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How much time have you spent developing your listening skills?

Think about the time we spend learning how to read, how to write and how to speak, the basic pillars of communication, vs how much time is given to listening, there’s a significant gap.

When we ask our candidates what they’re looking for in their next job, they frequently answer growth. I ask them, “What does that mean to you?” and hear things like:

• My manager is available to me to ask questions and get answers.
• I have a mentor who listens to my goals and helps me to achieve them.
• The team discusses issues and provides support to each other.
• There are onboarding resources and people who help me engage more quickly.
• There is ongoing training.

Listening is key for each of these aspirations.

Stephen Covey is famous for the philosophy of, “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

To understand another, you must listen to them.

Covey suggests that we are filled with our own rightness and collective monologues. When another person speaks, we typically listen at one of four levels. Covey breaks down these different levels of listening:

Level 1: Ignoring (What parents sometimes do)

Level 2: Pretending to Listen (As a busy Manager, what you may do)

Level 3: Selective Listening (Choosing what you want to hear)

Level 4: Attentive Listening (Repeating back what you’ve heard) and then there is Level 5, Empathetic Listening (Sharing the emotions you’ve heard).

The 5th level is the highest level of listening. In empathetic listening, you listen with your ears, but you also, and more importantly, listen with your eyes and with your heart. You listen for feeling, for meaning. You listen for behavior. You use your right brain as well as your left.

I’ve also noticed a recent trend where candidates are choosing to leave inside sales jobs where all their interactions are by phone and computer, for outside sales where they meet in person with prospects and customers. With the latter, it’s easier to use the highest level of listening.

Imagine how many times, in work, or life we have had conversations where we just don’t seem to be getting through, we don’t seem to be heard, understood, or validated. We all know how frustrating this can be. Then imagine how much more effective we could be by practicing empathetic listening. Working on this small but significant skill could be transformative, leading to better relationships, team engagement, loyalty, and performance.

What can we do to practice better listening?

Here are ways you can get started to improve your listening skills:

• Clear your mind before starting a conversation, put down your phone, turn away from your computer, or other distractions.
• Make time.
• Listen with your ears and your heart and without judging.
• Avoid interrupting, or cutting off someone’s sentence before they finish speaking.
• Give people time to think, don’t be too eager to rush in when there are moments of silence. This is a tool that savvy salespeople use when trying to understand a customer’s needs.
• Clarify or ensure you understood what was said.
• Ask open-ended questions to understand feelings and perspectives.
• Refrain from giving advice if you are not asked for it, especially along with your autobiographical story.
• Remember you do not need to agree or feel the same to understand.

“Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listen to us are the ones we move toward. When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand.”

Karl A. Menniger, Psychiatrist

First, let’s define the term “middle management” within an organization. Middle management refers to the intermediate level of management with an organization, occupying a position between top-level executives and front-line supervisors. It typically includes managers, directors, or department heads who are responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations and activities of specific departments or teams.

The main role of middle managers is to bridge the gap between the strategic decisions made by top management and the practical implementation of those decisions by lower-level employees. They act as a communication channel between upper management and the workforce. One might say that leading a team effectively to execute the company’s strategies is one of the most important responsibilities of an organization’s management team. To achieve this within a set timeframe and budget, managers must foster a high-performance team environment. They play a fundamental role in talent development, a factor that is crucial for any growing organization’s health and financial performance.

You would think that as such an important asset, managers would be given the tools and freedom to focus on meaningful work. However, a recent survey proves otherwise. Surveyed middle managers reported spending nearly half of their working time on nonmanagerial work rather than focusing on the work that makes an organization run – nurturing talent.

Managers can’t achieve greatness in isolation. They need a supportive ecosystem, including clear expectations, targeted training, inspiring leadership examples, and adequate infrastructural support. Research shows that having more top-performing middle managers leads to much better financial outcomes. What actions can organizations and executives take to create more top-performing managers and in turn, increase the value they bring?

Optimize the Organization’s Structure

Organizational optimization is the practice of aligning and making the most of an organization’s resources to maximize success in achieving its goals and objectives. By systematically reviewing an organization’s structure, leaders can identify where their managers are not set up to succeed and create value.

A couple of common mistakes are, 1 – assigning overly large spans of control creating a significant strain on managers’ time and leaving them with little opportunity to give meaningful coaching or to spend sufficient time on strategy. And, 2 – promoting successful individual contributors into a people leadership role without finding out if they’re motivated by managing others and if they have the competency to do so.

Management is responsible for so much in the organization. Middle managers are the key to effectively executing strategies and achieving company goals.

Reset Manager Roles

Organizations can conduct a thorough review of manager roles using, for example, focus groups and calendar analysis. Management tasks should be categorized based on whether they add value or not. Then, begin to look for ways to automate repetitive tasks, canceling unnecessary meetings, and eliminating as much bureaucratic work as possible. Generative AI can be leveraged to update the way a number of day-to-day activities are completed.

Align Skills

Once managers’ roles have been redesigned, make sure that your current managers have all the skills needed to perform in their new role. A benchmark process can be used to define the skills and competencies necessary to perform at the top level in different leadership roles. This data can guide future hiring needs as well. Once gaps in your managers’ current skillset have been identified, provide the training and resources for individuals to upskill to maximize their performance. This benefits both the employee and the company. Growth is consistently rated as one of the top things individuals are seeking in their work. Maintaining the best workforce skills for the company’s current and future goals makes good business sense.

Are Cups Overflowing?

Research shows that middle managers are the most burned-out job level across organizations, as they’re tasked with implementing changes in the organization through their direct reports while helping them to stay engaged and motivated, what’s sometimes forgotten is that middle managers are employees too!

What can you do?

1. Foster a Supportive Work Culture by encouraging open communication, providing ways to get emotional support, and acknowledging the importance of work-life balance.
2. Set Realistic Expectations that are reasonable and achievable. Avoid overwhelming them with excessive responsibility.
3. Provide Training and Resources and include programs that focus on stress management, time management and leadership skills. Invest in the tools that help them to handle challenge effectively.
4. Facilitate Peer Support by creating opportunities for middle managers to connect with and support each other. Peer support can be invaluable in coping with burnout.
5. Recognize and Appreciate Effort regularly and show your appreciation one-on-one and in group settings.
6. Encourage Delegation and Empowerment as part of the company culture. Managers should be routinely delegating tasks to reduce the burden and give them a sense of empowerment in their roles.
7. Encourage Regular Breaks during the day and by using vacation time. Encourage your managers to lead by example by taking breaks themselves.
8. Conduct Burnout Workshops so that managers can recognize it in themselves and with individuals on their team. Organize workshops that address burnout, stress management, and resilience, providing managers with practical strategies for managing their well-being.
9. Offer Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) and make sure that everyone knows that it’s available and how to engage in the confidential counseling services and mental health resources provided.

“A CEO’s performance is as good as the performance of their middle managers”

Med Jones, American Economist and President of Research Organization, International Institute of Management.

Accountability Mechanisms

The final step is to build accountability mechanisms to help reinforce what great looks like and to give middle managers continuous progress updates on how they are doing. Understanding what they are accountable for and linking it to the company’s overall strategy and goals helps to give managers a purpose.

People management should be the most important aspect of middle managers’ job. Provide the opportunity for them to be evaluated through a 360 process. This process elicits feedback from those in the organization who surround and are impacted by the manager’s performance, including their direct reports, peers, and their own manager.

Additional accountability comes by maximizing the use of your organization’s performance management system by using it to set short- and long-term goals, provide continuous feedback, performance reviews, and consequence management.

Companies cannot afford to overlook their middle managers who are key contributors to both organizational health and financial performance. Leaders take note, top performing managers will not only be better equipped to nurture the talent that is the foundation of a healthy workplace, they can also increase ROI by directly adding to bottom-line revenue. That’s a win-win!

How Can We Help?

We help our clients build top-performing teams and retain the best talent by:

1. Offering a comprehensive recruiting process that helps you to attract and hire the best sales and leadership talent.
2. Our Assessment comes as part of our recruiting process, and it gives an in-depth look at an individual’s behavior, motivators and skills.
3. A customized report that gives the keys to managing and motivating the best performance from your new hire, that can be used as part of the onboarding process.

Many clients report receiving more applicants from larger corporations than in the past. You may be as well. If you’re considering bringing a candidate who has primarily worked for large corporations into your small business, here are four things to consider:

1. Are they looking at your opportunity as a bridge job?

If you have a short-term need and a candidate can bring near term value, hiring someone who will likely stay for a short period of time can be a win-win. In that case, JESSI Search can discuss options such as a temp staffing, to fill your need. If you’re looking to add to your team long-term, this could be a costly mistake. Candidates don’t always realize the impact of cultural differences in a smaller company. They think it’s just what they’re looking for, but oftentimes leave quickly saying, “It was a lot different than I expected.” And sometimes, what they’re really saying is, “I took your position as a bridge while I searched for my ideal position.”

2. What is their reason for expressing interest in your opportunity?

Candidates say a lot of things based on what they think you want to hear, to prompt an offer. Their enthusiasm can be contagious. Be sure you listen and assess carefully to discern their true motivators for joining your organization.

3. Do their behaviors and motivators align with the role and your company culture?

Motivation can’t be taught. Motivational fit is important. JESSI Search focuses on another truth and that is, past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior. That’s why our interview process and assessment instruments focus on uncovering examples of past behavior.

4. Do they bring the skills to do the job well and continue to grow with your organization?

Some skills can be taught, some take time to develop, and some, like work ethic and tenacity cannot be taught. It is very important to validate that the candidate brings the right level of skills for the position to maximize value within your desired timeframe.

JESSI Search uses an assessment as part of our hiring decision-making process. It helps identify an accurate picture of the candidate’s behavior, motivators and competencies, which are key to assessing their ability to move from one environment and culture to another. Specifically, they fit your small business culture. Additionally, our assessment helps validate the interview and will also identify additional competencies to focus on to maximize their performance and possible problem areas.

For many, a small company fits their style and motivation better. BetterUp Coaching lists these as the top reasons why someone should consider joining a small business:

• You’ll have more opportunities to grow
• They’re adaptable
• You’ll have a bigger impact
• You can flex your creativity

Hiring is expensive and impacts the team’s time and morale. Making sure you are adding individuals with the right motivation to join and grow with your team is key.

“Moving doesn’t change who you are. It only changes the view outside your window”

Rachel Hollis, American Lifestyle Author

In a word, yes! There are times when seeking an external recruiting firm to partner with your internal team makes perfect sense. They can help bring in more candidates when hiring is urgent, expand the candidate set by using different sources and expertise in recruiting passive candidates, and add efficiency to the process during the search process by bringing in fresh ideas, to name a few. As Kathleen Duffy of Forbes points out, “The secret ingredient in making this work is relationships.”

If you’re considering bringing in additional recruiting resources by partnering with a recruiting firm, or, adding contract recruiters to your team, here are some things to think about:

1. Terms – If your need is for one key position, the fee likely will be a search-based fee. If it’s a larger effort, terms may be by milestone, hours or a project-based fee.
2. Project Kickoff – Having key people together to set expectations will help all parties understand who is doing what and the overall goals and timelines.
3. Success Metrics – Your talent brand is a valuable asset. There are key talent metrics that should be measured regularly to show your talent brand’s health. Measuring the success of your hiring project is also important and can include things such as time-to-hire, interview to offer rate, offer acceptance, candidate experience score and these days when ghosting has become common, in addition to measuring accepted offers, actual starts should also be measured.
4. Communication – Scheduled meetings can be helpful to assess progress and answer questions and discuss next steps. Of course, open communication with the entire recruiting team and hiring managers is ideal as well.
5. Turnover – Define end of project deliverables from the start.

A few ways you might also consider partnering with an external recruiting resource, include:

Talent Pipelines – Grow your potential applicant pool for existing and future opportunities by having your recruiting partner source ideal candidates for the position profiles and your company culture. If you’re working with an external recruiting agency exclusively, they will know your culture and can understand what’s most important based on the position profiles.

Courting Candidates – Recruiters are often experts at accessing passive candidates and gaining interest in their client’s opportunities. It can be touchy reaching out to candidates who work at another company that is both a competitor and at times a partner organization. Having someone external to the company gauge interest with these candidates is a common process.

Assessment – There is a lot of expertise that goes into an interview and selection process. Even with the best process and interviewers, it can still be wise to use a valid assessment as part of the interview process.

We use the Trimetrix Assessment because it has the highest level of validity against bias and it was developed for sales talent and leaders.

Onboarding – Selecting and hiring the right people is only a piece of the talent equation. These days, your onboarding process is a valuable asset during the hiring process, and it is key in getting your new hires off to a great start where they feel included, supported and motivated to learn and grow with your organization!

One great hire will continue to pay dividends. Other ways your investment can be maximized is by scheduling a turnover meeting to ensure your internal team maintains any new information, tools and processes that were developed during the hiring project.

At JESSI Search, some of our strongest placements have been with clients who treat us as an extension to their business. We have worked on many sales hiring projects where we have played a role in helping companies achieve their revenue goals for the upcoming year and beyond. We value our internal recruiting partners and the ability to jointly help business leaders accelerate growth. Making our internal customer team shine is always one of our top goals!

We love to hear from candidates after they start with the companies we’ve partnered with to add new hires. We work especially hard to make a great match and post-start feedback is a valuable measure for us. We placed a candidate in a role where they would have peers and direct reports all over the globe. It was wonderful to hear the lengths her new employer went to ensure that she was introduced to varied team members and walked through the internal processes and tools that she needed to hit the ground running. We hear a different story from candidates who want to network with us because they are disenchanted with the company they recently joined, leading them to continue their search.

There are many terms popping up to describe the employee/employer relationship. Quick quitting is one of them. According to the 2022 Job Seeker Nation Report, nearly one in three new hires will quit their job in the first 90 days. After investing time and money to get someone to hired, the last thing business leaders want to do is start the process all over again because their new hire quick quit.

It’s week one, are your new hires sitting in their office space without even knowing where the restroom is located? Learning new names, places and the lay of the land can be daunting. It can be especially difficult to feel connected when you’re starting in a remote role. Organizations who are great at helping new members feel immediately welcome and part of the team do these key things:

1. Focus on Onboarding – It’s not all about the paperwork!
2. Get to know them as a person.
3. Start the process, even before the first day.
4. Intro them to the team and provide single points-of-contact.
5. Develop relevant training.
6. Set up ways for them to quickly engage in their work.
7. Discuss what they can expect in their first 90 days from you, their manager, and what you expect from them.
8. Check in with them regularly.
9. And if they’re relocating, they do more!

Yes, there is paperwork requiring completion to allow access to systems, provide tools and, of course, get paid. Effectively using a digital onboarding system allows new hires to do those things early and effortlessly. Ordering equipment and technology they will need should also be done prior to start.

A few days before they start work, send them a friendly note sharing how excited you are to have them join your team. Let them know at what time they need to arrive on their first day, where to park, who to ask for and what the dress code is.

In addition to these things, a key focus should be to make your new hires feel connected. Some companies put together a photo collage of teammates, delineating what each team member does, how they can help you, and perhaps most importantly, what interests each individual in their work and outside of the job. This helps to remember people when the team is introduced and to build connections more quickly. Assigning a mentor for the first 30 days is common. Whether you assign one mentor or a single point-of-contact for different areas of the job, having a defined go-to person is a benefit.

Assessments are sometimes used as part of the interview process. I’m a proponent of using them coupled with behavior-based interviews. The added benefit is that you can use the data to customize the onboarding process based on the individual’s style of processing information and communication.

You hired this individual for a specific skill set and experience. However, there are things that the rest of you know about the company’s objectives, drivers and approach that the new hire needs to understand. Having a well thought out training program pays dividends.

I was extremely impressed by one of our US-based client’s objectives to have all new hires for their sales expansion initiative hired and onboard before their annual sales strategy kick-off meeting in Europe. While there was expense to send dozens of new sales executives to this week-long international meeting and the training sessions, the pay off in allowing them to hit the ground running was huge. We placed over 20 individuals for this initiative and when I checked back with them after one year, they were still with the company!

A key desire when someone is starting in a new role is to “get started!” Thinking through the tasks you will assign in the first four weeks, 60 days and 90 days, and communicating these, helps to give the new hire an understanding of what will be expected of them from the get-go. It will also allow them to prepare and focus their attention and feel like they are contributing more quickly. It’s important to seek your current employees’ opinions, this is a way to show that you value their opinions while making sure the plan is all inclusive.

Finally, if you looked outside of your area to find the right person, helping them and their family to have a smooth transition to their new home location is a way to differentiate your company culture as welcoming, as well as helping to remove some of the distraction that goes along with a relocation. Some companies put together a packet of information from real estate data and local Realtors to school districts, favorite restaurants and service organizations. These packets are always appreciated!

The risk of not implementing a strong onboarding process is that the person you invested so much in finding and hiring, becomes frustrated in their early days on the job and continues to entertain other opportunities. Make sure your team is not one where people are quick quitting by understanding that you have not really closed a candidate until they are integrated into the company and functioning in their job.

You’ll never regret investing to hire right or in your employees’ start with the company. What does your company do to make new hires feel welcome? We’d love to hear from individuals who recently joined a new company, as well as hiring managers and talent acquisition teams about their creative ideas to help a new employee to feel welcome, quickly integrated into the team, and set up for success in their role.

You’ll never regret investing to hire right or in your employees’ start with the company. What does your company do to make new hires feel welcome? We’d love to hear from individuals who recently joined a new company, as well as hiring managers and talent acquisition teams about their creative ideas to help a new employee to feel welcome, quickly integrated into the team, and set up for success in their role.

What do Bill Gates, Nicole Kidman, Oprah Winfrey, Lady Gaga, Jeff Weiner, and Ariana Huffington all have in common?

The practice of meditation.

For many, meditation conjures up thoughts of religion or some new age fad where you’re sitting cross legged for long periods of time. Others can see mindfulness, or, mediation as being just too hard, “I just can’t calm my mind!”

Employee and Customer focused employers know that performing mindfulness meditation at the workplace will help employees focus on immediate tasks, manage stress and anxiety levels, control anger, and remain thoughtful throughout the day. It will also reduce burnout, increase leadership trust, and boost employee engagement according to Forbes Councils Member Laura Sage. Six Proven Benefits Of Meditation In The Workplace.

“In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you.”

Deepak Chopra

A few days away from Mental Health Awareness Month, it’s fair to say this is a topic that should not be put on the shelf until next May. Stating that “Our workplaces play a significant role in our lives.” Workplace well-being is one of the U.S. Surgeon General’s current priorities.   New guidance was issued based on recent statistics showing that 76% of U.S. workers reported at least one symptom of a mental health condition and 84% of respondents said their workplace conditions had contributed to at least one mental health challenge. The American Psychological Association reported in 2022 that 81% of workers said that they will be looking for workplaces that support mental health in the future. APA’s 2022 Work and Well-being Survey results.

In the past year, more than a third of our candidates have brought up their ability to maintain balance and their mental health as a priority and asking how the company they are considering interviewing with or joining will support them. It is a topic candidates are both comfortable discussing and listing as a deal-breaker if they are not supported.

More people are now recognizing that regular practice and cultivation of mindfulness can lead to transformative changes in one’s mental, emotional, and physical well-being, contributing to a more fulfilling and balanced life. The process has also been effective at treating anxiety, stress and depression.

“Meditation is not trying to go anywhere or do anything, meditation and being present is just seeing what’s there and letting it speak to you. The goal is to be present to what is.” George Mumford Sports Psychologist and Mindful Meditation Teacher.

Meditation is a process and one which brings several benefits. The key is to learn to enjoy the process. Practice letting go of self-criticism, comparison, and expectations as soon as they arise. It doesn’t matter how much skill we have or how much we’ve practiced meditation; if we go into it without strong expectations or an attachment to rigid goals and timeframes, then meditation can be a success. Mindful meditation is more about noticing thoughts when they enter the head and noticing again when they pass, without getting too attached or drawn into them,

Courtney Ackerman, MA, shares in Positive Psychology that there are 10 common responses people give when asked, “Have you tried meditation?” She shares responses to these objections. There’s even a link for three free Mindfulness Exercises to get you started!

If the benefits are not enough to consider the process, how about a younger brain age? There is a growing pile of evidence “that meditative practice may be associated with slowed biological aging,” Neurocase.

A second similar result found that meditation has been shown to induce increases in brain tissue, even after relatively short periods of time, such as weeks or months, as documented in this research paper in NeuroImage. They observed that, at age fifty, brains of meditators were estimated to be 7.5 years younger.

Want to know more, there are lots of free resources online but here is a link to a one-minute guided meditation from Headspace to help you get started.

What do you think, have you seen the benefits of more mindfulness or meditation, or might you consider the process for your team?

“In today’s rush, we all think too much — seek too much — want too much — and forget about the joy of just being.”

Eckhart Tolle, Spiritual Teacher and Author

There are a lot of buzz terms popping up when talking about the talent market. A phrase that I’ve heard for many years and now with increasing frequency is Work-Life Balance. A segment of our candidates state it as a priority when considering a new job. I decided to delve a bit deeper into what is meant by this.

ChatGPT tells me that work-life balance refers to:

• The equilibrium between a person’s professional responsibilities and their personal life activities.
• Achieving work-life balance is finding the right blend of career aspirations and personal well-being.

In a recent LinkedIn poll, 36% of respondents said they wanted to manage their own schedule and 49% said they wanted flexibility to work less than 40 hours + manage their schedule + go to their loved ones’ events. A desire for flexibility to have some control over one’s own schedule seems important.

A little personal history on what work-life balance has meant for me. I shifted my career into sales many years ago with the recognition that it was a career where I could manage my own time and also drive my earnings based on what I put into it. This proved to be true in both regards. Not only was I able to raise three wonderful kids and be visible during the important pre- and teenage years, I also had a highly successful sales career, earning President’s and Chairman’s Club regularly. This wasn’t accomplished by working eight-hour days. For me, it was accomplished by being available to both my kids and customers, to the best of my ability, and fitting in other sales activities around my priorities.

My next career shift came when I decided to combine my love and success in sales with my education and prior work experience in organizational development. In fact, it was 17 years ago this month when I launched my own business focused on helping customers to build successful sales teams. It’s afforded me the opportunity to travel with family and friends and to attend important events near and far. It fits my travel style of remaining available to client needs while on the road and working between activities. It also helps to  have a clear schedule for a couple of days post-travel to fully catch up!

Candidates are more direct in talking about work-life balance in recent years. Even when they don’t voice the need, their perception of their ability to achieve it when considering a new job and company are often top of mind. When you’re hiring, include questions that help you to better understand what the candidate is looking for in this regard. It will help you to understand if you’ll be able to meet the individual’s needs for the long-term and if they are a good fit with the requirements of the job and company culture.

When talking about ways to give employees more flexibility with hiring managers, I sometimes hear, “I tried that, it didn’t work out.” This oftentimes means I got burned by an employee or two and am concerned it will be repeated. There’s no guarantee that it won’t happen. Establishing a well-founded interview and hiring process, coupled with a focus on understanding and meeting your employees’ goals and needs, will increase the likelihood that you will have engaged employees who stay longer.

After all, having a healthy work-life balance contributes to an individual’s well-being, reduces stress and increases productivity. Who doesn’t want a little less stress at the workplace, along with increased productivity. Look at your workplace and make sure it’s a place your employees want to be. Have some fun, all the good things don’t have to happen during off work hours!

If you’re ready to define your hiring process. Or want to partner with an expert for your hiring needs, let’s start a conversation.

“Always take some of the play, fun, freedom and wonder of the weekend into your week and your work.” 

Rasheed Ogunlaru, Coach, Speaker, Author

Why? Because having a specialist who knows you, your business goals and culture will save you time and money in the long run. In addition to finding the right people to fill your critical hiring needs, recruiting experts can provide valuable insight in the entire realm of talent acquisition from attraction campaigns, the hiring process and retention.

Finding the right recruiting partner who understands your business needs and talent needs can take time. When it’s time to fill a role on your team, you want to know who to call so you can get the process started right away.

“Time is money” is a popular adage and it couldn’t be more true when it comes to filling key positions. Your time is valuable. You’ve got a business to run, a bottom line to optimize, sales goals to achieve and a team to manage. What you want to avoid is diverting your time to reviewing resumes, trying to connect for an interview, speaking to candidates, only to find that none of them hit the mark. Not only have you wasted your time at that point, you’ve also lost time getting the right person onboard while those sales goals aren’t getting any smaller!

The right executive search firm will be speaking to candidates regularly who may be the ones you’re looking for. They have the expertise to launch a multi-pronged search that includes job posts and outreach to potential candidates in their network and those targeted who fit your ideal candidate profile to gain interest in the opportunity. Accessing the right candidates is what they do!

Picture getting a short list of vetted candidate’s credentials to review and having the ability to immediately schedule those who seem to fit. Is the headache of tackling the hiring process, only to come up empty receding? That’s what your recruiting partner can do for you!

When you compare time and lost opportunity to the fee you pay an expert who is working in the talent market daily, you can see how wise the investment is.

How JESSI Search can help. Our goal is for our clients to access and hire the best talent for their needs. We have a lengthy list of customers who will attest to our expertise in doing just that. It starts with a sense of urgency to find the best candidates. While guiding you to define key info and perform your steps in the process, we’re doing our part as efficiently and quickly as possible. We’re experts at building the hiring campaign, helping our clients to identify the key competencies for the role, pulling together the attraction campaign, connecting with the right talent, designing a behavior-based interview process focused on the most important skills and competencies, and using an assessment to validate fit for the role. We can also help to facilitate the offer and design an onboarding process custom to the client and the candidate’s needs. In-between each of these steps, are many actions that we excel at.

Sometimes it makes sense for you to manage the hiring process internally. If it’s fallen on your plate and your time is better served doing other things, consider tapping one of your recruiter relationships to assist.

If you’d like to discuss any aspect of the talent acquisition process, or want to get to know a firm who cares about matching great leaders with key team members, let’s have a chat.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”

Steve Jobs

Emotional fitness is a term that combines the need to be both physically and mentally fit to function successfully in work and life. For your sales team and leaders, emotional fitness has become more important than ever before in a bid to reduce burnout and enhance outcomes. If you are a sales leader, then embedding emotional fitness in your recruitment practices will help you to grow a team that is happy and healthy at work – find out more now!

What Emotional Fitness Looks Like in the Workplace

We’ve all witnessed or experienced someone who has burnout and seen the impact this has on them, their team, and their loved ones. The good news is that companies are more attuned to these issues than ever before and are working hard to bring emotional fitness to the foreground. Some of the most popular techniques include:

• Instilling a culture where people take breaks
• Utilizing mindfulness practices to reduce stress
• Encouraging open and supportive dialogue
• Providing check-in time with yourself and your manager

How to Create an Emotionally Fit Recruitment Journey

While there is still a lot to do to ensure that emotional fitness gets the attention it deserves, it’s clear that many companies are now well on the path to making it happen in their workplaces. However, emotional fitness is not just about supporting employees who are already part of the organization, it should also be firmly embedded in the recruitment process to help potential employees show their best so that you can hire the best. Take a look at some of the best ways to inject emotional fitness into your recruitment process:

• Survey candidates and use their views – the best way to know how well your recruitment process is working is to ask the people going through it. Make their feedback anonymous so that you get a true understanding of how they felt and then use this feedback to improve your process.
• Change your questions – the interview process does not need to just be about what someone has to offer, taking the time to find out what they need to thrive is also important. By getting candidates to consider their emotional fitness needs in the interview process, you can ensure that the tools they need are in place for them to use if they join your team.
• Sharing expectations – when a candidate applies for a role, they will be focused on impressing you and offering everything they can to get the job. When you take the time to share the company’s expectations and ethos, it helps to put the candidate at ease and able to show their best in the interview.

Ultimately, a more emotionally fit approach to recruitment will help you to attract the best and show your best, resulting in the growth you need to stand apart from the crowd.

Reducing Recruitment Pressure

There’s no denying that recruitment is a huge pressure point for many companies, especially when hiring candidates in revenue-generating roles. Competition for sales candidates remains fierce. If you need help to find the right people, then don’t work on your own – let JESSI Search, Inc. help! With extensive experience and great business knowledge, we are ready to help you create an emotionally fit team – get in touch with us today!

Rest when you’re weary. Refresh and renew yourself, your body, your mind, your spirit. Then get back to work.

Ralph Marston, Motivational Speaker

Are your employees working double time? According to Alexandre Tanzi in a recent Bloomberg report, their survey found that half of US employees earn extra cash on the side. That’s an astonishing number of employees who also freelance, participate in the gig economy, or have a second job.

With the rise of remote work, I heard from multiple individuals that they worked two fulltime remote jobs simultaneously by managing different monitors on their desk and making sure one wasn’t seen by the other. When I would dig into this, there was a lot of justification. I heard comments such as, “I can easily get all of my work done and still manage the other job. It really isn’t a problem.” I heard a few stories about how they manage their conflicting video meeting schedules as well.

As an employer and a company who has built a reputation for placing great candidates on our client’s teams, this is not something I am a fan of. The only context where this might be ok is when the person has clearly informed both employers that they are working their job and another simultaneously. That wasn’t the case with those who shared their work habits.

If you’re the primary employer, what should you do to keep your employee’s focus while they are on the job?

First, while it is legal in many states for employers to limit the rights of their employees to work a second job if that work substantially interferes with or competes with the duties of their primary job, this is something that should be well thought out. If you’re inclined to have employees sign this type of an agreement, make sure that you do not live in a state that prevents it. You may use this as an opportunity to learn about any activities and other jobs that will impact the hours the employee can work. Just remember, in general, employers have no right to ask about your employee’s life outside of work.

Other ways to keep employees engaged and focused on the job you hired them to do include:

• Pay a competitive wage for the work employees are asked to perform.
• Review your benefits package and make sure it’s also competitive with the market.
• Communicate in different ways and often, keeping employees to be in the loop on as much as possible.
• Communication should also include being curious and interested in your employees thoughts on their work and other relevant aspects of the company.
• Offer training and growth opportunities for all employees.
• Find out how individual employees want to grow their careers and when possible, meet those needs within your company.

The gig economy is here to stay. In some cases, it’s beneficial for your employees to tap into other opportunities to earn income. They may pick up additional skills and be more inclined to stay if the balance of two jobs fits their personality and goals. The exception is when an employee is deceptive about what they are doing during their work hours for your company.

“When we feel confident that our skills can be a contribution to others, we discover another source of internal satisfaction.”

Stacey Hall, Author

In our 2023 Top Ten Talent Acquisition Trends series, we previously looked at Focusing on the Candidate Experience. This week’s trend is Emphasizing Employer Branding and Company Values.

You might think that an employer brand and talent brand are what you create. In part, that’s correct. A good reminder is that if you’re not creating them, you still have a brand and it might not be the one you intend.

When thinking about your employer brand, some of the things to consider:

• Company Values – What are the things you stay true to and communicate within and outside of the organization about what you stand for? These are oftentimes identified when a company is formed. They should be reviewed periodically and if needed, updated to fit the company’s evolution.
• Expand your Reach – What channels can you use to showcase your company’s culture, values and benefits? Consider your current set of social media platforms and research new platforms and tools to expand your reach.
• Employee Experience – Does your employee experience set you apart? Companies are focusing on creating a positive employee experience by offering expanded benefits, perks, and training and growth opportunities.
• Employee Advocacy – Are your current employees positive brand ambassadors? If you’re not confident that they are, you may need to do some internal culture work. Encourage employees to share their experiences and promote the company’s culture and values on social media platforms and incorporate into your website.
• Diversity and Inclusion – Do you have diversity and inclusion initiatives in place? These might include training programs, employee resource groups and inclusive hiring practices.

Expand your brand to include your talent brand by identifying and building on the reasons why desired candidates should choose to interview with and join your company vs. other opportunities they have. Get in touch to discuss ideas on maximizing your talent brand. JESSI Search, Inc. has expertise in all phases of the talent acquisition process.

Your personal brand is a promise to your clients…a promise of quality, consistency, competency and reliability. 

Jason Harman, CEO and Investing & Business Keynote Speaker

I saw this in a post this morning. It got me thinking about the difference in a candidate’s mind between taking a job and furthering their career. We’ve gone through the offer process with 1,000’s of candidates. Before we even get to the offer stage, we like to have a conversation with our client about how they can position themselves to attract the best candidates for the job.

When we ask our candidates what would incent them to make a career move to a new employer, here’s what we hear:

• An investment in their growth. Does the company offer training and/or pay for their employees to learn and grow in other ways?
• A career path. This doesn’t necessarily mean a career ladder. Instead, it may mean the opportunity to take on additional responsibility and broaden their role and have that reflected in their pay.
• An onboarding process. Our candidates want to be able to bring value as quickly as possible just as much as our hiring managers want them to be able to contribute.
• Compensation also comes into play. Having a comp plan that is defined is important. Although, once the comp plan is defined and the candidate views it as reasonable, comp is no longer the most important decision factor.

We’ve also seen these actions have a positive impact on how quickly our candidates engage in their position and how satisfied they are with it:

• Receiving an Onboarding plan that outlines what to expect and what they need to do in their first days and weeks.
• Being setup before/on their first day with any equipment and systems they need to perform their job.
• Given a tour that helps them engage in the office, if that’s where they work, with teammates and others in the organization and with the systems they will use to find information and perform their job.

Navigating your professional life isn’t just a game of numbers and resumes, but emotions. 

Evan Thomas, Author

Don’t miss that great candidate, here is the key to hiring your target talent.

You’re ready to hire. What’s one of the first things you should do? Dust off the job description? Get the word out? Those are necessary steps, however, companies with the most success acquiring the best talent matches for their candidate profile know there’s another area of focus that sets them apart. That is, defining their unique candidate value proposition.

You should know the responsibilities for the role and the competencies that successful employees in the role embody. Understanding what’s important to your talent segment and clearly defining and communicating what you can offer them, is your key to successfully hiring those candidates!

Your candidate value proposition is unique to your culture, values, mission, along with benefits and perks your employees receive. Spend time developing it. Ask your employees why they joined your company and why they stay. Think about current and future initiatives and how they will influence your culture and value proposition.

Beginning with this in mind will guide your approach to the different steps in your recruiting process and the candidate market. Accessing candidates who are a fit for you and who have been looking for a company like yours, benefits both and leads to retaining thriving talent!

If you want assistance or guidance defining your company’s unique candidate value proposition, contact us!

“Staying true to [yourself] is the only sustainable value proposition” ~ Tim Leberecht, Entrepreneur, Author and TED Speaker

We’ve found that the best fit for our candidates are positions they have carefully considered and weighed against criteria that stays true to their goals and values.

The best way to do this is to put thought into what you want out of your work today and in the future. Think in terms of what would be present in a dream job for you and what are things that should be present to meet your unique needs.

Wise leaders know that the best teams are diverse teams. This doesn’t mean that there isn’t commonality with values. When everyone’s core values are aligned and moving towards a common goal, it drives productivity and inspiration!

We once hired a contractor from a trusted resource as a Sales Development Rep. He seemed to be struggling, so our CEO invited him to lunch. When she asked him what his dream job would be, he said, “I don’t really like sales. I want to be an English as a Second Language teacher.” The conversation immediately shifted from him continuing to support us in sales, to what he could do to land that dream job!

Staying true to yourself and your values will help you make decisions that serve your professional and personal goals alike. Now might be a good time to ask yourself a few questions to crystallize your thoughts and have your prioritized list ready when you’re in job search mode. A surprising number of candidates find that they’ve settled for the wrong job. Avoiding a mismatch and short tenure is best for all.

“Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of that which you truly love.” – Rumi, recognized as a best-selling poet in the U.S.

According to the 2021 Bureau of Labor Statics report, the annual total separations rate or turnover rate in 2020 was 57.3 percent. Some forecast that number to be higher in 2021. Jump starting new employees and improving retention is clearly important to gain a greater return on your hiring investment.

The key is planning and implementing a clearly defined onboarding process. In the September 21, 2021 edition of Human Resource Executive, Nick Otto shared that what’s important to employees now has moved from culture and meaning to flexibility, increased pay, and job security. Having an effective ‘Onboarding Success Map’ is one valuable way to demonstrate a path to greater pay, flexibility and job security to your newly hired employees. Your reward is a faster and enhanced return on your hiring investment.

Your onboarding process should:

1. Have clear outcomes the employee is to achieve at specific time benchmarks
2. Have regular feedback built in, even weekly in the beginning and,
3. Be progressive with realistic steps that advance each week, month, quarter etc.

If your company does not have an onboarding map and process that you believe makes you a destination employer, let’s start a conversation about how to build or improve on what you have in place.

Have you ever experienced…

• A desirable candidate who is happy where they are and reluctant to apply?
• Qualified candidates who pass on continuing the interview process?
• A new hire who is a “no show” on their first day?
• Good hires leaving within the first year?
• Or, one of the most frustrating, are you getting ghosted by your candidates?

Avoid these and other frustrations with JESSI Search’s Talent Acquisition Tools.

Align your Candidate Profile with your Talent Value Proposition

JESSI Search, hearing these and other frustrations often from hiring managers and recruiters, has a hiring process and tools to diminish obstacles and ensure you are best positioned to identify, access, attract and hire your best candidates for the long-term.

Our experts attain a complete understanding of the components of your talent acquisition process and identify areas to strengthen effectiveness and efficiency.

You receive a Hiring and Interviewing process that:

1. Identifies Core Competencies for the position.
2. Clarifies the Deliverables that new hires will be held accountable for.
3. A Candidate Profile to vet potential candidates’ competencies.
4. A Position Profile equivalent to an owner’s manual to coach and guide new hires.
5. Accurately assesses and defines your Talent Value Proposition.
6. Refinement, when necessary, to ensure accurate matching of the Talent Proposition and Candidate Profile, if results do not meet required outcomes.

In addition, JESSI Search can provide Position Benchmarking focused on success factors that reduce turnover:

• Priority competencies and skill-sets that are required to perform the job well, including:
  • Acumen, problem-solving skills, judgement and engagement
• Behaviors that produce desired outcomes.
• Workplace motivators that identify culture fit and effective reward systems.
• A Behavior Based Interview Guide that aligns with your Candidate Profile.
• Onboarding plans customized to fit your company and the role.
• Validation of compensation structure and compensation band, with understanding that studies show that money has been proven to rank only #3 on the list of things that motivate a candidate to take a new position.

“When in doubt, check if your actions are aligned with your purpose.” ~Azim Jamal & Brian Tracy

A question we’re often asked is, “When should we start recruiting for an upcoming position?” The answer remains that typically sooner is better. I would say this holds even more so during the pandemic, than you think. It’s never a good idea to feel rushed to hire, especially if it causes you to eliminate or short-change important steps that ensure you’re choosing the best-fit candidate who will thrive in your organization.

There are some exceptions. If it’s a role where candidates are in high-demand, such as inside sales, you don’t want to recruit so early that when you’re actually able to set a start date, your preferred candidate is long gone.

Here are four other things that continue to hold true:

1. Some candidates are reluctant to leave their current position when the economy seems uncertain. We’ve seen this cycle repeat itself during economic down-turns. Candidates sometimes choose to stay in a job that they feel they’ve outgrown or no longer enjoy because it’s known, rather than move to a new company in uncertain times. Having a recruiting partner who is highly skilled at accessing this candidate set and gaining their trust and enthusiasm makes a difference.
2. According to a recent Workonic study, “The best candidates only have to wait 10 days to find a new job.” If you’re looking for talent with skills that are in demand and you’re looking for the best in their field, understanding how to manage the attraction campaign to get those candidates engaged and to keep them engaged in your hiring process is critical. A hiring expert can help you with your strategy. And if you don’t have the bandwidth or expertise to fulfill it, there are talent firms who excel at engaging the best talent on your behalf.
3. Jobvite found that, “A Recruiter’s conversation skills account for 40% and appearance/personal style for another 37%, as the decisive factors that impact candidates’ view of the company.” At JESSI Search, we find that using a highly skilled outside resource can set you ahead. When an external source is speaking positively on your behalf and managing communication and the hiring process well, and then you reinforce the positive messages they’ve heard and experienced during your internal interview process, candidates continue to collect positive data that impacts their decision on whether or not a position and organization is the right one for them.
4. One more set of stats from Career Builder that you might also want to keep in mind is, “78% of employers feel they do a good job setting expectations upfront and communicating throughout the hiring process, while only 47% of job-seekers agree.” Again, talent acquisition experts are living this on a daily basis. They know the value of frequent and positive communication and can give you the added bandwidth to cover this well.

Many organizations have invested even more in their people this year. Keeping a healthy and motivated team benefits all. Investing in getting the right people on your team will pay equal dividends.

“Time and money are your scarcest resources. You want to make sure you’re allocating them in highest-impact areas. Data reveals impact, and with data, you can bring more science to your decisions.” ~Matthew Trifiro, CMO at Vapor IO, and recognized as Top 50 World’s Most Influential Marketers in the Digital Economy

Many clients report receiving more applicants from larger corporations than in the past. You may be as well. If you’re considering bringing a candidate who has primarily worked for large corporations into your small business, here are four things to consider:

• Are they looking at your opportunity as a bridge job? If you have a short-term need and a candidate can bring near term value, hiring someone who will likely stay for a short period of time can be a win-win. In that case, JESSI Search can discuss options such as temp staffing, to fill your need. If you’re looking to add to your team long-term, this could be a costly mistake. Candidates don’t always realize the impact of cultural differences in a smaller company. They think it’s just what they’re looking for, but oftentimes leave quickly saying, “It was a lot different than I expected.” And sometimes, what they’re really saying is, “I took your position as a bridge while I searched for my ideal position.”
• What is their reason for expressing interest in your opportunity? Candidates say a lot of things based on what they think you want to hear, to prompt an offer. Their enthusiasm can be contagious. Be sure you listen and assess carefully to discern their true motivators for joining your organization.
• Do their behaviors and motivators align with the role and your company culture? Motivation can’t be taught. Motivational fit is important. JESSI Search focuses on another truth and that is, past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior. That’s why our interview process and assessment instruments focus on uncovering examples of past behavior.
• Do they bring the skills to do the job well and continue to grow with your organization? Some skills can be taught, some take time to develop, and some, like work ethic and tenacity cannot be taught. It is very important to validate that the candidate brings the right level of skills for the position to maximize value within your desired timeframe.

JESSI Search uses an assessment as part of our hiring decision-making process. It helps identify an accurate picture of the candidate’s behavior, motivators and competencies, which are key to assessing their ability to move from one environment and culture to another. Specifically, they fit your small business culture. Additionally, our assessment helps validate the interview and will also identify additional competencies to focus on to maximize their performance and possible problem areas.

Hiring is expensive and impacts the team’s time and morale. Making sure you are adding individuals with the right motivation to join and grow with your team is key. At JESSI Search, we welcome your hiring questions. Call us!

“Moving doesn’t change who you are. It only changes the view outside your window.” ~Rachel Hollis

One of the most important assets of any organization is its employees. Employees can determine success or failure, growth or stagnation. Finding and hiring the right talent can be a challenge within itself. JESSI Search has the process refined and a component is AI (Artificial Intelligence). AI provides us with an entrée into more than 250 online data sites, providing access to 350 million profiles. Even with the power of AI, it is just the beginning. Here are some of the questions you might be asking about recruiting in today’s market:

1. If you can access millions of profiles, will you be able to fill our position right away? The ability to set up search filters and immediately have a list of potential candidates is a great start to the search process. Technology plays a key role in identifying and accessing talent. It is one tool in the early stages of the recruiting process but it doesn’t guarantee that the candidates identified will be both interested in the opportunity and an ideal fit. There are many steps in the recruiting process before you get to a strong hire. Using AI sets you up for success. Working through the process with urgency, without shortcutting key steps, ensures you get the right hire for your current and long-term needs as quickly as practical.
2. Since unemployment is up, isn’t it easy to get candidates? The answer to this is simply no; it may be easier to find applicants for your position but that doesn’t guarantee they’ll be a great fit. JESSI Search focuses on finding the best candidate fit for the job and even with higher unemployment, that’s not a simple proposition. When there is an uncertain economic outlook, it’s actually more difficult to pull candidates from their current position, even if they’re in a job that doesn’t motivate them, or, that they don’t enjoy. Uncertainty can lead people to decide to wait it out before considering making a career move.
3. Budgets are tight, do I really need to pay a recruiter to help with our search? Tapping your own networks and utilizing internal resources to attract talent is a wise move, providing internal resources are not sacrificing attention to their other important priorities. If you’re not able to fill your talent pipeline with the right candidates to compare and make a strong hiring decision, it’s time to talk to an expert.

Attracting talent, screening candidates and getting to an accepted offer, requires focus and expertise. Consider consulting a recruiting partner. It’s never too early to have a conversation. They may be able to give you some pointers to help with your internal search. Be sure you don’t wait too long to retain a recruiting partner and then expect them to immediately turn around the ideal candidate. Recruiters work with a sense of urgency. The best will have a comprehensive process that results in putting forth a slate of well screened matches to your candidate profile and company culture, who are ready to interview with you. This rarely happens overnight!

“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence.” ~Ginni Rometty, Executive Chairman of IBM

There may not be a better time to invest in your sales team than now. In a highlighted article in Sales Pro Central on July 31, 2020, Christopher Croner was quoted as saying, this is “The greatest opportunity in 70 years to hire high-performance salespeople.” Whether you’re in a position to hire talent that’s currently available; or, you want to motivate and retain your existing team, understanding what makes your value proposition unique and the competencies needed to sell to your target customers is key.

If you have an existing team with strong sales reps, benchmarking your team is a great investment. The key to getting the right people into the right position is being able to scientifically measure the degree to which they have the right behaviors and an understanding of how they will do the job. Equally important is understanding job motivations and do they support being happy and motivated doing and staying with the job. This essentially answers: Are they right for the job?

Creating a benchmark or template of what the job requires starts with getting the input of subject-matter-experts to identify the traits of the position. JESSI Search uses a tested and validated Job Report Questionnaire tied to job accountabilities to obtain this information. Once your benchmark is complete, future candidates can be compared against the benchmark and each other to facilitate choosing the best potential candidate.

Christopher also recognized that, “Salespeople are essential to businesses. A major challenge has always been that there are simply not enough great salespeople to go around.” The unique opportunity in today’s market, is that there are more of the best performing salespeople on the market than there have been in decades. Just remember, it’s not as simple as going out and getting one. You must ensure that you have specifically defined what you need your sales reps to do and then find one who has the right competencies and is a culture-fit, so they will soar within your company.

Benchmarking what the job requires, coupled with a strong interview process using behavior-based questions, helps hiring managers to get away from their “happy ears” where they are hearing what they want to hear from the candidate and making a hiring decision based on those perceptions!

We at JESSI Search have examples of how our clients have elevated their sales team’s efforts and results through the use of benchmarking and assessment. Let’s have a conversation.

“Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity, to seize everything you ever wanted in one moment, would you capture it or just let it slip.” ~Eminem, American Rapper

Hiring right, onboarding effectively, motivating and leading your team to stay productive in today’s remote hiring and work environment takes effort and expertise. Who better to assist you with your remote hiring needs than JESSI Search, a leading recruiting firm that has thrived in a remote work environment for more than a decade?

In a segment on July 28, 2020 of Good Morning America, surveyed executives indicated they are struggling with hiring and training new hires. Laszlo Bock, CEO of Humu, shared that “it’s all of the little, tiny moments that are badly missed and essential.” In the same segment, Sara Sutton, CEO of FlexJobs, indicated that, “remote work hasn’t truly been adapted into most company’s cultures.”

We’ve all become familiar with Zoom, GoToMeeting and/or other popular video conferencing apps. They make our lives easier and more connected during these stay-at-home and work-from-home times. If you’re hiring now and that means shifting to a virtual hiring model, here are a few points to make a more positive impact on your candidate’s experience:

• Prepare – Set the candidate up for success and demonstrate your competency by sending all relevant info, including links, meeting numbers and instructions on how the interview will take place, ahead of time.
• Personalize – Include a personal note when you transmit info. Remember, their impression of you starts with your first contact. To keep your candidate engaged, take the opportunity to follow up with them quickly after the session and mention something you noticed. As Laszlo points out, it is so important to not lose those little, tiny connections.
• Get Creative – Show your culture and brand. If you’re a company that starts its day with a quick stand-up team meeting each morning, start your interview standing for a moment and explain why! Or, use your company coffee mug and let them know that there are coffee connoisseurs on the team and that a new mug is part of the new hire package. Be thoughtful in weaving remote work into your culture.
• Observe – However you interview, take in as much data as possible. Notice if the candidate seems prepared, were they savvy with their video presence, and were they able to flex to this interview style. You may want to record the interview to refer back to.
• Remember it’s a 2–way street – Make a good impression on the candidate by maintaining eye contact, giving them your full attention and having the right environment for a video session; especially if you’re including others on the team. Keep participants to a small group so that the conversation is smoother and the candidate can see everyone.
• Accelerate – It’s easier to coordinate schedules for a video interview vs. meeting in person. Use this to your advantage to shorten your hiring process. While you don’t want to jump to the wrong hire, you do want to move the process so that you can make an offer as soon as you’ve moved the right candidate through the process.

If you are frustrated with the amount of work and time you are putting into your hiring and onboarding practices, we can help. We’re experts at designing and expediting the process and taking it through to great hires. We’ve helped many clients hire excellent remote workers. Let’s have a conversation about your hiring goals.

“Leaders must be close enough to relate to others but far enough ahead to motivate them.” ~John C. Maxwell, Author

We’re living through an unprecedented time. Organizations are learning to be resilient, resourceful and how to cope with a new reality. Organizational and individual competencies, strengths and weaknesses, are more visible than in normal times.

As you consider what to put on hold and what to move forward with, you should consider that this a great time to hire the team you’ve envisioned. We are finding the talent market to be more accessible and responsive than in previous months and years. Rather than putting your hiring on hold to preserve cash, consider how your talent investment will pay off by giving the advantages of getting the right people on your team to propel you forward as business begins to return to normal.

If you have a hiring need, this is the time to connect with the talent market. Here’s how:

• Show your Company Brand – This is always important. Here is an opportunity to demonstrate strong leadership during a crisis and that’s something future employees won’t forget.
• Approach the Market – If you have the bandwidth and expertise, reach out to potential candidates who fit your business needs and culture. If you don’t, partner with a talent expert who understands how to bring the best candidates for consideration.
• Demonstrate Open Communication – Great candidates are lost during the process as much by what you don’t say or how slow you are saying it, then by anything you do say. Pay attention to what you are communicating and don’t commit the error of leaving your candidate dangling without communicating for long periods of time. If your feedback steps are dragging on for two to three days, you are taking too long!
• Use Video Conferencing – This is becoming the norm. Companies are now managing the entire interview and onboarding processes very well via video conferencing and remote work options.
• Do Not forget the Assessment – Those of you who know me know that I’m a strong proponent for using an effective assessment tool as part of the interview process. Your goal is to select the best individual for your current role, company culture and future growth. There is no better way to do so than using an assessment to validate the candidate’s competencies, strengths, how they behave (or how they will perform on the job) and what motivates them. If you’re learning that resourcefulness and resiliency are in short supply on your team, now’s your chance to focus on hiring for these key competencies!
• Set a Path to Success with Onboarding – This process should always be well thought out and customized to fit the role and individual. Here is your chance to be more creative to attain faster returns! If you need assistance with developing an onboarding process, JESSI Search can help.

The JESSI Search team is here for you, not only to assist you with your hiring needs, we can also help define and execute the right individual steps to use in the hiring process. We’re also happy to serve as a resource for talent questions that you have during this unprecedented time and knowledge sharing as we have conversations with many hiring managers responding to this current state of business. Let JESSI Search partner with your business today to set your business on the right path for your future needs.

“You will come to know that what appears today to be a sacrifice will prove to be the greatest investment that you will ever make.” ~Gordon B. Hinkley

Just as August is the top buying month in Real Estate, January is known as the top hiring month. Each New Year prompts new goals and leaders identify gaps in their talent pool that need to be filled to reach those goals.

Unemployment has dropped nationwide. In some locations, like Denver, there’s a talent market where there are not enough skilled workers to fill certain positions. This can make hiring the right people to achieve your goals a daunting experience. You may be asking yourself: “When should I start the process?”, “How do I start?”, “How do I stand out against so many other organizations who are targeting the same candidates?”

Let’s break it down for you. 

1. When should you start? In the recruiting world, it is common to measure placements against a time-to-fill metric. This tracks how long it takes from the day the position is open/candidate attraction begins to the day of an accepted offer. Many factors impact the time-to-fill metric. The recognized average time-to-fill at the beginning of 2019 was 37 days. Despite the fact that many companies have condensed their hiring process, data now shows time-to-fill at 42 days. Why is there an increase? Talent is tight and it’s harder to attract the ideal talent and keep them in your hiring process through to accepted offer. 
   
   Good advice is to start your search early and at least forty-two (42) days before you want your ideal candidate to start. Not only do you need to allow time for them to give notice and finish out their current position, you also need to give time for things that might influence your time-to-fill for the position. 


2. How should you start? You’ve heard this before; your hiring process should start with three things: (1) a compelling candidate attraction campaign, (2) a realistic candidate profile, and (3) a motivating comp package. Having these three components in place positions you to launch an effective hiring campaign.


3. How do you stand out? An effective way to gain advantage against competing organizations that are targeting the same talent is to work with a talent acquisition expert. Hiring today is truly complex. A trusted talent partner who knows you and your goals, and knows how to hire well, is worth the initial investment. They can also boost your hiring brand by sharing positive examples of working with you. Our clients consistently report that they could not have accomplished making the quality hires without us. In the long run they’re saving money because with the right team in place, they’re much more effective.

To accelerate success, define a strong hiring process, work with urgency, and start the process early enough to get the right person hired. The ultimate results will be that you’re looking back having met or exceeded your goals at year end!

“You made a task that we were dreading a wonderful experience with an outcome that brought us a shining diamond!” 

New Client for JESSI Search in 2019

“100% couldn’t be happier. Exactly the type of company and people I want to work for. A dream come true.” 

Candidate placed for the above company

We all know the reputation of the recruiting industry. Submitting your information to a recruiting agency enters you into the black hole where your application disappears forever. It’s frustrating to apply for a position that you view yourself as ideal for, only to fall into this black hole. It may cause you to quit using this avenue in your job search, sticking to communicating with your network to find your next exciting career opportunity.

I recently had an applicant tell me that he was one of my candidates and I didn’t respond to him. He seemed to think that when he applied for one of our positions, I owed him a personal response. I took a moment to share with him the difference between an applicant and a candidate in our industry. An applicant applies for a position, expressing interest in the role, even if they do not meet the requirements shown for the position. A candidate is someone who has been moved into the process to assess fit and interest on both the hiring and candidate sides.

Both candidates and applicants should get some form of communication. When a position is posted, it may draw 100’s of applicants who don’t fit the requirements. It’s not realistic to send a personal note to each one. An email letting those who didn’t move forward in the interview process know that other applicants who fit the description more closely are being considered is typically generated and sent to them.

Communication with candidates is oftentimes happening via email, phone and text, with updates as the process proceeds. It serves both the hiring team and the candidate well to be in close touch and to understand where the candidate stands throughout the interview and hiring process.

In today’s active talent market, some candidates seem to think it’s all right to move out of the process by no longer responding or communicating; by “ghosting.” Perhaps it seems like this won’t matter with so many opportunities to choose from. In the recruiting industry, we all have stories of how this backfired when a previous candidate came back later with interest in another position, after showing that they don’t demonstrate the strong communication skills that they tout on their resume!

Communication is important on all sides of the equation. It is how trusted relationships are built. Don’t take yourself out of the running for an opportunity because you’ve broken trust with someone in your network who may influence future hiring for a position you covet! Just as you might think you’re owed a response when you invest your time in applying for a position, as you get the opportunity to enter the interview process, consider what you might owe those who are investing their time with you!

“You cannot antagonize and influence at the same time.” ~J.S. Knox

If you are hiring, the news right now might seem less than encouraging! Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. Job Openings Outnumber Unemployed by Widest Gap Ever: http://bit.ly/job-openings-outnumber-unemployed. That means the person you want to hire most likely is currently working for someone else. If you are thinking like many other companies, you might feel the need to throw more money at prospective employees, as validated by the Institute of Supply Management’s findings in May, 2019: http://bit.ly/filling-jobs. What are your options to avoid elevating salaries solely to attract candidates? First, recognize that hiring is more difficult than in years past and it’s also more complex. That means you need an effective plan that will help you identify the right talent attributes to gain the results you’re looking for, enable you to access the right candidates, and quickly and efficiently navigate prospective hires through your hiring process. 

The best way to ensure you are targeting the right candidates that possess the right set of competencies for the role and the culture of your organization is to benchmark the position.  Always solicit feedback from your team; benchmarking is an effective way to do so. 

These days, it’s not a candidate waiting for a call but more often, it’s a hiring manager waiting for a candidate response! Accessing the right candidates takes more skill and know how in today’s talent market. Make sure you’re using multiple avenues to reach your targeted candidates, and when you do get a response, respond quickly to keep the candidate engaged with your opportunity.

Urgency is important but don’t move so quickly that you short-change your interview process. Missing out on the person who you thought was the perfect candidate is disappointing. However, hiring the wrong person because you skipped a key step or two in your process in the rush to hire is both disappointing and costly. Stick to your plan while executing it efficiently and effectively. In February, the Wall Street Journal quoted an Indeed study that reported candidates are put off by having to clear too many hurdles. Moreover, after an offer is extended, candidates also report that delays in the process are an important factor in determining whether they will accept them.

There are talent acquisition experts who can help in each phase of the hiring process. If you’re not ready to hire a firm to recruit for you, at least engage a talent expert to help you identify the right steps if you are experiencing results that are less than optimal. 

JESSI Search, Inc. is recognized as being experts in talent acquisition. We welcome your questions and comments and are happy to help you get the hiring results you’re seeking.

“It’s often hard to just throw money at a problem when you don’t really know what the problem is.”  ~Megan Rapinoe

Recruiting is changing to meet market conditions. New ways of accessing viable talent are popping up because in today’s market conditions it’s mandatory to engage candidates quickly. A recent blog post from Talentify spoke of the “Magic Window” and the power of the first 72 hours. This refers to the window of time you should respond to candidates of interest if you want to engage them in your opportunity.

Everyone is busy and inboxes, voicemail and text messages fill up fast. If you’re trying to hire the right person, though, this isn’t an excuse you want to use for not responding. Not communicating is communicating something to a candidate. It’s communicating disinterest in having them join your team. It is also an indicator of the company culture and how people do or do not communicate.

If you have a hiring need and you’re serious about getting the best candidate onboard, managing the hiring process should be a top priority for you. A few of the things you should be prepared to do, include:

• Define your hiring process, making sure you have the right number of steps and people involved to make a solid decision.
• Keep your calendar flexible enough to schedule interviews quickly when you identify a potential candidate and make sure that others involved in the process do as well. Remember the Magic Window of 72 hours!
• In-between your interview steps, keep those candidates who have the potential to get an offer warm. You do this by keeping them informed of the steps in your process, how long it should take between each step and other relevant information about why things aren’t progressing quickly.
• While working with urgency, avoid impulsive offers just to make a hire. Work your process thoroughly. Team hiring using a scorecard is an effective approach. Including an assessment in your process helps you to validate the interview and identify unknowns, helping ensure that you make an informed decision.

If you don’t have the time or expertise to manage the process well, you should consider partnering with a talent expert. Getting the right people on your team will pay off in the end.

“Working with the JESSI Search team was great. I especially appreciated the very consistent communication.” ~ Feedback from a Regional Sales Manager candidate placed on one of our client’s teams

“I’m ready to make a change in my career, can you represent me?” At JESSI Search, we hear that a lot. We’ve earned a reputation in our field as a recruiting partner who can be trusted to know the talent market, finding candidates with the right set of competencies for the roles our clients trust us to fill, and who are open to making a change now and will stick with our client companies for years to come.

Knowing the talent market and who is available is part of our process and value to our clients. However, representing candidates through their search for a new opportunity, is not what we do.

That said, it does not mean that our candidates don’t love us. We commonly hear comments like, “Working with you is awesome. It is far better than I expected!” Because we love making the ideal match, we invest significant time and resources getting to know our client’s true business and hiring needs and also getting to know the candidates who we present to clients for consideration.

If you’re a future candidate who wants to get placed in your ideal role, it helps to understand our business before reaching out. Here are some tips to gain time with an executive recruiter:

• Do your research on the Recruiter and their Company before reaching out to them. Find a way to personally connect with them.
• Use your networking skills to gain an introduction by someone you know. You’ll increase the likelihood that they’ll open up their time for you.
• Be flexible. Make it easy for the conversation to take place by offering different ways to communicate and days/times to speak if you’re having a phone call.
• Introducing yourself and being upfront about the purpose of your call will convey that you value their time and busy schedule.
• Prepare for the call like it’s a mini-interview. When looking for your next career move, avoid spouting a rambling list of experiences, qualifications, wants and needs, without even taking a breath. It is easier to retain more with an interactive conversation rather than a barrage of information all at once.
• Maximize your call by asking who else you should speak with, as this is an ideal time to expand your network with the right people.
• You’ll also set yourself apart if you remember it’s not all about you! Ask how you can help. For instance, maybe there are positions that you aren’t interested or qualified for but you know someone else who might be a fit. Providing relevant candidates when a search is on, is a big benefit, and guarantees you’ll be remembered!

If you don’t get on a recruiter’s calendar or don’t get a call back right away, don’t take it personally. Be sensitive to the many demands recruiters have on their time and attention, especially in today’s hot talent market. If you don’t get a response, review the list above and try again later! Recruiters like to be in touch with great talent, but sometimes it’s just hard to make the time to do so.

In today’s market it costs more to recruit and takes a higher level of expertise now more than I’ve ever experienced. Hiring today requires a recruiting expert who is connected with the candidate pool and has the tools and expertise to access the ones who fit for your business needs and can match your talent value proposition with those candidates who it will attract. If you aren’t finding the best candidates and would like to learn more, contact us to have a conversation.

I recently read a post about how the gig economy is affecting business, productivity and profits.  If you are experiencing employees who seem unmotivated and not as fresh or on top of their game as previous times, they may be moonlighting well into the night.  This can be especially damaging if it’s impacting your sales team because they’re not continuously working to fill their pipelines and find potential deals.

The post gave an example of a salesman who went from earning $200,000 annually in his base + commission position, to just over $50,000. His sales leader discovered that he traded the long-term success that required planning, persistence and effort for the short-term gain that he could bring in small dollar doses from Uber after each ride.

I was curious, is this an anomaly or something more widespread? I speak to sales candidates on a regular basis. I shared this story with them and many were quick to jump in with their own stories of someone on their team who was doing the same – essentially, some sales execs are treating their jobs now as gigs with benefits.

What should you do to prevent your sales team from getting caught up in this phenomenon?

Keys to keeping your sales team engaged:

• It starts with communication. Make regular communication with the team, individuals, keeping your door open and being aware of changes in their communication patterns a priority.
• Set sales goals at the beginning of the year, making sure your team understands how they were set, have given their buy-in and are rallied to do their part to meet them.
• Set metrics to measure the right things and review them individually and with the team regularly.
• Provide tools and training to keep your sales execs sharp, focused and successful.
• Experience makes me a fan of sales comp that includes a fair base, an individually-based commission, team-based commission component plus a year-end bonus potential for extra achievement.
• If someone on the team seems checked out, check in with them. They may have something going on in their personal life that would benefit from your support. If they’ve lost their motivation and drive, don’t let them pull the team down. Move them out or reassign them, if they no longer fit your sales team’s culture and winning attitude.
• If you do find yourself in a position to expand your team or replace someone, invest well in hiring. If your hiring track record could be higher or you don’t have the experience, time or resources to hire well, consider working with an expert.
• Finally, go the extra step of using an assessment that measures competencies to ensure and validate that the candidate’s background and skill set match your candidate profile and job requirements, before finalizing your hiring decision.

Invest in your team to keep the best and help the rest to move on to the gig that fits for them!

Signs of coming Fall are around us. For me, that means sharp pencils and the start of the new school year. It also means looking forward to the first football game of the season. All of which combined with cooler days and colorful leaves make Fall my favorite season. After many years in the
search business, I’ve realized that the
hiring cycle has seasons as well.

Fall is the time of year when the eye is sharper on the year’s end-goal. Sales teams are getting clearer on their performance to meeting quota. Activity should be high to ensure that there’s a healthy pipeline to support coming in over goal at year’s end and have a strong start to the coming year. If your team’s projections aren’t where you think they should be, one of the problems could be that you don’t have the right sales reps on your team.

If hiring is in your future, think through how long this will take. Remember, the more narrowly you define your candidate profile, the more time and expertise it will take to access qualified candidates. The candidates the JESSI Search team reaches out to consistently report getting bombarded by calls from those looking to hire them. It takes expertise, skill and timing to be the one who gets a response.

Seasonality also affects how long it will take to gain a conversation with candidates. For instance, getting response from sales candidates can be very difficult in the months of June and December. These are months when they are especially focused on their quarterly goals and finishing the year strong.

If your hiring efforts aren’t getting you the results you would like, consider bringing in experts in talent acquisition. The JESSI Search team is recognized as specialists in acquiring top sales talent and other customer-facing positions, including executive-level roles.

Do you have a favorite season? What does it represent to you? Share your stories. We love hearing from you!

To grow your team, you will gain better results by clarifying the attributes of the candidates that are ideal for both the position and your company culture. Just as candidates are not all the same, neither are recruiting firms. Ease of working with a recruiting firm differs widely as does results.

On one end is the transactional firm where numbers are the game. This is measured by the number of resumes they can push in front of you. On the other end is a recruiting firm that takes a partnership approach. This type of firm will take the time to understand your business and culture and helps you to define the most important candidate attributes and competencies for each position.

Understanding these differences in approach and deciding which one best serves your purposes and time constraints is important. If you have the time to go through many resumes yourself, whether they’re a close fit to your exact needs or not, you can go with a recruiter who is sending a volume of resumes. If you’re ready to get the right person hired as quickly as possible, you’ll save time by partnering with a recruiter who takes the upfront time to get to know your business and truly understand the candidate profile that will serve you best and has the expertise to deliver on that!

Take the time to ensure you can get what you expect and need when choosing your approach and partner in the hiring process.

In a 1947 version of the comic book character, Superwoman, she experiences a spell compelling her to believe she has super powers.  What could you accomplish with the belief that you have super powers?

While walking through the Costco parking lot after battling my way through the aisles to cover my list, a lady bent down and picked something up. It was a LEGO® version of Superwoman and she handed it to me and said, “You look like a Superwoman.” I was so struck by her words, that I kept it and that small figure has stood on my desk for the past few months.

I believe our super powers come from our mindset and self-discipline. I look at her when I have an especially busy day with a lot to accomplish. She spurs me on when I need to pick up the phone and make a call or move outside of my comfort zone. I’m energized by the results I achieve after this little boost of inspiration. Shifting my mindset facilitates self-motivation and builds energy that results in small successes growing into bigger wins.

We are experts in finding, assessing and placing the best sales talent for our clients’ teams. We recognize and further assess for self-motivation and the discipline it takes to consistently follow through on the steps in one’s sales process – these are critical competencies for quota achievement and sales success.

What’s your super power? How do you practice that super power to motivate yourself and others? We always enjoy hearing your experiences!

We represent many companies’ value proposition to the talent market.  Accessing the best talent is often tough. Having a strong value proposition and experts who can position it to the right candidates certainly helps. One aspect I enjoy hearing about is the unique benefits employers provide to keep their team engaged and their employees healthy and happy.

Like so many others, we are growing our team and also want to attract the best talent. Early this year, I took pause to consider our policy on paid time off and I asked myself if we even need a vacation policy. We’re a team of achievers who enjoy our work and take serving our customers very seriously. I decided that the best policy for our team is unlimited vacation. In other words, we don’t track vacation days used. Thus far, my only concern is that without a specific number of days in front of them, my team will take less time for rest, relaxation and recharging!

Other unique ideas that our customers have shared include:

• Adding a day to employees’ PTO bank and designating it for a mental-health-break day.
• Reimbursing employees up to a set amount when they bring in receipts for time spent on family activities.
• Lunch and learns but the twist is that lunch is catered in by the company from a new restaurant each month and the learning is an off-work topic.
• Providing all employees with access to a paid health club membership.
• Giving employees the opportunity to earn a lower healthcare co-pay by participating in healthy activities and preventative checkups.
• Others bring it to work with onsite yoga, massages and access to healthy snacks in the breakroom.

Send us your favorite employee perks. We’d love to hear from you!

JESSI Search helps our customers source, hire and retain the best talent. If maintaining the best talent is key to your business success, let’s have a conversation soon.

Several upcoming college grads and even parents are asking questions about their job search. My own daughter has called me numerous times and I’m proud to say that she’s accepted a great position, starting a couple of weeks after her graduation. For many graduates, this is the first time they are in a serious job search.

What differentiates one candidate from the next when there is not a career history to demonstrate achievements? For starters:

1. Showing genuine interest
2. Their stuff’s in order and they’re in order
3. They align what they’ve done with what they could do
4. It’s ok to reach for the stars . . . but keep it real during the interview process!

You might be getting the advice not to jump at the first opportunity that crosses your radar. I agree. You don’t want to come across as someone who is “shopping” an opportunity. Hiring managers want to hire someone who wants to be a part of their team. If you come across like a kid in a candy store who is making up their mind what to treat themselves to today, you won’t be viewed as a serious candidate.

If this is the first time you’ve applied for a position using a resume, this is where you want to make an investment. A high-quality resume gets noticed and helps you to showcase how you can bring value to an organization. Make sure you show your background in the best light and have several sets of eyes review it before sharing it publicly. You may want to invest in a reliable resume writing service as well. If you earn an interview, maximize this opportunity. Spend extra time on the little things that show that you pay attention to the details – get out your iron, shine your shoes, make sure you’re put together to make the best first impression! Be certain to arrive early enough so that you feel relaxed rather than rushed, but not so early that you’re infringing on the interviewer’s time pre-interview.

Don’t be afraid to apply for positions where you cannot check every box on the description.  Many candidates are hired who don’t meet every requirement. In fact, this can be viewed as a positive opportunity for growth. You do want to show that you have the competency to meet each requirement. Show the results from previous jobs, school and volunteer work that validate you can succeed in the one you’ve applied for. Pay attention to their terminology and use it when you can. When you’re fortunate enough to get the interview, research the company thoroughly and have examples from your background fresh in your mind to share.

A final bit of advice. You’ve invested a lot to get your degree. Pat yourself on the back! But don’t inflate that achievement before you’re due. Don’t focus so much on where you want to end up in your career that you miss the opportunity to begin it. Focus on winning the opportunity at hand. And don’t forget to provide updates along the way to those who have helped you with your search!

The great news is that the job market is strong. More requests are coming from our clients to add recent college grads to their teams. You’re a hot commodity! Putting thought and effort into your job search process will set you apart from others with similar experience levels.

How did I get here again? We hear this a lot from hiring managers while managing their hiring process. They believe they have diligently worked the steps only to realize a few months after the candidate starts that they are not such a great fit after all.

Before reworking your candidate profile or adding additional steps in the hiring process, you may want to consider these questions:

1. Do I really understand the gap between a bad hires’ skills, motivations and behaviors and what’s needed for the position and our culture?
2. Did we spend time upfront building a strong attraction campaign to bring in the best talent?
3. Was the candidate set up for success from their first day on the job and at incremental steps as they learned the expectations for the role?
4. Am I ready to let past mistakes go and effectively and efficiently work the hiring process to my next great hire?

If questions one and three can’t be answered with a resounding yes, using an assessment tool as part of your hiring and on-barding processes will bring value when you are ready to go through the hiring process again.

Teams with several individuals in the same position benefit from benchmarking the job to develop a complete picture of the position. This allows you to compare talent to the unique requirements of the position. If you’re not benchmarking the position, at a minimum you should be clear on the top results expected from individuals in the position. Your interview process can then be built around competencies that are key to delivering these results.

Candidates typically start a new position motivated to bring value and succeed. Providing the right resources, access to key information, and a specific guide of expectations as your new hire starts in their new role will help to set them for maximum success. Tailoring this to the individual’s identified drivers and strengths provides an added edge. A new hire who is a strong fit for the role, gets off to a great start and is positioned to continue to gain momentum with the organization, will be a valuable long-term asset.

Using an assessment to uncover areas to delve into deeper during the interview process with additional behavior-based questions will give you a much better idea of who you are hiring. This will keep you from saying, “how did I get here again?” shortly after a hiring decision! An added value with using the right assessment is that it gives insight to tailor the on-boarding process to get each individual new hire off to the best start.

We invite you to share your hiring stories and to reach out if you have questions about building an effective hiring process or how to set new hires up for success.

It always makes sense to scope a position when you are ready to add someone new to your team. Asking yourself and your team a series of questions before jumping into the hiring process will result in an improved interview process, a more effective search and ultimately the best hire. A few questions to consider are:

• What personality traits fit well in our culture? For instance, high energy vs. steady, innovative vs. consistent
• What are the top three or four outcomes we expect the new hire to accomplish?
• Then, what’s the timetable to accomplish those things and how will their success be measured?
• What do we have to offer that will attract the right candidate?
• What’s the cost if we don’t hire anyone?

Focusing on having the right competencies, skill set and demonstrated results to match the position, rather than being too focused on years of aligning industry experience, is smart. You may even consider using an assessment tool to benchmark the skills and competencies of the most successful individuals who are doing the job well now or who have done the job well in the past. For example, to identify what sets your top sales reps apart from less successful reps on the team.

Remember, when you define the criteria for the role you have open, ask yourself the cost of not filling it. If it’s a big impact on the team, you may want to consider diminishing parameters tied to years of industry experience or the type of degree. Instead, focus on finding the person who demonstrates a strong aptitude and motivation for the role, with aligning past successes. The same flexibility should be shown if your business growth is stalled while you wait for the “perfect” candidate to appear! Don’t let yourself lose opportunity or overworked team members by chasing a purple squirrel.

Our family experienced an unexpected loss this summer. As you might expect, most people want to help but often do not know how or what to do. I remain personally heartened by the many meaningful gestures by so many people. One of these people took me to dinner, making a statement that has stuck with me. She said, “I’m not going to say to you, call me when you’re ready, because you won’t.” Instead, she took responsibility to find the right time and avenue to connect and follow up with me.

I believe there is a correlation with this approach and business development efforts. Creating the right target list is important, along with being organized and having the resources you need readily available, to make a difference.

The key is for you to take responsibility and consistently reach out to create the opportunity to communicate voice-to-voice, or person-to-person. Decision makers are busy, so if you are not getting through, keep trying at different times. Talk to someone in the company and find out if there is a better time or number to call. When you connect and have gained permission to continue the conversation, be confident and share what other similar decision makers find valuable with your services. Most importantly, ask questions and listen. If the timing isn’t right, ask them to suggest a better time to connect and follow up with a calendar invitation.

If you leave the ball in someone else’s court to call “when they’re ready,” you may not be the one who is there when they are ready. Part of building and keeping strong relationships is staying connected.

Most business and sales leaders are focused on finishing the year strong. Some are just focused on finishing the year without being in the tank. Regardless of where you fall, you can look to your sales leadership and your sales team for the answer.

If your team is not positioned to finish the year above plan, the reason may be one of these:

1. The excuse many are quick to express: I never really bought into our team goal, it was unrealistic. You don’t want this to be the reason because it is essentially saying that you have little control over your ability to come in at or over plan.
2. You’ve been able to overachieve in the past by winging it. Who needs a plan? If you’re not where you want to be, the answer is you do! Successful sales reps and teams start with the end in mind and work backwards to define the plan down to daily activity goals.
3. You have a plan and it’s dependent on each member of the team performing at their peak. If this didn’t happen, you’ll be able to identify the weak link(s). When you do, ask yourself if you contributed to their low performance by not setting them up for success, failing to provide them with the right tools and training, or not being available for improvement coaching, encouragement, or recognition of small wins.
4. You failed to effectively lead your team. While this is a tough reason to acknowledge, the good news is it puts the solution under your control.
5. Finally, you may not have the right team in place. While the talent market is tight, especially for top sales talent, we know how and continue to place great additions to our clients’ sales teams.

If you’re looking for different results in the upcoming selling year, JESSI Search is here to partner with you to find and hire strong sales reps and sales leaders. We are connected to some of the best and brightest sales training and consulting resources, if that’s where your needs fall. Check in and tell us how you’re ending your year and how we might assist you with an “out of the park” 2018 selling year!

My father continues to attest the little things get you ahead in life. You might say there are two kinds of people, those who pay attention to the little things and doing them well and those who believe you get ahead in life by cutting corners. I’m a believer that cutting corners catches up with you in the long run. And that the extra effort pays off when doing something completely and well.

When partnering with our clients to secure the best hire, some little things we discuss include:

•  Investing the time to uncover and define what makes your organization unique and great, allowing you to approach the candidate market with your best attraction campaign.
• Involving multiple people in the interview cycle so that you gain different perspectives and the candidate gets the opportunity to have a more complete perspective of your organization.
• Using an assessment tool as part of your search process.
• Keeping the candidate engaged, what we call “warm” in our industry, during the entire process. This includes initial communications through the selected candidate’s start date.
• Ensuring an on-boarding plan is in place. More of our candidates are asking about prospective employers’ on-boarding process when considering joining their organization.

When coaching a candidate, we identify the little things that can set them apart. Some of these include:

• Developing a brief statement describing their attributes and experience so they can share it regularly with individuals who may be able to help network them into companies that fit their career goals.
• Networking with individuals who can introduce them to the hiring manager or HR leaders. This helps move your information to the top of the stack!
• Making sure there is consistent communication with individuals they’ve engaged with during their search process. Candidates who are lax staying in touch send the message that they have weak interest. I’ve said to candidates before that I didn’t think they were interested in an opportunity we discussed because they didn’t stay in touch with me.
• Tracking their entire search campaign to keep on target.

These little things often make the difference between securing the best hire and getting the offer for your dream job.

Personal accountability is a trait valued by every organization and a trait every employee desires in their employer. It is too common for a hiring manager to make an enthusiastic hiring decision only to experience the candidate’s evil twin shortly afterwards. So who is accountable in these situations? Perhaps both but if you are the hiring manager, you have to wonder, “What did I miss?” Ask yourself, “Is it possible I let my emotions override evidence and reason?” Emotions appear uninvited and can easily influence actions and decisions. Strong emotions create urgency and invite impulsive decisions. Good feelings and likeability are important but must accompany facts that the candidate aligns with the role based on their relative experience and evidence of accomplishments.

Just as good employees are accountable for their actions; good employers are accountable for their decisions. It may be worth considering whether your last hiring mistake was an emotional decision or a rational one. Asking your favorite ‘tough’ questions may derail the interview. Instead, ask questions that will provide examples and evidence of the skills and competencies you need, and then run your ‘gut’ check.   Don’t be that hiring manager who insists “I’ve made my decision – don’t confuse me with the facts.”

In a tight job market you want to move quickly to capture the ideal candidate. It is easy to dismiss negative information when the candidate demonstrates other attractive and advantageous skills and competencies. You will make the best hiring decision by considering if and how you will manage any negatives that appear during the interview process. Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. Some people do change, however many only claim they have changed.   Explore the areas of concern with compassion, empathy and caution. It is important to maintain the candidate’s self-esteem, so acknowledge that everyone makes mistakes. The best candidates are not defensive, and instead will take responsibility for their mistakes and have examples of what they learned and how they grew from the experience.

After fully considering a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, not only will you make a well-informed hiring decision, you will also be able to customize on-boarding to the candidate to maximize their initial effectiveness, value and excitement in their new position.

Recruiting offers the opportunity to help companies through growth and change. JESSI Search works with leaders at the best of times and during the most uncertain times in their business. This experience provides a look into different leadership styles. Some are truly admirable, gaining great results.

JESSI Search enjoys growth led by new, returning and referred customers. The change and challenges of recruiting offer the chance to reflect on the best leaders and styles, especially during challenging times.

An example of a long-admired leader is quoted in Christina DesMarais’s piece in Inc.com titled “23 Things These Successful Executives Do Every Day, No Matter What.” Tamra Ryan, CEO of Women’s Bean Project, a social enterprise that provides women a way to learn transferrable skills by producing gourmet packaged foods, shared “Ask ‘I wonder’ questions several times a day.” She describes this as, “I wonder if we could…I wonder what would happen if…I wonder if it might help to… Starting with ‘I wonder’ assumes I don’t know the answer, and pushes those around me to think differently about a problem, open their minds to another approach, and leads to innovation.”

Many of the items mentioned in this post are interesting and impactful. You may want to check it out, as well: “23 Things These Successful Executives Do Every Day, No Matter What.”

Tamra’s approach really resonates and gives me inspiration to ask my team “I wonder” questions, such as: I wonder where our business will be in 2018 if we expand into a new industry segment? I wonder if it might help to add recruiting leadership? I wonder where our next company get-together should be?”. “I wonder how we can better serve our clients?”

Take a minute to ask yourself and your team, “I wonder….?” Or, find a couple of items that strike you and try them out!

After interviewing hundreds of employers and many more candidates, I have developed a focused interview style that clearly identifies the attributes they want to see in a candidate, including those from a cultural, skill set, and experience perspective.

Even though you may meet the identified requirements and attributes, there are a few common blunders that will hinder you as a candidate from getting in front of the employer to express your abilities. First is a poorly written resume. Consider that as a recruiter, I initially assess if I can effectively represent you to my client. I cannot do that with a resume that does not clearly reflect your background, skills and successes.   Unless I have time to rewrite it, or help you rewrite it, chances are good it will likely be set aside.

Secondly, employers generally dislike candidates giving extensive detail about what is wrong with their current position or what went wrong in a past position. Companies are fluid and out of need, positions shift and change. Employers understand that and know their value proposition that initially attracted you to join the company, may have changed. What doesn’t work is when your message says you are running away from something rather than working toward the goals of the company and/or your career.

Something I’ve heard more than once from a client is that while you, as a candidate, seem to meet all the requirements, they don’t receive a strong and clear feeling that you are eager to be part of their team. This is a big one! Hiring someone is a big commitment for an employer and they want to work with people they like and that give the same commitment and excitement in return. If you are not giving that vibe, they may mentally move on before you get the chance.

If you are not getting through the process and receiving an offer, you might want to ask yourself a few questions. Are my written documents representing me well? Do I appear to be running from something rather than moving towards the next step in my career? Am I showing enthusiasm for the opportunity and the company? Your answers will likely reveal why you did not make the short list or receive an offer.

The April Jobs Report released by the Labor Department shows better than expected jobs growth in April and the lowest unemployment level since May 2007. Optimism is up and the job market is hot! If you’re in growth mode, you may be looking at hiring in the near future. If this is the case, understanding how to hire well in a tight talent market is essential.

The best sales execs do their research before following up on a lead or approaching a prospective client. Part of this research includes looking at what their competitors have to offer. Likewise, understanding the current talent market is vital to position your company and hiring opportunity to attract the best candidates. If you don’t know what competencies you’re targeting and who your competition is, you won’t be in the best position to acquire top talent.

I coach my clients to clearly define their value proposition for the talent market and to share it throughout the organization. Questions you might ask include:

1. What’s great about working for our company?
2. What’s our company culture?
3. Why have other employees joined our company?
4. Why do they stay?

Face the market with transparency about who you are and the things that make you a uniquely great place to work. That way, you can focus on attracting employees who fit best with you and quickly screening out those who don’t.

In the recruiting industry, there’s a key metric called Time-to-Hire. It measures the time from when a position is first posted for candidates to apply through to an accepted offer and candidate start date. In most recruiting efforts there are multiple steps from start to finish. The key is to minimize the time for each step and time between these steps, thus keeping the search moving with the most viable candidates staying engaged from start to finish.

To present a consistent and winning value proposition and manage your time-to-hire, it helps to have each person involved in the process on the same page. Investing time upfront defining the goals for the position, putting your recruiting campaign together and gaining agreement from your hiring team, will position you to pull targeted candidates into your process and keep them focused on joining your team.

If you would like further information or are interested in discussing your hiring needs, we invite you to get in touch with JESSI Search.

According to a recent Forbes article, the cost of on-boarding an employee is at roughly $240,000. And, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, the price of a bad hire is at least 30 percent of the employee’s first-year earnings. For a small company, a five-figure investment in the wrong person is a threat to the business. The True Cost of a Bad Hire – It’s More than You Think, (Forbes, September 2016)

Do you have a well-defined hiring process?  Or, do you spread the word, post the job and then interview those candidates who express interest and seem to have the most applicable background?  If you’re not investing in your hiring process, you may pay a high price, not only in dollars but also with the impact on your reputation and culture.

So how should you be hiring? Several steps are easy to skip or gloss past when it’s critical you get someone onboard quickly.  A few of the steps you want to ensure you don’t miss are defined below:

1. Building the Candidate Profile – It’s hard to hit the target if you don’t know what you’re aiming for. You should build a profile of the ideal candidate based on the components identified in the position description and aspects of your company culture. Using an assessment to benchmark your best talent and further hone in on the right attributes for future hires is one of the best ways to ensure a strong hire each time. 
2. Developing the Attraction Campaign
3. Setting the Compensation Band
4. Putting together your Marketing pieces
5. Sourcing and Qualifying Candidates
6. Initial Interview/Phone Screen
7. Assessment
8. Final Interviews
9. Selection
10. Offer and Negotiation
11. Acceptance and Start Date
12. On-boarding Plan for Accelerated Success – But wait, you’re not done yet! Don’t overlook the importance of effectively on-boarding your new hires: https://jessisearch.com/how-jessi-search-closes-candidates/

If these steps are more than you and your team have the time to invest in when you have hiring needs, you may want to consider partnering with a reputable recruiting agency or talent acquisition consultant to assist you. It will soon become apparent that having a trusted talent acquisition partner sets you apart and results in accessing and closing the right people so you can achieve your business goals.

I love to hear from candidates after they start with our client companies.  We work especially hard to make a great match and post-start feedback is a valuable measure for us.  We recently placed a candidate with a large company in a role where they would have peers and employees all over the globe.  It was wonderful to hear the lengths her new employer went to ensure that she was introduced to varied team members and walked through the internal processes and tools that she needed to hit the ground running.  We’ve heard a different story from candidates who want to network with us because they are disenchanted with the company they recently joined, leading them to continue their search.

We’ve all been there.  It’s our first week and we don’t even yet know where the rest room is located!  Learning new names, places and the lay of the land can be daunting. Organizations who are great at helping new members feel immediately welcome and part of the team do these key things:

1. Focus on On-boarding – It’s not all about the paperwork!
2. Get to know them as a Person
3. Provide Single Points-of-Contact
4. Have Relevant Training
5. Help to Quickly Engaging in their Work
6. And if they’re Relocating, they do more

Yes, there is paperwork requiring completion to allow access to systems, provide tools and, of course, get paid.  But a key focus while on-boarding should also be to make your new hires feel connected.  Some companies put together a photo collage of teammates, delineating what each team member does, how they can help you, and perhaps most importantly, what interests each individual in their work and outside of the job.

Assessments are sometimes used as part of the interview process.  I’m a proponent of using them for this purpose and also the added benefit of using the data to target customization of the on-boarding process based on the individual’s style of processing information and communication.

Assigning a mentor for the first 30 days is common.  Whether you assign one mentor or a single point-of-contact for different areas of the job, having a defined go-to person is a benefit.

You hired this individual for a specific skill set and experience.  However, there are things that the rest of you know about the company’s objectives, drivers and approach that the new hire needs to understand.  Having a well thought out training program pays dividends.  I was extremely impressed by one of our US-based client’s objectives to have all new hires for their sales expansion on-board before their sales strategy kick-off meeting in Europe.  While there was expense to send a multitude of new sales executives to this week-long international meeting and training sessions, the pay off in allowing them to hit the ground running was huge.  It’s interesting to note that every one of those individuals remains with the company and reports a high level of satisfaction!

A key desire when someone has started in a new role is to “get started!”  Thinking through the tasks you will assign in the first four weeks, 30 days and 90 days and communicating these helps to give the new hire an understanding of what will be expected of them from the get-go.  It will also allow them to prepare and focus their attention and feel like they are contributing more quickly. Ideally, you’ll be developing this plan jointly.  It’s important to seek your employee’s opinions and this is a way to show that you value their opinion from the beginning.

Finally, if you’ve had to look outside of your area to find the right person, helping them and their family to have a smooth transition to their new home location is a way to differentiate your company culture as welcoming, as well as helping to remove some of the distraction that goes along with a relocation.  Some companies put together a full book or packet of information from real estate data and Realtors to schools to favorite restaurants and service organizations.  These are always appreciated!

The risk of not implementing a strong on-boarding process is that the person you invested so much in finding and hiring, turns your opportunity into their bridge job to a position with a new company whose culture they view as more welcoming!

You’ll never regret investing to hire right or in your employees’ start with the company.  We’re interested in hearing what you’ve experienced as a new hire.  And, we hope you’ll also share your creative ideas to help a new employee to feel welcome, quickly integrated into the team, and set up for success in their role.

Anxious for that perfect job opportunity, you reach out to recruiters in your desired location and career discipline.  Right approach?  Maybe, depending on how you manage it.  You wouldn’t approach a potential employer without preparation; don’t make that mistake when reaching out to recruiters whose expertise you are requesting and potential representation into their clients you are seeking.   First, stop and think about these things:

How were you introduced to the recruiter?   You’ll have greater success if you’re introduced by a mutual contact. As the leader of a recruiting organization, I get 10-15 candidate contacts from job-seekers a week.  The initial encounter often goes something like this, “I came across your name and think you could help me in my search.  Can we speak or meet?”  To me, this comes across with a “what’s in it for me” attitude from the job seeker.  There’s nothing compelling in this type of outreach that inspires me to open up my calendar and invest my time with them.  However, I do value those candidates who are referred to me by someone I trust and respect, and those who create interest from the first encounter.  Those with a random approach are very unlikely to make it onto my calendar.

Next, consider your expectations of the recruiter and how you communicate it.  Do you understand how recruiting agencies work?  Their customers are hiring managers.  Recruiters make a living by gaining the trust of clients with hiring needs who compensate them to find the right candidate set and then help them to navigate the interview and hiring process so that they can make the best hire.  This results in the recruiter earning a placement fee.

If you’re treating recruiters like you are their customers and it is the recruiter’s responsibility to invest their time in serving your interest to find the best job for you, you have it backwards.  You would best be served by a career coach who could help you to put your best foot forward when approaching the market, and to navigate each step through acceptance of your next great career opportunity.

If your motive is to be a visible and valuable potential candidate for a recruiter, develop your value proposition.  Have a high quality resume, once you’re sure that your LinkedIn profile makes the best representation of you, connect with them.  Think about your introduction, and concisely let them know what value you bring for their client, along with your experience and skill set.   Above all, keep in mind that this is your opportunity to differentiate yourself, by highlighting your accomplishments and successes; the same thing you will want to do in front of prospective employers.

Lastly, it’s important to remember that recruiters are assessing each interaction with you.  I often get the message that, “I didn’t take the time to prepare because you’re just the recruiter.”  And you wouldn’t believe the things candidates whom I barely know have shared with me.  Don’t expect I won’t forget that!  You can guess where these candidates land when I’m prioritizing outreach efforts and candidate set.

Here are a few things that may be highlighted by my clients:

1. We need someone who has strong written skills, as they will be preparing presentations and communications to our customers. If you’ve sent me e-mails and resumes with errors, it is obvious to me that you do not meet this client’s requirements.

2. We’re a small company where everyone jumps in to help and puts forth a great effort. If you display a sense of entitlement, expecting me to re-write your resume for you, I know that you will not be a good fit for this company.

3. This position demands excellent communication with internal and external customers. If during our dialogue I haven’t received a full sense of your value, I’m not getting the message that you communicate well, and therefore, do not feel that you meet this client’s requirements.

We build our reputation on being able to access candidates that others can’t and by presenting candidates for our clients’ consideration with whom we are confident will impress them!

It is a tight talent market and having access to the right candidates at the right time is golden!  If you do your part to effectively gain visibility with recruiters who may be able to place you in the future, you are creating a win-win situation when they get that next job opening that does match your skill set, and they can present YOU to their client for consideration with confidence.

Your position is approved; you’re ready to get the right person on your team ASAP. You post it and spread the word. The right applicants will follow and you’ll have a selection of interested candidates to choose from. Or is it that simple?

To select the most qualified candidates who will fit your culture, and make a long-term contribution, you need to do more than spread a net to catch those who might be looking at any given moment. It is important to define your unique value proposition.

More than half the candidates we bring to our clients for consideration are in a job that they find satisfying. They’re not looking for a new position. They are passive candidates, or as I like to say, “They don’t even realize they are ready for their next exciting career move until we contact them!” Approach all candidates with your value proposition in mind. Passive candidates in particular need to be convinced to enter the interview process and you can increase their motivation by ensuring your value proposition resonates with them. This will increase your success in attracting the best candidates and making hiring a decision that will serve you best now and for the future.

Your value proposition includes things such as:

• Aspects of your culture, those things that employees appreciate and enjoy
• Unique benefits you offer your employees
• What you’re doing now that excites people who work on your team (aspects of your work)
• How you prepare them to be a strong contributor on the team
• Future plans that they’ll want to be a part of

We don’t start a client search until we understand their value proposition. Oftentimes, we help them to develop it so that they’re setting themselves apart from the first communication through the offer process. Compensation is oftentimes not the number one driver in a decision to accept a position. This has been validated by candidates who have accepted our client’s offer. A candidate who joined our client’s team for a leadership role in Training and Development said, “I had another higher paying offer but I was treated so well by every person I interacted with throughout the interview process, that I knew I wanted to be a part of that culture.”

In today’s difficult talent market, candidates expect to hear and see your value proposition before making a decision to join your team. A well defined value proposition that is communicated to everyone involved in the interview and hiring process will set you and your opportunity apart from others.