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Sep 15

How Much Does Your Reputation Matter to Candidates?

By Angelica Rains Corporate Culture

A company’s reputation is its image, which determines its position among its competitors. While your company needs to work towards having a good reputation, it is also necessary that you avoid any act that may soil your company’s prestige. This is because potential employees take time out to assess your company’s reputation before writing applications.

Studies have shown that the US unemployment rate has dropped to 5.2 percent in August 2021. This is the lowest rate since March 2020, during the beginning of the pandemic. This rate gives job candidates more options in the workforce than before. Thus, the decrease in the unemployment rate is a signal to employers to work on their company’s reputations to put them among potential employees’ options.

Why does reputation matter?

A good reputation promotes your company’s profile and creates an opportunity to hire influential and talented team members for your business. Human resources are the central drive of an organization.

In other words, these talented human resources are the wheels that drive the vehicle of your organization’s goals. Therefore, a company must work on these factors during the recruitment process.

Make your company appeal to tons of potential employees.
Ensure your job applicants find the recruitment process hitch-free and more attractive.
Your company features must be attractive to job candidates.
Create a safe atmosphere and good working conditions for the employees.

The above factors determine the profile of your company. And if you default in any, the effect will be evident in your company’s reputation. Potential employees may possibly rule out working with your company if they find out that your company has a poor reputation.

A company with a bad reputation will display one, if not all, of the following: poor leadership, poor customer service, ethical problems, and complaints from employees. Meanwhile, the few steps discussed below shall teach how to maintain a good reputation.

Display Professional Integrity

Any harmful act you display can have adverse effects on your company. In the business world, it is unethical for you to express actions that can affect the company’s brand, which will ultimately soil the company’s reputation.

Be Honest, Truthful, and Transparent

During the recruitment process, don’t excite the company’s image for the job candidates. It will be disappointing if an employee later finds out that you lied to them during the recruitment process.

Be truthful about the working conditions you are offering the job applicants. Ensure they have complete information about the benefits of the job and the resources available to them before they accept your offer.

Online Social Media Presence

This may sound trivial, but it is one of the ways your company can be attractive to potential employers, even your clients. Potential employees strive to work with a company with a vast client base on different social media networks. Favorable reviews of your company on social media will make your company appealing to job seekers.

Essentially, your employees want to work with you if your company has good testimonials from your workers and clients on different social media.

Sep 08

Traits of Transformational CEOs

By Angelica Rains Corporate Culture, Leadership

In the search for a new CEO or another C-suite executive, many companies want to find a transformational leader. There are certain characteristics of a CEO that help the company move through a transformational process or major change.

Transformational leadership involves the leader working with teams outside of their immediate self-interests. This allows the leader to identify necessary changes and create a vision to guide the transformation with their influence and inspiration. Transformational CEOs will execute this change together with committed members of a group.

Even if your company doesn’t currently have any major changes planned, hiring a transformational CEO allows you to prepare for unexpected changes. It also allows for continuity of leadership. The following are traits of transformational CEOs to look for during the recruiting process.

Honesty

Transformational CEOs should be honest and have integrity. These traits allow them to get others to trust them immediately, encouraging others to follow their lead. This, in turn, means that team members naturally want to follow the CEO’s guidance during the change.

Innovation

Innovation is an essential part of any major change in a company, making this another essential trait for transformational CEOs. These executives also push their team to be innovative. Specifically, they push for smart innovations that focus on offering solutions to customers’ problems.

Curiosity

The innovation that drives transformational CEOs does not have to come purely from their intelligence. It is more important that they are curious than being the smartest person in the room. This curiosity allows them to inspire the greatest minds in the company.

Ability to View Complex Problems at Multiple Levels

Transformational CEOs work to guide the entire company through changes, which require them to view problems at every level. They need to have the ability to view complex problems from various perspectives. For example, they will evaluate an issue from their perspective as well as those of the competition, current and future employees, customers, and the board.

Modesty

The ability to have multiple perspectives is not just in the case of issues. Transformational CEOs can do this regularly. They can listen to customers and gain insights into their needs. This ability gives the company marketing advantages.

Being Go-to Sources

Because of their ability to gather multiple perspectives, transformational CEOs become go-to sources for anyone looking for insights. These include peers, competitors, customers, and even the media.

Having a Model for Success

Transformational CEOs have an established model for success. They have used this model in the past and can explain it in a way that makes it seem simple, even to those who are unfamiliar with it.

Spotting Great Talent

Transformational CEOs also have the ability to spot great talent. They can recognize the passion, talent, and skills in people they come across and know how to put that to use for the company. This reduces the number of new talent companies has to recruit during a transformational period

Sep 01

Improve Profitability by Hiring the Best

By Angelica Rains Corporate Culture, Hiring Strategies, Interviews

Recruiting the top talent is an excellent method of increasing profitability. This is particularly true when hiring C-suite executives who can significantly affect company operations. Explore some of the ways that investing in top talent will likely increase your profit margins.

Top Performers Improve Vision and Clarity

With the top talent in your C-suite, you improve their ability to see various details and keep track of the overarching vision while doing so. This allows them to optimize projects better and accurately determine which tasks you should delegate.

Hiring the best support team for the C-suite, from executive assistants to chiefs of staff to other employees, further enhances this. It helps leadership delegate tasks with confidence, allowing them to focus on responsibilities that only they can handle.

Improve Your Brand As an Employer

When you hire a C-level executive who is the top in their field, this reflects well on your company overall and as an employer. It should attract top talent for other roles, whether entry-level, C-level, or somewhere in between. Talent will apply for your other positions because they will see that you prioritize hiring the best and cultivating opportunities. This makes working for you a great career choice, especially if they can expect to receive mentorship from talent in higher positions.

Decrease Your Hiring Time

Improving your brand as an employer not only helps you attract the top talent for other roles, but also reduces your hiring time. That happens for several reasons, including that top talent will apply to your company even when there is no opening. This means that you will have a list of potential recruits that you can contact as soon as there is a vacancy.

More Promotions from the Inside

When a company takes the perspective of hiring the best talent, it becomes easier to support internal promotions and advancements. New talent will feel supported, increasing their confidence and promoting their leadership skills.

Combining this with hiring the top talent for the C-suite takes it a step further. The executives will encourage that talent and potentially groom them as a replacement when they retire or move on.

You can leverage this support for internal advancement to help you recruit top talent in other roles as well. After all, most employees would prefer to work with a company that offers opportunities for advancement. This is just another way that hiring the top C-suite talent makes filling other roles in your company easier.

Aug 25

Essential Questions to Ask During a C-Level interview

By Angelica Rains Career Guidance, Corporate Culture, Hiring Strategies, Interviews, Leadership

A structured approach that focuses on research, networking, reference development, and rehearsal is the key to more successful C-level interviews. There are some differences in preparing for a C-level interview versus an entry-level one. In addition to showing your knowledge, skills, and experience, communicate your leadership style. Asking intelligent questions can also make you stand out. Executive recruiters recommend these, along with a few other tips.

What trends are you following that could influence this organization’s goals and priorities?
If I am hired as your executive assistant, what do you see as the most significant challenges in working to fulfill the goals of this organization?
What are some significant milestones that will be used to evaluate my performance?
Can you describe the work culture and environment here?
What are some of this company’s most significant achievements recently?
What leadership style wouldn’t be conducive to this company?
What would the typical workday be like for an executive assistant here?
What communication tools, professional development, etc., are available to employees?

Although this certainly isn’t a comprehensive list, it does represent some thoughtful questions that will help gain helpful insight regarding the expectations of these high-level positions. It’s a red flag when candidates don’t have any questions during an interview.

Research Industry Trends

Another effective way to connect with an interviewer and show that you are prepared to meet their organizational needs is by researching emerging trends from around the industry. Candidates are always encouraged to review annual reports, news articles, and videos when meeting with a hiring manager. Knowing about trends can also help you answer probing questions like why you want to work in this industry.

Reference Development

C-suite candidates have to be very selective when providing suitable references. Although any former colleague might work for an entry-level job, considerations need to be respected and relevant for executive-level managers. Only use people who can constructively describe your work ethic, leadership characteristics, strengths, and ability to work under pressure.

Although it’s still important to highlight your skills and experience, asking essential questions during a C-level interview is the best way to learn if it’s the right fit for you. Researching industry trends can help you create solid queries and respond to them intelligibly. Finally, focus on providing only trusted references you know could handle open-ended questions about your leadership qualifications.

Aug 18

Adapting to Executives Facing Upcoming Retirement

By Angelica Rains Career Guidance, Corporate Culture, Leadership

Retirement is something that impacts small, mid-size, and big businesses alike. It can be difficult for some leaders to give up control over something they’ve worked so hard to build. Approximately 12 million Baby Boomers also happen to be executives and business owners, and most of them will be eligible for retirement in the foreseeable future. Yet, close to half of CEOs still don’t have transition plans for when they leave. Below are some potential exit strategies that can help businesses maintain value and adapt to executives facing retirement.

Develop a Plan

Perhaps this is the best advice that executive recruiters can offer to owners and leaders considering retirement. Rather than continue working in the business, start working on it by focusing on other responsibilities that can help grow it, like marketing. The decision to either sell the business or transfer ownership to current employees gets more accessible when the right employees are hired and appropriately trained. Then, organizations should model a plan similar to this for managing the wave of retiring workers.

Decide organizational goals. Surveys and focus groups are effective ways to discover what the needs of employees and the company are.
Determine what you want from employees. Do you want to promote internally for C-suite positions or recruit external candidates? Even though external candidates tend to have more experience, employment data suggests that they are more likely to be fired than those hired from within.
Aggressively promote the succession plan. Ensure that employees understand eligibility by holding educational meetings.

Recruit Successors Earlier

It’s easier for organizations to prepare for retirements than other forms of turnover because they can usually predict the who and when. Multilevel succession plans can help small businesses develop talent to hedge against executives retiring. Alternatively, companies can partner with C-level recruiters to hire a successor as soon as possible to shadow the outgoing executive and gain knowledge transfer.

To Retire or Not to Retire

For those executives unsure if now is the right time to exit the workforce, some red flags can help. For instance, retirement might be the best option if you’re not passionate about what you’re doing or don’t feel challenged anymore. Other people opt for retirement for personal reasons such as health, family obligations, etc. Some industries are evolving so rapidly that businesses could benefit from fresh leadership.

A strong succession plan is the best way for businesses to overcome the wave of retiring executives. It should combine transparent retirement policies and internal successor development programs. Otherwise, recruiters are yet another valuable resource that can help you adapt.