YOUR GUIDE TO THE RECRUITING REVOLUTIONHow Technology is Changing the Way We Find & Secure Top Talent

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

THE FUTURE OF TALENT ACQUISITION IS ABOUT FINDING THE RIGHT CANDIDATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 BY MIKE BOLLINGERWe sat down with new Principal Consultant of Talent Acquisition at Cornerstone, Sarah Brennan, to talk through the impact of analytics on talent acquisition, and how companies can find (and keep) the right talent.

HOW BIG DATA IS CHANGING THE RECRUITING GAME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10BY CHARLES COYBig data — and its potential to help companies predict which employees are likely to flourish or flail, whether as new hires or future leaders — is all the rage among HR departments today. Here are three companies putting analytics into action.

THE ONE ACRONYM YOU NEED TO RECRUIT GEN Y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13BY IRA WOLFEWhile there’s no lack of “best” recruiting practices available when it comes to millennials, the process can be narrowed down into a single acronym: R-E-A-C-H.

Index

THE STATE OF SOCIAL MEDIA RECRUITING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16BY CHARLES COYToday, using social media to recruit candidates is par for the course. Now the question is: How do you use it most effectively?

THE BEST CANDIDATE FOR THE JOB ALREADY WORKS FOR YOU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 BY CHRIS STEWARTHiring for a new position? By looking internally first, you can not only cut down on time and cost, but your employees gain the new experiences and skill sets they seek, while you can groom engaged top talent.

WANT MORE WORKFORCE DIVERSITY? ERASE THE JARGON FROM YOUR JOB DESCRIPTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23BY CHARLES COYYour good intentions to hire more diverse candidates are stifled if your job descriptions fail to attract — or even actively turn away — these candidates. Here’s how to write more inclusively.

WHY RECRUITERS NEED TO THINK LIKE JOB CANDIDATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26BY LYNDA SPIEGELBy taking the time to understand a candidate’s pain points and treating them with respect, you can establish a well-regarded employer brand for your clients, your company and yourself.

CHARLES COY Charles is the senior director of analyst and communications relations at Cornerstone. He came to Cornerstone interested in the ways that technology can impact how organizations evaluate, motivate and value their employees. Charles is a study in permanence, having worked in every dark corner of Cornerstone since the early days of the company more than 16 years ago.

LYNDA SPIEGEL Lynda Spiegel is a human resources executive with more than 14 years of experience recruiting and hiring thousands of talented individuals. She founded Rising Star Resumes to leverage her background, and works with clients to market the value proposition they represent to employers. Lynda has worked at Citigroup (Smith Barney), as well as telecom and SaaS companies. She is a frequent writer and speaker on recruiting, as well as careers in human resources.

IRA WOLFE Ira Wolfe is a nationally recognized thought leader in workforce trends and an expert in employee and career assessment testing. He is president of Success Performance Solutions, a pre-employment and leadership testing firm he founded in 1996. A prolific author, columnist and business blogger, he forecast what he called “The Perfect Labor Storm” in the late 1990s.

MIKE BOLLINGER Mike Bollinger is the Global AVP at Cornerstone and an accomplished executive with 20 years of experience in positions of increasing responsibility. Mike speaks regularly at HCM thought leadership events such as Evanta, Argyle, HCI, ICMI and others on HR trends, generations in the workplace and how to measure the impact of HR transitions.

CHRIS STEWART As VP of Global Client Success at Cornerstone, Chris is responsible for the company’s client success strategy driving reference-ability, retention and overall client satisfaction. Chris oversees a team of 70+ Client Success Managers (CSMs) who are responsible for the day-to-day relationship management and overall satisfaction of 1800+ clients globally.

Featured Authors

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The modern recruiter has it far from easy. While the soft skills of recruiting are still relevant — good communication skills, outgoing personality and keen intuition — the tech-driven world of work requires talent acquisition specialists to navigate a variety of tools, data analytics and social media platforms. Recruiters can no longer just be great “people people”—they need to be great tech people, too.

Make no mistake, technology has drastically improved recruiters’ abilities to source, identify and hire higher-quality candidates across the board. Applicant tracking systems save both human resources’ and candidates’ time by automating the application and evaluation process. Social media platforms are leveling the playing field at work and creating opportunities for recruiters to not only find great candidates faster, but communicate with them in real time. And for everything ATS’ and social media have done to increase the quantity of candidates, big data and people analytics have done to increase the quality of candidates.

The flip side of this is that candidates have access to many of the same tools. Social media is a two-way street: Jobseekers can find and communicate with potential employers directly, just as recruiters can communicate with employees. And, taking a cue from the long-time requirement of applicant references, sites like Glassdoor are turning the tables and allowing candidates to screen employers, too. In short, technology has created an unprecedented state of transparency between “the job” and “the job seeker.”

As an employer, how can you embrace these new recruiting tools without losing the “people” side of recruiting? In this guidebook, you’ll learn about how technology is revolutionizing recruiting, and how to meet the challenges that accompany these changes. With seven articles on everything from utilizing analytics to integrating talent mobility to writing better job descriptions, our featured experts will help you navigate the changing landscape of talent acquisition and hire people who will thrive in your organization.

Introduction

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From single tweets to Big Data analytics, the latest technologies are changing the way we approach talent acquisition – and for the better. Tools and strategies like social media, mobile technology and people analytics are expanding the ways in which employers can both source and engage with candidates — but while it’s becoming easier and easier to find talent, it’s becoming harder and harder to actually secure talent.

In many ways, this trend is a force for good. With dropping unemployment rates and more job opportunities, employers are compelled to truly differentiate not only their business strategies, but their people strategies, too. Today, the best talent is constantly on the look for new opportunities, and employers need to offer more than basic benefits

and a good salary to compete. Things like company culture and professional development can no longer be afterthoughts — instead, these aspects of your company need to be as strategic and clear as pay and benefits in order to land top talent.

At Cornerstone, we’re dedicated to helping companies predict and work with the future of work — not against it. That’s just one reason we brought in Sarah Brennan, a veteran recruiting and HR tech analyst, as a Principal Consultant of Talent Acquisition on our Global Thought Leadership and Advisory Services (TLAS) team. We sat down with her recently to talk through the impact of analytics on talent acquisition, and how companies can find (and keep) the right talent.

The Future of Talent Acquisition Is About Finding the Right Candidate

By Mike Bollinger

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As talent increasingly becomes a key part of business strategy,

with survey after survey of C-suite executives talking about talent

as one of their top challenges, it’s creating demand for HR analytics

starting with recruiting.

Why has HR been slow to adopt Big Data analytics compared to other departments, such as sales or marketing?We’ve really just seen a shift in talent analytics within the last couple of years on a widespread level. The analytics that were available 10 or even just five years ago didn’t truly provide direction for business decision-making, driving results or actually making any type of strategic change. Today, the technology has advanced to a point where we can start looking at the impact—not only of new hires, but on every movement a person makes throughout their career within an organization.

Historically, leadership didn’t think about analytics and HR—the expectation just wasn’t there. But as talent increasingly becomes a key part of business strategy, with survey after survey of C-suite executives talking about talent as one of their top challenges, it’s creating demand for HR analytics, starting with recruiting. Now, people are saying, “Wait a minute, why isn’t HR doing this when we have to have numbers and metrics for everything else?”

How will people analytics impact talent acquisition specifically?When looking at business ROI, the biggest reason to have analytics isn’t just finding candidates, but finding the right candidates. With analytics, you’re able to see where your top candidates are coming from, how much each of those candidates cost, how much training they need to get onboarded, how engaged they are and how much success they have in the organization long-term. You can link all of these insights together and have a direct line of sight on the bottom line.

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It’s better to get the right people through the door than be a company where everybody wants to work, but

have really high turnover.

What other strategies can employers use to attract the right candidates?Companies looking to make a real impact on hiring and retention should start with employment brand. While the focus on employment branding started in the mid-2000s as websites and online applications became more popular, it has really evolved. For a long time, companies were creating employer brands that had nothing to do with their actual culture. They wanted to make their company look like it was the best place to work, but everything was generic and in the end the business ROI was poor. In the last few years, we’ve seen candidates pushing back a bit and wanting a little more honesty from companies so we have watched a shift towards employer brands being more authentic and truly representative of the culture of the organization. There seems to be a broader understanding by companies of all sizes that it’s better to get the right people through the door from the start than be a company where everybody wants to work, but have really high turnover.

Your recruiting technology needs to reflect this, too. From the wording on your job postings to your social media to the applicant tracking systems and recruiting

software you use, any investment you make needs to be supportive of your employment brand. For example, if a candidate follows a link on a mobile device to apply for a job and where they end up is not mobile friendly or auto-connected to social channels like LinkedIn to apply, you not only may lose that candidate, but it also gives the impression that your company is out of date with technology—and will likely be behind when it comes to the rest of your business strategy, too.

What can companies do to communicate their employer brand more effectively?Be authentic and honest. Not everyone wants to work for the same type of company culture so represent your company as is. First, make sure your website tells a

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great story. Having a listing of benefits isn’t enough in today’s market. Interviews and pictures of people that actually work there—not stock photos—are a great place to start, because it gives people a feel for the organization. Next, make sure that the application process is simple. Don’t ask for information that isn’t necessary at the early stages and support multiple devices for apply – like mobile.

Then, think about your follow-up and make sure everything from auto-confirmations to personal emails are on message with your brand. A “no” response is better than no response. Last but not least, be found on social media. You don’t have to spend a ton of money or time focusing on social media for recruiting or hiring. Just make sure all you are doing isn’t just pushing your jobs out—share information to help people looking for jobs learn more.

What attracted you to Cornerstone when it comes to building the future of talent acquisition?There are several product tenets that caught my eye, such as the new recruiting roadmap and how that was fitting in with the unified suite of products to provide real business value; but the real turning point was my conversation with Adam Miller, the CEO. As an analyst, I looked at products and talked with the leadership often – I was fully convinced that the recruiting product wasn’t just about checking the box – it was about building a best in class solution to compete with the standalone products. It’s really a key initiative being driven from the top-down, and to be able to come in and contribute to a team that is striving to deliver a best-in-class ATS is amazing.

Make sure your website tells a great story.

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Big data — and its potential to help companies predict which employees are likely to flourish or flail, whether as new hires or future leaders — is all the rage among HR departments today. For some, the conversation is in its infancy, say experts who have been privy to these discussions (“What, exactly, does big data mean? Do we have it? How can we get it?”). For others, the talk has evolved into, “How do we get top executives to buy-in the same way they’ve embraced big data in sales and marketing?”

Still others — a scant 4 percent, according to 2013 data from Bersin by Deloitte — are actually using big data and predictive analytics in ways that truly impact their workforces. The vast majority of these companies are

large, multinational organizations with an employee base where turnover can run high, and they’re using big data to help spot the best recruits. (Think industries like retail or hospitality, which depend on armies of in-store salespeople or operate massive call centers, or high-tech and financial services, where data and analytics are already part of the company’s DNA.)

How Big Data Is Changing the Recruiting Game

By Charles Coy

Moneyball-style hiring decisions are about 25 percent more reliable than

those based on human intuition.

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What’s most exciting about data-driven insights, these companies are finding, is that they’re often surprising or counterintuitive — such as the discovery one company made that Ivy League graduates who once toiled in minimum wage jobs perform better at work than those who didn’t. John Sullivan, a Silicon Valley talent management expert, estimates that these Moneyball-style hiring decisions are about 25 percent more reliable than those based on human intuition.

How 3 Companies Are Using Big Data TodayXerox estimates it spends $5,000 to train every new call-center rep. After collecting and analyzing performance data on these early hires, the company discovered that some assumptions it had been making about job recruits were false. For example, candidates with experience in call centers or other relevant positions cost more, but they didn’t perform any better than those without experience. More surprisingly: Workers who are active on up to four social networks were more likely to stay in their jobs.

Sears has also stepped up its screening game. The giant retailer hires up to 160,000 new sales representatives per year from an applicant pool of about 6 million, according to a report last summer in Briefings magazine. To better identify the right workers, Sears now has applicants complete a video game-like test that includes simulated interactions with a variety of customer types, from the overly demanding to the indecisive.

A few years ago, Wells Fargo set out to do a better job of sussing out qualified candidates who are also likely to stick around. By analyzing data on current workers and devising personality tests that aren’t easily manipulated, the banking behemoth discovered that tellers and other front-facing workers with accounting degrees were top performers, but didn’t last long in their jobs, according to a report in BAI Banking Strategies.

Xerox found that workers who are active on up to four social networks

were more likely to stay in their jobs.

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Why Number Crunching Isn’t Easy The most effective analytics, says Michael Housman, chief analytics officer here at Cornerstone OnDemand, rely on millions — even tens of millions — of data points. For example, companies will collect data on current employees’ job performance every single day they’ve worked on the company clock, and combine that with results of pre-employment tests and macroeconomic trends on job growth or population shifts. Software algorithms then identify meaningful patterns that can be used to assess potential new hires. Applicants, in turn, are given a score indicating whether the company should move forward based on myriad factors, including career history and personality testing. The analysis, of course, is easier said than done. Companies need to have a sufficiently large pool of employees and data collected over time in order to gain reliable insights. This means

that predictive analytics, for the most part, doesn’t work for smaller companies. “Creating a personality test and testing it against 200 or 300 high performers isn’t really big data analysis,” says Housman. “That’s the way things have always been done.” Similarly, it can be costly and time-consuming to track down historical data that’s rarely consistent and can be carefully guarded by individual departments.

“Everyone is talking about big data,” Housman reminds us. “But it’s still really hard to do.”

Everyone is talking about big data. But it’s still really hard to do.

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Imagine how different recruiting was just a few decades ago when a foreman in a Philadelphia railroad yard exited his office, crossed the workplace campus and was met by a mob of job candidates each morning.

Not too long ago, word of job openings spread like wildfire through local neighborhoods and communities — all that separated the foreman and his next hire was a fence. But sourcing and recruiting workers today spins quite a different story. Reaching qualified applicants requires a marketing strategy significantly more sophisticated than walking across a campus. Thanks to technology, the information economy and social media, job seekers are changing the rules of recruitment.

Thanks to technology, the information economy and social media, job seekers are changing

the rules of recruitment.

Just as consumers research products and services online before making a purchase, job seekers research companies before applying. They want to know what it’s like to work for you before spending time on an

The One Acronym You Need to Recruit Gen Y

By Ira Wolfe

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application. They check out your website and read reviews from customers and employees. If the company site isn’t user-friendly and the reviews are unfavorable, applicants will exit their screens and flee.

How do you reach these modern candidates? While there’s no lack of “best” recruiting practices available (a quick Google search turns up millions of results), the process can be narrowed down quickly into an acronym I’ve created: R-E-A-C-H.

R is for ReachJob seekers today search for work the same way they search for a car, restaurant or house: they ask their friends for advice and “Google” it. On average, they use more than 18 different sources to make a decision!

Depending on demographics, skill sets, geography, and a dozen other factors, their search may take them to hundreds of different sourcing platforms. The best recruiting source for one person might be LinkedIn or Twitter, while another might be the job search engine Indeed or a college career fair. With so many resources and locations to connect with candidates, finding your next hire depends on your ability to be seen by enough qualified applicants.

On average, jobseekers use more than 18 different sources to make a decision.

E is for EngageFirst impressions matter and recruitment is no exception. Engagement occurs when a job seeker visits your website, reads online reviews about your company, connects with you and your employees on social media ... and still wants to apply.

The last step of that process, applying, happens less than 2 percent of the time. Recruiting content needs to motivate the applicant to do more than just visit your site. It must convert the potential employee from a casual inquirer to an engaged participant.

A is for ApplyEven the best sourcing and engagement strategy falls short when the application process isn’t user-friendly. While 86 percent of all job seekers start their job search on a mobile device, few company career sites are mobile-optimized. Even worse, many companies still require an applicant to email his or her resume.

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Most applicants will simply not perform that action on a smartphone. Without the ability to start an application on a smartphone or tablet, the exit rate is ridiculously high, especially when recruiting millennials and tech-savvy candidates. If the application is too difficult or too long to complete, job seekers won’t apply.

C is for ConverseGetting candidates to apply is hard enough, but turning a deaf ear on them after they do (“ghosting”) is just a horrific practice. Just ask anyone who has recently applied for a job — the common theme is a deafening silence.

When a candidate submits an application, it’s common courtesy for your company to acknowledge

him or her.

When a candidate submits an application, it’s common courtesy for your company to acknowledge him or her. Who knows — the candidate could be a future customer or know someone who is qualified for one of those hard-to-fill positions. Send a simple “Thank you for applying!” note, or better yet, invite all applicants to subscribe to a newsletter, blog or future webinar to continue the conversation. As with customers, communication is essential to building your brand and sustaining your reputation.

H is for HireMost companies believe the selection process ends when a candidate accepts a job offer, but nothing could be further from the truth. One in five final applicants turn downs or reneges on offers. For those who move forward, nearly half of all new hires fail in the first 18 months. Some surveys indicate the number is even higher. The hiring stage ends only after a new hire has been successfully on-boarded into the new position and integrated into the company culture.

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A few years ago, just being on social media would have been enough to give your company an edge over the competition when it came to recruiting. But today, using social media to recruit candidates is par for the course. Now the question is: How do you use it most effectively?

According to a recent survey by The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), certain social media channels are more influential than others. LinkedIn was voted the most effective platform for recruiting by a landslide. Facebook came in second at 24 percent, and professional or association websites came in third with 12 percent.

According to a recent survey from SHRM, LinkedIn and Facebook are the

most effective platforms for recruiting.

While the general rank of the platforms isn’t entirely surprising, the wide gaps in effectiveness are something to consider when investing resources in social media. As a professional networking site, LinkedIn is prime for recruiters: in fact, most of its $2.2 billion dollars in annual revenue in 2015 came from fees paid by recruiters to access information about the site’s users.

The State of Social Media Recruiting

By Charles Coy

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SHRM’s survey also found that most people are open to new job opportunities, but will only pursue them if directly contacted — one of the attractions of social media for recruiters. The endless channels (read: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram) makes it easier than ever for recruiters to connect with qualified “passive” job candidates. It also gives HR professionals the opportunity to not only expand their applicant pool, but to target specific individuals for vacancies that are time sensitive or tough to fill.

So why hasn’t everyone made the switch? Concerns about legal risks (45 percent) and lack of HR staff time to dedicate to social media (46 percent) are among the top concerns for companies who do not currently use social media, according to the SHRM survey.

Incorporating sites like LinkedIn and Facebook into your recruitment strategy can have a big impact on your ability to recruit top talent. The report advises HR professionals who feel they lack resources or are unfamiliar with recruiting through social media to consider low-cost options or training measures to increase your organization’s online presence. Social media as a recruiting tool isn’t going anywhere, so if you haven’t already, it’s time to join the crowd online.

Source:Society for Human Resource Management, “Using Social Media for Talent Acquisition-Recruitment and Screening,” 2016.

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In an increasingly competitive talent market, organizations are not only struggling to keep their best and brightest employees — they’re struggling to keep talent at all. An annual global survey from LinkedIn found that nearly one in three employees are actively looking for a new job and almost half of all employees would be “extremely and very interested” in hearing from a corporate recruiter—whether they’re looking for a job or not.

But these changes don’t have to occur with another company. Our recent Career Trends report found that employees are often more interested in growing with their current employers than leaving: 89 percent of employees would consider a lateral career move with no financial incentive and 77 percent would relocate if given the opportunity. So, while people

may be looking for new opportunities, they’re not necessarily looking for a new employer. The problem? Opportunities for internal career mobility are severely lacking. HR professionals hire externally for two-thirds of open positions and only 32 percent of organizations encourage cross-departmental movement. But for companies that shift their thinking, the payoff promises to be great. Employees gain the new experiences and skill sets they seek, while employers groom engaged top talent. At our recent user conference, Convergence, four Cornerstone clients who chose to embrace career mobility shared their success stories, and encouraged attendees to follow suit. Here’s a peek at what they had to say.

The Best Candidate for the Job Already Works for You

By Chris Stewart

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Hitachi Taps into Its Innovative Spirit

Founded in 1910 as a mining machinery repair shop in Hitachi City, Hitachi now has 330,000 employees worldwide serving nearly 15 industries. With such a large and diverse workforce, Hitachi feared they were losing sight of their founding innovative spirit.

When a company-wide employee survey revealed a lack of consistent reporting structures and performance

tracking, CHRO Levent Arabaci saw an opportunity to break down company silos through learning and development. “If we want to be a global company, we need to make things cohesive,” said Arabaci. “We were

good at mobility within departments, but mobility should be based on talent [company-wide].”

Since launching Hitachi’s learning management system, “Hitachi University,” last year, the company has engaged more than 250,000 employees in a streamlined learning, development and performance program. As Arabaci shared, “Every employee should have the opportunity to be CEO one day.”

89 percent of employees would consider a lateral career move

with no financial incentive

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Kohler Helps Employees Reach Their Goals

Kohler serves four industries, 30,000 employees and 50 manufacturing locations across 6 continents. Similar to Hitachi, the company faced a challenge in providing a cohesive employee experience, and ensuring that workers had opportunities across business units.

Career mobility is about much more than visibility into

opportunities available. It’s about tying learning and development to

those opportunities.

In response, Kohler decided to revamp its recruiting process — instead of each business unit and region having separate recruiting strategies (some manual, some automated), the company began on a journey to implement Cornerstone company-wide. Since launching in the U.S. and the U.K., Kohler has seen a 15 percent increase in talent sharing across business units. “Career mobility is about much more than visibility into opportunities available,” said Marcy Keuler, senior manager of HR process and technology, “It’s about tying learning and development to those opportunities.”

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VCA Creates a Welcoming, Supportive Culture

VCA is a 30-year-old organization with more than 700 veterinary hospitals and 20,000 employees across the

U.S. and Canada. As the company has grown through acquisition, VCA faces the unique challenge of infusing their culture into new hospitals and making new employees—from admins to technicians to vets—feel like part of the family.

With this in mind, VCA invested in a unified suite of learning (“Woof University”), performance tracking (“Purrformance”) and employee collaboration (“Dog Park”) to foster a stronger organizational culture and better career mobility. “Employees with career opportunity are more productive because they know performance matters,” shared Diana Nguyen, senior director of knowledge development and learning. Since launching, VCA has seen a three percent decrease in turnover, a five percent increase in employee engagement and higher client satisfaction.

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United Empowers Employees on the Frontline

United Airlines aims to be the preferred airline for their customers, employees and shareholders—and they see employee satisfaction and growth as key to achieving this goal. But with multiple talent management systems and processes for their 86,000 employees, insight into employee performance and engagement data was fragmented and limited.

In 2015, United decided to invest in unified talent management and reconfigure their leadership programs. They rolled out a mobile program, deploying 45,000 devices so employees can focus on helping customers from multiple locations (instead of just from behind a counter), and have begun reviewing holistic data to make smarter workforce decisions and identify top talent. “We want transparency for our employees,” said Deb Woldman, director of learning technology and development, “I’ve had a number of careers in the same company and I want that for our United employees.”

I’ve had a number of careers in the same

company and I want that for our United employees.

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Workforce diversity is on the mind of every HR professional and executive. But many companies, especially in industries like tech and finance, struggle to increase the number of minorities and women in their ranks — even while consciously trying to close the race or gender gap.

In 2016, Microsoft made a concerted effort to boost workforce diversity in 2015 only to see the numbers of female employees go down and the number of minority employees stay the same. The likely culprit? Job descriptions. According to Kieran Snyder, linguist and founder of Textio, a startup that uses natural

language processing (NLP) to analyze job postings, good intentions to hire more candidates from underrepresented backgrounds don’t help if the job descriptions themselves either fail to attract — or even actively turn away — these candidates.

The language you use changes who will even apply for your job in

the first place.

Want More Workforce Diversity? Remove Jargon from Your

Job DescriptionsBy Charles Coy

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“The language you use changes who will even apply for your job in the first place,” says Snyder, “Even among passively sourced candidates — qualified people that are on the job market and open to talking to your company — a huge percentage walk away when they see your job post.”

We talked with Snyder to learn more about the power of language and how software like Textio can help improve workplace diversity.

The Hidden Danger of JargonPeople in companies that lack diverse employees tend to naturally communicate using language that speaks to others from the same background and, not surprisingly, corporate jargon is a prime example. Business and tech slang make up a good portion of the words and phrases that commonly turn off diverse candidates.

For example, a job description that says a company is looking for a “ninja” to help “disrupt” their field will likely find themselves speaking primarily to white male candidates. Similarly, aggressive language like “looking for a killer salesperson” tends to turn away women, who respond more positively to language that fosters inclusivity and collaboration.

Business and tech slang make up a good portion of the words and phrases that commonly turn off

diverse candidates.

So, how can companies avoid the unconscious bias in the wording of job descriptions? “The biggest mistake people make is relying on their own intuitions,” Snyder says. “The second biggest mistake people make is thinking that unconscious bias training or simple word and rule checklists will make any difference to their hiring outcomes. They won’t.”

Software Offers a SolutionInstead, Snyder believes software that pulls data from the larger talent community, similar to HR analytics, is the best solution to crafting job descriptions that attract a more diverse pool of candidates.

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“I’m a huge believer in software as an approach. Machine intelligence software lets you take advantage of the intelligence of the whole hiring community, rather than relying on only your own data,” she says. “Software can find the language patterns that have actually worked to draw diverse applicants in the past, across tens of millions of job posts. Conventional approaches don’t come close in terms of scale.”

For HR managers writing the job descriptions, Textio works a lot like the spell and grammar checks in word processing software. Simply input the text and Textio

highlights words and phrases that correlate with certain biases. Users can click on the words or phrases to see alternative options.

Software can find the language patterns that have actually worked

to draw diverse applicants in the past, across tens of millions of job

posts. Conventional approaches don’t come close in terms of scale.

Does machine learning software like Textio actually improve workplace diversity? An impressive roster of clients thinks so, including Microsoft, Slack and Dropbox.

“Companies that are part of the Textio learning loop fill jobs 17 percent faster, with 12 percent more applicants from underrepresented groups, than companies that are outside the loop,” Snyder says. “The words matter.”

Photo credit: Textio

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Face it, recruiters: You have a terrible reputation. The recruiting process notoriously lacks communication — and even though candidates curry favor with you in hopes of a job interview, they resent you for dropping them like a hot potato when interest wanes.

In a recent LinkedIn post, I provided job seekers with advice to prepare themselves for impressing you. While readers were grateful for the intel, many left comments providing specific examples of recruiters behaving badly. Having done a fair share of hiring throughout my HR career, I can defend some behaviors that candidates find noxious; having also been a job seeker, I find some indefensible.

Beyond keeping job seekers satisfied, though, adopting better behaviors during the recruiting process makes strategic sense. A recent survey in The Wall Street Journal reports that recruiters are experiencing difficulty sourcing qualified professionals for many of their openings. By taking the time to understand a candidate’s pain points, you can overcome part of that difficulty and establish a well-regarded employer brand for your clients, your company and yourself in the process.

Influenced by my time on both sides of the job hunt, here is a list of best practices for recruiting and hiring managers. The main takeaway? In the end, good manners and practical considerations matter more than you think.

Why Recruiters Should Think Like Job Candidates

Lynda Spiegel

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Don’t Build Unrealistic ExpectationsIf you need more information to decide if a candidate is right for the position, say so. Is the candidate an outlier whom you hope the hiring manager will find interesting? Then let her know that even if her resume doesn’t necessarily fit the profile, she has interesting experience. Candidates get lectured endlessly on the importance of coming to interviews prepared — so help prepare them by providing all the facts.

Bottom line: Don’t build up a candidate’s hopes unless you think the hiring manager will actually want to interview this person.

Be Upfront About CompensationIt’s important to reveal the salary range of the open position upfront, but don’t ask candidates about their current compensation. They’re aware that you’re trying to peg their suitability based on salary, and you know that’s unfair. By offering up compensation parameters upfront, you let the candidate decide if it’s worth pursuing the opportunity further.

Bottom line: A candidate’s value is based on the skills he or she brings to the table, not on prior pay.

Provide Timely UpdatesWhile you’re under no obligation to respond to every resume that hits your inbox, if you contact a candidate — even for a preliminary phone interview — you owe that person a follow-up. If they are out of the running, they deserve to know to move on. If there will be a next step, set reasonable expectations about when they will hear from you next. Career coaches warn candidates not to pester recruiters with “what’s going on” calls or emails. Do your part by eliminating their need to ask.

Bottom line: Even if it’s a template response, communicate with your candidates throughout the recruiting process.

By taking the time to understand a candidate’s pain points, you can

overcome part of that difficulty and establish a well-regarded employer

brand for your clients, your company and yourself in the process.

Don’t Ask “Cute” QuestionsEvery recruiter has his or her favorite go-to questions for candidates, but let’s face it: some of them are downright silly. I was once asked, “If you were an animal, which one would you be?” I’m still not sure what my answer revealed about me as a cultural fit or innovative thinker, but I do recall not having a great opinion of the person who asked it. You can have some fun questions, but the point of an interview is to get to know how a candidate conducts themselves in difficult situations, not silly icebreakers.

Bottom line: Treat candidates professionally; being cute, or playing psychologist is not the way to go.

© 2016 Cornerstone OnDemand | moreinfo@csod.com | 888-365-CSOD

Cornerstone OnDemand is the global talent management software provider that is pioneering solutions to help organizations realize the potential of the modern workforce. csod.com

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Treat candidates professionally; being cute, or playing psychologist

is not the way to go.