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Recruitment Process is a Window to Your Culture

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Recruitment Process is a Window to Your Culture

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Companies are generally quick to confirm their intentions to attract top talent but actions speak louder than words. Hiring managers need to be aware that a company’s recruitment process is generally the first introduction to its culture. To attract superior candidates, ensure that your hiring process is fit for purpose but also professional. Given the current competitive market, candidates will be choosing carefully who they want their employer to be.

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Companies are generally quick to confirm their intentions to attract top talent but actions speak louder than words. Hiring managers need to be aware that a company's recruitment process is generally the first introduction to its culture. To attract superior candidates, ensure that your hiring process is fit for purpose but also professional. Given the current competitive market, candidates will be choosing carefully who they want their employer to be.

The following checklist outlines some areas to be mindful of when evaluating your recruitment process:

1. Allocate Sufficient Time For the Process. It is easy to underestimate the time required to hire personnel. You may be surprised when you list the steps and allocate time for each. The steps may include, reviewing and updating a position description, writing and posting an advert, reviewing applications, answering enquiries about the role, conducting interviews, reference checking, arranging pre-employment medical examinations, offer/negotiation of conditions...the list goes on. It will take at least three months from commencement of a recruitment process to the new person starting. If the hiring manager has insufficient time to undertake these steps, the process will suffer. Larger organisations can often draw on the support of HR Managers, smaller organisations should consider outsourcing the process to recruitment specialists.

2. Ensure Position Descriptions are Up to Date. Candidates will judge the professionalism of an employer on the detail and accuracy of a Position Description and/or their willingness to share it with candidates. Be prepared to take enquiries and afford the time to engage with the interested parties. First impressions play a big role in recruitment.

3. Communicate with all Candidates. If candidates take the time and effort to submit an application, it is not unreasonable to acknowledge receipt of their application and to inform them of the outcome, even if you only had time to do it by email. Candidates, who receive no such notification, may be discouraged from applying for future job advertisements that closely match their skill set.

4. Maintain Momentum of the Hiring Process. Ideally, a candidate should be kept informed of the nature of the selection process after they have been interviewed. Be mindful that good candidates will most likely have alternative job offers, which they may unfortunately take if they encounter a painfully long and drawn-out hiring process.

5. Meet Promised Timelines. When a promise is made to a candidate, such as when they will be notified of an outcome, it is important to adhere to it. If delays occur, do notify the candidate of the delay and the reason for it so as not to cause unnecessary anxiety.

The hiring process is a very real reflection of your culture and of your brand. Candidates will draw conclusions from their experiences. Make sure that the face your company presents to prospective candidates is both professional and respectful.

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Did You Know Your Recruitment Process is a Window to Your Culture? - Agricultural Appointments

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Companies are generally quick to confirm their intentions to attract top talent but actions speak louder than words. Hiring managers need to be aware that a company's recruitment process is generally the first introduction to its culture. To attract superior candidates, ensure that your hiring process is fit for purpose...

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Overcome Negative Perceptions From Hiring Managers

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Overcome Negative Perceptions From Hiring Managers

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Red flags can call into question the commitment, reliability or performance of a candidate, particularly if assumptions are allowed to form without discussion. By unapologetically owning your decisions, and being able to proactively offer explanations, you will be more likely to put the interviewers mind at ease.

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Ways to overcome negative perceptions from hiring managers (PART 1) - Agricultural Appointments

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Landing a job is never easy, but if a resume is full of red flags to a hiring manager, it makes it even harder. When a hiring manager sees employment gaps,

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Tips to retain the younger generation in Agribusiness

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Tips to retain the younger generation in Agribusiness

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Retaining Generation Y in agribusiness and farming industries doesn’t have to be a headache. A little bit of strategic planning, cultural awareness, and training, goes a long way to holding on to your younger employees.

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Retaining Generation Y in agribusiness and farming industries doesn't have to be a headache. A little bit of strategic planning, culture awareness and training, goes a long way to holding on to your younger employees.

The dilemma of retaining Gen Y employees is one echoed across all businesses and all industries. Research conducted by Robert Half Technologies showed that 49% of surveyed executives found that their Gen Y staff were the hardest employees in their business to retain.

Further analysis showed that one in four workers aged 20-24 will change jobs in any given year and that 2/3 of Gen Y's will change workplaces every two years.

But it doesn't have to be that way. Research conducted by McCrindle found that Gen Y want workplace culture, work-life balance and training.

Gen Ys want to feel like they work in a community not a workplace and that they are amongst friends not just colleagues. The same study found that 90% of Generation Y's who received regular training from their employer were more motivated to stay with the company.

If businesses employ strategies to appeal to our younger workers, they are more likely to retain their staff. And there are ways that farming and agribusinesses can appeal to the younger workforce and show them that there is more to the industry than meets the eye.

Peracto and Ausveg are two agribusinesses that have employed strategies specifically to help their companies retain younger workers.

Agricultural research company Peracto introduced a year-long training program that helps settle their graduates in to work life and shows them what a supportive work place can offer.

"We have structured training over the first 12 months where the people in the program come together as a group four times during that year in different locations around Australia and New Zealand," explains Managing Director Ian Macleod. "They'll get together for a week each time and they'll have some structured training. That may be technical training, business skills, presentation skills, insect identification, report writing or statistics. We have a whole range of modules."

Macleod is conscious of creating a holistic work environment that has a great culture, great career opportunities and that staff feel inspired to do their best work.

"We want to provide opportunities for people to have fun in the work place, a good culture, make sure all the people fit together and suit that culture, we provide opportunities to learn in different areas," says Macleod.

The effort they put into the business culture has not gone unrecognised with Peracto recognised as an employer of choice in Tasmania. That means the business was recognized as an employer that offers a good company culture and the opportunity to learn in different ways, including ongoing training.

Ausveg, the national body that represents our national vegetable and potato farmers, empowers their younger recruits with rewards and business opportunities.

"We give people a high level of responsibility at a young age," explains CEO Richard Mulcahy.

"Generally younger recruits are more willing to learn, don't have set ideas, are energised, are mobile and, if they are bright enough, are capable of carrying out amazing jobs,"

For Mulcahy it's about changing the perception of farming and agriculture as boring.

"You have to create a sense of excitement. Most people will not get excited at getting out of bed to cut lettuce in the heat at 6.00 am. But when you tell them about new technologies, GPS features in the John Deere tractors, the robots that we are developing, then you'll remove the 'boring' tag from farming and people might take it seriously as a career."

For more information on retaining Generation Y employees in the workplace check out our latest report: The 2015 Agribusiness Salary and Trend Report.

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Retaining Generation Y Workers in Agribusiness and Farming - Agricultural Appointments

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Retaining Generation Y in agribusiness and farming industries doesn't have to be a headache. A little bit of strategic planning, culture awareness and training, goes a long way to holding on to your younger employees. The dilemma of retaining Gen Y employees is one echoed across all businesses and all industries.

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Encouraging students to have an interest in Agriculture Industry

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Encouraging students to have an interest in Agriculture Industry

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With the number of children studying agriculture in high schools dropping significantly in the past 15 years, agribusinesses must play a larger role in encouraging students to take an interest in the industry.

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With the number of children studying agriculture in high schools dropping significantly in the past 15 years, agribusinesses must play a larger role in encouraging students to take an interest in the industry.

In 1997, more than 2,200 Year 12 students in NSW studied agriculture courses for their HSC. But in 2012, that figure was down to around 1,300, according to Board of Studies figures.

Perhaps an even more alarming figure is the drop between Year 10 students studying agriculture and those who go on to take it for the HSC.

In 1997, 7000 Year 10 students in NSW studied agriculture. Just 2,200 took it for the HSC that year.

In 2012, 6,800 students in Year 10 studied agriculture but only 1,300 completed it in Year 12.
Dearth of agriculture university graduates
Those low numbers filter right through into university. Currently only around 300 agricultural student graduate with degrees each year, with around another 400 graduating in related degrees.

According to Emeritus Professor Jim Pratley of Charles Sturt University, this amounts to only around 20% of the graduates that are needed to fill the current job vacancies in farming and agribusiness.

"Capacity therefore looms as the most significant issue for the agricultural industry," Dr Pratley wrote in his report, Professional Agriculture - a case of supply and demand[1].

As research and development and advanced technology systems are increasingly integrated into agribusinesses, top quality graduates are more important than ever.

"The industry, from the farm, the service and post-farmgate sectors and in R&D, requires a workforce which is highly educated, highly skilled and with an image and reputation that is attractive to the best and brightest," wrote Dr Prately.

"As markets become more discriminatory in respect of quality and production practices, accreditation will become increasingly important and the industry will need to have robust mechanisms in place to assure those markets."

Agricultural graduates: numbers lag behind general community

The skills shortages in agriculture are not being matched in other industries. As the graph from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows, the gap between degree holders in the community in general and those in agricultural industries is growing.

"The challenge is to make prospective students aware that careers in agriculture are at least as interesting, rewarding and challenging as in most other industries," Dr Prately says.

He says the industry needs to work on its image as being conservative and out of touch.

Managing Director of Agricultural Appointments, Dr Ray Johnson, agrees but says agribusinesses need to be proactive in promoting themselves: "With the emerging skills shortage in Australian agriculture it is imperative that companies have a method for attracting and retaining new graduates."

"This takes a significant amount of thought and preparation, and a lot of groundwork in attending university career events to showcase your company," he says.

To find out more about the trends in the agribusiness sector in Australia, including on employment and remuneration, download our free eBook, "The 2015 Agribusiness Salary and Trend Report".

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Why agribusinesses must entice more students into the sector? - Agricultural Appointments

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With the number of children studying agriculture in high schools dropping significantly in the past 15 years, agribusinesses must play a larger role in encouraging students to take an interest in the industry. In 1997, more than 2,200 Year 12 students in NSW studied agriculture courses for their HSC.

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How to attract young generations to Agribusiness

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How to attract young generations to Agribusiness

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As the average age of farmers in Australia continues to grow, attracting younger workers has never been more important. But how can an industry where the average age of participants is in the mid-fifties, hope to compete with technology-savvy workplaces in cities?

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GEN Y - 17 Facts Agribusinesses Need To Know - Agricultural Appointments

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As the average age of farmers in Australia continues to grow, attracting younger workers has never been more important.

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Challenges in finding the right Candidate

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Challenges in finding the right Candidate

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From a dearth of degree-qualified candidates to unrealistic expectations from prospective employees about remuneration, agribusinesses face mounting challenges to attracting and retaining talent.

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17 Obstacles to Recruiting Agribusinesses Talent - Agricultural Appointments

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As anyone who has worked in the agribusiness sector knows, attracting well-qualified candidates to agricultural industries has become more and more difficult

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Benefits of streamlined workforce management infrastructure 

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Benefits of streamlined workforce management infrastructure 

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More than two-thirds of multinational companies (69%) rank talent acquisition and tracking as the workforce management strategy with the greatest impact on their organisation’s business objectives, according to new research released by the ADP Research Institute.

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More than two-thirds of multinational companies (69%) rank talent acquisition and tracking as the workforce management strategy with the greatest impact on their organisation's business objectives, according to new research released by the ADP Research Institute.

Yet 49% of respondents also said talent management is their top business challenge. This disconnect directly affects global organisations' ability to achieve their top business goal of expanding into new markets.

Mark Benjamin, President of ADP's Global Enterprise Solutions business, commented: "Successful growth requires a data-driven talent strategy that enables companies to build a better workforce. A streamlined workforce management infrastructure can help multinational organisations uncover insights on market-specific talent drivers to inform strategic staffing decisions."

However, many multinational companies continue to grapple with a complex set of disparate HCM systems and processes, according to the new white paper by the ADP Research Institute, "Harnessing Big Data: The Human Capital Management Journey to Achieving Business Growth".

Global employers currently manage an average of 33 payroll systems and 31 HR systems - a 40% increase from last year. The situation is even worse for multinational organisations with headquarters in emerging markets, such as Asia-Pacific and Latin America, which manage an average of 40 to 50 different systems for payroll and HR.

This high volume of disparate HCM systems, and the need to comply with evolving workforce regulations across multiple regions, continues to drive the need for consolidation. More than two-thirds of survey respondents said they want a more unified HCM system to simplify workforce management and help them unlock insights to support global expansion and business performance.

"As HR leaders take on a more strategic role in supporting business growth, their ability to simplify HCM tasks and uncover deep insights into the human side of work is critical to their companies' success," Mr Benjamin added.

- See more at: http://www.staffingindustry.com/row/Research-Publications/Daily-News/World-Talent-management-hampering-multinational-companies-expansion-plans-33468#sthash.0ueuxDET.dpuf

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Talent Management Hampering Multinational Companies' Expansion Plans - Agricultural Appointments

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More than two-thirds of multinational companies (69%) rank talent acquisition and tracking as the workforce management strategy with the greatest impact on their organisation's business objectives, according to new research released by the ADP Research Institute. Yet 49% of respondents also said talent management is their top business challenge.

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Impact of Strategic Planning on the Modern Business

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Impact of Strategic Planning on the Modern Business

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Many companies spend a significant amount of time on strategic planning but some executives believe that it is little more than a dog and pony show and see little benefit from the investment.

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What is the Value of Strategic Planning in Modern Business? - Agricultural Appointments

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Many companies spend a significant amount of time on strategic planning but some executives believe that it is little more than a dog and pony show and see