Recruiting Archives - The Wilson Group

Home / Recruiting

Company Culture

Company culture is the atmosphere that is created by the day to day happenings, including verbal and nonverbal communications within the workspace. There are a lot of factors that inform the culture such as the specific industry your company works in, the presence your company has, or even the people that inhabit the space. Company culture has previously been overshadowed by the sheer reputation or size of the organization. While these factors may still be important, job seekers are now starting to pay attention to the ‘feel’ of a company when deciding where to commit the next 40 years of their life. Company culture is now becoming more visible due social media, and this fact can be great for companies and job seekers. Companies now have an opportunity to promote their unique culture to attract the right type of employee, while those on the job hunt have a chance to preview the culture of the company they are prospecting. So for companies and job seekers alike, make sure you exploring this important aspect of the organization.

As a company, your culture is important to work on because job seekers consider company culture an important factor when deciding where to work. Use social media outlets to give outsiders a glimpse inside your company. This may mean you have to be a little more careful and consistent with what goes into your posts, but you will reap the benefits of being a relatable organization. However, if you are still hesitant, relaying the message of your company’s culture can be as simple as describing it during your interview with a candidate. Have a conversation with them about your culture and see if they align with those values.

For job seekers, keeping company culture in mind may mean a little more work. Now that companies are investing time into establishing a company culture, you want to take extra time to show why and how you fit into the mix. Your cover letter is a great opportunity for you to explain what you could bring to the culture. Also, you can mention what you have discovered and like about the company’s culture during the interview.

The importance of company culture is definitely on the rise, and will stick around for a long time. What is your company’s culture like? Let us know! Also be sure to Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more recruiting and job searching tips!

Is Your Job Description Enticing or Bewildering?

To hire great talent, you need to get a great talent pool to apply for your job. That may sound glaringly obvious, but it’s surprising how many companies fall down on the job when it comes to the first impression they’ll make on most candidates – the job description.

Perhaps nothing is as frustrating to a job seeker than reading through a job description and still having no idea what the position entails, what skills are necessary and sometimes even basic details like the job title or company location.

Here are three applicant turn offs that are sure to significantly decrease the number of qualified candidates applying for your position.

What’s the title?
The problem is usually not so much that the title isn’t listed, but that it’s 10 words long and does nothing to describe the actual position. Even if your company lists the official job title as “Primary Facilitator of Quality Assurance in Executive Correspondence and Scheduling”, “Executive Assistant” will be much clearer and more relatable for candidates.

The same goes for the description itself. Avoid making the reader try to translate long strings of business jargon in an attempt to figure out what the job actually entails.

How long is this thing?
In the digital age, attention spans have gotten shorter, and job seekers are no exception. If your description is an epic-length single block of text, many candidates won’t even bother to begin reading it. Keep it concise – you don’t need to go into all the details about your three insurance plans and all the equipment in the company gym. Stick to the pertinent details and use bullet points wherever possible to highlight the important points.

Is this a top secret position?
For various reasons, it’s sometimes necessary for a company to conceal its name in a job ad. But don’t be too secretive. If the candidate gets through the job description without finding a mention of your industry or the city in which they’d be working, they’ll be less inclined to take the time to apply.

If you’re not getting enough qualified applicants for your positions, The Wilson Group has extensive experience in attracting top talent and finding the best fits for our clients. Please contact us if we can be of any help.

Working With a Recruiter – What You Should Ask

Working with a recruiting firm can be a great way to explore new career opportunities. Good recruiting firms will have established relationships with a number of companies and can help you get past the HR “gatekeepers.”

As with any industry, some recruiting companies are more successful at their jobs than others, and some take ethical considerations more seriously than others. Here are some tips to help you determine if you are working with an effective, reputable recruiting firm.

A good recruiting firm should:

Have a real knowledge of your industry. They will understand your expertise and how it fits into the marketplace. If you ask an industry-specific question and hear an answer that doesn’t sound right, or they don’t have an answer at all, you may want to politely terminate the conversation.

Have real relationships with their client companies. They will know the company, the corporate culture, and the decision makers. They will also spend time getting to know you, both professionally and personally, to determine which positions and clients would be the best fit for you.

Not be “promiscuous” with your resume. You don’t want a recruiter to present your resume for every open position they are working, regardless of whether it’s a good fit for your background and skills. A good recruiting firm will have a more targeted approach that will not waste your time or their clients’ time on positions that are clearly not a good fit. And, they will respect you and your confidentiality by not submitting your resume to a company without your prior knowledge and consent.

You may or may not decide to work with a recruiter during your job search. If you are approached by a recruiter, ask a few questions and make an informed decision:
Do you specialize in my industry?
What is your relationship with the employer?
What kind of relationship do you have with the decision maker(s)?
Will you submit my resume to any employer without first notifying me?
What can I expect as far as communication?
Will you prepare me for my interview?
Will you let me know the result, even if it’s no?

BeKnown

Are you looking for a job? An employee for your company?

Are you BeKnown?

“BeKnown has the potential to turn Facebook into an extremely powerful recruitment platform and could seriously rival LinkedIn in this department.”

A new Facebook app, BeKnown, is kicking Social Media up a notch. What is it? Well, it is a “layer” of Social presence for Facebook. It is Monster-based and fully integrated; it allows users to network on Facebook, professionally, without mixing their personal page in with their professional image. It very well may be the greatest job-seeker tool to date.

In a recent article written by Sue Weekes for www.Recruiter.co.uk, BeKnown is touted as “what is likely to be one of the biggest online recruitment developments this year.” The article goes on to report:
Research conducted by KRC Research for Monster revealed that two out of five people have had or know someone that has had problems as a result of a colleague seeing what is on their social media page. BeKnown allows users to choose a different picture, create a different profile detailing their career history and skills (users can import their Monster profile if they wish) and choose only those people from their network who they want to be linked with professionally.

Employers will soon be able to host and manage their own presence on BeKnown. Henry believes this addresses the recruiter’s problem of marketing typically owning a company Facebook presence. “If the marketeers are busy talking about the products or services the company offers or there are multiple company profiles, it can be confusing for the consumer.”

BeKnown has built in a social referral program, which allows users to let their network know about specific jobs. In addition to this, Henry said that a number of companies are taking part in a beta test of a referral program, which would allow employers to post a job on BeKnown along with a reward for those who refer a successful candidate. “We won’t play any part in the transaction, that will be between the company and the users,” explained Henry, who says the service is likely to go live in 30 to 60 days and can be used by agencies as well as direct recruiters.

As you’d expect from Monster, there are also job search features on BeKnown. Users can click on a link through to its Sixth Sense semantic search facility to look for jobs on friends’ networks or featured jobs. So if a featured job is from Monster, they are taken direct to the job board in a new window. If a job is on a friend’s network and they wish to apply, a message pops up saying they will be sent a company link to their to the BeKnown profile. If they are happy to click ’submit’, their BeKnown profile becomes their application and the company will contact them through this to discuss the role.
To read the full article, click here.