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MONITORING TRENDS IN SOURCING COSTS
A look at the trends indicated by the data from the EMA cost per hire survey.
GETTING MORE RIGHT ANSWERS
Asking the right questions is the only way to get the right answers.
RECRUITING RELATIONSHIPS
Building a rapport with all your customers is the key to success.
EIGHT SECRETS OF RETENTION
Here are some of the many things you must do to keep your employees.
INCREASING WEB SITE TRAFFIC
It takes creativity to find and drive applicants to your web site.
For the past fifteen years, we have compiled and reported the data for the Employment Management Association
from its national cost per hire and staffing metrics surveys. The cost per hire report is one of the most
requested benchmarks in the industry, but few companies actually compute their own. As a result, the most
recent annual data and averages provide little reliability as benchmarks for planning and forecasting.
Multi-year trends, on the other hand, have proven to be more reliable in forecasting future recruitment
costs. By analyzing the trends over a five or ten year period, it is easier to estimate what one might
expect in the year ahead.
In the exempt category of employment, the 1998 average cost per advertising hire was reported to be $1,589.
However, if we compute the average using the last six years, the average is $2,218. Similarly, we have seen
employee referral awards vary from year to year based upon the number and type of survey respondents. The
average employee referral award for the past six years has been just $372, as compared to the 1998 average
of $479 per hire.
In the agency fee category, there has clearly been an inflationary effect as starting salaries have risen each year.
In 1998, the average agency fee for an exempt hire was $11,827. Based upon the average starting salary of $51,302,
that equates to an average fee of 23 percent.
The agency fee trend line would lead a reasonable person to assume the average fee for 1999 will again be
between $11,000 and $12,000 per hire.
Although the Internet is still a relatively new source for recruiting, it has shown a trend toward diminishing
costs per hire. When we first started monitoring this in 1996, the average was $483. In 1997, it dropped to $377,
and in 1998, it was just $331 per hire. Clearly, as more job seekers and companies choose to use it as the new
meeting ground, the average cost per hire via the Internet will continue to remain low.
By tracking your own sourcing costs and utilization rates, you will be able to demonstrate the
effectiveness of your sourcing strategies to your client managers, and show your organization the cost savings
you are generating through improved sourcing strategies.
For more EMA survey information, contact rebecca@shrm.org.
Every recruiter knows that in order to get the right answers, you must ask the right questions. Some recruiters
are pretty good at this, but there are many others that have fallen into the trap of asking the same few
questions of every candidate, expecting the better candidates to distinguish themselves by their responses.
In reality, everybody is the unique sum of his or her own life experiences, environmental circumstances and values.
To assume that any one answer is more right than another is, for all intents and purposes, personal bias. To fairly
judge others, we must take great care to learn what specific actions or behaviors the candidate demonstrated,
as well as the circumstances under which the actions were taken, and the specific outcomes of each.
Otherwise, we are likely to fill in the blanks with our own values and experiences, which more often than not,
don't fit the candidate.
Aristotle once said, "We are what we repeatedly do. Behavior, then, is not an act, but a habit." Built on
this premise, we can assume will relative assuredness that people will behave or perform similarly in like situations.
Asking the right questions about a person's past performance should yield meaningful and relevant data
with which future performance can be predicted.
Asking a candidate if he has ever worked on a project team before will usually generate a brief, non-specific
response. However, if you ask the candidate, "Describe for me a recent project team or group you worked with,
the problems you encountered, and how you resolved them," then you will usually generate a more fully detailed story
from which you can gain a comfortable sense of style and behavior. The follow up questions become rather obvious,
such as, "Why did you do that?" or "Then what happened?"
Certainly, specific examples of past behavior are more believable than most "stock" or general responses.
And, they are usually verifiable through reference checking.
Candidates who are led to reveal themselves via specific past behaviors help us to become more
comfortable as interviewers and more confident in evaluating their potential fit to our organizations.
Right Questions Get Real Answers
Job Motivation
Instead of "Why do you want to work for our company?"
Try: "What are you considering a job change at this time?" "What aspects of your last job would you
like to avoid in your next job?"
Interpersonal Skills
Instead of "How did you get along with your last supervisor?"
Try: "Tell me about a time when you didn't agree with your supervisor. How did you handle it?" "We all
have times when we have had to work with a difficult person. Tell me about a time when this has
happened to you."
Analytical Ability
Instead of " How do you solve problems?"
Try: "Tell me about a particularly difficult job-related problem you faced recently. How did you handle
it? Results?" "Think of a time when you had to gather a lot of data. Talk me through the steps you
followed. Why? Results?"
Tolerance for Stress
Instead of "Under what conditions do you do your best work?"
Try: Think of a time when you were under a lot of pressure at work. What were the circumstances?
What did you do? How did it turn out?"
The successful recruiter in today's frenzied job market must be a relationship builder. Client managers,
vendors and applicants alike want and expect to have a clearly defined, yet comfortable relationship with
their recruiter.
Client managers seldom accept a new recruiter at first meeting. Credibility must first be established
through frequent communications and a few successful assignments. You know you have arrived when your
clients treat you as a partner, and make requests, not demands.
The vendors you use for employment and recruiting services will often treat you
as just another customer unless you make an effort to establish a rapport and
comfort level with them. If you demand better or faster service without this kind
of relationship, you'll probably get less attention and slower service. Build
a mutually respectful relationship and you probably be able to ask for, and get,
practically anything.
Most important of all are the relationships you establish with your candidates. If candidates don't like
or trust you, they are not likely to be interested in the company you represent. Despite the fact that
you are a company representative, many candidates believe that you will be their personal advocate,
representing their interests to the company. Break that trust or ignore their needs and requests, and
the game is over.
In the business world today, results are what count. In recruiting, relationships are the means by which we
achieve results.
There is no one-button solution to the retention problem. But there are several buttons you can push to
increase your retention rate. Here are what we call "the 8 ates":
COMMUNICATE - keep your employees well-informed about what is going on in your business, both the good
news and the bad.
EDUCATE - continue to provide your employees the opportunity to improve themselves and their skills.
COMPENSATE - reward your employees fairly at market competitive rates. Do not try to hire at the
lowest rate possible. There are no secrets in compensation anymore, so don't pretend there are.
MOTIVATE - provide good leadership with managers who care and willingly share their vision for
the business.
ACCOMODATE - listen to and respond to the special needs and requests of your employees as you would
a member of your family.
ACCELERATE - promote when ready, rather than by a dictated schedule. And, reward instantly, rather
than once a year.
TERMINATE - provide developmental support, but get rid of non-performers quickly. It will boost
the morale of the rest of the team.
CELEBRATE - make everyone a part of both the big and the little wins of your business. Celebrations can
create a sense of contribution and belonging, both critical aspects of a retention program.
In a near full employment job market where most potential job candidates are passive, it is becoming
increasingly important to make your corporate web site well known and easy to find.
A basic principle of marketing is to know your audience. If you know who they are and where they are,
you can reach them. For example, if you know your target audience is college students, and you know
college students often order pizza, then why wouldn't it make sense to find a way to put a coupon on
every pizza delivery box with your company's URL on it?
Today's job seekers are more likely to find you, rather than you finding them. Look for creative ways
to get your logo and your URL in their faces as often as possible. Then, make sure your web site has all
the information about your jobs, locations, culture, etc., that they are likely to want to know.
Know your audience.