Reduces Risks
Using temp-to-hire placement allows you to ensure that your next hire is a perfect fit before you bring them on-board. If you find that the candidate is not working out, the temporary staffing agencies can help find you someone else who will meet your needs.
The main benefit of using temp-to-hire recruiting is that you have a better chance of making qualitative, smart decisions for the benefit of your organization. Employees define the productivity, performance, and brand identity of your business, and temp-to-hire placement gives companies the ability to make smart hiring decisions for long-term success.
Assess Skills and Performance
If you’re hesitant to hire a potential employee because you’re not sure how they will perform once hired, this is the perfect situation for a temp-to-hire placement! You have the time to assess their skills and performance on the job, then hire them if they are a great fit.
Temp-to-hire recruitment also provides an advantage for the candidates as well. If the candidate’s resume sn’t as impressive at first glance, they can still woo over the recruiter with their performance and skills and bag a position they deserve.
Saves Time and Money
Staffing agencies can help you get in touch with temp-to-hire candidates and cut down on the time and hassle of recruiting yourself and then deciding everything from salary, incentives, benefits and much more. You can then focus on your business rather than spending your time recruiting.
Challenges of Temp-to-Hire
Lack of Teamwork
Sometimes temporary employees do not integrate with your full-time employees. Permanent employees can be hesitant to work with someone who might not be around long or become prickly around those they perceive to be interlopers. There’s no easy solution to building a great team, so watch how temp-to-hire employees embrace your company’s culture and established teams.
Contract Buyout Fees
If you find that you would like to hire the candidate permanently, you may have to pay a fee to the staffing agency to buyout the contract or wait until the end of the contract period in usually 60 to 90 days. If you wait too long, the employee might feel underappreciated and move on to take another offer.
Temp-to-Hire Employees vs Temp Employees
Temp-to-hire recruitment is great for when you find a potential employee who made a wonderful first impression, but does not have a lot of experience.
Temp-to-hire placement let you see a potential employee’s performance without making a commitment and spending time and money headhunting.
Using a temporary employee can be a great idea if you have a short-term need to fill or do not currently have the resources for a new hire.
A temporary worker can be a good solution, especially for seasonal work or if you need to quickly fill an open position.
If you’re interested in keeping a temporary employee with your company, you might want to consider a temp-to-hire placement.
What is a Direct Hire Employee?
A direct hire is an employee who is brought on as a full-time employee at a company and is not paid by a staffing agency for a temporary period. Direct hire placement is usually used when businesses have a long-term or high-skilled job opening and plan on keeping the new staff member permanently.
Benefits of Direct Hire Employees
Better Candidate Selection
Often, a business who uses a staffing agency for a direct hire placement can attract top performing candidates. Most top performers are continually employed, and a direct hire position can attract the top talent in your area that a temporary or temp-to-hire position would not.
Stronger Employee Commitment
Direct hire employees often have a better sense of stability and security within the company they are placed. Temporary employees usually do not feel the same sense of loyalty toward the company a direct hire does, as temp workers know their employment period isn’t permanent.
Ability to Offer Better Perks
With a direct hire, companies can promote their own perks and benefits packages. If your company has a great retirement package and insurance benefits, there are perks that can be used to attract the type of prospective candidates you are seeking. Temporary or temp-to-hire employees, on the other hand, receive monetary and insurance benefits from the staffing agency.
Challenges with Direct Hire
Less Flexibility in Compensation
From an administrative point of view, direct hires are more expensive to place than temporary or temp-to-hire employees due to their salary and benefits packages. Achieving greater payroll flexibility with direct hires can be more difficult. While direct hires are often highly qualified, employers have to compensate them for their expertise and skills.
More Time-Consuming
The process of hiring an employee directly is slower than a temporary or temp-to-hire placement. It takes time to make a long-term decision and evaluate the pros and cons of hiring an individual who has the potential to be with the company for years. This lengthy process can cause you to miss out on great candidates if you’re too slow to make a decision and a competitor hires them first.
What is a Contract to Hire (C2H) Employee?
A Contract to Hire (C2H) means that employee will work for a predefined amount of time, or until a specific job/task is completed. If an employer decides to extend their contract, they may do so, but they are by no means bound to this type of employee.
A Contract to Hire employee can be used to fulfill certain company obligations. Similar to a temp-to-hire employee, C2H’s can fill in for any of life’s obstacles that get in the way of a regular day at work.
Direct Hire Employees vs Contract Hire Employees
If you are looking to fill a higher position, a direct hire placement is a great way to attract top performing candidates and inspire company loyalty.
While this process can be time-consuming and more expensive, it’s the best way to find and retain top talent. A contract to hire is great If you have a specific job you need to get done and you’d prefer to not take away from your current employee resources. These employees can be trained rather quickly as they will already have the skills for the job you need done.
Staffing Services In Greater Philadelphia
J & J Staffing Resources is a professional staffing agency that connects local businesses to job seekers throughout the Greater Philadelphia area, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
We bring over 45 years of expertise in office, industrial, technical, and professional staffing placements as well as payroll management, and offer a wide range of services for both employers and job seekers.
Need help? J & J Staffing has offices in Newark, Bridgeport, Woodbury, Cherry Hill, Ewing, Princeton, Langhorne, and Horsham. Visit your local J & J staffing center or get started below.
If you’re tuned into the South Jersey employment marketplace, the article below will not come as a surprise to you. Over the last five years, a number of Fortune 500 companies have expanded into South Jersey creating new employment opportunities, with more companies looking to expand as well in the future.
This April, NJBIZ.com published an article announcing that Amazon plans to open three more facilities in New Jersey at the Carteret Center that would create 2,500 jobs. The new Amazon fulfillment centers will be located in the townships of Logan, Edison, and Cranbury in South Jersey. That means Logan will now have not one, but two facilities.
This rapid growth in South Jersey has put a strain on companies recruiting new employees and retaining their top talent. The economy is moving very quickly from the employer-driven marketplace of the last decade to the new employee-driven marketplace. Like a consumer selecting the best car for their family, good candidates are weighing all the options available to them in their local employment marketplace.
With the changing job market, you need to be able to answer the question, “why would a candidate want to work for you?” If you’re having trouble, your recruitment and retention team should develop a compelling answer as to why your company stands out as a great place to work.
Good employees have more options, and you need to understand what differentiates you as an employer. Five of the most common considerations employees make when taking a job opportunity include:
Competitive wages
Good work environment
Excellent benefits
Flexible work schedule
Experience and training
Use the employee considerations above to fine tune your recruiting and retention strategies. In this competitive employment marketplace, it is also imperative that you act fast! Qualified candidates are in huge demand, and it’s possible that if you take too much time making hiring decisions, your top candidates could accept another job offer if you don’t respond quickly.
It’s no secret that the South Jersey employment landscape is changing. Being prepared and making timely decisions is essential to keeping ahead of the competition. If you’re ready to make a move, J & J Staffing Resources can help you find the talent need to keep your company growing.
Staffing Services In Greater Philadelphia
J & J Staffing Resources is a professional staffing agency that connects local businesses to job seekers throughout the Greater Philadelphia area, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
We bring over 45 years of expertise in office, industrial, technical, and professional staffing placements as well as payroll management, and offer a wide range of services for both employers and job seekers.
Need help? J & J Staffing has offices in Newark, Bridgeport, Woodbury, Cherry Hill, Ewing, Princeton, Langhorne, and Horsham. Visit your local J & J staffing center or get started below.
Inside the Hiring Process: How to Land Your Dream Job
The hiring process often seems like a mystery when you’re the job candidate.
While the recruitment process varies between industries, companies, and departments, the steps are similar to the hiring process and often lead to the same result: one person receives an offer.
For those who are not hired, it can feel like a riddle trying to understand what happened, as not every business notifies applicants if they are rejected.
Understanding the steps in the recruitment process can help candidates get their foot in the door and begin a successful career path.
Whether you are interviewing with a company for the first time, or are on the other side of the table recruiting candidates to fill a job position, it’s mutually beneficial to help potential candidates easily flow through your hiring process.
Here’s a guide to understanding the job recruitment process.
While they sound similar, recruitment and hiring are slightly different terms in the job selection process.
Recruitment is the process of searching for candidates that you wish to hire and going out to look for applicants to apply.
Hiring (or selection) is the action you take within your company to choose who you wish to hire. Hiring can involve internal interviews, tours of your facility, and pre-screening tests to make sure they can complete the job tasks required.
Both of these processes involve talking to possible applicants and seeing who may be the best fit for the job opening.
Recruitment can be a positive and uplifting experience for both candidates and companies because new relationships are being created. Unfortunately, hiring can result in the opposite experience in many cases. All candidates feel they should get the job, but in some cases only one person can be chosen.
This leads to more animosity towards the company overall and breaks away from the previous experiences that were had.
What is the Hiring Process?
The hiring process begins when a company identifies the need to fill a position within their company. This process continues until the position is filled, or they determine they no longer need to hire someone for this role.
The company then needs to plan how they wish to recruit possible candidates. If the company is looking to fill many positions, such as complete staffing for a newly-opening casual restaurant, they can use a service like J&J Staffing. Doing so will take the stress out of the hiring process while filling multiple roles in the business.
There are also a few main types of hires that a company can make use of. They can hire temporary employees, temp-to-hire employees, directly hire employees, or contract to hire employees.
These different types of employees give more flexibility to the hiring and recruitment process so they can choose how they wish to staff their company in the short or long term.
Temporary employees can sometimes become full time staff members. This gives you a great advantage when choosing a new staff member. You may not always know when someone will work out at your company, so this is a great choice.
Depending on the type of job you’re hiring for, direct hiring and contract to hire employees could be another alternative to think about when you’re hiring.
Typical job hunters don’t stop after applying to one position and often find themselves in different phases of multiple hiring processes. This can make things confusing, as if the job landscape wasn’t hard enough to navigate already.
To make things easier, we’ve put together a standard hiring process template that many businesses follow so you can see what might be next while you’re waiting to hear back.
While every business is a little different, here is quick peek at what the typical job recruitment process involves after a resume has been submitted.
That means candidates have a very short amount of time to impress recruiters and need to use precise language and keywords relevant to the job listings to make their resume stand out.
2. Phone Interview
An HR representative will select the resumes that best fit the requirements of the position.
Next, the representative calls all of the applicants to conduct a short phone interview. Here, candidates need to answer the HR rep’s questions with confidence, enthusiasm, and professionalism.
At this stage of the recruitment process, the rep is not only confirming what’s on the resume but each candidate’s communication skills and interest in the position, which determines whether the resume will be passed on to the hiring manager.
3. First Round of Interviews
After discussing the qualifications of each candidate with the HR rep, the hiring manager will choose which prospects will be asked to come in for an in-person interview.
The manager will already be acquainted with your skills and qualifications before the interview. This meeting is all about evaluating your personality and how you could potentially fit the position and company culture.
Be prepared to answer interview questions about:
Your skills and expertise and how they meet the job requirements.
Situational questions that are designed to hone in on your ability to understand the responsibilities the job requires.
Behavioral questions that gauge your interpersonal and judgment skills.
4. Second Interviews
Candidates who are called back for a second round of face-to-face interviews often meet with the manager again as well as potential coworkers.
If you make it to this round, now is the time to let your personality shine while still being professional.
The purpose of the second interview is so the interviewer can get a better idea of your working style, personality, and how you might fit in with current employees.
5. Decision and Job Offers
Now that all the interviews are finished, the manager compares the impression of each candidate.
Once a final decision has been made, the HR representative reaches out to the selected candidate to extend a job offer.
6. Salary Negotiation
The final step in the recruitment process is salary negotiation. This is where it pays to be prepared and do research and know the typical salary for your position.
You also want to consider what you are worth to the company based on your expertise, skills, and whether your role is fast growing or hard to fill.
For those who make it to the final stage of the recruitment process, congratulations! If you don’t, don’t be discouraged.
There’s often a photo finish between the applicant who gets the job and the finalists who did not. If you got close, you were clearly a strong candidate and have a lot to offer! If you weren’t, it’s okay; there are some things you can do to boost your chances.
Now that you know the steps in the recruitment process, you can prepare! Here are some ways to help you increase your chances of getting an interview so you can nail the job recruitment process and snag that dream job!
What is a job recruiter?
A job recruiter is someone who works to get positions filled at various companies. They work to find qualified candidates and are usually paid based on their ability to not waste the company’s time with unqualified applicants.
Agency recruiters are often associated with a high volume of candidates without the proper skills needed.
Since recruiters are paid by the hiring company, they want to make sure they’re giving quality candidates over a high quantity.
Other types of recruiters are paid only if candidates are filled and not just based on the volume they can bring in.
Job recruiters are very beneficial and worth it for the hiring process if they:
Follow up with the candidate and keep them informed about what they know
Communicate frequently to put the candidate’s mind at ease
Give feedback on what they heard back about interviews
Return calls from concerned candidates, especially if they haven’t heard back in a while.
Finding a job on your own without a job recruiter can be tough. A job recruiter can act as the party between you and the company you’re trying to work at.
To find a job recruiter, you can search online for an employment agency who will do the grunt work for you. This will allow you to polish your resume and sit back and let the recruiter do the heavy lifting.
LinkedIn is also a great way to find a job recruiter since this platform was essentially made to be an online resume.
How does the interview process work?
The Interview process is the best way for both candidates and hiring companies to get a better understanding of what their future relationship may look like.
The interview is a great time for candidates to discover things they like and things they don’t like about the company they’re considering joining.
The hiring process is very expensive for companies as well. That’s why companies use this as an opportunity to make sure they’re making a great decision.
The last thing they would want to do is hire someone and find out in 6 months that they weren’t nearly as qualified to complete the job as they thought.
For this reason, the company may want to consider temp-to-hire employees as we discussed earlier.
Companies can choose which type of interview they’d like to conduct, or a mixture of multiple types. These interview types are:
Screening Interviews Also called mini interviews, they are often conducted on the phone and are not always conducted by a hirer up who will be making the hiring decision. They are often time savers for these decision makers. Some candidates are not quite qualified and it can be easy to see this up front. If a candidate is not great at answering basic questions, the screener can determine not to send this candidate into the next phase of an interview.
Phone Interviews Not all companies conduct phone interviews, but they can be great timesavers. You can often ask the same questions as in-person interviews, but reduce the need for commuting or scheduling a conference room at your office. The problem with these types of interviews, however, is you cannot see the person face-to-face or see how they are different in person vs. on the phone. That’s why the last type of interview is the most important.
In-Person Interviews To really see what a person is like, you need to see them face-to-face. This will help you to see how they answer questions and may get a better understanding if they are lying about a particular skill they have. Body language is important and gives additional signals you are not able to see in a phone interview. It’s also a great time to see how the candidate makes use of eye contact, a very important skill in almost all industries.
Finding a job on your own without a job recruiter can be tough. A job recruiter can act as the party between you and the company you’re trying to work at.
To find a job recruiter, you can search online for an employment agency who will do the grunt work for you. This will allow you to polish your resume and sit back and let the recruiter do the heavy lifting.
LinkedIn is also a great way to find a job recruiter since this platform was essentially made to be an online resume.
6 Tips for Getting an Interview
1. Update and Optimize Your Resume
Be honest, are you still using the same resume you submitted last time you were searching for a job?
If so, you need to update that resume ASAP.
Not only should your resume and cover letter be up-to-date, it needs to reflect the job opportunity you are applying for. Be sure to highlight specific skills and experiences you’ve had that relate to the job opportunity you want to get.
2. Clean Up and Utilize Your Social Media Profiles
It should come as no surprise that employers Google their candidates. Any information associated with your name is fair game to browse through, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram.
Make sure no inappropriate content appears publicly on any of those platforms.
Don’t completely sanitize your social media profiles though; make them work for you!
If you’re active in your community, post about it.
Did you just write an awesome blog? Share it!
Have you done volunteer work or donated to an organization recently? Post a picture of it and link to the organization’s website in the post.
Social media is about sharing, so it’s not a bad idea to share how considerate, personable, and community-minded you are.
3. Building your LinkedIn profile to get a job
Making professional connections online is a great way to boost your presence and impress employers too.
Remember, anyone who is job hunting should be on LinkedIn! You should make sure that your profile is updated with a professional picture and your experience and skills.
Once you have a basic profile setup, you should start adding connections. By reconnecting with people you’ve known, you increase your chances of finding job leads.
A fully-completed profile with ample connections and endorsements makes you look more professional.
4. Use Online Tools Effectively
If you’re not using online job search engines, you are missing out!
There are a lot of reliable job search engines out there, and many employers and employees are starting to use them.
Here are a few job recruitment websites to considering utilizing
These websites will help you with your job search and find opportunities in your area.
5. Consider Using A Staffing Agency
Job search engines are great for some people, but you may find that you feel a bit lost looking at the vast selection options.
This is especially true if you’re not sure about your strengths as a candidate. You may also want to talk to someone about your resume and LinkedIn profile if you don’t know where to begin.
A staffing agency can get to know your experience and personality and then help find a job that is perfectly suited for you.
6. Be Reachable!
You may be in the habit of ignoring calls from strange numbers, but when you’re submitting resumes, you’re going to get a lot of calls from numbers you don’t recognize.
You don’t want to miss any of them because you never know who might be calling you about a great opportunity.
Be prepared to answer the phone promptly, professionally, and be ready to talk about your resume
By following these tips, you should be able to set yourself apart from the rest of the applicants and get an interview.
Now, it’s time to tackle the most challenging part of the recruitment process: nailing the interviews.
A lot of candidates worry about the phone and face-to-face interviews, but some preparation and research can go a long way. Here are some tips to help you be confined during the interviewing process.
Tips for Job Interview Questions and Answers
Do your Homework
Hopefully, you’ve done some research about the company while tailoring your resume and cover letter to match the opportunity they are offering.
If you are asked for an interview, you should get more acquainted with the company, their services, and culture outside of the job offer.
Many managers tend to ask questions related to their own business in interviews.
Forgetting to do comprehensive research into a potential employer is a big mistake
By taking the time to learn more about the business that posted the listing, you will gain information that will be useful in the interview and you will appear eager and knowledgeable to your potential employer.
Dress for Success
This sounds like a no-brainer, but a surprising amount of people arrive for in-person interviews who don’t strive to look their best.
Whatever you prefer to wear is strictly up to you, but you should never speak to a would-be employer dressed like you couldn’t care less about getting the job.
When in doubt, you should always come to the interview dressed in full business attire.
Be Confident and Charismatic
Before the interview, take the time to prepare yourself.
Think about the key points you want to say beforehand and practice them in a mirror or in front of someone you trust. Your goal during the interview is to emphasize your positive qualities and expertise while being friendly and professional.
Before walking into the interview, try your best to relax.
Being nervous or lacking confidence is a surefire way to undermine all your qualifications.
Take a deep breath, drink some tea, and remember to practice what you want to say. Being able to walk out of an interview feeling relaxed is a good sign you did well.
Have Questions of Your Own
While you are preparing and doing research, be sure to come up with some questions of your own to ask during the interview.
Employers love it when you have questions because it shows you did your homework and are passionate about the company and position.
Aim to have at least three to four questions ready to ask.
Be Sure to Follow Up
While following up after a job interview is a lost art in our modern society, it should still be observed.
Both a polite email or an actual postcard works!
Sending out a message of thanks shows initiative, respect, and willingness to go the extra mile to do something the right way.
It always gets a good reaction and, even if you don’t get the job, will help employers remember you the next time a position opens up.
Staffing Services In Greater Philadelphia
J & J Staffing Resources is a professional staffing agency that connects local businesses to job seekers throughout the Greater Philadelphia area, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
We bring over 45 years of expertise in office, industrial, technical, and professional staffing placements as well as payroll management, and offer a wide range of services for both employers and job seekers.
Need help? J & J Staffing has offices in Newark, Bridgeport, Woodbury, Cherry Hill, Ewing, Princeton, Langhorne, and Horsham. Visit your local J & J staffing center or get started below.
How to Successfully Attract and Retain Great Talent
Oh no – one of your best employees just put in their two weeks notice out of nowhere! This is a tough scenario for any manager. Not only do you need to find a replacement for an experienced and valued team member, but you also must consider how their leave will affect your staff and company.
Employee retention matters because it is costly to invest time finding and training a new employee. Retention impacts a business’ bottom line, and keeping highly qualified employees is key to maintaining success long-term.
Also, as Baby Boomers retire over the next couple of years, the upcoming Generation X may not be able to fill the gaps. Gen X has a population of about 65.6 million people compared to the 74.1 million Baby Boomers who were available for work. Since fewer people will be in the workforce, keeping employees is going to become increasingly important.
Ultimately, the ability to retain employees is the primary measurement of the health of your business. If you are losing important staff members, you can pretty much bet other employees are looking for the exit door too. Let’s look at ways to improve your employee acquisition and retention strategies to achieve long-term success and continued business growth.
How to Develop Employees Retention Strategies for Long-Term Success
Hire the Right Employees
First things first: are you sure you’re targeting the right kind of employee for your business? If people are leaving, especially not long after being hired, it’s possible your recruiting strategy is off. Employees might not be staying because they didn’t feel like they were a good fit for the company or the position long-term.
You should know the experience and qualifications needed to fill open positions in your business. The easiest way to go about this is to create a “wish list” of attributes necessary to assume the responsibilities of the position of are trying to fill.
Create your wish list by speaking with employees and managers. If possible, perform exit interviews with past employees who held the position you are looking to fill. Once you have a list of job functions, determine which skills, experience, and education will be needed to be successful in this position.
Now that you have a greater understanding of your ideal candidate, you can better anticipate their needs and desires to provide a conducive work environment. If you need assistance finding your ideal candidate, J&J Staffing Resources can help.
Ensure the Success of New Employees
The key to retaining great employees is making sure they get off on the right foot. After you have made an offer and a new hire starts, you don’t want to give them any reason to believe they have made a mistake by accepting the position. Ensuring a smooth transition period when a new employee begins to work for your business is the best way to establish a strong relationship, good habits, and healthy work expectations.
Provide an Orientation Period
There should be a designated orientation period for the new employee, whether it’s a day or a week. Assign a point person for the employee’s orientation and have that person tour the office with the new hire. A welcoming and informative introduction that gives the new hire the ins and outs of the business will help them acclimate quickly.
An employee orientation should also include:
Meeting the team – Whether one on one, at lunch, or during a more formal meeting, introduce the new hire to the people they’ll be working with. If the new hire is in supervisory role, they should be introduced to their direct reports.
Getting to know their space – You should give the new hire a tour of their desk or office, as well as where the kitchen, bathrooms, and relevant office equipment is located.
A security briefing – Now is the time to show the new hire how to sign in and enter the building, where to park, and how to use equipment, if necessary.
Technology onboarding – Show the new hire (or provide documentation explaining) how to set up their email, voicemail, remote access, and passwords, as well as how to access the employee portal.
Mentorship programs – Once the new hire is set up at their space, their transition period isn’t over. Pair the new employee with an experienced staff member to help them adjust to their new responsibilities and the company culture.
Improving Employee Retention
To keep employees committed to your business long-term, you should have additional retention strategies. Highly-skilled employees are looking for more than good pay and benefits in this competitive marketplace, though that is a good place to start planning your employee retention strategy! Below are some strategies to consider.
Employment Compensation
Companies need to offer competitive compensation packages to attract and retain employees. This includes not only salaries, but paid time off, bonuses, health benefits, retirement plans, and additional perks that make your business stand out from the rest. All employees should have a clear understanding of the benefits they receive from your business. Consider providing a general description of the benefits employees receive on the job description of each position, and relay the benefits in depth to new hires.
Employment Compensation
People want to feel appreciated and that what they do matters! You should make a habit of telling your employees you appreciate their work and efforts. Often, the most memorable recognition comes from an employee’s manager, followed by a high-level leader or CEO. Recognizing an employee’s efforts can positively impact their work and boost morale. Consider setting up a reward system that incentivizes great ideas, innovation, and additional education.
Flexibility and Work-life Balance
Sometimes the best way to retain great employees is to be a little flexible. If you expect staff to regularly work long hours and be on call off the clock, you’ll likely run into employee retention problems. Burnout happens, and stressed employees will seek greener pastures. You need a healthy work-life balance to maintain a happy workforce. Encourage staff to take vacation time or allow flexible start and end times. Many companies also offer telecommuting as a way to improve the work-life balance for their employees.
Training and Development for Employees
Everyone wants to be able to advance. Smart CEOs and managers take the time to invest in their employee’s professional development. Ask your employees about their long-term and short-term goals, and find opportunities to help achieve them. To assist in employee and company education, some businesses pay for employees to attend industry events and conferences annually.
Feedback, Communication, and Transparency
Employees who report to you should feel that they can present ideas, questions, and concerns to you, and they should expect you to be open and honest with them regarding their performance. An employee shouldn’t be worried about coming to discuss work-related matters with you. Make sure you are reaching out and connecting with your employees regularly, not just once a year. You should also be communicating any big changes happening at the company to your employees, so everyone is on the same page. Whether your business is going through layoffs, a merger, relocation, or the process of adding a new department, keep your employees informed as much as you can. Ensuring your employees stay informed prevents people feeling left out or starting inaccurate rumors due to a lack of transparency.
Fostering Teamwork and Ownership
People can achieve a lot by working together! The best way to get employees to be team players is to foster a culture of collaboration. Start by making sure team objectives, business goals, and employees roles are clear, and encourage individuals to contribute ideas and solutions.
Allowing employees to participate in the strategy and decision-making process for clients they work closely with fosters a sense of ownership and pride in their work. And when employees make great strides, celebrate! When the team or an individual meets a major milestone, seize the chance to celebrate together with a shared meal or group excursion.
How to Spot Problems with Your Retention Strategy
People who understand and share the same vision you have for your company will be more productive and develop better relationships with their coworkers. If your employee retention strategy isn’t working, you may notice some of the following from your employees, including:
Workers not openly talking to their manager about issues and concerns
Employees expressing frustrations about being overworked and work-life balance issues
Workers expressing that they do not feel challenged and are bored
Coworkers reporting that they do not feel like part of a team
Workers being unhappy about a perceived lack of respect
If you notice these signs, address the problems in an open and honest way one on one with your employees. Showing that you are willing to listen to your employee’s concerns and address issues is the first step toward developing or adjusting your retention strategy.
In the end, having a strategy for employee retention will give your company the best leg up as motivated, engaged, and loyal employees are more likely to reach their fullest potential which will naturally increase your business’s success. If you’re curious to see how your business is currently holding up in the job marketplace, take our 10-Point Staffing Assessment today.
Staffing Services In Greater Philadelphia
J & J Staffing Resources is a professional staffing agency that connects local businesses to job seekers throughout the Greater Philadelphia area, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
We bring over 45 years of expertise in office, industrial, technical, and professional staffing placements as well as payroll management, and offer a wide range of services for both employers and job seekers.
Need help? J & J Staffing has offices in Newark, Bridgeport, Woodbury, Cherry Hill, Ewing, Princeton, Langhorne, and Horsham. Visit your local J & J staffing center or get started below.
How to Recruit, Hire, and Retain Millennials in 2019
In today’s job market, millennials (ages 22 to 37) now make up 35% of the American workforce. This includes anyone born between 1981 and 1996. What does this mean for employers?
A large part of your recruitment strategy and hiring practices, as well as the culture you build within your company, needs to be focused on the millennial generation.
Millennials are still in the early stages of their careers and lives—they are eager to grow and advance! If you want to appeal to millennials, keep this top of mind when strategizing things like benefits and growth opportunities.
Through our own staffing experiences and observing trends across the recruitment landscape, we’ve put together some of the best practices for recruiting and retaining millennials in your workplace.
Using Social Media to Recruit Millennial Employees
Using social media for recruiting isn’t anything new, but many companies are still struggling to leverage these platforms as a valuable part of their recruitment strategy.
While LinkedIn may seem like the most obvious choice for social media recruiting, alternative networks like Twitter and Instagram can also be useful to find talent, facilitate interactions with potential candidates, and sell yourself as an employer.
If you are looking to expand your social media recruitment strategy, you should explore what all the platforms have to offer.
Using Social Media to Recruit Millennial Employees
Finding Millennial Candidates on LinkedIn
A website designed for job networking has to be a great place to start, right?
While LinkedIn can be an excellent source for great millennial candidates, the sheer volume of users seeking jobs on the site means you’ll need to pinpoint what qualities you’re looking for in a candidate.
Fortunately, LinkedIn has some great filters to help you narrow down searches by things like candidate location, years of experience, and current job function.
Once you’ve narrowed down your search, LinkedIn’s individual profiles provide rich information on a candidate’s skills, work, and education history, as well as their connections and any recommendations they’ve received.
Joining the right groups on LinkedIn can make finding the right job candidates easy too! If you’re in a niche industry, look to see if there is a dedicated discussion group of experts who keep in touch and talk about industry-related topics. By engaging with users in the group or creating a post outlining the qualities you are looking for in a candidate, you can boost your ability to uncover great future employees.
Finding Millennial Candidates on Facebook
Facebook has been in and out of favor among today’s youth, but it remains the most popular social network in the world with over 2 billion users. As a result, it has become one of the best places to find millennial employees. It’s a social network that millennials were the first to adopt, so many of the users in the generation have profiles and still use the platform in some capacity.
The average US consumer spends 40 minutes per day on the site, which makes it an excellent place to find, attract, and interact with potential candidates.
Post about your company and establish yourself as a great place to work. Great candidates seek out places they want to work, and establishing your presence on the largest social network can go a long way in bringing them into your company.
Finding Millennial Candidates on Instagram
Instagram is one of the leading social networking platforms, so it’s no wonder some job seekers are starting to use it to find out more about companies that interest them.
Roughly 32% of adult internet users use Instagram, and while the majority of users are between 18-29, Instagram can be a great platform for social media recruiting, especially if you are looking to hire millennials.
People who follow your Instagram account are likely to be interested in your company, so using Instagram as part of your recruitment strategy can help you connect with tech-savvy millennials who are already considering applying to your company.
Finding Millennial Candidates on Twitter
Twitter is also an excellent source for uncovering great candidates. Searching via hashtags and metrics like retweets and followers helps you identify subject matter experts.
Depending on your industry, there may even be Twitter accounts dedicated to job postings (@jobs4PHI) that you can leverage by tweeting at them and getting them to share your tweets.
Twitter is also great for responding to people. It’s a great customer service tool and it’s one of the best ways to answer candidates questions, promote your company culture, and promote recruiting events and job openings.
Tips for Hiring Millennial Employees
In the modern age of technology, millennial job seekers are not wasting any time, and you can’t afford to either. Far too often, however, the hiring process becomes drawn out.
While you should take the time to thoroughly evaluate and review candidates, taking too long can prevent you from hiring the best potential employees, especially in this tight job market.
Here are three tips to speed up your hiring process to prevent the best millennial candidates from getting picked up by competitors.
1. Make it easy for candidates to apply
Redesign your website or candidate portal to make it easy for millennial job seekers to find the appropriate listing and submit their application.
Confirm receipt of applications by automatically sending an email response when you receive a resume.
Post in several locations, such as on your website and major job seeking sites for your industry to allow the largest candidate pool possible to see your listing, increasing your likelihood of finding the right candidates more quickly.
2. Communicate constantly with candidates
Keep candidates in the loop by using their preferred form of communication: either email or phone.
Give feedback after the interview, even if it’s simply to thank the candidate for coming on site.
Let them know what the next step is and then follow through. If you expect to let them know about a second interview or a hiring decision the following week, stick to your timeline. If the decision is delayed, let them know that as well. It’s also best practice to let a candidate who has interviewed know if they are not being offered the position.
3. Streamline your job posting and interview process
Have a clear need when posting a position and aim to fill it as soon as possible.
Get pre-approval for the position from the relevant departments, set a scope of work, and approve the salary range.
Schedule back-to-back interviews if needed to both speed up your internal process and decrease the amount of time a candidate needs to spend on site prior to the hiring decision.
What are Companies Doing to Retain Millennials?
Millennials are in the early stages of their careers and lives, which factors strongly in what they look for in a new job. While pay is important, most millennials are seeking jobs that provide them with more opportunities and community building experiences than previous generations.
According to a recent Gallup survey, over 50% of millennials said the opportunity to learn and grow was the most important aspect of what they look for in a job. Many millennials see their current role as a stepping stone to something bigger within the company.
If you want to hold on to younger talent, you have to make sure that there are opportunities for upward mobility; otherwise, you may find yourself losing employees to companies that have those “next step” roles.
Consider things like adding junior and senior level roles if they apply to your positions and you don’t have them already. Also, always be on the lookout for ways a new role may be beneficial to your operations and promote and hire from within.
Build a company culture that millennials are comfortable in
Most millennials want to work for a company whose core values resonate with them. Think of the things your company does, such as charity work or even business efforts that are focused on improving the world (or your local community). If you can give employees a sense of social responsibility, often they will find more purpose in the work that they do.
If you don’t have a social initiative in place, encourage employees to rally together for a cause. Not only does it build a positive connection between employees and the workplace, employees will develop better work relationships with each other.
Update your business casual dress code
A business casual dress code can mean vastly different things to different people. Not too long ago, employees wouldn’t think twice about wearing their most formal and professional-looking clothes to the office no matter where they worked.
These days though, employers are much more relaxed about what they allow employees to wear, and changes in styles of clothing, accessories, and tattoos have had a big impact on how younger generations dress for the workplace. As a result, the term “business casual” can mean a whole host of different things.
While it’s great that restrictions have been relaxed and attitudes shifted so people have the opportunity to be more expressive with their appearance, it’s important to know where to draw the line, so try and strike the right balance.
When updating your dress code, it’s a good idea to take note of what employees are comfortable wearing now — especially those who have been working there for a while. They’ve taken the time to carefully hone their wardrobe to fit exactly what’s expected of them and what they expect of each other.
How to Leverage Staffing Services to Recruit and Retain Millennials
It pays to be proactive in your search, especially since the job market now favors the side of job seekers. A staffing agency can help you jumpstart your efforts.
Staffing agencies serve as great resources for finding temporary, temp-to-hire, or direct hires and can help you build a quality pipeline of employees. A huge benefit is that they often have access to an enormous pool of talent, prescreened and ready to start contributing to your business.
Are you looking to hire millennial talent in the Greater Philadelphia area? J&J Staffing Resources provides staffing solutions that can help build and grow your company!
Staffing Services In Greater Philadelphia
J & J Staffing Resources is a professional staffing agency that connects local businesses to job seekers throughout the Greater Philadelphia area, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware.
We bring over 45 years of expertise in office, industrial, technical, and professional staffing placements as well as payroll management, and offer a wide range of services for both employers and job seekers.
Need help? J & J Staffing has offices in Newark, Bridgeport, Woodbury, Cherry Hill, Ewing, Princeton, Langhorne, and Horsham. Visit your local J & J staffing center or get started below.
