The Swedes are brilliant recruiters. Even when they are down under and use an advertising agency. In this case The Monkeys (agency) helped the Sydney, Australia IKEA store recruit new employees with an innovative method.
The concept
Career instructions were printed and placed inside the famous IKEA flat packs. Customers literally delivered the mailer to themselves. They could then also share it with friends and family. Not only did it talk directly to those who love the brand, it created a whole new media channel â the flat packs themselves.
The results
The result was no less than 4285 applications filled with 280 of those hired, all the while the project incurred no cost of its own. Very clever idea and on top of the new hires, it certainly got IKEA and their agency lots of free exposure. A very good recruitment case study in other words. Perhaps something for Home Depot, B&Q, Homebase and Brico Depot to emulate?
It’s Friday and that means it’s video day here on Undercover Recruiter! We recently had a chat with Jennifer McClure, who is the President & Chief Talent Strategist at Unbridled Talent, LLC. On top of that she’s a very nice lady that is happy to share her nuggets of wisdom. In the video below, Jorgen…
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The downturn of the economy has created an increase in personal stress levels both at home and in the workplace. Employees are consistently being asked to do more with less and corporations large and small continue to turn to layoffs as a means to remain viable.
At the same time, the United States has continued to see an increase in workplace violence. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, an average of 564 work-related homicides occurred each year in the United States from 2004 to 2008. Now more than ever, employees want to feel safe and secure in the workplace — and free from fear of their coworkers.
Experts recommend using pre-employment screening as a workplace violence preventive measure, but many companies are still not committed. Companies cite delays in the hiring process — as well as the cost of screening — as the largest deterrents to pre-employment screening.
Pre-employment screening company, HireRight, estimates the typical cost of a comprehensive pre-screening packages ranging anywhere from $30 to $100. The length to complete the screen and provide the results to the employer can take as little as a day to up to week (or more).
Although the costs and delays may seem steep, the issues that arise from failure to pre-screen can be fatal. Here are four additional reasons pre-employment screening is a must:
1. Reduced potential for employee theft
Candidates with criminal backgrounds are less likely to apply to organizations with rigorous pre-employment screening processes. Those who do apply with criminal backgrounds will be discovered up front by the employer, providing the opportunity to re-evaluate if the candidate’s fit with the job and the company.
2. Discourage fraud
While only a small percentage of worker’s compensation claims are fraudulent, a much larger percentage (nearly 25 percent) are exaggerated. Worker’s Compensation records are public, thereby creating opportunities for potential to filter out potential fraudulent employees. Additionally, screening candidates allows an employer to ensure the validity of the information provided on the resume.
3. Reduce liability for negligent hiring
Organizations that fail to conduct comprehensive pre-employment screening, thereby failing to protect their employees, can be subject to costly lawsuits. In 2007, a truck driver for a hazardous waste company in Texas caused an accident leading to a man’s death. A jury awarded the man’s estate more than 20 million dollars because the company failed to adequately check the employee’s driving record.
4. To comply with applicable state laws
Many states have laws requiring employers in certain industries to complete pre-employment checks. Examples of industries may include: childcare facilities, healthcare organizations, transportation, and gaming.
What incidents can you think of where conducting a pre-employment screen may have prevented a case of fraud, violence, or theft?
For the jobseeker perspective, check out 7 Reasons Employers Will Hire You!
Robert Petti is the Founder and CEO of Resoomay, a cloud-based pre-screening tool that improves the job search process for recruiters and applicants. Connect with him and Resoomay on Twitter.
I’d be interested to see statistics on what percentage of job interviewees have suffered such a thought. And I wonder how often the interviewer even noticed or was bothered by the interviewer’s supposed gaff.
Twenty-two years ago, a young Tim Schafer made a big gaff…and the interviewer certainly noticed. But after some creative thinking, he landed the job. Today, he’s a computer game industry icon.
Check out these excerpts from his fantastic blog (where you can even see copies of his rejection letters for even more inspiration!):
“My job hunt was getting kind of depressing. I was building up a pile of rejection letters, most of them from jobs I didn’t even want.”
But then, one bright summer day, I walked into the campus career center and saw this:
That’s the original posting for the “Assistant Designer / Programmer” position at Lucasfilm, Games Division.
I called David Fox right away and scribbled all the notes you see while I was talking to him. I told him how much I wanted to work at Lucasfilm, not because of Star Wars, but because I loved, “Ball Blaster.”
“Ball Blaster, eh?” he said.
“Yeah! I love Ball Blaster!” I said. It was true. I had broken a joystick playing that game on my Atari 800.
“Well, the name of the game is Ball Blazer.” Mr. Fox said, curtly. “It was only called Ball Blaster in the pirated version.”
Gulp.
Totally busted. It was true—I had played the pirated version. There, I said it…
The rest of the phone call didn’t go much better. But at the end of it, David told me to send in my resume, along with a cover letter describing my ideal job. Since I figured I had blown the interview, I had nothing to lose. So I did my cover letter in the form of a semi-graphic adventure.
It worked.
What we can learn from Tim’s application:
1. Know how to sell your strengths
Tim could easily have penned a typical cover letter, but his creativity wouldn’t nearly have been apparent. Granted, the traditional cover email/CV combination is more appropriate for the vast majority of positions. But candidates must still use these mediums to demonstrate their skills and capabilities. That’s why we’ve given candidates the option to attach multi-media work samples to their Innovate CV. After all, sometimes a candidate needs to go beyond ‘telling’ and start ‘showing’ in order to stand out.
2. Exclusive applications
I’d be willing to bet that Lucas Films were more taken aback by Tim’s sincerity than by his creativity. After all, this wasn’t merely a creative application that Lucas Arts had received…along with a hundred other companies. Tim’s application was designed and created exclusively for them! Imagine that.
Hiring staff can tell immediately tell when they’re receiving a generic CV (as good as it may be) versus a customised CV. The tailored approach takes into account the industry, organisation, and position. When candidates respectively make the effort to personalise an application, they present themselves as a far more professional and thoughtful. Innovate CV’s management system allows you to easily oversee your various CVs.
3. Play with the rules
Lucas Film’s asked Tim to submit ‘a cover letter describing [his] ideal job.’ Tim understood that they likely wanted to ascertain his writing skills and creativity. So with that in mind, he took a risk, and took a different route.
Hiring managers want the best, and unless the organisation is stuck in her procedure, they don’t mind if candidates break the rules to stand out. Read between the lines to determine where you have space to try something different. But of course, know your limits. Common sense applies.
4. Be proactive, even if when it hurts
Tim’s job hunt wasn’t going well, yet he persisted. His proactive visit to a campus career centre led him to his dream opportunity.
Job hunting is emotionally exhausting. When the lousy jobs even seem out of reach, it’s easy to give up on one’s dreams. There’s a world of gamers out there who are forever grateful that Tim didn’t do just that, no matter how tempting the option may have been.
5. Interviews aren’t everything
Despite a lousy interview, Tim’s fantastic follow-up won him the position. One strike doesn’t mean you’re out.
Candidates who struggle in an interview can confidently bounce back. Take stock of what went wrong and remedy the issues with a thoughtfully worded follow-up email or letter.
Well done, Tim. Thanks for sharing your story.
What else can we learn from Tim? What have been your nightmare interview moments?
Are you frustrated with your job or has your workplace become unbearable because of your overly-demanding, demeaning, controlling, intrusive, ineffective, criticizing and ultimately bad boss?
Bad bosses or managers are those that create a divide within the team, intimidate, bully, mistrust or disrespect employees and are the main culprit for job dissatisfaction and low morale.
These behaviours are defeating and demoralizing, eroding employee self-esteem, physical and psychological wellbeing, and lead us to question and doubt our self-worth, personal and professional skills and aptitudes.
However, although bad bosses can loosely fit into two categories: those who know they are bad and continue the behaviour intentionally and those who are oblivious to just how bad they are – it is not always easy to bring up into discussion how our boss’s behaviour or leadership style is affecting us, inside and outside the workplace.
But what are some leadership styles and how do employees respond to these?
The laissez-faire leadership
This is one that embraces a hands-off approach. Bosses and managers that adopt this way of working tend to fail to provide employees with any direction and underemphasise the importance of performance and progress feedback. These bosses and managers often fail to empower their employees and expect them to thrive or succeed with minimal management support or involvement.
