Welcome, this is Justin Hubbard with the Richmond Group conducting the webinar today. Our focus is really going to be on attracting talented candidates with career opportunities. And just a little bit about me and my background, the Richmond Group, we are a third generation family owned recruiting firm. I run the recruiting practice that focuses specifically on the construction, agricultural heavy equipment industries from a dealership and manufacturing perspective. So and really wanted to reach out and the topic today is to discuss what's working and what may not be working within the job description field. So and again, I know a lot of companies are different and have different needs, but the goal of this webinar is to maybe give you some new ideas and maybe help you take a step back to kind of understand what is working for your organization and what is not working. And the goal is really to help you solve problems on your own by attracting, you know, talented individuals that are excited about coming to work for you. And I also want to encourage attendees to feel free to type in questions as we move through the webinar. I will answer those questions and address them as they come up and you can do that within the chat feature. Okay, the learning objectives really are to one, understand that the contemporary employment marketplace has changed. You know, things that were working 20 or 30 years ago where there was a highly active candidate base, it's not really the case today and things have changed with technology and social media and obviously the internet. So there's some ideas that may be able to help you refine and help you again attract individuals. We're also going to talk about a relatively new idea in this space, the role of employer branding, really understanding what that means and how that can be a very positive and also a negative piece to helping you hire and retain candidates. So that's kind of an overview. I think one of the most important things when writing job descriptions or helping you to start the process of getting a message out to the general public about an opportunity that may exist with your company is really taking a step back and understanding what are we trying to accomplish. And a lot of this goes from, and again, different companies have different needs that maybe we need technicians or we may need executives, and I know a lot of different companies write their own job ads or descriptions and then some companies hire other companies to do that. But I think it's important, whoever is tasked with that, that you really take time to almost interview your hiring managers, the individuals that are making the decisions and have the needs within your companies to understand, you know, is it a goal to, are we looking to interview candidates or are we looking to solve problems? And then, you know, what are those problems and what's most important? And we'll kind of get more into that, but just taking a step back and understanding, you know, what's most important in the search. Is it local candidates? Is it a specific skill set? Is it someone that can, has experience in managing 15 or 20 people? Or are we looking for the right individual with a successful background in sales or operations? So it's important to understand what the goal is before you can do any of these activities. And I always like to talk with my clients and we do consulting is looking at experiences versus skill sets. You know, you could have 20 years of experience, but never be successful. So is it really honing in on defining, you know, what we want to accomplish again? And then also taking a step back, you know, a lot of times I see and work with companies where we only want individuals that have experience within our industry and that being construction equipment, individuals that have been around construction or heavy equipment, crane equipment. But sometimes it's important to know that someone may not be from the industry, but they also may be dealing daily with that same customer base. So I like to really reach out and let people know that, you know, if you're calling and working with and solving problems with the same customer base, that is really translatable experiences and skill sets. And also risk. Every time you hire an individual and every time an individual takes a career move, you know, there's always risk. But by spending time really working backwards, the goal would be to help you reduce as much risk as possible. I find I wanted to share kind of looking at job description statistics. Some of these are very interesting. I really wanted to hone in on one. You know, quote, a recent survey of 2 million job postings across some 800 job boards found that 75% of the ads failed to draw even a single application. I look at that and find that very, very shocking. Not only from the fact that these job postings aren't really pulling in any candidates, good or bad, but at the same time the amount of money and time and energy that went into writing those job postings that resulted literally in no result of candidates whatsoever. So I think that is really startling. And also looking at most companies within the construction equipment industry, there are some, you know, large organizations out there. But most companies within this industry are small to medium-sized companies where you have individuals that are tasked with many responsibilities, most, in fact, working three or four jobs within companies. So really understanding that if you're going to spend time on these very difficult challenges that we're spending the right time trying to do the right things that are going to ultimately result in the best return on investment of your time and energy. So I thought these are something to help really kind of set up what we're trying to discuss. And job descriptions were successful for a long time. And sometimes they do work and they are very successful, but sometimes they're not. So these are, again, just ideas looking forward how you might be able to change or really tweak some of your things and how you go about getting candidates. This is really kind of a general job description, and I wanted to include these slides to have people look at these things for a couple different reasons. One to say, hey, this is what we're doing and this is what a lot of companies are doing, but taking a step back and looking at it from really two perspectives, one from a potential candidate perspective, but also most people, whether you're an HR or you're a sales manager or you're an executive at a construction equipment company, you have applied to job ads and job boards. So maybe taking a look back from a new perspective of, you know, why would I apply to this job? You know, what's interesting about this? Why wouldn't I apply to a job or be interested? And then, you know, why would a prospective candidate that is most likely employed, looking at employment statistics, most people in the United States that have a desire to be employed are currently employed. So understanding why they would be interested in exploring an opportunity with your organization. And looking at skills and experience, you know, a lot of companies, college degree, I know that a lot of companies have this on there, but if someone is very successful and has 20 years of experience in the industry without a college degree, most companies would be very excited to talk to that person regardless. So I think the idea is we want to be inclusive. We want to have as many candidates apply to the jobs that are, that have a similar background and qualified as possible. We don't want to exclude candidates and, you know, not having a college degree, a guy could be the greatest sales manager in the world, but say, hey, I'm not going to apply because I don't have a college degree. Darn it. I'm going to, I'm not going to apply and not maybe embarrass myself. So some things to focus on. We also talked earlier about, you know, specific knowledge of equipment industry. I think sometimes that we're being exclusive there. We want to maybe try to focus on people that have experience calling on individuals and companies within the construction industry versus that. So I know a lot of HR individuals, professionals, one of the biggest issues they have is we're getting too many resumes and too much interest from candidates that don't qualify for these jobs. I don't know that there's any magic bullet to solve that problem, but at the end of the day, we don't want to exclude potential good candidates either. So it is a double-edged sword, and I always work with my clients in addressing specific years of experience when people say, hey, we need someone that's got five years of sales management experience. Well, what if they had four years of sales management experience? So again, we want to keep that funnel big. We want to include as many candidates as possible versus being exclusive. Obviously, the communication skills, those are pretty standard things, but this is more of a general job description, and we kind of want to be different. You know, we want to get people excited and be different from the rest of the crowd, and one way to do that is writing job opportunity, career opportunity type ads and postings. Also wanted to include this very intensive requirements. I can tell you a lot of people are looking at requirements. I would tell you probably most people don't even get to the requirement piece on job ads or job postings. They're either going to apply or not based upon the company and the job position itself. So I think a lot of these requirements, there's a time and place for everything. I don't know necessarily that requirements are the best way to attract good candidates on the front end. Certainly throughout the hiring process and maybe after initial contact, we can provide this information to candidates, but we want to get them excited. We don't want to have them bogged down in requirements. So we're really going to change gears here and really focus on, you know, how do we write career opportunity ads and postings and alerts. Again, it goes back to, you know, what are we looking for? When you work with your hiring managers or your executives, really taking time to ask the deeper questions. Why is this position open? Why would someone employed want to come work for us or, in fact, be interested in speaking with us about this opportunity? What are the long-term challenges? What are the long-term opportunities? So just trying to go a little deeper with hiring managers. And I know from experience, this can be difficult. Some of these things are not going to be easy, and it may be difficult to have people within your organization start thinking this way, but it will, you know, asking deeper secondary questions will help you understand really those value positions that are going to get candidates excited about really writing these good opportunity alerts. We also talked earlier about taking a step back and understanding why candidates apply for specific jobs and why they don't. So being able to relate to your audience, whether it's a you're posting jobs for technicians or you're posting jobs for C-level executives, I think it's understanding and trying to understand what's important to them. There's a couple ways to do that. You can talk to current employees within your own company about what's important to you. What do you like about your current job? What don't you like about your current job? You can also talk to prospective candidates during the interview process. But I think the best return on your investment and time is going to be to engage current employees and get their perspective. That's going to help you write a better posting and ad about what's really exciting. And that kind of goes into features and benefits. Most companies that I see or work with are writing ads or postings that have features. One, for example, I see this a lot. We have a great culture. What does that mean? That may mean something very specific to you and it may mean something completely different to another individual. And I always like to suggest that people are typically a representation of their most recent experiences. So one person's idea of a great culture may be completely different from another person. So when you say we have a great culture, taking it a step farther, saying something in regards to, and again this is all very specific to your company, we work hard together, we play hard together, we have a very good retention rate, our culture is great, which results in employees staying with our organization for an average of 15 years. Whatever that is, just being able to take a step back and take it a step farther so it can actually relate to a specific individual. Another thing that we hear a feature of is we are a very well-established organization. Again, what does that mean? For some individuals, that may mean, hey, there's a long-term job security there. There could be, we're a fifth-generation organization, we're stability, we have a good reputation in the industry. So being able to take it a step further and say, because we're a well-established organization, it has resulted in our long-term retention rate, most of our employees start work here and throughout their careers have opportunities for promotions and to grow their career. So just being able to take it a step further, and also, we're a well-established company, we haven't had layoffs in five or ten years, even through difficult economic times. So just, again, taking a step back and being able to take it a step further. And one of the things I always like to talk about, too, again, is packaging the opportunity. Most people don't take jobs that are lateral job moves. If you're a branch manager in X company and we're posting a career or a job description for a branch manager, I have to ask myself, why would that person take a lateral move? And then, again, even taking a further step back, why would they really put themselves at risk or expose themselves to look at different jobs? So just being able to understand that, focusing on opportunities and understanding why someone would do something may help you write better ads and postings. We're going to kind of get more into employer branding later, so I'll kind of take a step back from that. But also, wanted to really touch base on call to action or call to actions. A lot of companies put ads out there and say, you know, apply if you're interested. I think it's important when you're writing job opportunities, career opportunities, and we'll look at one next, is, hey, we'd love to talk to you. Whatever the way you close the ad, and I always would say, you know, whether you're interested in something today or tomorrow, we would love to talk to you and get to know you in case there is something happening. Some companies do that, some don't. But I would put in there, I would kind of close with a call to action, whether it's, hey, give us a call, shoot us an email. Regardless, we're always interested in networking with talented individuals that may or may not have interest in our company or future career opportunities. So I think that's really important. This is kind of a generic opportunity, career opportunity alert that a sister company of ours was actually writing for a client. Actually changed some things around. But if you look at, this was actually the job posting in place of a job description. A previous client had not been having success with job descriptions. So they had asked us to write them a job opportunity, really alert. And this was something that we did, and I think it's interesting if you look at the language and really looking at, this is very benefit-focused posting. So it's really taking a step back from features, but how this really can help and improve and really highlight what the company has to offer current and prospective employees. So something to take a look at and read further detail. We're not going to go in too much detail with that. But a lot of it is, again, very benefit-focused, which really relates well with employees and prospective candidates. Again, looking at the benefits piece. You know, inclusion into a family, company atmosphere and culture. A lot of people can relate to that. Great products and pride in good quality company and good products. So these are a lot of things that really take it a step further, but not too detailed on really how you can highlight benefits. Another thing I want to talk about, so that's kind of moving forward on the webinar. Those are some good ideas to help you really look at how opportunities are different in descriptions and being able to take a step back and look at it from a different perspective. But also give you some ideas where to highlight on, you know, benefits and really how does this make sense for candidates to be excited about wanting to come talk to you. And a lot of times candidates are, you know, if you're currently employed at an organization, it could be risky. No matter what confidentiality you have, you know, it's a small industry you work in. So if you're looking to get people excited, most of them, again, are employed, you want to really highlight what's special about your company and what's unique to your character and culture as an organization. So another topic that you may not have been familiar with or, you know, again, I'll put a name to this, it's called application abandonment. Very interesting how this works. And a lot of companies can't actually track this. Some companies do where, and really taking a step back on what this means. So if a candidate starts to apply to a position on your company, they start the process, they get halfway through and they just quit for whatever reason. We'll kind of get into those things, but that's what we define as application abandonment. At some point throughout the application process online, they are abandoning the process. And at the end of the day, most companies then don't understand why that is or that that candidate ever applied because they never got the information and it wasn't filtered through properly. So a lot of times there's tech hurdles. Again, there's a lot of small and medium companies, size companies in this industry that don't have full-time IT departments. So I encourage everyone to make sure that those processes work correctly and that continually to monitor to make sure there are no tech issues. There are a lot of different ways. There are different companies that you can hire and work with to help you upload candidates' resumes. There's all types of ways to do that. I like to focus on, hey, let's keep it simple and stupid. Make this as easy as possible for candidates to come to your organization. So making sure that it's very easy from a cut and paste. You know, however you want to set that up. But take a step back and look at your application process. You know, is it easy for candidates to apply and especially upload their resumes? Another issue that we have discovered in the marketplace is candidates aren't really interested in applying to jobs where they can't check their application status. If there's an active job seeker out there, statistics are showing that if there's no way to follow up or check their status, they're not very inclined to apply to that company. So that's just another idea to take a step back and look at where you are and do you have an application status process? And, you know, would that potentially help your organization? There are some other statistics out there about, you know, mobile device process, millennials. I don't know for sure exactly what the ratio is from people that have home computers versus just mobile phones and use their mobile phones as their only computer device outside of work. So a lot of times companies have applications that you can't actually do through your mobile device. Social media has made that really easy for some larger companies to be able to apply through Facebook, LinkedIn, other large social media sites. So a lot of smaller and mid-sized companies don't have the resources or the access to that to do that. So I would challenge yourself to take a look and say, hey, is there a way if we don't already offer a mobile device application process, you know, does it make sense for us to take a hard look at that and include that in our budget this year or next year? Based upon and also depending upon the roles. You know, if you're looking at junior level roles, technician, you know, inside jobs, recent college grads, most of these people are only doing their job search through mobile device. So that's something to take a really hard look at for your organization. And again, abandonment rates are 60 to 90% depending on the process and the candidate experience. And some people may say, hey, what is the candidate experience? I define the candidate experience as from when that person, when that candidate first sees your job ad or posting on the internet or on your company website, that's when the experience starts all the way through to the end at which point they either begin work with you or they do not. And they are notified that they're no longer a candidate in process. So, and again, a lot of companies don't look at this from a candidate perspective, but most of the time the way companies hire individuals, it is a strong indication of how that company functions and works internally and externally. Most importantly, how they communicate internally and externally. So that is something else to really take a step back and think about and process. So the application process really, again, is a strong takeaway here. It can be indicative of how your company works with your clients and employees, current employees. You know, again, what can employers do to help get more qualified candidates to apply to their organization, whether it's job postings or websites? Again, we've talked about this previously, streamline applications, keep it simple. I don't know, I always like to do this, I don't know that we need references on the initial application. I work with clients that make candidates fill out 10-page applications. My comment to that is, that is going to be really great and a person that may be unemployed will take the hour to two hours to do that if they're very interested and excited about exploring opportunities with your company. But a lot of times, again, we discussed earlier, most people in the United States are currently employed. That may change in the future, but today in early 2017, most people that want to work are currently employed. So we want to make this as easy as possible and having people be inclusive versus exclusive. And again, it may come down to, hey, if you're interested in this opportunity, shoot us an email and we'll follow up with you. And depending on the role, I know this doesn't work for every job and I'm sure sales reps and sales jobs, you get a million applicants, but just being able to take it back, this may not be for every job you do, every job posting or ad, but for some, it may make the most sense where, hey, we really want to find a local candidate. For example, we need to, for my hiring manager, it's most important for us to have a sales manager that currently works in St. Louis. Well, if that's the case, you know, you have a really small candidate pool already. So we want to make sure that we are inclusive as possible and say, hey, if you're a sales manager and have any type of construction, contractor exposure, hey, send us an email or give us a call. We'd love to talk to you. And then I think most companies can screen people quickly on the phone and set up an interview on the phone and then get their resume and this may make sense. Again, this may not be for every role that you have in your company, but for some where it's very specific and you're looking to get people to include themselves in it, this may be the best option. Again, keeping it short and sweet, if you have a lot of potential candidates coming in for sales jobs, you know, again, I think maybe the first step would be, hey, just put your resume in and we'll call you if it makes sense. I think if you're going to do that, it would be appropriate to say, if we're interested in your applicant process or applicant, you know, we're going to call you back. We'll contact you directly. So just being clear on course of actions. I think a lot of candidates get confused or may start calling human resource departments because they don't hear anything. If you're very clear on the process, hey, if you apply, send your resume to us. If we're interested, we'll call you. It may deter a lot of those calls. I'm sure you get calls all day from candidates that may be interested or have already previously applied. Again, we've really kind of talked about job description and job opportunities in the past. And again, you know, very long ads are not going to do it in contemporary society. Most people's attention span is very brief. So we want to hit them hard, get them excited, and then call to action, have them do something. Whether it's to call you, send you a resume, send you an email, whatever it is, we want to get them excited so they reach out to you directly. And also want to include a more contemporary idea. Most companies I work with are looking to hire successful people. Most of the time, successful people are currently working and employed and doing well with their current employer. As a recruiter, I talk to people all day long. Candidates sometimes would be interested in having a conversation, you know, with an executive or sales manager that was confidential and very informal. You know, hey, I'd love to talk to Mr. Brown about this branch manager role, but I don't want to apply. I'm concerned that it may get back to my current employer. I don't have a resume. A lot of good candidates these days don't have resumes. They don't have updated resumes. Why? Because they don't need them. They've got a great job. Or, you know, there may be something happening or going on with their current employer that would have them interested in speaking with one of your hiring managers, but they're not going to apply to your website, and they're not going to start answering ads on some of the job boards. So I find it very interesting where I see this sometimes not in our industry, and sometimes I do, mostly in larger companies outside of the construction equipment, heavy equipment industry, but there's an option where let's talk, let's connect. Send me an email, and I will have the vice president of sales reach out to you directly, or if you're interested in having a conversation, something that is going to get them to say, hey, I'm going to raise my hand. I'm interested in this company. I think you guys are a great company, and I'd be interested in having a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Or having a lunch or a dinner with one of the individuals. So I think it's important, again, to be inclusive on candidates that may not feel comfortable applying to your job and putting their resume in there. You know, there's got to be a place for them to show interest within your company. Okay, we're kind of going to change direction here and really kind of look at more of employer branding. Some of these, and again, people ask me all the time, what does employer branding mean? So at the end of the day, employer branding really means what do people internally and externally say and feel and think about your organization? There's, you know, there's an employer branding piece that goes with the application process, but we're talking bigger picture here, more about, you know, what do people say about your company that work there? What's your reputation in your marketplace regionally? And then company-wide. Some companies I work with really have a great reputation in some areas, but in other areas they do not. And a lot of this comes back to people, their experiences and perception of an organization. So it's really important to understand really how that can play a factor. And I included some of these statistics and quotes on here to make sure that, because this is a relatively new idea to our industry, that you can take a step back and look at it. In particular, looking at millennials. One example, 80% of millennials look at people and cultural fit before they would ever apply to a job online. You know, the younger workforce, they are very internet savvy. They use a variety of social media and company review outlets to help them make their decisions. And a lot of times there may be a candidate that's excited about your company that may read or see something on the internet that deters them from even applying. So you could have had a great candidate that could have been a great individual for your organization, but decided not to apply because of a employer branding issue. Again, looking at this, I'm going to target a couple here. Sixty-nine percent of job seekers will not take a job with a company that has a bad reputation. Even if unemployed. I don't know, most of the individuals on this webinar, viewing this webinar are probably going to be in the human resources department or function in the people business, I like to say. But a lot of millennials, if they're unemployed, you know, there is no pressing desire. And again, this is a generality, but would rather stay unemployed than go work for a company that has a bad reputation. So I find that really shocking for myself and even older individuals that just simply does not make sense. So again, something to think about as far as what your brand is as an employer. Not only on the internet, but also word of mouth and in your marketplace. Again, we've talked, we just mentioned the current employment climate. You know, what are people saying about your organization on the internet? There's a lot of different websites out there where current and previous employees can make postings. I do find that there's usually a bit of truth to all postings. But again, I would suggest every company take a step back. What does their, what does the internet say about your company? You can Google your company. A lot of companies don't do this. What if some of the other websites such as Glassdoor, Indeed and LinkedIn, what are people saying about your company? I think it's really important to understand what is out there so that you can address it. And you may have a great brand, but you may not. But you don't know until you do the research. And I know there's a lot of companies that actually will provide services to do this for you. And can actually help your brand. But that is a different topic altogether. We've talked about culture, how important culture is. I think that's probably one of the most important things to retain employees and also hire employees. So, and looking at culture, you know, what is the culture that is presented to the internet and the world at large about your organization? Another thing I like to tell, I like to talk to clients about is, you know, what's the story? Does your company have a story to tell? I know that a lot of companies in this industry particularly have a company story. There's a lot of organizations within the AEB group that have been around for four or five generations. I love seeing that stuff. I think some companies have kind of gone away from that and become more progressive, contemporary. But I think that's really important, you know, in establishing a long-term story. But more importantly, what's the current story? What's going on with the organization? Some companies just have a history of 100-year history, great. But what's happened in the last five years? What's going on that's going to get people excited and interested in learning more about your specific company? So, and every company has a story. And every job has a story. Every job description, every job opening you have, there is a story there. Sometimes they're good stories, sometimes they're not. But I think it's important to incorporate that into not only your employer branding but your job description and career opportunity alerts. You know, there is a story, and people want to know that, particularly before they want to spend the time to apply to different companies. A lot of websites are starting to do this more and more for company websites, having employee referrals and introductions. I like to see those. I think it's important. A lot of times you'll see, I love working at X company. That's great. Hey, I'm glad you love working at your company. But let's take it a step further. Why do you love working at your company? And really going deeper. That's going to resonate more and hit harder with the audience that you're trying to really not only engage in but attract. So, really understanding the why of things. I always like to talk to people and say, hey, why do you feel that way? Why do you love your company? Why do you get out of bed every day and go work with a group of people, and then the next day get up and do it all over again? There's got to be a why there. So, trying to get that, understand what your why is, and then get it out into the marketplace to get people excited about, again, exploring your company and your opportunities. Again, the social media piece, Facebook, LinkedIn. I think it's really important that you take a hard look at what is on the internet about your organization. Again, once you understand what's out there, you can tailor and then create your own social media strategy. There's a lot of companies that can do this for you, and there are services out there. Again, I think a lot of it is a lot of companies don't know where they are. They don't understand what is being said about them on social media. So, before you can engage that and understand what a course of action, or, hey, we don't need to do anything, I think it's important you understand what social media has to say about your company and your employees, for that matter. So, again, we're just going to kind of wrap up here in regards to takeaways. Job descriptions have been excellent for a long time, not only in newspapers, but even with the advent of the internet and the way that works. I think prospective candidates are looking for something different. A lot of job descriptions are great for active candidates, and that's great, too. But I also strongly believe that you can have job descriptions that have ideas that are different, that may incorporate more of an opportunistic focus, where, hey, we need people here, but this is why we need people, and this is why it could be exciting for you to come talk to us. And, again, we want to have as many people be excited about your company that are more inclusive than, you know, exclusive. We want to include people to really opt in versus candidates opting out. So, again, getting your story out there, getting your message out there, getting those benefits out there, letting people understand why it's exciting and great to work for your company. And every company is different. Every company has a different story to tell. So, that's really the fascinating piece here. Also, I want to strongly touch base again on the piece of know your audience. You can talk to your current employees, find out what's important for them. You know, if they were to make a job change, what would be most important to them? Whatever that may be, I think it's important to engage and have those conversations with your current employees so that you can actually engage with prospective employees. Also, when you write job descriptions and career opportunities and put these things on the internet, taking a step back. You know, if you were doing this job at another company and you were successful, would you apply to this, and then why would you or why wouldn't you? So, being able to take a step back and say, hey, you know, this makes sense or, you know what, we need to maybe tweak or take a look at this whole piece. I think, again, we don't want potential candidates to abandon the process, in particular, the application process. So, let's keep it simple. Again, we want to be inclusive, not exclusive. And then, talking about employer branding and investigating that on your own, understanding the value of that, I think this is one of the most critical pieces to something that you can control. You can't control where your company is located. You can't control some of the other pieces of the business, but you can control and really affect and shape your employer brand out there in the marketplace. So, I appreciate everyone that attended live the webinar today. I know this will be posted on the AED website. So, whether you were on the webinar today or you do this in the future, I would love the opportunity to discuss some of the ideas that we discussed in this webinar or if you have questions about how we work with clients or have questions about the industry and from a recruiter perspective, I would welcome the opportunity to speak and have the opportunity to do so. You can call me or email me in my office and I certainly appreciate the time today and hope these ideas can help you find and attract better candidates. So, thank you very much.

job descriptions

employer branding

talented candidates

hiring managers

experiences

inclusive

application process

employer reputation