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Many businesses (other than those in the retail space, of course) tend to slow down for the holidays, with some shuttering operations entirely for days at a time around Christmas and New Year’s Day. Even those offices that remain open throughout the jolliest of days tend to scale back on certain non-critical operations.

This can seem like a natural choice. With so many contractors and upper-level personnel taking time off, it is a challenging time to do business in general. People want to enjoy themselves or spend time with their families around the holidays. For this reason, recruitment and hiring are often one of the first areas non-retail companies will press pause on during the holiday hustle and bustle.

There is some logic to this lull. Nobody wants to spend Christmas Eve speed-reading resumes, and nobody wants to be bothered about a work-related opportunity while sleeping in on New Year’s morning, right? But as it turns out, hiring around the holidays can actually present organizations with a lot of unforeseen upsides.

Enjoy Less Competition

Some companies simply don’t hire at all in Q4 as a matter of policy. In holiday terms, this is analogous to your cousin who doesn’t like pumpkin pie—it means there’s more for you! Remember, just because many business owners in the United States and some other regions like to take time off for the winter holidays, that doesn’t mean the rest of the world stops turning. There are many qualified candidates out there who don’t celebrate winter holidays at all, for cultural, religious, or personal reasons, and if they need a new job, the time of year isn’t going to deter them. By posting open positions through the holidays, you increase the likelihood that they see yours.

Leverage Those New Year’s Goals

Don’t be so sure that nobody wants to be bothered with a work-related call around New Year’s. Many people work their career ambitions into those New Year’s resolutions, so a call from a prospective employer around the turn of the calendar can seem like a fateful sign rather than an annoyance. Candidates who are open to new opportunities around January 1 also tend to have great qualities for high-level staff. Taking the new year as an opportunity to focus on career goals can be a hint that the candidate is focused and goal-driven.

Catch People Mid-Transition

Many professionals who leave their jobs in a planned-out way will target the holidays as the right time to say farewell. This is a smart strategy because the employee may be able to combine their remaining PTO with vacation days to continue getting paid for a few weeks after leaving the office, and it also allows them to enjoy the holidays without any work-related pressure hanging over their head. This gives you a unique opportunity to reach them before they pick up their hunt for a new job in earnest (usually after New Year’s Day).

Find Fresh Graduates in the Hiring Pool

Students who graduate at the end of the winter semester without any job prospects in place are another great talent pool that also tends to wait until after the new year to really turn their focus to job hunting. By effectively marketing your open positions throughout the holiday season, you may be able to reach them first.

Regardless of the industry, Mondays can be a notoriously challenging time at work. The common trope of Mondays being extra hard at the office or job site has been hammered home for decades in popular TV, movies, and comedy. However, this stereotype exists because it’s based on truth.

Having “a case of the Mondays” isn’t merely a matter of feeling blue that another weekend has passed or being stressed out about being back under your boss’s thumb. While depression and stress are certainly important workplace issues in their own right, Mondays are also associated with some extremely serious problems like heart attacks and suicide.

As a manager or business operator who cares not only about your team’s efficiency but also their well-being, there are some things you can do to help battle those common Monday blues. You may not be able to mandate how much sleep your staff gets over the weekend or how heavily their problems at home weigh on them when they come in, but you can create an empathetic, focused, and supportive environment. Do this well enough, and your employees may begin to see coming in on Monday morning as an important part of their daily structure and personal support system rather than just another stressor on their plate.

What’s the Deal with Mondays?

It turns out that our cultural distaste for Mondays may be part of a dangerous and toxic feedback cycle, a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy that may create psychological barriers that make Mondays harder than they need to be. A study examining various day-of-the-week stereotypes (think “TGIF,” “hump day,” etc.) found that the actual effects of a particular day of the week were more pronounced when survey respondents were predicting their mood for the upcoming week versus remembering their actual mood from a previous day. This doesn’t mean that your case of “The Mondays” is all in your head, however. Specific Mondays, such as those following a holiday or daylight savings time change, have more pronounced negative effects.

Strategies for Upgrading Your Office’s Mondays

There are a few things you can try as a boss to help your team stay productive and comfortable through typical start-of-the-week struggles. If your operation has an issue with Mondays, try one or more of the following:

1. Re-think Casual Team Building Activities – Oftentimes, when we plan special “just for fun” appreciation events for our staff (think catered lunches, jeans day, etc.) or playful, low-stakes team-building activities (company picnics, etc.) we schedule them as an end-of-week reward, or a mid-week bonus to push our employees forward through hump day. Instead, try planning these perks for Mondays. Some bosses fear that special treats at the beginning of the week will leave their staff with nothing to work towards, but this mindset is infantilizing. The morale boost of a Monday pizza party or casual dress day can carry your team into their workweek to pay lasting dividends.
2. Structured Monday Morning “Me” Time – if the logistics of your operation allow it, have an hour of prep time/free time built into every employee’s Monday schedule. For best results, this should be early in the day. If that’s not possible, a free hour at the end of the day (or even the opportunity to leave early) can also function as a nice incentive to pull someone through their Monday slump. Always avoid first-thing-Monday-morning meetings, regardless of how hard inspiration struck you over the weekend and how excited you are to share your new ideas.
3. Support Good Sleep Habits – most experts track the “Monday blues” back to a simple origin: the fact that many of us disrupt our sleep cycles during the weekend—then pay for it on Monday morning. Distribute workplace literature about the importance of good sleep so that your employees are informed. With personal, wearable technology becoming ubiquitous, you could even develop an opt-in sleep-tracking program that rewards employees for showing up well-rested on Monday.

Every business is unique, and so is every employee. These will not be one-size-fits-all solutions. Whatever you’re able to invest in improving Mondays, remember that empathy and humanity cost nothing and will go a long way toward stabilizing morale and helping employees feel like they are valued and fully invested members of your team.

It’s not always obvious, but the transition from summer to fall is a difficult time for some people. Even folks who don’t struggle with a medical diagnosis like Seasonal Affective Disorder can notice a marked annual change in their energy levels and attitude when the days get shorter and colder.

Employees who are susceptible to these fall ho-hums can bring this sluggishness into the workplace with them, which may contribute to feedback from other employees who are feeling the same way. Sometimes, effective management means meeting people where they are and finding healthy, effective ways to guide your team through that dreaded end-of-summer slump.

Here are 5 ways you can help beat your staff’s autumn blues while keeping a professional and productive environment.

Remote Work Options

The option to work some hours from home is a huge sell for employees, especially after 2020. You may have some doubts about work-from-home being the most effective model for your business. But remote work flexibility has practical value among both employers and job-seekers in the wake of the Covid-19 shakeup.

Use Employee Data Intelligently

Most business operations handle a great deal of their work on the computer. As a result, software-based employee monitoring and tracking systems have been having a moment over the last decade. Instead of turning your office into an unwelcoming surveillance state, you can use these technologies to monitor your employee data, such as looking for changes after morale-building meetings or offering small perks. This can help you understand which incentives your staff responds best to. You can also use it to determine which parts of the day are best for which tasks. Use employee data effectively to understand your employees’ needs, and learn how they can best fit your operation.

Create or improve incentives

Find room in the budget for better perks: restaurant gift cards, event tickets, additional PTO, early release days, and more. This is a fundamental tenet of employee morale that is too easily forgotten during budget-crunching meetings. When incentives and recognitions have a practical value for your employees, their motivation to pursue those incentives will increase accordingly. The returns will be seen in your bottom line and will justify any up-front expense.

Honesty and Clarity

The job market has been volatile and stressful for many employees over the last several years. Your employees need to know exactly where they stand. Some transparency and corporate clarity can go a long way towards building trust and stabilizing morale in uncertain times.

Lunch!

When morale is shaky, go back to basics. Take a survey of your employees to find out what their favorite restaurants are, then find a popular one that can cater a planned appreciation lunch. A free meal is a timeless way to let the people you depend on know you appreciate them, and sharing food together can be a bonding experience for your staff. Traditional wisdom says to do the special lunch on a Friday so that employees have something to work towards, but a nice meal on Monday can be a way to start the week on a high note and to shake off those fall feelings and the weekly case of “The Mondays”.

You could even plan a “fall harvest week” where you do a free lunch on both Monday and Friday, and have fall-themed casual dress days with comfy sweatshirts, football jerseys, or lazy Halloween costumes. You can make it as simple as you wish. It’s hard to go wrong with any straightforward gesture that improves an employee’s workday in a memorable way.

Technology has permeated every aspect of our lives, from personal to professional. In many cases, new technology is developed to make life easier for users, and that has proven true for businesses in recent years. Social media and other digital platforms, opportunities for remote work, and expanded flexibility in the workplace are all evidence of the impact of technology in the business world.

The hiring process has also been bolstered by new and growing technology in recent years. Hiring qualified, enthusiastic candidates that fit your organization’s needs is an essential part of success, but it can be difficult to identify and reach those candidates. The development and inclusion of technology in the hiring process have vastly improved results. Here are three ways that technology can benefit your hiring process.

Technology Provides an Expanded Reach

In the past, finding candidates to fill an open position was dependent on a business’s location and community connections, so the options were much more limited. Technology has opened up new lines of communication and now provides businesses with a global pool of candidates to pull from.

With a growing number of candidates seeking remote positions, technology provides a means of connection that was inaccessible in the past. Professional networking sites also provide a central place for businesses to post their open positions and contact potential candidates.

Technology Reduces Unnecessary Efforts

The process of finding, interviewing, and hiring candidates can be long and arduous, but technology has helped to ease some of that burden. Many organizations now utilize automated programs and resources at the beginning of the hiring process. This removes the burden of finding candidates and gathering information, which allows hiring professionals to focus on the more important aspects of the search.

Technology Provides Stronger Brand Awareness

In the digital age, a great deal of recruiting is done online through social media and other networking platforms. This provides an opportunity for organizations to identify who their ideal candidates may be and where those candidates can be found online. Then, with that information, hiring professionals can create digital content that will appeal to those candidates while also engaging with a larger pool of potential candidates. Using social media and other technology tools correctly allows businesses to build an online presence that is easily recognizable and showcases their dependability.

Beneficial Resources From Stang Decision Systems

Stang Decision Systems is one of the leading providers of custom processes for hiring and developing employees. We use a powerful combination of psychology and technology to create systems that make identifying, hiring, and training employees a breeze. Our HireScore resources allow you to identify, rank, and assess potential employees during the hiring process.

The HireScore Talent Portal is a fantastic tool that allows companies to attract more candidates and rank them based on their qualifications and aptitude. The HireScore Assessment Platform gives you the ability to create assessments that are specific to your needs and help you identify the ideal candidate. These resources are all user-friendly and easily customizable to ensure that all of your hiring and team development needs are met.

Utilizing technology as part of your hiring process can ensure that the process is streamlined and that you find the best possible candidates to fit the needs of your organization. Contact Stang Decision Systems today to discover great resources and find out how you can get started.

Organizations can fall into the trap of seeing their various business processes as separate from one another. This can be a natural artifact of the way businesses become departmentalized as they grow. In many ways, this is deliberate — you don’t want your sales staff trying to do the job of your IT department, for example. In reality, we know that much of this compartmentalization is artificial: every aspect of a business is interconnected and interdependent.

When it comes to hiring, this means that you need to look deeper than pay, location, schedule, and benefits to determine why you’re failing to land and retain the right candidates. While good compensation will always be the foremost factor in recruiting the best of the best among job seekers, you need to look beyond the offer sheet when competing with many other companies trying to recruit similarly skilled staff at the same price point. It’s not always about what you’re offering a candidate in terms of direct compensation. Other aspects of your operation can make or break a crucial hire, such as company culture, reputation in the wider community, industry standing, and — last, but not least — your brand.

While branding isn’t something that comes up in a lot of HR meetings, it can be a key factor in attracting and keeping high-performing employees. Think about it: the relationship between brand and customer is meticulously nurtured, invested in, and relied upon to build trust. Many high-end companies strive for branding that makes their clients feel like appreciated partners rather than customers in a transaction. But isn’t the relationship between your brand and your employees just as important as the one between your brand and your customers? When your employees genuinely relate to your brand, they feel a sense of pride and ownership, which is a key driver of employee satisfaction, quality work, and long-term staff retention.

Company Brand vs. Employer Brand

To begin leveraging your brand to recruit and retain a more effective, more dedicated team, you’ll first want to delineate the concepts of “brand” and “employer brand” in your head. So, what’s the difference?

While there is a world of nuance and subtlety at play, we can state the basic concepts simply. Your brand — your traditional, company brand — is all about how customers see you. Your employer brand is — you guessed it — all about how employees and potential hires see you. Both are designed to attract the people who will help your operation thrive and grow, either as clients or team members. As with all aspects of your business, there will be overlap and interdependency between the two concepts.

You’ll want to have some sort of consistency between company branding and employer branding so that when someone applies for a job because they love your company, those same qualities shine through. Branding isn’t all about your company’s “personality” however. Sometimes it comes down to simply having a great product at a good price, or — in the case of employer branding — a great work environment with fair compensation.

Your “employer brand” is essentially your reputation among job seekers at large. Just like your company brand, each individual you engage with will have their own personal interpretation of that brand and their relationship with it. This relationship will grow as job seekers enter the interview process and move on to become employees, just as the customer-brand relationship changes with each new purchase or other interaction.

Some of the core elements that will make up your employer brand include:

• Office culture
• Promotions
• Recognition
• Compensation
• Flexibility
• Team building
• Perks
• Management style

It’s time to start wielding the concept of “brand” as the powerful, dual-edged sword it is. You already know how to use branding to attract and retain quality clients. If you’re not putting those same concepts to work in your hiring process, you may be undermining your own operation. Contact Stang Decision Systems for more info.

We are amid what many have dubbed the Great Resignation, where employers across the country are experiencing unprecedented turnover and historic shifts in labor. Many employers have made changes to improve work environments and offer sign-on bonuses, while others have looked for new ways to let employees know that they are appreciated.

As workers across the nation air grievances about low wages, lack of opportunity for advancement, and hostile work environments, it’s quite clear that there’s much to learn from the Great Resignation.

Here are three important takeaways that the Great Resignation has taught us so far.

1. Employers Should Use Technology and Statistics to Monitor the Hiring Landscape

This mass quitting has inspired many companies to change the way that they do things in order to be more connected to the average human and their needs. Many hiring managers have shifted to lean heavily into surveys and statistics to find out what employees really want in an employer.

A recent survey of Zoomers or Gen Zers—those born roughly between the years of 1996 and 2012—indicated that they want to work with a company that:

• Cares about more than making a profit (61%)
• Offers a good benefits package (67%)
• Has similar values to their own (62%)
• Offers ample career progression opportunities and development (59%)
• Has a strong brand reputation (49%)

If they haven’t already, HR managers should look for ways to glean new insights about their hiring pool and then put that data to use to hone an effective recruitment strategy.

2. We Must Continue to Show Employees That They Are Appreciated

About one-third of the average person’s life is spent in their place of work, and it’s no secret that employers should actively let their employees know that they are appreciated. It helps them feel that the employer empathizes with them and wants them to feel satisfied with their career choice.

Here are some helpful ways that you can let your employees know that they are appreciated:

• Hosting frequent work events
• Celebrate employee birthdays
• Give employees the opportunity to show appreciation to their coworkers
• Volunteer opportunities
• Regular work retreats
• Awards such as gift cards, paid time off, or other rewards or recognition for fine work
• Personal thank-you notes and rewards (the more tailored to the individual, the better)
• Regular expressions of gratitude, in person and in public
• Paid luncheons, dinners, and other events
• Consistently open lines of communication with your workers
• Friendly environments where employees are offered choices

3. We Should Extend This Conversation Further as Employers

The COVID-19 pandemic changed much of what we once knew about hiring, and as the Great Resignation rolls along, workers are facing another, less-talked-about phenomenon. Surveys across the country are indicating that many employees are leaving one place, only to find the same issues at the next place, or at least that the new job isn’t what they were led to believe it would be. This leaves them feeling some regret—a situation dubbed the Great Regret or “shift shock.”

If the Great Resignation and the Great Regret have taught us anything, it’s that we should work together toward honest, open conversations about the workplace. Employers should be candid about their company values and products during the hiring process, even if they aren’t particularly exciting. And perhaps employees should be more realistic when it comes to their expectations.

Furthermore, employers should be upfront about the typical kind of stresses that come with the jobs they offer—and listen to candidates actively during the hiring process.

For some employers, longstanding conventional wisdom has been to avoid talking about salary specifics — or to keep pay off the table as a topic entirely — throughout the preliminary stages of hiring. Some businesses even establish policies that outright forbid a compensation package being proposed until the interview process has reached a certain point, or a job offer is being formally made. This seems commonplace in today’s job market. Online postings for open jobs are increasingly found without any salary or compensation information whatsoever. Many others include only frustratingly vague ranges, empty buzzwords like “competitive,” or wordplay like “up to” and “starting at.”

This was not always the case. If you’re old enough to work today, help wanted ads without a clear rate of pay listed were probably considered suspicious when your mom or dad went out looking for their first job. Now experts and jobseekers alike are wondering if this paradigm shift towards salary silence has really been in anyone’s best interests.

Why We Stopped Talking Pay

There are a few reasons employers have trended away from talking about wages upfront in recent decades. These may include:

• Streamlining processes. Some larger employers prefer to rely on a structured system where all new employees start with the same pay rate, or where compensation is based on a formula factoring in years of experience, type of position, and other factors that can be measured objectively. This eliminates the need for compensation negotiations with candidates. These systems can save time and ensure everyone at your organization feels fairly compensated, but if you’re using one, there’s no good reason not to be upfront about how pay works during your initial interactions with candidates. A lack of transparency in structured pay rates could signal that you’re insecure about what you’re offering employees.
• A desire to discuss pay as little as possible in general. It is illegal to tell your employees not to discuss their pay with one another, yet some employers still go to great lengths to avoid any discussion of wages and salaries. The rationale is usually that this limits workplace conflicts (and demands for raises from employees who feel slighted by a co-worker’s higher pay). This may include limiting discussions of pay with new hires and candidates for open positions so that such discussions can’t be overheard by current employees. In general, it is not advisable to make “wage silence” any sort of priority at your company due to the aforementioned fact that enforcing such silence could constitute a serious violation of labor laws.
• Control. Old-school bosses have all sorts of “interview tricks” they use to conduct unofficial tests on candidates. In reality, most of these come down to ineffectual power trips that provide a little superficial insight into someone’s personality at best and alienate good candidates at worst. Waiting to see when someone will ask you about pay is one such trick best left in some smoke-filled 1970s back office.

Why It’s Better to Be Upfront About Wages and Benefits

As you can see, many of the most cited reasons to avoid speaking openly about pay to potential hires are based on bad assumptions. The reasons to do the opposite, however, are largely rooted in common sense, logic, and the desire to run an ethical, healthy workplace:

• Avoid wasting time. It’s true that you can hook a great candidate by making a job posting sound more lucrative than it actually is. You might even get them deep into the hiring process before you have to start having concrete conversations about pay and benefits. If, at that point, they walk out of the room because you’re not offering anything close to what they’re looking for, you have accomplished nothing besides wasting your own valuable time, as well as your HR staff’s and the candidate’s.
• Jobseekers appreciate it. A recent survey indicates that 78% of people are less likely to apply for a job posting that doesn’t clearly list salary. Trying to hide salary information doesn’t trick good candidates into applying — it actively keeps them away.
• Build trust. When you’re upfront and respectful with candidates before they even become employees, you give yourself a head start building the sort of trust and organizational buy-in that lets companies thrive.

Transparency with salaries and wages can benefit your potential candidates, as well as your company in many ways. Contrary to the old-fashioned opinions, it’s simply better to be more open with salary discussions.

As we ride out the first half of 2022, we find ourselves in a unique situation with large amounts of both unfilled jobs and unemployed workers. Volatile housing costs, sharp inflation, and the adjustment to a post-pandemic world are a few major reasons our employment market seems to be stuck in shuffle mode right now. The so-called “great resignation” of 2021 still has some business owners reeling to fill crucial roles, while in other places, workers are wondering where all these unfilled jobs are and how to find one.

One of the demographics hardest hit by this turmoil in our job market is Generation X. Many people in this group (very roughly defined as people from about 40 to 60 years old today) struggle to get re-hired when they attempt to change companies, careers, or cities. This ultimately hurts families, communities, and society at large, and it could also be hurting your business.

People over 40 often have social and practical skills underrepresented in today’s workforce, which sets them apart from millennial and Gen-Z coworkers. Unfortunately, many businesses are failing to tap into this source of employees due to a combination of narrow hiring philosophies, internal bias, and an undervaluation of certain “old school” skills.

While automated application systems are a great way to streamline your administrative processes, applicants over 40 can get overlooked due to resume filters that favor superficial tech buzzwords over broad hands-on experience (the sort of experience that can be adapted to a variety of jobs).

What’s Happening With Older Workers?

There is plenty of data to back up the unfortunate fact that older workers face bias and discrimination, even in this age of increased social consciousness and even at some of our nation’s largest and most iconic employers. As Kristin Alden, a labor law attorney in Washington, D.C., told an AARP reporter, “Age discrimination is so pervasive that people don’t even recognize it’s illegal.” SDS Project Managers frequently note that clients are never openly biased against female or minority candidates, but they have no issue saying that a candidate is too old. Few realize that candidates over 40 years of age are protected by Federal law.

Once workers reach a certain age, they may feel that their bosses are no longer willing to invest in their training or further their careers. And, if they need to change careers or move on to a new company, it can be nearly impossible to find a job that fits their experience and pay requirements. Older workers can be particularly susceptible to application burnout, the process of filling out dozens of job applications without receiving any callbacks or leads. These frustrated workers sometimes leave the workforce entirely, turning to self-employment or other alternatives.

Businesses predictably tighten their purses in an uncertain economy. For many, this means hiring younger, cheaper workers, or automating jobs wherever possible. Combine this with a steadily climbing retirement age (many Americans now consider 70 the default), and you can see the dangerous gap workers over 40 are falling into.

Where Are Workers Over 40 Succeeding?

One of the last bastions of consistent employment for people over 40 in the United States seems to be government work. In the general civilian workforce, about 54% of working people are over 40. Meanwhile, the federal government is 72% comprised of workers age 40 or over. This is according to a report from the EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunities Commission).

Why is the federal government more interested in 40-and-over workers than the private sector? What do they see in this unique sector of the workforce that your business may be missing out on?

How Workers Over 40 Drive Your Business’s Success

While only one piece of the puzzle, hiring a staff that represents various age groups is a crucial aspect of diversity. This, in turn, is a key driver of company culture, employee satisfaction, and productivity. This seems obvious on the surface, but ageism is still sometimes glossed over or absent when it comes to workplace discussions and even professional seminars about diversity.

Consider some of the ways workers over 40 make your staff stronger:

• Gen-Xers possess social and interpersonal skills that millennial and Gen-Z workers have been known to struggle with. People over 40 often excel in front-line, customer-facing roles for this reason.
• Many Gen-X workers have solid tech fundamentals. These are not Baby Boomers who had little access to electronics growing up. Most Gen-Xers grew up on Nintendo and were teens or young adults when the internet became ubiquitous. The clunky nature of navigating early PCs means that people over 40 sometimes have even better tech intuition than a Gen-Z worker who grew up using apps with slick interfaces that require little troubleshooting or user setup.
• People over 40 are more likely to have family or other roots in the community. This makes them great customer liaisons when it’s time to represent your business out in the field and makes them less likely to move on to something new without notice.

The Over 40 Crowd: An Overlooked Source of Quality Employees

What can you do to combat ageism and leverage the over-40 workforce to diversify and improve your business? Start with a close review of both your official hiring practices and your internal biases. Using an scored hiring process like HireScore helps to minimize bias in your process while focusing on key attributes necessary to be successful on the job. Remember: a diverse set of skills, backgrounds, and personalities is a great way to ensure your business can adapt to any situation.

Are Paper Resumes a Relic of the Past? Fix Your Hiring Process by Embracing a More Convenient Future

“Digital transformation” is a powerful concept that has far more longevity than the average corporate buzzword. In fact, digital transformations have remained a key focus for successful companies over the long term. The limits of what can be accomplished digitally are constantly being pushed and expanded, and those who keep up are reaping the rewards.

On Digital Transformation

Unfortunately, many organizations are far behind the digital times in one key area—hiring. Meanwhile, some of the more effective digital transformations to hit the business world to date have occurred in hiring and recruiting. The most successful companies today use web forms and powerful automation to reach job seekers quickly, screen their qualifications, and have the best candidates funneled directly to their inboxes.

Why Are Paper Resumes a Thing of the Past?

While some business owners are experiencing stress due to perceived labor shortages, this moment could offer an opportunity to turn away from traditional “resume profile culture” and rethink hiring with a focus on skill-based assessments. These tests can be completed over the internet and measure an applicant’s ability far more accurately than a paper resume.

Create an Influx of Applicants by Enabling Digital Resumes

Today’s job-searching technology is powerful and fast-paced from the recruit’s perspective. Crucial roles can get filled in a matter of days or even hours. Waiting for paper resumes in the mail means being left behind in this worker-hungry job market.

Embracing digital resumes is one way to ensure you’re getting all you can from your recruitment efforts. Today’s prospective employees are just as in-tune with the digital revolution as employers. Job hunters are taking the opportunity to explore multiple digital avenues, including everything from uploading resumes in a digital format to creating their own websites with career and hiring information.

Leave Paper Resumes Behind

Key reasons to leave paper resumes in the twentieth century and consider supplying a digital resume option include:

• Increased efficiency. Today, people want to get things done quickly, from the convenience of their mobile devices and without unnecessary interactions. Make the application process straightforward to reel in more (and better) candidates.
• Flexibility/convenience. If someone can submit a job application any time, day or night, they’re more likely to take the leap than if they need to appear in person during your office hours.
• Improved productivity. Transitioning to automated hiring systems can mean a workload reduction for HR and administrative personnel. As a result, these professionals can expand their roles within your organization and support other projects.
• Preparation for the future. Let’s be realistic—the world won’t be transitioning back to paper-based systems any time soon. Get your hiring digitized now, and you’ll have one less thing to worry about moving forward—and fewer stacks of redundant resumes to toss.
• Testing and filtering. By using computerized systems to handle applications, you can quickly filter applicants by keyword. You can even set up skill assessments like our HireScore platform to evaluate competency as part of the application process.

Create an Influx of Applicants by Enabling Digital Resumes

Embracing digital resumes is one way to ensure you’re getting all you can from your recruitment efforts. Today’s prospective employees are just as in-tune with the digital revolution as employers. Job hunters are taking the opportunity to explore multiple digital avenues, including everything from uploading resumes in a digital format to creating their own websites with career and hiring information.

As we head into 2022 with high hopes for a profitable and successful new year, aspects of the job market in the United States remain unpredictable. Between the ongoing Covid situation, click-bait headlines, and an ever-evolving economy, it can be hard to understand what’s happening.

The reality is perhaps not as dramatic or scary as the popular phrase “The Great Resignation” makes it sound. Some people are indeed leaving the traditional workforce, but most are doing so for logical reasons. Meanwhile, businesses serious about maintaining their human capital can leverage systems that help find and land the right candidates – the kind of candidates who stick around.

What Is the Great Resignation?

Despite the media’s uncertainty, one thing about today’s job market is pretty clear. Americans are leaving jobs at an increased rate. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics marked the all-time high in resignations at 2.9% in August 2021, but that alone only gives a partial story.

The rate of quitting is not equal across all industries or types of positions. Almost 160,000 of the resignations came from the food services industry alone, according to a Reuters report. Many food service jobs require workers to spend long hours on their feet and interact with customers face to face. Teachers employed by state or local governments also saw a lot of resignations. Public school teachers in some areas have reported feeling vulnerable during the Covid-19 pandemic, so these resignations appear to be indicative of a specific concern rather than a culture of laziness.

Retirements vs. Resignations

Another aspect of the so-called Great Resignation that skews the numbers is early retirement. Many people are retiring earlier due to concerns about remaining in the workforce during a pandemic. A report from CNBC shows that around 3.2 million more baby boomers (folks aged 57 to 66 or thereabouts) dropped from the workforce July through September of 2021, as compared to that same period in 2020.

Technology Improves Hiring Practices

Several industries continue to expand despite resignations, and many are projected to see continued job market growth into 2022.

• Leisure and hospitality (including tourism, sports, travel, etc.)
• Professional and business services (many remote jobs.)
• Manufacturing.
• Transportation, warehousing, and logistics.

What Can Businesses Do?

For businesses looking to avoid frustration in an uncertain job market, leveraging powerful technology is key. Successful modern businesses stay lean by automating tasks at every step, not only in production but also in their internal HR processes. Many employers are fully online now when it comes to posting job openings and fishing for candidates, but the relationship between hiring and technology shouldn’t end with recruitment.

Stang Decision System’s HireScore Talent Portal is an example of a platform that allows hiring managers to compile, compare, and sort the best candidates for each position in the style of an easy-to-use spreadsheet. Data collected across multiple studies showed that using a custom validated employee selection system (versus processing applications manually or using obsolete systems) reduced turnover by 75% or more. In one example, Stang technology reduced annual turnover at a job site from 400% to 10%.

Technology can also be crucial for employee satisfaction, with many people today preferring remote or hybrid work. Robust systems to empower and track remote employees are key to success for such businesses.