Your customers become your brand advocates, essentially.

So, when it comes to building your workforce, the same goes. Word of mouth – or employee advocacy, as we in the staffing agency world refer to it – is an incredible tool for attracting the staff you need to your growing roster.

What is employee advocacy?

Employee advocacy is effectively the sum total of what your staff say about you to those outside of your organization. It’s what happens every time they tell someone, “I absolutely love my job,” or, “My company’s really great,” or eve, “My boss is awesome.” It’s every comment made about what it’s like to work for you – your business, your leadership team, and the culture you’re promoting.

What does a strong employee advocacy scheme do for you?

If we begin by saying…

1. It can increase the number of employee referrals you gain,
2. Decrease your time-to-hire,
3. And ultimately help you recruit better talent faster,

…It’s merely the tip of the ice berg in terms of insight into what having your valued employees saying great things about your company can do. The benefits of building a host of internal advocates (AKA, quite simply, people who love working for you) may just solve some longstanding hiring issues, not to mention doing your company’s brand some good in the process. You’ll become known for the positive company culture you’re building, and fundamentally:

People will want to work here.

How to improve employee advocacy

There are a few quicker ways to make an immediate impact on employee advocacy, and some more slow burning. Have a read of our top tips for improving employee advocacy for your organization.

Get sharing on social media

Encourage your team to share snaps or videos while at work – safely and appropriately, of course – whether it’s a quick snap of a team lunch outing or a quick video of what’s happening in the office today. Build a social media presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, even Instagram, and have those who feel comfortable doing so getting involved and sharing.

It’s a really candid way of showing what it’s like to work for you, and from the very people who do just that. Keep it professional, but don’t be afraid to give the talent pool something to get excited about on a personal level, too.

Promote a transparent culture, where everyone has a voice

Employee advocacy means that your people are promoting your organization. They can only do so in a positive light if they feel that their opinion is one which is valued and heard in the workplace.

Transparency is key to a progressive company culture and a strong sense of employee advocacy as a result. Encourage open communication. Celebrate idea sharing. And listen to what your people have to say, whether it’s about the workplace itself, a way of innovating yet to be implemented, or otherwise.

Engage with a specialist agency who can advocate on your behalf

Think of us as an extension of your team – one who knows how to get your brand as an employer in front of the right people. When you partner with the team at Next Level Group, you’re engaging with a dedicated specialist who wants to build your next generation of employee advocates.

What do your employees say about you?

Recruiting at high volume poses its own challenges and, as such, there are a few keys to running a successful campaign. Over the years we’ve proved ourselves as a high volume staffing specialist by implementing some of the following methods to building and delivering successful campaigns:

Eliminate barriers to applying

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to high volume is – you guessed it – receiving enough applicants! When we have multiple jobs to fill, we need to encourage people to apply for them, not offer more reasons not to. This means keeping our job descriptions succinct, the application process itself short and sweet, and not pressing for too much detail in the beginning stages.

As a high volume staffing specialist, we define the absolute must-haves of the role, whether it be experience, qualifications, location even, then make it as simple as possible for individuals to apply. As you can imagine, the longer and more complicated the application itself, the less likely people are to see it through; high-volume hiring means playing the numbers game to an extent, then getting into the details further down the line. The more you ask of them, the fewer applicants you’ll get – so eliminate these barriers.

Harness previous applicants

If you’re hiring en masse now, chances are you have done before – so get stuck into your database and try to harness some of the talent you’ve worked with in the past.

Get in touch with previous applicants, even previous employees, to see if they’re open to new opportunities; if not, they may be a source of information for someone who is. This will help you garner new talent from old data, resulting in new applications from dormant talent, increased referrals and word-of-mouth exposure as to the roles you’re working on.

Go mobile!

Welcome to the year 2021! Traditionally, recruiters and HR departments have relied on email or phone calls to get in touch with applicants but, when it comes to high volume recruitment campaigns, we’re looking for fast results and increased responses – so get in touch via mobile.

Text messages are less likely to be missed, are likely to be seen far sooner, and overall have a much higher open rate than emails. When building your number of potentially suitable candidates for a position which requires multiple heads, shooting someone a message directly to their mobile phone could be the difference between curating an awesome shortlist today versus having them drop in across the space of a week or longer. Going mobile elicits a faster response for faster results – plus shows your proactivity!

Set an efficient workflow

Nail your recruitment process, and high volume recruitment becomes tenfold easier. As your high volume staffing specialist, we take pains to understand (and relay to candidates) exactly what’s going to happen at each stage, from application to first interview, feedback, job offer, start date and onwards. Don’t include any stages which aren’t 100% necessary, but make sure you get everything you need throughout.

Once we’ve defined your workflow (and I can’t reiterate this enough): stick to it! With process comes efficiency so, when it comes to high-volume, make sure you move everyone through at the same pace and manage expectations throughout. This means every candidate knows when to be available, what’s expected of them, what they can expect from you, and keeps everyone committed to the same timeline.

Assemble the troops

Simply put, high volume recruiting is no job for one person. When it comes to sourcing, assessing, interviewing and paperwork for this many positions, there are a lot of man hours involved – it takes a team to do successfully. So, be ready to have some key employees who can dedicate time to this. Better yet, hire the services of a staffing agency who can not only add their own quality candidates to the pot, but will be well set to handle a lot of the graft for you too. Two birds, one stone.

We’re proud to call ourselves a high volume staffing specialist for manufacturing, industrial and pharmaceutical businesses across north America, from labour and operators to pickers and more – payroll included. Connect with NLG CEO Andrew Lavoie on LinkedIn or get in touch with the team to learn about how we execute successful campaigns on our clients’ behalf.

Any views or opinions expressed within this blog do not necessarily reflect the official policy of  NLG. Any points made are for general information only, and none should be relied upon as a basis for making any business, legal or other decisions. Neither NLG nor the author can be held responsible for any reliance placed by you on any information or material within this article.

Tech jobs across North America had a strong start in the beginning of the year: in Canada, tech remained one of the fastest growing industries across the country; tech jobs accounted for 10 out of the top 25 jobs in the United States as of just one month ago. However, with the current health concerns circling, it remains unclear whether that momentum will keep going or if it will have to take considerable steps back like many other industries have had to.

If you are concerned about how the virus will affect hiring in the tech industry, keep reading. We have gathered some insights so that you can stay informed and adapt to the rapidly evolving landscape.

An Uncertain, But Hopeful, Future

Across the board, COVID-19 is forcing many businesses to pause for the time being. Jobs and contracts are being cancelled or postponed, leaving some people out of work, while some employees have been asked to work from their homes.

The tech sector has seen an interesting combination of ups and downs in response to COVID-19. Some experts have suggested that in the US, an increase in job openings during the first two months of the year, before the outbreak took over, will act as a buffer for the likely decline of jobs in the months to come. Some tech sectors, such as information technology and telecommunications, are projected to drop, while other tech sectors such as internet and tech, are actually projected to increase during this time.

Because this outbreak is fairly recent, a clear answer for the future has not been formed. In general, though, job openings are on a decline at the moment, which is typical across most industries right now.

The most important thing we can do collectively is to stay positive and rational amid the chaos. Capterra senior content analyst Zach Capers notes: “We are clearly in unprecedented territory and the outlook is changing by the hour. However, as near-term volatility gives way to more clarity about what we’re facing in the medium- and long-term, financial markets will stabilize, and the job market should eventually rebound.”

Recruiters and Hiring Managers Harnessing Technology

Because the economic climate seems to be changing by the minute, different companies are making swift changes in approach to their hiring efforts. Large tech companies like Google have been leading the way in terms of their COVID-19 response, and smaller companies are quickly following suit.

Some companies are being more conservative in response to the rocky job market and are delaying their hiring efforts – or stopping them altogether. However, one thing that most people in the technology sector are comfortable with is just that: using technology. If companies are continuing with hiring, all interviews and meetings are being conducted via phone or virtual platforms such as Zoom or Skype, a measure taken to encourage social distancing while still being able to work.

Some experts suggest that the pandemic is lending a significant hand in accelerating workplace practices that may have already been on the rise, like the encouragement of remote work and virtual conferencing. Regardless, the current climate is one that will take some adjusting to.

How You Can Stay Competitive

It might seem like the whole world is on hold right now – but that doesn’t mean your job search efforts have to stop! While this may be a quieter time, there are still things you can do to promote your job search in the interim:

• Revamp Your Documents: Take some time to update your resume, cover letter, and online profiles and portfolios, so they are ready to go if an opportunity comes along
• Virtual Networking: Industry events and in-person networking will be on hold for the next while; take advantage of social media, email and video calling to connect with your peers and stay in the job-seeking headspace
• Learn a New Skill: Have some free time? Perhaps now is a good time to look into taking some online courses or skill training to add to your repertoire, making you a more competitive and desirable tech candidate when hiring picks up again

And, if you haven’t before, consider working with a recruiter to help navigate through this difficult time. Regardless of the hiring landscape, you can count on recruiters having a deeper understanding of industry trends and larger professional network that you can use to your competitive advantage.

If you need support during this time, don’t hesitate to reach out! The team at Next Level Group is always here to lend a hand – you can contact us by emailing us directly or clicking here.