3 Tips to Verify Applicant Claims on Resumes and at Interviews

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Job seekers are known to fudge a little about their past. They may take credit for a project they didn’t work on very much, or stretch the truth about what “knowledge” means about a particular program or skill. There are a shocking number of people that are “bilingual” because they can say one or two basic sentences and not much else.

But as hiring managers, we’ve come to expect this, and in truth there are plenty of times where all we really want is someone that is capable of understanding and learning. A little bit of fudging isn’t usually problematic. Yet there are times when lying on a resume can be very problematic – especially if the lie is what makes them so valuable for the role.

Challenging Your Applicant

That’s why, when there is knowledge that you absolutely must have from the applicant, it’s always a good idea to challenge them a little bit and make sure they’re not lying. There are many possible ways to do this, but the following are some of the simplest:

  • Tell Them to Describe Their Role and the Process

Let’s say that they claimed they played an integral role in a project, and that role is what attracted you to their candidacy. Ask them to talk about it more, and go into detail about what it was like, what they learned, what they did, what the challenges were, who they managed, etc. No need to pressure them – those that worked on the project in depth will have a lot to say. Those that didn’t will not. Similarly, if it’s a skill, just ask them “can you show me?” even if you have no intention of making them show you. Someone that is confident will say “sure!” and do it. Someone that knows they fudged it will stumble and make excuses.

  • Ask if You Can Speak to Someone About the Role

You don’t actually need to talk to a reference (although if you can, that’s great). But someone that claimed they worked on something they didn’t will quickly find a way to backtrack. Keep in mind that not having a reference for you may not be a sign they didn’t work on the project. It’s more of a yellow flag – some people genuinely won’t have someone you can talk to about their role since perhaps they didn’t build connections there, but depending on their reaction you can prod further.

  • Google It

Finally, don’t forget that you don’t need to ask the specific individual for proof. There is ample proof of things online. You can find out if there is evidence that the person has skills or talents, evidence they worked on projects, and so on. Don’t be afraid to use all resources at your disposal as you look to verify the individual’s contributions.

Warning Signs and Candidacy

Keep in mind that these are all just warning signs. Some candidates may still be excellent candidates, even if they seem less confident. Someone that worked with a program 3 years prior in depth may not be confident now, but will learn the program very quickly, for example. But knowing the truth is important for making great decisions, and challenging claims is a good way to make sure you’re hiring the right people.

For more tips on recruitment, skills testing and other related concerns regarding hiring and employment you can contact us at info@employmentoffice.com or visit our website at www.employmentoffice.com.

Why to Perform Some Type of Test on Applicants

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At Employment Office, one of our most sought after and successful services is our behavior testing service. We also offer skills assessment, and other forms of testing that can have a profound impact on your recruitment success.

But why is testing necessary? Testing is certainly not a part of traditional recruitment, where most employers simply focus on the resume and interview. What is it about testing that makes it so valuable as a method of evaluating and collecting talent?

Benefits of Testing Applicants

There are actually many different benefits of testing – beyond even the information that you gather from the test itself. The process of testing is, in its own way, beneficial, and can help you greatly improve your own employment practices. Some of these benefits include:

  • More Information – You can’t legally put someone to work for free, see how they do, and then decide to hire them. So barring that, you’re working with limited information in most recruitment settings. Testing gives you more information, and more information is always better. No matter the test, whether it’s behavioral testing, skills testing, etc., you’re gaining information on the applicant that you would not have otherwise, and that information can help drive decisions.
  • Commitment and Ambition – Testing is also a form of self-selection. How badly does someone want to work for your company? How willing are they to put in hard work? These are important qualities in a great applicant, and any type of test or additional work helps show that the individual has that drive and motivation that is going to make them a good employee.
  • Driving Questions – Finally, generally you’re going into interviews fairly blind. Skills testing, behavioral testing, etc. – these types of tests provide you with more ways to ask questions. If you see someone is lacking in a specific skill, for example, you can ask questions to get a better idea of whether or not that person can learn the skill, or if they have the talent to make up for not having it.

Testing applicants may seem like an extra step, especially when compared to traditional recruitment practices, but there are a lot of reasons that it can be valuable as a part of your recruitment strategy. At Employment Office, we have testing solutions that are extremely affordable and will help you collect a lot of valuable information on your applicants. Check out our testing services today, and start integrating them into your recruitment strategy.

For your recruitment and branding concerns you can contact Employment Office at info@employmentoffice.com.

 

What To Do When You Have More Than One Great Applicant

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By the time you’re interviewing applicants, you have shortlisted your applicant pool down to the people that look the most qualified. That means that you have created a smaller pool of very talented individuals, and are simply looking for the one that is the best fit.

The idea that only one applicant can fit inside your organization, however, is a myth. It’s quite possible that there are several great applicants, each of whom represents a phenomenal talent that your company may need. This represents a good, but by no means simple problem: What are you supposed to do when you have multiple qualified applicants?

How to Handle Several Excellent Applicants

  • Create a Position for Them – If an applicant is qualified for your business, they’re qualified for a competitor as well. Remember that there are no rules about how many people you can hire. You can create an identical position, or even create a new position just to keep them within the organization. Any solution that both keeps them in the company and not working for a competitor is a good solution, provided your company can use their services and afford it.
  • Put Them in An Applicant Tracking System – So you can’t hire them now. But you may be able to hire them later. Let them know that you someday want to add them to the company but you do not have the space, and you would like to put them in an applicant tracking system, like SCOUT, in order to hire them if/when a position opens. Then make sure they are first to be considered for nearly every role.
  • Outsource Work to Them – An intriguing way to keep them in the organization is to have them work as contractors or consultants. This will send them work, but you’ll be under no obligation to hire them, and then should the person you hire not work out or a position opens in the future, they’ll have a direct line into your organization. In this increasingly digital world, this idea can be very beneficial.

Having more than one great applicant is a problem every company wishes they had. But it’s still a problem, because if you hire only one you may be turning away someone that could have been a great contributor to your company. Make sure you explore ways to either bring them into your company or to keep them connected to your company in some way, and you’ll be able to keep your organization flush with talent for years to come.

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Webinar: How to Choose the Right Applicant

When: Thursday March 26th 2015 Time: 12:00 PM – 12:45 PM AEST (Brisbane)
Join Samantha Gellis, Recruitment and Shortlisting Specialist for this practical and insightful webinar in which our Recruitment expert will share her experiences in candidate assessment and give practical guidance and tips on the effective assessment of candidates.

[button link=”http://employmentoffice.com.au/free-stuff/upcoming-webinars/webinar-how-to-choose-the-right-applicant/” size=”medium” target=”_self”  icon=”arrow-right” color=”alternative-3″ lightbox=”false”]Join the webinar (It’s free)[/button]
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For more tips on recruitment marketing and employer branding, you can contact us at info@employmentoffice.com or visit out website at www.employmentoffice.com.au.

What Sets Your Job Advertisement Apart?

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When it comes to recruitment, your job advertisement is essentially all you have. While some potential employees may find you through networking and recommendations, most are going to find you through our job ad, and that’s why it’s so important to make sure you’ve created a job ad that is going to attract them.

But most employers see the job advertisement as a nuisance. They tend to do one of the following:

  • Cut and paste information from someone else’s job ad.
  • Create a job ad in list form with everything you need and no other information. 
  • Design a fast job ad to get it up right away.

You may be able to find a good employee if you post a sloppy or hastily thrown together job advertisement. But what you need to ask yourself is: why would someone choose to apply to your job over someone else’s? What is it that makes you special?

You’re Not Naturally Special

Most companies will answer something about their products or their potential. They’ll talk about their name in the industry, or something about why they are expecting growth. But to a potential employee that means absolutely nothing. You’re a name on a paper. They want to know what will make them happy, and what makes you different from other employers.

You have to figure out what sets your job advertisement apart and is going to attract more top talent to you than to any other company. You can do that by:

  • Offering Better Benefits – Giving employees better benefits, perks, and pay, and writing all of that information on the job advertisement is one basic way to set your job ad apart. Applicants that know that they’re going to receive amazing things if they apply to you are going to prefer your job over a company that advertises or offers almost nothing.
  • Engaging Writing – Writing a boring job ad will get you boring people. Writing an engaging job ad will get you the best people. Talk about all of the great things about your company and its products. Be positive. Make people want to learn more about you. This strategy is not only great for finding talent – it’s also great for branding.
  • Genuine Information – You should also work on giving your job advertisement character and personality. Tell people exactly what they can expect in your workplace. Be honest, but remain positive. If it’s going to be a fast paced place, then share that with people. If it’s going to be fun with a lot of growth potential and casual atmosphere, share that too. Give people information that lets them make a real decision (as long as you remain positive about it all) and you’ll get more applicants.

These are just a few of the ways that you can improve your job advertisement in general. The most important thing to ask, however, is whether or not your job ad is more or less likely to attract applicants than others. If all you have is the same exact style and information, then your advertisement isn’t special, and you will attract the same people as everyone else.

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Webinar: How to Choose the Right Applicant

When: Thursday March 26th 2015 Time: 12:00 PM – 12:45 PM AEST (Brisbane)
Join Samantha Gellis, Recruitment and Shortlisting Specialist for this practical and insightful webinar in which our Recruitment expert will share her experiences in candidate assessment and give practical guidance and tips on the effective assessment of candidates.

[button link=”http://employmentoffice.com.au/free-stuff/upcoming-webinars/webinar-how-to-choose-the-right-applicant/” size=”medium” target=”_self”  icon=”arrow-right” color=”alternative-3″ lightbox=”false”]Join the webinar (It’s free)[/button]

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For more tips on recruitment marketing and employment branding, you may contact us at info@employmentoffice.com or visit our website at www.employmentoffice.com.au.

Is “Competitive Pay” Good Enough?

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Compensation is one of the biggest factors a potential employee will look for in an open position. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not the only thing they’ll look for – telecommuting, great benefits, stock options, potential for growth, and more are all going to play a key role in their decision. But good compensation is what all employees are looking for.

Compensation tells an employee a lot about their place in your company. Since most companies aren’t sure how much they want to offer a new hire, they write “competitive pay” in the section on compensation, not realizing that their pay is not actually competitive.

The Problems With Poor Compensation

All companies want to decrease their expenses in order to increase their profits. But paying someone less than they deserve or expect can have pretty drastic consequences on your recruitment, including:

  • Turning Off the Best – Your absolute best talents may be expecting more money from their work. Employers that are either unwilling or unaware of how much their talent brings to the company are going to offer less than the best applicants deserve, and in many cases this will get them to turn down a job quickly. It may even cause YOU to want to avoid hiring THEM because you think their salary demands are too expensive, when in reality they are asking for their market price and you are undervaluing their contributions.
  • Pay Minus Perks – Other companies do offer competitive pay, but nothing else. For example, perhaps the average employee in the position earns $65,000, so they decide to hire $68,000 to be “competitive.” But if that company offers fewer benefits, fewer perks, or fewer reasons to work for their company, the reality is that $68,000 is too low, because other companies offer much more. A “Competitive Salary” has to take into account the other benefits you’re offering.
  • Likelihood of Seeking Competition – Recruitment doesn’t end after the hire, either. Employers that do not pay their employees a competitive wage are at risk for losing the employee once they find work elsewhere. Competitive pay keeps employees in the long term, and so an offer that’s good-but-not-great opens the door for another company to steal them away.

In some cases poor compensation is not your fault. For example, you may assume that you’re opening up a lower talent position in your company and asking for someone with a specific ability, and most people that have that ability are used to being in higher positions in companies and getting paid very well. The task itself may be simple, but the value associated with that task may be high, and you may not be aware of these compensation differences.

Nevertheless, learning how to offer truly competitive pay can make a big difference in your recruitment efforts, and it’s important that you examine how much you’re genuinely willing to offer and how much you can afford before trying to advertise to the top talent.

 

For you recruitment concerns and employment branding you may contact Employment Office Australia at info@employmentoffice.com or visit our website at www.employmentoffice.com.au.

Is Your Job Advertisement Arrogant?

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Your job advertisement is more than a tool you use to fill an open position. It’s also the first impression of a potential employee with your company. That’s why it’s so important that your job ad says positive things about your company, and unfortunately, many companies write job advertisements in a way that doesn’t make a great first impression, and in some cases can be described as “arrogant.”

What Makes An Arrogant Job Advertisement?

There are several different ways your job advertisement can seem arrogant to the potential applicant. These include:

  • No Idea Who You Are

There are some companies that everyone knows. Google, Intel, and more, are all names that 80% of the country is aware of. But those represent about 0.1% of employers. Most other companies are a complete mystery to job seekers. Yet many job advertisements give no background, because they arrogantly assume that everyone knows their name.

Even though you think your name may be well known in an industry, some of the best talents may have no idea who you are, and you need to make sure that you’re talking about yourself, explaining what you do, and getting people excited about working for your company.

  • Talking Down to Applicants

Many job ads also use language that talks down to the applicant. They may talk about all of the things the applicant “must” have in order to work for you. But they only talk about what the applicant must have, and not what they provide. This is a form of arrogance, because it makes the employee think like they need to be “good enough” to work for their company. You want everyone to feel as though they are good enough, and then you can select the ones you need the most.

  • Extremely Detailed and Complex Job Ad

Similarly, a job advertisement that is extremely long, complicated, and asks the applicant for thousands of different requirements can also be seen as an arrogant ad by the potential applicant. While you may have requirements, the most complicated job ads say to applicants “we are so important that only those with all of these qualifications will be able to work here.” That’s rarely true, and is going to turn off some talent.

How to Make a Less Arrogant Job Ad

Your job ad needs to get people excited about working for you. It needs to talk about what you can do for the employee, how you benefit them, and more about who you are. Above all else, when writing the job ad it needs to emphasize the idea that the employee is seen as valuable, and should be written by those that know how important the employee is to the company. That’s how you’ll be able to write an inviting job ad for potential talent.

For more recruitment and branding tips you may contact us at info@employmentoffice.com.au or visit our website at www.employmentoffice.com.au.