An employer’s brand is what shapes the perception of a current employee, a potential employee or a former employee with regards to your organization. It is what sets you apart from other employers and defines you as a great employer to work for– an employer of choice. Similar to marketing a product, a necessity in today’s world is marketing yourself and your company.

This is a candidate’s market, and prospective employees want to know that your business is an outstanding place to work. Having a trustworthy brand will establish confidence in the candidate. During interviews, try to understand why candidates chose to work for their past and present employers. Look for emerging themes, which may help you create a strategy to build your brand and recruit effectively.

Here are six simple things you can do right now to grow your brand:

• Sell Your Organization – Actively market your company to job seekers. To attract the best people to your team you have to market and sell your company to them. Highlight your great company culture and the unique perks you offer.
• Treat Your Job Applicants As Customers – No follow-up or communication by a company after applying is the most harmful thing to an employer’s brand.
• Proofread Your Job Ads – Errors on a job post negatively affect an employer.
• Harness The Power Of Referrals – By recommending their current company to friends/family for jobs, your employees are your best brand ambassadors. Set up a scheme to reward employees for successful hires through referrals.
• Glam Up Your Company Website – Most job seekers research a company online before considering their job offers. Make sure your website states your company’s mission, vision, and values you believe in.
• Give Them The Complete Package – Let potential candidate’s know that your company has career growth prospects, encourages new ideas, and provides training opportunities. Offering these conditions will not only help attract the best, but also retain talent.

These six easy tips will help you attract great employees and therefore great customers, and build trust with them.
*www.entrepreneur.com

Your Employer Brand Can Have a Direct Impact on Recruiting Efforts

• 75% of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before even applying for a job.*
• Employers with a strong talent brand drive 2x the amount of applicants per job compared to other companies.**
  *www.careerarc.com
  **www.linkedin.com

Let Hire With Ease Help You Attract and Hire Quality Talent!

The State of Colorado has passed a “ban the box” law that takes effect September 1, 2019, for employers that have 11 or more employees. Employers with 10 or fewer employees will need to comply beginning September 1, 2021. The law is relatively weak compared to others across the country and likely only requires a few adjustments to job ads and applications.

What the law prohibits:

• Stating on a job ad or application that someone with a criminal history may not apply
• Asking about criminal histories on an initial job application

These restrictions do not apply if the employer is required by law to run a background check on that type of position or if a person with a specific kind of criminal history is prohibited from holding that position by law.

Employers are still free to run a background check at any point in the hiring process and to inquire about an applicant’s criminal history before, during, or after an interview.

To ensure compliance with the law, employers should review the language on their job postings and remove any questions about criminal history from their initial employment application, whether on paper or online.

Similar laws are in effect in the following states: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

“Governor Polis signed legislation Tuesday making Colorado the 13th state to prohibit employers from asking about criminal history on initial job applications.”  

Read the rest of this article here:

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2019-05-29/colorado-gov-polis-signs-ban-the-box-legislation

One year ago today, I took the leap and became a business owner and purchased Hire With Ease from the original owner. It has been one of the best decisions I have ever made, and I am so happy to be at the 1 year mark! First and foremost, I would like to thank the team at Hire With Ease. Amy, Lisa, Mandy and Reece — thank you for using your skills and expertise to support other small businesses in Denver and around the country find candidates for their open positions! Without you, there wouldn’t be Hire With Ease. Any success we have is because of you!

Second, I would like to thank you, our clients, for entrusting Hire With Ease to represent your businesses in such a competitive market! We hope that you value the time you are given to run your business while we do the busy, time consuming recruiting legwork for you. We truly appreciate each and every one of you and your businesses. It’s an honor to be able to get to be a small part of what you do.

With that being said, I have some exciting news I would like to share with you. Because I have a background not only in Recruiting, but Human Resources as a whole, I have seen a gap in the market for affordable, small business HR resources. Even as a small business, there are important tools, resources and consultation from an HR Professional that could save you countless time, headache, and even money for your business. Utilizing HR On Demand to avoid costly mistakes, as well as continue to grow your business in the best possible way for your clients and employees, is worth the monthly investment. That’s why I have been searching to find some great resources to be able to offer you. I am excited to share with you that Hire With Ease is now offering affordable, monthly HR Support in two different packages!

You will get access You will get access immediately, and the remainder of the month free. Billing will start September 1st. There is no contract, just a 30 day written notice of cancellation. If you have questions, please set up an informational call with me at your convenience. If you’re ready to sign up, please email help@hirewithease.com and let us know that you’re ready to start and we will get in touch with you to get all the necessary information.

 

Not sure if you need HR Support – here are some reasons why great HR is something you can’t afford to do without!

How effective HR programs can save you money:

• $50,000 – Potential cost of a single bad hire due to lost productivity, rehiring, onboarding, and training expenses.
• $10,000 – Potential penality for wage and hour violation under the Fair Labor Standards Act.*
• $7,000 – Potential fine for each Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) violation.*

$1 invested in HR saves $10 in long-term investigation and litigation costs!

How effective HR programs can make you money:

• 22% – Higher Sales Growth
• 23% – Faster Profit Growth
• 67% – Lower Turnover
• Research shows that investing in HR can result in a host of other benefits as well, including:* Greater customer retention, higher productivity, more operating income, increase in referrals, less employee absenteeism, and fewer safety incidents.

If you are seeking HR Support, let us help. Of course, we are still here to provide assistance with your hiring needs as well!

*Source: US DOL, Cornell University, Watson Wyatt, Entrepreneur.com, St. Cloud University, Gallup

Where are you working right now? From home? In a coffee shop? From an outdoor patio? Working remotely is a continually fast-growing trend in the modern workforce. But like any new working practice, usual routine takes some discipline and diligence.

According to the statistics*, in the U.S. alone, 34 million people work in distributed teams and this number is expected to grow to 63 million people. Many organizations see working remotely as a great way for employees to keep a healthy work-life balance. But that flexibility can also create a few challenges.

When looking to hire remote employees, how do you know if it will actually work? Here are 5 strategies that make working remotely effective. 

• Communicate well and often – whether it’s email or video chat, pick the tool that works best for the project at hand.
• Be a proactive manager – checking in consistently is key!
• Be a proactive team player – be deliberate about reaching out and checking in with co-workers.
• Get personal – re-create the ‘water cooler’ talk by asking colleagues about their families, hobbies or weekend activities.
• Know how to measure productivity – have concrete definitions around work productivity paired with communication and engagement.

Some Benefits of Remote Employees:
Easier to collaborate, increased productivity and no geographic boundaries.

Check out this article in Forbes about 10 Remote Work Trends That Will Dominate 2019:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/abdullahimuhammed/2018/12/21/10-remote-work-trends-that-will-dominate-2019/#5f54dc727c72

Whether you’re looking to hire remote or onsite employees, let us help you Hire With Ease!

*https://www.forrester.com

Writing An Effective Job Ad

A job ad is different from a job description. A job description is usually very lengthy, and very formal. In a job ad, you want to have a more casual tone. While including the requirements and an outline of the general duties, you want to keep the ad succinct, friendly and approachable.

The first really critical part of a job ad is the ad headline.

Remember, this is the very first thing that a job seeker sees when deciding whether to click on your ad, or your competitor’s ad. If you look on Craigslist and Indeed.com, you’ll see lots of very vanilla and general ad headlines.

It’s very easy to make yours stand out. Include these three things in your job headline:

1) Use A Common and Appropriate Job Title

Perhaps at your company you call the receptionist a “Director of First Impressions”, while it’s a clever and lovely title for her business card, it may not attract the correct job seekers on the job boards. If they’re searching by keyword, which they do exclusively on Indeed.com, they’ll never see your ad. As a result, you want to make sure the most commonly used job title for that type of position is what goes in your ad headline.

2) Something Unique

The second thing to always include in your ad headline is something that makes your company unique and interesting- something that makes your business stand out. Perhaps it’s something that you’re offering, like a 4 day work week, casual Fridays, room to grow or a super fun culture. You want to put that right in the ad headline to make your job stand out.

3) Include Pay

The third thing you always want to include in your job headline is the pay, or a pay range. It could be a really broad range, such as $10-$20 per hour or $30-$50,000 per year, but you want to state a range. This will dramatically increase your applicant flow. Again, if you look on other job boards, you will see that very few employers include this in their ad headline.

The body of the job ad should include these components.

1) The first paragraph should be a general summary about the company and about what you’re looking to fill.

2) The second paragraph should go into more detail about what makes your company and this opportunity attractive.

3) Then we recommend having a bulleted list of the general duties of the position, followed by a bulleted list of the required skills and experience. Remember to be specific- is this a required skill or a “like to have” or “bonus if you have” skill. Towards the end you can go into more detail about the compensation package.

The very last thing you want to do is to let potential applicants know how to apply for this position. We recommend having an online application and include a hyperlink right in the ad.