Magic Pot of Jobs

In sensitive areas of employment that deal with the elderly, children or the differently-abled background checks are more important than anywhere else. These members of society are more vulnerable than others, meaning that employers in such fields know that only certain individuals are trustworthy enough to work with them. Since the quality of the agency chosen to handle these investigations greatly determines the accuracy of the results, employers know that this decision can make or break their business.

Hoping to provide their clients with the best possible care, national in-home care and assistance agency Right at Home has selected Accurate Background to conduct the investigations into all of their current and future employees. The healthcare company believes that by making this choice they have picked a vendor who will be able to help ensure that the elderly and disabled individuals they service will be safe from workers who are unsuited for the profession.

“We are pleased to be selected by Right at Home for their franchise locations nationwide,” said Accurate Background’s president Dave Dickerson in a recent press release. “We understand the importance of running quality background checks on in-home providers and caregivers and are committed to providing superior products, intuitive technology and excellent customer support.”

Accurate Background offers their products with a variety of options. For a franchise company with offices throughout the nation, this flexibility helped to make the choice easier. Since the firm makes their services available at a group rate and is able to handle the diverse differences in local laws, Accurate Background and Right at Home are a perfect match.

Blake Martin, who is the vice president of Programs and Services for Right at Home, said other factors contributed to making this decision.

“Their technological approach to background checks, economical rates, strong customer service and quality reports make them a good fit for our franchise system,” said Martin.

A company is only as good as the talent it hires. For businesses that want to bring in the most skilled and prestigious individuals, recruiting employee on the web is one option that should be considered. Although no recruiting software or recruitment method is foolproof or guaranteed to bring in the best employees, recruiting on the web gives companies access to a larger pool of potential workers.

A recent survey done by The Employment Review found that those who recruit employees on the web found that 74 percent of hiring manager asked said that they have a larger number of job candidates when they advertise open positions online. Only 22 percent asked said that they received the same number of candidates whether or not they tried recruiting on the internet.

Recruiting employees on the web obviously yields a larger number of potential staff members. But does a bigger pool mean better fish? Yes and no.

When asked if online recruitment efforts attracted better candidates, 51 percent said they saw no difference in quality. Nevertheless, attracting a larger number of would-be staff members means a higher likelihood of attracting several highly talented employees. Of those asked 27 percent said that they believed recruiting employees on the web brought in better candidates.

All in all, most employers find that online recruitment makes their lives easier than old fashioned methods. The survey showed that 70 percent of hiring managers preferred recruiting employees on the web. Only 8 percent said that they found internet recruiting more difficult than traditional methods.

Those who do use the web to recruit employees should also invest in applicant tracking software. This software enables hiring managers to keep track of the large number of resumes they receive. Aside from organizing applications into a manageable database, many programs also allow users to create filters designed to discard the resumes of those who are not qualified for the position. By utilizing such software alongside recruiting employees on the web, the hiring process stands to become easier than ever before.

Have you ever been interested in (or tried to fill) a job that sounded really interesting… until you found out who the employer was? What about a so-so job that wasn’t appealing at all until you found out that it was at a really cool company?

This perception of a company as an interesting, oppressive, or boring place to work can drastically affect that company’s ability to attract and retain top-quality talent. I call it an “employer brand” and encourage all my clients to consider it as a part of their overall recruiting strategy.

So what does this fancy “employer brand” term mean, anyway? It’s really quite simple- it’s the collection of perceptions your target market- candidates who fit your current and future open positions- have about you as an employer. Much like your product’s brand, these perceptions will influence your target market’s “buying” decisions whether they are accurate or not. Employers should ask themselves how they are perceived in the marketplace- are they known for generosity of benefits? Interesting and challenging work? Flexible work-life policies? Ruthless cost-cutting? Micromanagement? Conformity? It’s these perceptions that can make your ideal candidate, the one who can pick-and-choose among offers of employment, decide whether or not to apply for an open position with your firm at all. If you have a negative employer brand, you may never see the resumes of the best and brightest.

To complicate matters, your product brand can heavily influence your employer brand. Consider the following consumer brands:

Wal-Mart
Apple
Starbucks
Amazon
Microsoft
Google
Pillsbury

What’s your perception about working for each of these companies? Are you someone who wouldn’t want to work for Wal-Mart because you’ve heard how ruthlessly they manage their own costs? Or are you someone who wants to work for a company with such undisputed expertise at efficiency?

What about Apple? Do you love your iPod and want to work for a company that puts that kind of attention to detail into its products? Or do you not want to work for a company that couldn’t get its computing platform past a 5% market share?

Your perception of a company’s core product or service will drastically affect your interest in working there.

So what is a company with a bad employer brand to do?

I hope I’ve already convinced you to think of it as if you were thinking of your product brand. What’s the perception you want people to have of your company? How will you reach your target market? What will you tell them?

I recommend that companies engaging the services of PR and marketing professionals, whether internally or through third-party firms, request that their PR and marketing plans include a component that specifically supports employer branding. We’ve already established that your product brand affects your employer brand, so why shouldn’t they be promoted by the same people?

If a company takes care to ensure that it is perceived as a good place to work for its target candidates, it will notice an upswing in the quality (and probably number) of resumes received. Its recruiters will be more successful in enticing qualified candidates to make a move. Passive candidates’ ears will perk up upon hearing of an opportunity at the firm. Better candidates usually means better quality of hires. Better hires mean better work produced. Better work is a better product, and a better product means a better brand. It’s a cycle, but one you’d like to get into.

Imagine a company that had all the financial resources and most technologically advanced equipment, but no employees to get anything done. When thought of this way, its easy to understand why workers are the most valuable asset a business has. Because of this a good human resources department can make or break a company.

There are several good reasons why one should consider the possibility of a career in human resources. For starters, the need for individuals trained to handle employee related issues is on the rise. With companies becoming more and more competitive for the best and brightest workers, those skilled in hiring and training such individuals are absolutely necessary to businesses that want to get ahead. After the hiring process, human resource employees are responsible for handling benefits and company morale to guarantee that these highly desired individuals are satisfied with their jobs. Without human resource employees to guarantee that such issues are handled proper highly skilled workers might leave the company for a job with a competitor. Because of this, many businesses are now focusing on stronger and better human resource departments.

Individuals who decided on careers in human resource now have more opportunities for advancement than ever before. With human resource departments becoming more important, there has also been an increase in individuals skilled in this area being promoted to higher positions within the organizations that employ them. Currently there are more human resource employees on main boards than ever before. If things continue this way it is likely that there will also be an increase in Chairman and CEO positions being filled by individuals that have a background in human resources.

Human resource job security does differ a little, depending on whether one is a generalist or a specialist. Positions for generalist tend to be more secure. Specialist involved in such things as training and development are likely to be cut if a company is experiencing a shortage of funds. The latter is also true for in-house recruiters. Still, even though some positions in human resources aren’t as secure as others, all experience a good level of flexibility when it comes to transferring to different industries. No matter what sector one works in, human resource work still tends to be similar enough that one can easily find a position in an industry that is fairing better if they lose their job due to financial cut backs.

Reading human resources articles that are on the internet or various trade magazines can give one further information about the details of other issues related to this field.

With a so many options, it can be difficult for one to decide which applicant tracking software is right for their company. Although available features and usability are extremely important, if the program is out of one’s budget then no amount of bells and whistles will likely to justify the expense. Knowing what one should expect to pay for quality applicant tracking software can assist in making sure that one is able to the get best program for the available funds.

One thing will drastically change the price one can expect to pay for applicant tracking software is the number of users one plans allow to have access. Software that runs off of the vendor’s server (ASP recruitment software) usually can support anywhere from 10 to 20 users. This option can handle the processing of resumes from tens of thousands of individuals every year. One can expect to pay anywhere from $500 to $1,500 per registered user for an ASP software solution. In addition to this one will also have to pay set-up fees that range from $1,000 to $3,000 depending on the applicant tracking software in question. These fees cover such things as technical support, system upgrades and debugging. When one choses this type of applicant tracking software there is usually a set up time of no more than five business days.

Enterprise software runs off a company’s own server, as opposed to that of the vendor. Because of this there is no limit to the number of registered users that licenses can be purchased for. There is also no limit to the number of applicant’s resumes that can be processed in a year’s time. For this type of applicant tracking software one is looking at a steeper price. Enterprise software solutions can easily cost $15,000 to $30,000 more than vendor server supported options. In addition to the initial expense one will also have to pay $1,000 to $5,000 for each individual license. Set-up fees usually run anywhere from $3,000 to $4,000. There is also the expense of running a company server to support the software which must be considered. In-house software such as this usually takes 20 days to a month to get up and running properly, due to the more complicated nature of the program.

As one can see, applicant tracking software prices vary greatly depending on functionality and the number of users that will require access to the program. In-house recruitment software will require a much larger budget and is really only necessary for companies that process resumes in bulk, where as ASP software can be affordable enough for much smaller businesses.