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      Why a 30/60/90 Onboarding Plan is Critical for Developer Team Success

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      Get a Free 30/60/90 Template
      You need a plan to onboard engineers onto your teams successfully. Why? Onboarding new software developer team members to become full contributors typically takes several months. In order to maintain a positive candidate experience and solidify their place on the team, it’s crucial to spend the time and energy coaching them up to speed on your product, internal processes, and coding standards. Investing in this work helps developers contribute early and often, plus it leads to greater retention down the road.
      During the “The Great Resignation,” the tech industry saw a 4.5% increase in resignations during 2021 alone, and in 2022-2023, software engineers were among the 100,000 tech employees laid off.
      Each developer costs upwards of $20,000 to $35,000 to become a full contributor, not to mention the incalculable amount of time consumed across your team. So, it makes sense to invest in doing it well with a solid onboard plan for engineers.
      How Does Great Developer Onboarding Fit in, and Why Does it Matter?
      In short, developer onboarding is closely related to retention, job satisfaction, productivity, and success. 
      Despite pinpointing all the downstream effects of onboarding, consistently successful onboarding has a long way to go.

      Source: Reddit
      There is no “one-size-fits-all” onboarding solution, but there are best practices worth considering.
      Hired partnered with Educative to craft an eBook to outline detailed steps to create an efficient and successful onboarding framework (along with key tactics to personalize for each employee) and a free downloadable 30/60/90 template.
      Get the eBook for your customizable onboard plan for engineers on your team.
      Use this as your guide to streamline the onboarding process for all your new hires.
      Why a 30/60/90 Onboard Plan Determines an Engineer’s Success
      Onboarding is essential, but many organizations struggle with it, especially in remote or hybrid work environments. 
      Here are three key reasons you need to use a 30/60/90 plan to onboard your tech talent:
      1. Increase Retention
      Only 12% of U.S. employees said their company did a good job onboarding, according to Gallup analytics. One in five employees rated their experience as poor or received no onboarding at all. 
      On the other hand, 70% of the employees with exceptional onboarding experiences highly rated their jobs and were 2.6x more likely to be satisfied with and stay at their workplace.
      Turnover is not a new challenge, but an effective onboarding program will significantly reduce high turnover rates, especially during those all-important first 90 days.
      2. Clear Onboarding Milestones Define Success
      What’s the reason for onboarding failure? Atul Gawande, author of “The Checklist Manifesto,” writes that there’s a clear distinction between errors of ignorance (mistakes we make because we don’t know enough) and errors of ineptitude (mistakes we make because we don’t make proper use of what we know). 
      Failure in developer onboarding results from both “errors of ineptitude” and “errors of ignorance.”Engineering Managers and team leads have a lot on their plates to meet company goals. Despite having access to online resources, documentation, and personal knowledge to create a successful onboarding solution, the implementation often falls short. This is often due to limited bandwidth.
      On the other hand, murky company goals or differing expectations from leadership can result in misaligned onboarding milestones due to errors of ignorance. This happens frequently in newly-created roles or those part of new initiatives. 
      Related: Opening a new role? Check out 5 Tips Where You Should Begin
      Creating a 30/60/90 onboarding plan tackles both types of errors by capturing refined knowledge and documenting clear milestones to align expectations across the company.
      3. A Mentor’s Training Defines the Onboarding Experience
      It’s not entirely up to the new hire for a successful onboarding process — the mentor holds just as much responsibility.

      Source: Reddit
      Training is a multi-stakeholder task; documenting expectations for mentors involved in training keeps all team members on the same page and minimizes confusion from miscommunicated or unspoken expectations. 
      As a mentor, encourage questions and be a helpful resource during the onboarding process by setting clear expectations. It’s natural to want to impress the new team or supervisor, so some new hires may be hesitant to show ignorance or confusion OR bite off more than they can chew within the first couple of weeks.
      Related: How to Foster Psychological Safety in the Workplace, from Interviews to Management
      Top-of-mind Priorities in a Software Engineering 30/60/90 Plan
      Before we dive into the specifics of the onboarding plan, let’s cover 3 top-of-mind priorities for your 30/60/90 plan. Think of this as an outline blueprint for what a new employee will accomplish within 90 days. 
      Prioritize the following elements when developing an engineering 30/60/90 plan:

      Technical Setup and Tool Familiarization
      Personalize the Process
      Team Integration & Culture

      1. Technical Setup and Tool Familiarization
      Set your new hire up with the tools and documentation needed to do their day-to-day tasks. 
      Some considerations include the following:

      Development Environment: Ensure new developers have all necessary tools installed, licenses obtained, and access granted. This includes the IDE (Integrated Development Environment), source control, databases, and other essential tools.
      Codebase Access & Overview: Grant access to the repository and provide an introduction to the codebase. A high-level architectural overview is invaluable for understanding how different components interact.
      Documentation: Point new developers to existing documentation about coding standards, design patterns, and workflows. If possible, assign a reading list for the first few days. Better yet, point your new developer to well-written code.

      Source: How Docs as Code Can Supercharge My Dev Team
      2. Personalize the Process
      How does your onboarding plan for engineers meet your new hire’s specific needs?
      Every developer enters your company at a different starting point. Joseph Gefroh, VP of Engineering at HealthSherpa, manages this by tailoring onboarding to varied learning needs and experience levels.
      “A person can be great at one thing but junior in another. Identifying where your team’s individual strengths and weaknesses lie is, therefore, the key first step in leading them.” – Joseph Gefroh, VP of Engineering at HealthSherpa
      Just because you’re hiring multiple people for similar roles doesn’t mean each of those tech engineers will have the same learning path. One may have completely different qualifications and require additional training modules.
      Need help upskilling or refreshing a new hire’s skills? Try DevPath from Educative.
      3. Team Integration and Culture
      How does your engineering onboarding process include the rest of the team?
      As you build your plan, note the action items required to familiarize your new hire with the team’s processes and culture.
      Include items such as

      Buddy or mentor system
      Intro meetings and meeting purposes
      Company culture
      Team-specific rituals and values
      Team lunches and social events
      Feedback loops

      Following the framework above, let’s dive into building your 30/60/90 onboard plan for engineers with some pre-boarding.
      Pre-boarding (T-7 days)

      Summary: Key Action Items for Pre-boarding Phase

      Send or prep welcome materials
      Send paperwork

      HR documents
      Benefits information
      Tax forms

      Provide company overview

      Company mission, values, goals, history

      Prep equipment

      Laptop, mouse, keyboard, headset, chargers, adapters, monitors, and desk
      Contact IT team

      Before a new hire’s official start date, collaborate with your HR team to ensure a smooth first week. Consider these items as the “pre-boarding” tasks:
      Send or prep welcome materials
      If your company supplies any type of welcome package (company swag, welcome letter, personalized items, etc.), prepare these for arrival or ship to remote employees. Add a quick message with a 1st day schedule.
      Send paperwork
      Are there items you need to send early to acclimate new hires (HR documents, benefits information, etc.)? Give them a heads up of documents or types of IDs they’ll need to bring/send. If they’re completing tax or other government forms remotely, provide a sample of a completed version to guide them.
      Company overview
      Send key company information, such as main mission, values, goals (annual and overall), history, or need-to-know operational details.
      Prep Equipment
      Work with your IT team to set up a workstation or ship all necessary equipment and hardware (laptop, mouse, keyboard, headset, chargers, adapters, etc.). Be sure to complete this well before their first day in case of delays. Nothing’s worse than a new team member without equipment on Day 1.

      Source: DevPath
      You’re Ready to Welcome Your New Developer or Engineer and begin a strong onboard plan!
      Congratulations, you’ve done the work to plan and prepare for a great onboarding experience for developers on your team. 
      Grab actionable steps for the first three months and a professional template (for free) by downloading your free 30/60/90 onboard plan for engineers:

      Originally published Dec. 8, 2021. Updated by Hired Content Team and Educative on September 18, 2023 More

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      Agencies versus In-House Recruiting, Building Community, & More: Talk Talent to Me August ’23 Recap

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      What did you miss on last month’s episodes? Listen in on August 2023 episodes of Hired’s Talk Talent to Me podcast featuring recruiting and talent acquisition leadership who share strategies, techniques, and trends shaping the recruitment industry.

      Working for an agency versus in-house with Kyle Samuels, Founder of Creative Talent Endeavors
      Building community with Maggie Mannion, Founder of Kindred
      Being your own boss with Kaylee Estes, Founder of Estes Group

      1. Kyle Samuels, Founder of Creative Talent Endeavors
      Kyle explains his entrepreneurial journey and why he decided to leave a big brand to start his own agency, Creative Talent Endeavors. He shares about the early days at Creative Talent Endeavors and the process of finding clients, including how he managed to take on Taco Bell as the first one. Kyle also tells us about the benefits of an agency over an in-house recruiting gig.
      “I do like the variety of having different clients and different things to work on every day.” 
      Listen to the full episode.

      2. Maggie Mannion, Founder of Kindred
      Experiencing a career transition is overwhelming, to say the least. But that doesn’t mean it has to be lonely or shameful. Maggie founded Kindred, a community of professionals navigating career transitions together. She explains what led her to start the company, which professionals Kindred targets, and how she curates content relevant to a variety of professions.
      “Kindred is all about career transitions and really is built on this thesis that career transitions and navigating career transitions don’t have to be a solo pursuit.” 
      Listen to the full episode.
      3. Kaylee Estes, Founder of Estes Group
      To stand out as a recruiter, you need to shift your focus from being transaction-based to being relationship-based. Kaylee discusses the agency side of recruiting and why she decided to start her own staffing firm. She also delves into unconscious bias, the freedom that comes with being your own boss, how functional recruiters fit into the recruiting world, and how she makes sure she is representing companies well.
      “Yes, people need to know how to make hires but at the end of the day, they just need to make good hires and they need help with that.”
      Listen to the full episode.
      Want more insights into recruiting tips and trends?
      Tune into Hired’s podcast, Talk Talent to Me, to learn about the strategies, techniques, and trends shaping the recruitment industry—straight from top experts themselves. More

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      How Mars Used the Employer Brand Index to Refresh Their EVP

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      Developing an employer value proposition (EVP) is essential for any organization that wants to attract and retain top talent.
      The EVP is a statement that summarizes the unique value that a company offers to its employees. It is a promise to employees about what they can expect in terms of compensation, benefits, development opportunities, and overall work experience.
      An EVP is essential for any organization that wants to attract and retain top talent. It helps communicate the company’s culture and values and shows potential employees why they should choose to work there.
      But how do you know if your EVP is working? And how do you know when it’s time for a refresh?
      That’s where Link Humans’ Employer Brand Index (EBI) comes in. The EBI is a comprehensive analysis of your employer brand that tells you what candidates, employees, and alumni are saying about your company online.
      Mars, Inc. is a global company with over 140,000 employees in 80 countries. They recently used the EBI to guide an EVP refresh for their organization.

      Refreshing an EVP on a Global Scale
      Mars is a complex organization with a wide range of businesses. Their EVP needed to be something that could resonate with employees and candidates all over the world.
      The first step in the refresh process was to conduct an EBI survey. The survey asked respondents about their perceptions of Mars on a variety of factors, including career development, culture and values, and work-life balance.
      The results of the survey showed that Mars had a strong reputation among its employees and candidates. However, there were a few areas where the company could improve. For example, respondents felt that Mars could do more to promote its mission and purpose.
      Using the EBI to Supplement Internal Surveys and Focus Groups
      In addition to the EBI report, Mars also conducted internal surveys and focus groups. These surveys and focus groups provided additional insights into the company’s culture and employee satisfaction.
      However, the EBI data had some advantages over the internal surveys and focus groups. First, the EBI survey was anonymous, which allowed respondents to be more honest. Second, the EBI survey reached a wider audience, including candidates and alumni.
      How Mars Uses the EBI
      Mars now uses the EBI to measure the effectiveness of its EVP on a regular basis. The company also uses the EBI to inform its decision-making on a variety of topics, such as talent acquisition, employee engagement, and corporate communications.
      Establishing Your EBI Baseline
      The EBI is a valuable tool for any organization that wants to attract and retain top talent. By using the EBI, you can get a clear understanding of how your employer brand is perceived by candidates, employees, and alumni. This information can help you to identify areas where you can improve your EVP and make your organization a more attractive place to work.
      To follow Marie Codet’s work in employer brand, connect with her on LinkedIn. For help gathering data and insights you can act on to improve your own company, get in touch.
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      Recruiting Agencies Pros & Cons: Why Hired is Best for Tech Hiring

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      You may have considered turning to recruiting agencies to fill tech and sales roles. Even when inbound candidates are plentiful, finding the right top talent is a challenge. However, are agencies the best way to find future team members with long-term tenure potential? In this blog post, we explore the pros and cons of using recruiting agencies, shedding light on the factors to help you bring the best tech and sales talent to your organization.
      Recruiting Agency Pros
      1. Access to an extensive network
      Recruiting agencies often have connections to a vast pool of professionals. On top of that, they proactively reach out to potential candidates – even those who are not actively seeking new opportunities. Instead of taking a shot in the dark, employers have the opportunity to leverage an agency’s existing database of people. The best agencies have developed industry connections and built relationships with qualified candidates.

      Hired candidates are engaged and actively looking. As a result, employers see response rates double or even triple, what they’re used to – often 60%+ compared to the 14% industry average. With access to a database of candidates in the millions, and tens of thousands active on the platform, Hired customers have more opportunities to connect with the right talent, right away.  

      2. Efficiency
      Most employers know finding and hiring the right candidate can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive process. Because recruiting agencies specialize in talent acquisition, you offload these responsibilities to focus on core business operations. With agencies handling screening, interviewing, and shortlisting, businesses reduce speed-to-hire.

      Spread thin? Add on Hired Sourcer for temporary or ongoing help sourcing, pre-screening, shortlisting, and managing communication with experienced candidates. Whether you’re without a dedicated recruiter or busy hiring managers need support, Hired Sourcer fills the gaps. (And it’s typically a fraction of the cost of hiring a contractor or agency!)

      3. Specialized knowledge
      While finding top tech and sales talent is hard, finding candidates with niche skills can be even harder. Tech recruiting agencies possess industry-specific knowledge and understand the nuances of the tech landscape. Their expertise in niche areas helps them identify candidates with the right skill sets, ensuring you find the candidate that checks off the list of requirements.

      Bundle Hired Assessments into your Hired solution to standardize tech skills assessments and free up your teams from live proctoring. Some candidates proactively take them to earn badges for their profiles. Save time when you use our filters to find talent who’ve proactively verified their skills with these technical assessments. By leaping ahead to interviewing tech talent with proven skills, it’s easier to hire faster and reduce your cost of vacancy.

      4. Tech & sales hiring market insights
      Recruiting agencies stay abreast of market trends, salary ranges, and candidate expectations. This valuable knowledge can provide you with a competitive advantage, helping you craft attractive job offers and tailored recruitment strategies. Agencies also offer insights on market demand and supply, assisting you in aligning your talent acquisition plans with current industry dynamics.

      Dedicated support from our Customer Success Managers works in collaboration with the Candidate Experience team to ensure you have a pulse on candidates in process. We are the leader in offering data and competitive insights to share with internal stakeholders at every step of your hiring funnel. Many customers highlight competitive insights as one of their favorite aspects of partnering with Hired for their tech and sales recruiting.

      5. Enhanced candidate experience
      Recruiting agencies have experience in managing the candidate journey from start to finish. They understand the importance of a positive candidate experience and ensure candidates are well-informed, engaged, and supported throughout the recruitment process. This professionalism reflects positively on your organization and helps to build a strong employer brand.

      Candidates on Hired benefit from a variety of resources, including workshops, AMAs, guides, a salary calculator, and a dedicated Candidate Experience Team to support them on their journey and provide insights 

      Recruiting Agency Cons 
      1. “They’re expensive”
      While recruiting agencies provide value, their services come at a cost. Most agencies charge a fee based on a percentage of the candidate’s annual salary. For startups and small companies with limited budgets, this expense may pose a financial challenge. It is essential to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of using an agency compared to the potential benefits they bring to your recruitment efforts.
      2. Lack of deep organizational knowledge
      Recruiting agencies operate externally to your organization and may have limited knowledge of your company’s culture, mission, and specific needs. This can sometimes result in candidates who might not be the best cultural fit or fully aligned with your organizational objectives. 
      3. Limited control over the recruitment process
      Outsourcing recruitment to an agency means relinquishing some control over the hiring process. While agencies work closely with you, the final decision-making authority rests with your organization. Some stakeholders might prefer to be more hands-on throughout the recruitment process, which may be a challenge when working with an external agency.
      4. Potential candidate pool overlap
      There is a possibility of overlap in candidate pools if multiple organizations engage the same agency for their recruitment needs. This can lead to competition among clients for the same talent, potentially diluting the exclusivity of your candidate search. 
      “We’ve used recruitment agencies in the past, but they’re pricey, they’re expensive,” says Logikcull’s Head of Talent Laura McDermott. “Sometimes agencies push somebody too hard who’s not actually a good fit. At Hired, there isn’t any of that.” Hired frees her from navigating the conflicts and external pressures that often come with recruiting agencies.
      Unlike commission-incentivized recruiting agency personnel, Hired’s Candidate Experience team is unbiased about whether talent accepts a role. They are purely there to offer support and resources, such as interview coaching, salary calculators, evaluate options, and more. 
      Why Hired is a better tech and sales hiring solution  
      Hired is not a recruiting agency, a job board, or a social network. It is a solution directly connecting employers to vetted talent with thousands of skills across 50+ tech and sales roles. 
      Organizations find in-demand tech candidates primarily in Software Engineering, DevOps, UX Design, Product Management, and Data Science. Employers needing sales candidates in Customer Success and revenue-based roles, such as Sales Management are also in luck. 
      Essentially, Hired offers easy access to the best talent along with everything employers need to know about them from salary requirements to work preferences. 
      “I think the best thing about using Hired is everything I need to know and would like to know as a recruiter from the offset, is almost always straight in front of me.”
      Joe Miller, Senior Recruitment Manager, RVU
      Hear from Joe about his experience with Hired and how it helped his tech recruiting productivity exponentially.
      What’s more, in Hired’s full suite employers get unbiased insights, DEI features for more diverse hiring, tech skill assessments, and dedicated Customer Success Managers to support teams as they fill open roles efficiently. 
      For lean teams within global enterprises or startups with a dedicated recruiter, Hired Sourcer comes to the rescue. Short or long-term, an experienced professional acts as an extension of your team to source, shortlist, and screen tech or sales candidates. They’re also great at maintaining consistent communication and keeping candidates engaged. 
      Considering Hired over a recruiting agency? 
      Companies switching from recruitment agencies to Hired often say their shift is driven by a lack of quality candidates with specific skills from agencies. Employers find they are more focused on speed over quality. On Hired, employers get both. In fact, companies have immediate access to candidates they need and save 45 hours of sourcing time per hire. 
      Hired also specializes in matching experienced talent with employers they likely won’t see in the pipeline – even with an agency as the middleman. Typically, top senior-level engineers are not thrilled to work with agency recruiters due to constant badgering. Hired yields higher response rates and engagement from candidates – the platform has an 85% candidate response rate to all interview requests.
      In addition to a vast pool of candidates, talent is also responsive on Hired. Candidates typically respond within one business day and have a 50% interview request acceptance rate. Plus, Hired integrations mean you can directly connect with candidates to avoid doing twice the work of updating a third party.
      Speaking of saving time, agencies do not always understand your requirements. Hired specializes in identifying tech and sales talent across niches. Talent pros don’t have to waste precious hours reviewing resumes and conducting interviews unlikely to be a match. 
      Hired positions candidates for long-term success; increased retention
      Reflecting on her experience with Hired compared to recruitment agencies, Hired fulfills Logikcull’s interest in long-term employee success over making a placement McDermott adds, “We really pride ourselves on the tenure of a lot of our employees. Many have been here 10+ years… We’re recruiting people who are looking for a career and not just a job to come in and bank a paycheck. We want people who are looking to grow. We want people who really want to be able to make an impact.” 
      For companies looking for tech and sales candidates interested in a career over a job, try Hired. Candidates placed through Hired have an 18% longer tenure with employers than average.
      One financial services TA leader told us, “I think the challenge we had with a lot of third-party recruiters was the candidates they would present would frequently job hop. We look for long-term employees. I think the unfortunate reality of working with a lot of recruiters is their interests are not exactly aligned with ours because if their candidate stays for 0 days and then they place them somewhere else, they still get paid. 
      They tend to present candidates that churn every year. Beyond that, sometimes it’s been finding specific skill sets, especially on the technical side, developers who know specific languages, etc.”
      Cons often outweigh pros of recruiting agencies
      Remember, partnering with a recruiting agency is not a one-size-fits-all solution. Assess your specific requirements, weigh the pros and cons of recruiting agencies, and select the approach that aligns best with your organization’s goals and resources. 

      About Hired: 
      Hired is the most efficient way to fill tech and sales roles today. With unbiased insights, DEI tools, tech skill assessments, sourcing services, and dedicated Customer Success Managers, Hired works with companies around the world, placing more than 20,000 active and qualified candidates in new roles. Using better data, curated matches, and ways to reach new markets and talent with higher acceptance rates, employers save an average of 45 sourcing hours per role using Hired’s solutions suite. Backed by The Adecco Group, Hired is rated by G2 as a leader in Recruiting Automation, Job Search Sites, and Diversity Recruiting. More

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      Learning & Development, Soft Skills, Cybersecurity & More: Talk Talent to Me July ’23 Recap

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      Catch up on the July 2023 episodes of Hired’s Talk Talent to Me podcast featuring recruiting and talent acquisition leadership who share strategies, techniques, and trends shaping the recruitment industry. 

      Learning and development with Christina Pinheiro, VP of People at Sibros
      Soft skills with Stephane Rivard, CEO & Co-Founder of HiringBranch
      Why cybersecurity is so important for individuals and companies with Jane Frankland, Cybersecurity Expert and Founder of The Source
      The difference between talent attraction and talent acquisition with Victoria Myers, Global Lead for Talent Attraction at Amdocs

      1. Christina Pinheiro, VP of People at Sibros
      In this episode, Christina discusses what sparked her passion for helping people and creating a positive employee experience, which ultimately led to a career in HR. She shares her thoughts and views on the impact of learning and development, and what that looks like at Sibros through their Lunch and Learn sessions. She tells listeners about her favorite session on Interview Bias, and what she thinks about anonymizing parts of the interviewing process. 
      “I really emphasize on the benefits of continuous learning and [how] attending these sessions contributes to personal and professional growth.” 
      Listen to the full episode.

      2. Stephane Rivard, CEO & Co-Founder of HiringBranch
      Stephane shares how his company HiringBranch is revolutionizing hiring by creating a platform where candidates can showcase their abilities in real-time simulated scenarios. He highlights the importance of soft skills and explains how HiringBranch’s assessment works, breaking down the types of skills they assess in candidates. Plus, hear his insights into the AI recruitment revolution, which may just be paving the way for a more accurate and effective way of finding the right talent.
      Related: ChatGPT in Recruitment: How to Unlock its Power & Increase Efficiency
      “What [the HiringBranch platform] does, especially for high volume jobs, [is give] you a standardized way to evaluate everyone.”
      Listen to the full episode.
      3. Jane Frankland, Cybersecurity Expert and Founder of The Source
      Jane is a tech entrepreneur, author, speaker, advisor, and founder. She has identified several discrepancies in the hiring process and in this episode, she shares her advice for ensuring a diverse and inclusive workplace from the get-go.
      “We have a real problem with wellbeing [in the cybersecurity industry]; with mental health, with brain health, with stress and burnout. It’s absolutely horrific. It’s at a higher level than healthcare workers at the moment.”
      Listen to the full episode.
      4. Victoria Myers, Global Lead for Talent Attraction at Amdocs
      In this episode, we dive into the fascinating field of segmented recruiting marketing. Victoria explains Amdocs’ forward-thinking, long-term approach to talent attraction and acquisition and how they are bringing it to life through their newly-developed AI-driven talent marketplace. After listening, you’ll understand the difference between talent attraction and talent acquisition, what a successful proactive sourcing model looks like, and why you should always try to do work you love!
      “At the end of the day, the best experience in the world is giving someone an offer and them saying, ‘Yes, I accept.’ That is rewarding work right there!”
      Listen to the full episode.
      Want more insights into recruiting tips and trends?
      Tune into Hired’s podcast, Talk Talent to Me, to learn about the strategies, techniques, and trends shaping the recruitment industry—straight from top experts themselves. More

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      HelloFresh: Solving a Global Talent Challenge with Upskilled Talent Engagement

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      HelloFresh is a global meal kit delivery company that operates in 18 countries. This gives them a unique challenge when it comes to talent acquisition: they need to find local talent with niche skills to support their complex distribution and logistics.
      In this article, we’ll explore how HelloFresh has solved this challenge by upskilling their talent engagement team. We’ll also share five actionable tips from Carolina Guillen, Head of Global Talent Marketing and Engagement at HelloFresh, on how you can engage your own talent team in employer branding.
      The Talent Challenge of Global Logistics
      HelloFresh is headquartered in Berlin and New York, but they operate in eighteen countries worldwide. The core business model of delivering meal kits remains the same from country to country. However, the logistical problem of storing, packaging, and shipping ingredients so that they arrive fresh at a customer’s door in all of these different markets creates a unique hiring challenge for Guillen and her team.
      Different countries have different regulations governing food safety, food storage, shipping, and so on. This means that HelloFresh needs to fill roles locally in supply chain, fulfillment, and technical specialist areas to meet these requirements in each market.
      “We often need to find local talent that comes with a very specific skill or certification,” says Guillen.
      In short, there’s a lot of work to be done in talent acquisition and talent engagement. And that got Guillen thinking: could we engage this team to activate our employer brand?
      How HelloFresh Upskills Their Talent Engagement Team
      The talent engagement team at HelloFresh comes from a background in traditional sourcing and recruiting. However, Guillen has started to upskill them with marketing and project management skillsets.
      “Our main goal is for them to be delivering 360 solutions for top-of-funnel needs,” she says. This means that they’re responsible for developing event, talent community, and referral strategies. They’re also involved in developing strategies for reputation management and social media marketing.
      This approach creates alignment between Guillen’s employer branding team and the people who put it into action throughout the recruitment and hiring process. Talent acquisition has a say in what they’re being asked to do and also participates in developing strategies for employer branding.
      Moreover, upskilling these employees into comb-shaped experts with new skill sets gives them more flexibility to grow into the career they want at HelloFresh.
      In the episode, we asked Guillen for some actionable tips you can use to engage your recruitment team in employer branding work.
      Here are her 5 Ideas for Recruitment Team Engagement:

      Create a content strategy with talent acquisition in mind. Your talent acquisition team members have very direct control and influence on the candidate journey, so they can help you build pieces that are aligned with your employer brand.
      Fall in love with your candidate, not your brand. We put a lot of energy into developing an employer brand, but sometimes that makes it difficult to take a step back and see what’s working. “From my point of view, it’s much more beneficial to be a critic of your brand,” says Guillen. Instead, fall in love with your audience and build content that is made just for them.
      Don’t be afraid to reuse content. Developing quality content takes energy and focus. But when you’ve got something that works, how can you be sure it’s getting in front of the right people? And how can you get the most ROI for your efforts? Guillen recommends rehashing and recycling your campaigns and the pieces of content you create. You can get a lot of extra value by changing formats or platforms. One thing they’re doing at HelloFresh, for example, is transcribing videos they made earlier to use as the basis for new series of blog posts.
      Every good story needs a hero. Use stories about real people to tell the story of your company and to connect with candidates on a personal level. “When you can tell a story that is authentic and relatable, it really resonates with people,” says Guillen.
      Build for scale by making “recipes.” This will help you document your processes and make it easier to replicate them in the future. “We’ve created a lot of playbooks and templates that we can share with our team,” says Guillen. “This helps us to scale our efforts and make sure that everyone is on the same page.”

      To follow Carolina Guillen’s work on employer brand, follow her on LinkedIn. For help creating data-driven, actionable strategies you can use to make real change in your company, talk to us.
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      How to Use Your Employer Brand to Reduce Hiring Costs

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      The success of every company hinges on its people. But attracting the best talent isn’t always an easy feat. Companies often invest significant amounts of money into the bottom of the recruitment process — job boards and recruiters. But at Flexa, we’ve found that a great employer brand can reduce hiring costs whilst attracting the high-quality candidates your company needs to grow.
      At its simplest, employer branding is a combination of:

      Your employee value proposition (EVP), which will probably centre around your working environment and flexible working policies

      Your company culture

      Your employees’ voices.

      And then, importantly, knowing exactly how and where to shout about all this hard work!
      Here’s how it’s done.
      1. Identify your Employee Value Proposition
      A strong employer brand is built on authenticity, transparency, and a positive reputation. Start by working out what you want to be known for, what you represent, and what you can offer employees that other companies can’t (this is your EVP). This is the perfect time to identify any areas for improvement that don’t reflect positively on your brand. It’s never too late to shake up company culture to attract and retain a happy team.
      When setting out your EVP, make sure to be authentic. There’s no point in making promises you can’t keep, as this only leads to disgruntled new hires later on.
      Once you’ve identified your EVP and what makes you unique, you can start shouting about it.
      2. Leverage social media
      Social media is an indispensable tool for employer branding. Create a strong presence on relevant platforms (at Flexa we love LinkedIn) and consistently share content that reflects your company’s culture, values, and employee achievements. Engage with potential candidates through relevant hashtags and participate in industry discussions (hosting your webinars can be a great way to draw people in). By utilizing these platforms effectively, you can reach a broader talent pool and reduce reliance on expensive recruitment agencies or job boards by having talent excited to be part of your company when you are ready to hire.
      3. Encourage employee advocacy
      There are no better advocates for your company than those who already work for you. They’re your biggest ambassadors and the most authentic marketing tool. Encourage employees to share their positive experiences and wins on social media; and amplify their stories through company channels and website testimonials. At Flexa, our team often posts about how they’re making the most of flexible work.
      By leveraging employee voices, you can tap into the networks of trusted employees whilst giving potential candidates an invaluable window into your world, so they can make an educated decision about whether you’re the right fit for them.
      Remember though, this needs to be authentic: people are smart; they can tell when someone has been told to post something nice about a company. The real stories from real employees will have a much more significant impact!
      4. Shake up your success metrics
      Many companies will measure their employer brand’s success using applications and hires alone. But your employer brand is far more extensive than that, so you need to evolve the marketing metrics you use to measure it.
      Employer brand is a strategic marketing effort. Therefore, when starting out, consider measuring the success of your efforts using metrics like reach (impressions/profile views on company and employee pages), engagement (company saves/likes/subscribes/ speculative interest), and audience relevance (diversity/geography/ skills of candidates coming through the pipeline).
      Lower down the funnel, you need to measure applications and hires, as well as things like alignment and diversity. If you focus on getting maximum relevant reach to start with, you will drive down your ultimate cost to hire.
      5. Foster positive candidate experiences
      Treating candidates with respect and providing them with a positive experience during the hiring process can significantly impact your employer brand. Maintain clear communication throughout the process, provide timely feedback, and offer a smooth and efficient application process. Even if a candidate is not selected, leaving them with a positive impression can lead to recommendations or future applications. This approach helps build a strong employer brand and reduces the need for extensive and costly recruitment efforts in the future.
      6. Don’t just focus on employer brand when you’re hiring
      An employer brand doesn’t just need your attention when you’ve got roles to fill. If you want to build a strong talent pipeline, you need to have a true focus on your employer brand all year round.
      Rather than forcing applications reactively when you have vacancies, focus on proactively nurturing relationships with potential candidates and engaging with passive candidates online, on platforms like Flexa, and at networking events and conferences all year round. Maintain regular communication with these individuals using the free channels at your disposal. Being consistent in these efforts will pay dividends when it comes to bringing great talent through the pipeline and reducing your cost to hire.
      Employer branding should be an essential part of your talent attraction and marketing strategy. If you’re not doing it, take a few steps to get started. It’s easy once you know how.
      By Beth Carter, Head of Growth at Flexa.
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      Unlock the Power of ChatGPT in Recruitment: How to Increase Efficiency

      by

      To dive into game-changing sourcing and recruiting practices using AI, Talk Talent to Me went live with these top leaders in New York and San Francisco:

      Director of Talent Sourcing, Activision Blizzard, Justin Ghio
      VP of Talent and Culture, Humane, José Cong
      Director, Talent Acquisition, Employer Branding & Awareness, PandoLogic, Jenny Cotie Kangas
      Chief Technology Officer, Hired, Dave Walters

      Time is precious so we’re sharing the top tactics from the workshops so you can start cutting down on time-consuming, redundant tasks. This frees you up to focus on what’s most important – the human-centric aspects of recruiting that maximize impact. 
      Need to get started ASAP? Get straight to our free template with the top tech candidate personas and resources for crafting your ideal outreach sequences!

      Change your approach: speed > experience
      José Cong suggests taking on an analytical perspective. Earlier this year, he did an A/B test with his team. “A” was his most experienced recruiter with over 25 years of experience. “B” was a coordinator he coached on ChatGPT. Five months later, “B” was outperforming the recruiting veteran at a 3X pace. 
      The team even recently closed their first two principal-level engineers (the highest level you can get as an IC). To him, that was not a coincidence. He saw a pattern. 
      José’s coordinator was taking his guidance a step further, dropping in the resume, job description, and manager notes into ChatGPT. He asked the tool for guidance on how to approach and hold a conversation. It was working.
      Augmented over artificial
      This experience reinforced to José that AI was trainable. In fact, he says, “I hate the terminology ‘artificial intelligence.’ It’s augmented intelligence. If we think about it from that perspective, we’ll be less intimidated by it and more open-minded. This will allow us to do what we do best. We’re in the people business. Our job is not to write a great email or come up with a list of candidates if we get to a place where we are recognizing great talent.”
      José believes talent teams now have the ability to craft a message so individuals see something different than what they’re getting and it makes them stop. He calls it the “aha moment.” 
      Focus on relationship-building
      To José, the challenge is getting to that “aha” email. He says, “How do we personalize it? How do we make it representative of our brand? How do we figure out the best way to make that connection? And once we do that, how do we initiate the conversation? Once we have them on the phone or on video, that’s the feature allowing us, as recruiters, to not waste months trying to figure out how to become an expert in a subject we don’t know.
      For a recruiter, it’s not about how many candidates you get through or how many closes. We judge ourselves in terms of the quality of people.” 
      He wants recruiters to spend time developing relationships instead of searching mindlessly through LinkedIn. A tool like ChatGPT handles the remedial work that will eventually burn us out. 
      ChatGPT in action: Intake to email
      Acting as a new recruiter, Justin Ghio demonstrates how to use ChatGPT to:

      Get closer to knowing what good looks like
      Build trust with a hiring manager
      Sound like a quality recruiter to a candidate (in a job field you may know nothing about!)

      What ten questions should I ask a hiring manager about this role?

      Linking to a job description for a Director of Product, Justin asks ChatGPT what ten questions to ask a hiring manager for the role. He points out the results are cookie-cutter questions. So, the next step is to make these more product-focused. He says, “This is where you can really see the power of it. 

      This AI technology is not output-based. It’s input-based. We are always going to be the input to make this technology powerful. Don’t be scared that it’s going to take your job. You are the key that unlocks its potential.”
      Now, with these 10 questions, you might go into the intake meeting and get all the answers. But, you still don’t know much about this rec. 
      Hiring managers want to know: Do you know about this role? Can you sell it to candidates?
      Write me a Boolean string.

      Again, tailor it to the role:

      Justin doesn’t recommend copying this output and launching it into LinkedIn, a CRM, or an ATS. Instead, he considers it a solid starting point. 
      “At Activision Blizzard, we work off buckets to create booleans. This gives you the ability to extend and find candidates quickly. Everything you know about [the company] and everything you learned from the hiring manager based on the questions you got, you then superimpose on the search to continue making it compelling.”
      Then, you might take a deeper dive into who your company is up against.  
      What companies are the main competitors?

      Write a candidate a compelling email
      By now, you’ve: 

      Completed the intake meeting and have good notes.
      Acquitted your target and know what good looks like 
      Evaluated core competitors

      Next, it’s time for outreach. Justin requests a compelling email to a potential candidate. 

      The result is a standard email but Justin wants you to ask yourself: How many quality pieces of iteration can I get done in the next five minutes? 
      Again, ChatGPT offers a starting point. Justin explains it isn’t about getting an entire email. “Maybe it’s to get the first four sentences,  the hook, or a good subject line.”
      Next, he requests something more interesting and creative. 

      “For [Activision Blizzard], which is in the creative space, this is where we see the dividends pay off because the verbiage will change thematically.”
      From here, continue optimizing.
      Make it more concise.

      Justin tells his team, “If you copy and paste this, then send it out, you’ll get a meeting from me on your calendar. But if you’re using bits and pieces, it will help accelerate. 
      Again, in the creative space, it’s really hard to come up with compelling messages for game developers and figure out what will stick. We have to use [tools] to give us a leg up.”

      Justin praises how ChatGPT “points out the key responsibilities, which are parlayed from the job description we fed it. This is extremely helpful and saves time. It allows us to show up to the first meeting with a good candidate instead of making it a two-week process.”
      Using AI in an equitable way
      Establish guidelines
      Justin explains that at Activision Blizzard, AI is “never a decisive step. It is only a guide. We believe any system we have that has automation doesn’t use any simplified output as a determinant factor. It uses it as an indicative factor. 
      It is not deciding anything, but simply giving us inference and the ability to iterate and ideate quicker. There’s power in the ability to draw inferences from candidates.”
      Justin offers further insight with this scenario: 
      “We are familiar with the DEI statistics about candidates not applying for a job when they don’t meet 100% of the qualifications. Let’s take the flip side of this as an example. Let’s say Person A didn’t add technology to their resume because they used it in one project. But their peer, Person B, wrote it on their resume. We can discover, because of AI, there’s a correlation and you should ask Person A about the technology Person B included on their resume. 
      It’s giving that inference to make an even better call. That could be the missing link between an instant reject and a potential hire.” 
      Justin believes the best results come from following guidelines around ChatGPT in combination with your “personal flair and stylistic input.”
      Be intentional
      In the case that AI does have some evil in it, José and his team “go out of [their] way to make sure [they] are investing time and effort into cycling through various demographics. I think that is the best of both worlds. You’re hopefully automating something that will take away the unconscious biases.
      Just in case it wasn’t untrained with AI, you have to be intentional about making sure you’re targeting underrepresented individuals. The best thing is you can do it at a much higher rate.”
      Use a bias checker
      Jenny Cotie Kangas points out that generative AI is trained on everything from the Internet before 2021. She says, “If you’re using it for content generation, it’s really important to have a bias checker like Textio to make sure you’re not biased against people at scale.”
      Tip: Install WebChatGPT, an extension allowing you to integrate post-2021 information into ChatGPT searches.
      A CTO’s take on ChatGPT
      Hired CTO, Dave Walters sees his team using ChatGPT more and more. He says, “We’re finding more opportunities to leverage it and make our lives more efficient. I embrace it.”
      That’s not without caution though.
      At Hired, Dave and his team are trying to “get ahead by setting policies and procedures for when it should and shouldn’t be used, and what you should and should not do with it.
      I recommend getting policies in place so teams know what to do and what not to do. Don’t let that policy be ‘don’t use it.’ You will fall behind. It’s inevitable. People will use it anyway so find the safe ways to implement it and the ways that will benefit your employees, team members, and company.”
      ChatGPT prompt ideas for talent professionals
      How else can ChatGPT help talent pros? Just ask it! Jenny says, “You can ask generative AI to be your consultant to help you figure out where you can use it.” Here’s a simple example for talent acquisition leaders: 

      “I have ChatGPT build my project plans for how I handle the day. If I need to respond to an email, I can take the email and ask it to draft a response.”
      Write a better business case
      Bring ChatGPT a specific situation. Let’s say you’re not getting the candidates you need from your job board advertising. If you need to request more budget, Jenny recommends developing a use case by asking ChatGPT to help you write a compelling argument.
      Support your talent acquisition strategy
      Legislation changes quite often and talent professionals need to stay in the loop to optimize their TA strategy. Jenny explains, “The Colorado Equal Pay Act says to put pay and benefits on a job advertisement. If I’m looking at that with my talent acquisition strategy as just Colorado, I’m missing the bigger picture. Take the block of information about the Colorado Equal Pay Act and take CCPA and New York’s Local Law 144. 
      Then, ask ChatGPT to give the meta implications of these laws to scale that instead of looking at the tiny aspect of a specific piece. That is what we should be using to build talent strategies.” 
      Sharp vs non-sharp questions
      Now that you have some questions to ask, let’s cover how to ask AI effectively. Jenny emphasizes, “You have to ask the right, sharp question to get the answer.” Here’s her example:
      “What is AI?”
      This is a non-sharp question, which will just present a broad response not specific to your individual use case. “Think of generative AI as having all the hats. To get it to respond more precisely, you want to call out the specific hat you need it to wear.” 
      This is what Jenny considers a sharp question, modified to be specific for a stronger output:
      “As a Talent Acquisition leader considering leveraging ChatGPT in my day-to-day, what are some things I should consider choosing to begin?”

      Interested in crafting better candidate outreach? Try our free template. More