Quick Employer Branding Checklist

Employer Brand is your “up front” reputation in the marketplace.  It is most often determined by how you manage the recruiting process. Remember, it is distinct from your other brands because it is not based on what others say about you but on what candidates experience for themselves.

We are hearing more frequently about companies with otherwise decent branding routinely turning off candidates during the recruiting process. How do you treat candidates?

Here is a quick checklist to help you manage employer branding efforts:

•Job Postings – Are they 500 words or less [not a cut and paste of a job description]?

•Career Site – Does it send the right candidate message?

•Recruitment Process – Is your recruiting processes and technology supporting a positive candidate experience?

•Interview Process – Do you know your top candidates? Is your team and hiring managers sending the right message to them?

•Offer Process – Is it quick and does it provide complete information to your top candidates?

•On boarding Process – Does it remove any and all “buyer’s remorse” for your selected candidate?

2011 Minnesota SHRM State Conference – October 2-4, 2011

MN-SHRM

October 2-4, 2011

Talent Acquisition in Turbulent Times– “Level the Recruiting Playing Field”

Christi Schreyer, Co-Founder and Principal, Instigate, Inc.

Rapid advancement and increased access to recruitment 2.0 resources is helping to “level the playing field” for top talent.  Now more than ever, small and medium sized businesses can compete for top talent without the budgets, time or people that Fortune 500s have at their disposal. Learn how you can make the most of your recruitment strategies by exploring the essentials of employer branding, social networking and recruitment metrics.  By the end of the session, attendees will understand the linkage between: Employer Branding – candidate’s are consumers, what is your recruitment process telling them?  Social Networking – strategies that are easy to manage and give you reasonable control over content/message. Recruitment Metrics – data that can take you beyond cost and time measurements providing your recruitment road map.

For more than 15 years, Christi Schreyer has been helping businesses maximize their staffing and recruiting resources.

As the co-founder and Principal of Instigate, one of Minnesota’s leading human-capital-management firms, Christi strives to “level the playing field” for companies who are challenged to compete for talent without the budgets, time or people that Fortune 500s have at their disposal.  Making the most of technology and Instigate’s highly efficient approach to recruiting, Christi’s clients are able to land top talent, measure success, establish their own employer brand, and boost hiring manager satisfaction.

Prior to founding Instigate in 1999, Christi played a critical role in talent acquisition for Wilson Learning. Before that, she executed nearly every HR function as a specialist with Campbell Mithun, helping them grow into one of the top ad agencies in the country.  Her HR career was launched with JFA, a national HR consulting firm specializing in total reward strategies and compensation.

Christi mentors HR professionals through TCHRA and has been active with SCORE, Development Corporation for Children, and the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce.  Christi holds a B.S. degree in human resources management. She is a member of SHRM, HCI, HRP-MN, TCHRA and NEM-HRXchange.

La Crosse Area Society for Human Resource Management – August 17, 2011

LASHRM

August 17, 2011, 11:15am – 1:00pm

Arrowhead Human Resources Association (AHRA) – July 20, 2011

Kelly Till Joins Instigate as Talent Acquisition Specialist

St. Paul, Minnesota (April 15, 2011) –  Kelly Till, an HR professional with more than 10 years of diverse experience, recently joined Instigate as a talent acquisition specialist for the company’s TalentAssist PRO professional search and contract placement services.

She brings to Instigate more than a decade of experience leading the entire recruiting life cycle, including strategic planning, sourcing, screening, interviewing, training and development, and performance management. She has successfully placed top talent in high-profile roles in a wide-range of industries include medical device, manufacturing, retail and business services.

With TalentAssist PRO, Instigate offers clients professional search and contract placement services in addition to recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), which has been the centerpiece of the company’s service model. As a talent acquisition specialist with a decade of recruiting success, Kelly will help clients find the right people—quickly and efficiently—for direct, contract and contract-to-hire positions.

Kelly holds a B.S. degree from St. Cloud State University, and is currently pursuing her master’s degree in training and development at the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

About Instigate

Founded in 1999, Instigate helps small and medium businesses (SMBs) maximize their staffing and recruiting resources. Through recruitment process outsourcing, they strive to level the playing field for SMBs, who are challenged to compete for talent without the budgets, time or people that larger organizations have at their disposal. With access to Instigate’s cutting-edge technology and resources, clients are able to land top talent, shorten time to fill, significantly reduce spending on third-party agencies, measure success, establish their own employer brand, and boost hiring manager satisfaction. Understanding that there is no one-size-fits-all recruitment solution, Instigate also offers traditional placement, online employee screening solutions and consulting services. A founding member of the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association (RPOA), Instigate is led by talent-acquisition experts with more than 30 years of experience.   www.instigateinc.com

Home of TalentAssist™ | Rethink.Retool.Results.

Instigate Principal Matt Schreyer Named to Board of Directors of Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association (RPOA)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

St. Paul, Minnesota (March 31, 2011) – Joining a select group of industry leaders, Matt Schreyer, co-founder and principal of Instigate, a leading talent-management firm, was recently named to the Board of Directors of the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association (RPOA).

An early champion of recruitment process outsourcing (a full-service staffing partnership that offers distinct advantages over traditional placement arrangements), Matt drove Instigate’s transition from a recruitment consultancy to RPO service provider in 2004. In 2006, Instigate became one of the founding members of the RPOA, whose mission is to educate the market about RPO, incorporate common metrics and comparative information, develop and enforce certifications, and promote RPO benefits.

The RPOA serves as a clear industry voice regarding the benefits and risks of recruitment process outsourcing. The organization provides access to a variety of tools to support the decision to consider RPO, access to certified service providers through an organized RFP process, and direct connection to other members to learn from their experiences. 

Schreyer joins four other board members from RPO leaders Accolo, Novotus, HRworks and GLR, Inc. Together they guide the direction of the association to develop and promote standards for this relatively young industry.

Schreyer holds a B.S. degree in marketing from the University of St. Thomas. With more than 15 years of experience, he writes frequently on talent acquisition strategies for industry publications. 

About Instigate

Founded in 1999, Instigate helps small and medium businesses (SMBs) maximize their staffing and recruiting resources. Through recruitment process outsourcing, they strive to level the playing field for SMBs, who are challenged to compete for talent without the budgets, time or people that larger organizations have at their disposal. With access to Instigate’s cutting-edge technology and resources, clients are able to land top talent, shorten time to fill, significantly reduce spending on third-party agencies, measure success, establish their own employer brand, and boost hiring manager satisfaction. Understanding that there is no one-size-fits-all recruitment solution, Instigate also offers traditional placement, online employee screening solutions and consulting services. A founding member of the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association (RPOA), Instigate is led by talent-acquisition experts with more than 30 years of experience.

Home of TalentAssist™ – Rethink.Retool.Results.

www.instigateinc.com

Contact:

Nikki Peiffer

Instigate, Inc.

4801 N Highway 61, Ste 102

Saint Paul, MN 55110

651-429-1131

The Power of Effective Online Employer Branding

You might get a number of recommendations when it comes to online recruiting resources; but often these resources fail to be the right short or long term solution making the hiring of top talent hit or miss.

You may benefit more by building upon your current employer branding efforts. Our clients find that the key to employer branding is to expand your recruitment bandwidth and let data/metrics identify your best recruitment resources.

So what is the impact of effective employer branding?  Here is a snapshot of recent efforts for one of our clients:

• 44% – Increase in monthly applicants at company career site
• 372% – Increase in engaged visitors to career site over Leading Classified Advertising job postings only
• 478% – Increase in engaged visitors to career site over Leading Major Job Board “A”  job postings only
• 559% – Increase in engaged visitors to career site over Leading Major Job Board “B” job postings only

Results by company and industry certainly will vary; but dramatic increase in average monthly engaged visitors and active applicants can be achieved with effective employer branding.

Yes, it might cost more than a few hundred dollars on the front-end; but if you are open to exploring the deep value delivered compared with more traditional recruiting approaches the ROI will be significant.

Contact us today to learn more….

TCHRLead Breakfast Series: Protecting The Present – Planning For The Future

Approved for 2.50 HRCI Recertification General Credit Hours

Join HR Thought Leaders For a Morning of Engaging Content

Tuesday, May 17, 2011 from 7:30 AM – 11:00 AM (CT)

Location:

Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants – Forest Room

Southpoint Office Center, 6th Floor

1650 W. 82nd St., Suite 600, Bloomington, MN 55431-1458

Click Here For More Information

This program has been approved for 2.5 (Specified -General) recertification credit hours toward PHR, SPHR and GPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). Upon successful completion, please be sure to note the program ID number on your recertification application form. For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HRCI homepage at www.hrci.org. The use of this seal is not an endorsement by HRCI of the quality of the program. It means that this program has met HRCI’s criteria to be pre-approved for recertification credit.

Caution- Keep it Social

When is the last time you did not hear something about social networking and its use in recruiting? Maybe it is a week, couple of days or a few minutes!

In fact, 45% of organizations plan to increase the use of technologies that link to social networks, such as LinkedIn© and Facebook©, during the recruitment process. [DoubleStar Recruitment Report] To interact or collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators of user-generated content sounds like the perfect match for sourcing top talent. Hey, social networking is hot, hot, hot and everyone is onboard. So, it is time to go full steam ahead with social networking for recruiting in 2011, right?

Social networking should play a role in your recruitment strategies; but don’t turn completely away from other resources. In many cases, the rules of engagement are still being formulated when it comes to social networking and talent recruitment. Our advice at this time is to “Keep it Social”:

Think of social networking like an extension of your employee referral program.

Find ways to have your employees add content or post. Don’t force your employees – but if they want to, make it easy for them to do it.

The largest users of social networking [Gen X/Gen Y] are very protective of their networks. They are starting to show signs [and results from recent studies are confirming] that they will gain an increasingly negative view of a company who is attempting to use social networking as a marketing tool for products, services and careers.

Yes, social networking for recruiting is in the fast lane; but at some point it will hit the first speed bump or maybe even something bigger [can you say “bubble”]. During this period of rapid adoption; taking the right steps when adding or enhancing your use of social networking will provide you with the flexibility you need to increase or decrease your future efforts as needed.

Christi Schreyer
Co-Founder and Principal
Instigate, Inc. – The home of TalentAssist™

Instigate Expands Talent Acquisition Services

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

St. Paul, Minnesota (February 1, 2011) – Instigate, a leading talent-management firm, is expanding its services to offer clients professional search and contract placement services in addition to recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), which has been the centerpiece of the company’s service model.

Recognizing that traditional staffing approaches can be the right fit for many organizations, Instigate is broadening its service options to give businesses a competitive advantage in their recruiting efforts. Clients can now choose from the RPO model, in which Instigate provides a complete end-to-end recruiting process and team, or a more traditional search or contingency arrangements.

 “One size does not fit all,” says Christi Schreyer, one of the co-founders of Instigate. “And that’s especially true in a tough economy. Our clients have to do more with less, and it’s our job to help them. By offering more flexibility, we give them new opportunities to maximize their search for core and contract talent—without sacrificing quality or service.”

Founded in 1999, Instigate helps small and medium businesses (SMBs) make the most of their staffing and recruiting resources. Through RPO, they strive to level the playing field for SMBs, who are challenged to compete for talent without the budgets, time or people that FORTUNE 500s have at their disposal. With more than 30 years of experience in talent acquisition, Instigate’s leadership believes their expanded service offerings combine the best of both worlds: swift results for the short term, and sophisticated resources for the long term.

Those sophisticated RPO resources, according to Schreyer, offer a clear advantage over other traditional staffing firms. Regardless of which service model they choose, RPO or traditional staffing, clients will have access to Instigate’s cutting-edge technology and processes, which widen hiring networks to increase the quality and quantity of talent pools, speed up the recruiting process, and reduce both the time and expense of filling a position.

However companies choose to conduct their recruiting efforts, Schreyer and her team are eager to lend their expertise. “We’re excited about the new opportunities—not only to help our clients find the best people but to do that as efficiently and affordably as possible.”

About Instigate

Founded in 1999, Instigate helps small and medium businesses (SMBs) maximize their staffing and recruiting resources. Through recruitment process outsourcing, they strive to level the playing field for SMBs, who are challenged to compete for talent without the budgets, time or people that larger organizations have at their disposal.  A founding member of the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association (RPOA), Instigate is led by talent-acquisition experts with more than 30 years of experience.   www.instigateinc.com

Contact:

Christi Schreyer

Co-Founder and Principal

Instigate, Inc.  – Home of TalentAssist™ – Rethink.Retool.Results.

4801 N Highway 61, Ste 102

Saint Paul, MN 55110

651-429-1131