USA: Being Relevant with Hiring Practices during the Recession

During the hiring process, one important piece of information that players pay attention to when hiring an individual is compensation. Compensation matters to people. The old adage where one must not talk about money matters and compensation during the initial stage of hiring, particularly on the side of the candidate as well as on the side of the hiring team is now an obsolete practice. Discuss about it at the outset to become relevant to the current times and with that it eliminates delays and invest your time more effectively.

What matters today:
During the recession time, all players including hiring manager, recruiter and the candidate must be practical and abreast to the realities. Face the facts that will drive the acquisition of high caliber talent. It is essential to determine the value of the candidate immediately at the very beginning. Identify their value-add to your current organizational needs. Keep your staffing indicators ahead of the game in regards to long term human capital investments and returns. Set appropriate expectations and approach it with competence and not wait for the moment of negotiation that will delay the start date. Being competitive in the global economy is important. What matters in the global economy is the combination of strategic mindset, cross cultural and diverse experience including professional competencies of individuals. The assembly line mentality should be utilized in the manufacturing environment unless you treat your human capital as objects. Today, it is necessary to increase growth and advancement of the organization by employing critically strategic thinkers and competent professionals with common sense .

Strategic Competencies in recruiting and hiring:
At the very start when the Job Requisition is being executed, there must be an identified timeline in hiring the talent. Demonstrate consultative competence in consolidating all details of requirements. Discuss with the Hiring Manager the actual job functions and expected end results. Liaise the same with HR Manager or HR Business Partner, including salary range, benefits, hiring incentives, technical skills and professional competencies of the candidate at-large.

The compensation package that will afford the position is necessary. It is a pro-active practice to obtain current industry compensation range for the position similar to what you are hiring. Depending on two years or older data will provide you a wrong decision. To be strategic, one must be knowledgeable about current practices. Guide hiring managers and human resources personnel who are not knowlegeable about current trends that facilitate effective hiring is a form of investment.

Hiring Managers must understand that experience require reasonable and comensurate compensation. Be shameful to underpay an experienced professional. Staffing professionals need to demonstrate professional responsibility that will connect the needs of the Job and the strenghts of the candidate. There should be a realistic and functional description of responsibilities and requirements that will determine the expected type of individual to be hired. Determine what matters. The essential skills to achieve the result of the function and not 'requiring qualifications that are not relevant to the job', be realistic! Do not copy from the internet a job description which you think will be applicable to the job you are hiring but the actual function is not relevant to the position. Seek guidance from a professional consultant if you do not posses the competencies of developing actual Job Description for your position.

Plan ahead about candidate's availability for interviews whether via video-cam, telephone or onsite, brief and debrief candidates prior and post interviews, family matters that might affect the hiring such are relocation or may be immigration, time frame to begin work, and most importantly the candidate's current application activities. What are the current objectives and needs of the candidate? Beware of the patterns and trends of the personal application activities. One common error of inexperienced recruiter is not pre-closing and sustaining the high level of interest of the candidate to the job.

Given the conditions of the economy, the hiring team must be mindful that candidates are actively looking for the best employment opportunity. Many have been out of job from few up to many months. Be sensible with compensation offer, avoid underpaying your human capital. Invest on them to retain their quality of service and loyalty. Employees will not move to a competitor if employer values their competencies and abilities. Implement active hiring technique when a candidate who possess the competencies to the Job Requisition is found.

As a professional hiring practitioner, interview candidates at par. Discuss their competencies and capabilities. Learn their background and stimulate effective conversations to understand their strenghts and what they can do for the advancement of the organization. Avoid tactical activities like reading a resume alone. Be mindful, that resume is only a preview of the candidate's qualification. It does not illustrate concretely the complete expertise, competencies and qualification of the candidate. Conducting a consultative interviewing with the candidate will leverage your ability to decide and recommend whether the candidate is right for the job or better fit for another business unit within your organization. That is being strategic in regards to candidate screening and managing your hiring manager's expectations.

Professionals who think outside the box and strategically hiring the top talent and right candidate for any position are always spending time with candidates. Investing time in learning one's qualification, experience and competencies will provide better results and return of investment instead of wasting time in ticking your checklist whether or not the candidate possess the 'c++, web 2.0, MS Word knowledge or project skills'.

Observations about challenges of candidates on current hiring practices?
There is a complex irony about facts of unemployment and available jobs. Observing at job boards, job aggregators and corporate job webpages and every other sources of employment - there are many positions to be filled.

However, based on research and actual conversations with almost 1,000 candidates, 90 percent of candidates said - they applied to hundreds of positions in the last six months or longer but never heard of any call from any of these companies that were advertising opened positions. Approximately 2 percent confirmed, they had an interview but did not get an update. They struggled following up on results but the representative of the company they interviewed with did not return their calls. 8 percent received an email that they did not qualify. Majority confirmed receipt of the traditional and automatic reply sent by an applicant tracking system such as this;

"Thank you for applying for the xyz position, requisition number cx000123. We will review your application to match with the position requirements. We encourage you to continue to visit our jobs web site at www.xyzjobs.com to apply for other positions that may interest you. Also, don't forget to register for "Job Agent" to receive notifications for xyz opportunities that match your interests. We wish you success in your efforts to identify employment opportunities."

Doubts arise whether or not these advertised jobs were for real or just a recruiting technique to gain or attract resumes for future use?

Today, many companies have integrated in their human resources department an applicant tracking system that was meant to be a tool which capture all applicants to the job that is being recruited against - the resume database per se. The same tool was meant to support the reporting and compliance procedure of the staffing hr department. The HR personnel of many companies were convinced that making this tool as the only absolute portal to all candidates who will apply for any position, is the best practice.

The intent of this endeavor was purposeful. However its current functional role does not resonate a good practice of how talent acquisition should be. It became a gate keeper. At some extent, the applicant tracking system has become a shield of the recruiter from speaking with candidates directly. To many job seekers, it became a detriment to their advantage as a qualified candidate for a position. It also opened possibilities of risks on personal indentifiable information that can be a subject to identify theft.

The integrated applicant tracking system is prevalent in many websites of corporations or a job board. Some websites which integrated the applicant tracking system even require sensitive information such as "social security number". And this field is not optional. Where was the HR Manager when this system was integrated into their website? Is your organization keeping up with the best practices in the Human Resources Management?

Be Relevant, Sensible and Strategic:
In order to become relevant, sensible and strategic, the entire hiring team must be reflective about the valued hiring practices towards the human capital assets of the organization. Coping up with current practices that are in line with current state and federal regulations must be an absolute practice. Human Capital is about people. Be people oriented always.

Tools (Applicant Tracking Systems) are aids to do the job in compiling piles of resumes in a more efficient way and they are not a substitute of a human being who will negotiate with a fellow human being.  Both hiring representative and candidate must discuss the areas of responsibilities and capabilities in order to find the right individual who can execute / learn the expected function at the shortest possible time. This is why and how people work humanely and with respect to one another.  Not to be discriminated by an algorithmic search created by a single track of mind that eventually eliminate people with great background, skills, and qualifications. It is a loss of the hiring investments of organization that was facilitated by the poor business practice of a recruiter, hiring manager and Human Resources.

For any relevant question about this article please email to: info@jntconsulting.com

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USA: Revised I-9 Guideline Takes Effect Today - April 3rd 2009

Today, April 3rd 2009 is the effectivity of the New I-9 Form and Employment Eligibility Verification.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) released a reminder for all employers that the revised Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification (Rev. 02/02/09), goes into effect today. The revision date is printed on the lower right-hand corner of the form.

Employers may no longer use previous versions of the Form I-9.

The revised list improves the security and effectiveness of the Form I-9 process. The list specifies that expired documents are no longer acceptable forms of identification or employment authorization. Allowing for expired documents makes it more difficult for employers to verify an employee’s identity and employment authorization and compromises the Form I-9 process.

The new edition of the Employer's Handbook is available for download at the USCIS website.

Observation:
It is strongly suggested that representatives of hiring employers will understand the new changes for I-9 compliance. Seek the guidance of JNT Consulting LLC for your I-9 compliance if you don't have the necessary competencies in executing them.

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Global: Advantages in Utilizing JNT Consulting As Your HR Consulting Company

An alternative option for your company to run smoothly especially when you don’t have an HR Team or an employed HR Manager is to have an HR Consulting Company whose expertise is to provide guidance about the challenges of Human Resource Management.

© 2008 JNTConsulting

A lot of companies acknowledge that their HR function is one of the most important business units. Ensuring that everything is running properly, the HR team has big responsibilities on their hands. If you don’t have an HR Team, your option is by getting the help of a consulting company - JNT Consulting, they can consult with you on a number of different things including employment and immigration law, the hiring process, the management of people and its technicalities, the appropriate practices surrounding staffing and they may also be able to provide you guidance with some applicable HR resources that may facilitate efficiency for your operational needs. Generally the consulting company will tell you how you can adjust to improve the running of the human resources department and increase higher efficiency in the running of the company.

Consultative HR Practice for your advantage

When you hire a consulting service, the HR Practitioner will begin by looking at the way your human resources function is currently run. A recommendation will be provided on how you can improve to save you money, time and to make the most of your HR management become efficient. They will show you exactly how various systems can help you to have a more productive function and they can also inform you of the latest employment and immigration laws. Keeping on top of such laws is important and it can save you a lot of hassle too. This type of guidance from an HR Practitioner like JNT Consulting LLC will provide you with minimal risks in running your business because you are heading towards a compliant operation.

Specifically, an HR consultant can help you by creating a customizable employment contracts. They can also develop or enhance your business and integrating your culture within the company handbooks which clearly identifies all guidelines to your employees. As an employer you have a duty to inform your employees’ rights and of the new updates of employment laws. Employees need to know the scope of policies, holiday entitlement, leave of absence, sick pay and other benefits available. An HR Consultant can add value to your HR organization by creating this booklet for you and in settings where there is no HR Manager or HR Team – Your HR Consultant will act as one.

There are lots of employers that cannot cope up with employment and immigration laws because they do not keep on top of it. Employment and immigration laws are constantly changing and if no one keeps track of them your company is at higher risks. HR Consultants will keep you informed of any changes that you need to be aware of. This will include I-9 compliance and management, export rules of controlled countries,immigration compliance where appropriate, minimum wage, mobility requirements and management, maternity leave, diversity and anti-discrimination laws and equal opportunities. Working with an HR Consulting Company will facilitate low risks and the avoidance of large penalties and settlement.

To sum it up, the human resources management function is essential in any company. If you like your company to be compliant and efficient, hiring JNT Consulting as your HR Consulting Company would definitely be a good idea.

This is not a legal advice but for informational purposes only.