Every company will go through periods of growth and change. Organizations must be able to pivot, change course, and adjust their strategy and workforce accordingly to keep up with the times. A company’s success can depend on its ability to establish a flexible workforce that can grow and evolve with it. But how do you tell if someone is going to be a good fit for your organization?

Here are a few questions you need to ask yourself.

Determine what kind of job they’re applying for

Define what qualities you want in an employee to help your organization grow. For example, if you need more long-term employees for leadership roles, you may want to find candidates with the potential to stay with the company for a few years. But if you’re looking for someone with a short-term skillset who will spend less time on-site, look for candidates that fit that need.

What kinds of skills do they have?

If you’re looking for a worker that will help your team develop innovative products or ideas, seek out people who have experience in this field. Similarly, if you’re looking for a new hire that can fix your IT issues, look for someone with technical skills. If you need a new employee to help with financial upkeep and inventory management, consider hiring someone who has experience in these areas.

With everything going digital, new jobs are created regularly. If you’re hiring for a pioneering position, it would be twice as challenging to find someone who has all the skills for the job. In this case, look for a highly trainable candidate who has the foundational skills to excel in the position.

How do they fit into your culture?

Interviewing candidates is an opportunity to find out how well they will fit in with the rest of the group. Ask them to describe their career goals and work history so far, and ask them where they’d like to be in five years. Pose important questions that will give you insight into their personality, temperament, and work ethic. Job seekers can provide insight into their experience and allow you to determine whether or not they will be a good fit.

How well do they communicate?

Communication is an essential skill for any business. It is the foundation of healthy work culture and a well-oiled organization. If a candidate can’t express themselves clearly, he or she may have difficulty working with the rest of your team. Ask them how they would handle a meeting that was out of the ordinary, and gauge their ability to keep a conversation going in different social situations.

Don’t judge too quickly, though. Many brilliant and talented people are not the best communicators. It helps to make candidates comfortable during the interview so they can speak freely and express themselves well. Moreover, every person has their own aptitude. Someone who’s not a great talker could be exceptional at written communication.

Evaluate a candidate’s communication skills based on the role they’re applying for. A sales associate should have impressive verbal and written communication skills. But a machine operator doesn’t necessarily have to be a smooth talker.

How well do they get along with others?

Having good people skills is an essential quality for any employee. If candidates can’t work well with the rest of your team, they may not be a good fit. Ask questions that will help you determine how candidates interact with other people.

This is especially critical for organizations that heavily rely on collaboration between teams. Social relationships between employees can and will affect how well an organization is running. If two employees quarrel constantly and openly at that, they will bring down the entire team’s morale and disrupt everyone’s productivity.

How does their behavior at work compare to their behavior outside of work?

While your company culture will play a significant role in evaluating your employees, it’s important to keep your opinions about someone’s personality, lifestyle, and hobbies to yourself. Focus instead on assessing how well candidates will fit into your current workplace culture.

Of course, you have to look out for the benefit of your company. If a candidate has a track record of disparaging their employers on social media, you may want to look closer into that. Negative feedback can hurt the reputation of your business and may discourage talented people from applying to your company and put off customers and clients.

What qualities are most important to you?

No two hiring processes are exactly the same, and you should know what matters most to you in a candidate before moving forward with an interview. Before the interview, skills, qualities and values you want most in a candidate and how you can assess if a candidate has what you’re looking for. Learn from your past experiences with hiring, and focus on the important parts, such as the candidate’s skill set, work ethic, and values, when deciding whether to hire them or not.

What are your personal tips when hiring talented and trustworthy people who fit into your business? Share them with us in the comments section below.

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Are you looking for a skill set that you do not currently have in-house? Partnering with post-secondary institutions can be a great way to find what you are looking for. Most schools have teams dedicated to matching employers to the types of students that they need. In addition, many work placements result in long-term employment, which reduces future recruitment costs. Plus, hiring young staff can have many other benefits for your business. And because they arrive with fresh points of view, students can help drive innovation by being up to date with the latest technologies and trends. Let’s look further at one such work-integrated learning program.

What is TECHNATION’s Career Ready Program?

TECHNATION’s program can approve subsidies for a student employed in a tech-immersive role in any kind of company, not just those in the tech sector. TECHNATION is dedicated to helping businesses grow, with 80% of their funds allocated to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

The SWPP provides 50% (to a maximum of $5000.00) of a student’s pay and an increased subsidy of 70% (to a maximum of $7000.00) is awarded to employers hiring students from under-represented groups:

• Women studying Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths (STEM), or business
• Indigenous students
• Visible minorities
• Recent immigrants (within 5 years)
• Persons with disabilities
• Students in their first year of study, or
• Students on their first work-term (relevant to their field of study)

Who pays for the work-integrated learning program?

As an incentive for hiring students, the federal and provincial governments offer several tax credits and funding options to alleviate the financial strain that can come with hiring new staff.

Employment and Social Development Canada has created the Student Work Placement Program (SWPP) to help employers across the country apply for wage subsidies for their hired students.

What are the eligibility requirements?

• You’re a registered Canadian business or organization.
• You have the financial capacity to hire a student for a part of full-time work term, pay them consistently and provide a meaningful work experience.
• You’re not hiring a student who is an immediate family member.
• You are hiring more students than you have in previous years.
• You’re not a bank or large financial sector employer, federal or provincial Government.

When can I start applying?

The application for the Summer 2021 term (May 1 – August 31) has just opened! Even if you have not got a student lined up for a summer placement yet, you can visit TECHNATION’s portal to get pre-approved in just a few minutes.  If you have any questions about the program, reach out to careerready@technationcanada.ca

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It all begins with finding the right person for the job. Recruitment is so much more than just finding candidates to fill roles. It should be a well-thought out process of attracting, evaluating and selecting candidates that are qualified for the role you’re hiring for and someone that aligns with your company. While every business is different, there are some common practices that can be used across the board when recruiting. For starters, ensure that the job description is accurate to the position, and makes the role sound enticing and inclusive. Then, you’ll need to find the right places to promote the job posting to reach those qualified candidates.

Landing the ideal candidates for your organization is step one. The next step is ensuring that you retain these employees for the foreseeable future. Fortunately for small business owners, salary is only one part of this equation. Employee engagement and other factors are equally as important for employee retention. Creating an employee retention strategy is very important. It can provide you with effective strategies for communicating with employees as well as identifying tactics for employee engagement.

As a business owner, you will also likely manage a diverse group of people with various skillsets. By identifying and characterizing the members of your team you may be able to further unite your team and empower them to contribute to the company’s overall goals. So don’t be afraid to lean into your leadership abilities! Focus on honing your skills as a leader and communicator.

The post How to Recruit, Retain and Manage Your Dream Team appeared first on WeBC.

Based on my experience as a small business owner, here are my tips if you plan to hire a new team member:

1. Post an employment opportunity on job posting engines such as Indeed, or on the job boards of universities or colleges that are likely to have resumes of potential hires in your industry.
2. You will find a lot about them in the interview, so it is important to have a list of questions that can help you to understand them better. Ask about their knowledge and experience and possible challenges at work and how will they solve such problems.
3. Create a training manual. After the new employee and team members have worked together for some time ask your team members for their feedback. These answers will help you to decide about the new team member. 
4. You may need a second interview after the training period. You already know about the new person’s performance, and he/she knows about his/her position. This time you can ask them more work related and specific questions.
5. This is the time to decide if you want to confirm your new hire or not, based on your interview, training, and your team members’ feedback.

My final suggestion is to read the Linchpin book from Seth Godin. In this book, he mentioned 3 lessons about what makes you a linchpin and how to become one:

• Linchpins pour their heart, soul and energy into their work.
• You must make a conscious choice to overcome your fears to become a linchpin.
• Give genuine gifts, without expecting anything in return.

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When choosing an icebreaker, keep the following tips in mind:

1. CONSIDER THE SIZE OF THE AUDIENCE

Ensure your icebreaker accommodates the size of the audience, allotting a 10-minute time frame.

2. CONSIDER THE PURPOSE OF THE ICEBREAKER

Choose an icebreaker that aligns with the objective of the session so participants understand the purpose behind the icebreaker.

3. CONSIDER MATERIALS REQUIRED

Remember that the more materials required, the more intricate the logistics, instructions and time investment!

4. CONSIDER DELIVERY OF ICEBREAKER

Choose the best icebreaker conducive to either a face-to-face or virtual session.

Here are 4 icebreakers to help you kickstart your next brainstorming meeting.

ICEBREAKER #1: WIRE HANGER

• Break team up into 2 groups.
• Each group writes down 3 things you cannot do with a wire hanger.
• Have groups exchange their lists.
• Each group must now find creative ways to accomplish the impossible feats described by the other group.
• Have groups share the results.

ICEBREAKER #2: GEOMETRIC SHAPE

• Break team into 2 groups.
• Provide each group with a random geometric shape.
• Each group must brainstorm all the things they think the shape could represent.
• Ask each group to choose their top 3 most creative ideas to share with the team.

ICEBREAKER #3: OBJECT/TEAM ASSOCIATION

• Break team into groups.
• Provide each group with a random object.
• Ask the group to make a list of all the attributes the object and their team/department have in common.
• Have each group share their top 3 associations.

ICEBREAKER #4: SUPERHERO

• Divide team into groups.
• Have each group invent a superhero to represent their team/company/department.
• Have them capture their ideas on a flipchart – i.e. name, special powers, hobbies, weaknesses and strengths.
• Have participants share their superhero characteristics.

Introduce an icebreaker for your next meeting! Set the tone for the session, get your participants primed for the objective and help them get their creative juices flowing.

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1. Pay for quality
2. Do PR & social media
3. Work your network
4. Link in more
5. Ask around
6. Engage recruiters
7. Self your culture
8. Self-publish
9. Work your websites
10. Always follow up

BONUS: Onboard properly

Pay for quality

Good people cost more. Get used to it. One awesome new employee can return five times their output every time you motivate them. Recognition is its own reward and employees seek acknowledgement from their boss more often these days. But I think remuneration still reigns supreme.
How can you avoid reaching deep in your pocket to keep top talent from exiting your business? When you find a high-potential employee, consider offering them shares.

Do PR & social media

Find your stars from your fan base. Businesses that stay top-of-mind attract a better crop of candidates. Talk about your involvement in the community, the charities you support, and your passion for the industry. Reveal a corner of your world that people don’t usually see. People love to go “behind the scenes.”
Nurture a fan base by distributing press releases, posting tweets, sharing photos and videos, and publishing thought leadership content, like your best practices.

Work your network

The jury is out on whether businesses get better quality through referral than advertising in the open market. So, do both.
If you manage a database of referrals or past candidates and have the required opt-in, a well-designed email communication generates leads because it can be easily passed along through people’s business networks. Include a solid job description and desired profile information.
Looking for some HR help? Try Dynamics for Talent, part of Dynamics 365. Use it to automate HR tasks. Eliminate paperwork. Source candidates. Track applicants. Retain top talent. And more!

Link in more

LinkedIn, the professional business network, has replaced many job search websites as the work portal du jour. However, traditional job search websites—like Monster, Workopolis, Indeed, and Emploi-Quebec—remain popular.
LinkedIn enables your business to gain followers, to grow a network of fans, and you can do it all yourself free. Eureka! Connect with potential hires and build a relationship with candidates before you hire them.
You can also try a paid service like LinkedIn Premium, which allows you to avoid the cost of recruitment agencies while still outsourcing the task of finding qualified candidates.
LinkedIn tip: Open a Recruiter account and sort through potential candidates to your heart’s content.

Ask around

As the lowest cost option, word-of-mouth still reigns supreme. But remember, talk is cheap. Should a viable candidate present themselves, referred by a friend of a friend’s co-worker for example, they will still need vetting and will expect you to provide them with a competitive level of compensation.

Engage recruiters

If you can’t spare the time and resources to conduct your own search, you can always work with a recruitment agency. This option can yield excellent results but comes with higher costs. Most recruitment agencies accept flat fees or a percentage of the annual salary of the position.
Buyer beware. Once you decide to move forward with a candidate represented by a recruiter, verify references before making your final decision.

Sell your culture

Like advertising your product and services, you should advertise your business culture to attract top talent. You can talk about your on-boarding experience, your mentoring approach, and stories of employee greatness, like the unlikely sales person who hit a home run and landed a big account.
Shared values attract like-minded people and help keep them together. Make sure you talk about what you believe in.
Don’t just talk about it. Draw from your business experiences to humanize your social media feed. Remember: the social side of the business is a deal-closer for top talent. And why not? We spend two thirds of our life working with people. Isn’t it better if it’s with people you like?

Self-publish

Publish a blog, email a newsletter, tweet announcements, or just talk to your customers. Discuss your industry and your role in it. Focus on what makes you different. Celebrate ways that you bring value. Remember: if you don’t talk about your culture, how’s anyone ever supposed to know?

Work your website & communicate

• Ensure that there’s a clear path to inquiries for candidates looking for employment opportunities.
• If your website accepts job applications, remember to thank candidates for taking the time to submit their interest in the position.
• Include the contact info of the person they can follow up with and the turnaround time for a decision.
• Always follow up

After shortlisting candidates, call them. Have a list of questions ready (no more than four). If a candidate impresses you, book the in-person interview while you have them on the phone. If not, thank them for their time and promise to keep them informed. Flag these candidates in your CRM and stay in touch.
Always act professionally and remember the golden rule. If you expect a courtesy call, so do they. Follow through. No one likes to be left hanging. Just a bit of time and energy can keep someone from souring on you and your business.
Bonus tip: On-board properly
Too often, new employees get left alone to sort through the former employee’s files to find their way. In fact, that scattered approach can breed mistrust from the beginning. Not sure what to do? Ask your colleagues to help you define what your on-boarding experience should be. If your business already has an HR person, task them to design an experience appropriate for your brand and budget.
Get the ebook
From IT leads to marketers, collaboration styles span a wide spectrum. It’s important to deploy a collaboration solution that’s as adaptive as it is inclusive. Read the “5 Faces of Today’s Employees” ebook to find out more. (Requires registration) Link here.
This article is part of a series written by Microsoft in partnership with Women’s Enterprise Organizations of Canada.
 

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As a small business owner, you may be working with a multi-generational workforce. At any time you may have up to four different generations working together. You’ve heard of the “Traditionalists” (born between 1922-1945) and of course, the “Boomers”(1946-1964); Generation X (those born between 1965–1979); and Generation Y (those born between 1980-1999).

But each of these groups has different values and views on work in general so using the same approach with such diverse groups is not the best HR practice. Instead, you want to create a “Gen Y Friendly” culture and workplace and balance it with the needs of a multi-generational workforce.

Why is it important to Attract and Retain Gen Y?

In North America, 350,000 people turn 50 each month and this trend will continue over the next decade. Despite some fluctuations, the total fertility rate in Canada has been below the replacement level for over 40 years. This translates into a looming labour market shortage than can affect the productivity of small and medium enterprises. Fine-tuning your HR practices to include the needs of Gen Y workers will help to create a Gen Y-friendly environment which will help to both attract and retain these workers.

Start with understanding that for the up-and-coming Generation Y, the core values include diversity and success, and their defining phrase may well be “anything is possible.” Technology exploded just as they were coming into the world, and through the use of technology, extremely violent events unfolded before their eyes. They have been witness to countless natural and manmade disasters. This is also the empowered generation of “family meetings” and equality, where everyone on the baseball team gets the trophy and there’s no such thing as an MVP. Communication with Generation Y needs to include the answer to their ever-questioning “Why?”

You may be thinking, “No wonder my 19-year-old employee is such a great multi-tasker and loves all the new electronic tools. Also, no wonder that his sense of entitlement kicks in regularly, as he expects to be boss, though he only started last week!” Sometimes just bringing about that awareness of differences in communication styles and values can break down barriers.

Here are some key suggestions you may consider for your Gen Y employees:

• Tell them the “Why,” not just the “How.”
• Create personalized work environments.
• Provide them with challenging assignments.
• Find common ground, but accommodate differences.
• Invite and provide frequent feedback to and from employees.
• Be clear about work expectations.
• Create a buddy/mentor system for orientation and exchange of knowledge.
• Always review Safety Procedures for new employees and provide regular reviews
• Explore opportunities to create flexible time schedules that measure productivity not hours
• Carry out team-building activities that instill a sense of belonging in all employees.
• Support professional development opportunities for long-term integration and growth.

It is advisable to make it clear that you see the person in front of you as an individual, as well as a part of a generational group- to create an environment that promotes tolerance. As in the development of any characteristic that you wish for your Gen Y employees, the first step is to first demonstrate and model tolerance yourself. Double-check that your respect factors and good listening skills are well-honed. Provide development opportunities for your Gen Y staff by helping them to get to where they can best contribute.

Start with small steps, choose one or two action items and measure and recognize progress along the way. What if Your Business was the employer of choice for Gen Y workers in your community? In the short term and in the long run, a Gen Y-friendly workplace helps to bridge a potential generational divide and makes your company more competitive.

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