4 Ways to Overcome Recruiting Obstacles in 2012

Written by Matthew Ogston for Recruiter.com

Recruiters have seen huge fluctuations over the past five years. Not only have the changes been economically influenced, but also technologically. Due to this, the face of recruiting has changed in many ways. Some are definitely for the better, while other changes have left difficulty in their wake.

Let’s look at four key recruitment obstacles and how you can overcome them:

1. Company Brand Building

You need to leverage all of the right tools to appeal to prospective candidates. When candidates look at companies, they aren’t just looking at the pay, but also the complete picture of what the company offers them. They hope to work for companies they want to work for.

Many candidates turn to social networks to see the company brand and get a sense of its personality. They’re also getting more adept at identifying the types of jobs that are the right fit for their personality and thinking about what type of employer will make them happy. A lot of people aren’t just looking for jobs, they’re looking at the company, their ethos, benefits, working environment, etc. With this said, your company will have to have an environment conducive to making people want to work there.

Employees these days desire great healthcare coverage and are more prone to go for positions with flexible hours or work options to ensure a good work-life balance. Play up all of these parts of the job offering if it has them. Share the perks of the job on the company Facebook page, upload videos of the office atmosphere on YouTube, etc. This can help potential employees discover if they would be a good fit for the company and the position.

2. Choice

There are so many ways in which candidates can search for jobs these days, including job boards, social networks, and company career sites, which makes it easier than ever to search for jobs all over the country. This means job seekers can be more selective.

This may sound odd, but create some obstacles for them so they know that you only want the best candidates. In short, play hard-to-get because people want what they can’t easily have, and the more they have to do to get the job, the more alluring the position might appear.

3. Focused Recruiting

There are so many job postings to apply to. You will need to make your job posting stand out from others by appealing to the right audience at the right time. You may have a sea of candidates to sift through because you are casting too wide of a net. It is important to make your posting as clear and concise as you can as to the qualifications you need candidates to have so you can deter people who are not going to be the right fit.

With so many job boards and places to advertise jobs, it’s difficult to get the right job in front of the right person — so how can you do this?

A great place to start is with your current employees. Encourage referrals and have them come up with their own network of trusted qualified candidates. This is also a great way to screen candidates as well. Current employees likely won’t suggest someone who is not a good fit for the opening, and will be happier working with people they get along with well. Have your employees use their social networks and use your company social networks along with the other forms of advertising.

When choosing job boards, think about the websites that make the most sense. Reduce your recruiting cost by only choosing the boards with the audience you need. Look for niche communities in the industry that offer opportunities for posting jobs.

Also, remember that the candidates that you want to appeal to will look for positions by choosing keywords, so you will want to make sure to use keywords that are standard for the industry, and certain phrases in the job qualifications, in order to match up with what candidates are searching for so they will find your posting.

4. Retention

This is often an obstacle because many employees are not a good fit from the beginning in a job. In fact, 84 percent plan to leave their jobs in 2012 due to this very reason. If you can keep good candidates after recruitment, it will make your job much easier. If you have taken all the above measures then you are halfway there…but the rest is up to management and morale of the company.

When employees are happy with their challenges at work, their rewards and recognition, and they feel like they are valued, then they will feel like your company is a place they want to stay. Retention doesn’t mean that recruiting will end. There are always going to be spots to fill and if the company is thriving due to having great employees, you will have more jobs to fill due to company growth!

Overcoming these recruitment obstacles is not an impossible feat if you use all the tools available to find the right candidates. It may take some research and time to figure out the best tactics, but all of your resources are at your fingertips on the web.

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If you would like to learn more about how Harger Howe can help you with your recruitment efforts in 2012, please give us a call.

By Debbie Fledderjohann on January 26, 2012

It's a new year, and the usual predictions abound about what will be hot in 2012. Based on what we've been reading and hearing, here are the recruiting trends we think recruiters should keep an eye on:

1. Social Media Recruiting Wars - The race is on to see which social network, if any, will unseat LinkedIn as the recruiter's social network of choice. When it was released last year, a lot of people had their money on Google+ due to it's ability to separate contacts into "Circles," allowing users to be selective about which contacts saw which updates. But there is now talk that good old Facebook could emerge as a useful recruiting tool, especially with professional networking apps like BranchOut and BeKnown that help users find jobs through their Facebook friends. As BranchOut GM of Enterprise told Fistful of Talent, 18.4 million Americans say they found their current job through Facebook, so it definitely seems like the potential is there.

2. Mobile Recruiting - MSNBC recently reported that 25 percent of people use their smartphones rather than their computers for most of their Web surfing, so you can bet a lot of job hunting is taking place on mobile devices. This will most certainly only increase in 2012, so you may want to look at how your Web site looks from various smartphones and how mobile-friendly your application process is. One possible way to make job ads more user friendly is by using QR codes, which are those small, square, maze-like images that you may see in magazines or on billboards. When someone scans one of these codes with their smartphone in one of your job ads, it could take them to additional information online. For more ideas on how to use these codes, you may want to check out the www.ere.net article "QR Codes: The Next Big Thing in Recruiting Technology?"

3. Continued crackdown on independent contractors - This is not a new trend, but we expect it to be a big one, nevertheless. Near the end of 2011, the IRS offered a forgiveness program for employers who voluntarily reclassified 1099 independent contractors as W-2 employees while at the same time vowing to be even more diligent about investigating worker misclassification. Meanwhile, Congress reintroduced The Employee Misclassification Prevention Act. It's clear this is an issue that's not going away. So if you have clients who are doing it wrong, you may want to urge them to make proper worker classification one of their New Year's resolutions and offer to help them by converting their independent contractors to W-2 employees employed by a contract staffing back-office.

4. Continued growth of contract staffing - The growth contract staffing experienced last year is no surprise. Companies typically hire more contractors following a recession to test the hiring waters before they start hiring direct again. But what we are hearing is that there is more of a permanent shift where companies are maintaining a core of direct employees and supplementing it with a larger, more flexible outer ring of contractors.

Debbie Fledderjohann is the President of Top Echelon Contracting, Inc.

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If you would like to learn more about how Harger Howe can help you with your recruitment efforts in 2012, please give us a call.

Mary McLeod Bethune was an extraordinary educator, civil rights leader, and government official who founded the National Council of Negro Women and Bethune-Cookman College.

Mrs. Bethune's background as a teacher inspired her to open the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls in Daytona Beach, Florida. On October 3, 1904, the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School opened with just five students. Eventually the school blossomed to include a farm, high school, and nursing school. The school became the co-educational Bethune-Cookman College in 1929 after merging with Cookman Institute and was fully accredited in 1943.

Mrs. Bethune proved her expertise not only as an educator, but also as an organizer and fundraiser through her work with Bethune-Cookman College. She employed her diverse talents when she founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935. She envisioned NCNW to be an "organization of organizations" that would represent the national and international concerns of Black women. It would also give Black women the opportunity to realize their goals for social justice and human rights through united, constructive action.

In addition to being an educator and an organizer, Mrs. Bethune was also a political activist. She was the first African American woman to be involved in the White House, assisting four different presidents.

But she had the most significant influence on Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal Government. From 1936-1945 she served as the informal "race leader at large" for the administration. Mrs. Bethune was also one of the most influential African American leaders in the Black Cabinet, which organized the Federal Council on Negro Affairs. She also served as Director of Negro Affairs for the National Youth Administration, where she tirelessly worked to help young people find jobs and to secure funds for youth.

In 1974, Mrs. Bethune became the first Black leader and the first woman to have a monument, the Bethune Memorial Statue, erected on public park land in Washington DC in honor of her remarkable contributions. She also became the only Black woman to be honored with a memorial site in the nation's capital in 1994 when National Park Service acquired the Council House, Bethune's last official residence and the original headquarters of NCNW. Today the Council House offers a variety of educational programs and exhibits.

Mary McLeod Bethune's legacy of education, civil rights, and leadership continues to endure. Since 1943, Bethune-Cookman College has graduated more than 12,900 students. In addition, the college offers bachelor's degrees in 26 major areas.

Today, NCNW consists of over 39 national affiliates and over 240 sections, connecting more than 4,000,000 women to the organization! Mrs. Bethune's dedication and remarkable achievements continue to inspire the mission and work of NCNW.

It is our pledge to make a lasting contribution to all that is finest and best in America, to cherish and enrich her heritage of freedom and progress by working for the integration of all her people regardless of race, creed, or national origin, into her spiritual, social, cultural, civic, and economic life, and thus aid her to achieve the glorious destiny of a true and unfettered democracy.

— Founder Mary McLeod Bethune's Pledge for NCNW

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If you would like to learn more about how Harger Howe can help you with your diversity efforts, please give us a call.

by Jeff Haden. Originally published to Inc.com on February 2, 2012

Pay is important. But pay only goes so far.

Getting a raise is like buying a bigger house; soon, more becomes the new normal.

Higher wages won’t cause employees to automatically perform at a higher level. Commitment, work ethic, and motivation are not based on pay.

To truly care about your business, your employees need these eight things—and they need them from you:

1. Freedom. Best practices can create excellence, but every task doesn't deserve a best practice or a micro-managed approach. (Yes, even you, fast food industry.)

Autonomy and latitude breed engagement and satisfaction. Latitude also breeds innovation. Even manufacturing and heavily process-oriented positions have room for different approaches.

Whenever possible, give your employees the freedom to work they way they work best.

2. Targets. Goals are fun. Everyone—yes, even you—is at least a little competitive, if only with themselves. Targets create a sense of purpose and add a little meaning to even the most repetitive tasks.

Without a goal to shoot for, work is just work. And work sucks.

3. Mission. We all like to feel a part of something bigger. Striving to be worthy of words like "best" or "largest" or "fastest" or "highest quality" provides a sense of purpose.

Let employees know what you want to achieve, for your business, for customers, and even your community. And if you can, let them create a few missions of their own.

Caring starts with knowing what to care about—and why.

4. Expectations. While every job should include some degree of latitude, every job needs basic expectations regarding the way specific situations should be handled. Criticize an employee for expediting shipping today, even though last week that was the standard procedure if on-time delivery was in jeopardy, and you lose that employee.

Few things are more stressful than not knowing what your boss expects from one minute to the next.

When standards change make sure you communicate those changes first. When you can't, explain why this particular situation is different, and why you made the decision you made.

5. Input. Everyone wants to offer suggestions and ideas. Deny employees the opportunity to make suggestions, or shoot their ideas down without consideration, and you create robots.

Robots don't care.

Make it easy for employees to offer suggestions. When an idea doesn't have merit, take the time to explain why. You can't implement every idea, but you can always make employees feel valued for their ideas.

6. Connection. Employees don’t want to work for a paycheck; they want to work with and for people.

A kind word, a short discussion about family, a brief check-in to see if they need anything... those individual moments are much more important than meetings or formal evaluations.

7. Consistency. Most people can deal with a boss who is demanding and quick to criticize... as long as he or she treats every employee the same. (Think of it as the Tom Coughlin effect.)

While you should treat each employee differently, you must treat each employee fairly. (There's a big difference.)

The key to maintaining consistency is to communicate. The more employees understand why a decision was made the less likely they are to assume favoritism or unfair treatment.

8. Future. Every job should have the potential to lead to something more, either within or outside your company.

For example, I worked at a manufacturing plant while I was in college. I had no real future with the company. Everyone understood I would only be there until I graduated.

One day my boss said, "Let me show you how we set up our production board."

I raised an eyebrow; why show me? He said, "Even though it won’t be here, some day, somewhere, you'll be in charge of production. You might as well start learning now."

Take the time to develop employees for jobs they someday hope to fill—even if those positions are outside your company. (How will you know what they hope to do? Try asking.)

Employees will care about your business when you care about them first.

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If you would like to learn more about how Harger Howe can help you, please give us a call.

by Mike Walsh, Managing Partner - Harger Howe & Walsh
mwalsh@hargerhowe.com

There are now over 5.2 Billion mobile phone subscribers worldwide. It has now become the preferred and often primary means of communication where content is delivered, downloaded and consumed.

For job seekers, the mobile device serves as an ideal channel for remaining discreet while actively (or
passively) exploring the latest career opportunities. Whether a job seeker joins an SMS campaign, views a position on a mobile career site, or responds to a position through a job app or QR code, the convenience of exploring new jobs anytime, anywhere, offers an advantage.

There is no doubt that mobile has the greatest worldwide reach of all mass mediums. It is time we move beyond the question of whether mobile recruiting makes sense. As employers, our focus should now turn to how we create meaningful content for attracting and engaging our target audience.

10 Reasons Why Mobile Matters for Recruitment

1. Personal: Next to the wallet or purse, can you think of any other item that a prospective candidate may carry with them at all times?

2. Intimate: Mobile offers employers the ability to promote a new opportunity by broadcasting this to a targeted audience with the power of personal touch.

3. Confirmed Identity: Mobile takes the guess work out of knowing who we are contacting.

4. Convenient: Candidates can easily read SMS messages, even during the busiest times of the day. This is especially helpful when you’re trying to reach people who are not in the office, at their computers checking email, in a conference meeting with their project team, or traveling

5. Actionable: As recruiters, we want our target candidates calling back – right? Well, if your “call to action” message is compelling enough, your target audience will call respond.

6. Persistent & Viral: Unlike traditional mass media or job board marketing, the consumer carries the targeted message away with them on their device. If the message is interesting enough, it’s highly likely the recipient will forward to friend (or multiple friends).

7. Opt-in: What is great about Mobile marketing is that you build a permission based pool of talent; candidates can decide the level of interactions with your company. They also have the ability to easily opt-out of your marketing campaigns.

8. Builds Relationships: Mobile offers the ability to be creative in how we reach our audience while enabling us to maintain that “personal touch” in how we keep them informed of new opportunities.

9. Cutting Edge: Candidates are often on-the-go, traveling, in meetings, and not necessarily sitting around. Mobile campaigns are the best way to demonstrate that your company “gets-it” and is innovative.

10. Ubiquitous Access: We shouldn’t assume our candidate will be checking email messages or available to take calls when you need them. Mobile strategies offer pin-pointaccuracy in targeting your audience where they are at any point in time vs. where you think they are. Today, working professionals are tethered to their mobile device; the device is always “on” and always within reach. The era of 24 x7 is here. Why not leverage this advantage?

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If you would like to learn more about how Harger Howe can help you with your mobile marketing efforts, please give us a call.

{ Reprint}

All rights to this article are the exclusive property of Jennifer Melton, EEO/Diversity Management Consultant, F&H Solutions Group LLC

Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis issued the following statement on the August 2011 Employment Situation report released on September 2, 2011: "The private sector added 17,000 jobs in August, but those gains were offset by the loss of 17,000 government jobs. Total non-farm unemployment, therefore, was unchanged last month. The unemployment rate also remained unchanged at 9.1 percent.”

Was I surprised? Not really. For the last several months, I have been working closely with one of our firm’s largest telecommunications clients to augment their diversity recruitment/outreach initiatives as an integral part of their diversity strategy. As with several of our other diversity clients, I have provided them with the names of numerous membership-based organizations, recruiting sources, industry-specific conference information and notifications of local/national career fairs that have been lauded by many to produce diverse candidate pools and ultimately, new hires. However, there is one obstacle in this particular mission: my client is currently experiencing a recessionary hiring freeze due to economic constraints. A sharp drop in revenues and the uncertainty of future gains have hundreds of employers tightening the reins when it comes to the increasing their employee base. In fact, many have unfortunately found themselves in reduction-in-force mode rather than hiring mode.

So the question then becomes – do we arbitrarily abandon our valiant diversity efforts until the economy rebounds? Or, do we tap into our innovative and creative mindsets to develop alternative ways in which we can continue to market the company’s brand to prospective employees as a diverse “Employer of Choice”? If I were a betting person, I would opt for the latter. Regardless of how bleak the future may look for those 14 million unemployed persons (who have bravely pounded the pavement on a daily basis, resumes in hand for months -- some even years) it is incumbent upon employers to forge ahead with their diversity efforts and continue branding themselves as organizations that embrace diversity and inclusion. The logic behind this theory is simple: eventually, our economic woes will take a turn for the better. And companies that are strategically positioned when job opportunities do finally surface (and hiring freezes are lifted) are more apt to attract and retain the best and the brightest talent.

Some alternative avenues for similarly-situated organizations include:

• Posting advertisements in widely-read diversity publications and on corresponding websites to communicate the organization’s Diversity Vision/Commitment to Diversity.

• Attendance and/or sponsorship of a booth at an industry-specific community job fair/conference and disseminating brochures and other written materials that reinforce the organization’s Diversity Vision/Commitment to Diversity.

• Sharing testimonials from current diverse employees in recognition of its efforts to attract and retain minority and female employees through professional development programs, employee resource groups, etc.

• Investment in a mentoring program within the organization, to include those employees who are working through an internship/work-study scholarship grant. This will reinforce the organization’s diversity goals and objectives through active senior leadership participation.

• Development of a strong internal and external diversity network system through its employees, outside companies and other organizations to prepare for economic recovery.

• Assembly of a Diversity Council to modify and develop work-life policies for current employees that are competitive within the job market and will capture of the attention of qualified potential candidates.

These recommendations are certainly not an exhaustive list and may not fit the needs of every organization. However, they do provide companies with some options to clearly disseminate a commitment to embracing diversity as both a core value and overall business strategy. Top-notch candidates consider these same options when making an important employment decision. Of equal importance is the fact that companies realize an overall benefit through the unique exposure that is critical to the success of their diversity recruitment initiatives. So, essentially it is a ‘win-win’ for everyone involved.

During these economic times, a little creativity and innovation can help organizations prepare themselves for both the long and short haul. And when the iron does get hot – the “strike” can be well worth the wait.

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If you would like to learn more about how Harger Howe can help you with your diversity efforts, please give us a call.

Direct mail was once the darling of savvy marketers, but with the rise of social media and email marketing, the tactic is often overlooked for something sexier. It’s truly a shame, because direct mail is still an exciting tool for acquiring customers, and it has its place in the modern marketing mix.

Engagement

Direct mail has a few core attributes working in its favor. Namely, it’s a physical object. Physical mail has this habit of sticking around, lying on a desk or table, while unwanted emails are quickly deleted and Web pages can be abandoned. A mailer may go unnoticed at first, but repeat mailings often yield increased response rates. In fact, the U.S. Postal Service’s 2007 “Household Diary Study” states that 80% of households read or scan advertising mail.

Take direct mail digital

Direct mail pieces are easily updated for the digital customer. Simply include a quick response code or a personalized URL on each mailer. These techniques allow your customer to engage with your brand online, taking your marketing strategy down the multichannel funnel. These digital strategies also allow you to better track the metrics associated with each mailing piece.

Deliverability

With email marketing, you always have deliverability challenges. Will your email even make it into the recipient’s inbox, or will it be quarantined in the SPAM folder? With direct mail, deliverability isn’t an issue. If you send a piece of mail to a valid address, it’s going to be delivered.

Physicality

There’s just something special about receiving a piece of print media. I always look forward to my Hammacher Schlemmer catalog. With the Internet acting as a channel for both information and expression, we sometimes forget that people used to send letters. People notice their mail because a physical mailer evokes a sense of nostalgia. It’s kind of like the resurgence of vinyl LPs in recent years — people want to experience the warmth of a romanticized time and place.

Creativity

Direct mail is also one of those marketing strategies that allows for creative impact. Your direct mail piece doesn’t have to be a postcard. It could be a coffee mug, a gift basket or some other fun tchotchke. People are pummeled with brand messaging day in and day out. Do something compelling to cut through that noise. Use these tips to incorporate direct mail into your marketing strategy. It’s an age-old tactic that can still yield strong customer response and great return on investment.

Originally published on January 9, 2012 by Luis Suarez to SocialMediaToday.com

Continuing further along with another blog post from the series of articles on “Reflections from 2011“, I thought I would go ahead and spend a few minutes today musing about what I still think was one of the main key terms, within the Social Enterprise space, that most of us got exposed to, and talked extensively through a good number of rather interesting and enlightening articles and publications throughout last year and that I feel would continue to come along rather strongly during the course of 2012 as well.

Probably, because we are not done with it yet, but, most possibly, because we need to shift gears with it. Why? Well, so far, we haven’t done good enough with it, despite the various claims we may have been exposed to over the course of time, and we are running out of time and pretty quick! Of course, I’m talking about Employee Engagement or, in other words, how do you keep your employees motivated to excel at what they already do, driven by their distinctive passions, purpose and meaning?

You may be wondering why I mentioned above that we are running out of time on this critical concept of Employee Engagement, right? Well, let’s see it with a couple of good examples. How about this recent, rather worrying, study on how “A Third Of Employees Are Ready To Quit” or how a good percentage of today’s workforce continues to feel more disengaged with what they do than ever before, as they no longer feel the passion for their work nor their job(s)? Or how another study finds out how “One Third of Employers Have Disciplined Employees Using Social Media“? Or take this other, even more interesting and intriguing, study, where it’s demonstrated how more and more employers are no longer trusting their employees to do their work. Or, another one where work inequalities are reaching alarming levels close to disengage them for good and with no point of return. Yes, the examples keep piling on and on and on and I am sure you folks have got your favourites out there as well.

The reality is that Employee Engagement still remains a critical success factor for most employers and large corporations, and small businesses, too!, and we are running out of time because we are not doing a very good job at it at all. Quite the opposite. Yes, I know, we have seen, or been exposed, to a good number of really good articles that talk extensively about how to keep your employees, i.e. your knowledge workers, motivated to do their best and keep growing further in their career aspirations, contributions, purpose, meaning, etc. etc. without losing track of the business revenues, which is what most corporations care about nowadays anyway (Always have, I am afraid!). Yet, we keep failing drastically, and rather miserably, in achieving that long term goal of keeping employees motivated and all of that due to a very simple reason that most organisations seem to keep ignoring or neglecting big time: we consistently don’t ask them what they really want!

Indeed, that simple! Employee Engagement has always been a concept driven top down by corporations and their executives, who keep wondering how do they keep their employees motivated to go the extra mile without asking for much in return. What can they do to entice their knowledge workers to keep thriving and shining at what they already do well, which eventually is going to provide more business revenue, better customer satisfaction by delighting their clients and, hopefully, happier employees, without having to spend perhaps too much cash on rewards, incentives or whatever else so that it doesn’t go out of proportion. See? That’s exactly the problem! That kind of mentality where we are inspiring our knowledge workforce to compete against each other for those rewards, for those incentives, as individuals, as treasure hunters, where you try to do your outmost just to stay on top, annihilating everyone else around you. It’s part of that legacy corporate culture we have inherited from the 20th century and which we don’t seem to be too keen on getting rid of it, probably because it perhaps keeps nurturing the main corporate system that feeds it rather nicely backwards as well: money, greed and power.

I mean, can you imagine an entire workforce earning just as much as the CEO and his / her corporate executives? Or having that same amount of power at the same time as a group, network, community, where traditional management is no longer the one ruling but instead a new kind of leadership would be required? Obviously, not! Which corporation could sustain that? The reality though is that mentality is what’s keeping us away from “Designing a beautiful business“, as my good friend, Esko Kilpi, put together on a superb blog post just recently that I strongly encourage you all to go ahead and read further on what it would entail to reach that mantra of a beautiful business that he envisions amazingly accurate, and very nicely done!, and not too far away from today’s corporate environment. At least, for some businesses out there.

Another interesting read to provoke that shift away from that industrial model of recognising your employees with that individual competitive environment of cash, and whatever other tangible incentives, and move into a much more accurate, relevant, pertinent, purposeful and perhaps very much needed networked, interconnected and community-driven approach would be the excellent article “The Philosophy of Motivation” put together by Greg Satell where you will be able to find precious little golden nuggets like this one very relevant to the whole conversation of how to approach it when wanting to keep your knowledge workers motivated:

“[...] treating people with dignity means treating them as ends in themselves, rather than as simply means. [...] motivation is much more about intrinsic rewards than extrinsic rewards. Motivated people join an organization in good faith and expect to find meaning in their work, instead they get an incentive program. No wonder they get discouraged“

Greg’s description of the shift from the industrial age to the passion economy is just brilliant, too!, with magical quotes like this one: “In the industrial age, value was created by harnessing energy. In the passion economy, value is created through superior design“. Like I said, a highly recommended read to help differentiate what’s at stake over here.

The challenge is out there for everyone though. As we move into another exciting and rather thrilling new year, it would be the perfect time to shift gears and start thinking about “Employee Engagement” not just from the top down in any and every organisation, but also from the bottom up! The good thing is that we are not alone! We don’t have to reinvent the wheel and wonder how we are going to get things started and make that shift happen. We are not starting from scratch and it would be silly to fool ourselves, if we believe it’s a whole lot harder than what it actually is. As a good starting point, we need to lower down the center of gravity and the decision power, starting by trusting more our very own employees, so that we get to find out what they really think; continuing further by discovering together different ways to keep rockstar employees happy, because whether we like it or not, they are the major driving force that gets everyone else excited wanting to jump into the bandwagon by following their true passion, which is the work they are already doing and excelling at!

I strongly believe that, at the end of the day, we would ALL be rather amazed and very pleasantly surprised to find out from those employees that, for them, it’s not all about the money, or the salary raises or whatever other cash, hard incentives. It’s a whole lot more than just that! We are talking about people in here, and as people do business with other people, there is a great chance that it will all be about fostering the right working environment where people are, AND feel, treated like people. Just what they are. An end in themselves, as Greg put it beautifully in an earlier article I mentioned above.

It’s all about finding ways to motivate your knowledge workforce to finally help you understand fully that this is all way beyond just thinking that money will do. Don’t take me wrong, money is good! It pays your bills and gives you an opportunity to enjoy a fulfilling life, but there is more to it. In fact, a whole lot more to it. And, like I said, we won’t need to start from scratch. In fact, there has been plenty of rather fascinating and thought-provoking research in this area, like Jack Wiley, executive director of the Kenexa High Performance Institute, recently wrote over at “Give employees what they really want” and where he talks about R.E.S.P.E.C.T., i.e. the main topics to cover, as an organisation, to keep your employees motivated and bring in Employee Engagement into the 21st century modus operandi of the new workplace, away from the industrial era:

• Recognition
• Exciting work
• Security of employment
• Pay
• Education and career growth
• Conditions
• Truth

Please do go ahead and read further on Jack’s insights for each and everyone of those items to see what lies ahead. Certainly, a good challenge for all of us, as I have mentioned above. It’s not going to be easy either, for sure. But no-one said it would be. It’s actually what’s at stake for all of us who would want to design those beautiful businesses that Esko mentioned over in his blog post. That’s what makes it the most exciting of challenges. It’s one we can all contribute and make it happen eventually. It’s our way out to define the workplace of the future and there is probably not a better way of doing it than reverting Employee Engagement into what really matters, as Esko concludes beautifully with this gem:

“The years with the Internet have proven that we are capable of working together competitively/cooperatively, building social communities that many would some time ago have dismissed as impossible dreams. Thus we don’t yet have a good idea of what cannot be done by connected people working together in new ways. Changes in existing organizations and the evolution of new ones will have characteristics in common. Just as natural systems like the human body are not vertical hierarchies with each part superior to another in ascending linear order, organizations of the future will not be structured that way. This is not to say that all present industrial organizations are doomed but our models to describe the world around us are. We need a new vocabulary beyond the models of industrial production and separatist, mechanistic concepts of a corporation“

Yes, indeed, we probably need a new vocabulary, but I suspect that along with that new vocabulary we would also need a new way of thinking, a new way of working where employees, through their trusted networks and social communities own the corporation, just as much as the latter owns them. That’s when engagement will take a new meaning. The one we have all been waiting and anticipating for all along. For all of us, not just for the few we already know who they are…

Are you ready to own your beautiful business? If the answer is “Yes!”, you better start working your magic to help make employee engagement no longer a myth, but today’s corporate reality. We very much need it. And fast!

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If you would like to learn more about how Harger Howe can help you with your Employee Engagement efforts, please give us a call.

By Giselle Tsirulnik

Originally published to MobileMarketer.com

by Lauren Webber, originally published to WSJ.com

Large firms see a significant scale advantage when it comes to recruiting costs per new employee, according to a study from Bersin & Associates, a human-resources advisory firm.

Companies with more than 10,000 employees world-wide pay a median figure of $1,949 per hire, compared with midsize companies, which pay $3,632, and small firms, which pay $3,665.

Because small and medium-sized organizations tend to have fewer dedicated recruitment employees, they often have to outsource hiring, which "can be very expensive," says Josh Bersin, chief executive and president of Bersin & Associates.

Large companies also hire significantly more employees than small and midsize firms relative to the size of the recruitment staff, bringing down the costs.

Of the industries analyzed, manufacturers had the highest recruitment costs per hire, with median spending of $6,443. That's because those jobs require specialized skills like familiarity with particular types of equipment or software, Bersin says.

Health-care companies had the lowest costs, at $2,127, because the skill and certification requirements for many medical positions, such as nurses, are rigidly defined, which simplifies hiring, Mr. Bersin says.

To calculate the cost per hire, 414 companies added up all their spending on internal recruiting staff, third-party agencies, company career websites, applicant tracking software, job-listing services, college recruiting, employee referral programs plus other recruiting-related expenses—and divided that number by their total hires over the preceding year.

Thirtysomethings Least Happy With Their Work

American workers under the age of 30 experience the highest levels of job satisfaction, according to a study by the Center on Aging and Work at Boston College. Those over 50 are also pretty happy with their jobs.

The least jazzed about their daily grind? Workers between the ages of 30 and 39.

On a scale of one to six, with six being the highest rating, the median job satisfaction levels of the under-30 crowd and the 50+ group came to 4.66 and 4.55, respectively. For the 30-39 group, the rate was 4.33. It was 4.44 for those aged 40-49. A total of 1,156 respondents in the U.S. completed the 30-minute online survey.

The under-30s were the most satisfied with their job security. They and the over-50s were also happiest with their relationships with peers and co-workers. Meanwhile, the over-50s—considered in the study to be at the "late-career" stage of their work lives—trumped most of their mid-career counterparts on measures of satisfaction with their own skills and abilities, the diversity and inclusiveness of their organizations, their benefits, and the sense of accomplishment they derived from work.

More than 40% of the survey respondents, especially those over 30, were dissatisfied with their companies' efforts to provide opportunities for advancement and promotion, making it the area of greatest frustration among the 13 topics considered.

The findings about age and promotions might be related, says Margaret Morford, president of HR Edge, a consulting and training firm in Brentwood, Tenn. Generation X workers—those between 30 and 49—have been "in the work force for a long time and they keep waiting for Baby Boomers to move out so they can step into those managerial positions, and it's not happening," she said.

Instead, Boomers are working for more years to compensate for the hit their 401ks took during the recession, says Ms. Morford.

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