This panel brought representatives from five companies to speak on workforce skill building and the best practices for organizations that want to continue developing and growing. In addition to Broadleaf, other organizations represented were Claria, GroupM Nexus, Newell Brands, and UPS.

The pandemic has undoubtedly changed the workforce as we know it, but the transformation is not yet over. The panel of leaders from across multiple industries offered tips that organizational leaders should follow to attract and retain talent to stay ahead of their competitors.

1. Adapting to new post-pandemic norms

Broadleaf noted that since 2020, we no longer operate in an employer-driven market. As many businesses adopted a remote or hybrid workforce during the pandemic, the economy shifted to be employee-driven. Now, people want jobs that allow them the flexibility they witnessed during the height of the pandemic. In fact, a 2022 EY survey found that 35 percent of millennials and 29 percent of Gen X respondents who intend to leave their job in the next year said hybrid/work-from-home options would entice them to stay. Businesses must adapt strategies to attract and retain talent in an economy controlled by the candidate. This also requires companies to seek data to support newly adopted strategies to ensure they are attainable and assist in making informed adjustments when necessary.

Related: The State of Remote Work in 2023

2. Accommodating your employees

To meet employees’ needs, it’s crucial to embed human-centric skills like empathy and authenticity into your performance management processes. Some multigenerational workforces might not fully understand the importance of growing the “whole” person. In fact, only 69 percent of workers feel their direct supervisor is empathetic. People managers need to care about their employees, and promoting open lines of communication is necessary. An organization must stay committed to this part of the talent process to ensure that each team member is engaged and help employees connect the value between their work and the organization’s overall mission.

3. Maintaining company culture amidst change

Chris Bartlett has been with UPS since 1992. He sums up his thirty-year career with one word: change. However, the company’s mission and purpose should remain consistent despite global technological, leadership, or hiring and sourcing changes. Understanding your company’s purpose and using that as a “Northstar” or “destination” will help an organization maintain a deeply embedded culture amidst industry or economic changes.

4. Balancing AI and human interaction in the workplace

As Broadleaf puts it, “Tech and AI are not going away any time soon.” We are seeing a significant shift in how technology and data are used to monitor and hire employees. To ensure companies use these technologies ethically, Broadleaf adds, “it’s like anything in the world; you need a balanced approach…The focus needs to be on strategies you’re going to put in place.” He claims the integrity of the data is important, meaning, “how are we building the data to begin with and how are we monitoring it as it moves along.” When used successfully, organizations migrate collected data into a human skill. A strong strategy and plan must accompany the use of data for success.

Katie Hall of Claira added a data set “will only ever be as intelligent as what you feed it.” So, to keep pace and be equitable, an organization should turn existing data into competencies but then fill in the gaps with a training data set that is inclusive and representative of the entire labor market. By building a data set with these qualities in mind, an organization will find itself on the “right side” of the AI and HR lawsuits that are becoming more frequent nationwide.

Debbie Morris added that becoming a data-driven organization is part of a “long game strategy,” and a business must create the conditions and appropriate culture to manage data. To that same end, employees who need to see movement and changes regarding what is important to them require a balance. While some employee issues, desires, or conversations might be solved easier with data, it is always possible to start a meaningful conversation about these issues without it, reiterating the necessity of finding a balance between human interaction and data.

5. Ongoing career-oriented conversations between managers and employees

Amidst discussions about technology advancements and the future of artificial intelligence, Jodi Weintraub of GroupM Nexus reminded the panel that the goal of any process system should be to improve the quality of the conversations between managers and employees. Fundamentally, employees should always have robust conversations about their next steps from a career growth standpoint. In this mindset, technology modernizes the venue where the exchange occurs.

When asked how to manage employee requests regarding company culture and career development, Debbie Morris of Newell Brands noted that a listening strategy is a powerful tool to determine an employee’s desires and goals for their career. Morris added that it is essential for an organization to understand the weight behind the phrase often used by employees: “I want growth in my job.” It then becomes the organization’s responsibility to determine what that looks like for their employees, whether that be mobility or a genuinely meaningful connection to their work. Without these conversations, businesses risk losing their workers to another company that presents them with more promising career opportunities. Nearly 1 in 3 workers (30 percent) actively searching for a new job say they don’t have a meaningful career, and retention becomes an issue when employees feel this way.

Related: The Importance of Stay Interviews to Retain Talent

6. DEI initiatives should be deliberate

According to Broadleaf Results, deliberate should be the main word associated with a company’s DEI initiative strategy. Broadleaf stated, “You have to be deliberate to attract diverse talent. Women only apply to positions that they feel like they meet 75 percent of the job description. Men, because we’re men, will apply to anything.” He noted that a DEI initiative is not an overnight fix; it takes a true commitment to see a change in a system or culture. Educating those who write your company’s job postings on the value of inclusive language and how to use data to inform your company’s talent search is essential, especially when relying on AI for this part of the hiring process.

7. HR’s presence and value down the road

From a diverging lens, employers can ensure they are proactive in developing capabilities to stay ahead in their industries by embedding the HR department into the business. Understanding whether these needed skills exist or how they can be developed keeps the promise of delivering on a commitment to clients at the forefront of a business. Weintraub asserts that the easiest and most useful way to impact a workforce’s capabilities is, “from a practitioner standpoint, a lot of this is driven by HR asking, “does that capability exist? Do we need to build it or train for it? Do we need to buy it?” A vocally present HR department is essential to staying ahead of competencies and skills in every industry.

Related: A Skills-Based Approach to Attracting, Retaining, and Developing Talent

The post 7 Tips to Attract and Retain Employees in the Post-Pandemic Labor Market appeared first on Broadleaf Results.

Join our Direct Sourcing webinar to learn how it’s helping companies face the current labor market head-on.

We will cover:

1. What is Direct Sourcing?
2. Benefits of Direct Sourcing
3. How Direct Sourcing fits into MSPs and RPOs
4. Implementing a Direct Sourcing solution
5. Enabling total talent acquisition

Speakers 

Karen Gonzalez, Executive Vice President, North America, LiveHire

Register today!

Learn about Broadleaf’s Direct Sourcing services.

For more information, read our blog, What Is Direct Sourcing?

About LiveHire

LiveHire is a globally-leading recruitment and contingent direct sourcing platform – enabling clients to attract and engage both permanent employees and contingent workers to deliver Total Talent and Direct Sourcing solutions. LiveHire offers an award-winning candidate experience and provides talent-on-demand through its unique talent pooling and 2-way text messaging functionality, having successfully enabled end-to-end recruitment from sourcing through to hire of diverse workforces for over 150 clients across 20 verticals globally. For more information, visit www.livehire.com.

The post Webinar: Enabling Total Talent Acquisition with Direct Sourcing – 5/24 appeared first on Broadleaf Results.

The pre-covid labor situation

It was always assumed there would be a strong and competitive job market. From 1975-1995—boomers generated massive household wealth gains—and the median household income increased $42 million. Women doubled in the labor force from 1948 (31 percent) to 1996 (60 percent) and drove it forward. Boomers—born from approximately 1946 to 1964—went to college and encouraged their children to do the same.

Around 2002, boomers exploded into retirement age. As the number of people over 55 was growing, the number of people over 55 that wanted to work was decreasing and exiting the labor force. In 2016, millennials became the largest segment of the workforce and now dominate the labor market. So as millennials—who have been found to have less propensity to want to work—entered the labor force, boomers exited, and the labor force participation rate dropped.

From 2014-2019, the number of people in the labor force working part-time soared while those who had to work part-time for economic reasons dropped by 50 percent. One group sharply trending to part-time by choice was prime-age men. Industrial workers were changing jobs to work in the retail industry. But retail workers were not leaving to move to the manufacturing industry.

In February 2020—right before the pandemic—the U.S. recorded the lowest unemployment rate in history at 3.5 percent and was utilizing all of its available labor. For each job opening, there were only two potential workers and one of them couldn’t work.

The current labor crisis

The labor force participation rate has not moved in over a year! Demand for labor is at a record high but very few people are returning to work. There is a workforce gap of about 5.9 million workers compared to pre-Covid. The alarming issue is that around 3.4 million that have left the workforce are 55 years or older. Therefore, they are not coming back!

The U.S. is currently experiencing a 43 percent job opening increase. Pre-Covid there were 7 million job openings and now there are 11 million.

Why are we not recovering faster? Hetrick pointed out the key factors contributing to our current labor crisis.

• Massive retirements: Labor force participation of workers aged 55 and over is not recovering and keeps hitting new lows each month. Boomers retired at a dangerous speed in 2020. If not for the pandemic, the 2 million retirements the U.S. experienced in just one year would have been spread out over 4 to 5 years.
• Misalignment: We are a highly educated nation with a service-based economy. The population of the U.S. looking for work is highly educated. 96 million people in the current labor force have a college degree compared to 44 million that don’t have a college education. However, roughly 6.5 million of the 11 million open jobs in America need to be filled by people without a college degree.

At the same time, the younger working population is drying up. Many positions that pay below $20/hour are filled by workers in their early 20s and the population of 20-24-year-olds is decreasing. In 2015, we had three times as many unemployed lower-skilled workers per job opening as we currently have in today’s labor market.

• Very low immigration: The immigration labor force participation rate is going down. Immigration was nearly non-existent in 2020. In the second quarter of 2021, the immigration rate was down 64 percent from the second quarter of 2020.
• Temporary pandemic shutdowns that contributed to accumulated wealth: Government assistance funds—in the form of stimulus checks, tax deferrals, an expansion of unemployment benefits, and rent deferrals—were received by both furloughed and active employees as personal income. The U.S. lost 21 million total private jobs during the pandemic with 80 percent being temporary furloughs. The labor force has regained 86 percent of this total loss. The workers that have not yet returned to the workforce appear to be living off the wealth they accumulated from this government assistance.
• Opioids and overdoses: An estimated 800 thousand prime-age men are out of the labor force due to opioid overdose or addiction. Drug overdose deaths in 2020 hit the highest number ever recorded and 2021 was on pace to surpass this number.
• Self-employment increase: More people are choosing to work for themselves. 43 percent of people who are planning to quit their jobs intend to go into entrepreneurship.

The future labor crisis

Unfortunately, the labor crisis is only going to continue to get worse.  Every year we bring fewer people into the workforce while boomers are existing. Take a look at the following statistics.

• From 2011 to 2021, the vast majority of the U.S. saw its working-age population shrink. Only 60 percent of the total population will be of working age (aged 15-64) by the year 2100.
• We’re living below the 2.1 birth replacement rate and can’t employ what we don’t have. From 2009 to 2019, birth rates plunged across the U.S. In 2020, the U.S. had its lowest birth rate in history. Each generation of women is having fewer children than the generation before.
• Immigration will become less reliable because most developed nations are below replacement birth rate levels and are experiencing the same problem as the U.S.— therefore we can’t look to them for relief.

The new paradigm

Moving forward, organizations need to employ a new paradigm. In the past, the screening process was designed to limit how many job applicants made it before the hiring manager. Today’s labor market dictates that companies ensure that as many candidates as possible make it before the hiring manager.
For future success, organizations must recognize that people matter. Stop selling jobs and start selling corporate values and culture. Look for great, driven candidates that can be trained and mentored. Then, work to retain them!

Below are short and long-term strategies that Hetrick suggests your organization employ to attract and retain workers.

Short term

• Go to where potential workers are to attract talent
• Onboard and train quickly
• Retain your employees by staging your rewards, raising wages, and offering non-wage incentives

Long term

• Make workforce planning an executive-level conversation—not just HR level
• Re-invest in industrial engineering: How can you combine jobs or get rid of wasteful steps?
• Look for hidden workers with untapped talent and build programs that you can sustain across your organization. Partner with prisons, colleges, high schools, and trade schools.
• Identify your best workers quickly and have career paths in place for them

Contact us to learn more!

The post Webinar Recap: The Demographic Drought appeared first on Broadleaf Results.

Listen to the Full Podcast

Company history

In the late 1950s, Richard Stenclik—Lynne’s father—started a technical staffing firm called Superior Design Company. Since founding the company, Richard—with help from Lynne and her brother, Scott—transformed the organization from a small, local operation into a multinational enterprise. But in the company’s early goings, young Lynne wanted no part of the business.

“Our family dinner table conversations were almost always about business—and frankly, I hated it,” said Lynne. “I had no interest at all in joining the family business as a child. Instead, I dreamed of studying ballet, modern dance, and acting.”

Changing career ambitions

Despite her aspirations of making a career out of the performing arts, Lynne’s father provided some professional advice: either become a lawyer or a doctor. She selected the former and was accepted into Georgetown Law School, where she earned her JD and was the first person from her family to graduate college. This educational background served her well when she decided to turn down job offers in New York and Washington, D.C. to return close to home in Buffalo.

“Upon graduating from law school and moving back to Buffalo, I worked in a large law firm—primarily in litigation—for about three years,” commented Lynne. “I then left that law firm because I wanted to be in court more often—it was the performer in me! I then worked at the District Attorney’s office for about three years before my dad asked me to join the family business as a legal counsel.”

Joining the family business

Fast forward a few years into her tenure with her family’s business, and Lynne took over operations of an entity within the Superior umbrella. The organization is today known as Broadleaf Results—a provider of outsourced recruitment and talent management services. Lynne’s position as President and CEO of Broadleaf classified the company as a women-owned business—one of the largest such firms in the managed service space.

“I love having the opportunity to educate women about the value of a WBENC certification and what it can do for their business,” said Lynne. “I’ve been supporting women-owned businesses for about two decades. They have such a passion for their business and are invested in what they’re doing, but they don’t take themselves too seriously.”

Supporting women-owned businesses

Despite the efforts of Lynne and other female business owners around the world, WBEs still encounter their fair share of challenges when starting their operations. According to Lynne, banks and other investors have to be intentionally inclusive of women-owned businesses to enable these females to have access to capital.

“It’s very important for women to develop strong networks and mentors, which is why I try to make myself available to women business owners,” noted Lynne. “We need to make these resources more readily available to female entrepreneurs so they don’t face these initial hurdles when trying to start their own business.”

Advice for young entrepreneurs

When asked for any professional advice that she would offer to women entering the business world, Lynne didn’t hesitate when sharing the following message.

“Think bigger, be bolder, act faster. I say that because earlier in my career, I don’t think I felt confident enough to do that. We have come so far in terms of creating opportunities for women to make an immediate impact in the workforce.”

To listen to the entire podcast, check out this link here.

Interested in learning more about Lynne Marie Finn? Check out her bio here. You can also connect with her on LinkedIn.

The post Lynne Marie Finn Featured in Recent ClearEdge Podcast appeared first on Broadleaf Results.

When asked about the transformation of recruiting since the outbreak of COVID-19, Jason stated that the process has become more fluid as recruiters have taken on greater responsibility.

“Our recruiters are now making selection decisions for high-volume workers and gaining accountability throughout the process,” said Jason. “This has allowed supervisors to focus more on coaching and developing existing employees rather than spending their time and energy in recruiting new ones.”

While tens of millions of Americans lost their jobs due to furloughs and layoffs over the past several months, not all companies were looking to cut their workforces during the pandemic. According to Jason, about 80% of Broadleaf’s client base was deemed as “essential” businesses. These organizations continued to hire front-line production and retail workers despite the prevalence of COVID-19.

“A lot of our conversations have been positive with our clients on how they can alter their recruiting process to work through these new challenges,” continued Jason. “Things like video interviewing are here to stay. It’s been amazing to observe recruiting’s rapid shift to an entirely virtual, online setting.”

As government aid through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) provision of the CARES Act is set to expire at the end of July, talent pools will be teeming with high-quality candidates who are itching to return to work. According to Jason, he advised his recruiting teams in early July to begin constructing their pipelines to discover talent that could be quickly hired and onboarded in support of Broadleaf’s clients – and urges talent acquisition leaders to do the same.

To learn more about Jason, you can connect with him on LinkedIn. You can also read his most recent article, “What is RPO? Recruitment Process Outsourcing: Explained.”

For more workforce management tips from Jason and our experts at Broadleaf, check out our blog.

The post Jason Krumwiede Discusses Workforce Management Trends in RPOA Webinar appeared first on Broadleaf Results.

“Candidate and employee experiences are being significantly improved by HR and recruiting automation,” says Carl.

Here are three such tools HR and recruiting teams can use to simplify tasks and improve experiences for prospective, new, and current employees.

Barista

Barista is an employee-friendly “virtual support agent” (VSA) that eliminates the typically time-consuming and ineffective intranets of your standard office environment. Akin to Amazon’s Alexa or your Google Home device, Barista—from enterprise AI company Expressive—uses AI to field questions and offer answers to curious workers.

In simpler terms, according to Carl, “Barista is an employee engagement and onboarding platform with AI.” That means it’s a tool new hires can use to ask questions about company policies, insurance coverages, and other work-related intel—all of which make it easier for HR departments to:

• Provide answers to critical questions
• Increase new hire retention
• Improve HR service delivery efficiency

More than just an invaluable tool for human resources, Barista also includes built-in features for IT, sales, and other professionals.

Just one day to go to #HRTechConf in Las Vegas! Stop by Espressive Booth 1133 to experience Barista, our virtual employee assistant, answering questions and onboarding employees firsthand.

— Espressive (@Espressive_AI) September 30, 2019

Brazen

Brazen is “the conversational recruiting platform” that assumes four recruiting responsibilities in one platform. Here’s what they are and what you can do with them:

Recruiting Chatbot
Start conversations with top talent sooner: pre-screen candidates, collect contact information, and promote your company culture quicker than ever.

Virtual Career Fairs
“Connect recruiters and hiring managers through chat,” separating you from competitors, lowering your costs, and extending your reach.

QuickChat
Embed QuickChat on your career site or online job board so job seekers can start talking to your recruiters right away—a feature that millennial and Gen Z candidates have come to expect from most businesses.

Scheduled Chat
Give candidates the opportunity to schedule a chat with your recruiters at a mutually agreeable time, thereby empowering both parties and facilitating amiable conversations.

“Using AI is an attractive option to job seekers,” says Carl, “because it focuses on the recruitment and candidate experience in an engaging way.”

Today’s talent wants more communication and #textrecruiting is an easy, familiar way to deliver exactly that. Learn how and when to use #texting to improve the #candidateexperience. #recruiting #talentacquisition #conversationalrecruiting

— Brazen: Conversational Recruiting (@BrazenHQ) October 8, 2019

CartaHR

CartaHR, from information management company Access, is a cloud-based system that syncs up with your existing HRIS or HCM systems so you can enjoy free and easy access to all your docs in one place—at the touch of a button

“It’s an employee document management platform that can save you time and patience,” says Carl. To be clear, this software platform can help HR pros and others:

• Enhance productivity: automate time-consuming paper processes
• Maximize security: protect your sensitive employee information documents
• Manage and maintain compliance: monitor important employee documents
• Integrate your systems: eliminate the need for multiple applications

CartaHR can be especially helpful for those of you who manage a contingent workforce, a responsibility that is often rife with important paperwork. With a user-friendly system such as this, you can streamline your paper-heavy workforce management responsibilities with ease.

Don’t stay #restricted with your paper process. Achieve #freedom with #CartaHR and 24/7 access to all employee documents! https://t.co/a2hJLvYStI pic.twitter.com/2rxK8Kdv6a

— Access Today (@AccessToday) October 13, 2019

For more helpful tools and resources from Broadleaf Results, visit our Resource Center, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

The post 3 Tech Tools for Talent Management appeared first on Broadleaf Results.

What did we learn? What are HR and procurement pros talking about? Well, we already know that total talent management (TTM) solutions are dominating the conversation as a holistic workforce solution—but when it comes to specific services that teams are looking for, here are three that people are talking about.

1. Direct Sourcing
Take a bite out of traditional recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) and you get direct sourcing services: a third-party solution with an in-house feel. Direct sourcing is when the client, or the MSP, uses its ATS and various talent pools to find temporary labor.  That labor is then routed to a payroll provider, which acts as the employer of record. To paraphrase a perspective from our CWS panel: “We have no internal recruiting organization. That’s why we needed RPO and admin capabilities.”

With Broadleaf, we customize RPO according to your needs—we work alongside your team to customize talent solutions that help you recruit the people you need, when you need them. With proven adaptive sourcing models, we’ll manage all of, half of, or just some of your internal sourcing functions. It’s your call.

2. Payrolling
A good number of exhibitors at the conference were dishing out payrolling services as a standalone service to HR and procurement teams. While this is a reasonable strategy, it fails to acknowledge the cohesion needed between both departments. As we heard from our panel, “We had a highly decentralized organization, but MSPs allowed us to develop a relationship between Procurement and HR.”

Broadleaf’s MSPs (managed service programs) are specially designed to help you source candidates, consolidate invoicing, manage contracts, and more—all as a single service. With all your HR and procurement needs in the same place, you can reach peak efficiencies.

3. IC Compliance
IC compliance was another hot topic among vendors wheeling and dealing at the CWS Summit, and for good reason. Keeping tabs on your independent contractors can save you thousands of dollars come tax time—but sometimes a more flexible statement of work (SOW) and procurement management solution is the better option.

Why? How? With SOW services, you get a standard process for tracking and managing independent contractors and suppliers. That means unlimited visibility of all your contract developments in real time, a single system of record for all non-direct employees, and a standardized approval process at your disposal. Paired with a vendor management system (VMS), SOW is more than just IC compliance—it’s a symbiotic, streamlined solution.

One of our panelists said it best: “Moving ICC to SOW model has allowed us to reduce the number of invoices—our PO process is more streamlined. Down 60% in volume of POs.”

Sure, these three services can be effective on their own. But when you put them under the same umbrella, or TTM strategy, they are even more effective. Why take one or two management services from this company or that? Instead, get your hands on a complete suite of total talent management solutions from Broadleaf Results.

For more insights about the global workforce and how to manage it, check out our Resource Center. And don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram!

The post 3 Hot Topics in Total Talent Management appeared first on Broadleaf Results.

1. 6 tips for women from CEO Liz Whitehead.
Liz Whitehead is the CEO of 12PointFive, an organization committed to helping businesses leverage diversity and inclusion. In this tweet from Technical.ly DC, a tech-based news company, you can find a link to Ms. Whitehead’s blog, which is chock full of excellent advice—not just for women at WBENC—but for anyone preparing to attend a business conference.

.@LCullenDC, CEO of 12PointFive, discusses tips on how women can successfully run their businesses, ahead of the WDENC conference next week in Baltimore. https://t.co/TUHEyibbOO #dctech pic.twitter.com/fcUKLNFVuZ

— Technical.ly DC (@TechnicallyDC) June 21, 2019

2. 50 revolutionary females in marketing.
Now this is the kind of curated content we can get behind. Shout-out to C.C. Carr for sharing this collection of impressive women in Marketing from DevriX, a high-scale WordPress platform provider. As a woman-owned business, we always appreciate a nod to other savvy female businesspeople.

This is an excellent list because, as the article points out, some of these women “created million-dollar business out of nothing,” “created content masterpieces,” or “introduced new methods and became legends.” We took a few minutes to follow all of these incredible women on Twitter, and we encourage you to do the same.

In the spirit of the #WBENCconf, we thought it would be appropriate to let you know about the 50 Revolutionary Females in Marketing to Follow on Twitter. via @wpdevrix #womenentrepreneurs #marketingprofshttps://t.co/GNVzxMueJn

— C.C. Carr (@TradeShowWiz) June 26, 2019

3. Respect the hustle!
Claire Coder is the Founder & CEO of Aunt Flow, a company committed to making menstrual products as accessible as possible. We like this tweet for a couple reasons:

First, it is the perfect illustration of how arduous the conference grind can be. Look at all those steps!

Second, the tweet is in and of itself an excellent representation of Claire and her company’s mission. From an employer branding perspective—which we know is critical to a company’s talent solutions success—this tweet is an absolute winner. What a smart way to showcase your brand and business development efforts at the same time.

Thanks Apple for tracking my HUSTLE at the @WBENCLive conference. Today I trekked 8.5miles around the conference hall to close the deals. #WBENC #WBENCconf pic.twitter.com/qvLwtKfodP

— Claire Coder (@ClaireCoder) June 26, 2019

4. Broadleaf Beanbag Toss.
We had such a blast gaming with the good people of the WBENC Conference that we couldn’t ignore our own tweet. The Broadleaf team was all smiles as we took the opportunity to talk business over a friendly game of Broadleaf Beanbag Toss. Check out all of our other tweets here!

Are you in the mix at the #WBENCConf? Get your game on and connect with #teambroadleaf at Booth 203! #talentsolutions pic.twitter.com/AJzfxvzMkJ

— Broadleaf (@BroadleafTalent) June 26, 2019

5. This epic hotel dance party.
We’re not sure how we missed this next-level dance-off, but we certainly wish we could go back to get down on it. Sure, other tweets on this list have more meaningful takeaways for business professionals, but we couldn’t help but celebrate the good times (and even better dance moves) at WBENC! ???? ????

#WBENCconf @MerrimakCapital always hosts a great party. This year was no exception. Networking, great seafood and of course dancing! pic.twitter.com/RAyzw2nNPG

— SupplierDiversity@Cargill (@McgradyNatalie) July 6, 2019

Did we connect at WBENC? Awesome! If not, visit us at broadleafresults.com, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

The post 5 Can’t-Miss Tweets from the WBENC Conference appeared first on Broadleaf Results.

It’s no secret that it’s very challenging to find top talent these days with a tight labor market — especially for high demand skill sets. As an experienced business leader, you know what it takes to overcome challenges. But, when it comes to finding the caliber of talent you need, are you bringing your A game to talent acquisition? Do you have what it takes to win?

Here are three things you can do to level the playing field in talent acquisition:

1. Expand your candidate pool.

One way to expand the pool is to determine the best way to get the work done. The more types of workers you’re willing to consider, the bigger your pool of potential candidates becomes. Do you really need a full-time employee, or:

• Can a contingent worker or freelancer do it?

• Can the work be shared among people?

• Should the work be outsourced to experts in that area?

Additionally, be flexible about where and when the work gets done. Ask yourself:

• Can the person work remotely—at least part of the time?

• Can their schedule be flexible to give them more autonomy?

• Are you willing to hire for base skills and cultural fit and then provide specific training?

Not all positions lend themselves to flexibility with work schedules or prior experience, but this approach will increase your candidate pool and thereby enhance your chance of finding the talent you need.

2. Put your best foot forward during the hiring process.

The stakes are high when you compete for top talent, and your A game is required from your first encounter with a candidate to the offer stage. This process showcases who you are as an organization and why a candidate should want to work for you.

• Online job postings need to be punchy and interesting so your company stands out among a field of amateurs.

• Job descriptions should give candidates a real feel for your work culture, your values, and how the position fits into the company’s ecosystem; too many job descriptions are merely a recitation of the job’s duties.

• The entire screening process should be welcoming, informative and upbeat so candidates feel valued and get excited about the opportunity to join your team.

• The personal interview is “game day” where enthusiasm, authenticity and warmth are required to woo the candidate to “for the win.”

3. Position your organization as an employer of choice.

What will distinguish your organization as an employer of choice?

• People like working there and refer others to apply.

• Employees are engaged and feel like they have a voice.

• Payrates and benefits are market competitive .

• Opportunities for training and career development.

If you’re not positioning your company to be an employer of choice you’ll not only have trouble attracting talent in the first place, but, even more importantly, you won’t be able to retain the talent you have in this fiercely competitive labor market.

Job seekers today are younger and, let’s face it, in control of their own destiny. And that’s great! But it sure makes things tougher for employers. If millennials are changing jobs an average of four times in their first decade out of college, it’s incumbent on companies to bring their A game to the talent retention arena too. But that’s a whole different ball game!

At Broadleaf, we work with companies to put the right people, in the right place, at the right time. Do you want to build the strongest team possible? Contact us today!

The post Bring Your ‘A’ Game to Talent Acquisition appeared first on Broadleaf Results.

Here are five key takeaways from the conference, including some resources you can use to make an immediate impact at your own business:

1. The talent shortage does not discriminate!
Regardless of your industry, the talent shortage is making a significant impact on recruitment and hiring. According to this Gartner survey about emerging risks facing organizations, “Staff shortages have escalated in the last three months to become the top emerging risk organizations face globally.” To curb this trend, it will be important for talent acquisition and recruitment teams to get creative with their hiring strategies.

Find out how to stay ahead of your competitors with this resource: Stress Test Your Hiring Strategy: Game of Thrones Style

2. Hiring managers are pushing for more creative ways to hire.
It doesn’t matter what method you use to hire—whether you’re hiring direct-hire employees or any member of the contingent workforce—you’ve got to be creative! For example, a brewery outside of Buffalo is hosting an open casting call to find the right bussers, servers, hosts, dishwashers, bartenders, and even managers. While this strategy won’t work for every type of business, it can get you thinking about fun ways to mix up your recruitment and hiring strategies.

Get started with these 24 Creative Recruitment Strategies with Real Examples from builtin.com.

3. The talent is in control.
One high-level hiring manager we spoke with at the conference told us, “Just get me the talent!” This is the sort of statement that demonstrates how desperate some hiring managers are to find talent these days. The American Society of Employees recognized this trend back in November 2018: “Low unemployment and high demand for talent is creating a recruiting environment where job seekers and newly hired employees are in control.” Halfway through 2019, nothing much has changed. So, what’s the solution? We can start by shortening hiring cycles and expediting processes.

Check out these 4 Ways to Shorten Your Hiring Cycle and Secure Top Talent from Supply & Demand Chain Executive.

4. “What makes up an employment brand?”
Even if a company defines what their brand is (their story, core values, mission, vision, etc.) it can be difficult to communicate that to the marketplace. What’s more, it’s especially difficult to get total brand compliance throughout the company. According to several companies we talked to, their focus has been on B2B and B2C marketing. As a consequence, B2Candidate/Employee relationships have suffered—and that needs to change.

If you need to improve your employer brand, we recommend strategizing those efforts as soon as possible. To do so, consider investigating these five tips to create a winning employer brand from Forbes.

5. Hiring teams are looking to partnerships for fresh ideas.
The relationship with hiring managers and talent solutions agencies is often paramount to successful recruitment and retention efforts. In a recent LinkedIn talent blog, Vivian Gian explains seven things that Netflix recruiters do to create a true partnership with hiring managers. One such suggestion? “Provide a 360 view of candidates, so that when hiring managers do make their decision, they do so with confidence because they have you as their partner and have all the information they need to choose wisely.”

If it works for Netflix, why can’t it work for you? Find a good recruitment partner and simplify your processes in no time.

At Broadleaf, we deliver your most reliable asset: talent. Let us know how we can help you enhance your total talent strategies today!

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