Talent Acquisition

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      How to Build a Sustainable Tech Talent Acquisition Strategy: A Comprehensive Guide

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      About this eBook

      Do you know anyone who’s used “talent acquisition” and “recruiting” interchangeably? Maybe you’ve done it, yourself! While organizations are moving towards a more sustainable talent acquisition strategy, they often confuse talent acquisition with recruitment. This misunderstanding may hamper your process and disrupt progress.

      A sustainable talent acquisition strategy encourages you to maintain a balance between acquiring external and promoting internal talent. A lack of career advancement opportunities is one of the main reasons people quit their jobs. Sometimes, current employees even feel neglected when companies enter the hiring phase.

      Although hiring new talent is important, doing so at the cost of current employees is detrimental to organizational growth and morale. Moreover, if you delegate all resources and money towards recruitment, there’s none left to invest in and retain your employees.

      Hence, a sustainable strategy is a win for all – companies can divide time and resources between current employees and new hiring with proper planning and implementation. While recruiting is essential for gaining employees, it can become a time-intensive and expensive endeavor without a TA strategy.

      Amidst a dynamic labor market, many organizations are exploring talent acquisition avenues to prepare for hiring surges and talent management. To help, we created an eBook to demystify talent sustainability and help organizations incorporate it into talent acquisition strategy.

      What You’ll Learn

      What constitutes a sustainable talent acquisition strategy in both candidate and employer-driven markets

      Actionable steps to take on the daunting task of building a robust talent pipeline, including 5 questions to answer before making a plan

      Strategies to nurture and engage candidates in the talent pipeline

      A look into the future of tech talent acquisition

      Plus, Why Core Values are Important to Talent Acquisition Strategies

      By integrating your organization’s core values into your talent acquisition strategy, it strengthens your employer brand. This pays dividends in multiple areas including candidate and employee experience. If you need help in this area, we’ve also created resources for both startups and larger enterprise companies. More

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      Raise the Bar in 2023: Strategies from Top Employers Winning Tech Talent (VIDEO)

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      Need insight to plan your recruiting and hiring strategies for 2023? Watch this on-demand webinar to hear talent acquisition experts from Top Employers Winning Tech Talent discuss key findings and data from Hired’s What Top Tech Employers Do Differently: New Hiring Data to Win in 2023 report. They share strategies for filling open positions with top talent and building a diverse team quickly and efficiently.

      Hear from:

      Hired SVP Marketing, Erica Yamamoto

      Manager, R&D Talent, Tray.io, Reece Batchelor

      Director of Tech Talent, SAP, Tatiana Moraes Nogueira

      Talent Acquisition Manager, Technology, iHeartMedia, Jeff Carr

      Read an excerpt of the conversation here and scroll down to access the full webinar. 

      What are strategies for driving qualified candidates?

      Tatiana Moraes Nogueira, Director of Tech Talent, SAP

      We invest a lot in preparing our interviewers to really understand what we are and how we are interviewing. What are the qualifications that we’re looking for in these candidates? We are always prioritizing candidate experience on top of everything. Transparency is a big thing for us. We are fast in providing feedback and we provide full feedback to our candidates.

      That is definitely something that always brings us more and more candidates. Whoever applied in the past understands why they were or were not approved. Then they go and work on the skills we wanted them to have and they can reapply. 

      We also are very strong on flex work. SAP is a company committed to employee experience first. SAP is a people-first company. We definitely communicate very broadly that some roles are going to be remote while some others need a bit more in-person time. SAP has amazing offices throughout the US and Canada. We are looking for people to be in the office maybe two or three times a week and we communicate this flex work approach in terms of hours, location, and days of the week.

      Flex work for us means you can accommodate your working hours around your projects and personal life. We also have a big returnship program. We are allowing people who have been away from work for over a year and a half to come back to the workforce. All these things are elevating our brand and allowing us to continue attracting the best talent out there.

      Reece Batchelor, Manager, R&D Talent, Tray.io

      Naturally, being a smaller company, we rely heavily on outbound strategies to attract talent. We do take quite an aggressive approach to this. We target 100 new messages per week. Hired is a great tool for us. 

      We also use a tool called Gem for messaging sequencing. At Tray, we don’t just staff emails out either. We try to get really personalized – not just ‘I see you work at X company.’ I’m talking about really calling out things on people’s LinkedIn profiles, including work they’ve done and blog posts they may have written too. 

      We’ve also looked at a lot of data on our outbound messaging to see what’s working and what’s not. 

      There are two real changes we’ve made recently. One is keeping our messages short, sweet, and to the point. No one has time to read lengthy emails. We’re just trying to hit what people want to know, which is why we are reaching out to them and what’s in it for them. Those are the two points we’re really trying to hit. 

      Secondly, we like hitting and tackling the elephant in the room, which is job security. It’s top of mind for everyone. We’re quite fortunate as we’ve done funding a couple of months ago, so we call that out in our messaging. 

      But what’s different now from maybe 12 months ago is we’re not saying we’ve done a round of funding and are in hyper-growth mode because that scares people. It’s all about how this is now sustainable and why joining Tray gives you the security you’re ultimately looking for. 

      Jeff Carr

      Automation is the name of the game. We try to automate as much as we can. We start with a lot of market data trends and share them with our executives, VPs, and hiring managers. This includes where these market trends are with compensation, the available workforce, what the time-to-fill is across the technology industry, and what you can expect as candidates move through the process. 

      We try to keep everything as efficient as possible. We do weekly meetings with the managers to keep communication feedback between the recruiter, candidate, and hiring manager as tight as possible in the process. 

      We’ve even adopted a tool for scheduling interviews. It’s taking the manual process out of the pattern to where everything is automatically shared with the candidate and hiring manager. That’s probably given each team member at least five hours back in their day.

      Showing the value proposition of where automation can help. Additionally, metrics and data points help keep everybody aligned on where process improvement is and where opportunities are for it. Any automation you can add to your process adds a lot of value back to the recruiting team members, candidates, and hiring manager.

      Related: Get Internal Approval for Recruiting Tools: A Step-by-Step Playbook 

      Watch the full collaborative panel discussion to discover: 

      Top strategies to increase interview response and acceptance rates 

      Why and how salary transparency increases equity and efficiency in hiring funnels

      Why tracking time-to-fill is only part of the story

      Ways to drive organizational innovation  More

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      in Talent Acquisition

      How Recruiters Can Find Opportunity Amid Uncertainty

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      The forecasts are in, and economists paint a gloomy outlook for the UK economy in the coming months. It has been predicted that Britain risks being the first G7 nation to slip into recession – and the last one to get out of it – which is undoubtedly causing concern amongst business leaders.
      To prepare for challenging times ahead, many organizations are already making tough decisions about where to prioritize investments as budgets tighten. According to new research from LinkedIn, three-quarters of business leaders in the UK are anxious that the current climate will force companies to wind back progress made during the pandemic on important areas of working life such as flexible work, as well as skills development (76%), and employee wellbeing (83%).
      However, this is at odds with what professionals want and has the potential to significantly impact a company’s ability to attract and retain talent. LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends report finds that flexible work is the biggest factor UK employees value in employers today, even before compensation, with skills development and work-life balance, also featuring high on the list.
      Opportunity for recruiters
      Despite the economic outlook, we’re still seeing a very active labor market with low unemployment levels and a healthy level of job vacancies – with the term ‘jobful recession’ being coined to describe the current climate.
      However, with uncertainty front of mind for many, it has a knock-on effect on how people respond to new opportunities. LinkedIn labor market data reveals that job-seeking behavior in the UK is down compared to the first half of the year, suggesting that people are becoming increasingly reluctant to change jobs during this time of uncertainty. Furthermore, recent LinkedIn research found that 4 in 5 UK business leaders say it’s been difficult to attract talent in the current environment.
      Recruiters play a pivotal role in helping businesses navigate labor market changes, but during periods of uncertainty like the one we’re collectively experiencing now, they have even more of an opportunity to play a strategic adviser role to clients. They are uniquely positioned to help reduce the disconnect between what candidates want and what many employers are now offering by helping companies understand what candidates need in order to consider and pursue new opportunities actively. This is particularly pertinent at a time when many businesses are struggling to find and recruit talent with specific skill sets needed to grow their organizations.
      In a tough hiring environment where people are potentially sheltering in their roles and reluctant to make a change, recruiters can help companies make sense of the hiring market. Here are four key things recruiters should keep front of mind during this time:
      Helping companies understand what candidates want
      The pandemic has changed the world of work as we know it and shifted the needs and wants of employees. This means that it’s more important than ever for recruiters to understand what job seekers want. The biggest shift is the increased desire for greater flexibility in the workplace. For many job seekers now, flexible working arrangements are a deal breaker when considering a new role, let alone accepting one. Recent LinkedIn data highlights the growing preference amongst candidates for flexible working, showing that demand outstrips supply for remote roles – with remote roles making up less than 12% of job ads in the UK, but receiving more than 20% of applications.
      Flexible working will be a key talent magnet for the foreseeable future and can be a core differentiator for recruiters when reaching out to candidates, so featuring an organization’s flexible working policies front and center is going to be key.
      In addition to flexible working, LinkedIn’s recent Global Talent Trends report shows that skills development is a top priority for employees and job seekers. By highlighting a company’s commitment to skills development and the different L&D initiatives that are available, recruiters can help candidates see how a job move can help them develop new skills and progress in their careers.
      Encouraging companies to think skills-first
      For decades, candidates have been assessed on their formal education, experience, and previous job title, which has resulted in companies missing out on high-potential talent. There’s an opportunity for recruiters to help organizations transition to a skills-based hiring approach, where candidates are considered for their skills and future potential. This can help ease the challenges of recruiting in a tight labor market.
      Our data shows that LinkedIn members globally have added 365 million skills to their profiles over the last year, up 43% compared to the previous year. By using skills to screen and search for candidates, rather than relying on direct previous experience, recruiters can help companies unlock new talent pools and source talent from non-traditional backgrounds, which may also help them to improve the diversity of their organization. In addition, recruiters that adopt a skills-based hiring approach will help companies take a ‘select in’ approach to their recruitment, actively bringing in candidates who might not have realized their skills qualified them for the role – rather than just filtering out unsuitable applications. Given we’re still seeing labor market tightness, drawing in new talent this way will be highly valued by businesses.
      Bringing a company’s purpose, culture, and values to life
      More than ever, job seekers are attracted to companies that align with their personal values. When looking for new roles today, it’s more common than not to see candidates challenge and evaluate where a company stands on particular issues they value most, such as DEI or environmental sustainability.
      Recruiters, therefore, need to be well-versed in understanding a company’s purpose and values, ensuring these come through during the hiring process. Recruiters will also need to partner with companies to help them best highlight these attributes to job seekers through their employer branding.
      Data-driven recruiting is the future
      With so much change in the labor market, businesses are increasingly looking for partners who stand out from the crowd and can be truly consultative – providing them with actionable insights grounded in data.
      This means there’s a huge opportunity here for recruitment firms to arm their teams with the right tools to source this data and the skills they need to be able to decipher it. By equipping their teams with these abilities, recruiters can earn a higher seat at the table, providing their clients with strategic advice on workforce planning.
      There is no denying that these are challenging times, but recruiters have a right to be cautiously optimistic and can provide a huge amount of value to clients by playing a more advisory role. By providing counsel and guidance, recruiters can help organizations navigate a tough economic environment, unlocking new talent pools and successfully attracting top talent.
      By Adam Hawkins, Head of Search & Staffing EMEA & LATAM, LinkedIn.
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      How to Recruit Successfully in a Stagnant Market

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      It has been a challenging few years for the recruitment sector, and it looks like things might get worse before they start getting better.
      Although employment rates have largely returned to pre-pandemic levels this year, the outlook for next year looks bleaker. Rising food and energy costs have exacerbated the cost-of-living crisis, and recent government budget U-turns have steepened inflation and sent the UK headfirst into another recession.
      As a result, sourcing and retaining talent is becoming increasingly complex. Recent reports suggest that the job market is experiencing a period of stagnation, with many companies forced to freeze hiring as they struggle to keep up with salary expectations.
      So, how can business leaders overcome economic uncertainty and achieve growth in this landscape? The solution lies in analyzing market trends and planning ahead to ensure every skills gap is covered as we enter the new year.
      Understanding job market stagnation
      In recruitment, market stagnation refers to a situation where job growth slows, output plateaus, and wage increases flatten, leaving candidates demanding more than employers can offer.
      Stagnation often follows a period of stunted economic growth, which we have experienced since the first coronavirus lockdown in 2020. The economy showed signs of recovery after the government eased restrictions. However, hiring activity is declining as rising costs and competition for staff cause employers to become more cautious about their hiring plans.
      The most recent KPMG and REC ‘UK Report on Jobs’ survey indicated that starting salary growth slipped to an 18-month low, permanent hiring has fallen for the first time in almost two years, and temporary billings have stagnated. Hiring intentions have increased, but recent reports suggest that business confidence in the UK’s economy has turned negative due to worries over labor shortages, political disruption, and inflation.
      Consequently, recruiting and retaining staff in the current economic climate is becoming more challenging. People are less likely to change jobs for the same or less than they are currently earning, with candidates that are going to market upping their salaries by as much as 30%.
      Equally, in today’s turbulent market, workers may stay put rather than move in anticipation of further economic instability. So, unless hiring managers include adequate long-term budgets for staff increases at the start of the financial year, they will likely feel the sting of stagnation as we head into a new year.
      As a result, employers must assess their hiring needs sooner rather than later to avoid facing a scenario where they are desperate to fill a role but lack the funding and resources to present their top candidate with an enticing job offer.
      Taking a proactive recruitment approach
      It is easy to grow complacent when things seem to go smoothly in the short term. But if we have learned anything from recent disruptions, it is just how quickly things can change.
      Candidates still drive the job market, so companies have their work cut out to attract and retain workers. Business moves fast in the modern world, and employers must always stay one step ahead of their staffing needs.
      To successfully overcome existing and upcoming recruitment challenges, hiring managers must focus on improving the most critical areas of the recruitment process.
      Review benefits packages
      Before embarking on a hiring drive, which can often prove expensive and time-consuming, companies must assess market trends to ensure they can make a competitive offer and fulfill regular pay rises in line with industry expectations.
      The same goes for existing employees. By investing in reward schemes, training, and bonuses, hiring managers can fill skills gaps from the inside and boost retention, reducing the pressure to keep recruiting more staff.
      Focus on diversity and inclusion
      Diversity and inclusion policies (or lack thereof) hold great sway over today’s workforce, playing an integral role in progressive employee value propositions — the way that employers attract and engage desirable employees.
      Highlighting issues and opportunities within this business area is a vital part of social responsibility for modern organizations. Plus, nurturing an inclusive, culture-focused workplace will invite interest from a wider pool of candidates, increasing the likelihood of hiring success and retention.
      Enlist professional support
      Meeting candidate expectations for salary, bonuses, and benefits has always been important. It is now non-negotiable, as market stagnation threatens to impact companies’ bottom lines.
      Enlisting the support of a third-party recruitment team ensures someone is continuously monitoring the job market, conducting accurate budget assessments, and overseeing the entire recruitment process. With these tasks taken care of, business leaders can turn their focus from merely staying afloat to generating long-term growth amidst economic uncertainty.
      By Julie Mott, managing director of Howett Thorpe.
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      How to Improve Job Security During an Economic Downturn: Career Advice for Recruiters

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      An economic downturn is a notably difficult time for job security for recruiters. Open positions can become scarce to the point where the search for talent may halt. Hiring freezes inherently restrict recruiters and talent acquisition leaders from being able to fulfill their usual duties.  

      “Recruiters need growing businesses to fulfill their function. To deal with this, we need to understand what the reality is. That can give us the right foundation to strategize around staying in the game,” says Recruiting Brainfood’s Curator, Hung Lee, in a past episode of Hired’s Talk Talent to Me podcast. 

      Leaning on Hung’s insights, let’s dive into how recruiters can protect their own careers during tough times.

      4 ways to strengthen job security and how recruiters can distinguish themselves during an economic downturn

      Expert: Recruiting Brainfood Curator, Hung Lee 

      1. Invest in yourself

      Hung recommends recruiters start by taking the time to expand their skill set. He says, “Upskilling is definitely something recruiters need to do. It is a great time to upskill yourself in areas you could improve… Look at the skills you may have neglected due to operational overload now that you have some capacity.”

      There are a number of free resources “teaching you how to source candidates, do employer branding, copywriting, analytics, and more.”

      Related: Explore workshops and events from our partner, General Assembly

      2. Think ahead to create job security as a recruiter

      While upskilling is critical, Hung says “it would be very wrong to spend 100% of your time doing that because however skilled you may be, you also need to get busy positioning yourself to get opportunities when they emerge. I recommend recruiters think about: Am I in the right market for the near, mid, and long term future?” 

      Following a crisis or recession, “a lot of these industries will certainly come back in a very different form which is often smaller in terms of absolute manpower. That has a knock-on effect for recruiters so think about what industries are going to grow and where the new demand will emerge. Recruiters have to be agile and able to port into growing industries — not hang on to ones that will probably die.”

      3. Apply your recruiting skills to the job search

      “I advise recruiters to apply what they do to themselves. We often apply skills externally and never internally for our own needs — but recruiters need to do that.” 

      “If I’m prospecting as a third-party recruiter for a client base or market to trade in, I would be very sensitive to which markets will grow compared to those likely to shrink. Essentially, recruiters need to apply exactly the same methods and mentality to the job search.” 

      “I think it would be wrong to look for available recruiter jobs and only that. The right thing to do is look at industry sectors you anticipate to grow. Get yourself positioned in those places, build networks there, build contacts, and do the research.”

      “Find yourself on fertile ground. You don’t need to be the best recruiter in the world. If you’re swimming against the tide, you have to be an amazing swimmer. If you’re swimming with the tide you could use a float device and make it to the other side.”

      “Recruiters have native skills directly applicable to jobseeking. You know how to source, retrieve information, research, do a cold open, document, and promote. All of those things need to come together.” 

      “We rarely have our own dog food but in this case, we have to chow down. Think: How would I do this if I was recruiting for a customer or market mapping for a prospect? Engaging in the job search is a very interesting demonstration of the skills, processes, and mindsets you can apply from the job of recruiting.”

      4. Stand out by fostering meaningful connections 

      While traditional routes of applying for a job through a post are legitimate, Hung urges recruiters to pursue less conventional methods too.

      “As a hiring manager I would be more impressed with an explanation involving deep research from analytics, tracking of funding, or some information gathering a recruiter would typically do. With that, you provide evidence of how you would do the job. This mentality will not only help you generate opportunities, but convert them as a result of the techniques you employed to find it.”

      Source for companies with the same precision you source for candidates. 

      “In other words, when we default to jobseeking, we forget the recruiter, or the crude animal in us. We shouldn’t just default to what’s available. Maybe 10% of your time should be applying for jobs and 90% should be doing investigative work to source hidden opportunities and find other ways to connect with the hiring manager.” 

      “Remember the market flipped on us. This is now a candidate-rich market for recruiters. If I was recruiting for a recruiter and I put a job out, I’ll be flooded with candidates. Therefore, as I get more applications, I spend less time on them. In turn, every application has to be closer and closer to the ideal person I’ve imagined.” 

      Hung encourages recruiters to be thoughtful in starting a conversation and demonstrating existing recruiting skills. 

      Focus your efforts wisely

      “Simple mathematics means your chances of being that person will generally be slim. You should go and apply but it shouldn’t be the dominant activity for you as a jobseeker. Instead, do what you have been doing as a recruiter. Treat your job search as the process of gathering information about the best options out there, then figuring out a way to engage with them.”

      “If you do this in the right way, you may catch the opportunity before it becomes public and you might even short-circuit the entire process. Let’s not forget in a candidate-rich market, generally, an employer does not want to advertise the job because it brings a massive applicant flow problem. Ideally, someone wanders in and solves my problem — be that person. Recruiters have the skills to do it. They just have to switch to their usual mentality and put it in a new context.” 

      Related: Job Searching? Online Networking Strategies to Get you Started 

      At the heart of great teams

      Fortune recently called out tech layoffs hitting HR teams especially hard. Experts warn that companies viewing talent-focused roles as far from profit-earning for the organization may be dangerous in the long run. When the economy bounces back, companies that cut recruitment or DEI risk will need to reassemble and may struggle to keep up with competitors after losing this foundational aspect.

      Recruiters are at the heart of building and maintaining great teams. Showcase the value you bring.

      Want more insights just for recruiters?

      Tune into Hired’s podcast, Talk Talent to Me, to learn about the strategies, techniques, and trends shaping recruitment and talent acquisition—straight from top experts themselves. More

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      How to Cultivate Top Talent While Navigating a Volatile Job Market

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      The current employment landscape is complex and punctuated by uncertainty. Buzzwords like the ‘great resignation’ and ‘great layoffs’ are sparking a shift in hiring strategies among employers, especially as a potential recession is looming. The unemployment rate is at its lowest in 50 years at just 3.5%, yet there remains a strong demand for workers as there are currently 1.7 job vacancies for every unemployed American. In this unusual labor market, recruiters and hiring managers must be prepared to attract the best talent for open positions while anticipating the needs of current and future employees.
      Companies can attract and retain top talent in today’s shifting job market with streamlined candidate communication, a renewed focus on employee mobility, and proactive recruitment strategies.
      Streamline communication tactics.
      The methods used to connect with job seekers and current employees must evolve with rapidly changing technology. Simplified and personalized communication allows recruiters and HR leaders to expedite their entire recruiting process, and in turn, make it easier for potential employees to learn about open positions.
      Text recruiting increases the pace of candidate communication which improves the overall recruiting process for all parties. Sourcing, interviewing, hiring, and more can be bolstered by texting, especially when open rates for this method are near 100%. A study by Gartner found that the average text open rate is 98%, while email has only a 20% open rate. Texting allows recruiters to build rapport and trust with candidates while strengthening the employer brand and improving the candidate experience.
      According to new data from Employ Inc., the largest provider of recruiting and talent acquisition solutions, more than 70% of recruiters know candidates who have received multiple offers at the same time in the last six months alone. When candidates are juggling competing job offers, recruiter timeliness becomes increasingly important. Forty percent of job candidates reject offers because another organization made an offer quicker, according to Top Echelon Network research. Text messaging is one way to get in front of candidates even sooner.
      Focus on referrals and employee mobility.
      Employers can benefit from empowering team members to grow within the organization. Regularly revisiting employee mobility plans and performance management systems can encourage employees to explore more internal opportunities. However, 29% of workers say their employer does not offer a platform or software to make it easy to apply for open internal roles. Optimizing employee talent cycles, offering professional development opportunities, and focusing on internal mobility can ensure roles do not become stagnant.
      Employee referral programs can also be efficient ways for recruiters to discover qualified candidates, while also lowering the average cost-per-hire. The 2021 Job Seeker Nation Report found that more than 80% of workers are likely to click on a job opportunity that someone in their network posted on social media. The same study also found that more than 70% of employees are willing to share job openings at their companies via social media. Platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter can be powerful tools in a company’s talent acquisition strategy and lead to organic employee referrals. Instagram and TikTok should also be considered, especially when recruiting younger candidates.
      Proactively recruit passive candidates.
      Passive candidates are not actively looking for a new job opportunity, but may be open to opportunities that fit their personal and professional goals and needs. According to LinkedIn, passive candidates make up 70% of the talent market.
      Organizations that are active on social media are more likely to be seen by passive candidates. Being active on LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and other social media outlets can help showcase the employer brand and give an inside look at its culture to attract potential employees with similar values. Utilizing social media channels to promote the employer brand can impact the perception of the company for current employees and the overall workforce.
      Nearly 80% of job applicants use social media during their job search, according to Glassdoor. An active LinkedIn profile is especially important for networking with passive candidates and sharing stories of employee growth, exciting client projects, and other company news that may appeal to active job seekers.
      When an employer brand stands out to employees who share similar values, organizations are more likely to attract talent who will root for the company, be passionate about their roles, and show a long-term commitment. Within a job market that is in constant flux, organizations that stay ahead of hiring need to engage candidates proactively will have an advantage. This often involves sourcing, engaging, and attracting candidates ahead of a need to fill a specific position and finding new ways to reach passive candidates.
      These are just some of the strategies recruiters and HR executives can consider in attracting a new pool of candidates. When labor market shifts are difficult to predict, today’s HR leaders must find new ways to attract top talent and retain current employees to benefit companies now and in the long term.
      Written by: Kelly Cruse, vice president of human resources and chief diversity officer of Atlas World Group.
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      How to Foster Psychological Safety in the Workplace, from Interviews to Management

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      Why it’s Important to Create an Environment for Employees and Candidates that Welcomes Feedback

      The workplace hasn’t always felt like a safe space to speak up or out. Because of that, issues can go unaddressed and ideas can go unmentioned. Savvy organizations know an environment strong in psychological safety is more conducive to innovation and employee satisfaction. Haven’t heard of psychological safety before or don’t know what it is? Learn why it’s important in the workplace from interviewing to managing teams. Find out how to establish and nurture it within your company.

      What Is Psychological Safety?

      According to Harvard leadership professor Amy Edmondson, “psychological safety is a belief that it’s absolutely ok, in fact, it’s expected, to speak up with concerns, with questions, with ideas, with mistakes.” Everyone feels comfortable being themselves at work. There’s no fear of punishment or humiliation for one’s thoughts or ideas.

      This doesn’t mean work is sunshine and rainbows all the time. Conflict will happen. The difference is people are willing to speak up. There’s mutual support with psychological safety.

      Psychological safety lays the groundwork for innovation and adaptive performance. This can occur at all levels of an organization. It establishes an environment where team members feel comfortable expressing concerns. They ask tough questions because everyone’s input counts. They’re not afraid to throw out ideas for fear of rejection. When team members feel safe, they’re more likely to take risks, share new ideas, and challenge the status quo.

      Anabel Morales, VP of Talent Acquisition at Worksome describes psychological safety in a nutshell as “really just having the ability to speak your mind and being open to candor.”

      Tyler Parson, Head of Talent at Chili Piper explains how creating this space stems back to the organization taking initiative. “If you create a culture where it’s okay to say those things, then it takes all the fear out of it, or at least most of the fear out of it.” 

      Company Values & Culture Foster Psychological Safety

      Reinforce and promote psychological safety through the company’s values. Doing so allows you to set the tone for its development throughout the organization.

      Worksome’s company values are “Speak data, be brave, and have fun.” Anabel Morales explains how these values work to build an environment of psychological safety. 

      “Being brave really connects to letting people be authentic, speak their minds, and have fun. I think it’s not just about social events and team building, but it’s also about actually having a passion for your work and having fun at your job because of what you’re doing.” 

      “Our cultural framework is made up of trust, transparency, and inclusion. We try to approach everyday interactions with our colleagues in this way and also throughout the candidate journey.

      Culture promotes psychological safety for internal employees seeking changes too. Tyler Parson shares how this works.

      “What we’re trying to build at Chili Piper and have been successful in doing so far is creating a culture where if you want something new, you always ask for it internally first. If it’s in the realm of possibility and our growth plan, then we try it.”

      With clear values and a positive culture, employees can feel comfortable expressing themselves in the workplace and building trust with the company.

      Psychological Safety in Interviewing

      For far too long, an interview hasn’t always felt like an opportunity to speak up without fear of backlash. Or worse, getting the boot from the recruitment process. Building psychological safety in interviewing will change that.

      Anabel explains why Worksome makes an effort to provide psychological safety in the interview process. “We want to ensure people feel free to speak up and share failures as well as successes because we know that’s really where the learning happens and that’s just important to share.” 

      This welcomes the opportunity for candidates to share the adversity they overcame to achieve success!

      So, how do you set a precedent of psychological safety for a candidate in an interview? It starts with the interviewer.

      Tyler shares that Chilli Piper ensures during “interview trainings, hiring managers are equipped with how to create a basic positive candidate experience. Part of that is understanding how to make candidates feel comfortable, welcomed, and [empowered] to talk about their experiences in a way that doesn’t shy away from talking about their failures.

      Gauge a candidate’s ability to foster psychological safety in the workplace. Ask questions focusing on empathy and respect. Assess if this person will be a good fit in a culture of psychological safety.

      How do you go about building trust with your team?Provide an example of how you showed empathy in your current role.How would you help someone progress after a failure?Share how would you respond if someone else’s view on a task or project differed from yours.

      Psychological Safety for Management

      Creating a psychologically safe workplace starts with strong leadership. Leaders need to model the behavior they want to see in their team members. They need to encourage open communication. Give employees the space to voice their opinions.

      Anabel believes “top leadership” setting a precedent has a ripple effect throughout the organization. “I think if they are living out their values then it will naturally trickle down to the rest of the company.” 

      “You can always use the values when you are trying to make tough decisions and when you reflect on the values, it’s [even] helpful in navigating your day-to-day.”

      “When we hire managers or if we promote somebody into a management role, right away we introduce them to our leadership principle, educating them on just how to live up to those values.”

      Tips to Build Psychological Safety

      Here are 3 important tips from Amy Edmondson to create psychological safety as a leader: 

      Frame the work as a learning problem, instead of an execution problem. Needing everyone’s involvement creates a rationale for speaking up.

      Ask more questions to invite sharingActively request opinions from those who tend to stay quiet

      Acknowledge your own fallibility to create more safety for speaking up. Tyler Parson supports this saying, “It starts with… you as a leader practicing vulnerability”

      Apologize when you make a mistakeAsk for help when you need it

      Model curiosity and ask a lot of questions to create a necessity for voice.

      Promote equal speaking time for everyone involvedEncourage feedback sharing and use it to build on ideas

      Psychological Safety Is the Foundation for Innovation

      Psychological safety establishes a baseline. Everyone can feel safe to speak up and feel heard when they do. In this sort of environment, innovation comes easily with the free flow of ideas. 

      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.

      Finally, want to listen to the full episodes featured in this article?

      Editor’s note: at the time of the podcast recording, Tyler was Head of Talent, in June of 2022, she was promoted to VP, People. Congrats, Tyler! Likewise, when her episode was recorded, Anabel was VP of Talent Acquisition, in August of 2022, she became VP, People and Culture. Congrats, Anabel! More

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      in Talent Acquisition

      Recruiting Technology is the Lynchpin to Solving Talent Shortages

      by

      Recruiting has a long reputation for being a tedious process: posting jobs individually to multiple job boards, sifting through LinkedIn profiles, sorting through stacks of resumes, and reaching out to candidates one by one to schedule interviews. But it doesn’t have to be.
      Recruiting technology can help companies find higher-quality talent faster and with less upfront investment. But many recruiters are too overwhelmed keeping up with the onslaught of hiring to take steps to get ahead.
      How We Got Here
      Companies are in a hiring crisis—but they didn’t get there overnight. Many corporate recruiting teams were first on the chopping block when economic uncertainty loomed at the start of the pandemic. With those layoffs, conversations with talent already in the recruiting pipeline went dark.
      Flash forward nine months: Business is booming in many industries, turnover is reaching record highs as the Great Resignation takes hold, and what recruiting resources do remain are stretched thin with redundant and manual tasks. That unsustainable balance has held true ever since.
      But what if the economic tides turn and the rumored recession comes to fruition? Employment experts say that high-skill fields like tech and healthcare will continue to face labor shortages, even if demand in other fields tapers off.
      Efficiency is the Answer
      Businesses won’t be the same in a post-pandemic world—and neither will recruiting. The solution is to use the current inflection point to revamp outdated recruiting processes and be better stewards of the time and resources that your organization does have.
      Investments in recruiting technology are about hiring efficiency. Nothing will ever replace a human voice extending congratulations and a verbal job offer to a selected candidate. But what recruiting technology can do is apply data intelligence to repetitive tasks—like job posting and candidate filtering—so that recruiters can focus their time and effort on connecting with high-quality candidates.
      On average, Robert Walters – the largest global staffing company – states that recruiting technology has enabled its consultants to be 68% faster at managing candidate applications. That’s a huge windfall as recruiting teams struggle to keep up with the torrid pace of hiring in today’s business environment.
      Find Better Candidates Faster With Refined Filtering
      Speed is critical to winning high-quality candidates in a tight labor market. Delays in the hiring process can mean missing out on talent that has secured other job offers in the meantime.
      Instead of manually filtering through applications—and introducing human bias into the process—recruiting technology can automatically sort candidates based on customized criteria using machine learning and data intelligence. That means that an all-star application can be at the top of the digital pile from the moment it’s submitted, and recruiters can follow up on the lead before it grows cold.
      Get More From the Data You Already Have
      Data is the modern business’s most valuable asset—and that adage applies to recruiting data, too. Yet 46% of recruiters say that they don’t have enough data to make smarter hiring decisions.
      With recruiting software solutions, recruiters aren’t left guessing if broadly focused job boards like Indeed attract higher quality candidates than association-based or industry-specific job boards. Rather than relying on self-reported data from job candidates (did they see that post on LinkedIn or was it on Monster.com?), recruiting technology can automatically pull in that data and correlate it with the applicant quality score.
      Recruiting technology can also offer real-time insights into which job postings are attracting top-quality candidates. This kind of actionable data lets recruiters adjust course in the middle of recruiting efforts and direct time and resources away from job boards that aren’t yielding results before a failed search occurs.
      Better yet, gathering and analyzing recruiting and hiring data doesn’t require adding yet another dashboard to your organization’s fleet of measurement tools. By integrating into existing business dashboards (e.g., Tableau) recruiters can not only show their value in terms of return on investment for their hiring budget, but also how recruiting efforts can ultimately contribute to the business’s bottom line.
      Redesigning the Candidate Experience
      Recruiting software doesn’t just benefit HR professionals; it can also improve the candidate experience. By automating simple tasks like follow-up communication, candidates aren’t left wondering if their applications went into a digital black hole. Moreover, accelerating the hiring process means candidates can make informed decisions when accepting offers and aren’t left wondering about what could have been.
      Tackling today’s talent shortage will require multifaceted solutions—but recruiting technology is the lynchpin. By automating administrative tasks, focusing resources on the job boards that are attracting high-quality candidates, and accelerating hiring processes, everyone wins.
      By Alex Fourlis, President at Broadbean. 
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