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