Posts in Employer Tips

DON’T MISS A KEY DEMOGRAPHIC...HIRE PERENNIALS (Older Skilled Workers)

A rising category that continues to gain traction in a tight labor market is the older worker. Just tell those over 55 that they need to retire and many will tell you very quickly…why should I do that! I have so much knowledge and experience to give and I don’t want to stay home. I really want to contribute and still be productive.

So what is a perennial? Here is the Google definition

per·en·ni·al

lasting or existing for a long or apparently infinite time; enduring or continually recurring

The last wave of the baby boomer generation s is reaching their mid-50s, there is no evidence to suggest they will be in a hurry to retire. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is predicting that by 2024 workers that are over 55 will be the largest segment of that country’s workforce.

It’s not hard to find these folks; many can be recruited and they have valuable skills, a strong work ethic and they still wish to contribute. What they require is more flexibility on the employer’s part, many are seeking part-time and fewer hours.

ELIMINATE THE MYTH ABOUT OLDER WORKERS

Let’s try to dispel the myth that older workers are slow and less productive. There is some research about the perception that older workers are less productive…the AARP found exciting new research by German economist Axel Borsch-Supan. He found that there is some reduction in productivity for very unskilled jobs. But with knowledge-based jobs, you see an increase in productivity with age. Then it levels off. It doesn’t go down.

A few years back I wrote about coming across this labor pool purely by accident as a retail manager. We tapped into this pool for Office and Customer Service roles within the company. The myth and bias including my own that I had to overcome included; older workers tend to be more methodical and slower.

I found just the opposite was true, in fact; they proved to be very committed, had lower absenteeism rates, and had higher overall accuracy.

So pull out your list of alumni, those that have retired, check in on them and you might find that a former sales associate now wants to return and just work part-time, maybe do something different in administration or the office.

What have you got to lose? Perennials are going to be significant and active contributors in the decades to come. So make sure you don’t ignore this hidden gem category. After all, everyone wants people that will show up, do their job, and contribute in the workplace. In addition, blending this group is a plus benefit too. I think there is a lot of knowledge that can be shared both ways across the board and generations!

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Bill O’Malley is President of Connector Team Recruiting a firm headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia specializing in the Furniture | Appliance and Sleep verticals. Connector Team is a full-service Search Firm offering permanent placement recruiting and interim staffing solutions.

Feel free to contact Bill at bill@connectorteamrecruiting.com.

Employer TipsBill O'MalleyJuly 24, 2023Comment

HIRE FROM AN EXCELLENT NEW NICHE: BOOMERANG EMPLOYEES

In this unprecedented tight labor market where unemployment is at record lows and skilled candidates are few and far between and in high demand, Boomerang employees represent a niche category worth considering from my point of view.

I’ll give this category another name…” the one that got away”. Nearly every hiring authority I speak with will have a story about that rising star that got away…a former employee that had to leave the nest early.

According to the SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) Boomerangs—employees who return after leaving a company—are on the rise. According to LinkedIn, this source accounted for 4.5 percent of all new hires among companies in 2021, up from 3.9 percent in 2019, The Wall Street Journal reported.

EVALUATE THEIR REASON FOR LEAVING

Oftentimes I hear that there were valid reasons for the departure and some of the reasons include; not enough career pathing being available, and the pay and benefits plans were not mature. Often when an upstart company is growing some of its best employees just get recruited away by a bigger competitor or the so-called big dog at the time. Young executives in the early stages of their careers are sometimes just driven to gain more experience. They have not had the chance to truly evaluate what it is that they are looking for in their career.

RE-RECRUIT THEM BACK

There are many benefits to these former employees coming back. Often they have established relationships already in place with current team members, they have familiarity with processes and procedures making onboarding a breeze.

Getting them back is easier than you think. Sometimes having a 3rd party makes the first inquiry and approach is highly beneficial and will provide a bridge and a new perspective on their former company.

At our firm, we now include in our needs assessment before beginning a search whether or not a company has a rehire policy. We also ask about former potential employees to approach. BTW these candidates typically have knowledge of the market you are in and know people. The plus benefit is that typically if they are not interested in coming back to your company they can be an excellent and valuable referral resource.

AVOID THE PITFALLS

To avoid some of the pitfalls of rehiring former employees include this quick check:

How did they leave your company? Did they give proper notice, what does the file say and did they leave on very good terms? Track down their former supervisors if applicable and if unknown to you the exact circumstances.
What have they done with their career since leaving you? In other words, what has their track record been after leaving the company? Have they improved their skill sets and had a continued strong employment history?
Follow your process…we recommend you interview them using the same process to evaluate them for hire. Try to avoid the halo effect (glossing over or skipping steps just because they are once known entities.

REVIEW YOUR CURRENT REHIRE POLICY

We recommend looking at your rehire policy to see if it’s been updated. You may unknowingly have an HR team that is knocking these candidates out of consideration based on rules that are outdated. We usually hear about a no rehire policy that was put in place because of a bad apple or experience. Usually, there is a story about a rehire that did not work out and or who caused an issue in the company. Instead of writing a uniform policy with guidelines for exceptions, an overcorrection took place, and rehires were strictly forbidden. When you look at the circumstances it was usually because rehires when not carefully evaluated. An open rehire policy without guardrails is generally a bad idea.

Reconsider putting in a guideline to allow for rehires under certain established criteria and conditions including having everyone approved and signed off by the President of the company. Having a clearly defined policy will help you maintain consistency and be fair and equitable throughout the organization.

Boomerang Employees who return to your company have an excellent chance of appreciating where they are and rapidly becoming committed long-term employees. In most cases, they are much wiser and less susceptible to leaving abruptly in the future.

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Feel free to contact Bill at bill@connectorteamrecruiting.com.

Employer TipsBill O'MalleyAugust 24, 2022Comment

5 Questions You Need to Ask Every Candidate in an Interview

Building a high-performance team?

We think the formula for hiring top talent is straightforward – if you hire great people you must keep them engaged with interesting and challenging work. Oh…and you need to be a great leader too. The rest will take care of itself.

The challenge is twofold and neither one of those things are easy to do. Hiring people is hard, and so is keeping them motivated. Well, this month I will try to help, at least with the hiring part.

Here are the five questions we think a hiring authority should ask every candidate. This will help you determine and make great hiring decisions.

1. Tell me about your top accomplishment. Provide me with a specific example and one that can be measured or had results.

This question is a great insight question designed to get to know whether the candidate has demonstrated big things where they have worked. If they fail to provide specifics such as the people on the team, the details of the accomplishment and all you hear is “me: '' or “I” and it’s all about them, you may want to consider whether having that type of leader on your team is worth the risk.

2. Tell me your best customer success story?

This question provides the ability to view the candidate’s recall and detail including their level of engagement when talking about their interactions with the consumer. You can expand it to see if they know the difference between internal and external customers. We believe that nearly every role including non customer facing positions need to have an understanding of who their customers are and how to engage them.

3. What is the biggest mistake you’ve made in the workplace and how did you overcome it? What did you learn from it?

You can learn alot about a candidate’s ability to learn and their humility because almost everyone has a story about struggling in a project or a task. This question helps you understand how they react to adversity.

4. As the (fill in a title for the role) what are 3 areas or KPI’s you would monitor and focus on a daily basis to hit the goal?

This question will tell you how much they know about their core competencies…for example as a Sales Manager retail is it the daily sales goal, closing rate and gross margin they are reviewing and protecting?

5. How often and in what forms do you communicate with your teams to set goals and review performance?

Whether a controller, production manager, sales manager, or GM…this answer will tell you how often they communicate to lead their functional area. Do they have startup meetings daily to communicate the day's goals or do they wait and only meet weekly? Some of the most successful organizations suggest that daily goal setting is critical, especially in retail and production area settings.

Remember, hiring is never easy and we have all been fooled. Anyone that has never made a hiring mistake just has not done significant hiring.

The biggest key to great interviewing is asking clear questions, clarifying for understanding, and really listening to the answers. From my years of experience, you should have the candidate do 70% of the talking.

As a bonus, you can download some other quick tips below including what to ask and what should never be asked.