How Many of These Recruiting Mistakes Are You Making?

Job seekers and hiring managers have spoken. And they’re telling us it’s time to step up our game. Recrutiter.com shares a new infographic from Spark Hire that says, “Only 14% of candidates feel companies are responsive to them throughout the interview process” and “86% say a negative interviewing experience can change their mind about a position or company.”

From sourcing the right talent to screening, interviewing, and making the offer, find out which recruiting mistakes you’re guilty of and the steps you can take to improve your recruiting success in 2016. Go to The 16 Biggest Hiring Problems You’ll Face in 2016.

A Tribute to a Pioneer of Workplace Diversity

Written by Susan Magrino

You likely know that one of the most important talent management practices you can focus on this year is creating a diverse workforce. What you might not fully consider, however, is the multitude of options you have for making that culture a reality. In fact, sometimes the people who can add diversity to a work environment don’t even see themselves in that light. So, it’s up to recruiters and talent management personnel to be open and creative in the way they seek out potential employees and consider what they can bring to the table.

This realization that individuals themselves can be either unaware of--or unwilling to focus on--their own differences really hit home for me this week when a dear friend and colleague of mine passed away. My friend, Herb Greenberg, was the founder and CEO of the global human resources management company, Caliper. Before I ever met Herb, I had spoken with him over the phone more times than I can count, and the things that stood out about him were his belief, passion and commitment to his company. He was forceful, opinionated and hardworking. It wasn’t until I finally met him that I found out he was blind. To him, that had very little to do with who he was. So he never talked about it. For everyone who knew him, however, it just made the success he was able to achieve that much more incredible.

Herb was featured in a Fortune magazine article not too long ago, and, in honor of his memory, I’m posting a link to that well done piece. It is one of the very few articles where he actually discussed his disability and how it affected him. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read the article, Herb Greenberg and Believing in the Power of Potential, and get to know this amazing individual who, even at the age of 86, was still committed to the success of the company he founded more than 50 years ago.   

The Secret to Outperforming Your Competition

What if I told you that you could outperform your competition by 35% with just one change to your talent management practices? Or that implementing one new strategy could put your business among the best performing companies in your industry? Even if you’re skeptical, it’s worth taking a few minutes to check out some new, and very interesting, findings from a recent talent management study.

According to Josh Bersin, principal and founder of Bersin by Deloitte, the key to success in 2016 is a focus on diversity and inclusion. In a two-year research study completed by his company, Bersin found that, “The talent practices which predict the highest performing companies are all focued on bulding an Inclusive Talent System.” Visit Bersin’s post to find out more about the study and Why Diversity and Inclusion Will be a Top Priority for 2016. 

Issues that top the list for Human Resource Executives in 2016

By Debbie Dreessen

Do you remember when job seeking required a resume printed on watermarked, linen paper; poring over “Help Wanted” ads in the Sunday papers; sending all correspondence through snail mail; and trading phone calls using only land lines (no mobile, text or email)? I know. Scary, right?

Well, while that process was daunting in its own way, technological advances have simultaneously brought incredible simplicity and overwhelming confusion to the creation and handling today’s talent networks.

The more accessible everything and everyone is, the more “noise” there is to sift through for all of us. Whether you are the one searching for a job, searching for the right candidate or searching for a way to effectively manage your entire talent network, you are inundated with information that is often irrelevant. At TalentCircles, our goal is to understand what YOU need and provide you with solutions that help you become more productive, effective and successful.

To do that, we will continue asking questions. And continue listening. So far, the following is what we’re hearing.

Recruiters Voice Their Talent Network Concerns

Some of the difficulties topping recruiters’ talent network management lists are:

• how to stand out in the crowd of thousands of other recruiters and actually connect with candidates;
• how to stay connected and predict when good candidates might be ready to make a change;
• how to get hiring managers to be more thorough and accurate when it comes to providing job descriptions;
• how to help clients focus on best fit and acceptable compromises versus looking for a “perfect candidate”;
• how to stress to clients the importance of collaboration and moving quickly; and
• how to manage the pipeline and all the available data.

Talent Management Issues That Top the List for Human Resources Executives

From the human resources domain, we’re hearing that their major struggles involve:

• finding qualified candidates for open positions
• fearing top talent will leave this year
• being uncertain how to boost morale around the workplace
• remaining competitive in the talent marketplace
• developing future leaders
• building a strong brand and culture that attracts great employees
• moving beyond basic ratings and benchmarking methods and on to high-level analytics for purposes of performance evaluations, pay structure and promotion opportunities

Moving forward, the TalentCircles blog will strive to address the needs and concerns of today’s recruiters, Human Resources Managers, and Chief Human Resources Officers. To that end, we plan to have a monthly series of posts as follows: one focused on the needs and expectations of the Millennial, one on the Recruiter, one on technology and one for the industry.

In the meantime, we say be thankful for the latest technology and embrace the “noise.” We will work with you to filter through and organize all your data so you effectively welcome candidates, hire the best talent and grow your talent network. With all the free time you’ll have now that your talent network priorities can be easily managed, you can use that fine linen paper to go retro and shock a friend with a written letter.