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The Hot Standby |
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Chuck Smith
Have you ever been caught in a situation where events out of your control left you with few options? An important supplier fails to deliver on time. A business partner’s promise is broken and you’re left picking up the pieces. A key employee suddenly quits. At one time or another, it has happened to us all.
That’s why a piece of advice I heard recently from Jim Dolan, CEO of The Dolan Company, struck such a nerve. He said, “Do the extra work to have a Hot Standby.” Dolan’s example was about an investor who made promises to him and then at the last minute changed the terms of the deal. Since Jim’s investment banker insisted on “hot standbys,” they were able to close the deal with a back-up investor on the same day.
At NewHire, the examples we see of this overlooked necessity fall into two broad categories:
- Business owners who run into trouble when a key employee leaves with no one trained and ready to take that person’s place, and;
- Hiring managers who slow down or stop the recruiting process because a single well-matched candidate is identified.
In today’s business world few small and mid-sized companies (SMBs) have the resources to maintain a team of reserves. The GE model of management (where backups are constantly groomed for each position) is nice to talk about but not a realistic option for most SMBs.
Here are some suggestions more suited to most mid-sized businesses:
- Cross train wherever possible. Make sure that your employees are able to do more than one job, paying special attention to the most critical job functions.
- Maintain a pipeline of candidates, even when you are not hiring. You may not have the resources or the need to hire anyone today, but keep your eye out as if you do. Always be on the look-out for talent and create a method for keeping track of who you might like to have on your team in the future.
- When you ARE actively hiring, schedule a second set of first interviews, even when you have identified a well-matched candidate in the first round. This second round of first interviews is an important way to have a hot standby for both short and longer term hiring needs.
When you are in the midst of recruiting for a job, don’t stop the process until your new person is on board. Too often we see employers say things like, “I like Terry, let’s see how the interview process goes before we meet anyone else.”
If we apply the concept of the Hot Standby, Terry is still the number one candidate. We just keep talking to candidates two, three, and four, until we know Terry is on board. What if Terry gets a better offer or a counter offer, or has a terrible 2nd interview or a no-go reference? If the recruiting process is put on hold waiting on Terry, it can add weeks, even months, to reach your desired outcome.
Jim Dolan’s Hot Standby concept is so powerful in recruiting and hiring. Our best-practice recommendation: keep the top candidates engaged all along the way and continue to develop and screen the candidate pool for other top talent. Having options takes additional work, but it’s often worth the effort!
Dolan was part of a nine-member panel put together by Bob Jordan to celebrate entrepreneurial success in the Midwest and the publication of his book: How They
Did It.
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The Power of Indeed |
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 By
Leora Baumgarten
In 2010 Indeed.com captured a substantial market share of candidate traffic, gaining a solid footing in a market previously dominated by CareerBuilder, Craigslist and Monster. The good news for NewHire customers is that recruitment advertisements on Indeed are included at no additional charge, regardless of which NewHire product you are using!
Candidates arrive at NewHire pre-employment applications from a variety of sources. In 2010 CareerBuilder was still the leader of the pack with 70 Job Seekers per recruitment ad. Craigslist is in a close second place with 61 Job Seekers per ad. Indeed, the new kid on the block, is bringing in 56 Job seekers per ad. Other sources, not shown here, include employer job boards, emails, and facebook.com.
Source: NewHire weblog and applicant statistics.
As reported by Crain’s Chicago on November 15, 20101.
“Indeed Inc, of Stamford, Conn., has leaped past CareerBuilder because its site boasts more help-wanted listings: The service vacuums up job posting
across the web from employers and job boards…”
Building a strong candidate pool for open positions is a crucial part of the recruiting process. Recruitment advertising trends suggest that candidates utilize of a variety sources to identify suitable positions. We would not be surprised to see the recruitment advertising space continue to fracture, including more players, each with a narrow target audience. Niche job boards and corporate job boards will grow in importance as Indeed continues to aggregate job postings from multiple outlets. It is yet-to-be seen what the impact of job board brand loyalty will play in the future. Paid recruitment advertising will remain a crucial way to publicize job openings.
For positions where there is a large candidate pool, or where the time factor in the hiring equation is less crucial, recruitment advertising on the NewHire job board, Indeed.com and Craigslist.org may suffice – saving employers advertising costs. For positions where hiring speed is essential, or where the candidate pool is small (e.g., engineers, bilingual professionals, etc.), advertising broadly is a must.
NewHire tracks a variety of information related to candidate behavior, including the referring website and the percentage of job seekers who complete an application. This information is available by request for every NewHire Job title and ID number.
During 2010, 392,174 job seekers visited NewHire applications and 90,255 people completed applications – an overall application rate of 23%. We are happy to provide you with job specific information including your application rate, and top referrers to better understand and continue to improve the recruitment strategy and ROI in 2011
Additional Resources:
To learn more about the recruitment advertising offered by NewHire follow this link.
To learn more about the Changing Face of Recruitment advertising and its impact on employers follow this link.
Enjoy our past newsletter article from September 2010 focusing on writing recruitment advertising, “The Art of Recruitment Advertising”.
Ready to post advertising thru NewHire? Complete this ad router and email it to us at ad-services@new-hire.com.
Sources:
1. Marek, Lynne. “CareerBuilder loses
lead in online job-listings traffic to upstart Indeed.com.” Crain’s Chicago Business: 15 November 2010.
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Webinar
Schedule: |
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The 3 Most Important Steps to Recruit Top Sales Reps
Join us for a Webinar
on February 28
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM CST
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| Nothing’s more frustrating to business owners and sales managers than underperforming sales reps. In today’s market you know that having the best available sales talent is critical to success. But finding the right talent is difficult, expensive and time consuming.
In a 1-hour discussion you’ll learn how companies successfully create continuous recruiting processes to fill their sales talent pipeline and build successful sales teams.
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Established
in 1995, Windy City Fieldhouse is the largest team building and corporate entertainment company in the Midwest. WCF was named Team Building Company of the Year for three years
in a row and most recently named to the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing privately held companies. They are currently adding staff to their accomplished team of professional sales
representatives. |
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NewHire software and recruiting services are designed for today’s hiring needs. We help employers take control of the recruiting process; improving information management and hiring efficiency. |
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Our
goal is to empower employers to make informed, effective and cost-conscious hiring choices, using the combination of software, services and expert advice that works for you.
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105
W. Madison #702
Chicago, IL 60602
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(877) 923-0054 – Toll Free
(312) 578-0983 – Fax
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info@new-hire.com
www.new-hire.com
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