Inspirational

Monday’s State of Mind

When looking for a job, even in this market, you have to believe you will find one better than the one you have or had. BUT you can’t just believe, you have to tie it WITH your behavior. Belief + Behavior = Results. I know, it sounds basic, but even if one voice in your head doesn’t believe you can do it, guess what, it doesn’t happen. One negative nelly on your team will ruin the team’s efforts. Well, same with the team inside you. I know this first hand. This was today’s Monday Mindset message and I wanted to share it with you.

My Coach, Julie Ciardi, works with women who want to either be more in their jobs/companies, develop a side gig, or a full on business. What I love is how much coaching she does for FREE. It’s why I give FREE consultations to people and businesses with WAYPOINT TALENT. To get FREE access to some of her weekly messages and some trainings, click here:  https://lnkd.in/gHdtf3hY

Talent Acquisition Strategy

STOP Funnel Blocking

Are you wondering why your time-to-fill is increasing, why very few people are applying to your jobs, or your hiring managers are getting frustrated with their candidate selection? You might be unintentionally limiting amazing people from entering your recruiting funnel and the lack of results is painful for all. I’ll go as far to say it’s also painful for the people who choose not to be your candidates and pass on the opportunity to join your company.

I call this Funnel Blocking and I am on a mission to help you STOP Funnel Blocking immediately! Your candidate attraction section of your talent acquisition strategy is the first stage in the recruiting funnel, and if you are experiencing any of the three results above or a host of others, look at this stage first. I don’t care what you call it; Awareness, Attraction, Sourcing, or Interest, you need people to be attracted to your job/company and click that APPLY button now! I call people in this stage prospects because they are not candidates yet and when you have blockages in your top of funnel, you are preventing great people from becoming your candidates.

I compare the recruiting funnel to the sales funnel A LOT. In the sales funnel, companies do everything possible for people to become customers, so why don’t we do this in our talent acquisition strategy? Now I know what you are saying right now, “I only want qualified people for each job to apply.”  YES, I agree, and my answer to that is qualified people can be getting blocked at the beginning stage of your process and removing the blockages is key to your success in finding top talent effectively and converting them to your employees.

Are you Funnel Blocking? I’m looking for HR leaders in small to mid-sized companies who are not happy with their current candidate flow and need answers quickly. Let me save you time by offering a Free STOP Funnel Blocking Audit. This is where I look at the top of your funnel from a candidate’s perspective with an expert eye…objectively. Save yourself time, get another opinion, get a new idea or two. Did I mention free?

About me: I am committed to keep HUMAN in Human Resources with you. With 30 years of talent acquisition achievements in nearly every function and industry, I help companies achieve their recruiting goals quickly.

For your Free STOP Funnel Blocking Audit, connect with me and share your email.

Cynthia's Take

Cynthia’s Take on CEOs’ Decision to Laying Off Talent Acquisition People:

CEOs are making a big mistake laying off their Recruiters and other members of their Talent Acquisition teams right now. Especially if you are still hiring in other areas of your company, need more sales, or have business problems that need attention. Let me explain how these valuable people in your company can be an amazing resource to move the company forward.

·      Hiring in other areas: Your Recruiters know about the roles they recruit for and with little to no training, could fill those roles all day or a portion of their day. Positions such as sales, customer service, marketing, business analysis, project management, social media, process improvement, people management, human resources, credit services, lead generation, sales support, account management, trade show coordination or hosting, help desk support, administration, and corporate strategy are top of mind.

·      Sales: Recruiting is sales. They know your products and services as we talk to candidates about them all day long. As mentioned above, utilize Recruiters in any area of your sales organization from calling past customers to reactive interest to generating new leads.

·      Business problems: Recruiters are strategic, innovative, and intuitive. We solve problems daily and would be great at offering a new perspective with the amount of knowledge we already know about the business. Use them as a think tank or align them with the head of each team to be a temporary Chief of Staff.

My take is that you are losing a precious resource and being short-sighted when you lay off members of your Talent Acquisition team as you will need us again. Keep us working for you and have us become a more valuable and well-rounded employee then before the economic downturn. What do you think?

Amazing and engaged talent prevents layoffs! #CynthiasTake #recruiter

Cynthia's Take Hiring Manager Resume writing

You are not a number, but you have to use them.

Job Seekers: USE NUMBERS on your resume and profiles. Everyone has numbers, not just sales and accounting people. Tell me what you do and I’ll tell you a number you have. #, $, %, <, >, MM, B, etc. #resume

Hiring Managers: Don’t treat candidates like numbers, but look for numbers on their resume and profiles. What have they done for their company lately and that will tell you what they might do for you and your company later. #BeAWaypointTalentHM

Job Opportunity

Is Your Leader Giving You What Your Sales Team Needs to Succeed?

“Great salespeople are relationship builders who provide value and help their customers win.” Jeffrey Gitomer.   Distribution sales is 100% this!  Leading salespeople who sell wholesale products are inspiring professionals to go above and beyond to attract new customers, grow current customers’ businesses, and provide solutions. Confidentially contact: [email protected]

Industry: Building products distribution

Opportunity: Led by a top regional leader and a dynamic sales leader with a rich background in building products and sales strategy.

Location: 2 openings in 2 great cities; DFW and Houston

Compensation: Base, Commission, Profit Sharing and more

Experience: It’s important that you successfully lead salespeople who sell to B2B.

What to expect: A thorough discussion with Cynthia about your sales achievements, philosophy, leadership, and industry knowledge. 

Hiring Manager

Re-set, re-adjust, re-start, re-focus…as many times as you need to, hiring manager.

It isn’t easy being a hiring manager, but someone has to do it!  When you have an opening and you aren’t finding the right person, take this advice.  It’s time to re-set your expectations, re-adjust your requirements, and re-start your search.  This time, focus on the core qualities and requirements you need and decide what you will train.  This would be a great time to let your team members shine by delegating some training items to each of them. You will get a person who will be ready in a short time and someone grateful too!  I advise hiring managers on issues like this to open their recruiting funnel. This heading is from community of SEVEN LinkedIn post on 2-15-22. Follow them for inspiration.

Cynthia's Take

As a Boss, Hire the Right People

I watched/listened to Jason Sudeikis talk about leadership and his hit show, Ted Lasso, thanks to MX. Here are the major takeaways or you can register and watch it yourself. It’s worth it.

I’ll share more of the moments that resonated with me in the coming weeks, but first the one they didn’t mention is most important to hiring. “As a boss, hire the right people.” Hiring the right person can change everything! I “forced” a hiring manager to talk to a candidate and that candidate turned into an employee who changed the whole dynamic, attitude, and productivity of the team in a positive way. So for job seekers, just because there isn’t an opening, doesn’t mean they can’t open one for you and for bosses, be open to talking with someone to see if they could be the right person to turn your team around.

https://www.mx.com/moneysummit/mx-visionaries-ted-lasso-lessons/

Resume writing Cynthia's Take

Are Resumes Still Necessary?

Short answer, YES!  Resumes are still needed when applying to jobs online.  Even when the company gives you the option of applying with your LinkedIn Profile.  And your LinkedIn Profile isn’t going to have all the responsibilities and successes for each area of your expertise.  Do you know why?  You are only allowed 2,000 characters in the job summary field and if you have a few years at that job, you should have more achievements than 2,000 characters can shine light on. 

So, keep that resume updated yearly, so you won’t miss that awesome achievement you had a few years back.  It’s also a great tool for you to use when updating your LinkedIn profile, creating your personal brand statement, and getting ready to go to your annual review meeting.  Now, cover letters…that’s another answer for another day.

Interviewing

How Early is Too Early to Show Up for Your Interview?

Ever wonder what to do when you arrive too early for your interview, because you just didn’t know how long it was going to take to get there, and you definitely didn’t want to be late? Days as a Recruiter or Hiring Manager are jam-packed and chaotic most of the time.  Interviews are scheduled in between meetings, work, phone calls and other interviews. So, when the receptionist calls and says, “Your interview is here.” half an hour to 15 minutes before the scheduled time it throws people off.  We feel bad you are waiting, but we set the time for a reason.   So, my advice is to ALWAYS arrive early…from five to ten minutes.  No more. Five minutes if you are meeting in a hotel lobby, coffee shop or restaurant and up to ten minutes early if entering a building with a receptionist, and multiple floors.  Obviously, use your judgement to see if there is a security process. The Recruiter or Recruiting Coordinator will have this information for you and then use your judgement.  

Resume writing

DON’T USE ALL CAPS ON YOUR RESUME!

Do you ever wonder why you get emails from company’s after you apply to their jobs and it looks like they are yelling at you, “Hi CYNTHIA,“?  It’s because you are putting your name on top of your resume in all uppercase letters.  STOP!  Companies are getting hundreds, if not thousands, of applications and their ATS parses the information into the boxes as you put it.  I put a sentence next to the name box, that asked for candidates to fix their all-cap name and most did not fix it.  Companies have application tracking systems (ATS) that send out automated emails with your name as you put it on your resume.  The recruiters aren’t lazy by not changing it.  There are just too many people doing it and it isn’t feasible to fix it.   Just a public service post.